Eat Your Young ↝ Jean Kirstein

II ; Wall Rose

I'm useless, Freya thought to herself. She was lying on her back, staring up at the stars. They were clearer here than they were in Marley, and she found herself gazing up at them at moments like this, when she couldn't sleep.

They had successfully broken Wall Maria several days ago. Annie had gotten them to the wall, had screamed so that more pure titans could ravage the outer city, Bertholdt had broken the gate to the city, and Reiner had placed all three of them safely atop the wall while he broke the second gate to the rest of the wall. Freya hadn't done anything. What could she do? With no titan, she was simply there, waiting for the day they brought the Founder to Magath, who would inject her and watch as she ate the King of the Walls. She was only here so that she could eat the King as quickly as possible. The sooner the Founder was in Marley's hands, the better.

She found herself returning to that moment on top of Wall Maria, as she watched Reiner running through the streets, watched the people run and run and watched the titans pick them up as easily as if they were an apple, taking one bite and discarding the rest. She got sick.
She realised something, on that wall. Something she was scared to repeat to herself, even as she brought up her hands and stared at her palms.

They're just people.

Even now, having acclimated themselves into the refugees being harboured in Wall Rose, she was realising. These people had no idea. They didn't know of humanity outside the walls, they didn't know the true origins of titans, they had no clue that one injection and they would become the monsters they were so terrified of. They didn't know the walls they clung to so hopelessly, were titans.

Refugees of Wall Maria were all too glad to share their stories. A man who had lived by a river town told the four of them how his town didn't receive news until it was too late, and that he barely escaped on horseback. He was found hanging from a rope the next morning, and they had then stolen his story and his hometown for themselves.
Freya had tried and tried to tell Reiner they each needed a different hometown ("What if one of us is caught, Reiner? They know of two titans right now, what if they arrest all of us simply because you were caught transforming?") but he wouldn't listen. He had changed, had taken on an entirely new persona. This was not Reiner, this was Marcel. Freya hated it. He told her they wouldn't get caught, because the people of the walls were so clueless, how could they possibly know humans could transform into titans? Freya had given up after a few weeks. She was often too exhausted to argue with him.

They started working for their rations. Working in fields, sowing the land for more crops, or uprooting the trees that were cut down to make room for the crops. They soon found out that the King was just a figurehead, and the real King of the Walls was elsewhere, hidden.

"We just need to find that family," said Bertholdt. They were uprooting more trees, trying to figure out how they would find the Founder. "They must be connected to the true king."
"How do we do that?" asked Annie. "Get them to hire us as servants? Or what, you want Freya and I to get close to one of the men and marry into the family?"
"No!" Bertholdt cried, looking horrified, "you can't do that!"
"Right," Annie said, "we can't."
"They're able to remain in power because they're not Subjects of Ymir," Freya said. "They wouldn't want to dirty their bloodline anyway. And ever since the wall was destroyed, they haven't hired anyone because they're worried they'll accidentally let in outsiders."
"Plus," Annie added, "it's not like I have the charm to seduce a man anyways."
"That's not true!" Bertholdt said.
Annie gave him a confused look. "Thanks?"
Freya hid a small smile.
"Our only option," said Reiner, "is to become soldiers. And become military police."

"You're not going to want to hear this from me," Annie sighed, "but that's two years of research; two years we've spent uprooting trees and sowing land. Which means we have ten years left, and you want us to spend them playing soldier?"
"It's been two years since the wall was destroyed, and the king hasn't used the Founder," Reiner continued.
"Which means the Tybur family's information is likely correct, and the king is bound by a kind of vow to renounce war," Freya finished.
"So you mean we need to destroy Wall Rose and Sina, too?"

"Yes, that might make the Founder reveal himself, but no matter how defeated they are, one roar from the Founder and we go down with the rest of the world. Humanity is depending on us!"
Reiner began violently hacking at the tree root in front of him. Freya sighed. "We should take our time moving forward," she said, "and join the military."