(14) Preparations

"Eren, listen to me. You have to avenge your mother! Kill the titans and free the people from this nightmare!", Grisha all but yelled as he gripped his sons arm tightly.

"I- what?", the boy couldn't even speak. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on but seeing this aggressive side to his father scared him a bit.

"Take this key! The answer to everything lies in the basement!". His father's words faded away, as a stinging pain rose up in Eren's arm and everything turned black.

------

A loud gasp escaped Eren as he shot up from the bed he was resting in. He took in his surroundings and noticed two men staring at him. One of them was a tall man with blond hair, who currently sat in a chair, and the man next to him was much shorter, with black hair.

He leaned against the wall and watched Eren with narrowed eyes.

Eren recognised the two men rather quickly, he had seen them both many times after all. Although this was their first meeting face to face. The tall man was Erwin Smith, current commander of the Scouts, while the man standing next to him was Captain Levi, the strongest soldier.

"We're sorry for the intrusion Eren Jaeger, but we have a few questions for you." The commander spoke, taking Eren aback. His head was slightly fuzzy, all he remembered was slamming the giant boulder into place before he fell unconcious.

"Uh, I don't mind answering questions sir, but if you don't mind, could you tell me where I am?".

"Of course. You're in an underground jail cell, currently being retained by the Military Police for your strange titan powers. We only recently managed to gain permission to speak with you". Eren sweat a bit more nervously. He had his assumptions already, but to find out that he really had been jailed was a difficult pill to swallow.

"Any other questions?". Erwin took the boys silence as a no and immediately got back to the purpose of his visit. "Eren, how are you able to transform into a titan?".

Eren looked at his future boss with an apologetic look. "I really wish I could answer that sir... but I really don't know". There was no change in Erwin's expression as he simply prepared to ask his next question. "But... I think I know where we'll be able to find that out". Eren continued, pulling out a string necklace that was hidden under his shirt. On the end of the necklace was a golden key, and he showed it to his future superiors.

"Explain", Erwin said with a curious look.

"This is the key that opens my fathers basement. My father was a doctor and he was always secretive about a lot of things. My last memory of him though, he was yelling at me. He told me that the answer to everything was inside the basement. I can't really remember anything after that point and I've never seen my dad since then."

"Awfully convenient, you have amnesia and your dad's been missing for years", Levi spoke up as he looked at Eren suspiciously. A lesson he had learnt during his time spent underground was to never believe anything immediately, and Levi had stuck to this lesson his whole life.

"I'm telling the truth!"

Erwin had raised his arm, an order telling Levi to stand down. The latter simply furrowed his eyebrows and stayed quiet.

"From your previous answer, I'm guessing you have no affiliation with the traitors Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, and Annie Leonhart?", Erwin proceeded with his next question, not taking his eyes off of Eren for a single second.

Shock and confusion was all Eren felt as he looked at the commander in disbelief for a few seconds.

"Traitor? What do you mean by traitors?".

"Shortly after you sealed the hole in Trost and fell unconcious, cadets Marco Bott, and Strauss Ackerman had exposed Reiner and Bertolt for being the Armored and Colossal titans. It seems they possess the same type of ability as you do. Annie Leonhart was also an accomplice and revealed her own titan form after they had managed to escape past the walls of Trost".

Eren tried his best to get out of his bed and get closer to the commander, but the chains holding his arms in place stopped him from moving anywhere.

"That can't be right! That's an awful joke you're playing commander!"

Erwin simply observed him silently as he analysed his reactions. "It is not a joke. I assure you, their betrayal is very real."

Eren shook slightly as he heard the commander speak. Memories flashed through his mind of his three 'friends'.

'Everyone liked Reiner. He was always reliable and trustworthy. You're telling me he's the same Armored titan that's responsible for so many deaths?'

'The same Bertolt who's too nice to do anything himself is responsible for kicking down the wall and letting all those titans in? That same person indirectly killed my mom?'

'And Annie... She was always cold, but it was more of a false face she put up to keep people away, she wouldn't kill innocent people!'

"Eren, I understand your disbelief and the confusion you must be feeling right now, but unfortunately we are short on time, and another visit is not guaranteed."

Hearing Erwin's voice, he nodded and tried his best to push those thoughts back for later.

"That key you mentioned, how sure are you that it's the answer to all our questions?", For the first time during the conversation, there was a change in Erwin's eyes. Compared to before, they seemed to burn fiercely.

