Somehow, amid pain, grief, and intense coldness, Eren had fallen asleep. Or more accurately, he finally passed out as his mind despaired to the lowest depths possible.

He managed to slip into a dream, standing on the banks of the Moselle, Levi looking so handsome, not in that silly dress and wig, but just him, his black hair glistening in the sunlight as his narrow eyes gleamed up at Eren, filled with adoration.

Then Levi said calmly, "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

"What? No!" Eren insisted, wanting to hold Levi but somehow unable to move his arms.

"Du farkirtst mir di yorn."

"What does that mean?"

Levi's eyes suddenly went cold and lifeless. One seemed to melt until a black hole was all that was left, with blood pouring down his face. "You'll be the death of me, takhshet."

Eren wanted to protest, but then he heard a noise above him. Looking up into the clear skies, he saw a squadron of planes shaped like falcons. Off in the distance, he heard an air raid klaxon wailing.

"Levi! We need to go."

Levi refused to move, and when Eren tried to reach for him, he realized he still could not use his arms. One was broken and twisted in a bad direction, the other was numb and soaked in blood.

"No! Levi, hurry."

"You should go, takhshet. Just leave me. I'll slow you down."

He again wanted to reach out and drag Levi to safety, but Eren could not move his arms.

"Levi!" he screamed as he heard the whistle of a bomb heading their way.

Levi looked over to him with one warm but sad eye as he whispered, "Goodbye."

"Nooooo! Levi—"

* * *

Eren was jolted awake by a very real bomb, only to realize half his dream was actually happening. There was a siren somewhere far away, the sound of airplanes overhead, soldiers shouting, gunfire, and then the ground under him shook with a bomb hitting the fort.

"What's going on?" he shouted, but no one replied.

Eren instantly felt nauseous from the pain. One hand was mostly numb, only the index and thumb had any feeling or movement, and the other ... God, he wished that one would go numb too. He looked down, and the arm Captain Woermann had broken was still crooked, swollen, and horrifically discolored with patches of red and purple.

Another nearby bomb made Eren's eardrums ring. Despite the pain, he managed to get to his feet so he could walk over to the door.

"Grice? Is anyone there?"

Colt Grice was gone, and far down the hallway he heard running feet. There were more shouts, more bullets firing, more deep rumbles as bombs dropped overhead. It seemed all the soldiers were heading into battle positions.

Eren had seen Armin's maps enough to realize what must be happening. The Americans had been sitting to the north and south of Metz for weeks, slowly encircling it. Now, they were on the move, and this fort stood in their way.

"Are you kidding me?" he whispered.

Was Magath right? Did Zeke somehow already know about Eren's arrest? Had he sent an order to have the Americans attack now, before Eren could be shipped off to Berlin?

He dared not get up his hopes for a rescue. More than likely, this was just a typical attack, like so many before it. He would die as the bombs fell on the fort and tanks pelted the thick concrete walls. Even if Americans took over the fort, he was a German soldier. He would end up in a prisoner of war camp, torn away from Levi, and there was no guarantee that the Americans would bother to help some injured Jewish prisoner.

Eren collapsed back onto his cot, hoping the waves of pain would fade away. Softly, he began to laugh, half-mad from pain, grief, and now this. At least he might actually get the chance to die in battle. Still, he would have preferred to have a gun in his hand.

"Wait..."

He dropped down and looked under the bed. Reiner had shoved Levi's purse far under the bed so it would be out of view, but it was still there. His right hand began to move to grab, but even the slightest twitch of muscle sent blinding pain through the broken arm. Eren gritted his teeth, reached with the numbed left arm, but that also burned his wounded shoulder.

"Dammit!"

He stretched with his foot instead until he wrapped the purse strap around his ankle. He pulled it out, but his arms still did not want to work to open the purse. He struggled until finally he got a buckle undone and pulled the Enfield revolver out. Sweating and panting from just that much, Eren collapsed back onto his cot.

At least he was armed, although the gun had only one bullet.

Who would he shoot? The Americans who would only put him in a POW camp where he would be treated fairly, or the Germans who wanted to castrate and kill him, where his best chance of survival was to be a political pawn in a deadly game by the Gestapo?

He looked down at the gun. If he had to be honest, he probably did not even have the strength to pull the trigger, but just having this weapon made him feel better.

He would die in battle armed against the enemy.

Even if he no longer knew who the enemy was anymore.

* * *

Sitting in the dark, hearing the sound of bombs and gunfire, Eren kept slipping between reality and hallucinations. He would shake his head, focus on the dingy room, yet to protect his own sanity from the triggering sounds of battle all around him, he would slip back into yet another fantasy.

He saw someone he imagined might have been Zeke, a man with glasses who looked like a blond version of his father leading an army of giants and animals.

He saw Levi, only he was flying through the air wielding swords like a comic book hero.

He fought side by side with a Japanese girl. He wondered who she was.

He saw Floch wearing puppy ears and a collar as he wagged his tongue and barked.

He saw Reiner lifting a tank above his head with a single hand like it weighed nothing.

He saw Armin with his bandaged head turned into a turban, dressed like a snake charmer, playing a musical instrument that brought a snake-like Jean up from a basket whilst Carly swayed erotically in a belly dancer costume.

Amid the chaos in his mind, Eren heard a familiar voice. He shook his head. No! He must be dreaming again. Another hallucination. Still, he pointed the gun that way, although he could barely lift the muzzle. As he tried to convince himself he was only imagining things, a voice shouted at the door.

"Eren!"

"Armin," he muttered, struggling to keep his vision clear of flying Levis and beastly Zekes.

A key opened the lock, and the door to his cell creaked open. Armin was there, not some snake charmer, but a wounded soldier with the keys to the prison cell. With him was Jean, watching the hallway with his rifle ready. Armin began to rush in, but he saw the fingernails and bloody eyeball drying out. His hand rushed to his mouth as his stomach heaved.

Jean stoically came in, kicked the fingernails away, used the bloodied black pound to pick up the eyeball, and threw it into the toilet bucket so it was out of view. "Focus," he admonished Armin, who gave a yelp and shook his head to clear his mind from the ghastly horror.

"What are you idiots doing here?" Eren said, anguished and yet immensely happy to see them.

Armin explained, "I heard on the radio that there was an attack coming, and I guessed they would aim for this fort."

Eren collapsed back with a laugh of disbelief. "I swear, Armin, you should be in a war room in Berlin, not out here."

"Well, I'm here now."

"So is everyone else," Jean said and he waved down the hall.

Just then, Eren heard a familiar deep voice. "Someone had to get the Waffen-SS to obey. I knew a mere Heer lieutenant wouldn't be enough."

"Reiner?" Eren whispered in confusion.

"He was such a sweetheart to help," spoke a woman's voice. "It's nice to know I have someone so big and strong guarding me."

"Madame Carly?" Eren gasped in astonishment.

"Ah, yeah, we got help," Armin explained. "Floch and Connie are also waiting outside. Carly even got the remaining French Resistance to come attack the fort as a distraction. Oh, and we already rescued the Jewish brothel women. They're here."

"What?" Eren cried out.

Then he saw that just past Jean was a group of young women. Among them was Carly, who glanced in and gave him a nod.

She told Eren, "This is my way to repay you for helping Louise."

Eren smiled faintly in return. "Thanks, all of you."

Jean snapped, "Don't be thankful! I'm just here to free Annie."

Armin told Eren, "He'll be going with you."

Eren leaned his woozy head back. "You're such an idiot, Jean. I thought you said you couldn't help me fight this battle."

Jean scowled. "I can't. We're not fighting. We're deserting the army together."

"Are you sure you want to leave? You just became an officer."

Jean shouted, "Oh, fuck that! And fuck Hitler! I signed up because I thought it could get me some girls." He glanced at Annie, and his eyes softened. "I found my girl, so I'm done. I just want to settle down with a wife, raise a family, and give my mother some grandchildren she can bake cookies for and spoil rotten."

Armin pulled forward a bag from his shoulder. "I have some medical supplies, and Jean said you were only wearing a shirt and no shoes, so I brought your spare uniform."

