Chapter 12

Aftermath

The desert sun was particularly harsh where they now lived, so Ibrahim liked to get up as early as possible in order to avoid it as much as possible while working on his chores.

He was no older than eleven, an adult at this point in the small, mobile village.

He stepped out of the tiny tent, allowing his parents to continue resting and welcomed the cold morning air with a sigh.

Why the desert was so hot in the day and so cold in the night wasn't something he thought much about, but on occasion he did wonder what the science behind it was.

His late grandfather was often speaking of an ancient time where their people had been so enlightened by science and history that people from all over the world would go to them in search of knowledge.

Then the Eldian Empire arrived, and everyone knew what happened then.

As he picked up a clay jar his mother had lovingly made for them to store water, he frowned, feeling resentment he rarely thought possible but was always able to conjure up whether he wanted to or not.

His father wasn't Eldian.

His mother was.

Why they had married and had him, technically half an Eldian, felt incredibly selfish in his young but mature mind.

This is why we have to run…

Grabbing the jar and tossing it over his shoulder he began walking towards the well they had dug only the day before.

They had gotten lucky as they were close to some mountains, and water was easier to find.

He arrived at the nearby well, alone, and began to ready the wooden bucket when he glanced at the rising sun.

It was but a large orange glow in the distance, and he was wondering if his ancestors knew more about it than he did now.

He knew it was a glowing ball of fire, but surely it had to have more than just that, right?

He began lowering the bucket into well when he heard a somewhat distant explosion.

What was…?

One of the men who was in charge of keeping watch ran up to him, rifle slung on his shoulder.

"Ibrahim! Wake your father, we must hurry!"

"W-what's wrong?"

The man nervously shook his head, saying "I sent Khalil to check the nearby cliffs, he hasn't returned, and now that explosion… it may be nothing, but we have to keep moving. Better to be safe than dead, now hurry!"

Ibrahim noticed the man was unslinging his rifle and loading a round into it.

He grabbed the still empty jar and ran to his tent.

"Father! Father, wake up!"

The man was much older than his mother, the hairs on his beard already turning grey, but he was a man of action, and got up with a start.

"What is it? What's happening?"

"I… I don't know, but there was an explosion, and Ali believes we should begin moving. He told me to wake you up."

The man grimaced, saying "Alright, wake your mother, pack the important things. Quickly." before standing up and grabbing the rifle by the entrance of the tent.

Ibrahim nodded and did as told, quickly grabbing a bag filled with papers and slinging them over his shoulder.

His mother was already partly awake, so Ibrahim telling her "Mother, we must run!" did the job.

She said nothing, grabbing her covers and folding them quickly.

Ibrahim ran outside and began to ready the tent. He saw his father and Ali waking up the other people in tents, the sun beginning to rise fully.

It was then that he became aware of a disturbing sound in the distance.

*boom-boom-boom-boom*

*boom-boom-boom-boom*

He hadn't heard anything like it before, never in his life, but he was painfully aware of the stories imbedded into his culture as well as every culture on the planet.

Even if stories hadn't been told and preserved by the old Eldian Empire, nobody could forget such horrors.

As if the terrors from those days was so horrifying that they would be embedded into the memories of every race for every generation until the world came to an end.

He quickened his work and the tent fell over much faster than he had planned, his mother only barely stepping outside before it fell on her.

"Careful! Work fast, but properly!" she scolded him, slapping the back of his head with her free hand, the other hand carrying another bag.

He kept his mouth shut despite his visible irritation, too focused on the oncoming threat.

*boom*

*boom*

*boom*

His father began to rapidly scream orders suddenly.

"Forget it! Everyone grab what they need and get on the camels! Now! They're coming!"

The small mobile village had twenty people, most of them grown adults, a few kids, and a single elderly woman who simply sat down in the sand.

His father saw her and immediately ran up to her, speaking in her old native tongue.

"Jida, you-"

"Leave me be, I will distract the enemy as long as I can!"

His father ran up to her and yelled "No, Jida, please! This-"

Another man with a rifle screamed then, "If she wants to remain then let her! We cannot wait any-"

Ali interrupted him.

"Everyone, look! I see Khalil coming from the Cliffside!"

All eyes turned to the nearby mountain side, a lanky figure emerging from a corner and heading down a path all alone.

"W-where is his camel?" a man asked.

"No, this is good news! It means we are dealing with people that wouldn't kill him on site! He probably has a message!" another man said, though perhaps more to convince himself than convince anyone else.

Ibrahim didn't move, his mind too focused on the ever present booming footsteps.

*BOOM!*

Before the thought could even finish forming in his mind, a ten meter tall, incredibly skinny monstrosity turned the corner on the Cliffside.

Its smile widened as it lunged down the cliff and grabbed the running Khalil with both hands.

It stuffed the screaming man into its mouth before continuing to run towards the small village.

"Flee! Everybody flee right this-" his father began to shout, but a shriek interrupted him.

A small group of about five of the humanoid abominations appeared behind the hills they intended to flee towards.

They were slow, but they were each about 15 meters tall, and hungry for human flesh.

They were effectively trapped with a giant monster heading towards them from one escape route, and five others coming at them from their other escape route.

"Why? Why? I don't under-" Ibrahim began to say as his father grabbed him.

"Ibrahim, grab your mother and get out of here right now! You must escape! You must survive!"

The eleven year old pushed his fear down and nodded, rushing without a second thought to find his mother, his father gripping his rifle and turning to the ten meter giant that was running towards them.

"Focus on its eyes!" he shouted.

Five men fired five rifles at the beast, with pinpoint accuracy.

They were outdated rifles which they had bought from a somewhat amicable group of soldiers who were going to throw them away and decided that "losing" a few in exchange for some precious metals wouldn't be much of a problem.

They performed well enough, however, the half inch bullets were effective at a range of 365 meters, and the running giant was only half that distance away.

All five rounds found their mark on the eyes, and the men immediately pulled down the lever to eject the spent casing and insert another round.

Ibrahim knew the tactic somewhat.

It wouldn't kill the immortal monsters, but it would slow them down a bit.

Certainly enough for him to escape on the back of a camel.

He found his mother, frozen in fear, clutching one the clay jars she had made, watching the oncoming monsters as her friends and family panicked around her.

"Mother, we must hurry!"

She didn't respond.

"Umi!" he said as loud as he could, trying desperately to get her attention by calling her by the title given under her birth language.

She didn't speak it anymore, but…

She did turn to look at him as he took her hand and tried to pull her away.

He then froze as he saw what she was seeing.

The bullets had blinded the running titan, but the damned thing kept charging, completely unabated by the damage!

He saw Ali nervously grab a bag and try to set it on fire with a match before running at the beast.

His father screamed "Fall back, now!"

The four men began to run away while Ali ran towards the immortal horror.

The giant was on him almost immediately, stuffing him in its bloody mouth as the young man let out a defiant scream.

An explosion blew most of the giant's head to pieces.

His father didn't give his men a break.

"Now! Focus on the other immortals! Don't let his sacrifice be in vain!"

Ibrahim saw as the men turned and began to fire onto the slow moving giants that were seemingly distracted by the people trying to retreat on the backs of camels.

Ibrahim let go of his mother's hand and ran to pick up the rifle left behind by Ali.

His mother grabbed him.

"Child! It has no bullets! Don't be foolish! We must flee before they are upon us!"

He yelled back "No! We can beat them! If we just have the riders distract them with the camels-"

A bone chilling scream interrupted him. The boy was unsure if it came from a woman or a man, but he realized that it wouldn't change the outcome of the scenario.

The eleven year old turned and saw that one of the 15 meter giants had managed to grab a camel, crushing it alongside its rider.

Instead of stuffing them into its mouth, it squeezed the remains like one would crush a fruit in order to drink its juice, lifeblood and pieces of the person falling into the monster's open mouth.

Five of the damned things were too much.

Two were blinded by the men firing, but they could only do so much even as they fired faster than they ever had before.

It was the elderly grandmother who spoke to Ibrahim then.

"They did this when Eldia ruled the earth, too. Do as your father says, child. Take your mother and run. It is the only way you can survive this. Mankind cannot defeat such horrors, just pray the ones in charge pity you enough to let you live."

Ibrahim turned to dispute her, still convinced they could all escape, until he saw what the woman was staring at.

The headless giant was getting back up, part of its head was already growing back.

Now he began to pull at his mother, desperately trying to pull her away from the camp before the giant got to it.

She didn't need convincing.

It first dove for the elderly woman.

That bought him enough time to get onto the camel with his mother as it ate the woman in one quick CRUNCH.

It then dove for his father and his men.

One of them, he wasn't sure who, managed to blow out its left eye before being killed.

It crushed them all, scraping the remains of two of the men into his mouth and licking the desert ground with its tongue as his father and another man tried firing into it once more as a final act of defiance.