Eren looked down at the key in his hands and fell into thought. He remembered back to the last memory of his father. The urgency in the older man's eyes was something he'd never displayed before. 'His final message too...'

"I'm sure that my basement holds everything!" Eren met Erwin's gaze determinedly.

The Scout Commander stayed silent for a few moments before moving on to his final question.

"What do you want to do then? What are your goals? Speaking plainly, to even get to your basement would mean that humanity would have to retake Wall Maria and shiganshina, the simplest way to do so would be using your powers as a titan."

The memory of his mother's death flashed through Eren's head. 'What do I want? Ever since that day what I want has always remained the same...'

"Sorry Commander, I still can't come to terms with what you said about Reiner, Bertolt and Annie, but forgetting all that, forgetting my titan powers, forgetting everything... All I've ever wanted to do was join the Survey Corps and just slaughter the titans!"

A small glint flashed in Levi's eyes as he heard Eren's answer.

"Oh? Not bad". He stepped forwards gripping one of the metal bars that consisted of Eren's jail and stared at him directly. "Erwin, tell the upper brass that I'll take responsibility for him. It's not that I trust him but if he loses control or turns against us I can kill him. I'm the only one able to do it so they shouldn't complain. I accept your request. You can join the Survey Corps."

Erwin looked at Levi for a few seconds before standing up and preparing to leave. "Alright. Let's go then, Levi."

Silence filled the jail cell as Eren was left alone, supervised by two military policemen who both held muskets. He stared blankly at his ceiling as he thought back to what the commander had revealed about the three 'traitors'.

'I... shit. Why? Reiner. Bertolt. Annie. Why would you guys do this?'

-------

A dark atmosphere surrounded the cadets of the 104th. Connie, Sasha, Jean, Marco, Ymir, and Krista sat at the same table as they quietly indulged in their food.

Connie clenched his fists tightly as brows furrowed.

"I can't believe it. All those people who died, not just in Trost but even the one's tha fell with Wall Maria, they're all responsibile for it?"

His friends simply looked at him, but hadn't bothered saying anything. They all agreed with him. Marco balled up his fist in anger however as he brought it down on the table, creating a loud banging noise and gathering the attention of others that were in the dining hall.

"Well we'd all better start believing! I almost died because of them! They took my gear then left me to be titan food, damn it."

"Hey calm down shit head, you're making a ruckus", Ymir spoke up, bringing to Marco's attention the scene he had just put on. He looked around the room apologetically and remained silent.

"S-Sorry. I know what they did to you and I didn-", Marco sighed at Connie's apology and simply waved it off, accepting it.

"I know man. The three years in training we spent together felt too real, like it couldn't have been all a facade they put up... but that doesnt change the fact that while I struggled desperately in that titan's grip, they did nothing but watch. If Strauss didn't come..."

"In that case we've gotta get payback, huh?". Everyone turned to Jean in surprise as he took a sip of his drink. He met everyone's gaze before he continued. "We're all scouts now anyway, if we do something like capturing the traitors we'll shoot straight up in ranks".

Surprisingly, Krista stood up with a newfound fire in her eyes. "Jean's right! Let's give em hell!".

A light flashed in everyone's eyes as a newfound motivation filled them. Save for Ymir, they all also stood up and shouted their agreements.

"Hey how many times do I have to tell you guys? Sit your asses back down, there's people looking at us!"

-----

"What are we doing here, Strauss?", Mikasa looked at her brother confused as she stood in the middle of an open field, much like the one they used to train in as children.

"We're here so you can learn all about Ki".

Hearing her brother's answer only served to confuse her more. "What the hell is Ki?"

Strauss simply looked her in the eye as he sat down on the grass and beckoned for her to sit down as well. Mikasa was confused but sat down nonetheless.

"Ki is a type of energy. It's pretty hard to describe but it's sort of like the life force of every living being. If it's alive then it has Ki. This energy, when harnessed, let's you do amazing things. For example, it's what let's me fly."

The confusion hadn't eased away from Mikasa one bit. She now knew what Ki was, but many other questions arose.

"I thought you said you didn't know how you're able to fly, something about 'it just naturally happened'.

Strauss sweatdropped a bit at his sister's critiquing look and just smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah uh, that's just an excuse I told the higher ups. Everyone's able to do what I do, but that also doesn't mean I'm just going to teach everyone. The world is full of horrible people, and I don't really want the wrong people to gain this power, that's why for now I'm only teaching you."

