Gohan woke up with a groan of pain. Unlike his world, there was little in the way of anaesthesia or advanced medical technology, and especially no senzu beans, that meant he had little choice but to rest as best as he could. Looking around, he found himself in an admittedly small but private room, the windows shuttered but small beads of light made their way through the cracks.
Slowly, he eased a leg out of his bed, the sheets pulling down and revealing the numerous bandages that covered him. Briefly, he was embarrassed that he'd been at least partially stripped in his sleep, but it passed quickly. He'd found himself in a similar situation in the aftermath of his Oozaru transformation against Vegeta. Admittedly, that was many years ago when he was a child, but it still left him with some kind of prior experience.
Shifting his weight onto his legs, he moved to stand and immediately felt a spike of pain from his ribs. Yep, they were definitely still broke, as were two of his fingers. He eyed the splint on his right hand, seeing the discoloured splotches of his skin underneath the wraps. It was ugly, but it would heal.
He shuffled slowly to the window taking breaks each few second to let out a small moan and get his breathing back in order. He couldn't sleep in the bed anymore however, so instead he continued on and reached the window, opening up the shutters to see the outside view.
He recognised it near instantly, being back at the same castle he was in for training the special operations squad, however there were many more people around this time. He could see teams still organising equipment or resting as they enjoyed the countryside. The chatter from them all was quiet, with so many enjoying the simple break after the expedition and being able to return safely. He also noted that a lot of them were in casual gear, and not in uniform.
Idly, he cast his eye over the crowd to see if there was anyone he recognised, and was pleasantly surprised when he spotted Hannah and Franz, both laid down peacefully on the grass cuddling. It seemed they'd gotten over their insecurity about public displays of affection and were happily enjoying each other's company. He was happy for them, truly.
"What are you doing out of bed?"
He'd been so distracted he hadn't noticed the door behind him open, nor the doctor step inside. The man was dressed in the standard military uniform sans jacket, with some white medical gloves on his hands which suggested the man had been doing the rounds of seeing patients before coming to see Gohan.
"I wanted to open the window." Gohan's response was innocent enough, though it seemed to not satisfy the doctor as he stepped inside and moved by Gohan's side.
"No, I mean you shouldn't be standing right now. Do you know how many injuries you have?" He gently ushered Gohan back towards his bed, helping the boy to slowly sit back down. "You have fractures in your entire body, including several of your fingers, a nasal fracture, a possible stable pelvic fracture, at least two broken ribs and two broken fingers, numerous lacerations including one to your left eye which was almost a corneal laceration by the looks of it. It's a miracle your lungs didn't collapse and that you don't seem to have internal bleeding. There is no way you should have been standing just now."
He laid Gohan down and stepped out into the corridor, signalling to someone Gohan couldn't see. Gohan however simply reached out a brushed his fingers over his eye, feeling the deep scar that was now there from Annie's cut. He'd been pretty damn close to losing his eye to her, all because he had let his guard down. The anger and disappointment he felt in himself was strong, as was his determination to never do it again.
The doctor returned shortly afterwards with some assistants, who began to check him over more thoroughly. With him lying on his back, they gave a few test pokes in different spots around his body to check what hurt where and how much. They changed some of his wraps, applied different ointments to some of his open wounds, gave him a series of different medicines, and a prompt dressing down about getting out of bed.
"You need to rest and recover, that means no getting up from your bed to open the window, no stretching your legs and going for a walk, no getting out of bed for any reason."
When looking closer at the doctor, he could make out the heavy bags under the mans eyes, and it became clear that his lack of bedside manner was more due to stress and fatigue than anything else. He imagined the man must have been up all night taking care of the other wounded soldiers, many who were no doubt much worse off than him. It made Gohan feel guilty when he realised he had a room all to himself, and yet there were likely many who would be sharing rooms, unable to rest and with no privacy.
"What about if I need to… use the bathroom?" He blushed as he asked, remembering that when he'd been hospitalised after Vegeta and Nappa had invaded, he'd at least been able to be mobile.