The bullets did their job, but the immortal cared little for the damage as it continued to attack.

That bought enough time for his mother to get the camel to begin running. He saw her tears stream down her face as the final gunshot rang out.

It bought them ten seconds before the giant ran and caught up to them, the damage done by his father and the armed men already healed.

His mother clutched him tightly as the camel was swept aside with cruel indifference, and the two Eldians hit the ground.

Ibrahim saw the beast above him and realized why they were called what they were called.

These were the descendants of an ancient, voracious god that ate all and conquered all its way to rule the world.

So this is a titan? We never stood a chance…

It was about to grab him and his mother when it stopped moving altogether, quickly turning to the other five, slower giants.

The beasts had finished munching on the other people that had tried to run and were headed towards what appeared to be the two remaining survivors, the blood on their mouths washing away with their drool.

The running giant instead of killing him and his mother simply attacked the other five titans, tearing them to pieces one by one, the other five not even reacting.

Ibrahim and his mother stood there, staring in shock at the violence.

They didn't notice the small car drive up towards them and their wounded camel.

Two men in military uniforms hopped from the front and aimed their rifles at the pair.

Another pair stepped out of the small vehicle from its rear and eyed the two.

No one spoke.

"Can you understand me?" the older man in the group asked.

His mother turned to stare at the man in shock.

She eventually said "Y-yes sir…"

The man looked at the destruction nearby and in a tired tone said "Splendid… Do you know who these people were?"

"W-we were…" the woman managed to say before she began to sob.

Ibrahim watched the men in terrified confusion.

Did they attack us with the titans? Why not kill us all?

"Come now, spit it out."

"W-we… we were running towards Marley, we… are from the Middle Eastern Alliance- we-"

"You are Eldians?" the man interrupted.

The woman nodded.

The man flared up there and then, his face contorting slightly in anger before he began to look at the destruction around him.

He turned to the other man and tiredly said "This is what we get for trusting those sons of bitches in the east? I should have known the second… damn it all!"

The other man said nothing.

The angry man who was seemingly in charge then turned back to the woman and said "You are Eldians, do you have your identification papers?"

The woman nodded, still sobbing.

"Do you have the necessary documents for admission?"

She nodded once more, turning to Ibrahim.

The eleven year old slowly handed them the papers he had saved from the tent once his father had ordered him to pack it up.

The man took them, looked them over, and nodded.

"Alright. Lower your rifles, the Mid-East bastards lied to us. Holder! Get on the radio and get us some transportation for these people, and if they don't already have them, get them some damned badges to identify them with."

Ibraham stared as one of the soldiers reached into a bag and simply said "Here, put these on your arms. You'll need them to enter Marley." as he handed him and his mother a small piece of cloth.

It had a strange looking 9 pointed star on it.

As they did so, the other soldier muttered "Welcome to Marley." as he shouldered his rifle.

…

"She really isn't saying much."

"I guess it's to be expected. These Restorationist pricks gain absolute loyalty from their families."

"Hey, the boss says they caught the last ones. They were trying to sneak out of the city through the railroad tracks. Guess this little bird won't be of much use anymore."

"Yeah, damn shame… she's quite the looker even all beat up."

Stop! STOP!

Dina Yeager felt her eyes shoot open and the first thing she wanted to do was reach for her husband's hand.

She shifted in the… oddly uncomfortable bed.

Strange…

"Grisha… I- huh?"

She winced, noticing that there was no one next to her.

In fact, the bed was much smaller than the one she and Grisha shared.

Where am I?

It had all been a terrible nightmare, right? Nothing more, right?

She removed the covers and found herself not wearing her night gown. Instead, she was wearing… something like an apron that covered her body for the most part, but…

She looked around, noticing the window beside her.

It was daytime, maybe the middle of the morning, maybe a little earlier.

There wasn't a clock she could check.

The room itself was barren, and small.

"H-hello?" she called.

The room had a door.

"Is… anyone-?"

The door opened.

"Oh, thank God, you're awake."

It was a doctor, clearly a doctor… had something happened to her the previous… night?

"How are you feeling?" the man asked, but she could sense some unease behind him.

"I'm alright, thank you. D-does my husband know I'm here?"

The doctor shifted before simply shaking his head.

"What happened? Where is he? Is he alright? My son! His name is Zeke, he-"

"Miss… Yeager?"

"Yes?"

"Look… there is no easy way to say this. It has been more or less… eighteen years since you last spoke to your husband."

Dina looked as if she had been slapped by the statement.

"W-what?" she managed in a hoarse voice as her throat began to dry up.

"Grisha Yeager left some writings about his experience, and he mentions that you were… transformed into a titan by Marleyan authorities."

Dina felt the blood drain from her face as she began to take it all in.

The memories of what to her had only happened a few days prior but in reality had been well over a decade ago flooded into her mind.

Her son pointing directly at them, explaining to the authorities that they had been plotting against Marley and grooming him to betray the military, and had been creating an underground resistance to overthrow Marley by regaining the power of the Founder.

She remembered the torture they put her through as they tried to drain her of information for the remaining members of the Restoration movement.

Dina stared at her hands.

She had lost several fingers, little by little, segment by segment, regardless of whether she had told the truth or not, the men had made sure to express the rage of their ancestors onto her.

Now they were back, as if the damage had never been done.

Which means…

She remembered the trip across the sea, not even being allowed to see the ocean, or the sunrise, staying in a dank room below deck, unable to see anyone or anything as she was blindfolded.

Dina had heard an officer yell that someone could reach the walls if they headed north and kept running as she was taken up the steps.

She had heard screaming and a loud series of explosions then as she realized her comrades, the ones who had relied on her husband were now likely gone.

Oh, a woman this time? Shame she's a devil…

Dina remembered being forcefully knelt down on the cold cement below, a soldier removing her blindfold and her finally seeing her husband, the battered and wounded man kneeling on the edge of a tall wall right next to her.

This is the Island of Paradis…

One of their comrades, Grice, had been tossed out into the sandy floor below, and she could see titans that looked eerily familiar chasing after him.

She remembered her husband began desperately trying to beg for her, try to claim she was of royal blood before a tall guard grabbed him and forced him to be silent.

She tried to be reassuring as the large needle was inserted onto her back.

The fear… oh, she truly remembered the fear as she began to feel her body paralyze and begin to change on a biological level into something unholy.

She had somehow actually managed to smile and say "No matter what… I will always find you."

Then it all went black.

Dina stared at the doctor, she looked at her hands, she glanced at the window, and slowly asked "Did I… devour a person?"

"We had been fighting a titan shifter and had done some serious damage when you appeared. According to the troops on the ground, your titan form got to the wounded shifter before our men could and devoured him."

"S-so then… I… I…"

In a flash, she saw memories that weren't her own.

Her only response was to scream at the top of her lungs.

…

"Present! Fire!"

Gunfire cracked as the Garrison troops fired their muskets into the air for the ceremony.

There were few Americans here, as the burial of the previous heads of the military and those lost in the previous battle was a matter of personal and national loss.

Eren observed the wooden caskets being lowered and forced himself to remain composed.

Not one of those deaths had been necessary.

Pastor Nick of the Order of the Walls had given a small speech, encouraging unity in the name of the goddesses as well as honoring the wishes of the fallen, but Eren hadn't really listened to it.

It had barely been 48 hours since he had discovered what happened.

He and Armin had been waiting for the combined American and Survey Corps team to emerge and confirm that Rod Reiss was in fact dead; instead they came out of the smoke carrying a woman that was covered up by Survey Corps capes.

It was later that night that he learned the truth.

Eren… Dina Fritz is alive. She ate what was left of Rod Reiss and inherited his Titan…

He didn't know how to feel.

She hadn't woken up to his knowledge, and he hadn't sought to speak with her yet, too busy focusing on the facts of the situation in the aftermath.

Burials, a new queen, new commanders… hell, a new society.

The news of the world beyond the walls was out.

He glanced around at the crowd of civilians.

Some were staring at the burial with a look of disorientation and uncertainty.

Now what?

Most, however, were staring at the girl in a military uniform walking amongst the families of the deceased.

Historia really is taking this Queen role seriously…

It was admirable if anything.

She looked just as hurt and worried as many of the parents in the crowd.

Some simply nodded and thanked her for her condolences, but he saw more than one angrily point a finger at her or shoot a look of frustration in her direction.

He wondered what they were saying.

He was certain he heard one angrily declare "you will pay for what your father did!"

His hand balled into a fist.

Why?! Why the hell should kids pay for the sins of their parents?! Did they do anything wrong?!

It angered him more than he cared to admit, and just as he felt like he was about to explode, a hand grabbed his own.

He turned to look at the exhausted eyes of Mikasa Ackerman, not saying anything as she tried to calm him down without knowing exactly what was wrong.

Eren turned and faced the floor, not letting go of the girl's hand.

