Work Text
Paradis Island 2095…
Töte… sie… alle… (Kill… them… all… )
Three words that occupied his entire mind and leaded any action. Arms, legs, teeth… any centimeters of the body seemed to be made only to satisfy that need. Any move, any breath, any step made… made that need stronger. Any cell of the body screamed and yearned for blood. The blood of the three guards in the corridor, the blood of all the scientists and doctors who dared to get in the way. Ignoring the pain in the body was hard, due to the efforts made, it felt like it was been ripping apart, but the resisting now was everything. There was no way back, it was the only chance gotten. No second chance. No backup plan. Just one single opportunity that couldn’t be wasted. “Hey !! Over here !!” Shouted a voice behind “Shoot !!” Five guards, five assault rifles RN, all of them pointed on one target. Fantastic. It was a good thing having developed the hardening ability, it came at handy in moments like that. Unfortunately it required an huge amount on energy, but there was no more time to waste in fighting. You couldn’t win by remaining in defense, but it saved time. The entire body harden, the bullet couldn’t even touch the skin under the thick layer of crystal. It won’t last for long, but enough to outdistance those five men as long as it needed. Of course, the thirst for blood, the need to follow the order…
Komm zurück… Krieger… töte… sue… alle… keine überlebenden (Come back… warrior… kill… them… all… no survivors…)
Those five men wouldn’t live long, but it wasn’t the time to attack them. The Experiment Facility was close, there no one would dare to enter, not in five, or in six or in hundreds. The beasts inside that place scared even the strongest of the warrior, no one dared to enter by that door. No one stupid at least. Luckily, the survival instinct was able to prevail even the stupidity. The doors could only be opened with a sequence of number, but someone with a super strength could easily tear them down. A few centimeters away from the doors, when the sound of gunfire and screaming behind grew louder, then all it took was a bitten finger to resolve all the problem. Pain. A thunder. Then one of the arm grew in size, length and strength, enough to brake the doors, not enough to block the passage, enough to discourage the guards behind to stop. With a rush of adrenaline, tearing off the hand from that arm was easy. Less easy was starting to run again, the head was spinning, arms ached and the nose was bleeding. The conditions to stay in the Experiment Facility weren’t the best, considering that that room was full of Titans. Titans were a race of giant man-eating humanoids monsters, created in the laboratories on the upper floors. If the memory didn’t deceive, there were ten pure Titans, six Abnormal Titans awaken. They were there because they were supposed to be experimented on one hour ago, but no one predicted that that day… everything was going to change. From the sounds upper, there were forty men above ready to shoot and that could be used as an advantage. Titans were focused more on that arm that locked the door and on the men above to pay attention to the idiot who was running near their fear. Also, the Titans could be used as shields. For once in their useless existence they could be useful after all. Titans weren’t intelligent, their actions were driven by their own instinct. The need of hunting and the need of sleeping. The only problem now was to open the door on the other side of the room. The nose was still bleeding and using another time the ability to open the doors was…
Ein… Titan… wird… sie… öffnen… (One… Titan… will… open them…)
Right, the Titans had an owner after all, surely it wasn’t the Marley Corporation’s President. There was an abnormal Titan near, it only took a scream to caught its attention. The abnormal Titan positioned himself at the side, using his body as shield, then it ran ahead, faster and faster, smashing its giant head against the doors in front of him. That alarmed all the forty men above, it was possible hearing one of them alarming other colleagues and most of them went away. The abnormal Titan was in front of the passage, bullets couldn’t kill him so there they were useless. With a quick momentum, it was possible to cross the passage passing under the giant’s legs. There was a long corridor, where there was a door that could be easily opened. From that door, were removed the subjects doom to turn themselves into Pure Titans. Since the metamorphosis was quick, it was more rapid breeding them out from that door and pushed it in the Experiment Facility room with the other Titans. It wasn’t required a key or a code, because no one was dumb enough to pass from there. Until that moment. The underground laboratory. There weren’t many facilities inside it, there was only one medical bed with restraints. Cupboard and shelves full of dust and test tubes containing the strangest liquids. There was a table with syringes and medical equipments and a desk with some papers on the surface. In one of the drawers there were other documents, under all of them there was a key that opened the most important room of the entire building.
Fast dort… freiheit… war… noch… nie… so… nah (Almost there… Freedom… never… been… so… close…)
The race for freedom had just begun. … Marley 2068… ‘Finally I can take a break’Mr Willy Tybur was alone in his office, that was messier than usual, due to the amount of papers he’d delayed to read or complicated during the last two weeks. Blond and straight hair, going down to.a shoulder length and styled over his right ear, behind his left where it is shorter. Short beard styled as a goatee. Soft features, but with a pronounced jawline. Dark eyes. Elegant, expensive, dark suit. A body, a posture and a facial expression that screamed confidence, charisma and power.He was the President of Marley Corporation, so he was obliged to waste his precious time in pleasantries like attend party and conferences all over the world, when in reality he couldn’t care less about them. There was only one tormenting though in his head recently, the Ymir serum. The Ymir serum was an exceptional creation elaborated by his company that, if used correctly, would be a source of pride and success for your company and for his name. His assistant told him that one report was submitted by Erin Kruger just the other day. Eren Kruger was one of the best scientists in his corporation, with Grisha Yeager. The Ymir serum was an idea of their and although Willy was hesitant at the begin, he quickly realized that his Corporation needed to be more competitive on the market and the only way to do so was simply, creating a new product never imagined before. A product no one could compete with, a single product valid and efficient, so efficient to be able to be used in more than one field, to resolve more than one problem. It was a bet that Willy couldn’t afford to lose. There was too much at stake after all. Of course no one other Kruger, Yeager, their collaborators and himself knew about it. The project was reserved that Tybur asked to them to handwrite any report and not to write anything on their computer. Maybe he was paranoid but Willy truly believe that he could give start to a new age with this serum. He sat behind his desk, full of expectations, and began to search for Krueger’s report. When he found it he began to read it.
Report 01 - PROJECT TITAN - 12/03/2068
Eren Kruger
According to the recent datas, it can confirm with absolute certainty that we can officially star Ymir project. The new gene discovered thanks to our latest experiments on various animals and plants confirmed that we can now proceeded with human experimentation.
We used the Ymir serum on various kind of animals, the 50% showed to be able to survive only absorbing sunlight, without eating food or drinking water. Also, the other 40% part of them, proved to be able to delay the aging process. Of these subjects the 20% of them developed peculiar abilities that we’re monitoring all time. Of them, the 50% are stronger, the other 26% has the ability of healing quickly, not matter how sever the wound can be. The remaining 14% show abnormal behavior we’re still trying to understand completely.
The same is happening with plants, but the results are more evident on animals.
The Ymir serum has been elaborated with spinal human fluid and totipotent cells, specially plant totipotent cells. It’s general opinion that the healing ability is due to the totipotent cells, indeed, one single vegetal cell has the ability to regenerate an entire individual. A plant, differently from animals, never ceases to grow up. If it receives, the appropriate quantity of aliments, it’s capable of growing up for its whole life. We injected it on animals to see if these two main elements can be accepted into another organism.
The virus Ymir is now ready to be used for human experimentation, even though we can’t predict it would show the same effects on humans. We only wait the permission of our President.
Unfortunately the 10% of the subjects died few hours after the injection. Once the serum comes into contact with an organism’ cells and infects them, it inserts special genes into the host’s genome to merge with it. The success of the merge deepened on the compatibility between the host’s genome and the serum.
‘Not bad’ thought Willy Tybur finishing to read the report. Krueger and Grisha had been working on Ymir serum for one year and three months. It took eight months to worked out a first serum prototype, that they called Ymir, a sort of queen fighter of an old legend Willy didn’t remember anything about. Well, the name wasn’t important, but if it worked. Mr Tybur gave them the permission to prove the serum on animals and plants and those were the results.Not bad, but not excellent. The serum didn’t cause the same symptoms or abilities in all the guinea pigs, which meant that the effects couldn’t be predictable at 100%. Only few of them developed special abilities, but why couldn’t all have the same ?What worried Tybur the most was the ‘abnormal behavior’. He should ask Krueger more detailed reports about it. Well, collateral effects had to be expected and in that case it amounted to the 14%. Still, the guinea pigs that had demonstrated some peculiarity was few. At least the Ymir serum wasn’t a complete waste of his time. The results weren’t excellent, but for a first prototype wasn’t bad enough. He was also determinate to give Kruger and Yeager the permission for human experimentation. They needed to hurry up in their researches. After animals and plants weren’t the main target, but humans. As soon as the Ymir serum would be used on humans, as soon it could be improved. It was in that moment that Willy Tybur began to realize that maybe, maybe, that could be the begin of a new world. If he ignored the abnormal behavior and the 10% of dead, the Ymir serum permitted the development of brilliant abilities. Maybe it was too early to get excited, but if it worked, maybe the Ymir serum could be used for… greater purposes no one had accomplished until now.He couldn’t stop smirking at the one idea of it. A new world to share with his sister Lyla. … Paradis Island 2085… In the underground laboratory there was anything else useful. Or maybe there was a spray medic somewhere. Healing ability was already curing some wounds, but maybe a spray could quick the process. It was a mere hope, but for the moment it was saved enough. One was found in one of the furnitures inside the laboratory. There were various wounds all over the body but the spray was enough to quick the healing process. Once it was finished, the bottle was thrown on the floor and the race began again. There were two door in the underground laboratory, one of them leaded toward the stairs for laboratories located on the upper floors, the other door leaded toward corridors where there were cages used to restrict animal subjects.
Zweite… tür… geh… zum… Aufzug… (Second… door… go to… the… elevator…)
That was right. All the laboratory inside the building were connected by the stairs, so before to open the other door, it was necessary block the other entrance for the undergoing laboratory. It would be long before armed soldiers arrived there. Blocking a possible escape wasn’t bad, there was always the passage for the experiment facilities. For the moment, it was necessary using the hardening ability again, even though it would cost more energy. Nothing could break the thick layer of crystal that blocked the door, not if the tried to destroy it on the opposite side. That was good, now it was necessary reaching the elevator. Quickly entered in the other door, at the left there were cages with animals inside. Apparently they looked normal, but it was possible feel the Ymir serum inside them… they would obey any command… they would die to protect a similar of them… animal or human and in that moment a diversion was welcome. Someone was waiting at the end of the corridor in front of the elevator. It was possible hearing their breath, their slightest movements, the tapping of their fingers of their rifles. Well, well, the glass of the cages couldn’t be brake easily, most of the animals inside it were injected with the Ymir serum. Most of them probably were even under anesthetic. One look at the inside of the cage and it was possible to notice a gas inside it. No anesthetic lasted for more than five minutes, that was due to the Ymir serum. No drugs, or alcohol, or medicine couldn’t be metabolized quickly. It was possible hearing the sound of three valves were inserted into the ventilation ducts in the cell. The gas came from there. It wasn’t necessary brake the glass completely, one crack to release the gas was enough. Probably the man in front of the elevator weren’t wearing a mask, in that case they would sleep, on the contrary…
Benut… den… Schrei… (Use… the… scream…)
The scream… one scream would be enough… so what needed to be done… was done… One scream… one crack… one opportunity… the gas started to fill the corridor. So the race started again. After turning the corridor, the guards in front of the elevator were coughing, trying not to breath the gas by covering their mouths. Passing between them was easy.
Elfter stock… Aber… wählte… den neunten stock (Eleventh floor… but… chose… ninth floor…)
The button was pushed, the elevator began to rise. When it arrived at the ninth floor, the elevator was blocked. A jaw titan opened the mobile cabin. It was everything planned after all. The jaw titan was capable of clinging to the walls and open the elevator doors at the eleventh floor. Arriving at central control room was the next step. The eleventh floor was in the middle of the entire building in surface, it was possible seeing the wall that surround the building from there. Nothing else. Wall Sheena was only one of the wall that surrounded the building, but it doesn’t matter now. Running away from that nightmare, that really mattered at the moment. If the little trick with the elevator worked, most of the men now were waiting at the ninth floor, so only few guards remained at the eleventh floor. The eleventh floor… wasn’t a familiar place… there…
Hör… nicht auf… finde… den Kontrollraum… (Don’t… stop… find… the control room…)
That was everything that mattered.
…
Report 02- PROJECT TITAN- 12/08/2068
Eren Kruger
Unfortunately, even after five months, human experimentation showed no valid result. All humans who had been given the Ymir serum died after thirteen days. Any of them. We tried anything to understand why. Some of them showed sign of improvement, when exposed to sunlight, but that was everything. Not super strength, or fast healing process, or anything like this. Conversely most of the subjects could barely walk alone, they ate and drank but they seemed unable of defecating, so they had stomachache. All of them.
It was so disgusting. Apparently human body is too weak to host the serum inside it.
In the end, I care to mention that it happened something strange with some of our animals.
It happened one strange accident when a little bird escaped from his cage was caught by a cat owned by one of the scientist.
The little bird was injected with Ymir serum four days before, when the cat caught one of his wing, the bird started to screech, it sounded more like a scream for help, like an animal in trap. There things became weird, all the animals injected with the Ymir serum rushed in to help of the little bird, dogs, snakes, other cats…
It was a terrifying event, we couldn’t save the cat, it was completely devoured, limb after limb, by any animals that attacked him. Not even fur left of it, only the blood. We’re trying to study and understand this strange phenomena. We tried to recreate the scenario, trapping two birds, one in the grasp on another animal, a monkey, another in the grasp of one of our scientists.
The animals attacked and devoured the animal, but about the scientist, they only attacked him but didn’t try to eat him. After that, we denied them food for one week but all the animals showed no sign of fatigue, hunger or anything like this. It’s like they ate the cat and the monkey only to defend one of them, but in the end they don’t need to feed to survive. Nothing but the sunlight. We also tried to calm the animals with anesthetic but it didn’t work. It was metabolized in few minutes.
We’ll continue to investigate over the reasons why Ymir serum doesn’t work on humans and about his abnormal behavior of animals.
Eren Kruger sighed. He was tired but he also needed to finish the report to submit to Mr Tybur. Willy had been acting weird and impatiently lately and Kruger could easily understand why. Mr Tybur had invested a lot of money in their project, he didn’t consider the Ymir serum that raving of two simple scientists. Both him and Jeager needed Mr Tybur’s investments to continue their research, they also needed to keep their work place in the Marley’s Industry. It was their occasion to make difference in their field, to have success, to win a Nobel prize, even. Well, it wasn’t time to daydream, he needed to continue his report. “Hey Kruger, I’m going to take a coffee, my eyes refuse to stay open. Do you want coffee too ?” Asked Grisha Yeager, whom was sitting at the desk next to his. “I would appreciate it. I hate writing this reports, better, I hate not writing good news. The Ymir serum reveled to be more a challenge than I predicted” “Than we both predicted” said Grisha “But we still have time to improve the serum. Even though, I’m tired seeing people dying” admitted Grisha “You should have thought about this before. You know what we’re doing isn’t exactly ethical. We’re killing people, but we do it for a greater purpose. If Ymir serum works, we will be able to save a lot of people in future. Ymir serum isn’t a simply cure or antidote, if we work on it correctly, it will make differences in any fields” “I know. I don’t regret but I hate killing people for nothing.” Repeated Grisha “I won’t be for nothing forever. We can improve the serum.” Repeated Kruger stubbornly. Grisha nodded then he left the laboratory. Kruger sighed. He was tired and frustrated. He couldn’t bare to collect failure after failure in his experiments. There was something wrong, but he couldn’t figure it out what. Was it about the way the serum was injected ? He and Grisha injected the serum everywhere, in the heart, in the brain, behind the nape, in the stomach, but not matter where all the subjects died after thirteen days.So, was it about the age ? The gender ? No, they had injected the serum to both women and men between the 20-30 years, 40 at the most. It was the most interesting age group, it would have been useless using the serum on someone older than 40. The virus wasn’t completely inefficient, since it seemed to work on animals, he could easily theorized why. The first Ymir serum prototype was based on genes belonged of various species of animals. So it could explained why the serum easily adapted with animals DNA, when humans lack of certain kind of genes. Maybe they should include more humans cells in the serum, to make it less aggressive and more easily to adapt with human DNA. In a spur of the moment, he threw away the papers in front of him and grabbed his head with his hands. It was a good thing that he shared his laboratory only with Yeager and with anyone else. Last thing he wanted was that one of his assistants saw him in that state, losing control. He looked at his desk, full of papers about Ymir serum, experiments results and general notes. No photo of parents, wife, or girlfriend. It was cold and impersonal. He looked at Grisha’s desk and smiled.Grisha wasn’t like him, not that both of them were social butterflies, but Grisha managed, better than him, to create a life for himself over their research.On his friend’s desk there was the picture of a beautiful pipette woman, with large and light color eyes, fair skin, and blond’s hair passed her cheekbones. Dina Fritz was a beautiful young woman and Grisha was lucky to have her in his life.They two planned to get married next month. Actually, Grisha wanted to delay the weeding since the recents failure with Ymir serum, but Kruger persuaded him not to. Who knew if or when they would find a way to improve the serum ? Dina didn’t deserve to be unhappy only because they weren’t able to improve their serum. Kruger couldn’t deny that he, deep inside, envied Grisha, the latter had someone to come back home every night. Kruger spent almost any hours of any days of his life in his lab, he could basically moved there. There was no one waiting for him in his empty house after all. No family, or girlfriend or friends. Science aside, he wasn’t good at socializing, at putting himself out there. People scared him to death, made him feel anxious and under pressure. Grisha seemed to have found the perfect match with Dina. He wasn’t allowed to tell her all the details about their researches, but aside from it, Grisha and Dina were perfect for each other. They shared the same opinions and thoughts about almost everything, they also discussed about any topics, science, policy, even gossips. Being her fiancé, pushed Grisha to force himself to be more open toward the world. Kruger was so lost in his thoughts that he jumped when Grisha put a cup of coffee on his desk. “Thank you…” he murmured grabbing the cup of coffee “You need it, so do I” said Grisha smiling tiredly “If you want, I can remain here with you.” “It would be the second night, you can’t. You barely see Dina during the day, don’t allow your job to lock you up inside a lab or you will ended up like me” humored Kruger. “Well, If I hadn’t met Dina I would have told you that it’s not so bad. I mean, my relationship with Dina has been difficult during the first months, we barely have time to see or speak to each other. We risked to brake up various times, instead we will be married in one month… I still can’t believe” “You seem scared about it” “I’m scared because I know it will change me. I spend hours inside this lab injecting the Ymir serum to hundreds people any day, I consider them women and men. After being married, maybe I will see them as wives and husbands, broken families and…” “You’re afraid you won’t be able to go all the way, aren’t you ?” Asked Grisha. “Probably. I observe you and your hands tremble every time. You don’t have to deny it, it’s nothing worthy of worrying. You will need to worry once them will stop to tremble” Grisha murdered something but Kruger didn’t caught any word. Grisha wasn’t like him, Kruger accepted and respected it. Kruger was surprised of himself and of the nimbleness when he injected the serum to one of the subject, even though he knew them would probably die in few time. Grisha wasn’t like him, he was a doctor before to be a scientist, he swore to save people not to use them for scientific experimentations. Kruger always considered people boring, he always put his researches ahead of anything else and anyone else, nothing mattered but his goals for him. He didn’t care how many people he would have to kill in order to improve Ymir serum. He had been dedicating too much to give up. Grisha had a dubious morality, but a morality nonetheless. Grisha was a man with thousands faces, a good man, many would say, but willings to do terrible things if he believed they were necessary to achieve important goals. “Maybe we should get back to work” said Grisha “Just one hour, then I will come back home”. “I have to finish my report and all the subjects are already dead. There’s nothing for you to do here. Go home” Grisha took another sip, then he sat on his desk. He didn’t want to come back home already, he wasn’t ready to face Dina, her joy for their wedding so soon. All those people died mere minutes ago and he wanted a moment for himself, to cope with his actions, to reflect over the man he was and the man he risked to become. He finished his report twenty minutes ago, but Kruger didn’t know it so he could pretend that he still needed time to finish it. He needed a moment with his thoughts, not to run away from them. He hoped that they would find a way to improve the serum before his wedding, or he didn’t think he would find a way to keep killing people in vain and looking his wife, eventually his children in the eyes. He would clench his teeth until the wedding not after it. … Paradise Island 2095 If memories were corrects on the eleventh floor there were the archives regarding every single subject, scientist or witness who was involved in the production of Ymir serum. The archives were important, they couldn’t be damaged, because any name, any face was important in the big scheme of what would happen from now on. No one of them… had to be forgotten. No one of them. Using all the strength of the arms, the metallic door got opened. There was a reason why people had to passed through the archives before to arrive in the control room, because in case of emergency, the first thing that had to be destroyed were the proofs of the Hell Marley Corporations created inside that building. Any man inside the building knew the procedure. Inside the archives there were little bombs implanted inside fake books, ready to be activated in any moment. The smell of potassium chlorate made easier finding where the faked books were. According to the nose, there were five faked books inside the room. Two of them could be activated by opening the book, the other three could be activated only from the control room and only by the ones who knew the right numerical sequence for each one of the three.
Brauche… eine… andere… Ablenkung (Need… another… diversion…)
Diversions were fundamental in that operation. Everyone knew that about those five bombs, so no one would be so stupid to risk to open one of them. The smartest thing to do was taking two of the bomb that could be activated from the control room, the other remained in the archives, in case they needed to be sacrificed… Informations were important, the succession of the operation more. About it, the race had to continue. Archives were extended, messy but the sound of some whispers nearby plus the smell of human flesh were helpful to find find the the door that leaded toward the control room. Stopped few centimeters from the door, it was possible hearing the sound of steps and whispers. “That monster is inside the archive… it can’t be killed… the experimentation on that thing isn’t over…”
Sie… werden… mit… nicht… tödlichen… Waffen… angreifen… (They will… attack with… no… lethal weapons…)
“That thing is strong but is brainless. If we act quickly we can easily defeat it” Again, if memories were corrected, the eleventh floor, in particular the control room, was one of the few rooms on that floor that had a large windows. The eleventh floor was situated thirty meters from the ground, the tallest titan was fifteen meters and a part from Jaw Titans, no other kind of them were capable of climbing the walls. But one Jaw Titan was free, probably it still was inside the elevator, climbed on the wall. No lethal weapons… probably useful to be use against an human… not a Titan… probably no one of them was aware that one of the Jaw Titan was out of its cage.
Schrei… (Scream…)
Not so quickly. Before, it was necessary forcing the handle, to caught their attention. As soon as it was done, the sound of rifles being raised and pointed didn’t delay to reach the ears. Good. The hands grabbed the handle with all the strength, then, after taking some breaths, the silent was fulled with screams. A scream so strong to push the door against the soldiers, so strong to be heard by the Jaw Titan that didn’t hesitate to follow the scream and attack the targets. Twenty men were waiting inside the control room, one of them was tapping buttons. Probably he was hoping to activate one of the bombs inside the archive. Too bad that one of his comrades, already killed by the Jaw Titan, let the rifle on the floor. The same rifle that was being used to kill him and some others. In few minutes the control room was nothing but a bloodbath. As predicted, the soldiers weren’t in possess of weapons adequate to be used on a Titan and no one of them suspected that a Titan was out of his cell. After putting the two ‘books’ on one chair, few taps of the controllers and a map of the entire building appeared in front of him. The building was divided into three parts, the west part, the one where the operation started, included the underground the archives, the underground laboratory and the facility. The facility and the underground laboratory were situated at the first floor on the surface, because in the facility there was a gate twenty meters high, useful to quickly let the giants out of the building, inside the Wall Sheena. That was one part. The east part… there were dormitories of the scientists and the soldiers, the kitchens, the armory, the libraries, the supply room, that kind of stuff. In the surface there was nothing interesting. After opening the map of the five floors underground, the east side of the fourth floor, where there was the cells of the other Jaw Titans didn’t go unnoticed. To open them it was required a numerical sequence.
8…3…4…7…7…8…5…0
Cages unlocked. Amazing. Then again… the scream…
Komn… babies… gehorchen… Come… babies… töte… sie… alle… (obey… kill… them.. all…)
One scream, one order, one ruler. Titans were perfect, they were mindless, clumsy, disorganized, but if there was a functional brain that leaded their actions, then they became a valuable arsenal. …
Report 03 - PROJECT TITAN - 28/08/2068
Eren Kruger
President Tybur, according to our datas, the animal subjects had developed another kind of ability, we named it ’The Scream’. We used to think that it serves to ask for help other infected animals, we were wrong. Apparently the subjects release the serum that can affect anyone in the immediate vicinity. The serum is more powerful than we originally predicted, since it can affect by airways and above all, by screaming. It’s not everything. We finally made an important discover about human experimentation. One subject was infected fourteen days ago, they didn’t show any sign of change or of the virus, their body remained unchanged. Perfectly regular parameters too. We thought they could be our number 0, but we found something better. The subject’s DNA didn’t adapt to the serum, it generated antibodies to it. Antibodies that are allowing the subject to survive. It’s the first subject who has survived since the begin of our project. We analyzed the antibodies and used them to create a new version of the serum, maybe less offensive, more compatible with human DNA. We injected the second prototype of the serum today to three candidates. The new prototype of Ymir serum is made by totipotent vegetal cells, spinal fluid, this time it belong to the cells of infected animals, human spinal fluid and the antibodies of this subject. We are observing them and we can confirm that, differently from the other subjects they aren’t showing negative effects. We’re waiting to see if one of them shows some interesting signs.
Kruger was meditating if using the last name of the subject, the only one who had survived to Ymir serum so far. Kruger had no idea how that subject developed the antibodies. According to blood analysis carried out before the administration, there was something peculiar in that DNA… a gene that no one of the other subjects showed. That gene created antibodies when Ymir serum was injected. Now he and Grisha only had to wait. “Did you finish your report ?” Asked Grisha to him. “More or less. I don’t know if I want to include some informations or not” “Are you referring to the name of our subject ?” Asked Grisha. “Yes. This… person, has a gene never found in some other subject. My hypothesis is that it is hereditary. But…” “But you fear to get involved the family of the subject, right ?” “According to our research about her, she doesn’t have a family. Her husband died few years ago and about her two children… no one has known something since the death of their father. Even though we would look for them, I fear it would be just a waster of resources that we can’t afford at the moment.” They only had to be careful with the health of the woman. Trying not to stress her out, trying to feed her properly, to be careful she wouldn’t be affect by any sort of illness or diseases. Kruger sincerely hoped she would survive long enough to help them develop the serum further. Ymir serum… it could change not only their lives, but all the world. Ymir serum would create a new human race, it would be capable of curing any kind of illness. Maybe it would even capable of prolonging human life span. “We should go checking the subjects. I’m curious to know if there’s already interesting sign we can observe” “Right. In the other subjects signs of illness started to appear after the second day. We administered the serum three days ago. We should go” answered Kruger standing up. Grisha nodded then the two of them went to downstairs where they left the subjects. They arrived in front of a bedroom, where there was a brunette woman laying on a bed, sleeping. Looking at her from the outside of the bedroom, she looked… normal… no tremor, or stuttering, or spots or pallor on the cheeks. She seemed… find. “I come closer. I want to feel the pulse” said Kruger opening the door and entering inside. Kruger gently grabbed the woman’s wrist and apparently she was still alive, she was still breathing but there was something strange about her skin. It seemed tougher. Kruger tried to pinch her on her arm but the skin was so touch he didn’t even managed to slightly move it. Now that he noticed, the woman had various moles along her arms, he noticed it when he injected her the serum. Now the skin was… perfect. Tough, but perfect. He needed a scalped, he wanted to investigate further this weird characteristic. “Grisha, can you take me a…” Almost like the colleague had read his mind, Grisha was already handling him a scalpel. Kruger thanked him with his eyes. Maybe he was loosing his mind, but a theory was forming into his mind. As soon as he tried to cut the woman’s skin with the scalped, it broke. It couldn’t penetrate the skin. “What is this ?” Asked Grisha alarmed. “I don’t know… I can’t cut the skin. It’s too tough.” “So we can’t even take a sample. If the scalped didn’t work, I doubt a syringe will” “So do I. She didn’t even wake up, probably she didn’t even feel the scalped on her skin” Now that was another problem. This sudden hardening of the epidermis was a problem that should not be underestimated. If they couldn’t use their tools on her, then they couldn’t proceed with their researches. It was a problem they had to solve as soon as possible. “I wonder why she doesn’t wake up.” Said Grisha trying to shake her by her shoulders. No reactions, but the woman was alive, she was breathing. Kruger put his head on her chest, he could listen her heart beat even without using a stethoscope. The heart beat was pretty loud, he also noticed that the her chest was warmer than the other parts of her body. “Should we write this in the report too ?” Asked Grisha “What ? That we have babysitting a sleeping beauty ? No idea. I don’t want him to read about another failure” “We should visit the other two subjects. For the moment we can’t do much with her, we need tools we don’t have at the moment” “I agree, let’s go, then we will order new kind of tools to use” Grisha nodded. The went out from the room where the woman was still sleeping, closing the door and then they arrived in front of the other subject’s room. The man inside the room was sleeping as well. Grusha and Kruger entered inside the room but something quickly caught their attention. The room… was hot. Terribly hot and both of them were tempted to take their lab coats off. “There’s no heating down here, why is it so hot ?” Asked Kruger. “AHH !!” Grisha’s screamed made the other jumped “He’s burning” Grisha showed to his colleague his hand. The palm and the tip of each finger was slightly turned and there was smoke around the hand. Kruger grabbed his wrist carefully and passed his eyes between the hand and the man on the bed. The man was not sweating, but nevertheless his body temperature was terribly hot, even the blankets and clothes that covered him were burning, there were holes. Nevertheless his skin was perfectly smooth. How could it be possible ? “We should take care of your hand. This isn’t normal” said Kruger. “It’s the first time something like this happens. No one of the other subjects develop such body temperature, if we don’t act quickly it will cause a fire” “I agree, apparently we have a lot calls to do today. For the moment, we can only take off the blankets, help me” The two of them took the blankets off and then they noticed that the t-shirt was almost completely consumed and so the upper part of the trousers. “We can’t let him naked, we can’t take samples with him either. Again, we can only wait to have instruments and also find a way to lower his body temperature if we want to stay close to him” said Grisha. “Yes” whispered Kruger, almost downhearted. Grisha put his good hand on his shoulder and said “Hey, don’t be so torn, it’s a progress after all” “Yes. There’s one patient left” Grisha nodded then the two of them left the room. There was only one subject left, then Grisha would take care of his hand and then they would figure it out something to continue with their researches. They stopped in front of the last room and what they saw completely disconcerted them. “What the hell…” whispered both of them. In front of them the last subject was… there weren’t words for it. The body was enormous, the limbs were too slim but it wasn’t possible seeing the head from there. Quickly they entered inside the room and they saw that the head of the patient had grown so much that it fell from the bed. The patient was still sleeping nonetheless. His body temperature was normal and he was breathing. “How could he still be alive ?” Asked Grisha. “I don’t know, but I want to. Whatever’s happening, it’s a result, maybe negative or positive, it doesn’t matter. The Ymir serum is working, we have to keep working on it. For the moment” Grisha nodded, more because he was willing to leave that room as quickly as possible. The sight of that body disturbed him. He thought about his lovely Dina and how about he would never want to see her reduced in that way. Ymir serum was giving results, that was what he should focus on but for a moment he couldn’t stop himself from thinking what he was contributing to create. A miracle or a monster ? The cure or the illness ? The salvation or the doom ? The other two subjects presented anomalies but this third one whose name was a mystery for him, this third one was the undeniable proof of his mistakes, with all the other dead subjects. He knew that it would arrive the moment for him to pay for all his sins, that one day, the blame he suffocated everyday under the excuse of a better human race, would fall apart and the man he would see in the mirror… he would despise that man. He looked at his hands, the one burned the one good. They seemed the hands of a stranger, of two different persons. The man he used to be, the man he risked to become. It was his chance to take a step back, he didn’t. He didn’t know he’d just made the first for the end. … PARADISE ISLAND 2095… Running away, did.Arriving at the control room, did.Freeing the Jaw Titans, did. Now there were only two things left, for those people to see… what Paradise meant to be.
Ich… werde… Wunder… geschehen… lassen… (I… am… going… to make… miracles happen)
Couldn’t help but smile at the mere thought of what was going to happen. In that place there was no space for humans anymore, not them, whose were bad, spiteful, cruel, who hurt and torture without any pity. No pity would save them. In thirty minutes the down would rise and they would blow up. No cure, no serum would be able to save them from the nightmare they would live from now on. That was the sentence. That was the decision. After tapping other buttons, appeared a map of ventilation duct of the east area. That area was useless since all the people in the building would die in few minutes, there were only few rooms that could be save but they would ended up destroyed eventually. The only question was which way would be better to use to destroy them. Using the book, increasing the body temperature of a titan, creating a breach on the east area and let Titans devour them all or… using one titan to spread the serum ? Which one of the two would be more cruel ? The painful death or the never-ending nightmare ?
Niemals… endender… Albtraum… (Never… ending… nightmare…)
One button pushed and a the self destruction sequence was activated.
“The self-destruction sequence has been activated. Please evacuate to the exist in the East area. All doors are unlocked to expedite evacuation procedure. The sequence can be aborted not later than thirty minutes”
Good. There was only an exit in all that building, it was located in the east areas, into an underground tunnel, where Titans couldn’t attack. All the sentinels positioned on and inside the Wall Sheena had been killed, so no one would attack on the front. Well, leaving the building was out of discussion. There were at least 3000 people inside the building, until all of them would be able to escape there would be the time to finish the operation. Another tapping and opened a digital drawer of the desk. There was only one room in the entire building that could be opened with that key, the most important of the entire building. The last part of the operation. After grabbing the book, the race started again. In the control room there were two doors at booth of the side, one in front and an elevator.
Brauche… eine… Versicherung… (Need… an… insurance…)
The insurance consisted on ordering to the Jaw Titan in the control room to reach the other side of the underground tunnel under the Wall Sheena. The Wall Sheena was larger than the other two Walls, a Jaw Titan could easily enter inside and passed from the passages inside it. It was the only possibility. The other Titans outside the building were too big and slow, and leaving the building was out of question. The Jaw Titan was a very fast kind of titan. With an elbow, the window of control room broke and then with one scream the Jaw Titan was ready again to follow orders. Following the Jaw Titan with the gaze until the little Titan entered inside the Wall Sheena, imagining how it would be the life outside the Wall hit any cell inside the body again. Freedom… a life outside the walls… Revenge… They used to be the dream of a monster closed inside a cage. A monster born with a lot of abilities expect wings to fly away. Fly away from that Hell. Be free of seeing the dawn rise and the sky color withed with every shade of blue, red and grey. That reality would remain an utopia if more time got wasted inside that room. The next destination was locate at the center of the building, arriving there surely wouldn’t be easy. At least now, thanks to the self-destruction sequence, all the door were unlocked. Even though a part of the guards had been blocked in the underground and another killed right there, inside the control room, it was sure as Hell that guards were waiting for the ‘monster’ to arrive at the so called “Nucleus” before the thirty minutes were over. Well, well, it was the moment to continue the race. For the moment it was needed only one book bomb. In the control room, few meters from the elevator, there was another door, where there a long and large corridor where company was waiting for the arrival of the monster.Well, the monster was ready to fight. Coming closer to the door, it opened automatically. The monster smirked as he saw a group formed by ten men on the other side of the corridor, ready to shot. Bowling… the monster had read something about that sport. To win you had to throw a ball and drop all the pin. Let’s the game began.The monster used the hardening ability to create a thin layer of crystal behind, so that no one could access to the control room and around the book bomb. Then it started to run, faster and faster, using hardening ability to protect itself from the bullets. It was faster than a normal human being, so faster that when ti began to raise its body temperature so much that smoke started to surround its shape and when it was close enough to the men, it increased the body temperature ever more, at the point to burn all ten men and their weapons, even the clothes the monster was wearing. Nothing new, since all the scientists in that building had seen any centimeters of its body, more than once. The spread of smoke and warmth was enough to literally melt the metallic door at the end of the corridor. The monster arrived inside another control room, smaller, there was only an electronic device positioned in the middle. It served to push three buttons, one to open the door of the main control room, the other to open the melted one, the last one served to deactivate something really funny that unfortunately the monster could use right now. Without wasting more time, there were other three doors, one that leaded to another set of corridors where there were private studios where scientists usually wrote notes, ate, sleep without getting too far away from the Nucleus. The middle door leaded toward the laboratories, where scientists could directly observe and take date of what happened inside the Nucleus. The last door conducted toward another corridor that took toward another experimentation room situated all around the Nucleus. In few words the Nucleus was an hexagonal room at the center of the experiment facility, where there was only one electronic door, the only one that could only be opened with a key, the only one that couldn’t be controlled from the control room. The Nucleus was the most important room of the entire building, the most protected, indeed there were hundreds soldiers inside the experiment facility, where were conducted the cruelest experiments on subjects. The monster could feel their presence from their human smell. The monster opened the door for the laboratories. Inside there, there were various desks with computers, glass cupboards full of chemical elements, test tubes and measuring instruments. There was a lab coat on a desk. The monster wore it, not appreciating its own nudity. It was strange that no scientists were there in the laboratories, waiting for the monster to arrive. Maybe those cowards had left that room since the self destruction sequence was activated. Those cowards weren’t soldiers, they were only able to use their bubbled mouths to give orders and to comment the results of their cruelties when their lives weren’t in danger. Of course they didn’t hesitate to run away. Some computers were still on, on one desk there was a cup of steaming coffee, the smell of human flesh was strong. No, those idiots couldn’t have left the room more than few minutes ago. At the other side of the experimental facility there were stairs that leaded both upstairs and downstairs. Well, they wouldn’t go far away. The monster had assured it. On the opposite wall, there was a large windows that occupied along the entire length of the wall. From there it was possible seeing all those man situated all around the Nucleus. Apparently, they hoped to capture ‘the monster’ in time to stop the self destruction sequence.
Idiotische Dummköpfe… anzunehmen… dass ich… nicht… mehr… die… macht… besitze… euch… alle… zu… vernichten … (Idiotic fools… to assume… I no… longer… possess… the power… to… crush… you… all)
The beast snarled. The monster wanted to kill them all. They were nothing but meat for slaughter that deserved to die. Under the window, were located various machines, the monsters didn’t know how to exactly call them, but there were various buttons and the monsters knew their functions. In that laboratories were studied different time of Titans… the so called Shifters. There the shifters were submitted to the cruelest tests.Some of them had to measure the resistance of their hardening ability… just like that…The monster pushed a button, then smirked. On the west side of the room, two walls started to rise, revealing the presence of two little cannonballs behind. When the walls completely disappeared, the monster pressed another button and the two cannonballs started shooting. Five men died, ripped by one of the cannonballs. Other ten lost one or more limbs. Of course when the monster pressed the button again, most of the remaining soldiers moved away from the cannons and unfortunately the experimental facility was spacious enough to avoid the cannonballs. Well, it was time to pass to another toy. The ability to control other infected, animals, for examples. After pressing another button, the middle part of the south wall started to rise and ten infected wolfs entered inside, beginning to attack the soldiers. The monster smiled, those toys were created for something like itself, soldiers weren’t able to entertain themselves properly with infected wolfs. Infected animals were easier to kill than Titans or Shifters. Animals usually reached a tonnage higher than the norm only a few centimeters, also they weren’t able to use and control their abilities like humans. Animals followed their instincts, animals obeyed to a superior mind, in that case, the monster’s itself.The wolves attacked the soldiers, good pets they knew where attack them, at the height of the jugular, where the neck weren’t protected by anything, the calves and the forearms. Soldiers with ripped limbs were more useless than a dead ones. Dead ones could be left to rot, invalid one became a burden. Most of the soldiers were dyeing to protect the others, or to carrie away the hurt ones, but the wolves were hungry, so fucking hungry…Soldier’s weapons weren’t lethal, they ere supposed to capture ‘the monster’, not to fight against wolves. Well, wolves were easier to take down than shifters. Ten wolves were already dead, but ten soldiers lost a limb, arm or leg, seven were dead, others continued to die or lose. Dying and losing, that was humans could do against Ymir’s creature, in whose veins victory and power flowed. In the end those soldiers should have been prepared to die, since they knew what kinds of monsters lived inside that building. Well, despite how much entertaining watching those worms fighting for their lives in vain could be, time was running out. It was the moment to activate one last toy. Ymir creatures had a higher than normal metabolism, that was why no soporific substance worked. Anyway scientists inside those building worked out a gas that worked on Ymir creatures and made them sleep, but if it was used on normal being, they died. The gas was too intrusive and quickly damaged the epithelial tissue, almost burning it, and then passed on to subsequent tissues, which remained irreparably compromised but not burned. However, the victims died rapidly within five minutes. A slow and painful death to teach them all that humans were no longer the culmination of the food chain.One button, all the room of the facility rooms were locked, another button and… “Zeit zu sterben, Würner” (Time to die, worms) The room was quickly filled with green gas. Some soldiers recognize the gas and tried to escape from the doors but found them locked, the wolves fell asleep pretty quickly. The experimental facility was filled with screams of agony and pain, and exactly five minutes after, everyone in that room was dead. The monster smirked, then it used hardening ability to cover its face from the gas, not to breath it. The Nucleus was few meters from it and that alone was a victory. That alone was enough to consider the operation a success. …
REPORT 04 - PROJECT TITAN
15/09/2068
It’s finally discovered the last element needed to perfection the Ymir serum and make it perfect. Totipotent vegetal cells, antibodies belonged to the subjects zero, genome of infected animals and spinal fluid, with the first kind of serum and the last element… sunlight. Serendipity. While some tubes of Ymir serum were carried through the corridors out of the laboratories during the day, the color of tubes changed. After having analyzed that, it was easily to deduct how much was changed inside the serum, not only the color. The sunlight was the element that connects the others, like a nucleus. The sun is the nucleus that attracts and controls all the other elements. With animals a basic ember serum is enough, but humans needed superior form of it, a stronger activator to start a more complex cellular process that turn all their cells into totipotent cells. Plants’s transformation is activated by one single injection that causes the death of the plant and the born of new seeds. Animal’s transformation is activated with a basic serum of totipotent vegetal cells, spinal fluid and first prototype of serum. Humans are always more complicated. So complicated…
Eren Kruger didn’t want to finish the report, actually he felt like he should write it again. He wished Grisha was there, to share the joy for the new discover, but Grisha was with Dina, somewhere for their honeymoon. His colleague married the woman of his one week ago and he wouldn’t come back to work before another one and the laboratory was so empty to be suffocating, terribly suffocating. More and more Even found himself wanting to go outside, to feel the sunlight work his face, meanwhile his researches on Ymir serum continued, because he couldn’t stop. If Kruger wasn’t aware, he would believe someone injected him with the Ymir serum.Ymir serum… a poisoned thought stuck inside his mind, a thought connected to tight with any other dream, ambition, fantasy he could have. Everything around him lost any meaning if compared with the Ymir serum. Everything lost color, consistency. Every single person, included Grisha and President Tybur, saw in Ymir Serum nothing but the key of success, the access to a new age for human kind. Kruger saw something different in it, he saw freedom. Freedom from illness, freedom from age, freedom from a condition of submission humans had been forced. Freedom to fight, freedom to dream, freedom to live. When sunlight changed the color of those tubes, it was like freedom inside those tubes revealed at his eyes a secret nothing else could reveal to him. Kruger created Ymir serum to get himself free from that constant sense of oppression casted upon him due to his childhood events. Kruger was a fervent reader of Kafka, he considered the his descriptions about the loneliness condition of humankind realistic, or maybe it was Kruger that identified himself too much in his characters. Nevertheless he realized his lonely condition and how it was hurting him after having read the first Kafka’s novel. It was like something opened his eyes, making him realizing something he would never understand otherwise. The knowledge or the fear of being stuck in that loneliness, into a never ending feeling of nonetheless that more time than not had pushed him to find relief into pain. Pain was better than the emptiness, pain remembered people they were alive, that they were suffering but if you were suffering, you were alive, if you were alive you could fight. Emptiness simply remembered you about your insignificant existence. Could a great success as Ymir serum bring some light in his life ? Could a noble prize be enough to fill that sense of void ? To put some color in the immense dullness in which he felt himself sinking ? He always accepted the events of his life passively, when something bad happened he always found a way to defend himself from it, to survive to any adversity. Never attack, not even once in his whole life, using only traverse ways to get where he wanted only because he was too afraid not to be strong enough to face any challenge. Any day a new lie, a new mask, a new trick, a new excuse… to survive. Would Ymir serum turn him into a different man ? Kruger hoped so with all his heart. Without even realizing he arrived in front of the three bedrooms where the three subjects were still sleeping. After different experiments and tentatives, they finally found a way to took samples from them and decided to focus on them alone. The woman, he secretly called ‘Ymir’ like the serum, was still sleeping. Her skin had acquired a brighter complexion, her body had become more curvaceous, not fat, just more attractive. The man in the next room instead completely lost his skin, revealing his muscle tissue that seemed to have melted with skeletal tissue. Muscles and bones had become one. Now the man’s body looked more like an armor. His body temperature had stabilized but remained excessively hot, so changes had to be made inside his room. The last subject didn’t change much, his limbs were still too slim to support his giant head and abdomen, but his skin was as tough as Ymir’s ones, his skin was hot and sometimes it emitted electric shocks, each time it happen another part of his body changed, as the electricity was the prelude for any changes. Kruger believed that those electrical shocks were similar to the ones that brain sent to neurons through the synapses. There was so much to learn about Ymir serum, so much answers Kruger wanted to find. An idea was beginning to form into his mind, a new tormenting, poisoning ambition that for a moment prevented him from breathing. Ymir serum could be the key for anyone’s success, but it could be the key for his own personal freedom. President Tybur didn’t have to know about it, maybe he would share his idea with Grisha alone, eventually. For the moment, he would be better to work alone, make sure no one suspect anything. His ambition had a shape, a face, a name, a consistency. He would make it real, he would gain his own freedom with his hands and mind. “Ich werd Wunder geschehen lassen“ (I’m going to make miracles happens…) he muttered putting an hand of the glass of Ymir’s bedroom. … PARADISE ISLAND 2095 Dawn was an amazing event to witness, specially when it had the color of freedom and announced a future rich of dreams and ambitions. The dawn of a new life, of freedom. The monster didn’t even care to look behind them, to look at how the building was going up in flames, at least the middle and the east areas, or when at least more than one thousands titans were running free around the island. The west area, where there were and the laboratories were safe. The Nucleus and all the rooms behind it were destroyed. All the people who had tried to escape from the building were dead or turned into Titans. The monster loved the Danse Macabre he did with his titans. Titans were incredible creatures when they were leaded by someone capable of taking advantage of their best abilities. It didn’t take too much after all, only a target to achieve, something to fight for. Something worthy the pain you were feeling and the blood you were going to shred. The monster looked at its hands, surely cleaner than the mouth, the chin or the teeth of his hands and nevertheless or those limbs on the ground were building his throne, all the blood was on its hand. There would be no journey back for the monster, from now on, nor that the monster particularly cared for it. The building it was leaving, was nothing but a place where ‘it’ used to live. Where ‘it’ was considered more like a ‘thing’ than a human being. Well, ‘it’ finally proved them right, ‘it’ barked and bite that day and now… now… “I’m going to make miracles happen.” The world would know the power of Ymir creatures, its enemies would bow before it, beg it for their useless lives, beg for forgiveness. Before the beginning of the new century, it would have destroyed Marley Corporation, devoured all their ambitions, destroyed all their dreams, ruined any single assistant, scientist, man, woman or child of that hellish corporation. The hell they created on that island, ti would be nothing compared to what their creature planned to do with them. The dawn was beautiful, the most beautiful thing it’d ever seen, the first air wave It got after years of agony, thinking that it would die in the shit hole it was locked up. That was the dawn of its rising. “Guten Morgen” (Good morning) … MARLEY 7/11/2068 President Tybur couldn’t stop himself from biting his lips so hard to bleed and to tight his fists hard. He couldn’t react otherwise after all, not after the tragedy happened four days ago and the journalists that didn’t hesitate to throw at his face a truth he wasn’t ready to accept. He didn’t care about the lost money, he didn’t care about the dead people, Hell, he didn’t even care about all the costs needed for the repair all the damages. No… He was suffering of a selfish pain, his own, because the dream that for a moment was so close that he could almost touch it with his fingers, now was slipping away again. The Ymir serum researches was momentarily suspended because of an accident that destroy the almost the entire building and killed almost the researchers inside it. All Marley knew it by fault of newspapers.
CATASTROPHY AT TYBUR INDUSTRIES
According to all the testimonies collected, four days ago around ten o’clock pm, a catastrophic event involved Tybur Corporation. An event of still mysterious nature, whose causes are still to be determinate caused the death of 300 people, scientists, assistants and staff members. All we know was that before this happened, a thunder had torn the sky and it hit the building, but asserting that the nature of the causes is natural is an hazard. In that building, Marley Corporation was working on an ambitious project, of which however Mr Tybur refuses to reveal anything, and one of the responsible of this project, Eren Kruger died that night. Instead his colleague, Grisha Yeager is currently in a comatose state and recovered at Bürgerhospital and…
Mr Tybur ripped the newspaper with anger and then thew it inside the trash bin under his desk. He refused to read more. He was ruined, his dream was impossible to realized at the moment and what was worst is that his sister didn’t have much time left. What could possible go wrong ? He had read all the reports over and over again, looking for something that could have helped him to predict an event of that extent, but there was nothing. Datas, numbers, promises. Nothing else. Anything that could have helped him to realized that maybe Kruger or Grisha or both were hiding something from him, because at that point any doubt was lawful. Another thing that irritated him was that he would have to wait Grisha’s awaken before to have the answers he wanted. At least news didn’t report how or where Grisha had been found. Apparently the first rescuers arrived on the spot reported to him that Grisha was found some meters outside the building and next to him was found an empty syringe and a ripped arm. Mr Tybur suspected that arm belonged to Kruger but Tybur was waiting for DNA results. Secretly, Tybur also hoped that something could be found in that arm, in case it belonged to Kruger. He hoped that Ymir serum could be found inside it or inside Grisha’s DNA. Well, for the moment, he had to be practical. The research sector of Ymir serum could be suspended for the moment, but Marley Corporation was still far from failure. Mr Tybur would invest and concentrate of the other sector, trying to find a way to recuperate the money he’d lost. About the Ymir serum, he would build another research center far away from Marley, on Paradise Island, maybe. His father’s gift for his last birthday. Paradise Island wasn’t a tiny island and there no one would go to spy on him or on his business. Yes, Paradise Island, that shithole forgotten by God, could be useful somehow for once. He would wait for Grisha to wake up, have his explanations, trying to find a way to build another center on Paradise Island and there the researches on Ymir serum would continue. And that time, nothing would go wrong.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY COASTS 2097 ‘I’m running out of time’That was a constant thought inside Annie Leonhart’s mind. It didn’t matter whether she was ready or not to die, or if she still had dreams or if there were people that loved her. Not matter if she had disappeared for two years, and during those two years she had to stay away from her father, the only family she had left. Not matter if her father died during those two years. She didn’t receive a warm welcome back, only an empty house and relief because now those bastards could continue their researches with her titan. The Female Titan. She didn’t think it was an original name and she didn’t consider her Titan a success, since the last blood analysis had proven that something was changed inside her body. Totipotent cells almost disappeared from her system, the rest of the cells differed more and more slowly and with greater difficulty. Her healing process was less efficient Thant it used to be during the first years. Most of the scientists of Titan Biology Research Society her Female Titan was a success, since her Titan maintained most of her human and delicate features, differently from Colossal or Armored Titan, it looked more human, it was more agile, more flexible, more capable of controlling the hardening ability and recovery times rather shorts. She was the only one Female Titan of her kind left and nevertheless something in her wasn’t perfect enough. She was aware of that crude reality and so did the rest of biology research members. …TWO WEEKS AGO…‘I didn’t remember this place being so…’Annie was doing her best to distract herself from the bib of that echocardiography that was measuring her heartbeat. She hated that sound. She hated the smell of medicines, chemicals elements and bleach inside the room. She hared the sensation of the drip, the liquid that entered inside her veins to weaken her, so that she wouldn’t be able to use her Titan power. After what happened two years ago, Mr Tybur was becoming more and more paranoid. Restrictive measures, security measures, weapons, serums… Everything was done in order to prevent a third accident to happen for the Marley Corporation. After the destruction of the Nucleus, reproduction of progenitor cells was impossible. The nucleus was the center that connected all titans’ fates, normal, abnormal and shifters. It was from that room were Progenitor Ymir serum was created. That serum was based on something she wasn’t allowed to know, but whatever it was, it was the only thing that permitted to an human being to become a shifter and to a shifter to live more than thirteen years.According to the blabbered mouthed of the older scientists, the first Ymir subjects died after thirteen days. That number kept to persecuting them. Annie honestly didn’t imagine what those five idiots who were collecting datas about her hoped to find. They feared to have lost her that day on Paradise Island, nevertheless she had had to save herself again, so she wasn’t so important after all. She was nothing. Only an envelope containing defective cells that would cease to differentiate within a few days, maybe hours, maybe minutes. They all knew, but until her death, they would continue to treat her like a property. “The parameters are completely unpacked… “ said one of the doctor“The heartbeat is irregular… “ commented an infirmary “She has no more time left. We have to find a way to reproduce the spinal liquid of her Female Titan, or we can consider it lost forever”“We can use the totipotent cells of Titan Beast” “Scientists tried more than once, but Titan Beast didn’t posses the type of totipotent cells we need. Titan Beast itself would have died a long time ago if it wasn’t for the Nucleus. The Nucleus was everything, but apparently all the samples scientists had of the Nucleus had been destroyed in the accident of two years ago” said a second doctor.“If we don’t find a cure, this young woman would be dead in few time” said a biologist inside the room “Her cells are killing her. During the first eleven year, the electric shock produced by their nervous system accelerate the healing process, it allow limbs to grow in dimension and then to come back in their normal size without consequences. Anyway this process compromises the normal development of the organism.”“We are perfectly aware of this, we don’t need more…”Annie scoffed, without caring if others could or couldn’t notice her. Even if they did, they would ignore her anyway, nor that she particularly cared. She knew that after that visit they would send her to him, to spy inside her mind to know where she had been for two years, what she had done, what had happened. Annie didn’t know herself. She didn’t even know how to explain. The last thing she remembered was that she, Berthold and Reiner were sent to the Paradise Island, because they needed some injections. They arrived on the island two days before the accident. Reiner had to go on a mission, so he left the island before them. After the accident both Annie and Berthold had disappeared but no one, except for Reiner, had the courage to look for them on the island. Unfortunately, even Reiner, with his Armored Titan, barely made it out alive. Paradise Island was a living Hell and Annie herself was surprised to be alive. Or maybe she shouldn’t be. After all, she wanted answers as well. When she was convoked by chief Theo Magath in his his studio, she was already aware of what he was going to ask of her.“What’s the last thing you remember ?” He asked smoking his cigar.He didn’t change at all in two years, or at least he didn’t look too much older than she remembered. Light eyes, thing beard, short thinning hair. Same hard frown. Same uniform.The studio was a large room, with the green walls, but almost totally covered by certificates, or paintings or photographs. The parquet floor. A large window that overlooked a training camp on the back of the building.She was at the recruits training camp, where cadets were trained to be injected with Ymir serum through a selection that stated who was worthy or unworthy.Not everyone had a suitable DNA for Ymir serum, not everyone had the physical. It happened before that some shifters died even before the thirteen years. Magath was responsible for that selection and of their lives as well. “The injection, then I fell asleep”Did she ? She didn’t even remember the injection itself, but Magath didn’t have to know. Everyone who could witness against her was dead anyway. “You weren’t suppose to do it. The injection was important to see how ti could help you with your abilities.”Annie wanted to tell something, but her mouth refused to obey to her. Her mind refused to collaborate with her. It seemed more like her body didn’t belong to her anymore, she simply existed inside it, but her will didn’t reach her brain. She should have told him that as soon as she arrived on Paradise Island she…“How could you survive if you were sleeping during the attack ?”Annie closed for a moment her eyes… Blood, dead, screams, fire, Titans… she didn’t remember any of this and nevertheless those imagines were inside her mind and she should tell something again, but again, her mouth refused to collaborate. Annie knew that those memories didn’t belong to her, but somehow they were inside her head now and she didn’t know why.“Probably someone protected me, maybe Berthold. Maybe he died to protect me”“Where was him ? Did you do the injection together ?”Annie knew they got separated as soon as they arrived on the Island. There were different precautions taken for any kind of titans and Berthold’s ones was one of the most dangerous one. Berthold was taken into the underground laboratory , she remained at the eleventh floor, inside the laboratory next to the Nucleus. That was everything. “No. It seems obvious.”“‘Seems’ suggests a possibility, nothing more”“I’ve nothing more to say. When I woke up, I was surrounded by crystal fragments, maybe I used my hardening ability to protect myself, I don’t remember anything… When I woke up, I didn’t remember anything”“Do you know where we found you ?” Annie it was a trick. They didn’t find her, she found them. How, where, when, she remembered it, but they presumed she had forgotten it as well. She shook her head. She was walking on thin ice, one wrong step and she would fall. Her position as Marley Warrior was terribly compromised, not matter how good results she’d gained through the years. “Annie…” Chief Magath hit the desk with his nocks “… Do you know where we found you ?”… Annie was trying her best not to think about that day, when an imposed silence prevented her from answering on her own way. A sensation so similar to the ones she had felt when she was close to the Nucleus. The Nucleus was destroyed now, but according to the informations known, the Nucleus used to connect all the minds of titans and send them informations, memories, thoughts, orders, generating an immense nervous system that overcome any rule of space and time. Annie used not to believe in those theories. She simply believed that the Nucleus was a room full of samples and documents. She believed that Marley Corporation was brainwashing them into believing in something that didn’t exist, to make them more docile, to make them easily to manipulate. For a moment she wished they hadn’t found her…A loud knock on her bedroom snapped her out of her thoughts. She was in her bedroom, sitting at her desk and she just realized she had been looking at the white pages of her journal for the last one, but without actually seeing it or writing anything inside. “Yes ?”“It’s Pieck, can I come in ?”Pieck was her roommate, but Annie didn’t know why Pieck didn’t have a room of her own. According to someone’s opinions, even though Pieck had proved to be able to deduce consequences according to the facts presented to her and she was regarded as someone able to take appropriate decisions in any situation, someone (Magath) believed that she needed someone to keep an eye on her. Pieck was weird and unpredictable. Annie herself sometimes had doubts about the mental sanity of her roommate. “Pieck, why do you ask permission to enter in your ow…”Annie couldn’t finish to speak that the door was slammed and Pieck entered walking on all fours. Annie tried not to stare at her too much. Well, she didn’t actually care for the way she walked. “I couldn’t know whether you were alone or not… You have spent a lot of time alone ultimately, who knows if you’re seeing someone. I used to spend a lot of time ‘alone’ when…”Annie made her sign not to continue. Pieck was such a weird person and Annie couldn’t avoid to feel horrified thinking about the other’s sexual experience or whatever.“Please, spare me any detail. I don’t want to know anything.”“Boring, as usual. Pork is more fun to mess up with. By the way, we should hurry. Magath wants us to be ready for tonight’s event in two hours”“For the festival ? I was thinking not to go” admitted Annie.“You know you can’t. Since your return, Magath keeps both his eyes on you. He fears you can do something… unpredictable. Don’t give him more reason to doubt about you”‘Maybe he should’ Annie though, since she couldn’t even trust herself anymore. Her therapist suggested her to try to remember everything, maybe writing everything down on her journal but the point was that Annie had nothing to share. She didn’t have memories of those two years, but a deep part of her doubted she had been closed inside her a crystal shield until her awaken. If she had, then why did she saw all those… imagines ?Blood, mouths covers with so much blood, blood mourned her, blood on her clothes. If she closed her eyes she could smell blood even in that moment. For a moment, she thought she was going to have a panic attack. Her chest hurt and she couldn’t breath, she was also sweating. Pieck quickly noticed that something was wrong with her roommate and tried to make her breath.“Hey, this is not time for a panic attack. Breath with me. Slowly”Annie tried to do it, but she felt like a morse was tightening her throat. She could almost feel fingers surrounding her throat, hers, but why should she suffocate herself ?“Stop doing it” ordered Pieck slapping her hand “I said, breath !”It took almost fifteen minutes to make her breath again, for a moment Pieck feared she would have to call someone, but then Annie started to breath again. Pieck looked at her with a curious look.“Have this happen before ?”“No, maybe I’m simply stressed. All the suspicion, Berthold’s disappearance, Magath’s interrogatory… Yes, Pieck, maybe a little fun can be helpful”“Are you sure ?” “I thought that keeping distance from others could have helped me to remember everything, to put pieces together easier, apparently not. Maybe I need to stay with people, talk, have fun”“I think you’re right, but be careful. Next time it happen, ask for a visit. Shifters are important, don’t forget it”Annie nodded. Sometimes she wished someone would tell her she was important simply because she existed in a world so chaotic. But for the most, including her father, thought she was something wonderful simply because her DNA demonstrated to be strong enough to host Ymir serum.Her father was so glad when he learnt it. He was so proud of his little girl, without knowing that he doomed her to be monster and that she would have been dead in thirteen years, if she was luck. She borrowed one of Pieck dress, the one she considered less extravagant. It was a red high-necked dress, with beautiful embroidering along the back, close-fitting at the waist but then fell soft and was long, so that one noticed that she was not wearing heels. She was willing to endure only one torture that night. She wore a pair of white gym shoes instead. She didn’t put on her make-up, she didn’t feel at ease and she didn’t even feel the necessity, but she just sprayed a few drops of perfume on her neck.She looked at the mirror next to her bed. She wasn’t nothing particular.Du bist wunderschön… (You’re beautiful…)She gasped. That voice… How could it be inside her head ? The Nucleus… No, it was impossible. Without the Nucleus, the Shifters’ minds were no longer connected one to another, or at least that was what Pieck told to her when she realized not to be able to hear her thoughts.So how could it be possible ?She looked at Pieck, who was wearing a neon green jacket that surely would not have made her unnoticed, but the raven hair woman wasn’t showing any strange reaction. So, she had to be the only one to have heard it. Why ?Did it have to do with the fact that she was the last one to get close to the Nucleus of all the Shifters ? The truth was that all shifters didn’t know everything about the Nucleus, only what their superiors had told then, but Annie suspected that most of the informations were hidden or even invented. Well, Nucleus or not, she couldn’t show any sign of distress, she needed to be careful. “Annie, you’re so pretty tonight !!” said Pieck winking to her “You will have all the children at your feet !”“I hope not. I don’t think I will handle too much chit chats”“Keep this attitude of yours, but careful, boys love challenges”Annie didn’t think boys would notice her at all, even in that red dress she wasn’t so much interesting or appealing, neither there would be someone she cared to be pretty for. Du bust schön… für mich …. (You’re beautiful… for me)…‘What a man wouldn’t do for money’Levi Ackerman had been thinking about money all day only to force himself to follow Furlan’s plan. His ambitious friend thought for whatever reason he had that stealing inside Tybur’s Mansion was a good idea. Levi didn’t get why, of all the Mansion, Furlan had picked the most protected ones. It wasn’t a mystery that after the accident on Paradise Island, Mr Tybur had increased the security around that particular Mansion near the coasts, where was build a training center and where they would find hundreds warriors ready to shot them down. But he knew why he trusted Furlan again. His blond friend, differently from, had a good nose in business, or at least that was he always said to Levi. The more he looked at the Mansion, the less he thought they would make it out alive.Isabel would say that he thought always the worst in any situation instead of trying to be positive. She was right too. The thing was that Levi didn’t trust of Furlan’s contact, that weird guy who so willing gave them keys, passwords and suggested them the best time and way to infiltrate inside the Mansion, letting them keeping everything they would steal but only if they managed to kill a man, Erwin Smith, one of the guests.That was another thing that didn’t convince Levi too much. Erwin Smith was a nobody, compared to the majority of the guests. No money, no title, nothing that would push someone to kill him apart from his tick eyebrows and made him look pretty ridiculous. Or at least he looked pretty ridiculous in that picture sent to him. He used to work as a policemen, but then he was fired for his unorthodox working methods that more often than not created conflicts between him and his superiors, sometimes even his coworkers Then he was discharged, everything happen to that man after it remained a mystery.If there was one word to describe Erwin Smith was it, a mystery. Levi would never admit, but he had felt a little torn, when he saw Erwin’s picture for the first time. The sever and composed expression on his features, the coldness inside his calculating blu eyes. It was a man who demanded obedience and respect, someone who could have anyone wrapped around his finger, someone that Levi considered terribly dangerous but also… alluring, somehow. Levi was sincerely surprised that the man was single, maybe it was due to his intimidating gaze, well Levi didn’t feel intimidated, but intrigued.Well, there he was, dressed up like a waiter, with Furlan and Isabel that were bubbling about something, probably the plan.“Hey Levi, are you having second thoughts ?” Asked Furlan observing Levi with an intense look. “No, it’s too late at this point. I’m simply looking at the stars”It was partially true. The stars were beautiful, enchanting, and full of promises and dreams ready to be realized. Levi would have never thought to find himself standing in front of a Mansion like that, not when he was used to live in the dirt, like a rat. He hoped he would be able to afford a better lifestyle after that night. A clean comfortable place to call home, with pretty clean furnitures and someone waiting for him. Despite his rude attitude, he hoped to find someone who would make him feel... completed. ‘Why am I thinking about these craps ? Shit’Levi closed his eyes, then opened them and turned toward Furlan and Isabel. His eyes became more tender. He wasn’t alone, they were his family and he wanted to protect them. He would protect them, at any cost. He had promised them a better life, together, where they would live in a decent home, a comfortable life, where stealing would cease to be a necessity. Where they would cease to fear their own shadows, where they would be able to leave the past behind and all the shit they had gone through until that moment.All their hopes, all their dreams, their future depended on the outcome of that night. Levi didn’t believe in luck, but he was crossing his fingers and hoping that after tonight, they would be able to start a new life together.“You’re right, stars remind me of freedom. The stars are the first things we saw together after leaving the reformatory” said FurlanLevi and Furlan met in the reformatory at the age of sixteen and seventeen, they became friends there. Furlan left the reformatory first, Levi one year later. After three years they met Isabel, then the trio became inseparable. Levi was so glad to have them in his life, to have someone who could make him feel less alone. Someone he knew had his back. Furlan and Isabel always looked up at him and protected him and so he did with them. “Yes, we have spent the best moments under the stars, I hope we will be able to admire stars again, together” commented Levi.“We will, with you and your abilities, nothing will defeat us. Thanks to you, we will start a new life together.” Said Furlan.“The only thing that separates us from that, is Erwin Smith, but you’re so strong, aniki, no one stands a chance against you” said Isabel hugging him tight.Levi didn’t say anything, he simply caressed her ginger hair with a small smile. He considered her as a sister, he felt protective toward her and he feared to leave her alone inside that Mansion, with all those pigs who would probably look at her. Isabel was a skilled fighter, but also young and naive and Levi was sending her into a snake den. Maybe he should complete the mission alone. He looked at Furlan and he felt uncomfortable at the idea of leaving him alone inside that Mansion. Furlan was older than Isabel, more cunning, strong but nit as strong as Levi. Sometimes his ambition and his focus on his goals made him blind to the surrounding dangers.“I was thinking… Maybe I should go alone” said Levi.“What ?” Asked both Isabel and Furlan.“I mean… If I fail, you two will have another possibility. If I succeed, we will have a fresh start together”“We can’t take anything for granted. If we fail together, there won’t be any other possibility. If I fail alone then…”“No !” Said Isabel taking his hand.“But we are in this together, you can’t expect us to leave you alone” said Isabel.“She’s right, we can’t abandon you. If we win, we do it together. If we fail, the same” said Isabel “No one has to be left behind”“Isabel’s right. We can’t let you going alone. We can’t. What if something happen to you ? Something we could have protected you from ?” Asked Furlan “No, it’s out of discussion”“But…” tried to reply Levi.“Out of discussion” repeated Furlan using his ‘authority’ as oldest member of the trio.“Fine” said Levi “I trust you, both of you, but please, be safe”‘I can’t lose you’ Levi thought without voicing it though.“Let’s do it together, we’ve always done it together” said Isabel grabbing his hand.“Levi, have faith in us” said Furlan putting an hand on his shoulder“We count on you, aniki” said Isabel “But you can count on us, too”If only Levi had known… that it would be the last moment they spent together… …10:00 PMMr Tybur would have preferred being somewhere else, maybe in his office or in his Mansion in Paris, surrounded by more interesting people or being alone. Of course he was a Tybur so he had duties. The misfortune was that Mr Tybur was aware that a lot of voices were spreading about the Mansion situated next to the coasts of the sea, where on the opposite side, there was Paradise Island. Mr Tybur couldn’t hide that accident either, not when thousands people demanded answers about their relatives, sons, husbands, wives, friends. Not when the first clumsy attempts to try to reconquer the island, not only failed miserably, increasing the number of the dead, but also attracted the attention of the media and journalists, who hadn’t hesitated to take pictures and publish news on newspapers.Mr Tybur had become more and more paranoid since the first accident and now he feared the presence of someone who was trying to sabotage the Marley Corporation to put his dirty hands on Ymir serum. Mr Tybur would rip off anyone’s hands who dared to steal Ymir serum from him. That was one of the reason why he organized the festival inside that particular Mansion, so that no one would ever dare to suspect he was hiding something inside it. Well, it wasn’t too wrong. Most of the laboratories and important informations on Ymir serum went destroyed in that damn accident in Paradise. That time the number of victims and damages surpassed the one of the first accident. Getting up and covering debts and expenses was even more difficult that time. More than once his family and his company had been on the verge of bankruptcy. His reputation no longer respectable and his image now ruined. Nor that Mr Tybur cared about that frivolities anymore, not when he could still count on the serum. Nevertheless he needed to protect everything left of the precedent researches. A voice caught his attention.“Dear, why are you so tense ?” Asked Lyla grabbing his wrist “It’s a festival, you should enjoy yourself” “My dear, please ignore my bad mood and try to enjoy the festival yourself.”“You should try to do the same after two years of hard sacrifices. After the incident on Paradise Island, if our family can still afford this lifestyle if only thanks to your sacrifices. You deserve some fun more than anyone” said Lyla.Mr Tybur smiled adoring at his younger sister Lyla. He wouldn’t know what to do without her in her life. For him, she was the proof that miracles could be made by humans too, not only by God. If only Kruger would still be alive… He would have found a solution to prolong the lifespan of the shifters in few times, instead Grisha Yeager seemed to be incapable of elaborating even a temporary solution. Since the creation of the first Shifter, there had been no improve to prolong the lifespan of Shifters. Mr Tybur needed to find a solution since six years ago he used Ymir Serum on Lyla. “Well, I will try. For the moment, enjoy the festival for me too, my dear”“Will you threat any man who tries to ask me to dance ?”“I will keep my jealously at bay, least I want is to make you angry”“Thanks brother.” Said Lyla kissing his cheek, then leaving to speak with other ladies.Mr Tybur snorted. His sister was dying, how could he have fun ? He should have remained in the laboratories with the other scientists, trying to elaborate a way to improve the serum, but since the destruction of the Nucleus, things had become more and more complicated. For the moment, there was nothing else he could do but smile and be cordial with other.The diplomacy couldn’t be ignored for too long and his reputation was still at risk and he needed to save his ‘friendship’. One of them, Rod Reiss, came close to him to greet him. Will Tybur forced a smile and held the other’s hand.’It’s going to be a long night…’ …‘He has aged a lot’ Annie thought looking at the President Tybur, who was conversing with some diplomatic in his private balcony with his family.Annie used her ability to hear their conversations.“So, Mr Reiss, try to guess who of my family’s member… has the greatest secrets”Annie rolled her eyes. Mr Tybur loved playing that little game with everyone, sure that no one would pick the right member family and even in that case, no one would know how important was the secret he was referring to.Any shifters knew the right answer, not because they cared particularly, but their biology. Annie had an option particularly negative of Mr Tybur, not based on proven facts, but there was something about him she really didn’t like. She didn’t like that ridiculous habit of him of always having to put in a position that allows him to observe every single movements of his guests, every single look or gesture. Annie knew he was observing her movements above everything else, after all, the was the prodigal daughter, came back to her father after two years of distance. She knew she shouldn’t’ have come to that stupid festival, after all she hated festivals with all her heart. She hated all those people faking smiles with each other, losing their time with useless pleasantries that made them simply boring and predictable. At least she was glad no one had tried to approach her so far. Until someone collied with her.“Oh I’m sorry miss” It was a blond boy, about her age, but his boys face, with large gaze eyes, the petite pointed nose, the long undercut hair and his insecure posture made him look younger and defenseless. She didn’t remember to have ever seen him before.“Don’t worry. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you a new recruit ?”“Yes, miss. I’m Armin Arlert, nice to meet you” said the boy introducing himself with a shy smily, holding his hand.Annie took it then she said “I’m Annie.”“Are you the girl who…”“Who just came back from Paradise Island after being disappeared for two years, yea, it’s me. Have a good evening” said Annie starting to leave.“No please, it was no my intention offending you” said Armin, grabbing her by her wrist.Under normal circumstances, Annie would have broken hands and arms of anyone who dared to touch her without her permission, but the boy in front of her had a delicate grasp and slo seemed to be on verge of tears, like he was actually afraid of having offended her. Annie almost smile.With those big baby blue eyes and the trembling lip the boy looked younger and defenseless. He remembered her of Berthold somehow. Berthold used to tremble, blush and look afraid when he spoke with her, she’d never understood why. “I… ehm… do you want to dance… with… me ?” Asked the boy blushing even more.Annie gave a look at the dance floor, there were few couples who were dancing. She didn’t enjoy dancing, but maybe she needed to distract herself from her thoughts, from what had happen before, from her life. She needed to be a girl, not a warrior, not a survivor.“Why not.” She answered.Armin looked sincerely surprised for a moment, probably the poor boy hadn’t been much luck with women until that moment. Then the blond slowly took her hand and lead her toward the dance floor.After noticing that some of her fellows were eyeing her, she almost regretted to have accepted but when Armin put his hands on her waist she realized it was too late, so she put her owns hands on his shoulders. Annie was glad Armin remained silent, since she felt too embarrassed to dare to speak. One look at the boy and she noticed he was still blushing and barely looking at her. She wonder how he thought to survive with that attitude in the warriors. Maybe, he was a boy full of surprises.‘After all, everyone can be so unpredictable…’ she thought.…Erwin Smith had no idea why he’d accepted Mr Tybur’s invitation. Someone contacted him two weeks ago, suggesting to come that evening. Someone Erwin hoped to encounter that night.There was a reason why Erwin had made his personal mission to make his life a mystery, to keep even the littlest thing secret. If he hadn’t been discharged from police, he would have quitted anyway, to investigate on Tybur Industries and it illegal business. The blond was famous for his cold blood, but he had the sensation that in that Mansion there could be secrets that would make him shiver. Whoever contacted him, knew a lot of things about Tybur’s activities, especially the one about genetic. Erwin didn’t make reckless moves, he asked proofs and proofs to his contact to be sure he wasn’t ended up into a trap and his contact gave him little bread crumbs, nothing too much revealing but intriguing enough to caught his attention.Erwin had also been smart enough to hide the location of his new workplace and nevertheless his ‘contact’ had been smart enough to find it and send there the proofs. The blond hoped to learn the identity of the contact that evening, he hated not knowing who he was working with, even though he could understand the reasons. It wasn’t anymore so much of a mystery that most of the people who entered in the Tybur Industries didn’t make it out alive. The entire family as well had earned an ambiguous reputation. Until that moment, no one caught his interest, nor the patriarch of the family, nor the people dressed in elegant and expensive dress, adorned with jewels and with a bank account with 9 zeroes. All of people perfectly belonged where they were, they fit in that glassy golden world of lies, and Erwin was sure that the person he was looking for would be able to differentiate itself from the other. That there would something that would help Erwin to distinguish it. It was when he passed by another couple that he noticed someone unusual. It was a man who clearly didn’t fit with the environment. He was dressed up like a waiter but he was clearly unhappy to be there and grumpy, also he barely gave any attention to the other people. He was looking around the room, trying to be subtle, and he was, for someone who wasn’t used to observe. Smith was an observant before everything. An observant and a thinker. The waiter seemed adjusted his tie, before to go into a corridor and Erwin followed him, trying to be as subtle as that raven hair man. He had to admit that the man’s physical appearance didn’t help him to be subtle. He was short, with raven hair with a military haircut. He had an attractive face, with gentle features, pale cheeks and a grumpy expression that would scare anyone, but he was an handsome man. A handsome man in a hurry that seemed to know exactly where to go even thought he surely didn’t belong to that world. Te walls of Tybur Manor abounded of arrogance and richness, there were paintings of different ages on them, each one portrayed battlefields, knights, dead, blood… power, just like the rest of the furnitures. The parquet, the gold decorations, the luxurious crystal chandeliers and various tables or display cases displaying ancient artifacts that surely were worth at least million dollars. Everything had to communicate power. The message was increased by the training center connected. Erwin had always wondered why Tybur Industries had a training center if the recruits never applied to be accepted into a corp, not matter how trained they were. Erwin had also made a statistic, any recruit never survived too long, they all died in the end for a cause or another, which made him suspect that the center was connected to genetic experimentations. Tybur Industries didn’t product armies, it was a pharmaceutical company above everything else. So why did it need recruits ? Why all of them died in the end ? Why Mr Tybur insisted on keeping Paradise Island after the incident ?Too many questions, no answer, no lead, only a contact. Only bread crumbs. No face, no name, no shape. He was alone with his doubts in his mind. The waiter seemed to know exactly where to go, but for the moment, he didn’t seem to have noticed that someone was following him. Maybe Erwin shouldn’t follow him, maybe that was a reckless move. He followed the strange man through different corridors, until he saw him ran into a blond young man, that caused the tray to fall. “Oh, I’m sorry” apologized the raven hair man with coldness lowering to get the tray.“Don’t worry, just be more careful next time”It would be an ordinary scene between two colleagues for anyone else but Erwin. But the blond had clearly noticed that, when the blond kneeled to get the tray, he gave the other something else, also the raven hair seemed to whisper something to the blond, who smiled before to come in his direction. Erwin quickly grabbed his phone, clicked some buttons and opened the recognition program on his phone, pretending to make a call. As soon as the blonde guy passed by, his programmed started working until he found something. Always keeping an eye off the raven hair man, who was going somewhere, he looked at his phone.Light gray eyes.Dark blond hair. Polite smile that hidden a light mockery and there was an intelligence in his eyes that elevate his entire persona.Well, he was the brain of whatever thing was happening there. Furlan Church. Erwin knew he had heard about that lad before. A low-league criminal, but a criminal nonetheless, grow up in the slums, before to be transferred into a reformatory, where he got out together with his… lovely ‘roommate’. Levi Ackerman, that man dressed up in waiter clothes that he was following.If Furlan Church was some sort of delinquent, Levi had nothing to envy to his mate. Maybe the exact opposite. Thefts, fights, pickpockets, hacking… the list was very long. Well, well, well.Erwin didn’t think Levi was his contact, he seemed to have other plans for him, he was a little delinquent, not someone who would spy on an empire worthy billions of dollars. He wasn’t the one he was interested into, but it could be a bad idea leaving that guy wandering inside that mansion uncontrolled. His mission was more important than any possible motive that could push a man like Levi Ackerman to come there. The mission was his highest priority. His contact didn’t actually said that they would encounter personally that night, but the message simply stated that that night ‘He will see the truth’.What was the truth he had to see ? He heard a click, then he felt something cold pushed against his temple.“Why did you stop ? I was supposed to follow me to the second floor, in the green living room.”“Was I ? How could you say I was following you ?”“Spare me the bullshit, I knew you would be here. Someone sent me here to kill you, and I will, nothing personal but I need money”All the gears in Erwin’s mind began to work, to analyze the new items to elaborate a possible logical interpretation. If Levi was saying the truth, someone knew that Erwin, not, was sure, that Erwin would be here that night. Was a trap ? Did his contact set him up ?Was that the truth he had to see ? His dead ? Then why wasting time giving him clues ?Why waiting so much time to kill him ? His contact knew how to find him, where to find him, so why teasing his curiosity ? Why not sending someone before ?Maybe, that was the truth he had to learn, someone knew he had a contact, someone found out he was investigating on the Tybur Industries and that made him a threat. “Do you plan to pull the trigger here ?” “I was planning to kill you into a safer place and that’s what I intend to do. Dragging your dead corp from here would high the possibility of being discovered” answered Levi “Are you alone ?”“Is your fellow checking if I have company ?” Asked Erwin with a smirk.“Don’t you ?” Asked Levi.The raven hair smirked inside. He knew exactly where Furlan was going. Their contact revealed to them that there was a secret passage in the kitchen in the first floor. A passage that lead into one of the underground floor where there were files records. Their contact told them the records were about some new project the Tybur Industries was working on and that Erwin had been sent there to retrieve them and that was a problem. Apparently their contact, Nicholas Lobov, a rich man who probably was drinking champaign with the other riches, wanted to lay his hands on that documents before Erwin. Levi had thought to simply go there and kill Erwin, in practical, to accomplish only the easiest part of the mission, since he feared that, the more the time they spent inside there, the higher the possibility of being captured and killed were. The plan was to enter there while everyone were busy inside the Mansion and then escaped when the party would move in the garden.“Maybe, maybe not. But if you want my life, you gotta fight for it” Before Levi could understand his intension, Erwin brake one of the vase near him that fell on the floor and it caught the attention of few servants that were passing by. Quickly, Levi hide the gun and Erwin came closer to him.“Not here, we should follow your plan. Let’s go”“Did you get I intend to kill you ?”“Try, otherwise there are things I want to know and you’re going to tell me”…11:00 pmWaitress uniform, tray on the hand, bright and gentle smile on the lips and elegant bearing. Everyone would think that there was an angel walking through them and serving them that night. Both men and woman had looked at her at least once since she entered in the room. She smiled politely to everyone, even when one of the host was impolite with him, but that was job, she was supposed to remain composed not matter what. After all, she wasn’t here for the pleasantries, she was there because as long as now, everything was going exactly as she’d planned and she wanted them to continue that way.Erwin Smith was there, at the party and so Nicolas Lobov, the first name of his list of people who deserved to die.Nicolas Lobov was responsible for the charity area. He organized several fundraisers over the years, but most of the money was invested in the productions of serums, sold to the most disadvantaged populations as vaccines, then the poor people were used as guinea pigs by the industries. He was the first who had to die. Then, the second target was Sergeant Major Gross. Gross was affiliated to the Security of the Training Center and the Mansion, but he was also known for his rude conduct toward the servants and the recruits. Few people inside that walls, knew that he used to be responsible for the security of Paradise Island, before to be moved in the training center, one year before the incident. He could be a problem, because he knew too much things.Their face and their name.Calvi, General Calvi, the leader of Security forces, hired to guard the training center and the mansion. Dead him, dead all the security men, Tybur Industries would be left defenseless. They were the only men, other than the ‘Warriors’, able to fight a certain kind of… enemies. ‘He’’d already occupied of the armory in both the training center and in the Mansion, thanks to ‘his’ own ‘alleys’, which meant that no further ammunitions for their weapons, or gas or medical sprays. Once their ammunitions were ended, they would only have to pray to die soon. Erwin Smith wasn’t one of the target, but she knew he was investigating on the Industries, and ‘he’ made some research about the blond man and he knee he was skilled, cunning, determinate to find answers, the perfect alley to take down an Empire worthy billions of dollars. Unfortunately, Lobov had hired someone to kill the blond man, that was bad, but ‘he’ knew who had been hired and get rid of them would be pretty easy. ‘He’ had predicted that Lobov’s greedy would push the man to do something stupid sooner or later, for example, stealing important project of Tybur Industries after the accident and selling them to opponent Corporations. Lobov knew that the incident happened on Paradise Island had cost more than the previous incident and that he was working for a corporation on the edge of failure, and Lobov was only loyal to himself and surely he didn’t want to crumble with Lord Tybur.Lobov could be a problem, he hadn’t sold anything relevant about the Ymir serum, probably he wasn’t even informed of his existence, but any risk was worth taken. If he sold any informations about the serum, there would be an high risk for other corporations to learn about the nucleus and that didn’t have to happen. For the moment, the nucleus must remain a secret inside the major members of the industries.In the end, there was only one target to kill that night. A mean to achieve a higher purpose, and the end always justified the means. For the moment, she had to know where there were the documents Lobov intended to steal. She knew who were his partners and he recognized one of them going toward the kitchens. The blonde one, Furlan Church, was going toward the kitchen whileLevi, his partner, had to kill Erwin. Erwin was more than capable of taking care of himself, the documents on the other end, whether they existed or not, couldn’t be stolen. They had to burn with this Mansion. When the last glass of champagne was taken, he quickly walked toward the kitchen, walking through a long corridor before to open the last door on the right side. The door leaded into a dark long corridor that ended with a grey door. She walked thought the corridor and opened the door and then entered in the luxurious kitchen, where the everyone was focus on preparing elegant plates to serve to the hosts. She couldn’t wait for the party to moved in the garden, where Tybur would came an tearful speech about how lucky she was to have all those puppets there that night and where the dinner would be served. Someone tried to pass her another tray but she completely ignored her, making the tray falling on the ground with the food and receiving a swore in return. She followed the blond man until they arrived in the servants’ room and waited few seconds, spying where the blond was going, when she noticed that the blond was composing a sort of combination with one of the padlock of one of the lockers. Suddenly, one of the locker moved, revealing something behind, probably a passage.She waited few minutes, before to come closer and then she concentrated. She was able to hear the heartbeat and the breath of the other. Furlan had stopped, but she couldn’t know if it was due to what was inside the room, or if she had noticed that someone was following him. She heard footsteps, Furlan had started to walk again. So she came close. She took a brief look of what there was and he found downstairs. So there were underground rooms in the Mansion too, ‘he’ was right.She ran through the stairs until she arrived in the basement, where there were three doors on each side and one large circular gage on the front. She entered inside but she could only make few steps before she felt something pushed against her temple.“Next time you want to follow someone, I suggest to be more discrete my lade, if there is a next time” She smirked “Furlan Church… you’re surely not an amateur”“You know my name, good, you should have remembered it before to decide to get in my way”She laughed “Congratulation then, you busted me, but before to kill me, shouldn’t you ask me how I found you ? How or why I know your name ?”Furlan furrowed and and held his gun tighter, putting his finger on the trigger. The young woman in front of him wasn’t wrong. He studied her with his grey eyes and he was sure he’d never seen her before. She was beautiful, raven hair, collected in a bun, light blue eyes, pale skin, dressed up like a waitress but he was sure she didn’t work there. There was also something rather disturbing and alarming about her, even thought he couldn’t figure it our what. There was simply something that put him on alert. “Would you tell me ?”“Are you asking ?” Asked the girl looking at him, putting her forehead against the gun, without trying to move away “Are you trusting ?”“I don’t trust anyone but my instinct.”“What a cunning boy you are” giggled the other “I can easily say I’m your backup plan.”“Backup… plan ?” Asked Furlan confused.The girl smirked again “Did you really think that Lobov would have bet his future career only on a group of little delinquents ? In case of failure, I will accomplish your tasks and give him the documents and kill Erwin Smith” she answered.“So, you decided to kill me first in order to obtain whatever reward Lobov promised to you, am I right ?”“Please, If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it before. I worked for Lobov, which means I’m an employee of Tybur Industries as well. If I kill a man tonight, my boss would do anything in his power to protect me. What about you ? Would he protect you ?”“Why are you telling me this ?” Asked Furlan.“To make you understand how beneficial could be for you if you lower your gun. I’m not here to prevent you from accomplish your mission, I’m here to guarantee you do it.” She raised her hands “I’m disarmed and I do not intend to hurt you…”Furlan smirked “Sorry, my lady, but I cannot trust you” He shot her right in the head and watched her body fell lifeless on the floor, the blood started to run along her face, a puddle of blood began to form on the floor. A pity, she was really beautiful, but he couldn’t trust anyone, not when his life and Levi and Isabel’ were on the line. That was probably the most dangerous task of their life and they hat to take any precaution. He turned around and walked toward the large gate. It could be opened only by composing a numeric password. “3…9…8…0…0…1”The gate was unlocked and it opened, revealing the archives. A room riches of shelves full of documents, sheets scattered on the floor and others still placed in boxes. Finding the documents for Lobov wouldn’t be so easy.“Well, I have to start somewhere”…11:30 pmLevi didn’t plan to waste so much time to put a bullet inside Erwin’s head that night, but for the moment he couldn’t go anywhere, he’d been caught, but strangely Erwin didn’t try to run away. He was still holding a gun with one hand and checking on Erwin time to time. The blonde looked too much relaxed for his taste. Like he already knew that, not matter what happen, he would get out unharmed from that situation. They arrived in the studio at the second floor, Levi locked the door and pointed the gun toward Erwin again. Erwin, like he barely remembered his presence in the same room and the gun, came closer to the window and observed the hosts getting out in the garden, in their fancy clothes, laughing and chatting, ignorant that probably a man would have been dead in that room, in that Mansion, where they were celebrating. The world was so curious, fate even more. In the same place and night, a man was going to lose his life, into a Mansion full of people, and the funny things was that no one would come for helping him and there was so much silence in that room, that not even the music played by the orchestra, the laughs and chats of the guests could reach them.It was like he and Levi were locked inside a bubble of silence and wait, like the world stopped in those four walls.“Which one of them ?” He asked.“Which one of them what ?” Asked Levi.“Sent you to kill me. Since I’m going to die soon, I want to know who is holding the gun”“I am”“No, you’re the gun, someone’s holding you. Who ?”“What does it matter ?” Asked Levi.“Why doesn’t ? People who has no idea of their parents are, struggle all their life to give themselves an identity, to know who started their lives. Why couldn’t I have the same curiosity about who’s going to end it ?”“You make too much questions”“Because I hope to find answers. Never give up on finding answers, answers are truth, without truth we’re nothing but animals that wanders blind in this world.” Said Erwin.“Well, I’ve been called worse than blind ‘animal’, I don’t know about you… But this is my only chance to change my life forever… and I won’t fail”“What have been promised to you ? Money, workplace… a normal life ? Are you sure you can trust your contact ?”“Don’t worry about me, mind your own business”Erwin laughed. He knew the guy like Levi too well. Scoundrels from the underground convinced that knowing how to fight and shoot was enough to help them to swim with sharks. It was clear they had no idea how Tybur Industries could be dangerous and how dangerous was each member. They had no idea that, whoever sent them, had the intention of turning them into guinea pig, ready to used for experimentation.“What do you know about me, Levi ?”“Nothing much, you were a cop, then you quitted and disappeared and now someone wants you dead.”“It’s not the first time Tybur Industries send someone to kill me. I’ve always wondered why any hit man only try once and never again”Levi narrowed his eyes, he understood the direction Erwin was trying to take and he didn’t like it. That prick thought he could manipulate him, but he was wrong. Levi knew that Lobov wasn’t worthy of trust, but that was their only chance to change their life forever. If he failed… he would fail Furlan and Isabel as well. There was no other choice, not for him at least. He looked at Erwin, he studied him, he wondered about how many possibilities the other man could offer to him, how many informations he knew about the Tybur Industries, why the blond man was so convinced any of its members to be so dangerous. For Levi, Erwin was a dangerous man as well. The blond looked like one of those men who pulled the strings of all the population, able to turn the entire world in the stage of their own intrigues, connected it with their web of lies.His eyes could be as well the ones of a snake, the eyes where you could find thousands lies and truth, each one of them could be appealing at the right moment, enough to allow the snake to wrap you around his coils. “What do you know about Tybur Industries ?”Levi rolled his eyes then he shot against the wall, close to Erwin “I don’t care about the industries. I only care about myself. Putting my nose in business that don’t regard me could put me in danger, you should know it better than me”Erwin smirked. Nothing clouded the mind more than the doubt. It was enough a little drop of doubt, to put in motion a mechanism that could lead a person toward the madness or toward the truth. Erwin didn’t have problems with sharing information or even part of his mind with the world, if it meant dominating it. “If I don’t, then the Tybur Industries will never stop”“Listen, I get that Tybur Industries are dangerous, but any empire is built on lies and crimes, why are you so obsessed with Tybur’s ?”“Human Experimentation” said Erwin without hesitation. “You can’t be so sure… Do you have any proof ?” Asked Levi, trying not to show his fear.“Do you have any proof that can prove the contrary ?” Asked Erwin in return.Levi rolled his eyes, he didn’t have time for this, he had a mission to accomplish and no more time to waste. He needed to keep his focus, he needed to kill Erwin before the blond managed to run away forever. That was an important opportunity given to him, who knew when he would manage to be alone in a room with the blond man. It was useless lying to himself, there was no other way for him, if he hoped to have a new life.“It’s such a fancy party, isn’t it ?” Asked Erwin opening the window next to him.Levi held his gun tighter and held his breath, ready to shot.1…2…“I will better join it” said Erwin, who winked at the other man, before to jump elegantly from the window.“SHIT !” Screamed Levi shoot, but failing to hit the target. He didn’t run close the window, people would probably see him and for the moment he didn’t need to have more attention on himself. “Fuck !!” He screamed before to get out of the room and start running. It didn’t have to happen, that was an unforgivable mistake. Lobov was one of the guests at the party, he had to see Erwin jumped from the window and he wasn’t dump enough to simply think the blond wanted to make an entrance. He ran, ignoring the pain of his legs, ignoring the need of breathing, ignoring the sudden headache and the doubts that were starting to contaminate his mind.Could they trust Lobov ?Could they trust someone of those cannibals ?Could they be sure that the Industries wasn’t involved as well other than Lobov ?What if that party was a giant trap to locked them and Erwin and killed them in one night ? Lobov’s proposal, that used to be so alluring, now seemed nothing but a liar.Maybe he should simply take Isabel and Furlan and get out of there, trying to find a new way to start a new life. Didn’t they deserve a chance ? The underground was cruel father, that gave nothing to their children but, like a parasite, absorbed, consumed and putrefied everything from them until that they were empty shell. Levi didn’t want to be one of them, he had the fight right down his core and if the price to pay was blood, then let it be. He was ready to fight.The clock was ticking and he had a head to blow up with a bullet. …12:00 ‘What the hell is happening ?’, Isabel thought when she saw, together with the other guests, Erwin Smith jumping from a window of the second floor and landing elegantly on the ground. How could he be still alive ? Why hadn’t Levi killed him yet ? He jumped from the second floor, where Levi was supposed to kill him. Levi had never failed before, his anikì never failed, so how… why…“That Erwin Smith knew how to make an entrance” commented one of the guests, while other were applauding the blond, others simply ignored him and other again seemed disturbed by that little show.Someone elbowed her, making her understand that she had to move.The party moved to the garden few minutes ago, some guests had just taken places and were waiting someone to serve them their meal.Isabel sighed, her task was to keep Lobov under control, in case he did something suspicious. Furlan wanted to run away with the documents and Isabel had to be sure that they could leave the Mansion without any obstacle posed from Lobov. It sounded more like an impossible mission but she, Levi and Furlan had gone through bad experience and done worse to survive. She was supposed to serve the area where had been collocated the recruits. Far enough from Lobov to keep an eye on him, not too far not to be able to control him. The perfume of freedom had never felt so real, not for a daughter of street like her, a stray dog eaten alive by other’s voracity. With nothing but tatters to cover herself, always dirty and smelly because she found her food in the junk. Where she used to believe that, someday, her parents would have come back to save her and taken her home. She didn’t know that in that world she would be better learn how to fight alone. People could call her theft, delinquent, stray dog, she was simply what she was doomed to be. She was in a place surrounded by people she despised with her rotten heart. Pearls, diamonds, sapphires.She served the first meal.Expensive cologne, false smiles, maybe even more expensive than the lipsticks on them.She poured the wine in the drink of a lady with a beautiful red dress.Blond hair, bored light blue eyes, she seemed that she barely paid any attention on the people around her. Maybe she could afford the sweet privilege of indifference.She was going to serve another table, when the blond girl grabbed her tight by her arm. Isabel sighed and turned toward the girl, she was going to ask politely to be free but when her eyes met the other’s she froze.Those impenetrable ice sheets were penetrating her, trying to find a way to brake inside her mind, to find where there was the error. What was wrong with her. “Forgive my manners, I wanted simply thank you” said the blond girl grinning the glass of vine with the other hand.“Annie has weird ways to demonstrate her gratitude, everyone here knows it. Probably you don’t because you’re new, aren’t ya ?” Asked the girl with long dark hair sat at her side. Isabel gulped. She hoped to remain calm, not to reveal anything on her face.Yes, I’m new.Yes, it’s my first day.Yes, now please excuse I have to go.Yes… yes… yes… so many yes were ready to be pronounced, but she simply couldn’t voice any of them, not while the blond girl was still piercing her with her glacial eyes and the raven hair one had smart smile on her face, the typical one of someone who had just solved a challenging riddle. “Yes, now excuse me” she simply said going away.It was only when she was far enough that she realized she had been holding her breath. …12:20 pm’So Erwin is still alive… good…’ thought a shadow hidden behind the stage set up for the speech of President Tybur. Mr Tybur hadn’t got out in the garden yet, so he could only wait. At least Erwin Smith was there, that was important. In all his tricks, manipulation and lies, Erwin Smith was an honest man. Once he had a goal to achieve, he remained loyal to it, until the end. If he decided to take down the Tybur Industries and put all his members in prison, he would do it, at any cost, even of his own humanity. He needed a man like that, a man who fiercely believed that mean justified the end, that any man was worthy of being sacrificed.A man who believe the entire world being a cruel whore, that gave birth to mad and misshapen children, incapable of loving each other’s diversity, incurable of forgive anyone who dared to be different.He didn’t even look at the people who were drinking, eating and chatting with himself. Empty talks, fake smiles, beautiful masks. He believed to be the only one who actually knew everyone of them for real. He knew them, he wanted them dead, all of them, without any exception. In front of his eyes, in his mind, there were dead voices and whispers that told him everything he needed to know.No one would say that there was something that connected him with those people, in their elegant suits. No one would dare to imagine the storm he was going to set off on them.The funny thing was that there would be people who were going to cry for them, to miss them, to laugh for their dead. In a way or another, they would survive, they would remember. Shadows, ghosts, shapes who had shaped a monster in their imagine and likeness.The world so easily forget that behind a monster, there was always a Doctor Frankenstein; that where was Hyde, that was a Jekyll as well. He would make the world know and then, he would come back to his mother.Paradise Island, his cradle and grave, was already recalling its children.… 12:50 PMMr Tybur knew he was late for his speech, but he had given order to serve his guests, to start the dinner without him. He needed a moment to stay alone with his soul, if he still had one. He was in one of the bathroom at the first floor, he had already cleaned his hands for the fourth time, trying to wash away the only thing no soap could eliminate, his secrets. He knew that most of the council members were planning to get rid of him and continue to lead the Tybur Industries on their own. He knew that Lobov had hired someone to steal the documents in the underground archives. He knew that he would be dead soon, now he knew it, now he realized it. Maybe the Tybur Industries would survive, but not him. Few minutes with his guests had been enough to make him realized it. No one of them was willing to still believe in him, in his idea, in his ideals about a better human existence. To become something more, to transcend.Because to live wasn’t enough, never was, not for him, not for a man that for a moment had tasted the sweet victory over the death. He looked at his human involucre and he despised it. He despite his human condition, he despite seeing his empire crumbling in front of his eyes. He wished all of them to die, he wished to put an end on his misery. Paradise Island was nothing but a sinful stain of his story, or maybe was the contrary. Maybe Tybur was only a little paragraph of Paradise’s story, he would never know.He smiled and counted the victims of Paradise Island, that line any mother was recalling it children. He was actually content that he didn’t have no longer fight this war, though, this drama belonged to his legacy. He only conceded a single tear before to leave his hideout and went in the garden. He came closer to the orchestra and made sign to one of the violinist to follow him on the stage. The young man nodded and followed him on the stage. Will whispered something to him, then the young man started playing the ‘Devil’s Trill Sonata’, while Will went on the stage, grabbed the microphone and smiled at his public.“Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you all for coming tonight. I…” he paused “… I…. I wished I had happier things to say, but the truth we all know that Tybur Industries are going through hard times. People who believed in me are dead, people who wants me dead are alive and now are here, eating my food, drinking my vine… applauding at my misery… ah ah ah” he laughed “Well, I don’t hold any grudge, I knew I was sailing a drowning ship, but you know what…” he said looking at his sister, sitting at the closest table to the stage “… the real matter was not if I die or not by the hands of any of you, but how many of you… will follow me in Hell…”He smirked when he looked at his sister and saw her nodding in his direction. Meanwhile the notes of first movement, larghetto affettuoso, accompanied him toward the prologue of his own tragedy. The first movement began gently and reflective, with languid double stops and flowing violin melody line filled with tasteful embellishments that made the entire moment beautifully dramatic, and sweet. Like sweet could only be the sentence for a condemned. Like sweet was the moment where the deal was stipulated.Few datas, so many failures and his signature that appeared on any paper or documents of Ymir Serum, definitive, like death, for any of guinea pigs who had died in one of his laboratory. He could hear their screams, feel their agony, taste their blood on his tongue and nevertheless, he wanted to simply laugh because damn he was a cruel man. He was a cruel man, like cruel was the entire humanity. A soul tormented by his own devils, ready to drag him in Hell. People could despite him, blame him, could turn his name into a blasphemy and yet he did regret nothing.“Did you know the story of Devil’s Trill Sonata of Tartini ? He dreamed this wonderful sonata in one of his dream, the Devil itself played it for him in change of his soul. Never like now I understand Tartini, even though I only now realize that I sent my soul to the Devil a long time ago… But do you want to know my story ?”Allegro Moderato…His sister stood up and came closer to the stage, smiling at the other guests. Will instead looked at his ‘colleague’, who were looking at him like he had three heads. Probably some of them were ordering whether he’d lost his mind, probably he had. Probably he’d never been sane, to start. What a sane man would invest all those money, including his own humanity, on a serum that still had low chance of success and that couldn’t be put on the market without risking prison. The truth was that they were all wolves in cage, that their hunt was over and it was time to left the place to stronger predators.“Do you want to know the story of a man who made a deal with the Devil ? No ? Well, you’re here, aren’t ya ? Grant my wish then. Let me tell you the story of a man who has ripped the heart of thousands man with these bloody hands, who has turned something breakable into something no one of your mediocre minds could ever imagined. I created immortality”He paused. His sister grabbed his hand and kissed him on his cheek. He smiled her back before to continue.Meanwhile, Erwin Smith had been observing attentively the entire scene. Although the Devil’s Trill Sonata was being played wonderfully, there were some discordant notes that made everything more sinister, more wrong.Erwin wasn’t able to figure it out if he was looking at the President of Tybur’s Industries, or a man, or a monster, or all of them.After all what was a monster ? Monster was something strange or singular, contrary to the usual course of nature.And what was a man ? Wasn’t a man an eternal contradiction of natural laws ?Could the President be both ?What was the mean of all this ? Was Will Tubyr finally show the man, the monster and the President to the world ? The man who made the deal with the Devil. The monster with blood on his hands, The President who finally admitted to have build an empire on blood, sins and wreckage. Was Tybur his contact ? Was that the truth he had to see ?Andante…“… Human race has been submitted by fate, illness, hunger and thirst for far too long. The time to brake the chains of our mortality it’s come and I want you all to remember who showed you the way toward the greatness. Nothing after tonight will be able to stop the human race, because ladies and gentlemen, this world is nothing but a buffet for the strongest. There’s an alimentation chain that will be the only one rule in a world of…”“We should kill him, he’s revealing too much” commented Lobov to Theo Magath, sat next to him.Theo Magath didn’t know what to do. Mr Tybur had never been an ordinary man, but he seemed to be delusional on that stage. There were people who didn’t belong to Industries’ staff, people who couldn’t learn the truth about Ymir serum. “We can’t kill him in front of the other people” replied Magath.…The person behind the stage was observing the entire scene with renewed interest. Surely that party revealed to be more interesting that he’d anticipated, but Mr Tybur was stealing his show now. The President was supposed to make one of those annoying speeches about how scientific development was able to improve humans’ life and how he was glad to help humanity to survive, to help people stay healthier. Lies, lies and lies. He wanted to start the operation but he was curious to know the role of Mr Tybur’s sister in all that.He could sense something strange, in her, something running through her veins, then he realized.She was a daughter of Paradise Island, but she betrayed it, and her people. She was there, drinking and eating and applauding the people who had hurt her own kind.She was a parasite who had stolen from them, from him, from the Nucleus, who wouldn’t hesitate to erase Paradise in order to make her brother happy, if she had to.She wasn’t one of them, but a target that had to be eliminate. ’There’s someone here… like us… but she lives with them, she acts and behaves like them… She needs to be eliminated… I will eliminate her’He knew the other would ‘hear’ him. He and his siblings were connected by a bound no one and nothing could understand, a bond able to brake the rules of time and space. …12:55 Allegro assai- The movements began fast, dissolving into repeated, modular violin melody over an intensifying accompaniment.Lobov, Magath and other members were getting more and more agitated.“You can’t be God, without being the Devil and I don’t want to die leaving behind a positive opinion of myself. Because I believe, without any shame, that I earn the right to be a God, a right that no one of you worms deserves to have and yet you attempt to take away from me…”Isabel had no idea what the hell was happening in that garden. Mr Tybur looked like he was prey to delusions. He was babbling about God, immortality and human race like one of those homeless who predicted the end of the world. It was scaring. The worst was that, somehow, most of the people seemed to know perfectly what Mr Tybur was talking about and they looked worried, scared, even. She wanted to get out of there, she had the sensation that something terribly was going to happen and she didn’t want to be there when the storm began. She looked at Erwin Smith, who hadn’t sat on his place at the table, but was looking Tybur apart from anyone else, like he didn’t actually belong there, like he wasn’t part of that scenario, but only a mere observant, and Erwin was observing everything.He was observing Magath looking at his own recruits, He was observing Lobov talking heavily with the men close to him and looking at Tybur with fear.He was observing Tybur becoming more and more delusional.There was something symbolic in the entire scene, the tumult, the mad man, the madness that took shape and was ready to show itself in the most unexpected way.It was almost like everything had been orchestrated to arrive at that point. Like someone had just finished to prepare his side of an invisible chessboard, where all his pawns were ready to be used to kill or be killed ti fight a war the blond couldn’t still understand.What was his role in that play ? The commander ? The murderer ? Or the victim ? What were the roles of the other people ? It was like seeing all those people for the first time. Like Devil himself had come to stake all the masks off their faces. That music, those word, everything… was nothing but a call. A call for what ? Who was the schemer behind all of this ? Was his contact ? Was the person he was supposed to fight against ? One true remained, all the people in the garden had a role in a drama that was just began, that would cost blood, victims and maybe their own soul. What was the plot ? He was a character of a story he didn’t know the title of. Was it a tragedy ? Was it a thriller ? Could it end with an happy ending ?…12:57Andante- Furlan was smirking and complimenting himself. He had found the folders Lobov was interested on and he couldn’t believe his eyes when he read the content. He thought well when he planned to steal those documents for himself. With those in their hands, he, Levi and Isabel would finally have the live they deserved. Those documents were the key for a bright future, for them, stray dogs, outcasts, abandoned children that world had given birth only to let them rot in the streets. Now those outcasts were ready to restart their life.“Fuck you” he muttered putting the documents inside his jacket and raining the zipper.Tomorrow they would start a new life, they would start living like persons and no more like beasts. They would have a roof on their heads, food in their fridge and a real bed where to sleep.“Found something interesting, honey ?” That voice made him stopped.“It can’t be…” he muttered.The girl he’d shot… was alive, in front of him. Furthermore her forehead was completely healed, there was no sign that could indicate someone had shot her. How could it be possible ? Was that girl infected with the serum mentioned in the documents ? So Ymir serum existed, in front of him there was a living proof of that and if he managed to persuade the girl to forgive him or come with him, his future would be even better than originally planned.“Don’t waste energy in thinking how to persuade me to forgive you. Kneel” said the girl looking at him with piercing eyes.The eyes of a lioness ready to eat her victim, ready to claim her own hunting territory, the queen who was ready to fight for her own treasure.“What ?”“If you have ready the documents, and I know you have, you would know by now that you will better not joke with me. Kneel and beg for forgiveness”Furlan gulped. He didn’t want to kneel before that monster. If she was really one of those… things, then he really hoped she would die soon. How Tybur Industries managed to create those monsters without anyone knowing it was a mystery and it was also horrible. What they had done to those people was horrible, even for someone like Furlan. The problem was that now, one of those monster was there with him. He didn’t think she would dare to turn now, risking to make the entire Mansion collapsing. He couldn’t be sure, he couldn’t be reckless anymore.He’d already killed her once and he was ready to bet on everything that she was seething and wanted nothing more than to rip him limb after limb. So he kneeled and raised his hands.“Better…” she muttered “Now, be a gentlemen, give me the documents”“What would you do with them, since they practically talked about you ?” Asked Furlan.“That’s none of your business, know your place” said the girl coming closer to him and grabbing him by his throat “On your knees”“I know my place in this world pretty well, my lady.” Said Furlan growling “Do you know yours ?”The woman smirked, then she caressed his check, before to lower her hand until she started to unzip his jacket to take the documents. “Good boy” she muttered kissing his cheek.Furlan repressed an expression of contempt. The woman smiled.“What do you hope to accomplish ? A new life ? To get out from that dump you’re living with the other two rats ? More tea vita mea ? Did I have to die so you can live happier tomorrow ?”“You’ve no idea what it means living like rats in the streets, running away from police, sleeping on cold floor… I earn the right to live a better life”“Your background doesn’t allow you to steal from someone the possibility of a better life. I offered you my hand, I wasn’t even arm, you could have only hit me. I wouldn’t have hurt you, risking to reveal my nature” said the girl tighten her grip around his throat.Furlan remained still, but he opened his mouth instinctively, gasping for air. He knew that physically he stood no chance against that monster. The girl wasn’t human, was… something else. There was no point in trying to grab his gun, it wouldn’t work anyway, it would probably made the girl angrier and she was already holding him by his throat. He didn’t even want to imagine how quick those fingers could squeeze his throat. How many throats had been squeezed by her ? Who looked so pretty, so delicate, so sensual defenseless… but lethal. She was a black widow.“I learnt the hard way not to leave no one behind. It was nothing personal, I simply want to survive, to life, to start a new life with the people I love and finally forget about the streets, the smell of junk, the despise expressed on people faces when they looked at us… Who would blame me ?” “Ma chérie…” said the girl licking his lips “I understand you. Everyone’ve been thought Hell, because in this world no one of us is safe, nowhere. I’m sorry it must to end like this”Furlan smiled. He’d already knew that he wouldn’t get out of that mess alive. It was so clear that the girl wouldn’t have mercy on him, he accepted it, he was used to it, to people’s cruelty toward him. How could he be so naive to think he could start a new life ? That something good would finally happen to him ? That his ambitions would come true and that he would become rich someday. Rich enough to buy Isabel expensive clothes, to buy himself cars, to allow Levi to buy watches. A nice home with garden and pool. A life where he was treated like a human being, with respect. Now he knew, that his ambitions, hopes and dreams would die with him.“We fight for our dreams and we lose, that’s the rule of a world of defeats, find consolation in this” said the girl squeezing “We’ve been both defeated by our own fate”It was so sad for Furlan… he was born on his knees before the world and so he was giving himself to the death, defeated, on his knees, like a slave. Like he had been for his whole life. The girl was right, he had fought until that moments for dreams that could never come true, because it was the world itself that was doom to lose against the darkness.‘Goodbye friends’.It was the last thing he could think about before his head blew up and his headless body fell on the ground.The raven hair girl looked at the body for few seconds, before to take the folders in her hand and sighed.“More blood… for this unworthy world” she whispered closing the door of the basement with her hardening skills. …Allegro assai 12:59Levi was almost trip on his foot when he finally arrived in the garden, where there were the other guests where, he didn’t know, the tragedy of their life was slowly coming out, joining their futures forever, on the notes of Devil’s whispers.The symphony of their doom.He was searching for Erwin, until he saw him. The blond wasn’t looking at him. Levi cursed his luck, he couldn’t kill the blond now, in front of all people, not matter how distracted they were by Tybur’s delusions. “What the hell was happening here ?” He muttered.“… I have but one regret… that I won’t be able to see you all dying… But my sister…” he said taking his sister’s hand “… Will avenge me and with her the era of a new world will begin”“I love you” whispered Tybur “Do what you have to do”Her sister nodded “Brother… you have fulfilled your duty as a Tybur, now I will fulfill mine”With those words she kissed her brother on the cheek, surrounding his neck with her arms and then quickly snapping it. A dead Will Tybur fell on the ground among the horror of the other guests. She smiled with melancholy. She didn’t want to do it, but it was her brother’s wish, then she had no regret. Allowing herself one tear, she bite her finger and prayed God to be blessed. …00:00A thunder illuminated the shape of the man behind the stage, who had observed everything in silence, contemplating his chessboard and the battlefield he organized. All the pieces were finally where they were supposed to be and even better, his face could rain in the shadow for little more time.It was fine for him, the Hell he was going to bring could have someone else face, but he would come back to reclaim his throne and then…“I might destroy the world… I’m the bad guy… and I will kill you all… I will kill you all…”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
PARADISE ISLAND 2089…
“We should… finish… don’t… when… the effects…”
Who was talking ? Why couldn’t he move ? There was something cold around his wrist, he could feel it on his skin. Why could he feel it on his wrist ? Why couldn’t he move it ? Or any other limb of his body ? He wanted to move, he wanted to know whether he was alive, or he was dying or where he was. Who was muttering those words ?
What was he doing to him ? What were they doing ?
The last thing he could remember was that he was lying awake on his bed, before those men, with bulletproofs and masks came inside his room and pointed at him those threatening black things. He would better ask the name of those things next time his dad came to visit. He could smell chemicals stuff… Succinycholine… as dad once explained to him… Mivacurium… maybe… Rocuronium… Metocurine… Alcuronium… all muscle relaxants used on patients to render them unconscious, to facilitate intubation or surgery by paralyzing skeletal muscle.
They had tried to make him unconscious but his dad told him that his body easily eliminated every medicine given to it. He didn’t understand what his dad was trying to say, at the time. Now he did. He wasn’t completely conscious but neither unconscious, he could feel the cold thing around his wrist and he could feel a needle penetrating the skin of his arm. He could hear clearly the movements of people around him, keeping in their hands tools he couldn’t identify in that moment , not that he would be able to give them a name anyway.
“He… pain… activate…”
Who was talking ? What about pain ? He was so scared. He wanted them to stay away from him. He was screaming at them that he was scared, why were they refusing to listen to him ? Those guys with masks, with white coats and gloves. What were they doing to him ? He wanted to go to his mom and dad. Where were mom and dad ?
“He… can’t… pain..” Said one, a woman.
“He… not… human… never… continue…” replied another man.
‘Not… human ?’ He thought. How could he be not human ? He was alive, he was made of flesh, blood, he had same face of those people. Why wasn’t he human ? What was wrong with him ? Why couldn’t they stay away from him ? He was alive. His father told him so. He told him that he was ‘special’, that if he was a good boy, he would bring another book to his room, that they would read it together. His father told him he was unique, a miracle for the world. Why wasn’t he human ? Where was his dad ? He told him that his were simple routine checks, because he was special and doctors needed to be sure he remained to be special. He didn’t want to be special if he had to find himself alone with those people that put needles in him and treated him like an animal. He wanted to be normal. He wanted his mom.
“We… samples… subject… serum”
“Hurry… agitating… time…”
“Almost… over…”
‘Almost over’ he repeated in his head, to remain calm, not to be afraid. He closed his eyes and thought about the sky. He’d never seen it, but books described it as blue and infinite and he imagined it and to be a bird that flied with his wings, free and happy, like he hoped to be one day.
…
MARLEY 2097… 9 SEPTEMBER Pain: is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that it associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in such terms. Lyla Tybur was experiencing both. Unpleasant sensory experience associated with tissue damage. Magath lied to his recruits, about pain. He told them they would get used, eventually. That one day, they would get used to the painful sensation of the bones of their body breaking and connecting again. They would get used to their synapses sending electrical signals that create an energy that literally separated every single cell, fiber or atoms of their body and then reconnected. They would get used to the initial stun in their head, the loss of memory, the primordial instinct that constantly fought to prevail over their rationality. Because that was what the pain triggered in them, it turn them in beasts and for the brain and their consciousness was so unacceptable that they fought to to eliminate those memories. The broken bones, the monstrous aspect and the the constant pain.But now that her dear brother was dead, pain was everything she had and she would use it to kill all her enemies and carry on Will’s goals.So she bite, strong, her hand, until she could taste her own blood inside her mouth and then the neurons in her brain caused the synapsis that spread all over her body. And soon she was no longer human. She turned herself in the War Hammer Titan. … ‘Found ya…’ think that figure behind the stage. Lord knew how long he’d been looking for the War Hammer Titan. Accordingly to the datas and documents on Paradise, War Hammer Titan was the only one of his kind. A titan created appositely for Tybur’s sister. It was created using the nucleus and something else that he hadn’t figure it out yet. It was the only tyrant he wasn’t able to control, not completely, not yet. There was something in it that permitted it to resist his control and that itself made Lyla Tybur more dangerous. She needed to be killed, but not before he managed to steal her Tyrant. He needed a diversion… he didn’t expect it, but if the War Hammer Titan was, the queen of his enemy, on the board, he was ready to sacrificed his first horse to get it. ‘Set the training center on fire, we start from there’ he ordered.
‘Roger’
The training center had to be the first to blow up. He knew from his informants that there was an arsenal in the Mansion too, but less rich, less organized and it was too far to reach from the garden, only Mr Tybur and live 10 employees could access. Mansion could wait, training center, not. “I hope you appreciate fireworks, my lady” he said smirking. Few seconds later, the first explosive blew up the west side of the training center, one minute later, the same happen on the west side area, until the entire building blew up in flames. According to his informers, inside there there were about 30.000 people, including the the staff other than the army and the recruits. All people… who were dying burned alive in front of his eyes. “Outstanding” he commented “A world forged in fire is the only one able to withstand the cold of death” … ‘What do I have to do ? I have the documents with me. I wait for further instructions’ She was running out of the the corridor, after killing any person who was in the kitchen, any possible witness that could cause trouble for her. Nothing and no one had to be underestimated at the moment, not when there was so much at stake. She knew that some recruit was probably trying to reach the armory inside the mansion, but preventing them wasn’t part of her mission.
‘I may know how to take down the War Hammer Titan, you can go. Marco’s waiting for out out of the Mansion’
“What about you ?’ She asked.
“Don’t worry about me. The mission is everything that matter.’
