A/N: Hello, readers! Another chapter is here! Enjoy!

edited on june 9th, 2022 @ 12:44am

»»————-　★　————-««

»»————-　★　————-««

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

𝓒𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝚂𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽,
𝓖𝚄𝙸𝙳𝙴𝚂.

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

"GOOD GRIEF. IT'S APPALLING THAT people doubt us after all this time. Aren't we comrades? We sweat side-by-side these past three years. The railways, the trading... We made this island prosper! We gave our everything to Eldia!" Onyankopon was saying as he let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry. It's just ten months after the rails opened and this happens..." Julian apologized.

"Tell me about it. Didn't we swear to work together for the future?" Onyankopon asked as Julian gave him a weird look. "Wh-What's the matter?!"

"What? Yelena said she met Eren in secret? Seriously?"

"You really didn't know?" Julian questioned.

"I-I had no idea. Honestly." Onyankopon replied as Julian sits back down.

"Yeah. It doesn't seem like you did. To me, at least." He admitted.

"Yelena..." Onyankopon trailed off in thought.

"I notice you're not saying Yelena would never do that. Because you know that she might." Julian pointed out.

Onyankopon looked away. "That's not..." He muttered.

"We've done this backwards, but now there's reason to detain you guys. Tell me what you know about Yelena for the sake of our future." Julian said.

"As you know, Yelena organized the volunteers. At first, people were wary and it didn't go so well. But she got her hands dirty and proved her loyalty to Zeke and the group. There were "accidental" deaths. We buried friends we ate and slept with. Anyone who doubted us. But we pushed for the sake of our homelands that Marley took away." Onyankopon explained.

"Strange."

"Huh?"

"She pressed our government to give Marleyans certain rights. You make Yelena sound merciless to Marleyans, yet on our island..." Julian thought for a moment. "All right. I need you to come with me, Onyankopon."

"Huh?"

»»————-　★　————-««

"Premier Zachary owned a "special" chair. We believe a bomb was placed on it. He and three soldiers were lost. The culprit and their goal is unknown."

"The volunteers were on house arrest and this one was with me all day." Julian responded, referring to Onyankopon.

"Who else could be responsible for it?"

"The premier said some recruits brought it to his room." Armin announced.

"Recruits from where?" Nile asked.

"He never said from where." Armin replied, looking at him. "But when Mikasa and I went to his room, we saw recruits leaving HQ. Scout recruits."

Everyone's eyes widened at Armin's statement. "Speaking of Scouts, I hear some of them leaked the info about Eren." Nile commented.

"You don't think..."

"It's an emergency! Eren Yeager has escaped from his cell!"

"Mobilize everyone and find him!" Nile ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

"Hurry! Let's go!"

"Armin..." Mikasa mumbled. "What in the world is happening?" 

Armin and Mikasa were soon in a carriage with Julian and Onyankopon. "It's okay, Mikasa. Eren will understand." Armin reassured. "If we talk to him, I'm sure he'll understand."

»»————-　★　————-««

"Floch Forster and some 100 soldiers and guards vanished from the prison. They thought to have defected timed with Eren's escape. I'm sure they're behind the premier's murder, too. They need a name. Let's call these anti-military insurgents "Yeagerists." And the goal of the Yeagerists... is what, Julian?" Nile asked.

"They're hoping to bring Zeke and Eren together. They'll reform the military with Eren on top. Murdering the premier shows their resolve. It's obvious what provoked them. The military schemed to take the Founder from Eren, all without telling us." Julian replied.

"We knew what would happen if we had. In any case, many of the Yeagerists are from the Scouts. How will you take responsibility, Julian?"

"I'll accept any punishment. But resigning now would be an irresponsible thing to do. Besides, we don't know how many Yeagerists are still in hiding." Julian responded.

"Indeed. There might even be a suicide bomber standing in front of me." Roeg accused.

"Roeg, don't be ridiculous." Julian said.

"Can you be trusted? Until we know, we can't let you Scouts roam as you please!" Roeg stated.

"You better zip your mouth before I do it for you." Marcus threatened, making Julian eye him and shake his head.

"Enough! We have a guest here!" Pyxis informed, entering the room. "We have more important things to do than bicker! Julian, who knows where Zeke's being held?"