Mikasa nodded, understanding her brother's reasoning. While she personally would have told the truth, she could see why her brother wanted to hide it.

"So how did you find about Ki then?"

"It was actually thanks to my martial arts training. As I learned to be more in control of my body and as I grew stronger, I could feel Ki, then during the mission to cover Trost up, I could willingly use it and control it."

Strauss felt a bit guilty about lying to his sister, but it was the best explanation he could find. And it wasn't completely a lie either. He did technically get acess to Ki because he trained martial arts.

"Alright then, tell me what to do.", Mikasa nodded and focused.

"Well, like I said before, Ki is essentially the energy within you. Your life force. Try closing your eyes and feeling that energy, it should feel like a burning fire inside you."

Mikasa did as instructed and tried her best to look for that feeling. A minute passed and nothing happened, which annoyed Mikasa as she furrowed her brows.

"Stop. Don't get angry, forget everything else, don't pay attention to anything and just focus."

A few more seconds passed, and then she felt it. A warm flame bubbling up deep inside.

"I-I think I feel it. What do I do now?", Still focused on that fiery sensation, she asked Strauss for the next step.

"Nice. Now try to use your will to "manipulate" the ki, make it move how you want it to move and let it fill your body. Once you've done that try to keep the Ki in that state, but relax your muscles and you should be able to fly. Or float at least."

Mikasa followed her brother's instructions and "willed" the ki to move how she wanted. It filled every corner of her body as she relaxed.

"Don't worry, this step normally takes a lot of time so-", Strauss stopped his sentence as Mikasa suddenly lifted from the ground, her legs unfolding from her sitting position. She stood afloat in the air, 5 meters high as she opened her eyes.

"This- I feel so-", She struggled to form sentences at the liberating feeling of flying, so she simply took it all in and enjoyed the experience. She stood floating for about 20 seconds before all the energy left her body and she fell. Luckily Strauss was there to catch her.

"Sheesh, You're a prodigy at this.", Strauss smiled as he placed Mikasa down on the floor. A sense of pride filled him. 'I didn't expect any less from my sister.'

"I don't know- you were able to fly for much longer, and comparably faster... this is so draining, how'd you do it?", Mikasa asked, coming down from her initial high of being able to fly.

She remembered clearly how her brother had been able to manuever through the air with decent efficiency. Although with the right conditions, like having enough buildings and structures, she would probably preform better with the ODM gear, the advantage that flight had was far greater. 'Assuming it doesn't drain me after 20 seconds of use all the time that is...'

"Nah don't worry about it, I've had way more practice and I'm physically stronger so I've got more stamina. You'll have me beat in no time.", Strauss smiled down at Mikasa, encouraging her.

"Before we go, there's some more things you should know. Aside from letting you fly, Ki can do many other things. There's a lot left that even I have yet to discover but I'll show you some useful things.", Strauss began his explaining, pausing as he focused some Ki around his hand. He walked a few meters away, and punched hard into the ground, creating multiple cracks and dents. He withdrawed his hand and where it once was, now revealed a fist sized hole.

"One of those things is using Ki to empower your body, obviously I didn't punch the ground full force because I don't want to create a crater haha. Another one of those things though...".

He stopped speaking once again, as he put his hand forward, and outstretched his palm. Mikasa looked to where his hand pointed and saw a lone tree about 15 meters away. Strauss focused and a brilliant golden sphere started forming in front of his open palm. It grew in size until it was about the size of his hand and suddenly shot forward, crashing at high speeds right into the tree and decimating it to pieces.

"If you focus your Ki all into one point then you can release it for a huge attack, like that one. Once again I didn't use all of my ki but you get the point..."

Mikasa watched her brother with wide eyes as he kept babbling about the possibilities of Ki, eventually she stopped paying attention when she noticed he wasn't even talking to her anymore but rather himself.

-------

In the dead of the night, Strauss stood atop the walls of Trost on his own, with a map in his hand. On it was a path marked directly from Trost to Shiganshina.

"I've gotta get to Eren's basement and back by the end of the week. That's when his tribunal is. If I'm lucky I'll find Reiner and them on my journey but it won't matter even if I don't. I'm finally strong enough to take matters into my own hands, and I'll do exactly that."

With a resolute gaze, a white aura, that resembled a fierce flame, sparked to life around Strauss, as he shot into the distance and flew as fast as he could.