Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Part One: The Order

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The first thing that was different was that there were too many people on the road to Rammelsberg. Last year the trainees had encountered hardly another living soul as they trudged up the last few miles of the road into town, marching together as a group that was already rife with shivering and grumbling about the bitter cold and the exhausting exercise of marching uphill for miles. But this year the road into Rammelsberg wasn't empty at all; this year it was downright busy. Horse- and cattle-drawn carts, some loaded with supplies and some loaded with entire families, children with packs on their backs running errands, men and women carrying baskets laden with bread, even - almost absurdly - a young girl walking a dog on a leash. She saluted the trainees cheerfully as she passed by them, going down the road in the opposite direction. There was snow covering every inch of the ground except the muddy road that the trainees were marching on, which definitely seemed to be wider than any of them remembered it being from last year.

"Where did all of these people come from?" Armin finally wondered out loud.

"Civilization," Jean declared. "Civilization's finally caught up with this damn place and I bet that Colonel Frostbite just hates it." He laughed at that, and Marco laughed with him.

When the group arrived in Rammelsberg they found that it, too, had completely changed since they had seen it last year; there were two streets lined with snow-frosted buildings now, instead of just one, both bustling with people bundled up against the chill but apparently determined not to let the temperature get in the way of them going about their daily business. At the end of the newer of the two streets was a large building with an unmistakable sign painted on its sides: a hospital. A small one, actually, one that in a larger city certainly would have been referred to as a doctor's office instead of a hospital. But out here in the mountains, any place with a doctor, a bed, and more than one room was certainly a hospital, and that hospital had most certainly not existed in Rammelsberg last year. Civilization did seem to have finally caught up with the remote little village.

Armin managed to slip out of formation just long enough to ask the all-important question to a man that he saw sitting on the stoop in front of the general store, then quickly ducked back into formation and whispered to Mikasa and Eren, "It's not going to snow until later today, he says. But the clouds should clear during the night and we'll have nothing but sunshine for the rest of the week. At least, that's what he said that everybody else is saying."

Eren looked up at the ominously gray sky. "Looks like it's going to snow any minute now, though."

"I know. But if we're lucky, the snow will wait until we're--"

"Are you kidding me?!" Jean's voice suddenly cut through the entire formation of the trainees, interrupting multiple conversations, as his voice often tended to do whenever he was worked up about something or another. Every head turned toward him as he threw his arms up in the air exuberantly. "Best news I've heard all year!"

"What?" somebody asked.

"We don't have to use the sleds," Jean said, pointing out toward the edge of the town. "The road's cleared all the way up to Haller's Point."

Last year the road had simply ended at the edge of Rammelsberg. The trainees had had to unload a week's worth of food and supplies from the horse-drawn carts that had carried them this far up the mountain, repack everything onto sleds, and haul the sleds slowly up the treacherous, snow-covered terrain between the tiny town and Haller's Point. All of which, of course, had been designed to be a part of the endurance training in the first place. But this year things were going to be different. This year civilization had come to town, this year civilization was on their side, and this year they could all clearly see, plain as day, that the muddy but snow-free road stretched past the edge of town and quickly disappeared into the snowy forest.

They would be able to use the horse-drawn carts all the way up to Haller's Point.

"Civilization!" Jean declared again, triumphantly. Then he repeated his own joke again: "I bet that Colonel Frostbite hates all of this!"

That time quite a few more of them risked laughing along with the joke, despite the fact that Shadies was already cutting through the formation and heading straight toward Jean with the threat of impending doom promised on his face.

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The new road between Rammelsberg and Haller's Point twisted and turned through the forest, occasionally running along the edge of a steep drop-off, free of snow but still covered in treacherous, slippery mud. The road was still infinitely better than the ordeal with the sleds that the trainees had been forced to endure last year, however, so not a single one of them complained.

And there were still people on the road. Children, too, a few of whom saluted cheerfully at the trainees as they marched past. They were traveling down the road toward town, passing the trainees going the opposite direction. But that didn’t make sense, Armin thought. Hallers's Point was the very edge of human civilization in this part of the mountains; past the campsite there was nothing but wilderness. Or at least, there had been nothing but wilderness last year. Where were all the people walking down the opposite side of the road coming from?

"There must be another town up here now," Armin suddenly realized.

"What?" Eren asked.

"Sorry. Just thinking out loud." Armin pointed up the road. "I think there might be another town up this way, though. That has to be the reason why there are so many people on the road still. I wonder what happened to bring all those people out here."

If there was another village that had sprung up since last year, however, it must have been somewhere past Haller's Point, because despite the well-traveled road the trainees still saw nothing but forest until they finally reached the wooden gates of the training camp. Armin saw that the muddy road continued past Haller's Point, however, cutting through the snow and deep into the forest. He made a mental note to ask about the newer town that surely must exist somewhere further along that road later.

Civilization was here again, inevitable, encroaching. Armin supposed that it had only been a matter of time, after all. Humanity had been confined to an even smaller prison after the loss of Wall Maria, and wild places like the mountains surrounding Haller's Point wouldn't stay wild forever, at least not as long as the cities inside the walls were still overcrowded and still short on food and jobs.

Armin turned his head away from the road that had not existed last year and that now pointed to an unknown village that also had not existed last year, and looked up toward the open wooden gates that marked the entrance to Haller's Point. Well, at least there was one constant that the trainees could count on this year.

Colonel Haller had not changed one bit. He stood at the entrance gate to the training camp just as he had the year before, watching the trainees as they filed through the open gate with his glowering gaze.

"Dammit. Colonel Frostbite still looks the same as ever," Armin heard Jean mutter under his breath.

Haller's skin was tanned and leathery, burnt by both sun and wind, and a there was a puckered scar on the tip of his nose were it looked, for all intents and purposes, as if a piece of his nose were missing. Rumor had it that in addition to part of his nose, he had also lost three of his ten toes to frostbite over the years, although nobody was ever brave enough to attempt to confirm this as the truth, despite multiple dares to do so during the previous year. His eyes were still as cold as the mountain winter and his face promised no mercy.

Armin realized that once they marched through those gates, the trainees would be leaving civilization far behind them. Colonel Haller had most definitely kept civilization shut completely out of the training camp that bore his name. There was no inevitable encroachment here. Haller's job was to teach survival and endurance, and Armin knew that it had been foolish to hope that maybe civilization was going to help the trainees have an easier time under Haller's thumb than they had last year. But no; it looked like being able to use the horse-drawn carts to carry their supplies up the new mountain road was the only lucky break the trainees were going to get that year. There was no room for civilization inside of Colonel Haller's training camp.

Armin rubbed absent-mindedly at the welts on his shoulders. Well, at least a week with Colonel Haller meant a week free of having to use the three-dimensional maneuvering gear. There was that small blessing to be thankful for.

It seemed a very small blessing, though, when the trainees had finished marching through the wooden gates and Haller was pulling them closed behind the group.

But then Armin noticed something curious.

Haller paused right before the gates were completely shut, and quickly stuck his head through them, glancing to the left and then to the right. As if looking for something. It was a nervous gesture, entirely unlike anything Armin remembered having seen the Colonel do last year. Nervous and almost fearful. But it was also a quick gesture. Over and done in the blink of an eye. Haller finished pulling the gates shut and Armin wondered if anybody else had even noticed what had just happened.

Armin also wondered what, exactly, the Colonel had been looking for. Or rather, what the Colonel had been afraid of. What in the world could make a man like Colonel Haller look afraid like that, even if only for the briefest moment?

Maybe he was afraid that he would see civilization marching up that road and ready to storm the gates of the campsite, Armin thought.

A wooden fence surrounded what was referred to as "the campground" on all sides. The campground was nothing but a collection of large, sloping hills, mostly cleared of trees and completely covered with a thick layer of snow. By tomorrow the trainees would be enduring Haller's grueling regimen of survival training in the wild forest outside of the campground. But today they had to make it through the same beginning trial that they had suffered through last year: setting up their own camp.

"Trainees, ATTENTION!" Shadies shouted.

Haller marched to the front of the formation. He glowered down at the trainees, his face even more ominous than the now very, very gray sky above them that threatened to begin snowing any moment.

"Men on the east side, women on the west side," Haller said. "Same procedure as last year. Your supplies are in your carts. Firewood is over there. Shovels are in the same place they were last year, if you need them. Make sure that you have a mess, a fire, and your torches prepared before nightfall. Anticipate snowfall. Keep your wood dry."

Then Haller turned and marched away from them. And with that, the worst week of training out of the entire year had begun.

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As they were unloading the supply carts, Marco made an unwelcome discovery.

"This isn't ours," he said, lifting the heavy crate out of the cart. "It's labeled differently."

"I don't want to get in trouble for messing around with stuff that isn't ours," Jean grumbled. "You'd better take that to the Colonel."

Marco hefted his grip on the heavy crate and trudged off through the snow.

There were only two permanent structures inside the wooden fence that surrounded the entirety of the large swath of land that was Haller's Point. One was an emergency shelter and medical station, only to be used when trainees were seriously injured or became dangerously ill. The second was Haller's residence, a spartan affair with his formal office in the front and what everybody assumed was probably a bedroom in the back. Assuming that Haller ever actually slept, that was. (Rumor among the trainees had it that he, in fact, did not.) Haller's residence was on the top of a hill overlooking the campground, and he stood in front of it just as the trainees remembered him having done last year, watching them as they scrambled to set up a decent camp before snowfall and sunset. "Sir?" Marco called out to him as he approached.

Haller turned toward him.

"Sir, we found this in a supply cart." Marco hefted the crate so that Haller could see its label.

"That's medicine for Dr. Tully," Haller said. "He ordered those supplies from Trost last month. Your group was supposed to have dropped that off at his office in Rammelsberg on your way up." Haller scowled. "Put that down over there. Then go find Shadies and bring him here."

Marco dropped the crate down on the ground where Haller had pointed, the only spot on the ground in front of his office that had been cleared free of snow. Moments later he was back with Shadies. The instructor dismissed Marco as soon as he saw the scowl on Haller's face. It was a scowl several shades darker than the scowl that Haller usually wore.

"We have a problem," Haller said. He pointed to the crate. "That was supposed to have been dropped off in Rammelsberg this morning." Haller looked down at the crate for a long, long moment. Too long. Finally he turned his head toward Shadies and said, "There's no avoiding it. Everything in there will have to be taken back down the road immediately."

Shadies failed to see how that was a problem worthy of the scowl on Haller's face. "I'll get--"

"A team, Shadies," Haller said. "This is a team mission. That's the only safe way to do it."

Very few things surprised Keith Shadies anymore, but that statement made him do a double-take. "That," he said, pointing down at the crate, "is a one-person job. And that," he said, pointing in the direction of the road leading back down the mountain toward Rammelsberg, "is a well-developed, safe road currently being traveled by dozens of families with children, a road that will let a person reach Rammelsberg in less than thirty minutes when traveling on foot. And you need me to lend you a team to run this errand?"

That scowl still did not leave Haller's face, however. "That road isn't nearly as safe as you think. Especially not for someone wearing one of our uniforms."

"Haller, is this is a joke?"

"I am absolutely not joking."

Shadies glanced down the hill toward the encampment that was being set up below. "I can't spare an entire team right now. And this is still a one-person task."

"Two" Haller said. "It should be two at the very least. Two will stand a better chance than one."

Shadies knew that Haller was usually the type who had no patience for pranks, but he still couldn’t quite believe that what he was hearing was anything but an ill-timed attempt to pull his leg. "I don't think this joke is very funny, Haller," he said, "and you're wasting my time. It will be faster to send just one--"

"Two," Haller insisted again. "Your two strongest and most self-disciplined. And you're right. Time is of the essence." Haller pulled his utility knife out of his coat, popped out its level edge, and began prying open the top of the crate. "You can feel free to mock me for this once they're safely back here."

Shadies watched Haller working for a moment, then asked bluntly, "You're not about to use my trainees to smuggle drugs, are you?"

"Never." Haller pried off the top of the crate and showed Shadies the neatly-labeled packages inside. "These are antibiotics."

Shadies glowered at Haller, returning the darkness of the other man's scowl measure for measure. "Then what, exactly, do you think there is on that road out there that these trainees have to be afraid of?"

"The desperate, the greedy, and the deluded."

Shadies found this answer more or less acceptable. "Fair enough. I'll go recruit you some drug mules."

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Two of the walls of Haller's office were lined with bookshelves. Mikasa honestly hadn't expected that. She glanced briefly at the spines of the books as she hefted her supply pack onto her back. Helminthology, Herpetology, Ornithology, and even more words that she didn't recognize. But the spine of Flammer's Field Guide to Birds of the North seemed straightforward enough, as was Bait and Tackle and The Complete Book of Home-Composting. Some of the bookshelves appeared to be filled with notebooks, sketchbooks, stacks of paper. Mikasa had never seen so many books together in one place before. And she had never expected that Haller, of all people, would be the bookish type.

Armin is going to die of jealousy when I tell him about this place, she thought.

Reiner lifted his pack onto his back, too. "Feels light," he said.

Mikasa said nothing, but nodded in agreement. It felt very light on her back, and before she had lifted it, she had seen that it appeared to be only half-full. Whatever she and Reiner had just been recruited to carry down the road back into town, it seemed to be something that probably hadn't needed to be divided between two packs. Mikasa wondered why Shadies had ordered both of them into Haller's office, instead of just one of them.

"That's Dr. Tully's delivery from Trost," Haller said. "There isn't much of it, but it needs your protection. And your haste," he said.

Mikasa thought that was an odd way of wording things, but she was momentarily distracted by what she saw on a table set against the far wall of Haller's office. It was a large glass tank, full of dark, rich-looking earth. Tunnels burrowed through the black dirt left ribbon-like patterns against the glass of the tank, but Mikasa couldn't see exactly what in the tank was responsible for making those tunnels. Other than the tunnels burrowed through the dirt, the tank looked empty.

Haller saw her looking at the tank. "Worms," he said. "Native to this region. They’re quite active at night. But you won't see them during the daytime, though. They like to stay hidden inside the dirt as long as there's sunlight in this room."

There was barely any sunlight in the office at the moment, however. Only two windows provided a way for sunlight to enter, and outside the sun was well-hidden behind a veil of thick gray clouds. What little light there was filtering into Haller's office was gloomy and dim, heavy with the promise of impending snow.

Well, that was something else that Mikasa hadn't expected to find in the Colonel's office. But she didn't bother to waste time wondering why exactly the Colonel had a tank full of worms on a table across from his bookshelves full of scientific-looking texts. He probably just liked learning about nature, like Armin did. Mikasa thought that the Colonel probably had a lot of free time on his hands during the weeks and months when he didn't have groups of trainees at his camp to torture.

Next to the worm tank, the table was covered with a disorganized pile of maps and charts, the topmost of which appeared to be a quite accurate replica of the current pattern of tunnels visible through the glass of the tank. Mikasa spared this sight only the briefest of glances and only the briefest register of her notice. So her superior officer apparently liked to map earthworm tunnels. It was an odd hobby, but Mikasa frankly did not care about the odd hobbies of others. She had a mission to run now (albeit more like an errand, really) and she wanted to get it over with. She was already worried about the thought of having to leave Eren alone at this camp without her, even for a brief amount of time. He had, after all, nearly managed to kill himself no less than four times during last year's hellish week of training.

"I cannot emphasize enough," Haller was saying sternly. "Speed is of the essence. You two are to go straight down the road, head directly to Tully's office, drop off your packs, then come directly back here as fast as you possibly can. The return back up the road will likely be more dangerous than the trip down, so be on your guard. Do you understand?"

Mikasa and Reiner exchanged glances.

"Dangerous," Mikasa repeated, incredulously.

"That road?" Reiner asked. "We saw kids walking that road on the way up here. Unaccompanied children, even. Cute little ones."

"Are you armed?" Haller asked.

"We have our utility knives," Mikasa answered. A thought occurred to her. "Do you think we're likely to be robbed?"

"In broad daylight, on a crowded road, with us both in uniform? Doubt it," Reiner said.

"You're right, robbery isn't something you two should waste your time worrying about," Haller said.

"Then what," Mikasa asked, pointedly, "is the reason that you believe this mission to be dangerous? Sir."

"Because of one very, very dangerous individual who may attempt to approach you." Haller pulled open his coat, reached inside, and pulled out a heavy, ornate silver revolver. "If you see a man with a brown cloak and a black hat with gray feather in it, stay away from him. If he approaches you or attempts to speak to you, you do not make eye contact, you do not engage with him, and you fire a warning shot at him immediately." He handed Mikasa the revolver. "That's an order."

"Did you just..." Reiner stared at the revolver in Mikasa's hands, then turned his flabbergasted face back toward Haller. "Did you just order us to shoot a civilian?!"

"Only if he attempts to approach you."

"Is this man on a wanted list?" Mikasa asked. "Is he a criminal?"

"He is not on a wanted list, but--"

"Did you just order us to shoot a civilian?!" Reiner asked again.

"Yes and THAT IS AN ORDER, SOLDIER."

That seemed to shut Reiner up.

"Do you have a holster?" Haller asked Mikasa.

"No," Mikasa said.

"Holster up," Haller said, tossing one at her. "Keep that gun hidden but make sure that you can draw it right away."

Mikasa hesitated for only a moment, then decided that she might as well follow orders. She set down the Colonel's gun, dropped the pack off her back, unbuttoned the top of her winter coat, pulled free her arms and torso, and strapped the holster onto her shoulder. When she put back on her coat, she left the button closest to her breasts open, so that she could reach into her coat and pull out the gun quickly if she needed to.

She still couldn't quite believe that she would ever need to, though. And she had never carried a weapon like that revolver, either. An ornate and old thing, even, something that appeared to be Haller's personal possession and not at all standard military issue. Mikasa wondered if it was entirely appropriate for Haller to be giving her his gun like that in the first place. It certainly seemed to be against regulations, at least.

