"I suppose I'll make some stew." Hange said, getting to work and cutting vegetables around the steaming pot of water that Kaya had previously boiled. Kaya finally averted her gaze away from Annie, noticing the two warrior candidates that Jean had mentioned, however, she never expected to see those two faces again. Gabi and Falco, wasn't it? They were staring back at her too, relief rested on their faces when they saw a familiar ally.

The whole camp went silent, none daring to be the one to start a conversation over their current situation, all too afraid of a fight breaking loose. If an all out fight was to occur, both would suffer greatly, if Armin was to use his titan then they'd all die, which was why it was best to separate the separate groups until some of the tension managed to settle.

"So is anybody gonna help me out with these potatoes?" Hange broke the silence. "Or are we just gonna glare at each other?"

"Well, I can't do it?" Kaya stated, looking to the others to see if they'd offer their help.

"We've gone from trading blows to breaking bread inside of a day, huh?" Magath stated. "Out of curiosity, what made you change your minds? If you let Eren Yeager succeed, you'll be getting far more than you ever could've hoped for. You island devils will have the world to yourselves. We were the ones trying to save it. We would've been able to keep Eren and Zeke from coming into contact, if you hadn't stepped in at the last second and helped them." He insulted, guilty looks rested on the scouts faces.

"I'm already repeating what I've already told you, general. But nobody here wants to be an accessory to genocide. That's why we're all hiding in the woods eating stew, instead of celebrating in town." Hange defended their soldiers.

"So you've finally figured out who the good guys are?" Magath said slyly, sipping out of his bottle of wine.

"Are you kidding me, you seriously think you're in the right? You're crazy." Jean pointed at the general. "You people spent years trying to murder us all and we're the bad guys because we didn't just roll over and die? Screw that! We learned to fight like hell because the only other option we had was to let your titans eat us all alive. We've found a way to survive and now you're gonna call us devils for it?" He shouted back, but the Marleyan was completely unfazed.

"That's right, you're exactly what we always thought you were. We let you fester for too long on Paradis. The worlds about to pay for that mistake. You finally won your freedom and we can all see what your doing with it. What I'd miss?"

"Plenty. Not a word about how your shock troops destroying Eren's home and making him watch his mother get eaten alive. That's what started this!" Jean argued. "If you wanna know why this is happening then go look in the mirror."

"Right, everything was fine until your buddy lost his mom." Magath scoffed. "I guess all those centuries of Marley's people getting ground under Eldian's heel don't count for anything in your eyes."

"Now you're going to play the victim for something that happened over 2000 years ago?"

"It's like talking to a child. It started 2000 years ago. Compared to the sum of the carnage and misery brought by Eldia, your islands suffering is a joke."

"Excuse me?"

The constant bickering was insufferable, the ghoul may have some bias but she preferred the point Jean was making, and although she was sick of their fighting, it was best to stay out of it. Instead, she took out one of her knives from her boot and began sharpening it with the palm of her hand, a small distraction that gave her minimal peace.

"Okay, that's enough." Hange interrupted. "If we're gonna be at each other's throats, let's stick to arguing about stuff that we actually lived through ourselves. Look Jean, our friend the general is struggling understanding why we're not acting like the devils we are. Giving up our paradise to save a world that wants us dead, what devil in their right mind would do a ridiculous thing like that? Have we gone mad?" They explained. "What he doesn't know is that we scouts spent a few months living in that world, so we can never go back to being the ignorant island devils we were."

Just like that, both sides were silenced and Kaya felt a hand touch her shoulder, looking up, she saw it was the captain. Against his wishes, he'd been woken up by the arguing, but instead of speaking or making his presence known, he stuck to signalling Kaya only. As a result, she took his hand in hers and examined his injuries, but where as she could have dwelled on her mistake, she instead traced her fingers over his palm, comforting him.

"Tell me, can you honestly bring yourselves to kill Eren?" Annie raised a new question, the raised heartbeats of the scouts gave their answer away to the ghoul and the circles she'd drawn in Levi's palm began to slow. "Are you truly ready, to kill Eren?"

"I don't think that's our only option, we can find another way." Mikasa protested.

"Exactly what I expected you to say." Annie spoke. "So what, you're gonna try and persuade him? He made the choice to slaughter every man woman and child on the planet, you think you can talk him back from that?"