Eren shook his head in astonishment. He wanted to savor how crazy this was, but he also realized they needed to hurry if they were all to survive. Someone could come back to check on the prisoners at any moment.

"I need help. My right arm is broken, and I've lost feeling in my left hand."

"Yes, Jean warned me about that as well." Armin pulled out some medication. "For the pain."

"Save it for Levi. I can deal with the pain."

Armin looked at the purple and red bruises on the twisted, broken arm and shuddered. "I'll need to set your arm. Place it somewhere flat."

Eren felt ill as he tried to move into a position so Armin could work. There was nothing in the tiny cell, so he got down to the ground and carefully set his crooked, swollen, discolored arm on the cold concrete.

Armin looked at the lieutenant with pity. "It's going to hurt. A lot."

Eren nodded. He already knew this was going to be painful.

Armin looked around. "Jean, Reiner, hold him. Don't let him move."

Jean handed his rifle over to Carly. "Protect them." Then both he and Reiner entered the room. They knelt down behind Eren and braced him.

Armin took control. "Reiner, hold his arm just below the elbow. When I say go, pull back while I pull forward."

Armin took the arm into his hands and rubbed the whole arm to stretch out the muscles that had contracted. Even that much had Eren breathing hard and gritting his teeth with agony. Armin felt along the forearm, trying to determine precisely where the two bones were and how they had broken. Eren bit his lip to hold back from screaming as Armin's thumbs pressed into the agonizing injury.

Jean reached into his back pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. "Here. Put it between your teeth so you don't bite your tongue." He wedged the leather between Eren's teeth.

Armin looked up. "Ready?"

Eren nodded frantically. Jean held Eren's shoulders a little tighter. Reiner's fingers gripped Eren by the bicep while his other hand held the swollen forearm by the elbow, ready to pull.

With careful calculations, Armin gripped Eren's arm by the wrist. He and Reiner's eyes met.

"Now!"

Both pulled the arm in opposite ways. A sickening snap of bones popping into place filled the room, and Eren howled as he bit down hard on the wallet. When Armin felt the arm again, Eren flinched back, but Jean crushed him in a hold.

"Stop squirming, you big baby," he admonished.

"Almost there. Once more," said Armin.

He and Reiner gave the arm another sharp tug. Eren gagged as he felt like he might vomit from the pain. Armin felt along the ulna and radius bones, and finally placed the arm back down onto the ground, where the icy concrete was a welcoming relief.

Armin shook his head. "It's a severe break. Without an X-ray, I can only do so much." He pulled out a roll of gauze, carefully lifted the arm upright, and wrapped the bandage around from wrist to elbow. Then he pulled out a French magazine and something that looked like a shoelace. "It's the best I could find to work as a splint," he said in apology.

As Armin braced the arm with the magazine and wrapped the lace around tightly, Eren leaned heavily against Jean, sweating, feeling faint, and wishing he could just pass out already. Jean had the courtesy to hold Eren's head upright. The wallet tumbled out of his mouth, and Jean leaned over to pick it up, wiping the saliva off with a grimace.

"Are you still conscious?" Jean asked softly.

Eyes closed, dizzy and struggling with the encroaching darkness, Eren nodded.

"Good. Listen closely. We'll be leaving, along with all the brothel girls. Carly says she knows a place where you and Levi can hide."

"No," Eren moaned. "Levi needs a hospital. Badly!"

Armin looked to Carly. "I gave you that map to the hospital, right?"

"I memorized the way," she said firmly.

Armin turned back to Eren. "Levi should be able to go there. I'm more concerned about you. How's the shoulder?"

"I'm glad it's numb. Reiner patched it," he said, and Eren opened his hazy eyes to see the broad-shouldered blond still kneeling beside him. They shared a curt, silent nod. "You'll need to help me to get dressed."

Carly stepped forward. "I can help with that. I've dressed men before. You two," she said to Jean and Reiner, "guard my girls."

Reiner nodded and hefted Eren up to his feet before leaving back into the hallway. Carly assisted Eren with socks, boots, and pulling on his uniform tunic. With his arm in a sling, he was unable to get the sleeve pulled on, nor could he get the coat Armin brought. Carly instead draped both over his shoulders, snapping on the top button of the tunic so it would stay in place. The whole time, Eren shivered from the pain, but he bravely tried to put up with it. After he was fully dressed, Carly picked up the Enfield pistol and shoved it down into his trouser pocket.

"Wish I was touching here for a different reason," she teased, but Eren was too focused on ignoring pain to hear her. "Is that all?"

"Wait. The purse," Eren said raspily, nodding to the little bag on the cot. "There are bandages in there. Levi might need them."

Carly grabbed the purse and swung it onto her shoulder. She heard rattling as well. "Sounds like Levi put much more in here." She walked out of the cell and over to a tiny blond with narrow, dark gray eyes. "Katya, ukazhi nam dorogu." Katya, show us the way.

Jean guided Eren as he unsteadily began to walk. As Armin followed, a sharp pain went through his head. He grabbed his bandaged skull and fell to one knee with a cry.

"Armin!" Jean thrust Eren toward Reiner and rushed over to grab the young soldier.

Armin rubbed the bandages. "I'll be fine."

"Like hell. Go back to the car."

"No, I ... oww, oww!" He grabbed his head with both hands. "Levi. I need to treat him, then I'll go."

Jean hoisted him up. "Fine. Let's hurry before your brain really does blow up."

The woman named Katya led them through the fort to another area for prisoners. They traveled down stone hallways and through many corridors, with Reiner keeping a hand on Eren's back to steady him and Jean almost carrying Armin as he weaved unsteadily while holding his head.

Eren glanced over at Reiner. "I didn't think you, of all people, would help, not after how hard you punched me," he said, still hurting from the bruise on his cheek. "So, are you planning to come as well?"

Reiner shook his head. "Back in Napola, I was nearly shot with a crossbow. You leaped in the way. Do you remember that?"

Eren thought back. They had been maybe fourteen, young trainees in Napola, camping out in the woods to learn tracking and hunting. Eren saw a boy focused on a rabbit but not realizing that he was pointing his crossbow right at them. Acting on instinct, Eren leaped forward and tackled Reiner to the ground just as the crossbow went off. Sure enough, the other boy missed the rabbit, the bolt flew toward them, and Eren was struck in the thigh. The other trainee was kicked out of the academy for his negligence.

"I still have the scar," Eren muttered.

"While you were hospitalized, they used the incident to teach us about how to do an investigation. It was determined that if you had not acted, that bolt would have shot right into my chest. I've owed you a debt ever since then. Now, my debt is repaid. You saved my life, I saved yours. We're even."

"Is that why you're doing all this? To repay a debt from back when we were children?"

Reiner opened his mouth as if to confirm that, but he stopped. "Not only that. Back in Napola, those two friends of yours who were accused of homosexuality ... I saw what happened to you when you had to beat them. I saw the way your face changed. The Eren I knew turned off like a light switch and something else, something brutal and monstrous, took over your body. I saw how it haunted you long after they were gone. You were good at hiding it, but I knew you too well."

Eren's brow tightened at the memory of that time, being forced to beat his friends in order to hide the fact that he was also homosexual.

"I felt that way tonight. When I punched you and yelled at you, I felt ... disconnected. Like a monster inside of me had taken over. I don't want to live with that feeling haunting me. We were too young to do anything back then, but now ... I knew I could do something, and I knew I had to, if only to prove to myself that I'm not a monster."

Eren faintly nodded. He understood perfectly. "It's a dark seed they planted in us when we were young. Hitler Youth, Napola, the Wehrmacht, all of it: feeding the darkness so it will grow. I've seen it consume almost everyone." He smiled with a relieved, soft chuckle. "I'm glad it didn't consume you."

"I hope it never does. Besides, you're my friend and a hell of a warrior. You deserve to die fighting. I just wanted to give you that chance."

"The gun," Eren realized. The Enfield pistol weighed heavily in his pocket now.

Reiner nodded. "I thought I was doing the right thing when I arrested you, but with Woermann acting crazy, I didn't think you'd make it until morning, and certainly not long afterward. Then I thought..." His throat choked up. "I thought the right thing was to bring in the law. How was I supposed to know?"