But then again, so was shooting at civilians unprovoked. That was definitely against regulations.

"Speed is of the essence," Haller repeated himself, as soon as Mikasa was ready to go again. "Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," Mikasa and Reiner said in unison.

"Good," Haller said, returning their salute. "Now go. And be on your guard, soldiers."

They left Haller's office, packs on their backs, the silver revolver strapped to Mikasa's shoulder. Without saying a word to each other, they started toward the gate at the front of the compound.

Two steps in front of the gate, however, Reiner turned around.

"Where are you going?" Mikasa asked.

"To tell our instructor that Colonel Crazy just gave you his personal, non-standard-issue weapon and then ordered us to shoot a civilian unprovoked. Mikasa, that guy's off his rocker. We have to report this right away."

"No," Mikasa said. "We have to get this medicine to that hospital right away. The Colonel told us to hurry. Somebody might be sick, they might be waiting for this medicine. We can report our concerns about Colonel Haller when we get back. A soldier's duty is to--"

Reiner whirled back around to face her. "No. Don't even say it."

"All right then. I won't." Mikasa stared up at him calmly. "I think you're right, by the way. The Colonel seems unstable, and it is our duty to report that to a superior officer," Mikasa said. "But if it makes you feel any better, I do have his gun now."

"Point taken," Reiner said.

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Reiner pulled open the gate, closed it behind them, and then they were back on the muddy road winding through the mountain forest. They were on the road for less than two minutes, however, before an ox-drawn cart pulled up behind them.

Mikasa and Reiner stepped aside to let the cart pass, but it pulled up beside them instead. "Hey, soldiers," the old man driving what appeared to be the equally ancient beast pulling the cart greeted them. He saluted with his left arm in front, as the right sleeve of his coat appeared to be empty.

Mikasa and Reiner returned his salute.

The old man tapped the silver rose-shaped pin on his cap. "Been years since I retired, and it's good to see some fine salutes like yours again. You two headed into town?"

"Yes, sir."

"Need a lift?"

Before Mikasa could answer, two tiny heads - and one enormous furry head - popped out of the back of the cart. "You can pet our dog!" one of the two little girls offered enthusiastically.

Mikasa glanced at Reiner.

"We were ordered to get to town as fast as possible," Reiner said. "This will be faster than going on foot."

"We'll let you pet our dog!" the second little girl offered again.

"We have a light load, and the extra weight won't slow this old girl down," the one-armed man said, giving his ox an affectionate pat on its rump.

Mikasa wondered about that, since the poor thing looked well past its prime. But Reiner was right, the cart would still be faster than walking down that mud-mucked road. "Thank you," Mikasa said, seeing no point in refusing such an offer. "This is very kind of you," she said to the old man as she and Reiner climbed into the back of the cart.

There was no cargo in the back of the cart, only two little girls in matching mittens and coats, along with a dog that was larger than the both of them put together. They had to be going down the road to load up on groceries and supplies in Rammelsberg, Mikasa thought. That was why their cart was empty and they could afford to take on the considerable extra weight of her and Reiner. Another lucky break, thanks to the sudden explosion of civilization on the mountain.

"I'm Sara, and this is Sofie," the taller of the two girls said. "Where are your swords?"

"We're just trainees," Mikasa said. "We don't always carry our swords."

"I like your coat and you have pretty hair and do you want to pet our dog?" Sara asked. "His name is Henry and he's really nice and he doesn't bite but sometimes he might lick your face if he really likes you."

"Thank you," Mikasa said. "Come here, Henry."

The enormous beast of a dog padded two steps closer to Mikasa and then sat down. His tail wagged contentedly as Mikasa scratched his ears. Meanwhile, Sofie scooted herself next to Reiner and sat with her knees hugged to her chest, staring up at him with wide eyes. "What's in your packs?" she asked.

"That's top secret," Reiner said. "I don't know if I could tell you without the proper security clearance."

"Oh," Sofie said. She scooted closer to him. "How come there are a whole bunch of you guys up at Haller's Point?"

"That's our training camp," Reiner said. "We come every year. Although it definitely looked a lot different last year."

"Like how?"

"There weren't this many people on the road, or in the town. There wasn't even a hospital last year. And last year this whole road was covered in snow. Nobody cleared it. You would never have been able to take a cart like this down this road. We had to haul all of our supplies on sleds."

"Wow," Sofie said.

"We weren't here last year either," Sara chimed in. "We just moved here. Momma is up at the mine. Henry an' Sofie an' me are staying with Grandpa in Wildflecken."

"The mine?" Mikasa asked.

"You don't know about the mine?!" Sofie asked. "That's why everyone's here!" She pointed up at the grey sky. "Look, we're almost to the part in the road where you can see it!"

The road turned to the east, and passed by a gap in the trees, revealing a clear view of the snow-topped mountain closest to them and a large plume of black smoke rising from a point halfway down the face of the mountain.

"Over there, over there!" Sofie pointed. "That's Mt. Raupen. The silver mine is on the north face of the mountain."

"I see," Mikasa said. A silver mine. That would explain the sudden population explosion. She recognized the name of the mountain, too. She remembered that last year the trainees had done plenty of grueling hikes on that mountain. The mountain had been covered in forest and dotted with caves back then, but there had been no mine. Mikasa wondered how much the north face of the mountain had changed since last year. She imagined that mining must have changed it quite a lot - and that plume of black smoke rising from the mountain certainly didn't bode too well, either.

"Haller made us climb that mountain last year," Reiner said, echoing Mikasa's thoughts. "Remember that?"

Mikasa nodded.

"You climbed that whole mountain?" Sofie asked, her eyes wide with awe.

"We did," Mikasa said.

"Did you even climb the south face?" Sara asked, her voice breathless and frightened.

"No," Mikasa said. "We stayed on this side."

"Good," Sofie said.

"Why is that good?" Reiner asked.

"Oh, don't mind the girls," the old man sitting at the front of the cart said. "Far as I can tell, there's always been some local superstition about the south face of that mountain. That it's bad luck to go there, or something like that. And now all the kids around here have been telling each other horror stories about the south face of the mountain ever since that survey team disappeared a month ago. They were damn fools to be climbing out there in bad weather, and terrain like that can be treacherous when covered in snow. Beg pardon, I apologize for sounding like I'm mocking them. It was a real tragedy, losing three young lives like that. And I wish that some of the children around these parts would be a bit more respectful of that tragedy," he said, turning almost completely around in order to glare meaningfully at Sofie and Sara in turn, "instead of using it as fodder for campfire horror stories."

"So what else do you do in training camp?" Sofie asked Mikasa, wide-eyed with curiosity, apparently completely ignoring the old man's admonishment.

"Survival skills," Mikasa answered. "How to build shelter. How to build a fire. Things like that."

"You don't practice fighting titans?" Sofie asked, sounding disappointed.

"No," Reiner admitted. "We do plenty of that during the rest of the year, though."

"Have you ever seen a titan?" Sara blurted out.

"Sara," the old man reprimanded her sharply, turning once again toward the back of the cart. "Don't be rude to them. I know your momma taught you better than that."

"But--"

"No, it's all right," Reiner said quickly.

Sara's lip trembled. "I--"

"No no no no," Reiner said, taking her tiny mittened hands in his. "It's all right," he repeated. "You didn't know. But listen," he said. "From now on, you probably shouldn't ask people that question, all right? Can you promise me that you won't?"

Sara sniffled and nodded, but Sofie stuck her lower lip out in a pout. "I don't see why not," she said.

"Because if the answer is yes," Reiner said, glancing quickly over at Mikasa and then back toward Sofie, "then that means that the person that you asked probably doesn't want to talk about it."

"Oh," Sofie said.

Mikasa scratched absent-mindedly at Henry's ears and stared at the smoke plume rising toward the distant sky, saying nothing.

A miserable silence settled upon the back of the cart. Sofie hugged her knees even more tightly to her chest while Sara pulled her hands away from Reiner's and wiped at her eyes with her dirty mittens.

Finally Reiner broke the silence. "Sofie. Sara. I think you two can help Mikasa and me with something."

"What?" Sara sniffled.

"It's really important. Something that could make or break our mission, actually." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Our top secret mission. And I think that... Hmmm." He furrowed his brow critically at the both of them. "Yes. It has to be you two. You two definitely look like the only ones who can help us."

"What is it?" Sofie asked, breathlessly.

"Do you know," Reiner asked slowly, "a man... who wears a brown cloak.... and a black hat... with a gray feather on it?"

Sofie gasped. "I DO know that man!"

"He was at Grandpa's house last week!" Sara added.

Mikasa and Reiner exchanged glances. "Can you tell us about him?" Mikasa asked.

"Brown cloak, black hat, gray feather," the old man said, jumping in on the conversation without even bothering to turn his head around. He laughed. "You must mean Elmar Fischer. There's nobody else that could be."

"Yes, that's right," Reiner said quickly. "Elmar Fischer. What do you know about Elmar Fischer?"

"Nice guy," the old man said. "Really talkative. Poor soul, I think he must be lonely. Considering his line of work, though, I can't imagine that many people want to be his friend. I do have to say, though, he's honestly the nicest tax collector I've ever had to deal with."

Mikasa and Reiner's eyes met.

Tax collector, Reiner mouthed, incredulously.

Mikasa shrugged.

"Are you looking for Elmar?" the old man asked.

"We're actually looking for information about him," Mikasa said. "What else do you know about Mr. Fischer? Is there anyone who would have a reason to wish him harm?"

The old man laughed again. "Well, other than the fact that he takes people's money for a living, I can't imagine why anybody would want to hurt him. He's local, believe it or not - grew up right here in Rammelsberg, or so he's told me - although he mostly travels for his job. He showed up in town last month on assignment, of all things. Kind of sad, if you ask me. Only being able to come home when it's time for you to take your friends and neighbor's money, can you imagine? Eh, but it's not my place to say."

"So is there any reason," Reiner asked, "why anybody might think that this person is dangerous?"

"Who, Elmar?!" The old man shook his head. "Like I said. One of the nicest guys I've ever met. He seems lonely, though. He must read a lot. He certainly knows about a whole lot of things. He'll talk your ear off about this or that if you let him. Funny thing is, lots of people like to listen to him. Even folks around here who normally don't have the patience to listen to someone prattlin' on about history or geology or economy or whatever it is that Elmar's got it in his head to talk about today. Those folks, for some reason, they'll still listen to Elmar. I guess he's just a good talker. He sure talked up a storm about the weather last week when he showed up at my place to take my tithing. Guess he won't be staying in town for much longer, though, since it's already been a month and there can't be that many tithes he has left to collect. By the way, if you're looking for him, you can always find Elmar every night at Ollo's Tavern. Thought maybe not tonight, though," the old man amended himself. "We actually saw him on the road earlier today, heading up toward Haller's Point. I suppose he must be headed up to Wildflecken – that’s the town down the road from Haller’s Point. Or maybe he’s going all the way over to the mine."

Mikasa frowned. "When did you say that you saw him?"

"Oh, earlier today. Not too long ago. You two didn't see him?" The old man turned his head toward the back of your cart. "He was right behind your big group when you all were climbing up the road together. He must have followed you the whole way up the mountain."

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At the edge of town - or rather, at the edge of the two streets that composed Rammelsberg, a place so small that it was still difficult to justify calling a town despite the busyness of the streets and the newness of most of the buildings - Mikasa and Reiner climbed out of the back of the old man's cart. They saluted Sofie and Sara. "Thank you both," Mikasa said. "Take care."

Sofie returned the salute with near-perfect form, but Sara instead waved at them cheerfully. "Good luck with your top-secret mission!" she shouted.

The old man did not salute them again, but rather tipped his hat, then drove his ox down the larger of the two streets toward the general store, one of the few buildings that Mikasa remembered that had been in Rammelsberg last year.

Mikasa and Reiner turned down the newer street, toward Dr. Tully’s office. Or rather, toward the glorified hospital that was really just Dr. Tully’s office.

"A tax collector," Reiner said aloud, still incredulous. "He ordered us to shoot a tax collector."

"We'll report him as soon as we get back," Mikasa assured him again.

"I guess some people just really hate having to pay taxes," Reiner mused. "I always figured there was something off about Colonel Crazy, though."

"At least I have his gun," Mikasa said. "So he can't hurt anybody right now."

"Are you sure about that?" Reiner asked. "I mean, what if he keeps more than one gun on himself? What if he's two-guns level of crazy instead of just one gun?"

Mikasa stared at him.

"I'm just saying," Reiner said. "That revolver that he gave you looked kind of fancy, you know. Maybe that was just his fancy gun for fancy crazyin' and he's still got a regular gun for regular crazyin'."

Mikasa still stared at him.

"Either way," Reiner said, "I really don't like the idea of leaving Colonel Crazy up there at that camp with everyone. Eren's still up there, you know. Eren's still up there with that lunatic."

That finally got Mikasa's attention. She shifted the too-light weight of the supply pack on her back, nervously. "We need to get this over with and get back to camp right away," she said.

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Fortunately, the mission ultimately took only moments to complete. It took a mere few steps to find Dr. Tully's office. Tully himself took the medicine out of their packs, counted each and every box and bottle, thanked them, and then sent them back on their way.

They had barely stepped outside the doctor's office when they saw him.

There he was: a man wearing a brown cloak and a black hat with a gray feather on it. He and his horse were stopped right in the middle of the road that led back up to Haller's point, blocking the path. One of the horse's saddlebags had opened and spilled its contents all over the road. The man was kneeling in the middle of the muddy road, struggling to pick up his scattered possessions.

"Whoa," Reiner said. "That's him. That's the guy."

Mikasa stopped and stared at him. Elmar Fischer, the tax collector. A man apparently so dangerous that her superior officer had ordered her to shoot him the moment he attempted to approach her. A man who was currently kneeling in a muddy rut and obviously struggling to hold all of his scattered possessions in his arms.

"He looks like he could use some help," Reiner said. "Gosh, I don't know, Mikasa. That seems dangerous. Maybe we should shoot him."

Reiner apparently thought that this was hilarious, but Mikasa didn't find it very funny.

They both stood in front of the doctor's office for a long moment, watching the tax collector blocking the road back to Haller's Point. Another man on horseback trotted up the road and stepped into the snowbank along its side, steering well clear of the tax collector. A woman with a heavy-looking pack on her back came down the road from the opposite direction, also risking a few steps into a snowbank to get around the kneeling tax collector and his horse. Nobody stopped to help the tax collector. Nobody even said a word to him.

"Would you look at that?" Reiner said, disgusted. "Nobody's even helping the poor guy!"

A small part of Mikasa wondered if there was maybe a reason for that. Maybe there was a reason why the few others on the road thought it was a better idea to stay away from the tax collector than to speak to or try to help him. Maybe there was a reason why the other people on the road might, just might, have reason to believe that the tax collector was dangerous.

"What is wrong with people these days?" Reiner commented out loud, and by then he was already several steps ahead of Mikasa, heading straight toward the tax collector.

Mikasa followed him quickly, wanting to tell him to stop, wanting to tell him that they had a far more pressing issue to worry about at the moment - namely, the fact that Eren was still stuck up at that camp with good old Colonel Crazy - but it was too late. Reiner was already down in the muck with the tax collector. Of course he was. "Need any help?" Reiner asked.

Elmar Fischer straightened up and smiled gratefully, ineffectively wiping the mud from his knees. "Much obliged," he said.

The first thing Mikasa noticed was that there was absolutely nothing remarkable about Elmar Fischer. Medium height, unremarkable face, unremarkable brown eyes, and - she could tell despite the brown cloak that he wore - an average, non-threatening build. His cheeks and nose were rosy from the cold. The only thing even remotely interesting about his appearance was the large gray feather he wore on his black hat, which was an unexpectedly bold fashion statement from a man who seemed unremarkable in every other way.

His brown eyes met Mikasa's eyes. He smiled. Even his teeth were small, yellowed, and unremarkable.

"You two must be with the group up at Haller's Point, right?" he asked.

And in that moment, the moment in which Mikasa knew for certain that the man standing in front of her was no threat, she also felt a sudden sharp fear twist in her stomach, because she knew exactly what that meant. It meant that Reiner had been right. It meant that Colonel Haller - the man who had told her that Elmar Fischer was so dangerous that she was to shoot him on sight, the man who had given her the silver revolver and the order to do so - that man was the dangerous one, that man was clearly insane to think that somebody like Elmar Fischer could have posed a threat to anybody, and that man was still up at the same campsite where Eren was.

We have to go back, Mikasa thought.

"Yes, sir," Reiner answered the tax collector's question. "We were just about to head back."

"Well, I appreciate you stopping to help me," the tax collector said.

Mikasa watched Reiner doing a surprisingly good job of wiping the mud off the tax collector's spilled supplies with his gloves, then loading them back into the saddlebag. In the interest of speeding up the process, Mikasa knelt down in the muddy road and helped him. Rolled-up documents that were likely maps, a compass, a tool bag, a few small drawstring bags full of something that felt like rocks - what was a tax collector doing with bags of rocks? - and a stack of ledgers bundled together. Except for the bags of rocks, they were all items that Mikasa would have expected to find in the bag of a man about to leave on a long journey. The old man with the one arm had been right. Elmar Fischer had apparently finished his assignment in Rammelsberg and was now about to move on to the next town that needed to be tithed for the king.

While she was carefully stuffing the tax collector's heavy old compass into the saddlebag, Mikasa saw what had caused the problem in the first place. The bag was held shut by a single large brass buckle on a leather strap, and the only hole in the leather strap had been torn almost all the way to the edge of the strap. Well, that at least was easy enough to fix. Mikasa reached into her coat, pulled out her utility knife, and quickly stabbed another makeshift hole into the leather strap. The bag would buckle tighter now, but it would have to do for the time being.

