[Part 1: Hiding Out]

A cabin in the middle of the woods stands out in its mundanity it appears as though there's nothing to be seen. No need to inquire the place, or rather that's what I'd hoped for. Truth be told since the operation to rescue Eren and now that the scouts hold 2 titans seems it was made for the scouts. We're to hand over Historia, Eren and Ymir... I've spent days talking it over with the other section commanders... Hange, Miche & Nanaba. We've all agreed that it's a bad idea. As of now I'm forced to stay in the house to keep an eye on our titans and on Historia. I listen in as the door begins to open and both mine and Levi's squad enter while Eren, Petra & I continue to clean.

Jean is the first to enter carrying several bags of potatoes. "Hey, Sasha, you even try to steal anymore food, and we'll have captain Levi or Marcel chop you into bite-sized pieces. Got it?" He says warningly to Sasha.

"Who me? I would never! Probably."

"Hey! Did you guys wipe the mud off your shoes before you came in?" Eren asks walking towards the group.

Jean slowly folds in on himself lowering the bags of food. "Huh? Are you kidding me? Do you not see all this stuff we're carrying?"

Marco turns to me and nods. "I did."

"Thank you Marco, you're very helpful." I say through an exasperated breath.

Eren walks up to Jean. "You idiot. You really think an excuse like that is gonna play with captain Levi?"

Petra lowers her face mask. "It's bad enough he had to make your bed for you." She scolds Jean.

"Yeah, now you pull this crap." Eren says.

"Oh, shut it! Who are you, my mom now?" Jean shouts back.

"Maybe he should be, Jean-boy." I say teasingly.

Mikasa enters alongside Historia & Ymir with firewood and an axe. "We're back."

Marco turns to her horrified. "Wait you were chopping firewood?"

Mikasa shrugs. "Gotta stay in shape somehow."

Armin shouts at her. "You got grabbed by a titan! You should be in bed recovering!"

"You're wasting your breath." I say with a sigh, grabbing the spark rocks to ready the fire for dinner. "Mina and I caught her doing sit-ups earlier, too."

"Oh, so your nags and spies." Jean says annoyed.

"I'm a section commander, Jean, I will not have the location my squad resides in be a pigsty!" I shout back.

"Funny. Almost feels like we're back in the cadet corps, doesn't it?" Sasha comments.

"Yeah..." Connie mutters.

"Chaos. Makes you wonder why they chose us for this new Levi squad." Armin comments.

Marcel deadpans. "To protect Eren, Historia & Ymir."

Sasha speaks, whilst hiding a potato in her bag. "Because we're all so talented, I assume."

Armin turns to Sasha. "Sasha, what did you just shove into your bag?"

"It's something that's definitely not bread."

"Really what did a I tell you?" Jean shouts.

Connie steps forward. "Come on put it back."

I take a deep breath still sweeping. "Focus everyone."

"Yeah, we should focus." Marco says nervously looking out the window. The door opens and enters Levi as Marco, Petra and I are still cleaning.

"What's all the commotion?" Levi asks. Eren backs away in fear as Marco and Petra silently go to clean a different area of the house leaving the rest of us to stay near Levi. "I am quite certain I gave you enough time. Never mind. We can discuss your utter failure at a later date. Eren, Ymir." Both respond confused, which only continues to annoy Levi more. "Hange is anxious to get the experiment underway. You and your assistant are wanted there too, Marcel."

"Right, let's go Marco!"

Marco nods. "Sir."

We spent several hours on experiments with the two. From building the frame of a house in titan form to carrying large loads of weight for a distance, to some special training. Ymir was training on fighting large groups of opponents all of which would be charging for her alone, while Eren was to try to survive against the speciality that Ymir's titan had which was a faster more versatile form opposed to his. The final training was repeated transformations. Ymir could go from human to titan four times before the fifth would be useless, Eren maxed out at two and the third was useless.