The doctor sighed and reached under his bed, pulling out a chamber pot and looking at him flatly. "No leaving your bed, for any reason. If you need assistance, ring the bell." He nodded his head in the direction of a small bell on the table beside his bed. "Now, if you don't need me, I'll be taking my leave. I have other patients to tend to, and I believe an officer is here for your battle report."
Gohan looked over and was surprised to see Mike Zacharias waiting politely in the hallway for his turn. He even waited until the doctor and the assistants fully left before entering and closing the door behind him.
"How are you feeling today Gohan? You're looking quite well all things considered."
It occurred to him that he really hadn't interacted with the man much, though he supposed that wasn't surprising given the mans level of seniority. What was surprising was why he was actually present and speaking to him, rather than having delegated it elsewhere.
"I'm okay sir. All things considered I mean." He let out a small chuckle that was quickly cut off by a spike of pain from his ribs. "I got hurt pretty badly though."
"I'm aware." He moved a chair and sat next to the bed. "I got a report on your injuries after the doctor checked you over, and I was there when we came to reinforce you in your fight against the Female Titan. Came just in time to watch her crushing you in her hands."
He said it without judgement, but Gohan still felt a small piece of shame. "That shouldn't have happened. I should have won that fight, I almost did. But she… caught me off guard."
"From everything I've heard about you that seems unlikely. Is it because she was your friend?" So he knew not only who Annie was, but had picked up the details about her being part of the same group of cadets. The investigation into her must have already begun.
Gohan shook his head. "It wasn't that. I mean, that is how I got this," he pointed to the scar over his eye, "but it wasn't how I lost the fight. She… used a Ki attack on me."
That had his attention, as he suddenly leaned forwards with rising alertness. "She used Ki? Did you teach her?"
Gohan shook his head again. "I did a demonstration when we were in the cadets, near the end of our training and during one of the hand-to-hand combat sessions. The solar flare only. I showed it to everyone, and I didn't fully explain what it was, but she must have gone away afterwards and learned it herself."
Mike did not look happy, instead being quite alarmed. "She learned it herself? How!?"
"Ki manifests more easily in those that have a strong martial arts background. It takes both physical, and mental strength and training to be able to perform it. Annie had a martial arts background from her father, and we used to spar together quite a bit." He realised something and frowned harder. "She had far more stamina and durability than she should, not to mention she'd learned how to cast the Solar Flare… I trained my own enemy."
He gripped the sheets in frustration, anger still bubbling both at her betrayal and himself. How could he have been so foolish? Except he knew why. He'd had no reason to doubt her, there was no reason to believe she would do what she did, it was something he still didn't know.
"It's not your fault." He was surprised when Mike laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "What she did was her choice, and something she hid from even those closest to her. All you did was try and help people."
It seemed bizarrely soft for the man, though Gohan really didn't know him well outside of what Ilse had told him, and despite her flowery words she still had not painted him as much of a romantic. "Thank you sir…"
The man eased back and looked him in the eye. "Ilse tells me you're a good kid, but she gets the feeling you place too much of a burden on yourself. I think she's right. You held off the Female Titan by yourself for a long time before reinforcements came in to finish her off, and she was Ki empowered let's not forget. You did a good job out there. Between that and your assistance to Erwin, there's a lot of lives you saved that day."
Gohan blushed and looked away. Part of him knew he'd done a good job, but it was still embarrassing to be praised like he was. "Thank you sir."
Mike nodded silently. "Now listen. In regards to the Female Titan. We need to know if there's anything you can think of that can help us. Motive, information she might have let slip about her background, did she sneak out anywhere, was there anyone she was particularly close with?"
