Zenron accepts my “challenge” and almost jumps through the roof of his tent in excitement. The soldier on guard shakes her head as Zenron explains why we're leaving the encampment but doesn't do anything to stop us. We trek through the jungle of tall grass until we reach the clearing with the tree where everyone else was captured. Not much time has passed since then, and the sun still stares down at us, about to witness the moment our plan is sprung.

I take my position underneath the tree, using the shade to cool myself and my head. Possible mistakes and unforeseen obstacles that could ruin the plan fly around in my mind and my head begins to spin. The fear of failure instilled in me by my father overwhelms me and my breathing grows ragged. A drum beats where my heart should be.

Zenron finishes his stretches and calls out to me, but his words go in one ear and out the other. 

Joshua claps and motions for us to prepare ourselves. “You’ll go when I say so.” He holds his hand above his head and inches away, trying to get behind Zenron.

Zenron reaches down and touches two crystals on his belt and grins. “Hope you’re ready, little Krehn. I won’t go easy on you just because you're my friend’s sister.”

I nod, afraid that any other response might somehow alert him to Joshua’s movements. 

“Go,” Joshua says and slams his hand into the back of Zenron’s neck.

Zenron stumbles forward and clutches his nape. “Wow, I’m impressed. You’re so fast I didn’t see anything, little Krehn.” He falls to his knees and collapses.

I breathe a sigh of relief and fall to my knees as well. The earth beneath the tree welcomes me with a cool touch.

“Come on now. I hit him, not you.” Joshua crosses the clearing and offers me his hand.

“I-I know.” I take his hand and he helps me to my feet. “I’m just really worried.”

“You didn’t seem worried when you were explaining the plan. Not to mention, it’s too late to back down now.”

“Y-you’re right,” I say, my voice wavering.

He sighs. “You won’t rescue Vio like this. Now, let’s go.”

His words slap me in the face; he’s right. The guards won’t believe my lies if I can’t even stand up straight. If I can barely handle the easy part, there’s no way the rest of the plan will succeed. 

My breathing steadies and the flood of doubts in my mind subside enough for me to think normally. I rush after Joshua, and we hurry back through the tall grass to the encampment. 

The soldier at the edge of the camp nods to us as we approach and lets us enter without any question. I mentally prepare myself to explain where Zenron went, but none of the soldiers in the camp stop us. 

“Do they not care that he’s gone?” I whisper to Joshua.

“Can you blame them? He’s loud and annoying,” he whispers back. “Although, I get what you’re saying. Something feels off.”

“Are we walking into a trap?”

He glances around at the carefree soldiers spread throughout the camp. “Maybe, but don’t get paranoid yet. They might just dislike Zenron as much as we do.”

“He’s not that bad…” 

We approach the prison building. The soldier on guard raises an eyebrow as if to ask what we’re doing, and Joshua explains that we want to see the people that kidnapped us so we can throw rocks at them. The guard presses his lips into a thin line and opens the door for us. We walk down the hallway and explain the same thing to the second guard. He chuckles to himself and opens the door for us as well.

As the door closes behind us, leaving us alone in the hallway of empty cells, Joshua and I glance at each other.

“This has been surprisingly easy,” I say.

“Yes, everything is going a bit too smoothly.” He looks around desperately. “This must be a trap.”

“What happened to not being paranoid?”

“Times have changed, Princess. All the cool kids are paranoid now.” 

My heart sinks. “W-well, it’s too late to go back now.”

He pauses for a moment and nods.

Our footsteps echo down the hall. As we reach the end of the hall, noisy chattering reaches our ears. The pirates continue to play their card game from earlier without paying us any mind. 

Joshua grasps two of the bars separating us from the crew. A small wave of aer resonates from him and the stone bars shatter. 

The chattering of the pirates stops as we step into the cell. Their reactions range from widened eyes to proud smirks. 

Joshua holds his finger to his lips before they can start shouting in celebration. 

My eyes instantly lock onto the corner Vio was in earlier, and I rush over there. Despite the noise we made, her attention remains on the ground. “Vio,” I say and kneel.

Her lifeless eye refills with color and her face turns pale. “Why are you here? Get out of here, you’re going to get caught.”

“No.”

She wriggles around, trying to back even farther into the corner. “What do you mean, ‘no?’”

“A negative response. Usually used as an answer to a question or command.”

She narrows her eye. “I wasn’t asking for a definition, you smartass. Get out of here. There’s no reason for you to get caught too, so—”

“I know,” I say, looking her deep in the eye. “I know that, but I couldn’t just leave you here.”

“You’re…”

“Stupid? I know that too.”

Vio flinches slightly, then lowers her head. “No. You’re… something else.” Her voice is soft. Vulnerable. “I don’t get you.” Contrary to her words, she smiles.

That smile warms my heart and sets all my previous worries at ease. “Let me take care of that,” I say pointing to the rope tied around her wrists. I connect my mind to Winry’s and use her borrowed power to generate a razor-sharp blade of wind to cut the rope. 

“Those talking rocks of yours sure are handy.” Vio stands and rubs her wrists. “But, now what? If we break out of here, we’ll all get captured again.”

I shake my head and break my connection to Winry. “Admiral Motin left the camp, we took care of Zenron, and the rest of the soldiers have empty crystals so they’re essentially just normal people.”

“I’m not going to pretend I fully understand what you’re talking about with the crystal stuff, but it sounds like we can actually get away?”

“Hey,” Joshua says, walking over to us with the rest of the pirates following behind him. “Sorry to interrupt you while you’re in your own little world, but we have a problem.” He glances over his shoulder at the crew. “The captain isn’t here.”

The world shifts sideways. For a second, it feels like the plan’s already failed.

“That big guy took him off somewhere,” Julius says from the crowd.

“That big guy?” I ask. “We saw the admiral come from that big ship after he brought you here. Do you think the captain is there?”

Joshua strokes his chin. “If so, that’s not good. We only planned to break out of here and run away in the confusion. For all intents and purposes, the soldiers aren’t aethers, but they still outnumber us, and we don’t exactly have any weapons to fight against them. Not to mention, we don’t know when Admiral Motin will get back. We may be better off leaving with this group here.”

“I’m not leaving without the captain,” Vio says, stepping in front of Joshua. “And I’m sure the rest of the crew shares my opinion.”

The crowd of pirates nods and shares their agreement.

Joshua sighs and shakes his head. “I should’ve known you’d say that. How’re we doing this, then? Someone has to break into the ship to rescue him.”

“I’ll go,” Vio says.

“M-me too,” I say.

Joshua’s gaze bounces between us. “Very well. Then—” he turns around to the crowd. “—you guys are with me. We have to clear a path and buy enough time for them to get the captain out. Are you up for it?”

The pirates smirk, crack their knuckles and stretch to show their readiness. 

“Good.” Joshua turns to me and motions to the wall. We connect our minds to our respective earth aer and place our hands on the wall of stone. The energy from Eren flows through my body and out of my fingertips. The wall before us crumbles and the sun floods in.

As the wall falls to pieces before us and the entire camp’s attention turns to us, Vio places her hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go, Aliyah.”