Chapter 2:First Contact

After Jena, Eren and Ymir headed south to Trost, hiding in a river boat to  make the trip while  discussing their plans. During their training, these two were not  very close so their interactions now turned out to be going pretty well because of their common goals. Once in Trost, the challenge was to get hold of two ODM equipment. Given their reduced physical condition, it would be much complicated to use and taking down titans would be too risky. On the other hand, they could still escape them if things got worse.

Now they were in the city's military headquarters. It had been complicated to get in. It had taken them several days to identify the changing of the guard schedules. But they had managed to sneak past without being spotted. However, going out with the material would be more complex.As they walked in the corridors, they had to stop several times to avoid the soldiers. Luckily, most were asleep at this late hour.Finally, they managed to enter the supply depot. There was everything they needed: straps, blades, pulleys, grapples, cylinders and gas.Quickly, they put on the straps and the rest of the gear. Fortunately, they could compensate for their reduced size by tightening as much as possible. They also took gas and extra blades.

As quickly as they had arrived, Ymir went to a window and left with her gear. Eren was about to do so but a voice recognizable among a thousand made him pause.

"Let's check the material."

As he turned, a blond soldier entered the supply room. It was Hannes.

The two froze when they saw each other. For his part, Eren was still upset to see the person he failed to save in another reality but Hannes pulled him out of his daze.

"Hey kid! You are not allowed to touch that. Return it!"

Seeing that he was caught in the act, Eren hastened to take the exit with his gear . He could hear Hannes screaming out the window.

"Thief! Catch them!"

For his discretion, they missed.

Eren hovered between the houses under the cover of night and was able to join Ymir in a dark alley.

"What have you done? The guards are alerted now!" Ymir reprimanded.

"Sorry. I saw Hannes, an old friend of my dad's, couldn't react faster." Eren apologized.

Ymir grunted. "Sure, let's get to the wall without being spotted."

Thanks to the darkness and the gear, it was quite easy to escape the soldiers who were looking for them. However, they had some difficulty in maneuvering due to their young age.Once on the outskirts of the city, they climbed the wall. They were then able to move away from the city to the west, walking quietly.

"This is the second time that a meeting with an acquaintance freezes you. At this rate, it will be difficult to go unnoticed. "

"It was different from Marco. He did not know us yet at that time. Hannes, on the other hand, has known me since I was born. The effect is not the same. It's still hard to get used to the idea that it's just the two of us. "

Ymir could feel a hint of sadness in his voice. Although she was not one to let go of her emotions, she could not blame him for being unsettled by the meeting.

They went west until they were out of sight.

Ymir stared at Eren. "Who transforms first? "

"Better if it's me. You can't harden. Transforming twice could be quite exhausting,so I'm not sure if I could return here. It is better that you keep your strength. "

Ymir nodded and pulled away. Without hesitation, Eren bit his hand to transform. Once the light and steam have faded. Ymir was able to admire the Titan of Eren.

It was very different from the last time she saw it. He was still 15 meters tall. He kept his fierce demeanor with his muscles, his gaze and his sharp teeth. But this intimidating effect was reinforced by several additions. To begin with, there were flames lit from several parts of his body. It felt like he was a blaze on his own. Then his fingers were now sculpted like claws. No doubt he could shear a lot of things. Finally, pieces of rock protruded from his skin as if they were coming out of it.

"Your new look's nice." complimented Ymir.

Eren blushed and took her on his shoulder. He then went down the wall. Together they traveled over the plains to Shiganshina.

It took the rest of the night to reach the district of Shiganshina. Once there, Eren easily plugged the two breaches with his hardening. Fortunately, no one was present around because the yellow lightning was clearly visible. The only downside was that he was now sold out. He and Ymir rested for a few hours at the top of the wall.

Eren looked towards the sealed breach. "With that, the scouts should take less casualties."

Ymir growled. "Maybe. But we can't just go and see them. We have to rely on ourselves first and foremost. In other words, I don't know if it was really useful."

Eren didn't answer. As much as his relationship with Ymir had become friendlier, Ymir's devotion was still far from his.

Finally, it was Ymir's turn to transform by jumping off the wall. Her titan kept its general appearance. She was seven meters tall, had fairly long brown hair and a strong jaw. But like Eren, it looked like rocks were sticking out of her skin. Beside that, her teeth and claws were even sharper than Eren's.

Eren whispered with a smile. "Thanks for the gift, Ymir."

Without wasting time, he climbed down the wall with his equipment, and  hung onto Ymir's back with his cables. They could then make their journey back to Wall Rose.

The next day, Commander Erwin Smith was at the headquarters in Trost. His mood was gloomy with a good reason. The Scouts had returned the day before the expedition was supposed to end. Supposedly to last three days, the main objective was to continue the construction of a road to Shiganshina. For that, they have to clear a way and establish new supply points. Their aim was to enable the delivery of materials to Shiganshina in the future so they could plug the breach made by the Armored Titan.

