𝚈/𝚗'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

"This is a special night for you all, but try not to let the whole city know, all right? Act like soldiers and don't get things out of hand!" Sir Harold instructed.

"Huh? Meat? What? This is really meat?" Connie stared at the meat in disbelief, not believing that we are being given meat.

"Am I dreaming?" Sasha gawked at the huge chunk of meat on the plate, also sharing the same brain cell as Connie.

After the fall of Wall Maria, there was a dramatic decrease in food production.

Livestock became especially rare due to the amount of land required to raise the animals.

Meat has, therefore, become expensive and opportunities to eat it are scarce.

"Tomorrow, we go to retake Wall Maria! So eat up!" Sir Harold cheered, finishing his speech.

Unfortunately, as soon as his speech ended, the mess hall turned into a madhouse as all the soldiers scramble for meat.

Sasha jammed a large roast in her mouth as Jean yelled at her and Connie tried to hold her back without killing her.

"Do the Survey Corps not usually get to eat meat?" Marlo asked in shock, staring at the chaos around us, especially the one happening right before our very eyes.

"This is the exact reason why we don't get served meat. Everyone acts like an Abnormal Titan when there's meat." I sighed.

I looked up and saw Sasha punch Marlo in the face, making his nose gush out huge amounts of blood.

"Connie, would you knock Sasha out already?" Mikasa requested in a hurry as Sasha punched her chest.

"Ouch." I remarked, Mikasa slightly flinched when she got punched there, but she managed to maintain her cool demeanor.

"I'm trying! She should be out already, but she's still moving!" Connie yelled, trying to knock her out by tightening the chokehold.

"Gosh, she's like a dead fish who still needs to release every remaining nerve in their body." I grunted in frustration.

"You're not doing it right. Let me do it." I offered, standing up from my seat and making my way behind Sasha.

"Don't kill her." Armin reminded. I nodded and hit on a specific spot that made her pass out.

"Tie her up with that. Make sure to cover her mouth with some cloth. We wouldn't want that animal biting." I pointed to a cabinet in the corner of the room.

Eren went ahead to get it while Connie got to work by covering her mouth with a rag and tying a knot so that she won't chew her way out of it.

I let out a groan before taking my seat, which was across from Armin and next to Connie.

I then hear Jean, explaining to Marlo as to why he was being placed in the rear guard instead of the vanguard.

If we threw the recruits into the vanguard they would be dead before they would receive a chance to learn.

In the back, the recruits will have a chance to study how it works on the battlefield and they can make it back home in one piece.

"In addition to what Jean said, it's troublesome to pick up the bodies of those who had died, so we don't want useless people to just charge headfirst and die without accomplishing anything." I added.

"That was kind of mean and insulting, Y/n, but at the same time, you're right." Armin commented.

"But you can't get more useless than a certain suicidal idiot whose only skill is charging in headfirst." Jean provoked, turning to Eren, hitting Armin in the process.

"Who are you talking about, Jean?" an irk mark formed on Eren's forehead as he placed his wooden mug down.

"Who else but you? You suicidal idiot." Jean chuckled. Eren fell for the bait, much to my disappointment.

Not again, please...

"Well, I learned something about myself recently. I'm actually a pretty average person. So, if that's what you think of me, I think it means you're just a coward, Jean." Eren smirked.

The two calmed down and just glared at one another. I sighed in relief, but much to my dismay, they immediately grabbed each other's collars and began their yelling.

Armin, who sat in between the two idiots who decided to start a fight, was getting squeezed between them.

"You got some nerve saying that, you dung heap!" Jean yelled.

"How about you tell us why you're growing a mane to match your horse face?!" Eren shouted back.

"Remember, faces are off-limits." Connie reminded, chewing on something, most likely meat.

"Hey, you're squishing Armin, horse face! Go fight somewhere else, you reckless idiot!" I slammed the table.

"Oh, I'll make sure to rip you into pieces once I get out of this table!" Eren declared, standing up as Jean followed.

"Thanks, Y/n..." Armin sighed. I decided to sit next to him since I was bored and I already finished eating.