She nodded, even though her interlocutor couldn’t actually see her. He was right, that she needed to stay focused, any of them knew how to take care of them. No one had to step out of line or the possibility to succeed would diminish. Although… that didn’t stop her to have her own fun. She a small group of people running. Lord, how much she wanted to have a needle for each one of those worms, to use them like guinea pigs, to hold them down and break their spine.Wait… she actually could kill them and she did. Fast like light, she appeared in front of them and grabbed a bed by his neck, ignoring the gaps of the other people. She squeezed until the man’s head blew up. Blood and flesh flew in the air. That was a war and victims had to be expected. With one kick she managed to slip the body of a woman in two. She grabbed another man by the arm and threw him against the opposite wall strong enough to make his neck snapping due to the impact. All of them were nothing but prays ready to be killed. Faceless and worthless worms that didn’t deserve another day. That belonged to her people. “Why are you killing us ?” Asked a woman she was keeping still with her foot on her back. “Because your people had been preventing me too live for far too long and for me you all are guilty” “You’ll never… get… away with… this… a life earned… with blood… isn’t… a life” muttered the woman looking in her eyes, “Your people has been holding mine down for years, this is the day we rise and one day we will win” said the raven hair girl before to kill the woman. Then she used her hardening ability and killed all the remaining people with crystal darts. No one more was left. No more human, no more inferiors, and that was just the beginning. She had wanted to do this for so much time. She looked at the corps around her and yet she could feel nothing, she wasn’t happy, or sad, or satisfied. She simply needed to do it, to kill them. Because they were the enemy and the enemy had to be destroyed, that were the rules. Hide, survive, kill, steal, win. It was everything she knew, it was her reality.She went out the Mansion and ran along the garden. When she arrived in front of of the tall gates, she jumped and landed elegantly on the other sides of the gates. “Did you kill them ?” Asked a male voice near to her. “Is it a problem ?” Asked her narrowing her eyes “They would have died anyway” “Yes, Frieda, it is and no, they could have ran away. Not all humans are bad” “Bold words for a playtime… Marco” said Frieda challenging Marco with her eyes “Don’t forget what they did to us” Marco was an average height, with a broad muscular build. He had short hair, with adorable freckles on his gentle features and brown eyes. He was an idealist, and Frieda envied him and hated him with equal measure. She envied his compassion, his general forgiving attitude toward humans, and she hated him, for his kindness, for his blindness. How could he not see that humans were dangerous ? How could he not understand that they needed to fight with any mean for their freedom ? How could he not understand that the price for their freedom was blood ? That they needed to fight to win ? Fight, fight, and fight. “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that I have to turn off my rationality every time I see a human. We used to be humans too” “No longer anymore though and think about the situation, if they had run, they could have called someone or done someone that could ruin the entire operation” “What ? We are in a mansion in the middle of nowhere” “We can’t leave anything to chance. They could have called someone, they could have done anything…” “ Tybur is dead, his sister has turned in front of them, all the eyes are on them. We would had all the time to run away and so them” “I’m not going to apologize, Marco. Humans are the enemy” said Frieda passing over Marco. Marco grabbed her from the arm “There are lines, there have to be” Frieda smiled with melancholy “Not anymore” Marco sighed then he let Frieda go. There was no point in fighting. He and Frieda had been bickering over that since the time they met. There was a van in the nearby and they needed to get out of there as soon as possible and come back to Paradise. They all knew that as soon as the new spread, the first thing humans would do was attack Paradise and they needed to protect their home and they would. There were their people there in need of protection. When they arrived close to the van, Frieda stopped. “What’s wrong ?” Asked Marco opening a car door. “He told us to go, but I want to stay here, in case he needs me”“You shouldn’t, his predictions always happen” The driver’s door opened and a girl got out of the car. She was tall, slender, with dark hair styled into a ponytail and intimidating grey eyes. She was wearing a black leather suit, with tall boots and a white jacket. “What are you waiting for ? We need to hurry up” “Frieda wants to stay” answered Marco. “Do you ?” Asked the girl “He doesn’t want a backup plan, but we need to be careful. There’re other shifters in there” “She’s right too” said the girl. “Ymir, what if we all get caught ?” Asked Marco apprehensive. “It would happen the same thing if he get caught. We can simply hope to die quickly” answered Ymir “Get on, Marco. Frieda is more than capable to take care of herself” Ymir knew that once Frieda got something in mind, there was no way to make her change her mind. Also, Frieda was the most lethal of them all, except him. She was the best fighter and her Titan was second only to the Attack Titan. If there was someone who could defeat the Armored Titan and the Jaw Titan alone it was her. Also, Ymir was a little bit afraid of her. There was a certain… insanity behind her winter eyes. An elegant ferocity and a passion worthy of the bravest warrior. No one dared to go against her, no one dared to challenge her. She was the incarnation of the opposites, the point where all the contradictions crossed.Dark hair like the night, white skin like the snow.Gentle features for an aggressive expression.Light eyes for a dark hatred.A slender and female figure for a powerful Goddess that human had only the appearance. “Exactly” said Frieda giving Ymir the documents and coming back to the mansion. “We shouldn’t let her go” said Marco. “You should come with me and shut up” said Ymir closing the door. Marco sighed, knowing he was fighting a lost cause. He got on the car and then Ymir drove away. Paradise Island needed her children. … Reiner couldn’t believe that was really happening. One minute he was sticking listening boring people talking about themselves and the minute after Miss Tybur turned into a Titan in front of all them. The War Hammer Titan had no weak point and was extremely dangerous. His Armored Titan was strong, yet not strong enough and… “Man up, you’re thinking too much” commented Annie at his side before to bite her finger and turning into her female titan. He sighed. He was done with that, all of that. He didn’t want to turn anymore, he didn’t want to become a monster. He didn’t… not after… …
Reiner was feeling… confused and dizzy… it was due to the recent injection. He hated the collateral effects that always followed the injection. He could barely move, he could barely remember where he was.
He knew he was on strapped a bed in one of the bedroom in the underground rooms but it was like he didn’t know at the same time. Like his mind was split from his body. Like his mind was living a reality and the body another one. At that point, the nurse, Miss Muller, should be there with him, she was supposed to check on his parameters one last time before to let him go. Where was she ^ Where were the others ?
An unusual and terrifying silence surround him and filled the room. Why there was so much silence ? Where there were the others ? Did they leave him there alone ? No, it couldn’t be. At Marley, they needed his Armored Titan. Did someone decide to start an experiment on him ? It wouldn’t be surprising, but they always warned him before to do an experiment and there was always a soldier in the room with him, to intervene whenever he reacted badly at the experiment.
But now… there was no one.
‘Berthold… can you heart me ? Where… are you?’
He knew he shouldn’t used his telepathy, but he was still strapped on the bed and no one was coming to free him and he was getting worried.
His friend didn’t answer him, so he tried again, and again. He even tried with Annie but no one was answering.
His heart was beating faster and he was sweating. He used his armored ability to brake the straps, then he tried to stand up but due to the dizziness he fell on the floor. He tried no to scream, but the pain in his head was only getting worse, also he still didn’t feel completely in control of his body. He barely felt his legs and now he even noticed he couldn’t coordinate correctly the movements of his hands. The collateral effects of the injection were a pain in the ass.
“I nwet…”
Excellent, he couldn’t even speak correctly.
“Shict…”
He took a deep breath, then he closed his eyes. Generally the collateral effects didn’t endure more than five minutes after his awaken. He simply needed to calm down for some minutes more, then he would be okay. He took another deep breath and then got on his knees and grabbed his head with both his hands and started to count.
Exactly five minutes later, he was feeling the dizziness disappearing and basic motor functions slowly came back to him. Firstly, the fingers, until he could finally move both his hands coordinately. Slower was the recovery for his legs. He had to hold on the bed to stand up. He was still wearing his flannel trousers with the white shirt and he had no idea where were his clothes. He concentrated his hearing but he couldn’t hear anyone out there, no heartbeat or breath…
He was alone, in the underground. He tried no to panic, he needed to understand what the hell was going there and remember how he’d arrived there.
The procedure for the injections in the underground was to put a blindfold on his eyes and inject him with a serum that caused sleepiness. Apparently it happen before that a subject, after the injection, became aggressive and attacked everyone, only to run away. The subject also knew exactly where to go to escape. After that, precautions were taken for the future injections.
Reiner damned it. He took another deep breath then he got out of the room.
He noticed that the centrifuge and the mass spectrometer were empty, there were documents and pieces of glass shattered on the floor, there were computers, some had been destroyed, others showed matrix, datas he couldn’t understand. The floor under his feet was cold but he didn’t mind. The observation room was empty but there was a detail that quickly caught his attention… there was blood in the room. He could smell it. There was too much blood… he didn’t like it…
He used his powers to enhance his sight and it was then that he saw two nurses and five soldiers on the floor, with all the limbs ripped, some of them were unrecognizable because their assailant literally blew their head and there was blood, so much blood on the floor.
He gasped and instinctively put a hand over his mouth and had to hold on the controllers at his side not to fall back.
When did it happen ? Who was the culprit ? Why didn’t he or she kill him too ? Where was now ?
Whoever did that, it wasn’t human, it was needed a certain amount of strength to rip someone’s lib like that, so there were only two options to take into consideration: a subject escaped his cell and kill those people; there was a double-crosser who killed them.
Reiner hoped with all his heart that that was caused for someone’s negligence and not for a double-crosser. It had to be. Who would be so stupid to betray the Tybur Industries ? No one. He tried not to walk on the blood and quietly he got out that room too, until he found himself in the locker room.
The room was a mess, some lockers were on the floor, others had a detached door and could see red footprints on the floor and fingerprints on the lockers and the walls. The culprit had passed from there. Maybe it wasn’t even far.
“Let’s see if I find something to wear”
He used his strength to open some lockers, in one of them he find a jacket and a pair of boots. He wore them then he opened the door and found himself into a dark corridor. He mentally thanked his powers to be able to see the door at the other end of the corridor. He ran until he arrived at the end of the corridor, but when he opened the door he almost fell. It wasn’t a door, but an elevator, or it used to be an elevator at least.
“Shit !!” He screamed.
He had to come back and find another way to escape. He came back to the observation room and he noticed a red door on the left side of the room. He came closer to it an opened the door and saw the stairs. He began to run again. His mood was already sore because he had to change the path from the culprit and now he had no idea where to look for it. Hell, he only knew he was in one of the underground floor but he didn’t even know which one.
He could only keep running until he could find a door or something to escape. What was strange was that he hadn’t met anyone along the way and now he was really scaring. He ran until he found a door that lead to the Experimental Facilities. He knew that there would be Titans there, but he had no reason to be afraid of them. Those Titans lacked of any intelligence and were used as targets to train him and the other Shifters.
It was only when he arrived into another corridor that he could smell blood again and above all… he could hear screams.
He ran along the corridor until he entered in the Experimental Facilities and what he saw was… the Hell.
…
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock, typically involving disturbance of sleep and constant vivid recall of the experience, with dulled responses to others and to the outside world.
When he was found by the research team Rein was unable to see the world as he used to. Sometimes he didn’t even remember his name. Sometime he didn’t even remember his life before the Paradise’s event. Like his entire existence had been split up in two parts and he was unable to be the old Reiner and the new Reiner altogether. He was split up. He was broken and no armor could protect him anymore. He bite his finger but nothing happen, no sparks, nothing, because there was not motivation behind his gesture. There was no motivation that colored his life anymore. There was only insanity that corrupted his mind and the yield ready to put him on his knees in front of a world that had lost control over his creatures. “Reiner, what the hell is happening to you ? Turn yourself, now !!” Ordered Magath. “What’s wrong with you, you prick ?” Asked Pork shaking him by his shoulders. What was happening to him ? What was wrong with him ? He had the answer for no one of the questions. God only knew he wished he could figure it out how to survive another day. He wished he had something or someone worthy to wake up any morning for, but the truth was the death had been calling his name since the Paradise incident. Any cell of his being screamed at him to let go, because there was nothing that worked anyone inside him and it was better being brave enough to kill themselves, instead to let someone have the last word on your story, a word that you were ready to pronounce.His hand was still bleeding and he hoped he would bleed out, that the wound wouldn’t regenerate, that his body had chose to die, not to fight, to surrender with its spirit. “I can’t… I can’t…” “What the hell…” Magath cursed his luck. He looked at the two Titan, who were fighting against each other. Annie was the most skillful and talented fighter of her unit, but her Titan couldn’t match the Armored Titan, no one could. The Armored Titan was the most lethal of all the titans, the only one capable of creating any kind of weapons and that could generate itself from the feet, which meant that cutting its nape would be useless. The only chance they had is to recuperate the weapons from the armory of the center. “Magath !!” A voice screamed his name. Erwin Smith. Shit. What the hell was he doing there ? What was the point of inviting him there ? Had Willy Tybur planned this since the beginning ? To kill himself and reveal the world the dark side of Tybur Industries ? “Magath, what the hell is happening here ? What are those ?” “What do they look like to you ? They’re monsters, Titans. Congratulations, Smith. You have finally found what you’re looking for. The truth” “Not the fully one. What are you planning to do now ? A lot of people have died” said Erwin, more like to state a fact, with an impassive expression that didn’t reveal anything. “Since when do you care about people ? I’ve heard stories about you, stories that would frighten a terrorist” “Are you speaking about you and your colleagues ? How can we stop that… Titan ?” Asked Erwin. “Always the pragmatic ones, ah ? You don’t need to be informed about anything, I’ve everything under control” In that exactly moment, the Armored Titan kicked the female Titan against the Mansion and that part of the building got destroyed, killing all the people inside that area. Part if the guests who hadn’t run away in time, were now lying on the grass, dead. Some of them were unrecognizable, in their blood pool, where someone could barely distinguish fragments of bone and fabric of dress. There were limbs, arms and legs on the grass that used to belong to someone that would be soon forgotten. Those people used to have everything, fancy clothes, money, fame, a family, food in their fridge and now they would barely have a decent funeral ceremony and a body to bury. Levi used to envy all of them, now he was glad to be still alive. He was few steps away from Erwin, not daring to take his eyes off those two monsters. The only reason why he hadn’t run away was that he was looking for Isabel in that lump of rubble, dust and blood. There were so many women and men that were trying to escape that he couldn’t see Isabel, so he tried to came closer but someone grabbed his arm. “Where do you think you’re going ? The closer you go, the higher the possibility of being killed” said Erwin. “As if you care, let me go” ordered Levi. “Is the midget your new partner ? You fell down, literally” commented Magath. “Don’t waste breath on my partner, we need to get out of here,” said Erwin. “You should know better than anyone that a captain doesn’t let his ship sinking alone, he sinks with it. I have to stay here with my soldier and fight” “How are you going to stop them ?” Levi rolled his eyes, there were two persons he needed to find in that moment and keep safe. Two persons he hadn’t heart for hours at that point and now he was seriously getting worried. He tried to pass through the few people who were still running toward the Mansion. He needed to find Isabel at least. … He was internally snickering. It was the moment he was waiting for since the start of plan. He sent another signal, to blew up the latest bombs, where the serum was contained. The serum could spread quicker if inhaled through the airways. Those people would finally have a taste of the real sufferance, they would learn how painful could be when their bones would brake and regenerated and brake again. They would finally understand what it really meant when their body is ripped apart, then composed again, they would know the real meaning of being a monster.
‘Detonate the last bombs, my fellas. I will release Ymir serum in the garden. We need a backup also, I want someone to take Erwin Smith away from this. It’s an order’
He almost smiled when Frieda answered him. Not matter what he told her, she always did things her way, well she was more than capable of dealing with Erwin Smith. He knew the man was still alive. He only needed to remove Magath from the picture. He used his powers to control the Armored Titan inside Reiner. The control wouldn’t last long, specially while Reiner was in his human form, but it didn’t matter. He only needed few minutes.
‘Good pet, use your hardening ability to keep Erwin Smith away from the other people, then bit your hand and get in the game’
He was the Titan King, which meant that any Titan had to obey. … Reiner knew what there was something controlling him, he knew that it was happening the same thing happen on Paradise Island, when his mind and body had been dissociated, now it was no different, when he used his hardening ability to push Erwin and the raven hair boy away from them, creating a little barrier. A shameful barrier actually, but the lack of motivation and his depression prevented him from doing better. “What’s this ?” Asked Erwin. “You could have done a better job Reiner. Now, I want you all to…” Magath couldn’t finish the sentence when the Mansion and the Training Center nearby blew up.Magath mentally cursed. He and the others couldn’t retrieve the their weapons now, they could only relive on the ones they had and worst of that, Ymir serum had a strong smell. Magath had to learn how to recognize it, also he was injected with a vaccine, since it wasn’t part of the plan for him to become a Titan. He was immune, but most of the soldiers weren’t, most of there were designated to be injected and become Titan shifters. The guests didn’t have the vaccine in their veins and he could say from the strong smell that the Ymir serum was in the air and that. He saw green smoke coming from the stage at the center of the garden. “Oh my God, everyone cover their noses and run away !! RUN AWAY !! YMIR SERUM HAD BEEN RELEASED!!” He knew he shouldn’t have shouted the name of the serum aloud, but most of the people around him would be dead in few seconds. “Recruits, get the hell out of here and cover your nose !” He ordered at the recruits, who nodded and started running away. “REINER !! FOR CHRIST’ SAKE !! PUT YOUR SHIT TOGETHER, ANNIE NEEDS YOU !!!” He exclaimed kicking Reiner in his side “Du bist ein Krieger, denk daran ! In einer reihe stehen!” (You’re a warrior, remember that ! Get in line !) “Commander Magath !” Screamed one of the soldier nearby “What are your orders ?” He asked passing him a gas mask. “My orders…” he muttered. There wasn’t much to do at that point. He looked at Reiner, whose eyes were lost and trapped his mind into some nightmare, into a madness that was paralyzing him from the inside. Somehow, he was living again a past experience, maybe something that happen back in Paradise Island. Something terrible, something that had almost reduced Reiner to a mere human wreck. He looked up at Annie and he knew she wouldn’t last long.Annie was an amazing fighter, her Female Titan had a good level of stamina, but the War Hammer Titan was… something else entirely. It had no weak points, cutting his nape was useless since it regenerates from the feet and it could create weapons, like the spike it was using to impale one of the Female Titan’s leg. “My orders are as follows, take the recruits away, where they could be save, the armed soldiers stay and help the Female Titan.” “What about Erwin Smith ?” “Helping the Female Titan must be your priority. Soon the guests would turn into mindless titan, they would try to kill us. We have to neutralize them now, then we will help Annie killing the War Hammer Titan” said Magath. “Are these your orders ?” Magath nodded with determination “These are my orders." … “Someone’s trying to get us away, we need to…” said Levi, that was interrupted by someone behind him. “Commander !” said a voice. Both Erwin and Levi turned around and they saw someone with a mask, who was keeping two gas masks in both of the hands. It was a man tall, well built, who was dressed up in black. “Take them” the person said throwing at them the masks “We’ve received the message, what is that green gas ?” “I’ve the sensation we’re going to find out soon” said Erwin grabbing one of the gas mask and wearing it, then he passed the other to Levi “Wear it, before you breath that toxin” Levi blinked few times. Why the man he had tried to kill only few minutes ago, now wanted to help him ? People were weird, definitively, but now he couldn’t waste more time, he needed to find Isabel, to take her away from there. He turned toward the Mansion and, even if a part of him wasn’t ready to give up on his best friend, another part of him was slowly considering the possibility that Furlan died in the explosion and that maybe he would never see him again, but it didn’t have to be the same for Isabel, maybe she managed to run away, maybe she managed not to breath the toxin, maybe she was still in the garden… “Anikì !!” Someone screamed. Isabel was so glad that she finally found her anikì. She was so scared and she wanted nothing more than going away from that place and coming back home, where she would feel safe again. People around her, were coughing, were slowly fainting and she feared that that gas could be more than a simple toxin. Poor thing, didn’t know that she would find it out soon. Levi quickly turned around, coming little closer to the crystal darts, uncaring whether the recruits would try o not to kill him, he needed to protect Isabel, he had to. “Isabel !!” “Anikì !!” Isabel started to run faster but behind her there was a big explosion that made her fall on the ground. Levi tried to come closer her, but between him and Isabel, there were Magath, Reiner, who was having troubles controlling his hardening abilities and the rest of the soldiers who had lined up, ready to attack something that Levi couldn’t see.It was only when another explosion took place, and then an another, and an another, then he finally realized what was the real danger Magath and his soldiers were trying to defend themselves from. All the guests who hadn’t managed to run away in time from the toxin, were slowly turning into beasts, monsters, similars to the two who were fighting together but they were different at the same time. The expressions on their face looked… empty and dumb, without any intelligence. Their bodies were naked, without genital organs, or hairs, like bodies that had never reached even the puberty. Their head was slightly disproportionate to the rest of the body and had infantile features too and it was also difficult to define their sex. Apparently they all looked male.One of them started to running in his direction, or better, toward the soldiers’, the bad thing was that Isabel was right on his way. “Isabel !!” Levi screamed “Get out and run !! Get away from there !!” Due to the violent impact, Isabel couldn’t move his left leg and when she turned around and saw that monster running toward her, she did her best to stand up and run, but she couldn’t. At some point, when she thought that the monster was going to trample on her, it grabbed her instead, with its enormous hand. That monster was tall 7 mr about and it was observing her with its dumb eyes. She didn’t even realized she’d started crying, or that other naked monsters were running and coming closer to her. Was she going to die ? What would that monster do to her ?How could she ended up in such situation ? She was scared, like never before, and she had a tough life. Born in the street, almost dead by starving, convinced that she could only survive by selling her body one day… her brothers gave her a hope, and now everything was wrong. She had thought she had the key for a new life in the palm of her hand, but now a mindless monster had her in his palm and that time, she knew that she wouldn’t make it. Fate’d favored her few times in her whole life. “Warriors ! One monster is distracted !! Kill it now !” Ordered Magath “Draw the attention of the other titans to you, so that no one of them approach the female Titan” The soldiers lined up in the first line advanced, one of them stopped at one point and waited that the closest one would rushed toward him, so that its nape would be uncovered. That soldier moved just in time to move to the side and then jumped on the monster’s nape and cut it with something that looked like a sword. ‘Sword ?’ Thought Erwin who hadn’t stopped observing the scene from afar ‘Do they still produce them?’ The soldier used the sword to cut the monster’s nape, while the others were using machine guns to distract the titans from him.There was another detail that Erwin noted, the machine guns were practically useless against those monsters. The bullets couldn’t even penetrate their skin, but they were enough to distract the monsters.The one that was holding Isabel got momentarily distracted. One soldier was close enough to kill it and Levi could feel the hope slowing coming back inside his heart, he knew he couldn’t do anything to help her. Even if he succeeded to disarm a soldier, the others would kill him quickly.The soldier was so close… so close… and he shote the monster with his machine gun right in his eyes and it was then… that it happened.The Titan started screaming in agony and, completely forgotten of its prey in its hand. It squeezed the girl’s body so tightly until it was destroyed, leaving only the head intact, that fell on the grass with few blood drops. Isabel hadn’t even the time to realize what was happening that she died.Her last whispered word into that world was ‘anikì’.For Levi, it was like watching everything in slow motion, like that wasn’t the reality, like it was only a sick delusion of his mind, like that was simply a nightmare he would soon woken up from. Isabel… was dead ? No, he refused to believe it. It was only a joke, he was…On his knees… on the grass… like he’d always been in his life, on his knees, defeated, lost, unworthy of any grace. Because he was the stray dog, wasn’t he ?They were the stray dogs and that was their role in that world, staying on their knees and put it up with everything life caused to them.The world around him was burning and it was expected he would burn with it, that his remains lay there on the grass, ready to be burned down or reduced to nothing by those monsters. He looked up, toward the soldier that was supposed to save Isabel and he saw that he was grabbed by another Titan. The soldier was struggling, trying to getting free, while the others were trying to save him and keeping away the other monsters. God only knew that the soldier was going to die painfully. The titan that was holding him opened his mouth and devoured him, bite him at the waist and the blood that came out of him made its mouth dirty. The other soldiers paralyzed for a moment, before they started to fight the monsters again.The soldiers lined up in the second line reached the others. The situation for them wasn’t positive, there were about ten or more monsters around them. One of the monster had grabbed two soldiers with his hands, another had run out his munitions, the situations was getting worse at any minute. In less then five minutes, more than the half of them had been devoured or brutally killed by those monsters, the other half were desperately trying to protect themselves, failing miserable.Levi continued watching that macabre scene, he was studying soldiers’ movements, he was analyzing their strategies, how they attacked the monsters, how they defended themselves and above all he was studying their errors. Some of them were focusing more on protecting one of the other giant, the blond one, to pay enough attention on the others. Also, they always tended to gather in one place, allowing monsters to surround them more easily. In the end, if he got it right, the weak spot of those monsters was their nape, which was challenge to aim from their position. They needed to go up and to move faster. One soldier died…Levi got up and cleaned his trousers…Another soldier got devoured…Levi made the first step…Three soldiers got caught in the grasp of one big hand…Levi took a deep breath…The three soldiers gone smashed by monster’s fingers…Levi made the first step…Erwin was on the verge of going away when he noticed and understood what Levi was going to do, a part of him wanted to stop that young man, wanted to warn him about that danger, another part of him, the selfish one, was curious to know what was going to happen, intrigued about something in that man that he couldn’t figure it out. Levi started running toward the monsters. When Isabel died… he remembered the sense of powerless he felt when his mother had been taken away from him, he remembered the weird sensation he’d felt in that occasion, like a pulse, like a force able to tell him exactly what to do, that took control over his body and his mind, that turned all his body into a lethal weapon. He had no idea of what had triggered that ‘sensation’ inside him, he simply knew that one day something inside had changed forever. Something that was going to change his life once again.
…
Annie knew she wouldn’t last longer, that there were people dying for her on the ground, that in that moment, without Reiner fighting at her side, she had no chance of defeating the War Hammer Titan. What was worst, was the lack of fear. Like she almost knew she was going to die but she couldn’t even feel sorry for herself. She’d always been a stoic person, who took and accepted the life for what it really was and adapting accordingly. She hoped that at least in the face of her death she would have felt something, but the injection took this away too. She had been slowly dying since she became a shifter, her body was giving away, her heart was weakening, her organs were rotten more day after day, her muscles…She had been prepared for her death during the training and only now she realized that death was calling her name.Punch, kick, dodge, save, defense, attack… no one of those things were going to save her. Then was was the point in fighting ? Why was her body still so determinate to survive ?Was her to want to survive ? Or was she fighting for some else’s will ? “You should surrender… You don’t have a chance…” told the War Hammer through the telepathy.
“I can’t”
“You don’t want” said the War Hammer using another spike to his her left shoulder.
“No… I can’t… I have no other choice…”
“Yeah… neither have I”
It was in that moment that Annie felt less alone, just a little. It was the fate all the shifters shared. They had no other choice than to accept the injection. Who wanted to become a hero, who wanted to make his parents proud and who wanted to reach the immortality, without knowing that doing it would shorten their lifespan in 13 years, if they were lucky. The Ymir serum didn’t work at the same way for all the subjects, some of them died even before that time. The War Hammer Titan created another spike and used it to impaled her abdomen. Annie didn’t even have the time to recover that the War Hammer Titan created another weapon, an ax, that used to cut half of her head, in attempt to cut her entire head.The part of her head cut off fell on the ground, leaving uncovered part of her brain, her left eye, cutting off the left part of her frontal bone, her ethmoid bone, inferior nasal concha and barely touching her superior lip. If only she hesitated one more second, the War Hammer Titan would have succeeded in cutting her head off entirely.
…
Blood on his hands…
He grabbed one of the sword used by the soldier. Legs, arms, fingers, wrists… his body was moving on his own volition. Jumps, kicks, lands, dodges, cuts…It was like he was dancing a choreography he didn’t even know to have learnt. There were giant monsters around him, ready to eat him alive, just like they’d done with those soldiers and nevertheless his body was dancing a mortal lethal dance, like he had nothing to be afraid of, like he already knew that, not matter what could happen, he would survive.
Blood on his face…
God, he really hated the sensation of being dirty, specially when the dirty was on his clothes on his hands or his face. He could feel the monsters’ blood in his hair and on his forehead. Some drops ran along his cheeks, making him looked like he was crying blood tears, which was a creepy imagine. One of the monster almost grabbed him, but it was like his body had already protected it and it was ready to cut all his fingers in time, before start running along his arms until he was close enough to jump on his head and then land on his nape to cut it off. How could he be so sure to be able to do it ?How could he be so sure to succeed ?
Blood on his clothes…
Whose was the blood on his hair ? The blood on his clothes ? On his hands ?Did it belong to the soldiers eaten by the Titans ? Did it belong only to the monsters ? Did he actually care ? Did he actually care that those monsters used to be people, normal people, and now they were no more ?Was he killing people, people that could have been saved otherwise, wasn’t he ?But who could blame him ? It was him or them.
Blood on the ground…
Just like the dance started, it finished, with him in his knees, all dirty with blood, on his face and clothes and with hands trembling. He hadn’t shred a tears and he felt nothing inside. Whatever force had taken control over his body for the last hours was gone and left nothing, not even pain, not even… sadness. He was staring right in the green dead eyes of Isabel’s head and he hadn’t even realized it until now. So, her head was what had left of her ? She had the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen, two little emeralds that shone with youth, desire to live, innocence and courage. A light that he’d never had.
Blood all around him…
But Levi would never forget… that face… those green eyes… that head… that lay on the grass… isolated from the others… like it was doom to die alone. Like the death itself knew hat person was different, that didn’t belong to that world. …
‘Ackerman…’
The young who had been observing the entire scene hidden in the darkness was looking at the raven hair man with surprise, fear and admiration. That man maybe had no idea of what had just happen to him, but the young man did and couldn’t refrain from smiling. That man was special, precious and he needed to be protected. He needed that man to live. Only him could understand how rare was the Ackerman blood type and also how dangerous could be if one of those titans accidentally killed him. He couldn’t stop looking at that wonderful and dangerous creature, specially because he was convinced that all Ackerman were dead or kidnapped. He didn’t even know if they had other names other than Ackerman, if they were all aware of the importance of their blood or not. Tybur Industries had been hunting and kidnapping people whose had the so called ‘special blood type’ and named them under the same name, Ackerman.He smiled. Ackerman and Titans’ fate were intertwined forever it seemed…
‘Armin… Frieda… have you seen him ? What he has done ? I want him away from here’
‘I will take care of this’ answered Frieda ‘You and Armin take care of the War Hammer, I’m done with that traitor’
‘Okay, I have a plan’
Then, the favorite child of Paradise Island tore the sky with his scream.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY 2097… THREE DAYS LATER … 12 SEPTEMBER
‘I’m still alive…’
It was the first thing that came into his mind when he opened his eyes, but the light in his room was too blinding and he was forced to close them again. Where was he ? Since he couldn’t open his eyes, he tried to use the other senses. He used his fingers and felt under them something soft, covers. Also he could feel something that wrapped his middle finger, probably an oximeter. Then his nose and he could feel smell of medicines and disinfectant. He used his ears and but he couldn’t distinguish any sounds. Nevertheless he was sure that he was laying on a bed into a medical room.He tried to open his eyes again, until the light became more bearable and he could finally focus the room where he was. He’d guessed, he was into a medical room. He heard someone sliding a key card and then the door got opened and he saw Hanji entering, followed by Mike, Moblit and Keith Shadis. “You woke up, I’m glad” said Hanji checking the electrocardiogram “the heartbeat is regular” Then she took out of her pocket a penlight and asked “Look here” “Hanji, I’m fine, please” said Erwin gently moving her hand “Please tell me you didn’t take advantage on my state to lead strange experiment on me” “Don’t worry cap” said Hanji giving him a painful pat on his shoulder “I testified long time ago that, even though you have your privates, you remain an asexual creature” “Major !” Yelled Moblit indignant. “No need, Moblit. What do I have the pleasure for Shadis ?” Asked Erwin. “As your former commander, I’m still feel somehow responsible for your actions, as your new alley, I’m here to support you, as I’ve never done before. You will need” “So, there have been developments while I was incapacitated” “Yes, but first, I need to ask you, what do you remember about that night before fainting ?” Asked Hanji “I remember… the monsters… the corps on the ground… Levi, he killed all those monsters alone and he survived. Where he is ?” Asked Erwin hoping that that man hadn’t run away before he could convince him to join the Scouts. “One problem at time. Do you remember something else ?” Erwin closed his eyes and sighed “You would think I’m crazy” “Actually I’ve been thinking it since the first day we met, when you actually accepted my application” said Hanji winking “But, seriously, what do you remember ?” Erwin sighed again then he though about that night, elaborating everything he could remember. His memories were confused and he was beginning to have headache, but there was one particularly memory he couldn’t erase from his mind. One of those monsters, similar and different at the same time. It was a titan tall 60 m, without skin, exposing all his muscular and skeletal apparatus, able to generate enormous amounts to eat. Erwin couldn’t remember to have ever felt so hot in his life. Not hot, it was like his entire body was on hire. Due to the amount of heat the air had become unbreathable and probably he lost his senses after that. “Sublime, is the only word that suits that creature” “Sublime ?” Asked Mike shocked “I was at your side and before to faint I almost start crying for the fear” Erwin shrugged, he’d never been normal, so his opinions. Sublime, it referred to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, of rationality, the excite thoughts and emotions beyond ordinary experience.He couldn’t avoid to think about one of the poem of William Wordsworth, ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’, where he found the sublime in the Nature, the beautiful in its form but also the terror. That was exactly what Erwin had felt since he put his eyes on those creatures. The beautiful of their powerful body, the savage ignorance, their strength.Erwin would have got on his knees in front of that terrific and splendid scenario, which proved further how mad he actually was.He suspected something else too. That what happened that night, wasn’t an accident, but it was all planned. Maybe by Mr Tybur himself or someone who was so powerful to oblige him to kill himself. It was clear from Magath’s fear that he and probably everyone at the party wasn’t aware of what was happening. That meant that Tybur Industries had other enemies, other people determinate to take them down, maybe the contact that promised to Erwin to show him the truth, maybe it was the same who had sent the files to him. “At least now I know that you’ve seen the same things, otherwise I should fear for my mental sanity” “So I used to think, before someone sent a file to us. There are all the proofs that Tybur Industries were leading human experimentation to develop a serum. I won’t go into the details, but we have them in our palms” said Hanji. “Where are Magath and his men ?” “They ran away, somehow, with one of those monsters” “The ones with female traits ?” Asked Erwin. “No, it was a male one. It wasn’t difficult seeing him, it was tall, maybe 15 m, his body was all covered with plated, segments of hardened skin that protect him. Almost like an armature. Luckily he didn’t notice our presence, but he ran in the wood and it was possible seeing that he had something, or someone in his hands and on his shoulders” Erwin wasn’t content of the news. It was so frustrating, he had Magath so close and yet that piece of shit managed to find an escape. Well, at least now it was only a matter of time before the man would be found and imprisoned for his crimes, or worse, killed by one of those monsters. Erwin was convinced that he wouldn’t stop, that the Tybur Industries wouldn’t stop. They would continue their research, maybe at that point, their first move would be trying to attack and conquer Paradise Island.‘I bet that place is more like Hell’ he thought. He could only imagine the maze of nightmares and terrors that had been created on that island. “So, you didn’t see any other of those giants ?” “Titans, in the files sent to us, they called those creature Titans. The name itself is so cool !” Exclaimed Hanji who even started drooling. “Major !” Exclaimed Moblit passing a tissue to the woman. “Sorry Moblit, but I can’t help it. Have you seen that creature ? If sublime is Erwin’s word, mine if beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it and more I read those files, the more I want to put my hands on one of those creatures and study them” “I remember you that those monsters used to be persons” replicated weakly Moblit. “Used to, you said tight !” She had that crazy look in her eyes that was able to scare any person away. Erwin sighed. He would read all those files later. He wanted to read all of them and only then trying to elaborate something. He was almost sure that the first move Magath and the other would try to do would be invading Paradise. It was too late for them to try covering the truth or destroyed the proofs of their experiments, specially after the death of all those people, who weren’t people at random, but members of the richest family of the entire Marley. Illustrious personalities of whom it would have been extremely difficult to hide the disappearance.Erwin couldn’t believe that that day had finally arrived. The last three days were a living hell, for him and his men. He still wasn’t fully recovered and his mind couldn’t stop to think about the event happened in that mansion, in that damn garden. The thunders…The madness…The Titans…That was how the Tybur Industries called those monsters. After that night, he knew that at some point he and the few survivors lost their senses and when he recovered he found himself and Levi surrounded by the other members of the Scouts, who had come searching for him. Hanji, one of the members, told him that someone had sent to them files about secret experiments that Tybur Industries had been conducting, human experimentations, to elaborate a serum that could allow people to live forever, or at least that was the intention. Instead the serum turned all those people in cannibal monsters. Now finally he had some answers and he didn’t want to waste more time. “I will read all the files as soon as possible. Now, I want you to tell me something else…” … Levi should have expected it. One moment he was on the ground, on the point of dying and the other one he woke up in a medical bed that could be opened only from the outside with a key card, with an oximeter, handcuffs at both his wrists and a crazy four eyes psychopath for nurse. Excellent ! He wouldn’t have any problem to set himself free from those hateful handcuffs, but he wasn’t sure that he would manage to escape from there. Damn, he didn’t even know where he was, how many floors the building had, if there were other floors, where he was supposed to go to escape. If there were guards outside and how many. Also, his back hurt, a little and so his neck. It was a miracle that he hadn’t been paralyzed because of the impact with the ground, after that violent explosion. In all that chaos, there was something that he remembered clearly. Green eyes, no, not even green, turquoise. A color so rare and beautiful at the same time that he couldn’t even define with precision. He didn’t even know for sure whether they were real or if his mind imagined. It would be a pity, they were really beautiful.A part from them, everything else was simply disgusting. Those cannibals monsters, were real for sure and so the fact that he’d killed them all somehow. Those people… the gas… Isabel’s head… everything was real and he wanted only forget everything. The heat of those bodies, their dumb expression and the smell of sweat and blood. That force that had possessed his body… that force… that turned him into… he couldn’t even think about it.He closed his eyes, sure that if he continued to talk about it, he would throw up. He was so immerse in his thoughts that he didn’t even hear the door opening, until he realize he wasn’t alone in the room. Erwin Smith. That man, he was supposed to kill, had saved and cured him, the life was so weird. “I’m glad you woke up. How do you feel ?” Asked Erwin politely. “I’ve felt worse. Have you arrested me ?” Asked Levi moving his wrists to emphasize the handcuffs. “No, why should I ? I’m not a cop anymore, not exactly. Let’s say, I work more in the shadow now” “Secret Service ?” “Let’s say, in the last few years I’ve just been on my own. My former captain lent me some money and now with the proof I collected the night ago, I will be take more seriously” “You said that you suspected Tybur Industries was leading human experimentation. You were right, those monsters were people” “Titans, that’s their name” “Not particularly original, but it suits them anyway” commented Levi sighing “So, you’re not a cop, I’m not under arrest and you practically dragged my ass here so… you want something from me, am I right ?” Erwin smiled pleased. Levi was smarter than he thought. His abrasive behavior could make him look like one of those brainless stray dogs, all muscles without brain, but Levi was smart and cunning and he had something that Erwin wanted desperately. The blond man had still in his mind the actions of the other man. His fury, his movements, that Danse Macabre that killed all those monsters. “How did you do it ?” He simply asked without adding nothing else. Words weren’t needed. Levi perfectly understood what he was referring to. His mortal dance that allowed him to kill all those titans. Erwin wanted to understand more, wanted to learn more. What Levi did there nights ago, wasn’t normal, no human would ever be able to do something like that. It was like something in his body had reacted to the titans. “No idea. I’ve never felt something like that before. I was here… on the ground and the second after… my body did… that. I don’t even know how to explain it” “Is something hereditary ?” Asked Erwin. “Probably. I’d lived with a man, my uncle, for four years of my life, and he during that period he once told me that I had nothing to worry about because, he always knew what needed to be done. Sometimes, he…” “Did the same things you did the three nights ago ?” “I thought I was dreaming. I don’t remember much about my childhood. I remember living with mom and my sister, but I was little and I don’t even remember their name. Just know that one night, my mother left our home and never come back again. Then me and my sister were entrusted to social assistances. She was adopted and one year later my uncle found me and adopted me. That’s the story of my life” said Levi without a particular tone. Levi knew he wasn’t being completely sincere, but he would tell all the truth when he could be sure to trust Erwin completely, after knowing him better. For the moment, Levi didn’t even know what Erwin was going to do with him, if he was under arrest or not.Mikasa wasn’t his sister, but step sister and he remembered his mother’s name and also her job. The men who used to come and go in their house, their dirty words, their moans, the smell of their sweat and sperm on the blankets, their dirty money.Levi hated those pigs with every cell of his body and so did his step sister. The worst part was knowing that his mother was doing that for them, in order to have foods on their table. Her illness wasn’t deadly, she could have made a full recovery if they could have afford the proper treatment, but her money could barely cover their daily basis. But that was a story for another time and if he preferred to pretend not to remember anything at all of that time.Erwin was too much cunning for his own good and too much of an observant, he was also wary of people, he put everything in discussion and took everything for false. He simply took in consideration that people always lied about something, he himself was a lier and a manipulator, consequentially he didn’t expect something different from others.He knew that Levi was lying, in some part of the story and the blond wasn’t going to push it. For the moment, he needed to convince him to collaborate with him, to join the Scouts. “Okay, one truth remain, you have something special, something I need and that’s why I’m here to offer you to join the Scouts” “Scouts ?” Asked Levi with a grimace. “Another name not particularly original, I know. What do you think ?” “I think that, despite what people think about you, you’re a resourceful man who knows how to get what he wants. If I say no, you will arrest me, am I right ?” “Yes” answered Erwin sincerely “After all, you infiltrated into a Mansion, trying to steal something and you also tried to kill me. With some research, I will easily find more proof to send you in jail, but you will be wasted there. I want your potential instead” “There’s no potential in me. What happened three nights ago was a mere spur of the moment. I leaded my… friends right into their grave. I’m a failure”“No please, don’t” said Erwin coming a little closer, grabbing a chair that was close to a wall and sat on it. “Don’t do what ?” If you begin to regret, you’ll dull your future and decision and let others make your choices for you. All that’s left for you is to die” “Any man will eventually die, I’m not different. Isabel and Furlan… I knew I could have lost them anytime due to our lifestyle, but in the end they died for my mistake, because I convinced them to split up. It was a decision of my” “Then let me tell you that nobody can foretell the outcome and each decision you make holds meaning only by affecting your next decision” “So, you’re basically telling me that my latest decision had lent my friends to their deaths and now, I only have to chose wether I want my nexts one to sent me in jail or in your… squad ? Fine, I’m in” “You are ?” Asked Erwin surprised. He’d expected that it would required more time and more threats. “Everything is better than jail. I’ve been in reformatory for some year, it was terrible. Jail can’t be better, Scouts ? Maybe, at least here I’m a free man and I want to be free, more than anything else” Levi couldn’t say that he was dying to work with that eyebrows suicidal blockhead, but he didn’t want to go in jail, he wouldn’t be able to honor his friends there. The only reason why Farlan and Isabel put their lives at risk was to start a new life together, a better life. Levi didn’t deserve a better life, or at least it would be pointless now that he’d lost the two people whose he considered his family, but that didn’t mean he had to waste his life.There was something, in him, something that he wanted to understand and he also wanted protection. “Can you guarantee me that I’m safe here ?” “Depends, what do you mean to be safe ?”“If someone over us survived three nights ago, then they surely will tell to someone who works for the Tybur Industries, which means that they surely will tell about me and then I will be safe nowhere” If there was something worse than prison, it was become the new guinea pig of those pieces of shit. Levi wouldn’t allow them to put even a finger on him and he was ready to kill or die to prevent them from capturing him. After seeing what they were capable of, the last thing he wanted was to become some of that… Titans. In prison, it would be more difficult protect himself. At least there, with Scouts, he could count on someone, someone who was determinate to bring down the pharmaceutical giant.Erwin nodded and he barely stopped himself from smiling in satisfaction. That was another good point he didn’t think about. If Magath was still out there, he surely was, then he wouldn’t hesitate to capture Levi if necessity came. All the soldiers died while they were fighting some monsters and if he escape with only one of the Titan, it meant that the other one, the Female one was dead and probably even the faceless one. Erwin hoped so, he hated the idea of two monsters like that free to do whatever they wanted, without a proper control. “There’s only one question I want you to answer before.” “Shoot” said Levi rolling his eyes. “Who’s holding the gun at my head ?”Levi smirked. He was the gun ah ? Erwin Smith loved metaphors, got it. Levi liked talking more frankly. “I really don’t know. Farlan was the one who had the contacts. I wasn’t exactly the social butterfly, but Farlan knew the right people, but he didn’t talk about them and I didn’t ask. It was more efficient that way in case some of us got caught” “Smart move” commented Erwin with a smirk. “Not so smart now that he’s dead, but he was very meticulous. I knew that he had a booklet where he wrote down the names of his contacts, meeting places, respective dates and times. It is encrypted, but not impossible to encode.” “Where is now the booklet ?” “At home.” “Good, we will go there as soon as we can. We have a lot of things to do and too little time” Erwin needed just a moment to organize all his ideas. He needed that booklet to know who was aiming a gun at his head, but he also needed to find Magath and stopped him. He knew that now Magath would have tried anything to conquer Paradise Island, but first, he would need men, money, weapons, a plan.He needed to find the closest base possessed by Tybur Industries, Magath would be there but he had no idea how to find it, maybe some of them weren’t even registered, after all, Mr Tybur was a man full of secrets and intimately he’d been acting very paranoid and Erwin could understand why. “Okay, I have something in my mind, if luck is on our side, we will finally put Magath behind bars” … UNDERGROUND BASE… Magath was pissed, not, not pissed, furious. After all the events happen three nights ago, he and the few survivors had been hiding into an underground facility that was situated under the training center. It wasn’t wise remaining there for too much, since he sure that Erwin Smith was already preparing everything to arrest him and that the first place where he would look for them would be the Mansion, to be sure that everything had been destroyed or if he could found something else.Erwin Smith was a smart man, too smart for his own good and Magath knew that it was only a matter of time before the blond learnt about the underground basement. They needed to reach the base in Lago city. There it was everything they needed to contain the damages. He needed to advise the other members, he needed to tell them what he’d learnt, what had happen in that Mansion and warn them of the danger.Their facility in Lago wasn’t known, it was located under another Mansion owned by Willy Tybur. He maybe had to advice the remaining members of Tybur’s Family of the recent event, but Magath could not be sure to trust them anymore. Whatever happened three nights ago, It was all orchestrated by Tybur and his creepy sister, so who could assure him that no other members were involved or aware of the plan. After all, everyone was aware that the latest Paradise Island had cost more than the previous one and it wasn’t only about money, but credibility, reputation and staff. Tybur Industries were risking a bankrupt and it was only a matter of time before someone learnt about the illegal experimentation and all the crimes committed. Magath couldn’t say that he knew Mr Tybur, he had seen the man four or five times at most, and the late President looked like a composed, rational man, not a delusion with suicidal tendencies.If that the recent events represented a desperate attempt of Tybur to bring the Industries down with him, then he definitively succeeded. Magath didn’t see any escape from that mess, he and his colleagues could only limit the damages. “Oh shit…” he said passing an hand on his face. He was tired. He’d barely slept for three days, always staying on alert, ready to act in case Erwin Smith and someone else found their hideout. Now he was inside one of the offices in the underground basement. He was there because he needed peace to think and try to figure it out a way to resolve all that mess. The office itself was quite a mess, it was tiny, dusty and it looked more like a storage where people used to throw old documents and notes at random. The desk’s surface was barely visible due to all the collectors, papers and pens. “Commander Magath… can I come in ?” Asked a voice outside the office. It was Colt Grice. “Come in” he said. The door got opened and Colt entered. “Commander Magath, I wanted to tell you that I finally succeeded to get in contact with Lago facility. Tom Xaver wants to talk with you” “Coming” said Magath standing up. Magath couldn’t put it up with Xaver. In his opinion that four eyes scientist was an eccentric, curious, meddler mad man and, even though Magath could easily K.O him, Xaviel was still able to scare him sometimes. He had that terrific habit of drooling while he was leading an experiment and he had that laugh…Magath was still blessing God when he’d been moved in the Training Center from Lago’s facilities. He and Colt crossed different corridors, then they arrived in front of an electronic door that could be opened only with an ID wristband possessed by Magath and few other members of the recruits. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough for all the survivors, which limited their movements, so they had to move in groups. They arrived in the infirmary, where Reiner, Pieck and Armin were checking on an sleeping Annie Leonhart. Annie hadn’t woken up yet and her wounds were still healing. It was a miracle if she was still alive though. Fighting alone against the War Hammer Titan and the Colossal Titan alone hadn’t been easy for her. The Colossal’s appearance was totally unexpected… …
‘We need to get out of here’
Magath had only that in his mind. It didn’t matter whether he and the others were immune to the serum or whether the recruits’ faces were covered with the masks, they needed to go. Annie had to feel free of fighting without the fear of trampling on someone accidentally.
He knew where they had to go, it wouldn’t be too far from there.
“Reiner…” he said putting an hand on the other’s shoulder “We need to go… We need to leave, NOW !!”
It seemed like Reiner hadn’t heard him because he wasn’t moving, he was remaining there, knees on the ground, closed eyes and lowered head. Magath was done with such attitude, if he could turn into a Titan he would have eaten Reiner himself only to obtain the Armored Titan.
“Reiner, come one !!”
Reiner didn’t want to move, he hoped that one of those Titan would eat him alive and finally gave him the bless of death. He was tired of living, he was tired of reviving that nightmare over and over again. He was tired of living into a world of monsters, he was tired of being one of them. He wanted to die, to be free.
“Reiner !! It’s an order, move !!”
‘I can’t…’
Reiner wanted to say it but he couldn’t, just like he couldn’t do anything else but dying slowly inside. He didn’t even have the courage to look up at Annie, left to fighting alone against the War Hammer Titan, abandoned by him, due to his cowardice. If she survived that mess and then wished to kill him, he would probably glad for it, would remain still and let the girl eating him. He was falling in pieces on that ground and he wondered why Magath didn’t simply give up and escape, specially after the death of all those men.
Magath took the gun out of its sheath.
“ I sweat to God, Reiner… if you don’t turn now, I’m going to shot you right in the head”
‘Bang, bang’, Reiner wanted almost laugh. What a cruel thing to say, Magath knew that a bulled in the head wouldn’t have killed, that Reiner would have survived, with a bullet in his head though, because it would have been incredibly hard to remove from his head. Reiner wondered for a moment if that bullet would have made his mind more insane. He hoped that Magath would pull the trigger.
He closed his eyes, ready to welcome a temporary death when another explosion caught his attention and Magath’s as well. It was in that moment then they saw it, the Colossal Titan. They didn’t think they would ever see it again. How could it be possible ? Why was it here ?
Magath realized pretty soon that it wasn’t Berthold to control the Titan, it was someone else. That Colossal titan was slimmer, shorter and its heat was bearable, even though the shifter’d turned so close to them.
“How can this be possible ?” Muttered Reiner “Someone’s using the Colossal Titan against us…”
“Someone other member of the Tybur’s family ? Was it the family that had been hiding the Colossal Titan from them all those years ? Why ? They already had the War Hammer, what was the point in hiding the Colossal too ? What if that family of psychopaths orchestrated the Paradise’s Incident too ? Was it all a way to obtain the full control over Ymir Serum ?
All it took was a second, then the Colossal Titan kicked the ground, making all the ground trembling around him. Dust, ash and smoke covered his legs and obliged everyone to close their eyes.
Annie’s Titan was faster, it could easily avoid the other’s attacks but it was also true that one hit from the other would be enough to defeat, or worse, kill her.
The War Hammer Titan took advantage of her fear to destroy the other half of her face with an arrow, so Annie had just the time to escape from the the nape and protect herself into a crystal, before the War Hammer Titan grabbed the dying body of the Female Titan and lifted it only to let it lend on one of hid hardening knees, splitting it in two. It wasn’t a pretty view, since it could be possible seeing the vertebral column and organs coming out of the two parts.
“Oh shit !! We gotta go, now !!”
Magath shoot Reiner, who instantly turned into his Armored Titan. He grasped with one hand the crystal where Annie was then he grabbed Magath with the other hand and started running away.
The War Hammer tried to reach them but the Colossal stopped it.
The Armored Titan didn’t turn around, he didn’t want to see or know, he simply wanted to escape from there. Magath instead turned just once to see the Colossal burning all the ground around the War Hammer Titan.
…
Magath sat on a desk, in front of a laptop where he could see Xaver’s face. The idiot hadn’t realized that Magath was looking at him, so he was humming something, shaking his shoulders and moving his head.Magath tried to caught the other’s attention with a cough, but the other instead began singing louder at the point to make Magath losing his patience. “Doctor Xaver !” He exclaimed loud. The man screamed then he fell on the floor. He put an hand on his desk, then he sat on the chair again and it was clear that he was caressing his back with the other hand.Doctor Tom Xaver was a man with round face, with short black hair, who wore glasses that made him look like a Minions. “You shouldn’t be so abrupt when you greet someone, Magath” “You shouldn’t distract so easily, specially not right now”“Why ? What happened ?” Magath told him everything. The party, Erwin Smith Mr Tybur’s speech, his death, Lyla Tybur, the War Hammer Titan, the Female Titan and the Colossal Titan. Xaver listened any word with attention, impassive, composed, like Magath was exposing to him the results of a scientific research instead of a carnage. “What do you think ? We’ve been sat up by the Tybur ? Did they sell the Colossal Titan to some other organization ?” Asked Xaver. “I wish I’ve answer.” Answered Magath. “Mr Tybur was pretty paranoid about the possibility that Ymir serum could ended up in the hands of other organizations, it would’t make sense that he sent a sample himself to someone. He invited Erwin Smith only to kill him once and for all because that man was investigating the Tybur Industries” “How did you know it ?” Asked Magath. “Because there can’t be any other reason to invite the blond. It’s logical” answered Xaver shrugging “Specially if he was planning to kill all the guests. Nevertheless, if Smith is still alive, then we’re in troubles and three days have already passed” “Well, if you didn’t know any of this and no now has come snooping around then it meant that Smith is dead, so we don’t need to worry about it, but we can’t keep what happen hidden forever.” Magath wanted to believe it, but there was something that didn’t convince him. He knew that Erwin Smith had been investigating on Tybur Industries, everyone knew, that was why they were ordered to report immediately if they saw the blond man near to one of the facilities. Erwin Smith could be a dead man but surely he wasn’t a fool to accept an invitation for a party full of people who wanted him dead, not without a backup plan. If Erwin couldn’t, then maybe other people were now out there aware of the truth and ready to hunt them down. ‘That’s what happen when things are dealt with negligence’ thought Magath. “So, if Tybur didn’t sell the serum to another organization, who’s controlling the Colossal Titan now ?”“I don’t know. Christ, I don’t even know who’s in possess of the War Hammer Titan too. Everything is a mess” “Okay, so what do you expect me to do ? I can’t evacuate an entire facility without…” “You don’t have to evacuate anything, everything has to look as normal as possible. Get in contact with the other facilities and give them the coordinate for this underground basement. We need to conquer Paradise Island, only there we will be save” “Conquer Paradise Island ? Have you completely lost your mind ?”exclaimed Xaver stunned “That damn place is full of titans, any attempt ended up into a carnage” Magath knew he was asking too much, that probably he looked crazier than Xaver right now but there wasn’t another choice to make. He looked at Annie, who was still sleeping, he looked at Reiner, who was keeping her hand and who had almost killed the both of them, he thought at Berthold who had been eaten by someone and all the other warriors, and the more he thought about them the more he was convinced that there was no other solution than conquer Paradise again. The walls built on the island were special, were indestructible, behind them they would be save. No one would dare to attack them on an island full of cannibal monsters. Magath didn’t intend to live there forever, but it was the only way to earn some time, to improve the serum and to avoid the prison. “I know but only there we will be able to defend ourself. I have an idea to save our butts but everyone must to do their part” Magath was tired of explaining himself with that idiot but he also knew that no one would be capable of dealing with the problem as much as Xaver.Xaver was a wise and meticulous man, provident who never made reckless moves, he was also very intelligent and totally capable of directing an entire facility alone. He wasn’t first head of Tybur’s executive training school for nothing. “Okay, tell me what I have to do” He didn’t know that, while he was explained his intention to his colleague, there was someone who listened carefully every words he said. … PARADISE ISLAND… “Do you really thing they would come here ?” Asked Freida at the young man at her side. She, Marco and the young man were sitting on the Wall Maria, the third and last Wall the surrounded that no longer facility of Tybur Industries. They were sitting there and admiring the horizon in silence, at least until that moment.The burden of the knowledge of what they started together three night ago was palpable, they could feel it in the air they were breathing, in the silences full of screams, in those corridors reconstructed on foundations made of blood, bones and crystal. They could taste it in the tears that sometimes they needed to shred.They all were afraid of what would happen from that moment. “They would try, this will be the only place where they can be safe once the world will learn what they have done here” said Marco. “So, what’s the plan ? Are we going to wait for them ?” “No” answered the young man “No more waiting. I’ve waited eighteen years to see the sun, I’ve no intention of waiting for anything else anymore. We will attack again. We will anticipate them” “What ? Do you plan to get out of Paradise Island now that Tybur Industry is probably organizing a Titan hunt ?” Asked Marco stunned. “Yes” answered simply the other one “Now that we have the War Hammer Titan in our possession no one will be able to stop us. I’m not planning another carnage. I simply wanted to erase the Industries before they put a foot on our Island” “If they attempt to conquer the island again, then they are desperate” commented Frieda. “Indeed, Tybur Industries had caused two incidents due to Ymir serum, now that the President himself lost his life, the government will not remain impassible, not if the media can’t hide it either. Not matter how weird or unfair can be this world, if important people die, then consequences are guaranteed” explained Marco. The young man didn’t say anything. He was actually reflecting about the other’s words. Were the worlds rules actually those ? Nothing changes if catastrophes didn’t hit rich people ? So no one of them were important enough for the world, or their screams would have been enough to send someone to save them from Hell. The young man didn’t turn behind, he didn’t need, to remembered what he’d been put through for eighteen years. Years of loneliness, locked up into four white walls, wondering about a freedom that it would never come at least not without a fight and a price payed with blood. He didn’t need to looked behind to live again that nightmare… … PARADISE ISLAND 2089… MARCH 30th
‘It’s my eleventh birthday today…’ he thought, looking at the white ceiling.
He was wondering why he continued to keep the track of them, it wasn’t like something change. Since he could remember, his birthday were all the same. Alone, in that white room, with the nurses who came and went away for withdrawals, to measure its vital parameters and to bring him his meals. Only at the end of the day his father brought him a present, a book, or a toy, nothing fancy, nothing important.
It looked more like his father brought him those presents to remember himself that his son was important somehow, that any father was supposed to give presents to their son.
He looked at his other presents, an old teddy bear, a notebook with a box of colors, two books for children, a puzzle and other things like that, all stacked up in a corner of the room, since in that room there was only a bedroom, a little desk with a chair and a door that leaded to the bathroom.
He sighed.
He didn’t care about any of the things inside the room. He simply looked with hatred the grey door that kept him separated from the world, that prevented him to see the sea.
The sea… he fell in love with it since the first time that he saw it. His father gave him a puzzle that represented the sea. At the beginning he didn’t understand what that immense pool of water was, but then his father explained him that that ‘pool’ was the sea, an immense expanse of salt water, where it could be possible to find different kind of fishes, corals and even treasures.
It was one of the few precious moments he remembered.
So, like a tradition, the day of his birthday he entertained himself with that puzzle and piece after piece he and his imagination created the life, the fishes they could find in the seas, the treasures that one day he would be able to find.
‘Someday, when you will be cured… we will see the sea together’
That was what his father always told him, but anytime he asked him if they could see the sea, his father always denied him, telling him that he was still too ill to get out of his room and then he was left alone in that white.
Would he ever see the sea ? Would he ever heal ? He was so tired of being there, he wanted to go outside, to be sure that the sea actually existed, that there was a real goal worthy to be waiting for.
Even now, while he was composing that puzzle in his own mind, a puzzle he could compose with closed eyes, he wondered if the sea was actually salt or sweet, if it was so immense or not. If there’s a point where it encountered the sky.
Why couldn’t he find out the answers by himself ?
Why did he have to stay in that room full of mirrors ? Oh, he knew that there were people out there that observed him, steadily, ready to write down any strange behavior, ready to intervene if he became aggressive, something that had happened often recently.
How could he not when he had that monster inside ? That monster, that looked so much like him and was different at the same time.
That monster that whispered in his ears, that visited him in his nightmares, that invaded his mind. Why no one tried to save him from it ?
“Someday…” he whispered looking at the puzzle “… Someday… I will see the sea. I only have to be patient. Daddy promised me”
One day he would be out of there, one day he would be free.
…
“We won’t wait for them to destroy our home, We will destroy any possibility of saving their butts first. The closest facility is situated in Lago. We will go there” “Lago is far from here.” Commented Marco. “I know, but if I learnt something on Tybur Industries is that they get advantage of their own mistakes to improve their public imagine” “How can they be able to do that ?” Asked Frieda skeptical. “Easy” answered Marco “Mr Tybur gave them a perfect scapegoat. The delusional disturbed patriarch of Tybur Family was aware that no one was willing to save him from bankrupt that time, so to avoid any shame he used the serum to kill his investors and collaborators to avoid that anyone could put their hands on his organization.” “Do you think that someone would believe it ?” Asked Frieda. “Given the circumstances, how could someone not believe it ?” Asked the young man. “Furthermore, the remaining members of the organization will take advantage of the situation to look like heroes. The army of redeemers that put their live in danger to end the madness created by President Tybur. No one would believe anymore that all the members are involved. Some of them may go in prison, other…” “Other will continue to work on the serum and the story will repeat” concluded Frieda. “We can’t let it happen. After all those years, we finally have a chance to win our freedom and we will. Also, I don’t intend to remain on this island forever” he said standing up. “What ? What do you mean ?” Asked Marco looking at him like he was crazy. “Exactly what I’ve just said. I’ve been a prisoner on this island for eighteen years, I don’t intend to die here and die like a rat in a cage. I want to be free, I want to see the world. Don’t you get it ?” “This is…” “Don’t say it. Don’t you get it ? This is not a shelter, it’s a prison, ours. We won’t be safe here forever, we will never live here only survive. If not today, then tomorrow someone will try to conquer the island and to turn us into guinea pigs again. If we don’t fight now, then we will be better find a way to chose how to die ourselves” “I agreed” said Frieda “Tybur Industries won’t stop until the serum isn’t perfect. Even though we managed to take down the Tybur, who can guarantees us that some other corporation or even the world itself won’t be ready to destroy us all ? Humans will never accept us” “So we have to fight” said the boy “I have a plan but I need you to accomplish it. He wouldn’t let his people got killed, he wouldn’t let someone else destroy their freedom. It didn’t matter if they had to fight violence with violence, he would have no remorse, no hesitation. He knew already that, not matter what decision he would make, he knew there would be blood, he could only try to protect their people protecting them with all himself. Unfortunately, they were born into a world that didn’t accept those who were different, that leaned easily on the victims the sins of their executioners and hardly forgave. Well, he had no intention of beg for his right to live, to love, to be free, to see the world. A world that had been cruel with him and his kind… and yet he considered it beautiful. “Lago is the closest, but we won’t stop there. Armin will get in contact with me and I bet he will confirm my theory” …. LAGO Xaver had just concluded his conversation with Magath when he felt an hand on his shoulder. He jumped then he turned around and sighed. “Zeke, someone day you will cause me an heart attack, how can you be move so silently ?” He asked. “The training as recruit wasn’t waste of time after all. I came here to bring you coffee” said Zeke putting a cup of coffee on Xaver’s desk. “Thank you, what would I do without you ?” Asked Xaver. “You would live into a world dominated by entropy” answered Zeke winking. Xaver laughed. Zeke was totally right. His office was a total mess. His desk was entirely covered with papers, notes, graphics, markers and highlighters. His books were dispersed in the room, some were on the carpet next to his desk, others on the library, but they weren’t disposed an orderly manner. On the no longer blue light walls were written scientific formulas, some of them senseless. There were also two blackboards, with formulas written on them too. There were no personal items inside, a part from a funny Minions Led. Xaver looked exactly like a Minion, according to Zeke.Nevertheless, Zeke adored stay there, that room was full of life, somehow, it was welcoming and there was a sweet perfume of cinnamon due to the scented candles that Xaver loved to turn on. Zeke used to be one of the recruits of the training center, but when his superior realized how smart he was they sent him in the Lago facility to complete his studies. There Xaver took him as student. When it came to train new generation of researches, Xaver actually preferred ignoring them completely. Instead he ordered his personal assistant to oversight them during the training. Nevertheless, something in Zeke caught his attention, he’d considered the blond like a son since the first time they talked, when Zeke dared to say in front of the other researchers that Xaver’s theory was wrong, and it was. Zeke was capable of proving it. After that day, they started working together and Xaver taught Zeke everything he knew. “I thought I already did it.” Said Xaver. “It can be worse. What’s happening ?” “A disaster” answered Xaver. Tom told him everything he’d learnt from Magath and Zeke listened everything carefully. If there was another thing that he and Tom had in common was that both of them cared little about the ideals and goals of Tybur Industries. Tom himself once confessed to Zeke that he decided to join the Industries only after seeing the first titan with his eyes, considering them far more interesting than any possible achievement that the organization wanted to accomplish. Zeke often questioned how could a serum like the Ymir ones be useful for the world. It was flawed, under so many aspects and a lot of lives had been ruined because of it, included his.Zeke didn’t even want to work for the Industries like his father used to, he was there only because he had to, because he was…. He was… “Yes, it’s a disaster or…” he muttered “Maybe, it’s the opportunity we’ve been waiting all this time” he said shrugging. “What do you mean ?” “I mean that this is an opportunity we can’t ignore. Magath is determinate to make someone sink to repay the damages made by the President, because he himself has the hands dirty. Well, I don’t agree with him” “Zeke… we’ve talked about this millions times…” “Listen, this is the third incident connected to the organization, I don’t think that the government will concede us another possibility. Magath is right when he says that someone has to be used like a scapegoat, but it doesn’t have to be one of us. The Warrior Unit is the one involved with the dead of so many people, it was also the one charged to control Paradise Island. The scientists could be saved” “You’re talking like you’re no part of the Industries”“I’m talking like someone who wants to be out of this shit. This obsession with the serum destroyed my family” he said. Xaver gasped then he looked sad. He perfectly understood what Zeke meant. Zeke’s life and Tybur Industries were closely connected due to a series of painful events related to his father, Grisha Jaeger, one of the two inventors of Ymir serum. Zeke didn’t have a good relationship with his father and after a fight he started living with his grandparents, while Grisha was left alone into a silent house, with his guilty and regrets. Zeke’d never told Xaver the reason why Zeke chose to abandon his father but the scientist was convinced that it regarded his late mother, Dina. Zeke blamed his father for her death and also for being obliged to work for the Tybur Industries. “Zeke… Destroying the Tybur Industries won’t bring Dina back.” “I know, but it will prevent the creation of other titans. If we manage to destroy Warrior Unit, maybe we will have more time to elaborate a vaccine. It’s not too late for it” “Zeke ?” “Xaver, we’re risking the prison. The only way out of this is betrayal”“Zeke…” “You said yourself that you are ashamed of our past, of the actions committed in order to perfection Ymir serum. You said yourself that if there could be a way to escape from this life, you would take it. Don’t forget that if we play our cards well, we will have time to find a cure” “Zeke, I can’t…” “Tom, you’re the smartest man I know. You know for purpose the Warrior Unit has been created for. Millions will die, if we don’t find a way to fix everything” Tom sighed. He knew that regardless his answer Zeke would continue his plan alone, putting himself in danger and Tom couldn’t allow that happen. Zeke had no one that could protect him from the danger of the world, or from himself, because despite his intelligence, feelings always found their way to corrupt the intellect and Zeke had a destructive anger inside. Anger could be a valuable alley in a war, but it could become the worst enemy of someone when generated hatred and Zeke already had so much hatred in his heart, even though he didn’t show it, but Tom could feel it sometime, in his words, in his gestures, in his eyes.There was a darkness inside his heart, a darkness Zeke had been fighting against since he found out the truth about himself, about what his father did to him. Tom sometimes was scared of that anger. “Okay, let’s do it”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
UNKNOWN FACILITY, MARLEY 2097 13 SEPTEMBER
Steel blue eyes opened brusquely and the first thing he saw was that shitty four glasses, who almost provoked him an heart attack when he woke up in his medical room and found her face few millimeters from his face, with a needle inside his hand, that she was keeping more like a dagger and she was also giggling. “Good morning grumpy. I’ve never seen someone who holds a grudge even when he sleeps” commented the woman looking at him with her wide, light brown eyes, that in that moment looked like a psychopath. “You… have… one second… to step back… before I stab you… in the eyes with that NEEDLE !” The woman looked at him, winking with a dumb expression and Levi wondered if she’d understood he was serious. He was going to ask if she could speak his language, when suddenly she bursted out laughing, at the point that she had tears in the eyes and put a hand on her stomach. Her laugh was loud and ever creepier than her and for a moment Levi considered the idea that Erwin had sent that psychopath only to kill him. After all she had the face of someone who would experiment on someone while sleeping, well he didn’t want to think or even imagine at that things that psychopath could have done to him while he was sleeping on that bed. “OH MY GOD !! You’re so hilarious, you looked so serious and actually determinate to scare me away, but let me say it… you’re so serious to be hilarious, oh I also did rhyme” “Jesus…” commented Levi “Are you supposed to be my nurse with that mind ?” “Not nurse, doctor. I am a medic bar scientist and inventor in the free time. I know…” said Henry giving a painful smack on Levi’s shoulder “Impressive isn’t it ?” “Unbelievable actually, how could someone crazy like you been admitted somewhere ?” “Because despite my madness I’m actually a genius. So, sunshine, how are you feeling ?” “I was feeling better before you decide to disturb me” answered with Levi with a slightly acid tone. “So you’re better, at least I’m sure that you’re tongue is already able to sharpen everything, sweetie” Levi rolled his eyes and bite his tongue. He didn’t know how to deal with crazy people, above all when they were hard of understanding. He remained in silence, when she conducted all the proper assessment, he wasn’t in the mood for silly conversations after all and also that four eyes was talking for both. She commented everything after any assessment, the beating of his heart, the pallor of his skin, how short he was and then Levi wanted to make her shallow her own glasses. “I can’t wait to find out what’s make you so special. Erwin told me everything, there’s something special to you and I will be the first person to find it out and…” “Contain the enthusiasm, you shitty glasses. I don’t intend to be your guinea pig” “Oh come on, I’m not crazy in that sense” replied Hanji grabbing and wearing disposable gloves and a Vacutainer system. “Whatever sense, I don’t give a fuck. I want to know what it is for” “Blood samples. I want to know what in your blood allowed you do to kill all those titans”“Couldn’t have been simple adrenaline ?” Asked Levi, aware that his suggestion was pretty stupid. “You don’t look like a stupid, grumpy, so avoid stupid assumptions” said Hanji attaching a tourniquet to his arm “Or are you scared of needles ?” “Shut the fuck up !!” Yelled Levi. Henji fought hard not to start laughing again. That type was so fun to be around and she had the feeling that it was going to be entertaining make fun at his expense. That grumpy shrew needed to laugh and smile more. It was almost time that Erwin allowed someone else to join their little gang. It became boring spending your time with the same people, specially when they elaborated their own tactics to avoid to be annoyed, expect Moblit. Moblit was the less lucky of all of them since he was her assistant and he had an heart too sweet to deny her anything too. Speaking of the Devil… A man with short, smith hair, of average height and build, who was wearing a white coat entered in the room. “Moblit, you arrived, come here to meet our new fellow” exclaimed Hanji almost screaming. “Is necessary to scream this way ?” Asked Moblit with the face of someone who regretted to come there. ‘That guy took the words out from my mouth’ Levi thought. He felt the needle penetrating his skin and for a moment he thought about the victims of the Tybur Industries, about the human experimentation and about the titans, the monsters that tormented him in his nightmare. He didn’t think he would ever forget those monsters, those abominations that took his family away from him. He really hoped that four glasses could find some useful informations in blood that could give some explanations about that phenomena. That power that allowed him to kill all those monsters alone and to survive int he end and Levi couldn’t wait to feel like that again, to be able to do the unthinkable, to avenge his family and maybe one day to find his sister again.Another pat on his shoulder made him jumped. “Oi, what the hell ?” He screamed. “I made you a question but you didn’t answer, you were lost in your thought. I asked you what you want to eat now” “Eat ?” Only now Levi noticed that Hanji exerting pressure on the puncture site and fixing the gauze with a plaster. Levi was so lost in his thought not to even realize that she had just finished it. She would have injected poison and he wouldn’t have even noticed. He really needed to concentrate. She stood up and came closer to the cart to put in order the examples in the appropriate containers. “You shouldn’t remain fasting after a withdrawal. What do you want ?” “Whatever you pick it will be fine. Where’s Erwin ?” “Erwin is not here. He had an important meeting but he will come back soon. What ? Aren’t we entertaining for you ?” “Major !!” Exclaimed Moblit. “Oh come on, Moblit, don’t be so boring. Bring something the samples to the lab and bring this sweetie. I will take care of him” “It doesn’t sound reassuring from someone who managed to kill her own red fish after three days from the buying” said Moblit opening the door. “Is she actually sane ?” Asked Levi. Moblit looked at him dejected and said “No” then he went away. “Great” he commented passing an hand through his hairs. “Oh don’t worry, I bet we will be friends very soon” said Hanii winking at him “Why ? Have purely professional relationship gone out of fashion ?” Commented him. “Trust me, you will be a friend of my before you even realize” Levi considered it impossible, since he couldn’t see himself with someone who was so different from him, so eccentric and extravagant who surely didn’t go unnoticed. Levi tried his best to past unnoticed in any contest and also didn’t know how to behave with people like her. Well, a deep part of himself was grateful not to be left alone with his thoughts and nightmares anymore. He didn’t want to think about Isabel’s body being smashed or Furlan’s one, who probably was nothing more than ashes at that point. ‘It’s only my fault’ he thought, he shouldn’t have suggested them to split up, because they were strong only when they were together and they were. Furlan and Isabel were the only two people who knew everything about him, who could read him like an open book because they knew that it meant being a stray dog, born with the knees on the ground and an empty stomach. They understood his pain because it was theirs. “You said you’re a scientist right ?” “Yes” answered Hanji throwing the needle in the container for cutting edges. “What’s your opinion about what’s happening ?” “I don’t know. I’ve read the files sent to us about those creatures and, what those researches has achieved is extraordinary and terrible at the same time. Their discovers changed forever my considerations about human body, but I wonder if it’s possible to find a cure” “Wouldn’t be more practical killing them ?” Asked Levi “Once you’re a monster, you will die a monster” “Most of them didn’t become monsters for choices. Most of the subjects were homeless, orphans, prostitutes, inmates that were kidnapped and injected with the serum against their will, turned into mindless monsters because the Ymir serum doesn’t adapt with everyone.” “So you don’t approve my actions of three nights ago” concluded Levi. “That was another thing entirely” said Hanji “That was self defense, I don’t know how you could kill those titans on your own, but I’m glad you did it, otherwise you would be dead and those monsters free to kill other people” “But you still want to save them” “I don’t know if they have some sort of consciousness, so for the moment I want to believe it and I also want to believe that if I was in their position, someone would try to find a way to save me before to cut my nape” “I don’t think I would regain consciousness after having eaten other people and have chewed and swallowed their organs” “That’s only your opinion.” Said Hanji “I respect it though” “I respect yours too” said Levi “At least someone continues hoping for the best” He envied her, somehow. While everything he could think about related to those monsters were revenge and dead, there were people like Hanji who wanted to try to save them, because they could see through their anger or because they didn’t feel it enough, they didn’t hate enough or simply wanted to use their anger in more productive ways. Levi already knew how he intended to use his but he looked at the crazy scientist and wondered why she was there, working for someone who needed to hide in the shadow and with a target behind his back. He wondered what were her motives, if she was driven by thirst for knowledge, or some sense of justice. Did she really think those monsters could be saved ? Did she really think someone would find a cure ?Was those monsters worth to be saved ? …. MARLEY, STOHESS 2097… ‘What a wonderful sun’ thought Erwin Smith looking outside of one of the windows of Darius Zackly. Darius Zackly was his former chief. Former because Smith officially quitted from any corps, at least that was the official news. Erwin knew that what was doing was risky, but now he officially knew it was everything worthy. Now he had the proofs, now he knew that his suspicious were partially truth and he still could catch one of the man who was worked at the Recruits Training Center. Erwin knew that there was something he was missing about that Center, but unfortunately that building had been completely destroyed. Someone had sent him files about the experiments and yet he didn’t know whether he could trust that person or not, who he or she is, if it needed to be considered an enemy or an alley, but he was determinate to find out, just not now, now he’s priority was to stop Magath and his men and then he would take down the corporation.He was so concentrated on his thoughts that he didn’t hear the door got opened and someone entered until that someone coughed to catch his attention. Erwin turned around and saw Dot Pixis.Pixis was a bald man with a structured build, with a distinguished mustache, light skin and notable wrinkles under his eyes, who was wearing his military uniform, that made him looked even more serious and respectable.Pix was the Territory Commander of Garrison, a military devision charged of protection and order inside Marleyan territories. Pix was the Commander of the Southern Division, the one closest to the coasts. Erwin couldn’t say he was surprised to see the man there and he wasn’t displeased either. Despite his eccentricity, Pixis was an effective leader, an expert strategist and able to gauge any situation carefully. “Greeting Commander Pixis, I must say it’s a pleasure to see you here” said Erwin formally but without perform the military salute. “Good morning Erwin” said Pixis “When Zackly told me about this meeting, and you would have attended, I couldn’t resist. If you requested this, it means two things, or your researches reveled to be futile or you have something big in your hands” “I do, I promise I won’t waste your time.” Said Erwin looking out of the window. “It’s not about my time I’m worried” said Pixis. Erwin nodded but he didn’t say anything else, instead in the wait, he started observing that office. The office represented perfectly Zackly’s personality. Most of the furnitures were simple, spartans, that indicated Zackly’s militarily personality, because he didn’t want his furnitures to catch the attention of the people, but his certificates, his medals, the photos taken with the most imminent personality of Marley. All things that screamed the grandeur of them man sat at that desk that made any soldier envy and admire him, they made people feared him too. Something in particular caught his attention, a chessboard positioned on a coffee table with the pieces in perfect order.He came closer to look at it. He considered chess an overestimated game, always preferring Go instead. Someone would say that there weren’t many differences but, let said it, Go represented more Erwin’s point of view, the way he considered the world or how the world should be.Chess was a hierarchical game, where the game was all about catching a piece, the King. Go instead was an imperial game, where the sacrifices were required, all the pieces valued the same, that offered both the winner had the same possibilities of winning, even if one of the adversary was objectively stronger than the other. In Chess victory is obvious, the player made checkmate and that was everything, in Go, victory wasn’t decided until the territories were counted at the end of the game. Go was more realistic, simpler and more difficult than Chess at the same time. In the end, the more you played Go, the more you understood the simple concept of that if you gained something somewhere, somewhere else you were going to lose. Another lesson that had been helping him to make better choices in his job somehow. “Is that chessboard so interesting ?” Asked Pixis grabbing his silver flask and drinking. “No, not interesting at all” he simply answered. Pixis had just put away his flask before the door got opened again and Zackly entered inside his office. Severe frown, erect posture, glasses perfectly cleaned, military uniform.Another person in Erwin’s place wouldn’t have felt at ease, with his jeans, his blue shirt and blue jacket but not him.Before speaking, he locked up the door with his key, so that no one could disturb them. “Sorry for the waiting” he simply said without adding more “What kind of informations you have for us Erwin ?” Asked sitting behind his desk. “I will do better if I show them to you” said Erwin grabbing a pen drive from his pocket and putting it on the desk “Inside you will find everything I’ve found out about Tybur Industries” “Can’t wait to see them. I hope that this time we will finally destroy the Industries” “When I decided to start this mission, I swore that I would do anything in my power to achieve this goals” said Erwin. … MARLEY, STOHESS 2095…
“I have waited for this moment for almost five years” commented Zackly.
He was reading the newspaper where it was written the news of the incident happened on Paradise Island, caused by the Tybur Industries. He was keeping the newspaper with his right hand and a cup with his left hand.
He still couldn’t believe what he was reading, any word made him believe that Christmas arrived earlier that year. Apparently the Tybur Industries finally committed that big mistake he was waiting it would happen. Ever since Tybur Industries had destroyed and ruined his home, Paradise Island, he hoped to have his revenge, for himself, for his home and for all the inhabitants of Paradise Island that had suffered due to Mr Tybur’s voracity until that day.
In 2090 all the inhabitants who lived in the Southside of Paradise Island had been obliged to leave their houses, while the inhabitants who lived in the Northside were obliged to stay because suddenly Mr Tybur decided to spread the news that a virus had been spread in that side of the island. What a ‘coincidence’ that in that year, another facility owned by Mr Tybur was built and opened and after that people on the island started disappearing or working for the Industries.
Zackly moved in the Southside of the island only few months before the news, but his family was still living in the Northside and there was nothing he could do to take it with him. He tried to get in contact with them but they never answered. It was like they were disappeared and slowly other people started disappearing, but no one did anything, no one cared enough. The media insisted to write that the disappeared were due to the virus spread, a virus the Tybur Industries were trying to create a cure for and so the disappearances continued and now the incident. Tybur Industries confirmed that there were no survivors and that Paradise Island was now officially uninhabitable. Erwin. In 2068, Mr Tybur allowed the building of another facility, but no one knew what was happening there. Erwin suspected that in 2090 something went wrong, maybe a failed experiment caused the death of those men and Tybur needed a scapegoat to continue with his researches, but there were no proofs.
“In the end our patience was rewarded” commented Pixis drinking by his flask.
Normally Zackly wouldn’t have been so tolerant with that kind of behavior, not during an official reunion, but he also could recognize a lost call. Pixis was a hard head when it came with his flask and sometimes his subordinates had to hide it or replace the liquor with water.
“They will find a way to get by this time too” commented Erwin “In the eye of the public opinion, this is not an incident, but a failure caused by the inability of the Tybur Industries to find a cure for a virus. All the disappearance and the deaths happened in Paradise Island only confirmed the existence of a virus”
“I don’t think that what happened is caused by a virus” said Pixis “But without proof we can’t prove it. This tragedy will be considered for an ‘incident’, but no one will ever know that something terrible was happening there”
“We allowed Mr Tybur to kill all those people” commented Erwin “Our inertia killed them. We should have fought for our people, for our home. Paradise Island was our home”
“It’s our home and we will take it back” said Zackly “But first, we need to take down the Industries”
“Of all the three of us, you have the highest ranks, the prestigious and the resources. Due to your successful career you have been honored with a prestigious position in Marley too. I almost got fired back in Paradise Island due to all my conflicts with all my superior in the police force” said Erwin moving pieces at random on the chessboard in front of him.
He was sitting on a couch in front of the chessboard positioned on the coffee table, keeping the distance from the other two men.
After all they didn’t have much in common, apart from their anger toward Willy Tybur.
Even before the evacuation of Paradise Island, Erwin had met Zackly and Pixis only few times and only for disciplinary matters, because Erwin was always a troublemaker, the one who talked to much, who had no respect for the authority and who usually went against direct orders during the mission. His cold attitude and stubbornness, his lack of regrets and sometimes his cruelty and sadism toward the criminals. Erwin was willing to do anything in his power to achieve his goals and his superiors not always approved that.
Marley’s army was divided into three divisions. The Military Police Brigade, the local police, the Garrison, in charged of protecting the borders, and the Warrior Unit, the army. The Warrior Unit was the only one of the three division to which Tybur Industries gave funds, probably because it was the only division to which the Industries gave weapons, recruits and vaccines and it was also possible that some of them infiltrated in foreign country to spy them, and in return the Industries received funds for their researches. It was also the only division where recruits were exclusively accepted according to some criteria no one were allowed to know.
Entering in the Warrior Unit was impossible and with his curriculum he would never infiltrate in the Military Police Brigade but there was something he could do.
“What are you thinking about Erwin ?” Asked Pixis who already suspected something.
“Marley won’t accept me in any division, my reputation precedes me. Even if I enter in the police, I’ve the sensation that my attitude will… get me fired pretty soon” said Erwin grabbing the king.
“I know that tone. What do you have in mind ?”
“We had to leave our home because of the Tybur Industries and since 2069, when the warrior unit was founded, Marley has been successful in his conquest operations. Without even realizing, we have all the world against us” said Erwin.
“That is Marley’s problem, not ours” replied Zackly.
“No, it’s ours too. Who do you think the world blame for the spread of the virus on Paradise ? The Paradise inhabitants or Marley ? Why do you think we haven’t been welcomed in any other country than Marley ? Because the entire world sees us as bioterrorists who has infected an entire island and that could still infect the whole world as well because we’re contagious”
“And do you know all of this because ?” Asked Zackly
“I have my ways and I also analyze our current situation. We’re prisoners here, that’s the truth. If we want to escape we need to reveal the truth about Marley and there’s only one person among us that can do it, me”
“How ?” Asked Pixies “What do you hope to achieve alone ?”
“You have my back, don’t you ?” Asked Erwin position the kind on the chessboard again.
“I do” said Zackly “Enter the police, get fired and then disappear. I will give you all you need” said Zackly.
“If someone one find it out…” started Pixis.
“If someone find it out then it would be my problem alone.” Answered Erwin. “I’m your man. I’m intelligent, cunning, pragmatic and cruel enough to sacrifice everyone in order to archive my goals. Mission takes the precedence over everything else”
Erwin saw nothing wrong into affirming the truth, that he was a cruel man, willing to sacrifice everything, his own humanity, his own heart, if he still had one, everything to pursue his goals. Back in the police corp, even thought he cared about his colleagues, the mission assigned always had the priority. He entered in the force to protect the people, even at the cost of his own life and when the others weren’t willing to risk their lives, then Erwin saw nothing wrong into putting them in risk himself. Everyone was sacrificial, although he considered any life important and people were free of saying of thinking whatever they wanted about him. Included his superiors.
“You know, Erwin, sometimes I wonder if you’re a man or a killing machine” commented Pixis.
“I’m a man aware that any victory requires sacrifices.”
“Very well, so you’re going to spy the corporation for us ?” Asked Pixis.
“Yes” answered Erwin “Isn’t this the reason why you have picked me among everyone one ? Didn’t you hope that I will fine an appropriate yet dangerous solution ?”
There couldn’t be any other reason for them to request his presence at that meeting. He, a heartless killing machine, willing to put everything and everyone at risk. They could have picked everyone, but they knew that, in spite of everything, he was a great soldier and he could be even a better commander, also no one would be able to manipulate a group of people into following him into investigate about pharmaceutical Giant.
He was also pretty rigid when it came with rules and he would never attend a formal meeting with two superiors. He would simply pretend that that was an informal meeting and that he was invited for a tea.
He wasn’t afraid for his fate, it wouldn’t be the first time he put his own life in danger, he simply confide that the outcome would be favorable.
…
Two yeas had passed from that day, two years of frustration, anger and discouragement, but in the end all his sacrifices were worthy. He applied for a position in the police force of Marley one week after that conversation, three months late he got fired after he disobeyed a direct order from one of his superiors, putting in risk the life of the man himself. After another month, no one knew anything about him, it was like he simply disappeared from the face of the Earth, exactly how he wanted. He managed to form a small group of people who were willing to follow him, to fight for him and die for him and he actually proved himself to be a great commander.No he finally had something in his hand and now he could only wait for the permission to proceed with his plan. “Erwin…” began Zackly looking at the screen of his laptop “… Are these… Titans real ?” “Affirmative, I witness their existence and brutality three nights ago, when Lyla Tybur turned into one herself and killed her brother” “Well, do you have proofs of them other than these documents ?” Asked Pixis. “Aren’t they necessary, are they ?” Asked Erwin remaining stoic. “Without a concrete proofs, these documents only demonstrate a pure theoretical research on a serum that can allow people to become stronger. Do you have at least a sample of this serum ?” “Those documents prove that Tybur Industries has been conducting illegal human experimentation on the inhabitants of Paradise Island and even on some Marleyan.” Said Erwin shrugging. “I hate saying it but if some of us send these documents to someone, they will consider it as a pathetic and imaginative attempt from three people of Paradise to denigrate the reputation of the most important corporation of Marley and Marley itself” said Pixis “Without something more concrete, a proof that the world itself won’t be able to ignore, we are unable to do anything” “But you already know this, so why are you here ?” Asked Zackly to Erwin. It was in that moment that Erwin allowed himself to snicker. His superiors knew he wasn’t naive, that he didn’t actually think that a bunch of senseless words and experiments could actually prove the innocence of Paradise Island’s inhabitants. Without a concrete prove, they had nothing and they could do nothing. They needed to retrieve a sample of the serum, or to catch a shifter and obliged him or her to use their ability. They needed to reveal the world the entire truth, any fact had to be unequivocal, to find proves that leaded to only one culprit, Tybur Industries. He had to find a way to exposed all their dark secrets out of the closet and he had two ideas, one crueler than the other, but again, morality was useless when the entire world was out for his people blood. “Because what you said is right, these documents are something, but not all. Nevertheless, they help us to understand more our enemy, what makes it stronger, what can make it weaker, how we can take advantage of them. These documents are the theory of a plan I’m going to pursue” “What do you have in mind ?” Asked Pixis. “According to what I learnt, Shifters, the people who can turn into titans at their own pleasure, are weak, tired and unable to turn into titans after a previous transformations, specially when a shifter is close to its thirteenth year. I don’t know how many, but I’m sure that one shifter is still alive and that Magath is with him” “Why are you fixated on Magath now ? He’s not one of the highest members” replied Zackly. “Because the other targets, Lobov, Gross and Calvi are already dead. Magath is the only one I know was there and who’s still out there” “Why hasn’t he done anything yet ?” Asked Pixis. “For two reasons I guess, the shifter with him is too weak to move and the second is that, maybe, he’s waiting for us to do the first move” said Erwin “I bet that the first thing he will try to do is get in contact with Lago Facility, then he will try to return to Paradise, where he will be save” “How can you be so sure ?” Asked Zackly “Because it’s what I would do in his position, he’s desperate and he will make desperate decision. Desperate decisions always end into tragic outcomes. He has no idea that I saw him running away with that shifter, he doesn’t even know that I’m still alive.” “Do you think you can retrieve a sample of that serum from Lago facility ?” Asked Pixis. “Actually, that wasn’t what I had in mind, let me explain…” … MARLEY UNKOWN FACILITY… TWO HOURS LATER Erwin was relief that the reunion finished sooner. He was tired, physically and emotionally, even though he couldn’t show it, his role required it and time was against him, so for the moment he couldn’t concede himself some rest. He also feared that the adrenaline inside him would keep him awake anyway. That was why he was in his office, instead than inside his bedroom, and he was drinking a cup of coffee. He needed some piece, he needed to organize his ideas before to communicate his intentions to the others. He needed to perfection the plan, he needed to organize his speech, to think about every details, hoping that during his absence, his colleagues had found out something about Magath, maybe his current location or something else.Almost like someone was reading his mind, someone knocked at his door. “Yes ?” He said drinking his coffee. “May I come in ?” It was Mike. “Come in, Moblit” he said sitting at his desk. His office was simple. There was modern styled desk at the center, with a laptop and documents on it, without any personal items, with three drawers and two chairs on the opposite side. On the right there was white magnetic board where there were hanging photos, connected by red threads and red written next to them. On the other side, there were boxes, with various items in them, items that Erwin hadn’t put in order yet.Mike entered inside his office. He had his own laptop and he looked very excited about something. “Sorry to disturb you, Erwin, but I need you to see this” he said sitting on one of the chair and putting his laptop on the desk. “What Mike ?” Asked Erwin come closer to the other man. “I was hankering the systems of all the facilities, to know whether someone tried to get in contact with other facilities, someone who wasn’t working in any other facility and apparently someone got in contact with the facility in Lago.” “I don’t see anything strange, I know the hard politic of the Industries, which prevented scientists from leaving the facilities very rarely” “You also know, that all workers are given an apartment inside the facility or nearby, because they need to be ready in case of emergency, or that is what they say. No one leave the facility without Lord Tybur not knowing. The signal that caught my attention came from one of the facility, an undergoing one that was located near the training center” “The one that was blown up three nights ago ?” Asked Erwin. “Exactly, the signal was weak, but it came from there” “So, there’s a hideout in the woods. Magath is there, why is he still there after three days ?” “Maybe some of his men are hurt” said Mike. “No, there has to be another explanation…” Erwin was sure of it. Despite all the faults Magath could have, he didn’t look like the type of captain who left its ship drowning, a proof was that he didn’t leave the blond boy to his destiny, when the Titans threatened to attack them. Erwin maybe was underestimating the importance of that blond young man, but Magath could have leave him anyway and escaped, since there was another shifter who was fighting against the War Hammer. Maybe the shifter was hurt, after all they didn’t see her Titan form running away. Magath would never leave a shifter behind and he did hoped that it was a shifter the wounded one, because there could be only another one explanation, which was that Magath was ready to leave the facility and hide somewhere else. Erwin couldn’t let it happen. “They can’t move, this gives us time. Maybe one fo the shifters is wounded, probably they’re trying to gain more time before the dead of all those people could be no longed hidden” said Erwin. “Why did he contact Lago facility ? Of all the facilities ?” Wondered Mike. “I can’t think about any reason and I don’t care. If we hurry up we will find a way to capture them before they live their hideout and maybe we will have a chance to explore the facility. Looking for something interesting” said Erwin. “How can we go there ? We would never stand a chance against shifters, if they turn in titans, it would be a suicide” replied Mike. “I’m aware of that. We need to read those documents with more attention. Maybe we will find a way to fix this problem and we don’t have to forget that we have Levi” “I fear you can overestimated his abilities. Yes, he killed all those titans, but those monsters weren’t shifters, were stupid and he only was able to accomplish that much because something triggered inside him, something we don’t know what it is” He couldn’t explain what he felt or think about Levi, but when he saw the raven haired man killing those monsters he felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time, hope. He was aware that all of that had to sound crazy, specially because Levi tried to kill him and because he knew that the other didn’t hesitate to make researches about his past, the same moment he was taken there. He was aware that some of them were suspicious about him, but Erwin didn’t care. There was something in that man that he needed and did they. He was also willing to admit that Mike’s doubts towards his lucidity disturbed him.If there was someone among them capable of thinking clearly. Even in the hardest moment, it was him. “Mike, I understand your worries and, believe me, I’m not planning to do something reckless. Not when I’m so close to put Magath behind the bars. We need them to surrender, to do a false step. To act reckless and I know what to do” “What ?” Asked Mike. “The Devil needs to hide and to fool everyone into believing he does not exist, well I need the world to know he does exist now, before he hide his face behind another mask” said Erwin finishing his coffee. “What are you planning ?” “I’ve a contact that can help up and I trust this person, but before I need to see Levi and talk to him” said Erwin putting a cup on the desk “Keep monitoring Magath’s movement. If another conversation took place between the underground facility and the Lago ones, warn me” He went out from his office and started walking alone the corridor. He went right in the medical wing but there he found no one. For a moment he feared the raven hair escaped, but he reconsidered the idea quickly, since it was difficult finding the exit inside that facility and also, no one entered or exited without him knowing. He went to Hanji’s lab, hoping that she would know where Levi was. Hanji was like him about one aspect, it was very hard hiding something from her and even when it happen, it would never last for too long, she always found a way to discover everyone’s secret. In fact, when he entered inside the lab, she and her colleagues turned toward him, but most of them lowered their gaze quickly and concentrated on their tasks. Everyone but Hanji.Erwin came closer to her, completely ignoring the other scientists. “You intimidate them, you know that ?” Asked Hanji when he stopped in front of her. “I don’t understand why” “Neither do I” giggled Hanji “Why are you here anyway ? I don’t think you’re here to help me with research”“I will probably hinder you. I don’t understand nothing about these stuff. I’m here only because I…” “… You wanted to know where Levi sweetie is. I know. He was tired of doing nothing all day, he wanted to do something so I indicated him the way for the gym” “Isn’t too early for gym ?” “That’s what I thought… before seeing him training with Nanaba. Go watch yourself” she concluded with a wink before returning to her files. Erwin nodded, then he left the laboratory and doing it was a relief. He hated the smell inside that place. He walked toward the gym, opened the door and he found himself stunned.Nanaba was one of the best fighter inside their team, sometimes she even managed to win a spa against Mike, which was the second best fighter after Erwin but Levi was on another level completely. He was able to dodge any Nanaba’s attack, perfectly able to protect himself. He was agile and despite his small stature, his body was well built, with defined muscles that added at his extraordinary skills, made him an opponent not easy to defeat. So that was what Hanji was talking about before. He knew that Levi could be a valid member of his team, but now he sincerely believed that he could be more than that. Erwin was convinced that there was even more, that what he knew about Levi was only the tip of the iceberg and he couldn’t wait to learn more.It was Nanaba the first of the two to notice him near the door. “Good afternoon Commander Erwin, are you here to check if I’m still alive ? Where did you find this one ?” Asked Nanaba who stopped to catch her breath. “You would surprise, can I have a word with you Levi ?” Asked him politely. “Take all your time” said Nanaba going to sit on one of the benches. “Are you here to reproach me ?” Asked Levi. “Not at all. I’m glad for your recover. I didn’t imagine you could fight so well” “Difficult childhood. Psychotic uncles. Reformatory… the list is pretty long. What do you want to talk about ?” He asked. “Let’s sit down first.” He said indicating another bench, away from the one where Nanaba was sitting and drinking a bottle of water. “Where have you been ? And why in the hell you leave me alone with that four eyes freak ?” “Hanji ? Why ? Did she try to open your head to take measurement of your brain too ?” Asked Erwin feigning worry. Levi looked at him worry, then he winked and asked carefully “Tell me you’re joking” “I wish I could, but with Hanji you can never be sure of anything. Anyway, I’m here to update you about recent developments” “Don’t make me wait” commented Levi with sarcasm. Erwin smiled. He should feel disturbed due the other’s insolence, but strangely he wasn’t. He wasn’t sure if he liked Levi or not, but he respected him, he respected his strength, the fact that he’d been through hard times and yet he was still able to resist, to get over everything and to stay strong. Erwin needed someone who knew the pain, whom had tasted it on the tip of his tongue, who had seen the darkest side of the world and managed to survive. He needed someone who had seen those mindless monsters and, in the moment of danger, was ready to fight and die, instead of run and live.He needed a soldier, both in body and soul. “Me and Mike have an idea of the current location of the Warriors, but we need to act quickly. The only problem is that we can’t fight against them, not directly, we won’t stand a chance.” “Because there are shifters with him, am I right ?” Erwin nodded then he continued “There are a lot of things we still don’t know, about them, a lot of things we don’t have, like weapons to use to fight them. It would be an hazard, but time is still against us. So we have to fight them differently” “No punches and kicks this time ah ?” Concluded Levi rolling his eyes. “No, I know someone who can help me with the plan, but I want to know if you have a proposal of your own” “Why would you care about my opinion ?” Asked Levi surprised. “Because Mike trust me with any decision, and he’s the only person who could get eaten alive a part from us. You’re the other person, you’re new and…”“You still think that I don’t completely trust you, so you want to be sure that, whatever decision you take, I won’t oppose you” “Reaching a common agreement is fundamental when you’re part of a team. It’s enough that one member is hesitant and everything starts falling apart. Never hesitate, everyone must to do their parts. Now please, share with me your opinion on the matter” “I think that you’re right. We’re not equipped or trained to deal with titans, not even I, since I don’t know what happen to me that night. I don’t know the origin of that force, consequentially we can’t rely on something we don’t control. We need to defeat the Warriors in another way, as you said” Levi sincerely believed in any word he said. They couldn’t rely on nothing, not their current arsenal, informations or on his ‘force’ or whatever it was. Levi tried to emulate the emotional state of that night before, while he was training, but nothing happen. His emotions weren’t strong, or there was something else that was missing. He had no idea how to definite it, but when that force possessed him he felt… complete. Like he finally found his other half. It was ridiculous, he knew but there were different things of that night he still didn’t understand, a lot of things about himself that he’d been ignoring all that time apparently. He knew that his uncle had ‘moments’ when it looked like that a force possessed him but he didn’t think that he shared the same ability. Probably their mother had the it too and so did his sister. Was it the reason why his mother disappeared ? Did someone of the Tybur Industries suspect that ? Was it the reason why during his permanency at the orphanage, a doctor took samples from him and his sister twice every month ? But if he had the ‘ability’, why did they let him go ? Why did they let his sister be adopted ? If she had been actually adopted…More and more questions started forming in his head and it was causing him an headache. “I want answers, but I won’t find them if they all die, so whatever you want me to do, order me. Don’t ask.” “Are you sure ?” “I promised you my loyalty, so yes, I am. Whatever you want to do, I will follow you, because when I look at you, I see that you, somehow, are seeing something incredible, something that I can’t understand, something that I know you’re going to show me one day” Erwin looked at him, emotionless, than he simply said “Thank you” ‘Thank you for everything’ he thought without saying it. Here they were. Two men who had almost nothing in common, only a goal, a dream, a promise to keep. Both of them had their secrets to hide, both of them had scars on their body and soul and a destination that would procure them more. That day, Levi would agree with him, one day he would disagree, Erwin was ready for everything, nut as long as they shared the same goal, it would be okay.For the first time, after a long time, he felt that something could be alright. "Why are you doing this ?" asked Levi. "Because..." Erwin sighed, then he answered "... I lost my home and I want to take it back, but.. on the other hand..." "On the other hand ?" "Bad things were happening when I had to leave Paradise, now I fear whatever monstrosity awaken on the other side of the ocean. I wonder there's any possibility I can actually come back home... or if I'm leaving the safe haven of ignorance for the terrors I will find""Aren't all the Eldians escaped or dead ?" commented Levi. "Then tell me, Levi, what's more frightening then going inside a cemetery of living soul ? The other half of the populations was used to improve the serum, they're alive and dead at the same time. That's what worries me the most. How could live and dead coincide so well in a living being ?"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY 2049
Where was he ? Who did these memories belonged to ?
He was looking a seven years old child, who was laying on a bed, without hair, the face full of wrinkles, a respirator, an oximeter tied to the finger and she looked pale and weak. Was she… Lyla Tybur ? Or a seven year old version of the woman. It looked like she was sleeping, or maybe she was just pretending.
She was into a hospital room, but it was weird, it was completely white. All the furnitures were white and he was the room with her and, he was thirteen year old, blond, short, thinner and dressed up very fancy. He was Willy Tybur. Her father, William Tybur sr. was talking with a doctor outside that room.
He came closer to the door to hear their conversation better.
“I’m sorry, Lord Tybur…” said the doctor “But the diagnosis confirmed our suspicions, your daughter is affected by progeria.”
“What do you mean ? What is it ?”
“Progeria is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disorder that consists in symptoms that resemble aspects of aging at very early age”
“What does it mean ? Is my daughter going to age faster than normal people ?”
“Exactly” confirmed the doctor.
“Is there any cure or treatment ? How could it be possible than there’s no treatment in 2068 ?”
“Lord Tybur, you must understand that…”
He couldn’t listen their conversation anymore, because he was coming closer to the little girl on the bed. His vision was blurry, so whoever lived the situation in that moment was crying. He took the hand of the child and some tears fell on it. He kissed it.
“I promise Lyla, I will save you. Your bigger brother’s here” he said caressing his sister’s head.
… PARADISE ISLAND, 13 SEPTEMBER 2097 17:00 When he opened his eyes the first thing, he saw were postcards and drawings of the say attached to the ceiling. He didn’t seen the white anymore, fortunately, his bedroom wasn’t white anymore, it was replaced by the beauty of the sea. He had found those postcard wandering around the abandoned houses of Paradise Island’s inhabitants. He found interesting things there, photos, books, clothes, for him and his people and the postcards for him, and nevertheless there was always something that pushed him inside a hospital room, where the white ruled and the air was dense of disinfectant and iodopovidone, a smell that was familiar to him since he was surrounded by surgeons, who opened and closed his body like a closet, who cut his arteries, veins and capillaries like an hairdresser who cut hair, and who pierced each part of the bodies with their needles, as if his body was a target for darts. He hated them and hated those memories but he knew that once his titan would swallow and accept the War Hammer Titan, his dreams would consist of memories of both Willy and Lyla Tybur, which wasn’t a complete negative thing, yet he didn’t want to see those memories. He didn’t want to see things that made them look so… normal. He wanted to see the monsters inside them, the faces behind their masks, he wanted to know their secrets in order to destroy their Corporation and make their family name disappear from the face of the Earth. He didn’t want to think about his part anymore, that was another reason why he lived away from the old facility, or what remained of it. He moved into one of the closest abandoned house, he made the place habitable and comfortable. He usually went there to think and to be alone too. Being surrounded all the time by people who were directly connected with his mind, limited his ability of thinking and pondering about things freely. He knew he could get the other off his mind, but he wanted also be away from them physically. After all there was nothing wrong in wanting piece and quiet. “Ackerman…” he muttered. That was another thing that had been invading his mind since the first time he saw that man. He didn’t know his name, he knew nothing about him and yet he couldn’t stop thinking about him. Who was him ? Why was he at the party ? He was dressed up like a waiter, but he didn’t result in any list of staff members he and his ‘family’ found in their databases. He infiltrated that night in the Mansion, but why ? What was he doing there ? Who was he with ? Where was he now ? Was he alive ? Did Magath kidnap him ?And why was he worrying so much ?That man was an ‘Ackerman’ and Ackermans were dangerous people, or at least that was what his father told him. Ackerman was simply a surname chosen to indicate those people that, not only survived the serum, but also developed antibodies that made him immune to the Ymir serum. Some of them not only had antibodies but they also developed peculiar abilities. He’d never met an Ackerman personally but the reckless side of him hoped to meet that man again one day. Maybe he was simply looking in the world direction. There were documents about the Ackerman in the archives, maybe he could do some research, to find him in the lists of all the subjects who developed the the so called ‘Ackerman power’. As far as he remembered the Ackerman represented the 0,8 % of people who survived the first injection without dying or becoming mindless titans, they were extremely rare and very important to make the serum less aggressive and rise its rate of adaptability to human’s genome. Maybe he should start from there, he would look in the archive to see if there was someone connected to him. That man didn’t seem to know what was happening to him, but another thing he knew was that the ‘Ackerman power’ was hereditary and if luck was on his side, he would find someone, a parent or a sibling connected to him. “I must find him… I…” He bite his lips to avoid to pronounce those words. “Hey… are you there ? Annie’s still sleeping, Magath can’t move without her” He was relief that someone distracted him from that ‘Ackerman’, after all there were more important things that required his full attention. After all, he was pretty sure he would have other opportunities to meet him in the future. “Any news from Lago ?”
“No, not yet, but I didn’t contact you for this. I was wandering around and I found something interesting”
“What ?”
“I’m going to send you the files. The orders are to stick together but they’re so concentrated on Annie that no one noticed my absence.”
“Be careful”
“Always am, that’s why you entrusted me with this task”
He sighed. He trusted Armin, he was smart and capable and easily to underestimate. People looked at him and considered him a weak little thing, without self esteem and balls to do something behind Magath’s back. Behind his superiors’ back. … PARADISE ISLAD 2090… 24 HOURS BEFORE THE INCIDENT…
‘Who am I ?’
That was what Armin Arlert had thought when he saw his reflection in the mirror. Who was that person ? Was it the same person he was eight months ago, when he was hired as scientist in that facility ? In those eight months he’d seen things he could never imagined, he’d done things that tormented him in his nightmares, things that made his hands trembling when he dared remembering them. Were they worthy ? Was it so important to achieve his goals compared to those lives ? Would his parents be disappointed ? Of course they would, it hurt thinking it, but it was true. He was greedy, naive and cruel in his own way, but when he wore the white coat, that now was hanging in his closet, he felt invincible. Again, his intelligent allowed him to achieve an important position as scientist at only nineteen years old , finally he felt like he could do something important, to become immortal, to win a Nobel, to be able to earn enough money to buy a new home to his grandfather.
All those things used to be so important eight months ago… so fucking important…
“Shit” he muttered “Shit… shit… SHIT !!” He screamed punching the glass.
The knuckles began to bleed and some glass fragment fell in the sink, other on the floor and somehow he felt like his identity shattered and fell with them.
Those eight months made his reality sterile, sour and senseless, but they also taught me very important lessons and it was with that knowledge that he wore his jeans, his blue vest with a white shit underneath and the white coat that used to make him feel so essential in a world where everyone worth nothing.
He took his tag, his ID wristband and went out his room. Scientists’ dormitory were situated in the East side of the facility. All the laboratories instead where situated in the underground, connected by stairs and only one elevator, the only one that connected all the floors of the building. He went out the room and the door got closed automatically behind him. When he met someone in the corridors, he faked a courtesy smile, sometimes with a nod of his head, sometimes he was so lost in his mind that he completely ignored the world around him. He didn’t know how he arrived safely at the laboratories, where Doctor Langnar was waiting him and the other members of her research group.
Doctor Ilse Langnar was thirteen thirty-four years old woman with a curriculum to be envied by anyone. She graduated with honors at the age of fifteen, got her first doctorate in medicine four years later and then another one in biology. It wasn’t surprising if she got her position in that facility. Armin used to feel so honored to work with her, now he simply felt nothing. He looked at all the things that used to interest him, the research, the serum, the knowledge and now he he simply didn’t give a shit about anything.
The elevator stopped and when the door opened they revealed a waiting room, with white desk on the right and behind it there was a woman, dressed up white tailleur and with blond collected hair a pair of glasses.
He came closer to one of the receptionist and said “Armin Arlert, laboratories”
The woman, Marianne, nodded, then she put a register of signatures in front of him with a pen. He signed and also wrote the time. Then he put the pen on the register and, without saying anything, he entered into a white electronic door in front of that desk. Inside that door there was another room where there were benches and vending machines and round tables on the right, and on the left there were three doors. One leaded to the drug testing lab the second to the laboratories and the third one to the stairs. He entered in the second room, where he noticed that his colleagues were already sitting at their positions. Some of them were concentrated on the microscope in front of them, other came and went from the low temp testing lab.
He went straight, ignoring completely the looks he was receiving from his colleagues, then he turned to the left, where he was a desk, with a laptop on it, documents, a microscope and several dirty tools. From that position, it was possible observing what happen inside the low temp tasting lab, which was exactly what Doctor Langnar was doing.
“Good morning Doctor Langnar” he simply said to catch the woman’s attention.
“You’re late. After our discussion, I hoped you would try to make amend, now I understand you need more time” said the woman without even looking at him.
Ilse Langnar was a young woman with short black hair, lightly tanned skin with golden eyes with freckles below each one. She was wearing, a light brown t-shirt with a pair of jeans and sneakers.
“You didn’t have to wait for me” he simply said.
“This is not the way you address your superiors but I blame myself for it. Since you’re late and you clearly have no intention of apologizing for the mess you made yesterday, today you will have to clean these tools…” she said pointing at the tray where there were beakers flasks, test tubes and cylinders and funnels, on her desk “… then I want you to come here as soon as you have finished”
Armin nodded but when he almost grabbed the tray Doctor Langnar added “But first… There are six dispersal cartridges in the Drug Testing Lab that have to be fill with Ymir serum. I want you to fill them quickly”
He grabbed the container with test tubes and left the laboratories, then he entered in the first door where there was the Drug Testing Lab, where he knew he would find. When he entered he noticed that no one was there in that moment, probably all the scientists were at the facility room playing with titans or injecting the serum to new subjects provided by Lord Lobov. Good, prefect even. Inside that room there weren’t cameras.
He noticed the cartridges on one of the counters and then he inserted each one into the Solution Dispenser and fill them with Ymir serum.
When he finished, he came back to the laboratories and brought the cartridges to Doctor Langnar.
When she saw them, she narrowed her eyes and looked at him, disturbed.
“Why are you bringing me only five cartridges ?”
“Sorry, but I couldn’t find the sixth in the room. Maybe someone else used it” he simply explained.
Armin spoke calmly, after all those cartridges didn’t belong to anyone, so every scientific could have taken one, it didn’t have to be necessarily his fault, since he was hiding the sixth inside his trousers, under his coat. Someone else would be trembling in his place, someone else wouldn’t dare, but Armin didn’t do things without being sure to be able to go all the way, without regretting. He definitively wasn’t going to regret what he had in mind to do.
“Shit…” she exclaimed “Well then… go clean these tools”
Armin nodded then he grabbed the tray.
’22 hours… 22 hours…’ he thought.