I'm tired… so… tired… but damn it, so is everyone!

He had lost about half the people he had trained with, he found out the fate of his father, and had fought in a major battle all in a period shorter than 24 hours.

His thoughts, however, lingered on something darker, something he wasn't able to explain.

How did I know Rod had a serum that would help me achieve the hardening ability of the Armored Titan?

Eren's mind shifted to exactly that, the warm hand of the girl next to him becoming an afterthought.

A part of him wanted to assume that it had to do with whatever ability Rod had used, maybe when the Founder within him was activated it transferred some of Rod's knowledge or memories-

His thought process stopped at the word.

Memories…

Mikasa Ackerman wasn't usually an emotional person.

It wasn't that she would hide her emotions, she just rarely had them.

She was so busy ensuring her family was safe, she honestly didn't have the time to get extremely angry or irritated or happy or sad.

She was a girl with priorities.

Still, she did have emotions, and she did feel them more often than she would care to admit.

Right now, for instance, she wanted to comfort her adopted brother.

She had notice a look in his eyes, likely anger, perhaps justified perhaps not, but anger nonetheless.

She had reached out to grab his arm in order to get his attention and try to remind him to be more mature given the solemn occasion, but instead decided a slightly bolder maneuver.

She had directly grabbed his hand.

It seemed to have the desired effect, much to her surprise, and Eren seemed to calm down rather quickly.

It made her feel a bittersweet sense of satisfaction, at least a little. She felt content in being able to share with the one she cared for the most, the some boy who had rescued her so long ago.

Suddenly she felt the grip on her hand tighten and she turned to look at Eren.

He was hiding it well, but she recognized the look in the young man's eyes.

She had seen it only a few times before, and it was always a sign that something was wrong.

"Eren?" she asked in a whisper.

The boy turned to look at her, saying nothing before turning to stare back at the burial nearby.

There was no mistaking it.

She tightened her grip on his, unsure if he would ever tell her what left him so shaken, but desperate to reassure him that she would always support him through it.

No matter what…

Not twenty meters to his left, Sasha Braus had actually split from the ceremony and gone off on her own.

It was less out of disrespect and more to try and catch up to a pair of mournful parents who had left the ceremony a little earlier.

She saw them as she approached the stables.

"Ah! Mister and Missus Springer!" she called.

The visibly tired pair turned and saw the brown haired girl.

"Oh, hi… you're… Braus, right?"

"Y-yes! I… Um… my condolences…" she said awkwardly.

She wasn't one much for taking things seriously, even in messed up life threatening situations.

She could be starving and stealing food from other starving individuals and still try to act like nothing was wrong… something her father had scolded her for, but still.

Seriousness just wasn't her forte.

"Um… Connie was a fine soldier. He…"

She saw the tired look the parents gave her and she returned a sigh.

"I'm sorry, I want to help you out in any way I can, but I really don't know what to say. He was an excellent soldier when Shiganshina was breached earlier this year, and he was reading a lot about the other world… he would have done great things." she said sadly.

"Thank you." the man said simply before turning, pausing, and then saying "I don't think he would want us to feel worse about it than we already are, so don't force yourself to carry a burden, okay, kid?"

The girl felt the words travel through her like a bullet, and only found herself able to nod a little.

"Take care out there, Miss Braus." the man said, and the pair left the room.

Sasha found herself alone for a moment.

She took a few steps back and supported herself on the nearby wall, on the verge of finally breaking down now that she was out of view of her fellow cadets. Her jaw clenched, her throat tightened, her hands balled into fists, but before the tears could stream, she was interrupted.

"Those Connie's parents?" a familiar voice asked.

She whirled around to see a young man with a tired look on his face.

Lot of those today…

"Oh, hey, Jean… yeah, they just left."

He nodded, and took a similar position on the wall opposite her.

The look of defeat was on both their faces.

"So… now what?" she asked, forcing her emotions down once again.

"I… I don't know. I think the Survey Corps is going to start exploring the lands beyond the walls in person, try to find that port where they turn people into titans… I don't know."

"You regret staying with us instead of signing up with the MPs?"

Jean said nothing.

"I kind of wish we had just stuck with the Garrison. I mean… I don't know, just feels like… like…"

"A heavy burden?" he tried to finish for her.

"A pain in the ass, yes."

Jean chortled.

"Yeah… but we signed up for it, I… we could've asked to be transferred… now it's our pain in the ass to carry."

"Right… I don't regret staying; I just wish this wouldn't have happened like this."

Jean nodded.

There was a long pause then, neither of them speaking.

"Think Historia will implement some new otherworldly foods?"

…

"So about letting the American food chains in…"

"Shut up, Aurile." Kenny angrily said, stabbing a knife into the table before heading over to take a seat.

Historia eyed the knife nervously before glancing at the familiar man.

Oh, she recognized him.

The older Ackerman seemed to notice without looking at her and paused before taking the knife back and grabbing a seat.

The man turned to the new queen and simply said "I did my part already, the Military Police officers that survived and American forces in the capital can handle security from here. If you want to get rid of me-"

"No, no… I… let's have a… a fresh start. The advisory will remain an advisory on matters we in the military may not be as well versed in until we can properly implement an election system, you'll help us with security until we can get MP numbers back on track, they could really use a person from the underground in training them… then you guys can retire and not bother anyone ever again. Agreed?"

Kenny eyed the girl.

She looked like her uncle, but instead of asking for him, a killer, to forgive her for the sins of past rulers, she was visibly more in control, so even if he wanted to abandon human society and live out his days alone as soon as possible, regretting or not regretting what he did, she might not let that happen yet.

As if she was saying "I can still use you to fix this mess, you're not going anywhere."

So instead, he sat down.

He noticed the papers on the table and began to read them.

"These were proposals the Americans wanted to discuss before the… attack by the previous ruler. You can read over them while we wait for the military officers to arrive."

Kenny nodded and began doing just that.

Security, new weapons… modernizing industry, electricity… commerce, food chains…

He heard footsteps drawing closer and turned to see the recently sworn in commanders and their personal advisors.

The new head of the military, a relatively well known old soldier named Claude Duvalier, accompanied by… no one.

Commander of the Garrison, Kitz Woermann, accompanied by Rico Brzenska.

Commander of the Survey Corps, Hanji Zoe, accompanied by Mike Zacharias.

Not Levi? Huh… wonder where the little guy went…

Unofficially representing the Military Police was Kenny Ackerman, also alone, but if the American officer walking with the other commanders was any indication, he might not be the only one.

Following them were three other men, similar but not quite the same, military uniform to the American.

The British, the Germans, and the Japanese…

Kenny Ackerman had not seen an oriental soldier throughout the entire mess that had been the talks with the other world, so he wondered what was one doing here now.

The group silently sat down on the large table and waited.

Historia cleared her throat, and said "Well, I… believe we should begin."

Another pause, everyone kind of waiting for the first subject of discussion to be decided.

It was the new premier, Duvalier, who spoke first, saying "I believe we should first discuss the plans for the military branches going forward."

Hanji immediately said "I agree, we need to begin modernizing if the world is as hostile as Grisha Yeager stated."

Not just Yeager, but the shifters had all practically corroborated the books by the father of Eren Yeager.

All eyes turned to the previous advisory, and it was Aurile who sighed before speaking.

"Well, we had allowed the factories to begin preparing for… potential changes. Um… I believe the information I had received stated that they could begin producing modern ammunition as soon as they got the blueprints… guns on the other hand…"

The German officer said "We saw some of the factories, adapting them to create firearms that don't require long periods of reloading should not be too difficult. That said, we do not believe you will be producing weapons anywhere close to the tanks and aircraft the Americans have brought forth."

Everyone nodded.

It was simply impossible, even with the blueprints.

Their factories had mostly been used to produce the cheap but efficient ODM gear and its blades, as well as muskets, canons, and ammunition for both.

A far cry from tanks and planes let alone missiles and bombs.

"We had brought a list of older rifles you should be able to produce with ease, each with a specific purpose, of course." the British officer said.

All eyes turned to Kenny Ackerman.

"I will have to see them myself… as well as get the opinion of some factory heads, see what could work better for them."

Everyone seemed to agree on that.

"Alright then… big issue here… modernization. The capital has some plumbing and as well better hygene… above ground… which reminds me that we need to start moving people out of the Underground."

The old advisory paled at the suggestion.

Kenny spoke before any of them got it in their heads to disagree with the new queen.

"I agree, but we need a vetting process. A lot of the people there are criminals, not out of need either, and thanks to Reiss, many have no idea about the Americans and the world beyond the walls."

Historia said "Could we use them to resettle Wall Maria?"

"Lots of territory, lots of places to sneak away and hide in… gangs could become a big problem." the British officer mumbled.

It was the German who said "And given the political climate in the US, I do not think American forces engaging criminals operating in the forest is something they can afford right now."