"So the more you use the form in rapid succession the more proficient you get at it. If Eren were to fight Reiner and Bartholdi not to mention the beast these two would have to transform at minimum two or three times." I say writing in my journal from atop the cliff face. We watch as Mikasa runs off to help him causing Levi to sigh.

"Great. The brats at it again."

"If she doesn't learn to let him be on his own he'll resent her forever and it'll get her killed. Speaking of which, how are your legs, Captain Levi? Petra?" I ask.

"Much better now. But I still won't be of much use for another half a year from what the doctor said last month." Petra says looking down.

"And you, Levi?"

Levi shrugs. "I can fight." We watch as Mikasa rushes over and I sigh along with Levi's annoyance. "Back at it again, huh."

"She's going to get someone killed for her urges."

"To be fair she has started to work on them... despite how slow it is taking." Marco says the last part quieter, as he rubs the back of his neck.

"There's no response." Hange shouts.

"We're done here! Eren! Ymir!" I shout as Hange, Moblit, Marco and I rush down and upon landing I grab my journal... thanks to the stuff we got during the 57 Expedition and the battle of titans I filled up journal two of my journals in only a few months. I've already been forced to go to journal three. Though I fear I may need a fourth or fifth journal. Hange extracts Eren as Marco and I observe the titans body. Ymir is able to extract herself though with a visible amount of effort required meanwhile Eren has to be dragged out of his.

"So? How'd we do?" Ymir asks her breath ragged and heavy.

"You're doing well, based off of what we've learned with your Titan, we can assume that your titans power lies in its jaw and maneuverability. Each of the members of Marcel Squad has a single blade made out of the armor of Reiner's Titan and one blade made from a few teeth from yours. Sorry about that by the way." I say offhandedly.

"No, it's fine. So long as it'll protect Historia." Ymir says．

"Speaking of which could you try to be quiet when you're alone in your room?" I comment after she mentions Historia. "Mine's right next to it and the walls are thin as hell."

Ymir grins. "What don't like the sound of a woman?"

"It's not that I don't like the sounds of a woman, I don't want the sounds of you in my head when I'd rather have Annie."

"Why not then have Historia take your room?" Ymir asks me.

"You're separated at night so you can't take her in the middle of the night without alerting someone. Let's be honest that stunt you pulled back then shook a lot of us. I may have forgiven you maybe Marco & Historia have as well, but the others have not."

Ymir scoffs. "Whatever." She looks away still seated on the slowly dissolving corpse of her Titan.

"Don't you worry, with enough time I'm sure they'll forgive you. Come on." I say looking towards Eren who's entirely exhausted.

"Uh... I cant exactly feel my legs..."

Marco walks past me and slowly climbs the Titan. "I'll carry you this time." He says with a deep sigh. Marco grabs her as she wraps her arms around him as he holds her legs carrying her piggyback until arriving at his horse.

I sigh and shout out to everyone in the area. "The experiments over. All troops, withdraw at once!"

"Withdrawing! Go! Make sure we weren't seen!" Marco orders mounting his horse with Ymir.

"Right!" Jean shouts.

Jean, Connie, Sasha, and a few others all race about on horseback doing light reconnaissance leaving Marco & I with Ymir.

"Marco, take Ymir back to the house. The section commanders & Levi are all headed to Trost." I order. "You and Petra are in charge until we return."

Marco salutes. "Sir."

[Part 2: In The Open]

A few hours later in Trost district the commanders & Levi have all split apart. Levi & I are with father discussing the recent experiments while Hange, Miche, and Moblit went to go check on Pastor Nick. Nanaba is with the rest of Hange Squad in making sure nothing happens to us while we're here.

Father sighs. "I see. Another failure, then. Imagine if it had worked. We could've plugged the hole in Shinganshina in less than a day."

"What we need is information." Levi scoffs. "It's not like there are books on the subject. And the girl Ymir has only a limited amount. The knowledge of some form of people living beyond the walls was a hard enough pill to swallow."