Also, it's crowded where I was sitting because some soldiers got interested in the fight and were watching it from behind.

"What the heck are they doing?" Marlo inquired, watching as Eren delivered a blow to the stomach.

"Get used to it." I grumbled. We watched as Jean delivered a punch of his own at Eren's stomach.

The two begin a fistfight, to the amusement of the other soldiers and the disappointment of the officers.

They take potshots at each other, about Eren needing to be bailed out by Mikasa and Jean not getting along with his mother.

This honestly takes me back to the days when we were still in the Training Corps and when we were still happy together.

Now, once we had faced reality and seen it all, it hurts. Seeing the idiots fight, seeing Sasha act like an animal, takes me back to those precious days that meant nothing to my old self.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Armin asked, turning to Mikasa and me, who was just watching the fight.

"No. They're having fun." Mikasa shook her head, displaying a small smile that we haven't seen in a while.

"No, I don't think so. I'm sure people who beat each other up can't be having fun unless they're a bunch of masochists." I sweatdropped.

"Doesn't that mean we should actually stop them?" Armin questioned.

"Not really, Eren can heal with his Titan powers and Jean has to pay the consequences of his actions. He is the one who started it, after all." I reasoned.

"Well, you are right." Armin admitted. Eventually both Eren and Jean began to get tired, but we just continued to watch them with a smile.

Captain Levi interrupted their fight, knocking them both to the floor for being too rowdy.

As the group broke up for the night, Eren is helped away by Mikasa, Armin, and me.

"Ouch...I know it sounds weird coming from me, but would it kill you guys to look out for me better?" Eren questioned.

"You looked like you were having fun." Mikasa explained.

"Y/n said that you would heal right away if you got hurt, so we just watched." Armin reasoned.

"That's true, I guess. What's your reason?" Eren turned to me.

"It was funny, so I watched." I admitted nonchalantly. An irk mark popped out of his forehead as he grabbed my cheeks and pinched them.

"You think it was funny to watch me get beaten up and not do anything about it?!" he shouted.

"To be completely honest with you, yes." I admitted, fighting back by pinching his cheeks as well.

Mikasa pulled Eren away from me while Armin grabbed ahold of me. The two of us glared at each other before huffing.

We usually get into fights, but they were never serious. It was just normal fights that you would see in sibling relationships.

Yeah, they might be about serious topics at times, but they're usually about something dumb.

At the end of the day, the two of us got over it and went back to being friends. This happens all the time.

The four of us sit down on a long set of steps outside and Eren confessed that he was glad we met Commandant Keith.

The four of us see Hannes walking by with another soldier. Sadly, it was just a Garrison soldier that reminded us of Hannes.

"Once we retake Wall Maria and defeat all our enemies out there, will the lives we had before ever come back?" Mikasa asked, snuggling into her scarf.

"If that could happen, I'll do anything to get it back, even if I had to sacrifice my life for it. Sadly, reality sucks, and some things are gone forever." I sighed.

"We just have to make them pay for it." Eren declared, making Mikasa agree with him.

"But that's not all we can do. The ocean...it's a salt lake so big, merchants could never deplete it even if they spent their lives extracting salt." Armin mentioned.

"There are so many other things besides Titans out there." Armin stated. I already know what he's going to say.

"Fiery water, lands of ice, snowy deserts, you joined the Survey Corps, so you could see all that." I said.

"Y-Yeah. There's that too." Eren stuttered. That's when I finally looked into Eren's eyes, its life was slowly disappearing.

"Yeah! So, let's go see the ocean! I know you don't believe it exists, Eren!" Armin tried to infect Eren with his enthusiasm for the outside world.

"Let's go there too, Y/n, Mikasa! I know you guys don't believe it, but you'll see! I know it's real!" Armin claimed.

"All right then. Guess we'll have to go see." Eren scoffed, eyeing Armin in disbelief. It seems he still doesn't believe in the existence of an ocean.

"It's a promise, then! No taking it back! I know we'll get to see the outside world!" Armin began to ramble.

Seeing Armin's enthusiasm makes my heart...beat really fast.