They were all questions Gohan had asked himself at various points. He hadn't had long to think about them in between unconsciousness and being in a fight, but he'd thought about it. He shook his head sadly. "I don't think there's much I could tell you really. She wasn't very close with people, and I don't know why she would do this. But she was from the same village as Reiner and Bertholdt…"
He wanted to know why they had never noticed anything about Annie, and a small part of him immediately tried to justify it. Nobody had known about Eren and his abilities until Trost, so it was entirely possible that she'd either not known, or kept them secret from others. Except, Eren hadn't known about his abilities, and Annie had. She was used to her Titan form, and could even transform her skin. She had to have known how to transform for quite some time, and the only way that could be done was with practice. Something she certainly wouldn't have been able to do after Wall Maria fell, not being stuck in an orphanage and constantly surrounded by people.
That meant she'd learned before in her village, which meant the only people who could help them was Reiner and Bertholdt… Could they really be part of this as well? He didn't want to believe it but… he would leave it to them to explain anything they knew.
"Reiner and Bertholdt. If anyone can help you, it would be them. You should ask them about Annie."
Mike sighed with disappointment. "Yeah… We'd like to ask them too. Unfortunately, they disappeared yesterday afternoon."
Bertholdt's breathing was heavy as he struggled to keep pace with Reiner. He was by no means unfit, he had placed fourth in the cadet rankings, and was only that low down because both Gohan and Mikasa were freaks of nature! No, he was so exhausted as the two of them had been on the move for hours since leaving the Scout base. Unable to steal any of the horses, they'd had to move on foot, not even able to speed things up by having Reiner shift to his Titan form as a lightning strike would have pointed the Scouts straight towards them.
He wondered what the Scouts response had been. No doubt search parties had been sent out, most likely to nearby villages or the main districts. He wondered if anyone looking for them had been told about what they were, or was the word simply that they were deserters. If Annie hadn't told them, and Bertholdt truly believed she hadn't, then it still would have only been a matter of time before they suspected them.
Damn it, why hadn't they claimed to be from different villages? No, it wouldn't have mattered. They'd have still been heavily questioned over their relationship with Annie given how few friends she had and they'd needed to stay together to plan their next moves. It wouldn't have taken much convincing for the Scouts to decide to lock them up for interrogation just in case, and then what? Do as they said and risk being discovered but unable to do anything because they were captured, or transform and try to fight their way out? He might have believed they could do that once, except between Eren, the Special Operations Squad, Captain Levi himself, and Gohan, it was all far too much of a risk.
Admittedly, he'd heard Gohan was out of commission, but most importantly he wasn't dead. Whatever had happened inside of that forest had left Annie captured, Gohan wounded, and everyone else just fine, even after Annie had attracted the attention of the surrounding Titans.
"Come on Bert, just a little bit further to go." Reiner indicated ahead of them where a small outcropping of buildings could be seen as they crested the hill.
The houses were abandoned, it was a set they'd discovered once during a day off where they'd decided to travel around the inside of Wall Rose to find hideouts in case they'd ever needed them. It was all part of a backup plan they'd hoped they'd never need.
Instead, stuck inside a nest of enemy soldiers and with the possibility of exposure, they'd decided to flee during the return to base. They'd dismounted their horses, returned some of their mission only gear, and slipped away into the nearby woods when everyone began to relax and recuperate. They hadn't even had time to grab any food, which had left his stomach groaning heavily. An expedition took up a lot of energy, which was only made worse when followed by sprinting through the countryside, sleeping in long grass, then another run in the morning.
When they did eventually reach the first building, Bertholdt slammed into the side of it with his shoulder, too exhausted to properly control the momentum of his body. He soon slumped down to the ground, panting to try and get his breath back. The fact that Reiner was likewise tired but still standing, was almost enough to make Bertholdt hate the man.
"Come on, we should get inside and out of view."
Reiner moved around the corner out of view as Bertholdt continued to lay and pant. Looking out at the countryside, he couldn't find himself appreciating the beauty of it all as his eyes flicked across each tree and crest of every mound of earth, any one of them could be hiding a Scout that could see them and bring the entire regiment bearing down on them. Anxiety spiked inside of him, and he begrudgingly began to crawl his way inside, too tired to make himself stand up.
