A Letter from The Capital

(Eren POV)

Striding along the corridor, Eren rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't know how he was going to complete the new quest- retake Shiganshina? That was probably a long way off given how the resupply route from Trost had been rendered useless. To add to his frustration, he had gotten some strange rewards: A weird skill that allowed him to change the color of his eyes, and another that supposedly would hide titan shifter marks on him based on the description.

What in the world were titan shifter marks supposed to be? He had inspected his body in front of a mirror this morning, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary; except his body being a lot more well-toned than before. Eren wished the system would reply to his queries, for even just once, but his questions were always met with a familiar silence.

"Eren, are you okay?"Mikasa asked, her voice full of concern as usual.

"I-It's nothing." He took in the empty surroundings. Everyone was probably still asleep; recovering from the grueling excursion. He could imagine his teammates all snoring away on their beds while here he was; summoned by Erwin in the wee hours of the morning to meet him. He sighed. If Erwin wanted a report he could have just waited.

Eren knocked at the door.

"Enter." A voice sounded behind it.

He turned the doorknob and stepped in with Mikasa. The flip of a page came from the end of the room. Erwin was sitting in front of a desk, his hands busy scribbling away with a quiver; two stacks of documents laid neatly beside him on the desk, almost the height of his shoulders. It didn't seem like he had caught any rest.

They gave him a salute. "Sir."

Standing up, Erwin motioned them to a table in front of him."Have a seat."

Eren studied his surroundings as he sank into the sofa. Erwin's room had always resembled a library of sorts, the shelves littering the perimeter of the room made that quite clear. A book -Understanding War and Violence- laid right in front of him. The sharp edges along it and bright red color of the cover page suggested it was probably a new item; It seemed Erwin had added yet another book to his collection.

"Interested? The book was written by Joseph Reiss, a nobleman and philosopher who lived many years ago."Placing a cup on the table, Erwin sat down right across him and Mikasa. "It is an excellent read. The author has views that are far too extreme in my opinion but also makes several good points. Some of which I happen to agree with. "

"Is that so?" Eren asked.

"For example, consider this line - humanity will never stop fighting itself until there is only one person left. You only need to look within these walls to know what he said was right."

"T-that's … actually quite true," Eren said. Beside him, Mikasa was nodding.

Erwin slipped the book on a shelf beneath the table. "Nonetheless though … Some of his ideologies are too extreme. Mankind's innate nature and thirst for conflict, he believes they are sinners due to that, and should have just gone extinct."

Eren's mouth was left hanging ."W-what!"

"People with such radical views are often influenced by their experiences. Reiss or his family probably went through something devastating, for him to have developed such a mindset."

Eren frowned. Just what kind of tragedy would cause one to resent humanity so much?

Erwin sipped his tea. "Anyways, before I get to the main topic. I would like to thank both of you. Because of your efforts, we have captured the Female Titan. Annie's Crystal has been sealed underground, and Hange is already working to pick up clues that may lead us to her allies."He continued. "How is your injury, Mikasa? I heard from Eren that it looked pretty serious."

"It's much better now, the doctor said the cut wasn't deep. This was all thanks to Eren , he treated me on our way back so the injury didn't get worse. Thank you for your concern, commander." Mikasa tugged at her scarf.

Eren glanced sideways at her but didn't speak. Why is she giving him so much credit always in front of other people? Mikasa made him feel like he could do no wrong to her.

Nodding, Erwin slid an envelope right across the table. There was a strange, intricate-looking crest on the bottom right corner of it. Eren had never seen anything like that before.

"Open it, "Erwin said.

"This is …"He read through the contents of the paper while Mikasa leaned on his shoulder, her black eyes glued to the letter as well. She was strangely happy for some reason.

"A summon from the capital. Apparently, the king wishes to bestow the three of us medals in an awards ceremony."Erwin posed a finger to his chin."Quite unbelievable, support for the Survey Corps has always been quite low among the nobles. Even though it has grown recently with the successes we had, they aren't enough to warrant such an action. They are definitely plotting something ."

"Should we still go to Mitras then?" Eren asked.