Eren's jolted to a stop as he teeth gritted in rage. "Were you the one who got the Gestapo involved?"

"I thought it would save you! Colt Grice has been a good friend. I thought he could help, or at the very least prevent Woermann from killing you. I was hoping, if the Gestapo got involved, you'd get a real interrogation and not just a beating and castration."

Eren growled. "They cut out Levi's eye and raped him with a broom."

Reiner looked sickened. "What? Why...?" His eyes widened in horror. "Oh God, what did I do?"

Eren snarled, "I swear, if my arm wasn't broken, I would bust in all of your teeth."

"It's wrong! It shouldn't ... a person should never ... Dammit!" He kicked a stone wall.

Jean spun around and warned them, "If you can't talk quietly, shut your mouths, assholes!"

Reiner looked close to breaking down with immense guilt. He whispered in anguish, "I am so sorry. I really thought..."

Eren sighed and turned his head away to calm himself. "I get it. If the only Gestapo agent I had ever met was Colt, I'd also think that they were friendly and helpful. It's what we're told, right? To trust the Gestapo, to report to them, our friendly neighborhood detective who just wants to keep the peace. Six months ago, I didn't know any better, so I probably would have done the same as you."

Reiner still shook his head, looking battered with remorse.

Up ahead, Carly announced, "We're here."

Reiner still looked wracked with guilt. Eren lifted his partly numb hand and patted the man's thick arm. "You didn't know how bad they could be. You were simply trying to save me. I'll forgive you if you help me to save him now."

Reiner nodded in agreement. He felt that saving a Jew was an appropriate atonement.

Katya had the ring of keys Armin had swiped earlier, and after a few tries she found the one that unlocked Levi's cell. As she opened the door, the small woman let out a cry of horror and fled back to Carly.

The Germans made their way in. Jean flinched hard, Reiner's lip curled in disgust, Armin rushed back out to vomit in the hallway, and Eren felt his soul shatter.

It was like the assault in the lavatory so many months ago, only far worse. Levi was on the floor in a pool of his own blood, pale, naked, swollen bruises covering him. Every single one of his fingers were covered in congealed blood from having his nails ripped off. His right hand stretched out, the index and middle fingers missing.

Amid a face covered in purple bruises, his left eye opened and tried to focus up at the group, while the right side of his face was black with crusty, dried blood.

"Eren?" came a weak, trembling voice.

Reiner muttered, "Wie kann er noch am Leben sein?" How can he still be alive?

Eren came in and knelt by Levi's side. A part of his brain refused to believe this was the man he loved. No! There was no way! Yet as he saw the old scars on Levi's body that he had come to know so well, there was no mistaking it.

The mutilated face disturbed him, filling Eren with intense guilt. The hand—a hand he had held so many times—now missing two fingers with each fingertip ripped and bloody, made his chest jolt with grief. In another time and place, he would have sobbed, but his soul had already been broken. The sheer fact that Levi was still alive at least gave him hope.

He pushed past the emotions. They needed to escape first! Emotions could come later. His face went cold as he took off the coat and draped it around Levi's naked, bruised, and blooded tiny body.

He explained in English, "The fort is under attack. We're using the chaos to escape."

"Escape?" Levi's blood-crusted face looked around, seeing the Germans and Carly with the prostitutes. He slowly shook his head and grumbled, "You idiot."

Eren smiled to hear that same contrary voice. "I know. I'm a stupid Nazi swine, right?"

Levi let out a weak, wry laugh, only to cringe in pain.

"Armin..."

"No," Levi cut in. "I know what you're trying to do. Forget it. Just leave me. I'll slow you down."

Eren flinched, recalling his dream earlier. "I'm not leaving you."

"You're escorting over fifty women. Don't put them in danger because of me."

"Then I would rather send them on ahead and die by your side," Eren said firmly. "Besides, we only made it this far because the Resistance wants to get you out."

"La Résistance?" Levi cried out, but he began to cough. "Are you working with them now? You really are an idiot."

Armin stepped forward. "Ich habe nur sehr begrenzte medizinische Vorräte." I have very limited medical supplies.

Eren looked over to him. "Gib ihm alles, was du hast." Give him everything you've got.

Armin took out a roll of gauze. He looked at the eye socket and cringed. He told Levi in French, "Je ne sais pas comment bander quelque chose comme ça." I don't know how to bandage something like that.

Levi mumbled, "Ne me le demandez pas. Je n'ai jamais perdu un œil." Don't ask me. I've never lost an eye.

Armin decided to simply clean away as much blood as he could and wrap Levi's face to keep the dirt out. He used a little medical tape to close the lid shut, then made a padding to go over the socket. He was pretty sure he saw someone in the hospital with a bandage like that. Armin then wrapped more bandages around Levi's head, trying to keep the patch in place.

Outside, both Reiner and Jean stood guard when they heard voices approaching and the sound of military boots clomping through the concrete corridors. They cursed, and Jean threw the door wide open. They began to motion to the women standing around.

"Alle ins Zimmer, sofort!" Everybody in the room, now!

Carly helped to urge all the women into the bunker. They hurried around Levi, carefully avoiding the puddle of blood, and hid behind the bunk beds that lined the walls of the large holding room.

Jean also went inside and readied his rifle while Reiner closed and locked the door. Jean warned in a whisper, "Nicht schreien, wenn Ihr leben wollt."

"What the hell is going on?" asked Levi.

Eren translated quietly, "He says, don't speak if you want to live."

Just then, Carly whispered to the girls in Russian, "Molchite, yesli khotite zhit'."

Eren looked down to Levi. "Some of them are Polish. Can you tell them to stay quiet?"

Levi was woozy but snapped, "Zamknijcie się albo wszyscy zginiecie." Shut up or you'll all die.

The group held their breaths. Eren moved to be in front of Levi and pulled out the Enfield pistol, his hands shaking as he tried to grip it. If anything were to happen, he would defend Levi. Never again would anyone hurt him! Never again!

In the middle of his enraged oath to God, he heard a deep voice.

"Ich bewache die Gefangenen. Verteidige das Fort. Bekämpfe den Feind. Heil Hitler!" I'm guarding the prisoners. Defend the fort. Fight the enemy. Hail Hitler!

After a minute they heard a sigh of relief from outside the door. The knob turned, and Reiner looked in.

"Ihr solltet euch besser beeilen." You had better hurry up. Then Reiner shut the door again to stand watch outside.

Eren and Carly translated, and they all sighed in relief.

"Madame Carly," Armin called out, and he asked her in German, "Show Eren the map while I finish bandaging Levi."

Carly reached into a duffel bag she was carrying and pulled out a map. She held the map out for Eren, since he could not use his hands well. Luckily, his training as an officer meant he was skilled at judging the terrain from the topographical lines on the map.

"There's a hospital here," she said, pointing to the south.

Eren studied the map. "It doesn't look that far away."

"It's about five kilometers, but it's straight through the front lines. The Americans likely already have control over it."

"At this point, I don't care, so long as Levi gets medical help and I don't end up castrated."

Jean scoffed. "I'm not saving your ass just to have you taken prisoner. Worst comes to worst, you and I lay low with Annie and the others while Carly takes Levi to the hospital. They're both French, so it should be fine."

Eren laughed weakly. "Look at you, making plans like an officer."

"Someone has to make sure all those women don't eat you as a snack."

Eren chuckled, feeling better just knowing he would have help.

* * *

Meanwhile, Armin worked on treating Levi's wounds. He finished the bandage for Levi's face and focused on the right hand. At least missing fingers were one injury he had come across on the battlefield. He disinfected the wounds, wrapped the hand with extra gauze on the two missing fingers, and drew the bandage tightly to help staunch the bleeding.

Armin finally finished and sighed. He already knew, this was not enough. Each fingertip was bloodied, the nails ripped out, but at least the bleeding there had congealed.

"I could wrap each finger so they don't get infected," he told Levi in French.

"No. I might need to use my hands."

"What about your ... your, um ... buttocks?" he said awkwardly.

He snapped, "If you put anything near my ass, I will fucking kill you!"