"Has there been any word?" Erwin tapped his fingers against his knee impatiently. He knew the answer already, but it softened none of the blow when Hange gave her report.
"Nothing sir." He sighed, silently fuming at himself. Inside Titan territory had been no place for questioning of Annie's associates to begin, especially when he had needed the regiment focused on their return, but he also hadn't expected their most likely suspects to flee so instantly.
After his drink with Mike the debrief of Eren and Mikasa about any details they may have had about Annie Leonhart had begun, which had led to Reiner and Bertholdt being the most likely identities of the Armoured and Colossal Titans. Yet, as soon as he'd asked for any hint as to what they might be doing, it was discovered that they were missing.
So he'd immediately sent out multiple messengers to the Garrison headquarters and to each of the districts requesting they watch for any sign of the pair. He'd had to label the two of them as AWOL to avoid sharing secret and not confirmed information, but he'd shared his information to Pixis. The man would likely either use Erwins excuse or a convenient surprise training exercise to bolster the outer districts strength, but there was tragically little that could be done.
From what they could gather, the two had fled on foot, but they still possessed their ODM gear. While they may have had questionable supplies, it was likely enough for them to scale the wall and flee towards Wall Maria if they needed to, and the wall was far too big to try and keep watch for if they showed. Not to mention if the two were who they thought they were, then they were exceptionally dangerous, and a lone Garrison soldier would die needlessly.
That had left him with limited options. Search parties had been organised and sent out quickly, but even with some of the Special Operations Squad using their Ki sensing, they hadn't been able to locate them before they'd been forced to turn back. He couldn't afford to send his best away while there was not only the potential for Annie to make an escape attempt, but also in case the two returned and made an attempt to rescue her. That's why he'd kept his troops remaining at the castle instead of fully returning to their inner headquarters.
"What of Miss Leonhart, have we gotten anywhere with her?"
Hange had been keeping the girl company for hours at a time, cutting down on her own sleep to continue their interrogation sessions regular. She had certainly been… enthusiastic to say the least. He'd been forced to reposition some of the guards to give them a break from the screams and make sure none of the people who knew Annie personally were able to get within earshot.
"Well we have some information at least. For one she knows a lot of ways to swear at people." She let out a dark chuckle to which Erwin frowned at her. Hange wasn't psychotic despite what he'd heard some people claim, Captain Levi included, but she most certainly had her… different moments. "I did manage to get confirmation that it was her who killed Sonny and Bean."
To that, Erwin raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yup. I'd just finished taking off the fingers off her left hand, and I was reminiscing about my babies when she took the chance to tell me all about how happy she was that she killed them. Not as politely of course, but you get the picture."
Gruesome as it was, he did. "She's slipping. Perhaps we can continue to feed into her anger, let her gloat and reveal something more."
At that Hange shook her head sadly. "Not too likely. I think she realised what she did after she said it, clamped right up and wouldn't even let herself scream when I moved onto her face."
"Don't break her Hange. This is for information, not for punishment." It was something that was surprisingly hard to remind himself of, despite the fact that she was in so many people's eyes, a child. One who had helped to breach the walls, an act that had killed so many innocent people. Men, women, children. A quarter of a million people had been sent to their deaths as a result of the wall being broken, and he firmly laid that at her feet as well, not to mention all the soldiers under his command who had been killed trying to reclaim the wall since it fell.
He remembered too many screams each and every night to feel remorse for the girl.
"What about our other operation?" He needn't specify it, it had partially been Hange's own brainchild after all. It was she who had found the information a couple of months ago. Non-actionable, but significant enough that it had warranted further planning. Now with the way things were, he'd been forced to try and accelerate plans, even recklessly so.
Hange's frown was a mirror of his own feelings on the decision. "It's ready to go, Pixis gave confirmation by letter a few hours ago. If we choose to back out however, no harm done."