"This ought to hold," Mikasa told the tax collector, buckling his bag shut with a definite finality, eager to get on her way back to camp.

"Much obliged," the tax collector said again, still grinning at her.

But Mikasa didn't have the time or the patience to deal any further with this unremarkable man who couldn't even handle picking up his own stuff out of the mud without help. Eren was still back at the camp and Eren was still in danger. "We have to go now," Mikasa said, more to Reiner than to the tax collector.

"Sorry," Reiner said, apparently apologizing for Mikasa's rudeness as the two of them stepped around the tax collector's horse and started back up the forest road. "We have to head back to Haller's Point. Good luck, though."

They were approximately ten steps up the road when Mikasa heard footsteps splashing in the mud and realized that the tax collector was about to start following them. She turned her head and saw Elmar Fischer on the road a bit behind them, leading his horse by its reigns as he approached a few steps closer to them. Showing no sign of mounting his horse. Showing them that he was inviting himself to walk with them. "Haller's Point?" he asked. "Good. I was just heading up that way myself."

Mikasa was so busy thinking of Colonel Haller and what other type of gun such a man might carry on his person (and whether or not Eren would be stupid enough to say or do something to set the crazy Colonel off) that she almost didn't realize what Fischer had just said. Or rather, almost didn't notice what was wrong with what Fischer had just said.

He must have followed you the whole way up the mountain, the old man driving the cart had said.

Fischer had already been heading up the road that morning. Because he must have had business in Wildflecken or at the mine, the old man had said. So what, then, was Fischer doing back down in Rammelsberg?

He must have followed you the whole way up the mountain.

And then perhaps he hadn't kept climbing the road to Wildflecken and the mine beyond. Perhaps he had stopped near Haller's Point and waited. And watched. And waited there until one or two or possibly three of them would have been sent through the gates for one reason or another. Then he would have followed those trainees - two of them, as it had turned out, two of them sent on a simple errand - back down into the town, where he would have made sure that his horse stopped in such a way as to block the road back to Haller's Point when he tore the buckle of his saddlebag and spilled its contents onto the road, finally kneeling down in the mud and making a show of being unable to pick up his own possessions by trying to stuff them all into his arms at once when really any grown adult should have been smarter than that and anybody should have been able to accomplish a task so simple as picking things up out of the mud without needing any help from a pair of trainees on their way back to camp--

No. Mikasa shook her head. Stupid. That was stupid. Worse than stupid, that was downright crazy. A two-gun level of crazy type of thinking. The type of thinking that led to handing trainees non-standard-issue silver revolvers and telling them to shoot a civilian if the poor man so much as tried to talk to them.

Mikasa took another look at Fischer and knew in her gut that her first instinct had been right. He was harmless.

Or rather, even if he wished her harm, there was no way that he would ever be able to do anything to hurt her. She was stronger than him. That was what her gut was telling her. She was stronger than him, and therefore he was no threat to her.

Fischer was just a step behind them now, still smiling up at them, friendly and non-threatening as could be. "Mind a little company?" he asked. "I only have one tithing left to collect today, and I have time for a good chat."

He's lonely, the old man had also said.

But Eren was still up at that camp with the dangerous, unpredictable colonel.

Mikasa was about to say something rude to the lonely-looking tax collector, but surprisingly Reiner said it for her. "We're on duty, sir," he said, already turning to walk back up the road as he spoke. Mikasa could see that he was also worried about wasting any more of their time with the tax collector when they had still left everyone back at Haller's Point oblivious to the danger that Colonel Haller clearly posed. Stopping to help a man kneeling in the mud was one thing, but not even Reiner was going to socialize with a civilian when he still had a more pressing duty to fulfill. "We aren't supposed to--"

"I won't be in town much longer," Fischer said, a bit wistfully. "I only have one tithe left to collect, and that will be done today. A long-overdue tithe, actually. It's never pleasant work, but debts have to be settled, you know?" He shrugged nonchalantly, as if to say that such was the way of the world, what could a poor soul like him do?

Mikasa turned away from him and focused on the road in front of her. She hurried to catch up with and then kept pace with Reiner, who was not-so-subtly speeding up his gait as they walked back up the road.

But then Mikasa heard the tax collector and his horse tromping through the mud again. Fischer had caught up with them already. He was keeping pace exactly one step behind them, still talking, showing no sign of being out of breath or struggling to keep up with their speed. "I really do appreciate your kindness back there," he said. "Are you first-year trainees? Second years? Have you been up in these parts before?"

Reiner sped up his pace again. Keep walking, he mouthed to Mikasa. She nodded back at him, easily keeping up with his speed.

Unfortunately, the tax collector and his horse were still keeping up with them, too. "It's fascinating how quickly places like this can change, isn't it?" Elmar Fischer went on, apparently completely ignoring the fact that Mikasa and Reiner were pointedly ignoring him. "Wildflecken seemed to spring up overnight once that mine opened. Fascinating thing, by the way. That mine, I mean. There's really nothing else like it inside the walls. It was almost a complete accident that anybody even found silver in that mountain in the first place. Really interesting story, actually. I guess it all started about ten months ago..."

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Part Two: The South Face of the Mountain

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mikasa did not, actually, think that the story of how silver had been discovered on the north face of Mt. Raupen was very interesting at all. But she was so focused on the thought of Eren still being in danger up at Haller's point – and so focused on keeping up the speed of her pace up the mountain - that she couldn’t be bothered to tell him as much. She and Reiner were completely determined to ignore the tax collector who seemed so equally determined to follow them.

"Looks like it's going to snow again," Fischer went on, moving on to a new but (in Mikasa's opinion) equally as uninteresting topic. Not that she was actually listening to what he said, or anything. Of course she wasn't listening to him. She was ignoring him. Completely ignoring him. "Interesting thing about that. Usually weather like this would mean that expansion of the mines would have to stop during the winter months. You can't keep dynamite in cold temperatures like this. Do you know what happens when you let dynamite get this cold? But there's a natural source of warmth inside that mountain that keeps the interior of the mine warm enough to store dynamite all year round. Thermal vents, that's they call them. Which reminds me. Speaking of weather, have you ever been up here during the summer months? The temperature is beautiful, and the entire south face of Mt. Raupen is covered in flowers. Do you want to know what's the most fascinating thing about those flowers?"

"No," Reiner said.

"Most of them are species that can only be found on that mountain," Fischer droned on, his voice lilting and lifting as he spoke. "It's an isolated ecosystem, almost. Which it certainly should not be, given the surrounding environment, but it seems as though the types of birds and insects that you would normally expect to spread seeds and spores tend to rarely visit the south face of that mountain. Utterly fascinating, that. My theory is that there must be something in the air or the water that keeps them away."

"Dammit," Reiner said.

And still they both kept walking, still both determined to reach Haller's Point as soon as possible, while the tax collector still easily kept pace with both of them, utterly ignoring Reiner's deliberate rudeness. "It's just a silly hobby of mine, but I adore bird-watching," Fischer continued. "There are several beautiful species of finches native to these parts. And owls, of course. But those are harder to watch unless one has a penchant for going without sleep at night. I've never personally had a problem with that, though. There are times when I think that I might almost be nocturnal. I've always felt a bit more comfortable at night, you know? Being able to go about my business while the rest of the world is sleeping. It's a strange thing, I suppose. But sleeping during the day does allow one the opportunity for some wonderful owl-watching at night."

"Argh," Reiner said, and for a moment he sounded so much like Eren had used to sound when he groaned in the middle of one of his mother's lectures that Mikasa actually smiled at the memory.

"Many owls in these parts tend to be more silly-looking than not," the tax collector still droned on. "There's the Northern Tuft-Eared owl, which has big eyes and those curious-looking ears. And the Flammulated Spot-Eared Owl, which I suppose is even sillier-looking that all the rest. I think that owls are often so harmless-looking that most people tend to forget that they're actually quite dangerous predators. They don't look like predators, not really, not unless you're really looking at them carefully and you actually see what their talons look like. Owls are such wonderful creatures, though. Since they prey mostly on vermin I suppose they're actually helping out humanity, in a way. Which is only fair, after all. What have mice or rats ever done to help the world? What taxes have they paid? Nothing, that's what. Vermin contribute nothing. They deserve to become prey for owls. The world has a way of working out toward fairness like that."

Reiner opened and closed his hand and mouthed blah blah blah at Mikasa, obviously not caring that the tax collector could clearly see what he was doing. Mikasa rolled her eyes back at him, and together, they quickened their pace. Any faster and they would practically be running.

Mikasa wanted to run, actually. The thought of Eren still back at the camp and still oblivious to the danger there made her want to break out into a full-on sprint. Maybe then she and Reiner could finally leave the long-winded tax collector behind them. But for the time being, the rational side of Mikasa's mind prevailed. They had to be almost at the camp by now. Just a few more steps and they would be there. It had to be right in front of them. It felt like they had been walking for far too long already. Surely the next time that she blinked her eyes Mikasa would see those wooden gates right in front of her. That meant that running would have been pointless, because they were practically already at the camp anyway. Any second now.

"I also happen to be quite fond of beetles, too," Fischer went on, still droning into their ears. "Quite lovely creatures, actually, and there are many quite unique species to be found in these mountains."

But Mikasa wasn't listening to him. Her attention was solely focused on the thought of those wooden gates that would surely be appearing right in front of her any second now. Any second. Only a few more steps.

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"Hey," Ymir said, cornering Eren against the woodpile at the back of the boys' side of the camp. "Where the hell is Mikasa? I mean, why isn't she with you?"

"Probably because she's supposed to be helping the girls," Eren said, trying to step around Ymir.

Ymir moved to block him again. "Yeah, see, that's the thing. She's not. She's not anywhere on our side of the camp, which means that she's not pulling her weight. I figured if she was slacking off then she'd be over here clinging to your or something."

Eren glowered at her. "Mikasa doesn't cling to me."

"Seriously, Eren?"

"And I haven't seen her since we split the camp," Eren said.

"Well. Huh." Ymir placed her hands on her hips. "That doesn't make sense. If she's not doing her work and if she's not clinging to you, then where is she? I mean, where else does Mikasa even go?!"

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"The funny thing about those caves, though, is how deep into the mountain they extend," Fischer droned on and on. "More like tunnels than caves, really. The miners have blasted their own tunnels, of course, but there is plenty of treasure to be scraped from the walls of the natural tunnels, too. There are also caves on the south face of the mountain, of course, but there seems to be some local superstition about going to the south face of the mountain."

Mikasa refused to listen to him. Absolutely refused. It didn't matter anyway; those wooden gates would surely appear right in front of her eyes any moment now. Mikasa was so focused on concentrating on the road in front of her that she almost didn't hear Reiner when he said, "Wait. Weren't you going on about the south face of the mountain earlier?"

It was the first time that either of them acknowledged listening to a word the tax collector had said. "Why yes, I was," Fischer said, and Mikasa didn't have to turn her head to imagine the beaming, self-satisfied smile on his face. She could hear it in his voice.

"Do you go to the south face of the mountain?" Reiner asked.

"Oh, all the time. I have to. For my job, you see."

"But I thought that there weren't any people on the--"

"The south face of Mt. Raupen is lovely during every time of the year," Fischer said. "Those flowers in the summer. All of that pure white snow in the winter. Few trees, because of the altitude, and perhaps also because of whatever it is that keeps the birds and the bugs and locals away. And because of that survey team from last month, too, I suppose. What an awful thing that was. But the south face of that mountain isn't nearly as dangerous as most here seem to think. There's a lot of good, easy hiking ground. Easy to get to, too. The summit is a short and easy hike from the mines on the north face. It's an old mountain, worn down, riddled with caves. A good mountain for a curious explorer with time on his hands and an even better mountain for a tax collector with important duties to fulfill."

Something about that statement seemed so strange that Mikasa almost wanted to ask him about it. But she couldn't afford to waste her breath or her curiosity on the long-winded tax collector now, not when the gates of Haller's Point were so close and not when Eren still needed her.

"There are old things in these mountain. Old places, and old secrets. Old things dating back from before the walls were ever built," Fischer said.

And then Reiner laughed, and Mikasa couldn't for the life of her figure out what he found so funny about that statement. "True enough," he said.

"And it's my job, of course, to keep the balance of things. To make sure that the system stays fair. The system is designed to be fair, as long as everybody pays their share." Fischer paused for a moment, letting them appreciate his clever rhyme. Then he started blathering again. "I'm also quite fond of butterflies, to be honest. There are almost none to be found on the south face of the mountain, but in these woods you have several lovely species that show up during the summer months. Migratory species, too. Great big clouds of them sometimes pass over this forest. Have you ever seen a butterfly migration before? It's a fascinating experience."

At that, Mikasa finally risked turning her head briefly, once, to look behind her. The tax collector had mounted his horse. The horse was trotting briskly, keeping pace with Mikasa and Reiner so that the tax collector could continue his bloviating as they headed up the mountain. Then Mikasa turned her head back around again, grit her teeth, and forced herself to concentrate on keeping up her speed as she continued trudging up that

(too-long never-ending they should have been there by now)

mountain road toward Haller's Point

(should have been there a long time ago)

where Eren was waiting for her

(waiting for too long now far far too long)

and no matter what she had to just keep moving forward, she couldn't afford to stop now, she had to keep moving forward or else she might never reach Eren in time to save him from the mad Colonel who had given her his fancy gun for fancy crazyin' and the terrible order to shoot a poor harmless boring man for no reason whatsoever.

And still the poor harmless boring man droned on and on, his voice lifting and falling rhythmically as he spoke, blathering about caterpillars and butterflies, as the sky overhead grew darker and the cold in the air grew sharper. But the snow still refused to fall.

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"Where is that asshole?!" Jean demanded to know. "I'm busting my ass over here lifting all this heavy shit! Where the hell is Reiner when I actually need him?!"

"I don't know," Marco conceded, "but we could really use him right now. Why don't you go ask Bertolt? He should know where Reiner is."

Jean tromped off through the snow, determined to do just that. But once he found and cornered Bertolt, however, he found that Bertolt was infuriatingly unhelpful.

"I don't know where Reiner went," Bertolt said.

"How can you not know that?!" Jean asked. "Aren't you always following him around?!"

"Uh, the instructor told him that the Colonel wanted him to do... something. Him and Mikasa. They had to go do a thing for the Colonel."

"What thing?" Jean pressed.

"I don't know! He didn't say what."

"Do you know when they'll be back?"

"I don't know," Bertolt said, nervously.

"Great. Just great!" Jean threw up his hands. "Mikasa and Reiner get to skip out on all of this hard work just because Colonel Frostbite picked them to go do a thing. Isn't that just perfect."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too jealous of anybody sent on a mission by Colonel Haller," Marco said, having caught up with Jean by then. "Knowing the Colonel? He probably sent them to do something completely horrible."

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"That's why my job is so important, you see," Elmar Fischer droned on. "Taxes are the foundation of any civilization. They are the only and the truest form of fairness. Everybody has to pay their fair share in order for there to even be society. And sometimes I have to be the one to make sure that the fair share is paid. This isn't always a fun job, you see, but it's a necessary one, and I think that as long as I can wake up every morning knowing that I'm ultimately doing what's best for humanity, that's all that matters, isn't it?"

Mikasa refused to acknowledge this terribly uninteresting question with an answer. Forward, forward, forward. She and Reiner had to keep moving forward.

"The roads. The public wells. The irrigation systems. Everybody uses them, so it is only fair that everybody should have to pay for them. Everything has to be paid for eventually. Nothing can exist without a cost. Even the king's castle, even the slums in the border towns, why, even your training camp at Haller's Point. Somebody has to pay the cost for all of that. Even the very walls that protect us from the titans. Surely somebody must have paid for those walls, and paid dearly. Nothing that we use, nothing that we rely on, and nothing that protects us can exist for free."

Mikasa grit her teeth and trudged forward, refusing to listen.

"And these mountains, too," Fischer went on. "This forest, the caves in Mt. Raupen, and the mines. The military uses these mountains as training grounds for recruits like you two, uses these very mountains year after year after year in fact. The military has been using these mountains for decades and tell me, when have any of you ever paid your fair share of the taxes here? Not for a long time, unfortunately. Not for years. The military owes a tithing the same as everybody else who uses this land, and your debt has been accumulating for far too long already. You don't--"

"Now wait just a minute," Reiner said. And he stopped cold in his tracks.

Fischer stopped, too. So did Mikasa.

Reiner turned toward the tax collector and asked incredulously, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Taxes," Fischer answered, calmly and patiently. "For too long now the military has been getting away with not paying their fair share of the necessary taxes."

"I'm, uh... I'm not an expert or anything," Reiner said, slowly, "but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

"I beg your pardon?" Fischer asked, suddenly a bit less friendly than he had seemed a moment ago.

And suddenly Mikasa realized just what it was that was so wrong about what the tax collector was saying. It was so completely wrong - so utterly backwards - that for a moment she was stunned at herself for not having realized it earlier. "Taxes support us," she said. That was how it was supposed to work. Even a child would know that.

"Yeah, that's kind of the deal," Reiner said. "Our food and our uniforms and our equipment." He hefted the empty pack on his back. "Your tax dollars at work."

Fischer smiled at him, indulgently, as if he were about to correct a small child. There was something very condescending in that smile that Mikasa instantly didn't like. "You don't understand," Fischer said. "The military sends groups of trainees like yours up to these mountains every year. You use this land the same as everyone else. You use and use and use, and yet not a one of you has ever paid the taxes necessary to support these villages. The good people here sacrifice so much to pay for your food and your clothing and your equipment, and what have any of you ever given them in return?"

"We die," Reiner said.

Mikasa nodded solemnly.