"Well I'm not assuming we can, but we're never gonna know for sure unless we try." Armin answered.

"Sure, and say you fail. You make your case and he still refuses to stop the rumbling, what's next? It's him or the world, can you all see him as your enemy?" Annie asked, the silence soon answered. "That's what I thought. We're the ones fighting to protect our homeland now and we're going to do what we need to do. But if we have to kill Eren to save Marley, you're going to turn on us to try save your friend. And you know it. Don't you Mikasa? Tell me I'm wrong. You can't do it, right? You care about nothing more than him. Can you imagine turning against him?" The blonde taunted, smiling to look for a reaction out of the soldier.

Instantly, Mikasa displayed her swords. "If you want me out of the way then just come out and say it." She demanded threateningly, which only provoked Annie to bring out her bladed ring towards her thumb. Both of the leaders were beginning to panic. Until Annie finally put her weapon away.

"I know exactly how you feel Mikasa, I'm not fighting Eren because I think the worlds worth saving. I'm doing it because my dads in Marley and I don't want him to die. But I can't save him without your help. If you really can change Eren's mind, that's fine with me, but until you get the chance, we shouldn't be fighting." Annie stated, trying to form some peace.

"Okay." Mikasa quietly answered.

Suddenly, Hange began tapping the metal pot, indicating that their stew was ready. "Glad you worked that out. And look, our stews good to go now. Dig in." Hange informed before handing out separate dishes of the meal.

"Even with the horses rested, we've got a five hour ride to the port. From what Kiyomi told me, the Azumabito's have a flying boat in the harbour and have been planning to take off and observe the rumbling from the air. We need to get close to the founding titan." Hange added.

"I knew it, the Azumabito's were helping you behind the scenes." Magath retorted.

"The problem is, we have to find the founder first. And we don't have enough fuel to fly around looking for him." The commander continued despite Magath's statement. "Kaya, do you think you're able to track him down?"

"I'd say I know which direction to head, but all the footsteps and dust block out my senses. However, perhaps a Yeagerists might know where they're headed." The ghoul side eyed Yelena.

"So where is Yeager going?" Magath asked the blonde Marleyan, who'd been rather quiet since her capture.

"I don't know. And if I did, what reason would I have to tell you?" Yelena shot back, not giving anyone the satisfaction of viewing her emotions.

"He learned about the mainland from you, you gave him the knowledge to plan this attack. He's going to be picking his targets based on what you taught him. You should at least be able to make a guess." He asked again, demonstrating his reasoning.

"Kiss my ass." Yelena rolled her eyes. "What makes you think I'll change course now and help you Marleyan swines save your godforsaken hellhole?"

"How about the fact that it's your only chance of seeing another sunset?" Annie threatened.

"That won't work, she doesn't want to live." Jean scoffed.

"Well, there are other ways of getting people to talk." Kaya remarked, changing her eyes to their red and black hues, glaring at the Yeagerist. Soon realising the looks of shock on the new allies' faces.

"Well, I thought you started the volunteers to liberate your homeland from Marley. Will you let your country get flattened just to spite the Marleyan swine?" Connie wondered, pushing forward a fair point.

"It's a fair question." Onyankopon looked towards the woman with answers.

"The answers yes. Wanna know why? She's a pure bred Marleyan pig herself." Magath stated, shocking everyone who were under the assumption Yelena wanted to avenge her own homeland, similar to her colleagues goal.

"You caught us off guard with the Liberian raid." Pieck crouched down, still in her titan form. "But we got a bigger surprise when we looked into your past. You were born and raised in a typical Marleyan family, but you wrote yourself a new life story when you met Zeke. One where you were from an different territory. As you grew disillusioned with Marley, your story got more elaborate. It evolved into a grand fantasy about saving the world with your prince. And in time, you hoped your fairy tale would make its way into the history books. Your commitment to the lies honestly impressive." Pieck explained the woman's story to those confused.

"Hm." Yelena smirked and caressed the titans cheek in her palm, stoking under its eye. "Save the world, that might be the sweetest most alluring words one could hear, don't you think? Who wouldn't want to imagine themselves as a saviour of hundred of millions of lives. To wash the bitterness of hate room their mouths with the hunny taste of righteousness. From where I sit, it looks likely what all of you are doing right now. Seems to me, you need to have your memories jogged." She tormented them, showing that somehow she was the one in the right.