I nod. "Yeah, and the fact that they can turn our people into titans with a simple thing as an injection as she put it... is kinda... scary to say the least. Not only that but the beast titan, it's made camp in Shinganshina. If we're to retake Wall Maria we'll have to fight him. And he wounded Miche pretty badly." I say looking out the window.

"Yes. However I must ask, any new information from our small info broker?" Father says, I turn around and look to he and Levi.

"Nothing as of yet, but we know they're getting close to finding where we're holding them. I'd recommend moving them again in a few days and finding a new location to hide."

Erwin nods. "I see."

"Historia may have some knowledge but..." I begin

"I did some digging and found a report about her life before the cadets. The illegitimate daughter of Lord Reiss. Hers was not a happy childhood. Lord Reiss is the key to all this somehow. Why would a mere regional lord know the secrets of the walls." Father contemplates.

"I've had a thought about that for a while... perhaps... there's an imposter among the royal throne?" I say quietly.

"A fake king?" Father asks.

Mi shrug. "A bit on the nose, but what if the Reiss we're the true royal family? By making themselves be lower it reduces suspicion on their activities."

The following day I help with making dinner a stew for the guests planned to be here today.

"What are you doing? You should still be in bed?" Mikasa says worried. We all look over to Eren walking over as Mikasa notices my gaze turn from him to her. "What?"

I shake my head and return to cutting the carrots.

Eren brushes her off. "I'm all right. I already slept a whole day. Besides, it's my fault the plan got shelved, so the least I could do is help."

"No! You tried, didn't you? Don't beat yourself up." Mikasa says trying to reassure Eren.

I take a deep breath before sighing out. "Mikasa..."

Mikasa turns and replies sharply, maybe a little harshly. "What?"

"What did I say about safety nets?" I return the venom in kind. I give her a slightly harsh look and she lowers her head and turns away as I face Eren. "As for you, while the results aren't the best we'd hope for, so long as we can take out Bertholdt before he transforms, you and Ymir should be able to deal with Reiner fairly easily. Leave the big bad beast to Connie & I." I say.

Connie nods. "Yeah. All I care about... is getting a chance to bring down the Beast Titan. That hairy bastard took everything from me. I want it dead. It's about time to switch lookouts." He says handing me a knife to continue chopping.

He and Mikasa walk out as Marco & Mina walk in the room together. "That shirt is too big Mina. If you're trying to keep a secret maybe stop wearing Marco's shirts." I say.

Mina turns bright pink and backs into the hallways to her room. "Right..."

Marco joins me grabbing a knife he continues cutting the carrots. "So what now? Ymir's asleep, and the plans been shelved. What can we do?"

"As of now, we just stay with the plan we've been working on. Keep the titans and Historia's location secret and try to find a way to plug wall Maria. I just hope we can be quicker and I won't lose too many of my family doing this."

Marco smiles as we put all of the vegetables in the stew on the stove. "We'll always be here, bud." He says.

"Hange and the others are back!" Sasha shouts from the main room.

"Well most of the stews done. Marco, take over dinner, I need to go see what's going on." I say handing him the wooden spoon. Everyone but Marco heads to the main room where, Levi, Miche, Hange & I all take seats with our squads behind us for the most part.

Levi sits. "Now, what's this about?"

Hange takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Pastor Nick... he was murdered. Today. In the Trost barracks."

"Was it a petty thief, or the pigs?" I ask crossing my arms.

Hange stares at me. "The 1st Interior Squad."

I scoff turning my head away. "The fattest of pig bastards then. It's all fine then. Likely they'll pin this place soon, we should start preparing to move to the next safe house."

"They tortured him. Presumably for information." Hange admits.

"Did they just want to know what exactly he'd passed on to us?" Armin asks.

Levi nods. "Most likely. But these are the interior MP's we're dealing with, so you can bet there's something deeper at work here. Now, how many nails was the good pastor missing?"