…
MARLEY COASTS, UNDERGROUND FACILITY 13 SEPTEMBER 2097
‘So many yeas have passed since that day…’ Armin thought, looking at Annie, who was still laying on a bed, unconscious. Her wounds were regenerating slower than before, probably because her body was too weak by now to bear the effort required by a transformation. It was a miracle if she survived a fight with the War Hammer Titan. Not that he had any doubt, he knew. somehow, or a part of him did, what she was capable of. Her skills, her abilities, her intelligence, just her. He grabbed one of her hand, for few minutes, before to let it go again. It would be dangerous if something happen when they touched. Sometimes it happen that when two shifters touched, their titans created a contact that allowed them to see the other’s memories. Armin couldn’t let her learn something about him.No one of those people had to know that he should look almost thirty year older, instead he looked not older than twenty. If any of them concentrated on his eyes, they would see melancholy on them, a tired should in a young body, awareness, anger, shame. A kaleidoscope of colors and feelings that only someone who’d been through the same calvary could understand. “Why didn’t you help her ?” He asked to Reiner. Reiner didn’t look at him, but answered “Because I was too busy hoping to die” “Sure, then you should simply be eaten by someone who can handle this life better than you” he commented standing up. “Shut up, when you have no idea of what you’re talking about. You will be allowed to talk when you will know the Hell I have” ‘Trust me, I know Hell better than you’ he thought, standing up. Magath left few minutes ago with Pieck and Gabi, to find some food inside that sewer hole. Colt and other few soldiers were supervising the entrance, in the end other soldiers and Falco and Pork, were resting, so that they would have the strengths to substitute Colt and the other out there. Inside that room remained he, Reiner and Annie. He looked at the laptop on the desk and then something came in his mind. He sat on the chair and he noticed that the laptop was still on. He tapped some buttons, until he found the floor plan of the facility. The facility wasn’t big, probably because no one suspected that someone would assaulted the Mansion and the Training center and won. He put a hand on the screen, then his eyes shined bright for a moment, before to come back to their normal blue. He continued to tap until he found what he was looking for, where all the other facilities were located and the people who worked in there, including their name, professions and personal informations. Again, he put a hand on the screen and his eyes turned gold for a second. Visual memory was amazing when it could be used in so many useful ways. “What are you doing ?” Asked Reiner to him. Armin looked at him with his peripheral vision. Reiner was still sitting next to Annie. He looked pretty depressed and depressing with his curved posture, his messy hair, the dark circles and the sleeves of his pullover ripped open by pulling cotton threads. If Armin hadn’t known so many things about the other due to Berthold’s memories, he would have felt pity for him, instead he could feel nothing for him. Armin couldn’t, because the first step to underestimate your enemy or lose focus was to feel empathy for him.Armin needed to see Reiner as the monster of his nightmares. “I’m bored… and I want to know if something happen out there”“What could happen? Everyone who attended the party are dead”“Yes, but their families, their friends, their colleagues don’t know. Maybe some of them already went to the police to denounce their disappearance” “They won’t find nothing” commented Reiner. “In these cases, finding nothing is worse then finding something. The first path they will follow will be the Tybur Industries, again.” “Shit…” commented Reiner “It’s not our fault this time” Armin took note of the plural used by Reiner, which meant that he considered himself as an integral part of Tybur Industries and the Warrior Unit. Armin applied, using his true name, three months ago, enough for him to discover some secrets about the Warrior Unit. Part of the Warrior Unit was trained and financial supported by the Industries, but actually they were simply under the control of the government. Instead the paramilitary unit could be divided into different units. There was the Tybur Security Service, assigned with the protection of all the facility or estates owned by Lord Tybur and payed by the same.Tybur Biohazard Countermeasure Service, assigned with combating escaped titans, even thought this unit didn’t result in any of the official documents. This unit was created in result of the Paradise Incident in 2090. It was inadvisable killing Titans, because despite the danger they represented, they remained test subjects and sources to discover more and more important informations about them, Ymir serum and their connection with the Nucleus.Armin found many projects where were explained the when it was founded, what kind of weapons they used, all informations he sent to him.There was in the end, the Shifter Unit, the one composed by shifters, like Annie, or Reiner, which leader used to be Calvi. That unit wasn’t owned by government and apparently no one was aware that some recruits were injected with serum, but officially they were simply trained to become soldiers and some of them simply ‘went away and continued their lives somewhere else’. It was the only way they could justify the dead of the recruits after the 13 years. “Our fault or not, government will need to point the finger against someone and Lord Tybur is already dead, so we’re going to pay the consequences” “Haven’t we already payed enough ?” Asked Reiner “To enter in the unit, we had to leave our families, be injected, reduce our lifespan. Isn’t enough ?” Armin shrugged “You should have put this in count when you chose to enter” “I had to” said Reiner “For my mother” “Then your mother should have” said Armin looking at the screen. “Stop speaking like you know everything, you don’t” said Reiner rising his voice. “So much passion for someone who wanted to die three nights ago” commented Armin not at all intimidated. He hoped that Reiner would remain there thought, he finally unlocked an important document regarding the Warrior Unit, one that opened with a symbol, something he remembered to have seen, but not when or where. The truth was the after the injection, some of his memories hadn’t come back yet, other were clear like the crystal, other were simply forgotten, it depended on how much those memories were for him.That symbol… probably he saw it for mere minutes, probably it was the symbol of a former paramilitary unit of Paradise Island or something like that.He opened the link but and he was going to ready it but then he heard footsteps nearby. Magath was coming back with Pieck, he didn’t have time. He put a hand on the screen, took a look on Reiner and when he was sure that the blond wasn’t looking at him, he used his powers to sent it to his family. Then he closed the files and opened another page.When Magath entered, followed by Pieck, had in his hand a plastic bottle of water, instead Pieck was carrying a cart where there were packets of chips, biscuits and canned food. “We haven’t found much” said Pieck to justify the little variety. “What are you doing recruit ?” Asked Magath looking at Armin. “Checking if we’re already in troubles. I want to be sure that no one is investigating on the disappearance of the victims at the party” “No, because I ordered Xavier to tell anyone who asks that Lord Tybur felt ill after the party”“What about the other guests ?” Insisted Armin. “Most of the guests worked for Lord Tybur and Xaver is smart, he would figure it our something” “Not after two incident, or three, if we want to include the one happen in 2070. The entire world is out for out blood already and we continue to offer them reasons to hate us” “What happen in Paradise, wasn’t caused by one of us. According to our files, someone infiltrated the facility and tried to steal one sample of the serum. When our soldiers caught him, he used the serum to escape.” “What about the servants ?” Asked Reiner. What he heard was new. The version he knew and that everyone knew was that a strange illness spread on Paradise, maybe an attempt to destroy Lord Tybur’s reputation or killing him, by spreading a virus in his property and that the culprit was someone from Paradise.What was that story of the thief ?Why did they lie ? Someone infiltrated the facility and provoked an incident. It would be so easier saying it, instead of evacuating half of the population and killing the other half completely. He believed that Paradise inhabitants were devils, bioterrorists, who, spread a virus only not to see their island in the hands of Tybur and now he learnt that it was everything a… lie ?He looked at Pieck and he observed that she was equally confused. “What are all these questions today ?” Asked Magath who was losing his patience. “Sorry” apologized Reiner. He didn’t sound convinced though, there was something strange in Magath, more like his superior was trying to justify himself or someone else. He looked at Armin and he was surprised by his lack of reactions. How could he remain so calm and composed ? Maybe it was because Armin had been part of the recruits for few months, he knew nothing of their lifestyle and yet there was something weird in him. That blond brat only saw Titans for the first time four nights ago, he was behaving like they were normal, like that was ordinary. There was something weird about him, or maybe it was simply him and his paranoia. Maybe Armin didn’t want to appear weak in front of Magath, maybe he simply wanted to prove himself and everyone that he was capable of handling those kind of problematic situations. Warriors had to prove themselves constantly, but it looked like more he didn’t care at all. Like he didn’t even belong there, like he was more an observant whose life wouldn’t be effected by those events. Reiner didn’t like him, he didn’t like him because he couldn’t understand him. He looked at Pieck, who was observing him and Reiner almost feared of what she could be seeing in his eyes in that moment. Pieck was too observing for her own good, many of their fellows considered her intruding and inopportune because not only she observed everything, but she had the tendency of telling what she thought about everything aloud, embarrassing the people around her in that moment.He gave her a look ‘stop staring at me’, then he turned around and looked at Annie. “I hope you’re right. I didn’t apply for this only to be put in jail with all of you” said Armin standing up. “Where are you going soldier ?” “Anywhere I can be alone with my mind, excuse me” “When you return, I hope you will change your attitude, this is not the way to address to your superior” reproved him Magath. “Maybe I’ll die soon, formalities mean nothing” said Armin getting out. Reiner waited few minutes, then he said “I don’t trust him. He’s too… something” “Calm ? ? Composed ? Indifferent ?” Suggested Pieck “Yeah, I don’t think that he’s trying to hide his fear, it’s more like he’s not scared at all” “Well, you were in the room with him, Reiner. He did something suspicious ?” Asked Magath. “It’s not what he does that worries me, rather what he doesn’t. He doesn’t ask…” “So he won’t have nothing to say in case he goes in prison” ironized Magath. “Seriously, after you saw titans for the first time in your life, prison should be the least of your worries” continued Reiner. “Not, if someone manages to control his nerves this time. We haven’t talked about what happen three nights ago yet, but we must. Your conduct was inappropriate and you could have killed all of us” “I’m aware of that” replied Reiner. He didn’t need a reminder of what happen three night ago, he knew he’d fucked up, that he had no excuses for it, but he couldn’t change anything either. He simply needed to look at Annie to remember that it was his fault, if she was lying on a bed it was his fault. His… his feat nullified his spirit, it got him on his knees on the ground. It was like Paradise was making him live a nightmare through those titans, painting his life in red again. He could still hear the Devil’s Trill Sonata… those damn… prelude of death. “Did you know it ? That Mr Tybur was planning of killing himself” clarified Reiner. “No” answered Magath. “Then I think I should prepare myself psychologically to go in prison too” he said standing up, grabbing a bottle of water. “Where are you going ?” Asked Pieck. “I need to be alone with my mind too” he simply answered getting out of the room. He knew that there was no way of getting out from the underground facility without being notice and it would be dangerous, he felt like he was a prisoner inside it though. He felt like he was suffocating. It was like being in Paradise again, surrounded by those walls, that gave him the sensation of being secluded from the rest of the world. He hated going there for those injections and exams, he hated being treated like a guinea pig and being looked at like he was some sort of grenade ready to explode at any time. He wasn’t going to explode, it was needed fire inside for it. Reiner didn’t explode, he simply crumbled and turned into dust. No fire or flames, nothing. He looked at the plastic battle in his hand and he wondered how it would feel like dying by drowning. … ‘I can’t believe I’m doing it’.Xaver sighed, when he used his ID wristband to open the experiment facility. He clicked some buttons on the controller in front of him, then he indicated where he wanted to go and the elevator started lowering. He hated that room, full of pods, with people inside them, people who would be injected with Ymir serum and then killed whether their genome didn’t adapt with the serum. Unfortunately, they weren’t in Paradise Island, which meant that they couldn’t keep more than a specific number of titans inside the facility and most of them were killed quickly. The only option was to recreate a sort of Paradise Island, with an experiment facility, where titans could be observed, studied and killed easily and a nucleus strong enough to control them, of course not strong as the original, but efficient enough to reproduce Ymir serum. Actually, the last version of the serum was made with the spinal fluid of the surrogate nucleus, because it resulted more adaptable to human’s genome, instead the serum made with the spinal fluid and of the original nucleus was too deadly for any host to support, if not combined with Ackerman antibodies and yet it was extremely rare finding them.For this reason, it seemed opportune at some point to elaborate a solution. To create another nucleus, which spinal fluid could merge easier with the host. If the first injection went well, another shifter would be created and the host would be more capable of resisting to an injection made with the spinal fluid from the original nucleus. When the elevator stopped, where there was an observation platform where it could be possible to observe five titans walking, bumping one against the other. He left the elevator and walked on the right side of the observation platform, where there was a door illuminated by a red light on it that indicated that the door was closed. He used his wristband and the light became green, then the door opened. He slowly opened the door and then he asked “May I come in ?” He entered inside a white room, where there was a white dresser and a bed with white sheets and a pillow at which side there was a small pile of books, on the left, and a desk with chair with drawing, colors and puzzles on it. There, was sitting a young boy, almost twenty years old, even though his messy hair, the gray suit full of folds he was wearing and the objects in the room would suggest he was younger than he looked. “Hi dear, how are you ?” He asked gently. A boy, with fairly long, rounded face and sizable, expressive green eyes, with short brown hair, with tan skin looked at him. Xaver smiled slightly, while the boy was studying him with his eyes. Xaver had been taking care of him for five years and he still fatigued to understand him. Not everyone knew about him, only the highest members, including him, Mr Tybur, Miss Tybur and few other people. It was a secret he didn’t even share with Zeke.Zeke… Xaver wasn’t ready to share that burden with him. “Hello, E2” he said “How do you feel ?” “Good” he muttered, while he turned his face and continued to do what he was doing before Xaver entered in the room. “Excellent, what are you doing ?” He asked. “I’m drawing… a house with people outside” he simply answered. Xaver came closer to him and he actually saw that E2 was indeed drawing, but not an house. What he was drawing was more serious, he was drawing a wall, Wall Maria in Paradise Island, to be more specific. How could it be possible ?He was trying not to agitate, there could be different explanations for it, but the problem was that E2 shouldn’t concentrated on those imagines, that probably didn’t even belong to him. E2 was created there, he’d never been in Paradise and he’d never put a foot outside that room, but they realized that pretty soon, like the original nucleus, his mind was strictly connected with the shifters’ ones, so he could see their memories but they still didn’t understand whether that happened only in his dreams, or even during the wakefulness. Xaver wished they could have done more researches on E2, specially after the destruction of the original nucleus. Tom was curious to know whether E2 could control shifters and other titans’ mind as well, if he possessed the ‘scream’, if he could manipulate others’ mind… if it could be possible starting to elaborate a vaccine from him. “That is not a house and those people outside are…” “…Titans… but titans used to be people, didn’t they ? I’m like them after all” “You’re tall, not so tall” “That’s why you inject me with that red serum at least three times at day” he said. “How are you able to keep the track of time ?” E2 looked at him, more like he was communicating him with his eyes ‘I’m not stupid as you think I am’. Tom smiled, it was like dealing with a teenager, but Tom loved that boy. E2 wasn’t talkative, he had the bad habits of rolling his eyes, of being blunt when he spoke, uncaring whether what he said could be disturbing or offensive. He had no filters and he didn’t hide himself or his feelings, not because he wasn’t capable of it. Xaver was convinced it was more about self consciousness, like E2 knew that, not matter what the other people could understand or know about him, he would always be the one into an advantageous position, and he was right. That was a little bit terrifying. “Nurses love chit chats. I probably know more things about your scientists than you” “That’s grave. They shouldn’t talk about other people to strangers” “Who would I tell ? I’m always locked up here… besides…” “Besides ?” “They talk about people I don’t know, so I lose interest quickly and I stop to listen” he shrugged. “Well, I need to talk to you” “I figured it” “How ?” “You’re here alone, without anybody else and it’s not time for the injection.” He simply replied “Are you here to tell me that you finally have a cure for me ? So that I can come back home ?” Tom sighed. His heart was suffering for that, because he wanted to stop lying, to that boy. He wanted to tell him all the truth, but he suspected that E2 already knew it. That he wasn’t normal, that maybe he would be like the other boys of his age. In all sincerity, Tom was actually surprised to find out that the nucleus wasn’t a group of particles, a plant maybe, a titan, a real titan not a… boy. Or maybe he should have expected, after all, the born of a man is the the same of a monster’s. Titans used to be people, now they were monsters and so the people who created them, who permitted three fatalities to happen. It wasn’t fair. For any of them. …
Lago Facilities 2090…
“Doctor Xaver, please follow me. I’m going to introduce you to someone” said Mr Tybur using his ID wristband to active the elevator.
“Someone ? I thought you wanted to discuss about the nucleus”
Last night, while Tom was washing his teeth after dinner, he received a message on his cell, where Mr Tybur informed him that he intended to converse him about the nucleus.
Tom was curious. Until that night, Mr Tybur refused to share informations about the nucleus to members who didn’t work inside the three walls of Paradise Island. It was an insurance in case something could go wrong in other facility. The nucleus was everything for the Industries and for Ymir serum, although they were far from making some other progress on it. The serum made with the spinal fluid of the nucleus was making more victims than else. The few people whom adapted to live less than five or six years, because their body was unable to resist the transformation and all the pain and consequences of them. That was caused because during the transformation and at the end of it, to heal the broken bones, to heal the tissues, wounds and eventually generated missing limbs, it was required an acceleration of cell regenerative process, that pushed cell to exceed the multiplications limits and in the end they died quicker and couldn’t be reproduced.
In the end, the host’s body died in few years, in the best cases.
Tom always wanted to work near the nucleus, to finally learn what it actually was.
His best guess was that the nucleus was some sort of a plant, after all plants were the first organism to perfectly adapt with the serum.
That was why he arrived at work earlier and he’d already washed his hands twice for the nervous and when Mr Tybur arrived accompanied with his sister, he feared he started sweating.
The facility was situated under Tybur’s mansion and was possible to access only by entering from the principal gates of the mansion, or from the parking area that was in the backyard.
“Indeed. It’s a delicate conversation and I trust no one more than you to deal with it with the due delicacy. You’re a father, aren’t you “?
‘I was actually’ thought Xaver, trying to hide his sadness, so he answered “Yes I am, but what do my parenting skills have to do with this meeting ?”
“I need someone who can behave more like a father than a scientist, for this task” answered Mr Tybur making him sign to enter the elevator when it opened.
Tom entered, followed by Miss Tybur and Willy Tybur. In that moment. Tom took a moment to observe them. Lord Tybur was wearing and elegant suit, his long blond hair were perfectly combed and it was possible to smell an expensive cologne from him. At his side, his sister she was wearing a much more sober black dress, with boots of the same color. She had a very natural make up, and she had cut her raven hair into soft bob that made her looked more mature. She was holding a black folder.
She wasn’t beautiful like her brother, but she was pretty, although a part of Xaver continued to brood about her supposed progeria.
There were a lot of voices about the miraculous healing of Lyla Tybur, at the beginning Tom didn’t believe them but after witnessing the existence of Ymir serum, titans and so on, he started to put everything in discussion.
After all, for what other reason Lord Tybur could have insisted so much on the production of Ymir serum if not to save his dying sister ?
Tom didn’t ask more questions, after all, it would be pointless and he had the sensation that he would learn more when he would finally saw the truth with his eyes.
“I apologize for the hurry or this secrecy, but few people know about it, people chosen by me and my sister. Now you’re part of these people, but first I need you to firm something”
Lyla opened the folder and passed him some papers and a pen “If you firm these, you agree on not revealing what you’re going to learn to anyone, not even one of your subordinate. If you violate the contract, President Tybur and I will proceed with the immediate dismissal.”
Tom gulped. He wasn’t stupid or naive, he knew what she actually meant when she said ‘dismissal’, but of course she couldn’t write on paper the ‘murder’ word.
Every subordinate, despite his rank, profession or age, disappeared after being fired and then it was like he or her never existed. They simply disappeared and then a titan that looked like her or him appeared, in the luckiest case.
He quickly signed all the papers then he handed them to Lyla again.
“I perfectly understand” he simply said.
“Excellent !” Commented Lyla with a smile while she was checking the papers.
“You must understand how much nucleus is important for my Industry”
“I totally understand. Nothing of all this would exist without that nucleus”
“Exactly, unfortunately our entire research is strictly connected with the nucleus, but we need to elaborate a way to be more… independent and our researches on Paradise Island may have found a way for doing it”
“Really ? How ?” Asked Xaver sincerely surprised.
“You will see” simply answered Lord Tybur.
When the elevator stopped, Lord and Miss Tybur went out first, followed by a nervous Xaver.
“Do you remember that, when I requested the building of a facility here, I required to build room on these floor without specifying their use ?” Asked the President.
Xaver nodded, without telling anything. He remembered it and he considered it pretty weird, but as always, he kept any doubt or thought for himself.
“Good, I found a perfect use for them. A dormitory for someone special”
‘Someone ? A person ?’
If Tom was confused before, now he simply had no opinion or idea on the matter. Who was he going to meet ? A researcher maybe ? Someone who finally had elaborated a way to retreat the nucleus ? It would be so amazing, since, as far as he knew, only one nucleus existed and if it got lost, years and years of researches, sacrifices and dead would be wasted. The walked until the arrived in front of a door, where there was a red light illuminated on it. Lord Tybur used her ID to open the door.
What Xaver saw was… unexpected. The chamber had been turned into a bedroom, for a child, the same child who was sitting on a bed with a book on his laps, wearing a green suit.
“Good morning, E2. I’m here to introduce you the person I mentioned you yesterday” said Lord Tybur entering in the room first.
The boy looked at them with emerald curious eyes, but he didn’t stand up or say anything. He didn’t come closer. He remained there, on the bed, studying all of them with his eyes, never darling to take his eyes off them. He was a child about 6-7 years old. What was he doing there ?
What was he have to do with the nucleus ? Unless he was …
“Is this boy connected with the nucleus ?” Asked Xaver whispering to Lyla.
“This boy is not connected. He’s the clone of the original nucleus” clarified Lyla for him aloud, not caring if the boy could hear her o not.
“How could this be possible ?”
“The nucleus is not at plant, or something like that, it’s a boy, born by two parents whom possessed the Ymir serum. Incredible isn’t it ? That a woman was able to carry on her pregnancy despite the serum inside her”
“The nucleus… a boy ? You mean… like him ? With the same face ?”
Lyla nodded, smiling, pleased by his intelligence. Tom was far from pleased. How could be possible that the nucleus, the thing that had allowed the creation of Ymir serum and Titans, the reason why many lives had been sacrificed for, was just a boy ? How could a boy alone possessed the power to create titans that he could command at his pleasure ?
It was like the world was transforming again in front of him.
The nucleus had a face, was made in flesh and blood running through his veins. It wasn’t a plant, or something mystical, or magical.
Over again, life proved him that the worst monstrosity came from humans and humans didn’t need nothing special to create hell on earth, just themselves and their twisted minds, driven by terrific ideals and futile ideals.
How was the real nucleus doing in that moment ? Did he know that there was someone else with his face ? Where were his parents ? Did he have a family ? Lyla said that the boy was born by two parents, two persons, whom used to be humans. Whose child was taken away to be used as…
“I can’t enter into detail, but I can tell you that his blood hasn’t rejected Ackerman antibodies, which makes his body perfect for creating a serum less intrusive that can easily adapt with human’s genome” said Lord Tybur sitting next to the boy “Although he was born with the serum, something inside his DNA allowed him to develop a new kind of antibodies that don’t nullify the effects of the serum”
“How are you feeling E2 ?” He asked caressing the boy’s hair.
“Fine. Who’s him ? He didn’t introduce himself” said the boy looking at Xaver.
Xaver wasn’t feeling at ease in that room, he feared to looked the boy in the eyes, probably for shame. That boy was going to be used like a guinea pig, like the original… not, like the other boy, with the same face, whose name remained a mystery for him. E1 ? That wasn’t a name, merely an etiquette for a merchandise product.
“I’m…Doctor Tom Xaver, from now on I will be… a friend of yours, if you want”
“Let’s starting as acquaintance” replied the boy blinking “Will you come here with nurse Elisa ?”
He looked confused, so Lord Tybur explained for him “Elisa Todd is his personal nurse. She already knows everything and don’t worry, she won’t intrude your time together. She will come here four times every day, she will give this tiger an injection then she will leave”
“Excuse me, President. I still don’t get my role in this”
“Come with me, Lyla stay here with E2” he ordered his sister standing up.
Lyla nodded, then she sat next to E2 on the bed and they started reading the book he had on his lap. Although Xaver noticed that E2 was still observing him with his emerald eyes, he was looking at him like he was trying to tell him something with his eyes, something Xaver wasn’t able to interpret.
He felt relief when he went out from that room, there he was feeling like suffocating. He couldn’t stand being close that boy any longer, the guilt was too much to handle at the moment. It was bad already when he suspected that there was something in that world that turned people into mindless monsters, but knowing that that thing was a boy, a human, was worse. They were experimenting on a human being, a boy of that age… Two boy of that age… For all that time…
All that fucking time they were working with the blood of a boy to create more monsters. Where was the humanity in all of this ? Where was the justice ? How could he not realize that what he was doing was so cruel ?
Lord Tybur and he entered in the elevator. Ten minutes later, they found themselves in garden one the back of the Mansion, sitting on a bench, watching the fountain in front to them.
Tom couldn’t stop watching birds, he always loved their wings and envied them, because they could fly everywhere, explore the world, be free. Free from any chain and they were so lucky, because they could fly close the sun without getting burn, they had no limits but the ones imposed by humans cruelty. He wondered what the E1 would be capable of doing without the chains of the Industries, how high he could fly, how powerful he could become. That would be something interesting to admire and study.
“I know what you’re thinking. That there’s another boy in Paradise, victim of abuses, locked up from the world, used like a guinea pig… but you have to understand that E1…”
“Does he have a name ?” Interrupted him Xaver grabbing a cigarette’s pack from his pocket and a lighter.
“Eren, we called him Eren. He’s too precious, his blood too precious and his existence must remain a secret to protect at any cost. The problem is, he’s growing up, like any boy, he will become old, eventually and then he will die, that’s why we’re elaborating a way to recreate his perfect DNA”
‘Eren… what peculiar name’ Tom thought, maybe in the honor of Eren Kruger, the creator of Ymir serum, the man who originally allowed all of that. Tom admired Eren Kruger when he learnt that he was the one who theorize the serum and then turned it into reality. He admired his brilliant world with the serum, read all his researches over and over again and always wished Kruger was still alive to see his creation working.
Now, Tom was almost relief that Kruger died before to see how his creation was being used. Not for the good, or the medicine, but to kill and torture innocent and turn people into war machines.
“How could he be still alive ? If he’s born with the serum.. how could he…”
Was he born after a normal pregnancy ? Or through a test tube ? Was he injected with the serum when he was a child ? After his born ? What had they done to him ?
“An unsolved mystery we hope to solve one day”
“What’s my part in all of this ?”
“Tom… Eren has been isolated from the world since his birth, the only people he meets are nurses and doctors, no one else. He didn’t learn social skills and growing up this has become a problem. He started killing whoever got too close to him, we have to keep constantly sedated. We don’t want the same thing to happen with E2, he needs someone, a parent, a father.”
“So that he would remain docile to be used ?”
“Tom, you’re an intelligent man, I’m sure I don’t have to explain that the biggest discoveries come from a sacrifice. Science used cruel means to prove its theories right and so it will continue to do, it’s important not to remain in the ignorance”
“But you’re allowing someone else paying the highest price. A boy” said Tom trying to not speak louder.
“Don’t be so hypocrite, Tom. If I hadn’t tell you the truth, you would have move with your research enthusiastically, but this side of yours is another reason why I chose you. You’re kind, sweet, protective over your pupils. E2 needs someone to take care of him. Do you want to be the father figure he needs or not ? This is the last time I ask”
Tom was tempted to tell him to fuck off, in spite of his title and the fact that Lord Tybur could kill him at any moment. He was too pissed to be scared in that moment. Lord Tybur was leaving him no choice, that blond devilish man knew where to hit to get what he wanted from people. He knew that Tom lost his son, that he was murdered and that caused a scar on his heart.Lord Tybur knew he wouldn’t turn down the offer since the begin, because Tom didn’t have the heart of leaving a young boy behind, leaving him unprotected against others’ cruelty, as he did with his son.
It was the second time in his life that Tom could firmly admit to feel hate for that man, hate for what he did to Eren, if that was the real name of the original nucleus. He hated him for all the lives he sacrificed, for the lies, the tricks only to gain more power.
“I accept the offer”
…
“E2… I need to tell you that…” “That am I not going home ? Again ? Or that I will never do because I have no home ?” Asked E2 interrupting him. E2 wasn’t angry while speaking, neither that he was asking a question, more like he was stating a fact that he already accepted a long time ago. After all, E2 wasn’t stupid, even thought he’d never had a proper education. In those twelve years spent together, Xaver had taught E2 to write, read, maths, story, how to speak French, Japanese and Spanish over then German. He treated him like a son or something close to it, he tried to give him affection and everything he could give to someone, born with nothing and doom to die into a room surrounded by emptiness and smell of disinfectant. The last thing that Tom wanted from E2 was a sterile life, like Tybur had planned for the original nucleus. “You have home, just not here. This room is not your home, your home is…” “Where is it ?” ‘In Paradise Island, with your kind’, it may sound cruel to say or think, but in Marley, E2 would never be happy or free. He would be used, abused, and experimented, drained of his blood until another clone would be created by Eren. He wondered if Eren was still alive, or if he died back in the incident of Paradise Island. A part of him, hoped that Eren was dead, and free, where no one else could locked him up into a cage. Another part, hoped he was still alive… happier… safer…ready to protect his kingdom from Marley’s army. He looked at E2 and thought that at that point Lord Tybur was dead and probably all the people who were aware of E2’s existence as well. It was in that moment that a thought started infecting his mind. E2 was safe, at least from Lord Tybur, he could be free, somewhere, Tom could help him losing his tracks. Maybe Zeke was right, Tybur’s dead was the sign all of them were waiting, the sign that it was time for them to change something, to start saving lives instead of killing them. They would find a cure, they would save Paradise and they would find a way to atone their crimes. Tom could start with E2 “E2… Eren… I don’t know if… I’ve been a good friend for you until this moment, probably not, but I hoped that you will bring a dear memory of me with you. Once you will get out of here” E2, who was coloring the wall in his sketch, interrupted what he was doing and looking at him, surprising illuminating his eyes for once. Before that moment, Tom’d never succeeded to surprised him, it was like E2 always knew what he was going to say or do, but that was unexpected for both of them. Tom didn’t have any idea that he would even find the courage to leave the only think closest to the original clone, genetically and physically speaking, go, but he understood that it was the right thing to do. No one had fight for Eren, but he could fight for E2. “Out of here ? How could I ? Do you mean outside this room, in the corridor ?” Asked E2. “No, outside in the world” E2 blinked twice, before he stood up and started walking around the room. E2 was scared, he looked very scared or worried and Tom was rarely wrong. He could understand the other’s fear. He’d spent his whole life locked up inside that room, with no worry about finding food, or clean clothes, or medicines or the safety of his own being. One thing was to read about the world in the book, another one was to live inside. One thing was survival, another was to live. Could E2 finally learn how to live ? Or was he doom to an eternal fight for survival ? Could E2 be strong enough ? Could he be brave enough ?E2 looked at him like a scared puppy and Tom noticed his lips trembling, maybe he was starting to cry, so Tom stood up and hugged him. “You can do it, you deserve to live in the world. It’s a right of yours, because you’re born in this world” “What would I do outside here ? I know why I’m here, because they need my blood, out of here, what would be the significance of my life ?” Asked E2 starting to cry. “Everyone is born for a reason, you will find your path, but not here and even thought you won’t find it, at least you will have your chance. I know you can do it” said Tom caressing his hair. “But… I’m scared…” “It’s okay to be afraid. Fear allowed our kids to survive, the important is to avoid it could destroy your spirit. You’re a strong boy thought and you have a place to go” “Where ?” Asked E2 with hope in his eyes. “Paradise Island, there you will be safe, here you can become strong until you will feel ready to really live inside the world” E2 bite the sleeve of his sweatshirt and with the free hand he started touching his hair. He was nervous, scared and maybe even a little bit confused. Xaver could read the thoughts that were forming inside his mind. Why so sudden ? What was happening out there ? Where would he go ? How could he arrive to Paradise ? Could he trust someone over Tom to lead him ? To protect him ? E2 knew nothing about the world, he knew its cruelty, or at least he was living it, but maybe he wasn’t even aware of it. How could he know that what those people were doing to him, isolating him, using him, locking up inside that room, was cruel and wrong ? How could someone recognize the darkness, if he’d never known the light ? How could he escape ? How could he save himself ? He couldn’t and Tom couldn’t help him. If E2 was determinate to survive, he would have to find a way alone. “E2… Eren.."“Stop calling me like that. It’s not my name”“Not even E2. It’s Eren, you don’t belong here. You need to find your home, your purpose in this messy life.”“Why are you so determinate to let me go ? You’ve never talked about this in five years” “Because things have changed, for the better, for someone, for the worse for others, but this time luck is on your side. I will come back in tomorrow. I will bring you something you will need out there, but then, you have to leave” “Why ? Why so suddenly ? Why am I in danger here ? I want to know”“Because bad things will happen to the people here, it’s only a matter of time. I don’t want you to be locked up somewhere else, surrounded by people who would treat even worse. I want to leave this place with the hope that you’re safe, somewhere” “You’re hiding a lot of things from me. I accepted it, because I knew that ignorance was the price for a safe permanence here, but now you want me to leave, to confront a world I know nothing about, to stay out there alone and you can’t even tell me why ?” E2 wasn’t stupid or ignorant about the current situation, as those people wanted to believe he was. He knew that his life wasn’t normal, that there was something terrible wrong in being kept inside the same room for all those years, while other people could come and go at their pleasure. He knew that there was something weird, when nurses brought ‘foods’ to him and he ate it, but it changed nothing in him, because he didn’t feel hunger in the first place. He knew that there was something abnormal in him, or why in the hell those people came here fillings papers and papers about him, his hunger, how many hours he slept at night and so on. There was something, in his blood, that they wanted. They looked at him, waiting, that something could awaken inside him. He knew that they were keeping him there only for that, so what could he leave now ? That strange thing inside him disappeared and now they had no idea of what to do about him ? They wanted to get rid of him, so they hoped he would die quickly as soon as he left that building ? “I’m trying to protect you. Help me to protect you” “I don’t need protection, I need the truth. I have the right to know. You can’t just send me away, what is, I’m not longer useful for you all ? Don’t you want to be my friend anymore ?” “Of course not !! Believe me when I say that this is the first time I’m acting like a real friend for you”“So you’ve been lying all these years ?” Asked E2 screaming and crossing his arms. “No, but there was someone who was controlling me, now this person is gone and I can finally do something very important for you, such as giving you your freedom” “What if I don’t want it ?” Provoked him E2 “Then you will rot here, or somewhere else. I don’t want this for you” “I’m feeling like the Lady of Shalott in this moment” he said. Tom furrowed then he asked “What did you say ?” “I said that I’m feeling like the Lady of Shalott in this moment” he repeated turning around and kicking the wall. ‘So I heard right’ Tom thought. E2 mentioned ‘the Lady of Shalott’, a lyrical ballad written by the English poet Alfred Tennyson, that told the story of a young noble woman imprisoned in a tower on a island near Camelot, cursed to be isolated in a tower, could not live in the real world but only see the reality through a mirror. If she dared to look toward Camelot or leave her tower, she would die.Tom knew for sure that he’d taught something about Arthurian Myth, he read him poems about King Arthur, but he was sure that they’d never read something about the Lady of Shalott together. After all, the Lady wan’t one of the main protagonist and she wasn’t so popular either. How could he know about this ballad ? Maybe one of the nurses mentioned it to him, but why ? It wasn’t like nurses were particularly friendly with him, they couldn’t, it was more efficient being cold, sometimes it was helpful to see E2 more like an experiment than a human being. “How do you know the Lady of Shalott ?” E2 turned around and looked at him with a mockery smile “Can’t you get it ? You know the reason better than I do”“Eren…”“You know why I’ve been feeling like I have the entire world inside my head” he said rising hands at the hight of his head to emphasize his words. “So you read my mind” concluded Tom. “Not only yours, not because I want, not at the beginning. It used to be more like a yawn or a sneeze, it just happened and I couldn’t control so I felt like the world was screaming inside my mind and I forced myself to control it” “Why are you telling me this now ?” Asked Tom. “Apparently this is the day of the confessions. Are you angry with me ? These people wanted something and I felt like I would be saved until they didn’t have it. I trust you Tom, I know I can but I had to be wary because the others weren’t like you” Tom nodded. He was aware of that too, but he was surprised nonetheless. He was surprised because E2 relieved to be smarter than he thought. E2 realized that he was into a peculiar situation, that he needed some tricks up in his sleeves to survive, that he would do better if he kept secrets about his ability, or abilities, if he had more than one. Tom didn’t know, he didn’t know if E2 would confirm or not. At least he said he trust him, he wanted to believe in him, he considered him a friend and Tom was sincerely happy for it. E2 was secretly content to have surprised Tom. That man was convinced to know everything, well he didn’t. E2 learnt the values of secrets very soon, in his life. He knew the important of self-preservation and he was prone to manipulative behavior, something he learnt by those characters in the novels that Tom read to him. A part from this, he truly felt like the Lady of Shalott, cursed not to look toward Camelot, doomed to observe the reality inside a mirror, too scared to leave the tower where she lived because she knew she would die. He feared that once he would leave that door, once he would stop reading about the world in his book, he would die, without having lived. He preferred to see a fragment of reality instead of letting the entire world destroy him.Could he survive ? Was he stronger than the Lady of Shalott ? Or was he cursed as well ? Doomed to die, slowly, singing a mourning sing, alone. “You’re not the lad of Shalott, you won’t die if you get out of here, if you start living out there, in the world where you belong, where you can find your path”“You don’t know. How will I be able to defend myself ? What if someone kidnap me again ?”“You can’t say it. You’re advantaged, you have abilities that no one have. Use them, learn how to control them. You have to. I’m sorry that I haven’t prepared you for this, but believe me when I say that things were different three days ago”“I don’t want to leave, I prefer to rot in here. You can’t tell me to run away in a world I know nothing about” “Of course I can. Eren this place will be closed soon, you can’t stay here. You have to leave now before it’s too late and that’s final” said Tom standing up. “You can’t make me leave, You know I will die soon !!” Screamed E2 pointing a finger at him “You want me to die and all the things I know about his facility with me” E2 knew that there weren’t Tom’s intention, he could see it in his eyes, thought the other’s glasses, that Tom didn’t want to hurt him and he didn’t want him dead, for some reason that weird man really wanted him to learn how to live in the real world.“I will come back tomorrow morning. I will bring you everything you need to leave this room. You can’t stay here” Then Tom left the room, without giving him the time to replay. E2, not, Eren sighed and sat on his bed.He started reciting the ballad. “… She knows not what curse may be, and so she weaveth steadily, a little other care hath she, the Lady of Shalott… All in the blue unclouded weather… Thick-jewell’d shone the saddle-leather, the helmet and the helmet-feather… Burn’d like one burning flame together, as he rode down to Camelot…” … PARADISE ISLAND 13 SEPTEMBER 2097 “… Out flew the web and floated wide… the mirror crack’d from side to side; ‘The curse is come upon me’ cried the Lady of Shalott…” The brunette boy was reciting the ballad of Lady of Shalott, while he was looking the sea in front of him. Lady of Shalott died, singing on a little boat on a river and he wondered if sea would be his grave. He hoped he will. After all, all humans born in water. It was fair that what allowed them to born, was the thing to kill them too.He thought there couldn’t be sweeter death than drawing. He was tempted to try, after all he couldn’t swim, or he’d never tried. Titans couldn’t swim, not even shifters, their mass made them sink. He knew that thanks to his abilities, he could learn to do things, such as read, write or swim, through the muscular memory of the other shifters. Sometimes he succeeded at the first try, other times he needed to exercise on his own a little bit. Sea represented everything he loved, everything he’d wished to have since the first time he saw a picture of it. Freedom, infinitive choices, hope, mystery, adventure and it possessed so many shades of color to obscure any diamond on earth.He wanted to be a fish, any kind of fish, only to swim freely in the ocean and explore it entirely. He didn’t want to see only a reflection of reality, he was sick of its shadow, he was tired of living, of learning through other people’ minds and memories, those didn’t belong to him, those weren’t his life. He was tired of hearing everyone’ voices in his head but his, his head belonged to him. His body belonged to him. Yet sea was cause of melancholy for him, because it constantly reminded him that there was a world of enemies on the other side. That was one of the reason why he’d waited almost ten year to set himself and his kind free of their chains. He thought over and over again if fight was the right decision, if it wasn’t better letting himself to die and let his kind die with him, but then he thought that if he was born into that world, it had to mean something. No one could born only to live isolated, surrounded by people who didn’t give a shit about him. He wondered if someone else could understand him.He wonder if Ackerman had ever felt something like that… …. UNKNOWN FACILITY MARLEY 2097 “Out flew… the web and floated… wide… the mirror crack’d from side to side…” Levi found himself murmuring those words without knowing why. Fortunately, he was alone in the gym, so that no one was around to see him talking by himself. It would be too weird to explain and Levi was ready to bet that most of people already thought he was crazy, or maybe they were used to eccentric personality. He didn’t consider himself creepier than Hanji, for example. He couldn’t remember to have read those words anywhere. He wasn’t much of a reader, in his life he couldn’t afford books and surely he didn’t spend money on his education when his stomach required food.Those words surely weren’t part of a song, it looked more like a poem, but why his mouth was reciting those words, he couldn’t understand. It felt like his mind had connected with someone else’ ones for a moment. “Or maybe I’m simply getting crazy” … STOHESS “So… all the guests at the party are now dead ? Do you have any concrete proof ?” A male voice was whispering in the men’s bathroom, to be sure that no one could overhear his conversation. He’d been waited for a call for weeks, after all he was the one who informed the other about the intention of Lord Tybur’s party and now he regretted not to be there there nights ago, to assist and personally document the events. Lord Tybur’s dead and the monsters. Someone else, would have thought that the other was trying to deceive him, but he was sure that there had to be something true in that story. After all, no one’d heard a thing about neither one of the guests or Lord Tybur, or someone of his family. Something happen during the party, something terrible, something that he had the opportunity to bring the true to the world’s light. He needed to prepare his stuff, because tomorrow, if luck was still on his side, he would be responsible for the fallen of the greatest Emperor pharmaceutical of Marley and all the evil it generated with him. “I need proofs. I will go there in person… Don’t worry… are the risks of the trade.” Risks he was more than willing to make, since he’d never been so sure to be able to avenge his lost homeland. Eldians had lived in inertia for far too long.He didn’t want to die and until that moment, he’d steadily avoided any situation where he could risk his life, but now that he was so close to expose Tybur and destroy his legacy, he was ready. He had nothing to lose anymore. His family, his friends, his fiancee… everything was gone after the incident in 2090. “I will be here. Don’t worry, I will keep you constantly update” ‘It’s time to get back to work’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
CHAPTER 7 LAGO FACILITY 14 SEPTEMEBER 2097 5:30 E2 was sleeping in his bed, holding a teddy against his chest. He liked sleeping with something against his chest, it made him feel less lonely in that room. A part from the voices in his head, but differently from the teddy, they weren’t welcomed. He hated the feelings of having the entire world inside his head, to be able to hear everyone’s thoughts but his own. It was painful… “You have to get used to it, you will learn to control it” That was what a voice in particular, the strongest of them all, kept telling to him. To be patient. To be strong. That he needed to learn how to control his telepathy, instead of repressing it. That once he was able control it, everything would be able to achieve great things. Control others’ minds, manipulate them, use them, know their deepest fears and darkest secrets.E2 wasn’t sure he really wanted to know those things, specially about people he barely knew their names or faces. He wouldn’t have even know what kind of face he had if it wasn’t for his telepathy, because there weren’t mirrors inside that room. He couldn’t even choice his haircut, because a woman came there once every month to cut his hair.
“Long hair are uncomfortable”
“How could I know ?” Asked E2 “Can I see you ?”
“Close your eyes”
E2 obeyed. He closed his eyes and waited. He knew that he would see him soon. Dreams were his only way to escape from that room, to evade from that prison, to meet his one and only friend, the only real friend he had. The only one willing to give him answers about his abilities. E2 was convinced that without him, he’d gone crazy right now. There were times when he was tempted to share his secret with Tom, but his friend always warned him about trusting people who’d locked him up inside that room. Sometimes E2 was scared of his friend, sometimes he had the sensation that he was been controlled by him, but until that moment he hadn’t nothing to worry about. He had followed the other’s instructions and if things went well, he would finally be able to get out of there and be free. …
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a desert, sitting on warm and soft sand, he could feel it under his hands, between his fingers. There was a light wind, that gave him a sense of calm and over him there was a beautiful starry sky. A sky he wished he could see personally someday, instead of a white ceiling.
He stood up, ignoring the sand on his pajama pants, enjoying the sensation of the sand under his feet. He wondered if the real sand was exactly like that.
He walked for several minutes, before he found someone sitting on the sand. Someone who was giving him his back, with long dark hair who was wearing a black jacket, or something like that.
“Hi…” he whispered, convinced that the other had heard him anyway “I’m… I’m here”
“I knew. I heard you coming. Come here, sit with me” said the other boy without looking at him.
He obeyed, he came closer to the other and sat next to him, bringing his knees to his chest, not daring to look at the other.
“It’s so calm here. I wish the world was exactly like this, peaceful” commented the other.
E2 didn’t say anything, after all he knew nothing of the world, how could he say he wanted it to be different ?
“Trust me, the world is not a fairytale. You will realize very soon, once you will be out of your prison”
“You’ve always known this moment would arrive, how ?” Asked E2
“Because this is part of the plan. You and me… together. I need you, you’re part of me”
Somehow E2 believed in those words every time. There was something between them that he didn’t understand. They mind were connected, but it was more than simple telepathy, somehow it felt more like their minds used to be one, before to split in two. E2 wouldn’t be surprise, after all they shared the same face, even thought the other was older than him. A young man.
“Do you plan to tell me why we look so similar ?” Asked E2
“One day. I can tell you, we share the same name”
“Eren ?” Asked E2 turning toward the young man.
Turquoise eyes looked at him, bright, like the stars among them. The other was smiling, with proud and maybe with a little bit of malice. He knew that the other ‘Eren’ was his 21 older version of himself, so he wondered if he could smile in the same way. With the same mystery, like he was trying to say ‘I knew you could figure it out’.
The truth was that while the other Eren could see the entire puzzle, E2 was still trying to put the pieces at the right places to complete the picture.
“Eren, Eren Kruger. That’s my name.”
‘Eren Kruger, like the inventor of Ymir serum’ E2 thought. He had tried several times to find some memories of the man inside Tom’s hand, but Tom’d never met Kruger personally. He only knew died because of an incident. A current tragedy in the story of Tybur Industries. No one knew what happen back then and Mr Tybur didn’t share many informations with his subordinates, because he was paranoid and he feared that they could say something at the wrong people.
E2 wanted to know more about that man, he wanted to know if he and the other Eren were… if they were…
“What’s mine ?” He asked, hoping to receive an answer.
“Didn’t Tom tell you ?”
“Tom say nothing useful. I read his mind, he didn’t even know the nucleus was a person, also I can’t read his mind always. There’s something that stops me sometimes”
“Your lack of control ?” Asked Eren.
“No something else”
E2 was aware that the other hoped he would elaborate deeper, but he really couldn’t. He didn’t know what to say, simply sometimes there was something inside Tom that prevented him from reading and invading his mind. It happened vey rarely, but it happened. He knew that Tom was working on a vaccine, he knew that Tom didn’t share Marley’s ideology. That he was firmly against a world dominated by the violence and fear, that he didn’t want titans to be used to submit other’s populations to Marley. He wanted a free world. He knew secrets about that man that could have made him killed if Lord Tybur was still alive. Tom didn’t feel the need to protect his mind from him, after all Tom had only suspected that E2 could have some secret ability. The only possibility was that Tom was creating something to make himself immune to his powers, or maybe to titans’ powers in general. There was a cure, maybe a prototype, something like that. He refused to believe that Tom’s mind was strong enough to be able to resist him, or that he wasn’t strong enough to penetrate his mind at his pleasure.
“Pity. Mine name is yours, but I suggest you to change yours. Keep Eren, change your last name”
“Do you fear someone will connect me with you ?” He asked.
“No, I’m a ghost for this world, most of the people who were aware of my existence are all dead”
E2 could have swore to have heard some bitter in the other’s tone, another thing they had in common. They could die anytime and no one would give a shit. No one would cry for them. No one would bring flowers to their grave, if they were lucky enough to have one.
Do you know what he’s planning to do ?”
“He wants me to run, he talked with Magath and with another young man, Zeke. They wanted to cause an incident in Lago.”
“Why should they ?”
“I suspect Tom is working on a cure, to destroy Ymir’s serum”
“Your suspects are partially true. I notice that not all member of the warriors unit could be affected by the serum, some of them have a vaccine that protect them, yet titans could still attack them”
E2 rolled his eyes. So the other already knew that there was a vaccine, wonderful. Then what was his role in all that charade ? Why did Eren make him spent so much time locked up in that room if he didn’t need his help ? Eren ordered him not to do anything reckless, to be patient, to wait, because he needed to get informations from Tom’s head and E2 obeyed, always. Whatever the other ordered him to do, he always obeyed, without making any question or complain, but now he was getting tired.
“Don’t be angry with me.”
“You know things and you don’t share with me. I’m feeling like you’re wasting my time” he admitted.
“I will never. You’re part of me. Our similarity proves it”
“But I don’t feel like your peer. I feel more like a puppet.”
“You’re not.”
“Prove it. Trust me. We’re one and the same, but we’re still different, I…”
“There’s no I, only WE. Me and you, us.”
E2 chose to believe in those words, again. Soon, everything would change anyway. He was going to be free and see the world, as he deserved. He was glad to have seen the other, he needed him, he needed to see his other half, he needed to see that someone was waiting for him outside his white room. That there would be someone who would hold his hand and lead him, protect him. Eren was that person, the only person he felt he could trust. The person who was waiting for him out there, to build a new life together, but he also needed to be sure that that person considered him his peer, someone he could rely on too.
“Will we be together ?”
“Soon. Now you have to wake up” said Eren kissing him on the forehead.
…
E2 opened his eyes and in the place of the starry sky, he saw an anonymous white ceiling. He hated it. It was so boring. He rolled his eyes, why did he have to wake up ? He wanted to stay there, in the desert, where the silence reigned, he could feel the sand, the wind on his face and meet with his friend.There, in that room, he was completely alone and even thought there was silent, he could hear the voices again and he hated it. How could he tell someone there that he heard voices ? They would think he was crazy and Eren told him that it was forbidden. Of course he obeyed. He sat on the bed and grabbed his head between his hands. He closed his eyes and forced himself to remember the stars and sky, to give himself the illusion that he was still there in the desert.Then he heard footsteps nearby. He would have recognize that walk everywhere. Tom was coming. He heard the door got opened and then the man entered. He didn’t wear his white coat, but a black coat, with a pair of old jeans and sneakers, and he was keeping a bag in his right hand. His hair were messy, his glass a little but dirty, he had deep circles around his eyes and his forehead and face beaded with sweat. He had run, to arrive there. He was also scared, he could hear his heart beating fast. “Good morning Eren, I’m sorry I woke you up, but we need to hurry” “Are we leaving ?” Asked E2 standing up and grabbing his sweatshirt on the chair. “Exactly, I guess you don’t have a coat, but your body temperature will warm you enough” said Tom putting his bag on the bed. E2 wore the only pair of shoes he had, they used to be white, but they were dirty and old. He didn’t even know why they gave them to him, since he couldn’t leave the room. When he finished to fasten his shoes he stood up, grabbed the bag and put it on his shoulders. Tom grabbed his wrist and lead him out of the room. The light outside his room was on and E2 blink twice before to get used to the light. He still couldn’t believe that he was going to see the world outside that building. He heard a growl under him and he saw that he could see some titans there. All of them were looked up at him immediately, like they recognized him as their leader. Their mindless expression suddenly were curious, vigilant and attentive, ready to obey to his commands. They were all 3m hight, probably because they were easy to kill, even though they could move incredibly fast when they wanted. Probably after the incident on Paradise, they wanted to be more cautious with the titans that they kept in their facilities. He dared to cross their eyes and he was sure, they were looking at him, not like he was food, but like he was their king. They were completely ignoring Tom. “It’s strange seeing them for the first time, isn’t it ?” Asked Tom that was calling the elevator.
“Yes” said E2. Actually he didn’t know what he was feeling. Those titans were something to him, he didn’t know how to explain, but he felt them like a part of him. Like they belonged to him, like he owned their destiny. He wanted to be closer to them, to touch them, to know who they used to be, who they would be willing to become for him, for the cause, for their own kind. He wanted to set them free, he wanted them to… “Eren, we need to go” said Tom indicating him the elevator. Reluctant, he took his eyes off the titans and entered inside the elevator. He should ask Tom where they were going, what he was doing. How he could be so sure that no one would see them, if he had thought about the security system. He had no idea how to get out of there without Tom. “Isn’t a security system here ?” He asked. “Yes, but I have my ways to elude it. You don’t have to worry”“You haven’t planned this for more than half a day. You’re acting reckless” he said. “I work here. I know the faults of this place and the people here. You don’t have to worry about anything. The people who knows about your existence aren’t in the facility at this time, they only come when they have to do your injections and then leave the facility”“So they don’t stay around longer. Isn’t suspicious that stranger people come and go from this facility ?” “It would be more suspicious if there are people who stay here doing nothing but coming and going from a room where no one else could access. Instead, it’s not strange seeing people come here to retrieve samples and documents to deliver personally to other facilities” “So it was true that Tybur was paranoid” “Why are you deducing this ?” Asked Tom looking at him confused. “I don’t want to put myself on a pedestal, but if he has taken so many precautions about me, then it means that whatever’s running through my veins is important, which means that he probably has prohibited the few people aware of my existence to send email, easily to track, about me and my datas. Surely I don’t imagine him giving his approval to send samples of my blood from facility to facility with a courier” Tom was more and more impressed by the other’s deductive skills. E2 was revealing to be more cunning than they had anticipated. He was sad that their ways were going to part, but it was for the better for both of them. Tom was convinced he would never find a way to create a cure in E2’s blood, that blood was deeply contaminated with the madness and illness that he was trying to hard to fight. Maybe he was wrong, but he didn’t think that the key for the cure could be found in the serum. He needed to look somewhere else, maybe in the Ackermans’ blood. Not in E2. “Well, no one knows about you, but me. If someone catches us, we will lie. I will lie” said Tom shrugging. “Are you a good liar ?” Asked E2, with mere curiosity. Tom didn’t answer. The elevator stopped. Tom pressed a button then he pushed E2 out of the elevator. He made him sign to follow him and E2 obeyed. He was following Tom thought a long corridor, with with white pavement and the walls, no windows. There were doors, but it was difficult distinguish them in all that white, also the corridor was dimly lit, nor that it was a problem for E2. His eyes could see in the dark, but it was a problem for his sense of orientation, those doors looked all the same. How could people orient themselves ? Tom knew that in that corridor there were cameras, but he didn’t worry about it. He had taken care of the security officers in the monitoring room. He had ways when it came to drug people without leaving any tracks, specially when he knew people who had been stealing medicines.Zeke always warned him about the risks of blackmailing. If Lord Tybur had found out that he was covering others’ stealing, Tom would have been killed with them. Again, Tom had his ways to obtain favor from people. He had to, if he wanted to have his back covered. They arrived at the end of the corridor where there was a door that could be unlocked only with Tom’s ID wristband. “We can’t leave the building leaving the entrance. I don’t know who we could encounter there, we we have to be careful” The door got opened revealing another elevator. Tom entered and E2 obeyed. He was tired of those things and to be surrounded by walls. When would he finally see the sky ? “So, how do you plan to leave the building ?” “It’s not original, but we will have to get out from the parking area” “Why not original ?” “Because… well, you will understand once you start watching tv” E2 wasn’t sure to understand, so he said nothing. He had no idea of what was a parking area or why a tv could be helpful to make him understand why getting out from a parking area wasn’t original but he guessed he would once he would have a tv. “Why do we have to leave from there ?”“Because the parking area is rarely used, since most of the scientist and staff members lived inside his building and rarely leave their office or laboratory to come back home. It’s something only a scientist can understand”“I guess so. I would never locked up myself somewhere again, for nothing.” “I knew you would say something like this, not that I can blame you”“I can’t understand why someone can choose freely to lock himself inside a building, how someone can build his own cage” “As I said, it’s something only a stakhanovite can understand” The elevator stopped and when they got out, they arrived at the first floor of the main building. The structure was interesting, in E2’s opinion. It looked a lot like one of those castles drawn in the novels. The architecture was elaborated, elegant and classy, but not tawdry. The parquet was very expensive. From the smell, he could say that it was cherry tree. Behind him there were two stairs that lead upstairs in different directions. There were antique vases with beautiful violet flowers in front of the chieftains. The walls were entirely covered by pictures and portrays. E2 didn’t feel at ease with all those eyes on him, even thought he knew they weren’t real. “Here, we need to be careful. Try to look natural. Usually there’s no one here at his hour. The reception is closed, there are no visitors and the scientists are locked up inside their labs. But you can always find someone who passes from here” “To go where ?” “There are other labs, where its produced the legal merchandise, where are conducted legal researches and legal experiments. All the legal things are produced under the sunlight” “Why bother ?” Asked E2 “Because research requires money” E2 nodded. The more Tom talked, the easier he could elaborate an opinion about the Industries and obtain information about that Giant. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the arrival of two guards, who were coming right toward them. E2 followed Tom’s advice and remained calm. Those two men were tall, with broad shoulders, even thought their faces weren’t particular intelligent.“Tom !” Exclaimed one of them “ How are you doing ? Who’s the one with you?” “He’s my new assistant. He’s just arrived” Tom answered. “He didn’t have an ID” noticed one of the two men.“I don’t think his outfit is appropriate for someone who’s just applied for a scientist’s position” said the other. “I said he’s just arrived, I presume” said Tom. “He’s young, how old are you ?” Asked the other. E2 rolled his eyes, annoyed. Those two were making them wasting time. He was trying to stay calm, but he didn’t like those two, he didn’t put it up with their smell of sweat and poor aftershave and the way they were looking at him. He didn’t want to use his ability, he didn’t know he could control them, specially in a place full of cameras. He looked at them and he saw their guns. He knew the bullets wouldn’t hurt him, but it wasn’t the same for Tom, and he needed him to get out of there.It was then that he had an idea. “Doctor Xavier was thirteen years old when he got his first degree in chemistry. What’s the deal ?” He asked looking the guard in the eyes. E2 observed the two men. One of them had pale skin, with freckles, gingers hairs, dark eyes and strong featured that harden his facial expression. On his uniform, at the left side, was sewn a name tag. G. Coulson. The other one instead had dark skin, dark eyes, full lips and gentle features. E2 read that his name was C. Brown. Anyone in his place’d been scared in his place, but not E2. Those two men were looking at him like he was a piece of trash, only because he wasn’t dressed like a scientist, with a new pair of jeans, elegant pair of shoes or one of those name tags were it was written a name and not something that sounded more like sneeze. He hated the way they were looking at him.Tom was going to intervene when his cellphone rang. He wanted to ignore it, but it caught the attention of the two men in front of him. “Don’t you answer Doctor Xavier ?” Asked Brown. Tom nodded. He grabbed his phone and without even checking who was calling him, answered. “Hello Dr Yeager” There weren’t formalities between him and Zeke anymore, but he needed to look professional in front of the other people.
“Dr Yeager ? You will tell me later. I’m waiting here in the lab and you’re late.”
“I know but I…” The two guards were looking at him, noticing that Tom was sweating and the hand that was holding the phone started trembling. “Tom ? Are you okay ?” Asked Zeke on the other side of the line. E2 was observing the entire scene, in silence. Tom didn’t know what to say and with that attitude he was only aggravating the entire situation in front of the men. E2 couldn’t stay there and doing nothing. There was a possibility that he would regret his actions later, but he’d waited too much time to be free, like any other human being and those two men, Coulson and Brown, were nothing more than problems but he didn’t want to do something he could regret. After all, he didn’t want to become a monster and he wasn’t even sure he could do it.
‘Stop fighting your true nature, do it’
‘I can’t”
‘You have the power’
‘I don’t…’ His friend taught him how to control some of his ability and, even though, he’d never dared to use them in his room, he knew that the desert he visited in his dream, was more real that he could ever imagined. There he learnt how to control his psychic powers and as he could read his friend’s mind in that desert, he was able to read Tom’s ones in the reality. So he knew that he wouldn’t fail that time, that those men stood no chance against him. He looked at them and noticed their guns. All he had to do was to control their mind and then they would everything he wanted them to do. Was it really fair ? He didn’t want to hurt them. He’d never used his powers against other people.He didn’t… he couldn’t…He looked at the men and he thought about their families, how could he destroy their lives ? He could find another way. He could use his powers to tell them to go away.
‘No witnesses’
‘I… I can’t… I’m not ready…’ E2 hoped Eren wouldn’t make him do it, because he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to hurt those men, he didn’t want to have blood on his hands. How could he be free if he sacrificed two human beings now ? “Tom, what’s happening ?” Insisted Zeke. “Doctor Xavier, you’re sweating…” noticed Brown “… Is everything alright ?” He asked looking E2 and slowly putting his hand upon his gun.
‘Do it…’
E2 knew he had no other options than obeying when he felt Eren taking control of his mind and body.Their minds were connected, like they were half of the same mind, at the point when they didn’t know where one began and the other finished. E2 knew they were clones, he knew that their connection was deeper from the ones with the other shifters, stronger even, and sometimes E2 was afraid of it. Afraid that Eren could make him lose his mind if he wanted.Tom’s behavior was making them look suspicious. E2 couldn’t risk his freedom and the one of his kind because of those two individuals. He also feared the consequences for Tom, in case someone found out that he was helping the most important guinea pig of the building to run away. They would kill him and turn him into a Titan and E2 couldn’t allow it to happen. He had to intervene, he had to do something.
‘You know what you have to do’
‘No… please…’ ‘It’s time for you to prove you deserve your freedom’ He felt a strong headache, that made him close his eyes for a second and he felt a buzz. Like all his neurons were fighting against the external agent that was trying to control them. His head hurt so much that he bite his lower lip not to scream. He’d never felt such pain before, like his head was going to blow up.
‘Submit’
He did. “Gentlemen…” he started “… Grab your guns…” he said while his eyes starter brighting in gold. “What are you…” started saying Brown. Both of men were suddenly scared by that boy with golden eyes. What kind of monster he was ? Why were his eyes of that color now ? Why did it change ?Before Coulson could grab his gun to point it against him, his own hand grabbed the hand first. Both of them soon realized that they had no control over their body anymore. “Point them against each other” ordered E2, not daring to take his eyes off them. “Eren…” said Tom, suddenly scared from the other’s actions “What are you doing ?” ‘You can close your eyes, Tom…’ “You can close your eyes Tom…” said E2 with indifference “… Feuer !” Coulson and Brown shot each other in the heart in the same moment. Their wounds started bleeding and then they fell on the floor. E2 came closer to them, to be sure that they were officially dead, while Tom was watching the entire scene horrified. “Why are you so disgusted Tom ? You’ve been killing people in the name of research since the day you started working on Ymir serum. Today, I killed in the name of my freedom.” Said E2 E2 cared for Tom, he was a dear friend to him, and he hated the look on the other’s face. He hated that Tom was looking at him with… fear.much less for his opinions though and if the other wanted to act like a moralist toward him then E2 wouldn’t hesitate to shut him up. Tom’s hands were dirty of blood, as mush as his. E2’d never killed anyone before, he’d never thought about that eventuality, at least not so soon, but he needed to meet his other half and he would let anyone to stand in his way. After all, he was already considered less than a human being. Those people considered him nothing more than a living blood sack. Why should he have any qualms ?He wasn’t pure. In his mind, with his friend, he killed, he tortured, he kidnapped, he slaughtered, he set the entire world on fire on a daily basis. Another thing that he and Krueger had in common. They mind weren’t pure anymore and so his heart at that point.Wait… those thoughts… couldn’t belong to him… could they ? ‘What are you doing to my mind ?’
‘Yours mind is mine, my thoughts are yours. We’re one’
E2 was scared. The connection between his mind and Eren’s was strong but he’d never felt it so strong. Usually he was able to push Eren out of his head quite easily, but maybe he was underestimating him and his power. Maybe Eren presented to be weaker than he actually was, or maybe E2 was slowly allowing the other to take control of his actions. E2 knew he could count on Eren’s power in case in danger and it wouldn’t be the first time he let the other in charges of his action, but now he didn’t want any of that. He wanted Eren out of his head. “Tom, I heard shots, what’s happening ? Where are you ?” “Zeke… Zeke I…” In that moment two women white white coat were going downstairs and when one of them saw the two bodies on the ground, she screamed. Of course, Zeke heard it too. “Tom, I call the security”“No, Zeke don’t…” Before Tom could finish the sentence, the call was cut off. E2 knew he couldn’t stay there, with Tom. He didn’t know where he should go, but from that moment, he had to find the way out alone. He grabbed Tom’s head in his head. ‘No, please I don’t want to do it…’
‘No witnesses’
‘He’s my friend’ “Eren… what are you doing ?” Asked Tom with sadness. E2 realized he was crying and that his hands were trembling. He was biting his lips strongly, tasting his blood on his tongue, because he wanted to hurt himself instead of Tom. The buzz inside his head was increasing, at the point he had to close his eyes. He probably screamed at some point because he felt like his head was going to blow up. He was feeling a pain he didn’t imagine he would feel in his life, worse than any needle used by the nurses.His chest was aching, because he didn’t want to give in. He didn’t want Eren to take control of his body, he didn’t want to hurt anyone else. ‘There’s nothing worse than by isolated inside your mind. I can turn it into a living hell if you don’t…’ ‘Stop it’ “Eren… “ said Tom, looking at him like he was saying ‘it’s okay, I forgive you’ E2 closed his eyes again, while other tears ran along his cheeks. He wanted to tell Tom that he didn’t mean to hurt him, that he cared for him. He wasn’t a monster, or a killer. That he didn’t want any of that. He was fighting, to keep his hands off Tom, not to grab his shoulders with both hands, not to look him in the eyes, with his golden eyes.
‘It will hurt, sorry again’
“It will hurt, sorry again” He was E2 no more. He was Eren, he was Eren… and Eren wanted the only person aware of his existence out of the way, to prevent anyone from finding out about his existence. He was Eren… and Eren wanted to hurt, to kill, to rip apart the mind of one of the people who knew about his existence, whom had participated in locking him inside a room all that time. Eren wanted to be free.Eren wanted his revenge.Eren wanted E2 to prove he was worthy of being part of his kingdom.Eren wanted what E2 wanted, so E2 wanted what Eren wanted.It was a simple paradigm. E2 was nothing but a shadow of the real Eren, a fuzzy reality with faded colors and no contours. ‘The curse is upon me…’
‘Lady of Shalott’
… MARLEY COASTS 14 SEPTEMBER 7:00
“Annie… Annie… wake up…”
Annie felt a sudden buzz inside his hand, that quickly caused her headache. She felt weak and pain all over her body, each muscle of her body ached and yet there was something, something inside her that was ordering her body to wake up, to obey. She opened her eyes and tried to scream, but her voice died inside her throat. She wanted to scream for help, she felt like she could have a seizure. Her heart was beating fast, she was sweating and scared.
“Stop rebelling. Stay calm”
Again, her body obeyed before her mind. Her heartbeat returned regular, she stopped sweating and she had no headache. She was feelings suddenly calm and that should scare her to death, but she couldn’t. The voice told her to stay calm and she obeyed. She sat on her bed and there she was, waiting for the next order, like her body no longer belonged to her, like she had no longer a free will. She was only a puppet that was waiting for the next order. In that moment Reiner entered in the room. He had in his hand a bottle of water and a package of biscuits. “You’re awake. Good. I’m sure you’re hungry and thirsty” Annie didn’t answer, she limited to look at him with indifference. Actually Annie wasn’t sure of how she felt toward Reiner. He crumbled when she needed him to fight with her against the Armored Titan. He chose to die for himself, instead to fight for his people, for his comrades and friends, just like he had done the first time in Paradise.She needed him, she needed someone to help her and instead she had been left behind and now she had no more memories of that period. A lot of things could have happen to her, related to the voice she heard in her head and that took control of her mind and body. What did happen in Paradise ? How did she escape ? Was she losing her mind ?Reiner put the bottle of water next to her.She grabbed the bottle, without thanking her comrade, she opened and drunk it. She should have been thirsty after four days spent sleeping, but she wasn’t. The water inside her mouth was disgusting and she was tempted to spit it in Reiner’s face. “How are you feeling ?” Annie noticed too late her mistake, when she opened her mouth before she was allowed to do it. No one told her she could answer. No one allowed her to do anything on her own. She looked at Reiner, to see if he had noticed something strange about her, but he wasn’t even looking at her. Why did he bother with questions he didn’t care to know the answers of ?
“You’re alive”
“I’m alive” ‘Not thanks to you though…’ she thought. “It’s a good news” replied Reiner playing with his fingers.
“Where are we ?”
“Where are we ?” Asked Annie biting her lower lip. “It’s an underground facility, located nearby the coast and the Mansion, at least what’s left of it”“Is it safe remaining so close to a place where a carnage has occurred ?” She asked. Surprising, not one told her to remain quiet that time. Her head didn’t hurt, she could look Reiner with her eyes, without hiding no one else behind them. She tried to tell him that something was wrong with her but her mouth stopped to obey again. That situation was irking her and for the frustration she opened the package so strong, that the biscuits almost fell all on the ground. If Reiner was confused about her attitude, he surely didn’t seem to care. He didn’t even see to care about what was happening around him. Annie was sure that in that moment she could even snapped his neck before he realized she’d left the bed. “Magath wants to come back to Paradise” “Magath is nothing but an idiot if he really thinks he can come back to Paradise” “Why ? Have you remembered everything ?”
“Don’t say anything”
“Why are you not answering ?” Asked Reiner getting closer.
“Because I told you so”
Annie completely ignored the other and grabbed a biscuit. Those biscuits were old and she despised their test in her mouth but she couldn’t talk. Her mouth refused to answer and she feared the consequences if she tried to disobey. That submission didn’t suit her, or it didn’t suit the Annie Leonhard she used to be. The girl she’d become was nothing more than a puppet, a shadow, an empty shell to fill with others’ desires. “I can’t” “Or you don’t want ?” Pressed her Reiner. “I can’t because I don’t remember anything. Between you and me, I’m not the one who owns the other an explanation” remarked Annie. “Then why are you so convinced that coming back to Paradise is a bad idea ?” “Use the brain inside your head for once in your life. If you concentrate enough I’m sure than even you will realize that coming back there will be a bad idea” “How could you be in such a sore mood already ?” Asked Reiner disturbed by her attitude “Did have nightmares ?” ‘Not nightmares, memories’ she thought. She couldn’t stop dreaming about three things. A syringe. An explosion. A scream. Those three things tormented her in all of her dreams, every single night and she didn’t know how could she stop all of that pain. She was scared of closing her eyes, she was scared of waking up and found herself on Paradise and she was terrified that one day she would wake up with her mind and body no longer under her control.Her father had trained her since her childhood to be a fighter, to control her mind in order to submit to her rationality all her instincts. That allowed her to be one of the best warriors, yet all that self control had failed her when she needed it the most. “Don’t you want to talk with me ?”
“You can’t”
Annie said nothing. She grabbed the bottle of water again and drank. “Annie, we were both there… that day… after the explosion. You should talk about it with me, at least” “I know. Berthold was there as well. Why don’t you say what happened to him ?” Asked Annie more to provoke him than for other reasons. “I don’t know, I don’t know what to say” answered Reiner. “Neither do I. I only know we’re here and he’s not” said Annie. “Annie, no one believes that you’ve spent three years on that island in coma. What do you remember ?” Annie closed her eyes, she thought about Paradise and then she could almost feel the perfume of the grass, the shadow of the Wall Sina protecting her from the sun. The scream, the blood, Berthol… “On either side the river lie… Long fields of barley and of rye… That clothe the wold and meet the sky… And thro’ the filed the road runs by… to many-tower’d Camelot…”… PARADISE ISLAND 2095
“Annie !! Annieee !! Please answer me !”
Annie couldn’t wake up. She felt a buzz inside her head and she couldn’t even open her eyes. Where was she ? She couldn’t move her body, but she felt something soft under her. She was laying on the grass, she could feel the smell of it.
Where was she ? What was happening around her ? Who was calling for her ?
“Annie !! Answer me, are you okay ?”
‘Bert… why was he screaming ? What’s happening…’
She wanted to come back to sleep, she wanted to be in one of her dreams, where she wouldn’t fell pain. Where she would pretend not to be there.
She saw Bert upon her but she couldn’t distinguish him pretty well, her sight was cloudy. Bert grabbed her from her shoulder, which made Annie feel dizzier.
“I’m… am… ant… feailing… wlel…”
She hated that she couldn’t speak well, it made her feeling stupid.
“I know, but we need to get out of here. There’s something wrong here. When I woke up… all the people… the nurses… the doctors… were dead… something killed them”
“Tompeone” she corrected even.
“Not… something… whatever killed our comrades wasn’t human.”
“Wiii ate iii herrr ?”
“I took you out of the building. As soon as I could stand up, I started looking for you. When I found you, I took you out here. I have to come back inside. Reiner is still there”
Annie wanted to scream at him not to leave her alone out there, that she couldn’t move, that her body hurt and that she was scared. If there was something dangerous out there that had killed someone, they couldn’t split up. They needed to stay together to survive. They needed to have each other back.
She needed him to be with her.
She tried to reach the other’s wrist but it was too late, Berthold was already running toward the entrance of the building.
She sighed and looked in front of her. There was the famous Wall Sina in front of her. It was the Wall the surrounded the entire facility, preventing everyone and everything to leave the area without the guards to know. There was something strange about her. Before to leave Marley, they had been warned not to leave the facility unsupervised, because they could risk to get out from it and bump into some titan. There was any titan nearby, she couldn’t hear their verses, their footsteps, their presence. Nothing. Where were they ?
Could it be possible that titans had infiltrated the facility ? It seemed so unlikely. How could titans enter inside the facility without anyone noticing ? Someone had caused it, or something else.
She bite her lower lip, grabbed some blade of grass under her finger and she supported herself on her arms to sit up. She looked around, but now that her sight was no longer cloudy, it was easier to see that there was no one around her, nor titan or human. She was alone but it didn’t calm her.
“Whet tid Bert… hold gooo ?” She asked to herself.
“There’s a passage that leads to the undergrounds…” said a voice behind her that made her jump “… but you won’t find it because you don’t know where to look”
She turned around, ready to attack or defend herself from the stranger but what she saw actually surprised her. There was a boy, of her age, average height with a broad, muscular build. Brown hair, freckles and brown hair.
She was sure to have seen that guy somewhere, but in that moment she couldn’t remember when or where. He was dressed up like a scientist, he was wearing a white coat, with a pair of brown trousers and a pair of horrible shoes of the same color.
“Who… What…”
Annie didn’t know which question to ask first. She had no many questions in her mind. Where were the titans ? Where were her comrades ? Were she and Berthold the only two survivors ? How could that young man look so calm if something was killing people inside ?
Maybe he didn’t even know, after all the facility was a labyrinth, was enormous, or maybe someone had fixed the problem, that was why he was calm.
She didn’t know him, she wasn’t sure if she could trust him.
“Where are… the titans ?” She asked, relief that she was slowly speaking normal again.
“Someone killed them. Someone who’s still inside the building” answered the boy.
“Are you a scientist ? Why are you here alone ? What’s your name ?”
“My name is Mark. I’m here because I saw you and the other shifter coming here. I followed you, but then he came back inside.”
“I need to find him” said Annie.
She was feeling better now, not enough strong to fight or shift, but strong enough to walk and run, if it was needed. She still didn’t trust that guy, but she needed to know where the entrance was. Berthold needed her help.
“Are you sure you want to go ahead ?” Asked Mark examining with his eyes.
How could she doubt he was a scientist ? He was looking at her with the same ways of scientists, like she was some kind of important discovery he needed to protect. Yet, there was something about that boy that didn’t make her feel at easy. She had seen him somewhere but she couldn’t remember where.
“He’s my comrade, he needs me”
“He needs help ah ?” Asked the other with a strange tone.
Annie didn’t miss that his expression hardened, his eyes got darkened, his face more aggressive. His words hide something and Annie couldn’t ignore that there was hatred inside his eyes, in the way he was looking at her.
Why was he looking at her like that ? Did she say something wrong ?
Her fighter’s instincts were slowly awakening. If the other wanted to attack her, she was ready to defend herself, even thought she would lose time.
“Where’s the entrance for the facility ?”
“Don’t you remember ?” He asked ignoring her question.
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise” she said.
“I wasn’t talking about the entrance”
“Pity, it’s the only think I care in this moment”
She was ready to attack him, to grab him by his throat to make him talk, to lead her toward the entrance. She was ready to use all her abilities to get him out of her way and find Berthold as soon as possible. She was going to move when she felt a buzz in her ears and pain, coming from her head and spreading to any cell of her body.
So much pain to make her getting on her knees.
She bite her lower lip not to scream but her eyes were crying and her lip started bleeding. She didn’t even realize the boy coming closer.
“This is the key for entering…” he glared at her, his eyes sharpened “…pain, Lady of Shalott”
…
“ … And up and down the people go… gazing where the lilies blow… round an island d there below… The island of Shalott…” “Annie !” Reiner put a hand on her shoulder. The gesture made Annie jumped. Suddenly she was no longer on Paradise, no Berthold to look for. There wasn’t that boy, Marco, with her, but Reiner.‘Marco ?’ She thought. Why her mind called him Marco ? He told her his name was Mark. Were her memories slowly returning to her ? Were those memories or hallucinations ? She wasn’t sleeping and that flashback seemed so real, if she closed her eyes she could still see the face of that guy and smell grass. “Lady of Shalott” said a third voice in the room. Both Reiner and Annie looked at the person who’d just entered inside the room. Annie remembered who he was, the blond guy whom’d approached her at the party. Armin Arlert. She didn’t know him well, but she was relief that he was okay.Reiner, on the other hand, was disturbed by his presence. He was still convinced that there was something suspicious about that boy. His light blue eyes seemed to suggest that the blond was aware of something Reiner and the others were ignoring, something that it was so clear, so easy to figure it out that made them look like a joke in his eyes. He was an excellent observant and Reiner noticed that the blond was able of remaining hours in silence, observing everyone and everything about him, to analyze them, to understand strengths and weakness and use them for his own goals. Furthermore, Arlert asked all the questions, but he asked them like he already knew the right answered and he wanted to know if others knew them as well or not. Maybe Reiner was simply paranoid, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Arlert knew the truth about the incident happened on Paradise in 2090 while they didn’t. What else did he know ? What other secret was he hiding ?” “What ?” Asked Reiner. “She was reciting the Lady of Shalott of Tennyson.” He simply explained “Don’t you know it ?” “No” answered Reiner feeling provoked. Arlert snorted “Of course you don’t. Silly question” He came closer to them, ignoring Reiner’s glare at him. Armin found the other’s attempt to look threatening pretty funny. “Why do you look so disturbed ? I’m sure I haven’t interrupted a poetry contest, even in that case you should be grateful…” said Armin glaring at Reiner “… I spared you a humiliation” “You seem to like provoking me” said Reiner. “Guys please, don’t” said Annie. She was feeling tired and weak, she didn’t want to witness a fight between those two. S he wanted to learn more about the poem she was reciting. “You said Lady of Shalott, can you tell me more about it ?” Armin boringly looked at her and he didn’t answer. He really didn’t want to talk about Lady of Shalott, that poem brought to his mind too many memories, both happy and painful. The poem itself symbolized his existence and the ones of all the habitants of Paradise Island. A cursed population. Cursed not to know the truth of the world. Cursed to live surrounded by the walls of ignorance. Cursed to die when the curiosity fell upon it.It was a curse, because the man, like a moth attracted to the fire, was attracted to the knowledge. Armin wondered if they were destined to die because of it, if, like the Lady of Shalott, tired to live a life in the reflection, chose to leave the safety of the walls and to fight the waves of sea.How could she die ? She was protected so well. Locked up on an island, a mirror allowed her to see at least the reflection of reality but the desire to know the world was her doom. The illness that was slowly killing her. Because like any other human being, she wanted to be free and the desire of freedom could be destructive.Armin kore it between than anyone. … PARADISE ISLAND 2090 23:00
“Who is this ? And what is here ?… And in the lighted palace near… died the sound of a royal cheer… and they cross’d themselves for fear… All the knights at Camelot… But Lancelot mused a little space… He said “She had a lovely face… God in his mercy lend her grace… The Lady of Shalott”
Armin finished to read the poem and closed the book, looking at the guy who was sitting next to him. Eren looked pretty confused by the end of the poem and Armin was waiting the other for asking questions.
He knew he should have interrupted their clandestine meetings a long time ago, but he really couldn’t. Although the others considered Eren nothing more than a guinea pig, or an octopus vulgaris to squeeze for the blood, Armin was able to see something more in him. He saw it the first time he went inside that room with Langar to observe Eren closely.
When their eyes met, something happened, a sort of mutual understanding between them. Or at least something that convinced Eren to brake only Ilse’s arms and not one of his as well.
Eren was violent and aggressive with the other nurses and scientists, most of them refused to meet him twice and a little part couldn’t because he simply killed them but with Armin… with Armin was different and everyone noticed. Armin was sure that Lord Tybur knee about their meeting but he hadn’t done nothing because, as long as Eren was cooperative with someone in the facility, he wouldn’t complain.
“What killed her Armin ? The love for that knight or her desire to be free ?” He whispered.
“The desire to be free. Morgana’s cursed had taken her right of freedom away from her since her childbirth. She had spent her entire life locked up inside a tower and she knew that there was a world, out of it, a world she couldn’t belong due to the curse”
“… Someone took her freedom away from her… as someone has done with me…” he whispered.
“Eren…”
Whatever things he would say, it would sound foolish. Armin couldn’t understand Eren under that point of view, despite his intelligence. Armin hadn’t spent his whole life inside the same room. Eren had never seen the sky, or the sun, he didn’t know the smell of the grass, the shades of seas. He’d never seen the bird flying or the flowers bloom. Like the Lady of Shalott, he was doom to live inside those four white walls, because of a curse, a curse that was running inside his blood. A curse that someone was spreading, turning other into monsters, taking their lives away from them, alienating them from the world.
“She didn’t die on that river. She was slowing dying inside anyway, inside that tower, she simply chose how to put an end on that sufferance” commented Eren “I don’t think I’ve question. I understand her completely”
“You’re not cursed” dared to say Armin, even thought he didn’t sound convincing.
After all, could the abilities inside Eren’s blood be a gift ? Of course not. Eren’s blood was the reason why he was there. The cause of all his troubles.
Ymir serum was the closest thing to a weapon of mass destruction due to all the victims it’d done since the first prototype. Thousands lives had been sacrificed in the name of the research. When he became a scientist, Armin was convinced that any sacrifice was worthy to be made, because what hurt today could save tomorrow. Pain and the struggle for survival were two things that had been allowing the human kind to develop.
He believed that only the ones who were ready to give up on anything, even their own humanity, could achieve great things in their lives. Armin had sacrificed a lot to attend a prestigious university, to get his degree, to work for the Tybur Industries.
He had seen his grandpa since the day his application was accepted. He tired to call him regularly but he always made up excuses not to come back home. Before because he didn’t want to interrupt his researches, now because he feared to leave Eren alone.
He was the only friend the brunet had and, if he had to be completely honest, he feared that, if he went away, he wouldn’t find Eren when he returned.
“My blood is cursed. I don’t want to end up like the Lady of Shalott, but I feel like there’s no way I can escape my fate” he commented.
“You’re not the Lady of Shalott” insisted Armin.
“You’re right. Because differently from her, I’ve no escape. There’s no way I can leave this room and even if it happens, where would I go ? I will die as soon as I leave this place. I don’t know how to live in the world”
Armin remained silent. Again, there was nothing he could say. What Eren was saying was real. He couldn’t leave the building and even though he would, Lord Tybur would be able to set the entire world on fire to find the Nucleus back.
“Armin…” said Eren grabbing his wrist “… I don’t want to die like her… I don’t want to die alone”
His eyes were bright while he was speaking. Armin knew that what scared Eren the most was dying alone, with the knowledge that no one cared enough about him to hold his hand until his eyes would close for one last time.
Eren didn’t want to be surrounded by the silence, he didn’t want that the last thing he would see was that white ceiling. That his body would be dissected, his organs analyzed, his cells used to proceed with researches. He didn’t want that his legacy to be monsters. Titans.
“Eren…”
“I think you should go. Thank for reading me this poem. Can you lend me the book ?” Asked Eren playing with the sleeve of his grey jumper.
“Of course” said Armin standing up.
“Will you come back tomorrow ?” Asked Eren
“I don’t think so” answered Armin.
He enjoyed spending time with Eren, he enjoyed talking with him about the world outside that facility. He loved when he saw Eren’s eyes brighten when he admired pictures of seas, when he didn’t understand something and asked question after question. He looked so much like a child in that moment and he was adorable. They were those few moment when he showed enthusiasm for something, where his face lighten up.
Armin loved seeing the other smiling.
“I hope you will” said Eren standing up and kissing the other on his cheek “ I will miss you”
The brunet hugged him and gave him another kiss on the neck, that made Armin blushed, but again it wasn’t Eren’s fault. Armin had read various romance novel to the brunet, where couple hugged and kissed on cheek and neck to say goodbye. The possibility for Eren to experience those stuff with someone else were low, so Eren decided to do the hugs and kisses stuff with him, because Armin was the closest person to him.
Armin didn’t have the courage to tell him not to do it because it embarrassed him. Clumsy, he returned the hug, but not the kiss. It wouldn’t be appropriate and he didn’t want to give Eren wrong messages. Eren deserved someone who actually loved him, who was willing to risk everything, even his own humanity, to allow him to see the world. To escape from there.
…
“… Lady of Shalott wants to communicate us that our curiosity is legitimate, but it can be our doom as well.” “So…” said Annie “It wasn’t love to kill her, but her desire for freedom” “Yes, but I suggest not to brood over this. You’re not the Lady of Shalott” said Armin, meaning it. Armin didn’t consider her the Lady of Shalott, they had nothing in common. She wasn’t… she had no idea of it meant being in trap.Maybe he was unfair, but he still hold a grudge toward her, for what she did back in Paradise. She was the one who had taught Armin how to be ruthless, that no he could trust no one. How could she, or Reiner, still fight for the people who had turned them into monsters ? For the people that intended to use them to conquer the world ? To kill people ? Why didn’t they rebel ? How could they accept all of that ? How could they just accept, when they had the possibility to fight for their own kind ?Armin didn’t know what it meant hating someone until he was accept in the Warrior Unit. “Of course she’s not. Lady of Shalott is just a poem, nothing more” “Yes, I do know.” Said Annie “But I don’t remember to have ever read this poem. How can I know it ? So well to reciting it ?” “Annie, you seem to forget that your mind is connected with the ones of the other shifters. Pieck is the nerd type, she seems a living encyclopedia, or Zeke. He’s another one whom seems to know everything” said Reiner. “But why now ? Why after Paradise ? It’s not normal. I used to be able to recognize when some memories or knowledge belonged to my mind or someone else’. The Lady of Shalott…” “Wanted to be free, like you” said Armin “You’re feeling persecuted by whatever happen in Paradise, but they are just memories. You should stop thinking about them before you cannot distinguish what’s real or not anymore”“It’s easy for you. You’re not even an official warrior, what do you know about what we’ve been through ?” Asked Reiner “I bet that the most dangerous thing happen to you is…”“Being almost eaten by a titan because of your weakness” interrupted him Armin. “You bast…” Reiner was going to hit him, Armin read it in his eyes and he knew that Annie was too weak to stop him. Reiner was physically stronger than him, but slower and his attack was a simple push, Armin was sure of that for two reasons. The push was a simple attack, enough to make a message clear, in that case that Reiner wanted to put him in his place, and the second was that Reiner believed that for someone so short and weak, a simple push was enough and efficient. If Reiner pushed him with all his strength, Armin would hurt a lot. Fortunately, the push was a linear attack, all he had to do in order to avoid the attack was to get out of his line, then he needed to use his hands to defend himself. Reiner was sitting on the chair and, since Armin was shorter than him, he should have kept a low posture to push him away. So Armin could easily cross the other hands and then strike his nasal septum to provoke a shock to his cervical. Armin didn’t use to be a scientist for nothing. His knowledge and his training together were a lethal combinations. In the end he hit Reiner strong enough to defend himself from his push but not enough to make the other fall, which was exactly what was expected from him. “It wasn’t necessary.” Said Armin “You could have simply tell me you wanted me to leave” “Well, now you know. You’re not wanted” said Reiner “I don’t trust you” “Reiner…” said Annie. “No Annie. He knew something nobody but Magath was aware. The incident happened in 2090” “The incident ? What incident ? Someone stole the Ymir serum and used it for a terrorist attack to discredit Lord Tybur and Marley. The rivalry between Marley and Paradise is not a secret” said Annie. “Magath admitted that it wasn’t a terroristic attack, but it was caused by someone who worked inside the facility. Paradise Island has become no man land only because our security committed a mistake” “What are you saying ?” Asked Annie with wide eyes “It wasn’t…” “How did you know ? Who told you ? Do you know something else ?” Asked Reiner ignoring Annie’s question. “No one spilled the bills, if this is what you suspect and I didn’t know anything. I simply had suspicions that Magath confirmed” “Suspicions ? You sounded pretty confident when you faced Magath” replied Reiner.
“Ask the questions in the right way and you will get the answers you want. I knew that I have asked my questions with confidence, like I already knew everything, Magath would have seen no point in lying. You can lie only when the other person doesn’t know the truth” explained Armin. “You seem so convinced he’d lied to you” commented Annie.
“He was lying to all of you, wasn’t he ?” Retorted Armin. “Now we know… What’s your angle ?” Asked Annie. “What do you mean ?” Asked Armin.
“Why was so important for you to prove Magath was lying ?” Asked Annie thinning her eyes. ‘Here… someone who asks the right questions…’ Armin thought. He shouldn’t be surprised after all. He’d spent so much time in her head that he perfectly knew how Annie’s mind worked. How she thought, what she observed about the people and what she chose to ignore. Annie had impressive analytical skills, high intelligence, she thought deeply about the situations, excellent ability of problem solving, that plus her general calm attitude made her a good tactician. She didn’t like talking about her past and she was convinced that being an exclusionary and isolated person could refrain the other from interest with her and approach her. Annie thought that she was finally understanding what Reiner meant when he said that he didn’t like the way Armin looked at the people around him. He looked at them like they were games he could play with. “Because I wanted to be sure I can trust him to have my back. Now I know that he cannot be trusted, that’s all” answered Armin. “And can we trust you ?” Asked Reiner. Armin lowered his head, then he looked at him in the eyes. Reiner didn’t see nothing in those two blue pupils. How could someone hide his emotions so well ? Why was Armin so afraid to expose himself ? Someone who hide his true nature, was someone with many secrets. He wondered what Armin was willing to do in order to protect those secret. “You can. Can I trust you ?” Annie didn’t answer. She didn’t know him too well and Armin apparently wasn’t a guy easy to understand. She was usually diffident of those kind of people, but until that moment Armin hadn’t done nothing wrong. Reiner instead grabbed the other’s wrist with strength, willing to finding out some of his secrets. Armin knew more thing than all of them about the incident happened in Paradise in 2090. Reiner wanted to know if he had informations about something else, the researches conducted on Paradise, something about the nucleus. Something about his private life. Reiner wanted to be sure they could trust Armin, that he was devoted to the cause as all of them, ready to sacrifice his life. “No, you can’t”… ‘So that is the rain…’ E2 observed when he was finally out of the building. He still didn’t believe that he was free, that there was a sky above him and not a white ceiling anymore. He didn’t believe that he was breathing fresh hair. That he was walking on on a real lawn, made of real grass. His superior olfaction could see it, he had no idea that grass could have such a smell. He had no idea that the sky could have so many colors. The white of the stars, the dark blu, and the shades of light blue around the circumference of moon. He wished he’d experienced it with Tom, or someone whom cared about him.Where would he go from now on ? How would he survive a world he didn’t know ? Where did he have to go ? He didn’t know the path to follow.He didn’t even know what he was doing, what he was capable to do. ‘You’re not alone… proceed and not look back’He nodded. He was trembling, because he was scared, to death. He started sweating and he grabbed the backpack’ straps, because he needed something he could cling on. He needed an anchor. He started walking again, keeping attention to everything around him. No matter how much frightened he was, he couldn’t afford to lose control on his surrounding. He was out of the building, but he wasn’t out of danger. He was in the courtyard and the building was behind him, and E2 was farer from it at each step. Everything that he had to do was to keep walking without looking behind. He knew that there were guards that controlled who came and went from the parking lot, specially because all the cars were owned by the Lord Tybur and no one could book them without the permission of the first head, in that case of Tom and some other few people.If Tom was there with him, he could easily get out of there, but someone had different ideas.
‘We would have left Tom behind at some point. He couldn’t come with us’
‘But with a car, we’d been able to move faster and safer. We could have left him when we were far enough from the facility”
‘You’re always safe. Your power is enough to keep you safe’
‘Tom could have kept me safe. He was like a father’
‘We don’t have a father’
E2 lowered his face and regretted immediately what he’d just thought. Eren was right, again. They didn’t have a father, or a family, and he shouldn’t have used that word. Eren told him about what happen with his former… caretaker. Eren prohibited him to use the word ‘father’ again.E2 agreed with it. He knew what he was, he knew that he wasn’t… normal and that he didn’t have any father. No one out there who was waiting for him for his return and that was sad. ‘I don’t want to kill anymore. Why did you make do it ?’ He needed to know it and also wanted to change topic.He knew that Eren killed people before, Eren’d been sincere about that since the beginning of their friendship and E2 knew that Eren wasn’t the exactly a good person. Eren sacrificed his humanity to be free, he was willing to murder thousands and build an empire made of their blood. Eren was ruthless, sadistic and sometimes E2 was afraid of him. E2 stopped for a moment and took a breath. He could still smell the blood of those men, he didn’t know if fear had a smell, but he could swore, he smelled it as well. When he was controlling the minds of his victims, they had fought against him, trying to push him out of their mind, but they could never find a way to resist him and Eren together.
‘You’re right. I shouldn’t have. I should have let you handle the situation on your own. Then maybe you will understand how things works in this world’
E2 would love to reply that after years of imprisonment and isolation, he knew perfectly how the world worked. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about the world, and he suspected that it was the same for Eren. After all, Eren had spent almost twenty years inside a white room, exactly like him. What did they know about the world ?He bet that Eren hadn’t left Paradise once, for the only exception of the party and there he was surrounded by his friends. E2 was alone and he had no idea of what he was supposed to do once.
‘There are guards at the end of the streets, you know what do to’
E2 didn’t answer. He started walking again. He knew that getting out of that situation wasn’t going to be easy, probably those two women’d already warned the security about the this homicides and now they were looking for him. Maybe he should… “Hey, over there !! Freeze !!” Screamed a voice behind him. E2 noticed that there was a little red ball on his chest and that it came from a weapon, maybe a rifle, E2 couldn’t distinguish them, that a man was pointing against him. He couldn’t see his face, he was wearing a helmet that covered his face. He was wearing a bulletproof, a chest rigg carrier, boots and he was holding his rigle.E2 noticed that the path he was walking was suddenly illuminated. Only now he noticed that at both sides of the street, where were two traffic control towers., that were surveilling the gates in front of him. One mistake he made.The other one was not notice that there was only one man, but he was surrounded. “Identify yourself ! Who are you ?” “Hands in sight !” E2 raised his hand and forced himself to keep his eyes open, even thought the light was bothersome. He couldn’t identify the the men, but he noticed that now all of them were pointing their rifles against him, even the ones on the towers. What was he supposed to do ?
‘Yes… What should you do ?’
E2 rolled his eyes. He knew what Eren would have done in his place. First Eren would have noticed their presence from their smell and the sound of their breath. Secondly, Eren would have killed them without hesitation. E2 wasn’t Eren. They were two half of the same coin, but two half nonetheless. “Identify yourself”‘I wish I could. I don’t have a name” “So ? Answer the question or you’ll pay consequences” E2 wasn’t in panic. Not exactly. Okay, he was. He had no idea of what to do in that situation. Those men were yelling at him altogether, asking for a name he didn’t have. The man at the center was threatening to shot him right in the head if he insisted on that attitude. Another one noticed that he didn’t have an ID wrist and surely he didn’t work for the industry. “What do you have in your bag ?” “Fucking answer, boy !!”
‘In the future… It will be told of a night…’
E2 jumped when he head Eren’s voice inside his head. He hoped the other wouldn’t have spoken to him. He didn’t want Eren to deal with the situation. He could figure it out something. ‘Shut up’
‘…In which a monster and a man…’
‘Get out of my head’ He wasn’t a monster. He could still do the right thing, find a way to survive without sacrifice anyone. Those men… they weren’t guilty for his misery. They were simply doing their job, they were trying to survive into a cruel and unpredictable world.
‘… The two faces of the Titan King…’
“I’m done, I’m going to shoot him, maybe he will finally decide to talk !” “Eh ?”The man pointed his rifle at his right knee and shot. E2 barely felt the bullet penetrating his skin but instinctively he put an hand on his knee. He was bleeding, he could feel blood on his hand, but he knew that the wound would heal soon, which was a problem. They would notice that something was wrong with him.Although thousands bullets couldn’t kill him, that one angered him. E2 did nothing to deserve to be attacked and he was getting angry. So angry that he used his hardened ability without even realizing. He used it to form crystal spike projection. He didn’t realize what he was doing, he didn’t even knew he was able to do it without Eren’s help.He only knew that his knee hurt, that he was suffering and he was furious. How did that man dare to shoot him ? How did that piece of scum dare ? Who did he think he was ?E2 wanted revenge… he wanted the other man to suffer… He wanted… blood…he hit the man who’d shot him with crystal projectiles, three, one in the knee, one in the chest, the last in his head. ‘I… killed a man… with my powers’That was everything E2 could think about. Eren did nothing that time. How could he be able to control his hardening ability ? Why were his hands trembling ? What was that sensation he felt inside his throat ? He needed to vomit, he wasn’t feeling well.
‘Harden ability must to be taught and differently form our psychics abilities, it has so be practiced in the reality, because the body has to get use to the amount of stamina required to use it. However, you and me are… different…’
‘What do you mean ?’
‘We don’t need to be taught anything. At the beginning it’s like a sneeze or a blink, it simply happens. You have to learn to control it. Again, we’re the exception’
‘You should have told me. I didn’t know I could do it… I didn’t want to kill him’
‘Yes, you did. You wanted him dead, your powers satisfied you’
Meanwhile one man came closer to his dead comrade. “He’s dead ! That monster killed him !” ‘I’m not a monster… I’m not a monster’ though E2 with ears in his eyes. “Shoot him !” All the soldiers started shooting at him at the same moment and again, without even wanting, only driven by his fear, his harden ability protected him from the bullets by creating a barrier between him and them. ‘I thought that more time would’ve passed before I could use my harden ability this way’
‘Amateur shifters can use this ability only like an armor. They slowly learn to use it differently, for example to create daggers, as you did before. Again, we’re different’
E2 rolled his eyes again. He was growing tired of being told he was different. Why was he different? Why was Eren different ?What exactly made them so different from the other shifters ? “He created a barrier ! He’s a shifter !” “We’re not equipped to fight one of them !” Commented one of the soldier “I immediately call for reinforcements !” ‘Shit’He had no idea of what kind of equipments the reinforcements could have, surely something efficient to fight against a shifter. E2 couldn’t take the risk to fight against those men. He couldn’t take the risk of being captured and imprisoned again. Until that moment only few people knew about his existence, he wanted it to stay that way. No one else had to know about him, no one. He couldn’t come back there… he couldn’t lose his freedom… he and Eren had to be together.‘I’m sorry’ he thought before to attack again.One thing was to learn and use his abilities in his dreams, another was to use them in reality, nut he had to try, for his freedom and his kind. After all what was the point if those with the means and power didn’t fight ? He wanted to fight, he had the means and the powers and above all, he wasn’t scared.He kicked the crystal barrier, destroying, and thousands little crystals fell on the ground. The soldiers started shooting him again. One bullet penetrated his arm and he used it as trigger for a partial transformation, in that way he could create a Titan arm in a small explosion. He managed to grabbed two men and then to keep them still by hardening his arm. He was going to separate his hand from the arm when other men started shooting against him from the two control towers. He could barely see the men due to the light coming from both towers, so he used his harden ability to destroy the warning lights. In the dark he could see them, but they couldn’t see him.
‘Now ! Kill them all, no witnesses’
‘No… I’m not a monster…’ “Damn it ! I can see nothing !” “Where is him ?” “Do you see him ?”
‘Just take a deep breath. You will get used to it’
‘I’m not a monster’
‘The reinforcements are coming’
E2 raised both his hand to grab his head, wanting to ignore Eren completely, but the soldiers started shooting again and before he could realize, when he raised his arms, other daggers went out and hit three other soldiers, killing them. He looked at his arms and he noticed that they were bleeding in various part and he could feel the bullet inside. They hurt. ‘They hurt… every time…’ His eyes widen. Maybe he was beginning to see a scheme. The pain was necessary to activate his ability, plus a motivation. In that case his will to get out of that place. He needed to feel pain to be strong. He’d never thought about his titan abilities in that way. Maybe the same didn’t count for his psychic abilities, but now he remembered that in his dreams, Eren always bite his hand before to use his titan abilities. If he was right, he needed to be very careful in the future. Eren told him something, but he seemed to enjoy keeping him in the dark about other things, like he was curious to know if E2 was smart enough to figure it out things without any help.
‘You’re only a seed. You have no idea of what you could do. Who, you could become’
E2 ignored Eren’s voice. That wasn’t the time to think about what he could do, that wasn’t the time to think, it was the moment to act. All he had to do was to find a way to surpass the gates. He killed all the men who were surrounding him, he didn’t have to kill the snipers too. He could spare their lives, he only had to find a way. He bite his hand deep, until he could taste his own blood and trigger another partial transformation. That time, the arm was longer and stronger enough to create a hole in the gates. He tore the hand from it and let the arm evaporate. Without the light and with the steam, snipers couldn’t detect him. He ran toward the hole, paying attention at any sound around him. He concentrated and he could hear footsteps nearby. The reinforcements were arriving, so he needed to hurry up. Once he was out, he used his harden ability to close the hole. The men were still trying to see him through the steam, so he started running. ‘I’m not the Lady of Shalott anymore’ That was the last thing he thought, before someone shot him from behind hitting him in the shoulder.Then only a scream and death it brought with it. … MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY THREE HOURS LATER… Erwin Smith was impatient and he was aware that that state could cloud his judgment. He was also frustrated, because he knew where his target was, he knew that Magath couldn’t go anywhere for the moment, he had information that could put every single member of Tybur Industries on his knees and yet all he could do was waiting. Patient was an important quality and he considered himself a patient man, but he was tired of waiting. He wished he could have had more to study the files he had, to elaborate a valid solution, but nothing come to mind. ‘There’s something I can do, but what ?’He was in his office, with a hot cup of coffee in his right hand, looking at the white board on the wall, where he could see the web of pictures, documents and red string he created. He was so close to complete the puzzle and yet the truth kept slipping away from his fingers.He heard a knock on his door and he invited the person to come in, without asking who she or he was. “I knew you were already awake, if you slept .” Said Levi entering inside his office “How long have you been looking that board ?” “No idea. One second I analyze every detail I can see in a picture, and the other I wonder with my mind. I’m so close to the truth that I can taste it. It’s sweet, but something prevent me from grabbing too. That’s bitter” Erwin interrupted and drunk his coffee “I can’t accept it” All the pieces were in order on the chessboard, ready to be moved. There was one move, one dominant strategy that the could use and yet he was failing to see it. “You said you had an idea” “I do, but the outcome of this idea doesn’t depend on me. I’ve no control over the matter” “Control ah ?” Said Levi “It’s overestimated.” “What do you mean ?” “That is clear at this point that we’re fighting against crazy people, who have giver a new meaning to the ‘crazy’ word. Maybe we shouldn’t think rationally” “We can’t risk the lives of our comrades” “But you’ve already moved a piece, which means, that you have sent someone to investigate the area where you think Magath could be hiding. You sacrificed his or her life” Erwin was impressed, but he hide it behind a mask of imperturbability, but inside he was surprised that Levi could understand him so well already. He thought about what he said before, and he only mentioned to have an idea with an unexpected outcome, but Levi figured it out that he sent someone there to investigate in his place. Erwin considered himself a person not easy to understand. Most of the people who knew him, considered him an heartless, ruthless man, ready to sacrifice everyone and everything in order to achieve his goals. Capable of orchestrating complicated and intricate plans, which outcome was unpredictable even to him.They were right, Erwin was that kind of man. The man who played with the lives of the people with the same ability he used to move pieces on his chessboard. No one figured it out his intention until it was too late, but apparently Levi was already aware of his move. “How did you know ?” “I wasn’t spying on you. It’s simple logic. You weren’t surprised when I followed you on that room, at the mansion. You wanted to confuse me, to play with my mind. You knew you could run away at any moment” “Indeed I could. I was testing you actually” “Were you ? What do you want to prove ?” “If you were part of Tybur Industries or not. If you were, you wouldn’t have hesitated to shot me, in that case, I would have tried anything to capture you to interrogate you. You didn’t. So there was nothing personal. In that moment I understood that I had a possibility to persuade you to join me” “Your oratory skills could have persuaded anyone”“No. Most of the people who are part of the Industries, are indoctrinated to follow certain ideals. They would die not to reveal any secret.” “Are you talking by experience ?” “Yes and no” Levi rolled his eyes. He hated hermetical answers and he wondered if he could ever have something simple with Erwin. Probably not. Erwin Smith wasn’t a simple man, but that wasn’t a simple world anyway. “I’m waiting for a signal. A clue, anything, that can help me to understand what to do next” “Do you think that Magath’s still hiding somewhere near the mansion ?” “I hope” Levi was going to speak again, when Erwin’s cell rang. Erwin answered the phone. “Mike ? Why are you calling me ?”
“Something very important has just been broadcast. Something regarding the Tybur facility in Lago”
Erwin listened everything with attention and when the call ended, he smirked. Finally, the clue he was waiting for arrived. “Good news ?” Asked Levi “Excellent actually”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
LAGO CITY 14 SEPTEMBER 13:00 ‘How could this happen ? How could I let this happen ?’ E2 couldn’t stop looking at the burning Mansion from afar. He didn’t know what he did exactly, he didn’t know what triggered inside him, he didn’t know what he wanted. He only knew that whatever it was, he wanted it so bad to be able to kill all the those man in front of the gate and to burn down the closest area of the building.He didn’t remember which area was, he didn’t remember anything in that moment. The last thing he remembered with clarity was… Tom and the soldiers in front of the gate.He didn’t exclude a possibility that Eren was messing with his memory. Eren had the power and their mind was connected, so it was plausible. He needed to learn how to keep Eren out of his mind. He didn’t want him to meet with him, he didn’t want him to impose his will on him.E2 wasn’t sure that he would get over what he did to Tom so soon.He was walking alone the street, hoping to arrive as soon as possible in Lago City and from there, he would find a way to arrive to Paradise or wherever Eren would be by then. “Despite what he made me do, I still want to look for him.” He whispering. He looked up and he smiled. The sky was so beautiful, so blue and the clouds and the birds what were flying, free and able to admire the world above any other creature. E2 loved them already. He would have admired them forever if he didn’t caught a sound in distance. It was a strange and noisy sound. He closet his eyes to concentrate on it. Something big and fast was running toward him. He would better hide somewhere. He ran toward the wood near the street and hide behind a tree. He saw four car with a strange colored logo and with light on it. That weird sound come from them, followed by other means of transport, but he didn’t remember their names. Vans ? Probably. He could barely distinguish a car brand from another. For him the means of transport were all the same. What really caught his attention, was that they were all running toward the Tybur facility. He heard another sound in distance, that time, it came from above. He looked up and saw a… helicopter ? Or airplane ? Again, he still had to learn how to associate their names correctly, without clinging on Eren every time. He was alone again and he had to learn how to take care of himself as soon as possible. He waited for the street to be free again, then eh started walking again. Maybe he should walk across the wood, but he feared to lose track inside it. “I should keep going.” He said to himself. He held his backpack and started walking again. Maybe he shouldn’t walk at the center, maybe he should remain hidden. After all, he didn’t want to be seen by anyone. A young man, dressed like a patient just evacuated from an asylum, with a backpack… He didn’t know many things of the world, but he was certain that it didn’t happen very often.He still had to check the contents in the backpack. He would do it later, when he would find somewhere safe, where he could think in peace. He touched his shoulder, where he was shot. He didn’t feel pain anymore and he wasn’t bleeding, the wound was healed too, but the bullet was still inside and he had no idea how to remove it.Again, that wasn’t the time to think about that.At the moment, he could only walk and hope not to find troubles before to arrive in the city. … MARLEY COASTS ‘Finally, I arrived in this place forgotten by God’ A young man with a short crop of black hair and a pair of black, thick-rimmed glasses arrived near Marley coasts. Roy was going to reprove him for sure, but he didn’t care. He was determinate to follow any lead that could be helpful to make the Tybur Industries fall once and for all. Roy didn’t share his determination. He insisted that they should do nothing, that they were lucky enough to be still alive and to live there. Peaure didn’t share Roy’s definition of freedom. He used to held him in great regard, before they transferred there in Marley. Everything and everyone changed after what happen in 2090. Roy started living in sloth. He woke up, came to work, read articles, published the ones approved by the government and admonished whoever dared to write something ‘inappropriate’.Peaure tended to do it a lot, but it was stronger than him. Their people, they needed hope, they needed someone who support them, who was willing to support them, who made them understand that what happen in Paradise, wasn’t their fault. That Tybur had been used them and destroyed their home to hide his sins and guilty. He needed to pay for his actions.That was why he was there, with his camera in his hand, even thought his source had informed him that people died four days ago. He got out of his car, surprised that his old girl managed to carry him there. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the money to buy a new one, at least for the moment.He had parked his car along a secondary path in the wood. “I don’t think someone will stole it, but I need to hide it anyway” The Mansion wasn’t too far, but when he arrived he could barely believed what he saw. The Mansion and the Training center were… well… they were missing. At their place, there was nothing but… nothing, only burnt ground, literally. There was no doubt that whoever did it, was a professional and meticulous, if he was able enough to reduce in dust both the mansion and the training center in one night.He took some picture of the scene, yet there was something that didn’t convince him. The burned area was very extended, but he noticed that there were pits, or something like that on the ground. He came closer to observe one of them better and he noticed that it wasn’t very deep, but surely something heavy had caused it, but what ?It couldn’t be caused by the fire, in that case, all the ground should have been homogenous, but the ground inside that ditch wasn’t burned, it was normal. He could see some blades of grass, which meant that that ditch was made during, or after the fire. Why someone should wait for the end of the fire to do that ditch ? Who was able to extinguish a fire of that magnitude if all the guests were dead by then ?Maybe the people who caused the fire were the ones to extinguish it as well ?But why would they do it ? If they wanted everyone dead… “There’s something here that doesn’t convince me” he muttered. He saw no bodies or limbs, anything like that, that meant that all the bodies were now nothing more ashes and dust. He knew that for cremation, the body was incinerated at the temperature of 760 to 1150 °C, if the fire was able to reduce the mansion and the training center as well, it meant that the temperature was even higher or, more probable, there may had been several explosions at different points. “But this ditch…” He looked up and noticed that the one in front of him wasn’t the only one. There were others. He came closer and he noticed that there was one that had a strange shaped. They were two ditches that crossed each other, forming a sort of V, but it was imperfect and deeper in some point. He couldn’t find any reasonable explanation. The ditch was deeper on the right side than the left one, why ?He observed other ditches and when he convinced himself that maybe he was seeing things where they weren’t, he noticed that he was leaving shoe tracks on the ground.He didn’t know why his shoe tracks caught his attention. He passed his gaze between it and the V on the ground and it was then that another detail caught his attention. Near the the end of the ditch, there were smaller rounded ditches… “It looks like a foot. A footprint. How could it be possible ?” What kind of beast could have a foot so big ? What looked weirder was that the footprint was similar to a human ones. It was such a funny theory, but a lot of things didn’t make any sense there. The fire, the ground, those ditches…The mere thought that could exist something so big was frightening. His source didn’t inform him on what had caused the dead of all those people, he simply told him to go there, because am explosion destroyed the Mansion and the Training Center. That was much worse.Peaure was slowly regretting to have left his gun in the dashboard of his car. “I will check the others. I want to see if my theory is right. If I express my ideas all the world would laugh at me” He observed the closest ditches and he noticed that all of them, more or less, looked exactly like a foot, a human foot. What kind of prank was it ?Peaure didn’t consider it funny at all. “I don’t know what to do at this point” His instinct was suggesting him to take one more picture and go away from there, as fast as possible. Another side of him, the Eldian betrayed and eager to have answers, was praying him to stay there and investigate more.Of course that side of him won. He couldn’t leave now, he wanted answers and surely he couldn’t give him sources pictures of footprints and a burned ground. That wasn’t the time to run away, it was the moment to be brave. “I will follow this footprints. They… started from… this point and… most of them disappear in this area…” … But there were a pair of footprints, that were deeper and what caught his attention the most, was that the ground inside it was burned as well. Peaure understood that that pair was different from he others. He started following them. ‘I hope I will find some answers’ … MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY 14 SEPTEMBER 13:00 ‘…The causes of the fire are currently unknown and no one wants to express about the blood found by the police near the gates…’ “It can’t be a coincidence” commented Mike watching the tv with attention. Erwin, Hanji, Moblit, Levi and Mike were watching the news in the big screen in the conference room. Apparently few hours ago another incident happened near the exit of Tybur’s Mansion in Lago city. An explosion destroyed the all the area between the gates and the backyard killing an unknown numbers of staff members who were already curing the garden. Again, a lot of people died and again no one was willing to give any explanation or to expose himself. “I wonder how they intend to make it look this tragedy like an incident this time” commented Hanji. “An attempt of fraud gone wrong” said Moblit. Erwin felt frustrated. He was struggling to understand what was happening in that chaos. He wanted to know if it was caused by someone who had some grudges against the Tybur Industries or if there was Magath behind that incident, to make it look like those incidents were causes by terrorists, like they did back in Paradise. Give the blame to someone else to cover their secrets. If an incident like that happened few weeks ago, Erwin wouldn’t have any doubt that it was caused by some failed experiment, but now… after Tybur’s dead and his last delusional speech… he had no idea where to start to collect his thoughts. The only way to have some answer was to find Magath and make him talk. He hoped that in base where he was he had no way to see the news. ‘We have here Miss Yelena Ivanov she’s…’ On the screen, next to the journalist, in front of the entrance of the main building of the facility, appeared a woman with blond hair in bowl cut, large black eyes and androgynous features. It was difficult saying if she was a female or a male. She was wearing a dark blue blazer.A detail that caught Erwin’s attention was her imperturbability, despite the cause around her. She looked very calm, almost like she didn’t work in the place where another incident had taken place in. The journalist who was interviewing her had long brown hair, she wore a dark blue jacket and she had pale skin. She was interviewing Miss Ivanov in front of the the main door of the mansion and there where other journalists who were trying to interview her as well.
“Unfortunately, the causes of this tragedy are unknown for us too. I can simply say that we hope the police will find the culprit and that will bring him or them to justice”
“Miss Ivanov, you’re talking of culprits. Why are you so convinced that this tragedy is caused by some people ? Why couldn’t be caused by some of your research ?”
“Because we haven’t been having news from Tybur for four days, or from the training center. We sent someone there but no one came back to report anything. We’re afraid. Furthermore, this is a Mansion, not a facility”
“Is she your pawn Erwin ?” Asked Levi, remembering the conversation of few hours ago. He still didn’t have an opinion on Erwin. He didn’t know if he or until what point he approved the other choices. Erwin wasn’t a good man, but it didn’t mean he was a bad man either. In those four days, Levi had the opportunity to know everyone better. They were valuable people and formidable fighters. He still didn’t trust them completely, but he could admit that it was good staying there. Their company helped him not to remain alone with his thoughts for so long.During the night it was another thing entirely, his nightmares tormented him every time he closed his eyes and he managed to sleep only three or four hours every night. In his nightmares he was constantly tormented by Izzy’s green lifeless eyes, that were staring right in his soul, begging him to save her, begging him not to forget. Levi didn’t think he could after all. He didn’t know what happened to Furlan, but he hoped his friend died quickly and without pain and he was glad that he didn’t transform into one of those monsters. In that case, Levi would have been responsible for his death… his actual death. “No, she’s not. She simply anticipated what I was planning to do with my pawn” answered Erwin studying the woman in the tv “I want to know everything about her” “Why ?” Asked Mike “I’ve never seen her before. Surely, she doesn’t occupy a relevant position” “That’s why I want to know everything about her. If Magath contacted them, and I know he did, the last thing he asked them to do is probably to reveal Tybur’s death. If she’s talking about it in tv…” started Erwin. “… It means that they cannot fix the the problem this time…” continued Hanji
“We’re waiting for Tybur’s instructions. This is not the first time one of his property is attacked and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I make condolences to the family of the victims…”
“… Or that there is a split between Magath and the Chief researcher in the facility” concluded Levi. “It’s plausible” said Erwin
“Please, Miss Ivanov. What do you think happened to Lord Tybur ?”
“I’ve no idea. There were many important members for our Industries that disappeared with him. We’re scared and worried. I can say no more because we know nothing. If you’re eager and willing to help us… maybe you can investigate the matter further. Now please, I have to help the others”
Erwin was firmly convinced that, after all those years, all subordinates of the Industries were used to have their asses covered by Tybur’s liars and money, now that he was dead, they had no idea how to deal with his dead and the consequences related to it. Maybe they got scared that, whoever succeeded in killing Tybur, could try to do the same to them. Or maybe they orchestrated the entire thing to get rid of Tybur and the training center, maybe some of them was tired of being submitted to the training center and the warrior unit. Maybe they wanted to be free of conducting their research and be successful on their own.Or maybe they had been threatened by the same group that assaulted the training center and the mansion. Or maybe… or maybe…Thousands ideas were forming inside his mind, any of them sound reasonable enough to be considered seriously. “Who’s the Chief Researcher of Lago facility ?” Asked Erwin. “Mmm…” Moblit had an Ipad and used it to search for informations “… Doctor Tom Xavier. He’s been working for Tybur Industries for almost twenty years. He joined the research team few years the first prototype of Ymir serum was created” “Where is he ?” Asked Mike “Since he’s responsible for the facility, shouldn’t be the one to be interviewed ?” “Maybe he’s more of a lab rat than a social butterfly” commented Levi. “Or maybe something bad happened to him. Maybe the same people who killed Tybur, now is responsible for the murderer of the chief researcher of this facility. The question now is why Lago ? It’s not the closest one to the coasts” commented Moblit “I want a list of names of all the people who work in that facility” ordered Erwin “And I want a list of name of scientists who have worked on Ymir serum” “Ehm… everyone ?” Asked Hanji “There’s no person in those facility who is not aware of the serum” “What do you hope to achieve ?” Asked Levi “I want to know why Magath got in contact with that facility and why, one day after the call, that facility is suddenly attacked. I don’t believe in coincidences” answered Erwin “I’ve no doubt that they work on Ymir serum down there” “Yes, but no one knows about the existence of that facility” said Hanji “We fatigued a lot to have a blueprint of it” “Maybe we should focus on what we already know” said Moblit “We know that Magath contacted that facility, who did he talk with ?” “The Chief” answered Levi, “Who’s the Chief of that research ?” Continued the blond. “Xaver” answered Mike. “Did he contact him only because he couldn’t contact other facilities… or because he knew he could trust Xaver the most. If this is the case, why ?” Erwin saw nothing wrong in the argument. Tom Xavier wasn’t a notorious man, he didn’t attend ofter at the events organized by Lord Tybur and since he’d started working for the Tybur, he didn’t appear often in public. He was a very private person, specially after the homicide-suicide of his wife and son, happened fourteen years ago. The motives that pushed his wife to commit that terrible act were still unknown. Tom simply told the police that his wife was depressed. After then, he practically applied for a position as a scientist in the facility and then he rarely got out of it.
…
ONE HOUR LATER… ‘The footprints end here’ thought Peaure.There was only one pair of footprints remained, the peculiar one, where the ground was burned inside the ditches. “I’m close… but I’ve no idea where to go from there” he sighed. He started walking again. If Erwin’s informations were right, there had to be a facility around there, an underground facility, but the man warned him to get too close to that place. Peaure had no idea if he was already too much close, he had no idea where the facility was or how to recognize it. All he knew was that he was wondering like an imbecile in a wood where he didn’t know how to orientate himself. He hoped he would be able to find the way back to his car. He almost lost hope when heard something… “AHHHHHHHH !!” He jumped. Someone screamed and he froze where he was. He kept his breath and started shivering. In his profession was to be expected to find himself in dangerous situation, but it was the first time he was alone, in a wood he didn’t know, where only four days ago a carnage happened and the culprit was still free. Furthermore, he risked to be captured by a group of terrorists that kidnapped people to use them as guinea pig. They could kidnap him or kill him, or worse…He was allowed to be scared. He started running, without thinking where he was going, which was pretty stupid but he was in panic. All he wanted was to be safe.He wasn’t looking where he put his feet, or he wouldn’t have tripped over something and fallen with his face on the ground. During the fall, his glasses slipped from his nose. ‘Shit’ he thought. The last thing he needed was to lose his glasses. He saw nothing without them, so he needed to find them quickly. He started crawling, moving his hands frantically. He started sweating and his hands were trembling. He appealed to all his self control not to burst in tears like an infant. He kept searching until his hands grabbed something. Something heavier than his glasses and… they stank and… flabby…He let it fell on the ground again but then he noticed that his hands were dirty. He observed them and then he realized that what he was smelling was… blood… and that his hands were red and that the things he was holding was a ripped forearm. He covered his mouth with his forearm not to scream. The blood on his hands was fresh, which meant that that person was killed recently and the killer was still out there killing other people. What was happening ? Someone found the underground facility where the few survivors of the fire were hiding and now he or she, or them… was or were finishing their job.He couldn’t be sure of it, he could only hope to find his glasses soon enough to run away from that place. “AAHHHHHH !” He jumped again when he heard another scream and he bite his forearm not to scream. He took a deep breath and started searching for his glasses until he found them. Quickly he wore them, then he stood up and started running. A few meters he found another body, ripped in two. He could see the vertebral column and several bone fragments on the lawn, of course it smelled too. Something liquid fell on his cheek. He touched it with his finger and realized with horror that it was blood. He looked up and he saw another body, that time the scene was even uglier. It looked like the body had been ripped in half, vertically, up to the waist. There was no head anymore and some organs were out, on the legs. “This is so much worse than a film horror” he whispered “What kind of beast can do something like that ?” It wasn’t appropriate, but he took some pictures of the two dead men. Then he took another deep breath. He needed to remain calm and think rationally. If he went the wrong way, he could ended up killed by the same person who committed the other crimes. He started walking, trying not to make any sound and to remain calm. There was a surreal silence around him that agitated him even more. He went in the opposite direction of the bodies and he didn’t dare to turn around even once. If the bodies were there, it meant that the underground facility was nearby too, but if the culprit found it, surely had to move on, in search of the entrance. Peaure wasn’t brave enough to enter in the wolf’s lair to prove that theory. He didn’t know how long he ran, before he managed to get out from the wood. Unfortunately, he could never run fast enough before an explosion happened somewhere behind him. The ground started trembling, he remembered to fall on the ground and…Maybe it was a dream… maybe it wasn’t… the last thing he remembered was a monster… … LAGO CITY CENTER 14:15 ‘So this is how a city looks like’ E2 thought. He had no words to describe how he was feeling. Sublime… maybe… He was surrounded by so many people and he had finally the opportunity to see with his own eyes what people did when they went to bars, or the famous shop windows where pretty things were exposed. All things he only saw in pictures or through Tom’s memories. When he closed his eyes, he could smell thousand different perfumes, some where sweet, other more delicate, other strong. The building around him, so high, imposing, elegant. He was sure that the people who lived there had to be rich. Tom once told him that the richest people always occupied the highest position of everything, because there were people who had the right to see the other down below from their greatness.E2 thought that maybe he was beginning to understand what he meant back then. From that height, he was sure that the people could admire and observe the entire city. Like a Titan. From that height, everyone looked like ants. E2 at least felt that way. He noted that the walls of those buildings looked more like windows and in his ignorance he didn’t understand why. Wasn’t the glass too fragile to protect the sanctity of someone house ? ‘So many things, there are so many things I don’t know of this world’ He didn’t know why the cars were so different even thought they had the same function. Did they change accordingly to their color or size ? Why didn’t the building have the same height ? It was because in some building lived people more important than in the others ?Why the windows ? Why didn’t they want to hide from the world ?He looked up and saw the sky… He could barely see it from there, he couldn’t see the birds or hear them, he could barely see the sun and that made him feel claustrophobic.Where was the sun ? Where was the sky ? How could people push him regardless, without even apologize ? Like he was transparent, like he didn’t exist. ‘I’m here, why are they pushing me ?’ He was looking at the world with tears in his life, comforted that the people around him probably weren’t looking at him. He arrived in Lago ten minutes ago and it wasn’t easy arrive there due to the traffic jam. Those moving things, cars and trucks scared him a little bit. Actually, everything around him scared him to death.Was that freedom ? Fear ?He didn’t imagine that the first time he’d seen the world could be so overwhelming. His legs were trembling, his back was bent, his head was bent and his eyes dared not to look up, at people. He looked up once and he thought that the sky shouldn’t be so high, shouldn’t be so unattainable. It was beautiful, but he couldn’t reach it and he knew that if he didn’t stop to look at it, he would burst in tears. He didn’t want to stay there, he didn’t feel safe there, he feel so isolated from the other people.The more he looked at them, the more he noticed how much different he was from the rest of the world. All the people around him wore the clothes they wanted, knew where they came from and where they had to go. When they looked at the mirror they knew exactly who they were, the name of their family, their own name. His clothes were grey, anonymous. He didn’t know where he had to go, he didn’t know the path he had to follow. ‘Where I have to go ?’
“Tom wasn’t allowed to have files about you nowhere near the Mansion. So Lord Tybur allowed him to have them in his old apartment, where his wife committed suicide with his son’
‘Why do I have to go there ?’