Hanji said "The Garrison could police the area."

Kitz Woerman said "Yes, but it could also leave our own areas undermanned. We used to deal with gangs hiding in the forests before Wall Maria fell, and just letting the entire underground population be free in the area… it could cause a lot of problems."

Colonel Parker didn't say anything, looking frustrated.

Historia said "Then what about workers?"

A pause as eyes turned to her.

"We let them and their families out of the underground, and send them to work in modernizing wall Maria. What we need now is manual labor, right?"

Heads nodded.

"Then in exchange for their service, they'll be put to work in building railroads, communication stations, basically what we need to begin modernizing. We could have minor Garrison and American forces keeping watch, and it allows us to clear out the underground."

No one seemed to be opposed to the idea.

"Right, that's settled… now… the mutual alliance situation has hit a… snag?" she asked Parker.

"Representative Caine is… well… dealing with that as we speak."

Historia seemed uncomfortable then.

Wanting to avoid the complicated talk for the moment, she turned to the oriental soldier and said "Oh, I don't think we have met."

In somewhat good English, the JSDF officer simply said "Ah- um… I was head of security for the Japanese representatives. I was told that the issue of oriental citizens being systematically eradicated would be talked about and was told to listen in."

Historia turned to Ackerman.

Ackerman turned to glare at Deltoffe.

Deltoffe in turn sheepishly said "With… with the exception of Mikasa Ackerman… we… we believe all citizens of oriental descent are dead within the three walls."

The Japanese officer shook his head slowly.

Before Historia could say anything, the man said "I don't think my leaders blame you, or anyone other than Reiss… the problem is definitely going to affect international relations going forward, though."

Historia winced.

"That's right… a country that murdered almost a whole group of people isn't exactly a positive ally."

"You would be… surprised. No, the real issue is that it gives certain people something to hit the Americans and those countries actually trying to seek an alliance with you in order to benefit themselves or their allies."

A pause.

The NATO officers eyed the JSDF soldier.

"What? I'm not wrong."

The British officer said "A little tact goes a long way, lieutenant, um… Youji Itami."

Apparently the British man can read Kanji.

The man said "I agree, but these people are at risk of being destroyed by every other country in this world. If we want to help them, then we really need to start discussing how we're going to sell it to countries that the US doesn't allow through the Gate."

Historia turned to Parker.

Parker said "We should discuss this later. Once we know how things are going back home we can decide on a course of action. Now, what's next on the list…"

Aurile quickly said "I am somewhat curious about these… food chains."

…

"You really shouldn't be out and about."

Both Petra and Eld stammered as they said the same words to each other.

They had both been headed out of the American infirmary with plans of their own, one with bandages and stitches holding his gunshot wound together, the other with a slight limp, but no longer carrying bandages on her ankle.

"I guess you heard about the mission, right?" Eld asked, tired.

"Yeah… you think if we both ask him-"

"No, but it's worth a try."

"The answer will be a very emphatic no regardless of what case you make."

Both scouts whirled around to find their very stoic captain, still in his formal uniform, staring at them.

Before either Petra or Eld could say anything, Levi continued.

"You'll both be good to go on other missions. Queen is planning to modernize and fast, and we will have to be exploring the lands beyond the wall in earnest soon enough. I promise you'll both be clear for the next big mission. But not this one." he finished with a sigh before walking past them towards the exit.

"Thank you, captain!" Petra managed to say loudly.

Levi paused and glanced at the girl.

He glanced at Eld who quickly said "Yes, thank you, captain!"

Levi said nothing as he exited the building.

Eld turned a questioning glance towards the girl.

"I heard the captain lost his original team when he first joined the corps. Not sure if he has lost anyone since, so…"

"Ah, trying to show we're there for each other?"

She nodded.

"Well, nothing wrong with that. I suppose we will just have to wait a while before actually heading out to these major operations. He did say we get to go on the next big mission."

Petra said "Yeah, but it kind of bothers me that we'll be missing out on the next big exploration beyond the walls. It's been five years, and now we know what to look for."

"Think they'll find that place? Where they turn the people into titans?"

"Hopefully. I sincerely hope they drop a few bombs on it, too."

…

If there had ever been a more chaotic time in Washington D.C, the Speaker of the House didn't remember it.

Her party had suffered quite the upset in the 2014 midterms, and it didn't matter how much they claimed Gerrymandering and misinformation had attributed to the victory of their opposition, they had lost their majorities in the House and in the Senate.

They had just barely regained a majority in the House in the previous midterm elections, a victory to be sure, but not the wave they had tried to achieve.

Still, it gave her and her colleagues the power to challenge the current president, and they had been working on doing just that.

Then the Gate opened up in New York, and things had been… complicated.

She had been in favor of sending troops in order to help the people living in that… strange new world. A humanitarian mission, one that needed the firepower the American military could dish out, of course, but that as to handle the giant monsters that existed in that world, not to fight the people.

It was good for Public Relations, a scenario where everyone got to be the hero.

But the news reaching her now…

The president authorized the deployment of a GBU-43 Massive Ordinance Air Blast, a unit of MLRS batteries, and a thousand more soldiers in less than 24 hours?!

Well, not exactly.

The GBU-43 had been authorized several weeks prior, and the MLRS batteries were already on standby in New York.

The issue was the deployment of more men.

Better put, the cause behind that deployment was the problem.

Over a hundred people dead, including at least two United States Army soldiers and the heads of the military in that other world.

The news was all over the story.

The king had orchestrated an attack on American forces, including the regiment that had been training under them. the battle in the capital had resulted in many civilians casualties, and the previous king had been, to put it mildly, deposed, his daughter taking his place.

The Speaker rubbed her temples and glared at the documents a certain someone had left her to look over.

Guess the Articles of Impeachment have to get delayed…

This wasn't as simple as the President screwing things up, or breaking the law… this was an attack on American forces that had been assisting the population of a small, under developed country.

She had seen this before…

The course of action followed then had, of course, been obvious: pull out, they don't want us there.

And it had been done.

But now…

Her phone rang.

She picked it up.

"Yes?"

"Speaker, its Daniel Caine."

She frowned.

The new American representative to the other world was not someone she particularly cared for, but...

"Yes?"

"I take it you got my documents by this point, and I will assume you read them."

"I have." she mumbled, looking out her office window.

The sun was reflecting off the capital, giving the city a warm glow.

"Great, then you know what the new leadership wants."

"But is it true that the world beyond the Gate is that hostile?"

"As much as we can tell, yes. We have an operation currently underway to locate a port and officially begin communicating with other nations, but we have yet to establish such connections."

She paused for a moment, staring at a young woman walking a stroller with a baby down the street, before simply saying.

"We cannot start an alliance that will result in us going to war so quickly."

"We know, and the president knows."

"Good."

Another pause.

"Abandoning them will result in their genocide... or worse... You do not want to go against the president on this."

"Then they better make a convincing case for themselves."

Another pause.

"You know, I thought for once we could agree on something… okay, Nancy, what do you want?"

"Oh, I think we will agree on this. Bring their leadership- not the queen, their leadership, to the House in order to answer questions in a public setting. If we are convinced, we will back whatever decision the president makes."

"I think the Queen wants to talk to the United Nations."

"Oh, good, she can kiss his ass on national television."

"Trust me, Nancy, Historia Reiss isn't a puppet."

"Good."

There was another pause.

"I don't want anyone else to die, Daniel, but I have to put the interests of the American people first, that's why they elected me."

"Yeah, yeah, save it for the press briefing… whatever choice we make this month… going forward isn't going to be easy."

"On that we can agree on."

…

Ryan watched through binoculars how the terrain shifted from dirt to sand almost immediately.

The M1 Abrams was sitting silently, its sisters not too far behind, surrounding a group of Survey Corps scouts and American operatives manning a Global Hawk drone.

"Anything yet?" Darnell asked over the radio.

"No titans at all."

It was Captain Levi who replied.

They were a fair distance from the walls at this point, and their plan was to locate the port the Warriors had described over a month ago. They had quickly headed south and figured the distance wasn't that great.

Has it really been a month?

He remembered meeting the dark haired teen, noticing how she had been curious about his video games. He remembered how he had been told she could be dangerous.

He remembered the spiteful glare she had given him once he turned her in for stealing his console.

He remembered how she had hidden her delight at him letting her borrow the console once the met again.

He remembered how she had returned it on her own, probably looking forward to learning more of it later.

To be honest, he had grown somewhat attached to the teenager in the month they had known each other.

Now the girl was dead, and he still couldn't believe it.

Ryan glanced at the side of the tank.

The turret had been repaired after that attack; the burned area cleaned and fixed up with relative ease.

The Army had brought many extra parts for repairs, assuming titans would have given them more trouble than they actually did.

As usual, it was humans who proved to be more troublesome.

Darnell glanced at him and said "How you holding up?"