Every time he smiles and gets excited when he talks about the ocean and the outside world...

Every time he focuses on something important and takes down notes about a lecture...

Every time he forms a plan or a strategy and explains it to everyone with confidence in every word he says...

I can't help but hear the loud thumping in my chest. It's so noisy and I can't do anything to calm it down.

Every time I stare into his eyes...his big blue eyes...I can no longer calm my pounding heart.

My vision then switched into my Eagle vision that Commander Erwin and I have discussed before.

It was a bird...in front of Captain Levi. In the distance, I can see the four of us talking.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

The next day, just before sunset, we, the Survey Corps, prepared to leave Trost District.

"The sun's almost down. It's finally time." Eren announced as we watched the sun go down.

The orange-gold stretched far and wide, the color of fire hearths and tangerines.

With the setting sun came a sky of fire, the orange of every wintry hearth.

It was the battle cry to the gathering night, that the only achievement of darkness is to show starlight all the more clearly.

"Hey! Hanji! Good luck!" we heard from the other side of the wall. We approached it and saw a crowd of people.

Led by Flegel Reeves, the town's citizens shout their thanks and good wishes to see us off to take back Wall Maria.

Though our officers are embarrassed, Connie, Jean, and Sasha expressed no such restraint and cheered back at the crowd.

"When's the last time we got this big of a send-off?" I sweatdropped as I watched the three of them.

"I'm not sure. I mean, has this ever happened before?" Eren replied.

"As far as I'm aware, this is a first." Armin stated. Mikasa nodded in the background.

Commander Erwin roared at the crowd and basked in their enthusiasm when they returned his cheer.

The four of us watched as he roared back at the crowd with his fist in the air. I couldn't help but admire his courage.

Turning, he then drew his blade and announced the commencement of the operation to retake Wall Maria.

We departed down the other side of Wall Rose and began our ride for Shiganshina District.

"Advance!" Commander Erwin yelled. We roared back and began our mission to retake Wall Maria.

I gently traced the outlines of my pendant that rested on my chest, kind of how Commander Erwin wore his pendant.

I picked it up and stared at its color that reminded me of Armin's eyes.

Armin had gorgeous eyes. The kind that you could get lost in. Perhaps I already got lost in it...

His eyes were the most beautiful pair of blue eyes that my eyes have ever laid on. It was captivating.

I stared at the pendant as if its color was swirling around in waves. Its color was very similar to Armin.

A small, genuine smile was displayed on my face as I stared at it.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Wall Maria protected one of humanity's three remaining pieces of territory.

Five years ago, upon losing this territory, those who survived within the two remaining walls realized that they were surely not meant to survive.

However, I took the small talons within my heart, and with it, fell a Titan, whose massive head collided with the ground.

When humanity saw this, what did it inspire within them?

In some, it was pride. In others, hope. Still, others cried out in anger while one was still lost.

If Wall Maria were to be retaken, what feelings would color humanity's cries then?

Would it finally restore their faith in their own right to live?

Would it show them that humans can be the authors of their own fates?

Will it inspire them to believe?

If Wall Maria was retaken...

We traveled towards Wall Maria under the cover of night to begin our operation to reclaim the territory we lost five years ago.

Stepping into the forest robbed you of one sense and heightened the others. Even the soft susurration of the branches felt heavy in the ears.

"Titan on the left! Everyone halt! Light up the area!" Jean yelled. We immediately had our guard up as we lit around the forest.

The glowing ore, which is thought to be created by some sort of Titan power, was harvested from the Reiss family's underground cavern.

It emits more light than a torch, and when used properly, can make nighttime operations much easier.

Deputy Commander Hanji speculated that the Titan was not one of the new types that can move at night.

We decided to leave the sleeping Titan alone and focus on our mission right now. We have to get to Shiganshina District to do that, though.

The sense of smell was sensitized, the loam in the earth and the decomposing leaves made the atmosphere close and thick.

Mikasa, Armin, and I picked up on Eren's nervousness.

Though Eren denied his fear, Armin tried to comfort him by showing him that he was shaking as well, and asked if Eren had ever been afraid of the Titans.