‘Because we need to find those files and destroy them. No one has to know about our existence’
‘Do we exist ? Do I exist ?’ E2 started doubting about his own existence. Why no one had to know he existed ? If he destroyed those files, it would be like destroying his own past, denying his own existence. It would be so tragic if he wanted to exist for someone ? He looked around, at the people around him. He didn’t imagine that so many people could exist. So different, yet so similar altogether. They were so beautiful. Pale skin, suntanned skin, dark skin…Blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes…Tall, short, fat, slim…Even their way of walking was different. Some walked with more confidence, other slowly, other quickly.So different… so unique… With a past, a present and a future and with a place in the world. ‘I don’t want to stay here’ ‘In fact you need to arrive at Tom’s apartment’ ‘No… I don’t want stay here… in this world…’ He just realized he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and that he was crying. He didn’t want to be surrounded by people, he didn’t want to hear their thoughts in his head, yet he felt all of them.He felt the thoughts of wife worried about the possibility of his husband’s infidelity.He felt the thoughts of a boy nervous because he was picking the ring to propose to his girlfriend.He felt the thoughts of a young boy who was worried for a bad grade at school.He felt the thoughts of a young girl who was worried about the constant fights between her parents.Thoughts, thoughts and thoughtsThoughts about love. Obsession for an unrequited love. About a forbidden love.Thoughts about family. Of a mother, a father and their children.Thoughts of a young woman in career.Thought of a man who was going to get his degree. Thoughts of so many people, with so many faces, with a life, friends, families… no one of that belonged to him.Because he was no one, because for them he didn’t exist, because he didn’t belong there. He closed his eyes and wished to be in the desert, where he could feel the sand under his feet and where the sky was so close that he could almost reach it. There he was alone, but he also felt safe and protected. The loneliness he was feeling now, it was suffocating him. It was a loneliness he didn’t know. He didn’t understand. ‘Or maybe they don’t belong there. Compose yourself. We need to go somewhere’ ‘I don’t want to’ ‘We don’t need silly documents to prove our existence. The entire world will learn about us very soon, I promise’ ‘I feel so alone here’ He thought he knew what solitude was. He spent so much time alone, without speaking with people and he usually only spoke with Tom. The conversations with the nurses were unidirectional, since they loved more gossiping about people he didn’t know. He suddenly missed them. He felt lonely, but at least the nurses were kind with him and didn’t pretend he wasn’t there with her in the room. Sometime they even left candies to him. The doctors and the scientists on the other hand knew how to be cruel. But Tom… Tom… he should be there with him right now. He should be there wit him… he should be… there… with…He was so afraid… “Get out of my way” said to him a man that pushed him aside. He accidentally bumped into another person. “Don’t you see you idiot ? Be more careful” He started running. He started running and he felt his face burning. Everyone there was so rude and maybe he was paranoid, but he felt like all of them knew that he wasn’t supposed to be there, that he didn’t belong to that world, that he was different. He was an aborted… that he was unwanted. A face without name, a human without shape, a boy with a borrowed name… he was nothing and no one.
‘And so we can become anything and be anyone’
‘I’m so scared’ He turned on the left and enter into a dark road, where he felt a strong smell coming from the rubbish bins. He sat on the street, uncaring about the dirty. No virus or bacterium could have killed him. He’d never had even a flu in his entire life. One of the few positive things in his life, yet another reminding that he was different from anyone, that he wasn’t normal and that he was a mere result of an eugenic experiment. What if someone had seen him ? What if some of the people whom pumped into him worked for the Tybur ? What if someone tried to kill him ? What if someone ask things about him ? What if…What if…He couldn’t breath, he had headache and he was sweating. That was not good. Every time he started sweating, his body gave off heat, with the risk of melting or burning what surround d him. E2 didn’t want to imagine what consequences would he face in case someone saw him that way.
‘I’m here, don’t be afraid.’
‘I don’t know where to go’
‘I do and I will take you there. I promise’
‘Do you ?’ E2 would have given everything to have Eren there with him, or Tom. He was aware to be completely ignorant of the world, but again he doubted that Eren knew more than him. Eren had a better control over their powers, so he could easily use his powers to see through Tom’s memories where his old apartment was. E2 was a little bit scared of what Eren could make him do. He didn’t want to hurt Tom, yet Eren found his way inside his head so easily and then he hurt Tom. He betrayed him. He betrayed him…
“Why ?” He said aloud grabbing his hair with his hands “Why did you make me do it ? Why ?”
‘I’m you, you’re me. We’re one. I protect you and you protect me’
‘Tom’d never hurt me’
‘Let’s go, we have no time to waste’
He felt the buzz inside his head again. He grabbed his head and bite his lower lip. It was happening again. Eren was trying to control him again, he wanted him to stand up and come back walking along with strangers people, who smelled weird and had all those thoughts. He didn’t want. He wanted to stay there, in the dark, where no one could see him, where he could still pretend that a world out there didn’t exist. He felt dizzy and the buzz inside his head quickly turned into real pain. He gritted his teeth not to scream and moved his legs , trying to ignore the pain but he knew he wouldn’t last longer. He was still too weak compared to Eren.
‘It’s not about power… it’s about self awareness, I know who I am and who I am not. I know what I have to do and I have the power to achieve it. You don’t know who you are, I will tell you but you need to trust me’
Could he ? E2 was convinced that there was nothing he could desire more than freedom, but now that he was free of his cage, he was tempted to come back in his cage, where he knew exactly who he was, what he was, who he was dealing with and what he had to do. Freedom now looked so much like prison.He had those powers he couldn’t control and someone who could control them in his place and use them to make him do terrible things.Yet Eren was everything he had…He touched his cheeks and dry his tears. Cry wouldn’t help him to solve his problems. He couldn’t fight against Eren and until he was the weakest of the two, he would be better obey him without putting much resistance. He stood up and adjusted his clothes.He wasn’t free yet, he was still controlled by Eren but one day… one day he would be free. ‘Where do I have to go ?’ … They were still in the conference room when Erwin’s phone rang. He grabbed and checked who was calling him. It was Peaure. He quickly opened the call. If Peaure found out something important, he wanted to know it as soon as possible. He opened the call and wait for the other to speak first. It was the procedure. Peaure knew he couldn’t register the number with his name and he always had to identify himself first, so that Erwin was sure he was speaking with him. If someone was obliging Peaure to speak with him, Peaure had to pronounce one specifically word and then Erwin would have to know how to fix the situation. He waited for some minute but no one was speaking to him.
“I should have expected… well, whoever I’m speaking with I want to tell you that our man was involved into an incident. He’s still alive, but his wounds need to be taken care of. Do I need to describe them to you ?”
Erwin furrowed. What happened to Peaure ? Who was the person he was walking with ? From the voice, he could say for sure that his interlocutor was a young man, not younger than twenties. What was he doing there ? Did he know that Peaure was there to take proves for him ?He looked around and he saw that the other were looking at him confused. With the only exception of Levi, the others had no idea that he sent someone there to investigate. “I’m not going to waste our time. I know you won’t tell me your name if I ask. I only want a proof that my man is okay and that I can trust you”
“Trusting is so difficult in these uncertain times”
Erwin replied nothing. He wasn’t interest in chit chats. He was already taking a big risk by continuing the conversation with tombstone he didn’t know. He knew that the other person could try to trace back his position through the telephone line.He wasn’t worried about the eventuality that Peaure could betray him. Peaure didn’t know their base was and Erwin was always very cautious before to get in contact with him and he was careful not to meet Peaure personally, only through other people he knew he could trust. He was also sure that Peaure didn’t save the number with his name. “How did you know Peaure works for me ?” He asked.
“Why don’t you ask this to him ? Hi Peaure, speak with you friend”
‘Shit’ Erwin thought. What else did Peaure reveal to that person ? What did he do tho him ?
“I’m sorry, Commander Smith. I was caught by surprise. I lost my senses and when I came around… he was already pointing a gun against me. He shot me in the leg”
Erwin sighed. He was relief that Peaure was okay.
“Now that you know that you’re little friend here is okay, I need to talk with you personally”
“I don’t think so. I’m not so stupid, a lot of people want me dead.”
“I know that you’re the kind of man who’s not afraid of making sacrifices for a greater good, I don’t know a lot about you but I do know the essential. Here’s the deal. I’m going to tell you my name, I’m going to confess you that we’ve been friends for longer that you think”
Erwin furrowed. What was that boy trying to achieve ? Why would he reveal his real name to an enemy ? Because they were enemies, right ? He rarely trusted his instinct, usually preferred taking his decisions basing on rationality and precision. That thing was he couldn’t risk to leave Peaure in the hand of an enemy. Peaure said that the other had already shot him in the leg, what if he tortured him to get more informations ? What did he mean when he say that they were already friends ?Then an idea started forming inside his mind. “You’re… you’re the one who was sending me those files”
“So it’s true. You’re very smart, as people say. I like it. The first file I sent you, I sent you a list of names who worked in the Training Center. I was included, but of course I couldn’t reveal my identity then. I firmed thought. Taran Milertr”
“Let me guess, it is an anagram” He sounded too pleased and the same should be thinking the other people in the room, but it was the first time that someone managed to surprise him, specially when it come to intelligence and mind games. Erwin was a mastermind, but the person he was talking with wasn’t any less and the blond was having fun.
“Exactly, check in the first list I sent to you. I’m in that list. Now, would indulge into a little game with me ?”
“A game ?”
“It wasn’t easy find a way to contact you, but in the end I managed. It won’t be difficult find your current location. I wonder who between you and me will find the other first. Me your location ? Or You my name ? Accept the challenge ?”
Erwin had to admit the other had a point. If the other had been so capable to hacker his system and find a way to contact him, he would surely find quickly his location and Erwin changed his base almost every week. It could be paranoid, but he needed to feel protected. The only thing he’d never changed was his email, since he received the first file. He had no idea how ‘Taran Milertr’ succeeded in founding his email address.He crossed for a moment his eyes with Levi’s, who was looking at him with narrowed eyes. Erwin was suddenly curious to know what kind of expression he was showing off. He had to admit that he was feeling… intrigued, because it was the first time someone challenge him on an intellectual level. “I do. May the best man wins” He closed the call and, ignoring all the other who were looking at him like he suddenly developed a second head he took his leave politely “I need to return to my office. Please don’t hesitate to update me in case you find out something important about Tom Xavier” He went out the conference room and closed the door behind. Few seconds later, the door got opened again and Levi went out, following him. Erwin smirked. He knew that the raven hair man would have followed him. Levi knew about his plan and surely suspected that the person who just called him was him, or at least he realized that something strange happen. “Who called you ?” “No idea. All I do know is that this person wants to be found and wants to find me. I gave to find him first” “And what did this person tell you about your man ?” “That he shot him in the leg, but he’s okay” “What ?” Levi was astonished. How could Erwin remain so calm and collected when someone had just told him that one of his man, who probably knew important things about him, was captured and shot ? Levi was more and more convinced that Erwin Smith was a monster. He had to be. If Isabel or Furlan were the one in danger, he wouldn’t have managed to remain so composed. He would have acted reckless and probably only aggravating things. Levi was strong only when he was with them, he was confident because he knew they had his back. He knew he could count on them and he knew they cared for him. Erwin seemed not to care for anyone, not even himself. Any man would be agitated, knowing that someone out there was looking for them and was so close to actually find them, but not him. He seemed almost entertained by the idea. That someone was pointing his gun at him.He remembered when he pointed his gun at the man, Erwin wasn’t scared of him, not because he doubted that Levi was capable of killing him, more because he knew that, despite he was at disadvantage, he knew he could find a way to make it out alive. Kinda scaring. A man who wasn’t afraid to die… A man who wasn’t afraid of letting people to die for him. Like his colleagues were nothing more than pieces he could move at his pleasure. Like he knew that, deep down, everyone in the world had to count on themselves above everyone else.They arrived in his office and Erwin saw behind his desk and he turned on his laptop. “How do you plan to find him ?” “He was the one who’s been sending me the files about Tyburs. The first file consisted into a list of names. His name is in that list”“How would you understand ?” “From an anagram. Taran Milertr” Levi wrote the name on the board with a marker. Then he wrote under it the letters. T A R A N M I L E R T R “So, we have to solve this riddle” concluded Levi. “Exactly” said Erwin opening the first file he received. “Once you learn his name, what are you planning to do ?” ‘I will capture him’ thought Erwin without voicing it. Internally, he maybe was feeling too exited, like child on Christmas Day. Just when he almost lost his hope to capture Magath and to reveal all the secrets he knew about Tybur to the entire world, something interesting happened. He didn’t trust that person and surely he had no intention of being reckless. He couldn’t commit any mistake, not when he was so close to finally know the complete truth about the eugenic experiment. He was sure that there was more than what he read in the those documents. He believed that there were more, that there was something darker behind those experiments. He couldn’t stop thinking about what happened when Levi killed those monsters. Surely something extraordinary happened to Levi but… there was something else. Something else happened that night, something else was pulling the strings of their fate. Something that permitted Levi to fight and survive. It was only a theory, but something suggested him he was right. …
Erwin Smith was a soldier to the core. Conscious that he constantly walked hand in hand with the death, but that was the life he chose. The life he would always chose, because he couldn’t imagine no other way to spend his life. It was the only way he knew, the only way he could deal with the darkness inside him.
He felt less day after day. He lost completely interest in everything, in any possible hedonic pleasure. Life was meaningless for him, because he didn’t know it. Because he didn’t know the truth. What was the point of living into a world he couldn’t understand ? A world that took away from him his identity ?
A man who knew nothing, a man who didn’t know the answers to his questions, was nothing.
Truth was fundamental, it was a stronghold that permitted humans to know what the world was, the they were, what was something and what was not.
How many people had killed in the name of truth ?
How many people had lost their mind ? To learn the truth about the world ? He would never knew if the Big Bang Theory was correct or not, but he wanted to know if what happened to him, to his homeland, to his family, to his own world… was worthy all darkness.
Ignorance was a fake safety,
Without it… humans were blind. Erwin didn’t want to die a blind man, but he saw no escape that time.
He was ready to die ignorant, when he saw Levi in front of him. The raven hair boy suddenly stood up and instead of running away, he was walking right toward those monsters.
‘He wants to die’ he thought, but then he realized that there was something different about him. The way he moved, the way he walked, the way he disarmed a soldier to steal his equipment… the way he attacked and killed the first monster…
He was incredible, it looked like he knew exactly what to do, how to use that equipment, how to kill those monsters…
It was then that he also noticed another thing about those monsters. Something pretty weird. It was like the monsters didn’t pay any attention to Levi, it was like they were more interested in killing the soldiers and when Levi was close to them… He didn’t know how to explain, it was like they knew he was there to kill them and they have to simply surrender.
Maybe he was simply imagining things but… but…
He looked in front of him and saw something moving behind those monsters, he saw it only for few seconds, a shadow, a shape, but he knew it was there. He had the feeling that someone was observing the entire scene too…
…
Erwin had been thinking and examining what he remembered about that night since he recovered. He didn’t want to push, not while he was still trying to build some sort of relationship with Levi, one based on trust, but he really wanted to know what happened to him that night. What was triggered inside Levi and what was controlling those titans. Because even if they came close to Levi, no one of them tried so hard to eat him or kill him. When they had to choose between him or another soldier, they always picked the soldier. Like they knew who was the enemy and who wasn’t. He was so close… all he had to do was to find that name… “Armin… Arlert…. Found him” he exclaimed exited. …
'I want to know the truth about his world !! Let me go !!!’
A boy, a teenager, was sitting on a bed with white sheets, with the back on the wall, the arms abandoned along his hips and the legs stretched out his bed. He looked more like a lifeless doll, a beautiful doll, perfect in any way. His eyes were so dark that someone could see it the death itself through them. The boy barely move and he breathed slowly, very slowly. He looked so dead.
Only inside his head he was screaming. He was trying to rebelling to his life, but he couldn’t. His body refused to cooperate. Or maybe he didn’t really want to run away.
He hadn’t touched the food that was taken to him. The lunch. If he remembered correctly. Why didn’t he eat it ? Because he couldn’t taste the food.
There was an orange liquid, on the tray, the nurses called it orange juice. He didn’t drink it. Why didn’t he drink it ? Because he couldn’t taste the orange juice.
Why couldn’t he taste them ? He had no idea. All he knew was that he could drink water or that liquid and he wouldn’t know to say if they were different.
If he tasted meat or fish, he wouldn’t know to say which he preferred between the two.
Why was that ? He didn’t know.
He looked at his toys and books on the other side of the room. They weren’t much, but he wouldn’t want more of them. Why ? Because he didn’t feel attack to any of them.
Sometimes he wished to be able to grab them and destroy them, to reduce them in thousands pieces. He wished to put all of them in life, like ants, and crush them.
Why did he have those thoughts ? He knew it. Because those useless things were only a waste of space. There was only one thing he wouldn’t destroy, a puzzle, with the sea.
He kept it under the bed. It was the only thing he cared in that room and yet there were days when he wished to destroy it as well.
The truth was that it was hunger… that… monster… inside him… was very hungry. That monster, that had his same eyes, only bigger. That monster that had his same hair, only longer. That monster that was him… only stronger…
That monster that wanted to be free. That monster that wanted to see the sea. That monster that wished nothing more than put his enemy in line and crush them like ants. That monster that was offering him the only things he wanted… freedom.
He heard the door opening, he wished he could escape but they drugged him, he couldn’t move. He had to stay there.
“Are you sure he’s sedated ?” Asked a scientist whose name he didn’t know.
A man with the white coat entered followed by his assistant. A woman with dark hair.
“You have ten minutes to take the samples.”
“He didn’t eat anything. I wonder if he can’t feel hunger or if it’s only an act of rebellion” commented the scientist.
“We already know that the can survive without eating” said the woman, raising the sleeve of his shirt to put the tourniquet.
“But we don’t know if he could survive without sustenance forever. If he continues to fast, then we need to find a way to make him eat”
The woman nodded. He didn’t recognize her. She had to be new. She was pretty clumsy with eh tourniquet and she avoided looking at his face. It was obvious he wasn’t making her feel at ease. He didn’t care.
“What’s his name ?” She asked shyly.
“He has no name. You can call him E1, or Eren, but it’s not like you’re going to interact with him so often. You can avoid this silly questions” answered the man with harsh.
“Why did you say that he has no name if you just called him Eren ?” Asked the girl.
‘Why do you insist ?’ Thought the boy.
“Eren is not his name. It’s the name of the project that regard the nucleus. Lord Tybur is paranoid, so this project doesn’t appear on the database of our system. That’s why we have to handwriting out reports. Anyway when he have to communicate with the other facilities about the nucleus, we use to talk about Eren Krueger. It’s only a code”
“Ah” said the woman putting the needle in the arm of the boy “Now I understand, sorry for asking. I simply thought it was weird, for him not to have a name”
“Why should he need it anyway ? He was born, he lives and will rot here. He has no name, he’s not registered anywhere, no one knows about his existence. When we will finally find a way to replicate the nucleus we will get rid of him and no one will know. That boy is no one, he doesn’t belong to this world, he has no identity.”
‘It’s sad’ that was what the woman thought in that moment.
If the boy could, he would have rolled his eyes. Everyone thought that his condition was sad, a nameless boy that would never see the sun rise, yet no one of them tried to help him. They only stayed there, with their needles and their superiority. Convinced that that ridiculous white coat gave them the right to use him, to experiment on him.
They repeated over and over again that he was no one, until they actually believed, until the boy himself believed it.
There was actually a world out there for him ? There was someone, out there, who wanted him ? Who was waiting for him ? Someone who would love him ? Who would love the monster he carried with him as well ?
The monster that he saw, every time he closed the eyes, the monster he walked hand in hand. There was someone out there who knew his real name, whom can tell him the truth about himself ? He tried so hard to find out the truth inside the minds of the scientists around him, but no one of them knew the truth. Lord Tybur told all of them a different version of the story.
Which one was the truth ? Would he ever know ? Would he ever be free ? Would he ever have someone special ? Even if there was, would he be able to recognize it ? Would he be able to resist before it was too late ? Before he would be no longer able to distinguish himself from his monstrous ?
…
‘I felt the same’ E2 thought, when the buzz inside his head ceased. He didn’t even realized he arrived in front of the door of Tom’s apartment. He tried to opened the door but it was closed, so he kicked it and quickly closed it behind. The room was poorly lit due to the curtains. He was in a living room, where at the center of the floor there was a large carpet with floral pattern, on its left there was a sofa, on its right there was a tv and at the center a coffee table with an ashtray on. The first thing that caught E2’ attention was missing of personal items, photographs, souvenirs and things like that. The second thing that caught his attention was the dust. Tom hadn’t come there in a long time, or maybe when he came there he didn’t disturb in cleaning. On the left side there was a table with the chair and an empty vase in it, and he could catch a glimpse of the kitchen. There was a second door next to the one of the kitchen. He came there an opened it. There was a corridor with three door on the right and one at the end. He opened the first and saw that it was a bedroom. It was dark but he could see well anyway. It was obvious that no one had been been in that room in a long time, but what caught his attention more were the toys scattered on the floor. No one distributed to put in order that room. He entered, pushed by curiosity and turned the light on. “What… what…” he muttered. There was a huge blood stain on the carpet near the bed, where all the toys were scattered. The blood stain was old. Tom didn’t clean the blood of his son from it. Because that was the bedroom of his one son. The one his wife killed before committing suicide. E2 turned off the light immediately. He was feeling like an intruder there, well, he was an intruder but still, he didn’t want to invade Tom’s son personal space, not matter if the latter was dead.He wasn’t there for that. He wasn’t there to learn Tom’s past, but to erase his own. Because Eren told him to do it. Because he had no choice but to obey, at least for now. He closed the door and started walking again.
‘His wife didn’t kill his son because she was mad or insane. She was perfectly lucid when she committed the crime’
Despite what his best judgment was suggesting to him, E2 responded to Eren ‘Why should she kill her own son ?’ E2 didn’t believe it could be truth. A mother was supposed to love and defend her children, despite everything, even against their father. A mother shouldn’t care if her child was ugly, stupid, problematic, with psychological problem or different in any way. She was supposed to welcome him or her with open arms. That was what a mother did. E2 couldn’t imagine that a mother, who waited for nine months to have her babies in the arms, could kill her own child. Blood of her blood. Flesh of her flesh. Someone who possessed the name she chose for them.
‘Yet she killed him. Tom was a workaholic and she was started feeling ignored. So one night, she cleaned up, she wore the most beautiful dress she had and she went out. There she met someone…’
E2 wasn’t understanding where Eren was trying to direct him, but he didn’t like it. So, Tom was a workaholic, what was wrong in that ? Tom told him that work was necessary for a man, to provide for his family, to be allowed to buy his wife nice clothes and cherish her with pretty presents; to buy nice clothes and toys for his children.A good job ensured stability among the family, that was Tom told him. E2 never put that in discussion, if Tom told him so, he had no reason not to believe it. Tom was a good man, she had nothing to reprove him.
‘Don’t judge so quickly. She felt alone and abandoned. Like you.’
‘She had her son’
‘She wanted her husband’s love too. Would you blame her ?’
E2 started walking again. He refused to play Eren’s game, to change his opinion on Tom. Tom was a responsible man who wanted the best for her family, there was nothing wrong with that. Tom wanted his wife and son happy and his wife had his son. How could Eren compare his loneliness with Mrs Xavier’s ? They had nothing in common. If she wanted Tom with her, she should have called him. E2 had no one, a part from Eren, who recently seemed determinate to control him and make him lose his mind. E2 had no one to call, no one who provided for him if not for scientific reasons, no one who could come back to him.He was alone. Completely and utterly alone. He opened the second door and he saw another bedroom. That was the one where Tom and Mrs Xavier used to sleep together. He closed it immediately. ‘You don’t offend anyone if you enter. Beside, I was telling you a story’ ‘I don’t want to know it’
‘You should. As I was saying, she went out and she met a man that night. A mysterious man. He approached her, he listened her… he…
…
LAGO CITY 2085…
Charlotte Xaver regretted to have left her son alone in her house and to have put a foot inside that pub as soon as she asked for her drink.
She wasn’t feeling at easy, and it wasn’t because of her elegant new Versace dress, or her make up that emphasized her delicate features, or her dark loose hair, gathered to one side with a clip.
Her brown eyes were restless, like she knew that she should come back home as soon as possible. She was being childish, she knew it, but she hadn’t seen Tom in two weeks and she was starting thinking if she was actually married to someone. Her son was home, she told him to sleep, she also told him to call her if something strange happened and that she would come back in two hours. She simply needed some time for herself.
“A drink of whisky please” she told the bartender, not missing to notice the appreciative look he sent her way.
Charlotte was a pretty woman, pretty enough to catch the attention of few men in the local. In spite of what she originally believed, those looks didn’t make her feel desirable, only dirty.
She regretted to have taken off her ring and she was actually bored to be there. She thanked the bartender for the drink.
She took a sip, trying to hide the disgust on her face. Tom loved drinking whisky when he was in the mood for fun, she despised drinking those king of stuff. She wasn’t the type.
“I gather that you don’t appreciate a good whisky. What a pity”
A man sat next to her but Charlotte barely payed him attention. She wasn’t in the mood and she was still married. She wasn’t there to flirt, she was there because she wanted some time for herself, to feel like someone of her age, to feel young and feminine.
“Can I offer you another drink ?” Continued the man, not catching the sign.
“No need. I can pay my drink” she commented, stubbornly looking her drink.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply anything. I was simply trying to start a conversation with a pretty woman who seem to want to be elsewhere but here”
“Is so evident ?” Asked Charlotte taking another sip of her drink.
Charlotte regretted her decision to be there more and more, specially if the other could easily guess that she was uncomfortable and above all miserable. It was the first time after a long time she went out on her own and definitely she hadn’t gone out without Tom at her side since their wedding.
“Only for an observant. Someone else could simply say you’re bored to death because no one’s entertaining you”
“Does a woman need a man to entertain herself ?” Asked Charlotte looking at the other man for the first time.
She was surprised. The man sat next to her was handsome. He had dark blond hair, a short beard styled as a goatee, a pronounced jawline and dark eyes. He also looked pretty familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she saw him.
“No, of course not. But I’d be glad to converse with you, while you’re still here”
“Why not ? What do you want to talk about ?”
“Why do you look so lonely ? For example”
Charlotte furrowed and then exclaimed “I don’t want to talk about my business, thank you”
She finished her drink and then ordered another drink of whisky. She looked at the man. He was smiling, like he was dealing more with a child’s tantrum than an adult woman.
“Then I won’t ask you anything. I will guess”
“Good luck” she muttered.
“You’re here because you was feeling lonely and bored. The moment you entered here you realized the mistake you made. Nothing here catches your interest because you know that, whatever you want, you won’t find it here”
“I didn’t come here to be psychoanalyzed” replied Charlotte firmly.
“No, you come here because you want to spend a good evening without thinking about the man you want at your side, the man who’s too busy to be here with you. You want him here with you. You want him with you at home. But he wasn’t there and you’re tired of an empty apartment.”
“How did you know I’m with someone already ?” Asked Charlotte.
“You’re no the first person who comes here, to fill the void, to fill the silence of their house. To feel the warm of another person. I’m surprised you’re so respectful that you’re not hitting on someone only to spite your partner”
Because Charlotte already knew that her Tom was one of his kind. He was kind, sometimes he could be curious, like a baby who saw the world for the first time. He was intelligent and very erudite, differently from her. Yet, he loved talking with her about everything, Charlotte loved talking with him, spending time with him.
When he asked her to marry him she had no hesitation. She couldn’t imagine that Tom could be so devoted to his job, at the point to completely neglect his own family.
Every woman would want a responsible man, who proved to be capable to provide for his family, but any wife would be also very appreciative if her husband showed his face from time to time, only to let them know he was still alive.
“I don’t wan to cheat on my husband. I want simply feel less alone. I thought that if I wore a nice dress and went into a place full of people… the voices, the sounds… I don’t know… I hoped to feel less alone”
“But being here isn’t helping you. It’s such a contradiction, how a crowd place can make you feel alone, specially when you crave for someone you know you won’t find here or home”
“I can only hope it won’t be always like this. My husband and I will find a way to make things better”
“Why should you wait for him ? He’s not making you happy. He’s creating a void inside you, why should you remain with him?”
Charlotte drank all his whisky and then she ordered another drink. She didn’t like what the other was implying. She didn’t regret his decision to marry Tom and she was sincerely convinced that it was only a period. That someday things would be better between them, that they would spend more time together, like they used to.
“He’s my husband”
“Etiquettes means nothing. You must think the same if you took off your ring. A marriage is nothing more than a signature of an economic contract between two people. Both the parts swear to ensure economic stability in change of love and devotion. And an offspring. If something goes wrong, divorce fix everything”
“That’s pretty cynical and I don’t share your opinion on weddings”
“I’m not telling you to agree with me, I’m telling you to be open minded and consider it”
“I don’t think so. I’ve a son. I want him to understand the importance of being connected emotionally with someone”
“For that a wedding isn’t necessary. If you have a son, then you shouldn’t worry about him. He already knows that he’s not wanted”
“What do you mean ?” Asked Charlotte surprised and maybe scared.
The man she was talking with was very blunt, and cynical and suddenly something about him made her feel uncomfortable. The way he was looking at her, like he was studying every single reaction, like he was studying the best way to take her by surprise to destroy her. Maybe she talked too much due to the whiskey. She didn’t drink often and when she did she got drunk easily. She should come back home, she wanted to. She wanted to come back home to her baby.
“I want to go home”
“You shouldn’t if you don’t want. If you don’t want that life. If you don’t want that child.”
“You know nothing” Charlotte said putting some bills on the counter.
It was funny that people still used the bills to pay, but in 2050 the rate of online scams increased at the point that people stopped used credits cards. In 2050 was the year when was registered the gravest online scams in history. All the money of all the banks of Marley disappeared from the accounts. A grave economic crisis began, many people committed suicide because they couldn’t afford even the minimum expenses. Many Industries failed and no one had idea how to fix the problems. No one accepted to use credits cards or to have their bank accounts details on internet. No one trusted anymore. Even then, after almost fifty years, people didn’t trust internet with their money anymore. Specially after most of them saw the advantages in that situation. Their purchases, their movements… were no longer traceable. There was more privacy.
“I know that for a moment you wished for your son not to exist, so that you could be free to wear a nice dress, weak make up and come here to drink and flirt with a man. In that moment, you wished you son not to exist”
“I’m leaving, have a shit night sir”
Charlotte left the pub and started walking back home. She had enough for that night and she should have listened her head when it suggested her to remain home. She couldn’t wait to come back home, change and sleep beside her boy and hold him tight.
That man had no right to tell her those things. She and Tom had problems, even thought he had no idea, but she knew they could find a way to be happy again. Their son… he knew how much he was wanted and loved by his parents too. She had nothing to worry about on that front.
She realized someone was following her when it was too late.
“Are you following me ?”
“I know you’re upset with me. I only want to be sure you arrive home safely”
“Go away, before I call the police…” said Charlotte turning around, determinate to ignore the other.
“I’m sorry I upset you, but I told the truth. Your son doesn’t know whether he’s wanted or not. He never sees his father, he probably doesn’t remember his face. He looks at you and he saw a dissatisfied woman. He saw that woman wearing a dress and leaving him, like his father did.”
“I’m not his father. I always come back, he knows”
“Does he ? Does he know that his father will come back home ? If he only sees him leaving ? Does he know he wants to be his mother ? Do you still smile when you look at him ? Does he feel loved ?”
Charlotte stopped. Why was that man asking her those things ? They were no his business. She was sure that her son that his father hadn’t abandoned him
“You can’t look you son and can’t smile to him because he resembles his father more than you and every time you look at him, all you can see is that man who surrounded you with silence and boredom”
“No, it’s not true”
“He’s destroying your present. He’s supposed you make you happy, but he’s making you feel miserable and he also left you with your child”
“Two people are needed to have a child. My son is the greatest joy in my life”
“You know, children are like names, they are a prove of someone’s existence. If we kill them, we kill the future of someone’s name. We put an end on their existence. No more future… no one who will carry his father’s name”
Charlotte started trembling.
Those eyes… they were unsettling her. The man was complete calm and composed, like he was talking to her about his daily routine instead of… of…
Charlotte understood what the other was suggesting. What the other was trying to tell her. That she didn’t deserve to raise her son alone, that she deserved more consideration from her husband. That she had only one life to live and her marriage was ruining it, ruining her present.
She didn’t want to consider it that way, but the man was right. She was feeling suffocating, due to the silence and the void that her husband left behind every time he left her to go back to work. Tom didn’t even disturb to call her, or to send her a message. He simply disappeared and when he appeared… he didn’t talk with her. Not like he used to do it…
He didn’t love her… like he used to do it…
She didn’t exist for him…
She meant nothing for him…
She wasn’t interesting like his research…
She was, to put in Tom’s word, that one more electron that wasn’t needed for the atom to reach the balance. She was that one electron… She and her son… her son… Her… son… that looked so much like Tom. That… son… whose name now she couldn’t remember…
“Tom doesn’t deserve someone who carries his name, if he himself is not suitable to protect him from any danger. What if someone bad harm his son ? What if someone kidnap him ? What if his son gets ill and no one is there to take care of him ?”
“Why are you telling me this ? I’m his mother, I can take care of him”
“This is a cruel world” simple explained the blond man “Children shouldn’t born in such a terrible world, specially when there’s no one there to protect them. If we really want to do something for their happiness is to set them free”
“Free ?”
“Free from our own selfishness and weakness. They feel when we don’t love them… They feel it and they die. The question is… will you let Tom’s absence kill him… or will you save your son yourself ?”
Charlotte felt the ground missing under her feet. Was Tom… killing their baby with the absence ?
Was her son dying because he believed that his father didn’t love him ? That his father was never home because he wasn’t important enough ?
Wasn’t she enough to make her son feel important and loved ?
No… she wasn’t… because she left him too… alone… that night. She left him too. Alone, and defenseless. What if someone had stormed into her house and killed her son ? Or kidnapped him ? Or raped him ? Where was she ? Where was Tom ?
Tom didn’t deserve a son, who resembled him so much, who carried the name of an absent man.
Now she understood, why she was so unhappy… because she wasn’t a good mother, otherwise she would have realized that Tom was killing her happiness and her child’s as well.
Tom didn’t deserve them, didn’t deserve someone who waited for him, someone who loved him. Someone who was his future, if Tom was ruining their present.
Tom couldn’t kill their son, but she… she…
…
“Now do you understand ? What she did ? She killed her son’ ‘Lord Tybur… he…’
‘You’re focusing on the wrong thing. Have you seen what she did ? She killed Tom’s present and future. She killed his family and someone who would carry on his lineage. As those mad people did with us’
‘What… what do you mean ?’
‘There’s more than one reason if I asked you to come here. To make you realize that we don’t have a past. To have a past, someone has to know our names, has to know where we came from. Luckily or unlikely for us, the same people who knew our past, were the same who took it away, Who used us. Those people now are looking for you’
‘They want to bring me back to cage’
‘Exactly. Tom was the only remaining link they have. That was why we need to find those documents. That’s why I made you did what you did. We need to destroy our past, or we will never have a future’
‘Tom didn’t have a future anymore. How could someone have a future without a past ?’ E2 realized more and more how ignorant he was of the world. He started understanding it when he was walking in that crowd street. Everyone knew what they had to do, but him. Everyone knew where to go to find what, what to say to get what… how to dress or talk but him.He knew nothing and it hurt, because he really hoped not to feel so isolated out from his white cage. He still didn’t understand how could a mother killed her own son, for revenge. He wasn’t so naive to believed that humans were pure and good, he witnessed their cruelty, their selfishness, what they were able to do achieve their goals. Like creating a clone of someone else and locked him up in a white room.
‘I was hoping you would ask’
E2 rolled his eyes ‘The few certainties I had, now are all destroyed’
‘I don’t have to give you certainties. I have to encourage you to make questions to yourself about the world. Nothing in this world is white or black, right or wrong. There are always two versions of the story.’
‘Okay… I’m not in the mood to reflect on my role in this world. What about Tom ?’
‘Another lesson, everyone is replaceable. Any void can be filled. Tom replaced his son, by taking under his wing one of his youngest trainee. He treated this person like a child. Then he filled the void deeper by taking care of you like a son too. You were a substitute’
‘Me and another guy, according to what you said. Another question remain to be answered to. Once I destroy my past, how can I be able to have a future ?’ E2 was really curious to know the answer. Eren babbled so much about the importance of having a past. Past was the fundament of someone’s life, without it, there was nothing more. No origins, no future. Or people wouldn’t care so much about knowing who they were and where they came from. E2 knew nothing, all he had were theories. He wasn’t dumb enough not to understand that the people who knew his past were also the ones who wanted to destroy him, who wanted to use his powers to conquer and control the world. They were the only ones who knew his name, so they were the ones whom hold his fate in the palms of their hands. His and Eren’s as well.But he was afraid of destroying his past, without even know what he was actually destroying. Was he giving up on the only chance he had to learn more about his origins ? His… mother ? His father ? What kind of creature would he become without a past ?A non existent man ? A nobody ? He already was and it hurt so much. What was worst, if everything could be easily replaced, even a son, then there was no way to have a place in the world. No one is necessary, in the big scheme of things. Tom lost his wife and son and yet he was able to move on, eventually and to replace his son, not once but twice.What was the point of living ? What was the point of existing if no one was enough to make someone else happy ? To be important for someone else ? If all the love hold for someone could be cancelled by few meaningless words pronounced by a stranger man.
‘I have a plan for it, I told you. We need to destroy our past, then we will destroys theirs together and once all our enemies will be dead… then we will rebuild our past, present and future’
Eren seemed so convinced of his word that anyone would have faith in him. Eren could be an amazing leader, he had the charisma, even thought E2 couldn’t understand how could it be possible, since Eren had spent most of his life isolated. Maybe his charisma was connected with his powers too. Maybe he learnt it from the memories of some other titan. Which remembered him… ‘Those titans, the one in the facility, they saw me. If some of theirs is a shifter they can…’
‘I thought about it too. Don’t worry. I have a plan for it. Now, the documents first’
E2 rolled his eyes again. He continued until the last door, where he found Tom’s study. It was quite depressing. It was full of boxes, on the pavements. There was an old desk, with the surface full of dust, without any personal object. It was such a mess…Another thing that caught his attention was the lack of electronic gadgets, as if that place remained back in time. He searched in any box, but there were only old family photographs. certificates, old postcards, old sketching of Tom’s son. E2 stopped for a moment. Tom wasn’t stupid, he knew that if he did something wrong, the first place where Tybur would come to look for him would be his old apartment. Where could he have hidden ?
‘The best place to hide something is full view. Or something like that. Maybe is there but we cannot see it’
‘Use your powers. Search in his memories’
‘You were so contrary in spying Tom’s mind before…’
E2 gritted and clenched his fist. He couldn’t believe that Eren chose not to be collaborative now that he needed his help. He checked all the boxes again, until he found an agenda. It was strange for two motives, it had been put into a boxes where there very old little fairytales books, the ones written for the children, full of illustrations, and those books were all old. There was a notebook looked pretty new. The second strange thing was that the rimes of the report at events were the opposite of those of Tom’s visits, and the events were written with both uppercase and lowercase letters. 19:30 Pressure for tonight’s Event. Two people to call. ‘P. E2. P stands for project, of course’ thought E2. He kept reading. ‘I found it. It’s it’
‘Good, now open up your bag.’
E2 did it. Inside it, he found documents, money and a pair of shirts and a gun. E2 wondered what he could do with a gun, since he had no idea how to use it and he probably didn’t even need it. His abilities… what he did… He was perfectly safe by himself. E2 put the notebook inside it and then he closed the bag again. He put in order all the things in the boxes and then he left the study. He was impatient of leaving that house. He left like an intruder there.
‘Not so fast. Remember, those titans’ve seen your face. They know about your existence. If there’s another shifter, they would know who look for. You need a disguise’
‘What do you have in mind ?’ ‘I will tell you. But first, there’s a mirror in the bathroom. I want you to see your reflex in the mirror, before I tell you what do to to disguise’ ‘Why should I see my reflex ?’
‘I think you should see your face and in doing it, your true self. I want you to see what kind of creature you are now, to give yourself a shape. It’s useful to recognize you somehow’
E2 shrugged. After all the weird things Eren ordered him to do, seeing his reflex on the mirror didn’t seem that terrible. It occurred to him that he’d never seen his face on a mirror, but he guessed that he had to look pretty similar to Eren. He knew Eren’s face pretty well.His tanned skin, his turquoise eyes, his facial features…He came to the bathroom and turned the light on. He arrived in front of the sink, he put his hands on the surface and looked himself in the mirror.‘So that is me’ he thought, putting his a hand on the surface of the mirror. It was so weird, after all, that person was him but it was like getting someone for the first time.Who was that guy in the mirror ? With that tanned skin, turquoise eyes and brown hair ? That guy looked so lost, so fragile, unaware and full of fear. He could also see innocence. The guy in the mirror had known the evil, or part of it, he was aware that the world was a dark place, yet there was something in him that was still clinging on the memories he had of Tom. Tom that remembered him that there was good in the world, that there used to be someone who cared for him. E2 didn’t know if he liked what he saw in the mirror or not, he wasn’t ugly, or at least he didn’t think he was. He liked his eyes actually. There was something in them, a light that lacked in Eren’s, even though they had the same eyes. First of all, he noticed that Eren’s eyes were always half closed, like he only saw half of reality, mostly the darkest part, or maybe because he felt like he had no ego, because he felt to detached from reality not to identify himself or maybe not to be identified by someone who looked him in the eyes. Eren was so mysterious under that point of view. He was also scaring sometimes. Eren insisted that they were two part of the same person, but E2 really couldn’t understand him. He looked at himself in the mirror and thought that he liked enough what he saw. ‘I see a child in the mirror, a child afraid of a world he doesn’t know, but also curiosity and I like him. I like me’
‘It’s a good thing. I hoped you would like what you see’
“I still didn’t get why you asked me to look myself in the mirror’
‘You will. Now, I’ll tell you exactly what you have to do’
…
‘My head hurts so much’Peaure couldn’t manage to keep his eyes opened. He had headache and backache, due to the explosion from before. He wasn’t even scared anymore, he only wanted to put an end on that pain. That blond guy had taken care of his superficial wounds and he didn’t seem intentioned to kill him, but he could never be sure, specially when he dealt with someone who worked for Tybur. That blond guy looked young, even younger than him and surely he didn’t have physic of a warrior. He looked more like a toothpick, that anyone could break in two. His long blond hair made him look even younger. With him there was that another blond teen. He didn’t look older than fourteen or fifteen. He was blond and had blue eyes. He looked nothing like the older boy, even thought they were both blonds with light eyes. The teen was sitting completely still next to him, at the point that Peaure would think he was dead. He had no idea that someone could remain still that way. “Don’t worry, you will be okay soon” said the blonde guy looking at him. Peaure didn’t trust him, specially with his camera. Was he delating the photos taken around there ? Peaure knew it would be futile, since someone, sooner or later, surely would notice the missing of Tybur, his entire family and the other people. They wouldn’t be able to hide the truth forever. “Who… who…” “Spare your energy. I do not intend of telling you anything” Peaure would have rolled his eyes, if he had the energy and only now he noticed that he didn’t have his glasses, something that contributed to his headache and his dizziness. He almost regretted to have come there. He should have listened Roy and remained home, but he actually hoped he could do something good, for his compatriots, for himself, for his homeland. He failed and now he found himself on the ground, hurt, blind, unable to move or to fight to defend himself. A part of him, hoped that Erwin would come there and take him home, another one, hoped that Erwin would leave him there, that he wouldn’t take any risk to compromise years and years of hard work and sacrifices.If there was the slightest possibility of saving Paradise and clean its name, it was Erwin Smith, his calculating mind and his determination.Of all people, Erwin was willing to pay the highest payment, his humanity, in order to avenge its home. Peaure hoped that was the reason at least. “Smith… won’t…” “Smith will come, he must.” Interrupted him the boy “He must” he said, more to convinced himself than Peaure. ‘He won’t come’ Peaure thought. Erwin Smith didn’t permit anyone to tell him what to do, to put him in the corner. He was too intelligent for anyone.Suddenly the little boy at his side started looking around, like he was in search of something. Then he grabbed the other boy by the wrist, to caught his attention. “Someone’s coming.” “Who ?” “I don’t know. The smell is not familiar. Again, you need to give me time for that” ‘That what ?’ Peaure thought. What they were talking about ? How in the world that guy was able to tell that someone was arriving there ? Maybe the kid was a shifter or had special abilities. He said that he needed time, maybe he still didn’t control his powers efficiently, maybe he was responsible for the explosion from before. Where were the other warriors ? Why wasn’t Magath with them ? Magath would never leave his warriors without supervisions. Was he… dead ? Were all the others dead ? If that was the case, why those two were alive ?‘What if Magath and the others were betrayed ? By these two ? How could be possible that two boys could kill all the warriors ?’More and more questions formed in his head. “I know you’re hurt” said the boy looking at him, letting the other go “I’m sorry but we weren’t prepared for someone else. We don’t have medicines. When Commander Smith will be here…” Peaure stopped listening to him. Those two were really convinced that Erwin Smith would be willingly come here only for… “You came” affirmed the older blonde. Peaure widen his eyes and blinked several times. All he could see, before to lose his senses, was a shape that vaguely resembled Erwin Smith.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
PARADISE ISLAND 2077
“Ojīchan !! Ojīchan !! Look at me !! Look at me !”
A seven years old Armin had finally learnt how to ride his bike and keep balance for more than few minutes. Armin was reluctant to try to learn how to ride a bike at first. Despite his prodigious intelligence, he admitted that he was pretty lazy, or better, that he was frail and that he used it to excuse his refusal toward physical activities and sports. His grandpa didn’t seem to mind it though.
He understood and accepted his introverted, clumsy and shy nephew and all his quirks, bur Armin wasn’t a challenging child after all. He was obedient, always impatient of learning new things in order to help his grandpa with houseworks, and to become more independent. He didn’t want to be a burden for his grandpa.
Another reason why he accepted to learn how to ride a bike was because he knew how many sacrifices his grandpa made to afford it.
So Armin was determinate to prove him his gratitude and one day, when he would be older and employed, he would buy his grandpa beautiful things. He would buy him a new house, close to sea, with a garden, just like grandpa’d always wanted.
“Oh Armin !! I knew you’d hit it. Told ya you needed only a little practice”
Armin smiled, even though he and his grandpa didn’t have the same concept of little practice. Armin only had to look at his knees and legs to see patches and little scars. He laughed at his failed attempts not to cry every single time he fell from the bike. His grandpa was always ready to cheer him up.
His grandpa came closer and caressed his hair.
“I’m so proud of you. You’re such a good boy”
Armin stopped smiling. His grandpa shouldn’t be proud of him, after all, Armin was deceiving him, since he wasn’t actually appreciative of his gift at the beginning. He would have preferred if his grandpa had bought him another book, but now he was actually glad that his grandpa bought him that bike. Armin was glad he could prove to be able to learn how to ride a bike, to do something different than reading and consuming pages and pages of books.
He was glad that his grandpa was smiling. Even though his grandpa’s face was marked with the signs of hard labors and age, even thought his hair were gray and few and his hands were callous, stubby and full of little scars, Armin considered him beautiful. He had such a beautiful smile, so warm, able to make Armin feeling so loved and protected.
“I love you, grandpa” he said “When I will grow up, I swear, I will make you proud every single day. Because if you smile like this when you’re proud, then I have to make you smile like this forever”
His grandpa giggled and caressed his hair again “Oh, my boy, I will proud of you forever, because I know, you will make me smile forever. You make me so happy, Armin.”
It was his dream… his dream for both of them, to make his grandpa happy, to repay him for his fatigues. He and his grandpa lived into a shabby house near the forest of Dauper. His grandpa dream was to move into Shiganshina, a district on the south of Paradise, the closest to sea. Armin made it his dream as well, because there was nothing he wanted more than to make his grandpa happy.
‘My dream is to see the sea together with you. I promise, I will make you so happy’
…
MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY 15 SEPTEMBER 8:00 A.M.
‘So happy…’ Armin thought. His grandpa told him those words when he was a kid, those exact words that had been tormenting him since he became a monster. Since he committed his greatest sin, abandoning the only person who had ever loved and protected him. He applied for a job to buy his grandpa a new house, with a garden, close to the sea, but then he became so overwhelmed with the research, the possibility of living forever, of becoming more than a lump of flesh and blood, that he started neglecting his duty as nephew. He abandoned his grandpa, he stopped visiting him, talking to him and then he left him to die.Would his grandpa be proud of him ? Would he smile to him ? No, he wouldn’t. Armin was sure that his grandpa wouldn’t be able to recognize him. Armin himself didn’t recognize himself anymore. When he looked his imagine in the mirror he saw nothing but a monster, with foul shape and without a name. Because Armin Arlert, the real one, died with his grandpa and all his broken promises. He wasn’t Armin Arlert anymore, his precious books were no longer a shelter where he could hide in shame. He could only count on himself and have faith in his new Lord and Master. That was the only reason why he accepted to get in contact with Erwin Smith.According to Eren, he was the only one with the level of intelligence required to deal with Erwin Smith. Eren had been observing Erwin Smith since he learnt the man’s name and he knew that Smith was determinate to unveil the truth behind the researches conducted inside the laboratories of Tybur Industries. Armin himself admitted that Smith had all the requirements to achieve his goal, that man was persistent, intelligent, cunning and manipulative. All traits that didn’t make a man good, but that made a commander valuable and a valuable alley.It wasn’t necessary that Erwin knew his role in the big picture. His role in the big picture, was the only reason why he accepted to be captured by him and his men. He was surprised that Erwin accepted to meet him in person. For a moment that journalist, Peaure, almost convinced him that the Commander wouldn’t have come, that he would have stayed safe, at the cost of sacrifice a pawn. His hands were both chained at the table and, even though he could easily set himself free, but he couldn’t wait for an interesting conversation with the infamous Commander Smith. He looked at the mirror in the interrogation room and smiled, he knew he was being observed.He was right, Levi and Erwin had been observing that peculiar guy for fifteen minutes, since when he was left in that room in chains. “What do you think ?” Asked Levi. “I don’t know what to think. According to what he says, he’s been sending us files about the secret researches conducted on human beings, but he could invent it to save himself. He seems cunning” ‘Actually more than that’, Erwin admitted.Armin Arlert had an attentive and analytical expression, he looked like the kind of guy who never acted reckless, who never let the instinct prevail over his rationality, which could be both a strength and a weakness. A strength because possessing a rational mind was always positive to solve complicated situation in minimum details, but also a weakness because it made everything complicated when something unexpected happened and the mind wasn’t prepared to front it. Armin didn’t look like the kind of person able to react in front the unforeseen.He was curious to learn more about that boy and the secrets he knew about the industries. “What about the other boy ?” “The kid ? Hanji’s visiting him. You ordered her to take blood samples, didn’t you ?” Asked Levi. He didn’t need an answer from the other man to confirm his suspects. The little kid was a warrior, even though he was surprised that they were recruited so young, and Erwin hoped to find in his blood the serum or the vaccine, everything out of the ordinary. The little kid didn’t look scared of them or of the new surroundings. If not even Hanji and her crazy, maniacal expressions scared him, while she took blood samples from him, than Levi would not know wheter considering him brave or crazy. Maybe he was simply traumatized due to the explosion in the facility. He didn’t introduce himself but Armin called him Falco. When they arrived, Peaure was already unconscious and still was, but Erwin ordered Mike to take his camera and control the pictures. Armin was the only one who had spoken a word so far and he didn’t seem scared either. He looked perfectly in control of himself, alienated from the rest of the world, like the dead of his comrades was something that didn’t pertain him. Maybe he should’t be so surprised, if Armin was actually sending Erwin secret files, then probably Armin stopped considering himself a warrior long before. “I did. I hope she would find something useful” “Do you think we can trust me ?” Erwin smiled and said “I’m glad you finally consider yourself part of the Scout.” Levi rolled his eyes “Cut the bullshit, I can always leave whenever I want” “Really ?” Asked Erwin keeping his smile“Really, under your nose. Now answer me” “I don’t trust anyone. Not matter how much time you spend with someone, how many things you know about them, they can always surprise you, most of the time for the worse. I learnt the hard way not to let my guard down” …
PARADISE ISLAND 2073
'Francis Smith, beloved husband and father. 2025-2073’
There was almost no one to attend his funeral, but not because Francis Smith wasn’t a lovely person. For Erwin, his father was the most lovely person he’d ever know.
Francis Smith wasn’t the definition of an ‘attractive man’, few women would look at him twice to know better his personality. He was a well mannered man, cultured, who also weighed his words and treated everyone as equal, even those who acted disrespectful to him. Erwin wasn’t surprised, after all, his father was a teacher. He had to be patient with students, always, even with the naughty ones.
He always spoke with that sweet voice , even when Erwin accidentally did something wrong. Francis preferred to make him understand his mistakes, give him explanations and then answer all his questions when Erwin had some doubts.
Erwin wasn’t a stupid child, he inherited his intelligence from Francis, or so he thought. Because Erwin had done something stupid, terribly stupid, that resulted in his father’s death.
There was no evidence, or proof, but Erwin knew that what happened to his father was caused by only one question, only one stupid question he asked to him. If he’d been more careful, now he and his father would have been home, eating and speaking with him.
He wouldn’t be there, wearing his black elegant dress, with an unknown relative appeared from nowhere that was clumsily trying to comfort him.
Erwin’d never met any other relative, expect for his father, for him it was like they were the only two people in the world and that was enough, despite his wife’s missing. For Erwin was enough, he and his father alone against the world was enough and so beautiful. His father was his home, everything and now he was gone and Erwin didn’t know what to do.
“It’s so calm here.” Commented the man behind him “Francis always loved autumn. He wanted to be buried into a calm afternoon during this season”
“Yes, he loved this season” simply commented a 8 years old Erwin.
There was something his father loved more, though. Truth. His father had a dream, to pursuit the truth, at any cost. What truth he had no idea, no yet. He knew that his father had a lot of secrets, that his mother left him because of this. His seemed simply reserved, but he hide a lot of secrets, regarding his childhood and his real family.
Erwin noticed when there was something strange around him. His father’d never mentioned one member of his family, his father, his mother, or siblings. Another reason why his mother left him was because she felt she couldn’t trust him, because she felt that Francis almost didn’t love her at all. That Francis never opened up with her about his thoughts, about his worries, that he purposely excluded her from a part of his life.
Erwin felt like that too, like his father didn’t trust him enough and that sometimes it hurt. Only in that moment, he realized why his father was so wary, because the betrayal was always behind the corner and it came from the most unexpected people. A friend, a comrade, or even a son.
His own son killed him, his own son betrayed his secret and that sin would persecute Erwin forever.
He would never forget, and he would never forgive himself. The only thing he could do, from then, was to find a way to grant his father’s wish, to make his dream come true. He would find out the truth about his childhood, he would learn the true about his past. The truth, a dream, was the only thing he’d left of his father.
He looked around and admitted that it was such a beautiful day, perfect for a picnic or a walk in the park. The calm around him reflected the calm he was was showing off, against the storm of emotions he had inside. Someone would tell that that was the day when Erwin Smith sold his soul to the Devil, or that in that occasion he made the first step toward the eternal damnation.
Erwin only knew that when he came back home and looked himself in the mirror, he could no longer recognize himself, all he saw was a broken child, emotionless, with something dark in his eyes. A monster that was beginning to grow inside him, that from then would be feeding of his soul.
In front of him, only one goal, only one destination.
…
“It seems you’re talking for experience” “I am” said Erwin, then he entered inside the interrogation room without adding anything. The blond Commander closed the door behind him, then he remained there, taking some seconds to observe the boy. Armin didn’t seem to have acknowledged his arrival, or maybe he was simply ignoring him. Erwin sat in front of him and said “Armin Arlert… is this your real name ?” Armin rose his gaze and looked at him, curious and asked “Why shouldn’t it be ?” “Because when I solved the anagram, I checked in any file or documents your name. Your name figured only in your application form for the Warrior Unit, but according to the data when I received the first file, you sent it to me one week before to be part of the warrior unit” “I bet you have an interesting theory for this” commented Armin. “You faked your identity to investigate privately the Warrior Unit, or you’re someone important. The other warriors figured in pictures of important events, their names figured in important documents, some of them also signed for random projects. Yours only figure once.” “You have a third theory” “I searched for your name, before the Warrior Unit…” ‘Of course you did’, Armin thought. He had considered the eventuality, he did the best he could to create an identity before to infiltrate the Warrior Unit, but he knew that there was a hole of seven years to fill. He was officially dead in the famous incident in 2090, but he knew that, due to Mr Tybur’s paranoia, the documents about the identities of people who worked in Paradise facility were only handwritten, so there was no way to go back at him, which was both useful and dangerous. How could he explain why he’d never existed ? Or how could he explain why he looked like he was twenty instead of someone closer to thirty ? He was 27 years old, but the time spent as mindless titan had slowed the normal aging process of his cells, a process that continued normally only when he became a Colossal Titan. He had a plan for both those eventuality, but he needed to be careful nonetheless. Erwin Smith wasn’t a fool. Armin wouldn’t be surprised if he ordered one of his man to take blood samples from Falco, in order to see if he the serum was running through his veins. Falco didn’t, Armin on the other hand did, but he wasn’t scared to be discovered. He needed someone to study the serum with, he needed to improve few things and find a way to make it less intrusive. The only reason why all the warriors had short life was due to uncompleted researches about the nucleus. Eren was able to transmit to his subjects incredible abilities and the closer they stayed to him, the stronger their abilities were, even though doing that way, Eren easily controlled their will and sometimes, they could barely distinguish themselves from him. That was another reason why Armin needed efficient instruments, item and a laboratory to find a way to elaborate a new serum. Eren asked him to do it in order to control his powers when he was with them. His friend confessed to him that sometimes his power was overwhelming, that it took fully control over him and he himself could no longer tell the difference between himself and the others. Armin couldn’t understand, no one could understand Eren, and he had no clear what he talked about most of the times, all he knew was that he had to help him. “You’re someone who doesn’t exist or someone who doesn’t want others to exist.” “Is your brilliant conclusion ?” Asked Armin. “Not exactly. A man who wants to hide his past could be successful until a certain point. I made some researches, because I know that not all the names of the scientists figured online. Some names were handwritten on registers, all of them destroyed in 2095.” “Such a scrupulous man” commented Armin. “I've made many researches all night, while you were here” “So you didn’t make me spend the whole night here only to sate sadistic tendencies of yours” “Not at all. I made some researches and I found your last name, of course it could have been fakes. You can imagine how shocking I was when I found out a lead. I found out about your grandparent” Armin furrowed. How could he find his grandpa ? Armin admitted that, while he was willing to destroy any trace of his existence on earth, he didn’t have the strength to do the same with his grandpa. He didn’t want the whole world to forget about him as he had done for five years. Cancelling his grandpa’s name was too cruel. His grandpa deserved to be remembered, to be cried for, to be someone, to exist for someone. Armin couldn’t take that from him too. Not after all the bad things he did to the most important man of his life. His humanity, his love for his grandpa wasn’t a mistake, even though it put him and his identity at risk. “Jacob Arlert, he was your granddad right ?” Erwin put a hand inside his trousers’ pocket and grabbed a picture from it. He put it on the table between them and let Armin looked at it. The atmosphere became suddenly unbearable, at least for Armin, who was no longer glad to continue the conversation. All it took was one picture to make him come back in 2077, when things were easy, when his grandpa smiled at him everyday. When all he wanted was to make him happy. When he looked at the picture, he could only see the man he betrayed. It hurt. It hurt so much, worse than his bones that broke and snapped at each transformation. It was a pain he hadn’t felt in a long time. He thought he had forgotten his grandpa’s face, sometimes Eren used his powers on him, to make him remember, but he always felt a sense of bitterness and something else. Something he couldn’t describe. “He was.” “So you’re Armin Arlert, born in 2070. Your parents are the explorers Maya and Atlas Arlert, correct ?”“Correct” “I couldn’t believe it. According to your file, you should be almost thirty. Why do you look so young ?” “Ding ding ding, you’re close to hit it” “You have the serum” concluded Erwin remaining impassible. “I was originally a failed experiment. I made a mistake and I paid the consequences. Five long years as mindless titan” “How can you be a failed experiment if you were able to shift back at some point ?” “My body didn’t adapt to the serum. It was uncompleted and too invasive. The few who survived that version of the serum died after few months, a year if they were lucky enough. The serum is still too invasive, that’s why all the shifters have a short lifespan. Believe me or not, but all shifters are, in the end, failed experiments” “What makes an experiment successful ?” Asked Erwin. Armin didn’t answer, because he honestly didn’t know it. What made an experiment successful ? What proved a theory correct or incorrect ? When could it be further falsified ? What would make a shifter perfect ? What made Eren perfect ? The first thing Armin thought about Eren is nihilism. Eren was the embodiment of nihilism, not because he was ignorant of the world, but because there was a void inside him that kept growing and annihilating everything our him. … PARADISE ISLAND 2095
‘Where… where am I ?’
Armin didn’t remember to have felt such pain in a long time. He felt all numb, as if he’d just woken up after a long dream. He couldn’t move his limbs, he could barely keep his eyes open. It was like the darkness was trying to drag him back, where all his nightmares were waiting for him. In front of him, behind him, around him, all he saw was an eternal night.
‘Wake up’
Who… who was taking to him ? Whose voice was that ? It sounded familiar. It made him company, he felt reassured by it. Who was talking to him anyway ? Where was him anyway ? He remembered nothing. Why could he smell grass and smog ? Something was surely burning around him, it was suffocating. He himself was seething, like his own body temperature was burning him from the inside. And it looked like his own body was producing steam. How could his body produce so much steam ?
How did he end up there ? He didn’t remember anything.
‘Concentrate. What’s your name ?’
That voice in his head… again…
What was his name ? What… was… his… name ?
‘My name… is… Armin Arlert…’
‘Where did you come from ?’
‘P… Paradise…’
‘Paradise ?’
‘Paradise’ he confirmed. Who was he communicating with ? How could he do it through his mind ? Humans couldn’t do something like that, their minds weren’t so elevated, never would be.
“You’re not human anymore… Armin”
That voice…
He looked up and saw a silhouette through the steam, but he was unable to catch a glimpse of his face. He wasn’t afraid though, that person, whoever they were, was making him feel protected and safe. That person exercised on him a sort of control and his body responded to his presence. Who was him ?
“Here” said the other person, holding his hand to him.
Armin took it and cling on it, like God himself was trying to bring him back to life, holding his hand to him. It was like resurface from hell, like he finally opened his eyes after that long nightmare. When he was able to see at his savior’s face, another feeling filled his heart but he had no name or definition for it. All he knew was that he needed that person, that he was loyal to him.
In front on his there was a boy, that looked so familiar but also so unfamiliar. Who was he ? Why did he feel so many emotions toward someone he did not know ?
“Who…?”
He was going to ask him his name, but something in his eyes made him stopped. Like he was begging him not to ask him that question. It was the only emotion he could see in those eyes. There was nothing else. It was like that person wanted to be recognized by him but at the same time wanted him not to say anything that proved his existence. As if the other was so used to be a ghost, a silhouette, a shape without features, that he feared to be something. To be defined.
“Do I know you ?” He asked.
“Our paths crossed, five years ago. We were destined to meet again.”
“I… don’t…”
“You are Armin Arlert, you came from Paradise Island. Who are you ?” Asked the guy.
“I’m… I’m…a scientist. I work and live here. I was about to come back home, to start a new life. I… made a promise to someone…”
“Someone special ?” Asked the boy smiling to him cheering.
Armin nodded. He was sure that he made a promise to someone, surely that person had to be important to him but he couldn’t remember who. He felt like something was missing.
“Can you smell it ?” Asked the other boy.
“Can I smell what ?” Asked Armin.
“This inviting smell of apple and cinnamon. Your grandpa used to cook a delicious apple pie. It was your favorite. Your grandpa used to prepared you those giant cups of chocolate with cinnamon, when you had nightmares. He always knew the way to improve your mood” said the boy taking his hand.
It was only after that contact that he could smell the perfume of apple pie and cinnamon. Suddenly he felt much better and he could think clearly, everything was so much clearer. He was Armin Arlert, his parents left him when he was five, his grandpa then took his full custody and raised him like a son. His grandpa cooked apple pie once a month and prepared hot chocolate when Armin woke up from a nightmare. His grandpa couldn’t afford expensive things, they weren’t poor, but Armin hadn’t grown up surrounded by toys and branded clothes, but they were happy. The day of his birthday, his grandpa prepared a chocolate cake and gave him a present, usually a book, because he knew Armin loved reading. When he was fifteen years old, Armin started giving private lessons to younger children, to gain few money to buy all the necessary for the school by himself. He finished high school one year prior and won a scholarship for one of the most prestigious University of Paradise. He got a doctorate and then he applied for a job for the Tybur Industries. He thought that he was finally close to achieve all his goals, but it was then that he forgot his promise. To make his grandpa happy.
During that period he rarely got in contact with him, he had no time to visit him and he forgot to buy his grandpa a new house close to sea. He wanted money only to buy a new house close to sea… He tried to atone for his mistake, but it was too late. He committed another mistake and he was turned into a monster. How long… Where…
“Eren…” he whispered, leaving the other’s hand.
“We’re in 2095. I’m sorry, but all Paradis was evacuated in 2090 after the incident you caused. Your grandpa… I don’t know if he’s dead or not but surely you won’t find him on this island”
“So, I shifted back in my human form only to be welcomed into an empty home”
He lowered his gaze and noticed his bare feet. Only then he realized he was completely naked and in front of Eren. He blushed and crossed his arms, trying to cover himself.
Eren smiled, then he handed him a long dark green coat.
“Here” said he.
“Thanks” murmured Armin, grabbing the coat and wearing it.
“About the void, you can fill it with someone else. Do you remember me now ?” Asked the other trying to mimim a smile.
“I do. How could you be free ? What happened ?”
Eren closed his eyes for a moment, when he reopened them, they were gold. Eren indicated his eyes with a finger, to indicate Armin to look him in the eyes. Armin did but he felt something strange about his eyes, like some sort of energy that quickly accumulated and made them weird.
Then he felt a buzz inside his head and suddenly he knew what had happened in those last five years. The incident. The evacuation. The political conflict. The warrior unit. The serum. Isle Langar’s death. Everything until that moment.
“How can you do this ?”
“You’re the scientist” said Eren pouting “You’re supposed to give me the answers for my abilities”
“Five years ago I had no idea you could do something like this. It was like our minds merged for a moment and became one. Then your memories became mine and vice versa”
“I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t even know when it started, maybe I’ve been capable of doing it since ever. The rare time when I slept, sometimes I dreamed weird things and they regarded people I knew nothing about.”
“Eren, why didn’t you tell me anything about this ?”
“We were always under surveillance and sincerely I don’t want them to open my head to study my brain. When you were gone, there was no one I could trust.”
“Well, what did you find out ? Something about yourself ?”
It was then that Armin realized he’d just asked another wrong question. Eren assumed a void expression. A void different from his, a void that couldn’t be filled. A void that was slowly growing inside, devouring Eren day after day. Eyes half closed, empty, emotionless, like all the life and light had been absorbed from them. Rigid posture and thinned lips. He was so different from the Eren he remembered. Last time he saw him, Eren was ten years old, a child and now even though he was still a teenager the hard expression on his face and everything else, made him looked older. Wiser.
Who knew how much Eren actually changed after five years and what he was capable of and what he was planning to do. In the end not much had changed apparently. Eren remained a mystery fo him.
Armin felt the same sensation from before, that the person in front of him was… something he couldn’t understand.
Was he really Eren ? The same Eren who begged him to teach him how to read ? To tell him things about the outside world ? Who wanted nothing more than to be free ?
Eren looked so different. What had happen to him in five years ?
“Eren, what…”
“Nothing. I simply realized that to make our dreams come true it will require more time and hard decisions have to be made”
Eren gently grabbed his hand then Armin didn’t know what exactly happened, he only knew that for a moment he didn’t feel the ground under his feet, that he felt like the wind was transporting him somewhere else. Everything stopped when he fell on the ground and realized that under his hands and legs there was sand. They were on a beach. He stood up and admired the sea.
It was so beautiful, Armin didn’t remember it to be so spectacular. He came closer and let water washing his feet. He was feeling so good, free, after all that time.
“It was our dream…” he whispered “To see the sea together. I’m happy”
“It’s the first time I see the sea. I used to think that I would have been free by this point. That seeing this could mean to be finally free, but…”
“But ?” Armin turned toward Eren and gasped.
There was something wrong, terribly wrong in Eren. In the way he was looking at the sea and pointing his finger. Armin knew what Eren was pointing, where was pointing.
“Eren, what have you done ?” Asked Armin, suddenly afraid to hear the answer.
“Look at the sea…” said Eren “Tides are turning. Across the ocean, there we will find our enemies. There I will find…”
“Find what ?”
Armin started shivering. He didn’t like where all that was going. He didn’t like the look on Eren’s eyes. He was sure he wasn’t looking at human person, Eren looked more like something else, or maybe he was simply seeing Eren for what he really was. Something he couldn’t figure it out. An unsolved puzzle. A riddle without solution. Maybe it was good that way. Tybur Industries had killed thousands people, even more, were able to create a venom and spread it, only using Eren’s blood. Eren was a living weapon that needed to be safe and hidden from the world, but for the moment, if that weapon, that monster, was the one to lead them toward a new, brighter future, then Armin wouldn’t stop him, he had no the means. Eren could overpowered everyone he wanted. Armin wanted to stay close to him though, partially for his curiosity, as a scientist, Eren was a rare and unique specimen, but also because Eren was important to him somehow. Armin considered him a friend,
Eren smiled then he grabbed his hand.
“Think about what happened here in 2090. You think you’re the cause but you’re not. It’s theirs. They corrupt everyone and everything with their ambition and greedy. I saw everything. Your grandpa and most of the people who used to live in the north had been imprisoned for five years. The news of this incident hasn’t spread yet, we’re ahead”
“Ahead for what Eren ?” Asked Armin in whisper.
“For war, to reclaim your home, Armin. They didn’t try to fix your mistake, they used it, so they used you too. Why do you think no one tried to stop you back then ? Do you really think, no one saw you ?”
“I tried to be careful…” whispered Armin
“Isle knew about your little theft as soon as you left her laboratory. Armin they knew what you were about to do and they took advantage of that. Look what they had built…” said Eren indicting the flames and smoke coming from the facility “…ruin”
“What about the other half of the populations ?”
“In exile, even thought they didn’t know the truth, of course. All they knew is that they had to leave their homeland. All the world is convinced this whole island is infected.”
“I still don’t understand…”
Eren smiled “You only need time to elaborate all the information I shared with you. Don’t worry about anything for the moment. I simply wanted to warn you about my intentions. I would be really glad if you decide to follow me.”
“So that’s what you mean when you say that tides are turning. You want revenge”
“I want answers and yes, I want to be free. I broke my chains but those who put them on me are still alive and they can always imprisoned me again. I can’t take that risk. That’s why I completely destroyed the facility. All the proves about my existence were there and now they’re gone and with them all the people who knew about me”
“You’re wrong. Every single researcher that works for Tybur knows that there’s a nucleus that leads all the titans”
“They know there’s a nucleus. Not what it is. I have the proofs of that”
“How ?”
“Elaborate the informations and stop asking silly questions”
“Well, you seem to have everything under control and also to have clear ideas. You wanted revenge”
“I want to be free, Armin. I want to be sure that one day I will live into a nice home, with red roof, yellow walls, the windows and a brown door. If houses like that still exist, but I don’t know and you know why ? Because I’ve spent all my life locked up into a white room, excluded from the rest of the world.”
“Eren, I know that…”
“No” interrupted him Eren “You know nothing, but you will. When you finish to elaborate all the memories. I don’t expect you to join me now, but I hope you will. I hope you’ll realize that this is your war too”
What caught his attention was that Eren was calm while he was speaking about all the things taken away from him. He didn’t seem angry, or sad. There was no emotion on his face, so what was he fighting for ? Why ? It looked like Eren was merely exposing him a thought he had had for a long time, not an intention of fighting against a pharmaceutical Giant.
Maybe Eren did not know what was meant, how it was like killing someone, how those kind of experiences changed a man forever. Or maybe he knew too well, at the point that he rationally decided that the cost was worth to be paid.
What did Eren know about war ? What did he know about being guilty of murders ? About to have hands dirty of blood ? Did he even care ? Did he realize what he chose to become ?
Eren didn’t know, if he did, he didn’t care. He wanted something, something he could only find on the other side of the ocean.
“Why is it so important to you ?”
“Because I want to be free from this void inside me that can only be filled through others, like a parasite” said Eren “From this curse, this curse that was keeping me away from the world. That’s eating me from the inside, day after day. To break it, I must to kill all my enemies. There’s no other way”
Eren lowered his arm, but he was still holding his hand. Armin didn’t know what to say, but he was glad that Eren gave him some time. There were a lot informations he needed to elaborate, first of all that five years had gone wasted. He had been a mindless titan for five years, in those five years, half of the Eldians had left the island forever. In the remote possibility that he managed to come back home, the possibility not to find his grandpa there, waiting for his return, was high, even certain. He would look for him, he needed to know what happened to him. He needed to know if someone took care of him, if his grandpa succeeded in buying a new house close to sea, even without his useless selfish nephew. He wanted to know if he was still alive, if there still was a family out there for him, a purpose to pursue that wasn’t war.
He looked at Eren, and thought that maybe his friend could be enough. Eren could be his family, but he couldn’t move on without knowing the truth. Without the truth, he would never be completed. He couldn’t be himself. Truth was all he had left. He needed to rebuild his past, to save his future. If Eren was his future, then it would be, but only after he got all the answers.
“The sea is beautiful though. Thanks for enjoying this moment with me” said Eren looking at him and kissing him on the cheek.
Armin blushed and promised to himself to warn Eren that kissing another boy on the cheek wasn’t conventional in their society, even though he doubted Eren would care.
Even though he lost everything, his family, his job, his dreams, his identity, he was glad that to have still Eren in his life.
…
MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY “Transcend. Be something beyond any imagination. A God. A monster. The Devil himself. Eren Krueger, the first inventor of the serum, had a philosophic view of his creation” Eren had changed a lot in those last five years, Armin noticed. He asked to start with their lessons. Eren asked him to teach him how to read and write, he loved to discuss with him about topics important to him. Armin noticed that Eren was perfectly capable of reading and writing “About Krueger, what do you know about him ?” Erwin was really curious to learn more about the man, it looked like his name was all had left of the man on the Earth. His childhood, his homeland, his family, all the informations about him were gone. Erwin found out about him only through the oldest files of the serum. That was strange. Why someone should take the trouble of erasing all the informations about a dead man ? There was something about him that didn’t have to be reveled to the the world. “He… his colleagues didn’t know much about him either. He was a mystery. The few people who knew something more personal about him are dead. Only one is alive, but he’s hidden somewhere. Krueger’s colleague, Doctor Grisha Yeager” “Why those people had to die ?” “I’m not sure, what I’m going to say, it’s based on hypothesis. How much do you know about the conflict between the National Democratic Party and the Communist ones in Paradise ?” “That after Karl Fritz accept to drug half of Eldians populations in exile with him, the entire population split up in three parties. The monarchy, that ruled over the north of Paradise, while the south was governed by the two parties, so what ?” “Karl Fritz signed the Liberio treaty, a pact of non-interference and alliance between Marley and Paradise. Most of the populations of Marley were conquered territory that were under the control of the Eldian Empire. In that occasion the National Democratic Party created its foundations. It happened in 2021” “I still don’t get how this private lesson can help me to learn more about Krueger” “Not much is known about him, but if we do the math, we can easily tell that Krueger was born around 2026, year more or left. He was in his early forties when he created Ymir serum. Nothing is known about his past and family. It’s like he didn’t exist before his admission as scientist in 2058.” “You’re not telling me anything new”“Marlow Tybur founded the National Democratic Party of Paradise, that sooner became the Democratic Party of Marley. Marlow knew something dangerous about the royal family, something so important to convince Fritz to go in exile on Paradise with half of the population, or at least that what was told to the few who know” “Who knows ?” “That it was nothing but a conspiracy. Karl Fritz and Marlow Tybur made a deal. Marlow Tybur wanted to establish democracy in Marley and be recognized as hero. Karl Fritz wanted to create a kingdom on his own. Wanted to be seen as a martyr and a savior. He wanted to create a new Empire, Paradise. Both of them didn’t take in consideration that not all people would agree with them. Idiots” “I still don’t get what this has to do with Krueger” “As I was saying, it’s just a theory, I only need proves, but the Fritzs and Tyburs had been business partners for a long time.” “How could it be possible ? The monarchy was obliged to abdicate. The entire royal family was killed” “That’s not true” replied Armin smirking “Bodies were found, supposedly belonged to the royal members, but the truth can be twisted, you know it better than anyone. The royal family was still alive and I’m sure about this”“Why ?” Asked Erwin furrowing. He was really starting to believe that that conversation was useless. He wasn’t interested in political plots. He knew that Paradise government had been weak since the moment Karl Fritz left half of population back in Marley. He knew that Paradise Island was divided in two parts; the South, composed by loyal to the National Democratic Party and the the Communism Party, who wanted to establish a government formed by the elite, able to rule over the entire island and powerful to take back the lost territories in Marley and the North, ruled by monarchy, the Reiss family more specifically. Nevertheless, when the North fell under Marley, the South united against the empire in order to keep its independence. “Subject N° 0022118. Frieda Reiss. Daughter of Rod Reiss, legittimate King of Paradise Island of North” … PARADISE ISLAND 8:15 a.m. Frieda was sitting in front of a mirror and she was calmly combing her hair. Useless, since her serum allowed her hair to remain perfectly straight and without knots. She looked at the mirror and snorted. Whoever who looked at her would think to see a beautiful ethereal creature. All she saw was a monster and she used to be convinced that nothing could have messed with her more than hitting puberty. Her father, that pig, wanted her to get marry soon after her eighteenth birthday with a rich man. When his friends came to visit him, he showed off his trophy daughter and she was obliged to put it with the maliciousness in their eyes. They literally took her clothes off with their eyes, but what disturbed her the most in those evenings was… her. That woman, that whore, that took her mother’s place at the side of her father.‘Pig…’ she thought. She put her hairbrush on the toilette make up and stood up. She had no idea why she hadn’t thrown away those useless things, but combing her hair helped her to free her mind from useless thoughts.She was living into one of the many abandoned houses close to the facility, where other people used to live, another family, another pretty girl with long hair. Frieda’d never come back home, not even once. Not even to be sure that all his past was buried underground, where only worms lived. The mere thought made felt suicidal. ‘Ehi, come here.’ Ymir communicated her through her mind. Frieda didn’t answer, but she would go there. She needed to stay close to someone, someone that she couldn’t mistakenly think to exist only inside her mind. When he remained alone for too long, then things started getting dangerous. She may was the oldest of the shifters, but she started training with her power only five years ago and sometimes her memories were so confused and mixed, at the point that reality and imagination were no longer separated by any rational barrier. Everything could have happened as couldn’t have. She could have been somewhere, as she couldn’t have.Her memories of her past were clearer than his present, that sometimes looked more like an illusion, despite she was living it. How could something that was real in that moment looked faker than a memory ?Maybe because she knew who she used to be and she had no idea of who she was anymore. Frieda knew who gave her life, who were her mother and her father. That she had siblings, now all dead. No… maybe one was still alive…Lost in her thoughts, she ran where her new siblings were waiting for her.They were in laying on the grass in the yard of another abandoned house. The grass was tall and the lawn was not well cared for. No one of them was an expert of gardening.There Marco, Ymir and Sasha were waiting for her. “It’s breakfast time…” whispered Marco to her. “Oh yes…” she whispered laying next to him. Only then she realized that it was morning and that the sun was shining brightly. Their main source of sustenance, the only one they really needed. Humans needed three or four meals everyday in order to survive, a shifter only needed three hours of sun.The sun provided them everything they needed to generate their totipotent cells, even though it would be hard to explain why, no one of them was a doctor or a scientist. Armin was studying them but neither he had an explanation. The first prototipe of the serum was based on plant cells, maybe their cells accommodated themselves with the plant cells of the serum. It was a mere hypothesis. “What were you doing ?” Asked Sasha. “I was combing my hair” she answered closing her eyes and enjoying the sunlight “Where’s Eren ?” “His majesty is not here” replied Ymir. Frieda was smiling. Ymir persisted in calling Eren his ‘majesty’, even though the latter didn’t catch her sarcasm, nor that he cared. He allowed them to give him names, not matter how ridiculous they could be. Eren never got angry with them anyway. It was always surprising to witness at his imperturbability. “He is” replied Marco “Even thought we couldn’t see him. He’s here through us” Marco was actually afraid of that side of Eren’s power. He didn’t need to be psychically not a place, all he needed was one of them to be there and learn things in his place. They we his eyes, his limbs, his ears, the channels through Eren entered in contact with the world. Marco often wondered what they were for Eren, if he considered them as part of him, or something that he needed for the moment only to get rid of them when they weren’t useful anymore.Eren scared him like anyone else did. Eren was the one who gave them their powers, he could always took them back, when they needed them the most. The knowledge that Eren could invade their mind scared him, made him wary and felt possessive of his thoughts, specially the ones he didn’t want to share. He had no place where to hide with his mind. No one of them did. “Why do you say this ?” Asked Sasha “It’s just the way he lives, through us, through the titans” said Marco “He knows the world through us. We’re his new white room. He uses us to protect himself from the world” “He doesn’t seem to need help from anyone. Especially us. He can take what he wants from us every time he wants” said Sasha playing with his ponytail. “He doesn’t seem to be someone afraid of the world either” said Ymir. “Not afraid” said Freida “He’s not afraid and even if he is, he wouldn’t realize.” “He manages to surprise me” said Marco “If I were him, I would have tried to commit suicide thousands times” “Why ?” Asked Sasha “Because basically he doesn’t exist. He’s no one. He has no name, his whole identity is based on what he got by us, our memories, our past. Our lives define his present. Who he really is ? He doesn’t know, I don’t know, you don’t know, no one does” explained Marco “It’s sad… what has been done to him” “You’re right” said Ymir “But were our lives any better ? Are we able to look ourselves in the mirror and tell who we are now ?” ‘Probably not’ Frieda thought.It was the first thing they all did as soon as they shifted back to their human forms. They all look themselves in the mirror, traced the features of their face with their fingers on the surface, trying to to notice any change. If they had a new mole, if their hair were of different color, if their eyes, their nose, anything was out of place.No one of them aged of a single day, physically they looked exactly like the day of their injection. They were changed in some other way. If they closed their eyes, all they felt was pain. The broken bones, ripped limbs, the blood… the buzz… the hunger… They ate people, devoured them, the failed experiments. They used to be mindless titans, they used to be failures themselves. They used to be human failures. They were the garbage of their past society. “Do you think that someone will recognize us ? Someone who used to know us ?” Asked Sasha “Our parents ?” “I don’t think they will recognize us. I barely recognize myself. Furthermore… I don’t know if it’s the same for you but…” Sasha interrupted herself, almost afraid of finishing her sentence. “Furthermore ?” Asked Marco. “Nothing” said Sasha “I want to change topic. We should stop talking about our pasts” “Why should we ?” Asked Frieda “Eren already knew everything we wouldn’t want someone like him to know about us. Why freaking out now ?” “You trust him too much” said Ymir “He remembers me of someone I used to know” Frieda shrugged. “One of your dead siblings ?” Asked Ymir. “Ymir !” Reproved her Marco. “No, just someone that casually appeared in my life” replied Frieda playing with her hair. No more question was asked. It was funny if they considered that they spent most of the time together and yet they still refused to share with each other the darkest parts of themselves and their past, even though they could easily lean everything they wanted to know, only Ising their powers but they didn’t. They’d never dare. “How do you think Armin’s going ?” Asked Sasha “I wouldn’t worry about him. If there’s someone able to get the upper hand in any situation it’s him” said Marco. “He hasn’t lived in the real worlds for five years. He has no idea how much he world changed” replied Sasha. “I think He learnt It as soon as he joined the warriors. What kind of impression he made on you Frieda ?” “He knows what he had to do. There’s nothing else I have to say” Frieda smiled. If someone passed and saw them in that moment, they would simply think that they were ordinary guy in the middle of an existential crisis, typical of the guys of their age, who didn’t know who they were, afraid of the future, from the the possibility it offered. Probably theirs was the age when the parents encouraged their children to get high grades, to send their applications forms for the college They couldn’t relate with them. They perfectly knew what future offered to them and what they needed to be in order to achieve their goals. Sasha could play with her ponytail like an ordinary girl, but they knew that there was a growing hunger inside her that she could no longer control. Eren and Armin weren’t able to give a rational expiration for that. No one of them felt the necessity to eat humans, or to eat in general. For them the sun was more than enough to survive. Sasha was an exception and she was the mindless titan with the major number of eaten victims among them.Marco could look like an ordinary gentle boy, with calm voice and the sweet attitude but deep inside he maybe was the one who suffered the most for their condition. He felt his own body like a trap and Frieda caught him more than once doing dangerous thing. All of them had noticed it. He was also the one who spent more time than the other looking his face in the mirror and no of them understood what he hoped to see every time.Ymir… Ymir was an enigma. She told them that she was an orphan, that her name was given to her by some stranger that needed her for a job. She didn’t enter into details, but all of them could imagine what king of job could be offered to a teen int he slums. She told them that she accepted it, otherwise she would have starved. That man used and betrayed her. From him, she learnt not to trust anyone and to live only counting on herself and put herself before anyone else. She acted like a real bitch with them, she was sarcastic and offensive, but they all knew she behaved like that to protect herself. They also knew that they couldn’t trust them completely, that she remained selfish and that when the occasion itself presented, she would leave them, not matter what. Frieda… Frieda… ‘What about me ?’ She thought playing with her hair ‘Nothing, I was supposed to be…’ …
Paradise Island September 2060
“I don’t want to go” whispered Frieda while she was combing her hair.
That night her family would throw a party for her birthday. They didn’t have other relatives, so she hoped that the party would be something informal, but sofrtuntely for her it wasn’t so. Lord Tybur accepted her parents’ invitation for her birthday party and Frieda learnt that only two hours ago, when her mother entered inside her room without knocking and throw on her bed a million dollar dress. At least she now knew what to sell in case she decided to put in motion her plane to escape from that madhouse. At least her siblings would know how to actually entertain her.
Her mother picked a pearl grey long dress, with a pair of gloves with the same color. Her mother wanted her to style her hair, but she refused. She felt more confident when she knew she could hide her face with her hair.
She knew that his father invited some other of his friends too and she already knew that most of those pigs were going to spend the entire evening drinking, ignoring their wives and taking off her clothes with the eyes.
Someone knocked at her door.
“Frieda, mother wants to know if you’re ready” said her sister Abel.
“Some guests’ve just arrived, hurry up” said Florian.
“I’m coming” she said putting the hairbrush on her toilette.
She stood up and adjusted the dress with her hands, then she walked toward the door where her sisters were waiting for her.
“Big sister you’re so beautiful !!” Exclaimed Abel.
Frieda smiled then she kissed Abel and Florian on their cheek, then they went downstairs. As she expected some of her father’s friends were already there with their family. Frieda was relief not to see Lord Tybur among them. That man was kinda weird. He’d never done or said anything impolite or inappropriate to her, he was always elegant and perfect, in everything he did. He always smiled politely, even with people who acted rudely or disrespectful to him. He only reacted when someone misbehaved with his sister. A part from this, it seemed like he always found something to appreciate in everyone and that he was always in the mood to converse about any topic. He was very erudite and seemed to have an answer for everything.
Everyone was supposed to be fascinated by a man like him, but Frieda was always wary of people who apparently looked too perfect to be real. Of course, she would never dare to share her suspicious with her parents. His father’d mostly banished her if she dared behaved inappropriately with Lord Tybur.
‘I wonder where my brothers are’ she thought looking around the room.
As soon as the guests noticed her presence, she was showered by their ‘happy birthday’ and ‘congratulations’, some simply approached her with a smile to shake hands.
She smiled politely with all of them, kissed on the cheek their toddlers, allowed their oldest sons to kiss her hand and their daughters to hug her for a time that appeared infinitive.
She didn’t see her siblings anywhere until her mother came close to her. She apologized to their guests, then she asked Frieda to join her family to welcome Lord Tybur and his family.
“She’s so beautiful !”
“I wonder what kind of queen she will be”
“Her uncle Urie has no heirs. She will inherit the throne and become the queen of the north”
“Being a queen it’s not prestigious as it used to be, since she will rule only half of the island but…”
Frieda rolled her eyes at those comments. Her father pretended that the power of their family was as strong as it used to be before the Eldians abandoned Marley, but she knew that most of the nobility considered them a joke. The people inside that room would never forgive the weakness act of being sent in exile with half of the populations. What was worse, was that despite their grudges against their royal family, their remained incapable of resisting to gossip about them and to observed them closely, waiting for them to make another mistake, in order to make her uncle to abdicate.
Her family was waiting for her in the elegant living room, her daddy was shaking hands with Lord Tybur who, strangely, wasn’t accompanied by his sister as usual, but by two men that Frieda’d never seen before.
“Oh here she is. Frieda come here”
Frieda came closer to her father, who put his hands on her shoulders. She smiled gently to Lord Tybur.
“Good evening Lord Tybur”
“Happy birthday to you, princess” said Lord Tybur kneeling in front of her “Allow me to tell you, you’re splendid tonight”
“Thank you” she smiled politely.
“Here’s my present for you. I hope you will appreciate it” said Lord Tybur handing to her a black box.
She took it and then she opened it. She gasped. It was a beautiful diamond bracelet. She took it and looked it for a moment before to wear it. She wasn’t impressed by it and she didn’t like diamonds so much. Almost all his jewels were of diamonds, apparently all the people who looked at her only saw a soon queen to be. A woman that had to be strong and resistant like a diamond, beautiful and showy, wanted and envied by everyone.
Was she that kind of person ? Was she like a diamond ?
“Thank you, Lord Tybur. Your present is lovely” she said smiling.
“I’m glad you appreciated. Now, allow me to introduce you my friends. This is…”
Frieda looked at one of the man, the one at Lord Tybur’s left and it was then that she felt something strange inside her heart.
…
“Frieda !! Frieda !!” Ymir was calling for her and only then Frieda realized that she was crying and that she couldn’t stop. Eren always reproved them about brooding over the past, that due to the serum most of the memories about their past could resulted confused and tricky. Eren explained that it was caused by the temporary loss of consciousness after the injection of the serum that turned them into mindless titans. When they were mindless titans, the serum caused them a light amnesia. They had no access to their memory systems, because they had no self consciousness. When they shifted back, it took minutes, even hours, to regain self consciousness and remember their names, but Eren warned them that to remember everything they had to be patient. He also warned them that at the beginning their memories could be fake, or mixed, because all their minds were connected to him, so when the memories went back they needed to learn how to recognize which memory belong to who. It also explained why she couldn’t focus on details, like the color of her make-up toilette, the embroidery sewn on her dress, the face of the guests, the furnitures of her house. She could only described them generally, she remembered that her living was elegant, the color of her dress and the faces of her parents, but never how they were dressed or if they were sad or happy. She only knew that they were there with her, that was all. “Nothing, I lost myself in the past. I was thinking about my seventeenth birthday and then I saw…” “Don’t. Eren doesn’t like when we pronounce his name” said Sasha. “Why ?” Asked Frieda crying “His name… my memories of him are the only proves of his existence. I need to…” …
“I hope you will enjoy my present, princess”
Frieda opened the white box and she saw a cute and elegant pearl bracelet. She took off the diamond bracelet and replaced it with the pearl ones. She loved it. Pearls were so…
…
‘Stop it’ The buzz and Eren’s voice dragged her out of that memory again. She couldn’t see the man’s face, but she knew who he was and she wanted to remember him. He existed for her, that pearl bracelet existed for her. ‘It’s the only favor I asked to you, be careful when you think about the past’ She nodded, even though Eren couldn’t see her, defeated. If she didn’t obey, Eren would erased those memories that were precious for her. She couldn’t blame Eren, he was only trying to help her. She knew that that person in her memories maybe could be someone else and Eren didn’t want her to get attached to some stranger, or to some illusion. He always repeated them to be wary, but she knew that that man was real, that somewhere deep there was the memories of his face and name. That man… the man of the pearl bracelet… where was him ? She knew it wasn’t Lord Tybur, but someone else. Someone else gave to her the pearl bracelet, someone who affected her, so deep that she couldn’t get over him. “In your opinion… Am I a crazy person to be in love with a memory ?” She asked.“No” answered Marco “Aren’t we all in love with a memory ?” “Are you ?” Asked Frieda “We are” answered Sasha “Wether we remember their or face or not, it doesn’t make them more real” Frieda nodded, then she wiped her face clean with her hand. She shouldn’t get distracted by a past that she couldn’t have back. Her goal was the future, her dream was freedom. Nothing else mattered. She looked at the sun, their source of strength and power, and she was tempted to turn herself into a titan and pretend to be able to touch it. Titans were future, they were closest to sun than any other race, they were the new apex of the alimentation chain, they were above any other creature and they were going to rule the world. She would be the queen of a new era. That was her life, what she needed to do was to fight, to survive, to kill. Life had in store for her only blood and pain and if she didn’t want Paradise to become her grave too other than her prison, she needed to be less a person and more a weapon. There was no other kind of existence, not anymore. … MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY 8:30 a.m. Levi was getting tired of all those useless chit chats. Did Erwin capture that brat to hear from him a history lesson ? He rolled his eyes and sighed. “This is getting boring” he whispered. He didn’t care about any of that. He didn’t care why the royal family accepted to be sent in exile with half of populations, he didn’t care about the feud between Communism Party and the Democratic. That was the past, a past that couldn’t be changed. All he cared now was the present, what he needed to do or to become in order to protect himself and the people who were depending on him. He learnt the hard way that it wasn’t possible to save everyone, but he needed to be sure that he could be enough.Was he enough ? That night… That night something strange happened to him, it was undeniable, he felt a strange force growing inside him but he knew, he knew that that dance wasn’t leaded only by him. There was someone else who was dancing with him that night, someone who was commanding the titan, someone who suborsconsciusly told him exactly what to do.Who was the other person ? Was he getting crazy ? He needed to know. Erwin didn’t need him there, so he could go to speak with Hanji.He went to her lab and stopped in front of her door. He didn’t know her so well, but he was sure that she was twisted and unpredictable. He put his ear on the door, trying to catch any alarming noise, but he couldn’t hear anything. He knocked, just gain more time in case he needed to run away. Vain hope, since the door was literally slammed against the wall. “LEVIIIIII !! I WAS WAITING FOR YOU !!” Screamed that crazy woman. Levi wondered if her pharynx was going to jump from her mouth. Again, he wondered where Smith could have found someone so crazy like that woman. “Why are you screaming like a damn banshee, you shitty four glasses ?” He asked. She started laughed manically then she grabbed him by his arm “Come with me and I’ll tell you” He wasn’t reluctant to follow her inside her personal Pleasure Island, but he was relief when he saw that Moblit was there too. He was writing down something on a paper while he was observing something on the microscope in front of him. He was so concentrated not to even get himself distracted by his superior’s commotion. Levi almost pitied him, wondering for how long he had been working under that twisted woman. “Good morning Levi” he said in a calm voice. Moblit looked at him like he was saying ‘I apologize for her behavior’. Hanji ignored their exchanges of glances, she went close to the monitors on the other side of the wall and tapped something. “I guess you’re here to know if the blood samples taken from you gave some results” she said while she was still tapping bottoms on the monitor. “Did they ?” “They did” she said, then something appeared on the screen “Here, I noticed in your blood a genetic marker I’ve never seen before.” Levi looked at the purple cells Hanji was indicating on the screen and in his ignorance he didn’t see anything so different from the other cells on the screen. He said nothing and waited for further explanations. “… I was confused at the beginning, but then I analyze all the files Armin sent to us. So, now I want to ask you a question.” “Which is ?” Asked Levi impatient. “Is it possible that you have been infected with the serum ?” Asked Hanji looking at him. “What ?” Was she fucking with him ? Levi wasn’t in the mood for that shit. How could he not know whether he was infected with something or not ? He gasped. He was aware that a lot memories regarding the years spent in the orphanage and in reformatory were confused. He saw most of them only in his nightmares and he wasn’t always sure whether they were real or not, he only knew they were there, inside his mind. Could someone back then infect him with the serum ?‘Impossible…’ he thought even if a doubt was forming inside his mind. “I’m not sure since I lack of a pure sample of Ymir serum, so my theory is solely based on what I read in the files. But according to the datas about the ‘Ackermans’, these people were immune to the serum” continued Hanji, who was unaware of Levi’s worries. “So ? If I’m one of them why the marker ?” “Always according to what I read, Ackerman was used to indicate a person that not only is immune to the serum but that is in possess of a peculiar neurons type.”“Neurons ? What does my nervous system have to do with the serum ?” “Nothing to worry about, in simple words there are people who can handle better the Ymir serum thanks to their DNA and other that are immune for the same reason. Some people have antibodies stronger than others, I think this is the difference, but without the a pure sample, I can’t confirm anything” “That kid, Armin, he confessed to be infected, I’m sure that…” “WHAAAAAAAAAT ! What were you waiting to tell me ? I need to take samples from him immediately !!! IMMEDIATELYYYYYYY !” She had the crazy look in her eyes again and Levi feared that she would run straight toward the interrogation room. Indeed Hanji tried but Levi stopped her by grabbing her by the arm. “I don’t think Erwin would be glad to have his history lesson interrupted by a psycho”“Ehhh !” exclaimed Hanji “How can you tell me to wait ? Finally the serum is in the same building as I am and you tell me to wait ? I need to take samples” “Major, you should listen Levi.” Said Moblit even though he was aware that any attempt would be futile. “How can you two be so calm ? Don’t you want to know how the serum actually work ? Don’t you want to know why you’re so different ? What happened to you that night ?” Asked Hanji to Levi. Of course Levi wanted to know, he needed answers. He needed to look himself in the mirror and be sure that he nothing inside his body would turn him into those monster. He wanted to be sure if there was, even slight, a possibility that he was saved from a future as a cannibal. When he closed his eyes he still saw those monsters grabbing people with their fatty hands and ate them. He wondered what would have happened to him, if it wasn’t for that force inside him. That force that controlled his entire body. But he wasn’t alone. “I want to know. I want to know who was with me” he said “That night, something controlled my body but someone controlled the titans” “What are you saying ?” Asked Moblit. “It’s only a sensation, surely Armin will be able to answer me but it was like my body reacted to something that night, something that wasn’t only inside me but also outside. I’m not sure how to explain it” “That’s why we should hurry up and talk with Armin. The more we know, the more we will be able to defend ourself from the Warriors” “First, we need to be sure we can trust him. You have no idea how much I want to open up Armin’s head with my head and have all the answers but still we can0t trust him. If he’s telling the truth it means that he betrayed the warriors and he could betray again, us this time” “What could we possible give to him that Warrior Unit can’t ?” Wondered Moblit. “No idea” answered Levi. That was what he couldn’t figure it out. Tybur Industries could offer Armin all the means and instruments. If the Warrior Unit was his target, then he could have easily killed all the members while they were hiding and then disappear again. That kid succeeded in disappearing once, he could disappear again and he was a shifter. They weren’t equipped to fight against a shifter. Armin had the upper hand and that was what worried Levi and should worry everyone as well. “Where’s the other brat ?” He asked. “He’s sleeping in the dormitories with Pure. Mike’s surveilling them.” Answered Hanji. “I wonder if he’s infected too and the nature of his relationship with Armin” said Moblit “Someone would say they are siblings but they looked nothing alike” “His name is Falco Grice, he’s the younger brother of another warrior recruit, Colt Grice. The two attended the party and then disappeared with the rest of the warrior unit. I hope for Falco that Cold managed to escape as well” Levi totally understood her. He knew what it meant losing your family. Mikasa, his younger sister had been taken away from him few weeks after they arrived in the orphanage. He thought that with Furlan and Izzy things was going to be different, that he could have a new family with them. They had plans, they wanted to buy a new home in the center, live respectable in the standards of society, have more than one pair of shoes to wear and a have a washing machine to clean their clothes everyday but he lost them too. It hurt. It hurt so much to be left behind again. When Mikasa was adopted, he was both happy and angry. Happy that she was going to be happy into a new family, angry and jealous that he hadn’t been taken as well. They only wanted Mikasa and now God only wanted Furlan and Isabel. Even though that little brat was affiliated to warrior unit, Levi really hoped that he hadn’t been infected with that shit and that there was somewhere out there who was worried and lookin for him. In his heart, Levi hoped that Mikasa hadn’t forgotten about him too. “Only Armin can tell us the truth. We can only wait” “Fine” said Hanji rising her arms in a dramatic way “But at least sate my curiosity by explaining me further what you meant before, when you said that you weren’t alone” Levi closed his eyes and think about a way to give sense to what happened to him that night, then something else came into his mind. “Out flew the web and floated wide… the mirror crack’d from side to side…” He recited. “Are you reciting something ? What does it mean ?” Asked Hanji confused. “I don’t know how to explain this myself. All I know is that those words formed inside my mind but they don’t belong to me. I don’t even know that they mean. Are parts of a poem or something like that ?” He asked. “Can you repeat them please ?” Asked Moblit Levi rolled his eyes “Out flew the web and floated wide… The mirror crack’d from side to side…” “The curse is come upon me, cried… The Lady of Shalott” continued Moblit. “The Lady of what ?” Asked Levi confused. “The Lady of Shalott, is a famous poem written by Tennyson. It’s pretty famous” explained Moblit. “For someone who was lucky to attend school. The money I had were earned by little thefts and pit-pocking people and were mostly used to buy food and clothes. Sorry but I’m not the scholar type” replied Levi crossing his arms. “I apologize, I didn’t intend to offend you” said Moblit. “You can amend by explaining me something more about this Lady of Shalott. What’s her story ?”“The poem tells the story about a noble woman who has been cursed since her born to live in a tower, completely alienated and isolated from the rest of the world. All she knows about the world it’s the reflex of things she can see in the mirror inside her room” “Dramatic” commented Levi. “Very” confirmed Moblit “If she dares to look toward Camelot, that somehow represents the reality, she will die. But one day she realizes that even though the tower protects her from the curse, it’s also imprisoning her. She realizes that she’s not living, only existing and that’s not enough anymore for her” “So what ? Does she manage to break the curse ?” Asked Levi. “In a sense yes. She turns toward Camelot, leaves the tower and crosses the river on a boat and she finally sees the world outside but the curse soon kills her and she dies singing on the river” “So not happy ending ah ?” Commented Levi. At least now those weirds words inside his head had some sense, he only needed to understand why they appeared without his will. It was the first time he heard about this Lady of Shalott, he was sure about it. His mother was a prostitute, she couldn’t afford many books, only the essential to teach to him and his sister how to write and read. In the orphanage it was more or less the same. It happened the same thing of that night, his mind connected with someone else’. Someone who was reciting inside his mind the Lady of Shalott. “The person who connected with my mind surely knows the Lady of Shalott and surely knows what was happening that night.” “Levi, how can you be so sure that there’s another person ?” Asked Hanji perplexed. “I know that doesn’t make sense but I swear, I’ve never heard or read anything about this poem and suddenly a line formed inside my mind. That thought didn’t belong to me” “If what you say is true, then maybe the Lady of Shalott is the first step to find this person. I follow my instinct most of the time and until now it never failed me.”Levi thought for a moment that she was running too much. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to find this other person, he would be glad to know something more about the matter before to take any other decision. What if the other person was a psychopath ? What if the other person was a shifter or another monster capable of controlling his mind ? Or maybe his instinct was making him see things that weren’t real. Maybe he was only stressed. He didn’t need to look Hanji and Moblit to know that they were looking at him like he was mental, hell he couldn’t blame them. No sane person would heard voices in his head and say all that nonsense. Maybe he only needed some rest. “I’m tired. I’m going to take a nap. If you learn something new, please warn me” “I will, see you later” Levi nodded then he left the laboratory. Only then he realized he was really exhausted. He went to his bedroom. Erwin was kind to let him have his own room, Levi wouldn’t have felt comfortable to share his personal space with some stranger. He didn’t have anything valuable in there, since he hadn’t come back home, but still he cared for his privacy.The room was simple, there was a one size bed near the wall, with a bedside table, a little closet and a desk with a chair. The bathroom was in common but it wasn’t a problem. Levi always assured to be the first to use it and that it remained perfectly clear. His OCD always increased when he started living into a new environment with people he barely knew. He remembered that the first months of cohabitation with Furlan were very hard, and Furlan wasn’t even as messy as Isabel. Levi was used to sleep in worse places. He took his shoes off and lay on the bed. He closed his eyes and then it happened something weird again.
“Lady of Shalott… she had but a dream, to be care free. That dream killed her” Levi jumped and gasped. Again, it happened again, he didn’t imagine. Something, or someone communicated with him through his head. ‘The Lady of Shalott… again’ thought Levi. Maybe Hanji was right, maybe ‘The Lady of Shalott’ meant something important, maybe if it wasn’t another person, then it was his instinct, maybe he should follow that path. Or maybe he should just wait. He was afraid of that was voice inside his head, that was the truth, because he didn’t know what it caused. Who caused it. He promised to himself that he would inform better about the shifters and their abilities. If there was the slight possibility that one of them could communicate with him, he wanted to know if he was in danger and whether he could stop this connection if possible. After all, it wasn’t his voice in his head.‘That voice was… sad though’.When the door closed behind him, Moblit sighed and looked relief that the man was gone. Levi was a scaring man. “He scares me” “He fascinates me. His DNA surely is interesting.” Said Hanji looking at the screen “I want to know how his blood will react to the serum. If there’s actually a connection” “What if there is ? What if he has been infected and he doesn’t even know ?” Asked Moblit “He can be dangerous” “My instinct suggests me to trust him and my instinct never fails. Also, he’s willing to cooperate with us and fight for our cause” said Hanji “Erwin saw something in him too” “Erwin is not infallible” “No, but he’s farsighted and cunning. No one can figure it out people so quickly as he does. If he took Levi here and put faith in him, then I will do the same.” “Are you sure your judgments is not cloud by your scientific interest in his blood ?” Hanji laughed hysterically and loud “You know me so well Moblit, but it’s not only for this. You know that too” ‘Yeah, I do’ thought Moblit. Hanji and Moblit had known each other since university time They both studied biology so they attended the same courses, but they were not friends back then. Hanji was exuberant like she always was and people tended to avoid her. She scared people away, included Moblit, who was convinced she had some mental issues. Cruel and shallow to think about a person he didn’t know personally. After university, they ways separated again until they were both recruited by Erwin. Hanji accepted the offer quickly and without any hesitation. Moblit was more reluctant to accept to work for a man who was hiding from the society, also he used to think that Tybur Industries were’t involved in unethical human experimentations. Time proved him wrong, so in the end he accepted to remain there, to learn how to fight, how to to shoot, how to survive and to be Hanji’s assistant since she had more titles than him but also better intuitions. She had that something more that Moblit didn’t have.Moblit learnt to appreciate Hanji, despite all her weirdness and her eccentric behavior, even though it was exhausting somedays and due to this he developed a habit of getting drunk very every time he had the occasion. Hanji was the one who took care of his hangover every time.He sighed and then he started to write down the notes again. … LAGO CITY 8:30 A.M. “Did you know ? It appeared that another incident happened in one of the Tybur’s facility, the one close to Lago” said a girl drinking her tea. “Yeah, one of the many. Who knows that the hell those freaks with white coat are doing there. Surely they must be very incompetent” commented her friend drinking her coffee. It was a sunny morning in Lago and everything appeared normal. People went out from their houses to go to work, there was traffic, people who yelled at the drivers in the front. Students that walked together to school and girls and boys who were enjoying their breakfast and other who ordered coffee to take away. It was like the city was pretending that the incident of the day before didn’t happened, or maybe they were simply hiding the fear that something could happen to them, like in Paradise or in Liberio and the news was not even broadcast on the international news, only in the regional and it didn’t appear on the newspaper. Everything was so calm and ordinary, maybe too much. “Speaking of freaks… have you seen that girl ?” Asked the first girl pointing her finger to another girl who was sitting not far from them. “Don’t point, it’s rude” said the second girl with indifference. “Oh come on, she has been reading the menu since we arrived forty minutes ago and she seemed not to understand what’s written on the menù” “Maybe she’s a tourist” said the second girl turning around. “Who would want to come here after what happened yesterday ?” “No idea. I’m going to buy a cigarette pocket and pay the bill, wait a second” The first girl nodded then, when her friend left, looked toward the other girl again. Despite her weirdness, she was pretty. She had long straight hair, suntanned skin, beautiful green eyes and from what she could see, she was also in good shape. She was sitting just where the sunlight was and the girl wondered how the other eyes could not be disturbed by it.‘Ich bin neidisch’ (I’m envious’) thought the girl finishing her tea. ‘What does she have to envy in me ?’ Thought E2. Eren deceived him again by making him wear those clothes. The cultural boundaries between females and males still confused him, since he hadn’t had to worry about them for long, but now that he was surrounded by people and he could observe them personally, he could tell that the clothes he was wearing were for girls. He wasn’t angry because they weren’t make him feel at ease, but because Eren tricked him again. For him, those clothes weren’t much different from the grey tracksuit he wore when he was imprisoned. He didn’t care for categories, not when these clothes could help him to hide and leave Lago as soon as possible.He was wearing a brown short, with black high heels and he tripped on his feet different times, because he wasn’t used to heels, a black top and a long coat. Eren convinced him to wear a long necklace with a sun shaped pendant. He had his backpack on his knees, even thought it wasn’t so femminine, but he wasn’t an expert. Eren also helped him to change his hair. Eren told them that some shifters tended to have shorter or longer hair when they transformed, that their physical appearance changed, all he had to do was to replicate his transformation and tried to make his hair grow and darker.
‘Superficial things. Women look that in other women. You’ll get used to it’
‘For a moment I thought she realized that I’m not a real girl’
‘You look the part, but you’re also pretty weird. Hurry up and order something, come one’
‘I don’t know what to order. These foodstuffs look all the same for me and I’m here in the sunlight, it’s enough to nourish me’
‘Pick something at random. You’ve never eaten any of this stuff, you can like them. We don’t need food but we do need to appear normal, the opposite of what you’re doing’
‘What if I don’t like what I order ?’ Insisted E2
‘Start with the classic, coffee and brioche’
‘I don’t know’
‘You’ve eaten food before’
‘Yes, milk, eggs, braid, meat, salad, apples and when I was good biscuits. I grew up with that food, I know I like them’ E2 was a routine type and he missed to know exactly what he was going to eat at any meal. It was always the same. Milk and an apple at breakfast. Eggs and braid at lunch. Meat, salad and apple at dinner. Tom sometime brought him biscuits to reward when he was nice with the nurses. He would be lying if he deny to feel in difficult with all that freedom. He didn’t know the taste of that foodstuffs, he didn’t understand what was the point of sitting somewhere and order food when he didn’t need to eat and surely he didn’t need to embarrass himself in front of other people. He didn’t feel at ease.
‘You need to learn how to behave around people’
E2 didn’t want to learn anything. He hated being observed by other people, it made him feared that someone among them could realize that he was different from them, that he wasn’t normal and that he could ended up imprisoned again.
‘Coffe and brioche, now’
E2 rolled his eyes then he tried to caught the attention of a waitress but the waiter was faster. It was obvious as soon as he stopped in front of E2 that he wasn’t there only to take his order. He was devouring him with his eyes, taking off ‘her’ clothes with his eyes and E2 blushed despite anything. It wasn’t that the waiter was an ugly guy, he was actually pretty but E2 didn’t feel at ease under his gaze. Hell, he wasn’t even good at reading people. “Hallo Schönheit !” (Hello beautiful !) Said the boy smiling charmingly “What can I get you ?” “Oh… Coffe and brioche”
‘Seriously ? She have been looking over the menu for almost thirty minutes only to order brioche and coffe ?’
“Wha…” ‘SHUT UP !’ Shouted Eren inside his head ‘Another reason we’re here it’s for you to learn how to distinguish when a person is actually talking with you and when they’re only thinking’ E2 closed his mouth immediately and forced a smile, playing with his hair, like he saw few nurses doing in front of Tom. He hoped it was enough to look less weird in front of the waiter. That guy was looking at him stupidly and that was comforting, but E2 knew better than underestimate people. “Do you want something inside ?” Asked the waiter
‘Inside that little pussy of yours ?’
‘Eren… what’s a p…’
‘Ignore him. Answer nothing and then stop looking at him’
‘But I’m not even getting what he’s asking’
‘It’s a double sense. He’s asking what you want inside the brioche but he’s actually asking if you wants to have sex with him’
‘But… I am a man’
‘He doesn’t know’
E2 was starting to hate that situation more and more, he quickly replying ‘nothing’ to the waiter then he gave the menu to him and turned toward the window. The more he was surrounded by those people the more he regretted to have abandoned his white cell.He was complaining too much, but he bet that everyone would have been doing the same in his place, because there was no way that someone could find solace into a reality they knew nothing about. He didn’t understand what people were telling to him most of the time and it made him feel stupid, it also increased that sense of alienation, like any wrong step he did only confirmed he didn’t belong there.
‘She’s playing hard it to get. I like it’
‘Hard to get it ?’
‘It means that you’re not accepting his sort of courtship easily’
‘Oh’ ‘Give yourself time, you will learn. Humans are creature so predictable once you get to know them’ E2 hoped with all his heart that Eren was right. ‘Why was that waiter courting me and not the girl sat in front of him with his friend ?’ ‘Because you’re prettier and you looked more… helpless’ ‘What do you mean ?’
‘I will tell you another time’
E2 sighed. He started playing with the necklace he was wearing and in the meantime he was also observing the people around him. Their movements, the way they blinked, their minimal expressions, their posture, how all of them seemed to know exactly what to say or how. Surely they knew that foodstuffs written on the menu better than him and they also knew how to appreciate them. Tom once told him that humans did unconsciously hundred useless movements with their entire body, that when they were lost in thought they tended to furrowed, to to bite their lips, tap their fingers or play with their hair. The same was done in pressuring situation, every time people felt that something was out of their control. E2 wondered if he did the same. He also noticed that people used different vocal tones based on they were speaking with or the situation, for example when they were about to share a secret. Another thing that he noticed was that there were difference between what people showed off of themselves and their thoughts. E2 had observed the two girls who sat in front of him. The first girl complimented his friend for her getting a job but in reality she was jealous of her friend and for a moment hoped that her friend would get fired.What was true ? What she said or what she thought ? What was the true nature ? Who was real between him and Eren ? Did he allow Eren to take control over him because, deep down, he and Eren aimed for the same thing ? Did Eren represent for him what that thoughts represented for the girl ? The truth, that other half face that had to remain hidden from the rest of the world.
‘Thought is action in rehearsal. Sigmund Freud told it’
‘What’s that supposed to mean ?’ ‘That even though apparently thoughts has no result in reality, they actually does. It’s up to us to chose whether that results stay in our mind or not, but I think that in the end we have no choice then unleash them’ ‘Why ?’
‘I’m not sure. I think we learn by experience, maybe you will formulate a different interpretation’
“Hier” (here) exclaimed the waiter putting a cup of coffee and a plate with a brioche on it “Enjoy your breakfast” “Oh, thanks” said E2 forcing another smile. ‘She’s very pretty’ thought the waiter walking away.E2 didn’t blush that time. That compliment wasn’t referred to him anyway. He looked at the coffe and the brioche with curiosity.The coffe emanated a strong flavor and he wrinkled his nose. He wasn’t used to strong smell but he was there to learn how to look normal. He took a sip of the coffe and he snorted. The taste was too bitter, maybe he should put some sugar on it. He grabbed a sugar packet and opened to put sugar in his coffee. The taste was better after that. Then he tasted the brioche and he liked it, he wasn’t fond of it, but the taste wasn’t bad. ‘I don’t like bitter coffe and I like the brioche. I know that about me. Let’s see what else I can learn’
‘You will learn more and more. Lady of Shalott. It was her dream to know more about the world’
‘Lady of Shalott… she had but a dream, to be care free. That dream killed her’ He closed his eyes for a moment and then something strange happened. He saw, for a briefly moment, the face of a young man with dark hair and pale skin. The moment didn’t last longer to see the man clear but he knew he saw him. For a moment their minds connected and he felt something weird inside, maybe the other man felt that too. It was strange because he felt like he’d seen that man once before, but how could it be possible ? He only escaped yesterday. He was scared. What if the man now suspected that there was a shifter out there ? What was that connection ? If there was a connection, he and Eren needed to find out soon what exactly it was and if it could put them in danger, before the other man did. Who was the other man ? A shifter ? Was he a member of the warrior unit ? ‘Eren…’
‘I don’t… I need to think…’
… MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY “So… Frieda Reiss is still alive. She was one of the first to be turned into a mindless titan and after the incident on Paradise Island…” “I don’t know if she was spared to send a message to Rod Reiss or if something else happened but what I know is that Frieda Reiss witnessed something that cost her her humanity.” “I still no see any relation between the death of Frieda Reiss and Eren Krueger” “Not sure about it, but my female colleagues sometimes loved gossiping about the scandal of Royal family. She was the only surviving member of the royal family and she was specifically requested to be tested with the serum by Lord Tybur. I found one of his reports in the archives of Paradise” “Why Lord Tybur ordered her injection ? Why wasn’t she killed along with her family ?” “I think Krueger faked Tybur’s signed. I confronted the sign on the documents about Frieda’s injection and the one on other documents and it was different. Someone else signed that paper, someone wanted Frieda out of their way or to save her. Someone related to both Lord Tybur and Krueger, since Lord Tybur was the one who provided the other with potential hosts for the serum. That’s all I know about Krueger but I’m willing to help you to learn more about him now that I’m human” Armin was actually hoped that Erwin would accept to collaborate with him. Eren was convinced that the only way to learn more about their condition was to learn more about Krueger. Eren wanted to know the chemical formula of the serum Krueger injected to himself and to Grisha Yeager before his death, why it worked on Grisha and not on Krueger. What actually caused to Grisha and why the serum never actually activated any transformation in him. There was one problem, Grisha seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth and all the files about him got destroyed before they escape. Very frustrating.Erwin instead realized that it was finally the moment to ask the most important question. He was really curious to find out whether Armin was going to lie or tell the truth. Erwin was a liar himself and he learnt how to recognize all the signs when someone tried to lie to him. He would have time to figure it out what was true and what wasn’t. “Which lead us to the main question, how could you be human again ?” Armin bite his lower lip. He expected that question and he knew exactly what explanation to give. He still didn’t know whether Erwin could be trusted or not. Experience taught him the hard way that no one was worthy of trust. “There’s something about us that only appeared on handwritten documents, Lord Tybur was strict on this. There was something on Paradise that allowed scientists to control the mind of all titans, including shifters. It was called the nucleus” “The nucleus ?” Asked Erwin furrowing. “Yes, not particular original, but it’s not the point. The nucleus was, how can I explain, a sort of chip implanted in any titan through the serum. This chip manipulated on different level the brain activity of the titans, shifters are no different. Thanks to this chip they could implanted memories or take them away. They could take away a person’s identity and all those chips were connected to a source, the nucleus in Paradise” “So… this nucleus is a… computer ?” Asked Erwin confused. “It works like one, but I’m not sure myself. The nucleus is one of the biggest secret hidden on Paradise. When the facility burned, the nucleus burned with it and something happened. I don’t remember exactly but I know that Annie Leonhard was there with me when I woke up” “Annie Leonhard ? Isn’t she a member of the warrior unit ?” If there was one efficient way to lie, it was to include part of truth inside it, so that no one could tell what was true or fake. Erwin wouldn’t know anyway. All the documents about the nucleus went destroyed, no one could prove Armin was telling a lie. He didn’t plan to involve Annie in his story but he had no other choice. He wished he could have saved her, but they lived in a cruel world.Erwin was actually having fun, really. Armin knew how to lie, definitively. If there was someone else in his place, he would have believed Armin’s words, but Erwin knew that something was wrong in his explanation. He was aiming to something, something Erwin would understand only if he kept Armin close. “She was. She’s the one who attacked everyone in the hideout. I think that something snapped in her mind. I think that all of us hasn’t been the same since when the nucleus was destroyed. That’s why I need to find a cure’ “So, correct me if I’m wrong, after the destruction of this nucleus, Tybur Industries were no longer able to control the titans or the shifter…” “Yes, I think that’s what happened during the party. Lord Tybur hoped to kill all major representatives of his industries because he knew they were planning to get rid of him. I think he hoped his sister would be able to control the titans but she failed, something went wrong and the almost everyone died” Erwin couldn’t know, not even suspect, that there were other shifters out there. Armin didn’t want them to be locked up somewhere and Eren would never forgive him, also he didn’t dare to imagine what the latter would be able to do if he felt in danger. Eren was unpredictable, like the sea. One moment he’s calm and ready to welcome anyone in the water, the other moment he’s ready to cause vortex and drag down in the deep of the ocean everyone. It was what it made him so intriguing. Armin himself would spend his entire life reading inside Eren’s eyes to understand what was hidden behind them.If he failed, Eren would kill everyone whom he considered an obstacle for his plans. Erwin wasn’t an obstacle, but he could become one at any moment, he was so cunning and smart and he was already investigating about the Tybur Industries. Eren wanted him dead long before, it was Armin who proposed him a valid alternative, but he also knew he had only one chance, Eren didn’t allow any objections on it. “I lost everything…” continued Armin “… so I thought. Now I have my will back and I’ve no intention of losing it again. I need to find a cure and in return I will offer all my knowledge on the serum” “And all your knowledge about the Industries. I want those informations as well” Armin nodded, then he destroyed the chains around his wrists and asked “Do we have a deal then?” If Erwin was impressed, he hide it pretty well and Armin was almost relief that someone didn't look at him like he was a freak show, not that it mattered at that point. They both knew that there were other pending issues and that the other was hiding something. Their new relationship wasn’t based on trust or facts, but words and both were aware of Huw much words could be deceiving and more lethal than any weapon when used smartly. They both had their dreams to pursue and surely they were cruel enough to use and put the other at risk. Armin couldn’t deny he was intrigued by Erwin Smith and he couldn’t wait to start their little chess game, since he was sure to have finally found a worthy opponent. Armin knew he possessed all the skills to win, he had to, he had to protect what remained of his soul and he had to atone for his crimes. Not matter how many time he would deny, he wasn’t less responsible than the other scientists for what they had done to Eren. He used to be one of them and in doing so he failed himself, his principles, the one his grandpa taught him. He was a monster long before to become a titan, the serum only showed the world his true nature. He was a greedy person, ready to devour everyone who got in his way.He didn’t realize that Erwin was the same. Erwin was as greedy as Armin. Erwin had a dream to pursue and crimes he had to atone for. He failed the only man he should have never failed. “Yes, we do have a deal” They smiled when they shake the other hand.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY LAGO CITY 9:25 A.M. After breakfast, E2 decided to go for a walk, to see more what the city had to offer and he wanted to be around people. He didn’t want to be alone, or felt lonely, so as long as there were other people around, he could pretend that there was someone who was sharing his joy for meeting the world.