"Fine, just… I don't know, I never thought we would deal with this. Not here, you know?"

For once we were the good guys… for once we were doing good things…

Darnell said "I ever tell you about the rat I kept as a pet back home?"

"Dude, what?"

"Yup, back in Iowa, lived in a little farm with my grandparents. I had to clean the barn every afternoon, and I found a rat near the water tanks. It didn't seem to be scared of me or anything, so I remember thinking it was cute and I gave it bits of corn… thought I was doing something nice."

"Sounds more like you were doing something retarded."

"I was like eight, get off my back. Look, the point is that just because we think we're doing something good or bad, it doesn't automatically make it good or bad."

"Bro, that's so deep you should write a song about it." Ryan groaned.

"You think?"

"Got something." an operative said.

Ryan quickly turned to look behind him, noticing the operatives staring at the portable computer screen behind them.

Levi approached the Americans and said "Is it occupied?"

It was a wall with a large port, unlike any of the ones seen within the walls.

The men shook their heads.

"Not that we can tell… no ships, either."

"But it's there."

They nodded.

Levi narrowed his eyes and said "Well, that should help us quite a bit moving forward."

"Our orders aren't to initiate contact yet, right?" Darnell asked.

"No, just make sure the road is clear. Another team will take the port next week."

Ryan and Darnell nodded.

"I'll keep the hawk up, see if we can find any ships or signs of people." the operative said.

Levi said nothing, walking up to the nearby hills, and staring towards nothing.

There were small signs of a past civilization still visible here and there.

Levi remembered stopping in one for a brief period during his first scouting trip.

Bro sure is a stubborn one, isn't he?

Levi, we can do this. Believe in us!

He stared at the endless expanse of cloudless blue sky above him.

That was before he was a captain, before he had really known the terror of the titans, believing he already knew the worst the world had to offer living in the underground.

Back then, as many as 30% of new recruits were expected to die to titans.

With the titans gone, that number was meaningless.

He briefly wondered if there was more he could have done.

Don't. You'll regret it. Memories of regret will only dull your future decisions.

The echo of the words said by the only man Levi thought could see more than him rung in his mind.

Outwardly, his inner turmoil was well hidden, years of abuse in the Underground and years of experience with the Survey Corps had made him an expert at masking his own feelings.

Not like he was the only one, every combat veteran had to mask his emotions to some extent.

He tried to focus on the positives for once.

Things were improving, genuinely improving, little by little.

He was certain Erwin could have reached this goal even without the Americans.

All the tools were there, almost set up exactly to allow for the Survey Corps to win.

Eren Yeager and his father, the illegitimate heir to the throne, and a king so desperate to maintain the rule of a god he could not speak to would all eventually lead to the truth being uncovered either by Erwin Smith, or someone else.

The only question was if the dead would be more or less without the Americans.

"Captain!"

Levi turned, seeing the tired American tanker say "Radio call for you. You are to head back for some briefing."

Levi nodded, turning to look at the blue expanse once more, his expression never changing.

He walked back to his horse.

Keep moving forward…

…

Eren stared at the woman as she looked out the window.

Mikasa turned to the doctor and asked "Are you sure it's safe?" for the twentieth time.

"She hasn't transformed yet and has expressed very clear desire to avoid transforming, ever."

"We'll let you know if something's wrong, doctor." Eren said before knocking on the door.

"Be careful. We don't know what she knows for sure."

Neither Eren nor Mikasa said anything.

The door opened and the woman stared at the two children who had been forced to grow up much faster than they ever should have.

"You… you must be Grisha's… children."

Eren nodded, but Mikasa avoided the question.

"If it's alright with you, we wouldn't mind… talking." Mikasa said slowly.

Dina nodded, stepping back into her room.

The Americans had given her some more appropriate clothing, and it seemed that she was at the very least adjusting to her circumstances in a positive way.

Eren noticed the pair of history books from the other world that had been transcribed into their written language lay open on the woman's bed. She was likely catching up on them.

The door closed and the three not related but still somewhat related humans stayed silent.

It was mostly out of courtesy from the part of Eren and Mikasa, neither really wanting not make the woman uncomfortable but both knowing they would have to in order to get any answers.

Dina spoke first.

"It is so strange, seeing these people… so different and yet the same."

There was another awkward pause before she turned back to face the pair and spoke.

"I… I take it you have questions for me?"

Eren nodded, he would prefer it if he could sit down to talk, but maybe standing up wouldn't be a bad idea.

"You and Grisha, you… you were part of an underground group of Eldians that wanted to restore the Empire, right?" he asked.

She nodded.

"So you were really going to sacrifice your son just for a chance at regaining the power of the Founder?" Eren asked.

Dina visibly stiffened.

She sat down on her bed and stared at her hands for a moment.

She forced herself to stare at the young man who was technically family.

"Yes. We believed it would stop the suffering in the mainland and across the world. We knew… at least, I think we knew, that there definitely had been mistakes made by previous rulers and that we could avoid them, but we were all so caught up in the plan or- at least the idea of one. It was simple but it required things to go down perfectly… Grisha was hard on Zeke, I… I wouldn't have allowed it if I didn't think it was the only way we could be free." She stated; a tired but firm look in her face.

Eren frowned, glancing at Mikasa. The girl looked as stoic as ever, seemingly unaffected by the statement.

She looked at him and immediately got the worried look she had gotten earlier on in the day.

Gotta hide my anger better…

He turned back to Dina.

"Guess you paid the price then." Eren sighed.

The room was dead silent, Dina staring at the young man, knowing she had been wrong, but probably willing to defend her choice even though she knew it had been wrong and the consequences unbearable.

"My father succeeded, though. I know he killed the royal family and took the Founder… now he passed it on to me." Eren said simply.

The blonde haired woman winced.

"I want to know more about the Founder, about how it works. The current Queen was kept out of the… loop, so to speak. She doesn't know any more than the rest of us, and if we want to solve anything, we need to figure out how the Founding Titan works."

The woman shakily asked "So, the King is dead and… we are finally back in possession of the Founder?"

"Essentially." Eren replied.

The woman wiped her eyes, mumbling the words "Grisha, you idiot…"

There was another pause.

"Why did your family stay in the mainland? Wouldn't it have been safer in Paradis?"

The woman shook her head.

"The King, he… he felt that the sins of the past were too much. My grandfather thought it wasn't very fair to blame the descendants for the actions of the ancestor. I believe that was before Marley took over, so it may have been more convenient to stay behind than join a hermit kingdom… I always thought that I could do more by staying in Marley."

Eren glanced at the woman's hand briefly.

He remembered Rod placing his and Historia's hand on his body, activating the power of the Founder.

If I touch her, could I do the same?

Instead, he simply said "I see." Now then… can you help us with uncovering the secrets of the Founder?"

The woman glanced outside the window once more.

"Can you trust the Americans not to use this power for themselves? It can destroy the world, you know."

"They don't need it, and I don't want it. Not for global domination at least." he added.

The woman turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"If I may ask you another question… what exactly do you want?"

Eren remembered the day Wall Maria fell, the screams he heard as people tried to run away, his mother not among them.

He remembered the promise he made that day.

I'll kill them… every last one!

He stared at the woman and simply said "I want to purge the titans from this world."

…

Kenny Ackerman picked up the both odd yet familiar rifle, beginning to inspect it.

"That there is what we would call an M1903 Springfield. Lasted us half a century before it was phased out and it's still in use today by hunters all over, maybe not the best gun out there, but she cleans up nicely." the Marine General said, still weak despite his recovery.

General Connor had only recently been given the go ahead to leave the hospital room, and he wanted to make the most of it by showing off weapons the new military of the walls could use.

They have a lot of options… granted, old options, but…

"I take it the bullets feed through here and… this bolt-" Kenny pulled the dark bolt of the American rifle back with a satisfying Clack, "chambers the rounds… yes?"

The General nodded.

"Given the lack of semi-automatic weapons here, bolt action rifles would definitely serve as good weapons for a police force, and even military I would say. She's a very good gun, and not too far from what your factories can produce."

"Feels good, too…" Kenny mumbled.

Connor glanced further down the room and noticed a platinum blonde trying to figure out one of the handguns.

He walked over to Rico and asked "Thoughts?"

The girl put the century old British revolver down.

"I'm too used to a blade. That said, the need to pull the… hammer? Yes, the need to pull it back before firing makes it relatively inefficient if we want to implement them along with our ODM gear."

Connor nodded.

"Yeah, assuming Marley will use titans in order to fight its battles we can assume the ODM Gear will be here to stay."

"Actually, General, we were working on a project to better the ODM gear based on the records from the Interior Police."

Connor glanced at Hanji Zoe.

The girl placed down a regular M1 Garand before saying "We call them Thunder Spears! We can attach those rockets the Interior Police used against you to our ODM gear in order to do more damage without the need to get close to the titans."