"Well not all of us, but that's.... that's kind of the point," Reiner went on. He sounded not just surprised that he was having to explain this concept to their long-winded new friend, but close to bordering on aghast about the whole thing. "That's what soldiers do. We risk our lives, and we die to protect humanity. That's what civilians get in return for their taxes." He still sounded like he couldn't believe this was actually an argument he was having with a tax collector. Mikasa couldn't quite believe it, either.

Again, the tax collector gave him that indulgent smile. "No," he said. "You don't understand. That's not how taxes work here. You aren't listening to me. Pay attention now. The system is completely fair, but only so long as everyone pays their share. It has been far too long since the military paid their fair share of the taxes here, and that is an unfairness that needs to be rectified. The system is fair but only so long as it enforced fairly, you see?"

And suddenly, just like that, Mikasa had had enough.

Enough of this boring unremarkable man wasting her time with his boring unremarkable stories. Enough of this insufferably bland prattle from a man who was himself so insufferably bland that he had to resort to wearing an absurd feather on his hat just so that there could be one even remotely interesting thing for anybody to remember about him. Enough of this self-important blowhard who was wasting her time with his shallow grasp of the fairness of the world when Eren was still in danger and she needed to hurry back to Haller's Point before it was too late.

But most of all, Mikasa had had enough of his infuriatingly naive fixation on the idea that the world was in any way shape or form fair.

"Don't you see?" Fischer asked again, and this time Mikasa glared down at him and said, "No."

(down not up but she should have had to look up to meet his eyes he should have been on horseback hadn't he just been riding on horseback wait where did his horse go--)

That indulgent smile seemed to fade a bit from his face. There was a tightness there now, and a note of impatience in his voice. "You still aren't listening to me," he said. "If the military doesn't pay their share of the taxes here, then--"

"Are we even talking about the same taxes?" Reiner asked. "Are yousure youaren't using that word to mean something else?" He still had that incredulous look on his face, as if still unable to believe that this was actually an argument that was happening.

"I am speaking," Fischer said, with considerably less patience in his voice, "about taxes, yes. About the fairness of the world. And about the sacrifices necessary to--"

"Are you going to kill us?" Reiner suddenly asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Fischer said again.

"I'm serious. Are you going to kill us?" Reiner repeated his question. "Are you trying to kill us with boredom? Because no offense but I am bored out of my skull right now and you really, really need to work on your conversation skills."

The tax collector's jaw opened and closed. He looked, incredibly, at a loss for words. But then a moment later he seemed to have composed himself again, and that tightness was back in his face. "How disappointing. I had perhaps incorrectly assumed that you two were intelligent enough to be interested in knowing more about the world, but now I see that so long as you would rather not listen to me and wallow in your own ignorance then--"

"Oh, come on," Reiner said. "I can listen to Armin go on and on about owls and migratory butterflies and tax law or whatever all night long because that guy is actually really interesting to listen to. But you just go on and on and on and you really don't seem to know how to take a hint, do you."

Mikasa nodded in agreement. She remembered her and Eren spending hours listening to Armin talking enthusiastically about whatever neat thing he had read or learned about recently, whether it was about the strange flowers that ate bugs or why there were clouds in the sky or the almost unbelievable idea of an ocean of salt water that existed outside the walls. Armin was never boring, even when he was going on about topics that Mikasa otherwise frankly wouldn't have cared much about. Armin could get even Eren to listen to him, sometimes for hours. Mikasa realized with a twinge of pride that Armin was probably the best damn talker she had never met, probably the best damn talker in the whole world, and this self-important blowhard of a tax collector could never hope to be even a fraction as smart or as interesting to listen to as Mikasa's friend was, no matter how many books he read or how many birds he watched or how many beetles he collected.

The tax collector stared up at Reiner. For the first time, his smile - already too tight of a smile, barely a smile at all - started to fade into a frown. "Who is Armin?" he asked.

"Armin is a much better talker than you are," Mikasa answered.

"A way better talker," Reiner agreed.

"Even Eren likes to listen to Armin," Mikasa said.

"Even I like to listen to Armin," Reiner added. "I don't know how he does it but he can make any stupid thing interesting to listen to. And yeah, Mikasa is right. Even Eren shuts up and listens to him."

Elmar Fischer was wearing a real, genuine frown on his face now. "And what is it that makes this Armin so very interesting to listen to?"

"I don't know," Reiner said with a shrug. "He's just a good talker, I guess."

"Unlike you," Mikasa added. She figured that if Reiner was going to be as rude as possible, then she might as well be as rude as possible, too.

Elmar's frown deepened into a dark, cold scowl. "Well," he said. "Well," he said again. "Well," he said, for a third time. "As it would seem as though I appear to be boring you, I think it best for me to be on my way now." He turned around almost poutily, facing the direction from which they had come. "I thank you again for your help this morning, soldiers," he called over his shoulder as he finally, finally started to walk away from them. "But I do not forgive you for your rudeness."

Around a rocky outcropping he went, and in moments, he was gone.

Finally gone.

For a moment, neither Mikasa nor Reiner said a word. Mikasa savored the blessed silence. She wondered if Reiner was doing the same.

Then Reiner broke the silence. "We were really rude to him, weren't we."

" 'Are you going to kill us?' " Mikasa repeated.

"You're never going to let me live that one down, are you."

"Absolutely not."

"Well I got rid of him, didn't I?"

"You did," Mikasa admitted.

"Boring-ass blowhard. No wonder Colonel Crazy ordered us to shoot him. That man is deadly boring. I wasn't joking, Mikasa, I was genuinely afraid that I was just going to keel over and die of terminal boredom back there. And was it just me, or..." Reiner scratched his head. "Weren't a lot of the things that he was saying kind of weird? I mean, kind of crazy-weird?"

"Like he was two-guns level of crazy instead of just one gun?" Mikasa said.

"Ha ha, very funny. But seriously, what kind of a tax collector doesn't actually know how taxes work?! I think he might have been actually crazy. For real crazy. He sounded totally insane when he was going off on that blah-blah-blah military not paying their taxes thing." Reiner crossed his arms over his chest. "Well that's just great. Now we've got Colonel Crazy up at the camp and a nutjob tax collector down in Rammelsberg to worry about."

"Reiner," Mikasa said.

"Everybody here. Everybody here! Everybody on this whole damn mountain is crazy! It's got to be something in the water. I bet there's something in that mine that--"

"Reiner," Mikasa said again, and this time she made no effort to hide the note of panic in her voice.

"What?"

"Look," Mikasa said. She pointed to the ground.

Reiner looked down.

They were both standing boot-deep in snow.

Mikasa's hand was trembling. She didn't care that Reiner could probably see that her hand was trembling. "Where's the road, Reiner?"

"Uh...."

There was no road. There apparently hadn't been a road for quite a while. There was only solid white snow, a few pathetic little trees scattered here and there, and three sets of human footprints in the snow. Mikasa could see the direction that the footprints had come from, and nothing in that direction - not the snow, not the rocks, not the few gnarled little trees - looked familiar at all.

Then Mikasa noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and looked up at the sky.

It was a black plume of smoke, the same plume of smoke that Sofie had pointed out that morning. The smoke from the silver mine. But the mine on the north face of Mt. Raupen should have been clearly visible from the road between Haller's Point and Rammelsberg. And now Mikasa couldn't see the mine anywhere, the smoke was too dark and too close, and the dark plume was rising from the wrong side of the horizon.

Mikasa stared up at that plume of smoke, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Then she started to notice the pain. Her thighs were burning, the way that they had burned last year after the trainees had spent all day climbing that steep, unfamiliar terrain. Her feet ached. Mikasa looked down at her hands and saw that her gloves were dirty and scratched. As if...

As if she had been climbing, grabbing on to branches and rocks to help her with the steeper parts.

Mikasa stared down at her own gloved hands. She blinked once, twice. She closed her eyes for a long moment and then opened them again. No good. Her gloves were still dirty, her thighs still burning, and now she was beginning to notice the hungry emptiness in her stomach and the too-warm tingling in her fingertips, too. Frostbite. She had frostbite on her hands.

"Mikasa," Reiner said, and she knew even before turning to look at him that she would see the exact same fear and bewilderment on his face that she knew she was showing on her own. "Mikasa, where are we?!"

"I think..." Mikasa swallowed, and felt her throat click unpleasantly. Her throat and her mouth were too dry, her lips chapped and windburnt. "I think we're on the south face of Mt. Raupen."

"How." It was a protest, not a question.

And Mikasa knew that there was only one way to reach the south face of the mountain, and she knew that Reiner knew it too, but neither of them was willing to believe it. Yet.

They must have climbed there. Past Haller's Point, past Wildflecken, past the mine, all the way to the end of the muddy road and into the snow-covered wilderness, up the north face of the mountain until they had reached the summit and then back down again along the south side. Near the summit the terrain would have been too steep for the tax collector's horse to handle, so the horse would have been left behind some time ago. But that didn't make any sense. That was impossible. Because--

"I don't remember climbing a mountain today," Reiner said. Mikasa could hear how hard he was trying to sound like he was joking, but she could also hear the waver of horror in his voice, too. "Do you?"

Mikasa shook her head, slowly. She definitely didn't remember climbing a mountain at all. All she remembered was the tax collector's voice droning in her ear, and pushing herself at a relentlessly fast pace up that mountain road for what had

(felt like hours)

surely been no more than twenty, maybe thirty minutes. At the very most.

"How long were we listening to that prick?" Reiner asked. "What time is it?!"

"I don't know." With the sun hidden behind a thick veil of gray clouds, it was impossible to tell. Mikasa stared down at her dirty gloves again. "My hands feel hot."

"That's not good," Reiner said. He knew exactly what that meant. "Quick, go like this." He crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his hands beneath his armpits. "Like we learned last year."

Mikasa nodded again, remembering. One actually useful thing that the trainees had been taught by Colonel Haller the previous year. Mikasa crossed her arms over her chest, stuffed her too-hot hands beneath her armpits, and then suddenly realized that her shoulder holster was gone.

From the leaden gray skies overhead, a few snowflakes finally began to drift down.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The snow was coming down thick and relentless as the trainees scrambled to finish setting up their respective camps.

"I hate this," Jean grumbled, as he had been grumbling about everything all day long. He pulled down the hood of his coat in a vain attempt to shield his face from the snow. "I hate snow!"

"I dunno, it's kind of pretty, isn't it?" Connie said, taking a moment to twirl around in the white shower of snow in an unabashedly childlike manner. Then he turned his hooded face up toward the gray sky and said, "Kind of feel sorry for Reiner and Mikasa, though. If they're still out on the road in all of this. I wonder what Haller sent them to go do, anyway."

"I wonder when they're going to be back," Eren said.

"Should be soon," Armin said. "It's getting dark already." He frowned. "I wish we knew when they were supposed to be back, though."

"You should know better than to wish for our superior officers to ever actually share information like that with us, genius," Jean said sharply.

"Hey," Eren said.

"You don't think..." Connie inserted himself neatly between Jean and Eren. "You don't think the Colonel would have sent them on an overnight... uh, thing. An overnight thing. Without telling us, I mean."

"I wouldn't put it past Colonel Frostbite," Jean said.

"That's not fair," Connie said. "So now we're not even supposed to know whether we should expect them back tonight or tomorrow? Or even sometime later?"

"Welcome to the military," Jean said bitterly. "The ironic thing is that if Reiner were here right now, he'd probably be lecturing you about how a soldier should trust his superior officers and should know that there will be times when those superior officers won't always share unnecessary information with absolutely everybody underneath their command."

"Yeah, I guess that sounds like something he would say," Connie agreed.

"And besides, Reiner is out there with Mikasa. Come on, this is Mikasa we're talking about," Jean said. "I don't care what kind of awful crap Haller tried to throw at her, we all know that Mikasa can handle it."

"You're right about that," Armin said. "But still. I really, really hope they get back soon."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The holster was gone and the gun was gone. Their knives were gone, too. Both of them.

"How," Reiner asked again.

"I... I don't know," Mikasa said. But as soon as she said it, she knew that it was a lie. Because there was only one possible answer to the question of how, only one answer, only one reason why Colonel Haller's holster and his fancy gun for fancy crazyin' could have been missing from her shoulder, but the thought of saying it out loud suddenly terrified Mikasa because that would mean admitting that it was true. And yet she forced herself to say it anyway. "I must have taken off the holster."

"When."

"I don't remember." Mikasa felt a sick twist in her stomach. "Do you remember me doing that?"

"No."

"And you were right beside me the whole time."

"I think so. But then again I don't exactly remember climbing a mountain or losing my knife today, either, and apparently I did both."

Mikasa felt that awful twist in her stomach again. If that was true, if any of that was true, that meant that she was missing nearly a day's worth of memories, it meant that she had climbed a mountain and taken off her holster and lost her utility knife without any memory of any of that happening, and that couldn't be, that wasn't possible, that was unacceptable, because she was stronger than anyone and nobody was going to make her lose her memories or her gun or her knife or her control of the situation like that. She'd worked too hard to become strong enough to make sure that nobody could ever hurt her like that ever again. And yet here she was, standing boot-deep in snow with more of it falling all around her, without her gun, without her knife, without her memories, and without an explanation, feeling totally helpless and totally bewildered in a way that she hadn't felt since that day five years ago when she had been lying beaten and bloodied with her hands bound behind her back on the cold wooden floor of her father's cabin in the woods.

Mikasa felt her stomach twist again, and then it heaved. For a dizzying, horrible moment, she felt bile crawling up her throat and was nearly overwhelmed by the urge to bend over and---

"So what do we do now?" Reiner asked.

The sound of his voice snapped Mikasa back to reality. She forced herself to swallow whatever had been threatening to crawl back up her throat, took a deep breath, and tried to think.

The first thing she thought was at least I'm not cold. Not like I was back then.

It should have been an absurd thought, but to Mikasa, it was a blessing. It was something to anchor herself with. She wasn't cold, despite the snow falling all around her. She had Eren's scarf, she had her warm winter gear, and despite standing boot-deep in the snow her feet were still dry and warm thanks to the wax-coated leather boots that were standard issue to all trainees. Your tax dollars at work, Mikasa thought. Her hands were too hot, though, and Mikasa finally remembered to cross her arms over her chest and stuff her hands back into her armpits, hoping that doing so would be enough to thaw her frozen fingers.

You're still the strongest one here, Mikasa told herself. Reiner asked you what to do because you're the strongest. Mikasa couldn't let herself forget that again.

"Mikasa, what do we do now?" Reiner repeated his question.

This time the sound of his voice focused Mikasa's thoughts enough that she finally realized that the answer to his question was obvious. "We have to get back to Haller's Point," she said.

The world was growing grayer by the moment and the snow was falling in thick, wet clumps now. But still Reiner nodded at her, because he was strong enough to climb in those conditions, and Mikasa was strong enough too, and it wasn't the climb or the cold or the snow that they really had to worry about at the moment. "And then what do we do when we run out of daylight?" Reiner asked.

"If there's moonlight, we keep going. If there's not, we stay put."

"How are your hands?"

"Starting to feel like pins and needles," she said.

"Good. That's a good sign." Reiner lifted his hand to his eyes and squinted through the falling snow. "We should find some dry firewood and load up before we climb any further, though."

Mikasa nodded in agreement. They needed to prepare for the possibility of having to halt their climb and wait out the pitch-black night, just in case the clouds above never cleared. A good fire was the only way that they were going to survive the night. Fortunately they still had their packs, though, and their packs were still empty. Carrying firewood would be easy. Finding it would be harder, especially at this altitude, where their only source of wood would be the pathetic little trees that grew in scattered clumps on this part of the mountain. But Mikasa was confident they would find something burnable if they hurried.

"Over there," Reiner said. He started toward a knot of three twisted little trees not yet entirely covered by snow, and Mikasa followed him. Good, she thought. This was good. They were acting practically and logically, they were focused, and they had a plan.

They were in control of the situation again. Total control.

That was a good sign.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset during a snowstorm was like a thick blanket of gloom slowly darkening the entire camp. Gloom that perfectly matched Shadies's mood. He was going to kill those two when they got back. Especially if they thought that they could get away with goofing off in Rammelsberg instead of following orders.

"You know them better than I do," Haller said when Shadies finally confronted him about the issue. "Do you honestly think those two would be the type to abandon their mission for hours on end just for the sake of fun?"

"They wouldn't," Shadies admitted.

Haller was sitting on an overturned crate on the hill in front of his office, smoking a pipe and clearly not giving a damn about the snow falling all around him. "I warned them and I warned you," he said. "I gave them a direct order to do the one thing they needed to do to prevent this from happening. And if they disobeyed my orders, then--"

"What do you mean by your orders?" Shadies demanded to know.

"If they disobeyed my orders, then they might very well deserve whatever happens to them next," Haller said, ignoring Shadies's question. "What I fear most is that Fischer may be right. That sacrifices may be necessary. And that we all might have a debt that needs to be paid."

Shadies stared at Haller for a long moment. Then he said, "Colonel. Is there something going on here that you need to tell me about?"

"Unless you want me to bore you with tales of local superstitions that I sincerely wish I had no reason to believe in, then no." Haller looked up at Shadies, his cold gaze penetrating through the snow swirling all around them. "I asked you to give me your two best, Shadies. If they are truly as good as you say they are, then they will find a way to be back here soon. If not... Then we should wait for this storm to clear, and then talk about organizing a search party."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The snow had gotten deep enough that Mikasa had to lift her knees almost to her stomach every time she took a step. They were making frustratingly slow progress back up the mountain, the world was growing darker by the moment, and finally Mikasa realized that if they didn't find a place to stop and build their fire soon they would be trapped in the pitch-blackness of the snowy night. Then they wouldn't even be able to see their own hands in front of their faces.