‘So, how was breakfast ?’
And then there was Eren, but there was that other man too. E2 hadn’t forgotten about him and the fact that Eren refused to talk about the issue, only increased the concern about the matter. What else Eren was trying to hide from him ? Who was that man ? Why did he look so familiar ?E2 knew to know him and not to know him at the same time.He hoped that Eren would talk with him about that man later. ‘It was nice, I guess. Next time I will order different things though. I want to know what else I like’
“It’s a good idea’
‘What’s the next step ?’
‘I see you start to enjoy our little game’
‘I can’t deny that I would appreciate very much not to embarrass myself as I did before’ He was still utterly confused about the intentions the waiter had toward him, or ‘her’. If he interacted more with people, maybe he would understand better what the other tried to tell him, what their word actually meant and their double sense. E2 hadn’t realized until now that words could have so many meanings and that there were so many expressions people used every single day. They were interesting. He wanted to learn them all, he wanted to know how to speak with people freely.
‘Good, then you need to learn how to live like a human being. It’s frustrating, but our kind is not safe in this world for the moment’
‘Then why do I need to live like a human being if you plan to kill everyone ?’
‘I don’t plan to kill everyone’
‘Surely doesn’t seem that way’
‘I only want the best for our kind. Surely you have noticed by now that we aren’t like the people sound us”
‘Because we don’t have parents ? Because I can read other’s mind ?’ ‘Those and for other reasons. We’re different, how does it make you feel ? Be different ? To feel not to have a place in this world ?’ ‘Envious and sad’ Envious because he would like to be like the other people, to know exactly how to behave when he went to a caffe, instead of looking like an idiot for spending thirty minutes looking at the menu. Envious because he liked when Tom visited him and brought him biscuits, he wondered how it would have been if instead of Tom, there was his mother. Did he have a mother ? Or a father ? Did he have parents ? If he did, they were still alive ? Maybe ordinary boys didn’t have a simple life, maybe they had their own problems to deal with too, maybe sometime they felt not to have a place in the world too, but they probably knew what meant to exist for someone, someone who wasn’t a simple voice in their head. They didn’t have to fear to turn themselves into a seventeen meters titan, or to have an entire Industry on their trail.E2 hadn’t turned in his titan form yet, but he was so scared of it. What would he see ? How did it feel like ? The broken bones, the pain, the buzz thousand time worse than the ones he felt in his head when Eren imposed his will on him. He was sure he would be so ugly, the entire process had to be ugly. He was so envious that he was sad for what he felt. He was a boy who was wearing girl’s clothes, damn it.
‘It’s part of what we are. We didn’t chose it, it was imposed to us.’
‘Why were we born then ? If we don’t exist’
‘I’m not sure. I don’t if we are born or created. I wish I will be able to answer your question someday’
‘What’s the difference between born and be created ?’
‘I think that born indicates someone who has been carried inside his mother’s womb for nine months, I mean through a normal process of reproduction. Everything else could be created. Eren Krueger crated Ymir serum and he considered it his legacy, his ‘son’. I know fanatics that consider their creations as their baby’
‘So weird’
‘You have no idea’
E2 reflected about the new informations he got. So basically humans, plants and animals could be included in the category of ‘born’, because all three of them spent a different amount of time inside the womb of the mother and were a production of reproduction. Sex, basically.Things were created by someone who was born and had the right to consider the things created their legacy, specially when they were particularly proud of them. Now that he basically understood the difference, he was even scarier than before to learn the true about himself. What was he ? Born or created ? If he was born, then it meant that he had two parents, and again they could be both death or alive. If they were alive, they could have been obliged to abandon him, or maybe they simply didn’t want him. That was what scared him, to be unwanted. But what scared him the most was to learn that he was created. What if he was ? Then it meant that he was not a real person… if he wasn’t a person then what was he exactly ? Who created him ? How ? Would the same rules applied to biological children apply for him too ? Tom once tried to explain him that children inherited from their parents more than their DNA, that some could inherit the attitude, the tastes, the ideology. Since he possessed his own will, as far as he could without Eren’s influence, and that did that mean that, if he was created, he was a thinking thing designed to accomplish his creator’s will ? ‘I’m scared’ ‘I know’ ‘Do you at least know our name ? Our real name ?’ ‘No’ ‘Sorry, it was a silly question’ After wasn’t the name a prove of someone’s existence ? Without a name, no one would know about theirs, that was why no one of Tybur Industries gave them a name.
‘The good thing is that we can pick our own name. I’m used to Eren, it’s late for me, but you can pick a name that doesn’t sound like a sneeze’
‘I don’t know how it works’
‘You can start with picking a name for your cover. Even though it’s for a girl’
‘I will. Not now though… So, what’s the next move ?’ ‘To find an easy way to get away from this city as soon as possible. Now that our past is destroyed, what remain to do is to leave and find male clothes. On the ID that Tom put in your bag it’s written Eren Xaver. A male’ That was true. He was wearing female girls to disguise himself in town. Anyone who saw him, would tell to have seen a pretty girl, a little weird, but a girl nonetheless. He imagined that there were few ways of leaving a city without using his ID. He would find a way and Eren was going to help him anyway. He wasn’t alone. ‘Okay, I will buy some male clothes and wear them if necessary”
‘You’re learning’
‘Slow learner, but I learn in the end’ Even though he didn’t share how Eren dealt with problems so far, he admitted that he wouldn’t have been able to do better without his help. He was free and he didn’t even thank Eren for that, he only blamed him for Tom’s death and pointed finger against him. E2 didn’t forgive him for that, but he needed Eren, he was a part of him.Also, E2 had no intension of being imprisoned again, not now that he was starting to realize how much the world outside could offer. He was still afraid of it and people still made his legs tremble but he loved the blue color of the sky, he liked watching the cars and people walking around. He hated the noise their thoughts created inside his head, but he was sure that he would learn how to keep those voices out of his head, once he had a better control over his abilities. He liked the colors in general, the brioche, the coffe and he wanted to live into an apartment and be able to decore his own room and to see the sea one day. He had only a taste of the world, he wanted more and no one had the right to deny him. Maybe he didn’t have a place in the world, but he would earn it. He would learn how to live in the world. ‘Then we have a plan, let’s put it in motion’ … LAGO CITY “I can’t believe it !! What’s the point of having cameras and security system if they could be easily deactivated by some random intruder ?” Yelled Zeke beating the control system inside the security room. “I’m sorry Doctor Yeager, we had no idea how this could have happened…” tried to explain one of the CCTV operator but Zeke interrupted him rising one hand. “I do. This is happened because someone was so much smarter than all of you idiots and consequentially able to infiltrate inside the system first and in the facility after” “It’s not what happened, Doctor. We had checked out the entire system over and over again. Nobody hacked the system, but it was deactivated from the inside” replied the other operator. “Do you have any proofs ?” Asked Zeke. He refused to believe that someone from the inside, maybe some of Tom’s colleague, was responsible for his death, although it could make some sense. After all it was obvious that someone was attacking all their facility, so it shouldn’t be surprising if there were moles among them. But how could they have not noticed before ? Why the mole attacked now ? “Have you tried to contact the underground facility ?” “No sir. We lost all the contact few hours ago” answered the same operator “We wanted to inform Magath of what happened but we couldn’t communicate with them.” “So you’re practically telling me that something happened to them, that they were attacked and we lost another facility.”Both the operators nodded, without saying anything. ‘Shit’ Zeke thought. He knew something like that was coming, after all whoever was against them surely didn’t intend to stop until the entire corporation was annihilated. Tybur’s death was only the beginning. All of them were a target. Tom was the one with the highest grade in Lago’s facility, it was obvious that he would have been killed first.Zeke had this pattern in front of his eyes and yet he failed to see it clearly. He was so focused on his plans to escape Tybur’s grasps that he didn’t reflect enough about protecting the ones closest to him. “What about the guards ? Who killed them ? Did they report someone suspicious before dying ?” “We had no idea” ‘I’m surrounded by incompetent idiots’ he thought. So much paranoid and yet unable to surround himself with competent people, it was clear that Lord Tybur used to hire people blind or maybe he thought … UNKNOWN FACILITY MARLEY “Here… Done” exclaimed a far too much enthusiastic Hanji while she was taking a blood sample from Armin “I can’t believe I’ve finally a pure sample of the serum !!” She seriously couldn’t stop giggling. As soon as Erwin and Armin went out from the interrogation room, she dragged Armin inside her lab to take blood samples, under the supervision of Moblit and Erwin, while Levi was resting. Armin found himself wondering if she was actually nuts or just eccentric. At least she knew what she was doing and didn’t treat his arm like a pincushions. “So, how long have you been injected with the serum ?” “Seven years.” “How long have been a mindless titan ?” Asked Hanji without any delicacy. “Doctor Zoë…” reproved her Moblit. “Five.” Answered Armin interrupting him. “Care to describe the experience ?” “When I regained my conscious, I remembered everything I’d done during the five years. During the fives years I had no conscious or intelligence. It was like living everything behind a screen. I could see everything but I was unable to stop myself from… well, behaving like a mindless titan” “So, you’re basically saying that you ate people ?” Asked Moblit, who was taking note of everything Armin was saying. “I did.” “According to our datas, titans lack a digestive system, so why do they eat people ?” “There were a lot of theories about that, why titan’s instinct is to eat people. I have three theory about. The first is that the serum is a combinations of animal cells. When animals feel in danger they adopt a specific behavior to defend themselves. I think that the animalistic behavior came from the cell inside their body. Also animals are aggressive when an outsider enter their territory, maybe titans are territorial too. It’s just a theory” Ilse used to laugh about this first theory, like she could do any better. The greatest accomplishment of his life was to understand how exactly to reproduce the totipotent cells of a titan, even in that case, she wouldn’t have come that far without Armin’s assistance. No one was able to understand why titans like eating humans so much, if all they needed to live was sunlight. Armin thought that something in the serum increased all their six senses, at least during the day, where they were superior than any other species in everything. “An interesting one though. What’s the second ?” Asked Hanji. “Something in human’s smell, again it maybe has something to do with the animal cells. People can’t smell fear, but in the animal kingdom the same rule isn’t applied. Fear triggers stress hormone production and when other people smells fear, then they feel it too and so do animals and titans too. The smell triggers something in them too, but not fear, violence and hunger. So that they could distinguish humans from their similar. Titans can’t feel any emotions” It wasn’t a mystery among the scientists that their knowledge wasn’t being used to sate their thirst of knowledge or to improve the wellbeing of the entire human kind. They knew that Tybur intended to use titans to submit the entire world to Marley’s will, or at least to sell them to the army. Armin was convinced that humans fear and all the hormonal consequences related to it, were helpful to help titans to distinguish their kinds from their preys, so that they knew who attack to. “The vaccine… I can reproduce the vaccine…” he murmured. “What ?” Asked both Erwin and Hanji. “When I transformed, it was in experimental phase. It was my research, but then I got all the datas erased. As soon as I came back in this form, I investigated on the matter…” he was going to continue but a buzz interrupted his speech. ‘What are you doing Armin ?’ ‘I must give them something, if I want to have something in return. No one of them trusts me and learn this, no one give something freely’ Armin wasn’t naive to think they would trust him only because he hadn’t tried to kill them yet, hell, he knew that probably they would never trust him at all. He wouldn’t trust himself at the point, since Eren could easily control his will and order him around, only to erase his memory then. Erwin was the first who was waiting him to make even the slightest mistake and betray his real intentions. The blond knew how to play mind games, if there was someone who would be able to see behind his tricks and solve all of them, it would be him.
‘Why are you telling them about the vaccine ?’
‘It would make them immune to the mindless titans only. We shifters will always be able to kill them’
‘I don’t want them to know how to kill us’
“Oh come on !! Don’t keep us waiting ! What did you learn ?” Asked Hanji impatient. ‘They will learn anyway, it’s only a matter of time’
‘Shit, have your way. I hope we won’t regret’
‘It’s the right choice’
‘I hope for you, or I will make you regret it’
‘Great, other threats’, Armin thought.Even though Armin’s greatest boast was his intellect, he was wandering into a foreign territory, where he had no control over it. He knew it, Eren too. Armin knew that Erwin wasn’t the only one who was waiting for him to make any mistake, others too. Included shifters of Paradise who still didn’t accept that Eren preferred him over anyone else. The blond knew that the others hated him because he used to be one of the scientists who had studied and experimented on them, so he was used to have all the eyes on him and t work under pressure. “When I used to work on the vaccine, I couldn’t figure it out the right formula to make it produce antibodies against the serum to prevent the transformation and to reverse the serum completely. In my opinion defend ourself from them would never be enough.” “So you wanted to elaborate a vaccine capable of reversing the transformation completely” concluded Hanji enthusiastic. “Exactly. The mindless titans on Paradise were rarely killed. My colleagues hoped that, studying them, they could find a way to reverse the serum and to inject them with a regular serum capable of creating other shifters.” “They did apparently, with you” “Probably, don’t ask me what happened in 2095, something surely went terribly wrong but I’ve no idea. All the datas went lost with the facility, so I can only hope to restart my original research, with your help.” “And you in return will teach us how to fight titans” stated Levi. ‘He’s creepy for someone of his stature’ ‘You used not to be so tall yourself not long ago. Do me a favor, can you imagine him mentally ? I want to see his face’ ‘Why ?’
‘Do it, please. I need to see his face’
‘Okay’ “Okay, I will teach you everything you need to know. I can both study the vaccine with Hanji and teach you how to fight titans. What do we start with ?” … LAGO CITY
‘So this is him… shit’
‘Who’re you talking about ?’ Asked E2 who was wearing an ‘I love Lago City’ t-shirt, bought in some random souvenir shop.
‘The Ackerman’
‘Who ?’ E2 could see Eren rolling his eyes before he felt another buzz inside his head, then his eyes became gold for a moment and he realized that Eren had just shared his memories about the Ackerman with him. And he remained surprised. It was the same guy he saw before. ‘So it’s someone you knew, that’s why he appeared in my mind. What sort of connection do you share with him Eren ?’ E2 was pissed off. Eren filled his head with bullshits about how necessary it was for them to stay hidden from the rest of the world, at the point of making him kill Tom, and now he was learning that there was someone out there who shared a mental connection with them, someone who could reveal their existence any time if their learnt how telepathy worked.Furthermore Eren had been hiding something else from him, that there were people in the world who were able to surpass their powers even without being a titan themselves. The only good thing was that they were as persecuted and feared by the corporation as any other shifters. That explained why Ackerman were considered both a resources for research and a danger for the corporation’s plans. E2 was learning so many things in so little time. Living like a recluse inside a white room had prevented him to realize how actually hard his life could have been out there. He used to think that escaping from that damnable white room could be enough to make him feel free, but that was only the first step. People out there completely ignored the horrible truth about the corporation and their damn experiments, they ignored that one mistake in that stupid facility could be fatal for all of them, like it happened on Paradise. All of people were turned into mindless titans, driven by pure instinct, unable to recognize their beloved one even while they were eating them or crushing them under their giant feet. But the more he was out there, the more he realized that there was no need for a serum or being a titans to do that. People crushed other people’s freedom all the time, like Tybur did with him and Eren, like he did with Tom.
‘Don’t be dramatic now and hurry up, we have somewhere to go”
‘I know, the station’
‘That too. But I remember that there’s a place I’d like to see before we leave’
‘Now ? You’re the one who said that we needed to get away from this city as soon as possible’
‘I did, I just changed my mind. I suddenly remembered that there’s something that needs to be done’
‘What ? May I ask ?’ E2 knew already that he wasn’t going to like it, but he wasn’t in the position of denying Eren anything. He wished he was braver than he actually was, but Eren scared him.
‘You’re still… wavering about what you really want and what you’re willing to do in order to do what’s the best for you’
‘Why ? Because I’m unwilling to kill people I care ?’
‘Unwilling to do what’s necessary. Every achievement requires sacrifices. You should have learned by now that like if not fair, for someone more than other. Anyone is expendable’
‘What kind of life have you lived to become like this ?’
‘The kind you’re going to live if you don’t man up a little and do exactly as I say’
E2 wanted to replay the he had been doing all Eren ordered him to since the first time he dreamed the desert. Even though he agreed with Eren about his current indecision about what he was or not willing to do in order to be free, but he also suspected that Eren’ sudden change of heart was due to something else too, something that the other originally wanted to hide from him. What was Eren planning to do ? Why did he want E2 to leave the town ? Why did the other insist with lying to him ? ‘Can I know where I’m supposed to go ?’
‘The Vegvísir Tower. It’s located at the center of the city and it was gifted to this city two centuries ago in sign of allegiance by the Mid-East nations. It’s also recognizable from the giant clock with vegvísir symbol after which the the tower was called.’
‘Veg… what ?’
‘A little education wouldn’t hurt you. Vegvísir, it’s a Icelandic magical stave. The ancient norsemen believed that if they carried that sign on their ships, they will never lose their ways in storms. Indeed the symbol looks like a compass and now it will help you find out way out from the storm inside your mind’
‘Inside my mind ? I don’t need to reflect more about what I want. I want my free will back’ ‘Good, but you need to learn that there’s nothing that this world will give you without fighting teeth and nails. You need to learn how to fight for your own good. Maybe the little show I’ve in store for you will be helpful’ ‘I don’t know… sometimes you really scare me’ E2 was secretly curious to know what Eren was planning to do and also fascinated with that Vegvísir thing, it made him reflect about all the things he didn’t know. E2 was envious of Eren’s culture, even though if their minds were really connected, he should know what Eren did as well. Maybe their connection wasn’t unilateral, maybe he could take advantage of that, to learn Eren’s intention. After all he didn’t know the true extension of his powers. Eren once told him that what he learnt in the desert while he was asleep, didn’t need to be learned during the day. The desert was a place created by Eren and shared with anyone he wanted him to be there, but E2 s uspected it was much more than that.Without even realizing, he started walking toward the Vegvísir Tower, as fast as his heels allowed him to. … Zeke was in his laboratory and was trying to make some order in all Tom’s frippery. That man used to be so messy with his things, never able to find something or remember where he put it. The only thing he insisted to clean and order was his old apartment. He was hoping to find something interesting too, something that could give him a clue about what happened to Tom. Why someone killed him ?Tom was the best asset of the entire facility of Lago City, everyone knew it, that was why he doubted that Lord Tybur or someone who worked for the Industry committed the crime, they needed him. Because of that, it was more plausible thinking that Lord Tybur maybe assigned some important job to Tom, maybe they shared a secret, maybe someone killed Tybur to learn what Tom was working on. He was reading all Tom’s noted, diaries and researches and he found some ‘holes’ in them but nothing that indicated what he was actually doing. ‘What were you hiding, Tom ?’ He thought. Tom more than anyone else should have known how much secrets were dangerous. Due to his job, he had to tell a lot of lies to his wife and that resulted in the suicide-homicide of his family. Apparently he didn’t learn the lesson. Whatever secret he was keeping now, it leaded him to death. Zeke had to know. That was why he sent Yelena to personally interrogate all the personal, hoping that someone would tell him something interesting. Now that Tom was dead, he was officially the new first head of the facility, which meant that now he had the authority to demand to be updated about all the researches Tom was doing before he died. Included all the projects Tom was conducting without telling anyone as Tybur probably ordered him.Tybur was dead anyway, so there was any reason not to feel free go telling the truth since there was no one who was threatening their lives anymore. He refused to allow Tybur to keep influencing his life even after his death. Will’s strength derived essentially from the influence he was able to exercise over his subordinates, by isolating each one of them in one of the facility with the order of keeping the communications at minimum. Any topic needed to be discuss had to be communicated to Tybur before anyone else and no one else without his authorization. That was another strategy to remain the nucleus of all the communications, that way he knew everything and the others had to settle for the crumbs he was willing to give. That method slowed down the research, but it kept Tybur at the top and so the Paradise facility, where the nucleus used to be. Another secret that died with that fool of Tybur.His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the door of his lab. Yelena entered followed by two nurses Zeke barely remembered to have ever seen around. “Doctor Yeager, these two women have something interesting to tell you” said the woman indicating the other two with her hand. Zeke sighed then he asked “What kind of valid informations two nurses I barely saw around could give to me ?” “Trust me. I would never waisted your time.” Zeke observed both the women in front of him, studying and observing their body language, as Tom taught him. Never trust anyone only basing your judgment on what they told you, but on how they did and on their actions. One of them, the younger one, kept herself behind her older colleague, almost hiding and preferred focused her attention on her fingers instead of looking at him. She had think black hair parted and tied in loose pigtails and she seemed really ready to grab them to protect her face from his gaze.She seemed harmless after all, but he remained wary.The other woman was almost as tall as Yelena, near her forty and by her posture, Zeke could tell that his presence didn’t make her uncomfortable. Of course, compared to Tybur, he had to look like a joke. “You’re not employers of this facility. I’m pretty sure I know all the nurses who work in our infirmary” “That’s correct. The contract we both signed requested us to come here for one week after every three months and to take care of one person in particular. We had to measure their parameters, do injections and make withdrawals. At the end of the week me and my colleague had to draw up a report and send all the datas.” “Did Tom have to analyze the withdrawals ?” Asked Zeke. “He did and then he had to immediately send them to the training center. We officially worked there and so the other colleagues whom had been coming here in all these years. We all had to keep this visits a secret and ruing our permanence here we had to be careful not to draw any unnecessary attention. If we need something we have to ask it to Dr. Xavier.” “So ? Who was the person you have to take care of ? Why were they so important ?” “We sincerely didn’t know. Tybur gave us no explanation. Dr. Xavier seemed to know more about but that’s just a conjecture. All I can tell you is that we have to take care of a boy. A teenager to be more precise. We were ordered to call him E2” “A boy ? In this facility ? Why was keeping him here ? Where is he ?” The nurse extracted a key card from her pocket and showed it to Zeke “This card was given to us before our leaving and we were ordered to give it to the next couple of nurse once came back to training center. Tom had another card. I don’t think you found it, did you ?” She asked. Zeke remained silent. He seriously didn’t know what to say. To think that a boy had been secretly living as a hostage in this facility was horrific, yet he perfectly understood why Tom didn’t tell him anything.He followed the two nurses down where the boy was kept, only to find an empty room, with a messy bed and various toys and drawing shattered on the floor. Zeke picked one of them. On it a boy with brown hair wearing a grey gym suit and a taller man with glasses and a white coat were drawn.‘So they told me the truth. There was a boy in here… but why ? Why was he so important ? Where was he now ?’ “Where’s the boy ?” He asked raising his voice “WHERE IS HIM ?” “We had no idea. We checked his room as soon as we learnt of Dr. Xavier’s death but the boy was gone. Maybe whoever killed Doctor Xavier was after the boy, but before alerting anyone we wanted to check if the boy could still be here in the facility” “And by doing that you WASTED TIME !! Precious time that we could have used to look for Tom’s murderer !!”“Dr Yeager… We’re… we’re terribly sorry” apologized the oldest nurse. “Get out of my sight. I want to stay alone” he ordered “You too, Yelena” “But..” “You too” insisted Zeke without looking at her, but instead grabbing all the drawings on the floor. Apparently there was nothing interesting drawn on them but he couldn’t be sure. He needed to study them properly, maybe Tom had told to the boy something important. Maybe some kind of information. Maybe Tom himself told E2 to draw something in particular in case something happened to him. He couldn’t think clearly, his whole mind was a mess and he was feeling so useless and so lost. He sat on the bed and grabbed his head with his hands, trying to stop the tears from falling. What was happening around him ? Why ? Why couldn’t he have something normal in his life ?Why did he have to lose Tom that way ? Now that everything was around was falling apart. It was clear that Tyburs Industries’ decline was inevitable and it was only a matter of time before the entire world would know about Tybur’s death and all the dirty business conducted would be uncovered. Zeke couldn’t give two shit if the serum would be discovered by rival organizations or if all of them had to be judged in a trial at one point, nothing mattered but the truth and that boy, he was sure of that, was the one of the missing piece to solve the puzzle.He took another look at the drawings and thousands questions formed inside his mind, specially when he noticed that the data of each sketches was written on them and the oldest sketches was drawn in 2090.How long had that boy living there ? Had he ever lived somewhere else? If that was the case, where ? The more he observed the sketches the more he was convinced that something was terribly wrong. There were houses, simple houses with the yellow walls and red roof, the kid, Tom, castles… all stuff that remembered the sketches on a book for a child. Plain and simple, without many details. That was why a particular sketch caught his attention, it was about a wall and not any wall. But the Maria Wall, the first one that was built to protect Tybur’s facility on Paradise from any intruder and it was also a symbol of strength, power and control. No one surpassed the wall without Tybur’s permission, no one, because the wall was so hight that it was possible seeing everything below. Another way to demonstrate superiority over average minds. Yet, he knew that that wall was destroyed in 2095. If what the nurse told him was true, and the boy had been kept inside that room without being allowed to exist or to have any contact with someone who wasn’t Tom or one of his nurse, Zeke was really curious to know, how could he possibly have drawn with so many details the Wall. There was everything even the symbol in the front. ‘Surely it wasn’t Tom whom inspired the kid this sketch’ Zeke thought. Tom himself never went to Paradise.He continued to look at the sketches but he found nothing interesting. “You surely are an interesting kid E2. Wherever you are, I will find you and you will tell me everything I need to know” Zeke stood up from the bed and left the room. While he was walking toward the elevator, the mindless giants below caught his attention. What if they had seen something ?Zeke rarely used his powers, he knew that it scared his colleagues and also contributed to make him very unpopular and unappreciated to be in the same room with. Much to his displeasure. Even Tom sometimes couldn’t refrain himself from wanting to analyze him like he did with a mindless titan.Another unpleasant gift he had to thank his father for.He looked the three titans and used his powers, his eyes became gold and then their minds were connected. He saw in their memories all the times Tom, accompanied with different couples of nurses, exited from the elevator and entered inside the room but in any of them there was the kid. How could that be possible ? Giants were always particularly attentive when people were around, they smelled that someone different entered their territory, someone they could ate.It was impossibile that Tom didn’t attract their attention, specially if accompanied with another person. He tried to dig deeper inside their mind but he felt like someone else had manipulated their memories before him, but that was impossible. No one else inside the facility had been injected with the serum but him. But it wasn’t even that.It was more like the giants were trying to defend themselves from his intrusion, like they were obeying a greater force’s command. He could feel them resist him with all their strength, a strength he didn’t imagine they could possess. Why ? Why were they resisting ? Who were they trying to protect ? “Who… are you tryin… to protect ?” His eyes shine more and more after any word. One giant began to scream for the pain, another started banging his head against the wall and the latest closed his eyes not to look at him and started beating his fists against the wall. The were fighting really hard to resist the pain, but Zeke could handle them altogether. Their minds were not strong enough to keep him out. His powers came directly from the pure strength of the nucleus and even thought it went destroyed, his DNA possessed the closest thing to the progenitor cells of the the nucleus. Well, his and his father’s DNA. That was another reason why he felt the urgency of running away, he knew that sooner or later Tybur would have come after him and turn him into a guinea pig, if he was still alive. “What… are… you hiding ? SHOW ME ??” He demanded almost growling. At some point the one giant who was banging his head against the wall, hit with the closest to him and bite him near the nape. It was trying to kill the other, which wasn’t even trying to defend himself or to protect its nape.Zeke tried to stop the giant but it was too late and then something surprisingly happened. The giant position himself behind the other and snapped its neck before finishing to eat the nape.“What ?” He exclaimed and for a moment his eyes turned blue. ‘That was impossible’ thought. Mindless titans shouldn’t be able to execute attacks with such precision. Their movements were always clumsy, uncoordinated and they usually weren’t so aggressive toward their kinds. Once that the first titan was dead it was ready to kill the other one. ‘Not on my watch’ thought Zeke. He used his powers, his eyes became golden and said “STOP !!” The giant stopped, as he ordered and Zeke continued to dig inside their minds, yet he found anything interesting. Tom that exited and entered from the elevator with different nurses. Nothing new and honestly Zeke didn’t even know what he was looking for. Until he saw a memories from yesterday night, when Tom exited the room accompanied with another person. The kid. He was trying to take a better look on him, when the giant who was punching the wall hit the other and interrupt the connection. “DAMN IT !!” Screamed Zeke “STOP DISOBEY !!” How could the other titan free himself from his compulsion while he was trying to read his mind ? It wasn’t possibile, it couldn’t be. On the contrary, it would have meant that even the cells produced with basic serum could further development and increased the ability of the carrier, even in the case of mindless titans. The basic serum was useful to give an excessive increase of the basic nucleus cells that were too strong and damaged deeply the nervous system and it remained that way, unless the shifter serum wasn’t injected. A problematic that they were desperately trying to solve, to increase the level of adaptability of human body toward the serum. One serum, able to turn anyone in a superhuman, a shifter and mostly immortal.Mindless titans were humans who only partially adapt to the serum, strong enough not to die, to live, become a giant, be immortal etc… but they were far from perfect.Zeke hoped to work with Tom about the creation of the perfect serum, one that would further increase his own abilities, since Zeke knew that despite all the bullshit his father told him, he knew that the serum was unstable. It wouldn’t turn him into a monkey otherwise.The mindless titans were the lowest step of the new chain and it had to stay that way. “Obey to me !! I’m your master !!” He knew he was losing control, specially when the other titan successfully managed to definitely kill the only one he was still controlling and then it looked toward him, almost challenging and for a moment Zeke couldn’t breath. That giant no longer had an empty expression on his face, but it seemed like he was actually seeing him and challenging him to try to control him again. But that wasn’t the only think. Zeke believed he could be losing his mind and he hadn’t practiced with his powers in a long time, but he tried to control the titan again.He managed to control him for few minutes, enough to see one last memory. One of the nurse, the younger one with the dark hair, exited the room following her colleague, keeping something behind her back. A sketch, but Zeke couldn’t see it clearly, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever it was, she stole it. Why ? What was her role in that ? Did the other nurse know ? Or there was a traitor infiltrated in the facility ? He couldn’t reflect more about the situation because he noticed something alarming. A steam was appearing around the giant’s shape and there was a painful expression on his face, more like he was ready to… “Oh Shit…” It happened all in few seconds but luckily he was able to built a thick layer of crystal before the giant’s body explode, realizing an amount of energy of the same range of a nuclear weapon. The explosion was so strong that the entire building tremble for a moment and Zeke fell on the ground. Defeated. Powerless. Confused.How could it be possibile that a mindless creature was so powerful to make his own body explode ? At its on will ? Despite the presence of a superior creature commanding it to stop. To obey. To submit. “What’s happening ?” He muttered “It’s impossibile for the serum to develop without the second injections, unless Tom wasn’t experimenting something different with those titans behind my back but I would have seen it. No… it wasn’t about Tom…” Zeke was sure about it. Those giants weren’t trying to protect Tom from his powers. They were trying to stop him from seeing the boy’s face. They were protecting him. But why ? Maybe the kid was infected with the Ymir serum, it would explain why he was kept there. If he had the serum, why wasn’t him at the training center with the other shifters ? Why was he kept there where no one knew about his existence ?The nurse also told him that the kid was transferred from somewhere else, but from where ? Paradise ? There was something he was missing. What was the nurse role ? In that moment he learnt how the suspect of betrayal could be a poison so lethal. … “I can’t believe it. It was naive thinking that here we could be saved. I bet it’s not a coincidence if a member of this facility was killed as soon as after the attack at the training center” whispered the blond nurse to her colleague. After the confrontation with Dr. Yeager, they were sent in the infirmary where other three nurses were preparing themselves for the shift. The younger nurse felt unsure about conversing in a room in the presence of other people who shouldn’t know anything about the kid, but apparently the cat was finally out of the bag. “What should we do now ?” She asked “Obviously we can’t go back to the training center” “They wouldn’t allow. We’re the only link they have with E2. They surely would like to know everything before to dispose of use”“Why ?” Asked the younger nurse. “Lea… how could you not understand ? We’re in the middle of a witch purge. After what happen to the Tybur Family, everyone… anyone… who has a secret to keep is looked at it with suspicion. They can’t trust us because we lied to them. You…” said pointing the finger toward her “You’re luck he didn’t notice” “He didn’t notice what ?” The woman have her the shoulders again mocking her with an ironic giggle, mocking the other’s naivety. She couldn’t believe Tybur assigned her that brat as a partner. She was sincerely surprised when Tybur assigned someone so young to nursing a kid considered so important. She wasn’t so stupid to make questions when the task was given to her, she simply accepted it and so her partnership with a trainee in silent. Surely she was prepared to cover for any Mina clumsy mistake, but not that she was so stupid to steal something from that room behind Dr. Yeager’s back. “That you stole a sketch from the room. I’m not going to be your accomplice. If you are so lucky to get out of here without being caught, okay.” “That’s okay. My job is done… so is yours” “What do you…” She couldn’t finish her question that Mina snapped her back, fast as a lamp, killing her. Before the other could realize Mina, with her superhuman speed and agility executed perfect backflips until she was close enough to execute a head grab with her legs and kill her.The other one tried to run away but she hit her with three crystal darts. “Almost too easy.” She muttered extracting the sketch from her pocket “Too much trouble for this.” It was a sketch of the desert with E2 drawn at the center. Only a shifter had access to that place and only if they reach a particular state of mind. If Dr. Yeager saw it, he would surely recognize it but it wasn’t the problem. Mina knew that the person in the sketch could resemble someone else too. Someone whose existence no one had to know. That was the end of her mission, finally. …
PARADISE ISLAND 2096
“Your role is very important, Mina. You have to infiltrate as a nurse in the training center” told Armin indicating with a finger a picture of the training center on the screen.
“Why a nurse ?” She asked.
They were all united in the center room in one of the few standing buildings on Paradise. One good aspect of being the only people who lived on an island isolated from the rest of the world was that they could more easily enter in a building and take whatever they needed. Luckily the north of Paradise Island was rich of skyscraper were the old industries and agencies used to be, so they could retrive computer, Internet and all the means they needed to prepare their plans.
“Because I’ve been checking the site of there I saw that it’s opened a job competition for the position of nurse. They’re looking for fifty nurses, with more or less experience, it doesn’t matter because if they are recruited they will be paired with a nurse who has been working for Tybur for five years, since he trusts only of his subordinates and… that. A minimum age requirement has not been established”
“I know nothing about nursing” replied Mina
When she was a kid, she used to be afraid of blood, a fear she overcame only after her transformation. She had to, because she needed to hurt herself if she wanted to turn into a titan. Yet she had no idea how she could pretend to be a nurse when she knew nothing about medicine etc. Also, the thought of leaving Paradise and going somewhere surrounded by enemies, with the constant fear of being discovered, scared her.
“Don’t forget that a lot of mindless titans turned after the 2095, used to work in the facility. They had the skills, connect your mind with theirs, make yours their knowledge and everything will be fine.” Replied Armin, trying to encourage her.
“But why me ? Why can’t we send someone with who used to work in the facility, like you ?”
“We can’t take that risk. It could seem absurd but the selections to be a soldier and then a shifter is less strict than for working in the facility as a doctor, scientist and nurse. That’s because these people work and handle the serum directly and have all the opportunities to use it improperly. We need him to hire someone who looks so helpless and so in need of a job, that he would never think about a betrayal”
Mina nodded. She was still unconvinced and that was bad, because she knew that once she left Paradise Island, no one would be there to cover her back if she screwed up. She needed to feel confident herself first. Luckily Armin helped her along the way. He helped her writing her CV and sending it. He also prepared her job interview. Instead Adrian, a former nurse now one of the shifters on their side, trained her to become a perfect nurse. Once she learnt everything she could from him, she left Paradise Island for her job interview.
She was scared of leaving the island, scared of how she would react when she found herself surrounded by her enemies and in presence of Tybur.
She hated the man with all her heart for what she did to her, for what she did to her kind. Because of his experimentations and all of the people who had been helping him all these years, her life and freedom had been taken away from her. She paid the price for their sins, by living like a mindless titans. He, the Tybur Industries, all of them were responsible for her misery, that was why when her king offered her to join his cause she had no hesitation.
She swore she would kill and annihilate anyone and anything who dared to hurt them, who dared to get in the way of their plans.
Armin proved to be a genius, again.
She was one of the youngest candidates, but differently from them she had the experience of thousands nurses and medics on her part. She could sincerely said that almost everyone, including Tybur, were impressed by her and at some point she was sure that she was going to be hired. Indeed she received an email where it was communicated that she had been hired and that her presence was requested the next day to be placed side by side with a senior nurse.
It was hard to resist the temptation of killing the man with her bare hands but she resisted, for the good of her king. Patience, all she needed was patience. Then all of those hypocrites would burn in Hell and her king will rule over a complete new world.
The next day she was assigned to her first partner and a month later, Tybur assigned her another task, with a new partner and in a different facility.
It was then that she met Tom and since he was the only one who had to interact with them, they always encountered in his laboratory, which made easy for her to steal datas from his computers, enter a program in his computer that could allow her to delete all the datas after his death.
It was also pretty easy to her steal some supplies from both the training center and the Lago and in the end they facility, like tubes with the serum and other kind of surprise.
Her role has been important fro the destruction of the training center too.
As her King ordered to and she also communicated with the mindless titans and order them to protect their memories about her and E2.
It wasn’t their fault if their were stupid and sometimes they needed to be reminded who their king was.
“Protect your kind, remember your king”
Those were the last words she told her the last time she visited E2.
…
“Yelena… the nurse from before, the younger one, she stole something I want. Find her”
That was what Zeke ordered her through her gps and she obeyed, without any hesitation. If Zeke said that someone had stolen something from him, then for her was undeniably true and that culprit would pay for that and she knew exactly where to find them. Unfortunately it was too late. When she arrived in the infirmary, where she told them to go together with the other nurses, she found them dead. All of them, and the girl gone. “Fuck…” she muttered She came closer to observe one of the corpse better when she noticed something weirdly shining. When she realized what it actually was she gasped. “Doctor Yeager… we have a problem. The traitor is a shifter”
“What ? How could you be sure ?”
“Crystal daggers. I suspect she’s still in the facility”
“Then order immediately to Onyankopon and his squad to capture her. NOW !!”
“As you wish” Yelena was not going to disappoint him. She was going to serve him the head of the shifter on a silver plate if she had to. No one betrayed her master and live to tell the tale. … ‘They’re arriving. They know I’m still in the facility.’ Mina knew that it was only a matter of time before someone found the corpses in the infirmary. She should have got rid of them but she didn’t have the time. She had to leave the facility as soon as possible. The more she stayed there, the higher was the possibility of being capture and that couldn’t happen. If they found out that she was one of the mindless titans abandoned on Paradise Island, they would suspect that maybe, maybe, the nucleus still existed, that on Paradise something important had been left. ‘Do you have all you need ?’ If there was something she learnt during her permanence at the training center was that she necessarily needed to learn how to survive without using her abilities. That required a great inventive on her part of course. ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you know how to get out of there ?” ‘Alive… or death. Don’t worry about me. What about you ?’ That was the day… The day when the whole world would learn about truth about Tybur Industries. The day when humanity would pay the price for their sins. The first step toward a new era dominated by superior creatures. ‘We’re ready to initiate, we’re waiting for our King’s order’ ‘Perfect’ She was almost at the exit, right were Tom was killed when something was thrown in her direction. She stopped and saw a flash grenade fell in front of her. She closed her eyes and when she reopened them, she was surrounded by soldiers who were pointing their rifles against her. “Stop right there !!” Ordered one of them with his face covered “Hands up, now !!” “Okay, okay. Not need to be act like a brute” She said as she was ordered. One of the man, hesitantly, came closer to her and she took a better look on his rifle.They knew she was a shifter, so they took with them anti-Titan rifle, all of them aimed against her. She knew that even her crystal armor couldn’t resist those kind of bullets for too long and also, those bullets were characterized by peculiarity that when a bullet was shot, a substance was excreted from the round directly in the bloodstream of the titan, weakening their abilities, even killing them if they were hit in the nape.One of the many creations made in the Training center. Mina knew exactly what she had to do. When the soldier was close enough and reached to grab one of her hand, she acted faster and hit him with a kick. Then she ran fast and kneeled another soldier under his chin, protecting her back with a crystal armor. The soldiers had already started shopping her but all she needed was a flash grenade to throw against them. She managed to steal one from the soldier’s bulletproof vest and then threw it against the rest. The flash grenade worked, then she bite her finger and then she was able to perform a transformation on her arm strong enough to use it make the ceiling collapse on them. “Amateurs…” she commented. “Not all of them” A bullet hit her back and almost destroyed completely her armor. Also the impact almost made her lose her balance. She turned around and saw a soldier who was pointing at her and anti-titans gun. He had dark-skinned man, with black hair styled in a short crew cut. “You’re good” he commented “But I am too. I suggest you to stop here” “Oh yeah ? Are you valid opponent ? Both of you ?” Mina knew that another person was aiming a gun against her. The woman from before, Yelena. Mina was more afraid of her than the soldier in front of her. He could be skilled, but the woman… there was something wrong about her. About the way she looked at people in general, about the way she was licking her lips looking at her, like she was already imagining thousands way to kill her and slaughter her. “You stole something from Dr. Yeager. Give it back or I’ll make you” said Yelena. “Make me” she said challenging the woman. She remembered that her hand was still inserted inside the giant arm, she took it away and let the amount of flesh and muscle explode. The steam hide her and she started running away. The shot behind her back weakened her, she felt the substance in her bloodstream, she could feel different little wounds under her fingers when she touched her back. That was why, if she could, she had to avoid to fight. ‘I have to get rid of this sketch. As soon as possible’ The only thing that came to her mind was to get rid of it in the old manners. Eating it. If she did, they would never be able to recuperate it, even if they capture her. So she did. Bite after bite she devoured the sketch, trying not to throw up. When she finished, she started running again, she needed to find another way out there, and soon. Before it was too late. … ‘So… this is the Vegvísir Tower’ E2 had to admit that it looked pretty… scaring and imposing. An evident symbol of power, money and status. It should also symbolize the leadership that lead the city through the tempest and the storm, but E2 believed it served for another scope. To generate fear and respect. There all the most important people of town, politics etc worked.E2 entered inside and he felt an outsider almost immediately. All the people around him were elegant, they walked with confidence and they all looked so busy not to even have the time to notice him. Her. Whatever. It was very elegant, with columns, full decorative carvings, chandeliers with pendants, with paintings of important painters on the wall, most of them represented battles, wars, victories. Few of them were self-portraits. ‘Where am I supposed to go ?’
‘Take the elevator and go to the top floor’
‘Okay’
‘Don’t worry about other people. They’re so focused on whatever leaded them there and makes them feel important not to even notice someone new around them. Another reason why I chose this place for our next lesson. They're convinced that this place and everything it
symbolizes, it's the incontrovertible proof of their powers and that nothing can change that. Today, we're going to show them that a single person is enough to put everything in discussion. Even the center of power'
E2 did as he was told. He walked toward the elevator, waited for it with other people and entered inside, trying to ignore some unwanted look that a weird older guy was directing at his ass.Eren failed to mention that those people were still perfectly able to ogle like idiots an appealing ass if they wanted too. He also hated those orripilante thoughts that were taking form inside the man’s head, but soon they were confused and mixed with the thoughts of the other people with them. E2 wasn’t able to distinguish with clarity one’s thoughts from another’s. In that case, it was a bless.E2 took a deep breath and started ignoring everyone in the elevator with him and he was relief when finally remained alone. ‘I hate crowded place’
‘You will get used to it. You also have to practice being around people and still being able to distinguish their thoughts’
‘It’s difficult’
‘All the things that matter are’
The elevator stopped and E2 exited. Eren told him to enter a room where only the staff could enter. He found himself in a corridor that, according to Eren, leaded directly toward the clock tower. E2 was surprised that no one noticed an intruder walking so freely where he shouldn’t. Then he simply remembered that that was a place filled with douchebags who were too focused on their plans to gain more moneys, more power and more something else. Whatever it could be. People seemed to be always in need of something new, as soon as they gained what they pursued before. They surely payed no attention to someone who was directed at the clock tower, whether it was a girl or a boy. E2 was more worried about who he could found at the tower.
‘No one. I feel no other human beings nearby’
‘How could you say it for sure ?’
‘Our senses are connected. You should sharpen your senses. You would smell humans from their smells, heard their heartbeat if you concentrate, their breathing… you can even feel their body temperature. Use your senses. Confirm what I just told you’
E2 nodded subconsciously. He focused on his sense and tried to smell, listen and fell but nothing caught his attention. Eren was right. No one was there. Probably people came there only maintenance technician, when they needed to repair it.After all who would want to spend entire days there. ‘Now that we are in this hovel, would you enlighten me about what I’m supposed to do here ?’
‘Easy. You have to position yourself in front of the clock and start pushing when I tell you’
‘Pushing ? You want me to push the clock of the clock tower on the street ?’
‘Yes, once you removed it, you would enjoy a fantastic view. From here, it’s possible seeing the entire town. You won’t miss the little show I put on for you’
‘I totally agree on that. So, should I wait for your signal ?’ If he had to be honest, E2 hoped not to remain there for too long. He feared that someone could find him there, how he would react or in any sort of situation when he had to decide between kill or not to kill someone.E2 wasn’t a murder and he didn’t want to become. He wasn’t strong enough. Not yet.
‘Exactly, in the meanwhile, I want to teach you something else. By showing to you the memories of Charlotte Xavier, I taught you to the hard truth of humans. They’re so perfectly imperfect. They break down easily for the slightest things, yet strong enough to fight for something they really want. Too proud to ask for help, too weak to resist pain. But it’s not everything’
‘What else ?’
‘When you were in the white room, I gave you a goal. To be free. You wanted and were determinate to achieve it. Now that you’re out in the world, you seem to have lost any desire to pursue another goal. I want to give you a direction by teaching you the truth of our kind in this world’
‘Our kind ?’ E2 was actually content that Eren decided to tell him more about their kind. He was really curious to know ho the other shifters were living on Paradise, what were their habits, their hobbies. How they dealt with their whole body and abilities. It would be so refreshing talking freely with someone other than Eren about their conditions. E2 had been locked up for so long that the idea of meeting one of his kind was exiting.
‘You have an important role in the war we’re fighting. Humans treated us like they owned us, only because they created us. They used us like test tubes, torturing us, sectioning us and even more terrible things. Learn another thing, for some creatures the right to live come freely. Others have to fight for that, including us’. I’m going to show it’
‘Are there shifters who suffered a worse fate than I did ?’
‘I honestly wouldn’t say ‘worse’, just different. You were a prisoner, with the blessed of not knowing what you were missing in the world and a part from killing Tom, which is my fault, you were not obliged to do anything abnormal. The titans of Paradise instead… they were created only to experiment on the serum. They were turned into mindless creatures and then treated with no value. The worse is that they were conscious during all those years as mindless. They had no control over their bodies yet… they knew… they…’
‘They were prisoners inside their own body’
‘No, their body wasn’t theirs anymore. They were Tybur’s. But they could run away, even if for few minutes, in the desert. There they could be humans again. They were free of running and living and being themselves. The problem was when they woke up again and found themselves in the body of a mindless again’
E2 felt, fort the fist time, that he could, completely, relate with someone other than Eren. The loneliness, the incapacity of understanding what he was and what he was able to do. He was curious to know if they felt the same pain, the same confusion. If they wished things to be different. If they shared the same violent ways of Eren. Probably they did. Probably they knew no other way to get by their condition. Probably they simply thought that there was no place for them in the world, unless they fought for it. They knew what it meant being powerless, seeing your entire world being destroyed and yet being unable to do anything but just stay there. Like your hands were chained and no matter how hard you tried you were simply too weak.
‘I want you to teach another thing too. Not matter how much powerful you become, if you are unable to fight for your own survival, it will never be enough’
‘What do you mean ?’
‘That it’s necessary for you to learn how to use your ability wisely as soon as possible, if you want to survive. You’re powerful, more than you’ve ever been before and I can land my power too, but you need to understand that the enemies can be pretty handful when they want to’
‘Because they’ve been studying us since the beginning ? They know all our weak spots’ E2 had never considered that possibility before. He should have. His enemies knew more than him about his anatomy, of course they invented weapons able to kill his kind. That was what Eren was trying to tell him, that being what he was couldn’t be enough. Good thing to know, that even if you had good cards to play with, you also needed to know how to use them well to win. E2 wanted to win his freedom.
‘Exactly. Some of them are more trained than others to tack down our kind. Not to mention that some shifters side with the enemy’
‘How could they betray their own kind ? How could they not realize what those people have done to us ? To them ?’
‘They think their cause is noble and right. We’ve been used only for them to be what they are. They probably consider themselves superior than us. I don’t care. They chose, so we did and so will you. That’s a story for another day. I want to show you to see our reality and judge from yourself, this time not through me’
E2 was tempted to answer spitefully what he wished for those traitors to live one day in chains, locked up from everything they knew, away from all the people they loved, where no one could stop them from even thinking about doing inhuman things. If one day he met one of them… If they could only imagine what it meant being him… ‘Through what ?’
‘Her… close your eyes’
… Mina reopened her eyes once she found herself in the nearest parking garage of the facility. She knew that another exit was there, but it was needed a card to open the sealed gate, that luckily she had, just like any other employ of the facility. The wound on her back was healing slower than she’d liked, unfortunately, at least she had become more and more crafty over the years. She needed to be outside, she needed sunlight. Titans were always stronger during the day. ‘Almost there…’ she thought. She almost slipped the car when a bullet almost hit her hand. “Shit” She turned around and saw herself surrounded by soldiers and at the center her, Yelena, who was pointing her gun against her and the other man with dark skin at her side. “That was only a warning. I will shot you in the head” Mina snickered then she slipped the card. With a back flip she was able to disarm the closest soldier and grabbed his anti-titans rifle, which she used to kill him and the soldier behind her. The others, including Yelena, started shooting against her.Mina left the rifle and used the bodies of the death soldiers to protect her. As soon as she could she slipped out of the gate, letting the bodies fall, then she used her abilities to create a wall made of crystal and started running away again. She knew that the soldiers were still following her and probably others were waiting for her at any exit.At least now she could feel the sunlight on her face and that was exactly what she needed. ‘Mina… everything’s okay ?’ ‘Yes, Thomas. I’m out of the building. What about you ? Something new ?’ Mina hoped Thomas’ situation was better than hers. Running away wasn’t her speciality and she hoped that it would be the last time she had to work undercover. ‘No. We’re still waiting. Do you need a backup ?’ ‘No, I don’t want anyone else to get involved in all this mess. I destroyed the sketch. If I don’t find a safe way out here, I know what I have to do’ ‘I would be sincerely sorry if that scenario should happen’ ‘You should prepare yourself for it though. We both know the risks.’ The sunlight was helping, her wound almost completely healed and for the moment no one was shooting at her. She needed to sharpen her senses to know where she should go to avoid the soldiers, but her sense caught a heat source in movement. Like the one of a very powerful… ‘Shifter… Dr. Zeke Yeager’ Dr. Grisha Yeager was one of the two creators of Ymir serum. Mina herself informed herself about the guy, but no one was capable of giving her any useful information. All she knew was that few years after the death of his wife, Dr. Yeager quitted front he Industries and ran away, hiding himself from the rest of the world, while his son, Zeke, continued to work as a researcher for Tybur. Everyone in Paradise suspected that Zeke had inherited the serum from his father but he’d never worked in the training center and no one Mina knew had witnessed the man’s powers.Until now. “What the fuck… It’s… It’s…” … ‘It looks like a monkey’ E2 had never imagined that a shifter like that could exist, if it was actually a shifter and not some sort of hybrid or monkey shifter (he wouldn’t be surprised at all). The body structure and the facial features were ape-like, entirely covered with dark fur, with the exception of the face, hands, feet and torso like an actual monkey, but his arms were so long, too long to be proportionated to the rest of the body.The creepiest detail was his face, in particular those dark irises that made so difficult to understand where he was actually looking. ‘What is it ?’
‘Who. She’s right, he’s a shifter. He’s Zeke Yeager’
‘Yeager ? Isn’t he one of…’
‘Of the two creators of the serum. I’ve always suspected that the son could be a shifter as well, but I didn’t imagine that he could be so… peculiar’
‘How could you send her in that facility if you didn’t even know what kind of danger she…’
‘She’s devoted to our cause. She knew the risks and she accepted it’
‘She’s about to fight against a shifter whose abilities you know nothing about’ E2 knew he probably hit a soft spot. Eren seemed liked one of those people who hated not knowing something about a potential powerful enemy. He was curious to know why Eren had never tried to approach Zeke to form an alliance. Zeke’s DNA was a precious source of informations, firstly the location where Grisha Yeager was hiding himself like a coward. Grisha Yeager had to know so many things about the giants, about how they could improve their abilities further, if they could minimized their weakness. If there was another way to kill them over the nape.He really hoped Mina was capable enough to run away. He didn’t even know her but she was like him, he could feel her fear in that moment. H ‘Have you ever tried to contact him ? If he’s the son of one of two original shifters, he could provide us with valid informations’
‘I needed proofs. Strangely but… Zeke and I are not… mentally connected. I don’t know… He’s connected to the nucleus… but the bound is weaker… I only have theories’
‘Mind to share them with me ?’
‘Another time. I’ve never witnessed the power of the Beast Titan. It’s the first time’
‘Do you mean he actually never… never used his abilities before ?’
‘Rarely, very rarely and I’m sure never in a fight. I’m curious to know what kind of abilities he possesses’
‘If he isn’t used to fight, maybe Mina could win thanks to her experience’ So, one thing he learnt about Zeke was that the guy rarely used his abilities, which meant that they were probably underdeveloped, or at least he was rusty. Or maybe… Or maybe he simply trained them in the desert, like most of them.E2 was convinced that the people who worked with Zeke, maybe even Tom, were terrified of working with him, specially in an unprotected environment like the training center where, at minimal sign of loss of control, an anti-titan rifle was ready to solve the problem.Probably Zeke refused to submit his abilities at his colleagues’ scrutiny, probably he didn’t want to be seen like a monster, probably he wanted to be his own man.E2 was a little envious of Zeke. They both were shifters, yet the other was blessed with freedom and independence and most of all a normal life. E2… Eren… Mina… they… all they knew was… injustice…It was not fair.
‘I hope, for her.’
‘Will you help her ?’
‘I will lend her some of my power. But you need to be strong for this… I can’t promise her to save her’
‘Why ?’
‘The closer titans are to the nucleus, the stronger they are. I can lend them more power through our bond, but me and Mina are physically too far away. As I said before, the bound between me and Zeke is weak, which means I can’t control him either. The difference will be made by their skills and their power. Pay attention, this could be constructive for you too. It could help you to understand what I told you’
‘Power elevate you, yet it’s not everything. You need not to let it consume you, you don’t have to underestimate your opponent and you can’t relate on power only’
‘Exactly. Remember… a serum made us what we are today… a serum can always take back what was given to us. We can’t count on anything but ourselves. Learn this, in our battles we are, most of the time, alone with enemy.’
‘Something else ?’ ‘Don’t forget that power always come with a price. Mina, Zeke, even I… paid this price with our souls. Is your desire for freedom worthy of this price ? When the time comes, will you be strong enough ?’ ‘I don’t know…’
‘I hope you will find out. The next time I won’t commit a crime for you, you will decide and I hope you will make the good choice’
E2 expected Eren to say something more but he was glad that the conversation was over and Eren wouldn’t be pressuring him for long about what he was and was not willing to give up for the sake of his cause. Nevertheless he was sincerely convinced that he could learn a lot of things from Mina and her confrontation with Zeke Yeager. He could finally observe the world of shifters in his two different colors. On one side, the privileged shifters who were chosen by Tybur to build, one day, a greater world dominated by men; on the other side there were the victims, the children of Paradise, the outcasts who were chosen by the King of the new world, to initiate an era dominated by the scream of titans.A free shifter and an imprisoned shifter.A privileged and an outcast.A necessary evil and an unnecessary victim.Betray and loyalty.Freedom and slavery.Anger.Determination.Confidence.Titans.Monsters.Humans.So many emotions… he could feel in that silent exchange of glances.
‘Close your eyes…’
… Mina opened her eyes and smiled. “Ich bin bereit, Arschloch” (I'm ready, motherfucker) she said. Then she took advantage of her unhealed wound on her back and scream.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
LAGO CITY 11:20 Mina’s golden eyes shined under the sunlight, shined when her entire body changed, her bones broke, her limbs ripped and a thunder generated from her body silenced her scream of agony. She didn’t feel fear, she was ready to fight for her freedom.Her titan was a classic female titan, like Annie. Her body consisted mostly of muscle tissue and bone tissues, indeed her fingers were made of bones. Armin told her that a Female Titan usually possessed more agility, versatility and endurance. Unfortunately Mina noticed that the gab between her and Zeke’s height was evident, but usually taller titans were also more slower in their movements.With a jump, the best titan landed in front of her. “Before we start… There’s something I want to ask you” he interrupted, his eyes became red and then continued “Was it you… who killed Tom ? Or the boy you’re trying to protect ?” “I didn’t kill Tom, I actually liked him. I didn’t expect him to be so naive, but he was a good man. Still… he was an enemy” She hardened her right fist and started running against Zeke. Zeke was furious. He knew how to recognize when someone tried to lie to him, the girl was telling the truth. She didn’t kill Tom, probably she truly didn’t expect someone who worked for Tybur to be that kind. That meant she held some prejudices against the ones who worked for the Industries, why ?If what the other nurse told him was true, she worked for Tybur too. Or so everyone thought. She was a double-crosser and Zeke wanted to to know who she worked for.Mina hit the ground with her fist and then the asphalt started cracking toward Zeke, whom had anticipated that kind of attack.His opponent was considerably shorter than him, but faster in her attack; nevertheless it was probably the first time she confronted with a shifter like him. She probably intended to avoid any directed attack before having tested the waters. A giant crystal column rose from the ground and risked to hit him but he destroyed it with a punch. Even though his giant arms were too long and slim, they were actually stronger than they looked. “Pathetic” He united his hands and hit the ground like Mina but instead of one, different crystal darts rose from the asphalt at the point that Mina doubted that she could destroyed them all in one time. Luckily Female Titan had another important power… the scream. Differently from the other kind of giants, the scream of a female titan could attract the other titans and sometimes it could be strong enough to destroy a crystal barrier, like a banshee that screamed against a wall and destroyed it. Her powers were stronger during the day, she doubted that her scream would have been so efficient after the afternoon. “Don’t underestimate me” she said. “Where’s the boy ?’ “No one of your business” Mina started running and then jump, trying to hit Zeke with a fist but he blocked her with his hand, not noticing that four crystal darts exited from her hand and hit the other’s hand and ripped three fingers that fell on the ground.Zeke sincerely didn’t expect that.The shifters he saw at the training center weren’t so capable of manipulating so much their crystal armor. Where did she learn ? … ‘He’s becoming suspicious’
‘Of course, she’s incredibly good’
E2 betted he could feel a sense of proud in Eren’s word. Well, E2 had never had the opportunity to test his abilities in a fight against another shifter but from what he could see, Mina was capable and surely she was crafty enough to surprise an enemy whose strengths and weaknesses remained a mystery.She was undoubtedly brave not to run away from the enemy. E2 also felt a little guilty about the situation though. Because Mina was risking her life because of a stupid sketch drawn by him. He was so stupid but before Eren appeared in his mind… before the desert… He was simply so alone and lost in his own confusion that he simply needed to free his own sensation on papers.
‘Don’t feel guilty. Remember that this is a rare opportunity to study the unique Beast Titan’
E2 was tempted to reply that it was outrageous what Eren just said. One of his kind was fighting against a possible powerful enemies and all Eren could do was to be fascinated about the Beast’s abilities. All E2 could see was a giant monkey with creepy red eyes. ‘How does it seem to you ?’
‘Any giant possess a different kind of skills, but their qualities and their levels depend a lot from the shifter. I don’t know what kind of abilities possess the beast titan and I don’t know what kind of person Zeke Yeager is.’
‘Is there any way to test the other’s abilities ?’
‘Only through a good fight. A person can always surprise you. Look at Mina, she’s testing the others. She learns that despite what they seems, Beast’s arms are very strong and quick in the movements.’
‘He’s good with his hardening ability too’
‘Not to get fixated only on his abilities. We have partially analyzed his titan, what about Zeke Yeager ?’
‘He’s cautious. Probably he’s used to shifters with other standards, maybe the ones at the training center are not so good. He didn’t expect Mina to his rip his fingers that way. At the same time he seems off… probably due to Tom’s death.’
‘She’s the only lead he has to find out what happened to Tom… and to find you. Look at him, are you afraid of him ?’
E2 had no idea. Surely the Beast Titan had an imposing presence, he would give him that much and he seemed to know what he was doing, for someone who probably hadn’t used his abilities in a long time. E2 wondered how many time he would need to be good like Zeke or Mina in a fight. In the desert Eren and he thad trained a lot during his permanence in the white room, but one thing was training his abilities in the desert, another was using them in a fight against an opponent determinate to win, like Zeke was.E2 had used his abilities in the real world only twice in his life; the first when he controlled the mind of his victims to kill them and the second when he executed a partial transformation. He had no idea if he could consider himself capable of fighting that way against a valid opponent. ‘I’m afraid of myself. I lack the experience and I’m too emotional. I don’t know if I have the guts to hurt another human being.’
‘You shouldn’t worry if your hands tremble when you find yourself in the position of deciding whether to take or spare a life. Worry when they won’t tremble anymore’
‘Mina surely aren’t trembling. She’s confident, I guess it’s a good thing’
‘We’ll see. I’d dare to say that a little confidence doesn’t hurt’
… “Crafty, not so crafty” That was what Zeke said before , with the other hand, he pulled Mina’s arm to himself and tightening at the point of ripping it. Mina didn’t expect it but she refused to show any sign of pain or weakness. She shouldn’t have come that close first, she should have avoid any kind of physical contact, again she underestimated the psychical strength of those arms. Three fingers regenerated faster than an entire arm, but Mina had other resources. She still held some control over the nerves inside the ripped arms, even if for few seconds. She wanted to make it explode, but Zeke anticipated her intentions and destroyed it. “As I said… crafty, but not so crafty” “I try my best. You’ve been hiding for a long time and there’re not datas about you. What makes you so special, Zeke Yeager ?” “I’m the one who ask. Why ? Why did you betray us ?” ‘You’re the one who betrayed me first’ she thought but said nothing. Eren forbidden all of them to do something that could make their enemies understand, where they came from. If even the slightest suspicious about the survive of an entire population of giants arose, all of them would be hunt down to death by the entire world. The disgust for those people grew more, by any second, yet she couldn’t show it. She had to repress her hatred, her real face, her pain.They had turned her into a lie, an illusion and she would never forgive them. “I’m not against betrayal when it can be fruitful for me. Given the circumstances, Tybur Industries is over. I’m only trying to protect myself. I haven’t spent all those months taking care of a teenager for nothing. I don’t want to go in jail” “I think there’s more. You’re good, I’ll give you that much. You succeeded in deceiving someone so paranoid like Tybur used to be. You put on this play of the helpless young nurse, who hides her face behind her hair, so easy to scare off before she even think about betraying our Industries but now I think I’m the first who see your real face” Zeke admitted that he was impressed by her and he rarely remained impressed by people in general. She was smart and capable, but still her intentions weren’t clear. Zeke believed that she had never been loyal to Industries. He thought that she accepted to work for the Industry for another reason. Maybe she didn’t kill Tom but surely she had to know something. “The boy… You started working for the Industry to find him, didn’t you ? That would explain why you have waited all this time to come out. You were looking for him and when you found him, you waited for the right occasion to help him run away. Why ?” “You keep asking the wrong questions. Why don’t you ask yourself what the hell a teenager was doing all alone in that room in all those years ? Why Tom chose not to tell you about him ? Who you can trust ?” Mina almost felt pity for Zeke Yeager. He was another loser who blindly trusted a man like Tom Xavier, without knowing that the man himself was hiding a boy from everyone in the facility. A boy so important and so fundamental for the big picture. She could relate with that, she found in that situation because she trusted the wrong people. The raven hair titan also noticed she hit a soft spot when she mentioned Tom and smirked. “Tom was a weak… he deserved to die. Don’t worry, you’re going to follow him” As she predicted, Zeke started growling, forgetting the previous question and starting to attack her, exactly what Mina wanted. … LAGO CITY 11:45 ‘She’s very good. Zeke was beginning to put together the pieces of the puzzle and so she distracted him. Now he’s totally focused on her’ E2 was totally impressed by her. Eren’s words came into his mind, he didn’t have to focus on the giant’s abilities only, he also had to analyze the shifter, the person inside the nape. Even the little chit chat during a fight could hide significant informations if he paid attention. For example, Mina understood that Tom was a soft spot for Zeke, so she decided to provoke him, specially because she didn’t want to risk to reveal something herself.After all it was undeniable that he and Mina were connected someway, she was his nurse and she stole one of his sketch, furthermore Tom died and he disappeared. Zeke didn’t look dumb enough to believe that those were only coincidences. Nevertheless her words somehow hurt him too. He was the one who killed Tom and he was very important to him and that pain made him relate with Zeke, despite how much E2 was trying to deny it. He didn’t want to share anything with an enemy, he hated it, because it allowed him to consider Zeke like an equal.
‘She had good teachers’
‘You’re one of them ?’
‘One of them many. Can’t wait for you to meet everyone’
E2 had so many questions to Eren about the others, where they were, how many, what were their stories. He was sure that they had a lot of things to teach him, exactly like Tom and Mina, and Eren of course.
‘It’s almost twelve o’clock’’
‘What’s happening at twelve o’clock ?’
‘Our kind’s going to leave the sign. You’ll see, it will be epic’
‘Why at twelve o’clock ?’
‘You’re too impatient. Wait and keep observing the fight’
… Mina was feeling the weird buzz inside their head, that usually meant that someone was connected to her head and he was a little worried. If Zeke decided to trie to dig inside her head she had no idea is she was able to keep him out. She was a strong titan, but it was obvious that Zeke was stronger than her and maybe he didn’t even develop all his abilities at their full potential, or she would have been killed minutes ago. Well, with a ripped arm all she had to do was temporizing. She could tell that she pissed him off a lot with her words and that now his only one goal was to destroy her, which was a good things actually. He completely forgot about E2 and the sketch and maybe he would be too focus on his revenge to even think about reading her mind.She only had to resist until midday…Zeke was feeling rather frustrated with the situation. The female titan was faster than him, so she easily avoided his attacks, on the other hand Zeke’s attacks were more efficient and caused more damages. He knew that he was acting out of rage and that normally he wouldn’t behave like that. He was a creature made of pure intellect and concentration but right then he couldn’t focus, he simply wanted to get his answers and he was going to have them.He believed he guessed why the girl was temporizing, it was almost midday and for some reason their abilities were stronger during that day and weaker during the night. Indeed most of the shifters were unable to execute a complete transformation during the night. His two natures were in conflict. The scientist in him was begging him to wait until midday to further study and observe her, so he could analyze her abilities; the man in him instead was begging him to end that battle as soon as possible and get his answers.He also wanted to try to read her mind, he wanted to know if she was able to keep him out, and if it was the case, for how long. So he tried. ‘You know that there are no forces in the world that can keep us out from someone’s mind…’ ‘Do you intend to read my mind ? Have your fun trying’ Mina would anything in her power to protect her King from anyone. She had been trained to protect her mind from the intrusion of another shifter. Maybe she wasn’t strong like Zeke was, but she knew that she could handle it long enough until midday. She felt the buzz inside her head and she knew he penetrated her mind so she smiled and leaded him exactly where she wanted him to be… … ‘The desert…’
‘Don’t go there. Or we will risk him to see you. He can’t learn about your existence’
‘Then how am I suppose to know what happened between them ?’
‘You will know when the fight is over. You will see through her memories’
E2 pouted but obeyed. He was really curious to know how the desert could affect their abilities and how it could be used to own advantage. It would be another interesting thing to learn, but he saw Eren’s point. ‘If she has the opportunity, will she be strong enough to kill him ?’ Eren didn’t reply and E2 frowned. Eren was acting strange and the latter had spent enough time inside his head for E2 not noticing that something was wrong. He just had no idea how much, he hoped that whatever it was, it could be fixed. Eren was the only compass he had in the storm of his life and somehow something in the situation they were assisting was causing Eren to… He didn’t know how to define it. He was scared to dig inside the other’s head, he wasn’t even sure if he could actually do it. He should ask Eren to teach him how to develop his telepathy too. Regardless of what was happening in Eren’s head, he needed the other to talk to him. ‘Do you think that she will be strong enough to kill one of her kind ?’
‘I told you. Just because they’re both shifters doesn’t mean that they are on the same side. She is a Paradise’s child, he is an enemy. What applies to men apply to us. Not matters if they speak the same languages, believe in the same God or they have the same skin color, or the same blood; If there’s something that separate them, then it will separate them. In our case is our goals.’
‘So, when the time comes, will you be able to kill Zeke Yeager and ate him alive to obtain his titan ?’
‘Are you doubting my ability ?’
‘I just want you to share your thoughts with me. I want learn how to see the world through your eyes for once’
‘You always see the world through my eyes, only with more nativity but it’s okay. You need to discover the world on your terms. You deserve it’
E2 couldn’t argue with that but still, he wanted to know what was happening in the desert. ‘Tell me what’s happening’
‘Something really entertaining. She needs to be careful though’
‘How so ?’
‘From my experience, our telepathy developed like any other of our abilities. Indeed, when I was a child, I could only read the mind of the mindless giants, that were physically the closest to me. Then I could read shifters’ mind as well, only when they came to the island for the treatments. My powers were so limited’
E2 nodded. He remembered having a similar sensation. That was why he used to feel so close to the mindless titans, because they were the first creatures he felt to have a connection with. It was easy feeling like they were part of him and vice versa. It was so consolatory, it had helped him to feel less alone. Then Eren appeared inside his head and helped him how to read other people’ mind. The closest to him, both psychically and emotionally, Tom, was the one he read more easily. As soon as he was surrounded by others persons, like before, E2 realized how weak his control over his abilities actually was. ‘Then what happened Eren ?’
‘I realized I have developed all my abilities faster than any other shifters. In the beginning I though I could only read the minds of others people injected with the serum but then my telepathy became so strong that I was able to read everyone’s mind, including humans, even the one with the vaccine. I found no trace of something like this in any of the documents written by the researchers’.’
‘Which means that maybe not one of the shifters at the training center is able to read the mind of someone whom is not a giant’
‘Exactly, that’s why Mina needs to be careful to protect her mind more than her body. It’s also another opportunity to learn if the Beast Titan is so formidable at the point of being able to read everyone’s mind as well’
…
The desert was so beautiful, like always. Mina loved being there, it was a place that belonged only to her kind, where she always felt protected and safe. No humans could caught her there, no scientist, or nurse or doctor or anyone in a white coat. There she could put her guard down and allow her true self to come out.
There all the chains could be broken, there no rules imposed by God could be applied. Where she could actually feel she and her King were one and only. It was a sensation that no one who wasn’t a shifter and had no opportunity to lose themselves in Eren’s eyes could understand. Nothing in the world could match that sensation, nothing would be enough after that. Nothing would be the same.
“Do You know that in the desert the time passes different than in the reality ?” Asked Zeke behind her.
She rolled her eyes. Of course, she almost managed to forget that that intruder was there, in her sanctuary, with her. She couldn’t tolerate that.
How could one of her kind insist on working with the enemy ? After all the things done to the other titans. It was obvious that Zeke and his allies didn’t care, after all they were the one who were supposed to be perfect. Invincible.
All of them, abandoned on Paradise they were nothing but collateral damages. Mina would never forget the day of her injection, when she realized her fate, when she was sold like a broodmare to be tested and used.
“I forgot nothing. I never will”
She attacked first. Flip after flip, she was close enough and moved fast enough to kick him under his chin at the last flip. Zeke didn’t see that coming, but it was his fault, he shouldn’t have underestimated his opponent. She attack him again with another kick but he grabbed her by the ankle and then again on her knee and pushed her behind.
Mina didn’t fell, she gave herself a push with both of her hand and again she was on her feet.
On the desert was more complicated using their hardening abilities and if there was a way to use the sands of the desert, neither of them knew, so they could count on their abilities only.
Mina executed a perfect cartwheel and she attempted to kick Zeke on his right side but Zeke avoided he blowed her with the elbow on her cheek. He grabbed her by the leg and put another on her back and then hit her on the back with his knee.
Mina hissed for the pain when she fell on the sand. For being a lab rat, the blond guy was actually good. She didn’t expect that, since she thought that all his strength and arrogance came from the serum. He would be a valid opponent for her king and that itself made her hate Zeke even more.
“Already tired ? Do you give up ?” Mocked her Zeke.
“You… have no idea…” Mina grabbed a fist of sand and there it against Zeke’s face “How to treat a woman !” Then she tried to punch him in the stomach.
Zeke grabbed her wrist and then positioned behind her pressing another hand on her shoulder.
“Tell me what I want to know. Where’s the boy ? Why is he so important ?”
“You should tell me. He was important for the organization you work for. Why is he so important ?”
Mina managed to free herself from his grip and hit him again. She would never give up, not now, not ever.
…
LAGO 11:58 Thomas had been waiting in taker for four hours. In his hand he was holding a tablet where he could see the position of the other tankers. Sat next to him there was Floch, who was calmly looking outside the window. He was worried about Mina, since he lost the mentally connection with her, but he had a task to accomplish on his own. He admitted that he didn’t feel at ease being so far from Paradise Island, because he hadn’t left the island since his injection and he was still learning how much the world had changed in all those years. Also, he didn’t like to be there with Floch. Floch had something that unsettled him, like he was always on the point of doing something extreme. He couldn’t say what kind of extreme, if extremely dangerous, or crazy or whatever, it was simply extreme. “How more do we have to wait here ? I’m bored” Thomas whispered looking at tablet. “Two minutes more. Our Lord was clear. We have to wait for the midday.” Replied Floch without looking at him. “Yeah. It’s so strange being here.” “What’s so strange ?” Asked Flock disinterested. “Being around people. The silence inside my head. Don’t know. A lot of things actually” On Paradise there weren’t so many people and no one looked so carefree, like many teenagers he saw from his window. Also, he forgot the sound of silence. It was so difficult on Paradise not being mentally connected with someone or allowing someone else to enter your mind. Even when he was alone in a room, sometimes was hard to ignore the voices inside his head. Those people instead weren’t connected to him, he could penetrate their mind and exit whenever he wanted. No one of them could impose him their emotions.Even before the injection, he lived in a small provincial village in the North of Paradise, where everyone knew everyone and usually the people were always the same, unless someone managed to make fortune elsewhere or someone didn’t have the money to leave it.The life used to be simple there, ordinary and Thomas liked it. He wasn’t someone special after all, he wasn’t particularly smart, or grifted or ambitious. He would have been glad to remain there and work and in his bakery family, but fate had something else in story for him. “I hate being around people. Their thoughts are meaningless, so their lives. Can’t wait to finish our task” “You offered yourself for the job” replied Thomas. “I know. I hoped this mission would’ve been funnier, instead I’m tired of waiting” “Remember that this only a part of the mission, we also have to be sure that…”“That the boy leaves the town safe and sound. I know” Thomas nodded. He looked at the watch on his wrist and sighed. “It’s midday. Time to start the second phase of the plan” “It will be a birthday party with balloons !!” Smirked Floch pressing a button on the tablet. Thomas didn’t realize he was holding his breath until that moment and he would never admit that he was actually grateful to Floch for having pressing that button in his place. Thomas knew he didn’t have the guts to do it, not after what happened to him; fortunately Floch was crazy enough for both of men. …
A punch right in the face risked to make her lose her balance, but Mina managed to keep it and clean her broken lip with her hand. She realized quickly when it was midday and smiled. Every single cell inside her body was absorbing the sunlight, her wounds were all healed, her powers stronger and the second part of the plan was about to begin.
“Time to wake up”
Mina took another look at the desert around her and thought it was such a beautiful place and with bitter she wondered if, one day, she could be there again, in one form or another.
After a little tear run along her check, she closed her eyes and then…
…
‘E2 ? Put your hands on the clock and start pushing’
E2 blinked several times, then he did as Eren ordered and he pushed. Pushed like there was no other choice, as if that clock was the last obstacle between him and the world he had wished so hard to discover. It was so symbolic after all. At the midday any shifter reached their full inner potential, it was the moment when nothing could stop them anyone, the moment when the chains were, for the first time, broken by Eren. It was the moment when E2 would finally see the truth the world with his eyes for the first time.So he pushed…
‘Stronger’
… and he pushed…
‘Stronger’
… and he pushed…
‘You can do better than that’
If Eren was in front of him, E2 would have showed him the third finger. He knew he could do better than that, he knew that he needed to push harder, all he needed to do was to actually believe it. Believe he could be strong enough to see the truth and accept it. Believe that somewhere out there there was actually a place where he belong to. Believe that he could be enough to fight alongside his brothers to fight for their freedom.So he pushed… and pushed… and pushed…
‘You can do it’
… And he pushed… until it was no longer needed. The clock fell and in front of him appeared a splendid view. Eren told him the truth, from where he was he could see the entire city, like he was in his titan form. It was actually beautiful. It made him feel amazing and he couldn’t wait to turn into his titan form for the first time and learn what he actually could do. Everything else seemed so small and insignificant compared to where he was. That was why the Vegvísir Tower resembled the power of this town. Interesting.More beautiful than the town, it was the sky enlightened by the sun. The sun was so beautiful seen from there, it has splendid colors and it was so shining and E2 didn’t realize he was crying for the emotion.
‘Do you like what you see ?’
‘I do’
‘Then don’t take your eyes off it. The actual show is only about to begin’
… Mina came mentally back inside her titan body in time to avoid to be hit by a bomb against her nape. She should have expected it. She waisted too much time in the desert and it was dangerous. She didn’t have control over her body when she was in that place, that was why it wasn’t advisable to be there during a fight, where she should allow no distractions if she wanted survive. In that case it was necessary because Zeke was trying to dig inside her mind. Unfortunately, only then she realized that even though she successfully managed to avoid to be hit on the nape, she was already hit on the legs and knees, that was why she was falling. Not so terrible, because it was midday and during midday… she was able to do that.Zeke came back in his body almost immediately too, as soon as he realized that Mina was out and understood why. The midday. The moment when the shifters were able to perform what humans would normally define as ‘miracles’ or ‘disgraces’. In that case, Zeke, in his titan form, had no idea how to react to what he was seeing.Mina’s body was entirely releasing electrical discharges, similar to the lightning that generated from a shifter’s body before the transformation.He didn’t believe that someone could perform something like that. ‘I finally managed to surprise you ah ? Who did you think I was ? An amateur ?’ That girl was openly mocking him and Zeke couldn’t even blame her. He was unprepared because he had no idea that another shifter other than him was in possession of that ability.The lightning generated by the transformation was due to the multitude of bioelectric signals sent by the central nervous system to the peripheral nervous system, that in the body of a shifter were millions time stronger than the one in a human body.Such electrical discharged would normally destroy a normal nervous system, but for a shifter they worked differently. Firstly, the neurons of a shifter could be regenerated, since the organism was practically composed of totipotent cells; secondly the entire nervous system went destroyed because the neurons were completely consumed during the transformation; thirdly the entire system completely regenerated after the transformation to adapt itself at the size of a titan. Something really fascinating, since the neurons were the only cells that couldn’t regenerated after a trauma, but again, not normal human being possessed only totipotent cells that could heal quickly any kind of wounds.That was all certificated, so it shouldn’t surprise him so much, but it did. All the shifters he knew were completely unaware that they could control even their neurons if they wanted to. That they could be strong enough to manipulate the bioelectrical signals at the point to be able to generate lightings and thunders to use against the enemies. Zeke had spent so much time in the desert to learn how to use correctly that ability. Controlling the neurons was hard and very painful and there was the blackout that came between the death of last neuron and the regeneration of the first one as soon as the ending of the transformation. He had no idea how strong her attack would be, but if she was strong enough, she would destroy the entire facility and kill everyone nearby. A fatality he was determinate to stop. “I command you…” he started to say “… To stop immediately” “You have no power over… me…” The soldiers around her were still shooting her, but nothing could harm her at that point, she didn’t even know if she would survive. …
PARADISE ISLAND JANUARY 2096
Mina felt pain everywhere and the terrible buzz inside her made only aggravated her condition. She was laying on the grass in the courtyard where once used to be the facility, in her titan form, or what remained of it at least. That day, Eren and Frieda showed her how to manipulate the bioelectrical impulses generated by the nervous system, in order to generate electrical discharges that would help her to generate a thunder or a lightning strong enough to defeat any opponent. Armin suggested to wait more time to try to execute it, but Frieda insisted, since she was going to leave Paradise soon.
Frieda didn’t trust anyone outside the island and wanted Mina to be prepared to defend herself in any eventuality.
Eren warned her that it was a very special technique and a very dangerous one. Even though the nervous system worked differently for a shifter, it also represented some peculiarity between shifter and shifter, like in any human beings. Some people had a fast or slow metabolism.
Some shifters were able to manipulare their bioelectrical signals better and due to this, the neurons regenerated faster. Others had more difficult, so the neurons regenerated slower. Of course, other factors were involved, but it would have been too difficult to explain.
Mina herself didn’t understand the entire process well.
All she knew was that she could barely move.
“Mina… you did good. You still have time to practice.”
Frieda, who was in her human form instead, was gently caressing her her cheek but Mina couldn’t feel her touch, but honestly, the only knowledge that someone was there for helping her to soothe her pain was wonderful. It sucked so much suffering alone and she was done with that.
‘What if I never learn it ?’
Mina used the telepathy to communicate with Frieda because she had no strength to actually talk.
“You will. You’re a tough girl. You simply need to practice more”
‘I… feel nothing’
“It’s obvious. Most of the neurons have yet to regenerate. Until then your brain can’t send signals to the other organs and so there’s no sensitivity.”
‘How can this technique being effective if it takes so much time to regenerate ?’
“It’s effective because it’s hard to learn, I doubt that the other shifters are even aware of it. It will give you a significant advantage”
Mina closed her eyes, trying not to cry for the pain. She felt so humiliated and weak, and useless, above anything else. After all that time, she should be able to have a major resistance to pain, instead she was simply lying there like a loser.
She didn’t want Frieda or Eren to see her like that, she feared their judgment. Although Frieda told her that it was okay, that she had time, Mina didn’t see it that way. She was entrusted with an important responsibility, to find the alleged doppelgänger of her king, someone who could possess most of the abilities, if not all, that could not only give their enemy an precious opportunity to learn more about them, but also the risk that they would turn the boy in the new nucleus.
The latest was a risk no one of them was willing to take, because if the boy became the new nucleus, all the titans generated from him would be loyal to Marley, to their enemy and the possibility itself enraged Mina to death.
That was why she needed to learn and refine her technique before to leave for Marley.
‘I want to try again’
“You have no straight left” warned her Frieda.
‘My king would borrow me. It need to be perfect. I have to be perfect’
“Power is not a guarantee of perfection. You have the power already. You simply need more confidence in yourself and to find the balance. I wish I could help you more, but the manipulation of the nervous system it’s so difficult. If you use too much energy at the beginning the neurons consume too quickly, if you don’t, the bioelectrical discharges can’t be activated.”
‘I have one question…’
Mina almost feared what she was about to ask but she needed to know. She needed to leave the island without any question left unanswered.
‘To execute this technique, all the neurons or at least most of the ones of the central system have to be used, which means that in most of the cases, the brain is the first organ to die and the first to regenerate. What if someone tries to penetrate my mind ? What should I do then ?’
Brain death.
Mina knew what she risked. The only reason why most of the shifters has no memory of the pain during the transformation was that. Their brain died and then regenerated. It lasted few seconds but during that time, there’s no brain activity.
Someone would ask, without brain activity, why didn’t they die ? Simple, because for some reason, the totipotent cells in the spinal survived and continued to be generated and to produced other neurons that in few seconds would formed a new brain. Enough to forget the most painful moment of the transformation, efficient to have a new titan brain that worked perfectly for a titan body, but it was a moment of extreme vulnerability too.
Problem, if during the execution of that technique that should create a thunder similar to the ones generated to a transformation, included the death of 90% of the neurons and the 10% was busy by reproducing other totipotent cells that would substitute the death cells, which one of them would help her maintain a level of consciousness high enough to defend herself from possible intruders ?
Frieda’s tears and sadness were the answer she needed.
…
Zeke Yeager’s intrusion in her head was hurting her. The neurons in her head perceived Zeke’s influence like an intrusion they needed to eliminate, but she had no more resources to expel him out of her mind. She smiled, while Zeke Yeager was still stupidly trying to manipulate her, to penetrate her mind without accepting that it was almost impossible doing it. In few seconds, there would no more mind to penetrate because all the neurons would be burned in order to produce more bioelectrical discharges. She couldn’t defend herself, but she would protect her king. “What are you fighting for ? I know what you’re trying to do and If you don’t stop, you’re going to die because your mind won’t tolerate the pain of my intrusion. STOP !!!” Mina was very, very tempted to obey. The pain was hard to resist and she wanted only to stop everything, to stop that never-ending suffering, but she couldn’t. With tears in her eyes, with the sadness filling what remained of her heart, she knew what she had to do. The soldiers with their anti-titans rifles surrounded her, the Beast Titan was obviously more powerful than her and the midday was almost over. Mina knew the risks, she knew that the possibility that her would make it our alive were short, but she had faith in her cause. She had faith in her king’s promise. “I can’t stop… I will never surrender to you and your people.” “Why are you doing all of this ? What have we done to you to deserve to be betrayed ?” Mina smiled then she said “What goes around… comes around. Remember this, Zeke Yeager.” ‘I won’t let you find the boy. Not now not ever’ The last thought enraged Zeke beyond any measure. He would find the boy, he wouldn’t stop until he found him and got his answers. He couldn’t give up, that was why he was desperately trying to read her mind in search of something, anything, that could give him a lead, before it was too late. She was the only remaining link he had to find him, that boy without a name. He used his powers to slow down her attack, but he knew that he didn’t have much time and she was determinate to keep him out. He had no idea how a mole like her infiltrated successfully in the facility and also managed to hide from everyone that she was a shifter. He needed to know… one memory… just one memory… anything that could give him a clue…Zeke’s black eyes brighten in red and penetrated the girl’s mind with all his strength. One memory… only one… But all he could see was emptiness and darkness. But he could swear that for few seconds he felt another connection, someone at the other side, who wasn’t Mina. Someone who was close to the both of them… …
‘Interrupt immediately your connection’
Eren’s order caused him an headache. Why should he interrupt his connection ? What was happening ? Mina was in danger, she couldn’t defend herself in that moment, they couldn’t leave her alone. They couldn’t abandon her. It was fair. How could E2 expect loyal from his own kind if he, at the first problem, abandon one of them ?He knew why Eren was ordering him to stop the connection but he couldn’t… ‘I was abandoned long ago in a white empty room, you can’t seriously asking me to do the same’
‘She knew the risks, you need to let her go’
‘I can’t. I don’t want to sacrifice her’
‘New lesson, sometimes you need to make sacrifices if you want to obtain something’
E2 was enraged. He knew that. He sacrificed Tom to escape from the facility, he sacrificed someone else’s life, he used him like a sacrificial pawn. He used Tom like he had been used by those scientists and nurses, over and over again, how could he expect respect for himself if he didn’t respect the ones closest to him ? He couldn’t.From where he was, he was able to see the lightning away, even without using his abilities. It was clear that the more time passed, the more Mina was losing control over her lighting. She was dying and he wasn’t far from it, yet Eren was ordering him to give up. ‘I accept sacrifices only when I’m the one who make them. I won’t allow someone else to die to protect me’
‘Yes, you will. You must’
‘You’re the king, you promised to protect her’
‘I promised to protect you too. Interrupt the connection, NOW !!’
The buzz inside the head induced him to close his eyes and grabbed his head with both his hands. That bastard of Eren tried again that little disturbing trick to induce him to obey. E2 was tired of Eren’s arrogance. Mina wasn’t a martyr, she was one of them.Tom wasn’t a pawn to sacrifice, he was his friend. Eren could be his king, maybe even a friend, surely a mentor, but E2 would never allow him to dictate his life, not now, not when he could save a person who was willing to risk their life to protect him. ‘Eren… lend me your power. Please’
‘I don’t want’
‘After all your words about caring for each other, to put our kind above anything else, to fight for our freedom, to prove myself worthy, to stop running away, you can’t actually expect me to believe that you want me to leave her. Lend me your power’
‘Even if Zeke finds out you’re still in the city ?’
‘Yes’
‘Even if you don’t know if you’re actually enough to save her ?’
‘Yes’
‘Even if you have no idea of what would happen to you if you give too much of your power to her ?’
E2 wasn’t ready. He had never partecipate so directly in a fight, specially against an opponent that was his equal and probably even stronger than him. He was scared, to be discovered, to lose the freedom he killed Tom for. He wanted to save Mina because she was a part of him, that was one of the two reasons. The second more selfish one, was that E2, after seeing what Mina was capable of, had the feed to prove himself. He needed to prove himself that he could be enough; that he didn’t need Eren to be powerful, to feel useful, to be able to pick his own fight and win.Until that moment, it was Eren who told him what to do, it was undeniable. Eren told him when to sleep. And wake up. And go to sleep again.Eren ordered him when he needed to do something and how, or not to do something and wait.Eren told him, ordered him, whispered him, controlled him and E2 allowed him all of that because he knew he didn’t know enough about the world, to be able to survive on his own. E2 didn’t expect to be free from Eren, he wasn’t in the position for it, but he wanted to loosen the leash. He needed to start to grow up, both mentally and physically and the sooner he began, the faster he would become more independent. ‘Yes’
‘Fine… be prepared. It will hurt. Ready to learn another lesson. Close your eyes’
…
When he opened his eyes again, E2 was back in the desert. He had no idea how he could be able to help Mina from there, but he couldn’t wait to find out. The desert wasn’t a real place, but a creation of their mind, more like a dream.
Tom once read him a storybook, ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It was a story about a girl who followed a white rabbit down his hole and found herself in a weird place where nothing had a sense, if not symbolic. For him it symbolized a lot.
E2 was trapped in his own nightmare called reality, bored, alone, lost like Alice, until a white rabbit caught her attention and dragged her in a journey where she would learn a lot of things about herself and the world.
Eren was his white rabbit, his Vegvìsir, the first who leaded him through the desert. A desert that was trembling…
“So you’ve come. You arrived in the desert without my help”
“I’m learning how to do it… why is the desert trembling ?”
“It’s the first time you arrived here on your own. Before I brought you here everytime, you simply need to concentrate”
“Okay, maybe I will finally learn more about this place”
“Well, first lesson, this place is more real than it actually seems. For example, the stars you see are not stars. Those are our neurons, connected with their synopsis, and when I intended ours I mean the neurons of all the shifters.”
“So you’re basically saying that this place is a resemblance of an immense nervous system. And the sand what represents ?”
“I still have to find out. It could be anything and nothing at the same time. Look…”
With the sand, Eren create a shape of himself, the one he usually used to communicate with E2 in the desert. The version his 21 older self. E2 was actually surprised to learn that the man he had been talking with all that time was basically made of sand. He was glad that Eren shared that information with him, but it made him doubtful toward Eren again.
If the sandman he talked with was nothing more than a puppet created by Eren’s will, it meant that that wasn’t his real face, or his real voice, or his real age. Maybe Eren didn’t even exist…
No, he highly doubted that.
After all they’d been through, he doubted that the children of Paradise would simply trust a voice in their head to start a rebellion. Not matter how much sensible it could be, they would have simply thought to have gone crazy or that someone was still manipulating them from the outside.
No, Eren did actually exist and he was somewhere in Paradise, yet there were so many secrets between them that E2 couldn’t help himself about misjudging Eren’s behavior. If there was a reason why he hated liars so much, it was because a relationship based on half truth and lies was doomed since the beginning, because at some point you simply ceased to believe, become suspicious and the disappointment was sometimes too hard to bear.
Eren had never lied to him, Tom either, if E2 avoided to consider all those time they hide something from him. Nevertheless he found himself questioning more and more whether he actually trusted Eren, if he should, or if he needed it.
“Wow” he said simply “Okay, let’s back on track. How am I supposed to help Mina from here ?”
“Simple. It may sound impossibile, but I guarantee you that there’s a center in this desert. At that center reside the psychic powers, a coordinate where all our minds are connected. A giant enormous synapse that connected all of us. There you could lend your powers to Mina without anyone knowing. At least not Zeke Yeager” said ‘sandman’ Eren.
“How could you be so sure ?”
“He was born with the serum inside him. Reading and controlling Mina’s mind should be easier for him than that, but he’s struggling even though he’s no match for her. If he wanted to, he would have stopped her attack long ago. Not matter how much unstable that technique could be, he could have it stopped. He didn’t.”
“Maybe he’s no used to be mentally connected with someone else”
“Mmm… He didn’t give me this impression. More like he more used to repress his powers than unleash them. Maybe he hasn’t learned how to act like an actual titan yet. I wouldn’t be surprised”
“If he’s so strong as you say, shouldn’t it come natural ? Like breathing or something ?”
“Not for everyone. I think that he fatigues to accept what he really is. His origins. He gave me this impression. He’s suffering a lot about Xavier’s death too. Almost like…”
“Almost like what ?”
“Not sure. I will share it with you later. Now we need to be at the center”
“Will we arrive in time ?”
“In the desert the time works differently and since it’s basically a place built by our mind, arriving somewhere it’s easier than you can imagine. Look”
E2 obeyed and then he actually saw an immense and terrifying tree or something like that, made of pure bioelectrical energy.
Again he was impressed. The desert was an amazing place, full of mysteries, beautiful like a dream, with the only difference that all the people in there had full control of their actions and scenarios. E2 loved that place thousands times more than the reality and any dream. At that point there was nothing in the world he loved more than control over everything that surrounded him.
“Okay, so how does it work ?”
“This tree absorbs the bioelectrical energy with one hand. Let it be part of you and then recognize Mina’s neurons among all the other shifters. Concentrate”
E2 nodded.
“Be careful, it’s the first for you so I will lead you, but feel honored nevertheless. You’re the only one other than me able to do it. The other shifters can’t control this amount of energy nor they can manipulate the desert so easily”
E2 followed Eren’s instruction and put his hand inside the bioelectrical energy,. It was a strange sensation, he could feel the energy penetrate his hand merged with the ones produced by his own neurons. The usual buzz he felt in his head possessed all his body, indeed he was feeling a little dizzy. According to Eren, since they shared the same origins, more or less, it should be easy for him to replicate what Eren could do.
E2 was feeling dizzier any second and his legs were trembling. He closed and opened his teary eyes and he also started sweating.
Eren put an hand on his shoulder, to calm him, to help him focus.
“Think about Mina, think about what you can do for her”
E2 nodded, he ignored the dizziness and tried to locate Mina’s neurons among the others, He managed after various attempts, he knew it was hers because e recognized her mental energy. Unstable, as it should be for anyone who was turning their body into a mass of lightning and burned neurons.
It didn’t matter, he found her and he was going to help her.
‘Resist Mina, I will help you’
…
Mina adverted the boy’s presence in her head, through the connection and smiled. She knew what he was hoping to do, probably her king too. Probably Eren was with the boy in the desert, she knew that her king wouldn’t have abandoned her so easily.Nevertheless, she wouldn’t hesitate to interrupt the connection. ‘One…’ She felt the connection between her and her king, she felt stronger as soon as his power was given to her. Her eyes turned violet instead of gold, a detail that Zeke noticed.Quite alarming, since she shouldn’t be able to do it. He knew that those eyes meant, only two kind of shifters could have it. The one like him who were born with the serum inside their system, and the ones who could borrow it from the nucleus.What was happening to her ? Was she borrowing the power from him ? Even though he wasn’t directly giving it to her ? Was it possible something like that ? ‘Two’Mina was ready to hit Zeke with her thunder. Only few seconds left before the end of the midday, but she was ready to take down the Beast Titan and the entire facility with one shot. “Three !!” She screamed and then there was an explosion, quickly followed by a blinding light and an annoying buzz in the ears. Zeke had just the time to get out from his titan body, before it went completely destroyed by the thunder, together with the entire third floor of the facility and part of the second one. Luckily the first floor remained intact, unfortunately the labs were almost all on the other two floors. He paled only thinking about how many people she had just killed. Even the wall that surrounded the facility was partially destroyed.His human body was full of wounds and bruises and he couldn’t move. The explosion had pushed him violently again the other side of the wall and he wouldn’t be surprised if he had the back broken. Probably he did, since he couldn’t move. He wanted to cry, but he wouldn’t, at least to preserve what he had left of his dignity. He failed… that was the truth… he failed completely and undeniably. His father, that liar, once told him that he was probably the strongest and most powerful titan ever created, since he was born with the serum in his vein but now he realized it was only another lie of that man. He wasn’t strong, or powerful, he was nothing. He was a simple man who hide himself inside the nape of a giant ape, nothing less and nothing more. His father used to teach him how to use his abilities when he was a child, them everything became too complicated. …
MARLEY LIBERIO CITY 2078
“Stop fighting, why are you resisting ?”
An eight year old Zeke and his father had been training in an isolated place in the wood to practice with their titans. His father was trying to teach him how to control his transformation. He told him that during the transformation, it was hard the first times to maintain lucidity. Any beginner would completely lose his humanity, due to the infantility and the initial weakness of the new brain and the trauma of the transformation itself.
Zeke was only able to execute an half transformation. Once an arm, once both, another time half of his body but never a fully one. Not yet, much to his father’s displeasure.
Any time he failed, his father always asked him the same question.
Why was he resisting ? Resisting what exactly ? The pain ? The pain was indescribable, unforgettable and he hated it. No, he hated himself. His father once told him that the pain increased his anger, his anger empowered his will to become stronger, his will to become stronger allowed him to put it up with the pain thorough the entire transformation.
Zeke felt anything like that. That pain was too much and in the end he was reduced in tears even before the transformation could actually be activated.
Sometimes he didn’t bite deep enough because he feared to taste his blood on his tongue: other times he bite too hard but he knew that it wasn’t the kind of pain necessary to activate the transformation.
“Pain…” he simply muttered with his head in the mud while he was laying on the ground “I don’t… I want… papa”
Zeke wanted to tell him so many things.
‘Today’s my birthday’ thought an eight years old Zeke, with the blanket snuggled around him. Any other child would be enthusiastic, jumping on the bed of his parents to wake them up, impatient to open the presents, but not Zeke.
It was his first birthday without his mother, Dina, she was the one who always organized his birthday’s party and made sure that everything was perfect. Zeke loved the party she used to organize for him and all her efforts to make him happy, despite being very sick.
After her first and only pregnancy, Dina’s health started to get worse and worse each years, until she died two months ago, abandoning her only child in the care of a man who had forgotten how to be a husband and a father.
Her mother’d never told him anything about her relationship with her father, she didn’t have to, it was evident that they only pretended to be the perfect married couple in front of the other and then acted like strangers when there were home. They stopped to sleep in the same when Zeke was four years old, they barely talked, or did something together.
Dina looked for Grisha’s attention, but his father built a wall around him, a wall that kept everyone away. It wasn’t that Grisha didn’t make any effort to keep the pieces of his life together, but those efforts were so weak and inefficient that at the end of the day, the coldness that he reserved to his mother, how he kept her at distance, the way he pondered the words during their conversations, as he was talking with one of his patient rather than with his wife ruined everything over and over again.
Maybe he was irrational, but Zeke was convinced that if his father had treated his mother better, she would have lived longer, maybe even cured by her illness, but her father dragged her down in the same spiral of loneliness and madness where he was.
“I know it’s hard to understand Zeke…” said his father kneeling next to him, caressing his blond hair “
“I don’t want to do this anymore papa”
“I’m sorry Zeke, you didn’t chose this, but unfortunately I have no other way to help you but this. You need to understand”
Zeke wanted to say that he’d been trying to understand his whole life why his father acted the way he did. He was trying to find explanations even when there wasn’t any, or maybe there was always one and it was always the same and he couldn’t accept.
He… was… alone.
His father kept telling him that they were the same, but Zeke knew it was a lie. His father accepted what he became, Zeke didn’t, maybe he never would. Why should he ? He didn’t ask for any of that and he couldn’t imagine why someone in his position would have done the opposite.
In his own hatred for his nature, he was alone. Since he knew that some of his father’s friends aspired to be just like them, monsters. Titans. Gods.
There was no honor, nothing to be proud of.
‘I… I’m… so sorry… I wish you were here… I wish… I knew what to do…’
His father only thought it, Zeke wasn’t supposed to know it, since he knew it wasn’t directed at him, yet it caught his attention. Yet it was enough to make him looked at his father’s face.
It was like seeing his father for the first time. His long uncombed hair, the tired face, the dark circles around his eyes, he had lost weight too. Even though he wasn’t so close to his father, it was sad seeing him crying like that. He slowly opened the door and walked toward his father. His father didn’t seem to have noticed he was being observed, so Zeke simply hugged him, in seek of some kind of solace. Grisha jumped, but then he realized that his son was hugging him and then he held him tight.
Zeke felt comforted from his hug, it was one of the few demonstration of affection that his father gave to him, but at the same time Zeke couldn’t fully enjoy the hug. It didn’t feel the hug given by a father, but by a stranger who happen to be there to comfort him.
Zeke didn’t want to be hugged by a stranger, he needed his daddy, he needed someone who really loved him. Did his father love him ? Zeke wasn’t stupid, he saw how the other fathers behaved with their children. All his friends had learned how to ride a bike, how to swim and other things by their fathers. His mother was too weak to teach him how to do all those activities, so his grandparent did, but it wasn’t the same.
His father taught him other kind of ‘stuff’ that he wasn’t allowed to tell to his mother. For example, that he could turn into a monster.
‘A Titan’ replied a voice inside his head ‘A powerful Beast Titan’
And there was that voice in his head, that voice that didn’t stop to torment him, to follow him inside his dreams. Zeke told to his father about the desert, but his father told him that it was normal. Sometimes he and his father trained where they were in the desert. His father told him that when they could access to desert only during REM sleep, when brain activity facilitated a process of memory consolidation, because the desert had the same function of a normal dream that helped the brain strengthen the linking and the consolidation of semantic memories. Practically everything that was learned in the desert, the brain transformed it into pictures, that then the brain turned into memories. It was like the theory was learned in the desert and the practice was used in reality. It was so weird. All he had to do, he could do while he was sleeping, in the desert, it was better than spending hours to learn something in reality.
Nevertheless those moments seemed so unreal, so fake and his father always had a sad face when he looked at him, like he hoped to see someone else in his place, or like he was looking for someone in him. He didn’t know.
The forest they were in him was real, yet the pain he was feeling prevented Zeke to fully enjoy that brief moment shared between a father and a son.
“I don’t want to be like this daddy, I want my mum”
“I know. I know. But remember this Zeke, despite how much pain you could feel now, or you will, you’re special Zeke. So much special, so smart, intelligent, capable. You’re my hope, Zeke. I believe in you and you’re so much important to me”
And for a moment Zeke believed him, again. He soaked up the tears and hugged his father tighter.
He believed that he was special, because his father told him he was.
He believed he was intelligent, because that was what his daddy wanted him to believe.
He believed he was worthy, so important, so many things than any son would loved to be for his own father.
For a moment, he allowed the child in him to dream about the birthday party his father would prepare for him that day and the present he was going to receive.
Zeke loved the pancakes his father prepared for him, they were delicious and he was surprised that his father could cook so well. So he imagined the the breakfast his father was going to prepare for him, helped his father washing the dishes, and after finishing his chores in the kitchen, instead of saying that there were things he needed to do in his studio, his father would stay with him in the living room, doing something fun with him.
Then his grandparents would arrive too, and brought to him other presents, with the promise of reaming there until the evening. His grandma promised to bring him the album with the pictures of his parents’ marriage and honeymoon.
His father kept some photos on the desk in his office but Zeke usually avoided that place when his father was there, nevertheless any time he could look at them all he could think was how they looked so happy. If he didn’t know any better, he’d said that his father really loved his mother.
His mother’s eyes shined so brightly when her husband put the ring on her finger, or when they cut their cake at their wedding ceremony, the first picture taken during their honeymoon. He couldn’t wait to spend the entire day with his grandparents. Pretending for one day to be a happy normal family, pretending that something between them wasn’t broken. Pretending that their mother was still there with them…
For a moment, he forgot the mourn he felt for his mother’s death.
And again he was once again his father’s little obedient boy, again he would accept to bite his little hand, again he would be willing to put himself through pain to become a monster. Because that was what his father wanted, because that was what a good son should do, and he wanted to be a good son with all his heart.
…
Zeke had experienced the pain many times, in thousands different ways, the mourn, a thorn under his foot, a little cut on his finger, the loss of his mother, the indifference from his father. Somehow neither of those kind of pain was enough to activate a complete transformation. He realized later that the truth was he didn’t want to feel pain, he refused it, he ignored it, he tried to resist it. The pain made everything real and there were so many things his 8 yers old self wished so hard not to be real. He allowed the emptiness filling him from inside, because nothing meant nothing. It didn’t hurt, it simply stayed there in silence. Pain didn’t, pain required to be felt, to be listened, to be empowered. It was like a cancer, once it penetrated you, it would never go away, it would remain there tormenting its victim. It was only when he accepted that pain that he was able to turn into a monkey, a deformed one, nothing special.Just a carnival costume. That was all his father gave to him, a carnival costume. It wasn’t fair.Those were the thoughts that were tormenting Zeke’s mind, who even even started crying without realizing. Probably the girl was still nearby, running away from him, carrying with her all the secrets and the answers he needed to find out who killed Tom. But again, he proved he was not enough. That was why it came so easy for him to kill, because he hated. He hated those that had the courage to fight for themselves, for their own fight and not to pleased a dead beat whom abandoned his own son long ago.Once he came to the conclusion that almost no one would have killed him with a blink, he knew that he needed to be more like them.He learnt that to make it out live in the world he needed, more than become someone else, to embrace the beast inside him. Once he embraced it, once he chose to become a murderer, once he payed the price with his heart and soul for power, everything became easy. All he had to do was to choose to like like an hunter and not a prey. Meanwhile Mina’s titan body went completely destroyed too, but she didn’t care. She won, that was all that matter, even though the overwhelming pain. Her human body was okay but still covered with minor wounds and bruises and still surrounded by steam. ‘Thomas… Is the plan proceeding ?’
‘All according to the plan. I saw the thunder, is everything okay ?’
Mina was very relief to learn that, that their plan was proceeding according to their plans. She was exhausted but she couldn’t stopped there. She knew for sure that Zeke was still around, he couldn’t have died so easily but at least she was sure he was in bad shape, as she was, maybe even worse. She didn’t feel anyone around her, but her senses were blurred in that moment. The only thing she could do in that moment if danger presented itself was to run away. ‘Ah, I guess. I don’t think he’s dead, but I highly doubt that we will see the Beast Titan soon. How’s Floch doing ?’
‘He wants to come back home. We’re coming for you’
‘No way. It’s not safe. I’m going to look for you, until then stay safe’ The last thing she wanted was for Floch and Thomas to come there. Thomas and Floch were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, but in case of fight, in her condition she would be nothing more than a dead beat.
‘You sure ?’
‘I’m still in enemy’ territories. If something happens I…’ … ‘What happened ? Eren, what happened ?’ Eren didn’t answer and E2 could feel his eyes burning and he had to bite his lip not to scream. He felt, the pain. So strong that instinctively put an hand on his chest.
‘Another lesson… the outcome of a certain event cannot be predicted, in spite of everything you have, or everything you are. That’s what makes us tremble at any step. The unpredictable’
‘Please, please… don’t…’ He should have learnt by now that begging someone would never work to obtain mercy, specially in Eren’s case. E2 closed his eyes, trying to come back in the desert but Eren didn’t allow him too. He demanded from him his fully attention. ‘We can’t do anything anymore… It must happen… I… can’t do nothing.’ ‘No, it’s not true. I can’t be too late.’ E2 refused to see it. He refused to accept it. He knew he was returning into the familiar path of denial, a huge step back in spite of all the things Eren showed him that day. But… but… … ‘It’s so beautiful the sun today.’ That was what Mina thought when she put her hands on her chest, exactly where someone behind her shote her with an anti titan rifle. She knew she was going to die, her body was too weak to only hope that she would recover in time. She could already feel the cold embrace of death around her soul. For once, a wound like that didn’t hurt, she felt nothing but a delectable sense of peace, finally free from life’s fatigues. She achieved what she needed to achieve, she fought tooth and nails for her freedom and in so she would die… Free. “Caught ya, you bitch” Mina fell on the ground, with her face slightly turned toward her executioner. It was the blond woman from before, Yelena. The woman’s clothes were ripped in different parts, her face was dirty and covered with some bruises, yet she was standing above Mina like War Goddess, ready to take the life of her victim once and for all. Yelena was looking at Mina like an hungry lionesses who had spent the last hours hunting down his prey, a prey that costed her fatigue, time and maybe even a little bit of her dignity. Mina surely gave her hard time, but it was worthy. “I’m gonna turn you into a lab rat again, young lady. I will feel pure joy when I vivisect you, and experiment on you and turn your life a living hell for what you’ve done” Mina smiled.That woman had no idea what she was talking about. How could she after all ? Mina knew how to recognize a bent soul, that woman… there was something very twisted in her, an insanity or maybe not, she was simply a cruel person who enjoyed inflicting pain on the ones she considered like ‘aunts’. Small, unworthy, easy to crash. Useless.Mina had felt that way in a long time, even before being actually turned into a lab rat. She began realize how worthy she actually was not when she started to succede, but when she demonstrated to be strong enough to stand up every time she fell, when she was ready to move on when someone else surrender.Pain didn’t scare her anymore and she was ready to move again. The rebellion didn’t end with her, a new sun would rise the day after, and so her kind.With no strength left but with a strong desire to be free, Mina died, using what remained of her brain activity to destroy her body, so that no one would ever experiment with it without her permission. When Eren recruited her, she swore him utterly loyalty and devotion, recognized him as her true lord and master, promising him that she would any day harder for her freedom and ones of her kind. Freedom, she swore to fight for her freedom and she would be free.In a human shape, or turned into dust in the wind, no more chains would keep her prisoner. ‘Long live the king’ That was the last thing she thought, before her body arsed under the gaze of her executioner, who didn’t expect it.“How could it be possible ? NO ! NO !! NO !!!” Yelena was desperate. Not only because she felt mocked by life, it wasn’t fair. Not then, not when she was so close to do something to make Doctor Yeager happy. That girl was too precious to let her body burn, if Zeke managed to eat her, he would obtain her memories and then they would know who was plotting against them. Now, with her lost and Zeke completely wounded and unconscious, they had nothing and it was her fault. That knowledge alone made her hate her enemy more. When the body ceased to burn and in its place nothing but ashes remained, she kicked them with distate and started searching for Zeke Yeager again. That was the highest priority.Behind her, a terrible storm was coming, a storm that had the scream of the king of titans, the shape of his hatred and the fatality of his sentence. … He felt it…E2 may had not seen when Mina died but he knew when, he felt it the exact moment it happened. He knew because he felt himself dying, he felt the nothingness, he felt the fear of the unknown and cold, so much cold, that nothing could have warmed him from.He didn’t know Mina, she didn’t know him, yet in few hours she had become someone precious to him, for all the lessons she gave to him. For the life she renounced in order to protect him. He also respected her as a warrior and he would honored her. ‘Not to intromit in our mourn. But it’s time for another lesson’ ‘I thought lessons were finished for today. I’m not in the mood for another lesson. I want to remain alone with my mind’
‘Pity, you can’y. No rest for us titans. Have seen the blond woman ?’
‘The one who killed one of my kind ?’ E2 felt anger rose inside him at the mere mention of Mina’s murderer. What about her ? Why was Eren insisting on having a conversation with him ? E2 didn’t want to talk, he simply wanted some time to metabolize everything.He was a titan, he was born to rise among men, that was at least what Eren expected him to be. Everyone expected him to be. He knew almost nothing about a world that wanted to dominate him with syringes, tubes and experiments.And in the end there was an entire population of titans who believed him being worthy of something. At the point that one of them, Mina, died to protect him and it wasn’t fair.He also learnt that Eren was good at getting his way, not matter what, so he would better indulge him. ‘What about her ?’
‘She’s a natural talent. She’s an huntress who knows perfectly how to sniff the prey. She killed Mina without a blink. How do you think she can ?’
‘Tell me’
‘Because she knows exactly what she is, what a human being is. A human being is a lot of things, but firstly it is a predator, born with the concept of Mors tua, vita mea’
‘Mors tua… ?’
‘It’s latin. The point is that sometime you need to sacrifice others’ life to survive. You killed Tom, Mina killed those men and that woman needed Mina’s body to study her. I understand that this is pure theory for you. That’s another problem, it’s time for you to in practice everything you learnt today’
‘I don’t think I can right now.’ E2 was in a bad place in that moment, mentally. He’d seen too much, he’d learnt too much and now the burden on his shoulder had gotten heavier and it was crushing him. The doubt was crueler, once it penetrated your mind it was difficult ignoring it. What if Eren abandoned Mina to die to teach him another lesson ? Eren was the nucleus, he could have saved her, he could have saved Tom and there was something about Zeke that was so terrible wrong but E2 didn’t know how to give a shape to those thoughts.
‘You have to if you want to find your way our of this city. Get ready to become an hunter like her. Get ready to kill, get ready to fight… get ready to bleed. Embrace what you are. Be a natural monster. It’s the only way to live in this world. The only way for them and the only way for us.”
‘How can I do ?’
‘Think about this. You’ve lived your whole like being someone else’ prey. It’s time for you to act according to your true nature. Don’t worry, it will take time but one day it will come natural and you won’t even remember how many people you’ve killed before that.’
‘Do you think I can handle this ? Do you think I can make it ?’
‘I hope, my friend. I hope. You must learn how to be cold, you must learn how to make sacrifices or push others to make them in your place. That’s why I made you stay in this city. You need to learn the truth of our world and use it to survive, but before our encounter I need to be sure you understand what I’m talking about’
‘The lessons aren’t over, are they ?’
‘The lessons are finished alright, for today. But before we proceed, I need to test what you’ve learnt. You’re going to enjoy the battlefield I created for you. Look out, what do you see ?’
