Perhaps he is telling the truth. Perhaps if I told them what they want to know, everything would be fine again. Perhaps they would really leave us alone if we make it possible for them to escape. But if he's lying... If he doesn't keep his promises after getting what he wants, because nothing could stop him from doing so... It would be the end, for Eren and me. No, I cannot trust them. I refuse to bet my life and Eren's and their word alone. They are our enemies. No matter what they can say to convince me, helping them would inevitably backfire on us, and I would be naïve to think otherwise. I must try to hide the truth from them, to misguide them, it's all I can do for now...

"Your battleships... Whenever a fleet tried to reach our coasts, we used the power of our Titans... We destroyed all the vessels, with no exception. They all lie on the bottom of the ocean now."

I have taken my decision. I didn't catch the hand that was given to me... I can see the blood covering it. Karl doesn't answer. He simply stares at me, for a long time. I withstand his gaze, trying not to reveal myself as he tries, I can feel it, to decode what he is reading on my face.

"I see." He finally replies. "That's a shame... A real shame..."

He puts the gag back in my mouth, and walks away from the group to rejoin Viktor, leaving me in my inner emotional chaos of fear, pain and sorrow. For how long will this keep going?... Once again, I feel the heaviness of solitude on me... Yet I had promised myself to never stay alone again... But once again, I have failed...

• • •

Viktor brings his cigarette to his mouth while losing his gaze in the horizon.

"You didn't really go easy on her, mh?" Karl says as he approaches him.

"Trust me, it was nothing." He says as he blows off his smoke. "I just scared her a bit, that's all. I could have gone way further..."

"But you didn't... You are no torturer, Viktor"

"I will become one if I need to." He replies abruptly. "Do not underestimate me, Karl. I don't have you hypocritical scruples. Unlike you and some others amongst us, I know what I'm here for, and why I do this. I made a promise before I came here. I will keep it. And if I need for this purpose to make these demons endure the most atrocious sufferings imaginable, I will have no mercy and do so! It is our duty to stop them from continuing their massacre!"

"I know what you're thinking. But don't let rancorous thoughts consume you to make you forget your mission... We must bring our comrades back. It's the only thing that must matter to us now."

"Don't worry about that... I got exactly what I wanted. I must say, she is tougher than I thought, but by pushing her a bit to her limits, she gave me herself what I wanted to know... Small but precious information. The Titan... he is our only enemy. On a chessboard, he is the queen... and we are pawns. If we can foresee his actions, and trap him... It will be a checkmate for him."

He blows some smoke, lost in thoughts. He turns around to look at their prisoner, out of voice range, and adds:

"I don't know exactly what relationship these two have, but I know one thing, if she cares more about his life that about her own, even under the threat of a blade... They are not just comrades of arms... They must be extremely close. But actually, I don't give a damn. All I know is that this unexpected link will be very helpful to us, and you know why..."

"That makes her a particularly valuable hostage..." Karl replies.

"Yeah, exactly. We know that her life will matter in the equation when the time of the confrontation will come. But there's more... Maybe we won't be able to find the Titan thanks to our hostage... But he will come to us. Because she's the one he's searching for. I'm sure about it now. The hostage will help us capture him... Even against her will."

"Hoping everything will go as smoothly as you think... Nothing is certain yet. Even now... We're deciding what we must do based on a guess."

"We made a bet." Viktor replies. "We've taken a huge risk, but we'll soon see if we were right. By the way... Did you learn anything new?"

"Hard to say..." Karl hesitates. "She clearly has no trust in us. And it's too late to even try to get her confidence. The promises, the words ... All of this has no value without trust. When I told her we would save them if they cooperated, she did not believe me..."

"Drop it" Viktor shrugs. "It was worth the try. We'll just keep on advancing in the dark, knowing nothing, until we get out of it... dead or alive."

He clenches his jaw, as he thinks once again about this goal that became an obsession which has been monopolizing all his thoughts since the previous night.

"She refused to cooperate, and she won't change her mind. However, there is something..." Karl added with some hesitation. "She assured me positively that all the ships had been destroyed. Of course, if that were the case, our whole strategy would be compromised... Yet, before she answered... She remained abnormally silent, briefly... As if... as if she hesitated."

"Are you sure?" Viktor asked him with renewed interest. "If that's true, it can only mean one thing ... She understood our intentions, and she lied to mislead us. Why would she have hesitated if she was telling the truth? But it doesn't even matter, in the end. We will continue walking anyway, until we find out about it ourselves. Karl, send the radio signal. We're setting off."

"Very well." Karl agrees. "One last thing though, Viktor. I know that you've already experienced the reality of this war, but... Even if we do find intact ships ... There's no chance their crews have had the same fate."

Viktor freezes, and looks at him in the eyes. Then he simply replies:

"I know."

Karl repetitively presses buttons on a metallic device that produces a series of strident sounds in response.

"I know I'll never see again the ones I lost." Viktor added. "I did not come here for that."

• • •

As I was once more immersed in my thoughts, someone pushes me in the back, urging me to move forward. Surprised and unbalanced because of my shackles, I topple forward and collapse hardly on the ground, as I feel a hard element sinking painfully into my shoulder.

The soldiers pass by without paying attention, as if I were invisible. Only Paul, standing still a few steps away from me, has stopped his walk. He doesn't make the slightest movement. He just watches me get up with the little dignity I have left, but I find the way he looks at me at least... different. Different from all the very meaningful looks I've been receiving lately. As he sees me walk again, he turns away his gaze and turns back to resume his walk, casually.

I wriggle to rub my sore shoulder. Through the fabric of my pocket, I feel the angular shape that has hurt me. Slipping in my hand discreetly, I pull out shards of crystal. I understand then that they come from the piece of luminescent rock that I had taken as a precaution before leaving for the expedition. It must have got shattered at some point in the violence of the confrontation.

It was certainly only miserable pebbles in the eyes of the one that checked my pockets... But from my perspective, I have just found the light that will guide us to deliverance... Or at least, I was hoping so.

Out of the sight of the soldiers, I slip a handle of shards into the back pocket of my pants, keeping them reachable. I let one of the fragments fall to the ground, while addressing in my mind a supplication to the only one who could hear it:

"Eren. Wherever you are right now... Please... I need your help, again..."