But Reiner was still determined to keep going. "If we can make the summit tonight," he argued, trudging stubbornly through the snow, "then we might be able to get to the mine by morning. Somebody there might be willing to lend us a horse."

"Reiner, we can't climb in the dark--"

"Do you know what's going to happen to us if we take too long to get back?!"

"We freeze to death or get eaten by wolves," Mikasa said.

"No. Worse." He turned toward her, and for the first time Mikasa saw naked fear on his face. "We could get expelled for this."

Mikasa said nothing, unable to deny the possibility.

"We are going to get expelled for this, aren't we," Reiner moaned. "We don't even know how we ended up here and nobody is going to believe us if we tell them that."

Mikasa still trudged through the snow beside him and said nothing.

"We need to think of a plausible explanation," Reiner said as he stubbornly stomped through the snow. "Something to tell them when we get back."

"You mean that we need to think of a good lie."

"Exactly."

"Reiner, I'm not going to lie to--"

"If we tell anybody the truth then we are definitely going to be expelled because they're going to think that we're either lying through our teeth or mentally unstable. Do you know what's going to happen to Eren if you get expelled, Mikasa?!"

Mikasa almost stopped cold in her tracks. Of course she knew the answer to that question. He was going to die without her to protect him.

"All right," Mikasa said. "We were kidnapped by bandits."

"Not plausible enough."

"How is that not plausible?"

"Because you could take out an entire army of bandits with one hand tied behind your back, and everybody knows it."

"Fine, then." Mikasa still trudged through the snow, thinking hard. "We came across a family being robbed by bandits."

"Better," Reiner said. "Now try to sound more convincing when you say it."

"We saved them from the bandits, but there was a little girl in the family, and she was sick, she was dying from some sort of disease, and her parents told us that the only known cure for her disease was the root of one of the species of flowers that only grows on the south face of Mt. Raupen, so then you promised that little girl that we were going to save her no matter what and then we--"

"You know, that isn't bad material you've got there," Reiner said, cutting her off, "but when we get back to camp I think you should probably let me do the talking. You sound really unconvincing right now."

"Sorry for being a bad liar," Mikasa said, not feeling sorry in the slightest.

"Yeah, no offense, but... You are really bad at lying," Reiner said. "Look. Here's some honest advice. When you really need to tell a convincing lie, you just have to practice telling yourself the lie enough times until you start to believe it. Then there's no way you'll be able to lie unconvincingly about it."

Mikasa turned to look at him again, but it was hard to see him now, and getting harder to see him by the minute. The world was growing darker, fading into black.

"Reiner, we have to stop," she said.

"There's still daylight. We can keep going."

Mikasa thought of the survey team that had disappeared, of the mountain being riddled with deep ravines and drop-offs that they wouldn't be able to see in the dark, and of the possibility of one or both of them ending up with a broken neck. She was about to argue this point with Reiner when she saw something through the gloom that appeared as if it would settle the argument for her. "Look over there," she said, pointing.

Reiner turned his head. He had to squint to see through the falling snow, but Mikasa could tell that he saw what she was pointing at. Once spotted, it was unmistakable. A dark opening in the white snow. The mouth of a cave.

They needed shelter from the falling snow and space to build a fire, and Mikasa knew that a cave was probably their best option. It was much better and safer than having to dig their own shelter out of the snow, at least.

"We're going over there, and we're going to build our fire now," Mikasa said. She wasn't going to waste time arguing this any further.

"No. It's too early for us to stop now. We can still--"

"So help me Reiner I will pick you up and carry you over there if I have to."

"Cave sounds good," he said quickly.

They changed direction and headed toward the mouth of the cave. Once they got closer, Mikasa could see that it would be perfect. It looked large, and deep, and inside there would be plenty of shelter from the falling snow and room for them to build a fire. But they had to hurry, because there was little daylight left and Mikasa knew that there would be even less of it within the darkness of the cave. If they didn't build their fire soon, they would be swallowed by the total darkness of a snowy, cloud-covered night.

Three steps inside the cave and they were already in near-total darkness. "Better hurry," Mikasa said.

"Hey, I got this," Reiner said. He was already kneeling on the floor of the cave and building a base, carefully arranging kindling and tinder. Then he pulled the last item that he had in his pack out - a large, flat rock that he and Mikasa had chosen earlier - and set it aside.

Reiner looked up at Mikasa and asked, "Boots or pack?"

She considered the question carefully. They needed metal to strike their flint with. Without their knives, their options were limited. Their packs had brass buckles, but brass wouldn't work. (They had learned that during their training last year. One more actually useful tidbit of survival knowledge courtesy of Colonel Haller.) Their boots, on the other hand, each had two metal rivets near the top where the laces were looped and anchored. If they were lucky, those rivets would be made of steel.

They hadn't had much luck yet that day, though. By tomorrow the trainees at Haller's Point would be receiving their survival gear for their first exercise out in the wilderness. They would all have matches, flint, steel, and first aid kits. None of them would have to worry about being stuck without a way to start a fire. But on the very first day at camp, none of that equipment had been distributed yet. And of course Colonel Haller had sent Mikasa and Reiner down the road to Rammelsberg without survival gear, because why would they have ever needed to worry about building a fire or treating wounds when they were only going on a simple errand down the road and back?

"Boots," Mikasa said. Then she sat down and began unlacing one of her own.

"Wait, we can use mine--"

"I trust you," Mikasa said, handing him her left boot, "to not set my boot on fire."

He took the boot from her, and examined the rivets on top, frowning. "If these things aren't made of steel, then this isn't going to work."

"Then let's hope they're made of steel," Mikasa said.

Reiner finished removing the lace completely from Mikasa's boot, and tossed it aside. He examined the rivets near the top of the boot, looking for a way to remove them with his bare hands. Without a knife to cut them out, however, there was just no way. He was going to have to strike at the flint with the entire boot, aiming to make sure that the rivets struck hard enough to generate a spark.

So he raised the boot in one hand, took the flint in his other, and struck down. Hard. Again. And then again.

"So, Mikasa," he said as he tried again. "How stupid do I look right now, hitting a rock with this boot?"

"Very stupid," she assured him. "But also quite manly."

Sparks flew, and the tinder ignited.

Reiner looked almost comically surprised that it had worked. "Well, what do you know," he said. "They were made of steel after all."

"Your tax dollars at work," Mikasa said.

Reiner laughed so hard that he almost dropped Mikasa's boot in the fire.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Shadies waited until the snow had ceased and the moon was just barely starting to emerge from the cloud-covered night sky before he sought out Haller again. He found Haller exactly where he had seen him last, sitting on that overturned crate at the top of that snow-covered hill in front of his office, smoking his pipe.

"Colonel," Shadies said, and when Haller turned to look at him Shadies saw dark circles beneath his eyes.

Haller slowly stood up, cracked his back, and sighed. "I'll start dividing your trainees into search parties. You send a team down to Rammelsberg and tell them to find the sheriff. He has messenger pigeons. They should send one to Wildflecken and another to the mine."

"Why?" Shadies asked.

"Because it's nearly a day's hike to the south face of Mt. Raupen from here. Wildflecken is closer, and the mine closer still. Our best hope at this point is that a search party from Wildflecken or the mine will be able to find your trainees before it's too late." Haller inhaled deeply from his pipe, then blew out a smoke ring. "Leaving from this location, though? We'll never make it in time."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

They sat not so much huddled as pressed together beside the fire, both stubbornly refusing to shiver. It was night now, and the temperature must have dropped significantly, but Mikasa still didn't feel too cold. At least not yet. She wasn't even particularly worried about the cold. She was tough, and so was Reiner, and neither of them had had any problems with the chill last year despite the much worse weather they had suffered through back then.

On the other hand, however, last year Colonel Haller had drilled into their heads over and over again that only a suicidal fool would think that the nighttime temperature in these mountains was something to not be particularly worried about.

Not worrying about the cold was dangerous and stupid, Mikasa grudgingly admitted to herself. She and Reiner were tough, but not that tough. Best to try and warm her feet and hands just in case.

Mikasa stretched out her hands and feet toward the fire.

"How are your hands?" Reiner suddenly asked.

"Much better."

"You should take off your gloves and check," he said.

"My hands feel fine--"

"And it would be really stupid to lose any of your fingers to frostbite. I don't know about you, Mikasa, but I like having all of my hands intact. Or do you want to end up like Colonel Frostbite?"

Mikasa grudgingly started to take off her gloves. "Eren was right about you," she said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You lecture people. You're a lecturer." Mikasa examined her hands critically in the flickering light of the fire. They were too pink, and the skin looked irritated, but there was none of the waxy whiteness - or, thank goodness, the awful blue or black - that betrayed the presence of frostbite.

Reiner didn't even bother to deny her accusation. "What about your feet?"

"Why don't you stop worrying about me and check your own feet?" Mikasa snapped at him. She felt like she was beginning to understand why Eren always seemed so irritated every time she had to tell him to take care of himself.

"Yeah, frostbite isn't exactly going to be a problem for me," he said.

"I can see why," Mikasa said. "I think you could probably stand to lose some of your nose, actually. Might be an improvement."

"Ouch," he said. "My poor fragile ego. Sasha was right about you."

"Right about me how?"

"That you do, actually, have a sense of humor. But you're really mean about it."

Mikasa put pack on her gloves and sighed. "What are we doing, Reiner?"

"Getting pointlessly angry at each other while sitting here and waiting for the moon to come out," he said. "I think we need a better way to pass the time."

And a better way to keep each other awake, Mikasa mentally added. Although neither of them would admit it, sleep - which was certainly tempting at the moment - would be a very, very bad idea. Especially in these temperatures.

Well, as long as they had a campfire... "Ghost stories," Mikasa proposed.

"I've been told multiple times that I'm actually really bad at those, so how about no," Reiner said.

"Truth or Dare," Mikasa tried. The ever-reliable choice.

"What are we going to dare each other to do out here?"

"All right, then. Just Truth." Mikasa paused for a moment, considering. Then she said: "Double-Truth."

"What the hell is Double-Truth?"

"It means that if you ask a question to the other person, you also have to answer the same question yourself. So you have to choose your questions carefully."

Reiner scratched his head. "I've never heard of that."

"It is the most ancient and sacred tradition of my people, Reiner," Mikasa said, keeping her face totally straight.

"So in other words, you just made that up."

"Consider it a challenge," Mikasa said.

That seemed to interest him, just as Mikasa had known it would. "Fair enough," he said. "You ask first."

Mikasa stared into the fire for a long moment, thinking hard. Then she thought of a good question. "Your greatest fear," she said.

"Dying without accomplishing anything," Reiner said. "Yours?"

"Losing my family."

"My turn, and I'm going to ask a less depressing question," Reiner said pointedly. "What is the one thing that you're secretly disappointed that nobody ever dared you to do the last time that we actually played a real game of Truth or Dare?"

"Stealing food from Sasha's secret stash. You?"

"I was going to say the same thing.”

"Something about yourself that you're embarrassed to admit," Mikasa said.

"I hate my feet. You?"

"I don't like my glutes," Mikasa admitted. No matter how much training she did, she just couldn't seem to get them strong enough.

"Wait, what? Your glutes are amazing! How could you not like--"

"Reiner, do you make it a habit to stare at my butt a lot?" Mikasa asked him.

"That's not fair. It's not your turn to ask the question."

"Nice dodge," Mikasa said

"Thank you. I've had a lot of practice." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, then said: "Something that you're secretly jealous of."

"Sasha's secret stash," Mikasa said again.

"Your abdomen."

"I thought so," Mikasa said, not a trace of modesty in her voice. Then she scratched at her ear, trying to think of her next question. Finally, it came to her. "Your deepest, darkest secret."

Reiner laughed. "I was hoping there would be a little bit more foreplay before you busted out that one!"

"Your deepest, darkest secret," Mikasa repeated, insistently.

"All right. Serious question, Mikasa: Are you sure it's a good idea for us to be asking each other that question?"

"Yes," Mikasa answered, without even a moment of hesitation. "I can go first, if you want me to."

"Mikasa, you don't have to--"

"I killed a man when I was nine years old," Mikasa said.

Reiner stared at her.

"It was self-defense," she went on. "And he was about to kill Eren, too. So I used a knife and I stabbed him to death."

Reiner blinked at her once, twice. "Whoa, Mikasa," he said. "Whoa. And here I was going to say that I was the one who stole Sasha's lunch that one time. I... I don't think you quite understand the point of this game."

"I'm not playing a game," Mikasa said. "I'm trying to stay awake, I'm trying to stay warm, and I'm trying to survive."

"I would just like to point out, in case you're trying to accuse me of not taking this seriously enough," Reiner said, "that you were the one who wanted to tell ghost stories."

Mikasa elbowed him.

"Ow."

"Sorry," she said, and this time, she almost meant it.

"That's all right." He turned and looked away from her, glancing down into the darkness of the cave. "Say. How deep do you think this thing goes?"

"I think it would be a bad idea to try to find out," Mikasa said.

"I know. Just thinking out loud." He turned back toward her and said, "We're lucky you spotted this place, though."

"It was just dumb luck," Mikasa said. "I wasn't even looking for a cave entrance. I didn't think there would be any on this side of the mountain."

"Wait, really?" Reiner seemed genuinely surprised by what Mikasa had just said. "But that asshole said that there were lots of caves on this side of the mountain. He specifically mentioned that. I mean, he talked about a lot of boring crap but I do remember that part."

Mikasa stared at the fire for a long moment, then decided to ask him: "What else do you remember him talking about?"

"Hmm." Reiner frowned. "Bird-watching, I think? And owls. Boats... Yeah, boats. He was talking about rafts and ferries, and about how they make the cables for the cable ferries. And the mines... Something about dynamite in the mines. That was when he was talking about the caves, too. But first the dynamite. No, wait. Before that he was talking about types of gunpowder. I remember that part because it was so boring."

"Reiner," Mikasa asked carefully, "do you remember him saying something weird about things older than the walls being hidden in the mountains?"

"Things? Like what things?"

"So you don't remember."

Reiner shrugged. "Sorry."

"You laughed at him when he said that. I remember that, because it was such a strange thing that he said, and for some reason you thought it was hilarious."

"Mikasa, you know I think a lot of stupid things are really funny."

"I know," Mikasa said. "You're usually the only one who laughs at Eren's jokes, too."

"Oh, ouch, Mikasa," he said. "Do you just burn Eren? Did I hear that right? You?!"

Mikasa felt her cheeks flush. "I just insulted you," she insisted.

"I'm gonna tell Eren that you said--" Then he stopped himself when he saw the look on her face. "Kidding, kidding! I'll never, ever tell Eren that you said anything even remotely mean about him. Promise."

"You'd better keep that promise." Mikasa turned away from him, back toward the fire. She stared at the flicker of its flames and said, "That's what I was afraid of, though. You don't remember him talking about old things in the mountains, and I don't remember him talking about rafts or cable ferries or different types of gunpo--"

(the coarser-grained black powders are the types preferred by most hunters around here but the military still uses the fine-grained cocoa powder - charming name for that, by the way - in its smaller firearms)

Mikasa felt her throat seize up.

(say you wouldn't happen to have any weapons on you right now do you?)

Mikasa stared at the suddenly too-bright flames of the fire as the memory came rushing back to her.

She had answered his question. She remembered answering his question. Total honesty and not even a moment of hesitation before she had answered.

(I actually have a bit of an amateur interest in antique firearms. Would you let me see it?)

She had said yes. She hadn't even thought twice about handing her gun over to a civilian. She had taken off her coat in order to remove her shoulder holster. Reiner had held her coat for her as she had unbuckled her holster. Neither one of them had ever once said a single word of protest.

And once her coat was off, he had seen the knife on her belt. Of course he had already seen it once before, when she had used it to fix the strap on his saddlebag. But now that he was reminded of its existence, he seemed suddenly curious about it as well.

(i don't suppose you might also let me see--)

"Mikasa, what is it?" Reiner asked. His hand was on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"No," Mikasa said.

She was not okay. She was far, far from okay. For a sick, dizzying moment she felt that fear again, that twist in her stomach, that awful memory of lying on that wooden floor with her hands bound behind her back and her face bloody and swollen, that terrifying sense of losing control and that sickening feeling of bile trying to climb its way back up her throat.

No, she thought.

Not this time. Not again. She was done with feeling cold and done with feeling fear and done with feeling that sick sense of dizzying helplessness. She remembered herself taking off her coat, and she remembered Elmar Fischer's smug little yellow-toothed grin, and this time she felt something different. This time she felt a searing, angry heat spreading through her body.

This time, she felt rage.

Rage at the insignificant, unremarkable, boring little blowhard of a man who done this to her. Rage at the delusional little man who had told her that the world was fair and who had wasted an entire day's worth of her time laboring under the mistaken impression that there was anything even remotely worthwhile or interesting about any of the blather spilling from his mouth. Rage at the useless little man who stolen her gun and stolen her memories and who had – worst of all - made her feel, even for the briefest moment, like she was helpless.

Mikasa had shrugged Reiner's hand off her shoulder and stood up before she even realized what she was doing. One, two, three steps around the fire, and then she pulled back her fist.

"RRRRRRRRARRRRRGH!"

Her closed fist connected with the solid rock wall of the cave.

Then she pulled back her fist, shook it out, and sighed.

"Feel better now?" Reiner asked.

"A little," Mikasa said. She walked back around the fire and sat down beside him again. "Reiner..."

"What?"

"Why?!" Mikasa asked. "Why did he do this to us? Why did he take our weapons and lead us all the way out here?"

"I think," Reiner said slowly, "that he was actually going to kill us. Or at least try to."

"But why?!" Mikasa asked again. "And why did he just leave us out here like this?"

"I don't know," Reiner admitted. "I've been thinking about it, actually, and... I don't know! It doesn't make any sense."

"Reiner, do you... Do you remember him saying something weird about how it was his job to go to the south face of Mt. Raupen?"