In theory that sounded amazing… in practice…

How many men got their heads blown off training with RPGs?

Connor said "That could get dangerous in training, especially with the live models. But it sounds like an effective weapon. We would need to focus on the training regimen."

Hanji nodded and said "Premier Duvalier will oversee the planning with your help, of course! We need to begin preparations, so the sooner we can begin the training, the better."

Connor nodded.

"So… still no word about a mutual defense pact?" Rico said after a moment of silence.

She was now holding on to an old M1911A1, which seemed to be a bit too large for her hands.

"Representative Caine is working on it. Congress is going to consider it pretty soon, though."

Hanji sighed.

"Would it be possible for us to go and make our case?" she asked.

"Sorry, that one isn't up to me."

Hanji groaned a "Yes, but it doesn't make it less frustrating."

Kitz Woermann approached the group and said "I believe these weapons will work just fine for the Garrison forces. Once we begin producing our own, we could have every soldier armed with the newer weapons in short order." he said, specifically eyeing the M1911 Rico was holding.

Connor said "Well, let's just see how things go. Keep in mind these are still leagues below what we can bring, but hopefully it will give you a better fighting chance against Marley assuming they refuse peace negotiations."

And in case we can't help you anymore.

Kenny Ackerman said "It would be preferable to establish a type of ammunition for the entire military, that way we can focus on one or two types of rifle at a time and actually commence mass production."

"Yes, with a list of parts we could start pumping these out as fast as we did for our ODM gear!" Hanji said, somewhat invested.

"Well… hope for the best plan for the worst."

…

Ilse Langnar knocked on the office door of the new US representative.

She still wasn't used to the strange young man.

He looked like he was moments away from screaming at someone.

Or crying…

Nothing like the occasionally frustrated Representative Kelly, but maybe the other woman was simply better at hiding her frustrations.

"Come in." his voice called after the second knock.

Ilse opened it.

"Ah, Miss Langnar, good… let me cut right to the chase, would you be willing to work as a guide for individuals heading into New York from this side of the Gate should the need arise?"

"I… don't see why not." Ilse said.

Didn't even offer me a seat…

"Okay, great… before you ask, Congress wants to have a hearing on the actions of the president on this whole… fiasco, and they want to hear it from your leaders."

Ilse paled.

"Yeah, this could mean if we stay and help you or stay and not help you… or pull out completely."

Ilse sighed and half asked, half stated "I take it they won't ask me any questions… they probably see me as a puppet."

"They do, which is why they want witnesses to… everything."

"Everything?" she asked, smiling slightly at the demand for meticulous record keeping.

At least that she could appreciate.

"Everything from how first contact went down to the armed engagement with Rod Reiss last week."

He put a paper on the desk before mumbling "Historia also wants to talk at the UN, hopefully get support from other countries not in NATO or allied with us."

"International support?" she asked.

"It wouldn't hurt, especially if Marley is half as bad as the books suggest. I think you already know what Americans think of oppressive regimes."

Images of a dictator getting dragged through the streets in blood covered clothes raced into her mind and Ilse felt that she could smile at the fact that the people who wanted her dead for existing might face a similar fate.

Keyword "might"…

"But won't that means she will try to get support from enemy nations?" Ilse asked.

"If our policy for the Nobility and their allies isn't an indication, we ar very flexible when it comes to who our enemies are... To an extent of course." the man added, sounding frustrated about something.

The US did tend to work with hostile nations when it was beneficial, but Ilse wondered if there could be another reason for allowing Historia to reach out to other nations.

Guess I'll find out soon enough.

"So… when is this vital meeting due?"

"Couple of weeks, but you should know that the guests have to arrive early."

Ilse nodded.

"When do we leave?"

…

"…Yesterday morning the Chinese Navy and the United States Navy got uncomfortably close to one another as the People's Republic of China continues making claims to the Pacific Ocean. With US Forces operating within the gate, China has increased the number of incidents with American destroyers, leading to heightened tensions in the region."

The American president rubbed his temples as the newswoman droned on and on, his cabinet and generals hadn't exactly been a lot of help.

Focus inward; get our boys out of there!

We need to show strength now, mister president! Reinforce the areas between mainland China and Taiwan, combat exercises with The ROK and Japan… a real show of force!

We need to secure our gains, not risk them all! It will look weak to retreat now!

Now they were gone, leaving him and his vice president to watch the late night news.

He turned to his vice president.

"Mickey… do you think I'm crazy?"

"No, mister president." the white haired man replied courtly.

"I feel a bit insane for leaving the decision up to our opponents. Political and otherwise."

The vice president said "If you bypassed them they would call you a dictator, and even if it fell on death ears… whatever we do next-"

"Yeah… it won't be easy regardless."

"We had to send in boys from The Fighting 69th Infantry- national guardsmen- in order to help keep order… if we stay we will need more than just their support, we'll need more men, more materials, more ammunition..."

"You'll need congress on your side."

The president sighed.

"I'll need more than congress."

He glanced at the TV once more; the MSNBC broadcast showing pictures of the men who had died in combat.

"Leaving means letting an entire population of people die, staying could mean another Vietnam or Afghanistan. If only…" he sighed before his face seemed to twitch slightly, as if something had smacked him.

"Mister president?"

"Mike, I got an idea!"

Oh, no…

"Sir?"

"Our research into the other world is well underway, right? Have some of the big theories been confirmed true?"

"That depends on-"

"Actually, it doesn't matter. Tell your wife you'll be busy these next few weeks."

"Of couse, mister president." the vice president said, not really sure what he was agreeing to.

"Great! Let's get moving! I want a travel plan written up, security, alerting world leaders…"

…

Djel Sannes stepped out of the dark home and looked around in mild surprise.

"Come on, get out of here you bloody waste!" Crow ordered, poking the man with his carbine.

The now presumably unemployed MP turned and asked "Are you… actually allowing me to leave?"

Crow made a face that suggested mild irritation, but simply said "Let me put it this way. You have some intrinsic value, and by that I mean, you are more used to everyone alive and working than dead and rotting."

Sannes glanced behind him as a few women carrying boxes stared at him.

They smiled slightly before going on their way.

He turned back to the SAS officer.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Not up to me… preferably, factory work, but you don't know much about that, so… I believe you are to report to the old MP barracks… uh… here."

The British officer handed him a piece of paper with an address.

Sannes read it over, and looked at the man from another world.

He looked bored standing by the door to the mostly abandoned home.

"You are not American… that much I can tell."

Crow's expression didn't change.

"I take it we aren't so different, you and I…"

Crow shrugged before smiling slightly.

"I guess we now have one thing in common."

"Ah?"

"We both have queens on our little islands. Now scram, I have to clear my own things."

With that, the officer closed the door.

Sannes didn't react at the final statement, mostly surprised to be alive.

He turned; walking towards the address he had been given.

American helicopters flew above him, a pair of the larger ones that were carrying huge crates under them.

He wondered what exactly was happening. He knew the Military Police had been all but destroyed, the advisory captured, now serving the new queen after his king was… well… annihilated.

Supposedly the soft spoken king had transformed into a titan, forcing the Americans to drop a massive bomb on him and even that hadn't been enough.

But that didn't really matter.

The old king was dead, and his inexperienced daughter was ruling, or… more or less directing things in order to do what the Americans wanted.

But he found himself not really caring if she was a puppet or not.

He and Ralph were alive, seemed to still have some degree of value, and-

Oh, damn it all!

The address was the entrance to one of the Military Police stations in the capital, but outside was a very young, and obviously tired MP and a certain woman, now wearing clothing that was most definitely not from this side of the Gate.

"You…" he hissed.

The CIA woman was smoking a comically large cigar, a pair of aviators on her head.

"Aw, did you miss me?"

The rookie MP presumably in charge of the booth asked "Um, do you know him?"

"Oh yeah, we had to catch him for an operation; gave us somewhat useful information, even if it didn't help us stop the main attack."

Sannes stiffened.

The girl let out a frustrated sigh before saying "Oh, he's one of them?"

The CIA woman smiled slightly.

"Whatever. We need all the MPs we can get right now. You can give me your name, rank, and basic information here, sir. But if you're one of the Interior Police not with Commander Ackerman, then I take it you'll be helping train the new batch." the girl said, handing Sannes a piece of paper and a wooden pencil.

Sannes asked "New batch?"

The girl replied "After the king practically murdered most of our forces in that failed attack, we're kind of shorthanded. The Americans are keeping order for the time being, but we need to get back on track, so we drafted elements of the 105th Trainee to specifically ready for Police duties in the Interior."

"And you're one of them?" Sannes asked, handing her the now written information.

She shook her head, taking it.

"No, mister… Sannes. I'm still just Private Hitch Dreyse of the 104th. Go on inside."

Sannes glared at the CIA woman before stepping into the barracks.