Miche steps forward. "All of them. Both hands." He says quickly.

"People who talk, talk after one. If they don't, ripping off more wont make a difference. I'm impressed. I didn't think highly of Pastor Nick. But whatever his faults he stuck by his believes until the end." Levi praises the pastor.

"Yes, but that should mean, that they have no idea about that we know about the Reiss family. However somethings turning and the government is most certainly behind it." I say bringing my hand to my chin ponderously.

Levi nods. "Yes. And the scouts have targets on their backs."

The door opens and entering with it is Nifa of Hange's squad. "Section Commander, sir. I have a message from Commander Erwin."

"From father?"

"I went to tell him about Pastor Nick, but he gave me this and sent me off."

I quickly read the note and sigh turning to the others. "Get your gear now. We're leaving. Make it look like we were never here. Mina, go wake Ymir." I order and walk out of the room to get my ODM gear.

We quickly get to work and flee as a few hours later we watch as the military police break down the door to the house. We stand on a cliff with ODM gear and rifles.

Connie takes a breath lowering the binoculars. "That was close. What if they had caught us? Would they rip our nails off."

"It's best not to dwell on it." I say on horseback.

"How did commander Erwin know they were headed here?" Armin asks.

"The governments passed down some new orders. There's been a freeze on all scout activity outside the wall. We're to hand over Eren, Ymir, and Historia." I say shredding the note Nifa handed me.

Ymir scoffs on a horse with Marco. "Fat fucking chance that's happening." She says full of sass.

Historia nods. "Yeah."

"Section Commanders." Noda speaks to Hange and I. "I didn't have time to tell you, but some MP's came for the Commander right after I left him."

"See any recognizable faces, Nifa?" I ask.

"Nile Dawk, and Nico Harms are the two most recognizable." She admits.

"Well, we know they won't kill him if those two are there." I say scratching my neck.

"What like he's some kind of criminal?" Hange asks.

"They're brining this fight into the open... I guess that means no more working from the shadows, Marcel." Marco says striding up next to me.

"Not entirely." I mutter. "Squad Marcel, you all have the upgrades correct?" I ask retaking my role.

Marco nods. "Yes. Each member of our squad has the wrist gear."

"Good. Levi, I'm loaning you Mina, Sasha, and Jean. Marco, you and I will go with Hange. Miche, I want you to stay in Calaneth and keep your ears to the ground. Nanaba should be there and if she's unaware of the situation warn her. They're attempting to protect the walls' secret at any cost. Levi, you're in charge of those with you." What's the deal with Eren & Historia specifically? Ymir I understand, cause there's some suspicion on her after Reiner's betrayal... but... why those two?

Levi turns and addresses everyone else. "We're moving Eren and Historia to Trost. Ymir will go with Miche to Calaneth."

"What? You want to separate us?" Ymir asks indignantly.

"If they get all three of you at once then that'll be far more dangerous." I scold her. "Marco and I will be in Teost, however we'll be doing something else."

Levi turns to Hange. "Hange, I'll also need to borrow some of your squad."

Hanbe nods. "No problem. All right, I'm going after Commander Erwin. Moblit's with me. The rest of you will go with Levi."

Abel, Neiji, Ulfer, & Nifa all salute to their section commander. "Roger."

"Let's Go, Marco." Marco and I mount up on our horses and begin riding away as Hange and Moblit fall after us. Everyone begins heading their own ways.

(No POV)

A trio of people stand together near the house that the scouts were hiding in. As a female speaks a male chuckles and the third person lowers his hood, and then a pocket watch he keeps hidden. Inside of it is something we can't see.

"Rather quick on the move, aren't they?" The woman says crossing her arms.

"That's the Scouts for you. It's how they were able to defeat the female." The younger male says tugging his jacket forward.

"Heh. The kid may be small, but he's disciplined. I'll give him that."

"An acquaintance of yours?" The woman asks the male.

"An old one."

Chapter End.