A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on may 19th, 2022 @ 3:47am

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𝓒𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙴,
𝓣𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙴𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃.

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SIMON LANDED ON THE WALL next to Levi. "You're up?" He asked.

"Captain! Section Commander!" Armin said. "What in the world happened here? I remember... Bertholdt becoming a Titan... What about the others? Are they okay?!"

"That's as far back as you remember?" Levi asked, getting out a flare gun.

"Huh?"

"Eren, tell him everything." Levi said before firing a green smoke signal.

The others soon arrived as Eren soon told Armin what happened, his eyes were widened at the news.

"Well? Up to speed, Armin?" Levi questioned.

"Are you telling me... the Scout Regiment... is the ten of us here... and that's it?" Armin asked.

"For the time being. The fighting ended four hours ago. We've been looking for survivors, but... none yet..." Jean replied.

"S-So, we managed to seal the walls of Shiganshina... But Reiner, the Beast Titan, and one other escaped... Bertholdt was captured... Then... there was a dispute... about using the injection on Commander Erwin or me... And I... turned into a Titan and ate B-Bertholdt..." Armin looked like he was about to vomit.

"Here." Jean said, handing Armin some water, in which he accepts and drinks it.

"Why... did you pick me? No matter how you look at it, wasn't Commander Erwin the right one to bring back? Captain! Why did you give me the injection?!" Armin asked.

"Tsk!" Levi muttered under his breath in annoyance before kicking Eren's back. "I told you to tell him everything."

"The thing is, it seems your two friends here didn't think that way. They stood up to me... prepared to draw blood." Levi continued on.

"Huh?" Armin glanced over at Eren and Mikasa.

"We'll take whatever punishment comes." Eren said.

"You'll be disciplined for insubordination, but... Does taking the punishment allow you to do anything?" Hange asked the pair.

"No..." Eren responded, looking down.

"However... The final decision to choose you was mine. No... I chose this to be the place where Erwin dies." Levi claimed as Armin looked shocked and confused.

"I don't understand... There's no way it's okay to let Erwin die... If the commander is gone, how... how will we go on?" Armin questioned.

"I agree. I thought it should've been used on Erwin... if we're being brutally honest. No... it's a shame we were put in that position..." Hange agreed. "Anyways, Erwin entrusted Levi with the decision to use it. And Levi ended up choosing you. There's nothing more to say."

"Erwin's life and a Titan's power rests on your shoulders. No matter what anyone says, that's part of who you are now, Armin." Simon added on.

"Does that mean... I need to be... Erwin's replacement? No way... I can't..." Armin said.

"Don't get me wrong. You'll never be Erwin's replacement. But... I know you have a strength that nobody else has but you. I won't regret my decision. However, don't make these guys regret it. Nor anyone else. And don't regret it yourself, either. That is your mission." Levi told him.

Sasha groaned in pain. "Shut up!" She said as everyone turned to look at her.

Hange let out a chuckle. "We're no match for Sasha." They commented. "Well, being the successor of Erwin as commander of the Scouts, we're kinda in the same boat."

"From here on out, we'll have to grin and bear it." Hange concluded.

"Right..." Armin agreed.

"Now then... If it's not a problem for Armin, we should get going." Hange spoke, standing up from where they were sitting. "Levi, Simon, Eren, Mikasa, and I will go investigate. You other four keep watch from atop Shiganshina's wall."

"Roger." They replied.

"Eren. Do you still have the key?" Hange asked.

Eren touched his chest. "Yeah. Right here." He responded.

Levi, Eren, Mikasa, and Hange jump off the wall and started heading towards the direction of Eren's house. Simon was about to join them, but stopped in his tracks.

"Armin." He began, turning around to face the blonde.

"Y-Yes, sir?" Armin replied.

"I greatly respected Erwin, but he had dragged both Levi and I into the Survey Corps, and as a result, two of our longtime friends died as well as my brother." Simon explained. "He may have saved us from that rotten place we call the Underground, but I never forgave him for forcing me into this fighting bullshit. You have so much to live for, Armin. Don't take it for granted."

