The scouts had finally secured wall Maria, now it was time to venture back into Shiganshina in attempts to find the secrets of the titans. Kaya had forgotten about the basement, in all fairness, she didn't think they'd make it that far. However, she still possessed the secret that she'd already been into the basement. She could've uncovered these secrets months ago. But now wasn't the time for her to feel guilty, she still had to figure out if she was going to tell the squad.

Eren, Mikasa, Levi, Hange and Kaya all jumped from the wall, using their gear to assist their landing. The smell of burning was still in the air, the colossal had done its damage and everyone was yet to tell if the basement had made it out unscathed.

"Well, take us to your house." Levi ordered, not wanting to waste anymore time.

Shiganshina was in ruins, it looked equal to her first visit, but this time, the sun illuminated its destruction. Plants crawled up building sides and remains of civilisation lay on the ground. Every so often, the ghoul could make out a child's toy or an object that looked as though it held importance.

As soon as they turned the corner, Kaya saw the familiar rock that crushed Eren and Mikasa's home.
"Is this the place?" Hange asked.

"Looks like it." The thief answered after no one else replied.

"Luckily for us, the fires burnt out before they got this far." The new commander stated.

Eren and Mikasa stayed quiet, rummaging through the rubble the scavenge any sort of surviving memories from their old home. That was until they realised a closed hatch underneath another rock. In a way, Kaya had tried to hide the basement, she knew the next door couldn't be explained by a simple excuse such as titans.

"This is it, the stairs to the cellar are beneath this door." The shifter informed.

"All right." The captain glanced at the obstacles before turning to the ghoul. "You can lift this, right?" He asked.

"Course I can." Kaya replied, taking out her kagune and securing it around the bolder. Once she had it in her hold, she tossed it to the side and allowed Eren to lift the trapdoor.

"That's a relief, I was worried that it might've flooded by now." Hange said.

"Levi." Kaya signalled. "A word? Preferably before we all enter." She added.

If Kaya was going to confess about her sneaking into Shiganshina, then she'd have to do it now or risk being found out before she got the chance, again. It may have been selfish for her to steal the book alone, but she wasn't sure what else she should've been looking for. Besides, she never intended to stick with the scouts that long to begin with.

The captain nodded his head and stepped aside from the group with Kaya. "What is it?" He pondered.

"I may have kept another secret, but in all fairness, I didn't think we'd make it this far." She began. "4 months ago, I snuck out of our base and came here, I stole Eren's key and managed to gather enough information to know where he lived. I knew doctor Yeager was the cause of my parents death so I suspected him of having the thing that spooked my parents enough to leave. That's why I went into his basement and took it." She briefly summed up.

"This whole time, you'd already been to the place the scouts have been aiming to seize for months?" Levi asked, causing Kaya to nod her head in shame. "And you didn't think to try and find the secret about the titans?"

"It wasn't my top priority, besides, I couldn't find anything in that draw. I don't know if I missed something or if whatever it is was well hidden." She paused. "Listen, I'm sorry. I was being selfish, but if you were in my shoes, wouldn't you have done the same?"

The captain thought for a moment, he understood that Kaya had went through traumatic events as a child, being left to fend for herself for years, he'd experienced the same fate. Even he had to admit that he would also be eager to know the cause if his parents mysteriously disappeared.

"Probably, but that doesn't change the fact that all of this could've been prevented."

"How was I supposed to know that everything would plan out like this?"

"If you two are done having your little lovers quarrel, then I'd like to crack open this basement?" Hange interrupted, not understanding the intensity of the situation.

"Lover's quarrel?" Eren repeated as the cogs in his head began to turn. "You two are dating?" He accused.

"Shut it Eren!" Both the scouts snapped and continued their conversation.

"We'll discuss this later." The captain insisted.

"What's there to discuss? I made a mistake, it was a big ass mistake but I didn't know it would lead to this." The ghoul defended.