"Yeah... I do remember that part," Reiner said. "I remember thinking that it didn't make any sense for him to say that. Did I say something to him about that? I think I said something to him about that. But then he said--"

Mikasa suddenly gripped Reiner's arm painfully. "Look." She pointed to the mouth of the cave.

They could see glittering white snow on the ground and black skies above.

The snowstorm had stopped, the clouds were gone, and the moon was out. The world outside of their dark little cave was now bathed in moonlight. With the near-full moon in the sky and all of its light being reflected off the pure white snow on the ground, it was finally safe for them to continue their climb toward the summit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Eren, wait!" Armin ran after him, scrambling through the deep snow to keep up. "This is a really bad idea--"

"Waiting around and doing nothing was a bad idea!" Eren snapped. He was almost at the fence now.

"And what good are you going to do for Mikasa if you run off like this?!" Armin shot back. "You don't even have a lantern--"

"There's moonlight! I can see just fine!"

"You don't know anything about the terrain out there, you don't even know where to start looking! At least wait for the Colonel to get the search party organized--"

"No way!" Eren whirled around to face Armin. "We already wasted our time waiting for him! We trusted that he would do something if he knew that anything had gone wrong, and look how that turned out! We were all sitting around here like idiots thinking that Mikasa was perfectly fine when it turns out all along that hey, she should've been back here hours ago and hey, guess who knew that she should have been back hours ago and didn't do anything about it until now?!"

"Eren, I'm angry about it too," Armin said, "and yes, angry at myself, just like you are. You're right. We should have asked the Colonel about Mikasa earlier instead of just assuming that she would be back whenever. But listen to me. If you jump over that fence right now and go running off into the woods without equipment or without a plan, that's not going to help anybody. That's definitely not going to help Mikasa. You're only going to make things worse."

"Then what am I supposed to do?!"

"You let me go with you," Armin said quickly.

Eren blinked at him, momentarily too shocked to remember that he was supposed to be angry. "Armin..."

"But we're not going out there unprepared." Armin pointed across the camp. "First, we're going to break into the Colonel's office and gear up. He has to have maps in there. And probably other equipment as well. We'll need matches, flint, lanterns, signal flares, and first aid kits. If the Colonel isn't storing that in or near his office then at least the keys to wherever he has that stuff locked up will be in his office. We’d better hurry."

“You don’t need to tell me to hurry,” Eren said, already stomping off through the snow, heading straight toward the Colonel’s office.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

They quickly extinguished their fire, waited for their eyes to adjust to the moonlight, and then were on their way.

"Hurry. Hurry," Reiner urged her, plowing his own way doggedly through the now much-deeper snow.

"You don't need to tell me to hurry," Mikasa said. She was cold and hungry and utterly exhausted, but still she hurried, she hurried with every ounce of strength that she had left. She was worried about Eren, she knew that Reiner was worried about getting expelled, and for the time being, that was enough to give them both the strength to keep moving.

Fortunately, this time the weather - not to mention the very night sky itself - seemed to actually be on their side. The moon was almost full, the skies were almost clear, and with all of the snow on the ground the moonlight was reflected and amplified so intensely that they had more than enough light to see with. It was even easier for them to clearly see the surrounding terrain now, in the middle of the night, than it had been in the murky snowstorm light of the daytime.

Which was probably why Mikasa saw what she saw, barely visible on the edge of her field of vision. During the gloom-heavy daytime, she might have missed it completely. But on this moonlit night, with the snow so pure white that the absence of snow contrasted like a black smudge on the side of the mountain, it was impossible not to notice. And it was because Mikasa turned her head to try to get a better look, squinting to try to determine what exactly it was that looked like a strange black smudge on the ground from this distance, that she saw the flap of green fabric sticking out of the snow beside it.

Mikasa instantly changed direction.

"Where are you going?" Reiner called after her.

"Over here!" Mikasa waved him over. "There's something in the snow over here."

"We don't have time to--"

"I think you'd better see this," Mikasa said.

Something in her voice seemed to convince him to shut up and follow her, just as she had hoped it would. Mikasa knelt down in the snow and began digging with her hands, trying to uncover the rest of whatever that green flap of fabric belonged to. Moments later, Reiner was by her side, making much faster progress with his much larger hands. When they were finished, what they had uncovered was unmistakable: Green canvas, brass buckles, the royal seal embroidered into the top flap of the pack, and a second insignia - a compass - embroidered on the body of the bag.

"Well," Reiner said, "Looks like we found what's left of the survey team."

He lifted the bag out of the snow. He opened the top flap, reached inside, pulled out his arm, then shook the bag. It was empty. "I don't get it," he said. "Where's their stuff? Wouldn't a survey team need to have a bag full of... I don't know, uh, science... things?"

"Science things," Mikasa repeated.

"Like... science things." Reiner glared at her. "Oh come on. You don't know what a survey team actually does any more than I do."

"They draw maps, don't they?"

"Something like that. I think."

Mikasa stared at the compass insignia embroidered on the bag, then said slowly, "I would expect a survey team to be carrying maps. And a compass. And drawing tools. And maybe even--"

(little bags of rocks)

"--geological samples," Mikasa finished.

"What?"

"Little bags of rocks," Mikasa clarified.

Their eyes met, and Mikasa saw that he was suddenly remembering the exact same thing that she was remembering.

The maps, the compass, and the bag of tools that had spilled out of Elmar Fischer's saddlebag. All items that Mikasa had assumed the man had in his possession because he was planning to leave Rammelsberg soon. But the little drawstring bags full of rocks, those hadn't made any sense to Mikasa. Until now.

Reiner tossed aside the empty bag and started digging through the snow again.

Mikasa joined him. Neither of them said a word, but both of them knew what they were looking for this time: The bodies.

They didn't find any bodies, but after a moment of digging, Mikasa found something else. A black strap of fabric, and then another. A piece of wood that looked as though the end of it had been shattered.

A bit more digging, and then they both stopped, because they had uncovered just enough to be sure of what they were looking at. It was a cargo sled - or rather, what was left of a cargo sled. Had it been intact, it would have looked exactly like the sleds that the trainees had used to haul their supplies from Rammelsberg up to Haller's Point the previous year, back before the road had existed. But this sled was broken, shattered. Or rather, it had been shredded. There were deep, scouring marks on some of the more intact pieces that surely couldn't be--

"Are those bite-marks?!" Reiner asked.

Mikasa didn't answer. She suddenly felt very, very cold.

"What kind of an animal does that?!" Reiner asked.

Mikasa shook her head. "I don't know." Then she stood up, brushed the snow off the lower part of her coat and legs, and turned away from him. Suddenly the issue of investigating that dark smudge on the ground that she had seen from a distance seemed very, very urgent.

Mikasa approached it carefully, wary of the possibility of it being an uncovered ravine. As it turned out, she was partially right; there was a cave opening there, a big one, partially hidden by a snow-covered boulder. Leading out of the mouth of the cave was a perfect, smooth track of ground completely devoid of snow.

That was impossible.

The path of exposed rock snaked down the side of the mountain as far as Mikasa could see in the moonlight, then appeared to turn around a knot of trees and was gone. It was a wide path, wider than the width of a person. Upon closer inspection Mikasa could see that the snow on either side of the path wasn't perfectly smooth, but rather riddled with pock-marked patches of crusty ice, as if the snow had not so much melted as it had partially dissolved and then re-frozen itself.

Mikasa leaned forward, bent down, and touched the exposed rock on the ground.

Then she instantly pulled back her hand, sucking in her breath in pain. It burned.

Mikasa took a step backward, bumping into Reiner as she did so, and plunged her hand into the snow. "There's something on the ground over there," she said. "Don't touch it."

"Are you--?"

"I'm fine," she said. She pulled her hand out of the snow and examined it carefully. The fingertips of her glove were ruined, but when she pulled off her glove she saw that her hand was perfectly fine. Thank goodness she had been wearing gloves, though. Mikasa put back on her burnt glove - it was still better than leaving her bare hand exposed to the bitter cold - and took another cautious step back toward the snowless track, trying to get a better look.

Reiner was leaning over the track, resting his hand on the snow-covered boulder to balance his weight. "Looks gooey," he said, which Mikasa figured was probably as close to a scientific assessment as Reiner Braun was capable of giving. "Definitely gooey. There's something slimy all over the ground here." He pointed down the length of the track.

Mikasa squinted, and saw that he was right. The exposed rock and shriveled, burnt grass lining the bottom of the snowless path were too shiny in the moonlight. Wherever there wasn't snow on the ground, there was slime.

"Something acidic, maybe?" Reiner guessed. "It must have dissolved the snow."

"What kind of an animal does that?" Mikasa asked.

"You think this was an animal?"

"Yes," Mikasa said. "Something big, and long, and round. It must move along the ground, it must have come out of that cave, and it must be secreting something that dissolves the snow in its path."

Reiner looked down at the width of the slime-covered, snowless track below him. "That is way bigger than any snake I've ever heard of," he said.

"Maybe it's not a snake."

"I really hope it's not a snake."

"Whatever it is, it didn't leave too long ago," Mikasa said. The slime on the ground was too fresh.

She met Reiner's eyes again, and for the second time that night, she could tell that in that instant, they were both thinking the exact same thing.

"We should probably get out of here," Reiner said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time that Armin and Eren reached Haller's office, however, Jean was already there, rock in hand, arm drawn back, poised to smash open the only window on the side of the building that was facing away from the camp.

"What are you doing?" Eren asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?!"

Armin couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. "Don't you want to join the military police? What do think is going to happen to you if you throw that rock?"

"Nothing, because I was planning on blaming Eren for this. And let's be honest, nobody is going to doubt me on that one." With that, Jean threw the rock through the glass window. The window was composed of one single pane, and it shattered in a most satisfying manner.

"It looks like you might be thinking the same thing we're thinking," Armin said.

Jean carefully snapped the biggest chunks of ragged, broken glass off the bottom of the windowsill. "Eren I can understand wanting to do something this stupid," Jean said, "But you, Armin? I'm surprised."

Armin saw Eren bristle, and quickly stepped between him and Jean. "This is really not the time for that," he said. "Not if you want to help Mikasa."

"Of course I want to help Mikasa!" Jean looked away from Armin, as if momentarily unable to meet his eyes. "I have to help Mikasa. I was the one who kept telling everyone that she was perfectly fine and that there was no need for us to worry about her, wasn't I?"

"You weren't the only one thinking that, though," Armin said quickly. "None of this is your fault. And if you keep blaming yourself, then you're only going to do something reckless--"

"Like this?" Jean said. Then he boosted himself through the window.

"Like that," Armin agreed. And as soon as the words had escaped Armin's mouth, Eren already had his hands on the windowsill and was about to follow Jean through the window. Of course he was.

Eren actually froze for a moment, however, when he heard Jean scream.

"MOTHER OF--!!!"

Thumps, crashes, and the sound of shattering glass.

"AAAAAAAAGH!! They're in my boot they're in my boot they're IN MY BOOT--!!"

Through the window Eren went, and Armin immediately followed.

There was a table beneath the window. Armin landed with a thump, then quickly hopped down to the floor. It was dark inside Haller's office, but there was still enough moonlight streaming in through its two windows (or rather, through its one remaining window and the empty frame where another window had once been) for Armin to see what had happened. Shattered glass and black dirt everywhere. Jean hopping around frantically on one foot, his other foot bare, desperately trying to shake out his boot. Slimy, wriggling things all over the floor, their slick wetness gleaming in the moonlight.

"What the--?" Eren bent down and picked one of the wriggling things up off the floor. "Worms?"

"Worms!!" Jean practically screamed. "Who DOES that?! Who keeps a bunch of slimy goddamn worms beneath their window where people might accidentally step in them?!"

"Well," Armin said, "other than thieves like us climbing in through the window, I don't think--"

"What kind of a person keeps WORMS IN THEIR OFFICE in the first place, Armin?!"

"Jean, shut up!" Eren hissed. "Somebody's going to hear you!"

"But they BIT ME! They BIT ME! LOOK AT MY FOOT! What if they're POISON?!"

"They bit you?" Armin couldn't exactly get a good look at Jean's foot as long as he was still hopping around in the dark. "Jean, calm down. Earthworms don't have teeth."

"Uh, Armin. Look at this." Eren practically shoved the worm that he had picked up off the ground into Armin's face.

"Oh, neat," Armin said. "They do have teeth! They, uh... They have a lot of little teeth."

"So are they poison?!" Jean asked frantically. "Do you know if they're poison?!"

"I don't know," Armin admitted. "I don't exactly know what they are."

"Dammit Armin you're supposed to know these things!" Jean snapped.

"Well, I've never seen anything like these before," Armin said, defensively. "They're definitely not earthworms, though."

"We don't have time for a biology lesson," Eren said impatiently, tossing his worm to the ground. "Is Jean going to die, or not?"

"Not," Armin said. "At least, I don’t think so. Probably not."

"Why does Colonel Frostbite have to be so crazy?!" Jean practically sobbed. "Why does this camp have to be so awful?!"

"Jean, calm down," Armin pleaded. "Put your boot back on and help us look for maps."

"Maps are all over the floor," Eren said.

Armin looked at the floor and sighed. Of course they were. And most of them were now covered in dirt and worms, too.

"Okay," Armin said, forcing himself to remain calm. "Okay. It's still okay. We just need to--"

And then Armin heard the unmistakable rattle of a doorknob.

The door to the office swung open with a loud, protesting creak.

Armin froze. So did Eren. Jean actually froze in place with only one foot on the ground and his boot still in his hand.

Annie stepped through the doorway, took one look at the scene inside Colonel Haller's office, then said, "I knew it." She turned her head and called over her shoulder, "Come on, Bertl. I told you it was them."

Bertolt stepped nervously through the doorway behind Annie, ducking his head as he did so. "Uh, hi guys," he said.

"Annie?!" Eren, at least, seemed to have finally found his voice.

Annie glowered at all three of them in turn. "I don't suppose that any of you even tried the front door, did you?"

Total silence answered her question.

"It was unlocked," she said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Part Three: The Beast

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The snow was deeper and the terrain was steeper this close to the summit, but still Mikasa and Reiner were climbing faster than they had ever climbed during that long, long day. Mikasa forced herself to keep pushing forward and forced herself not to dwell on the thought of the thing that they now knew was sharing the mountain with them; the thing that had slithered out of that cave and that had dissolved all of the snow that its long, long body touched; the thing that had teeth large enough and strong enough to bite clean through the survey team's sled; the thing that had left no bodies behind for them to uncover in the snow.

There was no point in letting herself think too much about that.

If she'd had her swords, things would have been different. If she'd even had her little utility knife, things would have been different. Hell, if she'd still had Colonel Haller's fancy gun for fancy crazyin' strapped to her shoulder, things might have been really different. But she had nothing to defend herself with now. Her gun and her knife were gone, likely stuffed into the cursed tax collector's saddlebag alongside the survey team's maps and compass and little bags of rocks. She had nothing left, the night was bitterly cold, and now she was starting to sense that her strength was slowly running out too. She had already climbed one mountain that day, she had had no food and no sleep for a long time, and neither she nor Reiner could keep going at this pace forever. If they didn't reach the summit and then make their way back down the north face of the mountain to the mine soon, then--

No. She had to stop thinking about that.

Thinking about any of that meant feeling helpless, and that was the worst thing. She couldn't afford to let herself feel helpless anymore. Feeling helpless meant feeling cold, and if she let the cold get to her then she knew that she was going to die out there. It was an utter certainty in her mind. She had to keep moving and she had stop thinking. Keeping herself moving forward was the only way to stay warm.

Mikasa stumbled briefly over a rock hidden in the snow.

"You all right?" Reiner asked.

"I'm fine," Mikasa huffed. "What about you?"

"Doing great," he lied.

"Are you sure? Your nose is starting to look a little blue, there."

"Weren't you the one who said that I could stand to lose a little of my nose?"

"I'm serious, Reiner."

"And I told you. Frostbite isn't exactly something that you need to waste your time worrying about with me."

"Why not?"

"I run hot," he said.

She glared at him. "It will just get worse if you ignore it. And if you're trying to put on some stupid act just so that you can feel manly about it, then--"

"I'm not trying to be manly about it," he said. "I don't need to try. I started a fire with just your boot and a piece of rock tonight, remember? I think I earned enough Manly Points from that to last for a while."

Despite everything, Mikasa found herself laughing at that.

"Whoa," Reiner said. "Look at that. I actually made you laugh." Then he stopped in his tracks. "Wait a minute. You aren't having some sort of breakdown on me, are you?"

Mikasa stopped too, wiping tears from her too-cold cheeks with her gloved hands. "No," she said, "No. I was just remembering how stupid you looked, hitting that rock with my boot."

"Mikasa, don't ruin this for me," he said.

"I'm not--"

And then her breath died in her throat.

Reiner saw the look on her face. He turned his head. He saw what she was looking at.

They both stood frozen in place for a long moment, staring at it.

Even from a distance, it looked enormous. The height of its body was taller than both of them. It was long and gleaming black in the moonlight. Gooey, Mikasa thought, and suddenly had to bite back another absurd, inappropriate urge to laugh. Definitely gooey. Now that both of them were silent, Mikasa could hear the faint hssssssss sound it made as its body slithered through the snow. There were too many rocks and too many of those gnarled trees in the way, and Mikasa couldn't see where exactly its body began or ended. She could only see that long gleaming-black ribbon of its midsection, a beast with neither beginning nor end, sliding endlessly across the face of the mountain.

"Mikasa," Reiner whispered. "Where's its head?!"

Mikasa shook her head. "I don't know," she whispered back.

They stood for another long, silent moment. Watching it. Waiting for the tail end of its long, long body to appear.

It never did.