Pixis was a damn reliable man for someone who drank as much as he did. He wondered if part of it was his personal presence at Trost, but truthfully he doubted it. The man was bizarre in so many ways, yet he never failed to see the big picture and work together to achieve it.
Idly, Erwin tapped away at the glass in his hand. Water this time, he'd put the drink away with a bitter anger at himself last night upon hearing about his two missing 'soldiers'. It was a decision he'd been struggling with since the idea had first been offered, not for the least of which it could yield nothing. Nothing, or a whole lot more…
"Do it. Today. We can't afford to let this slip through our fingers as well." Despite his own frustration, it was true. Reiner and Bertholdt's running away had cost them a lot, not just in opportunity but in trust from the nobility. The successful expedition had bought him enough freedom that he didn't need to continue justifying Eren's survival, but now he was having his position as commander being threatened.
It was surprising how quick politicians could come to a decision when someone was to blame for a mistake.
Gohan drew on the pieces of paper carefully, each stroke of his pencil precise and planned. He'd been drawing for several hours now, and it had taken him that long just to be able to draw properly again. With his right hand being his dominant, and being splinted, gripping the pencil had taken a surprising amount of work. Still, the results had been better than when he'd tried with his left hand, the crumpled pieces of paper that lay on the floor had been a testament to the success of that venture.
When he finished his drawing, he moved on to adding his notes. Additional details, measurements, explanations, material lists, instructions… it had taken him a long time to get as far as he had, and he was still nowhere near complete. But it wasn't like he was going anywhere soon.
His tail reached out and wrapped around the glass of water that had been placed on the table next to him. He sipped it without stopping his work, this was only his third drawing and he had hundreds of them to do, and with so many copies to be done as well. Not for the first time, he thanked his mother for drilling in such discipline in him when it had come to his schoolwork, otherwise his hand would have cramped long ago.
The knocking on his door startled him however, and the glass slipped from his table, much to his horror falling straight towards his near finished work. And then, it froze. Something else he had been working on in his private time was his mental skills, and much like his father had been doing during his own recovery after the Saiyan attack, he'd spent some time working on his telekinesis. His skills weren't as diminished by comparison as his Ki abilities, but rather due to them not being as powerful in the first place. At least, not on the more physical side of mental will, he would have to at some point test and see how his image training skills were with another person. After all, his battle with Annie had been a painful reminder that he would have to re-train his more varied abilities rather than simply increasing his power.
"Come in." He called out as he grabbed the glass with his left hand and put it on the side. It would save him some questions if people didn't see him lifting objects with his mind. To his surprise, a familiar blonde face poked their head inside. "Armin! How are you?"
The boy stepped inside with some food in hand. "The doctor said you could have visitors. Everyone is pretty eager to come and see you, but they're also serving dinner. I figured you would like some."
That he most certainly did as his stomach growled loudly in agreement. He'd been fed well by the medical staff, but the portion sizes were still small for what he needed. He happily took the offered meal from Armin, simply shifting some of the papers down from his lap and placing the tray there instead, digging in quickly. As usual, there was no meat, it still being such a rarity, but potatoes were still good and filling for him along with the soup and bread served alongside it.
"So," he said, mouth still full of food, "you didn't answer my question, how are you? I heard you helped to save the right flank by giving them the order to withdraw." It was partially true. He'd sensed Armin travelling to pass along the message, riding straight into the Titans to tell the soldiers there, something he'd managed to have confirm during his chat with Mike. "That was really brave."
Armin looked bashfully away. "It wasn't much, the least I could do after all. I'm not much of a fighter compared to most."
Sadly, that was true. Armin was capable by the standards of the military, he had still passed and trained for three years after all. But he wasn't in the top 10 like the rest of his comrades, his academic skills only able to bring him so far. "You still saved lives Armin, not many would have been brave enough to do what you did."
That was also true. Armin had really proven himself during his time in the cadets in that while he may have lacked in the more physical side of things, he lacked nothing when it came to determination.