Armin jolted, and Jean and Eren who were talking together both paused at the shout. Carly halted a conversation with Oktyabrina, who was still concerned about the missing Polish girl. She saw the trauma in Levi's face, a deeply ingrained fear and horror. As a woman who did her best to protect captured sex slaves who had been brutally assaulted, Carly had seen such an expression far too many times.

"Levi?" Eren asked in concern.

He cursed under his breath. He needed to be quiet, but so much rage had surfaced along with the flood of pain.

"Don't worry about my ass," he grumbled. "Just give me something for the pain."

Armin began to pull out a bottle of pills when Carly walked over and laid a hand over his.

"I've got something better." She knelt by Levi. "I know you don't trust my drugs, but please trust me this time." She reached into her purse and pulled out a bottle.

Levi scoffed, "If you wanted to kill me, you would've simply left me to bleed to death. Give me the damn drugs so I can at least die outside of this fucking internment camp."

Carly gave him a couple of pills, and Armin handed over his canteen so Levi could swallow them.

"Seriously, we need to bandage your ass, or you really will bleed to death."

"I'm dead anyway," he growled. "That bastard tore me up inside. He ... He wouldn't stop," he whispered, the horror in his face again, only to slam his eye shut and shake away the memory. "Don't tell Eren, but I think he pierced straight through my colon and intestines. It burns so fucking bad inside. Dammit. Of all the shitty ways to die, literally being poisoned by my own shit!"

"You're too stubborn to die," Carly said confidently.

"I'm not going to make it," Levi muttered, "but this brat won't leave without me. At least, I want to survive long enough to get him to safety."

"Then for Eren's sake, let us help. One of my girls was a nurse back in Russia. She can do this."

Levi glared at her and growled like a feral cat, but he knew she had a point. If he wanted Eren to be safe, they needed to get far away from Metz. He nodded in consent.

"Ninotchka," Carly called out to one of the young women, and a lithe blond Russian came forward. Carly explained the situation to her. The woman looked professionally serious as she replied with a treatment plan. Carly turned back to Levi and told him, "She recommends putting all the gauze we can into your colon. It will at least lessen the bleeding and hopefully prevent feces from reaching that area. She also says to give you as much antibiotics as we can spare. However, all I brought was topical."

"I have some. The purse," Levi muttered, weakly nodding to the little black bag on Carly's shoulder. "There's a bottle in there, as well as more bandages."

"Is that what I heard?" Carly opened the purse and began to pull out the contents. She placed medical supplies to the side until she found the bottle of antibiotics.

"Ninotchka says to take four pills."

"Will that overdose and kill me?"

"She says no."

Levi shrugged. "Dying from an overdose is probably better than dying from shit in my guts." He swallowed all the pills down with Armin's canteen. The Russian nurse picked up a roll of gauze and began to roll it. Suddenly, Levi blurted out, "Not in front of everyone. I don't want other people watching."

Carly gave him an understanding nod and explained it to Ninotchka. Both women helped Levi to stand up. He howled in pain as he tried to rise to his feet.

Reiner opened the door. "Is everything okay?"

Levi breathed fast and heavily as blood gushed down between his legs. "Bordel, ça fait mal!" Fuck, that hurts!

"Levi!" Eren rushed forward.

Carly pressed a hand on his chest to hold him back. "We will be back."

Eren asked in worry, "Where are you going?"

"He wants some privacy. Stay here. Take care of the girls."

While Carly helped Levi to hobble over to the back of the room, Reiner stepped in and shut the detention room door. He saw all the blood and shook his head. He did not want to say anything, but he had a terrible feeling that this Jew was not going to make it. He glanced over at Eren, seeing the same realization shadowing his face and ripping at his heart. Reiner walked up to Eren and placed a hand on his shoulder in silent emotional support. They watched as Levi knelt behind a bunk bed and smothered his face into the purse to hold back screams of pain.

"This is all my fault," Reiner whispered. "I never should have gone to Colt. I never should have even let you be taken here. I should have stopped them, done something, and let you go."

Eren had a plaintive smile to hear Reiner did not actually hate him. "You did what you thought was right."

"No. I did what I had been taught was right, not what I thought was right." He marched forward to the back of the room.

Levi heard the footsteps and glared up with wild eyes near madness from agony. "Un pas de plus et je te tranche la gorge." One more step and I'll slit your throat!

Eren rushed forward and blocked Reiner, worried that somehow Levi might actually follow through with his threat. "Leave him be."

Reiner yanked off the bag on his shoulder and threw it at the bed Levi was hiding behind. The bag fell open, and out slid the Tanakh. Levi looked down at the book, then up at Reiner in shock. A deep sigh of relief flooded his face.

"You didn't burn it," Eren whispered.

"Tell him to have someone read it to him. Maybe it will bring some comfort through the pain." Then Reiner walked away. "Do we have any clothes for him? A naked Jew is an eyesore!"

Carly glanced up from where she was kneeling by Levi. "I have more clothes in my bag." She looked back over to Levi and told him in French. "J'ai des vêtements pour vous, si cela ne vous dérange pas de porter à nouveau une robe." I have clothing for you, if you don't mind wearing a dress again.

He felt too woozy to argue and merely mumbled, "Putain de merde." It was enough of an acceptance as he could muster.

"Je vous aiderai à vous habiller une fois que Ninotchka aura fini." I'll help you to dress once Ninotchka is done.

"Touche-moi de façon perverse et je te tue." Touch me in a perverted way and I'll kill you. Despite the threat, Levi looked too weak to lift a spoon. He realized Eren was still standing nearby. "Don't watch. At least give me that much dignity. And see if Annie will read the Tanakh to me. It would be nice ... to hear the words of our Lord again ... while I still can."

"Don't talk like that," Eren whispered in anguish.

He turned away and tried to explain things to Annie. Luckily, Oktyabrina helped to translate. She went over to where Levi was, took the book, turned to face away from him to give him privacy, and began to read passages from the Torah. The other Jewish women came a little closer to listen, but they also politely did not watch as Levi suffered through the humiliating treatment. His grunts and curses, along with one sob of nightmares that burst out, along with Ninotchka apologizing and Carly softly encouraging him to put up with just a little bit more, broke everyone's heart in that room.

Eren saw Armin resting on one of the prison beds. "Will you be all right?"

He managed a weary smile. "I'm ready to sleep. It must be dawn by now."

Eren looked around. Was it really morning already? "It's hard to tell in this prison."

Armin glanced at the far end of the room. "Will he really be okay?"

"He's too stubborn to die," Eren said, trying to sound confident.

"He doesn't want you to know how badly he was injured."

The fake confidence melted as Eren's eyes went dark. "I know what they did. They told me. The Gestapo boasted about it."

Reiner again turned away, stung with guilt that he was the one who brought those men in.

After a few minutes, Levi and Carly finally returned. Levi still looked pale from blood loss, but at least now he was in a dress provided by Carly, so big on his thin, small body that it looked like a nightgown.

He said to Eren, "We've wasted enough time on me. Let's go!"

Eren turned to Jean, and with just a look the tall man knew the order from his former commanding officer. Jean went outside, checked around, listened hard, and then returned to the room. "Der Weg ist frei." The way is clear.

Carly told the girls in Russian to prepare to leave. Jean picked up Levi's black bag and hoisted it onto his shoulder. Then he took Annie's hand and squeezed it, giving her a reassuring smile. Soon, they would be away from all this, free to be together.

Eren draped his coat around Levi's shoulders. "Can you walk?"

"I have no choice." Shivering and biting back screams, Levi took a few wobbling steps, each one with a sharp curse. "Putain ... es tut vey ... fuck ... merde ... dammit!"

"Levi..."

"Just keep going," he huffed out. "Keep walking. I'll make it out." Despite saying that, Levi flinched hard as he tried to take a few more steps. "Bordel de merde, pourquoi ne m'ont-ils pas tuée?" Fucking shit, why didn't they kill me?

Carly came up and told Levi, "Oktyabrina peut vous porter." Oktyabrina can carry you.

"Plutôt brûler en enfer." I'd rather burn in hell.