Maybe it doesn’t see us, Mikasa thought. Maybe it doesn't even know we're here. Maybe standing still and quiet until the beast was gone was their best possible course of action for the moment.

Then Mikasa heard a crack, and a snap. She saw the tops of some of those gnarled trees a bit closer to them shudder, then seem to disappear completely. Another sickening snap from frozen wood, and another tree went down. Closer to them this time. Getting closer.

It was heading straight for them.

It was strong enough to smash through any of the little gnarled mountain trees that were blockings its progress, and it was heading straight for them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

They were all geared up and already at the fence when Annie said, "This is where we split up."

Armin was about to suggest the same idea anyway. It would allow them to cover more ground and, he figured, it also probably wouldn't hurt to make sure that Eren and Jean were separated for the time being. "Good idea," he said. "Eren and I will go with you, and--"

"No," Annie said. "I'm going alone."

"What?" Bertolt seemed as surprised by Annie's decision as the rest of them.

"I'm going alone," Annie repeated. She shoved Bertolt toward Armin. "Bertl's going with you."

"Annie, that doesn't many any sense," Armin said. "We can--"

"I can cover more ground a lot faster alone than I could with any of you," Annie said. Armin had the distinct impression that she was speaking more to Bertolt than to the rest of them. She had already climbed the fence and was halfway over it by then. "Make absolutely sure that we're heading in separate directions, all right, Bertl? Splitting up will be pointless otherwise."

"Annie," Bertolt said, "This is a really bad idea."

But by then, she was already over the fence. Armin heard a soft thump as she landed in the snow on the other side of the fence, and then she was gone.

"What the hell, Bertolt," Jean said. "Is she always such a--"

"This is NOT the time for that," Armin said quickly, reaching out to restrain Eren's fist. "If Annie wants to go alone, then she must have her reasons. And we don't have time to argue about it. We need to get out of here right away if we don't want to get caught."

"It's too late to worry about getting caught or getting in trouble," Eren said. "The only thing that matters is that Mikasa needs us. We can't afford to waste any more time." He scrambled up and over the fence.

"You know I hate to say this, but Eren's right," Jean said. "There's no way we're not going to get in trouble for this, anyway. I mean, we already wrecked the Colonel's office."

"You wrecked the Colonel's office," Eren said, from the other side of the fence.

"We, Eren. We wrecked the Colonel's office." Jean climbed up and over the fence.

Armin looked up at Bertolt. "We really should have split those two up," he said.

"Too late now," Bertolt said. He easily climbed over the fence, and a moment later, Armin followed him.

Once they were all outside the fence, Eren immediately took the lead. "This way," he said, and miracle upon miracles, Jean followed without protest.

Their group had taken less than three steps away from the fence, however, when Eren suddenly stopped. "What the..."

There was a man on horseback blocking their path.

Armin squinted to get a better look at him. Fortunately there was enough moonlight for him to see clearly. The man's face was shadowed, but Armin could at least see that he was wearing a black hat with a ridiculous oversized feather stuck in it. He wasn't anybody that Armin recognized. Maybe he was somebody from Rammelsberg who had gotten lost? Or perhaps he was just drunk.

"Hey," Jean said. "Hey. What are you doing here? This area is off-limits to civilians."

"Beg pardon," the man said. "I wasn't aware." His horse took two plodding steps toward them. "Perhaps you boys could help me? I'm looking for someone named Armin."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mikasa knew that she had mere seconds to make her next decision, the decision that would likely determine whether she lived or died. She reached up, touched the familiar soft warmth of Eren's scarf around her neck, and thought: Focus, Mikasa.

They had to run. If they kept climbing higher, they might reach terrain steep enough that the creature wouldn't be able to follow them. Or they could stand their ground and fight it off. But that was impossible. They had no weapons and no fire. Running for their lives it was, then. "Up," she said to Reiner, pointing in the direction of the summit. She started to run. "Go, go!"

"Wait!" He reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back.

"Reiner! What the hell are you--"

"Over there," he said, pointing. Slightly to the east of them was an enormous, snow-covered boulder.

"What good is that going to do?!"

"Just trust me!"

She did trust him, so she didn't even hesitate. Mikasa sprinted toward the boulder, Reiner right behind her. It took her only moments to reach it. She ground her sprinting gait to a halt, rested her hand on the cold side of the stone boulder, and panted, "Now what?"

"Mikasa I am really sorry about this and you can feel free to kick my ass for it when this is all over but--"

Mikasa felt her head slam into solid rock.

Pain exploded inside her skull. For a horrible moment, her vision swam sickeningly. She staggered, coughed, felt warmth trickling down the side of her face, and smelled blood.

Mikasa reached into her hood and touched the side of her face. Her fingers came away sticky and dark. She staggered again, then slowly turned her head toward Reiner, her eyes wide with shock. "Reiner... What are you doing?"

"Uh, trying to knock you out?"

"Reiner--"

"I really hoped that would work with just one blow and believe it or not I am doing this to save your life I just--"

He caught her by surprise a second time, fist swinging at the non-bloodied side of her head. Mikasa felt her legs give out beneath her. She swooned down into the snow. Her vision blurred and her ears rang.

It took her several long moments before she even realized that she was lying facedown in the snow. Cold and wet everywhere, except for her face, which felt feverishly hot. "I'm sorry," she heard Reiner say, but he sounded as if he were far, far away from her. "I really didn't want to have to do this."

For a moment Mikasa forced herself to lie perfectly still. She focused. She gathered her jumbled thoughts. She compressed her seething anger at Reiner's sudden, inexplicable, suicidal, stupid need to play the hero down into a hot, hard core in her belly and felt it settle there, burning brighter and hotter by the moment, returning her strength to her.

The intent to fake unconsciousness never once crossed Mikasa's mind, although unintentionally that was the effect that her moment of focus had. Apparently satisfied that she was down for good, Reiner stepped away from her and muttered something that sounded like "Better get this over with."

Mikasa felt the growl rising in her throat before she was even aware that she was pushing herself up out of the snow. "RRRRRRRRRRREINERRRRRRRRR---"

She allowed herself a moment of brief, bright satisfaction when she saw the stupid, stupid look on his face as he stood frozen in a stupid, stupid pose with his hand near his mouth and a stupid, stupid look of almost comical surprise on his face. "How..." He blinked at her. "Woman, what is your skull made of?!"

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Without allowing herself even a moment to have any second thoughts, she launched herself at him.

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"Excuse me?" Eren stared up at the stranger blocking their path, incredulously.

"Armin," the man on horseback repeated. "I'm looking for somebody named Armin."

For a moment, Armin couldn't quite process what he was hearing. How did this total stranger know his name? And why was he looking for him?

"Sorry, but we can't help you," Jean said. "Get out of here. Civilians shouldn't be back here anyway."

"You look like you're in a hurry. Where are you boys off to?"

"None of your business," Eren said, taking a few determined steps forward.

"I think it might very much be my business," the stranger with the feathered hat said, "if you intend to run off looking for those two trainees who went missing today."

Eren froze in his tracks. "What?"

"They were friends of yours, weren't they? They're the ones who sent me here."

"What?!" Eren and Jean asked in unison.

"I need to find Armin," the stranger repeated.

"I'm Armin," Armin said quickly, stepping forward. "When did you see Mikasa and Reiner?!"

"Oh, those were their names? I never asked."

"When did you see them?!" Armin repeated his question urgently.

The stranger looked down at Armin for a long, long moment. "So you're Armin," he said slowly. "Huh. You don't look very interesting at all, do you."

"Excuse me?" Armin said. He felt off-balance, unable to quite get a grasp on what the stranger was saying, because nothing that came out of the other man's mouth was making any sense.

"Which reminds me," the stranger in the feathered hat said. He reached to his side, unbuckled his saddlebag, and pulled out an object that gleamed silver in the moonlight. For a moment Armin couldn't quite make out exactly what the other man was holding. Then he saw, quite clearly, that it was a gun.

Eren took a protective step closer to Armin.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mikasa had Reiner on the ground in an instant. They rolled in the snow, her trying to wrap her hands around his throat and him trying desperately to push her off. "Mikasa, don't--!"

Her hands found his neck, and she squeezed.

"Don't--!" he gasped uselessly. "This isn't the time for--!"

No good. His neck was too damn thick and even throttling him apparently wasn't enough to get him to shut up. So she kneed him in the stomach, tore off his hood, and reached for his ears instead, twisting them as painfully as she could.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow Mikasa what the hell are you doing?!"

"What am I doing?! What am I doing?!" She slammed his head up and down against the snow-covered ground. "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO--"

His fist slammed into her shoulder, momentarily knocking her off-balance. It was enough for him to try hitting her again, this time in her arm, and for a moment the pain was so great that Mikasa let go of his ears. That was opening that he needed, and he quickly threw both of them into a roll. The world spun and suddenly Mikasa was lying down in the snow, Reiner on top of her, pinning her down. "If you don't calm down then we're both going to--"

She slammed her knee into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Then she threw her weight, making the world spin around again, slamming him back down into the snow. "Dont. You. Dare!" she snarled, her fist slamming repeatedly into his stupid face. "Don't even THINK of trying to good-soldier your way out of this one, you stupid-ass son of a--"

Sssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhsssssssssssssh.

A long, black shadow fell over them.

Mikasa froze, her fist in mid-air.

She turned her head. She looked up.

It towered over them, reared up like a snake, its head swaying from side to side, its body covered in something wet and slick that gleamed in the moonlight. It was big, at least as wide across as the boulder that Reiner had just smashed Mikasa's head against. If it had eyes, Mikasa couldn't see them.

Slowly, it began to open its mouth. It leaned over them, completely blocking Mikasa's view of the sky. And then all that Mikasa could see was the black maw of its mouth, wet and stinking, and the rows and rows of razor-sharp white teeth that were bearing down toward her.

"Oh," Mikasa heard Reiner say, "there's its head."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Armin instantly tensed the moment that he saw the shape of the gun. But the stranger was gripping the barrel of the revolver in his hand, indicating that he had no intention of using it. "This doesn't belong to me," he said. "It didn't belong to them, either, so I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to keep it. It should be returned to its rightful owner." He paused for a moment, his gaze flickering over Eren, Armin, and Jean's faces in turn, before finally settling on Bertolt. "You there. You'll return this to Colonel Haller for me, won't you?"

"Wh-What..." Bertolt stood rooted to the spot.

"Take the gun, Bertolt," Jean said. "Best get that thing away from him."

Bertolt stepped quickly toward the stranger. "But why do you have the Colonel's--"

"You look nervous." The stranger smiled at Bertolt, almost pityingly. "Please return that to Colonel Haller for me. It belongs to him." He placed the gun in Bertolt's trembling hands. "And do try not to shoot yourself. Or anyone else, for that matter." Then the stranger turned his gaze away from Bertolt, almost dismissively, and focused his attention on Armin again. "Your friends spoke very highly of you," of he said. "Were you even aware that you had such a devoted little fanclub?"

Armin froze for a moment, his mind racing. Then he realized what he had to do. Instead of answering the stranger's absurd (and unsettling) question, he turned toward Bertolt. "Bertl, go get the instructor. Get everyone. Get them now."

"But--"

"Bertolt."

"Got it." And he was gone.

"When did you see Mikasa and Reiner?" Eren asked the stranger.

"How did you get that gun?!" Jean asked.

"You didn't answer my question, Armin," the stranger said, ignoring both Eren and Jean.

"How did you get the gun?" Armin asked, repeating Jean's question.

"Hmph. Rude." The stranger paused for a moment, then apparently decided that he wanted to answer Armin's question after all. "Mikasa gave it to me."

"Why did she give you Colonel Haller's gun?" Armin asked, forcing himself to remain calm.

"Because I asked her for it." The stranger apparently saw the look on Armin's face, then sighed. "Oh dear. I know what you must be thinking. But look at me, boys." He held his hands out, palms up. "Look at me. Do I look strong enough to take something from someone like her by force? You know your friend, don't you? You know what she could have done to me if I had tried to hurt her."

"So when did you see her?!" Eren asked again, frantically. "Is she in trouble?! Did she ask you to come here to get help?"

"I came here for two reasons," the stranger said. "First, to return Colonel Haller's gun. And second, because I wanted to speak to Armin." He turned his unsettling gaze upon Armin again. "I was hoping that if I could explain things properly that you, at least, might understand. I feel as though I owe all of you that much. I tried to explain everything to your friends, too. But they wouldn't listen to me. They actually tried to argue with me, can you believe that! Me, a tax collector! They tried to argue with me about how taxes work, of all things!"

Wait a minute, Armin thought. That didn't sound like something that Mikasa would do. Or Reiner, for that matter. Since when did either of them care enough about taxes to get into an argument about the subject?

"My apologies," the stranger went on. "I shouldn't speak too harshly of your friends. It's not their fault that they didn't know how things have to work around here. I suppose it would be Haller's fault, really, for not explaining the fairness of the system of to any of you. But if any of this sounds confusing right now, well, then you all should ask your Colonel about it. He knows about my job. He knows how important my work is. He understands what I do."

Something's wrong here, Armin thought frantically. Something is very, very wrong with this conversation.

"Although I know full well that even though he understands, he most certainly doesn't approve of my work," the man with the feathered hat still droned on. "I know that he's been trying for years to find another way. I know that he spends far too much of his time poking and prodding and studying the wee little beasties in the earth here, foolishly looking for answers that are simply not there to be found. He doesn't like what I have to do, but he understands the necessity of it. And he's never once lifted a finger to stop me, has he? Not until today, that is. And to my credit, I gave him fair warning. I told him that his tithing was long overdue. I told him that I would take care of it, as I always do, that he needn't worry about a thing. But then do you know what that witless, selfish Colonel did?! He gave them a gun! He told them to shoot me! Can you believe that?! After all I've done for him, for Rammelsberg, and now for Wildflecken and the mine as well! He told them to shoot me! I am most fortunate that your friends apparently had more sense than your foolish Colonel does, or else I probably wouldn't be here speaking to you right now, would I?"

And then it struck Armin. What was wrong with the conversation. It was Eren. Eren was just standing there, listening to everything that the tax collector said. Standing still and listening to all of it. Jean too. They were both standing there and quietly listening to every nonsensical thing that the man in the feathered hat was saying, instead of asking him more questions about Mikasa, instead of demanding to know more of what he knew about Mikasa, instead of growing impatient with this stranger's blabbering and simply rushing off to save Mikasa instead. But Armin was standing still and listening too. And why exactly was he wasting his time listening to this lunatic when he had far, far more important things to be doing at the moment?!

"My work is more important now than it ever has been before," the tax collector went on, and Armin could see that the fake note of mournfulness in his voice was doing little to conceal the smug sense of self-importance betrayed on his face. "Ever since the mine opened up, ever since newcomers began settling in Wildflecken and Rammelsberg. There are more people here now. More people counting on the system to protect them than there ever have been before. And the system does protect us all, so long as everybody pays their fair share of the tithing. As long as I make sure that it never goes hungry, and as long as I make sure that it has no reason to expand its hunting grounds beyond the south face of the mountain, then we will all stay safe, you see? And it has to be me that does this horrible work. I'm the only one who can do it. Because people listen to me. They always listen to me. That has always been my talent, I suppose. My gift and my curse. And that is such a wonderful thing, to be listened to, isn't it? Of course it is. You boys understand, don't you. I bet you understand, Armin. Yes. I can see it on your face. You understand. Everyone always listens to you, don't they. They may despise you for when you make them hear truth, they may fear you for the power that your words wield, but they will always listen to you, all of them, not just the humans but the terrible and the strange and the beastly things and the--"

The sound of the gunshot was deafening. Armin felt his back hit the ground at the same time that he felt Eren on top of him. He sank into the snow, Eren's weight pinning him down, Eren's body shielding him. Another shot and this time part of the wooden fence that they were still too close to seemed to explode, raining wooden shrapnel on top of them. Armin saw Eren grit his teeth and hiss in his breath, and wondered if he was hurt. But still Eren refused to move, stubbornly trying to shield Armin with his body. Armin felt the snow soaking into his clothes, and heard nothing but ringing in his ears. "Eren--"

A third shot, and the tax collector cried out wordlessly as he went down, his dead horse crumpling beneath him.

"Damn. This is harder than it looks," Armin heard Annie’s voice say.

"What the hell, Annie?!" Armin heard Jean's voice from what sounded like far away. "Are you trying to kill us?!"

Armin saw Eren turn his head toward the sound of Annie's voice. "Bertolt, we told you to get everybody!"

"I got Annie instead," Bertolt said.

"Everyone's coming anyway, now that they've heard the gunshots," Annie said.

Armin saw Eren's head snap around again. "Hey! Hey! He's getting away!"

Eren jumped off Armin and scrambled through the snow, presumably trying to run after the fleeing tax collector. Armin stood up as quickly as he could, tried in vain to brush the wet snow off his coat, then turned to Annie and said, "Annie... You shot at a civilian..."

"I shot his horse. I didn't touch him."

"You almost shot us!" Jean protested again, picking himself up out of the snow and angrily stomping toward Annie. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"We got him!" Eren shouted, as he and Bertolt dragged the tax collector by his arms around his dead horse and through the snow.

Annie tightened her grip on Hallers's silver revolver. "Now I'm going to shoot him," she said. "If he doesn't talk."

"Wait wait wait Annie wait--" Armin protested.

By now Bertolt had the tax collector on his knees, holding his arms behind his back. The tax collector gazed calmly up at Annie, not struggling, apparently not even bothered by the chill of the snow that he was kneeling in. Annie stepped next to him and placed the revolver against his temple. "Bertolt, make sure you hold him still. Eren, get Armin away from me." She placed her finger over the trigger. "Where. Are. They."

"South face of Mt. Raupen, between the falls and the lower gorge." He turned his head toward Annie, so that the barrel of the revolver was now pointed directly at his right eye. "You can't shoot me," he said calmly. "I'm the only one it will listen to."