"We don't have a choice. Given the publicity of the matter, it would only reflect badly on the Survey Corps as a whole if we refused, and offend the nobility and the king as well. In the letter, it states that the carriage bringing us inside will be arriving this afternoon." Erwin crossed his legs, swinging an arm across the sofa rest. "If I had to guess, the reason is you, Eren."

"Me?"

Mikasa's body jerked forward."Will Eren be in danger?"

"Unlikely for now, so far they've been playing nice. Their aim is probably to get you to leave the Survey Corps and join them. They've already been trying that ever since the Trost incident. As to why exactly, I'm not sure either. " Erwin raised a brow. "Money, fame, and women can easily corrupt a man.They probably are going to offer you something along those lines."

Eren clenched his fist."I won't leave the Survey Corps."

"W-women?" Mikasa's face started to flush.

Erwin cleared his throat."Don't worry. I'm sure Eren won't be swayed by them."

"T-that's right! I-I'm not i-interested i-in g-girls." He squeezed out a lie. The sensation of how Mikasa's breast felt when he bit down on it accidentally was still fresh in his mind, the way her bud hardened beneath her uniform, the way she moaned, and how her body squirmed. It was the first time he experienced something like that.

The thought of it caused something in his pants to tighten and his body to heat up. Mikasa's your adoptive sister, Yeager, he chided himself. Someone being overly attached to you doesn't mean that she will do whatever you want, it doesn't mean that she likes you, stop getting funny ideas. She's definitely just being overprotective, it had to be.

Erwin rose and slipped the letter into his pocket. "We are in quite a rush. So go prepare whatever you need to bring, we'll be leaving at noon, sharp. Consider yourselves dismissed."

He stood up and gave Erwin a salute alongside Mikasa, strode towards the exit and closed the door carefully behind him. What is it about nobles? From what Erwin mentioned it seemed they were opposed to the Survey Corps. Why would they not want to defeat the titans?

"You sure are up early, I didn't know you were capable of such a feat, Yeager." A voice sounded behind him.

He greeted the figure."C-captain Levi."

"Clean your room properly, the last time I checked yours smelt like a trash bin, it's disgusting as hell. If you don't know how to do so, ask Mikasa to teach you ."Levi said and stepped into Erwin's office.

"Are you alright, Eren?"

"Y-yeah. I'm good, Mikasa. Guess I'll have to ask you for help soon. Let's hurry."

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(Reiner POV)

Reiner was tired. Tired of this mission. Everything had just been going from bad to worse. They had lost Marcel at first, and now Annie. With Annie's capture, it was a matter of time before the Survey Corps would turn their suspicions to them. Who knows what would become of them or their families if they returned to Marley in this state; losing two titan shifters was an unprecedented disaster.

He glanced around once more to make sure there was no one else. They were after all still staying in a bunk inside the Survey Corps Building. The last thing he needed was for their conversation to be overheard.

Bertholdt urged him again ."We should just do it. Let's kidnap Erwin, and have him reveal Annie's location to us ."

He shook his head. "It won't work, he's been very cautious. Since we returned to Karanes, he has disappeared along with Eren and some other soldiers. We have no idea where he is now."

"Let's attack the capital then, w-we have to rescue Annie! They're going to Mitras, right? The headlines of the newspapers today were all talking about an award ceremony "

"And risk being captured by the Founding Titan? What if it shows up there? We still don't know who has it. Bertholdt, you need to calm down. I'm sure Annie is doing fi-

"How can she be fine?"Bertholdt yelled and shook him. "They could be torturing her right now, we don't have any time to waste!"

"BERTHODT!"He squeezed the arms holding him and brushed them aside."Calm down."

The man's shoulders dropped at his words, and he slumped back into a corner.

Reiner planted a palm on his face, gripping it tight. The commander had been too cunning. He was sure even if Annie was captured, they would be able to rescue her while returning. However, they had been deceived and did not even notice anything amiss on the way back.

Erwin Smith, this man was the real threat to Marley, not Eren, not Levi. The foresight and planning he possessed were astounding. If only they had more time, he would try to take him out as well.

Berthodt brought his knees close to him, hands wrapping around them. His voice was low. "What do we do now… Reiner?"

Looking at the rain outside, Reiner crossed his arms, "I have a plan, it's a gamble. But it might work.

A/N: 1.7k words