Eren asked hopefully, "Can she help?"

Carly glanced at Eren, then down to Levi. "Cessez de vous entêter. Votre petit ami s'inquiète pour vous." Stop being stubborn. Your boyfriend is worried about you.

Levi scoffed, but he knew the truth: there was no way he could walk fast enough for them all to escape. He glanced at Eren. For him... He grumbled a curse but waved to give unwilling permission.

Carly spoke to Oktyabrina, and the massive woman came forward. Levi sneered, but she was surprisingly gentle as she eased him up into her arms, holding him like he weighed nothing. Rather than laugh, Eren smiled in relief.

"Thank you. Merci. I wish I knew how to say it in Russian."

Oktyabrina merely nodded to him in reply.

They moved forward, Reiner and Carly in the lead, sometimes using Reiner's rank to order men to other parts of the fort, and if that did not work, Carly sneaked up from behind and injected them with some concoction to knock them out. Finally, they made it to a hallway.

Armin double checked the blueprints. "Yes, here. Head down this hall. There's an exit. Once you're outside, go straight to the outer wall. Don't drift to the left or right. You'll find a door to the tunnels. It may be guarded." He faced Eren and smiled sadly. "So, this is it."

Eren suddenly threw his partially numbed arm around Armin and grabbed him into a hug. "Thank you for everything."

"Thank you for giving me hope. Be safe out there. Make sure you write. Do you still have my address?"

"No, but I'll write to every Armin Arlelt in Berlin until I find you."

Reiner walked over to Levi and bowed his head. In slow French, he said, "Je suis vraiment désolé." I'm so sorry. Knowing his French was not good enough, he glanced over to Eren and Carly. "One of you two, translate for me. I wasn't going to say anything, but I realize I need to before you go." He looked back down at Levi. "There was a Jewish man in your group named Moses."

Carly began to translate, while Eren's rage flared instantly.

"What of him?" yelled Eren. "What have you heard?"

"I heard how he died." Reiner kept his focus on Levi. "I heard about his last moments."

"It was forced," Eren protested. "Hauptmann Woermann held a gun to Moses' head, and he put his gun right into Levi's mouth to force him to take it."

"I heard the story. It's sick! Not of the two of them, but of your captain. Who wants that as entertainment?"

Eren sneered. "Apparently, a lot of Nazis do, including the Gestapo."

Reiner cringed. "Anyway, I heard Woermann shot Moses as soon as it was over."

"Right in the head. Public execution," Eren interjected. "He had been promised, if he obeyed, he and Levi would survive."

Reiner's stern eyes lowered. "Then he did it to save his friend. I see."

"What does it matter to you?"

Reiner tensed up his hands into shaking fists. "He is ... He was ... my cousin: Moses Braun."

Eren's mouth dropped. Even he did not know the last name of that prisoner.

Levi looked over to Carly. "Que dit-il?" What is he saying?

"Un certain Moses Braun était son cousin." A certain Moses Braun was his cousin.

Levi's eye narrowed at Reiner. "Ah vraiment? Il n'a jamais mentionné avoir de la famille en Allemagne." Oh really? He never mentioned having family in Germany.

Carly turned back to Reiner. "Levi sagt, Moses hat dich nie erwähnt." Levi says, Moses never mentioned you.

"Ich weiß." I know. Reiner turned to Eren and continued in German, "You and I are more alike than you think."

Eren tensed his brow in confusion.

"My mother ... did you ever meet her?"

"Perhaps once, when we graduated. I don't think I spoke to her."

"That day, she was so proud, and so relieved. She told me, 'You actually made it through safely.' I thought that was an odd thing to say, but I dismissed it, thinking she was simply worried for my safety the whole time. I didn't know until later, she meant that, despite everything, I made it through that academy that took no one but Aryans. I've made it this far without anyone guessing. You see, there was a secret in my family, one passed from mother to daughter for who knows how long, since the women are the ones who carry the bloodline."

Eren's mouth dropped. "There's no way!"

"Can you already guess? I'm not surprised. Yes ... my mother is Jewish."

"How did you never get caught?" asked Eren. "The ancestry checks in Napola are intensive. I should know!"

"Like I said, it was a family secret for generations. I didn't know back then. I didn't know until I met Moses. He was the one who told me, the women in the family keep the heritage alive, but the men are normally never told. Moses only knew because my uncle Eliezer married a Jew, and he was told the truth before the wedding. My uncle Gabriel still doesn't know the truth, nor does my little cousin Gabi, who I've seen around town, heiling Hitler with enthusiasm."

"Gabi Braun?" asked Armin. "We met her earlier tonight."

Jean asked, "Was she that little girl who threatened to shoot me?"

Reiner chuckled to himself. "That would be her. I've never actually spoken to her. Part of me is terrified. Now that I know the truth, I don't want her to be connected to me."

"What did Moses tell you?" asked Eren.

"It was blackmail, plain and simple. Shortly after that whipping incident, he approached me, said he could prove my mother was Jewish, but he would keep it a secret if I protected the Jews. I thought it was a sick joke, some filthy Jew out to extort me. Still, he's family, I didn't like seeing him in that situation, so I stopped a couple more planned mass retaliations by your captain."

"You helped the Jews?" Eren asked in surprise.

"What little I could, before I was sent to Normandy. After I reached Metz, what he said began to bother me. Carly managed to get a secure phone line to Hamburg, and I spoke to my mother. She confirmed it. Then she said ... 'I wish you had never found out.' I was so scared, I thought about driving back to that place and killing him, if only to save myself. Rather than think of a way to help my own cousin escape, I prayed every night that he would die before he snitched on me. What happened, though..." Reiner shook his head. "He didn't deserve that fate. No living creature deserves that. Not him..." He looked down straight to Levi. "Not you. Tell him this. You knew Moses better than I did. Live on with his memory. I'll probably die in this war, but I want at least someone to know that Moses kept silent about me to save my life, rather than taking me down with him."

Carly translated as much as she could to Levi, who nodded solemnly. "Son nom ne sera jamais oublié."

Carly told Reiner, "He says, his name will never be forgotten. It's the greatest Jewish honor."

A deep look of relief brought a smile to Reiner's face. "That's all I need to know. Now, if only I could tell Gabi the truth. Maybe it would banish that hatred in her heart."

Eren solemnly said, "I hope knowing all that has saved you from the darkness."

Reiner scowled. "Not yet, but it's made me aware of the monster deep inside me. That's scary enough."

Just then, Carly saw a woman coming up the hallway and gasped in surprise.

"Rościsława? Where have you been? Are you injured? What happened?"

They looked and saw the small blond woman, her dress covered in blood.

The woman called out, "Zgubiłem się. Znalazłeś go. To dobrze." I got lost. You found him. That's good.

Reiner muttered, "Ist sie die vermisste Polin?" Is she the missing Polish woman?

Eren looked over to Levi. "Can you translate?"

His eyes narrowed at her. "She's not Polish. That's a German accent."

"What?"

Rościsława smirked and replied in English, "You're as good as they claim, Capitaine Levi Ackerman."

Eren's eyes widened at hearing someone else speaking in English. Not only did this stranger know Levi, she even knew his former rank.

"I put up with so many disgusting men to finally get close to you." From behind her back, Rościsława brought forth a pistol and pointed it at Levi, still held in Oktyabrina's arms.

"Oktyabrina!" Carly yelled, rushing over to shield the woman.

"No!" Eren cried out, and he also began to rush over to Levi.

With fatalistically insane eyes, her finger curled on the trigger. "You deserve far worse, La Lame Juive."

Rościsława's wrist was suddenly grabbed, pulled down, and slammed into someone's torso. Before she could even react, the gun went off. The brothel girls screamed and crouched down. Eren prepared for yet another bullet to pierce him, yet he felt nothing. He looked at the soldier blocking the assassin, and although he was facing away, he recognized that auburn hair.

"Floch?" he whispered.

Rościsława stared in shock as she realized the man she thought she had killed was standing right in front of her, his face ghastly white but severe in determination.

"You ... will not ... hurt Eren Jäger."