"Kaya, the miracle ghoul." Yelena turned her head, all eyes soon landing on Kaya. "What was your last name again?" She interrogated.

"If this is your way of showing your knowledge, I've gotta say, I'm not impressed." The Lieutenant glared.

"Patience." Yelena smiled intently. "Miss, Irimi."

Kaya's stoic face immediately failed, she hadn't used that name since her parents went missing, in fear of Dr Yeager taking her away too. However, it was impossible for Yelena to easily acquire that name, the amount of digging she had to partake in must have been never ending. Filled with frustration, she released Levi's hand, standing to her feet so she could tower over Yelena.

"What the fuck did you just say?" She pointed her knife towards the Yeagerist.

"You heard me. Kaya Irimi, you have no idea how long it took to find your past." She smiled. "You were named after your grandmother, right. Also known as Black-Dog, leader of the Black-Dobers. She was against humanity in the ghoul wars, and she was an advocate of chaos. She wanted humanity gone, and deep down, you do too. Don't you?" Yelena explained.

Everyone sat in shock, even Hange was lost for words. Resulting in Kaya feeling as out of place as ever, everyone's opinions changed so easily, but the worst thing was, Yelena knew more about the ghouls past than even her. It was terrifying.

"The only thing I have in common with her is my blood." Kaya corrected, feeling sick just thinking about what Yelena was implying. "I've never met her, and do NOT share her ideals." She spat. "You've got nothing on me, that's why your using my family as an excuse, trying to get everyone to turn on me. It's pathetic."

"Well, I could've made another approach, maybe even cause you to lose control." Yelena countered. "Tell me, do the names Eld Jinn, Gunther Schultz, Oluo Bozad and Petra Ral, ring any bells? From what I understand, Annie killed them all, brutally. You and your captain were the only ones who managed to fight her, after you saw how she decimated your friends. Wouldn't you like to know what was going through her mind? If she enjoyed it?" Yelena provoked, however, Kaya did her best to stay calm.

"I don't need to ask." She began. "Because I already know. She was following orders, that's all to it. And she didn't enjoy it, because when we took Eren back, the female titan was crying. Remorse doesn't spout from enjoyment."

"Perhaps." Yelena replied, soon changing the subject and finding her new target. "What about you, Reiner Brawn. You were the one who breached Shiganshina's inner gate, so many Eldians were devoured by pure titans because of that. And Annie Leonhardt, you killed more than your fair share of survey corps members in you time, that's before you trampled the innocent people of Stohess. Though I doubt the ghoul knows anything about remorse." The Marleyan said monotonously, without a shred of emotion for the truth she was shedding.

"Let's not forget our brave liberators. There's Armin the level headed one, who seems far too kind to cause the bloodbath he did at that harbour in Marley. How high do you think you could stack those corpses? Don't forget the civilians, there's plenty. Not to sell the rest of you short. Everyone gave a heroic performance in Liberio. You thought you'd all made it out clean, until Gabi gunned down Sasha. What a sweetheart that girl was, even I couldn't help but feel sad for her, and to you, she was family. Training together, went through hell together, losing her must have been more painful than I could imagine."

"God, does she ever shut up." Kaya muttered to the sleepy captain beside her.

"This stews pretty good Hange, got enough for seconds?" Jean changed the subject.

"Oh, we've got enough, so don't be shy." The commander handed him another dish.

"I want to thank you for this Yelena. Bating us into airing out our grudges so we can get it out of our systems and get our heads on straight, right? You'd have someone to vent to yourself if you didn't blow all their brains out to keep yourself alive. Now all you've got is a head full of cutting remarks and a death wish." He drank from his bottle of wine. "So this is actually pretty selfless of you."

"Right, almost forgot, you mentioned another name. He was already dead by the time we met but I remember you were good friends. Marco." The group soon listened in. "As I recall, you told me Annie had something to do with his death, didn't you? Did you ever ask her yourself? I bet she'll tell you." Yelena beckoned.

Hesitantly, Annie answered, but Kaya didn't expect to see a layer of guilt trying to break free. "I stood his ODM gear before the titans could get to him. Marco got eaten because of me."