"Why not just get rid of guys like that…?" Hitch mumbled, not really meant to be heard, but the CIA woman heard her.

The American took a long drag from her cigar before turning to the blonde girl and speaking.

"Cause we need professional killers like that now that the whole world wants your kind dead… probably my kind too if things get really bad. To their credit, I doubt anyone would know it was him that killed their loved ones, assuming his victims had or have any loved ones left. It's ugly, I know, but if he can better prepare those kids for the coming storm then good, but… well, if he can't…"

The CIA woman smirked slightly, as she lifted her arm up to point at a nearby wall. She lifted her thumb up and kept her index finger level, seemingly making the shape of a gun.

"Bang" she said simply.

Hitch cringed away slightly, unsure if the action had left her more disturbed or weirded out.

…

The change was obvious once inside.

Instead of lounging around or milling about with no real purpose, the new Military Police regiment was neatly divided into sections, each doing its own form of training out in the field.

The constant *crack* of the new rifles assured Sannes that this really wasn't going to be the stagnant and corrupt police force that pretended to keep order while his men cleaned everything up.

"Hold the weapon steady, handle her with care…"

"Ralph!"

The slightly older man turned, waving once he recognized his previously captured colleague.

Sannes considered asking how his comrade had dealt with the changes as he had been released a day earlier, but decided to keep things professional.

"Those are the new rifles?"

Raplh nodded.

"They sold us enough for a regiment, ammunition, too. The plan is for us to make our own soon, but for the time being, we're working with what the Americans sold us."

"What did we pay for them?"

Ralph shrugged.

"I believe there are some resources here the Americans wish to have access to. I don't really know. Point is, they are very accurate. These kids are already better marksmen than I could ever be with our old muskets."

Sannes glanced at the ammunition.

The bullets truly were fascinating little marbles of technology. Gunpowder, bullet, igniter, all rolled into one.

"Making a fine army here, gentlemen! Keep up the good work!" an irritating voice sounded off.

Sannes whirled around and saw Kenny Ackerman, not even in uniform, eyeing the more than happy officers training the new line of MPs.

"Djel! Good to see you alive and well!" Kenny called.

"You damned traitor…"

"Hey, now, if Rod had things his way you would all be dead! Besides, I am serving the new queen, same as you and Ralph."

Djel shifted uncomfortably.

"Or would you prefer we all give up what we have and spend the rest of our lives in an underground prison?"

"You think you can atone with this?!"

"No, probably not. But I can work to keep these kids alive, maybe help achieve a peace that only our king knew of. I don't know, Sannes, I just prefer this to being dead! Now stick to helping Ralph with the target practice, we'll need to teach the kids about close quarters combat later on… I have to go." he said, walking off.

"Yeah… wait, what are you doing?"

Kenny turned and glanced at the man, rubbing the back of his head for a moment.

"See, that?" Kenny asked, pointing to a corner in the barracks.

A small group of people were standing by a carriage, each with basic tools, though most of them hammers. The carriage itself, an old wooden thing, had several chopped down trees and wood on it.

Sannes studied the men surrounding the carriage, noting they were not soldiers.

His eyes widened.

Kenny groaned.

"Surely you noticed on the way over here."

Sannes spoke in a shocked tone "Did… did the queen allow this?"

"Yeah. Can't just keep a part of the population underground." Kenny replied.

"W-what exactly are they planning on doing with them? Most of them are thieves, or killers!"

Kenny walked up to the man and said "You never lived down there, and no matter how much you patrolled their areas, you don't know how people live in the underground. You're right; odds are most of them have killed someone at some point in their lives. You don't get that strong by living by the rules of the nobility. Odds are I'll have to kill a fair bunch of them if they get out of line, too."

Kenny then got very quiet.

"But while the underground is full of strong men working to become stronger, you never realize how much they all have a serious reason to become that strong."

Sannes looked at Kenny with confusion.

"I would equate it to being a drunkard, maybe they get drunk on the feeling of physical strength, or maybe they get drunk on the feeling of the feeling of being strong… or maybe they just have a sister or a kid they have to provide for, then it's a different kind of drunk I would say."

The man paused.

"They're going to be working on building up our… um… oh, damn it, what do they call it? Infrastructure? Something like that… point is, they'll be doing a lot of important work in order to ready our little island for the coming storm, and my men will have to supervise a lot of this construction."

"Coming storm, I keep hearing you talk about a coming storm, what the hell is that?!"

Kenny smiled cruelly.

"What we always prepared, for Sannes. Our complete and utter extinction at the hands of the forces from beyond the wall!" the man said loudly, spreading his arms wide as if to encompass the whole world.

Sannes glared at Kenny for a moment, unsure of what he could say.

Raplh simply said "The king going through with the attack may have doomed us, Sannes. If the Americans choose to leave or give us less support… against an entire world…"

Sannes nodded, a tired sigh demonstrated that he finally understood.

Back then, when titans were the biggest threat, he never cared, trusting the king and the Founder, even if he had no idea what lay beyond the walls.

He had always seen himself separate from the other parts of the population, be it rich, middle class, or poor.

For once, he finally understood.

We are all on the same boat… like it or not… it's do or die now.

…

The M4A1 was a proven combat weapon.

Entering service in the 1990s, and later becoming the designated replacement to the American workhorse that was the M16, with a shorter barrel and an effective range of 500 yards, she was almost made for the terror that was close quarters battles.

Matt worried that such features would become a larger necessity in the coming days.

He jammed another magazine into his M4 and lifted the carbine up in order to unload on the target a few yards down the field.

"Clear!" he called.

Dave moved up, sticking to the wooden wall, while Jake got up close to Matt.

Dave grabbed something from his pouch, and tossed it into the open door.

He did that, and an alarm sounded.

"At ease! Not bad, boys, not bad!" sergeant Roy called over the radio.

The soldiers relaxed, picking themselves up or stretching as the combat drill had concluded.

The hastily built training ground resembled a shanty town in India, and it wasn't as big as many other training grounds in the US, but it was serving its purpose of drilling smaller squads of men.

"Okay, head back to the barracks, we'll let the devil dogs play for a bit. Ill have you know you beat your own record today, so treat yourselves tonight!"

There was a mild cheer from the men as they headed back to the barracks.

"I think you could've just let go of the trigger a bit sooner." Dave mumbled.

Matt said "Yeah, but then how can I be sure the target is dead? Full auto, little control discipline, bad on my shoulder-"

Jake slapped his hand down on Matt's right shoulder, earning a grunt from the eighteen year old.

"Man, try not to get hurt in training. Like, I know they say that if you're going to get hurt, do it in training and not on the field, but come on, dude."

Matt didn't respond, seeing Ilse approaching them.

"Think she'll bring us some cold water?"

"Hope so. My canteen is all warm from the drill." Dave stated.

"Guys, I saw the-" Ilse began, reaching the three young men, but Matt spoke over her.

"Yeah, you would think they would cool the water a bit, but no, it just gets lukewarm or damn near scalding after a while."

"What?"

"It isn't just mine, right?"

"I do not think-"

Ilse sighed.

"Oh, hi, Ilse." the three said in unison.

She had not brought ice cold bottles of water from the mess hall.

"Guys, while this isn't a permanent goodbye, I would like to thank you for your assistance so far!"

"Huh?"

"Say again?"

"Ne?"

All eyes turned to Dave.

"…Ever since they set up the Wi-Fi my mom calls me and grandma wants me to stick to learning Turkish so I'm kind of… well… kind of mixing it into my English. Like Bar Nerede means- um… uh… hey, Ilse what the hell about permanent goodbye?"

"Geek."

"Shut it."

Ilse stared at the soldiers in silence for a second before speaking.

"Um… yeah, I'm heading to New York for a bit. You guys won't be escorting me."

"Yeah, a MK 19s are probably illegal in that commie hellhole." Matt mumbled.

"Commie? Look, the point is I'll be heading out. Things may be turning for the better… or worse… soon."

Now Matt frowned.

"Well, hope for the best, plan for the worst. You'll be talking to congress?" Jake asked.

Ilse quickly shook her head.

"No, I'll just be assisting the others! I won't even be going to Washington."

"Oh, they're actually going to D.C now?"

Ilse said "Congress is planning on having a hearing on the… attacks… the situation… everything. Her Majesty wants to get international support in case things with the US get less than optimal… we really need to convince everyone that we need help."

Jake turned to Matt, who simply gave an understanding nod.

It was very complicated.

Why should any country intervene on the racial conflict between Eldia and Marley and… the planet?

Eldia had historically oppressed others, now it was suffering oppression.

Matt knew many would see it as a fair result of the millennia of abuse caused by the previous empire.

Marley and other nations wouldn't be able to make a counterargument, either as contact wasn't established yet.

Still…

Jake said "You know what? Chin up. If Israel and Egypt were able to form a lasting peace, then maybe we can do something similar here."