"How are you alive?" she gasped. Her shock turned into rage. She sneered and shot four more times. Floch jolted as the bullets went through his stomach, blasting out the back. Suddenly, Carly let out a cry of pain as a bullet passed through Floch and lodged into her side. She grabbed just above her hip and began to double over.

"Carly!" Oktyabrina cried out in horror.

Out of bullets, Rościsława howled in outrage, dropped the gun, and wrapped her hands around Floch's neck. "I'll kill at least you, traitorous bastard."

Reiner stomped up, his huge hands grabbed the woman's head, and he twisted hard. The hall echoed with the crunch of bones, and she dropped limply to the ground.

Eren rushed over, but he saw blood saturating Floch's front, far more than just the five bullets.

"Mein Gott!"

Floch smiled weakly and laughed. "You're safe. Good. I feared ... I had failed you."

He suddenly crumpled to the ground. Reiner knelt beside Floch and pulled up his uniform. His face flinched at the numerous gashes to his abdomen.

"He was stabbed. A lot!"

"She attacked me," Floch wheezed out. "She said ... she needed to kill Levi, and she was going to shoot Jäger."

Eren turned to Carly. "Who is she?

Carly breathed unsteadily as she struggled to answer. "Rościsława. She arrived a few weeks ago from Poland. She..." Carly began to fall, but the brothel girls rushed in to grab her. "The others said she talked strangely. I thought they just meant a dialect." Carly muttered to herself, "Could she really have been a spy?"

Eren looked over to Levi and asked in English, "Do you know her?"

He shook his head. "No, but I've come across her type. Femme fatale. Fanatical assassins. Who was her target?"

"You."

"Me?" he said in surprise. His brow furrowed. "Shit. I never should've told the Resistance my real name. If she was sent as an assassin, this means that now the German High Command knows I'm alive. Shit."

Armin went over to Carly. "Let me see your wound."

She slowly moved her hands out of the way and lowered the edge of her skirt. Armin moved aside more clothing as he checked.

"The bullet is lodged. It probably hit your hip bone."

"Me and my big hips," she laughed tensely through the pain.

"You're lucky. That means no internal organ damage. Still, you need a doctor."

"It's a good thing we're heading to a hospital, then," she said, trying to sound lighthearted about it. Oktyabrina looked anguished. "Keep carrying him," Carly told her, nodding to Levi still cradled in the large woman's arms. "I can walk. I've had menstrual cramps worse than this."

Armin looked up from his inspection of the wound. "The most we can do is plug the hole so you don't bleed out."

Carly nodded stiffly. "Ninotchka, perevyazhite ... oww ... moyu ranu." Ninotchka, bandage my wound. The young Russian nurse came forward. Carly held onto the wall to brace herself, knowing this was going to hurt.

"I can ... he- ... help. Help," Armin mumbled, and suddenly he collapsed. His eyes were fluttering as his head lulled. "Sorry. Maybe ... can't help after all." He slumped over completely limp.

"Armin!" Eren cried out in worry. He knelt beside him and felt his neck. There was still a pulse, but Armin was out cold.

Reiner shook his head. "Bringing him into this is my fault." He walked up to Eren, placed his hand on his shoulder, and leaned in to whisper. "Floch isn't going to make it. Five gunshots and over a dozen stab wounds ... you should say your goodbyes. I'll check on Armin."

Eren turned back over to Floch, struggling to breathe while blood pooled around him. He walked over, knelt beside him, and saw the pallid skin, like all blood had already drained from him. His eyes opened and focused on Eren.

"Is ... Is Armin okay? Was he shot?"

"No, just a headache. He'll be fine. You did well, Gefreiter Forster," Eren assured him gently. "You saved my life. May the Lord bless you for that."

Hearing the blessing from this man he had admired for so long, Floch seemed to find peace just as he slowly lost his battle to stay conscious. He gazed up at the arched bricks making up the underground fort. A bomb hit nearby, and the walls of the fort shook.

"I never thought ... I'd be so happy ... to see the Americans attack. I'm afraid ... I will not be present ... at the next roll call ... Herr Oberleutnant."

Although his left hand was mostly numb, Eren still placed it on Floch's forehead.

Seeing Eren so emotional over him brought a final smile to Floch's pale lips. He tried to salute, but his arm collapsed back down. "It was my greatest honor ... to serve with you." Another bomb struck nearby. "Go," he whispered. "This is your opening."

Eren looked anguished, hating the idea of leaving someone to die alone.

"Jäger ... I still believe ... you've ... a destiny ... of greatness ... our ... only ... hope." His voice trailed off and his eyes stared blankly as debris rained down around him, the corridors echoing with the sound of bombers flying overhead.

Eren gently closed Floch's eyelids. "May Heaven open its gate and the Lord Jesus welcome you." Then he crossed himself.

Reiner was intrigued by just how religious Eren was, not something commonly found in the military anymore. He walked up and patted Eren's shoulder. "Armin needs to get back to the hospital quickly, and you guys need to go."

Jean suddenly blurted out. "We can't leave Floch behind. It'd point a finger at the entire platoon."

"I know," Reiner said, and he pulled Floch's lifeless body up, throwing him over his shoulder. "I'll carry him out."

"Then who will get Armin?" asked Eren.

Reiner replied, "Armin shouldn't be tossed over my shoulder, not with how his head is."

Jean stared down at Armin, then over to Annie, at Carly bleeding from the hip, and then at the blood dripping from Floch's body onto Reiner's uniform. His instincts clashed and his teeth clenched.

"Shit."

Annie realized the situation as well. She placed a hand on his arm and gave him an understanding nod. "Idi pomogi svoyemu drugu."

Carly translated, "She says, go help your friend."

Jean's jaw trembled as he clenched his teeth in anguish. Suddenly, he grabbed Annie's cheeks and kissed her firmly, letting their lips linger. He pulled back and swore, "I will find you!"

Carly translated this for Annie. Her blue eyes were red with tears she bravely held back. She replied in Russian, and Carly related, "She says, she'll wait for you, and be safe." She glanced over, but Reiner was busy talking to Eren. She whispered to Jean, "Head to the town of Peltre. There's a church. Find the priest. He's an old friend of mine. If we're not there, then he'll know where we are."

Jean nodded firmly. He put his forehead against Annie's and whispered, "Ya lyublyu tebya, ptichka moya." I love you so much, my little bird.

She whispered in stilted German, "Ich liebe dich."

Jean grinned at hearing her say that in his own language.

"Well," Reiner said awkwardly to Eren. "This has been a hell of an evening."

"I'm sorry that you got dragged into this."

"I wasn't dragged. If anything, I'm the one who got Arlelt and Kirschtein involved."

Reiner glanced around. French Resistance and Russian prostitutes, Heer soldiers and a Waffen-SS officer, all here trying to save a homosexual man and a Jew.

"This world has gone mad," he muttered, then he turned to face Eren straight on. "Go find a new world to live in, Eren Jäger." He raised his hand in salute. "Heil..." The words cut off, and his hand lowered. "Nein. Auf Wiedersehen und viel Glück." Those words were enough, and they meant much more than something they had repeated mindlessly since they were children. "Kirschtein! Finish kissing her and let's go. The faster we move, the faster you can return to her."

Jean gave Annie one last kiss, and then he firmed up.

"Eren," he said.

This shocked Eren. Jean normally called him Jäger or his rank. Now, all that formality of the military was gone.

"Take care of her until I come back. Here." Jean reached into the black bag and pulled out one of Levi's trench knives. He unsnapped the sheath from the leather garter and snapped it onto Eren's belt. "You won't run out of bullets with this." He handed the rest of the bag to Annie. Then he bent down and carefully lifted Armin up into his arms. "Shit, he's heavier than he looks! All right, Reiner, follow me."

As the men hurried off, Zofia reached out, but her hand slowly pulled back. The other women came around her, whispering reassurances that he would be along soon.

Eren watched as Jean carried Armin away and Floch's body swayed limply over Reiner's shoulder. The men who had stuck with him through Anzio and Maizières-lès-Metz had risked their lives to rescue him, and now not all of them would make it back.

They truly were the most loyal platoon a man could want.