Armin looked like he was about to break down into tears as Simon jumped off the wall.

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Eren and the others eventually reached the street where Eren's house was located. Eren and Mikasa looked around, seeing the destroyed houses around them.

"Hey, where's your house?" Levi asked.

"R-Right..." Eren replied, walking towards the staircase.

"Is this it?" Hange questioned as Simon looked around.

"Luckily, the fires didn't make it this far." He said.

Eren and Mikasa finally found the trapdoor that lead to the basement.

"Right here. Under this are the stairs to the basement." Eren announced.

"Good." Levi said.

Levi, Simon, Hange, Eren, and Mikasa began moving the boulder, finally removing it. Eren opened the trapdoor, revealing the staircase.

"That's a relief. It's not flooded with water." Hange pointed out, Simon humming in agreement.

"Let's go." Mikasa placed a hand on Eren's shoulder as he nodded.

The four followed Levi down the stairs. "Eren." Levi said.

"Right." Eren said, taking out the key.

Eren tries to put the key inside the lock, but it didn't fit. "What's wrong?" Hange questioned.

"Eren?" Mikasa questioned.

"Hurry it up." Levi added on.

"This... This key... it doesn't go to this door..." Eren informed.

"You're kidding... I'm certain that's the key Dr. Yeager had." Mikasa said.

"Step aside. I'll open it." Simon said, shoving Eren to the side.

"Huh? Wait..."

Hange tried to stop Simon, but Simon ended up kicking the door, breaking it in the process.

"Hold up..." Hange finished.

They entered and lit up a lantern inside of the basement and began looking around.

"It almost feels like a laboratory down here." Hange commented.

"My dad was a doctor, so... he was always cooped up down here mixing medicine." Eren explained.

"That makes sense. In fact, if this medicine is all labeled correctly, it's stuff that's widely available. And since all the books here relate to medicine, at first glance, it's just a doctor's study. "There's nothing suspicious here." It's like that's what he wants people to think." Hange spoke.

"Yeah... if you're hiding stuff from the Interior Police, you wouldn't want it out in the open." Simon agreed.

"Hey. Quit standing around, brats. Erwin's hunches are rarely wrong." Levi added on.

"Right." Eren and Mikasa said in unison.

Eren and Mikasa started looking around in books and cabinets until Mikasa accidentally hit a cup that fell to the floor as she saw a secret keyhole.

"Eren... There's a keyhole right here." Mikasa stated.

Eren looks at it and he puts the key inside of the keyhole. Surprisingly, the key fits and Eren unlocked it.

"It opened." Eren said, pulling the drawer and saw nothing inside. "It's empty?!"

"Look closer. It's a false bottom." Levi said, removing the false bottom where they saw three books. Hange picked up one of the bags and smells it.

"It smells like peppermint oil and charcoal. Were these treated to keep moisture and bugs away?" Hange wondered.

"We were looking for something... and these must be it." Levi announced.

"I wonder what it was my dad wanted to show me." Eren stated.

Eren and Mikasa opened the book, seeing a far too realistic sketch of three people.

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The Scouts stood on top of the wall as the townspeople were cheering below them as Hange was carrying the three books they found in the basement.

"This is... a portrait?" Eren questioned with uncertainty.

"Let me see that." Simon said as Eren handed him it. "No... It's far too detailed for this to be drawn by a person."

"That's Dr. Yeager's writing." Mikasa pointed out, gesturing to behind the paper.

Simon flipped the paper over. "This is no illustration. Instead, this uses light reflected off a subject... and burns the image on special paper. It's called a photograph. I come from a place outside... the walls where humanity lives in elegance. Humanity has not perished. I pray the person who finds this book is a fellow patriot." He read out loud as everyone had shocked expressions written on their faces.

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A/N: Another chapter is finished! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1443 words.