Levi only sighed and the couple made their way towards the group. The captain lead the way, holding a lantern to guide him in the darkness, where as Kaya only activated her eyes. As soon as they grew closer to the door, all eyes widened.

"It's been kicked down? But how? The other door was still in tact." Hange observed.

"Now I see why you told me. If you had it your way, you would've kept the secret, wouldn't you?" Levi turned towards Kaya.

"Of course I would've. It'd spare me from the lecture I'm about to get as soon as we get back." She admitted.

"What secret?" Mikasa asked the ghoul.

Kaya looked at Levi with pleads escaping her eyes, she didn't want them to know, they'd never forgive her. They may have been okay with her kind but they clearly wouldn't have allowed her to potentially doom humanity. Hence, the ghoul did all she could to stop Levi from revealing the truth. Motioning please with her mouth and hoping he'd understand.

Luckily, he did and answered Mikasa's question for her. "It's nothing important."

Without questioning the captain, Mikasa led the group inside the cellar, igniting the room with light from their lanterns. Dust had collected over the years, the ghoul swore she saw Levi's face twitch when he ran his finger along the table.

"It almost feels like a laboratory down here." Hange observed. Kaya was thankful that at least she managed to preserve the room from her destruction.

"My dad was a doctor, so he was always cooked up down here making medicines." Eren answered.

"That makes sense. Actually, if we assume that all of this is labelled accurately, most of it seems to be widely available. And all of the books on hand relate to medicine, this looks like a normal doctors study. There isn't a single thing here that would rise my suspicion, as I'm sure your father intended." The scientist continued.

"If you wanna hide something from the interior police, you wanna be sure not to give them any leads." Levi stated before turning around to look at the group. "Hey, don't just stand there, get to work. Erwins barely wrong about his hunches."

"Right." Everyone answered.

Kaya instantly walked towards the desk, tilting her head to draw Levi's attention to the key hole in the desk. When he didn't get the message, she did it again with more aggression. "Wow is that a key hole?" She compromised, clearly not everyone had her keen eyesight.

Everyone crouched around Kaya's positions as they all awaited Eren to open it up. Slowly, he pushed in the key, to his surprise, it worked.

"That got it." Said Eren, pulling the drawer open. Unfortunately, the drawer was empty, just as it was that night when Kaya had tried to raid it. "It's empty?"

"Holy shit." The ghoul muttered as she realise the truth behind her mistake. "That guy used a fake bottom."

Levi looked towards her, understanding that she was actually shocked at her own realisation. Maybe she was relieved that it wasn't entirely her fault she missed out on the finding.

Inside the drawer lay three books, each neatly organised into rows. Levi took out the first, it was green and kaya could make out a strong stench coming from the drawer and book. "This crap smells like peppermint oil and charcoal." The thief informed.

"Yes, it's used to ward off moisture and bugs." Hange added.

"If what we're looking for exists, then we've found it." The captain spoke, placing the book onto the table.

"After all this time, dad might finally explain himself." Eren placed a hand on the book, soon allowing it to be caressed by Mikasa's. The two opened it to the first page, each of the scouts looked in confusion. "Is this a painting?" Eren held an image.

"Let me look closer." Hange took the paper. "No, this is far too detailed to be drawn by human hand."

"Hey, there's writing on the back." Mikasa pointed out.

"This is no illustration, it was made by gathering the light reflected off an object and burning it into an image on special paper. It looks quite nice, right? Where I'm from, there's amazing technologies like this. Mankind isn't gone. Beyond the walls, countless humans live in comfortable refinement. I pray the person who finds this book, would be a fellow patriot." The new commander read the paper.

"So this means, there's others beyond the walls." Eren gasped at the discovery.

"Looks like Erwin's right again, even from the grave." Levi remarked.

"Yeah, but if there are people beyond the walls, why didn't they help us?" The ghoul wondered. "Are they in the same situation? Do they know about the titans? Do they care?" She gathered the reasons, unsure of what was true anymore.

"We'll find out soon enough." The captain responded the the bombardment of questions.