# # #

# #

#

RIP, Floch. You were gullible and a bit of an asshole, but you were loyal to Eren and accepted him as he was. You died a hero protecting Eren.

Rościsława appeared back in Chapter 74 The Mouth's Blessing as the feisty girl prostitute. That was why she spoke German so well back in that earlier chapter. Greiz complains about having shit on her ass from being used for anal sex earlier that night.

Quick note: I've been disappointed that BOOK TWO: METZ became so long, so I split it in half. The most logical spot was the timeskip when Eren goes off to battle (Chapter 68: Letters from Maizières-lès-Metz).

So, I created BOOK THREE: LORRAINE.

If you didn't know, the U.S. Third Army's operations in northeastern France is known as the Lorraine Campaign. It lasted from September 1st to December 18th, 1944, headed by commander of the Third Army, Major General George S. Patton, who went up against commander of the Heeresgruppe G (Army Group G) General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck. The campaign included battles in Metz and its surrounding forts, Arracourt, Nancy, many assaults as the Allies tried to cross the Moselle and Saar rivers, until the they finally reached the Westwall and the Germans launched the Ardennes Offensive (AKA Battle of the Bulge). These past few chapters have been about these battles, directly seeing them or at least hearing about them, and we are now seeing even more. So, calling all of this Book Three: Lorraine felt appropriate.

However, I have talked quite a lot to some of you about what to expect in "Book Three." That will now be "Book Four" starting in Chapter 101. Knowing my bad short-term memory, I will almost assuredly mess that up at some point.

It shouldn't even need to be a note, but at the beginning Eren was hallucinating the anime. It's kind of like, Attack on Titan is all just Eren's hallucination while in prison.

* "He saw someone he imagined might have been Zeke, a man with glasses who looked like a blond version of his father leading an army of giants and animals."

(None of us knew what all the animals in this intro song were about until THE FINAL FIGHT. Talk about foreshadowing!)

* "He saw Levi, only he was flying through the air wielding swords like a comic book hero." — I mean, come on! Of course he hallucinates about our favorite sexy Haicho.

* "He fought side by side with a Japanese girl. He wondered who she was." — No, that's not going to be the only mention of Mikasa in this story. It's been said that she's the teenage daughter of Levi's cousin in New York City.

X-rays in WWII – I had to look up if X-rays were used in World War II. I knew they dated back to the late 1800s, but were they used medically? Turns out, by then they were quite common. In 1896, Thomas Edison invented the fluoroscope, a medical device still used today to obtain X-ray images in real-time. (I had this done. It was awesome to see my bones moving around!) Back in 1914, Marie Curie developed radiological cars that could be deployed to the front lines of World War I, allowing for rapid X-ray imaging of wounded soldiers so battlefield surgeons could quickly and more accurately operate. So definitely, X-ray technology would have been common in 1944.

Magazine Splint – I learned about this quick hack way back when I was 8 years old and shattered a wrist bone into four pieces. The idea stuck with me and got used three years later in my very first attempt at writing a novel. A decade later, I took a First-Aid/CPR class, and they mentioned it as well. Now here I am, using the concept again. So much of what I learned in First Aid had to be considered as I was writing this chapter. Levi's injuries really were a huge issue.

By the way, if you're brave, this was the video that inspired Armin's attempt at a forearm reduction (AKA setting the bone). It looks painful, and without anesthesia it is painful. Nowadays, reduction is done under sedation.

I've had many broken bones in my life, but the only one that needed a reduction was my left index finger. The bone had broken at a 90° angle. I didn't want to waste half a day of my parents' vacation time to visit me by sitting in an emergency room just because of a broken finger, so ... I yanked it hard, popped it upright, set it myself, and used the handle of a plastic spoon and two bandaids as a splint until I could buy a finger splint at the pharmacy. However, I didn't set it right, so that finger now sits slightly askew. It doesn't bug me, but it does make playing piano a little wonky, and it is a little harder to hit G on the keyboard.

("Do not mess with writers. We bitchslap with words." T-shirt now available on my website.)

Side note - Some readers who follow me online have noticed that I've been wearing my mother's wedding ring (the onyx ring) which inspired the wedding ring Eren gave to Levi (his is pearl). This is to honor her after losing my mother suddenly in April. There are many Jewish traditions after losing a family member: aninut, shiva, shloshim, yahrzeit. I do not follow the Jewish faith, but I deeply admire one tradition my husband's family followed after losing his grandmother: every day for one year, they wore either a black item of clothing (he and his father wore black ribbons) or an item uniquely tied to the loved one (his mother wore a pendant belonging to her mother, which she wears to this day). So I will wear my mother's wedding ring every day for one year to honor her.

Eren's Time in Napola – Eren's time as a student in the Nazi-run military academies has been mentioned many times, but I realized, I never said where it was. In fact, I had never looked up if there was a Napola near Hamburg. (Being a major city, I just assumed so.) The town of Plön is about 100 km northeast of Hamburg, or about 90 minutes by car, situated in the wooded lake area on the shores of Großer Plöner See (Great Plön Lake). There was also a non-commissioned officer Navy school and barracks that housed the 6th Panzergrenadier Division. After Hitler's suicide, his Cabinet members fled Berlin and took shelter in Plön for a brief time, including Admiral Karl Dönitz, the man Hitler appointed as the new German President before offing himself. After the war, one of the academies was turned into a boarding school for British children of soldiers and civil servants stationed in West Germany. I wonder what Eren would think, knowing his old school would be used by the British he had grown to hate.

Reiner's Family – Some readers have pointed out, if we went by canon, Reiner was an Eldian and thus (in this universe) would be Jewish. Well, in that respect, so would Jean, Armin, and almost everyone else. My story is not a direct one-to-one comparison of ethnicities in the manga. However, I have been sitting on this for a while.

Indeed, it was stated at some point that Moses from Book One is Moses Braun from the manga, and for years there have been theories that, due to the similar last names, he and Reiner are somehow related. That was long before we knew about Marley, but it was still an interesting theory, and I totally went with it.

So then, if he was Jewish, what is Reiner? Yep! He is secretly the son of a Jew. He simply did not know about it until a few months ago. Here are my notes about his family tree. (Seriously, I go into a lot of detail in these character sheets that never make it into the story!)

———

In the city of Hamburg, Germany, lived the Braun family, made up of siblings Eliezer, Karina, and Gabriel. They were fairly well-off, with ties to the banks and investments.

In 1920, the eldest son Eliezer got engaged to a Jewish woman. Before the wedding, his mother and sister approached him with a family secret, one that was normally only passed from mother to daughter: their family was Jewish, and the women had been keeping the heritage alive for generations, hidden from everyone. However, since he was marrying into a Jewish family, they wanted him to know he was marrying a fellow Jew, but to keep that heritage secret to protect the rest of the Braun family. He would go on to sire Moses Braun and a few other children, raising them to be Jewish, but to everyone around him he seemed like an average Aryan man who just happened to have a Jewish wife.

On August 1st, 1925, Karina gave birth to a son she named Reiner, born out of wedlock with her lover, a German named Johann. As the Nazi Party began to rise in power, Karina grew fearful, so she told Johann the truth about her heritage, hoping he could help protect her. Instead, he left her. As the years passed and the Nazi Party became more powerful, Johann grew paranoid about having a Jewish son; yet, to his credit, he never outed Karina or Reiner. Karina believed this was out of love and hoped that one day she could marry Johann.

Being unmarried, Karina lived in the family home, first with her parents, later taking over the house herself. Reiner grew up in a fairly nice area of Hamburg, wanting for nothing. However, when the Great Depression hit Germany in 1930, their family took a hard hit. The youngest son, Gabriel, had many investments and lost pretty much everything. In 1931, he moved to Metz to start anew and married a rich local woman to regain some of his social standing. The following year, he sired Gabi, named after himself.

Karina never told Reiner the truth about their family and managed to hide her ancestry well enough that Reiner was accepted into the Napola in Plön despite rigorous ancestry checks. There he met Eren Jäger, a scrappy kid from a North Sea fishing village whose bravado, recklessness, but success impressed the sheltered rich boy. Eren would go on to save Reiner from a crossbow bolt, leaving him feeling indebted.