"Levi and the 30 other soldiers with him. Also, three soldiers who deliver supplies. Lastly, there's Hange and I." Julian answered.

"Have those three brought here. Nile, is the Queen's residence safe?" Pyxis asked.

"Only a few know the location, but I'll check it out." Nile responded.

"Eren will attempt to contact Zeke and Queen Historia. Protecting those two is an absolute must!" Pyxis informed.

"Yes, sir!"

"Commander Pyxis! Now that we lost the premier, the only one who can lead us is you." Armin stated. "What do you think we should do?"

Pyxis raised his hands in the air. "We've been utterly beaten. Let's surrender to Eren." He answered, shocking everyone.

"We can't do a thing about enemies in our midst. Even if we flushed them out, who knows how much blood it would cost? We don't have time to waste on such folly. Our decisions made soldiers turn their backs on us. It brought about our defeat." Pyxis stated.

"You're kidding! Bow down to the people who killed the premier?!"

"I knew Zachary for many years. To live and die by revolution would be what he wanted. Anyways, the four who died wouldn't want their deaths to cause Eldia's fall." Pyxis replied.

"So instead, we submit to the Yeager brothers?!" Nile questioned.

"We're not submitting. We'll use the location of Zeke to negotiate with the Yeagerists. Like before, Eldia's survival will depend on a test run of the rumbling. However, we must look past the fact that they murdered the premier. If that's the price to prevent countless comrades from being killed..." Pyxis trailed off as the Garrison soldiers were shaking uncontrollably and had gritted teeth. "... so be it."

"Get moving, soldiers!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Commander."

Kiyomi stood up from her seat. "I'm ashamed you had to see that." Pyxis admitted.

"Don't be. Every country goes through this." Kiyomi told him.

"I'm afraid I can't guarantee your safety. Please wait at the port until all this is over." Pyxis said.

"Right. We're hoping for Eldia's victory from the bottom of our hearts." Kiyomi stated.

"Sorry about Roeg."

Julian paused his conversation with Hange when Marcus walked up to him. "Not the first time I had to deal with an entitled Military Police bastard." Julian told him. "Remember Eren's trial?"

"Gosh, that seems so long ago." Marcus replied. "Are you calling me an entitled Military Police bastard?"

"You kinda were back then."

Marcus let out a chuckle. "I suppose I was. Marco's death opened my eyes a lot." He admitted before looking at Julian. "What's bothering you?"

"Hm? Sorry, I was just thinking back to my conversation with Eren a few days ago." Julian said, making Marcus raise an eyebrow in question. "When he grabbed me, he looked at me as if he knew something I didn't."

"He grabbed you?" Marcus repeated. "If Levi ever finds out, he'll flip his shit."

"That's something I don't need. It's bad enough Jean threatened to go down to the dungeons himself to kick his ass." Julian sighed.

"I wouldn't worry about it. It's probably nothing. Besides, you got more important things to worry about."

"Right as always, Mar."

»»————-　★　————-««

"We're helping Eren when he killed the premier?" Connie questioned.

"Nobody knows if Eren did it." Mikasa argued.

"Keep it down, Mikasa. People suspect us of being Yeagerists." Jean reminded her.

"Whose side are you on anyways, Mikasa?" Connie asked.

"Armin and I almost got caught in the explosion. You have to ask?" Mikasa replied.

"Huh?"

"Enough. Like Pyxis was saying, infighting will be our downfall." Julian informed.

"So you're okay with entrusting everything to Eren and Zeke?" Jean asked.

"No, it's not good. Zeke and Yelena took precautions and were ready for this sort of situation. We have to expect they took other precautions, too." Julian turned to Jean. "We need to figure out Zeke's intentions before he makes fools of us. Let's just hope my concerns turn out to be nothing."

"Something worrying you?" Jean questioned in concern.

"Yelena secured work for Marleyan prisoners in odd places. Like restaurants, for example." Julian responded.

The Scouts were on their horses, following Julian and Hange towards Niccolo's restaurant as dust gathered behind them.

"Tsk! The military's always in a rush."

Nearby was a disguised Pieck looking at a newspaper, staring at the now departed Scouts.

»»————-　★　————-««

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

Word Count: 1456 words.