The blackness nurtured a sense of claustrophobia inside me, even though the woodland stretched unbroken for miles.

Most people would be terrified of the Titans, and Armin himself was almost eaten by one.

The narrow path, which was made uneven by the knotted roots that crossed it, branched at intervals.

"This is starting to look familiar. I think this is where we would come for firewood." Mikasa mentioned.

Ahead of us, one of the soldiers called out that they have found a trail. The four of us realized that we have finally come back to our hometown.

"We're so close..." Eren stated.

"I can hear the river." Mikasa mentioned.

"We're back home...for the first time since we fled that day." Armin muttered.

"Back to where we grew up..." I mumbled.

As day breaks, we charged on horseback for the Walls of Shiganshina District.

When we got close, we switched to Omni-directional mobility gear and scaled the Wall.

Commander Erwin's plan involved sealing two gates; the inner and the outer of Shiganshina.

This will isolate the town, allowing us to exterminate any Titans remaining inside the wall.

To avoid our enemies singling out Eren for an attack, all 100 of the Survey Corps soldiers are wearing our hoods to cover our faces.

By the time they figure out where and which one of us is Eren, we'll already have the outer gate plugged.

Once I was finally on top of the Wall, I spotted Eren just standing still as he stared at the town inside.

"Keep going! Head for the outer gate!" Captain Levi instructed. Eren and Mikasa follow after him.

Just as I was about to follow after our captain, I noticed Armin not following, so I halted as well.

"Is something wr-" I cut myself off when I noticed a sooty residue on top of the Wall.

"Is that ashes of a fire?" I questioned, bending down to stare at it. I reached my hand out and swiped my finger on it.

"It's ashes...and it's very recent too." I stated. Armin nodded and called Commander Erwin over so that we could talk about this.

"They're here...and close, too. Bertholdt and Reiner..." Armin whispered over to me.

It's not over. As long as they're still alive, they'll continue to breach the walls and attack us.

Until we kill the Armored Titan, Colossal Titan, and any other enemies, we can't consider this operation a success.

We were ordered to scout the area in search of possible locations of where they could be hiding.

We also needed more evidence that could prove someone had been staying on top of the Wall.

"Y/n, come over here. Take a look at what I've found." Armin called over to me. I turned around and approached him.

He was crouching down while holding three cups. Next to him was a cold pot and some lights were scattered on the ground.

"This smells good. What kind of drink do you think this is?" Armin asked, handing me a cup.

I looked inside of it and decided to sniff its contents. There were traces of black liquid in them.

The contents of the cup smelled like black tea. They were drinking something similar to black tea.

"It smells like Captain Levi's drink, or at least, something similar to it. I would assume it's something like black tea." I informed.

Streaks of yellow lightning struck somewhere nearby. I'm assuming Eren had already transformed and was working on sealing the outer gate.

"We should report back to Commander Erwin. Let-" Armin paused as he stood up.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, following his action. Standing up, I looked at him to see him staring at something on my chest. And no, Armin is a gentleman, so he isn't staring at whatever you might be thinking.

"You're wearing the pendant..." Armin pointed out.

"Yeah. I want to keep it with me and hold it in my hand before I die. I want to die...staring into it." I muttered.

"Well, that's almost never gonna happen, and don't you dare plan on dying." he placed his hands on my shoulder, startling me.

"We still have to see the ocean together. Once we do...I want to tell you something very important." he mentioned.

"Something important? Why can't you just tell me that now? After all...this could be the last time we see each other." I frowned.

"That's because I don't plan on dying, so you have to do the same. Got it?" he raised a brow.

"Y-Yeah, promise?" I held out my pinky and averted my gaze from his eyes.

"Promise." he intertwined our pinkies together. I turned to him in surprise to see him smiling at me.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"We looked around the area. I'm pretty sure someone was camping." Armin and I kneeled in front of Commander Erwin.

"A cold pot and some lights were scattered at the base of the wall nearby. They were drinking something similar to black tea." I elaborated.

"There were three cups with traces of black liquid in them, so there were at least three people camping on the wall." Armin continued.

"Th-Three people?!"