"I suppose. But its nothing compared to what you and the others did. Taking down the Female Titan in direct combat? I only saw her briefly, but I heard about what she was capable of."
So he hadn't been told her identity, if he had his response would have been far different. He remembered Eren suggesting he'd had a crush on Annie, if it was true then the reveal was going to hit him hard. "She was tough. But we did it in the end."
"But you almost died." Armin's voice wavered slightly, and Gohan realised how hard it must have been on him. He hadn't known Armin as well as Eren, Mikasa, and Carla before the fall of Shiganshina, but during their time in the Cadets the two had become good friends, even study buddies for their classes. Except since Trost, Gohan had been busy with teaching Ki, and while he'd been able to see Eren and Mikasa on a daily basis, he hadn't seen Armin much before they went on their expedition and he was suddenly near death.
"Sorry about that." He mumbled.
Armin fixed him with a glare. "Don't say that. What happened wasn't your fault, and you're a soldier, this is your duty. But…" He looked away, swallowing his emotions before turning back to him. "I thought you were dead after Shiganshina, and then you turned up alive after two years. Then I thought Eren died in Trost, and he was alive as well. Now you nearly die again! This is all… a lot to keep on dealing with. We're soldiers, and soldiers in the Scout regiment no less. I know some of my friends may die eventually, maybe I'll die first, I don't know. But until then, just… can you all stop making me think you're dead?"
There was a sad humour to it, but the tears that welled up in his eyes and that Armin quickly washed away showed his pain clearly.
"I'll do my best. Sorry Armin."
It was sadly, the best he could do. He knew loss just like Armin did, and he knew its pain well. But, this was a war, and while Gohan wouldn't let another person die that he could save, there was only so much he could do for himself.
"It's okay. Like I said, we're soldiers. This is our duty." He trailed off and looked around, seeking a change of subject. He found it when he noticed the drawings that lay at Gohan's feet, and reached out to inspect one carefully. "What is this…?"
"It's a little design I'd been thinking of. This right here, is a steam engine for generating electricity."
Gohan realised after he said it, that he was perhaps a little too casual with the revelation. After all, while for him it was old knowledge, and he'd covered both this and far more advanced technology in his studies, Armin looked amazed. The boy quickly grabbed the other papers, diagrams showing different angles of the engine and its operation. The physics behind it had been one of the first things he'd detailed, and Armin read through his notes studiously.
"This, this is…"
Gohan beamed with pride. "I decided if I couldn't teach anyone or train while I'm resting, I can still help another way."
Armin barely heard him as he looked over the diagrams, still in wonder. Only a muted nodding of the head showing that he had heard Gohan's words.
"Listen," he said, snapping Armin's attention back to him. "Why don't you go and get your dinner, and then afterwards you can come back and we can do some diagrams together?"
Armin nodded his head vigorously, the boy already getting excited at the prospects. "Yes. Yes definitely. It might have to be later, you're going to have a lot of visitors today. But afterwards, yes."
The boys joy was infectious, and Gohan couldn't help but smile wider. He had so many ideas that he wanted to bring into reality for everyone. Starting from engines, he could create electricity, lights, heating, cooling, machines, better production of materials, increased farming outputs. Eventually he could look into improved medicine and metallurgy, even blimps and eventually aircraft were possible. It would all take time, lots of time. He could help them bypass a lot of research, but the development not only of the products, but even just the suitable materials and tools would take time. But he could teach them so much. Enough to take back Wall Maria, and explore the lands beyond, maybe even find what happened to the rest of humanity and the origins of the Titans.
In time anyway.
"This sucks." Ymir groaned as she sat in the back of the wagon as it travelled along the road. It was not the first time she'd complained on the trip, and certainly wouldn't be the last. While everyone else got to enjoy a feast, she had been given the task of helping with a supply run and given a small meal for the road that she'd long since finished eating. At least there was a silver lining to it all.
"Relax Ymir, it's not so bad." Ah Christa, she could make anything better. Ymir felt her breath go light as it always did when she looked at the beautiful girl. "The road is smooth, and look we even get to see the sun set."