"It is probably just a dumb animal, and you're delusional," Annie said.

The tax collector seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if trying to decide upon his next tactic. He licked his lips. Then he said, "You don't understand, do you. Of course you don't. You're just like all the others, always listening but never understanding. You don't know what it's like, to give up everything that you have and everything that you are just to protect people and then to end up being despised and feared for--"

"LEONHART DROP YOUR WEAPON THIS INSTANT --"

"Tch." Annie dropped the revolver, which immediately sank into the snow next to her boots.

Haller had already leapt over the fence and was charging toward them. Then came the others - everybody, really, the everybody that Armin had asked Bertolt to summon - climbing over the fence, circling around from the gate, surrounding them.

"Did Annie just shoot that guy's horse?" Connie asked, although the answer to that question should have been obvious.

Haller picked the gun off the ground and then towered over Annie, glaring down at her. "Leonhart, you had better have a damn good explanation for--"

"I do, sir," she said, not even flinching. She looked straight up into his eyes. "And forgive me for speaking freely, sir, but I believe that our priority right now should be sending out a rescue mission to Mt. Raupen before we waste any more time dealing with this man."

"Leonhart--"

"If there is some sort of wild predator involved in this situation then I believe that time is of the essence," Annie went on calmly. "Especially since we all know that Reiner is likely dumb enough to try to punch whatever it is instead of doing the smart thing and running from it."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Black and jagged white filled Mikasa's field of vision.

"Left!" Mikasa shouted, and as Reiner threw his weight and rolled she suddenly felt immensely grateful that his skull actually was thick enough to have prevented her fists from beating the senses out of him. At least he still seemed to know his right from his left.

They still barely made it out from underneath those teeth in time, though. The beast's head smashed down into solid rock as Mikasa finally let go of Reiner and let herself crash into the snow. She stood up quickly, staggering to catch her balance. She felt a hand at her shoulder, steadying her. Reiner was beside her already, not looking at her but rather at the slick black body of the beast, narrowing his eyes, calculating.

The creature reared up again, maw open, white teeth gleaming in the moonlight, spittle flying, preparing for a second strike.

Reiner sighed, pushed back the sleeve of his coat, and balled his gloved hand into a fist. "I should've known it would come down to this," he said.

Mikasa wasted a precious second marveling at the fact that he must have gone completely, utterly mad.

But then the beast was bearing down upon them again, and Reiner lunged and ducked, sliding through the snow and positioning himself directly beneath it.

He's not seriously going to--

"Reiner you aren't seriously going to--"

"Yes I am," he shouted back at her. "Now RUN!"

The creature's maw bore down on him, and his fist flew up.

Eren is going to be so upset when I have to tell him that Reiner is dead, Mikasa thought.

But then Reiner's fist connected with the soft-looking flesh lining the creature's maw.

Mikasa stood rooted to the spot, unable to believe what she was seeing.

It was a tooth. One of those terrible fangs flew right out of the beast's gaping maw and sailed through the air, landing in the snow right in front of Mikasa.

The creature immediately drew itself back - it practically flinched in pain - and then shook its head from side to side, bellowing the most terrible scream that Mikasa had ever heard a wild animal make. Reiner staggered backward, nearly falling ass-first into the snow, and from the way that he was clutching his arm Mikasa knew that there was no way he was going to be able to land a second blow like that.

Mikasa started toward him. "Reiner, are you--?"

"I'm fine!" he snapped at her, suddenly trying to hide his ruined fist from her view. But Mikasa could see that whatever acidic substance was coating the body of the creature must have burned him badly, burned him right through his glove in fact, because she could see some sort of horrible, awful steam rising from his hand. "I'll be fine!" he insisted again. "It's just a little burn and it feels like maybe I sprained something."

Mikasa thought that from her perspective it had looked as though Reiner had punched the creature with enough force to break every bone in his hand, and she didn't think that 'just a little burn' was an accurate description when she could see that his glove had been nearly completely dissolved right off his hand and the exposed red, swollen flesh of his fist was actually steaming. Reiner saw her staring at his ruined hand, and desperately tried to hide it from her again. "Don't worry about me," he said. "Just--"

She tackled him to the ground just in time for the creature to miss them again, the swing of its bellowing, maddened head passing within inches of Mikasa's back. She could hear a hissing, sizzling sound as flecks of acid from its body splashed onto her coat and into the snow around them.

The creature swung its head around again, black maw and white teeth rushing straight toward her, and in that instant, Mikasa knew.

This was it.

This was her last chance. They weren't going to be able to dodge those teeth again, and they certainly were never going to be able to run from it.

Reiner had managed to hurt it, even if only just a little bit. Mikasa felt her right hand ball into a fist. She was stronger than Reiner, and she knew it.

All she had to do was hurt it again. Just one more time. Hurt it enough so that its wild animal instincts might kick in and it might decide that flight was the better option than fight. Hurt it enough so that it might, just might, be frightened enough to actually retreat away from them. Mikasa knew that it was a longshot, but what other choice did she have?

None. She had no other choice.

It was time to fight. Or else she was going to die.

Mikasa jumped off Reiner and stood with in a ready stance, feet planted firmly in the snow, fist pulled back. She felt hot wind pulling at her, looked up, and saw those teeth again. The worm's terrible maw rose upwards, completely engulfing Mikasa's view of the sky. It was rearing up again, preparing for its final strike.

"Do it, Mikasa!" she heard Reiner shout. He was kneeling beside her, sticking his burnt, steaming hand into the snow. "Aim for the soft part beneath its mouth! DO IT!!"

Mikasa focused her gaze on exactly the spot where she wanted to strike the beast. She tightened her fist. She grit her teeth. She felt every muscle in her body tense, coiled, ready to strike.

The beast's gleaming white fangs rushed down toward her.

Mikasa threw her fist, upward and outward.

There was an eruption of pain in her fist, racing up her arm, burning through her body. She felt her teeth rattle with the force of the impact. For a sickening moment her fist was sinking into the too-soft flesh that lined the creature's jaw, the slimy acid that coated its body already eating through her glove and burning her hand. She was aware of searing pain and an awful, terrible smell - from her own burning flesh or from the gaping jaws of the creature, for a dizzying moment she couldn't even tell.

Then the world suddenly exploded into a mess of pink, black, and red.

Mikasa staggered backward, her ears ringing. Something wet splashed all over her. Wet and chunky, and for a moment Mikasa was suddenly reminded of the breakfast porridge that they were often served in Trost but no, that couldn't be, that wasn't breakfast porridge that had suddenly splashed all over the snow and the trees.

Mikasa turned and looked at Reiner, who was still kneeling with his ruined hand buried in the snow, only now he was coated from head to toe in that

(gooey definitely gooey)

awful mixture of pink, black, and red. Blood, skin, and pulped flesh.

Reiner wiped his face with his good hand. He stared at Mikasa.

"Mikasa, did you..." He blinked at her once, twice. "Did you just punch that thing so hard that it exploded?!"

"No," a voice behind them answered. "That was because of the dynamite."

Mikasa turned around.

Behind her stood a group of total strangers. There were ten, maybe twelve of them. Rifles and lanterns in hands.

One of them stepped toward Mikasa. "You two must be the ones missing from Haller's Point," she said. "We're from the mine. We've been out here looking for you." She raised her lantern, trying to get a better look at Mikasa. Mikasa resisted the urge to flinch away from the too-bright light. "Sorry about the mess," the stranger went on. "I just didn't know what else to do. We saw what was going down, I saw its mouth hanging open, and I just lit a stick and tossed it in."

You could've blown me up at the same time, Mikasa thought. "Nice aim," she said, faintly. She reached up with her burnt hand and wiped the beast's smeared blood from her face. Why did you bring dynamite out here in the first place? For a brief moment, the question bothered Mikasa. But the moment passed, and suddenly Mikasa realized that there was a much, much more urgent question that she needed to ask her rescuers.

"I don't... I don't suppose you brought any food with you, did you? I'm really hungry."

Instead of answering, the woman holding the lantern turned and spoke to someone behind her. "Best send that pigeon back to Haller's Point right away," she said. "Tell the Colonel that we found them. And that there's no more need for tithing anymore."

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Epilogue: Tell Me Something True

-------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time that the pigeon arrived and the Colonel called off the search, the first search party had barely made it a quarter of a mile down the road toward Wildflecken and Mt. Raupen beyond it.

"Are you kidding me?!" Eren raged, throwing up his hands. "We just left and now we're being told to retreat back to camp?!"

"Just be grateful that they're safe, Eren," Armin said.

"This is because we had to waste all that time dealing with that crazy guy, isn't it," Eren fumed.

"It is," Armin agreed. He turned and looked back up the road, to where the tall fence surrounding Haller's Point was still visible - they really hadn't made any farther than a quarter of a mile away from camp, had they - and mused out loud, "On the other hand, however, we might actually be the worst rescue party ever."

As for the guy, he had already been hauled down to Rammelsberg and left in the care of a very inebriated sheriff who had very much not appreciated being roused in the middle of the night to lock up a prisoner in the single cell that passed for Rammelsberg's jail.

By the time that the sun rose the following morning, however, the jail cell would be unlocked, Elmar Fischer would be gone, and the sheriff would swear until his dying day that he definitely, definitely couldn’t have been the person who unlocked that jail cell. At least, he didn't have any memory of doing any such thing.

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The miners did bring food with them - hard little pieces of bread and shriveled bits of jerky, in fact, but they were the most delicious hard little pieces of bread and shriveled bits of jerky that Mikasa had ever tasted in her life. Back at the mine there was even more food, hot stew and fresh bread, not to mention a warm bath, clean clothes, salve for what turned out to be a (thankfully) shallow gash on the side of Mikasa's temple, and cool medicine that soothed Mikasa's burnt hand.

They offered her a bed, but Mikasa refused. Instead, she sat down in front of the fireplace in what seemed to be the miner's mess hall, drank from a mug of something vile-tasting that had likely been brewed in a bathtub, and watched the flames in the fireplace.

After a while, Reiner sat down beside her. "Pretty awful, huh?" he said, raising his own mug to clink against Mikasa's.

Mikasa raised her mug to meet his, but said nothing.

They sat in mutual silence, watching the fire, alone in the otherwise-abandoned mess hall.

After some time, a door opened, briefly letting a blast of cold winter air. Into the hall stepped the woman who had earlier that night tossed a stick of dynamite into the gullet of the best. Ellie, she had said her name was. Mikasa had the distinct impression that she was some sort of leader among the miners.

"You two aren't sleeping?" Ellie asked.

Mikasa shook her head.

"Well, can't really blame you for that." Ellie shrugged. "Make sure you're ready to ride out at dawn, though. We're taking you back to Haller's Point in the morning."

"Thank you," Mikasa said.

"No, we should be thanking you," Ellie said. She scratched at her arm, as if unsure whether to offer any further explanation, then apparently decided to go for it. "Listen, a lot of us up here... We're not exactly local, I guess you could say. Most of us aren't from around here at all. And lately we've been having some... uh, some disagreements with the local population, I guess you could say. About how to handle the wildlife problem on the south face of the mountain. But that's not gonna be a problem anymore, I don't think. We sure as hell solved that problem tonight, didn't we?"

Ellie grinned at them.

Mikasa pointedly did not return her smile.

Ellie's smile faded, and she turned away from them. "Just make sure that you're rested up enough to ride out tomorrow," she said. She opened the door again, stepped out into the cold winter night, and was gone.

"I hate this entire mountain," Reiner said.

Mikasa took another long sip of her beer. She stared at the flames in the fireplace. Then she turned to Reiner and asked, "So what happened back there, Reiner?"

"We got into an argument. With some guy. About economic policy. Then you punched a monster and it exploded. That's what happened."

"No. I'm talking about what happened at that boulder." She met his eyes and refused to let his gaze go. "Tell me why you attacked me."

To his credit, he also refused to look away from accusatory glare. But then he said, "I'm never going to be able to come up with an explanation that you'll believe, am I."

"I don't want to hear an explanation or another one of your stories or any lies," Mikasa said. "You asked me to trust you, and then you betrayed me. Now you owe me the truth. You owe me at least that much."

He finally did look away from her then, and frowned, deep in thought. Then he said, "Fine. All right. I'm an idiot and you'll probably never forgive me for this, but I wanted to be the big damn manly hero so I--"

"I said no more lies, Reiner." Mikasa reached out and gripped his injured hand painfully, refusing to let him go, refusing to let him weasel his way out of her question. "You and I both know that you don't think about me like that. Not for a second." Mikasa knew that she was stronger than Reiner, she knew that they both knew that she was stronger than Reiner, and she also knew that there was not a single moment when Reiner had ever thought that Mikasa should have been weaker than him just because she was a girl. Reiner didn't think that way. She knew that he didn't think that way. "No more lies," she demanded, still squeezing his bandaged hand in what she dearly hoped was a painful manner.

Reiner looked away from her again. "All right," he said. And then he said nothing.

Mikasa finally let go of his hand. "Well?"

"Well. This is it." Reiner still wouldn't look at her. "You told me not to tell you any more lies. So I guess you'll just have to accept me saying nothing."

"You mean you don't know why you tried to bash my head in?"

As soon as she said the words, Mikasa sensed that they were wrong. That wasn't what he had meant at all. But now that the excuse was out there, escaped from her lips, now that it was out there and hanging between them, he seized on it immediately and Mikasa knew that she might as well just let him take it. "That's it," Reiner said. "That's exactly it. And I didn't want to have to tell you that."

Mikasa knew that now she had no hope of pressing the issue any further, because both of them had damn well done something that they couldn't understand why they had done that day. Climbed an entire mountain, in fact, and in Mikasa's case even handed over a gun to a very dangerous man just because he had simply asked her for it. With the shame of having done something like that hanging over her head, how could Mikasa possibly demand that Reiner give a better explanation for why he had tried to smash her head against a boulder above and beyond I don't know?

But he was lying. He had to be lying. Mikasa's gut was telling her that Reiner’s silence had meant I can't tell you the truth instead of I don't know the truth, despite the fact that she had given him an excuse to claim the latter. Mikasa's gut was also telling her that there was no way, no way she could let him get away with a lie like that, especially not when Eren spent so much time so close to him.

And yet...

And yet. Mikasa's gut had already been very, very wrong that day. All day long, in fact, her gut instincts had misled her over and over again. Mikasa's gut had told her that Elmar Fischer was a harmless man, Mikasa's gut had told her that she was stronger than him, Mikasa's gut had told her that the tax collectors could not possibly be a threat to neither her nor Reiner, and look at where listening to her gut had gotten her.

Maybe this was the same thing again. Maybe this was Mikasa's instincts trying to betray her again, leading her straight into danger instead of warning her away from it, trying to get her to turn against a friend.

Maybe Reiner really didn't know why he had tried to bash her head in at that boulder, the same way that Mikasa really didn't know why she had given Haller's gun to the tax collector. They had both listened to the tax collector that day and they had both ended up doing things that they would never have done otherwise because of it. Maybe, just maybe, Reiner was actually telling her the truth.

But if he was telling the truth, then that meant that once again Mikasa's instincts were utterly and completely wrong about somebody. And she hated even having to think about that possibility.

"Speaking of which," Reiner said, "we never figured out what we're going to say when we get back."

"About what?"

"About how we ended up on the other side of that mountain. About why you gave Colonel Haller's weapon to that man."

As soon as Reiner said those words, it hit Mikasa again - that wave of sick fear, that feeling of helplessness, that loss of control, and that rage - but she forced herself to swallow her emotions and said, "We're never going to come up with an explanation that they'll believe, are we."

Reiner laughed, somehow, despite everything. "They'll never believe the truth, either."

"But we have to tell them the truth anyway," Mikasa said. "And the truth is that we don't know. We don't know how we ended up on the south face of the mountain, and I don't know why I gave that man the Colonel's revolver."

Reiner was quiet for a moment, then he said, "I think... I think that if we tell the truth, the Colonel will believe us."

Mikasa nodded silently. As soon as Reiner said those words, she knew that they were true.

"They won't ever believe us, but the Colonel will," Reiner went on. "And Haller outranks everybody else there. Maybe we won't get expelled after all."

"But the truth is still 'we don't know'," Mikasa said. She felt that rage and that sick feelings of helplessness sweep over her again, her cheeks flushed with heat from both shame and anger. "I hate that," she said.

"Hate what?"

"Having to say I don't know." Mikasa rubbed furiously at her eyes, willing them not to betray her. "I hate not knowing why I did what I did. I hate not being able to trust my own instincts. I hate not being able to trust you. And I hate not being able to trust myself."

Reiner was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, "Mikasa. Look at me."

She turned her head and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I can at least tell you this: Whatever happened back there, I know that I was trying to save your life," he said, meeting her gaze with his. "That is the absolute, honest truth. And I hope that it will be enough for you."

She held his gaze for a long moment. A long, long moment. Long enough for her to know that he was, actually, telling her the complete and honest truth.

I hope it will be enough for you.

Mikasa took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

"If you and I can't trust each other," Reiner said, "then what do we have left? And if you're worried about not being able to trust yourself, well... I trust you, and I know that I probably sound like an asshole saying this, but really? That should mean something to you."

"It does," Mikasa said.

"And...?" he said, expectantly.

"And?"

"So are you going to trust me again, or what?"

Mikasa took another long sip of her beer. "Yes," she finally said. "I trust you as far as I can throw you. And really? That should mean something to you. Because I can throw you pretty far."

Reiner laughed so hard that he almost spewed beer out his nose.

Mikasa watched him losing it, contentedly finishing the last of her beer. Then she put down her empty mug, pulled Eren's scarf snug around her neck, and sat in front of the warmth of the fire, waiting for the sun to rise.

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