Eren squeezes back automatically, the barest reassurance. He can't promise this thing about them not dying is true. Anyway, they could die at any time, right? Titan shifters are hard to kill, but they're not invincible. But he doesn't have a reason to disbelieve Dawn, either.

He nods his understanding. Reiner planned to take back the Founder, complete his mission, and eventually pass the Armored on to (Gabi?) whoever. That was his plan for most of his life, Eren knows. Eren himself had only gotten as far as kill all titans and then…well, it got worse. But he never planned to live. He wants to. He has always wanted to. But he cannot live and keep his friends safe at the same time. There's no way to do that.

Or there wasn't until they came here.

Turns out that when you plan to die, you have no idea how to live.

"I'd never believe it at home either," he says. "But if we die here, we just come back anyway, right?"

He squeezes Reiner's hand again tighter.

"Maybe," he says.

Maybe.