She pointed out to the sky where the sun was not truly setting, but it was getting close to where the walls would cut it off from view. And yes, it was a beautiful sight. She hadn't really been a nature loving girl, but something had made her more appreciative since she woke up to a night sky full of stars. She remembered that image so well, such beauty following a sixty year nightmare…
She swung her arm around the girls shoulders. "You're right Christa, it is a pretty sight. You could almost call it romantic."
She blushed heavily and shrunk in on herself before pointing to the woman at the reigns of the wagon. "Ymir…" she muttered in embarrassment. Ymir gave her the grace of not pushing her further, though after three years of her flirting Ymir would have expected the girl to have gotten over it a bit by now. She supposed that was what helped make her so cute, that shyness. Damn she couldn't wait to kiss her.
But she'd have to, not when a squad leader was right next to them anyway. Christa had told her good things about Nanaba during their time in the expedition, but Ymir had yet to work with her, and her first impression of being pointed at and being assigned work hadn't endeared her to the woman. Still though, she trusted Christa's word, and while she wasn't Ymir's type, preferring small long haired blonde girls herself, Nanaba was relatively easy on the eyes.
Not that she could compete with her Christa of course, but she gave her points for trying.
And so Ymir simply stretched out and laid back, getting as comfortable as she could against the empty sacks and boxes, the woman still resting against her arm making it all worth it. The ride was still boring however, and Ymir was damn near overjoyed when it finally seemed to come to an end and their destination came into view.
A rather homely little village, with nature having been left surprisingly untamed in the surroundings as trees littered the area. She imagined it probably ruined the view of anyone who lived in the two storey buildings, but perhaps some people liked it.
They came to a stop in the middle of a crossroads, and Ymir took the opportunity to stand and stretch her sore limbs, before reaching down to give Christa a hand up and the two hopped down. It certainly was a peaceful little place as she noticed how quiet it was.
Then, she stilled.
It was quiet, it was silent. She looked around the streets around her and saw nobody. Not a light on in any of the buildings, not a person walking around, not even a barking dog or wandering cat.
"Where are we picking up from Nanaba?" Christa asked innocently, looking confused when the woman said nothing and walked ahead in silence away from them.
Ymir's eyes were on full alert as she watched her walk shortly down the street then stop and turn towards them, eyes hard and narrowed not on the pair of them, but squarely on Ymir.
There was a creak of wood, and Ymir's head shot to the side to see two more people step out from one of the buildings a short distance from them. She didn't recognise them at first, but the symbol of the Garrison on their uniforms was clear, and it was from there that a memory clicked. She had seen those two at Trost as part of the team that had helped protect Eren. A short woman with glasses and platinum blonde hair, stood next to a tall man with gold eyes and dark blonde hair, both part of the Garrison elite squad.
The creak of wood had been a deliberate choice to announce their presence, as had been the swinging open of doors and rustling of bushes as more people stepped out into view. Others from the Garrison's elite accompanied by the Scouts own Special Operations Squad. She spotted a few of them on nearby rooftops, hands on blades but not yet drawn.
"Ymir… what's going on?" Christa asked her scared, stepping close to her. Instinctively, she stepped in front of her protectively, though it was a fairly useless gesture. They were surrounded and judging from their posture, none of the personnel here were looking like they would hesitate with Christa in the way.
A set of swinging doors were shoved loudly open to bring their focus, and out strolled Captain Levi and another woman in tow, a Scout who looked remarkably like Ymir herself. Ymir looked at her in confusion, before snapping out of it and zeroing in on the short haired man, her anxiety spiking as he looked at her without any concern whatsoever. Humanity's once strongest soldier, who had been personally trained by Gohan to do whatever the hell it was that his powers could do, backed up by a team of elites who had received the same training.
To say she was nervous was an understatement. Her concerns only skyrocketed however, when Captain Levi finally opened his mouth.
"Hello Lady Ymir."