The Island of Devils

Chapter 18

Back within the walls, the regiments were all gathered in the meeting room and discussed the new appearances of the Marleyan soldiers. The Scouts were on the right side, the Garrison in the middle, and the Military Police on the left side. In front of them were Commander Zachary, Queen Historia and another high-ranked soldier beside her.

"That concludes Zeke Yeager's requests." Hange said while she was standing and reading off from pieces of multiple papers. "For the sake of Eldians whose existence is threatened..."

"Absurd!" A voice cut her off, making everyone look over to a high-ranked officer who had his narrowed gaze up at Hange. "I don't even want to hear it!"

"He's the Beast Titan!" A Military Police officer added. "He turned the people of Ragako into Titans and incited a panic! This is the same person who nearly annihilated the Scouts!"

The Scouts stayed silent, they were looking at that soldier while Zachary propped his elbows on the table and intertwined his hands together."His one and only goal is to retake the Founding Titan. Since he can't do it by force, he'll attempt it diplomatically."

Pixis spoke up from his seat. "He should know we'll expect that." He turned his head to Hange. "Let's hear what else he has to say."

Hange looked at him for a moment before she went back to reading the papers. "According to Zeke, he has a secret plan to solve the Eldian issue. To carry it out, it requires the Founding Titan and a Titan with royal blood."

Eren raised his brows and opened his mouth slightly at those words. "With both, the world can be saved. However, he will only reveal the plan when his conditions are met."

Armin meanwhile noticed Eren's expression from the corner of his eyes and turned to him.

"Bullshit!" A Garrison soldier yelled and crossed his arms while he leaned back in his seat.

"He must think we're idiots!" Another soldier yelled.

Everyone just stared at the two until Eren suddenly shot up in his seat and placed his hands on the table. His chair was pushed away while he stared at the table with wide eyes. Mikasa and Armin, who were beside him, stared at him in surprise. "Eren?" Armin muttered.

"He's telling the truth." Eren exclaimed. "I remember... The one time I was able to use the Founding Titan's power was when I touched a Titan with royal blood. That Titan had to be my father's other wife, Dina Fritz. Zeke, Dina's son, must have figured out a way to elude the vow of renouncing war. The single hope remaining for us Eldians: To wake the millions of Titans sleeping in the Walls and activate the rumbling."

"You..." Eren looked down at Levi, who was looking up at him with furrowed brows. "Why did you keep quiet about this for so long?"

"I was concerned for Historia's safety." He replied. Historia perked up at that, her eyes slightly increasing and her mouth parted. "I couldn't let her get made into a Titan based on some hunch of mine." They continued to look at him. "Yeah, it was careless of me." 

"We'll talk about this later." Levi told him, while Hange had sweat rolling down her face.

"But if that's really true..." She turned around and placed two fingers against her temple, "Zeke's secret plan holds up."

"Are you nuts?!" Nile yelled. "You trust them?!"

"Yeah!" A Garrison member added on. "We can't have all those soldiers on the island!"

"We oughta hang them all!" A Military Police officer stated, which made Hange narrow her gaze at them.

"No, we can't do that." she replied. "To protect the island from Marley's scout ships, we need the volunteers. Without their wireless radio..."

The scene changed again, it was nighttime. Two Marley ships were making their way to Paradis. One of the Marleyan soldiers was listening through the wireless radio, until he heard a faint voice coming through. "This is...fir...scout fleet. Request....aid."

The soldier tried quickly, by tuning the radio, to get a better connection. "This is.... first scout fleet." After he got a better connection, he pressed his headphones close and spoke into the mic.