"Annie was only following the orders I was giving her." Reiner interrupted. "During the fight in Trost, Marco overheard me and Bertholdt discussing something secret, if we let him go, he could've exposed us. So we decided we had to silence him. Figured no one would think twice about a soldier getting eaten by a titan. So I tackled him onto a roof, pinned him down, ordered Annie to strip off his ODM gear and then, we just left him there on that rooftop until a titan got to him." He told his story.

"So, did he.." Jean said quietly. "Say anything before he was killed."

"He asked why I wasn't willing to talk to him. I think, that question still applies."

"We haven't been willing to talk, we just started fighting and it had to be to the death." Jean stated.

"But we can still change that. Just a little while ago, we were all ready to kill each other. Here we are, it's something right. To think we'd all be sitting around a campfire, sharing a meal with people who used to be our enemies." After Hange's words, the group went into a comfortable silence, nothing else needed to be said. Until someone broke it.

"I stood and watched the titan as it devoured Marco, and then a switch flipped and I couldn't figure out why was happening. I just snapped, flew into a rage, hellbent on avenging him. I cut down the titan myself..."

"We get it, your saying the guilt you were carrying out your mission screwed with your head." Jean intervened.

"Don't forgive me, I'm truly worthless."

"I said we get it!" Jean scolded. Warning the armoured titan not to say another word.

"I'm sorry-"

That's was the final straw, Jean couldn't hold back his anger any longer. Rage coursing through his veins, he leapt towards Reiner, punching his face and pinning him to the ground. Then after releasing his anger, he continued to punch and kick, anything to invoke pain.

The group watched, thinking he would stop after the first few blows, but when he didn't, Kaya and Connie had to intervene, grabbing both of the scouts arms. However, they didn't expect him to continue fighting with his kicks. Unfortunately, before they could stop him, Gabi jumped in front of Reiner, intercepting the kick delivered by Jean.

"Gabi!" Falco ran to her side.

"I'm sorry." The girl choked out. "We came here, to kill everyone on Paradi. We wanted to stage your massacre, no prisoners. We thought the world would forgive us for the sins of the Eldian empire if we wiped you out, they'd recognise us as good Eldians, who saved them from the island devils. And now, my mom and dad, back in Liberio, I'm gonna lose them all because of what I did. I'm sorry." Gabi cried kneeling down in front of the crowd. "And I have no right to ask anything, but we can't save our families without your help, so please, please don't let our homes get trampled. I'm begging you."

"Help us please." Falco continued. "We have to stop the rumbling together."

"We're begging you." Both repeated numerous times, the same way they'd begged Reiner to save their homes previously, they were only kids.

"Let go." Jean ordered the ghoul, who looked at him skeptically but decided to comply.

"It didn't work, we couldn't convince him." Gabi whispered quietly.

Originally, the only reason Kaya joined the group was to kill Zeke, along with Eren if that was the case, but now, she wanted to save people she'd never met. People who wanted not only her, but the people she loved, to die. It was so twisted that it gave her headache.

"Please shut up." Levi ordered the group, but no one truly gave him recognition, too much was going on.

"I'm surprised you lasted that long without lecturing them." Kaya sat beside him, leaning against his cart. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." he lied, aware of the fact Kaya knew his true answer. "I'm proud of you, you were the bravest one there, when Petra was mentioned, I didn't think you'd be able to hold that much composure." He admitted.

"Well, we talked it out a few times, and now, after hearing everything, I don't blame anyone for what happened." She credited Levi, he'd always taken time out of his day to listen to her thoughts. "Can I get you anything?" She offered, brushing his hair away from his face. "I can lay you on one of the makeshift beds we placed, it's probably better than lying down on a wooden cart." She asked, Levi hesitated but then nodded. He hated relying on people, but Kaya had always been there for him and for that, he was grateful.

After slowly setting him down on the leaves, she sat beside him, not taking her eyes away from the bandages that covered his body. It was partly her fault for not properly protecting him, but now, she wouldn't let anyone harm him, they'd have to get through her first.

"So, Kaya Irimi? You never told me about that." He questioned.

"To be honest, I tried to forget it. My name was dangerous, I had to ditch it to be safe." Kaya answered.

"In that case, when this shit is over, you could always change it to Ackerman." Levi suggested, his comment sounding flirtatious however he was deadly serious.

"Kaya Ackerman, that's something I like the sound of." She smiled, imagining that the captain was doing the same below his bandages.