E2 looked the city and he started to see some abnormal thunder lightning up the city and the screams of terrors of the people below, who didn’t understand what the hell was happening and the explosions. The explosions…He understood and smiled.That was what Eren prepared for him. He turned the city into a playground made of thunders, scream and blood and deep down E2 loved what he saw. ‘Okay, I’m ready’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
LAGO CITY 12:15 Little eight year old Olive Neeson was very exited. It was her birthday and her parents promised her to take her somewhere special to celebrate it altogether. Her father was an important business man and he travelled very often, but he promised he would come back for her birthday.That day it was a sunny day, wonderful to celebrate her birthday with her parents and spend a wonderful day with them. So that morning her mother woke her up around 7.00 o’clock, bathed her and dressed her with the new pink dress with glitter, the stockings with hearts and ballerinas on the feet. Her mother loved dressed her like a princess for important occasions and Olive wanted to be pretty for her father too. She had missed him so much and was very happy to spend more time with him.Furthermore, Olive wanted to show him the new purple coat her mother gave her for her present. “Momy, when will we arrive at the station ?” Asked Olive looking at her mother. Her moment was looking at the traffic, frowned. The woman decided to go tot the station in taxi, believing that they would arrive there sooner than walking. Apparently she was wrong. They hd been stuck in the traffic jam for twenty minute almost and her husband sent her a message telling her that he was already waiting for them at the station. “In few minutes, I hope.” Answered her mother with a sigh “There’s a lot of traffic today” “Oh, you can say it ma’am. There are many patrols today after what happened at the Tybur facility. They are doing a lot of checks” The woman frowned again and looked outside the window and she noticed that the taxi driver was right. “Oh God, after the last incident those people should have learnt how to be more careful.” “It wouldn’t harm, who knows how they will cover their mess this…” The taxi driver interrupted himself and the woman looked at him. What was the problem ? The cars in front of them were all stopped and she noticed that people on the sidewalks were running away on the opposite direction, scared. “What’s happening ? Sir what’s happeni…” The taxi driver got out of the car, at the same time with other people in both the cars in the from and behind, and run with them in the opposite direction. “Momy, where is he going ?” Asked Olive that started to be scared. “I don’t know honey. Let’s get out of the car” Olivie obeyed her mother and got out of the car, taking her hand. It was then that little Olive noticed that her mother was looking at something and seemed utterly scared. With her childish eyes she looked at the same direction and screamed. Few meters away there was a giant naked man, with a crazy expression, whose shape couldn’t be see well due to the powder that covered part of his legs. Behind him there were other four giants people, some taller, other shorter. They had one thing in common though, they were scaring, and clumsy and they were doing nasty things. The space between the various skyscrapers was too tiny for them to pass, one of them with his big fatty hand pushed one skyscraper away, making it fell on the ground, with all the people inside. Some of them even tried to survive by jumping out the window. One of them was grabbed by one of those monster and terrified tried to get free, but the monster was far too strong. The monster observed the tiny person in his hand, before it opened its mouth and… “Olive, we need to run” The woman take her daughter into the safety of her arms and started running despite her heels, but she didn’t care. She had no idea what was happening, what those things were and how many people were dying. She needed to keep Olive safe.Meanwhile Olive could see, from his mother’s shoulder, what that monster was doing to that person. With a crazy and delusion expression, the monster opened his mouth and… and… ate it.Blood started to dripping from his mouth and that only made that monster’s expression looked more twisted. The other monsters were doing the same thing, they were destroyed everything in their way, sometimes they caught a random person from the street and ate it. Other people simply died under the falling buildings, others were crushed. Olive also noticed that from some vehicles’ tankers were emitting some weird gas and that people were breathing. Her childish mind couldn’t understand the full picture, but she could understand that what was happening was terrible, that she and her mother weren’t safe out there, that her father was in danger too and they couldn’t be with him. People were dying out there, that monsters were eating people and people were trying to run away. There dead bodies in the street, where his mother was running, which meant that people were already dieting elsewhere and that there was no safe place in the city. All they could do was to escape.Furthermore the fall of the first skyscraper had started a domino reaction that was making fall the the other skyscrapers, one after one. “Mommy” she said crying “Mommy, I’m scared” “Don’t worry, honey. Mommy is here. Mommy is here with you” Meanwhile the city was completely devoted by the titans and the buildings were falling for the explosions caused by the thunders, Zeke Yeager was still laying helpless on the ground. From his position, he could perfectly see the thunders and he knew that those weren’t normal. Something terrible was happening in the city, something he allowed to happen, because he failed and now there was no more escape from that madness.‘I’m a complete failure…’ he thought crying.He, the great Beast Titan, had been defeated by a nullity like that girl and the worse was that she was only the diversion, it had to be that way. She wasn’t working alone but with accomplices that were waiting for her in the city to start all that. That was why he needed to get up and search for her. She couldn’t have left the city, she had to still be nearby. All he had to do was standing up. “Doctor Yeager !! Doctor Yeager !! We found you !!” Yelena got on her knees, to check whether Zeke was completely conscious or not. She grabbed his face in her hands and smiled.He was still alive and that was what matted the most.Behind her there was Onyankopon and some other soldiers whom had survived the explosion, all of them in bad shape, with bruises and various wounds allo over them. “The girl… where is she ? We need to find her” whispered Zeke. “I’m sorry, Doctor Yeager. The girl is dead. Her body didn’t heal from the wounds” Onyankopon gasped but Yelena dared him to contradict her. They both knew that Mina died because Yelena shot her before Mina could recuperate and that caused the death of the girl. Shooting her wasn’t necessary, their orders were to capture her alive, but Yelena wanted the girl to suffer and so she killed her without any mercy. “Fuck…” whispered Zeke “And… and her body ?” “Destroyed, completely and utterly destroyed. Only dusts have remained of her” Zeke closed his eyes and weakly punched the ground. The girl was everything he had, to put an end on the misery he had inside his heart. She could have been responsible for Tom’s death or better, knowing the real responsible and now she was gone, free from her suffer. Instead he was still there, with a punch full of dust and a city was slowly following the girl in Hell. The facility was destroyed, they didn’t have anymore supply of vaccine in the facility, since they were all finished because all the workers in there had been injected with it as soon as they learnt what happened at the training center and they did’t have a time to produce a vaccine that could save an entire city.The game was over, he lost and because of that a lot of people were going to die. That was not what he wanted when he chose to become a scientist. He wanted to desperately find a way to ‘cure’ all those beast from the curse they’d casted upon them with the serum. That was Tom’s dream too in way. Despite how much Tom loved studying titans and was highly fascinated with them, he understood how unfair and cruel was to keep a human being alive in that form. It was worse than death, because that titan had a human inside that waited someone to set him free, to give their back their humanity, their lives. “The city is over isn’t it ? It’s…” “We couldn’t have avoided. They were prepared. The have spread the virus via gas tankers scattered all over the city. No one of us could have predicted” said Onyankopon. “We can’t do nothing anymore. This time it’s over for real. We can’t no longer hide the titan, we can only find a way to leave the city as soon as possible and then hide” said Yelena. ‘Hide… like criminals… the criminals we truly are…”But they didn’t have any other choice. They would all be incriminated for ‘crimes against humanity’. They would be imprisoned somewhere for the eternity and the entire world would be against them. Zeke was ready for that to happen but not before he found a solution, not before he would amend all his father’s sins. “Good… Let’s leave this city” The helicopters called by Yelena arrived in few minutes and took they away from the city. Under his blue eyes and broken glasses, Zeke witnessed helpless the new shape of hell with his demons.‘Who knows if the boy is still alive ?’ Zeke thought.If the boy was still alive, they were going to meet again in the future. No, they surely would, their fate would be joined forever and when their path crossed again, Zeke would be ready.… 12:20 Human Cannibalism: the act or the practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of another human being. A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal. The moment of truth arrived…It had arrived in the exactly moment when E2 perceived someone walking toward him from behind. Outside the tower, the town was infested with thunders and thousands echoes of screams and plead. If he concentrated, he could smell burning, probably due to the explosion. In spite of his overdeveloped sense of smell, he would recognize the smell typical of his kind, of mindless titans among thousands different smell and he was sure that somewhere in the city, his ‘siblings’ were already hunting down any human they found in their way, killing them, crushing them, eating them. E2 was tempted to connect his mind with those of the mindless titans, in order to feel what they were feeling. To close his eyes and tasted the blood of their victims on his tongue and lips, imagining to be the one who was devouring them.So delicious… so delectable…He knew he shouldn’t love blood so much, he should hate it, but the fact was that his titan’s nature was slowly resurfacing and taking control. His titan self wished nothing more than take a little bite of human flesh, swallow them, make his their strength and their life. Tom once explained to him that titans normally didn’t need to eat food, as long as they sunbathed enough and drink enough water, like plants. Like plants their instinct were almost always controlled and that allowed them to act like normal persons. Most of the time.Most of the time… because differently from plants, they also have other kind of genes in their DNA. A primordial predatory instinct that screamed to be unleashed, to hunt, to devour, to win. Cannibalism was a common kind of interaction that took form in different ways in the animal kingdom, more less normal and surely under so many point of view condemnable in human kingdom but E2 wasn’t human.The titan inside of him didn’t think like a human, didn’t behave like a human and didn’t desire as a human. It had different kind of appetite.
‘Don’t suppress your true nature. You may look like a human, but you’re so much more. Unleash the titan inside of you. The titan you truly are. You’re no longer the frighted little boy of the white room, prove them to anyone.’
E2 nodded. His anger for the recent events were making everything easier for him, it made surface the frustration he’d been holding back all those years in the white room. All those years wasted, being nothing more than lab rat. A part from Tom everyone else treated him like he was a beast with no rights, no heart and soul. Something they could only take things from without giving anything in return.It hurt so bad. It made him so anger… and so hungry.Since he was a monster without a soul, a heart and something to give, he was going to them exactly like a monster.
‘How many people E2 ?’
E2 closed his eyes and concentrated.Two… No, five persons, men… according to their walk and their smell. Three of them frustrated and had an higher body temperature compared with the other two. Probably they were the most frustrated for the fall of the clock than the other two. Maybe their shift would have ended, if they didn’t have to stay there to repair E2’s damage. E2 practically ruined their day, what a pity. If they only knew what was happing in the city, they would beg him to put an end on their life before to be devoured by a mindless titan.So here he was… wearing an ‘I LOVE YOU LAGO CITY’ shirt, a skirt and a pair of heels and collant, with a swing and steam that was slowly forming around him.Slowly, he took off the heels and his backpack and then tied his hair into a ponytail. “Hey chick, you can’t stay here. Who are you ?” E2 smiled and his titan giggled. Food had arrived… …
PARADISE ISLAND 2092
‘Food has arrived’
That was what an almost twelve years old Eren thought when he saw a scientist, followed by two nurses entering inside the white room. He was drawing something on a paper put on his leg, while he was sitting on his bed and he heard them.
Footsteps. Not only them though.
He’d become pretty good with his abilities. So good that he could tell that one woman and two men were coming closer. The men were walking behind the woman, probably they were the nurses. One of them had been in his room once, he recognized his smell. Eren could also tell from his smell that he was the most scared one among the three. He was probably warning the other two about the danger he represented.
Eren smiled and focused on his hearing.
“… He will probably try to tear a limb… or two… Last time I saw him, he ate the right ear of my colleague…”
“On the reports I read was mentioned that he doesn’t need nourishment. Why did he eat it?” Asked the other nurse, probably an anesthetist.
“No idea. My personal opinion is that he didn’t do it because he was hungry. I think he simply wanted to scare us away”
“Why are we still talking about that thing ? What happened to your colleague was nothing more than the result of negligence. I’m not going to do the same mistake. I wouldn’t even get close to that thing if I didn’t need samples so much”
‘What a bitch…’ Eren thought.
He wasn’t surprised though. That was what people thought about him. When they talked about him, they used the pronoun ‘it’ and they usually referred him as a’thing’ or ‘pet’ and things like that. A male nurse once joked about the uselessness of using the oximeter on him, or taking him the parameters or anything like that.
They considered him a heartless monster, no one worthy of their time and for so long he had believed them. With hindsight, he would tell them that they were not right or wrong, he simply decided to please them and satisfy their expectation. Not only for them, but for his own entertainment. After all, there wasn’t much to do in that white room and Eren found himself bored by the same routine. Reading, drawing and playing with his toys didn’t stimulate him anymore, instead he liked when people were close to his room. Usually people avoided being anywhere nearby him, he suspected that they had learnt he could read their minds due to the experiments they were surely doing on the other shifters.
‘Shifters’… what a stupid name for stupid people. So fool to think they could reach his potential, that it would be enough to make them greater than anyone else.
They were prisoners, like Eren, and outcasts. They were nothing different from those freaks that used to parade in the circus or in those place full of people that did weird things that no conventional people would. Eren loved seeing those weird people in the picture, because those were probably the only people he could actually relate to and understand better than anyone. They were different and due to their differences they were emarginate by society, so they were lonely, like him, but some of them shared their solitude together.
Eren instead felt like he shared nothing with his ‘kind’.
They would never understand him, he would never understand them. He was envious, because despite what they became, they were free, in the outside world.
His stream of thoughts got interrupted by the sound of the door opening.
He internally exulted. He was right. One woman and two men.
“Okay, measure its parameters. Once you’re done, put the tourniquet and procede with the samples”
‘She didn’t even sai hi’.
Eren was used to that kind of behavior in his regards. It only encouraged him to do worse and worse each time. After all, those people didn’t respect him, why shouldn’t he pay them back with the same coin ? They took his freedom away from him, he would take from them something in return.
A finger…
… Two fingers…
… The entire hand…
… The entire arms…
… Both of them…
… And the legs, and the head and the interiors.
Eren knew how to make them pay their rudeness.
He stayed still while the first nurse came closer with the oximeter, the thermometer to be sure that he wasn’t planning to do something nasty.
If there was something Eren was completely unable to control was his anger, once he unleashed it it was very hard for him to get back in control, but all those years spent waiting for something had taught him how to be patient.
While the nurses were checking him, the woman was writing something on a paper and totally ignoring him.
“Old slut” he murmured.
If the nurses or one of them had heard him, he couldn’t tell and didn’t care. He was playing good, for his own entertainment. Because he said so, not because others wanted him to. Meanwhile he took a look at his food.
The two nurses were quite muscular, all of them were actually. Maybe Tybur insisted to have them go to the gym to deal with Eren’s bullish. It maybe sounded egocentric, but Eren enjoyed thinking that everything in that building was about him.
The woman was in her late thirty, with dark hair tied in a chignon. She was wearing a pair of glasses, the white coat all buttoned and a pair of black heels. She was skinny, like a scarecrow, same as creepy and not appetizing.
Nevertheless he was hungry, and angry. His anger made him feel hungry, but he didn’t crave for food. He crave for something else, his hunger had a shape and a taste he didn’t have a name for.
“We finished doctor Baron”
“Excellent, procede with the sample” she simply said.
‘Old slut. She thinks to be important, she’s simply the assistant of Doctor Langnar. That useless slut…’
Eren had to refrain himself from laughing or make any comment. He remained in silence, he allowed those two idiots take the samples. When they finished and the doctor ordered them to prepare him for the next experiment, he grabbed the one of the nurse’s hand and bite it so hard that he ripped three fingers from it.
The type of course started screaming worse than a damsel in distress and the other useless nurse tried to sedate him with a syringe full of anesthetic but Eren kicked him in the face so hard to rip his head off his neck. After that, the doctor screamed and tried to escape by the door, but Eren pushed the other nurse again the wall and then thanks to his speed, he menaced to block the door with his hand before the doctor managed to escape.
“Hello doctor. We haven’t properly introduce”
Eren was very tall for a boy his age and he arrived at doctor’s shoulder. The woman still refused to look at him, but at least she was shivering with fear. He could smell it and found it delicious. She wasn’t playing the bitch role anymore, she knew she was in danger, that he had the upper hand. That she was alone in that room with him, where no one would arrive in time to save her and since his organism quickly developed immunity from any new toxin those incompetents idiots invented, deep down she knew she was screwed up and that no one would be willing to die in there with her.
“Oh, I forgot… I don’t have a name. I don’t care to know yours either. Would you play with me anyway ?”
The woman had started crying and Eren couldn’t contain his fleer. He was in control, he had the power, the role inverted and now he was the one who commanded, who held the other’s fate in his hand. He loved it, he wished he could feel that way anytime, always, forever.
That was his hunger, most of all. Power. The titan inside him wanted to taste more and more power.
The power to choose for someone else’ fate.
The power to make people shiver for fear.
The power to play with food.
The power to feel so superior to be actually able to consider others like food.
For so long, he’d been denied the power over his life, the power to make his own decision, to be whoever he wanted to be.
They had been trying since he was born to turn him into a puppet, all obedience and submission and they almost succeed if it wasn’t for one tiny detail…
Eren, or whatever was its name, couldn’t be imprisoned by anyone, he wanted to be free and one day he would be. Thanks to his abilities one day he would be free and that little taste of freedom he felt whenever he killed, tortured or ate someone in his room would turn into a full mean, until one day the titan inside him would be no longer hungry.
Until one day he would finally be… free.
“I’m sure we’re going to have so much fun, doctor”
…
One of the man tried to use his radio to warn the security about an intruder in the clock tower but E2 was faster. He didn’t know he was able to, but with a series of backflips he managed to hit the man and made his radio fall on the floor. One of the other man grabbed her by the shoulder. “Caught you, senõrita” E2 headbutt him on the chin and with his legs, he kicked away another man whom tried to grabbed him from the legs.
‘Remember, the minds of all shifters are connected, which means that you can know what the other know and can do what others have learnt to do. The same is for self defense. Concentrate and allow the other shifters’ memories to penetrate you and lead you out of this city’
E2 nodded and so he did. The man from behind tried to grab him again but Eren grabbed his arm and executed a shoulder throw move. With his strength, his grabbed another man by the neck and pushed him out of the hole where there used to be the clock. He executed a double kick and hit another man and then a flip kick to make him lose conscious. It only remained two men.
‘You’re doing great.’
‘Zeke and Mina have been two amazing teachers’
‘Knock down the other two. We have no time left to waste’
‘With pleasure’ One of them tried to use a taser on him but he was faster and kill him with a crystal dart and did the same with the other man. He killed other three people now, other than Tom. The other two men were lying senseless on the floor, but he reduced them that way. He made that to them. He chose to do that to them, because it was them or him. He wanted to choose himself for once.
‘Never lose focus and never leave something behind. Focus. You will have a bunch of time to fail and learn from your mistakes, not today though. Today you have to get out of this fucking city alive and free ’
One of them man wasn’t unconscious as he believed and took advantage of his moment of distraction to stab him in the leg. E2 hissed for the pain, but it only intensified his anger. Anger was the engine of his life and the pain its petrol.He felt slightly humiliated for that anyway, just when he thoughts he had won, that man ruined the moment and make clear that he could still bleed from a simple stab. He could still… fail… despite everything he possessed… despite everything he knew… the role could always be inverted and he could be the victim again…It was so unfair… …
PARADISE ISLAND 2092
The woman was tough, he would give her that much. She took advantage of his long chats to stab him with a syringe with a new kind of toxin. He knew it was new because he could feel the effects.
Foggy view, feeling sick, weak legs…
He smiled, with bitterness.
He thought he finally had learnt, guessed human beings could always teach him more, specially ways about to behave like sick backstabbers.
He could still fail, he could still be deceived, and used, and stabbed, at weakened. Maybe he would woke up on a laboratory bench, naked, under the scientist mercy.
He didn’t tolerate that, he couldn’t, he refused it.
They needed to learn that he wasn’t a lab rat, that they couldn’t use him or treat him like their property. They needed to learn that he wasn’t a stupid little cry baby anymore.
His body was changing, so were his powers and there were a lot of things those stupids were keeping secret from him and he could not tolerate that.
“You made me angry” he said.
“Fuck you, you freak”
As soon as the doctor opened the door, Eren kicked it so hard that the door ripped the doctor’s fingers for the impact. She screamed for the pain and grabbed the wrist with the other hand instinctively.
Eren grabbed the syringe on the floor, the one that the headless nurse tried to use me.
“A little anesthetic for the pain, doctor ?” He asked.
Then he used the syringe on the doctor. The woman grabbed his arm with a hand and set her yes in his.
Eren didn’t love what he saw.
Why was she looking at him like that ?
What right did she have ? To look at him like he was the monster ?
She was. They were. What they were doing to him was terrible. He was the victim. She was simply part of a living nightmare, of his personal hell. What right did she have to make him feel like he was a monster ?
She wasn’t even going to die with his name on her lips, cause he had no name.
He wasn’t even going to remembered for what he did, not according to their plan. He would die and they would find a way to replace him., because everyone could be substituted.
So what was the point ? What was the point of sitting in silence in an angle of his room ? What was the point of denying his true nature ? What was the point of putting up with all that pain ?
He learnt that hard lesson at his expense.
In the end, those three idiots who died in the room had won anyway, because now they were free from the worries and sufferance of their lives, they were free, in hell or heaven or in the nothingness. Instead he was still there, in that white hell that stink of medicine and blood. His condition was still the same. He was a prisoner and until that moment his abilities took him nowhere near the freedom.
That made him angry again, furious actually and it made him hungry again too.
He couldn’t help that too, every time he was angry, he was hungry. The titan required nourishment from him and he couldn’t deny it.
Slowly, Eren grabbed one of the doctor’s arm, the one with the sane hand and put it close to him mouth.
The titan inside him thought it had a delicious smell, probably even a more delicious taste. One damage could have make a little bite after all ?
He won, that was his compensation and also he was a monster for all of them, he didn’t even have to live by their expectation.
He took what he could take from them. It was right.
So he did… so he bite… and swallow… and bite… and swallow… and bite… and swallow… again and again and again…
He ate her, he absorbed her strength, he made his that she was, what she represented. Once his titan was sated, he stopped. The titan inside him didn’t find in her what he was looking for.
“Pity” he said licking the blood from his finger.
Someone would consider him a disgusting cannibal, but he didn’t agree.
He took a look at the corpse on the floor. Bits of bone tissue and nerves were on the floor and Eren knew he couldn’t leave the nerves. They were the most disgusting thing to eat, but the ones he needed the most too. He devoured half of her face, but he didn’t dare to eat it, he was a zombie, he simply needed to eat her flesh were there was the nape.
Cannibalism consisted in the act of consuming another individual of the same species, and wasn’t him an individual of a superior specie after all ?
They had no idea what they had created but Eren would make them understand. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be, but one day he would escape. No one of them could kept him there, in the desert he was free and one day he would be even the real world.
It didn’t matter if his enemies never gave up on him, if they tried to caught him back, he would fight… and fight… and fight…
…
“To look down to Camelot… She knows not what the curse may be… Therefore she weaveth steadily… Therefore no other care hath she… The Lady of Shalott”
How much both of them had wanted to look outside in the world, to see how it really looked like, instead of seeing it only in various pictures they saw in the few books given to them. It was true that a picture, not matter how perfect and beautiful was, could be never compared or surpass reality. E2 found himself licking the blood from his fingers, in the exact same way Eren was doing in his memory and in the exact same way E2 had eaten the flesh on the man on the floor, the one whom stabbed him. He ate his arm, ripped his fingers and ate his nape and part of his face. As soon as he realized it, he felt sick and threw up, in that amount of flesh, blood and… He didn’t even want to think about. ‘That memory… did you really…’ E2 was so disgusted he couldn’t even think straight. Eren advised him to allow the other shifters’ memory to be leaded and he did, he simply didn’t think…He would have never imagined that Eren… ‘Eren… please… answer me!’
‘What am I supposed to tell you ? The memory spoke for itself. Draw your conclusioni’
‘What was that hunger ?’
‘What else could be if not just hunger ?’
E2 wanted to object that what he saw wasn’t a normal hunger. A shifter should never feel hunger in the first place, so what was that ? That wasn’t even hunger, it was a mere desire of prove something. But what ? What was Eren trying to demonstrate ? What was his angle ? Anytime he thought he could understand Eren, he learnt something new that made him doubted of anything again. It was so frustrating. ‘Okay, fine. You don’t want to talk about it right now. I get it. But I want you to talk to me, okay ?’
‘Fine, go now’
He nodded. He came closer to the hole in the wall and stopped to admire the view of the city for a moment. The view was definitely different. Most of the skyscrapers had already fallen under the steps of the titans, there was smock and dust everywhere and any second there were new thunders that anticipated the creation of another titan.That was Eren had given to him, Hell. Those people were paying the price of his freedom, because it was necessary not only to help him evade the city but also to send a message to the world. That a new race was born and someday it would conquer the world and he would whatever it took to make it real and Mina’s sacrifice would never be in vain. That was a promise. “She’ look’d down to Camelot… It was the closing of the day… She loos’d the chain, and down she lay… The broad stream bore her far away… The Lady of Shalott” he said grabbing his heel and backpack and taking a last look at the city before jumping below. While he was falling, he felt a light buzz in his head, but he thought it was due the jump and he chose to ignore. He was too lost in that vivid sensation of freedom.He was finally free of flying, falling and then get up on his will. No one would ever imprison him anyway, no one, not anymore because he was finally free.The Lady of Shalott had had felt that way too, once she was free from the canvas of fear and illusions when she finally had the courage to look toward Camelot and leaving the tower, symbol of her imprisonment and fight for her freedom.A life spent in chains wasn’t a life worthy of being lived. An existence spent in the ignorance of the world wasn’t worthy of being imprinted in the memory. That was what he thought.He didn’t care, whether he made the right choice or if he was going to meet his doom, that was the choice he’d made and he would never regret that.That day finally he was exactly where he was supposed to be, in the world and if his enemies ever chose to come for him, he would be ready to fight, they all better watched out. If they come, he would fight… and fight.. and fight… … MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY 12:30
‘Falling buildings… death bodies… “The Lady of Shalott”… then the asphalt… blood… blood on his fingers… blood on his lip…’
Levi opened his eyes and jumped. He awoke with a start, breathless and sweat, which highly disgusted him. He had headache too. What confused him the most was the dream he had, or the nightmare he had. It felt so real, so vivid, like he was actually there and he could hear people screaming in terror, the smoke, the blood on his tongue. For a moment maybe it was real, or maybe he was getting crazy. The city where he was, it seemed Lago City, where only the day before it happened an incident in the facility. Could it be a coincidence ? He highly doubted that, but how could he explain that he suspected that something terrible was happening there after having a simple nightmare ?He already imagined Erwin’s furrowed eyebrows, Two-glasses’ loud laughs and Moblit’s skeptical expression. He doubted he could get any reaction by Mike. Nevertheless there could still be a possibility that the blond dwarf had some scientific explanation. He actually hoped, but a part of him didn’t trust Armin and he hoped that Hanji, whom was surely working with him, didn’t tell him anything about what he told her about ‘The Lady of Shalott’. “I need to take a shower. I’m stinky and I can’t tolerate this shit now” He’d never tolerated the dirty, specially when he felt dirty himself and it was clear that the dream had troubled him more than he’d like to admit.He couldn’t stop thinking about it, even a cold shower couldn’t help him clear his mind and he felt the need to do something to distract himself, training, cleaning even preparing a cup of black tea would be helpful in that situation.He chose for the tea in the end, there would be time for training later. When Levi arrived in the kitchen, luckily remembering exactly where it was in that giant labyrinth, he was glad and relief to find a pack of black tea in the pantry. Only now he realized how much he had wanted some black tea, how much he actually needed time to stop for a moment to reflect a little about what was happening to him.It was since the night at the training center that his body had been going through something, the dreams and that strange force inside him were only an example but he knew there was something more. But what ? And why was happening to him ? Hanji told him that she would analyze his blood, to understand whether or not he had been infected before without him knowing. It could be possible after all and it wasn’t like he was normal, but what was he going to do if he was actually infected ? How that factor would change his life ? What if whatever it was inside his couldn’t be controlled ? Or worse, could only be controlled by someone else ? Like the other titans ?That was what scared him the most, not to be his own master anymore. To become a slave, to live according to someone else’ live as he used to be, following someone else’ rules and just when he was finally close to become his own person. Even in the underground he knew what opinions the other scums had about him, that he was nothing but an obedient dog that did anything old Kenny wanted him to, even when the old man disappeared one day without ever reappearing.What if he was actually turning into one of those thing ?Strangely the answer formed in his head in less than a second.‘I’ll fight, as always’ Levi thought taking another sip of tea.He got distracted by the sound of the door got opening and he saw blond Eyebrows entering in the kitchen.The blond guy looked very tired, he had dark circles, messy hair and according to the signs on his right cheek, he had fallen asleep on the papers. “Good morning Commander” He said provoking the other. “Good morning Levi, did you take a rest ? I surely needed one, but not on my desk” said Erwin massaging his back. “I did, but I wish I hadn’t. Right here, right now any minute is precious to learn something new about myself. If I don’t learn the truth about what I am, I don’t think I will be able to sleep” “It’s understandable. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through, but I admire the way you’re able to stay put. You’re really incredible” said Erwin taking a coffee pod and putting it in coffee machine. Levi snorted when he felt the smell of coffee in the kitchen. He always hated that beverage and its smell. It was one of the few beverage Kenny drank other than alcool and when they two of them used to live together, the first thing Levi smelled was a terrible mix of alcool and coffee. Not to mention when Kenny forgot to wash his teeth and directly drank coffee in the morning. It was terrible holding a conversation with him in those occasions.He kept observing Erwin putting almost five spoonfuls of sugar and considered it funny. He thought the blond was was more a black coffee type. “Don’t give me all the credits. Iron nerves were a necessary requirement in the orphanage, in the reformatory and in the underground. You can’t afford any kind of weakness in those places” “I imagine, somehow it worked the same way in the police.” Said Erwin taking a sip of coffee “Anyway, do you want to talk about the situation ?” “I suppose that in my current situation opening up with you is more fruitful than keeping my doubts to myself.” He told Erwin everything he told Hanji. About the ‘Lady of Shalott’, the marker Hanji found in his blood samples and the nightmare he had before. The one that was still tormenting him. He was glad that Erwin hadn’t interrupted him while he was trying to explain to him in simple words the turmoil inside him.He didn’t openly admit that he was utterly terrified to lose himself, to become a monster. Hell, he’d never been a saint or a good man. He learnt how to kill a man even before to learn how to read. His uncle taught him how to use a knife to cut a throat before to cut a piece of meat. He had no idea about how a normal life was supposed to be, surely his wasn’t normal, but he accepted, as long as he was in control of it.Instead now he feared that there was someone else, the one at the other side of the connection, if it was a connection. A person with no face or name, just shape that could control him. That was what actually scared him the most, the impotence.Impotence of protecting himself.Inability of standing his ground.Like before… …
MARLEY UNDERGROUND 2079
“Here, hold her and keep her warm. Okay my little angel ?”
Levi looked at his mother and as always he couldn’t avoid to think how beautiful she was every time he looked at her grey eyes, so similar to his.
She was wearing a long lilac dressing gown and he could smell
His mother was handing to a seven years old Levi a little white bundle where his little sister was wrapped. Levi knew, despite his young age, what was going to happen in few minutes. His mother had an appointment with one of her usual client and that meant that Levi and his sister had to stay in the bathroom until the man left.
No, until the last client left.
Little Levi watched the clock hung at the wall and he knew that the night was just beginning and that the man whom was arriving was simply the first one, as usual.
He already lamented that those five months after his sister’s birth, when no man had come there to abuse of his mother, were over. Those five months had been harder and easier somehow. Harder because his mother now had the responsibility of two creatures and that didn’t ease their economic issues; easier because his sister was a quiet baby, she rarely cried and she adored the company of her brother too. Levi himself proved to be a valuable help for his mother with the baby.
The truth was that Levi didn’t want anything to aggravate on his mother, not since he practically understood the conditions where they all lived.
His mother didn’t have a lot of money and she could barely afford basic necessities; furthermore due to her job his mother, even before her first pregnancy, his mother fell sick often and that resulted into arrears. The least Levi could do to ease that situation was to behave less like a child and more like a responsible brother and son.
They lived in a room in a motel, where other women with the same ‘job’, lived. Some of them had children on their own, like his mothers, other didn’t.
The room consisted in little corner kitchen with gas hob, an old half empty green fridge that surely clashed with the rest of the decor, the oven, the sink that dripped most of the time and wooden kitchen cabinet. Closer to the door, there was a vintage wall telephone, one of those no one would believe to still exist in 2079 that his mother used to communicate with the ‘gentleman’ that run the motel. There was rectangular wooden table, with two wooden chair and on in plastic.
In the end there was a double size bed, a wooden closet and makeup dressing table with different perfumes, creams and products for women and door for the bathroom.
There was nothing there that could suggest the presence of a child, or an infant. No toys, or crib, or feeding bottles scattered around the house.
The ‘gentleman’, as his mother usually called him, allowed her to live there with her children, yet he forbidden her from showing off her maternity at the clients. If there was something that wither a client’s lust was the presents of a pair of brats, that was what that amount of flab and alcohol once told to his mother.
Levi hated him, just like he hated any man who entered that room to use and abuse of his mother. He had seen so many of them; youngs, olds, fats, slims, riches, poors, singles, married…
Some had more than attributes in common, others had nothing at all but one thing in common for sure in Levi’s eyes. They were pigs and their presence was unwanted. Specially because when they left, the room smells of sweat, sometimes even of smoke and alcohol, depending on the pig’s vice. Always depending on the pig, his mother ended up with hickeys, or a broken lip, or bruises. Some men were gentler with her than others, but in the end they all saw her the same way, like she was scum, something dirty. Something to be kept secret,
And every single time Levi couldn’t do anything but assist helpless from the bathroom’s door the few time he had the courage to take a peek.
“Mom… I don’t want to stay in the bathroom” ‘leaving you alone with that pig’ would have wanted to added Levi.
“Honey, you know how it works. It would be just for few minutes”
It was a lie, they both knew it.
That would be only the first man for that night.
“Levi…”
‘That is it’ thought Levi. When his mother called him by his name it meant that she was serious and that she expected him to obey her with no more reply.
“You need to protect your sister and keep her warm. Hold her please my angel” said his mother kissing him on the forehead “You know the rules.”
“I don’t like these rules”
“Then one day, when you grow up, you will live by your rules, until that moment you have to do as I say. There’s no other options”
“I don’t like those men either. I don’t want to see them anymore and you’ve just been sick. I don’t want you to be sick again”
“Levi, you don’t need to wor…” she coughed “I’m taking the medicine and I will visit the doctor in two days. You don’t need to worry about me”
Levi wanted to object. He wanted to tell her that she would never get better because the environment was dirty, those pigs were only making everything worse and there weren’t enough money to buy the medicines because she needed to buy diapers and milk powder for his sister. He wanted to tell her all of that, but what would have been the sense ?
That was their life and that was his role in his mother’s life. Sitting and hiding inside the closet, pretending to play hide and seek with her, but it wasn’t easy.
The sound of the telephone ringing made both of them jump. His mother kissed him again on the cheek and then she fixed her hair before to answer the phone.
“Yes ?” She said.
“Olympia !!” The voice of the gentlemen from downstair was audible from Levi’s distance “Mr. Brown has arrived. Be ready to welcome him the best way!”
The call finished abruptly and Levi knew that it was the moment that he entered inside the closet with his sister and stay there and so he did. When he opened the bathroom’s door, he saw that his mother already prepared the little bathtub with a cover and pillows to keep them warm. Levi put his sister inside the bathtub and then he entered too, to be at her side. He wasn’t strong enough to protect his mother, or old enough to make himself useful to her, to provide for their little family, but at least he could try to be a decent brother for his sister. It didn’t matter if she was the offspring of one of those pigs, like him after all.
She belonged to mom, they belonged to each other and he would protect her.
“Olympia… I’ve missed you”
A voice outside the door made Levi shivered from anger. The pig has arrived.
Levi spent the next thirty minutes hearing that man giving orders to his mother, ordering her what to do with her hands, what to say to him, in what position put herself on the bed.
Levi didn’t need to be in the room to know what he would’d seen. His mother being perfectly submitted to that man that was holding in his fatty hands the payment they needed for the rent and medicine and so their fate.
It only happened once, when Levi was three years old that he disobeyed his mother’s orders and went out of the bathroom. She was with one of her clients and as soon as the man saw him, he started getting agitated and in the end he complained with the gentleman downstair.
That time his mother risked to lose her job and everything was a mess, but then Levi promised not do it again, not matter what he heard, or whether that man was going something bad to his mother. All he had to do was to stay put in silent in the bathroom until his mother told him to get out. Those were his rules. That was his world.
In his current position he had no other choice but to obey, to allow others to dictate his life, because in a world when you had no name, no money and no position then all you could do was to get on your knees on the dirt and obey and endure. To use the gentleman’s word of that time, ‘If they want to live under his root they must pay the fee’.
Even if no one was pointing a gun on his head or his mother’s, they were slaves. Their life belonged to the gentleman downstair, they weren’t their own person, but only means to an end. No more people, but objects. They had been dehumanized and that was a concept that everyone in his condition, in spite of his young age, could have understood.
“I promise, Mikasa, one day we will get out of there. One day your brother will be strong enough to protect you and mom. One day we will be free, all we have to do is resist and when I will grow up and I will fight for you” he said while crying.
With a kiss on his sister’s forehead he sealed that promised while on the other side of the door, that man was fucking his mother like a beast in heat.
…
All he had to do back then was obey. Kinda easy, if he didn’t think about all the pain his mother had been put through by those men. Even though his wrist were free, they were chained, his hands were chained, unable to fight for himself and his family. He was weak and useless and completely in the hands of someone else.He hated the mere possibility of becoming someone else’ tools, yet he also wanted to know more about the entire situation. “I simply want to know what I’m supposed to do with myself now” concluded Levi finishing his tea. “I’m not the appropriate person to offer you help in this situation, since I don’t understand it myself. If you want my sincere opinion, I don’t think you should be afraid to be controlled. If it was true, whoever there is at the other side of the connection, would have ordered you not to kill the titans. I don’t think that the big plan included the billing of all those monsters” “Maybe, but that doesn’t exclude the possibility that it could control me, but he or she hadn’t realized how to do it yet.” “This connection happens only when you’re asleep ?” Asked Erwin“No. The first time I was training” “Have you ever tried to be the one to initiate the connection ?” “How could I if I don’t even know how it fucking works ?” Asked Levi getting frustrated. “I hope for you that Hanji manages to find something interesting.” “I wished I could change the past. My life was never easy to begin with, but at some point it became normal to him. Once you learnt the rules, you can survive in a place like the underground. I dealt with a lot of dangerous people there, but all of them were just people” Truth be told, Levi had never been afraid of dealing with people, not matter how much taller they were, or richer, or stronger. If he considered them for what they really were, people, he knew that they were fight on equal terms.He didn’t think he was invincible, or better than anymore, what leaded his steps was always the knowledge that if he succeeded he would live another day, if he failed, he would die.Live or death. No other options and he came to accept that, because in the underground, no, in the world, where the strongest lived, it had sense. Even his OCD has sense even though it was universally considered a mental disorder. He’d grown in the dirt, he hated feeling dirty, because everything dirty remembered him where he came from and that was the last thing he wanted. “Isabel and Furlan were really convinced that killing you would have finally given us the possibility to start a new life. Wish granted. They died and I’m here and I don’t understand anything anymore” ‘I wish I have died, I would be with them now’ he thought.Kenny wasn’t a bad company and Levi recognized him all his efforts to be the best father figure he could have been in spite of all the circumstances but there wasn’t that warm, that complicity and sense of understanding that he shared with Isabel and Furlan.Furlan understood his ambition and his desire for a better life; Isabel was his little sister. She was able to resurface a side of his character that he thought he’d lost when his sister was taken away from him forever.In that moment he thought about something. “My sister… She had been in the same orphanage as me, but she got adopted after a year, or maybe less. What if we… what if that orphanage was run by the Industries. Maybe, if I want answers, I should start looking in my own roots” “I… actually think it’s a good idea. I want to be honest with you, I’ve done some researches about but not matter how deep I dig out, I can’t find any information about you before the reformatory” “Well, there’s not much. My mum disappeared, me and my sister were entrusted to social services. She got adopted, instead after few months a man, Kenny adopted me too. Then he disappeared too.” ‘A very sfortunate life’ Erwin thought.When his father died, he thought that the world couldn’t be more unfair; time taught him he was wrong. That was why he applied for the police force. He chose to dedicate his life to protect human life, to right all the wrongs, to make justice. His experience in the police corp ended up to be nothing more than big disappointment. Some of his colleagues were corrupted, sometimes it happened that culprits managed to get away with their crimes, others that judges were corrupted too and Erwin came back home more and more embittered and then Tybur…There were times he wished he could come back in time, where things were easy and his father was with him, but it would be futile. There was only one way left to honor his father and it was by finding out who killed him and why. “What was the name of the orphanage ? We can start from there”Levi was going to answer when Mike entered inside the kitchen and seemed quite alarmed. “Commander, Levi… there’s something you should see” said taking the control of the small tv in the kitchen and turning it on. On the display appeared imagines of Lago City and Levi paled, because they were showing exactly what he saw in his nightmare. The imagines were shooting from an helicopter and from that point of view, it was possible to see all the city below, or at least what had left. The first thing that caught Levi’s attention were those monsters, the titans. Some of them were walking undisturbed in the city, destroying and eating everything and everyone they found in their way. One of them almost managed to grab the helicopter with his fatty hans. “Oh shit… what’s…2 Levi couldn’t finish what he was saying that he heard a gasp by someone who entered in the kitchen after Mike. It was the kid. He had followed Mike in the kitchen and now was looking at the scream with widen teary eyes, a pale face and an expression of pure terror. “Monsters… Monste… rs” Then he fainted…Meanwhile, in the laboratory, Hanji, Moblit and Armin were making request for everything they needed to reproduce a perfect sample of the serum.Armin regretted not to have stolen some samples from the training center when he had the opportunity, but at least from his blood he could attempt to recreate a something. Another thing he needed was Eren’s blood and that would be another problem, luckily he knew how to get it, with the right help and the right strategy.Before that, they needed the right facilities and instrument. Indeed they were being following Armin’s indication.They had almost done when Hanji’s phone buzzed.
“WATCH THE NEWS, NOW !!
MIKE”
‘What the…’ thought Hanji furrowed. Hanji did as Mike told her and put the news on her phone and then the same imagines of Lago City appeared on her phone. “What the fuck ?” She said. Armin and Moblit got closer to take a look at what she was looking and while Moblit gasped, Armin showed no reaction, but no one was paying attention to him in that moment.Hanji and Moblit couldn’t believe what they were seeing, well, they knew that titans existed, they had seen them on the pictures, but seeing them walking and destroying an entire city was another thing entirely. “Oh, one of them almost grabbed the helicopter. They’re so tall !!” commented Hanji sounding too exciting “Have you seen his fatty hands ?” “Doctor !! Your behavior is inappropriate and how could you tell it’s a man ?”“Man or woman, whatever. I won’t use ‘it’. They used to be normal persons after all” “And now they’re destroying the city. What’s happening there ? Only yesterday one of the scientist had an interview about an incident and now this ?” Said Moblit. Armin wasn’t listening any word his two new colleagues were saying. He was too lost in the hell in he was witnessing. The hell he had contributed to cause.He didn’t need to see that to know what was happing in that city, all he had to do was closing his eyes and then he would see people running away in all direction, disperate to find shelter somewhere, pretty difficult since they were running away from least three meters monsters. He knew what would happen if he connected his mind with Thomas or Floch, specially with the last.Floch wasn’t the kind of guy whom sat on a bench and observed someone doing the dirty job, no, he would take part to the carnage, trying to kill as many people as he could.Snapping their neck, stabbing them with his dart, ripping their jugular… Floch could be very creative when he got exited for something.Surely he didn’t lack of initiative, Armin would give him that much.Thomas was another thing entirely. He didn’t move a single muscle until he wasn’t ordered to and that made the guy much less unpredictable than Floch, that was why Armin suggested to send them together. Everything was proceeding according to their plan apparently… if it wasn’t for Mina’s death.He knew it, he felt it, when his comrade died. It was like he was lying too, with her. He had to do everything in his power to resist the buzz in his head, when Mina died. He had to hold on his desk not to faint and tried to keep his eyes open. All of that without letting the other two persons in the room understand that there was something wrong with him. “May I be excused ? I need go absent myself for a moment. It won’t take long” he said. Hanji and Moblit were too focus on the new to even notice that he was leaving the lab, which was okay with Armin. He surely didn’t need their permission to have some time for himself and in that moment he needed.Once he arrived in the restroom of the closest bathroom, he was relief that no one was there. The last thing he wanted was someone to witness him in a moment of weakness, because as soon as he sat on one of the toilet and locked the door, he wasn’t able to stop his tears anymore. ‘You succeeded Eren… is that want you want ?’ He was aware that he was going not to receive any reply. Why would Eren answer him when Armin already knew the answer ?Why would Eren need to explain the situation, when Armin himself had been planning that hell all along ? At that point Armin didn’t even know why he was crying anymore. It hurt, he felt pain and yet he didn’t know why. Why did it hurt if he wanted that as much as Eren ?He knew what were Eren’s goals when he joined his cause, he knew what kind of monster his friend truly was. The things the brunette was willing to do to get what he wanted and how he tended to react when he was denied something.No one knew Eren’s dark side as he did. It was one of the first things that, in spite of any rationality, drove Armin toward the brunette. That little darkness that made anyone appealing, that made anyone wanted to drown inside it at least once in their life.Eren represented everything Armin had avoided so far because he was too focused on his career.Adventure… risk… danger… freedom… rebellion… unknown…When Armin met Eren for the first time, the brunet had never been out of that room and nevertheless he was so much smarter and interesting than anyone he’d ever met. The secret was that Eren was able to see someone for who they really were, instead all the other people were only able to objectify him and dehumanize him. That was why no one had ever understood him. No one ever tried, no one ever cared and that was why Lago City was being destroyed.That was what was making Armin so sad. So little would have been enough to avoid all of that, to sate Eren’s frustration, to satisfy his need of love and affection. At that point nothing would have been enough anymore, the monster was hunger and it would be eating again and again, person after person, city after city, until the whole world would be reduced in an amount of bones and blood. … LAGO CITY 12:30 Thomas had felt it and so had Floch. Mina was dead, no someone, a coward, that woman, shot her from behind. They’d seen it, in her latest memories and swore to never forget that woman’s face and to never forgive her. They both knew what they risked coming there, in a city full of enemies when every risk had to be keep in count and any unexpected had to be avoided. Thomas had almost begged Eren to send more people with them but the brunette insisted that it was necessary to minimize the number of loss in case of failure. That angered Thomas at the time, because it seemed like Eren was sending them to die like they were expendable, but then Armin had convinced them thanks to his oratory that their mission was fundamental, because thanks to them not only they would have destroyed another facility but also saved and taken back to them someone who had a major role in their crusade for freedom. Floch instead had been even too much exited for that mission. Thomas feared that it was due to his thirst for human blood. Sometimes Floch could be even creepier than Sasha in matter of appetite. Sasha seemed to be born with an insatiable hunger of meat; Flock instead seemed to enjoy more biting and swallowing the flesh of his victims than the eating itself. “They killed our comrade, they deserve what our King has in store for them” said Floch. “Mina… we could have helped her. We did nothing” “We couldn’t. We need to go to the station and destroy the last means of escape from this city and then we need to find the boy” said Floch. Thomas envied Floch for his lucidity in a moment like that. Mina was dead and it was too late for him to confess her how he really felt about her. How important she was for him, both his heart and soul. Flock took his hand tight. “If you cared for her that much, do something that could have made her proud of you. We still have a mission, we need to find him” “Okay, I’ll activate the detonator of the bombs. They will explode in three minutes” “Good, in the meantime…” Floch opened the door of the van. “Where are you going ?” Asked Thomas alarmed. “I’m going to have a little fun” said Floch licking his lips with an insane light in his eyes. Before Thomas could further reply, Floch grabbed the first person who passed by him and snapped their neck. The people who witness that started running away from him too, someone policemen there started shooting at him, while the titans in the distance kept moving forward.Floch laughed at those pathetic attempt to kill him.No one of those inferior creatures could kill him, no one of them had the power. He killed all the people around him.He snapped their neck, ripped their limbs, bite down their throat, crushing their hand under his feet. He looked like a toddler in the amusement park and the humans were his toys. He ‘explored’ them with his bite and teeth like an infant tasted and discovered the world with his mouth. Well, no one of them had eaten human flesh in a long time. Not that they needed actually, but for them it was another kind of nourishment, specially when Eren turned them in their humans form again. At the time there was no food around and the shifters were so much hungry, so insatiable that in the end Eren allowed them to feed on the corpse of the dead and the few humans with the vaccine that survived the explosion of the facility. They could live of all sun and Armin was convinced that those ‘hunger attacks’ were more related to a psychological reason, more like the mindless titans. Mindless titans didn’t eat humans because they needed nourishment, they did because the felt the presence of another kind in their territory; because they were predators; because they always looked for something that could ‘elevate’ them.Apparently the same went for the shifters.Thomas hated those ‘hunger attacks’, they resurfaced the most animalistic aspect of themselves, or maybe they simply resurfaced what they really were… animals. Monsters. Cannibals. Meanwhile Thomas was going through his emotional turmoil, Floch had no problem at all in showing off his true nature, specially when with a kick he ripped in two the body of a man. Floch was so focused in killing them that he didn’t even notice the helicopters with the logo of the Tybur Industries flew over the town toward safety.In another side of the city, E2 was walking among the corpses, the rubbles, and the few survivors who were still find a way to hide themselves from the monsters.
‘You’re almost there. Thomas and Floch are waiting for you’
Eren mentally sent him the imagines of Thomas and Floch’s faces, so he could recognize them. E2 was very exited and couldn’t wait to meet more people of his kind and learn more about himself and their story.He was so focus on his thoughts that he tripped over something and fell stupidly on the ground. “Ouch, I’m still so clumsy” When he tried to stand up he accidentally grabbed touched something else, a hand and that made him jump. He tripped over a little body, a little girl who was wearing a purple coat and she was wrapped by a woman’s arms. Her mother. The woman and the little woman were lying lifeless on the ground, with the body dirty with dust and blood and yet there was something about them that made them compelling somehow.E2 didn’t understand why but seeing that made him feel… sad, very sad and instinctively wrapped his own arm around himself, like he wanted to be protected. He had seen a lot of corpse arriving there and killing other people but now he was really disturbed, but why ? What was that ? What was happening to him ?He was finally free, he had finally avenged those pigs of the Tybur Industries for their crimes, he had finally obtained almost everything he wanted so why was he crying ?Why was he putting his hand over the little girl ? Almost like he was apologizing to her ? Why should he apologize ? For what ? He was the victim…He looked at their serene visage, as if they knew that, in that life or another, they still would be together and they would continue to protect each other, as they knew that, how they had loved each other in that life, the would still be loved after their death.That was what made E2 observed them more than he should, that message of love and protection that they transmitted in spite of everything. E2 wondered if they had been scared before to die…
“Get up, you’re wasting time”
In that moment was resurfacing all the humanity E2 had tried to suppress in the Vegivísir Tower. Eren told him that humans had to be blamed for their sins, for what they had done to their kind but E2 didn’t know what to think then.He looked around and the falling city that before looked like a kingdom to him, a symbol of victory, now looked like nothing more than a cemetery and he contributed to that.Was that right ? Was he still willing to pay the price for his freedom ? Was really worthy sacrificing all those lives ? Was worthy all that destruction ? Would he become a real monster if he joined Eren and his crusade ?Slowly all his doubts resurfaces and he thought about Tom again and again he was crying. “She look’d down to Camelot… Out flew the web and floated wide… The mirror crack’d from side to side… the curse is upon me, cried… The Lady of Shalott” And now he realized his real curse wasn’t his imprisonment in the white door, but his imprisonment in a world that didn’t want him, a world that imposed him to make difficult choice and where he would actually have the freedom to chose.That was his real curse, the possibility whether to become a monster or not, to embrace Eren’s ideals or not and to kill for his kind. Actually kill, indiscriminately, women, old people and children. That was how Eren saw the world… or better, how he wanted the world to be and that was the curse he wanted to cast upon the world.To be imprisoned by the chains on fear and unknown while the titans were free of killing and devouring everything and everyone. “This is the world you want”
“Yes. Now that you know, what do you decide to do ? You’re free to chose”
“The curse of free will is upon me now…”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
LAGO CITY 15 SEPTEMBER 13:00 E2 stood up from he ground and noticed that his stocking were ripped in different parts but that wasn’t the moment to be vain and his heels started to hurt. He seriously couldn’t wonder how women were able to wear them all day.He started walking again and trusted on his senses to find Floch and Thomas. Eren told him that they weren’t too far away from him so all he could do was to keep going. He tried to ignore the surroundings, he was tired of seeing rubbles, corpses and surely he was tired of smelling smoke, blood and rubbish. He only made few steps when all sudden he felt dizzy and grabbed his head with both his hands. “AAARGHHH !! WHAT…” He felt on the ground with his knees and then he saw something… or so he thought it was so blurred, like he was dreaming…
Someone… dressed completely in black with a cape and a hood that covered his face… was coming closer to him… there was only E2 and him in the street and that person was coming closer and closer… and the more that person got closer the clearer E2 could see it…
Was it a mirage ? Was it an illusion when the black figure suddenly appeared in front of him and tried to hit him with a punch ?
Was it real or E2 stopped him ? His arms moved before his will and protected him, but the person in front of him attacked again, again and again. E2 found himself able to stopped any hit, punch, kick or elbow until the figure in black managed to kick him under the chin.
E2 fell on the ground but he didn’t feel the impact, like he was dreaming and nothing could be felt and nothing was real. Nevertheless, despite not feeling any pain, he could move and the black figure took advantage of that and it grabbed him and lifted E2 over his head before to beat him fall on his knee.
Useless saying that E2 felt his vertebral column brake under that knees.
Again he felt no pain, but he couldn’t move, he could only stay there when the black figure bite hard his neck and…
“AARGHHH !!” …And… it was over… the back figure had disappeared, he didn’t feel dizzy anymore. He was still on his knees, but he was alone and he still felt no pain. Whatever had happened, if it had happened, left him pretty confused and scared. Very scared, that was why he didn’t want to be alone in that city one minute more. It wasn’t safe for him, but he would talk with Eren about that ‘thing’ later.Furthermore he knew that titans wouldn’t kill him, or hunt him, but they could always slow him down and that was the last thing he wanted; also since he still couldn’t distinguish well the difference between a titan or a shifter by using his mere nose, being there could confuse him. The serum itself was a problem, it still was in the air, he felt it and he couldn’t help but wonder how many of those corpses in the street would become titans in a hour or two, or even less.He read in Tom’s mind that the serum could rianimate people only when the DNA was at least 60-65% compatible with the serum, but those people inevitably became mindless titans, because the serum resulted to be too intrusive since it had killed them before to work on them. According to Tom and to what Eren told him the period spent being a mindless titans could help them to adapt better tot the serum but in those cases was pretty rare.E2 hoped not to be there when that happened. Thousands corpses meant thousands explosions and thunders all at once and no one, not even a shifter, would be able to get out of it unscathed. It took almost fifteen minutes before his senses caught the presence of someone of his kind, someone more similar to himself than a simple titan.
‘WATCH OUT !!’
The loud voice of Eren inside his head made him jump, but thanks to his reflexes he managed to catch a crystal dart that almost hit him. “What the…” “Hey !! Impressive !!” Screamed a ginger hair boy few meters away from him. ‘Is he…’
‘Floch Forster. I will better have a talk with him about his introduction’
E2 slowly coming closer to Floch and he could tell from the other’s look that the ginger one already realized he was one of them and so the blond guy whom had been observing him from a van nearby. E2 didn’t like feeling like he was under scrutiny, it made him feel anxious and it remembered him too much about his time spent in the white room with those scientists and nurses. He felt a little intimated too because he noticed quickly all the dead, ripped, faceless people on the ground there. He was sure that it wasn’t titans’ job and neither the serum. He stopped for a moment to take a look at Floch’s clothes to realized that he smelled of human blood. Even though he was dressed up completely in black clothes, E2 knew that the blood was there, he could smell it and it couldn’t be any other explanations. No one but Floch or Thomas could have reduced human body in nothing but broken bones and scattered innards on the ground. It was a very macabre scenario. He really hoped Eren hadn’t entrusted him in the hands of some deranged psychopath.
‘Nah, Floch only likes playing with humans. If you’re one of his kind, he will protect you and fight with you until his death’
‘if you say so’ He wasn’t sure if he could trust on Eren about people. Eren considered Floch reliable and not some sort of psychopath whom enjoyed playing with his food before to eat, more like he’d seen Eren himself doing in his memories, so what was he supposed to think then ?On the other hand Floch was very relief that the boy they were waiting had finally arrived, it meant that they could finally leave that shit hole of city. Thomas was relief too, he was tired of staying there, in that city where Mina lost her life, and he was done with Floch’s bullshit. Surely no one of them had expected to retrieve Eren’s almost perfect doppelgänger. Almost perfect because that boy looked slightly younger, maybe of a year or two, and he was dressed like a girl. He was wearing a funny t-shirt for tourists, a skirt and a pair of uncomfortable high heels. “Wonder if he had to run with those all the way…” murmured Floch. When E2 was in front of Floch, he took a moment to observe him better. Flock was a young man, few centimeters lower than him, with ginger tousled hair and brown eyes. He didn’t look particularly strong or imposing, or intelligent but there was something about him, in the way he scanned him, that didn’t make E2 feel at ease.Nevertheless he offered his hand to Floch. “I’m E2… nice to meet you” “E2 ? Is it a sneeze or something ?” Asked Floch boringly. “FLOCH !!!” Exclaimed Thomas getting out from the van with two tablets in one hand “Be nice, I’m Thomas Wagner” said the other boy shaking their hands “And… well… you’ve already met Floch” “Why E2 ?” Insisted Floch. “Floch…” murmured Thomas “Eren said to postpone any question until we arrive in Paradise” “Eren number two” explained E2 a little intimidated. Floch’s expression sweeten “Never thought those pricks had such a bad sense of humor” After that Floch squeezed his hand too then patted his shoulder. E2 was relief not to have start on the wrong foot with Floch. Since the two were going to travel back to Paradise together, being in the same vehicle with him would have felt awkward. “So, we’re going back to Paradise with that ?” He said indicating the van. “No, we would attract too much attention. We’re going to steal a car and leave the city. It’s safer this way” answered Thomas. “Oh” simply said E2. “What’s the problem ? Something against a little theft ?” Provoked him Floch. “No, I’m simply surprised. It’s the first time I’m escaping from a city, I’m a little unprepared” And surely he wasn’t in the position for judging someone for their crimes. Probably and Thomas and Floch’s hands were dirty of bloods, but so were his. No one of them was innocent and all of them had tasted the temptation of crime once. E2 killed Tom and all those people in the Vegvísir Tower, and also stole Tom’s wife clothes from their bedroom. He wasn’t better than them. He also stopped ask himself every time if any action, thought or desire was right or wrong. If there was something he had learnt for sure in those days was that there was not right or wrong, because people were not either good or bad. Tom wasn’t a bad man, yet he had been watching E2 being locked up, used and abused without doing nothing, for years; yet he was the only one who had helped him escape from that white nightmare. His wife wasn’t a bad woman, she was suffering so much and in the end she broke down and killed her own son; but she hadn’t spent her whole life doing nasty thing against people.Eren was a very sadistic, imposing and patronizing person, but bad things had happened to him, by others bad people. E2 didn’t want to excuse his actions, but he understood them as ‘necessary’ due to the situation and Eren wasn’t completely bad either. Eren knew how to be good and kind in his own weird peculiar way.E2 didn’t consider himself a bad ‘person’ or a crazy ‘psychopath’; he didn’t wander in the city killing everything that breathed. He simply wanted to be free and he didn’t approve the destruction of an entire city, specially since he had lost a possible friend too that way. Mina.So, he decided he was going to ponder his decision according to what he considered necessary to do in that situation; nevertheless he hoped not to find himself in need of killing someone anytime soon. Last time it happened, his worst instinct resurfaced and he completely lost control and E2 didn’t want that. If he had to commit a sin, he wanted it to be his completely choice, not something dictated by a moment of loss of lucidity. So for the moment, no more right or wrong, but it needed to be done and what not.They stole the first car they found that had enough petrol for where they needed to go. Floch and Thomas were satisfied with the car they found, according to them it had the perfect something and the optimize something else. E2 understood nothing about cars and if someone would ask him anything about it, he would only tell them that it was black and that the seats were leather. It looked expensive and there was a good smell inside it. It was obvious that it had been brought to the car wash recently. Thomas sat in the driving seat passing the tables to Floch, sat beside him. E2 sat in the back. “So, how are we going to go to Paradise ?” He asked timidly taking off his backpack. “Don’t allow us to spoil you the surprise. Get some rest and enjoy the journey.” Said Thomas handling the electric wires of the car. The car’s engine started and then Thomas started driving. For once, after everything E2 had been put through since he left the white room, he felt safe. Like he knew that for once in his life he wasn’t alone, but with two people of his kind, that could understand how he felt and that would have fight with him in case of necessity.He didn’t even try to talk with Eren about the ‘illusion’ from before. He simply wanted to close his eyes, turn off his mind and sleep, taking a rest from the world and its torments.His dreams had the same color of the steel and the porcelain.
…
MARLEY GAZZETTE
THE MONSTERS OF LAGO CITY
16th September 2097
The world will remember it forever as the worst terroristic attack ever committed against the great Emperor of Marley. Monsters taller than all the skyscrapers of the city had destroyed the whole city on 15th September 2097 in the morning.
The culprits are currently unknown but recent revelations indicates that it was caused by the scientists whom worked at the Tybur Facility in Lago City, some of them indeed escaped the city with helicopters while the city was getting destroyed below them.
This catastrophe not only confirmed absence of civic sense and responsibility of all the members of the Tybur Facility but also all the crimes they were charged few years ago.
They are the true monsters and the real enemies of our world, those who have been plotting all this time to attack and conquer, the world, with those same monsters.
Our Leaders have officially declared all the staff members of Tybur Industries public enemies and everyone whom from now on will help them hiding from the authorities.
Furthermore, since no many informations about those monsters are currently known, there’s no sure way to kill them so the our leaders have chosen to evacuate as soon as possible all the countries nearby Lago City.
Tybur Industries are no news to scandals of any sort. The first famous incident took place on 8th November 2068 when one their most important senior researcher, Eren Kruger, died during an experimentation. Few years later, Grisha Yeager disappeared forever. Then two years ago an incident provoked the complete destruction of another facility in Paradise Island.
Now Lago City has been completely annihilated by another incident taken places in another Tybur’s facility. What will happen now ? Is this the time when finally Lord Tybur was going to be charged for his crimes ? Is this going to be the last incident ? Or the Tybur Industries has something else in store for the world ?
…
PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA CITY 16TH SEPTEMBER 2097 Frieda was really satisfied of what she was reading on the news and so the rest of the other shifters. For them, it was the beginning of a new era ruled by titans and if they played their cards well from now on, they would succeed in annihilate human race. She was in very good mood that day, but the destruction of Lago City wasn’t the only reason. Floch and Thomas would be arrived in few minutes with the boy and luckily all of there were safe and sound. ‘Well, almost all of them…’ All of them in Paradise had felt it, when Mina’s died. All of them had felt her pain, all of them had shred tears for her and all of them were missing her very much. But at least her sacrifice hadn’t been vain, Thomas and Floch were safe, Lago City was destroyed and the boy now under their protection. There was no way anymore those pigs of the Industries could obtain a pure sample of nucleus cells, not without Eren, and surely not without E2. All of them knew that without nucleus cells it was impossible produce Ymir serum; the only one who knew how to do it was dead and took all his knowledge in the grave with him. Maybe Zeke could produce a sample of the serum, in a way he was similar to Eren and was Grisha Yeager. The main issues was that both Yeager disappeared only God knew where and now that all dirty business had been exposed, Frieda suspected that those two would remain hidden from the world until a better option presented itself. Frieda hoped that both of them would be already rotting in Hell when the time came. Someone would reply that she shouldn’t hold grudges that way, instead she should consider the forgiving path. Whoever dared to tell her that, she would tell them to live her life once and then tell her what they thought about it. “Frieda… it’s your turn” said Ymir snapping her fingers in front of her. “Oh… yes…” There wasn’t much to do for someone who didn’t need to eat, drink, or sleep and without new missions in arrival, the shifters were trying to keep themselves busy.Indeed, meanwhile Floch and Thomas arrived, they were having a little fun exercising and showing off their abilities to other shifters.In that moment she was training with Ymir, Marco, Sasha, Samuel, Hannah and Franz. Of course they were many more shifters scattered around the island, but some of them preferred to live in their hometown and only came there, in Utopia, when their presence was required. “Be ready, loser” said Frieda positioning in front of Ymir. “I think this time, it’s the good ones” answered Ymir. Frieda attacked first and Ymir defend herself. Ymir was a very stimulating adversary when the other was motivated to win. Behind that blank expression and the uncooperative attitude, Ymir was a very capable and skillful fighter when she put her heart into it. “How do you imagine the younger version of the King ?” Asked Ymir trying to punch Frieda. Frieda grabbed her arm and elbow it. “A younger version of the King. Nothing more, nothing less. He will be our responsibility though” Eren ordered to each one of them to train and take care of E2 unti he wasn’t ready, a true fighter capable to fight for their crusade as anybody of them. E2 was a rough diamond, but with the right modeling, he could become something very, very special and unique, if he had even half of Eren’s power. Frieda thought so.Apple never fell too far away from the tree after all. “I’m not sure I’m suit to babysit someone” said Ymir. “You’re unsuitable to do a lot of things that involve any sort of interaction” commented Marco who was observing their fight. “Surely more suitable than Sasha, she would probably eat him alive” replied Ymir before being thrown on the ground by Frieda “Ouch…” “Passt auf” (pay attention) said Frieda. Sasha on the other hand was sitting on the ground with her gaze lost in emptiness, but everyone knew that she was imagining herself sat in front of a banquet full of food of any sort. That was what she always thought about and many shifters called her ‘Potato girl’ for that since one of them had caught her snooping around old flats and apartment in search for human food. She was also an huntress, very skillful with bow and arrows and sometimes she hunted down animals that lived in the forest nearby. At the beginning no one approved that nasty habit of her and Eren had tried to mentally manipulated her to protect the animals but her desire for meat and hunt were pretty strong. Anyway in the end she was allowed, but she also needed to follow strict rules in regard. Speaking of Sasha, the girl in question, suddenly gasped and put herself on her knees with one ear on the ground. That was another funny habit of her. All shifters had an incredible hearing, but Sasha’s hearing was spectacular. Probably sharpened thanks to all her human years spent in hunting down animals with her father. “Two… not… three persons… men… One of them is… incredibly tall… with a familiar scent but… different altogether… They will be here in… less then ten minutes…” “Oh… they’re coming !” Said Hanna who was sparring with Franz. “Finally !” Said Marco. Indeed, after ten minutes exactly, three persons went beyond what used to be the walls of facility in Utopia. The three Walls, named after the three daughters of the first Queen of Paradise Island, Ymir. It was very satisfactory seeing them crumbling under titans’ feet. Those fucking walls were the symbol of their imprisonment and of Tybur’s power and oppression over their kind and now looked at them… Brocken bricks and powder that all of them were free to trample every time they left the facility.All the shifters welcomed Thomas and Floch back with open arms, congratulating them and manifesting their content for their return. All of them but Frieda.Frieda froze when she saw him… E2. She knew that he’d been created by Eren’s cells but she didn’t imagine that the two could be so perfectly alike. It was almost like seeing a ghost.E2 didn’t expect to be welcomed like that, with open arms by those stranger people, but it was actually beautiful, being wanted.He had to admit that he had been a little nervous as soon as he saw the facility, or at least what remained of it in the distance. It was only when he came closer that he noticed that the missing areas of the facility were replaced with a shining structure made entirely of crystal. They didn’t know him either, only that he was like them, yet they didn’t care if he was still unsuitable for the battlefield like them, unable to control his abilities like them. E2 for once felt at home, protected and safe. He took a moment to observe all the shifters whom came closer to introduce themselves. They were wearing approximately the same clothes. Boots, black trousers and black sweatshirt with hood and from the grass stains on their clothes, various tears on their clothes, the bruises on their face and the messy hair, he could tell that they had been training together until their arrival. All of them looked very nice though, specially the guy with freckles that introduced himself as Marco Bott. Marco was the first to introduce himself and instead of shaking his hand, he hugged him with affection and kindness. Then there was Ymir, she had freckles too but differently from Marco, her eyes very deeply intimidating and she didn’t shake his hand, she limited to introduce herself by telling her name and mad and a curt nod in his direction. Then it was the turn of a weird girl, Sasha Blouse whom, after introducing herself, asked him if he had some food with him in his backpack. At her request, Floch throw her a chocolate bar and ordered her to calm down and stop drooling. Indeed Sasha had been drooling at the mere sight of the bar and as soon as she had it in her hands, she ran away, almost as she was scared that someone could snatch it from her. The latest to introduce themselves were Hannah and Franz.It was only then that he noticed a raven hair girl that stayed away and was observing him with cold light blue eyes.
‘Bring him to me, Frieda. I need to talk with him’
Frieda nodded. She came closer to E2 and waited patiently that the others properly introduced themselves to him to do the same. “Hello, E2, my name is Frieda” she said shaking his hand timidly “You need to follow me. Eren wants to talk with you” E2 remained breathless for a moment. Frieda was a very beautiful young lady and she slightly resembled him somehow. The two could have been siblings and he had a weird sensation when he stood in her presence. Like he’d known her for a very long time…Furthermore, when she touched his hand he felt dizzy for a moment and he feared that he was going to have another ‘episode’ like the one before. Luckily it didn’t happen. He nodded, even though he knew that she wouldn’t have accepted a ‘no’ for an answer. He followed her inside the facility, throughout all the corridors and various doors and the white walls until they arrived at the center of the experiment facility, into an hexagonal room passing through old lab where almost all the furniture was broken or unusable. As soon as he put a food in it he felt dizzy for a moment…
Idiotische Dummköpfe… anzunehmen… dass ich… nicht… mehr… die… macht… besitze… euch… alle… zu… vernichten … (Idiotic fools… to assume… I no… longer… possess… the power… to… crush… you… all)
He had to grab on one of the desk not to fell down. What was that ? What was that immense, destructive fury ? It was so strong, so tangible that he thought he could smell it in the room, touched it with his hands like he was the one who was feeling it. What was happening ? He closed his eyes and began to exhale and expire, trying to tame that increasing sense of anxiety that threatened to drive him mad. At his side Frieda put a hand on his shoulder but it didn’t help to reassure him. He squeezed so hard the edged of the writing desk that he broke it in the end.
The beast snarled… the monster… wanted… to kill them all… nothing but meat for slaughter… deserve to die…
Wolves… soldiers… limbs and blood on the floor… a wolf that slaughtered a soldier… a solider shoot a wolf in the head… death… that room smelled of blood, fear and death…
Any wall, any tile, anything in that room was filled with death…
“Zeit zu sterben, Würner” (time do die, worms) murmured E2 with tears in his eyes “Töte sie, töte sie alle” (Kill them, kill them all) Rage… and fear… and pain…He could barely breath anymore and his vision was blurrier at any second. It was like all the wrath of that place was squeezing him, suffocating him, clouding his judgment. All he wanted to do was to punish his enemies for what they had done in that place, for all the pain they had caused. For all the death they were responsible of. He wanted to kill them, he wanted justice. He wanted to know… what the hell was happening to him… “Sie sind bereits tot” (they are already dead) told him Frieda caressing his hair “Sie sind berets tot… und werden nicht zurückkommen” (They are already dead and they won’t come back) “Sie… sind… bereits tot…” he repeated in a whisper “Würner…” “Alles ist in Ordnung, du bist in Sicherheit” (Everything is fine, you’re safe) said Frieda hugging him from behind. “Sie… sind… bereits tot…” he repeated like a mantra “Sie… sind… bereits… tot” It was truth after all, wasn’t it ?All the people who had hurt him were dead. Willy and Lyla Tybur were dead.All the major representatives were dead. Tom was dead. All those nurses who ignored him and treated him like scum were dead.All his enemies were dead, most of them at least and he was there instead.They were gone and he was with his kind instead. He was safe, and protected and wanted and all that wrath inside was senseless. He needed to let it go for his own good. “What… was…” “Shhhh, don’t worry about it. This place is… peculiar. Eren has spent the worst years of his life here and his pain still poisons the air inside this facility. It’s so palpable, you can feel it everywhere” said Frieda “But he’s free now, he’s no longer a prisoner here and so are you. Let’s go” E2 sighed, then nodded and followed Frieda out of the labs.There at the center of the hexagonal room there was another room, all white both inside and outside and the light were on too.E2 for a moment hesitated but then a figure exited from the room. Someone completely dressed in black that was walking toward him with confidence, easy strides, like someone who knew to rule over the entire place, someone, who knew to have the power, someone who E2 hoped to become one day, who knew to have all the time in world to do what he wanted. Perfect posture, straight back, chest out, head high and eyes that were promising him both Hell and Paradise. The kind of walk that probably had possessed all the leaders of world before him.He had to admit though, Eren was far more intimidating in person than in any dream and his green eyes were colder that he’d expected. Completely devoid of any kind of emotion. “Thank you Frieda. May you leave us alone ? We need a moment to catch on” he asked her politely. Frieda nodded, then she left them alone. E2 almost immediately wanted to beg her to stay, to keep providing him that buffer he needed so much at the moment. But he knew that he couldn’t avoid that encounter for too long and Eren had a lot of explaining to do too.He took a moment to take a better look on Eren and he admitted that they were so much alike, if it wasn’t for their age gab, they could have been twins. Eren was very tall, slim, but he was sure that he had to be pretty muscular like any other shifters. He had long hair and surely, differently from E2, they weren’t synthetic hair. E2 had ripped that hideous wig from his head as soon as he arrived in Paradis. The two spent several minutes in silence and when E2 was just about to speak, incapable of handling the silence anymore, his view blurred over again. ‘What’s happening ?’ He asked to Eren ‘Eren what’s happening ?’ While Eren stayed perfectly still, simply observing him with his eyes as E2 grabbed his head with his hands and fell on the ground.
“Welcome to Paradise…” was saying Eren to him squeezing his hand
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time…” said Eren hugging him that time.
“Glad you could make it… Sorry for that…” Eren said after hitting him and then grabbing him from his neck and biting him, hard.
“I knew you could make it…”… hug… “I was so worried about you”… kiss on his cheek… “You have suffered so much, haven’t you ?”… worried green eyed… “I’m so happy to see you here”… teary eyes… “I don’t like this”… cold eyes… a fist… “There’s something I want you to see”… a buzz… “There’s something I rather want to tell you…”… pain… pain… green eyes… pain… a falling sensation… green ocean… pain…
“Eren…” “Tell me, E2, do you know how to hate ?” He fainted. …
STOHESS DISTRICT PAPER
TYBUR INDUSTRIES TRAIL OF BLOOD
19th September 2097
Only few hours ago, it was confirmed the suspect about Tybur’s recent disappearance, he, along with his family and the major members of his company, passed away on 9th September 2097 during a party organized by him for fundraising intents. The cause of the death is a terroristic attack that caused the creations of the same monsters that now are devastating what remains of Lago City.
Furthermore another death is finally confirmed, it regards another important scientist of Tybur Industries, it’s chief researcher Tom Xavier. The man had been victim of an assassination attempt in the same facility, the day before Lago City’s attack.
In the same way as the trial of blood continued, so the trial of cowardice and irresponsibility continued as Zeke Yeager disappeared exactly like his father had done many years ago and many other employees with him. All the other facilities officially are under investigations, also all the staff members will be interrogated in order to get more informations about those monsters. Unfortunately, most of the staff members have disappeared after the annihilation of Lago City and have taken most of their documents and informations. Federals are looking for them and anyone who is in possession of any fruitful informations about them is prayed to communicate it. Otherwise whom found guilty of covering or hiding them from the authorities will be charged. Nevertheless, our leaders are planning the building of a wall reaching 50-60 meters 300 km about from Lago City. The builders will work tirelessly until the wall won’t be terminated and those monsters’ advance won’t be stopped or a way to kill them won’t be found, anyway any volunteer whom agree to participate will be generously rewarded.
…
UNKNOWN FACILITY 17 SEMPTEMBER 2097 8:00Erwin Smith, Mike, Hanji, Levi, Nanaba, Moblit and Armin were all reunited in the visual data room. Peaure and the young boy were still sleeping in the dormitory, after all their participation wasn’t necessary for that reunion. Hanji was going to use the projector to show them some new informations and data about the serum, but before Erwin wanted them to be there because they were going to have a video conference with Zackly and Pixis about what happened in Lago City. Levi wasn’t exited for that meeting, after days spent in that facility doing nothing, he longed for a little action. Back in the underground, or simply back in time, when he was a thief-commissioned killer-torturer action was part of his everyday life. He didn’t have work shifts or anything like that, when someone commissioned for something and payed him well, he was willing to do the job at any hour of the day. In few words, he never got bored.Instead now he felt completely out of his element, even though it was Erwin that did all the talking in general, which was something he was grateful of. If there was something he’d never learnt to do appropriately was interacting with people, Furlan was far better and more diplomatic than him. Eren tipped something on the tablet he was holding and then the faces of Zackly and Pixis appeared. “Good morning, General Zackly. Chief Pixis” greeted them Erwin “Good morning Commander Smith. I wish we had this encounter in better circumstances.” Said Pixis. “Can’t believed what happened in Lago City. This time Tybur Industries are officially over, there’s no way they can cover their crime now, specially without Tybur’s moneys and acquaintances.” Commented Zackly. “I’m afraid things are even more complicated than that. According to what I could deduce from what happened at the training center, in Lago City and in Paradise two years ago, I’m convinced that we’re dealing with someone new. Someone whose goal is to take down Tybur Industries. At least for now” “What do you mean at least for now ?” Asked Zackly suddenly alarmed. “I’ll be honest. In the beginning, I thought that somehow what happened to the training center was related to what happened two years ago in Paradise. If I am right, until then whoever is against the Industry have solely attacked the facility and everyone directly connected to it. Lago City was… unexpected. Or Tybur was hiding something really big there or…” “Or ?” Urged him Pixis “Or whoever is behind the attack is trying to send a message. To Tybur Industries or the world… I’m not sure” answered Erwin. Erwin didn’t have enough elements to prove his theory right, but he was confident in his instinct. Until that moment he’d never been disappointed by it. There were no casualties, in the attacks against the Tybur Industries, at all. Instead he saw a certain logic in it. If he was right, it all began with Paradise, the first great rift of Tybur’s reputation since 2068. After that, Tybur almost risked to be overwhelmed with debts and mass media only worsen his position. Tybur had spent two hellish years trying to save his own ship from sinking, that put him into a position of weakness. Of course all he had was theories, but after some adequate researches he found out that in that specific facility were conducted all the eugenic experiments and after reading the files Armin had sent to them, he learnt that it was the correct site of the nucleus too.He wasn’t a scientist, but he was intelligent enough to realize that with the nucleus destroyed, there was no way Tybur could have been producing the serum, not without having a backup plan already and Erwin was convinced that Tybur had it.Then Tybur himself was killed when the training center was attacked. Without Tybur’s leadership and knowledge, it was only a matter of time before all the other facilities would be attacked too, including the underground facility. They were all direct attacks against Tybur and everything related to him, until Lago.Lago City had changed everything. The facility there had been attacked two days before yesterday, mass media were already talking about it, the suspects about Tybur were already spreading but the culprit didn’t stop there. Attacking the facility only wasn’t enough anymore. The culprit, or culprits, wanted to send a message, ones that couldn’t be covered or hidden in any way. A message for the remaining facilities ? No.A message foe the entire world ? Maybe.A message of war ? He hoped not.But why Lago City ? And why killing Tom Xavier the day before only to attack the entire city the day after ? There was something hidden in Lago City, something so important that had to be destroyed as soon as possible after Tybur’s death. Maybe something that only Tybur, his family and Tom Xavier knew. Something which disappearance or destruction had to remain a secret, in that case the incident would only be a cover, a misdirection. Nevertheless, he preferred to keep that theory for himself, at least for the moment. He needed more tips about the situation and he still had no idea how much he could trust Armin. He needed to be sure that the blond guy had nothing to do with what happened at the training center and in Paradis Island first. It was another reason why he had warned Hanji and Moblit to keep Levi’s secret, until they didn’t get a better grip on it themselves. “Any suggestion of whom it could be ?” Asked Pixis. “Not yet” answered Erwin. “Smith… I see two new faces today. Who are they ?” Asked Zackly. “Oh, allow me to introduce you, Levi. He impressed me with his fight skills and I’m sure he will prove to be a valid element for my squad” he said indicating Levi “… and Doctor Arlert. I’ve hired him to help us studying Ymir serum.” “I see…” said Pixis with a weird look. Erwin internally smirked. Pixis knew that he was hiding something from him but two could play the game and Erwin was pretty good at keeping his secrets. That was why he avoided to look Armin, but the blond boy was smart too, he probably had already understood why Erwin lied. It was too soon to tell Pixis and Zackly that Armin used to work as scientist for Tybur, they would probably overacted and ask for explanations Erwin himself wasn’t ready to give.Levi wasn’t surprised to have been put under scrutiny by those two, nor that he cared about what they thought of him. Nevertheless it would be funny to know how they would react at his ‘weirdness’. His abilities and his weird dreams that didn’t leave him be. It happened always more often, that he dreamed about the sea and places he’d never seen himself and a girl with long dark hair and something else he couldn’t define. Sometimes those dreams were very vivid, like he was actually there; other times they were blurrier. In the end, they were driving him crazy. “With your permission, Doctor Zoe and Doctor Arlert are going to answer all your question about the serum.” Erwin sat and Hanji and Armin stood up. The two explained Zackly and Pixis all they knew about the serum. How it was produced, how it was injected and its proprieties. Then they explained how the transformation was triggered and the various phases of the process. They answered all Zackly and Pixis’ questions about titans, both mindless and shifters, what they had in common and what distinguished them, At the question if the serum worked on animals and plants too, Hanji seemed a little hesitant. She had read all the files sent to her but she wasn’t ready to explain it perfectly so Armin answered. “It has effects on them too, but of course it works differently form humans. Animals had higher possibilities to adapt successfully with the serum, thanks to a less longevity and a simpler nervous system. The plants could adapt even more than animals and also transmit to similar organism through their chlorophyll. They’re particularly dangerous” “What else ?” Asked Zackly “Plants can transmit the virus but only to other plants. Sometimes to animals that feed on them, but not humans. The serum’s effects would be too weak and humans would metabolize it as quickly as they breath.” “Which meant that animals and plants in Lago City are infected too ?” Asked Pixis “Probably, it depends on the type of serum used. But I highly doubted that. The explosions produced but the transformations of the titans will mostly destroy everything nearby. I can only imagine how many people died, but I can say that some of them will be ‘resurrected’ by the serum. If they possess at least the 60% of compatibility with it, they will become nothing more than mindless titans” “I don’t see how this make everything better” commented Pixis “It doesn’t, indeed. Titans are practically immortals. They don’t age, don’t need to eat, to drink, they don’t get hurt and feel nothing. If it wasn’t for their scarce intelligence, they would be perfect” “There are the shifters” replied Pixis almost challenging him with his eyes. “Shifters are flawed too, in a different way. Any other questions ?”
“Is there a way to kill them ? Definitively ? Our leaders are planning the building of the wall, but this is a mere temporary solution. If these attacks continues, we wouldn’t be able to border the entire country. We need to find a way ”
“It could be pretty difficult. Titans could be of different heights different weight. Some of them could be even ‘abnormal’” “God, kid !! There’s actually something you can tell us for sure or these are all theories ?” Exclaimed Zackly. “I’m afraid I don’t know the answer. Tybur was very, very paranoid. Most of the researches about the serum were handwritten to prevent them to end up on internet, where anyone could hacker them. Most of those informations went destroyed; furthermore…”
“Furthermore… ?”
“Furthermore, the reason why in all those years no scientist have been able to elaborate a perfect version of the serum it’s because the real formula died with Kruger in 2068. Kruger made sure to destroy all the informations he got before to die” It was true. Kruger managed to create the perfect serum and it wasn’t just a fairytale. He had no idea what happened in 2068, only rumors and different versions of the tale, but whatever happened during the confrontation between Eren Kruger and Grisha Yeager, it could be classified as ‘miracle’. Grisha Yeager had been the first successful host of an entire new version of Ymir serum; perfect, that version was perfect. After that day Grisha Yeager became the first true shifter, always able to turn into a titan, perfectly able to heal any wounds, even the mortal ones, capable of surviving without nourishment, in possession of abilities beyond any imagination. And so was his son, Zeke Yeager. Unique, special, powerful, perfect… a miracle.About Eren… No one knew, at least no one Armin had talked to. Some told him Eren was the offspring of a surrogate pregnancy, others that he was a reincarnation of the late Eren Kruger, others that he was a former seed of some kind of plant generated by the serum. Armin’d never managed to discover the truth and Eren himself showed no intention of opening up with him about the topic. Something that didn’t surprise him that much. The point was that Eren Kruger’s death, followed by Grisha Yeager’s disappearance created not few problems to the Industries to reproduce a version, but all the attempts failed miserably. The shifters died, or manifested little ailments like migraines, nosebleeds, blackouts, rigidity, paralysis, some of them even developed new allergies. Some of them died after a months, other after few days, someone after the first transformation. Some didn’t manage to turn back in human form. They were only failures, far far away from Eren’s perfection. “Shit…” said Zackly. Armin wasn’t sure whether he could them or not. Well, he had sent them files about titans’ anatomy, it was only a matter of time before they found a way to kill them and he still needed to gain their trust. “There’s actually a way to kill them… it will require time… so maybe think about an alternative in the meantime…” …
STAR MAGAZINE
BIOLOGY OF A CRIME
21ST SEPTEMBER
There was a time when the Tybur’s brand was a symbol of quality, insurance, safety and power. From 2013 until few weeks ago, Tybur Industries have to be one of the most important multinational conglomerate invested in the production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, industrial machine production and arms industry; recent tragedies reveled that these activities had but one sole purpose, covering the illegal activities regarding their biological weapons, called ‘Titans’. Tybur Industries has been creating this monsters by leading illegal human experimentation, kidnapping, torture and murderer. The most serious of the charges against Tybur Industries is the accusation of having plotted against our country and the entire world by using titans to pursue global domination and bring chaos and war in our world, exactly as they did with Paradis Island. Those charged had been recently proven right thanks to some documents found in the archives of the facilities and thanks to the first testimonies in court made by some former employee of Tybur Industries. Unfortunately until today no researcher has been found in no one of the facilities, suggesting that they were the first to abandon their work place in order to go into hiding to avoid their penalty. For those, it requested from any civilian minimum collaboration in order to find them and bring them to justice, most of all, to oblige them to help Marley to defeat those monsters, in order to restore peace, safety and order.
The wall’s building hasn’t been completed yet, but titans continued to going straight toward the closest city, which increased the general level of fear and anxiety and the pressure bestowed on all the builders.
The federals are still looking for Dr Grisha Yeager and his son Zeke Yeager, the latter responsible to have left the city just before its destruction.
…
VILLA TYBUR 22nd SEPTEMBER 2097Somatic symptom disorder: a mental disorder that manifests through physical symptoms that suggest illness or injury for which is no possible identify any physical cause. ‘You’d be so proud of me… father’ That was what Zeke thought watching himself in the mirror. Messy hair. Circles around his eyes. Paleness. Tiredness. Bruises on his face and naked torso. Chappy lips. A strong headache worthy of the best hangover he’d never had, because shifters couldn’t get drunk. He was a mess. The bruises on his face vere a proof, they hadn’t healed yet and he knew why. Somatic symptom disorder. Even shifters weren’t immune to the stress caused by their psyche and mental disorders and complexes.What was the complexes that better define him ? Father complex, caused by an absent father, that had abandoned him taking his new ‘daughter’ with him without warning him, or telling him where he was going to hide or if he planned to ever come back to Marley. Nothing. Simply nothing. That coward simply chose to abandon him and forget him like he was nothing but rubbish to toss away. Zeke had loathed his father for that and now looked at him… doing the same… hiding like a rat in the sewers. Like his father was probably doing. “The apple never falls too far away from the tree, right father ?” He said taking off his glasses. He opened the sink and washed his face with cold water, trying to regain some control over his perturbation. Due to his metabolism and constitution, normal medicines didn’t work on him, so if he wanted his wounds to heal, he needed to be mentally calm and collected. He needed to think straight. ‘I need to be more myself and less my father’ His father possessed the naive conviction that time could fix any problem or completely erase them without moving a finger; that shit understood nothing and he never learnt from his mistakes. Tom was a complete different man. Tom wanted to be a father and wanted to have a family and he lost it, but then he wanted to be Zeke’s father too and the blond guy was happy about it. Tom Xavier was the father figure he’d always wanted to have at his side.Xavier always encouraged him to follow his on instinct, to fight for what he considered important and to face his issues head on. So he would. He closed the sink and with his wet hands he caressed his hair. Messier then they were couldn’t be and he didn’t care. He exited from the bathroom and entered inside the living room, where there were Yelena, Onyankopon and the new found Reiner, Colt, Pork, Pieck, Gabi, Magath and the few soldiers that managed to escape from Lago City with him.It was a lucky that he and Yelena managed to find the survivors of the Training Center, they met last day, but when he entered the common room he noticed that they were updating about the recent event. The living room was decorated in Victorian style, with its Persian carpet, painting on the wall, vases and other little and bis objects, a broken grandfather clock and a couch that surely surely one time used to be envied by everyone that put their eyes on it. That room that once was the definition of ‘pomp, luxury and power’ now only screamed poverty, defeat and decay. More like their own existence now.They reunited in one of oldest estate of Tybur in the apennines, it was very old and Tybur turned it into another facilities for laboratories and stores but it wasn’t spacious enough to be turned into an actually facilities. There they had almost nothing to conduct experiment and things like that. They had barely found medicines, clothes and some food for those who needed to eat. Even the electrical system of the villa wasn’t on the cutting edge. Most of the rooms on the third floors needed to be restored and was almost totally going there, furthermore it stank of mold and stale air. Luckily the first and the second floor, where there were the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and even some small lumber-room with medicines and other things they could use were accessible. There was also a studio with an old computer that luckily for them still worked and in the living room at the first floor there was the living room with an old tv, luckily it worked too so they weren’t completely isolated from the world. It also meant that they knew what was going on in the world, how the medias were picturing everyone who ever worked for Tybur Industries.Criminals. Terrorists. Cowards. Monsters. They had been turned into prime targets with a price tag on their heads and never like then they were in danger. It was them against the whole world and it was terribly scaring. “It was… scaring. One minute earlier Armin and I were fighting and one minute after Annie started trembling… like she had convulsions… then she started screaming and then when I tried to keep her still… she attacked me” said Reiner drinking a cup of tea. “And this Armin ? Who was he ?” Asked Yelena. “He was one of us” answered Reiner “He was talking with Annie about a poem… Lady of Shalott. Since her return in Marley, Annie didn’t stop to recite it, as a mantra. Even during her sleep. Armin explained her the story but that was all” “How long has he been part of the Warriors ?” Asked Zeke sitting on the couch next to Yelena. “Few months. He was new. Why ?” Asked Pick curious. “Just curiosity” answered Zeke exchanging looks with Yelena “Continue” “Annie started attacking everyone. We all tried to stop her but we couldn’t.” Said Pieck “She was about to kill Falco but Armin hit her with a rifle, trying to defend him. Annie was physically weak and no one of us expected her to be able to endure a transformation process. She did” “And now ?” Asked Zeke. “We managed to cut Annie off her nape but she was still aggressive so we had to imprison her inside a crystal” explained Magath. ‘That explains a lot’ thought Zeke.When the two groups encountered in the Villa, the first he and Yelena noticed was the absence of Annie and Falco, only after Colt showed them the crystal were Annie was and only then Zeke realized that it had happened something really terrible to them in the underground facility. “And Armin and Falco ?” Asked Zeke. “We…” Pieck hesitated, then she looked at Falco and continued “… When Annie transformed she destroyed the facility so we have no idea. Maybe they’re still alive, maybe not” Before Yelena could continue, Magath insisted that it was their turn to explaining things. Zeke told them what happened in Lago: Tom’s death, the girl, the thunders and in the end their escape from the city. It was pretty humiliating admitting in front of Magath, someone who’d never had a high opinion of him, that he had been defeated by another shifter, someone who was obviously weaker than him, in theory. All of them agreed on one thing in the end, that there was something strange about the entire situation, that someone was trying to tearing Tybur Industry apart but who ? An invisible enemy who was aware of their dirty business ? An enemy from the inside who wanted to get rid of Tybur’s controlling persona ? “I need a blackboard, something where I can outline all my thoughts said Zeke” In the end they found none, but they found black marking pen they could use to write on the walls, scotch tape and wool balls to use. They took the paintings off the walls and then they were ready. “So… we know that everything stated in 2095…” said Zeke writing on the walls that the date “… that day Annie and Berthold disappeared and the facility along with nucleus. Paradise’s facility existed only to conduct research on eugenic, which meant that its destruction only troubled our illegal activities…” Lord Tybur risked the bankrupt only because the incident negatively influenced his reputation and almost not one wanted to be involved with his business. Nevertheless after some troubles and with a little luck, Tybur could count on the ‘legal activities’ to stop the ship from sinking. “… so after Paradise and after the destruction of the nucleus, Tybur shouldn’t have been able to produce the serum anymore, instead the production continued even after Paradise…” It wasn’t the same but all the facility had a store where to keep samples of the original nucleus’ cells, which meant that maybe he had found another way to reproduce the nucleus’ cells without the nucleus itself. “… Hypothesize that the goal was that. Destroy the nucleus. Maybe one of our rival found out about it, they didn’t know what the nucleus was and so they chose to destroy it. No nucleus, no serum, no advantage or superiority over other agencies…” “… but then…” Pieck stood up and went close to Zeke “… After two years Annie returned. We didn’t know what she saw in Paradise, but what we know is that it has changed her forever. She suffered from PTSD and we all chose to ignore it” “We couldn’t have predicted” said Magath with tranquility, like he wasn’t part of Annie’s distress in spite of being one of them who wanted her back in the field as soon as possible “She was in therapy, her therapist said she was getting better” “We’re not here to dwell on Leonhard’s mental issues. We need to focus on the present. On what we need to do about the current situation” “I agree. Why don’t you tell us why they killed Doctor Xavier ?” Asked Magath “Was he working on something important ?” ‘Doctor Xavier had a lot of secrets, general’ thought Zeke.That was the reason why he forbade Yelena and Onyankopon to speak about the ‘boy’. If Tom was hiding him and if he helped him to escape from the city, there had to be a reason. Tom maybe didn’t trust him enough, but Zeke still fest a lot of esteem for Tom and he wanted to kept his secret. At least for the moment. He wanted to find the boy alone, he needed to talk with him. He needed to learn the truth and for the moment he couldn’t trust anyone with his secret. “When Paradise was lost two years ago, Tybur entrusted Tom with a task, to find a way to create a serum without using the Nucleus’ cells, but any attempt failed so far. Without raw material couldn’t be done so much and Tybur was desperate” “So, how have we been able to use Ymir serum in these two years without the Nucleus ?” “I think all of you know the answer” muttered Zeke gritting his teeth. He hated when his true ‘nature’ was brought at the center of the attention, but again it was the only believable lie he could feed them with. Zeke would have donated his cells, only if Tom asked him to, because their bound was important. For Zeke, it was everything and he wanted to believe that Tom was lying to him only to keep him save.So he would lie for him again. “Apparently whoever wanted to destroy us, had learnt at some point that there was a way to reproduce the serum without the nucleus, or maybe had learnt about me, that I’m a carrier and wanted me dead. Maybe that’s why they killed Tom, to get at me” It was such a brilliant lie that, if Zeke didn’t know better, he would have believed himself, which was important after all. The more he looked convinced, the more the other would believe him and that was important. And from their looks, he could tell that all of them considered his life plausible. Excellent. Well, almost everyone. He could tell that Pieck was studying him attentively and that maybe she was the only one, among all those idiots, to suspect that he wasn’t being sincere. He didn’t care, she wasn’t a threat for him, as long as she refrained herself from instilling the doubt in Magath’s ears. Zeke always took pride in his carisma, in his ability of persuading others, in making them believed in everything he wanted, but Magath and Pieck were dangerous for him. Magath considered him nothing more than a skilled buffoon and Pieck was too cunning for her own good. “Now, I think this is what happened… more or less… any other question ?” He asked. Reiner raised his hand and asked “What are we supposed to do now ?” If Reiner suffered from PTSD before, now he wished for nothing more than a rifle to put inside his mouth and used it to end his life. Trying to find any semblance of mentally stability after Paradise was hard, but he managed to stay put, because at the end of the day he was convinced to be safe, that his ideals were more important than any fear. That he was in the right and he needed to finish the job for his mother. Now instead all the world considered him less then a scum, a criminal, a terrorist and he was sure that the first person that would be interrogate about his hideout would be his mother. What kind of son would bring so much shame on his mother ? How would people treat her from then on ? Would they try to hurt her ? Would they push her away ? Now that he was no longer with her to protect her ?The same was true for the families of everyone in the room. “Maybe…” started Pork “… maybe we can try to kill all the titans created in Lago City ? Maybe this way the world will see us under a different light” “I don’t think so” replied Colt “Now more than ever all the world wants is a scapegoat toward which point the finger. If we reveal ourself, we would be thrown into a jail without even going into a court.” Everyone in that room was aware that in order to hide illegal activities Tybur had to make deals over deals over deals, with any kind of person: politicians, policemen, judges, the list was very long. All those people now would try to protect themselves, maybe even by making up proofs against Tybur and the Industries and since Tybur was so secretive and the training center had been destroyed, they had no proofs to use in a trial. They were defenseless, in any sense of the world. The only way they could be saved was to clean their name but not by appearing in public, not at the moment and God only knew how much it hurt saying those things.His little brother, Falco, was still out there, if he was still alive. No, he was alive. Colt knew it, their siblings blond was strong and lived. His brother was safe and one day they would meet again. “We need to find who did this to us” he said. “And what about those people ?” Asked Onyankopon “We will let them live like titans while we’re hiding here like rats ? What if someone finds a way to kill them, we will let them die ?” “Onyankpon, if you’re contrary with what we’re doing, then leave. Expose yourself, try to cure those titans, if you can. Know this though, if they find you, they will kill you” said Zeke.
“No they won’t. They would consider me a precious source of informations, they would want me to tell them when you’re hiding” replied Onynakopon. “I don’t think so” said Pieck “You’re not a researcher or a medic, they would know you’re not useful to produce a vaccine, they would be more interested in finding us but yet they wouldn’t trust you completely.”“That doesn’t mean that they would kill me. We will tell them the truth, that someone had set us up” said Onynkopon. “Stop insisting, no one would believe you. We said it before, the whole world wants someone to blame, if you expose yourself they will blame you and kill you, maybe to send a message to us. That death would be our punishment if we dare to do something. That they would come for us” said Colt “You’re right, Colt. If we don’t find the identity of our enemy, we and our families will never be safe. We will be under attack over and over again” said Zeke “I understand your worries for your family and your beloved ones, but for their safety and the ones of all other people, we need to stay here and find our common enemy” It could be sound cynical and cruel, but Zeke was only trying to be pragmatic. It was too late for finding a way to save the citizens of Lago City, as it was too late to provide any form of protection for their families. He couldn’t avoid to think about his grandparents, the ones that had taken care of him instead of Grisha, the ones that now were in danger because of him. The decision of staying hidden hurt him as mush as it hurt everyone in the room but that scarifies had to be made if they wanted to discover who was plotting against them. “I agree.” Said Magath “I also thinks it’s about time to find the whereabout is Grisha Yeager” At that name Zeke froze. The last thing he wanted to do, was to having something to do with his father, not matter how much his help would be useful in that moment to drag them out of troubles. Zeke simply knew he couldn’t count on the man and he wasn’t going to change his mind. “I don’t want any involvement of that man.” “Doctor Yeager, please be reasonable” said Colt “Your father is one of the first researcher of Ymir serum. He’s been involved in all this more than anyone, even Tybur. He can help us” “Help us ?” Asked Zeke sneering “If he really wanted, he would have already tried to get in contact with me, that I’m his fucking son. Have you heard him ? Because I haven’t.” “Don’t be stubborn, you can’t let you bitterness to cloud your judgment, Zeke. We need your father’s knowledge” insisted Magath.
“Well then. Suit yourself, find my old man if you’re convinced of your idea, but don’t count on me. If Doctor Yeager really wanted to help us, he would have already contacted us, or even better, he would have never left int he first place like a coward. If you feel like you can trust of a man like that, be my guest” said Zeke throwing the black marker on the ground and exited. Maybe it was childish but for him the conversation was over. He had no intention of helping them, even if he was perfectly aware that Magath would look for him on his own. He mentally wished him ‘goos luck’ while he was going in the garden. He needed air and he knew that no one was going to follow him outside for the moment. As soon as he exited, he started screaming and screaming, because he was frustrated, because he was angry, because he felt desperate.And so he screamed… and screamed… and screamed. …
REPORT - TITANS’ STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS
STRENGTHS
Titan’s anatomy: humanoid without reproductive organs and an incomplete digestive tract. They tends to have the promotions of their head larger than the rest of their bodies. Despite their size, they are fast, agile and very strong. Nervous system: the neurons are able to reproduce themselves even after a trauma, further the process is very quick. The efficiency of the nervous system entrusts them with exceptional other abilities. Height: Titans could be classified into five height classes: 3-6 m; 7m; 8-14 m; 15 m; 60 m;Their height is one of their prominent trait, the one that inspires fear over their preys and makes difficult killing them. Temperature: Body temperature that can vaporize and produce steam that could be particularly dangerous for anyone close to them. Regenerative abilities: the enormous quantity of totipotent cells produced allows wounds and limb to regenerate very quickly. Hunting: titans are natural predators. Their senses are developed to smell their victim at long distances too. Sunlight: According to the datas, even when locked up in place without any access to the outside, titans’ senses distinguish day and night; indeed titans are stronger and more active during the day and also they can survive without any kind of nourishment thanks to the sunlight. Unpredictability: It’s possible for titans to show ‘abnormal behavior’. Unfortunately due to the lack of informations about it, it’s no possible explain why and what causes these abnormalities.
WEAKNESSES
Intelligence: With the only exception of shifters, titans possess any form of intelligence. Mass: It’s easier escape from them or hidden from them in places where titans have no access due to their size. Beside in comparison with a human, their movements, specially regarding the mindless, will always be slower. Deformities: Their deformities make them pretty clumsy in their movements. Nape: The area that starts from the nape and goes down to a meter long and ten centimeters wide is their Achille’s heel. The only way to kill a titan is to slice the nape of the neck.
WARRIORS’ ARSENAL
Blades: Blades made of ultra hard steel, created, melted down and forged and sold by Tybur Industries. They are used on the shifters during the training and on their titans form. Firearms: Action rifle with bullets made of hard steel to use against both Titans and shifters; Anti-Titan gun, very maneuverable and effectively against mindless titans with an accurate shot to aim at their nape. … UNKNWN FACILITY - 1st October 2097 15:00 Erwin Smith had been sitting inside his studio reading the report Armin had written to him about titans, to know exactly their weaknesses and strengths so that he would be able to kill them when the moment would arrive.He admitted, he wasn’t thrilled about the whole situation but he also understood that there was no other options.Two days ago Pixis and Zackley contacted him because they wanted to tell him that the Emperor had accepted to support their cause, with the only claim that Erwin and his squad would have learned how to properly fight against titans and killed them. The same task was assigned to Pixis and Zackley and both of them had already been recruiting people all over Marley to create squads that could represent a new military force.Before that, the Warrior Unit represented the military force of the country but now their reputation was ruined, Marley’s remaining military corpses weren’t equipped or trained to fight against titans, so each member would be split into the new three corpses. Erwin didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of returning into the spotlight after all those years spent in the shadow, hiding from the world, trying any possible tip or cue that could lead him toward the truth of Tybur Industries. It was easy back then, his actions and mistakes weren’t subjected to any judgmental outsider. He was feeling rather frustrated actually, he hoped that when that day would come, he would have been able to arrest Tybur himself, to know the truth, about what happened in Paradise in 2090 and why. Instead now Tybur was dead, Erwin was left with more questions than answers and the moment of truth’d never seemed so far away from him. He looked at the chessboard he had on his desk and with a little distress he looked at the white King, wishing for having made checkmate sooner, for playing his move better. To be a better King himself for his own pawns.Nevertheless he was a programatic man and he needed money to finance his future projects, so he had accepted his new role as commander of the new military corpse with the only request that he would lead it according to his original goals, to reveal Tybur’s truth to the world. After signing the contract, he asked Armin to write him a report about Titans, in order to know what he needed to have in his arsenal and what kind of weapons he needed to learn how to use and where to buy them most of all. Armin did it and now Erwin had just finished to read it. What remained to do was to send it to Pixis and Zackly and entrusted them with the task of ordering all the necessary for their squads and for his. own. Armin had wanted to specify that the iron used to produce the blades and the bullets for the firearms was very peculiar and fitted to be used for only purpose to be used to kill titans, which meant that only the ones who worked for Tybur Industries knew how to produce it.It shouldn’t have been difficult to retrieve all those things though, specially because all the facilities were property of the Emperor. There was something that agitated him. He couldn’t figure it out but it was like on that list something was missing. Something was incomplete, but what else could be ? A knock on the door distracted him from his thoughts and when the person entered without waiting for his consent, Erwin knew exactly who that person was. “Good afternoon Levi” he said politely looking at the other man. “I finished to read that shit paper you sent me. You need to enlighten me on something”“Sure, take a sit” Erwin answered indicating the chair on the other side of the desk. Levi sat and then put his boots on the desk, ignoring Erwin’s annoyed expression “How am I suppose to kill those fuckers with a blade or a gun if they shortest of them are 3m tall ?” “You would be surprised, but I was wondering the same thing myself” That was what missed on the list. Erwin guessed that it was due to the different circumstances where those weapons were used. After studying the blueprints of all the facilities where titans were kept, he noticed that those rooms were built in a way that could aways allow scientists and soldiers to keep them under control. The scientists were close enough to observe their behavior, but not enough to risk to be killed. The soldiers were able to kill the titans with their Anti-titan gun whenever they were ordered to terminate them keeping at distance. Erwin’s situation was different. Killing a titan from a safe distance was almost impossible, least they tried to attract the titans toward the wall, but the the wall was still uncompleted and also there was no warranty that it would resist again the attack of hundreds titans. It was a risk that the Emperor surely wouldn’t be willing to take. Then there were the blades, made of the same steel of the bullets, but only used by the soldiers during their trainings with the shifters in both their human and titan form. Erwin had no idea how those blades could be useful for them in a fight against a titan. Even though for hypothesis they would managed to cut a titan’s feet, another titan could easily attack them and eat them.
“We need to find a way to move faster than those fuckers and be able to reach their nape quickly enough to cut it and to avoid any other titan nearby. We can’t allow them to assemble, or we won’t be able to defend ourself” insisted Levi. “You didn’t seem to have those problems when you killed them that night” “That night something was fucking triggered in me, we can’t be sure if that will happen again against those fuckers.” Replied Levi rather frustrated. Hanji’s researches on him were proceeding slowly, too slowly for his his own tastes. He understood that Hanji was trying her best not to let Armin know about him, something that Levi himself considered futile. If Armin was one of the warriors, he probably witnessed what happened to him that night and considering his intelligence probably he already knew what was that ‘force’. Levi tried to insist on this with Erwin, but for the blond it was too early for fully trusting the blond guy. Levi simply wanted to know if he was or not an ‘Ackerman’ or not. If he was infected or not. Not knowing the truth was driving him crazy. “I don’t know how much longer I can wait. Those fucking dreams continued. I dreamed shit like the sea and… someone looking at it. A person… I feel like I know them but… I’m pretty sure not to have ever seen them before. I simply know that they look familiar and I can feel what they feel” “And what do they feel ?” Asked Erwin. Levi sighed. He didn’t know how to explain in words but the dreams were getting more and more intense. The sea… it appeared in all the dreams so it had to significate something important. Levi’d never seen the sea once in his life and yet that place looked very familiar, like he’d been there before. The same went for the person with him. Levi felt like he knew them but how could it be possible ? He felt so confused. “The person in my dream is… sad, like he knew that not matter what… I won’t be with them.” “He ? It’s a man ?” Asked Erwin furrowed. “Did I say he ? I honestly have no idea.” Answered Levi truthfully. Levi wasn’t ready to confess his ‘preference’ in matters of lover. Being homosexual was the equivalent of being a scum in the underground before and in the reformatory then. After hitting puberty, Levi had done everything to hidden that he preferred carved bibs over breasts, which wasn’t very hard after Kenny abandoned him. When he lived in the underground he only had thoughts about how to survive another day, trying to provide to himself at the best, but he didn’t have time to waste with relationships. The same went for the reformatory. Apparently a life spent in poverty and in the dirty practically wither any lust in a man’s life. He didn’t know if Erwin or the others were open minded or not, if he needed to hide that aspect of his life or not, he simply wasn’t ready to openly admit it to Erwin. “It’s… I… I feel like the Lady of Shalott. Like I’m doomed to see the reality only through these dreams. Clear, but not clear enough to actually understand them. I feel trapped.” “You’re feeling like any man who desire so strongly to learn a truth he knows he cannot escape from” “Are we still talking about me ?” Asked Levi. “No” admitted Erwin “Ignorance is worse than any torture. The need to learn the truth can quickly become an obsession, a constant thought that torments a person night and day. Prevent them from sleeping, eating, living a normal life. I can understand you”
“Yet, that doesn’t change the fact that shitty Four Eyes and the blond mushroom still need to produce the serum, to compare it with whatever marker she has found in my blood. Until then…” he interrupted himself, sighed and then continued “So, how are you planning to kill titans in case we need to fight them directly ?” “I have something in mind actually. Reading all the files sent to us, I found a project about a…” Erwin interrupted while he was searching something on his computer “… This.” He said showing the computer to Levi. Levi thinned his eyes and read “ Vertical maneuvering equipment, what the hell is this ? Are you suggesting we should… use this thing in a battle ?” “From what I gathered, its originally purpose was to be used during battle, to help soldiers to fight along with the shifters in their titans form, but then the project was aborted after Paradise’s incident. Tybur decided not to invest money on this project and save them to finance other activities that could help him to avoid bankrupt” “It seems interesting” commented Levi observing it on the monitor. From the illustration he was seeing on the monitor, the ‘vertical maneuvering equipment’ looked like a sort of body harness that wrapped much of the body, bust, arms and legs. According to the informations, this body harness should allow the user great mobility but also required a high level of physical strength, specially in the legs and skill and excellent spatial recognition. All the members of Warrior Unit were trained to gain and develop those skills at their best, but another reason why Tybur decided not to invest in the project was the individuality. Not all warriors were in possession of the mental strength required to use the ‘vertical maneuvering equipment’ without panicking. It was only a prototype, but it could be improved. For example using the vertical equipment was less useful in open spaces when the user didn’t have many spots where the hooks could be reeled. Nevertheless those hooks were made of the same steel of both the bullets and the blazes, which allowed them to pierce the titans’ skin which could have help the user to use in the battlefield with the shifters.The could use it on titans too, if they learnt how to use it properly. “It could be improved but for the moment, in case we would need it, we can learn how to use it” said Erwin. “Do you think that the bald guy and the other one would agree with you with this ?” Asked Levi. “You mean Pixis and Zackly ? They will consider it and with a little persuasion, they will agree with me. We can start with this prototype, try it ourself and see where we can go from there. But we will keep it a secret from the media. We will talk only when we will be sure of ourselves.” Said Erwin. “Indeed. Meanwhile we can practice with the firearms and blazes. Test them, see if we can improve them as well” proposed Levi. “It’s a good idea. The cargo with the weapons I have ordered should arrive very soon, then we can arrange our training, so that when we will start recruiting…”“So it’s true. We will be entrusted with a bunch of dirty brats, won’t we ?” Levi asked slightly annoyed. “Don’t be that way, Levi. Many of them were already training to enter in some other military corpse. They’re not complete amateur, at least not all of them” replied Erwin with a little smirk. “I can’t trust you with this, Eyebrows.” “I can’t trust that you won’t do your best to make them run away either. We’re even” joked Erwin. Levi grinned and for a moment, that little friendly banter made him forget his nightmares. Erwin Smith wasn’t Furlan or Isabel, but for the first time he actually felt like he could consider the blond a possible friend.Erwin Smith was highly intelligente, astute and Machiavellian, much more than Furlan. A manipulative piece of shit that in spite of everything Levi felt he could trust. He had no doubt that Erwin wouldn’t have looked at him twice or asked him to join his squad if it wasn’t for that ‘force’ awaken at the training center, but Levi would have killed him if it wasn’t that he had nowhere to go. Both of them started with the wrong foot and Levi was too programatic to let grudges getting in the way.That would be his life from now on. He knew himself too well not to know that he would have never tolerate living a normal life. It couldn’t last, not for him that was too used to action, danger and risks. He guessed that after all it didn’t end too much bad, except for Furlan and Isabel’ death. He wondered wether to not they would have enjoyed staying there, fighting for a good fight for once, making the difference. “Will our squad have a name ? Or something that will distinguish us from the other corpses ?” Asked Levi. “Well, my squad until this moment always fight in the frontline. Pixis and Zackly are aware of the risks we have taken in all those years spent in the shadow, without any kind of protection. If one of us got caught, all of use would have been sent in prison. I lost a lot of comrades too” admitted Erwin scratching his chin. “So… you’re all a bunch of boy scouts ready to die and save the world ?” “Scouts… Scout Legion, or maybe Survey Corp. It’s not a bad name” said Erwin smiling “Now we should pick a symbol” Both of them looked at the monitor, where there was the picture of the vertical maneuvering equipment and both of them grinned. They had an idea for the symbol of the squad. … MARLEY TIMES THE WALL IS FINISHED 12th October 2097
After a month of sacrifices and hard work, the wall that will contain the monsters and prevent them from attacking and devastating other cities. The Walls is built The Emperor has claimed to be very grateful for the commitment and the loyal demonstrated by the builders and the volunteers to build the wall. The next phase planned to protect Marley from the giants is to find a way to eliminate them, since unfortunately there is no known vaccine or cure to make them shift back in their human form. This is due to the disappearance of all the researchers that used to work for the Tybur Industries, that is the reason why all their family have been put under surveillance in order to interrogate them and prevent them from hiding too.
The squads that will be in charge of this important task will be composed of the remaining soldiers of Tybur Industry personal paramilitary units. It will be a way to test their loyalty toward their country and also an important opportunity for the other unit to learn on the field how to fight those monsters. Furthermore it will be an opportunity to certify whether or not the sacrifices made by the builders and the volunteers to build the wall will be recompensed. It is hope of the Emperor that the materials used to build the wall will be resistant enough to stop the monsters, otherwise their sacrifices would be vane.
The date to eliminate the monsters is estimated for early November, meanwhile the preparations are ongoing.
For those whom have applied for some of the paramilitary units of Tybur Industry recently, they will be split into three new squads created with the solely purpose of pursuing the leftovers of Tybur’s crime empire and find a way to free humanity from the evil that have been spread. The details about the upcoming recruitment are still unknown, nevertheless to apply to one of the new three corpses have still to be announced.…PARADISE ISLAND 27th October 2097 15:00
What a strange sensation…
He’d never felt so free before… like he was flying… no… he was flying in the sky, free like a bird. He didn’t feel the burden of his own body, it was like he was made of air, pure, light, free.
At some point he saw something black. One black feather. And then another one, and another one and then he looked up and saw the crow itself, dancing in the air with another beautiful bird with white feathers… a beautiful white owl. At least it looked like they were dancing, he wasn’t sure but in front of him, so many feathers were falling and the crow and the owl had flown too far away for him to still see them.
E2 ?? … E2… E2 ?!?!
Where did they go ? Why was he falling so suddenly ? Who was calling his name ???
‘It’s Frieda, you need to wake up’
E2 opened his eyes as soon as he heard Eren’s voice in his head. He was lying on the sand, fully exposed to the sunlight and there he had felt asleep at some point, he honestly didn’t remember. When he opened his eyes, Frieda was kneeled at his side and she was looking at him with an almost maternal affection, Ymir and Marco behind her. “I’m… sorry… I fell asleep” As usual Ymir was piercing him with her eyes, completely disinterested in him. Instead Marco was gently smiling to him, like an angel with freckles.In those day spent with those people, he realized that his first impression on them was quite right. Ymir was cold, completely disinterest in approaching him first when she saw him, nevertheless when he asked her to train with him, she was always eager to ‘kick his ass’. Furthermore, apart from some cynical comment, she’d never done anything to make him feel unwanted or not at ease. Marco instead had been friendly and kind with since the beginning. Always eager to spend time with him, helping him to orientate himself in the facility and introducing him to all the shifters that came and went away in the facility. Apparently they didn’t usually stayed together in one city, some shifters preferred to remain where they used to live before their injections, the places where where they used to feel safe and sound, surrounded by the ones they loved.Marco was very precious to E2 and very patient too, specially when E2 showered him with questions. Sasha was a little crazy, but she was kinda friendly too, when she wasn’t drooling over him for food. E2 grew fond of her energy, she was a person whom it was impossible getting bored with and she was also so sweet to propose him to teach him how to hunt in the forest.Frieda wasn’t happy about him learning how to hunt, Eren on the other hand encouraged him to choose according to his own free will. If there was something else E2 learnt about himself, was that he loved spending time with people, probably due to all those years locked in that white room alone. Now that he was finally free, he wanted to enjoy others’ company in any way he could so he accepted Sasha’s proposal.Anne and Franz… well they were too busy with kissing each other, or flirting with each other or… doing whatever thing they did together, so E2 didn’t get to know them pretty well.Thomas was another kind soul, but he left Utopia the day after their arrival, he wanted to come back to his own ‘town’, wherever it was, but they often communicated through telepathy, so it was like the blond guy was still there with him.He was still convinced that Floch was a little scaring, the ginger hair guy had a lot of weird ideas and he also taught E2 a trick or two and again Frieda wasn’t enthusiastic of that. Floch wasn’t reckless but there was a certain sadism in everything he did that… well, E2 didn’t know how to behave with Floch most of the time. Floch loved doing ‘dangerous’ things too, as long as something could be considered danger for someone with superhuman abilities. Nevertheless E2 wasn’t afraid of taking little risk, he knew that he had his back covered, more than ever in his life and that itself made him feel more confident in any situation.In the end there was Frieda, the ‘mother’ of all of them. Frieda had been protective of him, something she was a little suffocating, but E2 genuinely appreciated her affections; she was the ‘mother’ he’d always wanted and never had. “No need to worry. We were simply worried for you. We haven’t felt you in our minds for so long…” said Frieda caressing his hair. “Okay then… What… We should restart our training ?” Asked E2 trying to wip the sand out of his hair. E2 already knew the answer, but he would have loved to remained there near the sea he loved so much. He would never forget the first time his feet came in contact with the sand, the first time the sea water wet and wrapped his body into a warm hug under the sunlight. He fell in love with the sea as soon as he saw it, he fell in love with its flagrance, its taste, his colors, green, blue and cold in the morning, dark and warn during the night. It was the only place in the world where he felt completely safe, in peace with himself, with his mind, far away from his own sufferance. Underwater he wasn’t a shifter, or a former lab rat. He was simply himself, where having a name, or a family, or origins didn’t matter.Sea didn’t exclude anyone, sea to be lived and discovered in all its beauty only required courage and desire to know him, to become part of it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t remain underwater forever, reality claimed him to be part of it, to take place in a tragedy that someone had written for him. A trigged which ending could still be changed. “Yes, we need to train more with the blades.” Said Ymir “In anticipation of our next plan ?” “Plan ?” Asked E2 standing up “Yes, we are planning what to do next. The right moment has come, with the warrior unit gone underground, Marley is completely defenseless against our kind.” “So… are we going to conquer Marley ?” Asked E2 pretty confused.
“Of course not, silly” said Frieda giggling “We’re not ready yet. You’re not ready yet. We also need to test something else.” “Yeah, you should really begin to spend less time in the forest and more time reading the newspapers” commented Ymir “Newspapers ?” Asked E2 confused. “Yeah, you know those things full of words and informations about what’s happening in the world.” Said Ymir smirking “Or you can simply watch tv” “Whatever…” muttered E2 “So, what’s happening in the world ?” “A new wall have been built around Lago City, to prevent the titans from attacking other cities. They’re planning to kill all the mindless titans and according to our tips, they already knew how to do it, more or less.” Said Marco “They found files and documents about us in all the facilities that they had searched.” “I guess this is a big inconvenient” commented E2. “It would have been in different circumstances” said Frieda “Those who are going to fight against our kind have never fought some of them before. It will be a carnage, specially if the wall built is proven incapable of resisting a giant’s attack.” “Oh…” Somehow E2 started to see what she was aiming at. Eren alluded on some plan that involved walls and tests many days ago, but E2 had been so busy between the training, the studying and exercising with his abilities. It was very hard, specially for someone like him who used to be sitting all day in a white room. During the first week his body had been full of bruises, scratches and broken bones. He would have spent all day sleeping if he could. Then everything became easier but he wasn’t at their level. He wasn’t able to fully control his abilities like Frieda and used them correctly in a fight.He wasn’t fast and agile like Ymir.He wasn’t resistant like Marco.He didn’t have sharp senses like Sasha.He wasn’t unpredictable like Floch during a fight.Sometimes he felt like he was nothing more than a nullity, but his new ‘siblings’ always reassured him that all he needed was practice.But Eren also mentioned that he wanted him to be ready for another mission and slowly E2 was starting to put together the piece of the puzzle. “Do you want to take advantage of the wall to set a trap for the leftovers of the Tybur Industry ?” He asked. Frieda grinned “Not only. We have other tips. The newspapers have lied. The ‘volunteers’ that offered themselves to help builder in the construction of the wall, are not volunteers.” “Who are they ?” Asked E2. “Families, parents, sons, daughters, friends… of those who used to work for Tybur and that now are hiding like rats in sewers. We’re planning to use the volunteers as bait, in the hope that some of the warrior unit will reveal their current hideout. They are the only ones who can compete against us. They are shifters, traitors of their kind and we need to get rid of them” explained Ymir with the voice full of malice. E2 couldn’t blame her. All of them hated the Warrior Unit among everyone. They considered them as nothing more than double-crossers, willing to sacrifice their own kind, both when they were human and then when they became shifters. All of them knew how giants were created, nevertheless the warrior unit was responsible of kidnapping, murdering and experimenting on people. The children of Paradise had been betrayed when they were human first, then when they became shifters, both by men and the shifters and so for them there was no longer a difference. E2 learnt pretty quickly that all shifters were united by something much more deep then their hatred for Marley Empire, they were all mentally and emotionally connected. What one of them felt, then so all of them felt. Like they were one mind, one body, one heart.Their hate… was the first emotion E2 learnt to recognize and it was very hard not to being overwhelmed by it. He was so focus on his thoughts that he didn’t even realize when they arrived at the facility. His thoughts got interrupted only when Ymir hit him right in the face with a blazes. “Wake up lad.” Said Ymir “Time of dreaming is over, in a battle you would have already been dead” A buzz in his head and then…
In front of his eyes appeared a human Ymir lying on the carpet of the living room of her house. Her father was over her, he was hitting her over and over again. He was calling her names after catching her kissing with another girl. He didn’t accept his daughter to like girls, he was ashamed of her. His beastly eyes were full of hatred, disgust and anger.