Reclaiming Wall Maria was the mission of the Survey Corps. Since the fall, its popularity had grown as the success of their mission meant ending the food shortage. This was all  enough reason to convince the population of the need to continue their expeditions, who before insulted their soldiers due to the waste on their taxes. Despite the support of the population and Premier Zackley, several major problems were created. On the one hand, the number of recruitments was low. Previously, the Regiment attracted many curious soldiers with great ideals of freedom. But now the fear of titans predominated among the young soldiers. In the last training corps alone, the 100th, the number of enlisted cadets was only thirty among the four divisions: North, South, East and West. On the other hand, the losses remained quite significant with each expedition. Although several strategies reduced the clashes with the titans, they still brought back many corpses and mutilated soldiers.

The last expedition was neither a disaster nor a success. Two bases had been installed with a plan for a third one. Unfortunately, the arrival of a horde of titans forced the commander to sound the retreat. Nevertheless, the frontlines had been in contact with the titans and many soldiers perished. In the end, Erwin certainly brought results, but at the cost of heavy losses.

Now he was here in a meeting with Section Commander Hange Zoe, Squad Leader Levi and Mike Zacharias to make a decision.

Erwin stood up. "Thanks for being here. I'd like us to start with the general report of the expedition. Mike?"

"Yes. We were able to continue the road towards Shiganshina. The two established bases are operational. However, the horde caused us heavy damage. Among the frontlines, one counted about forty dead in addition to ten others from the other sectors of the formation."

Erwin looked down. "I see."

Levi snorted. "Looks like there are more titans."

Hange intervened. "This is because they are gradually entering the breach of Wall Maria. It is unfortunate, but their number will continue to grow."

"So our task will be more difficult then. I don't think we will make the slightest progress." Levi growled.

Hange moved uncomfortably. "In fact..."

Erwin looked up. "Yes Hange? Do you have a point to make?"

In response, Hange handed Erwin a file. "Here is the report from one of our men in the left wing of the formation. He describes something strange on the way home."

"What is it ?" Mike inquired.

Hange rubbed the back of her neck. "Honestly, I don't know if you can give it credit. It sounds pretty crazy."

Mike insisted. "Say it."

"It happened during the night just before the retreat. He was patrolling quite a distance from the camp. He said he saw an active titan in the middle of the night."

The others raised their eyebrows at this statement. It was well known that the titans needed sunlight to move. Without it, they were totally inactive. Hange had previously hypothesized that the light returned by the moon would eventually suffice for a few specimens. However, such cases had never been observed. The night in question was a new moon anyway, so not even Hange's theory could apply.

"A titan who moves at night?" repeated Erwin. "It sounds like a fairytale to me. How could he just have seen it?"

"This is where it goes sideways. I went to chat with the soldier in question. He says the titan was fifteen meters high and gave off flames. That's how he could spot it. "

"Flames ?" Erwin asked skeptically.

"I know, it's unrealistic. Yet he claims to have seen it with his own eyes. Besides, his last drop of alcohol would be a month ago."

Erwin took Hange's words into consideration. However, he didn't know what to do with this new titan whose existence was not even verified.

"Is it specified what the titan was doing?"

"Apparently it didn't even spot the soldier or our camp. It just run towards Shiganshina."

Erwin raised his eyebrows.

Levi objected with skepticism. "Erwin,I am not sure with that. A titan who throws out flames, and then what else will be reported,a frosty giant?"

Hange rebutted. "How about a 60-meter-tall titan or another with armor? One year ago, no one could have guessed the existence of such specimens. Yet we have had proof that they exist and that they weren't content to just devour humans. The Colossal and the Armored Titans are intelligent. But who tells us there aren't others? How many titans have extraordinary abilities? "

Erwin weighed Hange's words. "Do you think we should accept the existence of this titan just by listening to this soldier?"

"Accept it or not, at least consider it."

Erwin closed his eyes. "Alright. We'll see if we can find something else on it in the future."

Later, their meeting was interrupted by Commander Pixis who entered. Immediately, the four soldiers saluted.

Pixis smiles at them. "At ease everyone. Glad to see you safe and sound."

Erwin answered. "It's good to see you, Commander. Can we do something for you?"

Pixis shook his head. "No. I just wanted to let you know about one thing. I know that you are still looking for new items for your Regiment. However, I was informed of a material theft two nights ago."

"Perhaps arm traffickers?" Erwin assumed.

Pixis stroked his mustache. "Absolutely not. My captain, Hannes, caught them in the act. At least one of them. But since two pieces of equipment were missing, one can easily assume that there were two. They were in civilian clothes."

Levi snorted. "He caught them in the act but was unable to stop them? It's laughable."

Pixis took a serious look. "I would have said the same thing. But the testimony of several garrison soldiers confirms his claim. The thieves used the very equipment to escape."

Erwin's face lit up. "You mean untrained civilians wielded the three-dimensional equipment?" These were certainly people that would be valuable to the Scouts once in the army.

Pixis chuckled. "Yes. But the most surprising thing about the culprits were a boy of about 11 and girl of 13. That is the age estimated by Hannes anyway."

This time the others were speechless. Children themselves had mastered equipment that required years of training to perfection.

Erwin's eyes were shining. "These kids could be great soldiers once trained."

"Indeed. For this reason, Hannes did a portrait of them here. He did it as faithfully as possible." Pixis handed them a portrait.

Erwin took it. "Thank you. We'll try to find them occasionally."