In 1935, the Nazis created laws against relationships with Jews. Although Eliezer still hid the fact that he was Jewish to protect his brother and sister, these laws meant his marriage was invalid, and he feared for his children's safety. He fled Germany to France and went to Metz, hoping his younger brother Gabriel could help him find work. Instead, Gabriel insulted them, calling his children mongrels. Rather than defend himself with the truth, Eliezer kept the family secret to protect little Gabi. Eliezer moved to Paris instead, where Moses grew and thrived for six years. He met a girlfriend at temple, and the two moved in together. However, everything changed for them when Germany defeated France in 1940.

In 1942, the Paris police received a command to round up all Jews in the city, a horrific event known as the Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv'. Because Eliezer's wife and children were registered as Jews, they were seized by the police. Moses heard about the roundup, got his girlfriend onto a boat to England, but he stayed behind to try to rescue his mother and siblings. He failed in his attempt and had to go on the run, finding shelter with a sympathetic priest, which is how he met Levi. Meanwhile, his mother and siblings were sent to labor camps, where they all died. To take his Jewish heritage to the grave and protect the rest of his family, Eliezer took his own life.

Gabi and the rest of her family went through the war not knowing that they were Jewish. On the contrary, Gabriel has intense anti-Semitic views, which he passed on to his daughter.

That same year, Karina was faced with horror at the loss of her older brother, but joy when her son Reiner graduated from Napola. She sighed in relief, "You actually made it through safely," something he thought odd at the time but did not question it, dismissing it as merely her being worried for his safety in a military academy.

Reiner was accepted into the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz, where he swiftly made it in only 10 months. He was sent to the Eastern Front in 1943, but he was shot three times and his squad was nearly wiped out. Only Bertholdt escaped being wounded. He was sent to France to recover and reform his platoon.

On May 16th, he was sent to Kitz Woermann's company with instructions to keep an eye on the captain, after Kitz shot the son of a high-ranked member of the Nazi Party in Poland. Reiner had authority to shoot Kitz if he tried to kill another German soldier without cause. The presence of an SS platoon puzzled many of the Heer in town, but Reiner could not reveal his real reason for being there.

When Reiner arrived in the village, he recognized his old friend Eren, but also caught sight of his cousin Moses, whom he had not seen in almost a decade. The two cousins only shared silent stares from time to time.

On May 30th, after Levi and most of the female Jews were whipped by Kitz and Eren, Moses approached Reiner, revealed the truth of their family line, that Reiner was in fact Jewish, and in a sense blackmailed him, promising not to say anything so long as Reiner did whatever he could to protect the Jews. Reiner thought this was a sick joke by a Jew out to extort him. Still, for the sake of his cousin, he kept a closer eye on Kitz and stopped a couple more planned mass retaliations.

A week later on June 6th, Reiner was sent to the Normandy coast. Although he fought bravely, he once again lost most of his platoon, including Bertholdt. What was left was sent to Metz. While there, what Moses had said bothered him. Reiner asked around carefully about how to make a secure phone call, finally approaching Carly. She managed to set up a secure line to Hamburg, and Reiner spoke with his mother. Despite the secure line, he used very vague terms to ask her about what Moses had said. Karina was equally cautious as she confirmed that this was the truth. She lamented, wishing he could have lived a normal life without ever knowing about his heritage.

This terrified Reiner, to the point where he considered driving back to the village and killing Moses, but he could not leave for such a long trip without arousing suspicion. Eventually, he heard that Eren was in Metz, went to his hotel room, and tried to casually ask what happened with the Jews. He was stunned and privately grieved to hear that Eren helped to shoot them all. He assumed that this included Moses. Although they went out drinking together, he avoided Eren after that.

Many weeks later, Reiner heard from a very drunk Jean all about what really happened to Moses and Levi, and he grew sickened at Kitz Woermann. He also realized, he had avoided Eren for no reason. So when he saw Eren on a bridge with what appeared to be a tiny blond woman, he rushed over and set up to go drinking with him, hoping to make up for his rudeness.

When he and Eren met up, many of the things Eren said began to seriously worry Reiner. For one, Eren asked "Do you ever feel like you just don't belong?" For a few seconds, Reiner thought Eren was hinting about his secret heritage. When he realized Eren was talking about himself, he played off his shock by teasing Eren with childhood memories, even tossing in an insult aimed at Jews, all to cover over his own fears. When the time came to rescue Eren from prison, Reiner wanted to first kill Kitz Woermann in revenge. However, he was stopped by Carly, and Reiner let thoughts of revenge go when the brothel madame asked him to help her rescue some Jewish women. He figured that was a better way to honor his cousin than to stain his hands in blood.

———

Eliezer is the name of eleven people in the Bible; however, the one I was thinking about is Eliezer the second son of Moses. Considering he named his child Moses, I thought it was a funny switcheroo!

Gabriel is an angel mentioned in both the Tanakh (גַּבְרִיאֵל or Gabri'el), appearing to Daniel in a vision, in the Book of Enoch and other ancient Jewish writings; he shows up in the New Testament Gospel of Luke (Γαβριήλ or Gabriel), announcing to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive a son she should call Immanuel (she went with Jesus instead), as well as the apocryphal Gospel of James; he in the Quran (as جِبْرِيل or Jibrīl) as the Angel of Revelation; and in Yazidism as one of the Seven Mysteries and is sometimes associated with one of their central holy figures, Tawûsî Melek (Peacock Angel), head of the archangels and Lord of the World, placed in charge after God basically retired, his multi-colored feathers representing the diversity of the world and all the colors of nature.

Side note: Some groups of Muslims falsely claim Tawûsî Melek represents Shaitan/Satan. This is because Yazidis believe the Peacock Angel refused to bow before Mankind, believing only the Supreme God should be worshiped. Punished, the Peacock repented and was forgiven, instead made the emissary between God and mankind (thus associated more with the Biblical archangel Gabriel).

Since this refusal to bow to Man is similar to the Islamic story that Shaitan refused to bow to Adam out of pride, they believe Tawûsî Melek and Shaitan are one and the same, and thus claim that Yazidis are devil-worshippers. Yet Yazidis are clear that this is a benevolent archangel, he repented and was not only forgiven but elevated for his devotion to God, and evil is only found within mankind, not angels. They are actually forbidden from speaking the name Shaitan/Satan as "doing so one creates an equal partner to God. God is the creator and the biggest force and it is wrong to say that there is an evil force and it is equal to God."

Due to this false accusation that they are devil-worshippers, the Yazadi people have been heavily persecuted in Islamic countries over the past 1400 years, until there are less than a million still alive. They have dealt with massive genocide, thousands of women and young girls kidnapped and sold into sex slavery, and half a million forced to flee their ancestral lands as refugees.

And that was in 2014 alone!

I should emphasize, not all Muslims support this. Millions protest against the xenophobic attacks made by the leaders of some Islamic countries. At its core, Islam is a religion of peace. It is only a few who twist those beliefs into vile atrocities.

Yazidi take remembering their history of persecution as a central part of their identity and have an oral history of 74 genocides over the centuries. Two are in the 21st century alone by ISIL, and they were the worst ones yet. Western countries have done little to stop the genocide besides acknowledging it occurred and saying, oh how terrible with little aid and few offers to take in refugees.

I would bet most of you (especially in Western Countries) have never even heard of the Yazidi People. They are fascinating, though. Their culture is ancient and rich, their art is so vividly colorful, and their religion is truly intriguing with fantastic stories. They really are a group of people who should be known, recognized, and protected.

I encourage you to learn more.

(How the heck do I end up going on tangents like this? I don't regret it at all, though. The Yazidi genocide ranks right up there with the Holocaust and should be addressed more often. Still, I find it weird where my brain diverts. Randomly come up with a name for Gabi's father = end up down a rabbit hole of ethnic and cultural genocide.)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I had a music performance that day, so I got to play for a few thousand people with some of my best friends, and we all gorged ourselves on doughnuts. Always a good day when I get to play music. Then that evening my husband took me out to dinner at a lakeside restaurant, followed by a romantic walk around the lake.