Behind him, her mother did nothing to stop her husband, she was simply staying there, witnessing him and…
E2 covered his arms with a crystal layer and used them to defend his face against Ymir’s next attack. “Good job. Remember…” she said attacking again “… When you are in the battlefield… it can happen for you to read others’ mind, or penetrate them and see their memories… you can’t allow to be distracted” E2 was going to defend again against her attack, when with corner of his eyes he saw Marco attacking him from behind. E2 used his hardening power to create a wall between him and Marco. “Good job again” said Marco “It can happen that you will have to fight more enemies at once. You mustn’t let your guard down” Marco destroyed the wall with a kick, then he attacked E2 with a blaze and fought him alongside with Ymir. E2 caught Ymir’s wrist to keep her still and kicked Marco away from him. He grabbed Ymir’s arm and then managed to make her fall on the ground, kicking her blaze away, just in time to avoid Marco’s attack. Then he felt another blaze pressed against his nape. “The nape… A real fighter would have cut it and you would be dead. Never forget to protect your weakness” said Frieda pointing the blaze against his neck “One cut and you will die and we will lose our crusade. You need to be careful, young shifter. You’re carrying on you the fate of all of us” Then Frieda, Marco, Ymir and Floch attacked him together with their blazes.They had been training him how to fight in his human form, they were convinced that it was better if E2 learnt how to fight on his own, without cradling too much on their memories. E2 needed to create memories of his own, he needed to learn according to his own time, he needed to learn to live and walk on his path without being constantly held by they hand by them.E2 also needed to grow confident within himself. He needed to learn his own body, his own limits, he needed to develop a way to think that could lead him in a battlefield. He also need to further develop his social skills too. He needed to learn how to behave like a human and not a lab rat. ‘I will attack him from behind…’ thought Frieda ‘I will attack him directly on the nape…’ thought Marco ‘I will use on him my hardening ability’ thought Floch ‘Don’t focus on our thoughts only… people waste time thinking and in the end they act on pure instinct’ advised him Ymir through telepathy. E2 still had some difficult in distinguishing between thoughts and actual words, but he was improving. What mattered was not let thoughts got him distracted during a fight. If there was something Ymir insisted and Floch always demonstrated to him that men could be rather unpredictable when put under pressure. “E2… try to disarm one of us. Take the weapon and fight with it” said Frieda before attacking him again. E2 had no idea who to pick. Frieda told him that in a fight, he couldn’t always create his weapons by using his hardening abilities, specially if he didn’t want their opponents to discover his true nature. There would be situation where he could found himself completely unprepared against a full armed opponent and he also needed to consider his own physic. Using his abilities could be handful, specially during the night when all his abilities were weaker. It was fundamental for him to learn how to properly use any kind of weapon.In the end, he chose to be unpredictable and attacked Frieda, someone no one would have dared to do, since Frieda was the second strongest giant on the island. He could understand that just by observing them. Frieda was on a side, instead Marco, Ymir and Floch were side by side.If he played his cards well, he could take advantage of their fear for Frieda and make them attack him from behind, so that they would have been busy not only attacking him but also avoiding Frieda’s attacks.E2 wasn’t aiming at disarming Frieda though. She didn’t hesitate to attack him with the elegance and the agility of a kitsune, but E2 knew that the other wouldn’t have hesitate either. Frieda used the blaze aiming at his stomach but he managed to jump on it and landed on Floch shoulders and kept a firm grip with his legs. He made him Floch fell on the ground and then kicked Frieda in the abdomen to kick her away, meanwhile he grabbed Floch blaze just in time to defend himself from Ymir’s attack. “Good job” commented Ymir “You’re improving very quickly. If you continue this way, you will be able to join us in our missions very soon” “According to what you said, your next plan will take place very soon. When exactly ?” Asked E2 “We still need to arrange it, but it will be very soon. We need you to learn another pair of abilities before to go. In the meantime, continue to improve like this and we will take with us” said Frieda with an encouraging smile. “Don’t be that way. Consider your current situation like a game. We’ve played well our move until now, let’s keep it that way. One mistake and all our sacrifices would be for nothing” said Marco.
“A game ?” Asked E2 confused. “Exactly. Life is made of good and bad choices that lead inevitably to good or bad outcomes. Now you’re just a pawn, like any of us, but one day we all can be something else. One day we will rule this world” said Frieda “For the moment we will be simply shadow of his world” E2 was going to ask for more explanations when suddenly they were interrupted by Sasha’s arrival. “Guys !!! Guys !! We need to come, we maybe find out something important that can help us in the next mission. Come !!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
PARADISE ISLAND 1ST NOVEMBER 2097 10.00 A.M. A white owl was flying around the facility, looking for its owner, until it found its way inside a thick layer of crystal, situated in the Northeast side of the facility. It flew through a long corridor made of crystal until it arrived into a large circular room, always made of crystal, where at the center there was the King of the island, sitting in front of a crystal table. The owl flew until it landed on his owner’s shoulder. A young boy, with long hair, dressed up in a green jumper, black leather pants and black boots. “Hey, my friend” said Eren looking at his owl and slowly caressing his beak “Where have you been ?” Of course the owl didn’t answer to him, but it started to asking him for attentions and caressing, something Eren’d never been able to deny to him. With his hand, he started caressing the owl’s beak and head. It was magnificent male snowy owl that Eren found locked inside a little cage two years ago, in one of the many abandoned houses in the outskirts of Utopia. The poor animal risked to die by starving but when Eren found him, he fell in love with him immediately and chose to keep it with him. Since that they, the two became inseparable, but of course ‘Free’, as Eren called him, was still a bird that wanted its freedom to fly around the facility and Eren refused to have him close in a cage. Eren had always been envious of birds, because they could fly away anytime they wanted, go whenever they wanted, fly over the trees, the sea, the cities. He would have loved to see the world from their perspective, it would have been wonderful.Instead, he looked at the Go board game in front of him with sadness and sighed. He felt so crestfallen, he knew what he had to do, but he also felt so tired. Since E2 arrived on Paradise Island, his mind had been… crowded. It prevented him from thinking clearly.The path ahead him was clear like glass, but a glass full of cracks. If he made just one wrong move, the glass would brake completely. “I’m so torn, my Free” he said caressing his owl “I’m the king of a cemetery and my enemies are still out there, ready to imprison me again. And also… Also…” He couldn’t even tell it to his own owl what was happening inside his head, simply because there wasn’t a right way to explain it. Since E2 had arrived on the island, those dreams, those fucking dreams worsened. They left him with no respite. Tormented him those rare times when he tried to sleep. He stopped to go to that fucking beach because of them.One time he did, he went there soon after dreaming it and it felt a terrible pain in his chest, a pain so consuming, so deep, like a fire it was burning him, until he screamed and Frieda and the other shifters dragged him away from there. It was a pain so insufferable that he thought he was going to die, but as soon as he was taken inside the facility he felt better. That pain disappeared but left him with a sense of loneliness, sadness and anger.For him, who had fallen in love with the sea since the first time his eyes lay on it. The sea was everything Eren’d always wanted to be. Untamed. Unpredictable. Changing. Harsh. Challenging. Dangerous. If he ever had to die, he wanted his body to become part of his fascinating lover. There wouldn’t be a greater honor for him. But something had changed and he knew what it was. He hated with all his heart, what had changed and what caused it. He hated that he could still shred tears for it, tears he was ashamed of. Tears only Free could see. “I feel so alone now…” he whispered though “I thought that after reuniting with my other half I would have felt different… less… incomplete… It was a lie” He looked at the Go game board in front of him and sighed again. It wasn’t the time for brooding, there were still so many things to do before to plan the next move. They were already in November, meanwhile his enemies were preparing to kill the giants created in Lago City. Eren didn’t feel comfortable with sacrificing members of his ‘kind’. Those giants were no longer human, they had Ymir serum in their veins, that was enough to make them part of Ymir people. He felt footsteps behind and so he turned around. “Frieda” he said standing up “It’s a pleasure to see you here” His friend smiled. Frieda was walking toward him with confidence, like a Queen whom was walking toward her throne and she could have been, a Queen. No, she was. The Queen of Paradis Island, the second strongest titan ever created, she was his best warrior and his confidant.Then he used his hardening ability to create another crystal chair, so that Frieda could sit in front of him. “Thanks. I need to talk with you” said Frieda sitting in front of Eren “About E2 and our next move” she concluded playing with a strand of her long hair. If she had noticed his tears, she said nothing about and Eren felt grateful for that. “What about E2 ?” He asked placing a white stone on the board. “He’s improving very fast. At the beginning he barely knew how to hold a blaze, he’s been defeated, kicked, punched, but he always stands up again ready to fight” “As we should expect from him. He’s a strong mind, he must, after all the psychological pain he’s endured in the white room. A life made of loneliness, abandon… abuse… A person with a strong body but a weak mind is nothing. A person who can held a weapon but is not emotionally strong to use it, has no value.” “Do you really think that ?” Asked Frieda observing him with her light eyes. “Yes. An healthy body can’t strengthen a broken mind, a healthy mind can strengthen the body” said Eren. “You speak from experience, of course” said Frieda. “Of course” grinned Eren “Will Tybur is the perfect example that proves my theory right. I’d spent years manipulating his sister’s mind, through telepathy, with nightmares about enemies and rivals ready to steal the formula of Ymir serum away from him…” a pause “… Ready to turn his own sister into a lab rat… like any of us… when the time came, he had completely lost his mind” “I admit, that idea of yours to tormenting Tybur’s mind through his sister, making him so paranoid, torturing until madness…” complimented him Frieda. At the beginning Frieda couldn’t believe it, but Eren was a true genius. Years before the conquest of Paradise Island, Tybur had ordered everyone to cancel any files, documents and everything like that on any computer. He didn’t want to take any risk that valid information about Ymir serum could end up in in his enemies’ hands. Tybur himself made everything too easy. The man grew up in a family that had built an entire economic empire on secrets, illegal business and manipulation. Tybur’s father was a very crafty man, perfectly able to hide behind a perfect appearance of prestige, richness and perfection the darkest truth of his family. Nevertheless he was a very paranoid and delusional man, who saw enemies, tapes and betrayers everywhere. His paranoia worsen after the big data theft happened in 2050 that didn’t spare Tybur’s bank account details and some files that could ruin the family’s reputation forever and sent the then Lord Tybur in prison. All their money deposited in Marley went stolen and Lord Tybur had no other options than investing more in his ‘illegal activities’, that increasing the possibility of being caught by federals and sent in prison. But Will’s father loved too much his luxury life and was willing to sacrifice his reputation, his family’s safety and his name to save himself from the bankrupt. His son, Will, surely had learnt from his parent’s experience that posting precious information on a computer included risks he couldn’t afford, so he was doomed to live his life in fear and paranoia, exactly like his father, doomed to continue to dirty his hands in the mug to protect his secrets and his illegal activities.All Eren had to do was to transfer directly to Tybur his own paranoia, his fear that one day someone would find out how to kill him and succeeded in doing it. The more Lyla had nightmares about her family’s fate, the more Tybur, whom blindly trusted his sister’s judgment, became paranoid and less informations about his own existence were divulged thorough the facilities.In little time, the Nucleus passed from being a boy, to a plant, to a complete mystery for everyone who lived outside the island. For those whom suspected to be able to reputed the serum from Zeke’s cell, Tybur lied by telling them that Zeke and Grisha were both connected to the Nucleus on Paradise, but due to their distance, their powers weren’t strong. No one knew what the nucleus was anymore and those whose did were all dead. Except for one. “It was the only way, I need him to be that way. To be so desperate at the point of ordering everyone to handwrite their reports and keep them safe in one place. Utopia’s archives. I also needed for people to considered him an unreliable person, someone they couldn’t count on. Someone completely and utterly delusional” said Eren “But… I need to find him. I want him dead” “Grisha Yeager ?” Asked Frieda already knowing the answer. “He’s the missing piece. I’ve been warned about him, he’s spent his whole life living according to his cowardly nature that he’s good at hiding himself. He’s the only remaining living being that knew everything about me. Our enemies can’t find him before us” instead Eren ripping his hair for the frustration. “Any idea where he could be ? You’ve been full of splendid ideas until now” commented Frieda positioning a black stone on the board. “No… not yet.” Answered Eren with frustration. “And what about Annie ? How long are you planning to keep her alive ?” “Until she will be necessary to be. Her role in this game hasn’t finished yet” Frieda nodded. She felt rather frustrated about their situation with Grisha Yeager too. The man knew no loyalty or honor. As soon as his wife was dead, he disappeared leaving his son behind and Frieda was convinced that Grisha hadn’t shared his knowledge about the nucleus with him. Grisha was a cruel man, but not a stupid one. Since he knew the real nature of the nucleus, probably Grisha had considered better not tell Zeke anything, to protect him from Tybur, to protect him from the truth. In the hope that the nucleus wouldn’t consider him a threat. Sometimes the ignorance was a blessed. About Annie, Frieda would have killed her long time ago if it was for her, but if her king valued her alive then she would support him. “When do you plan to tell E2 the truth about his origins ?” Asked Frieda. “It’s too early for that. He wouldn’t be able to handle. I won’t deny that I tried to show him the truth as soon as he arrived on the island, but it didn’t work. He fainted.” “Well, if E2 has even only half of your power, he will surely become one of the strongest titans ever created. He simply needs to spend more time in the care of his kind, surrounded by someone who understand how he feels and can help him to embrace his real nature” said Frieda, then she looked at the board game and asked “Which stones are yours ?” “No idea” answered Eren “I’m supposed to play with the white, but I want the black’s territories. They represent Marley” “Speaking of which, the shifters wants to know if we’re still planning to attack the wall and how. You haven’t showed up so often recently, the sifters feel you distant” Frieda’s never questioned her loyalty toward Eren, never. If he ordered her to close her eyes and let him guide her and protect her in the battlefield, she would let him do it without any hesitation and so the rest of the shifters.All of them felt very grateful to Eren, for what he’d done for them. He gave their humanity back to them, he used his powers to turn them back in their human form, he gave back their free will, without asking for nothing in return. Eren granted them any freedom whether they wanted to follow him in his crusade or not, he didn’t want any of them to resent him later. He was smart enough to understand that he needed them to fight for him because they were loyal to him and not because he obliged them.The shifters of Paradise had known nothing but the tyranny and imposition in their life and Eren was aware that no one of them would have accepted to be abused and mistreated anymore. Frieda respected him for that and so the rest of them, but there were still moments when the distance between them and their King became too palpable. All they needed was reassurance. “I know what we have to do, but before, please tell me that you have accomplished the last task I gave to you” Frieda nodded “A little birdie sang at one of the journalist of Marley Gazzette the truth about the ‘volunteers’. Their true identities and the reason why they were there. They promised that they will write the article and publish it online, with a lot of pictures.” “Good, any news about when our enemies are planning to kill the titans and test their wall ?” “Yes, on November 15th.” Answered Frieda “Armin told us that they’re planning to test their new toys on November 13th, then all the military corps will leave for Lago” “Excellent. We can’t risk to be seen there though. I don’t want anyone to suspect the children of Paradise” “I totally understand” said Frieda positioning another black stone, then she asked “So, what’s the plan ?” “I’ll tell all fo you in due time” said Eren standing up “Now, I need to feed Free. Tell everyone to meet me here in three days for our next encounter. I will tell them what I decided to do” concluded caressing his white owl. Frieda observed Eren leaving the room with Free on his shoulder and grinned when he was no longer in her sight.She still didn’t know the plan, but she was looked at the Go board and smiled. ‘I bet it will be so much fun’ … MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY 4TH NOVEMBER 2097 2:00 A.M
“Levi…” someone whispered his name “Look…”
He rose his eyes and saw a black raven and a white owl flying together in the sky, under the red sun of the afternoon. Both of them were losing some feathers and Levi found himself enchanted by seeing that beautiful helix made of black and white. It had something almost hypnotic, that black and white, so close to create a whole, so distant not to be actually together.
“They can fly together at least… I want only them to survive…” said in a fragmentary speech the person at his side.
The one Levi could see only the long dark hair. The real Levi wanted to ask them their name, the dream Levi instead already knew it and didn’t ask. How could he know something while dreaming and not in the reality ? And why the more he dreamed, the more he was convinced that it was real ? That beach he kept dreaming was real, the raven and the owl were real, the person next to him was real, but he still couldn’t look him in the face.
Again a part of him didn’t feel the need, like he already knew that he would recognize that person in a crowd, like he already knew that his fate was intertwined with them forever and he didn’t need to be in a hurry.
“You shouldn’t have come…” said the other person.
Levi couldn’t talk, not matter how much he tried. Again, he felt like it wasn’t his turn to talk, he only had to listen.
“You should have listened to me… You should… I should have been enough… Why was I not enough ? Why am I so weak ? Why… I…”
Levi couldn’t get it. The other’s words became more fragmentary and the beach, the sea, the two birds… the person next to him… became blurrier and blurrier and everything started to vanishing.
He opened his eyes, awaken by the ring of his cell. Someone was calling him. He grunted, annoyed by that noisy sound. He looked at his phone and saw that it was the two in the morning and that Shitty Four Eyes was the one who was disturbing him.He grunted again before to answer. “What ?” He simply said in a grumpy tone. “We have the result…” tried to say Moblit before being interrupted.
“MOBLIT !! I WANT TO TELL HIM !!”
“Come here, Armin’s just gone to bed.” Tried to say Moblit again. “LEVIIIIIIII !! COME HERE SOOOON !!” Shouted Hanji through the phone. What was the point of waiting for Armin to go to bed if she was shouting that way that even a deaf could have heard her ? In a spur of humanity and empathy, Levi pitied Moblit sincerely for having to spend all that time with her and promised to try harder to be nice with him. “Hurry up” said Moblit closing the call before Levi could replay or Hanji could shout again. He would never admit but he felt relief that it wasn’t that crazy woman to answer him. With her squealing and her high-pitched voice, she would have made him jumped out of the bed and caused him a headache. He changed his clothes, wearing a pair of black trousers with a grey jumpers and his black boot and then combed his hair with his hands. He didn’t need to be attractive for anyone, specially at 2.00 A.M. ‘I hope this shit will be worth of my time’ That was what Levi thought while he was aiding toward the laboratories. Shitty Four Eyes had sent a message to him, asking him to meet her there together with Moblit and Erwin. Levi hoped that she was finally going to tell him more about his ‘marker’, about his true nature. Something had changed, he felt it, but he didn’t referred to himself only. No, there was something else, something far more important than him that had inevitably changed since the destruction of training center. Like if that night a strange, the fate had put in motions a chains of events of which Levi was simply a part. He used to sleep not more than two or four hours at night, but recently he’d found himself with the need to sleep more during the night, even if only to give some sense to those dreams. To try to see the picture in its entirety. He suspected at that point that those dreams were not a simple casualty, they hide some meaning.The raven… Levi felt like that bird represented him. If nothing its lost black feathers could represent the Levi’s loss of hair due to ripping them for frustration, like he was doing in that moment. The person in his dream rarely spoke, but every time they told him that Levi wasn’t suppose to be there, that he should have listened them. Levi never listened anyone when his instinct suggested something better to do and surely he wasn’t crazy enough to trust of a shadow. He needed to put the pieces of the puzzle together and he needed to start from the beach and the sea.When he arrived at the laboratories, Erwin quickly understood that Levi’d just had another of his ‘dreams’. The blond man had quickly learned how to read Levi like an open book and from his face he could tell that the younger man was troubled. “So, what did you learn ?” He asked skipping any pleasantries. “LEVIIIIII !! You would never believe this !!” Said Hanji while tapping frenetically some keys on her computer. “Excuse her” whispered Moblit to Levi “If it was for her, she would have dragged you out of the bed herself. She always gets like this when she learns something ‘exciting’” “Remember me to thank you later” whispered Levi to him. “So, thanks to Armin’s blood, I could study the serum inside him and I found the same marker I found in your samples and I can finally tell you that you have been injected with Ymir serum indeed” said Hanji showing him pictures and numbers he understood nothing about. After that revelation, Levi didn’t know what to think or what to say. He would be lying if he said that he didn’t suspect it, but one thing was suspecting, another was knowing.How was he supposed to deal with that shit ? He was completely and utterly screwed up. “What does it mean ?” He asked “Will I turn into one of those monsters ?” “Actually not. You’re an ‘Ackerman’” specified Hanji. “Ackerman ?” Asked Levi. “In the files I’ve read, there were documents about people that developed peculiar antibodies after the injection of the serum. Strong enough to allow them to survive, not strong enough to trigger a complete transformation but here it comes the most extraordinary thing about them” she paused then she turned toward Levi to look him in the eyes “Their abilities could match if even surpass the ones of a shifter during the transformation and that thanks to their nervous system” “What ?” Asked Levi confused “In simple words. Your nervous system is the same of a shifter. I found an impressive quantity of totipotent cells in your blood samples, that’s allow your wounds to heal very quickly and also to protect your neurons when the force inside you awakens” “What else should I be able to do ? Why did this force awaken now ?” Asked Levi. “I’m not sure. The informations I have are fragmented. Armin confirmed to me that many informations about any activity performed on Paradise Island were handwritten and kept in the facility. All of them lost in 2095. All I can tell to you is that you can’t turn into a titan” That information itself was a pure solace for Levi. It didn’t matter at that point if he had been injected, the mere knowledge that he was going to turn in one of those mindless monstrosity was enough for him. He didn’t even want to be a shifter, he wanted to remain as human as possible. “You described the force inside you like ‘knowing exactly what do do’, well I don’t think there’s a better way to explain it” said Hanji “Your nervous system is magnificent. Its neurons are able to work so fast that they analyze any situations in mere seconds, so they could easily deduce a solution.” “But why does it awaken only when I’m in a battlefield ?” “Thanks to the sympathetic nervous system. It’s primary process is to stimulate in a person the so called ‘flight-fight-freeze response when the they’re in danger. When you’re in danger the sympathetic…” “Oi Four Eyes, keep this scientific shits for yourself, I want the dumb version” replied Levi annoyed. “It would be easier for me too to understand, thanks Hanji” said Erwin with polite. “Okay, you’re not fun though !!” Said Hanji pouting “One day you will find someone who will gladly listen you talking about this topic” said Erwin with another gentle smile, ignoring the skeptical way Levi and Moblit looked to him. “I hope. Well, as I was saying, practically when you’re in a danger situation your body release quantity of adrenaline. The force is activate when the adrenaline exceeds a certain threshold. At least the firsts time. One of the scientist theorized that just like a shifter improves his abilities the more they use them, the same was true for an Ackerman. But that’s everything.” “Why there are so few informations about Ackermans ?” Asked Erwin confused “If they develop such a magnificent nervous system, why they didn’t invest more on Ackermans ? Shifters manifest so many faults after the injection” “Ackerman presented a peculiarity that Tybur considered more like a collateral effect than a blessed. They were immune to Nucleus’ influence, which means that they couldn’t be controlled. Their nervous system protects them even from the main source of their power, which mean that they could become dangerously independent” explained Hanji. “Nuclues’ influence ?” Asked Levi “Tell me more. How does it work for a normal shifter ?” “I still have to completely understand the mechanism, but from what I gathered, once a human became a shifter, a part of his mind is bound to the Nucleus forever. In the reports it isn’t explained why, it’s only said that Tybur ordered that for the shifters to be taken on Paradise once in a while, to be physically close to the Nucleus but again we don’t know what the Nucleus is.” said Hanji. “Well, I can see Tybur’s logic. This Nucleus could control the shifters, Tybur controlled the nucleus so he controlled the shifters with it. Since the Ackermans couldn’t be controlled, they were a problem” “Exactly. Luckily for him, they are rare.” “Wait, there’s any possibility that some of the people in Lago City have become an Ackerman ?” Asked Erwin. “I hope not actually” said Hanji tapping other keys “Do you remember what happen at the Training Center ? The titans attacked Levi, which means that they don’t recognize the Ackermans like their equals like they do with shifters, but as enemies. If someone have survived the serum and turned into a Ackerman, I’m sure that they would have been already eaten and swollen now. Specially if the force inside them isn’t triggered in time or they didn’t know how to control it” “I don’t think that there’s a worse way to die than to be eaten alive.” Commented Moblit shiver at the mere thought. “Yeah…” said Levi. In his mind, he was thinking about everything he’d learnt. First, he had been injected at some point in his life with Ymir serum. Second, he couldn’t turn into a titan, but he was an Ackerman, someone with a strange force inside him that give him abilities like a shifter but without turning into a titan. Thirdly, he still didn’t know why and how this force awakened inside him after so long. What happened at training center ? What could have triggered that force ? If stopped to consider his whole life for a moment, the violence, the fear, the loss, the bloodlust. Isabel and Furlan gone. Death. Levi always lost the ones he loved, not matter how hard he tried to fight for them, to protect them. Could it be the utter despair for their loss to have triggered his power ?Meanwhile Erwin was thinking the same thing. During the night of the training center, Levi had loss the only two persons he considered family. Someone could have replied that that force could have awakened before, due to the loss of his sister or mother, or at the mere thought of their disappearance but probably Levi got the injection later.One thing was the despair one could feel for himself in a situation of life or death, another was the sense of despair one could feel seeing his world crumbling in front of his eyes. What if Levi’s sister was an Ackerman too ? “Why Ackerman ?” Asked Erwin “Why this name ?” “According to the files, Ackerman was the last name of the first person to develop this type of antibodies. Apparently it was thanks to this kind of antibodies if they manage to produce a serum with higher possibility of adaptation to human’s genome. It made the serum less intrusive and human’s body more resistant” explained Moblit. “So, no one survived the serum before the first Ackerman entered in the picture ?” Asked Levi confused. “No. All of them died after few days.” Answered Moblit “The first datas about an Ackerman date back to 2075, but we believe that this informations are incomplete. It’s probable that the first Ackerman appeared in 2068 and that Kruger used those antibodies to create a serum. Of course it’s only a theory” “But if you accept to help us, Levi, we can have a better grip on what’s happening in your body and maybe even seeing if we can use your antibodies to create a serum that can protect us” said Hanji with enthusiasm, like Levi was a living scientific masterpiece she needed to study. “I won’t be a fucking lab rat, you freaky Frankenstein !!” Exclaimed Levi suddenly furious. “Levi, I don’t think that this is what Hanji meant. No one of us intend to trap you inside a white room and treat you like a lab rat but I implore you to consider the advantage of allowing Hanji to study your condition, both for you and for us.” Levi grunted. Fucking Eyebrow and his oratory. Levi wished he could switch back for a moment in his old self, the one that didn’t give two shits about the good of the world but he also knew that he couldn’t demand justice for what happened to Furlan and Isabel if he first wasn’t willing to do the necessary. He also needed to learn more about his condition, his abilities, if they could develop and how, how he could control it and when he was injected.He thought he lost hope a long time ago, but now there was a hope that his sister could be still alive out there in the world, that maybe they shared the same condition. She was all he’d left of his family and he would do anything in his power to at least try to find her. “Fuck…” he muttered “Okay, I’m on it.” … PARADISE ISLAND 4TH NOVEMBER 2097 9:00 A.M.
E2 was in the bathroom, positioned in front of the mirror and he couldn’t stop touching his face, like he wanted to be sure that it wasn’t going to change. His hands were trembling and suddenly he was cold. He looked in the mirror again and suddenly he noticed that something was slowly changing.
His hair was slowing growing, his ears were becoming elongated.
In front of him there was no more the reflex of a young boy, but of a man with a prominent long nose, a weird mouth without lips and his lacked any flesh on his cheeks, so he could see some teeth.
What scared E2 the most about that monster were his eyes. Emerald, like his own, just bigger and wilder. There was something scaring in the way those eyes were looking at him, studying him, almost warning him. E2 quickly realized that that Titan was him, that Titan was trying to protect him with his eyes, like it knew something. Something terrible.
E2 put a hand on the mirror and asked “What are you trying to tell me ?”
E2 opened his eyes and realized he was gasping and sweating. What the hell happened ? He dreamed his titan self, or so he thought. There was something that didn’t convince him in that dream. That titan… his titan… was communicating with him through his eyes. There was something it wanted him to understand, something that E2 failed to see. ‘I can’t spend the entire morning thinking about it. I need to prepare myself’ That morning Eren ordered him and the other shifters to come to him for a reunion about what to do next. E2 was still new in all that, he still needed to get used to wake up on a sofa, in one of the remaining room of the facility instead of a bed.It wasn’t like E2 hold any dislike for beds, but he simply couldn’t sleep anymore on one fo them. It was like his mind couldn’t completely relax on that, too many memories about the white room and spending entire days on a bed. He stood up, wearing his black boot went to the bathroom. On his way he encountered Marco, Thomas and Floch, already dressed up and ready to go meeting Eren. “Have you just waken up ? Your hair are messier than usual” commented Floch messing up his hair. “Floch, leave him alone” said Thomas pushing Floch’s hand away from E2. “Good morning guys” said E2 yawning “When did you arrive Thomas ?” “Few hours ago, I couldn’t arrive yesterday night. I’ve another thing to do” said Thomas. “I’m sure everyone deserve a little fun once in a while” commented Floch with the typical way of someone who knew a lot. Thomas grimaced and Marco giggled a little, when E2 was the only one who wasn’t understand their conversation. He rolled his eyes, those three were having fun by treating him like their infants. He went to the closest bathroom to wash his face, purposely avoiding to look himself in the mirror. He didn’t want to waste anymore second on that dream.When he got out, Thomas, Marco, Floch and Sasha were waiting for him outside, then they started walking together toward the crystal room.E2 was very grateful for their company, also because they had walked through so many corridors that E2 was sure that, if he was alone, he would have already lost his way tenth time in that maze that used to be a facility.When they arrived in corridor made completely of crystal, E2 saw Eren was sitting in his crystal room with a white owl on his shoulder and he was playing with Go against an invisible opponent.E2 felt for a moment the need to stop and walk away, it was the first time he’d seen Eren after he fainted during their first meet and he didn’t know what to think, or how to behave in his presence. When they arrived he noticed that Frieda, Franz and Anna and other shifters that arrived yesterday night from all over Paradise Island were already there and for a moment E2 felt observed. “Good morning, people” said Eren standing up and clapping his hand. Frieda greeted him first, followed by E2, Sasha, Marco, Ymir, Floch, Franz and Anna, Thomas and other shifters that arrived in Utopia yesterday night.The rest would partecipate through telepathy. For the occasion, Eren had used his hardening ability to create new places where they could sit on and listen. “It occurred to me that I’ve been rather distant ultimately. I want to apologize” said Eren looking all them “Last thing I want is to to make you believe I take you for granted. I want indeed thank all of you for the result achieved until now. It’s only thanks to the sacrifices of many of you if we finally managed to take down the core of our enemies. Tybur is dead. Paradis in our hands. Lago City has fallen under our kind’s footsteps and soon the entire Warrior Unit will be rotting in Hell too. Thanks yo all of YOUUUUU !!” His words were soon followed by the applauses of everyone in the room. E2 noticed how good Eren was at dealing with the other shifters. He had to be sincere, he believed Eren to be a cold person, with zero social skills and grumpier attitude toward anymore. E2 thought of his as a dictator, who limited to tell the other what to do and how, without taking them or their feelings in consideration.Instead Eren knew all of them pretty well, he remembered all their names, he looked all of them like his equals and not like they were inferior and kindly thanked them all for what they had achieved until that moment. He also remembered how tormented and troubled he sounded after Mina’s death, which probably suggested that Eren wasn’t cold with them. Maybe the time spent into the white room increased Eren’s desire for friendship and company. He looked at the shifters and he could clearly say that they hanged from his lips and their eyes were full of gratitude and admiration for him. Maybe Eren wasn’t only cruel and cold, maybe he behaved like that back in Lago only because he understood and knew thins that E2 didn’t. ‘Maybe I simply need to know him better’ “Thank you to have come here too. My heart is full of joy for seeing you here. For those who don’t live here, I’ve missed all of you.” Eren smiled sincerely then he continued “Now, ban on chatter, I took my decision about what to do in Lago City…” he paused, then he grinned “… Absolutely Nothing” Silence. Some shifters looked very astonished, some angry, E2 didn’t know what to say. Only Frieda was grinning, like she had seen that coming in a long time. “I know that you have a lot of answers but please, let me explain first. As you all know, a wall has been built, there are prisoners in its nearby and so the area will be very controlled. I guess that we all can agree that until this moment the Warrior Unit has proven to be formed by cowards, but we cannot be sure whether or not someone of them will actually dared to be there in eleven days” “Your Majesty…” said Floch “… Why ? Now that Tybur Industry have been finally dismantled and the Warrior Unit disappeared. Marley is defenseless against us” “You’re wrong, Floch” said Eren “Tybur Industry was only part of the problem. There are other people who represent a threat for us, you all are aware of that, but unfortunately those people are better than Tybur at making lose their traces. I won’t send you in Lago City and risking you to be discovered and captured” “You don’t trust us ?” Asked Marco. “I trust you with my heart and soul, but as I said… I can’t risk now. I sent there Thomas and two others there two days ago for a very important task. Thomas, describe us how well the area is surveilled” “I’m afraid but they made an excellent job. There are drones that surveilled the giants, their movements, so that they could warn the people when they come too close to the wall. There were soldiers near the wall. We only managed to infiltrate thanks of the help of the other giants” explained Thomas. “Exactly.” Said Eren “There are chances that the Warrior Unit will be there and chances that it won’t. I won’t bet your lives on chances, I will send you there when I’m sure. For the moment, let’s see how this situation will develop. Marleyans are living in fear, our enemies live in underground, but others have lived that way so long that no longer remember how to live in the sunlight. If the Warrior Unit show up… if one of the Tybur’s leftovers show up on November 15th in Lago… we can always used them as scapegoat to earn more time to find our remaining enemies” “Who are you referring to when you speak about hidden enemies ?” Asked Floch. “Grisha Yeager, in the first place. Before he left both his family and workplace, he made sure to destroy all his work so that it couldn’t end up in Tybur’s hand. Nonetheless he is one of the first research of Ymir serum, which means that as long as he lives, he will represent an inconvenient for ur. We need to find him and kill him” said Eren. “He did a pretty good job with hiding his movements. No one had heard anything about him for years” commented Sasha. “I know. But we need to find him and since we have no idea where to start, it will be better taking advantage of this chaotic situation to look for him. I’m pretty sure that it is the first thing that the Warrior Unit will do once it is safer for them to leave their hideout” said Eren “For anything in the world we can allow them to find him before us”
“What if the Warrior Unit show up in Lago ? We risk to lose a perfect occasion to get rid of them definitively without even disturbing us to go looking for them.” Said Floch. “Well, I considered both the options actually. If they showed up, I will control the mindless titans and do the best I can to kill them and use their memories to find their hideout. If they don’t, then I will teach them a lesson they will never forgive” said Eren taking a pen drive from the pocket of his black leather pants “Do you know what there’s inside it ? No ? There’s the truth. Videos about the first experiments conducted with the serum from 2080 to 2091. I carefully excluded any video about us, but here’s all the dirty that involved Warrior Unit too” E2 thought he was having a sort of deja vu…
“This…” said Eren showing the pen drive “It’s the truth. Unsere Ursprünge…” (Our origins) he paused again “Our history and soon all the world will know what those monsters have done to us.”
All the other shifters around him were applauding him and cheering him, looking at their kind with admiration.
“The time has finally come. We will eradicate our enemies and kill the Warrior Unit. We won’t have another precious occasion like this…”
What was Eren saying ? It was the exact opposite of what he was saying before. What about Grisha Yeager ? What about the pen drive he was holding inside his hand ? What was happening ? Why suddenly the room seemed so… blurrier ? Like he was dreaming that moment but E2 was pretty sure he wasn’t dreaming. It was… he had no idea what it was…
“E2… pay attention”
Eren’s voice in his head made E2 blinking different times and then he noticed that he was back in the crystal room. Eren was still holding the pen drive and he was explaining how in it were kept other proofs about the cruelty of Industry.Eren wanted to use the mindless titans of Lago City for a massacre, he wanted the Warrior Unit members to assist powerless at the death of their beloved ones by the hands, mouths and feet of the giants. Of course he wouldn’t limit to kill only them, it would be suspicious. No, Eren planned to kill everyone only to hide his true target. “They will learn what means being powerless in front of the strength of your enemy. They will see… what has left of their world CRUMBLING UNDER THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR GIANTS !! ALL THE WORLD WILL LEARN THAT A NEW RACE HAS RISEN TO RULE OVER THEM !” “Wait, I have a question” said Sasha rising her hand “How are we supposed to use those information for our own advantage ?” “Easy. If they show up and get captured we will make it look like they were trying to kill their own families for the fear that they could betray them. If they didn’t show up, we will make it look the same way and we will put this pendrive among the corpses to make it look that they were planning to attack the wall all along because they wanted to retrieve this.” Said Eren “I assure you, I have no intention of turning any of that pig into titan, since they have proven to be undeserving of this privilege so far” It was clear for E2 that, from his body language and his way to speak, Eren was really proud of his Titan nature. He really considered his gift a privilege, something that it needed to be earned, something that no one of them could take for granted.Eren himself told him once, a serum gave them those abilities, a serum could get them back. Their strength alone would never be necessary, they needed to embrace their inner titan, they needed to believe that they deserved to live and exist just like any other human beings.He looked around and saw that all of them were proud of what they were, unlike him and again he was envious of them, wishing for him to be confident in himself like that one day. “Do you really think your plan is going to work ?” Asked Thomas a little bit worried and hesitant to doubt his king’s decision. “Of course, after all we all know how much the mindless titans can be… unpredictable, don’t we ?” Asked Eren rhetorically “I promise you today, I’m going to offer you a show you will never forget” conclude putting one last black stone on the board. “Don’t be afraid, my friends !!” Said Eren “Ich habe dir ein Königreich und ein Königreich versprochen, das du haben wirst” (I promised you a kingdom and a kingdom you’ll have). … VILLA TYBUR 15th NOVEMBER 2097 6:00 A.M. ‘Today is the day, I guess’ Zeke Yeager didn’t sleep that night, in spite of how much he actually wanted, needed just to stop thinking for a moment. His mind was a mess of thoughts and memories and he heard all his faults being whispered at both his ears, tormenting him, forbidding him to sleep, to find solace in anything.If it wasn’t for the serum inside his veins, Zeke suspected that he would have already die for hardship. The serum didn’t save him from looking like a homeless man though. He’d been wearing the same white shirt and jeans for three days and his beard had been ignored too.He was alone in the studio at the first floor, with a black marker in his hand writing datas and notes on the walls. It was an excellent way for him to keep himself busier. “Let’s start again…” he said playing with the black marker with his trembling fingers “… Everything started in 2095… in 2095… fuck… FUCK !!” He yelled punching the wall. Few minutes later Yelena and Onyankopon entered inside, alarmed for the noise caused by the punch. Zeke ordered them, or better, yelled at them to lock the door. He didn’t want anyone else to see him in that state of neurosis. “Doctor Yeager, you should take some rest” said Yelena with worry. “I don’t need rest. Today is… today the giants of Lago City will be killed and we can’t move from here… and Magath still insists with finding that man” Both Onyankopon and Yelena knew who Zeke was referring to. Grisha Yeager. Magath, Pieck and Porco had been searching for Grisha Yeager’s hideout, checking all the informations about him. Magath wanted to take advantage of that chaotic situation and most of all of that day to see if their enemy would show up.Zeke suspected that their enemy would show up to check if they had done the same and the blond was tempted to go there with few other people to see it personally, but Zeke knew it was too dangerous.Whoever was against them, they weren’t the only ones who wanted their heads. Zeke was aware that one wrong move would cost them their freedom and even Magath agreed with him on that.They both agreed that the better thing to do in that moment was not to do anything that could risk them to reveal their position and furtherer endangered their lives.Of course the other warriors didn’t share their same opinions on the matter, but Zeke quickly persuade them that stray hidden was the best thing to do until they knew who exactly they were fighting against.Nevertheless he lied to them about an important detail, the suspects about the real identities of the volunteers. Magath and him agreed to lie on that too, for everyone’s sake and they were both ready of taking the full responsibility if some one their beloved got hurt. “I’m simply… tired.” Said Zeke “I’ve tried to enter with my personal account, but of course is no longer available, which means that I have no access to Tom’s file either. Not that I seriously hoped to find any lead about whatever experimentation involved the boy” “What’s that supposed to mean ?” Asked Onyankopon. “That whoever orchestrated the attack at the facility and help the boy to escape, surely wanted to keep his existence a secret and I wouldn’t be surprise if all the informations regarding him had been handwritten by Tom and destroyed with the facility” said Zeke “We have nothing, guys. Nothing we can work on and all because of Tybur’s paranoia” “Maybe whatever will happen today will be instructive. The enemy doesn’t know where we are, we can guess where our enemy would be” said Yelena “This villa is very old, they will never find us here” “The same goes for our enemy. Don’t underestimate them. The girl I fought, Mina, she was able to resist my mind control, I’ve no idea how she could have gained that power but if her fellows are even a quarter strong as she was, then we’re in danger and so the entire world” said Zeke. “Are we talking about the same world that has turned its back on us ?” Replied Yelena with bitterness. “We reap what we sow. I’ve a theory, but of course I have no proof to corroborate it. In 2090, someone attempted to steal a serum, but that person got caught and nevertheless a vial of serum infected the population of Utopia” said Zeke. “The famous epidemic of Paradise in 2090” deduced Onyankopon “Tybur blamed the entire Paradise population. He blamed them to have steal and spread a virus only because their industries were threatened by Tybur Industries. Was it a lie ?” “Obviously. My question is, what if in that moment another vial was stolen ? What if our enemy had planned for five years to take over Paradis in order to destroy the Nucleus and then hunting us down to get revenge ?” Theorized Zeke written everything on the wall. “A revenge ?” Asked Onyankopon “After all these years ?” “It made perfect sense actually” said Yelena “Everything started in Paradise, our enemy comes from there. 2090… the serum… 2095… The nucleus… Tybur… these are not coincidences” “No, not at all. We may have no way to learn what happened in 2095, but I’m pretty sure that we have to start from there.” Said Zeke “Meanwhile, I intend to use my abilities to control the mindless titans to see what will happen today in Lago. I’m sure I will be able to earn precious information” Zeke hadn’t invested much time in developing his abilities and in that moment he deeply regretted it. He also knew that his own disdain for his nature only worsen everything.He massaged his left temple with his hand and sighed. He needed to rest or else his mind would blow up. “I’m going to rest a little. Please, keep this conversation to yourself.” He said exiting from the room without waiting for an answer. Before the rest, he needed to go somewhere else. He needed to visit someone.Zeke’s instinct’d never failed him until that moment and in that moment it was suggesting him that the only way to find out if he was right about Paradise Island was to ‘talk’ with that person. He went in the basement, where they were keeping the crystal with Annie inside. That room had been cleaned up before to take her there and Pieck and Floch kept it that way on a daily basis. Nor that Annie could get angry if they left her into a dusty room, but crystal or not, she was still a warrior and it was a matter of respect. Zeke stopped in front of her and observed her with attention. ‘She looks so young and fragile…’ Zeke felt sorry for her. A girl so young should have never been involved in any of that, but Tybur was convinced that the probability of success could increase as age decreased.One single injection in change of a huge payment and a perfect body.Zeke wondered if Annie didn’t regret her choice considering where it lead her.He slowly put an hand on the crystal and tried to use his telepathy with Annie. His eyes became gold and he felt a slight buzz inside his head.If there was an ability he’d developed and empowered in particular, it was his telepathy and he hoped that it could be helpful for him in that moment. ‘Please Annie, help me to understand’ He felt another buzz inside his head and then his and Annie’ minds were connected and he saw… “Paradise…”
“… Island…”
He saw Utopia, the facility, people with white coats in the corridors, walking beside Annie. Zeke tried to focus more on their faces, with the hope of recognizing some of them but apparently Annie didn’t pay attention to them. Understandable.
He saw her receiving the injection then nothing… a white light… then grass and… someone was talking to her but Zeke couldn’t see his face. Could he be Bertholdt ?
No, Bertholdt was taller than that person. So who he was ? He was talking with Annie but Zeke couldn’t hear his words. He notices that the building was in flames, which meant that that encounter happened after the destruction of the facility.
Someone else survived the incident… Someone who was with Annie… Someone the girl probably knew…
After that scene he only see fire, dust… and a beach and there was someone there. Someone with long dark hair, someone who was pointing with his finger an indefinite point over the sea. Zeke couldn’t be sure whether that person was a man or a woman, but what it didn’t matter in that moment.
‘I’ve seen enough’ Zeke knew that he had no energies left to read inside Annie’s mind, but at least part of his curiosity had been satisfied. Annie wasn’t the only one survivor of the incident in Utopia, someone else was with her and on the island he met other people. Annie had been lying to them since the beginning, why ? What happened on that island that made her switch her side ? Who were those persons now ? Were there more on the island ?Only one thing was certain, he wasn’t going to share the new informations with anyone. If Annie had been betraying the Warrior Unit since her return, who knew what else she was hiding and who else was helping her.After his father, Tom, Annie, Zeke felt he could trust no one, not even Yelena and Onyankopon. Yelena proved her loyalty to him over and over again and yet he knew that sometimes she had the tendency of taking initiative that leaded to disastrous outcomes; Onyankopon instead was too scared of Yelena, her little dog, and he seemed one of those type that switched side as long as he could stay alive.No, those two couldn’t be trusted. No one in that villa could be trusted. He was alone, as always in his life.Zeke was too exhausted to even consider to use his telepathy again on Annie, he needed to lay under the sunlight for a couple hours and rest. For a shifter spending three days without the sunlight it was like not eating for three days and Zeke needed nourishment.According to what communicated by media, the titans of Lago City were going to be killed in the evening, when they couldn’t benefit of sunlight and they were mostly sleeping. Cunning, he gave them that much. “Can’t wait to see how those fools are planning to handle the titans” he whispered before leaving the basement. … MARLEY WALL 15th NOVEMBER 2097 17:00 ‘So, here we are’ Erwin, Levi and other members of the new Survey Corp had just arrived at the military camp set up near the Wall. Levi saw that Pixis and Zackly were already there and they were discussing with another man, dressed up in a military uniform full of medals. Simeone important, Levi deduced. He looked around and couldn’t avoid to feel out of place again. He was surrounded by goody two shoes people that swore to their life complete loyalty and abnegation toward Marley, instead Levi was nothing like that.Even though he was willing to fight alongside Erwin and the other members of the Survey Corps, but Levi didn’t share his sense of abnegation and duty toward the empire. Marley had never done anything for him, for the son of a prostitute before and a nameless orphan later. Between the motel where he lived with his mother, the orphanages and the reformatory he’d never had a place to call ‘home’, where he could feel safe from the world’s madness and recently he’d found out that someone dared to inject him with a serum without even telling him.That morning, while he was wearing his new military uniform he felt weird when he looked himself in the mirror, almost didn’t recognize that raven hair guy. At least everyone accurately avoided any kind of joke about his size and about how hard had been for Erwin to find a suitable uniform for Levi. Furthermore the dreams continued, always the same, always an owl and a raven, always a beach and someone who reached out to him. Those dreams left him no respite, night after night, every time he closed his eyes. “I know what you’re thinking” said Erwin “You’re asking yourself what you’re doing here” “Perceptive. Keep doing it and I will think you’re a telepath” “No need for that. I can easily deduce from your pout that you would prefer to be anywhere but here” grinned Erwin. “Can’t deny that” Erwin walked toward Pixis and Zackly to talk with them, leaving Levi with Hanji, Mike, Moblit and Nanabi. About Falco, they chose to leave him in the facility under the surveillance of the few members remained there.Erwin warned them that that day the new selected members of the Survey Corpses would have been introduced to them. Of course, Levi wasn’t particular enthusiastic of meeting new people that day, specially it they had to watch his back against a titan.Levi wasn’t sure if he was psychologically ready to entry his life in the hands of Mike and the others, least a bunch of strangers. The raven guy was anxious about something else too. Suddenly Mike sniffed him and grinned “Are you nervous ?” If Levi could, he’d have kicked Mike’s ass until it became flat. He hated when that bipedal dog invaded his personal space and sniffed him. “Next time, I will punch your fucking nose” he said. “Oh come on, live up a little” said Hanji “I can’t believe I will finally see a giant. Can’t wait to see myself how they behave, if they’re so tall like reports say, if…” “I’d hate to ruin your mood, Dr Zoe” intervened Armin interrupting her “But I doubt you will see any of this. After twilight giants usually fall asleep” Erwin had warned them about that. Zackley and Pixis had been updating Erwin’s about giants’ behavior regularly and Erwin regularly provided them new informations about giants in return. Thanks to those informations and the datas got by direct observation of giants’ pattern behavior, they agreed that, due to their inexperience with dealing with giants, it would be better to kill them after in the evening and if they were lucky, to capture one or two three-meters giants, no one more. It would have been too dangerous and they weren’t well equipped. “But Erwin said that we can keep one or two of them. It would be a waste to kill all of them instead of taking advantage of this situation for further researches” insisted Hanji almost whining. “Don’t forget that they are humans, Hanji. They’re not lab rats” reproved her Nanabi. “Yes, but…” “Shitty eyes, cut it off” said Levi “We’re not here to play” Last thing he wanted was a migraine. No all of them was comfortable with killing something that used to be humans, but Armin insisted that the creation of a serum that could nullify the effect of Ymir serum would require too much time and still he wasn’t sure if it was going to work.The Emperor Ross ordered them to dispose of all the giants, despite being aware of their former human nature, because the population was afraid of them and feared that the wall wouldn’t be able to contain them for long.Levi had tried to feel compassion for them but he couldn’t forget what happened to Furlan and Isabel and he couldn’t ignore his own nature.He hand’t learned compassion in the underground, he had learned different kind of lessons, he learnt how to be brutal, that in order to survive he needed to put his own life first. Mors tua vita mea. Nevertheless Mike was right when he said he was nervous.He feared the eventuality that, once in the presence of a giant, whatever force was inside him could be triggered again, in front of all those people. In the previous days, Hanji had conducted various experiment on him, to trigger the force inside, but nothing worked and no matter how Levi got frustrated, nothing changed inside him.It almost seemed like nothing had changed, but he knew it was a lie. He looked at Armin and wondered what the blond would do if his secret got revealed.He looked at Erwin again and he wondered what the blond was discussing with Zackley and Pixis. The blond looked serious, as always, but for Levi, who had been observing the blond more and more, he looked too serious. “Doctor Arlert, I remembered you saying that the virus could infect animals and plants too…” said Nanabi “What do you think we should do about them ?” “I wouldn’t know actually. It shouldn’t happen anything, since the serum can’t be transmitted, only injected and of course without the sunlight they shouldn’t be able to harm us. We’re safe” said Armin. Armin said the truth. Eren hadn’t contacted him in days and the other shifters told him that since the arrival of E2 on the island, Eren had been distant. After that Armin had tried to speak with Eren many times but the brunette never answered back. Then suddenly three days ago, Frieda sent on his private laptop a serie of files and videos with news his orders attached.Eren wanted him to transfer those files on a pendrive and then let it inside the camp, where the volunteers were situated. Then he had to cancel the email and wait for further orders.Armin did as ordered without further replaying. He transferred the files on the pendrive, but after having taken a look at them. He needed to understand what sort of game Eren was playing to. As soon as he had finished to see all the videos and files, he understood.Eren wanted him leave the pen drive because he was planning to use the mindless titans as bait, whether to provoke the Warrior Unit or to kill them in case they showed up. Crafty. Provocative but not reckless. Whether or not the enemy showed up, Eren would make them look guilty in the eyes of the world again.Furthermore no one of the members of the Warrior Unit knew exactly what the Nucleus was. Maybe they could even think that their enemy had found a way to reproduce the nucleus or find a way to make active the mindless titans during the night too. “Arghhh !! I wouldn’t be funny at all this way !!” Complained Hanji “I’ve been waiting all this time to finally observe the giants and the effects of the serum and yet I can’t do anything” ‘You should feel lucky’ Armin thought. “Well, they have done an excellent job with the wall” commented Moblit. Armin mentally agreed with him. It was similar to the ones that surrounded the facility in Utopia. Efficient, apparently but it was only fifty meters tall. It wouldn’t work with a Colossal Titan, but of course that they couldn’t know.Nevertheless, it aroused fear and prominency, but also a false sense of safety. No one of them were safe there, that wall was the painkiller against the pain not the cure for the wound.At some point they saw Erwin coming their way with four other persons. Levi suspected that those were the new members Erwin talked about.
“Hello guys, allow me to introduce our new members” he said “Eld Jinn…” He pointed toward a tall guy with blond hair with dark hair dressed up in a military form. Eld greeted them with a timid nodding. “… Then this is Oluo Bozado…” ‘What the hell is doing here that gramps ?’ Levi thought. Oluo looked much older that the other three, due to the wrinkles on his face. He had curly brown hair with thin brow eyes and a condescending expression on his face. “… Petra Ral…” She was the only woman among them and Levi noticed with some relief that she was slightly shorter than him. She had blond strawberry hair and brown eyes. She looked like a teen in a carnival military custom but Levi had learned not to judge people on their size. “… In the end, this is Gunther Schultz” He was a man of average height, with slight dark skin and brown hair and dark eyes. “They have been part of the military for almost two years, I’m sure they will be valuable assets to our team. You will have time to know them better later, now you need to come with me” Erwin leaded them toward a tent where there were also Zackley and Pixis that illustrated them when they were planning to attack and how and also that they would go beyond the wall at 20.00 o’clock.Pixis showed them the weapons he managed to provide them, rifles, blazes, guns, blinding grenades. No vertical maneuvering equipment. There wasn’t the time to produce it for everyone and to learn how to properly used it, but Erwin’s proposal had been approved despite everything and the production started last week. Zackley showed them a map of the camp in order to help them to orientate themselves. Armin found where the ‘volunteers’ were situated but be more sure about that he used telepathy to read their minds. Passing from mind to mind, he ended up reading the mind of Mrs Brown, it couldn’t be anyone but her, since her mind was full of worrying thoughts about her poor blond teddy bear. If he wasn’t surrounded by all those people he’d burst in laughing. After of hours all of them have dinner and then had some space for themselves before the beginning of their mission.Armin took advantage of that time to go away. He wanted to try something and he hoped it was going to work. ‘Come here… I command you’ His eyes became golden for a moment, then after few minute a bird flew toward him, an infected one. All the ‘subjects of Ymir’, humans, plants or animals were connected and were able to feel each others’ presence and calls. The bird landed on Armin’s hand and waited for new orders. “I need you…” said Armin taking the pen drive from his coat “To put this…” he whispered while the beard grabbed the pen drive with its beak “… Don’t fail…” he said caressing the little creature “Don’t fail the King” Before to fly away, the bird’s eyes became gold for a moment, then it flew with the pen drive and Armin remained there, observing him flying away, free, with his splendid feathered wings, like the wind, like he would never bee. “Splendid evening, isn’t it ?” Said a voice behind him. Armin turned around and saw the Commander Erwin that was studying him with his blue calculating eyes.That was the definition of ‘dangerous man’ in Armin’s opinion. His words had so many meanings and his eyes expressed too little to understand the blond’s true intentions. Anyone else would have been afraid to be left alone in his presence and even more to look him in the eyes, specially after having used his powers with the risk of being caught, but not Armin.Erwin knew he had the serum after all “Splendid indeed, specially when you’re in good company” he said smiling at the other man. Erwin returned the smile and came closer to Armin. Armin had to admit that the commander was really an handsome man, he looked a lot like one of those superheroes that people watched in the movies, but Armin knew that Erwin Smith wasn’t a hero.He was an opportunist, one of those who lowered his head when he had to only to rise his gun against his opponent as soon as he could. He didn’t complain when some of his superiors got in his way, he waited for them to fail miserably only to kick them deeper in their own shit.Nevertheless Armin liked that kind of man, when they were on the same side of course. He had no illusion over the fact that Erwin didn’t trust him, that he had been controlling Armin since they arrived there, that as soon as his suspects about him were confirmed, Erwin would kill him. “Are you nervous for our mission ?” Asked Erwin. “No” answered Armin sincerely “After Paradise giants don’t scare me anymore. I’m more afraid to cause a mess” “Due to your own nature” said Erwin. “Cunning as always commander” commented Armin with a grin “I will be careful. Last thing I want is to becoming a lab rat again. If I fail now I’m afraid I’ll never be free from scrutiny” “I share your worries, but I also want you to know how grateful I feel. I really need you in this mission, in case something happen” said Erwin. “I understand, I thank you for you vow of trust. I won’t disappoint you” he said. Erwin nodded then he added “Good, we will left in few minutes. You come ?” Armin nodded then he followed Erwin where the others were waiting for them. Erwin hadn’t said anything, but he had seen the bird’s eyes. They’d become golden for few seconds which meant that the bird was infected.Erwin chose not to say anything because he didn’t want to alarm Armin, that was why he wasn’t even thinking about it, but he was occupying his mind with strategies for the mission. He hadn’t forgotten what he read in the files about the nucleus. It was written than all the ‘subjects of Ymir’ were dependent on it for their powers and for certain extent even their life, what if the nucleus had allowed them to be also mentally connected ?Erwin sometimes had the feelings like Armin could read their minds, even though he had no proof of it, nevertheless he was very careful with protecting his mind.Armin’s intelligence was another thing not to underestimate and whatever the blond doctor had in store for them, they needed to be very careful around him.When they came back to their comrades that were waiting for them with Pixis and Zackley’ subordinates too; he noticed with relief that all of them were ready and equipped for the mission and were waiting for them on the tactical vehicles provided for them.One of the guards that surveilled the wall leaded in front of a gate and warned them to be ready. The gate opened and the guard wished them good luck before getting away. ‘This is it’ Erwin thought while he was sitting on the driving seat. … PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA 15th NOVEMBER 20:00 ‘It has begun… We’re ready’ communicated Armin to him. ‘Excellent. What about the last task I assigned to you ?’
‘The pen drive was successfully positioned where you wanted. Would you tell me more about your plans ?’
Eren grinned. ‘I won’t spoil the surprise, not even to you.’
‘Eren…’
‘Armin… I got your back, I promise’ “See Free ? All according to plans” he said petting the owl on his shoulder. Eren was satisfied. He could always count on Armin. His friend was doing a marvelous job, but now it was his turn to manipulate the events. It was the moment to test the resistance of that damn wall. According to the informations provided to them, the wall could resist the attack of a titan, but not thousands attacks accomplished in the exact same moment. The materials couldn’t resist, there was only one thing that could resist the strength, the warm and the aggressive of a giant… another giant. The walls that surrounded the facility in Utopia weren’t difficult to destroy because they were made of giants. Once he freed all of them, the walls crumbled. That wall that surrounded Lago City… “Eren…” a voice behind distracted him. He was in the crystal room, in front of him, his Go board game and behind him, there was E2.Eren create a chair made of crystal and with his finger he pointed it, inviting E2 to sit in front of him. E2 had questions for him, he knew it. E2 sat in front of him and looked at the other with worrying “What are you planning to do ? Why have you avoiding me since my arrival ?” “Not tonight E2. I’ve more important things to deal with” “Then when ? We spoke more when you were a simple voice in my head then now. I need you to be here with me. I’ve come here for you, because I trusted you, do you understand ?” Asked E2 grabbing Eren’s hand. “E2…” “Was ist mein Rolle hier ?” (What’s my role here ?) insisted E2. E2 had been very patient with Eren. He accepted to follow the latter everything, to trust him not to be a simple voice inside his head but a person in the flesh and bones that could lead him toward freedom, and Eren did it.E2 wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for the King of giants and he would be forever grateful for that, but in that moment he felt abandoned. He couldn’t deny that he had hoped that, once in Paradise, he would have finally learnt more about himself, his origins and why he and Eren looked so alike and yet so different at the same time. Why he could speak that language since he was born without anyone who taught it to him.Tom himself was surprised when he caught E2 speaking that old language.In one of the many history books Tom had taken to him, E2 read that there used to be many languages and dialects but then new Empires rose, new nations were founded with new languages and rules and many of them went forgotten. Yet in some small countrysides and villages some of those old languages were still used to communicate. Why that language ? E2 didn’t even know its name or where it was used, he only knew he could speak it since he could remember. “Ihre Rolle ist meine, Monarch aller Riesen” (Your role is mine, Monarch of all giants) answered Eren. “Ich, ein König ? Ich bin nicht du, ich bin niemand !!” (I, a King ? I’m not you, I’m nobody) replied E2. Eren put his other hand on E2’s and smiled gently. Last thing he wanted during that important evening was to fighting with E2. “Listen, I need you to be patient. I will tell you everything, I will talk with you more, but not tonight.” “Why ? What’s happening tonight ?” Asked E2. Eren smirked and then his eyes became gold for the excitement “Tonight, with the help of a friend, I’m planning to set a trap for the Warrior Unit and another person. That’s why I need you to have a little more patience with me, okay ?” “Okay. Can I stay here with you ? Asked E2 “To see what’s happening tonight” “Of course, stay with me. It will be a very educational experience for you” … MARLEY LAGO CITY 15th NOVEMBER 20:20 ‘Too much silence for my taste’ thought Levi. Levi had no idea how they were going to search the whole territory surrounding Lago City in one night. Armin explained to them that giants could smell humans from miles, which meant that once they finished to eat all the remaining survivors in Lago, they would have looked for the nearest human assembling, in that case the military camp with all the soldiers, the medical equip and the volunteers.Zackley had told them that giants’ movements were constantly controlled by drones and communicated at the base and apparently the giants’ destination was the camp. They didn’t need nourishment and nevertheless their instinct told them that there was a different kind of food they could hunt. Since almost no one of them had fought against a titan before, Erwin, Pixis and Zackley agreed to split into three groups, each with their respective subordinates.
“Commander, why do we have to wear the gas masks ?” Asked Nanabi out of nowhere. “Because doctor Arlert told us that the plants nearby could be infected too and so the birds and the animals. Even thought Doctor Arlert told me that we can’t be infected, I don’t want to take any risk” said Erwin. They were moving on three Iveco LMV, Levi was with Nanabi, Eld and Erwin behind the wheel. Hanji, Moblit, Armin in another one and in the end Eld, Oluo, Petra and Gunther in the last one. Erwin didn’t want to give Armin the impression that he was controlling him, it was clear that the blond was planning something but being in the same vehicle with him wouldn’t help. Erwin needed to think, freely. With Armin around that couldn’t be possible. Maybe he was simply becoming paranoid but when Armin looked at him, at people in general, Erwin felt like Armin could read his mind or control him. Erwin was also sure that they still didn’t have all the informations they needed about shifters, maybe some of them could have hidden some of their abilities from the scientists, because they were afraid or because they hoped that those abilities could have saved them later. “You don’t trust the blond mushroom, do you ?” Asked Levi. “I’m only being cautious. Until this moment Doctor Arlert has done nothing wrong in our regards, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have his own agenda.” Explained Erwin. “Then why he’s not in the car with us ?” Asked Nanabi. “Because I don’t want him to think he’s being controlled” answered the commander. ‘Specially after I saw him using his ability with an infected bird’ thought Erwin. They continued their trip in silence. The ruins of Lago City were barely visible in all that darkness, but they had seen abandoned houses and factories located in the once suburbs of the city. But they were no longer houses, they were symbols of death, devastation and defeat.Lago City was no longer a city but a cemetery and even if the people who lived nearby had been lucky enough to survive, who knew when or if they could return in the warm and safety of their houses, in the protection of their realities and normalities. No, it would never happen, nothing would ever be the same. Suddenly Erwin noticed something in front him. “Wait a moment…” he said “What is that ?” He drove closer until the headlights of the vehicle could shed light on a huge human footprint. “A giant has passed from here… We’re close” said Erwin and communicated it with his radio to the others “Be careful”Both Levi and Armin said nothing, the first for fear the second for indifference, but both of them were feeling the presence of giants around them. Levi didn’t understand how or why, he only knew that they were close; Armin instead knew perfectly why. Their connection… their bound… their King…Indeed they found a little group composed of four giants after few minutes. Erwin communicated the news to Pixis and Zackley. Pixis communicated to him that he and his men had found another little group of giants and that were preparing themselves for killing them.Zackley instead had still no lucky.Before Erwin could give any command, Hanji rushed toward the giants like a fury, followed by a very concerned Moblit and Armin. “That shitty four eyes can’t contain herself” said Levi grabbing his blazes and following the others. Erwin smiled. He should have predicted it after all. Hanji couldn’t remember the last time she had been so exited for something. The scientist inside her couldn’t believe what her eyes were showing to her… giants, real giants. They were so big and for a moment she wished she could see them during the day, when they stood up, walked, run. Someone would consider inadequate her fascination for those cannibal monsters, but there was something about them…They were lying on the grass, sleeping and seen like that they didn’t seem so scaring. “They’re so… incredible… Never thought these kind of creatures could ever existed” said Hanji. “They’re amazing aren’t they ?” Asked Armin to her “They seem creatures just come our from a fairytale but they’re real, tangible.” He concluded touching one of the giants “Touch him, it’s warm” Hanji did as Armin told him and she ascertained that the giant’s skin was actually very warm, but not scalding as she had thought. It was very soft too, like the skin of a newborn baby. The plump face, the body devoid of genitals or of any sign of the puberty’s phase (hair, curves, widening of the pelvis, development of the musculature…) that made very difficult establish their former gender.Armin instead saw its memories, it used to be a man who worked in a clothing shop as cashier. He didn’t have any family, but he had a girlfriend and he ate her after his transformation. ‘Very sad’ he thought ‘I’m so sorry’ he communicated it through telepathy to the other giant. “So, how do we exactly killed them mushroom ?” Asked Levi. “Oh… I’ll show you.” Said Armin extracting one of his blaze. Armin concealed it perfectly, but Levi’s attitude irked him profoundly. Those titans remained subjects of Ymir, they were part of Armin and Armin was part of them and the idea that someone was so eager of getting rid of them like they were nothing but rubbish angered him. He liked Hanji more, she understood how fascinating giants really were, that they were alive. Nevertheless he did as Levi requested. With the first giant was easy, it was lying on the grass on its side, the nape was completely vulnerable and exposed. Armin briefly indicated the area where to hit, then with the blaze in his hand he cut the nape of the giant. ‘Vergib mir’ (forgive me). The giant opened his eyes for a second and let out a wail of pian, before dying and becoming nothing but dust under Armin’s eyes.He was very sad in that moment, even if that giant and Armin hadn’t had much time to bound, the blond felt its death, like he was dying with him in the same moment.He ignored the pain inside his chest and so the buzz inside his head, but for how much longer would he have to deal with that agony ?Were they just dust in the end ? Like any human being ? Where was their superiority ? They were still so imperfect, so flowed, so vulnerable. “See ?” He said not to cry “It’s… pretty easy” “Awww… I hoped that I could have observed him more.” Whined Hanji. The rest ignored her and proceeded with the killing of the other two giants. After that they all returned to their respective vehicles and started looking for the other giants again.Again, Levi chose not to say anything but the only reason why he was so eager to kill those giants was due to the effect they had on him. He felt strangely connected with them, probably due to the serum and he felt something else, a presence that observed him, such a strange sensation that he couldn’t ignore, yet he couldn’t talk about it with Erwin.They weren’t alone and he didn’t want to worry Erwin more.Nevertheless he felt the same sensation when they found the next group of giants, in the woods that surrounded the Lago City. That time some giants were sleeping in a sitting position and most of them were taller than the ones of the other group. “Can I at least take a sample this time ?” Asked Hanji “You may not understand but I think that it would be profitable for us if we manage to analyze a sample of serum on them.” “Hanji, we’ve talked about this, taking samples is not the goal of our mission. There are too many things we don’t know about giants and furthermore we’re not equipped to keep them in safety” replied Erwin calmly. Truth be told Erwin hadn’t updated their new four members about Armin and his past connected with the Warrior Unit and for the moment he preferred keeping it that way. He needed more time to know them and be sure if they could be trusted. Until that moment, they didn’t need to know about Armin and Levi and he ordered everyone not to say a word in front of them.For those four, Armin was a simple member of the Survey Corp, like them, with no knowledge about the serum, giants and anything like that. “But…” “End of story.” Said Erwin. They started killing the giants, one after one, until Eld, who was in process of killing the last one, jumped. The giant in front of him suddenly opened his huge dark eyes. “Ahhhh !!” He screamed “Guy !! This one opened his eyes, he’s looking at me” “What…” murmured Levi. They looked at that giant, keeping their distance due to their fear for that creature. The giant didn’t move, it was simply looking at them but not with an empty expression, it looked like it was studying them, waiting for them to make the first move. He didn’t even blink. Among them only Armin understood what was happening. ‘Hello…’ he communicated to it.
‘King… talking… ordering’
‘The king…’ Suddenly Zackley’s voice came out from the radio.
“Commander Smith !! General Pixis !! A group of giants suddenly woke up and now they’re running toward the wall !! We need to hurry !!”
The sentences wasn’t even over that the giant in front of them stood up and start running away, ignoring all of them. “We must to follow him !!” Ordered Erwin. They returned to their vehicles and followed the giant but soon they were reached by other giants that were running toward the wall, destroying, trampling and ignoring everything around them. Now that they were awake and were moving, it was very difficult for them to aim at their nape if not from long distance, but that would have meant slowing down and risking not to arrive to the wall in time. “We need to find a way to slow them” said Nanabi “At least the shortest one” Levi couldn’t take his eyes off the giants, not even for a second, almost like he was enchanted by them. From his window, he could only see their backs in the distance and nevertheless he could almost feel what they were feeling that moment. He felt… anxious… to arrive somewhere… hurry…He felt something inside him, something he could only describe as electricity, like a new energy given by the knowledge that he knew exactly what it needed to be done. “Nanabi is right. We have no possibility of killing the tallest one, but we can use the explosive grenades to slow them down and the flash grenades to disorient them.” Said Levi “Some of us hit them with the grenades, the other aimed at their nape” It was a risky plan, but in Erwin’s opinion there was nothing to lose in trying. They weren’t equipped to kill them in that circumstances, so he communicated Levi’s plan with the radio and ordered everyone to follow it. Erwin ordered Nabani to grab a grenade launcher and started aiming at the giants with it, instead Mike and Levi needed to grab the anti rifle. “It won’t be easy hitting them this way” commented Nanabi leaning out of her window. “I’m aware of that, do your best” said Erwin driving. In the other vehicles, Moblit and Oluo were the one with the grenade launcher, Armin, Petra and Gunther were the one with the rifles and Hanji and Eld at the driver seat.In the meantime another small group of giants joined the first one, followed by Pixis’ group, with his men ready to shot at the giants.Erwin hoped that at the military camp, the soldiers were ready to deal with that mess. The wall should resist the attack of the giants, but the gate where they’d entered Lago’s city territories was easier to destroy and in that moment another poisonous thought was forming inside his head.Giants’ behavbious had been recording since the beginning of the wall’s building and their patterns had always been the same.Active during the day. Dormant during the night. The same pattern, always the same, over and over again. Nothing ever changed, not even once.Why now ? Why didn’t that giant attack them ? Why were they running toward the wall ? Because they feel a major concentration of human flesh ? Then didn’t they attack them first and run toward the wall after ? They were there, under that giant’s nose, why they were still alive ?Erwin didn’t believe in coincidence, that giant didn’t spare them because they weren’t appetizing for it, that giant had another goal in its mind and the way it was looking at them…It was different from the emptiness eyes and the stupidity impressed in the faces of the giants at the training center, no.There was something else, or maybe someone was leading them.The first grenades were shot and as predicted they slowed down the shorter ones and some of them, due to their clumsy movements, fell on the ground making the taller stumbling on the ground. That way it was easier for the others to aim at their nape with their rifles. Some of them died but more and more joined the group, appearing from everywhere.
“Commander Smith !! The giants have almost arrived ! We will try to kill them, we have no idea if the wall will resist their attacks !!”
Unfortunately when they arrived at the wall it was already too late. Erwin saw helicopters flying over the giants, shooting at them, trying to hit their nape but even them got in trouble when a flock of birds arriving from Lago City interfered.
“They’re too many, we can’t shoot giants !!”
‘Not good, not good at all’ thought Levi. He didn’t need Erwin’s intelligence to understand that everyone was quickly loosing it. They didn’t expect that scenario when they accepted the mission. It was supposed to be an easy job, without many complications, but they knew the risks, they knew that they were fighting against an enemy they still didn’t fully understand. “If they’re infected, the normal shit won’t work on them either” said Levi. “Maybe, but at least now the giants are grouped together in one point. If we surround them, we will have more possibilities to kill them” said Erwin. “We need to kill them quickly” said Levi sharpening his eyes “The wall is about to succumb” “How can you tell ? All I see it’s darkness” said Erwin.
“Commander Smith, those monsters are destroying the wall, one of them kicked the gate. If they enter the camp…”
“They won’t. I got a plan.” He answered then he threw the radio away and got out of the vehicle. He walked toward Armin and asked him to get out of the vehicle. Once the two of them were distant enough Erwin talked. “I’ll go straight to the point. I saw you using your powers with that bird. Is that your work ?” He asked looking at the flock. “Busted” confessed Armin “But not. I won’t deny that I have my reasons to be here, but I will never put you in danger, I need you.” It was the truth. Armin needed the Survey Corp, to study the serum, to be useful for his King, to find their enemies, to fight for their rights and freedom. Last thing he wanted was for Erwin to put his nose in his business. “I know that there are their parents here. Their beloved… their families…” he said without specifying who he was talking about. He didn’t need, Erwin was smart, he understood quickly who he was referring to. “It’s part of the protocol of Tybur Industry. Getting rid of any possible threat and their beloved ones are a threat for them. Wives, children, parents… If something goes wrong, if someone betray… their beloved one are the next target” “Is what you think that happened to your grandparent ?” Asked Erwin. “It’s exactly what they think I had done. I’m sure that Tybur suspected me to give away some informations to my grandpa, they killed him.” Said Armin trying to repress his anger “No. I killed him but that’s not what you want to know, isn’t it ?” “No, I’ve already known what I need, if you could communicate with that bird, you can do the same with that flock. Can you order them away ?” “I can and I can help you deal with the giants, but then I beg you to do something in return for me” “Impudent. You’re asking to put myself into a compromised position and furthermore you dare asking me a favor ?” Asked Erwin. “All I want is for you to search the volunteers. I know that some of them have something with them. I had the suspect that the Warrior Unit would have tried something to sidetrack us and I was right” “Okay, this is not the moment but we’re going to discuss this.” Said Erwin “Drive the flock away and help us killing the giants. I will send the helicopters away” Armin didn’t need to ask why.Erwin wanted him to use his powers but he didn’t want any soldier of the camp to witness it. About Zackley and Pixis, Erwin would deal with them later. For the moment, their priority was to come out of that situation alive and he was aware that he would have to tell the truth to Pixis and Zackley sooner or later, he only hoped that it could be on his own terms.Well, plans always changed. He came back to the vehicle and ordered via radio to send the helicopters away before the arrival of other flocks.Meanwhile more and more giants arrived, taller and more determinate that the the others.Armin knew he had to hurry up. Eren wasn’t commanding them anymore, the king only sent an electrical impulse in their brain, ordering them to take down the wall, not matter what. It was a safer way to use them in case come of the Warrior Unit chose to use mindless giants to spy them.The giants hand’t paid attention to them because they were close to the wall and due to its conditions, it was clear the wall could no resist the attacks of all those giants. Because they were about to succeed their mission, but if they realized that someone was trying to get in their way then they would attack. Some of them would attack and the others would continue their way and killing everyone in the camp. Unless…. ‘Eren…’ … PARADISE ISLAND 16th NOVEMBER 00:00 “I’m confused” said E2 “What’s the difference between commanding the giants and sending them a simple impulse ?” “As you surely have noticed, mindless giants can be controlled, the more you learn how to do it, the longer will be the distance from where you’re able to do it. Unfortunately it also costs in matter of energies.” Eren explained. He still remembered the first times he controlled the mindless titans outside the facility, it left him with no energy. It got better with practice and time, but still the longer the distance was, the more energy he consumed and it was even worse during the night when the mindless giants didn’t even absorb the energy from the sun. They needed his energy even for walking and keeping their eyes opened. He also learnt that more general is the command given with the impulse, more independent the giants could be. If he ordered them to wake up, stand up, run and planning their moves one after one, he wasted more energies. Instead if he simply ordered them to destroy the wall, they wouldn’t need him to direct all his steps. “I still don’t understand” said E2. “It’s tiring controlling a mindless giant every second, it would be like your brain thinks for two and it’s exhausting. The best thing to do in this situation is to sent a simple impulse in there mind. I ordered them to destroy the wall and they’re ready to die to pleasure me” “So basically you gave them a general command, like for example when we’re hungry and our brain elaborates the informations and all the appropriate actions to satisfy our needs but in this case…” “In this case the input is enough to make the giants move on their own. I don’t need to control them, to plan their moves, or to make their body move in a certain way. They knew what they need to do, destroy the wall among everything else” “Is it the reason why they haven’t defended themselves against the soldiers ?” Asked E2. The giants hadn’t attacked anyone, even when the ones closest to them were hitting them or killing them. If they were ordered to destroy the wall, they would try to do it among other things. If they had only that thought in mind, it was difficult imagining them moving their attention to other targets. “Basically yes. As I said, they’ve a mission and they’re willing to die for it. Unless I order them otherwise” grinned Eren. “What do you mean ?” “You will see” grinned Eren. … MARLEY LAGO CITY 15th NOVEMBER 2097 ‘Really ? Eren…’ thought Armin rolling his eyes. He should have anticipated that scenario. It would have been too merciful on Eren’s part not to want playing with them like they were his toys. Well, it was his mistake.He looked at the giants and saw that someone of them turned their attentions toward him and the others, while the ones in the first lines continued to assaulting the wall. It was clear from the way the giants were looking at them that they were going to attack. ‘Wonderful… thank you, Eren, very much’ Erwin noticed the change of attitude of the giants too and immediately looked at Armin, who looked very annoyed. Whether the blond doctor was simply pretending or not, it wasn’t relevant.Again, what mattered for them was to survive and if he wanted his Survey Corp to grow, then he would do better to get used to that situation. That night, in that immense arena made of grass and blood, would be the baptism of the Survey Corp. That night, they would finally know if they could fight against giants, if they had what it took to fight for human race. “Comrades !! Be ready to fight !!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY LAGO CITY 16th November 00:30 ‘Why are suddenly attacking us ?’ Levi didn’t understand what hell was going on with those monsters. Earlier they were too focus on destroy the wall to give a fuck about them and the moment later some of them turned around and started running toward them. To kill them. One of them tried to grab with his fatty hand the vehicles with the four new members. Luckily Eld managed to avoid it, but then another giant arrived, ready to stumble on them.Levi grabbed the grenade launcher from Nababi and shot aiming at the giant’s eyes just in time for the four to move.Unfortunately one of the vehicle with Zackley’s men got stumbled on by another small group of giants, dying, all fo them. “Shit” said Levi. After being eating, that was another terrible way of dying. Not even a bones remained to cry, or a finger, nothing. What remained of those men was a pool of blood and mud in the shape of a human foot. They all would die the same way, if not worse, if they didn’t find a way to kill them. “If we continue this way, we will run out of ammunition” said Mike reloading his rifle. “Our targets move now, it will be even more difficult to hit them at the nape” said Nanabi Levi ignored both their comments and pointed his steel eyes on the blond mushrooms and his staring contest with Eyebrows. It was clear that the conversation the two had few minutes ago had been fruitful. The mushroom seemed determinate to find a proper solution to solve that situation, but he wasn’t the only one who had observed them.Zackley was too distant or he would have done the same, but Pixis had paid attention to that blond guy since his arrival at the military camp. Someone would accuse him of paranoia, but he was sure that the blond guy was hiding something from them, something that Erwin knew or maybe only suspected. Something Erwin chose not to share with them, for some unknown reason.He and Zackley were perfectly aware that Erwin Smith was a man of dual nature, but the blond commander’d never acted with malicious or ill intent. For the moment, he would trust Erwin’s judgment. Pixis himself had lost a vehicle full of his men on the way there due to the giants and he had no desire of losing all his men in that futile battle, where the enemy was so coward go hide himself behind the eyes of his cronies and let them doing the dirty job to kill them.Pixis shared Erwin’s opinion on what was happening that night. Someone was controlling the giants, someone who perfectly knew that a mission to kill them all was planned that night. The enemy, the real enemy was far closer than all fo them had actually thought. The question was, how much close ? Pixis looked at Armin and he wondered if his suspects about him were right or wrong.Meanwhile Armin was evaluating all his possibilities and the various outcomes, one more disastrous than the other. Furthermore, if he was about to use his powers, he would need a little help. ‘Eren, I need your energy. You own me that much’
‘Mine and the ones of any giant you kill, commit !!’
Armin rolled his eyes. Eren would be the end of him, he was sure about that. It was night and without the sun his powers couldn’t reach their highest potential. He couldn’t perform a complete transformation, which wasn’t a big deal since Armin didn’t intend to transform in the first place. His Colossal Titan was higher than the wall, than any giant and its warm could melt the wall in few seconds. It would be impossible hiding it from the soldiers at the camp and the volunteers. He could only count on his other abilities.Erwin was right. From their position, it was difficult hitting the giants on their nape. He needed to find a way to turn their attention elsewhere.
‘A little help ?’
‘You underestimate my intelligence. I’ll solve this riddle on my own’
‘You don’t need to solve anything you already know. They’re mine, so they’re yours. I’m them, they’re me and so you’
‘One mind… one soul…’ He looked at the giants in front of him and then the people behind him. Why did it always have to be him between humans and giants ? Why did it always have to be him the one to chose who lived and who died ? He didn’t want for those giants to die, it would be like betraying his own kind, but Armin had already betrayed once and his brothers back in Paradise were more important than that group of giants and he needed to arrive at the volunteers. Killing the giants was the mission of the Survey Corps, his mission was to provoke the enemy, push them to make a mistake and find them. That were his King’s orders. ‘Why always me ? Why ?’ …
PARADISE ISLAND 2090 UTOPIA 15HOURS BEFORE THE INCIDENT
‘This is it, I guess’
Thought Armin looking at the last wall that surrounded the facility in Utopia. There was no turning back, not for him, not anymore, not after all those steps made to arrive there. The vials containing the serum, carefully hidden inside his bag, were heavier than all the books he was carrying with him. If someone found them, it would be the end of him and his grandpa.
That last wall resembled a warning for him, almost like that wall made of flesh, blood and stones was telling him that he would find no salvation, or forgiveness, or hope.
If he exited from the last gate, there would no be another day like yesterday for him. No more night spent away to study the serum, no more unfinished letters to send to no one, no more experiments, no more reports to written. Only he and his guilty.
Deep down in his heart Armin knew that what he was planning to do would cause pain to so many people, but he also knew that he could no longer live the life he was living or else he wouldn’t be trying to change it.
‘Come Armin, You’ve already come this far.’
He walked toward the gate and stopped in front of a retinal scanner that confirmed his identity. As soon as the light became green, the gates opened and kept walking. It had been a long time since he left the facility to go visit the city.
He asked to Doctor Langar a permission to abstain from his duty and visit the city and after what happened that morning, Langar was more than relief to have him out of her way.
At the other side of the gate a black car was waiting for him to accompany him toward the city, it was the rule of the facility. All the members who left the facility to go to the city had to be accompanied in order to protect them and guarantee their safety. It was partially truth, but Armin knew that Tybur simply wanted to control its subordinates whenever they went, whatever they did.
The car left Armin in front of the old library at the center of the city.
Armin left some cash to the driver and told him to come back in a couple of hours.
He entered the library, he showed to his card and then proceeded toward the bathroom at the second floor. He made sure he was alone before he entered in the second toilet, where he knew he would find a duffel bag with clothes in. As he had requested.
Inside the duffel bag, there were women’s clothes he was going to wear.
All his life people had often distinguished him for a girl, due to his haircut or his androgynous face and even if in the past Armin hated it, now his aspect would have been very useful to disguise him.
Skirt. Heels. Glasses. Make up. A small handbag for the vials and his phone and then he was ready. Before he left, he looked himself in the mirror and he barely recognize himself.
“Who the fuck are you ?” He asked to himself in the mirror.
Not long time ago, he used to be a respectable scientist, at the peak of his career and now who he was ? An imposter in female’s clothes. A deceiver that had been lying for so long to himself and everyone that he forgot how to be sincere.
Whoever was that person, Armin had no idea. He took a syringe from his bag and a tourniquet. He wrapped the tourniquet around his left arm, then after having found the vein, he injected the contents of the syringe. Eren had suggested it to him and he obeyed. Eren always seemed to know more than everyone else around him and until that moment the brunet had never failed anyone willing to listen to him.
He left the library passing through the exit on the back, where he knew that person was waiting for him.
“Hello” he said once he exited at the person in front of him that was sitting on a bike.
“You’re late” responded the person, the voice distorted by the helmet.
“A lady needs time to prepare herself” he joked getting on the bike.
They left and after half an hour they stopped in front of a saloon. Armin entered alone and, ignoring the the looks of men, he sat down at one of the tables and waited.
Weird but he felt more confident when he wore female clothes, because even if people were looking at him, they weren’t actually looking at him and he felt less embarrassed and more in control of his emotions.
His contact arrived few minutes later, as they had agreed.
The person in front of him was completely dressed up in black and a pair of glass to cover their eyes.
“Did you bring the vials ?” Asked the person after sitting in front of him avoiding any useless pleasantries.
“I did” said Armin putting the bag on the table.
“Aren’t you going to ask me how I’m planning to use it ?” Provoked the other person.
‘I already know. I will accept the consequences”
“And the guilty ? You’re betraying your own kind, do you realize it ?”
Armin was perfectly aware of that. The mere thought of selling away the serum put him and his family in danger. He hadn’t contacted his grandpa for days, not to alarm him, not to make it look like he’d been passing informations to him. Deep down Armin knew that he had put the most important man of his life in danger, but it was for a right cause.
He couldn’t come back in that facility and wear that white coat to visit Eren knowing what his colleagues did to him.
He also couldn’t live with himself knowing Tybur’s plan for Paradise Island. If that was a necessary sacrifice to be made in order to save both his people and Eren from death, he would be glad to pay fo rit.
“I know, but… That person… I… I want to help them. He’s my friend and… I want to stop Tybur. I know what he’s planning to do with the serum”
“Alright” said the person in front of him “Thank you for your help.”
“In two vials there’s the serum. In one of them there’s the antibodies. There’s also a pendrive, inside it you will find all the passwords, security codes and some informations about the serum” Explained Armin.
“I won’t forget your help. Here…” said the person passing an envelop to him “In return I have fulfilled your request”
Armin opened the envelop and he smiled. Inside it there were two pictures of his grandpa, as he had requested. In one of them, he was curing the garden with his usual adorable straw hat, in the other one he was simply sitting on his rocking chair in front of the fireplace.
Only then Armin realized how much he’d actually been missing him and how much he wished he could be with him, helping him taking care of the garden, or sitting close to him in front of the fireplace.
He repressed the tears and then he hide the envelop with the pictures inside his jacket.
His grandpa was safe and healthy, that was what mattered to him.
“Thank you” he said standing up and without further words he left.
His escort was waiting for him outside. Armin sat on the bike and thank the other person. He didn’t notice that someone else had been observing him for the entire time and when he arrived in front of the wall again, dressed up in his male clothes, Armin had no idea that the new time he was there, those wall would be gone and so the life as he knew.
… He didn’t mean to hurt anyone back then in 2090, he just had no idea about what to do sabotage Tybur’s plans and he trusted the wrong people and he learnt his lessons the hard way. A lot of people died, many of them lost their humanity, he himself lost his humanity and now again he risked to lose another piece of his soul. He also learnt how much the real hatred could hurt a man.He looked at those giants and he thought about those fucking five years of his life spent to be like them. In those five years, he had begged so much for someone to save him, for Eren to save him from that endless agony, but Eren was a prisoner himself of his life. No one could help him, no one was there to save him and it hurt.Armin didn’t realize he was clenching his fists until his fingers got dirty of his own blood. It was a good thing that he was giving his shoulders to everyone since he knew that in that moment his eyes were gold. He could feel it.He didn’t know why he was thinking about what happened then in the current situation, he just couldn’t stop remembering that… and it hurt. Because he failed all those people back then and he swore not to fail anyone else.He also realized that he needed to control himself. His negativity, his anger, his hatred, all those dark emotions were influencing the giants too. They felt the fury of one of their kindness and they wanted to help him soothe it. They wanted to destroy the wall and what it represented for Armin, for one of them. ‘I’m one of them… but I can’t save them’ That mere knowledge was enough to take his breath away, like thousands hands wrapped around his throat to choke him. He knew that he needed to control himself, but he couldn’t. He felt it, the hunger and the anger. One of the giant grabbed one of Pixis’ man and it ate them and Armin could feel the taste of blood inside his mouth, he even licked his lips and closed his eyes, imaging to be the one to taste that precious flesh, to bite it, to devour it. ‘Armin, I’d usually encourage you to live according to your nature, but not now. Someone’s observing you. I’m not talking about the humans. Keep your giant at bay’ ‘I can’t… I’m…’ ‘I know… I’m here with you. Breath’ Armin was gasping and he could feel his body temperature rise, his skin was on fire. He was quickly losing control of his body, he could feel the first bones of his body snap and the giant inside him screaming, ordering him to set it free. He bite his lower lip to refrain himself from screaming. He hated being seen like that, but he couldn’t avoid it. What was happening was so similar to what happened that day, the anger, but at least he wasn’t alone. Eren was with him, his friend was helping him controlling his giant, everything was going to be alright…Armin closed his eyes and repressed his tears. It was not the time to cry to to become desperate. He knew what he needed to do. Eren counted on him, those people were counted on him, his friends were counting on him.He turned around and looked straight to Levi. He was an Ackerman, he could feel it and in even if their kinds were natural enemies despite both of them being born from a serum, Armin needed Levi’s ability.He communicated with him with telepathy. ‘Mr Levi, I know what to do. I know what you are’ Levi risked to lose his grip on the rifle when he felt a buzz and Armin’s voice in his head. Since when the little mushroom could communicate with him that way ? Levi scoffed, he didn’t like the idea of being mentally connected with someone he barely knew. ‘What are you bubbling about mushroom ?’ “No time for talking” said Armin that had come closer to him and grabbed him by his arm “We need to run. We need your help” “Why should I trust you ? As far as I know, you could be the one controlling the giants” “I’m not. Erwin already knows everything, we’ve talked but he’s still a human. We’re different, we have the serum and we need to do our parts” Levi rolled his eyes and scoffed “Fine, we’ll do it your way. Don’t make me regret it” “I won’t, I swear” said Armin started walking toward the wall followed by Levi “I will help you surpass the wall. Once there we will find our way to reach the top of the wall and from there we will kill all the giants” “Are you fucking with me ?” Screamed Levi stopping “How are we supposed to pass through all those giants ?” “With my help. I’m a shifter remember ? If you stay close to me, my scent will confuse them and you will be safe” said Armin. The fact that those giants had reacted to his rage before, gave Armin a hint about how he could surpass them in order to reach the camp and from there, the top of the wall. The bond between them was strong enough to protect Armin from their rage, since those giants recognize him like one of them. They belonged to the same race and giants never attacked one of them, at least Eren ordered them to.
“Your scent ? What are we animals ? You need to scent me ?” “You’d be surprised to learn how much in common we have with animals” joked Armin “Some rules apply for all three reigns” “Tell me, mushroom…” said Levi “Why are you helping us killing them ? Aren’t you one of them ?” Armin was almost glad that the other was talking, it was easier that way ignoring the pain and the sensation of death and loss he felt every time one of those giants died or got hurt.Levi felt something intense too, but he hid it better than Armin, probably because he was less emotionally and mentally connected to them. He didn’t feel sadness, or pity for those monsters, he didn’t feel like one of them. No, something inside him were telling him that those giants were nothing but failures, enemies, only worth to die. The giants and the ones like Levi could share the same origins, but not the same soul. They both acted according to different natures and characters, the Ackerman driven by their own warrior soul, the giants driven by their appetites. When Armin himself turned out to be a giant and not an Ackerman he was deeply disappointed. He always thought that his hight intelligence and all the precautions he had taken before the injection could be enough to preserve him in his human form, to turn him into an Ackerman.In the end, he’d been lucky. Eren mistrusted the Ackermans. The fews that survived after 2090 were still alive though. Eren’d never tried to deny their freedom, he gained their trust that way but still he and the other shifters didn’t fully trust them. Just like giants, Ackermans tended to succumb their true nature, in a way or another. “Do I look like one of them ?” Asked Armin shooting another giant “I feel almost guilty by using the others as baits” “You’re avoiding the question” “Didn’t consider you one for chit chats” “I’m not. That’s Eyebrows” “That’s me too, I’ve never turned down a conversation with an interesting person.” “How did you know I was an Ackerman ?” Asked Levi. “I think you know. I felt a connection… with you. We share the same origins. We always feel the presence of someone like us, I don’t completely understand how it works for someone like you but I do know how it works for me. Sometimes everything can be too overwhelming” Levi didn’t answer but he understood what the other meant, but he pretended not to have a clue. It didn’t matter that Armin was the most similar being among to him among his new comrades, there were so many differences between them. Armin could turn into a giant, Levi couldn’t. Furthermore Armin was aware of Levi’s condition and he had hidden it until that night but he agreed with the other about one thing. “Enough chit chats. Stay close to me and you’ll be okay” If Levi remained close enough to him, the giants wouldn’t be able to smell him. Giants were easy to deceive when they were so focus on something. Both him and Levi ran toward the wall, avoiding the giants’ attack. Levi had excellent reflexes and Armin believed that the other was more capable than him to avoid the giants’ fatty hands. Armin almost stumbled on the torso of a dead soldier. The poor man had been eaten from the waist down, even one of his arm had been eaten. That was also the first thing they noticed when they managed to come back at the camp, were the death bodies of the soldiers guarding the gates. The grass was full of blood, bodies half ripped and half eaten, with the spine uncovered, the organs splattered and the ripped limbs. Levi and Armin didn’t have the time to focus themselves on the bodies.Levi remained disgusted by that sight, instead Armin’s nature remained fascinated by it. He licked his lips again and devoured those ripped body with his eyes and again he had to repress his instinct not to jump on all that foo… those bodies.The rest of the camp had plunged into chaos. Soldiers and civilians running around, screaming and yelling, who had no idea how to deal with that mess outside the wall. They didn’t even notice Levi and Armin at the gates. “We can’t stay here. We need to hurry, before the wall crumble” said Armin stealing some ammo from the dead bodies. Armin ran toward the first soldier he found and updated him about his plan. The blond asked him if they were in possess of any weapon similar to a rocket launcher or anything like that. The soldiers confirmed and Armin told him to put some of them on a vehicle and the rest to be given to the soldiers. “We need to reach the top of the wall. The anti-rifles can only do much. My and Erwin’s plan is to catch the attention of the giants near the wall toward the soldiers on the top and shoot them in the eyes” “In the eyes ?” Asked one of the soldiers. “Yes, in the eyes. But… where are your superiors ?” Asked Armin looking around. An embarrassed silent gave Armin the answer he needed. They flew, or maybe they were simply hiding somewhere in the military camp. At least most of them.He saw the general that welcomed them that morning followed by another man but Armin didn’t recognize his rank. Military ranks weren’t his speciality, as long as they wore a uniform and could shoot a rocket launcher again the giants they were all the same for him. He explained them his plan again and told him to reach the top of the wall and shot the giants in the eyes. “I’ve studied the files about the giants and eyes are very vulnerable compared to any other part of the body. Furthermore without sunlight their wounds can’t regenerate quickly, we will give the other the time to shoot at the with the rocket launcher at their nape. Considering the situation, it’s better to fight them on two fronts” It was the best course of actions. The wall was about tu crumble under the attacks of all those giants and if they were the one to shoot with the rocket launcher, the possibility that they wall crumbled before they killed all the giants would increased.Furthermore, the soldiers outside the wall were almost out of ammo, they needed help or they wouldn’t be able to survive.The grenades couldn’t penetrate the nape and the rifles were inefficient if the shooter were too distant from the target, but getting closer meant to get eaten. They needed an extreme solution. A rocket launcher could be used by an adeguate distance and could penetrate a giant’s nape. Everyone moved quickly, Levi and other soldiers went to reach the top of the wall with anti-rifles while Armin helped the others carrying the remaining rocket launchers and ammo on the vehicle. “Okay, we can aim from here” said Levi to the other soldiers. ‘Tag, you’re it’ thought Levi shooting at the first giant. Once everything was ready Armin sat on the vehicle full of ammo, rocket launcher and grenades. One of the soldier asked him if he was okay with going outside again, but the blond quickly replied that, as long as the giants were focused on something specific, they would no pay attention to him, so there was nothing to be afraid of. He drove carefully, avoiding all the giants and their fatty feet, thanks to Eren’s help too. He also remembered something. ‘Eren, I need to use my abilities. If you say that someone’s watching me, then stop them’
‘I will, don’t worry. I have your back’
‘Thank you’ That night was overwhelming and the renovated buzz inside his head only increased his fear that that situation with the giants was the only the appetizer. He looked at Erwin and his soldier and thought that it was only a matter of time until they all regretted not to have died that night. … VILLA TYBUR 16th NOVEMBER 2097 1:00
‘They are in clear disadvantage’
Zeke had been observing everything through a bird, the only one remained, that was flying around the wall. From there he could observe everything and everyone undisturbed. what he could see, those soldiers weren’t equipped to properly deal with the giants, even though they knew where to aim in order to kill them. Nevertheless, theory could only do much without experience on the field. They were clumsy in their strategies, in their movements, in their… well… everything… but they were brave and determinate. Zeke would give them that much. He tried to penetrate those giants’ mind, but any attempt was unsuccessful. It was like there was a barrier that prevented him from reading their minds, just like it happened in Lago City. He didn’t understand why it happened. His telepathy was strong enough to read Annie’s mind even when the girl was inside a giant crystal dart, yet he couldn’t read the minds of those mindless giants. Why ?What was the missing piece ?
‘The boy is the missing piece’
He had no idea where to find him. That was another reason why he hoped that not all those giants would die that night. Some one them could have seen the boy, where he went before the destruction of Lago City. He still held the hope that that boy had the serum inside his veins, it would be easier for Zeke to find him in that case. It was the only reason why he almost gave up on his conviction to remain there, with the others and not to leave alone for Lago, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. He needed to remain close to his colleagues, he needed them to investigate further on his enemies and he also needed to remain close to them to manipulate their intentions according to his own plan.
‘Well, since I can’t read their minds nor I can control them, I can suppose that something else is controlling them’
There was only one thing that could control the giants that way and it was the Nucleus. He knew that he would regret but the more informations he got, the more he convinced himself that it was necessary finding his father. Grisha Yeager was his only hope, to find out who was controlling the giants against them and how they could duplicate the nucleus. He interrupted his mentally connection with the infected bird. Whatever intel he wanted, he surely wasn’t going to get it that night. Those soldiers had nothing to teach him and all them would be mostly dead, food for giants and nothing more.He thought he had finally succeeded in penetrating one giant’s mind when suddenly he found himself somewhere else…
He found himself dragged inside an hexagonal dark room, one of those were the experiments with animals were conducted. He knew perfectly what happened in that room. Animals with the serum and animals without were put in that room together to be observed, studied. Then animals with the serum and persons without it. Then both animals and persons with the serum.
Animals were less aggressive and more prone to obedience when they smell someone else with the serum.
For the normal people, the infected ones had no particularly smell, but Zeke was always able to distinguish a particular smell when someone like him was nearby.
Indeed someone like him was nearby.
He looked around but he saw no one, of course that place was a simple construct of someone else’s mind, someone who had managed to create a connection between their mind using another mindless giant.
Straightaway Zeke interrupted the connection. That place didn’t make him feel comfortable. It reeked of dark memories, murder, blood and danger and he knew better than falling into a mental trap. It would be better at that point to avoid trying to recreate any mental connection that night.He feared too much that if he insisted on trying to penetrate the giants’ mind, whoever was controlling them would feel that connection and find him. He needed to find them first, not the contrary.
‘I need some rest. Tomorrow I will visit Annie again and then I will convince Magath to go looking for my father’
Zeke exited from his bedroom, the only room in that villa where he could be on his own, and walked toward the kitchen, where he knew he would find Magath and Pieck. Those two had been spending much time together and Zeke knew what, or better, who was the favorite subject of all their conversation. Him.Of those two, what worried him the most was Pieck. The girl didn’t tell him explicitly, but Zeke knew she was wary of him. She knew he was hiding something from the rest of the group but she was smart enough to understand that he was no match for her and that she would be better be out of his way. When Zeke arrived at the kitchen he was surprised to find Magath sitting alone near the open window, smoking a cigarette. “I thought you have stopped” he said. “So have I” said Magath “I’m content, you finally left your den. I haven barely seen you around lately and we’re living in this villa together”“I have a lot of stuff in my mind. I needed silence and loneliness to reflect attentively and it occurred to me that you may have a point. We can’t deal with this situation with the few informations in our possession. We need to get a better grip on this situation” said Zeke using all his eloquence. “So, you’re basically trying to tell me that you accept my suggestion ?” Asked Magath skeptic. “Not exactly. I’m not particularly fond of my father, no one has the right to blame me for wanting to have nothing to do with him. Nevertheless I’m not to selfish to ignore how much we need his involvement in this situation, which is why I want to collaborate” “Collaborate ?” “I know you and Pieck have been already searching for him.” Replied Zeke. “Good, then you also know we still have no clue where your father could possibly be” “Obviously. If Tybur couldn’t have found him with all his technologies and acquaintances, how do you think we could with nothing ? My father did a great job to hide his traces” “Tell me something I don’t know Yeager” Zeke smirked. He informed Magath about what was happening in Lago City and that they were in big troubles. It was clear that a lot of people were already dead and more were going to die that night and of course they would be blamed for that, again.After that night, the hatred the world felt toward them would only increase. Zeke himself was bitter, he underestimated who he was dealing with. Their enemy was very crafty, they took into account the eventuality of them not to show up and they did the same. They attacked reaming hidden, instead the Warrior Unit remained hidden without gaining nothing. Zeke had no idea for how long he would be able to tolerate that state of inertia they ended up in. “I will help you find him. But I’ll do it my way. I work better alone” said Zeke with the tone that accepted no objection. “As long as you will be honest with the rest of us” said Magath. “Why are you telling me something like this ?” Asked Zeke. “Because your father is involved and when that man is involved you have the tendency of losing your lucidity.” Explained Magath “I begged you to search fro your father almost a month ago and you decided to…” “Yeah, okay. I apologize if that’s what you want. We’re good now ?” Zeke left the kitchen before Magath could reply. The time where Zeke had to be respectful toward him finished when Zeke left his military career at the training center to pursue a career in biology and never regretted his decision. He wasn’t really that good as a soldier, at least not before to his puberty, or maybe his father’s disappearance just fueled some sort of anger that helped him to improve. Nevertheless he’d never regretted his decision, working in Lago City was safer than remaining in the training center. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if he was at training center the night when Tybur was murdered. Zeke was sure of something, he wouldn’t have exposed himself anyway, he would have escaped and left that bunch of worms to die. On his way for the basement found Pieck in the corridor and from her expression, Zeke easily deduced that she was waiting to talk with him. “Hi Pieck, why aren’t you sleeping with others ?” “I heard you left your bedroom, something you haven’t done in a while. May I have a word with you before you go hiding again ?” Asked Pieck. “You may… although I can anticipate that whatever I’m going to say, you’ll believe I’m lying” “Because you are. Maybe I don’t know you well but I know you’re hiding something from us and after everything that happen, I can’t avoid to think wether or not you’re involved in this mess” “Involved ?” “Yes, involved” repeated Pieck “Or maybe not. Maybe you’re simply looking for a way out from this sinking ship, leaving all of us exactly like your father did” “Don’t provoke, Pieck. You can do better than that” “I can, but I’ve been waiting for you all night, I’m tired and pretty frustrated due to the situation. I heard what you told to Magath in the kitchen and apparently you two have been hiding from us that out families are prisoners” “We did because there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t expose us” “This decision is not yours to make only. How are we supposed to react ? Aren’t our opinions important too ?” “Magath and mine’s job is not to make you all happy, is to keep you safe and sound and clear our name. You’re clever Pieck, you shouldn’t let the sentimentalism clouding your judgment. Our beloved one are everything the government has to blackmail us, they won’t dare to kill them” said Zeke. Pieck hated to admit, but Zeke had a point. As long as their families would be in the government’s hands, their hands were tied. If they exposed themselves, they would end up in jail without any chance to learn the truth about who was conspiring against them. On the other hand, their beloved ones were precious to Marley because as long as they lived, there would always be a chance that one of the fugitive made a reckless move. Pieck was ready to bet that their enemies were hoping for that second case scenario too.Nevertheless there was still something that didn’t convince her. “What’s your angle Zeke ?” Asked Pieck. “You need to be more specific than this” “Your father. How come that a month ago you didn’t want to have anything to do with him and now out of nowhere you are so determinate to find him ?”“I’d say ‘cause I’ve come to my senses, of course you won’t be satisfied with this answer. That is not even the right question, what do you want to know ?” Pieck bite his lower lip then she surrendered and asked him the question she longed “Is your father involved in this mess ? Are you trying to protect him ?” ‘That’s it’ Zeke thought.He would have laughed off at Pieck’s accusations if he could, even though he recognized how legittimate were her accusations. Everything that had been happening to them leaded to his dad. The first giant, the first creator with the serum inside his vein. A curse that he passed on his son, a power only he had all the answers for and that same man had disappeared, taking away with him all his knowledge. No one of them, not even Zeke, knew what was the price Grisha had paid to Tybur not to turn his only son into a lab rat, but of course Pieck couldn’t know that. What everyone knew was that Zeke was free for some reason and Grisha, fearing that Tybur could turn his attention on him again, would be doing something to destroy the man before Tybur himself could destroy their family more than already was.It was plausible, maybe Pieck was even right.Maybe Grisha was done with Tybur’s blackmail, maybe he had been obliged to leave the country, an hypothesis Zeke hadn’t considered himself and pushed in him in spite of everything of seeing his father under a different light. Something else he wasn’t ready for. “I’m not and I’ve no idea if or what my father is planning something against us. I highly doubt it tough. I want to believe that my father, after abandoning me, would have spared me the humiliation and the shame that the world has bestowed upon me” “Upon us and our families too. I really hope you’re not involved in any of this monstrosity” “Monstrosity ? Why are you talking like this Pieck ? You knew what you were signing for when you accept to be injected with the serum. You are a warrior machine too. We’ve been created for war purpose” “It’s not the same.” “Of course it is. Tybur didn’t want the serum for medical purpose only. You can offer a product like the serum only to cure your ill sister. You knew that one day, when the serum was perfected, we would have done this and even worse.” “It wouldn’t have got this far…” “Of course it would have. Tybur would have sold us to the highest bidder. We would have conquered countries, killed people, women, men, children. For Tybur a man ruled by human race wouldn’t have been enough at some point, not if someone could give him the possibility to ascend” “So what ? You’re basically telling me that we got what we deserved, that we deserve to hide in shame. To be persecuted ? To be hunt down like animals ?” “And those who we would have hunted down if Tybur was alive deserved ?” “Why are you talking like this ?” Pieck really couldn’t understand Zeke. She was perfectly aware of Tybur’s plan for the shifters, among the members of the Warrior Unit it wasn’t a mystery, but Pieck accepted it. In a world where the strongest ruled, she saw nothing wrong in accepting to sell her body for scientific experimentation first and for war purpose after. During her training she had done terrible things to different people, without wondering wether they were right or wrong because that was what she needed to do in order to survive.She was a warrior and she grew to care more about her comrades than the people she would hurt. It was the only way she could live with her actions. “I’m just saying that the victim role doesn’t suit any of us. We would have done the exact same things, do you think that Paradise was a mere failure ? A mistake ? No, Paradise was the first very conquest of Tybur” “I’m aware, lots people dead, lots people homeless. I know the story thank you.” “Then you should understand why someone wanted to steal Tybur’s informations so badly and needed us out of their way. Whoever they are, my father, somebody else, they’re not different from us. They simply have stolen our toys from Tybur, that’s the only difference.” “Again, I still don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me. Are you justifying our enemy’s doing or are you trying to tell me something actually important ?” “I’m trying to tell you to stay out of my way” said Zeke turning around. Pieck grabbed him by the arm to stop him and said “Not so fast. What else are you hiding ?” ‘I saw you visiting Annie, what are you trying to accomplish ?’ Pieck only thought that last line, but it was the one that Zeke on alert. He underestimated who he was dealing with. He knew that Piece was keeping him under control, observing him but he thought he was being discrete about his visits to Annie. Apparently not. Maybe Pieck had been spying on him for Magath, or maybe she was simply suspicious of him and chose to spy on him on her own.Zeke used his telepathy on her, to be sure that she hadn’t mentioned his visits to Annie during one of her conversation with Magath. When he was sure she hadn’t, he used his powers to control her mind and modify her memories.He kept inside her minds all her doubts about him and his behavior, but erased any memory about him visiting Annie and their current conversation. He instilled in her mind that she was waiting for him in the corridor but she got tired and lost any desire to conversate with him and then she came back to sleep.He ordered her to go to bed and sleep and so she did. He remained there in the corridor and observed her until he wasn’t sure that she entered her bedroom and not leave it.Once he was sure, he ran toward the basement, careful not to be caught by anyone else. He arrived in the basement and stopped in front of Annie. He slowly put a hand on the crystal and used his abilities with Annie. …
PARADISE ISLAND 209…
The memories were blurry. Zeke could barely distinguish his surrounding, but if he sharpen his senses and concentrated, he could smell an unpleasant smell of disinfectant and… bleach ? He wasn’t sure but wherever he was, that someone cleaned the room few minutes ago.
Inside the room there were… shadows ? He couldn’t distinguish any of them, apparently Annie had to be feeling confused in that moment, maybe she was surrounded by other people.
Nevertheless Zeke opted to pass to another memory, but before he could do it, something strange happened. He was brought inside a new memory that he hadn’t picked himself. How could it be possible ?
“I need to show you this”
That voice made him jumped. He turned around and he saw Annie next to him, in an empty dark room. Her hair were messy, she had circles around her eyes and they were trembling. She could barely kept them open.
Her skin ton was terribly pale and the white typical asylum pajama only made her looked paler. Furthermore her entire body was trembling, her lips were purple, her pupils dilated.
She had nothing that remembered him of the stoic warrior he met two years ago, she more looked like a drug addict in a withdrawal crisis.
“I’m sincerely sorry for this. I can promise to you that the pain will go away very soon. You’re no a prisoner here”
A figure came closer to Annie, someone tall, with long dark hair. The voice seemed to belong to a male but it was obfuscated exactly like the owner. Zeke couldn’t distinguish any peculiar trait about that person front of Annie.
Nothing that could give away their nationality, their facial traits, nothing, but there was something that was terribly familiar to him. Something that he couldn’t understand, something that he couldn’t figure it out.
“I’m doing this because… talk… him…”
If Zeke could, he’d groaned for frustration. It was like Annie’s mind was protected by some kind of barrier he couldn’t surpass. What he was seeing was only the tip of the iceberg. He tried to reach for Annie, but he couldn’t.
“… He’s… with us… now… will be…”
Zeke understood quickly what the other person was talking about. One blink and he found himself in the desert, with Annie and another faceless person behind her. Zeke tried to get closer to the other person but apparently that person was perfectly capable of using the desert to his own advantage.
He’d been so naive. He used his telepathy with Annie without considering that the nucleus was in possession of somebody else who could use it to their own advantage. He had sinned of pride and stupidity, without considering adequately the pro and con of reading Annie’s mind he fell in the mental trap of his enemy. The desert.
He knew what remained to do, he could try to reach out the stranger in order to use his ability and find the nucleus; or else the other could always use the same trick on him and learn about his current position.
Zeke was tempted to believe that they had the same possibility of success, if he didn’t know the other had stolen the nucleus. He couldn’t risk the other to dig inside his mind and find him, he wouldn’t know how to explain the others without revealing them his secret abilities, unless…
Suddenly from the desert two pair of chains wrapped his wrist and he couldn’t move.
He ended up into a trap without any idea how to get himself free.
In front of him Annie was observing him, begging him with her eyes to set her free.
“He… he doesn’t…”
Zeke could feel the buzz inside her head, something that couldn’t be covered by Annie’ screams and groans. She was trying to fight whatever force was manipulating her mind but she couldn’t. Zeke knew it better than anyone.
A simple beta didn’t stand a chance against their alpha’s command. It was a sacred rule in the animal kingdom and so it worked among the humans.
She was in pain, her nose had started to bleed, she even fell on her knees but Zeke couldn’t do anything to help her. Just standing her and witnessing her torture.
Annie on her part was trying to beg Zeke to help her, to put an end on her misery, but she couldn’t. Silent was imposed to her. She could tell nothing. She could think nothing.
She was no longer a person. Only a container to be filled and emptied by someone else’ emotions, anger, sadness, hatred; by someone else memories.
“He… wants… you… to… understand…”
“To understand what ?” Zeke tried to get closer to Annie but the chains pulled him back and make him fell on his knees.
He tried to stand up but he could no longer do that either. The chains had shortened and were tightening his wrist so much that he knew he would see bruising, even worse.
Annie told him that whoever was controlling her was trying to make him understand, but what ? What was the point of dragging him in the desert ?
What was the point of torturing Annie in front of him ?
Annie meant nothing for him, he barely knew her at all, he only got interest in her because she was in possession of precious informations about what happened in Paradise in 2095. So what ?
“What am I supposed to understand ?”
“He… really… wants… AHHHH !!” Annie screamed, no longer able to stop the tears.
Zeke was getting tired of the entire situation. The chains were hurting his wrists and he hated being prisoner of someone he didn’t know.
“Look… around…” said Annie again.
Zeke scoffed. He followed no one orders, specially when he was on his knees and with his wrists chained.
His invisible tormentor found his way to torment him anyway. In front of him appeared the figures of his father and behind him a giant. His father looked very afraid, knowing that the giant was about to eat him and if Zeke didn’t know that that man wasn’t his father, he would have been afraid too, trying to set himself free to help his father.
The giant grabbed Grisha, who was begging Zeke to help him, to save his life, but Zeke couldn’t move, he could do nothing. The giant ate half of Grisha’s body and a pool of blood formed on the sand. The giant threw the rest of the body but before it could land on the ground, other figures appeared.
Three to be specific.
He recognized one of them and suddenly he thought he could end up in tears like Annie. It was Tom Xavier. His second father and the other two were the guards found dead near him.
What did it mean ? He was going to witness how…
“Is this that I have to understand ? Do you want me to see how you killed Tom ?”
No one answered. It wasn’t necessary. It was clear that whoever was playing with him, knew exactly what happen the night Tom was killed. They knew what happened, they knew everything and they wanted Zeke to know.
Was that what they were aiming to ? To make him furious ?
The guards shoot to themselves and died, but Zeke already knew that. He wanted to know how Tom died.
But it didn’t happen. All he saw was Tom looking toward him and smile.
“What does it mean ?”
Tom turned into Grisha again and was eaten by another giant and died again front of him.
Now Zeke was getting frustrated.
“What’s the meaning of this ? Are you trying to tease me with this stupid role game ?”
Annie appeared again next to him and said “You’re not… paying attention… It’s not Tom… or…Grisha…”
“What do you mean ?” Asked Zeke turning toward Annie, but she wasn’t there.
In front of him appeared all the members of the Warrior Unit and there was a giant behind all of them, ready to grab them with their fatty hands and devoured them.
His tormentor was having fun with create copy of the people he knew and killing them, each one of them, one after one, eaten by giants. The giants repeated the macabre dance of before, screams, bite, blood, corpses and dead.
And he could do nothing to save them. Zeke didn’t care about them, not as much as he cared for Tom, to learn the truth about his death, but they still mattered somehow.
They still mattered if his tormentor believed him completely incapable of saving them. If they believed that Zeke would be willing to knee in front of them and not to fight against anyone who stood in his way.
“Are you trying to impress me ? To show me you can kill anyone in any way you want ? To prove me that no matter what I can’t do anything to protect the people around me ?” Asked Zeke with anger “Am I that weak to you?”
Again they disappeared and Annie took their places.
“Wrong… again…”
“THE HELL IT MEANS ?” Shouted Zeke “What else could it be ?”
Zeke took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was clear that his tormentor had no intention of setting him free unless he solved that macabre riddle. It was useless continuing to see those deaths, he needed to reflect on what he knew.
He tried to concentrated but the part of him that refused to submit to that bully.
He was tired, he was frustrated, he longed for answers he couldn’t have. Not matter how long he remained there, his tormentor would never tell him the truth about Tom’s dead and he couldn’t save Annie from her own mind. Remaining there was pointless.
With his powers he broke the chains and stood up.
“I’ve no intension of playing your game. It’s not fair. You want me to understand you but you are not willing to give me any answer.”
He tried to leave that place but something kept him there. Annie appeared in front of him again.
“He simply… wanted you to… understand ?”
“Understand what exactly ?”
Annie paused for few seconds then she answered.
“Wie ich mein ganzes Leben gefühlt habe”
(How I have felt my entire life)
Zeke widened his eyes. He couldn’t believe his ears, how could Annie speak that language ? He knew it was an old language almost no one used anymore. Probably in some small village, like a dialect but it was no more an actual language. That wasn’t the most important thing anyway.
Zeke had been able to speak that language since he developed his abilities, without someone to teach him it. He couldn’t write it, or read it, but he could speak it almost perfectly.
His father explained to him that Kruger spoke that language and that he also taught it to his father in their years spent as colleagues. Grisha didn’t speak it fluently like Kruger, so his father told him, but he was good and so was Zeke. Another interesting thing was that only the two of them spoke that language, the other shifters didn’t. Probably because it applied the same rule for telepathy, the shifters needed the nucleus to send an impulse to their brain to learn the language. Someone allowed Annie to learn it tough.
He understood exactly what Annie told him.
“How do you…”
“Goodbye Zeke” said Annie.