Ilse shook her head.

"I don't know if that method would work… all I know is that we have to try. Same as back then." she said with a sigh.

She had pushed forward and managed to gain some support for an American intervention back when that Gate opened.

Now she had to help others do the same.

Matt said "Okay, cool. Anyway, since you're heading to New York and we did such a good job in the drill, you're paying us dinner for tonight."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, get the Marines, too. They're doing pretty good."

"…Maybe I should tell the president to bolster the Army ration budget or something; give you guys more brain food..."

"We don't get paid to think, Ilse!"

…

Eren Yeager stared at the stars above, the grass below him felt cool to the touch.

He couldn't sleep.

A fair bit of 104th was going across the Gate, him included.

It's going to get complicated. Interviews, pictures, cameras, reporters like crazy from all over... We'll try to keep it as controlled as possible, but people will see you and ask questions that may not make you comfortable.

It was part of a complicated campaign to gain support for what many were seeing as an upcoming inevitable war between Paradis and… the rest of the world.

Eren glanced at his hands.

His mind turned to Dina Yeager once more.

Should I have tried to… no.

He closed his hand and made a fist.

He suspected that he could access the Founder using Dina Fritz and her royal blood.

Oh, he was certain of it.

A part of the teenager screamed that he should do it, see all the memories of his father, not just what he could access with his own titan… a power he still didn't fully control or understand.

Access to the Founder would surely fix that, it would fix a lot.

He thought about the likely possibility that the Americans would be unable to give them all the support they needed to fight off a combined attack by the forces of their world.

Would the Americans give them massive bombs like the ones they used to defeat Rod?

Probably not…

Which means…

He turned to look south, where Wall Maria would be.

The millions of titans within it could be unleashed in theory if he simply touched Dina Fritz, right?

He shook his head slowly.

I can't… that's… that's what?

Wrong?

Was it wrong to use the weapons you had at your disposal to defeat the enemy that wants to kill you?

Was it wrong to use the weapons you had at your disposal to defeat the enemy that wants to kill those you hold dear?

He turned back to the funeral earlier in the week.

He glanced at his hands once more.

But that can't be the solution…

He thought back to the history books the Americans had brought forward.

So often had nations gone to war out of a perceived wrong that had happened decades or centuries prior.

At the end of the day, the only way peace could theoretically be achieved would be to kill everyone, and even then…

Odds were animals would still fight each other in order to survive.

He glanced at the massive looming structure of the Gate not too far away.

The other world was… mostly peaceful.

There were wars, but not all over the place.

There was fighting, but not every day.

There was hatred, centuries old hatred, but not encouraged by everyone or everywhere, even by those who believed it was justified.

Can I achieve the same here?

"Eren!"

He jumped, seeing Mikasa approach him from inside the hospital.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I… yeah, I'm fine. Can't sleep, though." he added with a fake yawn.

The girl nodded, sitting next to him.

"The doctor was worried, but said he doesn't want to bother you."

"So he woke you up to deal with me?"

"No, I was just worried, too."

Eren frowned slightly, but didn't say anything.

The young pair stared at the stars.

"You feeling better?" he asked her.

Mikasa nodded, holding on to her scarf, lifting it slightly over her mouth.

Eren sighed.

"I think Dina can be trusted." he said after a moment.

The girl glanced at him, confused.

"As in… I think she would trust us more than trust the Americans."

Mikasa didn't say anything.

Eren didn't say anything, letting the implication sink in.

"We won't have to think about that for a while, though… we should get some sleep." Eren finally said.

"Eren."

"Yeah?"

The girl paused.

"Don't do anything drastic over there."

The teenager frowned, saying "Come on, I'm not some little kid that needs to be babysat."

"I just don't want to lose you in a world with seven billion inhabitants…"

"Well…"

"The city is on an island with millions of people, all packed together… if we get separated, and you get in trouble… can you promise me you'll come find me?"

Eren paused staring at the girl.

Pehraps to shut her up or for his own reasons, he simply said "Fine, I promise."

"Good." the girl said simply, continuing to look at the stars.

…

General Calvi was a tired man.

He had helped stabilize the country as it expanded out into the world, conquering the lands that had once belonged to the old Eldian Empire.

Now he helped oversee the military development and had been more than delighted when news of possible terrorists had been confirmed to be headed to their border with the Mid-East Alliance.

It was the perfect excuse to test out how a titan under the control of a certain someone would compare to five regular titans.

The Eldian crimnals had been chosen with little care, rapists and murderers all of them and one had been injected with the spinal fluid of one of the titan shifters under the control of Marley.

Zeke Yeager, had been more than willing to go along with the experiment, of course, and he had done remarkably well.

As he hopped out of the car and headed to the command post, he turned to Zeke who trailed dutifully behind him.

"Tragedy aside, we did well enough this week. Even after losing its head, your titan pushed forward and slaughtered enemy forces. It even took care of the other titans for us, which was a nice touch."

Zeke Yeager nodded.

"Of course… there lies the problem with the Mid-East bastards lying to us. I thought something was wrong when they used outdated rifles to fight titans. Any military commander knows that you need more than small arms to be an effective threat in this day and age. The women and children present didn't help matters."

"There was the explosive they used." Zeke added.

"Bah, that was a fuel tank that they probably dumped bullets into or something along those lines. A grenade, perhaps, but certainly not a demolition charge like we warned they had. Explosion was too small…"

Zeke nodded.

"Well, that will be up to the diplomats to sort out… I classify this experiment a success. You are probably the most valuable Warrior we have, Zeke."

"Thank you, sir."

Once inside the command center, he walked over to the radio man.

"Did our friends give an answer?"

The Radio man simply said "To quote them, General, they're just Eldians, you made the world a better place. The Mid East Alliance didn't give more details if they lied or not and our diplomats are still demanding they stop sending unwanted Eldians into our territory, but no news on that front."

Calvi sighed.

"Alright, thank you, lieutenant… Yeager, please come to my office."

Tensions are growing with the small group of nations to the east…

Once inside the relatively bare office of the General, the man sat behind his desk and offered Zeke a place to sit.

The man glanced at the window before turning to Yeager to speak.

"I wish I was wrong, but I have seen tensions like this explode into all-out war more often than not, Zeke. The Mid East keeps abusing its Eldian population, which forces the poor bastards to flee across miles of desert in our direction. Now that's their problem, but they keep dragging us into it, probably to provoke a response in order to feel justified in declaring war."

Zeke nodded.

"There are rumors of them developing better weapons recently, but nothing that we have been able to substantiate as of yet… regardless, it is better to err on the side of caution, is it not?"

"Yes, General. Although I would admit that sometimes you need to take a risk." Zeke stated.

"A risk indeed… sometimes they pay off. You risked your life coming forward that day, but you saved your grandparents and yourself, and look at you now… probably our most valuable soldier. The Middle Eastern nations are taking a risk with these actions as well, which can mean one of two things."

Zeke said "Either they are prepared for an all-out war with us, or they are more foolish than we give them credit for."

The general chuckled slightly.

"Yes and… and this leads me to the orders we received recently. See, our younger batch of Warriors hasn't checked in for some time…"

A/N: Shorter chapter, more of a setup for the next arc and all the drama that entails… by the way, to clarify, I think we are currently around the start of the Female Titan arc timeline wise. As in, this version of Uprising took place around the time of Eren's trial if not a little later and the diplomatic mission to the US is happening around the time that the expedition to capture the Female Titan happened in the main series.

That's why Zeke is just now heading over to Paradis.

OH! Important! I really would like for you guys, the readers, to put in questions you would like or expect to see congressmen ask the Commanders, both American and Eldian of how things have been handled. As I said in chapter 1, I am not a soldier or an expert on these things, so a hearing about military matters isn't my fortitude despite the research I do for my writing.

Anyway, on to the response!

Guest- giving Historia a proper love interest?

Easier said than done.

Historia is a bit of a mystery when it comes to love interests. Sure, I think we can all agree she cared for Ymir, but it is kind of ambiguous how far it went for Historia. I know Isayama mentioned once a long time ago that he was writing them as a couple, but I never saw Historia really reciprocate the way one would think if she was in love with Ymir. She definitely cared for her, but she never seemed to go as far as Ymir did, even when Ymir's final words to her were "My only regret is that I didn't marry you" her reply was a sad "Ymir, you idiot." which can be taken in MANY ways… then there is the current situation in the manga and… yeah, I don't know.

Let's just put that in the backburner for the time being, okay?

Will Nanaba be making an appearance?

Probably, since the Survey Corps has (ironically) taken less casualties than the Military Police in this fic, she should make an appearance later on.

Anyway, that's it for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, but if there is anything that you think could be done better or needs fixing please let me know! I really appreciate it as it helps me write better stories.

Thank you so much for reading! Hopefully I will have the next chapter out soon!