…
Zeke fell backwards on the dirty pavement of the basement, sweaty, confused and furious. Someone out there was toying with him and he hated. He hated not being in control of the situation, not being the ONE in control. The worst part was that he couldn’t escape from that game. The other person had made clear that they knew what happened to Tom and that the nucleus was in their possession.He hadn’t expected them be able to use the nucleus so perfectly already. Maybe it was a clue. Maybe it simply indicated that whoever had stolen the nucleus, was very familiar with it. Another proof that whoever was plotting against them used to work on Paradise, someone who had five years, maybe more, to plan Tybur’s downfall. Someone who had intentionally spoke with him using Kruger’s language.All those facts couldn’t be simple coincidences, Zeke needed to investigate more on Kruger, he needed to know more about what happened in Paradise and most of all he needed to find his father.He was the key. The only missing piece to complete the puzzle. And of course there was another riddle to solve, the one proposed to him by his invisible tormentor. He in chains, others dying in front of him. Annie told him that he needed to understand something and he would. ‘Ich nehme deine Herausforderung an, Arschloch’ (I accept your challenge, asshole)
…
LAGO CITY 16th NOVEMBER 2097
‘The connection has been interrupted. Whoever was spying us doesn’t have to be meticulous’
Eren’s voice inside his head almost made him jumped. In the end he and Levi had managed to kill all the giants near the wall, while Erwin and the others provided them distractions and also managed to kill some giants on their own.Of course any victory had its price and the price for every battle was the blood and it wasn’t over yet. There where still giants in the city, giants that hand’t come closer to the wall but one day they probably would, attracted by the smell of humans. It was only a matter of time and now the wall was partially destroyed. ‘Or maybe they didn’t find what they were looking for’ That was more plausible for Armin, but he wasn’t in the mood for any discussion. He was tired, exhausted, now that the euphoria was gone with the last giant. In the end his plan succeeded for everyone’s joy but he knew that it wasn’t over. They failed their mission and even though they had still much time before the dawn, no one of them had the strength and the ammo to procede with their little hunt. Soldiers had died, the wall had almost been destroyed and if they attracted more giants toward the military camp there was no certain that it would resist. It seemed that it was the lucky night of the giants who were closer to the ruins of Lago City. In that moment they were all reunited at the military camps. Erwin, Pixis and Zackley had gone somewhere else, probably to discuss about the recent events. The medics were assisting the wounded soldiers and the rest of them was simply trying to metabolize everything.For most of them, it was the first time they had to deal with the giants and they were already lucky if they had all their limbs and were still breathing. “I still can’t believe it !” Said Hanji trying to refrain herself from giggling “I finally saw all those giants in person… It’… AMAZ…!!” “Doctor Zoe !” berated her Moblit “People have died, your enthusiasm isn’t appropriate” he said taking another sip of his hot drink. The members of the Survey Corps were all reunited in one tent and were trying to warm themselves with a hot beverage. Luckily, no one of their corp had lost its life that night; nevertheless no one of them was in the mood to celebrate that small victory. Actually no one could find a reason to celebrate that night but Hanji for everyone’s disapproval. “I know. I’m just content that some of them are still alive. It means that there’s still the possibility for me to study them and…” “Shut the fuck up, for God’s sake” That time it was Levi who talked. He felt like he couldn’t put it up with anything in that moment. That night had been simply absurd and tiring. It wasn’t supposed to be like that, those giants shouldn’t have waken up, those men shouldn’t have died. Someone was manipulating the giants, Levi had felt it, that pull, that presence all around him. Someone who had set them a trap, someone who knew all their plans, someone who wanted them dead.Levi looked Armin and furrowed his eyebrows. He still had no idea wether he could trust Armin or not, but he didn’t see any other option. He was ‘different’, whatever he had in his body it made him react to giants in a very negative ways and made him feel things he probably shouldn’t. That night he felt a very strong hunger, but it wasn’t a normal hunger. All he knew was that he was in danger and so he needed to kill whatever caused it.He didn’t simply want to kill the giants, he needed it. He needed the blood, the violence, to take lives. He needed it so much that hurt.He had killed before, Kenny taught him how to use a knife to slaughter than to use it for food. In the underground resorting to violence to defend himself happened on daily basis, but he’d never felt like that. Furthermore he needed to develop his ability. He had no intention of being caught unprepared like that night anymore, he wanted to know exactly what he was and what he could become. If not for him at least to protect the one around him. If he had learnt how to develop and use his abilities before, he would have been able to protect Isabel and Furlan and probably all those men that night. He tapped with his finger on Armin’s shoulder and asked him to have a walk together. Armin accepted the proposal. He anticipated that request.The two walked together in silence, with Levi who decided how to formulate his request and Armin who waited patiently for the other to speak. “I want to… I’d like to…” Levi convened that manners were required “… discuss with you about what I am.” “I figured. What do you want to know ?” “Everything. What makes me and you different. What are my abilities and how I can develop them.” Armin told him everything he knew about Ackerman, about how their body worked. “Basically, you have a perfect body. Agile. Strong. Fit for any kind of fight and battles. Excellent reflexes. No one other than an Ackerman or a giant is a match for you,, but you already know this, don’t you ?” “Why the serum turn me into an Ackerman and not a shifter ?” “Unfortunately the answer for that is still unknown. We tried to discover why but at this point I can simply say that it’s only a matter of genetic” answered Armin. Armin could deduce by Levi’s chagrin that he wasn’t satisfied with his answers and the blond could relate with it. “Would you teach me ?” Asked Levi. “What ?” “I’m sure I’m not the first Ackerman you met. I need to put in practice what I can do, to test my abilities myself and I need your help” Levi wasn’t the type to ask someone else for help, but he never let the pride clouding his judgment. He recognized his own limits and his lack of knowledge about the serum, but it was a flaw he intended to fix as soon as possible but he couldn’t do it without Armin’s help. Armin felt conflicted, for real. He highly doubted that Eren would be pleased to know that Armin was teaching his enemy how to reach his full potential, but he if denied his help to Levi it would appeared too suspicious. “It’s okay. I’m a shifter, among everyone I’m the only one who can compete with you. As soon as we return at the base, you and I will train together.” He said. After all it would be exactly a bad idea. Training with Levi could be an interesting opportunity to study a pure Ackerman on the field, to study the way his body reacted to any stimulation, to see how and when the force inside Levi triggered. The similarities and the differences between him and a shifter. Furthermore, it was clear that Eren was interested in Levi, or he wouldn’t have asked Armin anything about him, but Eren did and something in his behavior suggested that it was due to something more than simply curiosity.Levi, on the other hand, was secretly grateful that Armin accepted to help him. The raven hair hadn’t decided yet wether Armin could be trusted or not, even after that night’ events, but Levi needed his help. Erwin needed the blond’s help as well. They were trapped with him and so did Armin. Nevertheless for the moment he didn’t intend to talk with Armin about his dreams. Nevertheless he needed to know, he was hungry for answers. The need to know everything about what was done to him, what was being changed inside him was eating him from inside and for the first time he didn't feel different from the giants and their victims. His curiosity was eating him and at the same time he was hungry for the answers and angry for his ignorance. The angrier he got, the hungrier he was for the truth. “Thank you” Levi said. ‘No, thank you’ Armin thought. … PARADISE ISLAND 16th NOVEMBER 2097 2:00 A.M. “Why didn’t you try to take control over him ?” Asked E2 when Eren interrupted the connection with Zeke’s mind. “Because I can’t now” answered Eren “I know where they are, that’s enough for me. If they plan something I don’t like, I know exactly where to find them. Last thing I need now is for them to move toward another hideout” “You played with him. You chained him and made him assist powerless how the people he knew got eaten. It was a bit cruel” said E2. “I merely challenged him to play my game. He’s a clever man, he would find the answer to my riddle very soon” E2 was unsure about how he was supposed to feel about that little game. He considered it a little bit sadist from Eren’s part, but he also knew that the other didn’t do anything for no reason. He didn’t miss the interest Eren had about Zeke and he hated that there was something else Eren was so elusive about. “Are you sure it’s worthy ? You always insist that they are our current greatest enemies and now that we know where they are…” “I conquered them, that’s enough for me. At least for now. Their life is in my hands now, don’t you get it ?” “Actually no, I don’t. It seems more line in one night all your plans have changed and you refuse to explain why” “Enlighten me, how exactly have my plans changed ?” Said Eren with sarcasm “I told you, I promised you, that I would kill all our enemies, that I would hunt them down one by one and make them regret the moment they were born ? Did I promise it ?” “Yes you did but now you’re telling me you intend to spare the lives of the Warrior Unit members, after you have also spared the lives of all those soldiers tonight.” “I’m surprised to hear such words coming from your mouth. Last time you seemed so contrary with taking other people’ life”“Can’t deny you’ve been successful in making me realize that whatever you’re trying to accomplish won’t success without victims” “I taught you well then” commented Eren grinning. E2 rolled his eyes. That wasn’t the conversation he was hoping to have that night with Eren. Maybe he was overreacting a little, after all it wasn’t the first time Eren spoke critic about his plans, but it was simply getting tiring.Maybe a part of E2 couldn’t accept the Warrior Unit to live, to be spared, because Eren didn’t hesitate to make him kill Tom in cold blood. Furthermore not all his tormentors had died in Lago City, many of them were hiding somewhere, alive, without paying for their crimes. E2 couldn’t accept it.What happened at the Vegvísir Tower changed a lot of things, it made E2 realize that he had been living his whole in a torpor state, like he was constantly into state of drowsiness. He knew everything about everyone, but he didn’t understand them and now he knew why. Knowing something was different from understanding. One thing was knowing that the sun was yellow and another was seeing it from yourself.Thanks to his abilities he could read other people’ mind and thanks to this he had learnt a lot of notions, languages and things like that. He knew what anger was, but he’d never felt it himself, unless until that moment. When Eren’s anger became his and everything was clearer and more confusing at the same time. E2’d never imagined that he could ever felt like that, that he was capable of feeling something with that passion and intensity and he surely didn’t predict the outcome.Truth be told, his time spent on Paradise made him waken up from that induced sleep he was in the white room.No one ever taught him exactly what was wrong or right, or how he was supposed to feel. At this point he’d come to believe that there was no right way to teach someone how to deal with their emotions, they came and go and let him disoriented in the while. “Remember the feeling” said Eren all sudden. E2 blinked and asked “What feeling ?”“The one you felt at the Vegvìsir Tower. Hold on that and never let it go, it’s the second step” “The second step ?” “Numbness… fear… anger… the third one is the one I’m familiar with the most I’d say” “I’ve… I’ve never felt something like that before. I mean… Why did I feel that way ? Why did Armin suddenly react that way to the giants ? Is it because we’re connected to you ?” Eren seemed hesitant to answer, but E2 was determinate to make him talk. He grabbed the other’s hand and looked him in the eyes.
“You promised. The mission is over and I need to understand” He needed to understand his emotions.He needed to understand how to survive in the world.He needed to understand how deep he was connected with Eren, where his persona finished and Eren’s started. He had to know what was the difference between being a human being and a giant.E2 knew he was a giant, but he didn’t understand it. He didn’t know how it was like feeling like a giant, eating like a giant, feeling like a giant, running like a giant, being in the company of tother giants.He also knew that somehow he and Eren were one people, but how and why ? What was Eren and what was him ? Who were they for each other ?Why didn’t E2 remember anything about his childhood ? Why, during the night, he licked his lips various time when the giants ate someone. He had felt the same sensation of Armin.He would even dare to say that he could taste blood on his tongue if he concentrated hard enough. Without his past he couldn’t have any present or future, that was why he needed Eren to speak with him. And suddenly he was hungry again, he needed to put something in his mouth and bite it, hard, and feel its taste. Again he was hungry because he was getting impatient, because something else was being denied to him and he wanted, he wanted to know and it was eating him inside the desire to know everything. He would be so furious with Eren if he dared to dismiss him again that he could bite him off. E2 knew he would, he'd already done it in the tower. Another thing he needed to know was why his anger manifested itself in the form of anger. “A deal is a deal, I suppose.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
PARADISE ISLAND 16th NOVEMBER 2097 6:30 a.m In the end, Eren postponed their little talk. E2 didn’t give up without a fight of course, but Eren discharged him simply by telling him that he needed a moment for himself and that they would have talked later. Who won the fight ? Eren of course and then E2 found himself with his ass sat on the grass in the courtyard near the facility, waiting for the little prince to have time for him.Honestly, he ceased to be upset as soon as he exited from the facility and found himself alone in courtyard. There was something strangely relaxing and comforting in the silence that accompanied the last night hours before the dawn. It was a pleasant kind of loneliness. “I should have expected it after all.” He murmured. Eren didn’t want to talk with him about their anger/hunger issues, it was so obvious that it was a topic that made Eren feeling uncomfortable but E2 needed to talk with someone about it.That ange/hunger nee ded to be controlled and in order to do it, E2 had to understand it. He needed to understand if it was something that belonged to him, to his nature, or if it was a normal shifter trait or if it belonged to Eren and he transmitted it to everyone linked to him, like any other ability, or memory or whatever he could transmitted to them. E2 wished he could forget that Eren was the Nucleus, it would make everything easier, like insisting with him more when he refused to talk with other people when he didn’t want. Truth be told, E2 was afraid of Eren, of what he could do to other shifters, to other people, of what he had done and what he was planning to do in the future and even more, he was afraid of what Eren could make him do, or feel, or think…Someone touched his right shoulder and that made him jump. He turned around and saw Marco behind him who was gently smiling at him. “You should pay more attention to your surrounding.” said Marco. “I’m aware. I thought I have improved but not enough apparently” said E2 inviting Marco to sit next to him. Marco accepted his invitation, sitting on the grass beside him, careless wether the jeans he was wearing could get stained with grass. The detail made E2 noticed that Marco wasn’t wearing his usual black attire, but a simple pair of ripped jeans and a light brown sweater with a pair of old boots. E2 supposed he should extend the colors and clothing in his outfits too and stop borrowing Eren’s clothes and shoes. “Probably, but if I must be honest, I can tell you that we have the tendency to let out guards down when we feel safe somewhere, specially when we advert someone of our kind close to us” “Oh… really ?” “Kinda. I wouldn’t know how to explain it but I always feel safe when another shifter is nearby. Even if I can’t see them, just knowing they’re close makes melee safe and so I relax and get distracted.” E2 smiled at the other. Marco was really a gentle caring person and E2 really appreciated his company. Marco respected other’s boundaries, was always careful with his words, even when he was ‘angry’ with someone (E2 didn’t think someone like Marco could actually get angry) and he was a very skillful fighter. His smile also had a calming effect on people, in fact E2 felt less angry with Eren now. “Thank you.” He said gratefully “How are you Marco ?” “Fine, excellent even. I have spent the entire night watching what happened in Lago City” said Marco “How are you ? Why do you look so troubled ?” “I don’t want to annoy you and ruin your night with my silly problems.” Said E2 “Nonsense, you can count on me and I’m always willing to listen to you when Eren makes you anger” “How did you know I’m angry with Eren ?” Asked E2 surprised. Marco sent to him an eloquent look and E2 sighed in defeat. “You know, I may not be Eren but I’m a shifter so… I can help you or listen to you. Maybe I can offer you a complete different prospective than Eren” E2 admitted that it wasn’t a bad idea. After all those days spent on the island, he grew closer to the other shifters but now he realized that he hadn’t opened up with them a lot. When they spent time together, the others did most of the conversations and he listened without adding more about himself. E2 didn’t know the truth about his origins, if he had been carried and breed or simply reproduced, or whatever but he knew, from the first memory he remembered, that Eren was the only constant in his life. His first ‘friend’, his first company, his first… everything.Back in the white room, Eren was the only one he could count on, apart from Tom, but differently from the latter, Eren was always with him. The only voice inside his head that kept him sane and E2 adored it. At the time he didn’t know how or why, but Eren seemed to know everything about him, about how he felt, what he thought, what he wanted. Only later he understood why Eren knew so much, but E2’d never cared. He was all alone in that room, all he wanted was someone who didn’t ignore him like the nurses, the doctors and all the people who came visiting him.In the end, it was only Eren and him, but now things needed to change. E2 hadn’t come to Paradise to speak only with Eren. The shifters were like him, they used to be prisoners like him and they were loyal, so he could trust them not to mock him about his insecurities.Furthermore Marco was too polite and kind to discharge him like Eren did. “It’s about Armin, actually about what he felt to be more specific. That anger and that hunger mixed together…” E2 bite his lower lip, undecided wether or not asking the next question but he needed answers “Did happen the same to you ? Because it happened to me. I could feel blood… on my tongue… smell it with my nose… I’ve… I’ve never felt anything like that before” “How did that sensations make you feel ?” “Confused… ashamed… and… good. It was such a compelling sensation” confessed E2 with tears in his eyes. He would have never admitted something like that to Tom, but again Marco was a shifter and if had felt those sensations like him at least once in his life, he had nothing to be ashamed of. He was confused by it became it was overwhelming, ashamed of it because it shouldn’t be normal feeling like that when someone was being eaten alive and nevertheless it made him feel good because it made him feel… satiated. It made him feel full. No more emptiness. He felt powerful, like he was the one who had the life of that soldier in his hand, like it was him with the power to decide who lived and who died. “I was the one with the power for once. No one would have touched me with a finger, no one would have dared to ignore me or to raise the voice with me…” E2 stopped and bite his lower lip, but the tears were already running down his cheeks “… When me and those giant became one, it was the first time I’ve actually believed that I could leave that fucking white room forever” “It’s normal. You haven’t had to deal with your emotions in a long time and now you feel overwhelmed by them, it’s okay. But I suspect that there’s more you want to tell me”“You’re right” E2 confirmed “It’s obvious that Eren and I have a lot of things in common, starting from our physical aspects, we could be siblings, hell, maybe we are, I don’t know but that’s not the point…” he took a pause then continued “I just want to know if I feel what I feel because Eren influences me, or because it is simply part of me”“Eren is part of you” Marco replied calmly. “I know, but it’s not okay” said E2 “I don’t want to be Eren’s copycat, I want to be me. I’m here to learn more about myself, the world and my nature. Are those feelings mine ? Ours ? Do they belonged to us or we felt them only because of Eren ?” Maybe it was an hazard accusing the King of the island so openly to be a cannibal but how else could he define what he saw ? What he felt ?He didn’t even know what he expected Eren or Marco to say. Would it be that bad if those sensations truly belonged to him ? In that case, how was he supposed to deal with them ? Why did he feel them ? Would he be a bad person ? “What if those sensations are yours ? Would it be that bad ? To feel powerful ?” Asked Marco almost like he was reading his mind, and maybe he did. “I’ve… I’ve no idea… I’m so scared” “Scared of what ?” “That if I embrace my true nature, if I dwell on it too much, I will become something…” “You know. You don’t have to answer right now. You have dealt with so many changes in your life and you need time, but I can tell you that you do have to cut the umbilical cord with Eren and to stop judging every move you make. If every time you do something, you waste time thinking wether they are ethical or not, you will never proceed.” “What do you mean ?” “That sometimes it’s right embracing our own nature and giants are predators by nature, E2. We have inherited it with the serum, we feel threatened every single time a stranger enters out territory and it’s in the nature of any living being to feed on the weakest of the other races. It’s called food chain” said Marco sighing “It may sound cruel, but it’s how humans do to survive, they take from others what they need to survive.” “Are we still talking about food ?” Asked E2 “Please stop using metaphors. I have been watching my whole life like a movie and trying to interpret it the best I can and nevertheless I understand nothing about how the world works” “Well, I can tell you that learning from movies it’s not the best way” said Marco giggling. “Hey, I’m serious !” Said E2 jabbing the other on the shoulder “But, Ymir lent me some of her movies and have watched a pair together. I learnt pretty quickly that those things didn’t resemble real life at all” “Depends on the movies she made you watched, but yeah, most of them are solely interpretations of the real life. You need to live your own life without constantly questioning wether Eren would do the same or not.” Said Marco “No movie, or book, or report teaches you how to live as a giant and it’s not a role we can interpret and play. It’s out life and our reality” “But, how did you manage to deal with your new conditions ?” “It was scaring at first, I won’t deny. I hated myself, I despised my body, the entire situation was awful and I did some stupid things…” he confessed avoiding E2’s gaze. …
PARADISE ISLAND 2095
Marco was in his giant form and he lost control again, at the point that he didn’t even distinguish his own kind and attacked them too. He caught another shifter in his hand and he was ready to devour them but someone cut his nape and took him out from it. Frieda.
Even in her giant form, she maintained a certain elegance and kindness in the way she was holding him, like she was barely touching him. In the other hand she had the other shifter.
Marco felt almost cuddled by it. Frieda put him and the other person gently on the ground, near to Eren.
Eren kneed near to him and gently caressed his hair. Marco closed his eyes, enjoying that act of kindness on Eren’s part, but he knew what was coming. He failed, again. He allowed his anger to take control over him and to turn him into a mindless beast and to further worsen the situation he almost ate alive one of his ‘brothers’ again.
“Marco… you need to work better on your anger. You need it to fuel your energy not to cloud your judgment”
“I’m sorry…” whispered Marco “… I try… I really try.”
Marco felt so pathetic, he kept trying to apologize for his mistakes and nevertheless he wasn’t improving. Every time he transformed, it always ended the same way. He, lying on the ground, defeated.
“You know, anger is a very powerful emotion” said Eren “It pushes us to do the craziest things we could ever do, that’s why we need to understand it, in order to accept it and use it for our own advantage”
“But… I… I…”
Marco knew that Eren knew what turned his anger into a blinde fury. It all came from his weakness, from his past failures, from all the times he felt like he had lost the control of his life, when someone made him feel so insignificant to have all the power over him.
Marco didn’t remember all the times he felt something like that, specially because he used to be one of those people who were convinced that, with some patience and kindness, he could deal with any fatigue and obstacle the life put on his path. He always tried to repress his anger, more than unleashed it, because anger wasn’t socially accepted in most of the cases.
Marco instead wanted to be a positive person, someone who welcomed the other with a gentle smile but in the end, as always happened, the people he trusted the most betrayed him in the worse way. Then he was sold to Tybur Industries and turned into a monster, undressed of his own skin, of all his rights, of his own identity and dignity.
He would never forgive those people, every time he fell asleep he dreamed to kill them, to torture all their beloved, to turn their life into a living hell. The mere thought made his blood boiling, his entire body trembling for anger, made his finger itchy for the need of violence and bite his tongue so deep between his teeth in order not to scream or not to hunt someone down and sink his teeth into their flesh like a beast. To bite and bite and never stop until the prey under his teeth was gone.
“I don’t want you to apologize for how you feel” said Eren “Someone hurt you and you have all the right to be angry. I don’t know what they told you, but it’s okay, to be angry, to be furious, as long as you’re the one in control”
Eren had understood the situation completely. Marco’s parents used to tell him to always show the best side of him to the other people. That anger wasn’t appealing, that people wanted to be surrounded by positiveness. So Marco had learnt to swallowed any negative emotion he felt. He smiled when he was angry; he laughed when he wanted to cry; he bite his tongue when he wanted to scream and in doing so he made others happy when he simply wanted to invite them to go fuck themselves.
He didn’t want to be blame anymore for what he felt, he wanted to feel. Just feel.
“It’s just that… I’m not used to deal with anger like this and… I’m hungry all the time… I don’t know what to do”
He was exhausted of failing his transformation process. He wasn’t the worst, but there were other shifters who had proved to be able to perform a complete transformation into a giant weeks ago and he instead…
“I’m such a failure” he said with tears in his eyes “I’m only a waste of time and space”
“Hey, don’t even think those things. Forget them. You’re not what those people made you believe. That’s what push your anger over limit. Marco… you need to work on yourself first…”
“No… No… I can manage… let me… let me try again… just one… one more…”
Marco started sobbing and Eren hugged him.
“Hey, I’m not punishing you, but I can see you’re in a lot of pain, that’s why I’m feeling you that you need to take care of yourself first. I will be here with you, Frieda, everyone, will be with you.” Said Eren kissing softly his hair “But you need to work with me”
…
E2 blinked and suddenly he found himself sitting on the grass with Marco who was tenderly holding his hand, before to retreat it. “… I was angry all the time, I feel like I could explode any time, like I hold no control over myself anymore. My new condition made me feel weak which is ironic since I was a shifter but…” “But…” E2 solicited him. Marco had no idea how to continue his speech. There were so many things he wanted to say, more memories to share with E2, but there were no words to describe his entire experience as shifter and he didn’t have all the strength to to show E2 the story of his life.He’d never thought he could ever experience such intense anger and hatred in his life, but it happened. Tybur Industries took everything from him. His life, his name, his family, his dignity, everything. When Eren offered to him the possibility of getting his revenge he hadn’t hesitated not even for one second to accept. He only realized later how much hard was being a shifter, being in his new body. It was like wearing a dress that was too tight and too large at the same time, a body that he didn’t feel his completely and somehow it was true, since his mind was connected with Eren’s but so weren’t his emotions. Marco knew that deep down all that ugliness, that bestiality and desire to destroy everything around him belonged to him, not Eren. They all belonged to Eren until a certain point but after that they were their own persons, Eren’d never imposed on them his feelings, his thoughts, or obliged them to do anything and he tried to explain it to E2. “Yes but… he made me kill Tom. He made me kill a person and he tried to persuade me to think it was okay. I didn’t want to kill him.” “I don’t know the reason behind Eren’s behavior but I can tell you this, we shifters were all hopeless, without freedom and any idea about how to stand for ourselves and then out of nothing Eren appeared and promised to protect all of us. He gave us hope and we’re very grateful to him.” Said Marco “I can’t imagine how it was for him, growing up in his body without anyone there to help him” “Yea, don’t misunderstand me, I feel grateful toward him too. As you said, I’m just confused about everything, that’s all. I’m grateful for the training and all but I think it’s time I understand what means being a giant” “Being a giant ?” Asked Marco intrigued. “According to Eren, I’ve never been human in the first place. Nevertheless I don’t know what he means for ‘human’ either but that’s not important. What I mean is that I need to understand what it means being me and until this moment I haven’t turned into my giant form even once. You talk about being a giant and it’s painful because it’s simply another thing I can’t understand” ‘You’re lucky for this, believe me’ thought Marco. ‘I’m sorry Marco, I spoke without thinking’ thought E2 as soon as he realized his mistake. ‘No need. I don’t think you’re ready for a transformation but I get your point’ “Marco but you don’t have any idea about how I was… born ?” Asked E2. He refused to use the term ‘created’. It made him feel like something that was manufactured and he was tired of feeling that way. “I’m sorry, Eren’s never talked about it with us and we didn’t ask and even if I do, it’s not my story to tell” “Fair enough” said E2 a little disappointed. “Hey” whispered Marco taking E2’s hand “It’s okay to get angry, to feel negative emotions. We can’t feel happy all the time and we can’t can’t be angry all the time. All you need to do is finding your balance. I know, deep down, what triggered my anger and now you need to understand wha triggered yours, so don’t contain your emotions, just feel” “Feel…” E2 whispered. “Yeah, just feel.” Repeated Marco “You know, maybe today I can teach you how to swim. No training, no fighting, just you, me and the sea” “It would be wonderful.” In the end, E2 was glad for conversing with Marco. He felt much better in that moment and it made him realize that Marco was right. He couldn’t rely on Eren only all the time, he needed to confront with other people too and he also needed to learn more about the other shifters. “Are you braiding your hair without me pretty girls ?” Asked another person behind them. Both Marco and E2 greeted Ymir with a smile and offered to braid her hair as well. Ymir sat next to them and asked what they were talking about.Marco and E2 told her and then asked about her evening. The three kept telling about each other’s evening until the dawn rose.E2 felt a little better after that conversation, it was really refreshing learning about his new ‘siblings’ and hoped to have more moments like those in the future. Maybe one day he would feel close enough to them to talk about the person who he was seeing every night in his dreams. They were all pretty similar, he and this other person, the Ackerman buy, on the beach, but sometimes he could swear he felt that strange connection when he was awake too.Sometimes, when he thought about him, he could feel some sort of connection between them. It was weak, it had no shape, no name, no substance but it was there. Like in that moment, E2 could have bet that he knew exactly what the other was feeling in that moment: anger, confusion, hatred, fear and loss.E2 wished the other knew he wasn’t alone, but maybe the Ackerman already knew.… LAGO CITY 16Th NOVEMBER 8:00 a.m. ‘What a beautiful day’ That was what Armin thought when he left his tent, with a cup of coffee in his hand and the gaze turned to the sun. He probably should at least try to prevent no to be content with the result of the mission, since people died, the wall got destroyed and his true nature almost got exposed but nevertheless Erwin respected his part of the deal. He asked the volunteers/prisoners to be searched and so the pendrive got found and the proofs within it. He knew that sooner or later Erwin would come to him for a confrontation but Armin had all the answers ready and soon he would advance his next request. Eren would be satisfied for sure of his doing, at least Armin hoped it. Eren had been very volatile with his ideas and plans ultimately, Armin hoped that this phase would be over soon. “Good morning doctor Arlert, you seemed pretty content” commented Erwin catching the other by surprise. Armin looked at him and greeted the other with a little smile. Erwin Smith didn’t cease to surprise him really. Even after an entire night spent dancing with the giants and seeing people he knew dying, he was perfectly dressed, his hair perfectly combed and the smugness of someone who had just won the lottery.Even Armin felt envy of his poker face, because he refused to believe that the Commander was really so insensible and indifferent in regard of human life.Maybe it was well hidden but Armin knew, or maybe hoped, that there could be a heart beneath all that ice. “Good morning commander. It’s a splendid morning indeed, but let’s keep it between us. My mood probably doesn’t suit with the situation” said Armin taking a sip of coffee.“Great idea. I also bet you’re the one who slept better than all of us” said Erwin. “I’m surprised to hear you have slept at all actually” said Armin hiding his grin behind his coffe. “I have, since I need all my energy for out next mental confrontation. I have a theory about how the pendrive ended up in the camp, but that’s not what I want to discuss with you obviously” “You want me to update you about my intentions right ?” Erwin nodded. “And would you believe me ?” “I believe that you want revenge on everyone who worked for Tybur and you won’t stop until each one of them pay the price” Armin held the cup in his hand so tight it broke. Maybe it wasn’t Erwin’s intention, or maybe it was, but Armin felt judged and he hated.No one had the right to judge him and his feelings. No one knew, no one could understand, at least not one outside Paradis.Truth be told, Armin’d always felt like an outsider in the island. Everyone except for Eren and the few shifters who used to work for Tybur, discriminated him. They didn’t dare to say something to him directly but Armin knew that the most thought about him. That he used to work for Tybur, that he had contributed to ruin their lives, that he only helped Eren in the end because he had understood before anyone else that he was going to lose.His former colleagues still alive treated him like a traitor, the other observed him like he could betray them again anytime. “Would you blame me ?” Provoked him Armin “Look me in the eyes and tell me you won’t do the same” “Update me about your intentions and then I will tell you wether I consider it stupid or intelligent”“How are you ? I’m intelligent, my decisions are always dictated by logic !” Exclaimed Armin very offended. Armin could tolerate any offense but not when someone questioned his intelligence. It was practically the only thing he could be actually very proud of himself. “Tell me then” Armin crossed his arms and said “You asked for this, prove me you’re smart too. Guess this, only a giant can resist the attack of another giant. That wall doesn’t stand a chance since the beginning, there’s only one way to protect us from the giants. The ones that stay in the city won’t remain there for long and we can’t afford to waste time.” For Armin’s deep disappointment, it occurred only few seconds before Erwin’s eyes widen in realization. Erwin opened his mouth to say something but quickly changed his mind. He would be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought about that possibility, specially after having read the files about how the walls that surrounded Utopia’s facility were made. It wasn’t said explicitly, but it was to perceive by intuition. In the files it was said that the walls were made with the blood and the bones of courages workers, it seemed more like a epic poem than a report about the the walls’ building process. “So far ah ?” Asked Erwin. “Not far enough. Almost a decade of my like has been taken away from me, I want revenge” “And what about Levi ? He told me you promised him to train him with his skills and abilities. What are your intentions toward him ?”“I want to help him” the honesty he said those words with surprised even Armin “When I turned back in my human form after the injection, no one sat beside me, took my hand and explained me exactly how my new body worked. I would have loved if someone did” It wasn’t totally untrue. Armin remembered that after tuning back into his human form he had had great issued dealing with his new body. The high body temperature, the snapping bones, the dizziness, the nosebleeds and all those little change that made puberty looked like a piece of cake. But for Eren was worse. His brunette friend always remembered him that for him was worse than for anyone else. Grown up alone in a white room, with a body that possessed weird abilities and nobody there to talk with him and explained him everything he needed to know. Armin couldn’t imagine it and it didn’t matter if Levi was an Ackerman, if they were supposed to be enemies, if it was better that Levi didn’t develop his abilities, Armin wanted to help him and Eren hadn’t prohibited him so…Erwin chose to believe him. Levi needed someone who helped him and Armin was the most similar creature to him. Furthermore he suspected that the only ones Armin intended to hurt were the ones who worked for Tybur, so as long as no one of the Survey Corps would get in his way, they were safe. Levi was safe. “So, your proposal is to turn the volunteers in giants ? Do you think it will be accepted ?” “Cruel or not, you know that the wall must to be repaired, you know we have no other options. Sooner or later everyone will know how the wall in Paradise were made and they will go for the more obvious option” “Let me guess, the information is in the pendrive too right ?” “Maybe” answered Armin “Vials and vials of serum have been confiscated from all the facilities, we need to use them on the volunteers. There’s no other choice” “I thought you wanted those vials to use them for your own goals” “I can always use my blood to reproduce the serum and revenge is one of my goal. Call me a monster, but that’s what I am. That’s what we are” “You’re not referring to your condition, are you ?” Asked Erwin with sadness. He and Armin were more similar than both of them were willing to admit. Both of them were ready to cross the line every time they could in order to proceed toward they goal.They used other people. They manipulated both their allies and friends. They were ready to get rid of someone as soon as someone tried to stand in their way. They had no qualms, no morality, no rules to guide them but their ambition. What they wanted always came first and the rest could die on the way. But their dreams weren’t driven by ambitions, no, but need; because their goals were all they had to give some sense to their messy life.Yeah, they were true monster, that was the undeniable truth. “We have survived an intense night” commented Armin trying to change topic.“Intense is a little reductive. If someone told me years ago that I’d have found myself fighting gigantic monsters with rocket launchers and grenades I would have laughed at them” said Erwin “I’m still unsure whether I’m dreaming or not.” “I wish I could say it’s nothing but a nightmare, that we all will wake up and live a normal life, but… We wouldn’t have met and had our intellectual confrontations” joked Armin “I’d miss someone like you in my life, someone who can intellectual challenge me” Armin was surprised by his own honesty. He really thought what he said to Erwin, about missing him in an alternative life, where the two wouldn’t have met. Erwin Smith had been a surprise for him, still was somehow. Every time Armin was convinced to have figure him out, Smith did something that caught him off by surprise and made him revaluate every single thing. “Intellectual challenge…” said Erwin choosing to ignore the last thing Armin said “… After yesterday, I don’t feel so intelligent. For the first time, in the middle of the battle, I felt completely out of my element and I used to be a cop” “You’re not the only one. When I met a giant for the first time I felt exactly like you. I felt so inadequate, in spite of my intelligence, of my degree… of my achievements…” confessed Armin “I was terrified at the idea of making mistakes and, as you know, you can’t do many mistakes if you work for a man like Tybur, but isn’t this the way all men learn ? With trial and errors ?” “If that’s so, then I made too many mistake yesterday” “No, you dealt with it at the best of your conditions, believe me. I’ve been fighting this fight longer than you. Imagine if we had to deal with giants in an alternative universe, or in another time, like the in the middle ages” “We would have stand no chances” replied Erwin. “Maybe at the beginning, but humans are born to survive. We would have found a way to stand our ground against those mindless beast throughout trial and errors. We would have learnt how giants behave, how to fend ourself against them and how to kill. More people would have died, but I want to believe that we’d made it, in the end” “You’re being strangely optimistic this morning” “I see nothing wrong in imagining an happy ending for all of us in an alternative life” he said smiling with kindness. There was something wrong in that smile, Armin was perfectly aware of it. He shouldn’t be smiling like that for an enemy.He shouldn’t be comforting Erwin after the intense night they had. He shouldn’t feel content to be in his company. It was inappropriate to see Erwin as a ‘man’ and not just a piece of meat and he should feel guilty for that but he didn’t. “There’s something else we need to talk about ?” Asked Armin, wanting desperately to end the conversation. “No” said Erwin “I’ll leave you alone, thank you for you time” Erwin walked away and Armin followed him with his eyes until he could. He sighed in relief, hoping that Erwin hadn’t noticed his inner turmoil. He mentally reprimanded himself and promised to remain concentrated on his task.Erwin, on the other hand, was thinking about Armin as well and reflecting on his words. Armin told him that he had handled the situation as best as he could, considering his little experience and the unexpected behavior showed by giants but his pride prevented him from accepting it. Accepting that he could fail and lose. It didn’t matter whether he knew his opponent or not, if he didn’t find a good way to survive he wouldn’t live long enough to learn it, so it wasn’t relevant at the moment. It was like playing with someone on internet, you had no idea who your opponent was, but still that didn’t prevent you from trying to win. There he was, thinking about his enemies, instead of crying for those who died. He should be spending his time mourning his dead comrades, after all no one expected him to looked perfect and composed as usual, but for some reason he couldn’t.He felt nothing, the emptiness filled his heart, but not because he didn’t care, he wished he didn’t care at all, it would be a bless for him at that point of his life. Feelings were considered a curse, a burden that stopped any man from getting what he wanted to achieve, negative or positive feelings was irrelevant. A man should learn how to keep his emotions at bay and Erwin was one of the few men who managed to accomplish this difficult and nevertheless he was repeatedly biased for it.How could he explained them that he could no longer show his emotions because, the moment he let them go, he would felt completely overwhelmed ? It would take only one tear, one single tear, to make him crumble and that oppressive and suffocating sense of guilty resurfacing. …
STAR MAGAZINE
A NEW RACE: GIANTS
30th November 2097
Due to the recent event, with the permission of the Emperor, the Military Corp is now allowed to have a base built near the wall that surrounds the ruins of Lago City.
This surprising and alarming decision has been motivated with the necessity of learning more about these new biological weapon that the latest Lord Tybur intended to use for was purposes, the giants.
This decision has created not free conflicts and issues within the political class and the representatives of other countries that fear a possible future availment of the giants.
The Emperor has declared to be ready to sign any accord in order to guarantee his peaceful intentions toward the other countries and he has also affirmed to be ready to welcome researchers from all the world to study the specimens of giants in Lago City.
The Royal Government minister has declared at the media that in five days there is going to be a meeting where all the major representatives of the other countries are invited to partecipate in order to discuss about the matter and hopefully come to an agreement.
It the general opinion that the Emperor of Marley needs to form strong alliances against a common enemy, the Tybur Industries.
The highest ranks of the military corps are working on a new military equipment to deal with the giants in case of a future attack while their researchers are studying the serum.
… MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY 1st DECEMBER 2097 11:00 “So, after all these day, I can say that you know what means being an Ackerman, theoretically speaking, but I guess that you’re one of those who learns faster on the field” After the events of 15th and 16th November, Armin and Levi had had barely the time to speak properly about the ‘Ackerman’s question’. Armin had spent most of his time with Erwin, analyzing with the him the proof found on the pendrive and finding a solution to repair the wall. In the end, Erwin refused to follow Armin’s revenge path and opted for him to repair the wall with his abilities, in complete secrecy of course. Erwin’s plan was for him to use his harden ability to cover during the night some of the material to put inside the wall and pretended that that material was found in one of the facility during the patrols. Armin was reluctant at following the other’s plan, preferring much more turning his enemies’ beloved ones into mindless beast and used them as trophy to repair the wall but Erwin insisted that they could find a better way to use them as bait. So basically, he and Erwin had spent a lot of time coming and going to facility from facility, trying to keep a low profile, to put the material made with crystal and then used it to repair and improve the wall.In those day, Levi and Armin had barely had the time to see each other and during the few times it happened, Armin basically shared with Levi all he knew about Ackerman, but it was pure theoretical. As soon as the build was repaired, Erwin insisted with returning to the base. Improving the rest of the wall wasn’t their duty, their duty was to train themselves in order to get ready to fight against the enemy: giants, shifters and anyone who was plotting against humanity.Two days ago Erwin got the permission to come back at their base and yesterday Armin promised to Levi that their training would start as soon as possible.The blond researcher hadn’t communicated with Eren since the mission was over and that silence on the King’s part worried him. He had no idea how to proceed with the plan, so what remained to do was continuing his research with the serum and training the Ackerman with his abilities. That was why he found himself in a wide area surrounded by the wood where their facility was hidden, with Levi. Hanji, Moblit and Erwin were supervising their training section. “You’ve never fought against a shifter, so in this session I’m going to teach you how to do it. First of all…” said Armin getting into position “… An Ackerman always feel the presence of someone with the serum. It’s one of the few things shifters and giants have in common. Can you feel the serum within me ?”Levi nodded. He could recognize Armin as someone like him exactly as he did with those giants encountered almost two weeks ago. It was like all his sense were screaming at him that there was an intruder nearby, someone he needed to eliminate. “Okay, I want to try something. Please, close your eyes and try to concentrate at me” said Armin “I want to test wether or not an Ackerman can distinguish particular detail about the type of giant within the shifter” “Type of giant ?” Asked Levi confused. “TYPE OF GIANT ?” Yelled Hanji checking frantically on her tablet “Where can I find them ?” “I’ll show it to you later, now allow me to explain you what exactly distinguish a giant from another since you don’t know” said Armin “Until this moment I can tell you that eight different kind of giants have been created, each one of them are entrusted with peculiar abilities. Mine is called Colossal Titan” He bite his hand, his eyes became gold and then he performed a half transformation in front of them. He opted for that because, while all the titans emitted enormous amounts of hear when transforming, the Colossus titans could produce very negative effects and Armin needed to be even more careful since there were people who weren’t used to deal with giants around.Eren had taught him how to control the amount of steam emitted by his body, but Armin couldn’t control it during the transformation. A half transformation though was less dangerous, emitted less steam and he remained conscious during it, so if something went wrong, he was ready to intervene. Hanji, Moblit, Erwin and Levi were observing the half giant created by Armin, all of them with different reaction.Hanji was literally ogling it, like a woman who had just seen the man of her dreams appearing in front of her, and she was drooling on her white coat.Moblit had a more normal reaction than his colleague. He was more scared of the idea that someone could use that power to kill everyone than Armin’s giant itself. Erwin instead was the only one among the four not to betray any emotion, nevertheless Armin could see the inner turmoil in his blue eyes. Armin knew exactly what the blond Commander was thinking, even without telepathy.
How are we supposed to deal with creatures like this ?
Are we enough ?
How could a man create something so abnormal ?
Will the other be brave enough not to run away ?
Is that a lost cause ?
Will I be enough to lead my men toward the safety ?
Armin wondered if Eren had ever had similar thoughts about his role as ruler and guide.Levi was really impressed by that creature and alarmed.That giant had no skin at all, it was purely made of muscle and bone tissues and that only increased his inhuman nature. His facial featured had nothing that resembles a normal human face and his exposed teeth made it looked like that thing was always grinning at its victim. The most concerning detail was the steal that surrounded that thing. Levi had no idea how someone could get closer to it without getting burned.Of all the giants he had seen since the events at the training center, that was the most peculiar. Just like that half giant appeared, so disappeared and from the steam appeared a very smug Armin. “Enjoyed the demonstration ?” Asked him. “Like an orgasm” said Hanji with dreaming eyes and Moblit elbowed her. “So you shifters can perform half transformation too…” said Erwin “Interesting” “Yea, you won’t believe but running around in your giant form isn’t practical, specially when you’re in a city full of skyscrapers or narrow streets where we wouldn’t enter even in our human form” said Armin “Sometimes an half transformation is more practical, it give the time to delay your enemies and also to spare more energy” ‘Specially during the night…’ he thought without saying. He avoided to tell that a shifter could simply transform one limb at time basing on the circumstances.He wanted to be careful since he had no idea about what Eren wanted them to be aware of or not. To aggravate more the situation was that persistent silence that was making Armin thinking more and more that he had actually done something wrong, of course without realizing. Eren knew that Armin was perfectly capable to deal with people, his intelligence and understand of human’s mind made him ideal to deal with any sort of situation. He could persuade the most intelligent of man that the sun wasn’t a star but a shining yellow planet made of gems; he could find the most efficient solution to any kind of problems; his oratory would made any man bending the knee in front of Eren. Armin wanted to believe that Eren still valued him. The opposite would really destroy him. ‘Eren please… I need to talk with you, please answer me if you can’ He was so concentrated that he missed what Erwin asked him. “What ?” “You seem distracted, do you need a break ?” “No, transformation… is… tiring I guess. What did you ask ?” “How much tall your giant is if you perform a complete transformation. On the files about giants’ height, there were notes about how height sometimes could change from shifter to shifter” “Well, yes. The height of a giant can change. It depends on the quantity of serum injected, the percentage of compatibility with the host and how many transformations a shifter perform and maybe other factors. I’m not sure” “For someone who has been dealing with this shit, you seem uncertain about a lot of stuff” commented Levi crossing his arms. “I wasn’t authorized to interact with giants, my role was to assist that incompetent of Dr. Langarde in her projects. She ordered, I obeyed.” He admitted betraying a little envy for Langarde’s position. When Armin turned back into his human form in 2095 and learnt that Langarde took the merit for his research about vaccine, he was so furious that the first thing he did was to destroy everything linked to her. “Enough with the lessons. We’re here to teach you how to fight a shifter and to use your abilities. Well then…” He used his hardening ability to create a crystal dart and threw it against Levi. Levi avoided the attack, but he knew it wasn’t for his ‘secondary nature’ but because of all his years spent avoiding things thrown at him by strangers. Armin attacked him again, and again and again and every time Levi avoided his crystal darts but nothing extraordinary happened. “It’s not working” said Levi at some point.“It’s evident.” Said Armin disappointed. “How could you say that ?” Asked Moblit. “I’ve seen an Ackerman in action once, believe you would know when the power within Levi is triggered” said Armin “It’s not triggered, why ? I read somewhere that the force could be triggered by the sympathetic nervous system that produces an increase of noradrenaline…” “Stop with this theory lessons” said Levi raising his voice “I don’t thinks you’re right” “What ?” exclaimed the other four people. “You say yourself that you don’t posses enough informations about my ‘kind’. Maybe you’re wrong, maybe we’re looking for the answers in the wrong direction…” Levi remembered what happened the night at the training center vividly. In all that mess, even after the giants appeared in front of him and death itself never felt so certain, he didn’t feel afraid. He risked to die so many time and so many people threatened him to take his life, he lost the count and he couldn’t remember all their names, until he stopped being afraid to die. It was part of life, it started and it ended, but not when it came for the ones he loved. At the training center he was worried about Furlan and Isabel and when he saw that giant killing Isabel he lost his mind and the knowledge that he would never know how Furlan died only increased his pain and sufferance.
A voice outside the door made Levi shivered from anger. The pig has arrived.
Levi spent the next thirty minutes hearing that man giving orders to his mother, ordering her what to do with her hands, what to say to him, in what position put herself on the bed.
Levi learnt what meant being powerless very early in his life. He swallowed a piece of bitter and weakness every single time a man entered in their ‘home’ to rape his mother and he could do nothing to protect her. Only hidden like a coward and pretending not to hear her mother’s pleas for her help and not to see her bruises and wounds after any sexual encounter. He learnt how to feel real angry and hatred and how life could be unjust. How someone could born powerless and with his knees on the ground without any mean to defend themselves. That was what Levi was, a prisoner of his own life, fate and doom.
On his knees… on the grass… like he’d always been in his life, on his knees, defeated, lost, unworthy of any grace. Because he was the stray dog, wasn’t he ?
They were the stray dogs and that was their role in that world, staying on their knees and put it up with everything life caused to them.
When Isabel died, he could do nothing to save her. He was weak, he was powerless, his hands were tied and he was powerless… He had grown to be a fighter, a killer, he learnt how to defend himself and to fight and nevertheless it wasn’t enough, he wasn’t enough. Nothing would have been enough. What happened made him losing hope, for a moment. Losing Furlan and Isabel almost convinced him that no matter where he went or what he did, or who he became, in the end he remained there… in that bathroom… with his sister in his arms and his mother on the other side of the door… crying and submitted…It hurt…Not that kind of hurt that made his legs tremble and his steps uncertain, but that kind of hurt that made his blood boil, that filled his heart of fire, determination and desire to live. “Levi, are you okay ?” Asked Hanji studying him.“Usually what triggered the force inside them is their survival instinct… their will to live… or…” Levi closed his eyes and saw a raven hair boy on his knees, without no name, no power, no freedom. Only an intense feeling of anger.Will to live ? Levi had never lived, he only knew how to survive in the world. He survived because he didn’t want to die. His anger was what stopped him from surrendering. He and the anger were best friend, it was the emotion he knew the most. The one that pushed him over his own limits, the one that made him do the craziest thing, the one he had had to learn how to control over the years not to act like a reckless brat.He let that anger fueled inside his body, heart, mind and soul and it was then that he could feel it… that electricity… that something that was part of him… That thing that was telling him that he needed to jump or else he would be stabbed to death by the enemy…Levi opened his eyes and jumped just in time before many darts of crystal sprouted from the ground. He looked Armin and he saw the blond kneed on the ground with a hand immersed immersed inside the ground. “Excellent…” whispered Armin “… That’s what I was talking about” He joined his hands together and hit the ground, destroyed all the crystal darts previously created. The potent impact made the ground tremble under Levi’s feet, but the latter’s ability managed to keep the balance and also defend himself against Armin’s next attack. It was like his ability allowed him to predict Armin’s attacks against him, when the blond would try to punch him, to kick him, to stab him with a crystal dart.He even managed to disarm Armin and stabbed him with one of his darts in the side. “Ouch… that’s hurt… but you have to remember…” said Armin creating a barrier between them “… That shifters heals very quickly from wounds.” He concluded removing the dart from his side and healing his wound. Armin ran toward Levi and started attacking him again. That time he tried with another ability, he managed to grab Levi by the arm and used his body temperature to burn him. Levi gritted his teeth for the pain, but his allowed him to remain focus. He grabbed Armin by his shirt and wrist and flipped him by kicking one of his legs. His ability also healed his wound pretty quickly. “So, Ackerman can heal from wound too… interesting” said Hanji taking notes. Armin locked at his watch, the midday was passed and he could already feeling his abilities weakening. He wondered if the same rule applied for an Ackerman. During the last hour, Levi had proven to possess high levels of stamina, resilience and fighting skills. No wonder why his ability was so powerful, Levi was an amazing fighter himself, in possession of a perfect healthy body and an agile mind. Years spent fighting for his life had toughen him, created a perfect example of warrior, leader and winner. Apart from the height, Armin was unable to find a defect in him. All Levi needed, was someone who helped him to embrace his new nature and then he would be not even perfect, but something more. Levi would be like Eren, a creature so unique that no words could describe.He wondered how even more magnificent Levi could have been with a different background. If he had studied, conducted a healthy lifestyle with food in the stomach and someone there to supporto him. He wondered how Eren would have turned out if he had the same things as well. ‘I can’t wait to see him flourish in all his magnificence’ Levi, on the other hand, felt very conflicted about what was happening to him. He loved how powerful that force was making him feel, invincible, unpredictable, free and strong like a hurricane. Like nobody could stop him. He was completely in control of his body and mind and nevertheless he was afraid. What would happen to him if he lose control ?His mind was able to predict Armin’s attacks, like they were dancing together a dance they had tried other time and it was like he had all the time he wanted to defend himself and to think about his next move. Was that real power ? Would it be enough to defend the ones he loved ? Would he ever be able to accept what he truly was ?After all, height and transformation aside, was he really so different from a giant ? How could he be sure that one day he wouldn’t turn into a mindless cannibal monster ? That hesitation, that uncertainty costed him a punch right in the abdomen, strong enough to hurt, not enough to make him fall backward. Nevertheless whatever force awaken inside him, was gone. “You hesitated… No… you… ” murmured Armin “… What did you do ?” Asked him confused.“I thought” answered Levi like that answer could sum up his inner turmoil. “You suppressed your ability that way. That’s why I managed to hit you” said Armin “Something like this would cost your life in a real battle against a giant or a shifter” “No shit.” “Well, you’re a natural talent, that’s undeniable. You need to practice more of course and to start accepting what you are now. That’s will be the hardest part though. Self acceptance is always hard to achieve…” said Armin smirking and assuming a fighting stance “… But… you are competitive, you maybe don’t fight to win but you fight not die and if you want to be useful to your comrades then it’s fundamental to be one with your ability. Are you ready ?” “I…” “I know you can succeed… after trial and errors… I know you would be able to do it. Are you ready ?”
Are you ready to discover a side of you, you’d never known it was there, Levi ?
Are you ready to be used in a battlefield as a weapon to fight and kill all the giants, Levi ?
Are you ready to sacrifice your humanity for the greater good, Levi ?
Are you ready, Levi ?
“Yes, I’m ready” Erwin was really impressed with Levi. The guy had just found out that he was injected with a serum that could have turned him into a mindless creature and nevertheless he accepted to embrace that side of him for all of them, for the greater good, or maybe not. Maybe other egoistical reasons lied behind his decision, but Erwin didn’t care, as long as the Ackerman chose to fight for them.His phone vibrated inside his pocket. He took and saw a message from Mike that asked him to meet him in his office.Erwin took his leave and asked Hanji and Moblit to update him later about the training. After all, there wasn’t much he could do there and there were other business that required his attention.Erwin Smith had been analyzing his experience with giants since the moment the wall was repaired and his proposal to study the giants inside it was accepted.Lago City wasn’t a casualty. He was sure of it. There would be other attacks, probably their enemy was already planning the next move, already chosen the next city to conquer and destroy. Not matter how many time he insisted on the matter, or how many evidences were in his possession, no one he talked with believed that there could be a third force behind the recent events. Their enemy weren’t the members of the Warrior Unit, or at least not only them. No, they enemy was somewhere in Paradise, Erwin was convinced of it more and more each day.It was there where all this story had begun, where two incidents happened and the island hadn’t been visited since 2095. Was it really so improbable that someone was still living there ?Hiding there ? Planning a masterplan there ?Yes, apparently everyone believed that no one could have lived five years there without no electricity, foods and without anyone outside the island to know.No human at least, that was what Erwin wanted the other to understand. Unfortunately, even if other people saw the logic in his words, what would they do ? They weren’t equipped for an expedition in Paradise Island. What if the island was full of giants for real ? And not just any giants, but shifters too.What would they do then? What could they do ? Nothing. Because they had nothing. Because against the shortest giant, they were nothing but bugs to crush.Feeling powerless didn’t suit with his personality. Crying and brooding over recent failures either. He was the kind of person who, in front of a problem, didn’t stop until he found a solution and resolved it. What was happening wasn’t different, it was just more difficult to fix.Mike was already waiting for him in front of his office’ doors by the time Erwin arrived. “Hello Mike, what do you need me for ?” “Rico Brzenska sent me a message telling me that Pixis is ready for the videoconference” Erwin nodded before entering his office. He sat behind his desk and opened his laptop. He had been waiting for Pixis to contact him since he returned to his base. He hoped that Pixis had good news for him. “Greetings, Commander Pixis” he said as soon as Pixis appeared on the monitor “How are you doing ?” “I’m flattered you’re at least trying to pretend to care about my wellbeing…” snickered Pixis “At this point of our relationship, I think we can avoid the pleasantries” “As you wish” simply replied Erwin. “As I wish, of course” said Pixis with sarcasm “Well, I want to communicate to you that your request has been granted and that tomorrow the equipment you asked will arrive very soon. Everything is already paid” “Excellent” said Erwin “And what about my second proposal ?”
“Approved alright. The competition notice to join our new three military corpse will be published but I don’t know when exactly. Are you sure that you want to reduce the maximum age limit to access it ?”
“I don’t see any other option. For what the training I have in mind, I need to work with people young, healthy and with the right body able to bear it and an excellent mind. Now that you’ve witness from yourself the effect giants have on people when they are personally confronted, you will agree with me that we need to recruit people able to handle that kind of fear and danger…” “And do you think that someone your age wouldn’t be able to train with that weird thing you ordered ?” “We need people that could be able to handle this lifestyle longest as possible. If we recruit people over 25, it will takes two years, maybe even more to learn how to fight properly against giants and for the time they are ready they will be older and their body won’t be able to handle it anymore” said Erwin “We need to think about the future too. Focusing on the present is a luxury we can no longer afford” Simeone would reprove him for his words, but Erwin couldn’t entrust people with the mission, but warriors ready to kill and fight for their lives tooth and nails. They were not people, but an investment. On them would be lying the responsibility to protect humankind against a threat that exceeded all their expectations. There would no place for weak or people who couldn’t keep up and the youth perished so fast. If he had to recruit someone, he needed them to be able to give the best they could the longest they could.
“You’re asking me to sacrifice young lives for the cause”
“It’s not the first time in history that young people give their life for the war of the olds. Probably it won’t be the last, or maybe it will, if we don’t find a way to defeat whoever is plotting against us” said Erwin “You’re a man of war, just like me, tell me I’m wrong. Tell me there’s another way” Pixis lowered his gaze and Erwin knew he had just won. Any war demanded its price and sacrifices, younger men, older men, soldiers, civilians, leaders, the strongest and bravest warrior and the weakest and most afraid ones. It didn’t spare anyone. It was like having to pay a ticket for a party. The ones who were brave, pay it with their life and dance. Those who refused to join the party without paying were or weak or cowards.Erwin could accept to recruit cowards, after all someone with a weak heart and even a weaker will was easy to manipulate and control. When the time came, ordering them to give their live and die would be a bless for them, a bless they would have no heart to refuse. They would be aware that if they didn’t die accomplishing their duty they would find a worse fate than death back at their camp.The weak ones not the other hand were useless either to be commanded or to be sacrificed. Too weak to run away and too weak to fight.
“Well then. If you want to take part to the recruitment then you should come here. You can’t be just a name to gain your future subordinate’s trust.”
“I’ll see what I can the when the time comes.” Said Erwin “Is there something else we need to discuss ?” “Are you really convinced that, after Lago City, other cities will be attacked like that ?” “I hope actually” answered Erwin with honesty.
“How can you say something like that ?”
“Because it would mean that they have already found what they were looking for. That leads to two possibilities, the first that our enemy will never attack again and we will never caught them… the second is that they have already everything they need to achieve their goals. My hope is for them to attack again and learn something more about them and you should do the same”
“Always the optimistic one ah ?”
“Is there something else we need to discuss ?” “No” said Pixis scratching his forehead “Have a good day Erwin” Erwin nodded, then he interrupted the videoconference and closed his pc. He knew that ignoring Pixis’ words wouldn’t make him feel better about his own attitude toward other people, specially if they were going to be put under his wing, but Erwin refused to get attached to someone he would probably lose. He would remember their faces and name and honored them, but loving them ? Caring for them ? Erwin had never cared about anyone who had worked under him, if he had… ‘If I had… I would have changed career a long time ago…’ …
MARLEY GAZZETTE
10TH DECEMBER 2097
COMPETITION NOTICE
Due to the tragedy taken place in Lago City, this year all recruitment processes to join any of the military corpses will be anticipated in order to fight the threat represented by the giants and by the former members of Tybur Industries.
The emperor gave order to give priority to the recruitment of the new three military corpses, created with the main motive of training young men and women and turning them into the best soldiers they could ever become.
The requirement are as follows:
They have to enjoy of civil and political rights;
They have to be in possession of citizenship;
Young men and women between between the ages of 18 and 25;
The candidates have to be in possession of an high school diploma;
The participants in possession or that are about to achieve a degree in one of the current degree will gain extra point for the final valuation:-- Biology;
- Chemistry;
- Neurobiology;
- Engineering;
Physical, mental and physical fitness.
Differently from the previous years, there the competition is not going to be divided into a written test and a practice test. The candidates must personally submit the required certificates plus a medical certificate when they will have to come for their physical valuation.
The participation request must be made by electronic request on on the website of the army, where the candidates can read all the informations and details they need about the training, the data of the physical valuation and all the instruction for the participation quest.
… PARADISE ISLAND 14:00 11th December 2097 “My my…” commented Eren reading the news on his iPod “What a great opportunity is see” “Something interesting ?” Asked Frieda who was surveilling the training standing by his side. The shifters were training with their hardening ability and Eren decided, encouraged by Frieda, to assist and surveil them with her.Eren found himself glad that Frieda convinced him to leave the crystal room and join her. He hadn’t left that room for days and only then he realized how much he had missed the sunlight. He should stopped to lock himself in one room for days, it wasn’t good for his health, nucleus or not nucleus. He was a giant and as a giant he needed the sun like air. “Yes, a competition notice… to join the army” he said with a little smirk.“Wow, you’re not wasting time” commented Frieda with a snort. “I heard sarcasm ?” “You did. Why are you avoiding him ?” Asked Frieda indicating E2 with her eyes. “I’m not”“You are” insisted Frieda “He confronted you for answers, didn’t he ? Totally understandable” “I’m not sure I’m ready to give them to him” confessed Eren. “You need to tell him, he needs to learn more about himself. He needs to learn how to live” said Frieda “He needs a chance” she concluded indicating his Ipod. “What ?” Asked Eren panicking “No way. He’s not ready. Hell, he has almost no experience in matter of socialization and human relationship. He won’t be able to live adequately among humans. He barely knows how to behave among his kind” Eren valued Frieda’s opinions highly. He had no shame to admit that she was the adult between them and that if she wanted, she could take his place as Queen of giant under his nose due to her intelligence, carisma and leadership. He was only a child who played to be a king compared to her. When he wavered, she walked determinate.While he didn’t know how to approach other people from time to time, she knew exactly how to communicate with them and understand them.Differently from him, she knew exactly how to handle her ‘anger issues’, while he let anger dictated his actions. It was only thanks to her that he had been slowing improving but the way was still far too long. “Well, I’m relief that at least you know what the problem is. Try to find a way to fix it too. Give him a chance, make him feel like he actually has a role in all this mess, a place to belong to” “I’m trying but I’ve no idea how. All these things you mentioned I used not to have any. I don’t know how to do it, I’m not a parent” Eren was too proud to admit it loud but he knew he wasn’t exactly a model to imitate. He was full of problems, that was the painful truth.He had anger issues, bad temper and a deeper darker side that once unleashed was difficult to repress. All those issues had nothing to do with his giant nature, he was perfectly conscious of it. No, those issues had been provoked by what he had had to endure during his childhood. How was he supposed to take care of someone with his same problems and trauma ?He also knew how formidable and incredible E2 was. That guy was so brave, so willing to explore a world he knew nothing about and was afraid of. So strong not to have fear to fail and fall, only to try again and succeed. There were still a lot of things E2 needed to acquire or improve, but Eren knew that, with efforts and fatigue, E2 would exceed everyone expectation.He could tell from the way E2 was trying, after different failed attempts with controlling his hardening ability, that he wasn’t the kind of guy who gave up easily, who cried over his failures without finding a solution to do better next time.He could tell from the way E2 tried to use his ability quick enough to defend himself from Marco’s attacks.His attacks were still slow, clumsy, easy to predict and nevertheless, not matter how many times Marco had already hit him, E2 was observing Marco in order to learn from his moves. He was a rough diamond and one day he would become even more magnificent.“No, but you’re responsible for him. I know you’re thinking about sending some of us to join the army, in order to spy our enemy and find the Warrior Unit members. Send him too.” “It’s too dangerous. Zeke Yeager knows about him. I can’t risk him to be seen” “He won’t be alone” replied Frieda “Others will be there with him to protect him. If you don’t feel ready to help him growing up, then at least allows him to do it on his own. Cut the umbilical cord and let him became a man” “And how will he become a man without someone like him to lead him ?” “Through trials and errors. As I said, he won’t be sent alone and there are still time before the recruitment begins. This means that we have no time to waste…” said Frieda looking at E2 sparring against Marco “… There are still so many things he needs to learns, specially if he accepts to leave the island to join Marley’s army” “Don’t play me, you already know he’s going to accept it. We both know how much E2 wants to prove he’s worthy to us.” “In the meantime, he will be so busy with the training and the lessons that he won’t have time to harass me with any question… genial” said Eren giggling. Frieda rolled her eyes and jabbed him “You can’t run forever” “No, but I don’t feel comfortable by telling him the truth. It will be too cruel. I want to give him the chance to…” “Have you ever thought that it could be the exact opposite ? That would it be too cruel deceiving him by making him believe something false ? Give up, he’ll ended up hurt anyway. You can’t protect him from the truth” replied Frieda. “I know, but… I can’t explain to you, but I just know that it’s not the right moment. He needs to become stronger, stronger enough to handle the truth.” Said Eren “We’re all victims of our past and martyrs for our future, but if there’s anything I can do to protect E2 the longest I could then let it be” Eren learned the truth about himself the cruelest way and after that nothing had been the same anymore. After that, everything seemed duller, senseless, worthless. His anger issues started then. He didn’t have much to brake, so he quickly finished to destroy his toys before he began to destroy… people. He didn’t know how else to handle that fire inside him. He still had… He still had no idea how to deal with all that pain… when he focused so much on it he could barely breath. Frieda grabbed his hand and looked at him “Don’t hold it back, let the anger flow if that’s what you need. It’s better than deal with it how you usually do.” “I’m aware of that. Sorry” “Don’t be. Promise me that, if he accepts, you will allow E2 to leave the island to join Marleyan army” “There’s an Ackerman there, E2 will be…” “Protected, surveilled and prepared to face any kind of challenge because we will mold him into the best soldier he could ever be. Into the best giant he could ever be.” Said Frieda “We have a lot of enemies out there and we will never find them from here, we need to plan our next move and you said from yourself that the recruitment represents an important opportunity for us” “I know. Not everyone are aware of the real nature of the nucleus. If we expose it, maybe one of our enemy will make a wrong move and expose themselves. I don’t want to use E2 as a bait” “You don’t want him to live in fear as we have been doing since the invention of the serum. Give him a chance, if his improvements doesn’t satisfy you, then I will never make you this proposal again. Deal ?” Asked Frieda“Okay, I know that you’ll keep inviting otherwise. If he accepts, we will train him hard, he will have to learn how to fight, how to talk, how to walk, the names of the latest Marleyan emperors, our story, how to turn into a giant… everything…” “How do you expect him to improve with all these things to learn ?” “Through trial and error, my dear Frieda. Through trial and error” Eren knew he stood no chance against Frieda when the other had something on her mind. It was easier to just give up and verify wether her idea would give excellent or terrible results.Frieda was a smart woman and if she was convinced that E2 had some possibility to become the perfect person to send to Marley one day, than so it was.Deeply inside his heart, Eren hoped that, hurt for that time, she was wrong. He knew that, once E2 left the island, he would find himself in front of a world that wasn’t ready to welcome him, a world that was educated to fear him and a live lived in fear, in suspicious and in paranoia.Eren knew it better than anyone.If he was a good ‘parental figure’ he would dragged E2 in a room and tell him everything and allowed him to grow up in Paradise; but he wasn’t a good parental figure.He wasn’t a good parental figure though and he was still trying to learn, through trial and error, to cure himself from his own desire for revenge. “Tell E2 that I want to meet him once the training will be over. I will make him the proposal and if he accepts we will start the training tomorrow. In the meantime, pick someone you consider adequate to join the army this year” said Eren “For E2 it’s late for that but… maybe next year…” “You’re right. I will think about it. See you later” said Frieda. Eren nodded before walking toward the facility. There were a lot of things that required his attention.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY GAZZETTE
December 27th
ATTACK ON THE MARLEY’S SHIPS
Yesterday morning, at 8.00 a.m, Liberio’s port was attack by an unnamed group of people that destroyed all the ships and stole the cargo. What worries the authorities is the disappearances of all the workers.
The police has found no traces that could indicate they were murdered, so the police is looking for any clue that could explain what happened to them…
Zeke interrupted his reading and throw the newspaper in the trash. He was done with that shit. He already knew who the media and then the whole world would blame for what happened. Them, Tybur, the Warrior Unit.Their enemies was teasing them, showing them that he, she or them could play with the Warrior Unit anyway they wanted. The enemy was having fun by sticking in their throat the taste of defeat, impotence and humiliation.Yeah, their enemy was humiliating them, humiliating his intelligence, specially after what happened in Annie’s mind. Zeke was foolish. He stopped visiting Annie after that but he knew that it was too late. His enemy had dropped the bait and Zeke grabbed it and fell for it. He wouldn’t be surprise if the enemy tried to connect with his mind again; he was surprised they hadn’t tried yet. Maybe they feared that, in case of a failed attack, the Warrior Unit would disappear again; maybe their enemy was just content with knowing where they were, so he could control more. ‘I was played like a fool…’ he thought looking outside the window if his studio. He wished he knew where to find his father. Despite everything, the man was his only chance and he hated. He had spent his whole adolescence trying to figure a way out to cut his father off his life once and for all but now, after so many years, he found himself needy of his father’s knowledge. He had been spending the latest three hours sitting in front of his desk, reading old documents sent from Paradise before the incident.He found a room full of boxes with old documents of the researches conducted in Paradise, all handwritten and signed by people who worked there. Zeke’s hope was to find a name of someone who used to work in Paradise and who, for some miracle, was still alive. Since his father was nowhere to be found, he hoped to find someone else he could talk with. In the meantime he was reading with interest and attention all those documents. Unfortunately, most of those documents were unreadable but nevertheless Zeke was learning many interesting things. Some of them weren’t even mentioned in many of the reports that were sent to the other facilities. The rumors were true, Tybur decided what to divulge and what not, because he feared that someone could steal precious informations from him. “I wished I had the opportunity to work there…” he whispered “… I’d learnt a lot of things” He took note of the name signed at the end of the paper on a notebook. He was about to read another document when someone knocked at his door. “It’s Reiner…” said the person “May I come in ?” “Of course, enter” said Zeke Reiner enter inside the studio and Zeke studied him, noticing how uncomfortable the other was feeling that moment. The blond was avoiding his eyes, keeping his head low and nervously passing his hands on his hair and his features were tense. “Take a sit, Reiner.” Said Zeke indicating the chair on the other side of the desk. Reiner sat on the chair, still avoiding Zeke’s eyes and sighed “Have you read the newspaper ?” “Yes, I have. We’re in a sea of troubles. Nothing new” said Zeke. “Well, I’m speaking for everyone so… Are you and Magath planning something ? Or is the plan to remain here hidden for the rest of our life ?” “I see, you’re growing impatient” “Can you blame us ?” Asked Reiner looking Zeke in the eyes for the first time “Our families are in danger, we are in danger and nevertheless we can’t do anything to protect them. Colt’s brother, Falco, is in the hands of Commander Smith and…”“What ? How do you know about that ?” Asked Zeke. “The news… It was only for a brief moment but I recognized Armin Arlert there, among the other soldiers. Colt wants to believe that, since Armin is alive maybe Falco is too. Maybe those two have been imprisoned. Colt wants to try to contact them…” ‘Interesting…’ thought Zeke. So one of the member of the Warrior Unit was with Commander Smith. Zeke couldn’t have hoped for a better news. If they managed to get in contact with him, then Armin could be their mole. He didn’t know Armin and from what he could gather, Reiner didn’t have an high impression of him, but given the situation it was normal doubting of everyone. Nevertheless they were in a disperate situation. They had too many enemies and too few friends. They needed someone outside that could give them informations about Commander Smith, who had free access to the database of the army, who could protect them from the entire world. Who could help them finding his father, Grisha Yeager. “I understand, he’s worried about his younger brother. It’s normal.”“We don’t even know if Falco is still alive. What if Armin betray us ? I told you, he was too ambiguous. I don’t trust him” “I’m not telling you should. I’m telling you that we need to be careful and to know how to contact Arlert” “I think we should stay away from him. You don’t know him, I don’t either but…” said Reiner “… He knows things… about Paradise… I… don’t want to contact him”“It’s not up to you, Reiner. Do you think that I like spending my time like this ?” Asked Zeke “We all have to do things we don’t like and have to get along with people we don’t trust” “So what ? You encourage Colt’s will to get in contact with Armin ?” “Of course I will. Don’t you want to speak with your mother Reiner ? If I had a brother and was separated from him, I would do anything to bring him back home with me. If he ask me and I deny his request, you know what will happen ?” “He will try to do it behind our back” said Reiner after few seconds he asked again “Don’t you have a younger siblings ? Are you talking from experience ?” “No” answered Zeke “Me and my adoptive sister didn’t have the time to bond, our father didn’t let us” Furthermore Zeke wasn’t interested in bonding with her when Grisha brought her home the first time. He was still angry with his father for the wall he’d created between them after his mother’s death and the last thing he needed was a sudden addition to their complicated family drama. He had nothing against his adoptive sister, nor he cared for her. As soon as she entered in their life, she had all Grisha’s attentions, understandable considering where she came from, but Zeke needed someone too and yet his father couldn’t see him and few time later those two simply disappeared, shattering what remain of their disastrous family. A lot of things remain untold between him and his father, a lot of secrets remained locked inside the closet and Grisha was the only one in possession of all the keys. That was why Zeke couldn’t afford that one of the warriors acted individually, keeping secrets from the rest because they feared the consequences. “Unity is more important than anything else. We can’t afford the risk that some of us act individually and put all of us in danger” said Zeke “Tell Colt that I will help him.” Reiner scrunched his nose but nodded, even though it was clear that he didn’t agree with Zeke but he wasn’t going to discuss his orders. He didn’t have a better idea to propose anyway and Colt was growing impatient. The fear was consuming him from inside. Was consuming all of them.They watched the news, read the newspapers, hear how the whole world hated them every single day and all they could do was to accept that shame and the blame. ‘Berthold… whoever you are… I wish I had died in your place…’ … PARADISE ISLAND JANUARY 5Th 2098 ‘I should definitively cut my hair’ thought E2 looking at his reflection in the mirror. Few months had passed since he arrived on the island, yet E2 couldn’t believe a person could change so much in such short period of time. He had seen his own reflex for the first time when he arrived there and he remembered a thin, pale boy with messy short hair.He looked more like one of those creepy ghost of an horror movie.Now it was like he could see a new person. After few months of training and swimming on the island, he saw his visage was more tanned, his body looked more athletic, he gained some weight and looked healthier. He didn’t look like the wind could take him away anymore.Nevertheless E2 felt unsure about what he saw in the mirror. Did he like the person he saw ? Should he like that guy that had grown to be a murderer ? Who was learning how to speak a language only to deceive, manipulate and lie to other people ?Was he supposed to appreciate more that manufactured body made exclusively for scientific purposes he had before ? He surely should be grateful if now he could sit in front of a table appropriately, as if he’d never eaten with his hands like a feral creature.There were days when E2 even forgot the reason why he did what he did. After Eren and Frieda proposed him an hard training schedule in order to join Marleyan army the next year, E2 didn’t hesitate to accept. He had no knowledge of what Eren and Frieda were planning to do at the time and, truthfully, E2 longed to do something that could be useful for their cause himself.He had been put in Eren’s shadow since ever, he was created to replace Eren in case of the latter’s death, but he also knew that he was simply his uglier and poorer copy. He didn’t want to be like him, or look like him, or being a replacement or be forever doomed to follow Eren’s order like a puppet.Until that moment E2 hadn’t tried to do something alone, maybe joining Marley’s army would give him the opportunity to prove his worthy. “When I’m ready…” he whispered “… I will join the army and I will look for that person…” The Ackerman…E2 dreamed the man every night and each night the dreams enriched with more details. It could be sound naive, maybe E2 was still highly ignorant in matter of relationship, attraction, sexuality and all those stuff Marco, Ymir and the others were trying to teach him but E2 wasn’t blind.The man of his dream was exactly what society would label as ‘handsome’.E2 made some researches, about what men and women usually appreciated in the opposite sex and he could tell that the man of his dream was handsome enough to be appreciated by both sex.E2 hadn’t confessed this secret to anyone yet, he was a little bit scared to reveal to other people he had a connection with someone he’d never seen personally in his life and that he would probably fight against in a battlefield.Deep down in his heart he didn’t care.If he dreamed about the other’s person every night it had to mean something. That person, whoever he was, wherever he was, was deeply connected to him, almost like Eren and E2 longed for connections with other people. Shifter, humans, whatever. He didn’t care.He left his bedroom and went outside, where he knew the others were waiting for him to start the training.According to Frieda, he had finally gained sufficient muscle mass to activate an half transformation for a short period of time. When she told him, E2 didn’t think to have achieved an impressive goal, but Frieda told him not to discourage himself.She warned him about the pain he would feel during the entire transformation process since it involved any part of his body: muscles, bones, nerves… Many shifters lost limbs the first time they attempted to perform the transformation, luckily for them the lost limbs regenerated after few hours still the pain was unforgettable. When he arrived, he saw Frieda, Marco, Ymir and Floch and Sasha there waiting for him. “Hello guys” he greeted them “I’m late, I know. Sorry” “No need to apologize. You’ve been put under pressure recently, it’s okay if you need moments alone” said Frieda “But I hope you’re ready for today… Eric” ‘Eric’ was the name chosen for him for when he would be undercover. According to Eren, he needed to pick a name that could sound similar to Eren or E2, so that E2 could get used to be called by quickly.It would be very suspicious if someone didn’t respond when called and E2 was still too ignorant about the world to behave like a normal person. He didn’t need to look more extravagant than he already was. “I am. I want to understand what means being a shifter and a giant” Everyone nodded. Frieda pointed with her finger a red cross signed on the grass and E2 positioned there in front of them. “Okay, from that distance you won’t put us in danger.” Said Frieda “Remember, to perform a successful transformation you need to harm yourself and focusing on a specific goal. If you don’t, the process won’t be triggered, okay ?” E2 nodded. He looked up at the sun and then at his comrades and hoped not to disappoint them with a disastrous performance. He felt a little embarrassed and scared now that the moment arrived but he wanted to prove to himself that he wasn’t a coward.Slowly he brought his hand to his mouth and bite it, focusing on his future. On his desire to see the world on the other side of the sea, impatient to sate his thirsty of knowledge and to find that person that made made his heart beating every night.He didn’t know what was happening to him, why his heart had been beating faster for that stranger, he was unable to understand but he knew that he wanted to see that person and with their face in mind he bite his hand, deeply, until he could taste his own blood on his tongue.He remembered what happened when, with Eren’s power, he performed his first half transformation.First the electrical discharge produced by the nerves.Secondly the bones brake.Thirdly an increase of temperature due to blow flow that caused blood vessels to rapture.In the end it was like your own muscles turned into a bomb ready to explode at the next electrical impulse sent by the brain. That impulse represented the ultimate goal. Without it, the transformation didn’t triggered, but nevertheless muscles were ready to explode and transform as soon as it was sent.Only one thing caught him by surprise, the pain. E2 realized that by sharing his powers with Eren, he shared with him the pain too, but then that he was transforming alone… it was a complete different story.E2 almost passed out from the pain, he felt vertigo and sickness, he felt the bile rose inside his throat but he clenched his teeth and at some point he even spitted blood on the ground. He was breathing heavily and was sweating so bad he couldn’t distinguish his sweat by his own tears. Then it happened, all it took were mere seconds to accomplish an half transformation on his right arm but for it seemed an eternity. He would never forget the pain he felt when his arm exploded, the steam that clouded his sight, that smell of burned flesh, smog and blood. But he would never forget his achievement, his mutated arm, the pain he suffered to succeed the first try. It wasn’t a complete transformation, that arm alone wasn’t enough to teach him what meant to be a giant, but it was enough to make him feel more connected to the people around him.The same people who had been doing it over and over again for a cause they firmly believed in. “So…” said Ymir “Do you think you can handle it ?” Asked him sneering. E2 showed him the middle finger with his left hand and was tempted to tell Ymir to go fuck himself. He really couldn’t put it up with Ymir behaving like a grade-A bitch when he was putting his body through such pain and distress.He was feeling so tense that he could snap at anyone at any moment. “Can you move the hand ? Or a finger ?” Asked Frieda observing him attentively, ready to catch any signs discomfort. “Can you keep up ? Or aren’t you strong enough ?” ‘I’m going to rip your throat Ymir’ That kind of murderous thoughts didn’t suit with his mild and submissive character, but the pain and the anger were slowly allowing his darker side to resurface.Never again, he would permit someone to underestimate him, to belittle him at the minimal mistake and tell him he was no able to do something. He would rip the throat of anyone who dared to tell or even think something like that about him.He wasn’t weak.He wasn’t useless.He wasn’t going to give up on his dream.He would gritted his teeth and bleed all day if he had to, destroy and regenerate his left, right, both his arms if he had to but surrender was not an option.Not for him, not when he was so close…E2 tried but at the beginning he couldn’t sense his arm. It was like that hoard of muscle, bones and steam was a foreign body, completely detached from the rest of his body. His right arm was still inside it and he knew that, as soon as he took it out of it, the giant arm would disappear, no he needed to be careful about how he moved his arm inside.He moved it a little, just to check if he could sense it inside and he did. Slowly he could sense his hand too and then his fingers, Wanting to provoke that bitch of Ymir, he slowly raised his third finger and he felt satisfied and proud of himself when his giant hand moved. “I did it…” he whispered, ignoring the sneering and the giggling coming from the people around and concentrating on his fingers only. As he suspected, they hurt when he moved them but until they moved there was nothing he needed to worry about. “Okay, I’m going to throw you an object…” said Marco showing to him a ball “… And you’re going to try to catch it with your hand” Marco kicked the ball toward E2, whom tried to catch the ball but failed. He couldn’t raise his hand, only managed to close the hand into a fist. “Don’t worry… you moved your hand, it’s something” said Marco retrieving the ball “We will try, again and again, until you succeed. We will by your side step by step, you won’t be alone in this, got it ?” E2 nodded and smiled at them. “Let’s try again…” … MARLEY UNKNOWN FACILITY FEBRUARY 14th 2098 “Impressive…” commented Armin caressing his cheek “You’ve improved so much in such short time. You’re a prodigy.” “How can you say that if I’m the first of guy kind you have the opportunity to test personally ?” “You’re right but, from my experience, I can tell you that it’s very hard adapting yourself to a new body able to do abnormal things. Shifters or not, I can tell by now that the same rules apply” said Armin “You managed to defeat me in one of my giant form, you should feel proud” “I suppose, but I feel you were fucking pulling your punches.”“Well, you would never beat me in my colossal form. Not because you’re not competent, but because you’re not equipped. Of all the giants form a shifter can assume, mine is the hardest to defeat. The Colossal titan is too tall to be reached and its body is basically made of muscles and steam that burn down everything in the vicinity.” “Okay then how could a fucker protect themselves from your fucking steam ?” “Shifters can use their hardening ability. You can’t, this is why you need to be equipped. We can try to figure something out with Commander Smith. I think that we should terminate our training session here”“What the fuck you mean ?” “I mean that I’ve taught everything I could. Of course, I will still monitoring your improvement from now on and sorely we will train together if you want, but you also need to train with someone different or you will get used with my combat style.” Said Armin “Don’t you have a squad to train ?” Levi rolled his eyes. Erwin had assigned him a position of responsibility proposing him to form his own squad formed by people who met Levi’s standards. According to Erwin, it was too early to reveal Levi’s condition to everyone and it would be better if Levi formed a squad composed of few capable people, able to keep up with him, handle his abrasive personality and not running away in tears at the first insult or reproach.When Erwin mentioned the proposal, he handle with caution, more like he was dealing with a dog ready to snarl and bite his head off anytime. Levi hated when the blond treated him like a child or when he tried to manipulate him to do thing Levi didn’t want to do. “Yeah… Why do I have the feeling that you two fuckers often gang up on me to make me shits I don’t want to ? “My guess is that you’re paranoid” joked Armin “I won’t deal you any further. Enjoy your time with your new squad” Before Levi could stab him with his knife, Armin walked away but not before to have heard a loud ‘GO FUCK YOURSELF, SHITTY HAIR’ from behind.Armin sighed, not daring to look behind and meet Levi’s eyes. The blond researcher wouldn’t be surprised if Levi suddenly develop the power to kill with his eyes. The man was surrounded by a murderous area that pushed everyone away and in his case it wasn’t only a matter of appearance. No, in those days of training, Armin only received confirmations of his previous thoughts about Levi. That man only reached his level one as Ackerman fighter with his help and yet he already represent a danger to him and his fellow shifters. He didn’t know whether continuing his training sessions with him would do any good or not, probably not, since he doubted Levi would ever accept to switch sides. Specially if the other ever learned the truth about his friends’ death.Frieda killed Levi’s friend in cold blood, a truth that Armin couldn’t ignore every time he interacted with Levi. Well, he hadn’t been sent there to worry about Levi’s feelings but to spy their enemies, learn any weaknesses, leading them toward a path of ignorance, defeat and death. But that Levi… and Eren’s silence…Even if he couldn’t look Eren in the eyes, he felt deep inside his heart that Eren was hiding something from him, something that involved Levi.From his insistence to see Levi’s face, to his silence and the thousands questions he asked about the man, Armin could tell that Eren was interested in him. A kind of interest that Armin didn’t like. It wasn’t a kind of interest of an enemy for another enemy. An enemy ready to sell his soul to know where to his opponent, the best way to defeat him, what to take from him to deny him any sort of peace, or joy, or comfort.No… He was that kind of interest someone had for another person they deemed vaguely interesting to approach. Eren was behaving like a teenager that asked his best friend to do researches in his place about the person they liked before to decide whether make a move or not. Eren had never openly expressed any sexual or physical interest in other people, specially in those whose weren’t shifters. What if…No, if Eren found out that Armin even dared to think about the possibility of any romantically involvement with an enemy, he would definitively rip his head off his body.His mind was no longer a safe place where to ward his thoughts and secrets, he didn’t know when Eren decided to read it. That was why he was very careful about the serum he was creating. Once he came back in his room, he quickly had a showered and then he sat on his desk, opening his laptop to slightly alterate the results.He knew it was an hazard but, even though his loyalty laying with Eren, he also knew that giving Eren too much power over his head was dangerous. There was the possibility that Eren would get unstable in the future and lose control of his abilities and if that happened Armin wanted to be ready. Eren wasn’t the first baby born with the serum in his system, Zeke Yeager was and nevertheless the older shifter had never developed the abilities Eren had.Eren was simply amazing, unpredictable and very dangerous to both his allies and enemies. That was why he needed to continue his researches on him. That was why Armin was getting frustrated more and more over the fact that he needed a pure sample of Eren’s blood to do it and he couldn’t have it because he was there.When Eren sent him on Marley for his undercover mission, Armin was convinced that Eren wanted him to simply spy on the Warrior Unit in order to plan the attacks at the training center and Lago City and then faked his death. He could have never imagined months that his mission would prolong for so long, but again he made an error of judgment. He could have taken into account that some members of the Warrior Unit could survive after the attack, that the entire world wouldn’t simply accept to be conquered by a new race of monsters, but he was so eager to put some distance between him and Eren after what happened that he ignored so many other things.Did Eren know ? Was the other trying to punish him ? ‘God, I’m being paranoid now. The truth is that we’re in a stalemate and this is probably why I’ve been so nervous recently’ After their attack at the Marley’s port, Eren and Armin hoped that the Warrior Unit would stop hiding and so something to attack them.Frieda told him that Eren located them, so they knew where the Warrior Unit was currently hiding and shared that information with Armin.Armin couldn’t do much with that information though. If he suddenly went to Erwin telling him that he knew where the Warrior Unit was hiding, it would look too suspicious and Erwin already didn’t trust him. He needed to think clearly about how to handle the new information too.Last time he spoke with Frieda, he advised her to stop any attack and not to do anything until the Warrior Unit make another appearance. Erwin already suspected that behind the recent events there weren’t the Tybur Industries, but someone else. Someone else who was determinate to take down the Tybur Industries and the Warrior Unit, someone who knew all Tybur’s dark secrets, someone who knew what happened in Paradise. No, that was not good. Erwin, Marley, the entire world needed to believe that those all those tragedies were caused by the Industries and no one else.Someone knocked at his door and made Armin jumped. He closed his laptop and then he invited the other person in, trying not to look like a child caught with his hands in the jam jar.The door opened and the little Falco Grice entered. The little boy slowly closed the door, almost like he feared to disturb him by making the tiniest sound. He kept his head lowered and carefully avoided his eyes when he turned around.Armin smiled tenderly at him. Falco remembered him how he used to be when he was a child. Shy, clumsy, insecure… never dare to look someone in the eyes… “How are you Falco ? We haven’t talked much recently. Take a seat” said Armin pointing at his bed with his finger. Falco nodded, then he sat on the bed and started playing nervously with his hands. He opened and closed his mouth before he found the courage to speak. “What… are we doing here… Armin ?” He whispered “Why aren’t you looking for the Warrior Unit ?” Armin nodded. He anticipated this conversation and he was surprised that they hadn’t had it sooner. To be fair, Armin wanted to avoid it, since he didn’t feel like involving a child in all that mess. Unfortunately, even if Armin ignored Falco’s affiliation with the Warrior Unit, didn’t mean that troubles would ignore Falco.The child was involved in that mess, like any of them and there was no way Armin could protect him from the sufferance. “Because I can’t. Believe me, our best chance to survive is to remain here” “But what about the others ? What about my brother ? The whole world blamed them for what happened at Lago City but we know it’s not true !!” Said Falco raising his voice for the desperation. “Falco…” Armin grabbed his hands then he continued “… Do you have any idea about how many estates Tybur possessed in Marley ? Many of them are under seizure, others are not registered and Commander Smith already suspects me. I’m not in the position to take risks” “But… my brother… my family…” he insisted trying not to cry “We need to know if they are okay. If they’re still alive” Armin was going to insist that trying to locate Colt was a bad idea but suddenly he felt a buzz in his head. ‘Eren…?’ ‘Armin, tell him you’ll try. There’s something powerful in a sibling bound. If you refuse to help him, he will do it his way. He’s not a bright kid, his attitude can cause you problems’ ‘Excellent news…’ thought Armin with irony. ‘Sorry for ignoring you… You know I have these… periods… I… needed to stay alone with my mind’ Armin sighed and passed an hand through his hair. He wasn’t new to Eren’s mental issues and he usually tried to be understanding of them, but in his current situation wasn’t easy.He was getting tired of waiting for a voice in his head, he wanted to see Eren, he wanted to speak with him personally. He didn’t want to remain there anymore, he just wanted to… ‘I’m in company, if there’s something you want me to do, tell me’ ‘Zeke has made a move. He knows that Colt would have tried to get in contact with Falco and he was right’ ‘What does it have to do with me ?’ ‘Lago City… They know where you are and sooner or later they will contact you… I want you to drag them out their little hideout…’ ‘How ?’ ‘You know how… You know you can’t protect him from a war that involves him too.’ ‘No, how do you know they will contact me ?’ ‘The news. It was only for a brief moment, but I saw you and so did them. You’ve been careless, but don’t worry. Things are still in our favor. Thank you again for your loyalty’ Armin didn’t answer anymore. There were a lot of things he wished he could have told to Eren, but the time and place weren’t ideal. He wasn’t alone and Falco was staring at him, waiting for an answer, hoping that he would help him finding his brother.He hoped that he wouldn’t have to wait long to have a proper conversation with Eren next time. He wanted Eren to know that he wasn’t comfortable with his idea of using and manipulating a child, independently from him nationality. ‘Tsk… surely Eren already knows and is laughing at my newfound morality…’ “Okay, I will try to locate them but… if I manage to get you in contact with Colt, you have to promise me that you will be very careful.” “Why ? Will we be killed if Smith find out ?” “Probably…” answered Armin without hesitate. Probably Erwin wouldn’t go that far, probably he would simply imprisoned them somewhere, in the best case scenario, but Falco needed to taste the fear. It was the only way Armin could control him. If he tried to reassure Falco, the kid would feel free to act reckless and do something stupid and drag Armin down with him.No, Armin had to be the one who pulled the strings and maneuvered Falco, because that was what Eren wanted and as long as the blonde obeyed, Eren would be out of his mind.In the end, everyone won. The vaccine could wait, he was too busy finding a way to reconnect a family. “Thank you, Mr Arlert, you’re so kind” thanked him Falco giving a little smile. Those words made Armin frozen on the spot. Was he really kind ? Of course not. He was the worst thing ever happened to Falco and he knew that. He was the worst thing ever happened to Paradise and to his grandpa.An useless piece of shit… “I… I need to go to the labs.” Said Armin standing up “Want to come ?” Falco nodded and followed the other blond out of the room. … MARLEY ODIHA 1st March 2098 ‘What am I doing here ?’ thought Reiner. Two days before, Zeke told him and Colt that they needed to leave the villa for few days and go Ohida, the nearest city, to encounter a person. Zeke didn’t tell them who, but Reiner could easily deduce the guy’s career from their meeting point. In a dilapidated place on the outskirts of the city. The parquet was old and scratched in several places; most of the furniture was covered with sheets, which in turn were polluted and stained and the room was full of webs. What kind of person someone could meet there ? Surely not an honest one. “Are you sure this is the place ?” He asked to Zeke, praying for the other to tell him that they needed to go somewhere else. “It is” answered Zeke. “I don’t like this place” said Colt. Zeke didn’t dignify his comment with an answer. He took a look at his watch and snorted. The man was five minutes late and the brats were growing impatient. As if he liked being there, risking to be betrayed and captured by authorities.Serum or not, the world hated them enough without him to aggravate their position by killing other people with his abilities. “Are you sure these people can be trusted ?” Asked Colt again. “They are people of ill reputation, of course they can’t be trusted” answered Zeke somberly. ‘And yet here we are’ thought Reiner crossing his arms. Reiner didn’t like taking risks like those, but he understood. They were running out of supplies in the villa and while the shifters didn’t need food or water to survive, there were people who needed them. Also, they needed to boy new computers, stealth phone if they wanted to speak with Armin without being discovered, weapons and ammo and other kind of supply. They needed a lot of stuff they couldn’t procure themselves without being discovered. Reiner hated living that, he hated being a fugitive and he hated to be constantly wary. They had been left alone, abandoned by everyone, and that was what scared him the most. Not to have anyone left to rely on.Among the three, Zeke was the first to know when their broker arrived thanks to his telepathy. He could hear the man’s thought and he felt relief to know that the man didn’t think about betray him. Reiner heard them arrived from his footstep and Colt only when he heard someone opening the door. A middle aged man entered followed by other two men who Reiner supposed to be his bodyguards. As if those two gorillas could protect that man in case Zeke chose powers over words. “Good afternoon gentlemen.” A middle aged man greeted them “I see you well” ‘Then you should reflect about buying a new pair of glasses’ thought Reiner observing them man. It was masochist comparing yourself to a free man with clean clothes, without holes, tears or stains and a working washing machine at home, but Reiner was feeling quite uneasy in that moment. The man before them was wearing a dark pair of dress pants and trench coat, a dark choker that cover his mouth and a pair of gloves. He wasn’t dolled up like a billionaire and yet his mere presence made Reiner feel like a beggar waiting for a piece of a bread to be thrown at him. “You’re late Jin” said Zeke ignoring all formalities. It was clear to Reiner that those two were well acquainted and that wasn’t the first time they’d done business. He wondered how many times and what occasions. Zeke didn’t even share the man’s name with them before leaving the villa. “Yeah. When you contacted me few days ago you caught me by surprise. Didn’t know wether I should come here today until last minute” answered Jin taking a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He took two and offered one to Zeke. “Yet you’ve come. I suppose it’s something” said Zeke accepting the cigarette “Beggars aren’t choosers after all.” “Indeed. Are the kids allowed smoke ?” Asked Jiran referring to Reiner and Colt. “Do you brats want to smoke ?” Asked Zeke turning toward them. “No, thank you” answered Colt politely. “No” grunted Reiner. Both Jin and Zeke ignored him. They had more important business to discuss about. “Please don’t waste my time Zeke Yeager. Since Tybur’s death working has been hard. He used to slip paycheck that made our life easier but now the police can no longer ignore us, specially if our business with Tybur come to light. What do you have to offer to me ? To us ?” “Not much, for the moment.” Said Zeke using his hardening ability to create some crystals “This is what I can use to pay, but I can guarantee you that if you help me, I will be able to repay you ten thousand more” “Promises for the future, how nice.” commented Jin wryly “I can accept the crystal. Those gems can always come in handy but…”“But I know that you have samples with the serum that you can’t sell on the black market. That’s why you’ve come here. You need me”“What do you mean ? Are you seriously planning to sell that thing ? Haven’t you watched the tv ?” Asked Reiner alarmed. “Are you sure about ? ‘Cause it seems to me that you’re the one in need between the two of us” said Jin ignoring Reiner again. “Oh please, I’m not new to black market rules. I’m perfectly aware that a serum without a vaccine worths nothing. It’s hard if not impossible to sell. No one but me, us, the Warrior Unit, is going to buy it” Jin gritted his teeth and Reiner understood that Zeke had won their little dispute. Zeke grinned and used his telepathy on Jin and it was then that he learn that the broker had still some connection with ‘that person’. Zeke wasn’t stranger with them. He knew that his father had to deal with them in the past, he also remembered to have seen them at his house once or twice before his mother’s death. He shook have known that those people wouldn’t have stopped after Tybur’s death. Why should they ? They were too involved but differently from the Warrior Unit, they had people like Jin ready to get their hands dirty in their place.That was why Jin accepted to meet them. Because they had ordered him to. ‘Jin you’re such a bastard…’ Zeke thought. Yet he couldn’t complain. He hadn’t been sleeping well since that his mind was invaded. He wanted to leave the Villa as soon as possible. He wanted to move to a safer place, where he could have a lab and everything he needed to continue his researches. “How can you be so sure that I don’t have a buyer ?” “Because you’re a clever man, successful in what you do and yet you’re not a researcher and after what happened in Lago city I know you can have only one buyer and that you can’t mess with them.” Said Zeke “Am I wrong ? Am I wrong when I say that your buyer want a vaccine too ?” “No, you’re not” said Jin. “Then do your job.” Said Zeke taking a list of items from his pocket and giving it to Jin “Tell that man that I will work on a vaccine if they wanted. Tell them that they need me, specially now that Tybur is dead. They know and you know” Jin seemed hesitant and before to accept Zeke’s deal, there was something he needed to know. “Tell me that you’re not responsible for what happened at the port ?” “Do we look in the right conditions to accomplish a successful attack at the port of Liberio ? From here ? Without weapons or means of transport ?” Asked Zeke, almost offended to be blamed without any prove. Jin nodded and said “I had to ask. Fine, let’s discuss about what you need from me” Reiner and Colt weren’t understanding anything about that conversation. They were both genuinely surprised to know that there was someone who was still willing to have anything to do with them after the recent events. They felt relief tough. Even if Zeke advised them to be wary of people like Jin, they were content to know that their little trip wasn’t in vain, that their abilities came in handy to provide them with things they needed. ‘I hope that our situation will improve from now on’ … PARADISE ISLAND MARCH 7th 2098 “All right lads, are you ready for your new training session ?” Asked Sasha looking at the children in front of her. Of all the oldest warrior shifters, Sasha was the one able to handle an entire class formed by children 7-11 eleven years old the most. She was kind but firm, patient and able to calm the children when they had one of their tantrum and she usually was the only one to work with them. Ymir easily scared them and made them cry and Marco was too soft with them. Sasha didn’t mind though, she loved kids and often spoiled them with treats.Frieda preferred to surveil the training, in order to be ready to intervene and helped Sasha in case some children got hurt.In that occasion, E2 was required to partecipate. According to Eren, it could be instructive for him to assist how the youngest of them dealt with their nature, embraced what they were, without any fear, without any shame.After the incident taken place in 2095, for everyone surprise, manu children survived. Apparently their younger body was fitter to adapt and host the serum. Those children also forgot pretty quickly what meant to be human, something that nor Eren or Frieda could ignore. All the oldest shifters envied how easy had been for them accepting the change, their new body, their new reality. For them it was like almost nothing had changed, even if it was tougher for those who remained orphans, but Frieda made sure to take care and love any of them. She was the queen of the island, she was responsible for the life of any shifter of Paradise, including the children. Maybe it was too late to preserve their innocence, but Frieda was determinate to encourage them to become the greatest men and women they could become. Strong, powerful, independent, ready to take over the world and to achieve everything they wanted. “Why do you recruit them so young ?” Asked E2 standing next to Frieda. “The sooner they learn how to control their giant, the better. At their young age, they learn faster and the body is more resistant and capable to handle a considerable amount of pain and stress” “You behave like you can’t see them as children” replied E2 looking at them. They looked so young. Each one of them. E2 was mesmerized by their chubby cheeks, their round eyes and their stature. They looked like dolls, beautiful and perfect. It was sad that they were all dressed in black. He didn’t think that black was a color suited for kids. He wondered if he looked like that when he was a child or if he was uglier than them due to his malnourishment, his pallor and else.E2 envied them. Maybe they weren’t living an ideal childhood but it was better than his for sure. They had the privilege of being under the sun, of being together, of having someone there who cared for them.E2 hadn’t been that lucky. “Is this the only class of kids ?” He asked. “No, this class is special” answered Frieda “Do you imagine why?” “No. I’m still not good at guessing. Shall you explain to me ?” “These children grew in the facility. Back in the golden days of Tybur Industries, a lot of people disappeared, men, women, homeless people, workers, delinquents, honest people… there was no difference. Tybur considered people his guinea pigs and he made no exception for their children” “Do you mean… ?” “Most of the children died, specially during the first stages of the experimentation when the official version of the serum hadn’t been created but they survived. Despite everything. The children in front of you are the most complicated cases we had…” she said “Do you think I can’t see them as children ? The truth is they didn’t consider them children themselves” “And so enlighten me, how these training sessions are supposed to help them to feel children ?” “They don’t. These training sessions are important to teach them how to be giants but also to metabolize what happened to them. In their free time, we do our best to make to entertain them with playful activities” E2 observed them and noticed something interesting. There were few that were… different from the others. He couldn’t connect with them at all. It was like there was a barrier between his mind and theirs. A barrier that was similar like… “Some of them are Ackermans right ?” “Exactly, three of them actually. As you know, they are extremely rare and it’s even rarer that some of them are able to mentally connect with a shifter” said Frieda. Suddenly E2 was very interest about the topic. He was glad that Frieda was the one who started the conversation. E2 was very uncomfortable with the idea of asking Eren or anyone else about Ackermans and the possibility of forming a bond with one of them. Until that moment, everything suggested that Ackermans and shifters were simple incompatible, that the two were too different to be able to coexist. He was told that even the Ackermans on the island couldn’t be trusted, that they could switch side anytime because their nature told them that giants were their enemy.If there was any chance that that thing between him and the Ackerman of his dreams could be positive for him, he wanted to know. “How did they succeed ?” “Well, it’s still purely theoretical, but the theory is that they had been injected with the serum in time periods close to each other and that the captivity and the isolation has helped the creation of the bond” explained Frieda “For them, it was like they only had each other and Eren. They adore Eren, they are grateful to him and admire him and they love each other, more than they love any other shifter.” “Sorry, I think I’m confused” said E2 “How explain it…” Frieda whispered biting her lower lip “… Okay, any shifter is connected to Eren alright ?”“Yeah…” answered E2. “But the oldest shifters had already formed other connections before to meet him. We oldest shifter love and care for Eren as a leader figure, those kids loves him like a father. He’s the first connection they remember and their bond is the second. They share a brotherly bond, stronger than any other bond that makes them stronger anytime that they’re close to each other” “Oh…” He was a little disappointed. It could be naive and maybe foolish, but he hoped that the bond he had with the Ackerman could be something deeper than a brotherly bond. He already had Eren and the other shifters for that. He hoped to experience something different…E2 had been observing Hannah and Frank and couldn’t refrain himself from comparing the gestures he shared with the Ackerman with those of Hannah and Frank. E2 recognize the tenderness when the man touched his fingers and his palm, almost like he was asking him if it was okay holding his hand or not. If E2 accepted to hold his hand, then the man asked his permission to caress his cheek. That was what E2 liked about those dreams, the fact that Levi didn’t touch him with arrogance, like he was free to touch and use E2 however he wanted, like E2 was used to. Everyone in his life treated him like an object, like they could do with his body everything they wanted without asking his permission. With Levi was different, at least during his dreams but E2 hoped that Levi was like that in reality too. “That’s only a theory, of course, but I think it’s true. Do you know that animals, including humans, chose their partner based on many factors ? Hannah and Frank have been in love since the first time they met and even before that they were mentally connected.” Said Frieda “I think that this could be another part of our being, you know ?” “Being able to recognize our partner ? Like a sort of soulmate ?” Asked E2 “Probably… I think that forming a strong mentally connection with someone you’ve never seen in your life must mean something” whispered Frieda, like she forgot she was speaking with E2 “Even among humans, when two people are deeply connected experience a sort of telepathy… the ability of knowing what the partner think, feel, want. It’s magnificent…” E2 agreed with her. For someone who had spent the major of his life confined in one white room with no one to talk with, E2 perfectly understood how wonderful was to have a connection with someone. To have someone that remembered you that you existed, that you were there for someone and someone was there for you. E2 wondered if Eren had developed telepathy for that reason.He had read in a book once that humans had had to developed a lot of abilities in order to adapt themself to different kind of environments and satisfy their primary needs. They had to learn how to hunt when they were hungry; to build a nest to rest; to fight to protect themselves. Eren didn’t need any of those things. He could live without eating, sleeping and surely in that room he didn’t need to protect against wild animals.What Eren needed in order to survive was forming a bond with someone, anyone. Probably a part of him craved for that so much that in the end he evolved his mind and so developed his telepathy and then transmitted it to those who lived in his same conditions. Those who felt alone like him, like E2.E2 had no one willing to talk with him and as soon as he realized how depressed he felt at the idea of not existing, not being important, he started hearing voices inside his head. Male voices, female voices, adult and young voices who communicated hime lot of things. E2 didn’t care about what those voices said, they could speak about the silliest things and still E2 preferred them over the silence.Telepathy was all he had to connect with other people, to feel less alone and then Eren arrived and now Levi. ‘I wonder if Levi has these dreams because he feels alone too’ he thought. “…I thinks if it’s true, it would be beautiful you know ? Knowing that there’s someone out there whom belongs to you and that you belong to them and… well that… This makes me feel less alone” continued Frieda The first is always special. The first step. The first word. The first bound. The first memory. Eren was his first in a lot of things, but they were similar, it was natural for them to bond. With someone of another kind was different. “I understand, but now, help me to understand what today lesson is about” “Bonding” answered Frieda “You still show difficulty with bonding with other people. I want you today to spend some time with our little cubs and by the end of the lesson to be welcomed into their little group. I must warn you though, these children are fragile and suspicious of newcomers, that’s why they will probably reject you at the beginning” “How am I supposed to do it ?” “That you need to find out your own. I won’t be there with you telling what to do every time you encounter new people” E2 nodded. He didn’t know what to do exactly, so he took a moment to observe what Sasha was doing. She did’t limit to tell them what to do, no, she was actively participating with them. She gently corrected them when they did something wrong and highly praised them when they did something correctly. She called each one of them by their names and she talked to them looking them in the eyes, balancing between treating them like children and treating them like young shifters. Maybe he could try to do like her. He could start training with them, doing the same things they did, waiting for them to talk with him first and starting to learn their name.Timidly he walked toward the children, hoping not to embarrass himself too much that day. … MARLEY UNKNOW FACILITY 3rd JULY 2098 3.00 A.M “… He recited for me ‘The Lady of Shalott’, but I couldn’t see his face… I could only hear his voice…” Levi had been sitting alone in his room for an half hour, writing inside his journal about his recent dream. It was a suggestion of Hanji and Erwin to write down on paper everything he could remember about his dreams. At the beginning he was reluctant to write about something so intimate on a journal, something that could easily end up in someone else’ hand and read. Nevertheless, he chose to give a try, not only to take note of his dreams but also to to help himself to remember more about his past.The more they dig in Tybur’s past, the more they found facilities, proprieties and secret hideouts scattered all over the country. What interested to Levi was Tybur’s philanthropy, specially all his donations and charity events organized for orphanages, hospitals and shelters for young mothers in difficulty. He had shivered when Armin told them how easily people disappeared in Paradise. How many people, women, men, children, families… All of them kidnapped, injected with the serum and turned into monsters. What scared him the most was that those people belonged to different social classes. They weren’t homeless, defenseless, random people whose disappearance no one would notice. How could one person have all that power ? How could one person be responsible of all that crimes and get away with them every single time?What Levi hated the most was that Tybur had died before he could pay for all his crimes. That monster deserved a fate worse than death and Levi knew that that man was the one who had stolen his past, his sister.Levi didn’t live the happiest childhood. He didn’t have many clothes, he had no toys to play with and lived in the same bed where strangers men had sex with his mother but at least he had a family, someone who cared for him, provided for him and put a roof over his head.Willy Tybur had stolen from him everything he had and sent him and his sister into an orphanage to rot and be used as guinea pig.When he didn’t dream about the beach, the sea and the mysterious man during the night, he dreamed about his past. He dreamed the orphanage, he saw his younger self in line with other children to enter inside a white room and faceless people with white coats that observed him, studied him, scrutinized him. He wished he could remember more, he wished he could find his sister. “… There are so many things I could teach her now, I have so many things to tell her…” he wrote down on the journal “… I can teach her how to fly…” ‘I would love to learn how to fly too…’ Levi made a hole in the page with the pen. His right hand trembled and lost the grip on the pen that fell on the floor. Again that voice inside his head…Levi had been hearing it sporadically for months. Sometimes it recited other verse of the ‘Lady of Shalott’, sometimes he could barely hear words, other it seemed like the other was crooning him during the night before he fell asleep. ‘Who are you ?’ ‘Wh… You can hear me ? It’s… time…’ Levi gasped. It’s the first time he could speak with the voice inside his head so clearly. It was the first time that Levi could answer him back. Usually, their connection last for mere seconds, that was the first time that Levi had the chance to learn more about the other person. ‘Of course I can fucking hear you. I’ve been hearing all your shits about the Lady of Shalott for months’ ‘Oh… you don’t like it ?’ The voice sounded a little disappointed. Levi rolled his eyes. The first time he managed to have a proper conversation with the voice inside his head and the first topic they talked about was ‘The lady of Shalott’. Levi knew that poem by heart at that point. Truth be told, he’d been dedicating the latest months on his education. Erwin’s company made him realized how much he regretted not to have had the opportunity to go to school, to study, to learn.He didn’t have the time before, or the resources, but he secretly wanted to keep up with the people around him. Erwin, Hanji, Moblit and Armin were cultured people, who knew a lot of stuff and talked about a lot of stuff Levi couldn’t understand. He wasn’t a talkative person, but not understanding anything about a conversation made him feel so ignorant, so… different.He hated, he loathed. ‘That’s not the fucking point. Why is this the first time we actually talk ?’ ‘I may have learnt something… I don’t know how to explain. It’s very hard to keep this connection though… I feel so exhausted already…’ Levi panicked ‘Please, don’t fucking disappear again’ ‘It’s not up to me… I can’t keep my eyes open…’ ‘No, please, at me more about you… help me to understand’ ‘It’s tiring keeping the connection’ ‘I said fucking please’ ‘I’m tired !!’ One of Levi’s eyebrows started twitching and for the first time the raven hair man wondered if he was currently speaking with a petulant toddler. He really hoped it was not the case, since he was really done with babysitting younger brats during the training sessions. Since the lessons with the new vertical maneuvering equipment, Levi was the first among the other soldiers to learn how to use it perfectly. Some considered him a prodigy, but for Levi it depended on the serum inside his veins.The impressive stamina, strength and else weren’t his. There was nothing normal about him and he slowly came to accept, but it was hard pretending to be like a normal person.Since he was the best with the vertical maneuvering, he had been entrusted with the task of helping the others. Unfortunately no serum in the world would have improved Levi’s ability to deal with people, specially when they were his insubordinates. Specially when the other person was mentally connected with him and seemed unable to have a proper conversation. ‘Can’t. I don’t understand what’s happening either. All I know is that one day I started hearing your voice in my head. I don’t even know who you are. I should be scared’ ‘I think it’s too late for that’ ‘Yeah… I’m content though… You make me feel… less alone…’‘Yeah, me too kid’ ‘Why do you call me kid ? How can you tell I’m younger than you ?’ ‘I deduced by your bratty attitude’ ‘You’re grumpy, I think we’re even… Don’t care, you can have all the flaws you want… I don’t care…’ ‘Flaws ? Plural, really ?’ ‘Plural… You need to teach me how to fly too’ That last thought was accompanied by a loud yawn and Levi could clearly see in his mind the boy falling asleep, somewhere where Levi couldn’t reach him. As soon as the boy interrupted the connection with him, Levi knew. He felt it, just like he felt that something important was suddenly missing and he felt incomplete. He wished he could have told him that he would be more than glad to teach him how to fly with the vertical maneuvering equipment but he knew he would have other occasions.Training with that thing was hard. The first days after the training session Levi had barely the energy to drag his own body to his bedroom. His body was full of bruises, wounds and it got worse when he had to learn how to use weapons while on air with that hellish thing.Nevertheless, once he gained confidence, once he learned how to become one with the vertical maneuvering, once he overcame his fear to fall, he realized how much he loved flying and how he wished he could never landed ever again.It didn’t matter how much it could hurt, failing wasn’t an option. Failing was never an option for him. After Kenny obtained his custody, it was pretty clear that Kenny was determinate to turn him into a sort of human weapon and every time Levi was about to complain how much pain he felt or how tired he was, Kenny reminded him that failing wasn’t an option.It was a luxury people like them couldn’t afford.Levi took that lesson on another personal level. Even if he vaguely remembered his experience at the orphanage, he remembered pretty well his time with Kenny, how much Levi feared to disappoint him. For Levi, failing was the equivalent of the abandonment.Every time he failed, every time he was too slow, too clumsy, every time he didn’t meet Kenny’s standard the first thought that came to Levi’s mind was that Kenny would have abandoned him if he correct his errors quickly.His life only confirmed over and over again that no one loved you if you weren’t special, if you weren’t good enough. So he tried to be good enough, strong enough, independent enough. When Kenny abandoned him, it brake Levi’s heart and it only increased his fear of abandon. He’d never overcome that fear. That was why he always needed to be the best, the was why he needed to feel useful. Because he feared to be useless, to be rejected, to remain alone.That was why when he realized to have some special connection with someone he was content and he hoped he would meet them in person one day.He quickly wrote down everything on his journal then he went to bed and closed his eyes. He really hoped that he was going to dream the boy again. … PARADISE ISLAND 20th AUGUST 2098 11:40 A.M. ‘Today is the day’ E2 thought. “Today is the day” exclaimed Sasha “The sun’s shining in the sky, our King honored us with his presence and finally E2 will have his baptism of Fire” “Baptism of fire ?” Asked E2 confused. “A rite of passage” explained Thomas for him “Humans have ceremonies or rites to celebrate their growth. The passage from childhood to adulthood” “So… turning into a giant will make a man out of me ?” Asked E2. “In a way. That depends on you in the end” said Marco “This is your final test.” It was his final test. His final prove then he would finally know what it meant being a giant. He would finally know what he was. Who he was. What it meant being himself. He’d never felt at ease in his own skin. In his human skin. He always felt so incomplete, like he missed a part of himself.Today he was going to witness a new side of himself and that scared him a little. A part of him, feared that he wouldn’t like the person he became after the transformation. A part of him, feared he would like it too much.A part of him, feared that he would fail.That was what scared him the most. To fail. To lose. To be someone’s burden. Did you what happened when you were a burden ? People got tired of you, rejected you, abandoned you, despised you.No one liked ordinary people. No one respected people who failed before to succeed. Who lost before to win. E2 wanted to be special, and loved, and respected and wanted and he wanted to be exactly like his other brothers and sisters. “E2, today you and your giant will become one for the first time. You will finally learn what means being a giant, being one of us. The world will appear different after that, maybe uglier, maybe prettier. But know that we’re here. If you feel too much pain, we will be here to help you okay ?” Asked him Frieda caressing his cheek. “You need to be sure about this, E2. We won’t be able to stop the transformation once triggered, we can only make it less painful, okay ?” Asked Marco. “Think about what you want” said Eren “Think about what has lead you here. You want to see the world ? You want to know who you truly are ? You want to find out what you can or can’t do ? This is your last step. Only few seconds and you will have the answers. You only have to endure the pain, okay ?” Their concern was touching, but they weren’t helping him. E2 only felt more nervous and scared to fail.He looked behind him, toward Eren, whom nodded at him. E2 was glad that the other chose to leave the facility and be there for him. Frieda, Marco, Sasha, Ymir, Floch and Thomas were there as well but Eren was his first friend. His presence mattered the most.Eren was the first who made E2 feel like he mattered. Like he could be important to someone. Eren was also the first person E2 was really afraid to lose. The first person he feared to disappoint. What scared him the most was the mere idea of Eren abandoning him someday. That was why he couldn’t fail.It wasn’t fair. No one should endure all that pain. No one should fight two different natures in one body. But what he could do ? Nothing but getting stronger and embrace his second nature.That was what Eren wanted and that was excepted from him. ‘I’m ready, I can do this’ He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and bite his hand deep until he could taste his own blood on his tongue. ‘I want to see the world…’ It was that last thought that triggered that transformation and a pair of golden eyes was the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes. ‘I want yo find you… I don’t want to be alone anymore’ … ‘Where am I ? Where are the others ? Why is so dark here ?’ A sob behind him make him jump and quickly turned around but he saw no one. Yet he could hear those desperate sobs and he hated them. They sounded too familiar for his taste. It made him remembered when he used to cry that way, back in the white room, “Hello ? Who are you ? Why are you crying ?” No one answered to him at the beginning, then he heard a childish voice answering him
“Because… I’m so hurt… and no one cares… No one cares about me…”
E2 didn’t know what to say or what to do. He was trying not to panic because he was in a dark place and he was trying not to fret. “I’m… I’m here… I can help you…” he said.
“No, you can’t… You can’t make people care about me… You can’t make me feel less alone… I’m so alone and people only hurt me… why can’t they be nice to me ?”
“I… I don’t…” Why couldn’t people be nice to him ? E2 had been wandering the same things himself all his life.Why couldn’t he be loved ?How could people hurt him so much even thought they simply ignored his existence ?What hurt him the most ? That they made him feel worthless to that they made him feel like he didn’t exist ?He only wanted them to be nice with him. He only wanted them to make him exist, because he couldn’t exist without others. He couldn’t exist without someone who gave him a name. He couldn’t exist because of them… No one would ever love him because of them…
“I don’t care… I doesn’t matter… I don’t want to be loved ! I want to be feared ! I want everyone to low their head when they stand in my presence !"
“What ?” Another voice spoke from somewhere else. That one sounded angrier, more aggressive. It sounded more like that person was snarling than talking. No, it didn’t even sounded like a person. That voice was full of fury and anger and E2 almost feared that a beast was nearby, ready to attack him. A shiver ran down his spine and if he could, he would have run away but where ?He didn’t even know wether he was dreaming or not. He saw nothing but darkness around him. He wasn’t even in the desert but somewhere he’d never been before and that was pretty scaring. Was that place a sort of side effect of the transformation ? If that was the case, why the others didn’t warn him ? That places wasn’t welcoming or reassuring like the desert. Not knowing where he was, not seeing anything and hearing all those voices scared him deeply.
“I don’t need anyone’s approval. I will live by myself, according to my own rules and one day I’ll get my revenge.”
“But I do want to be loved. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I don’t want to be a monster, please… I will be good” I will be good I will be the first. I will be the best. I will be lovable, gentle and perfect. I will be everything you want me to be…
E2 grabbed his head and fell on his knees, begging for those voices to stop. He didn’t want to hear them anymore. He didn’t want to hear all that pain, that desperation he was so familiar with.
“I will be everything I want to be. I will grow up, become stronger, more powerful and finally I will have my freedom, a kingdom to rule and then the entire world will know I exist. I will kill my enemies one after one. Men, women and… the children… the children… they are always victims of war after all…”
Why the children ? Shouldn’t he protect them ? Shouldn’t they be considered innocent ?Frieda told them how much children had suffered by Tybur’s hand. Why that voice was telling him that they had to suffer too ?
“I was a child too… No one spare me anything…”
“No one loves a monster, not matter how much they suffered”
But it was true…He was a child too when he had been put in that white room all alone. He was innocent too, before to be polluted by other’s greedy. Always ready to take a piece of his soul away, all of them. Every single day. Until he was left with nothing to give.So what if now somebody else’ child would suffer ? No no one cared for him, so why bother caring for other people ?
“I… I will teach those people the taste of fear… My hatred will devour them, one by one… I will create a new world populated by giants and I will be their King !!”
I will make everyone regret the way they treated me.
I will prove myself that I can survive on my own.
I will shape this world in my imagine and likeness.
I will kill whoever dare to stand in my way.
I will be powerful and I will have everything I want.
“I will make that man regret the day he chose to abandon me. I don’t need him, I will become stronger on my one. I can take care of myself, because I don’t need anyone !!”
“Please, don’t leave me alone… Please, don’t make me feel anymore pain”
E2 wished he could follow that voice. He wished he could stop feeling pain. He wished pain wasn’t the only thing that gave him shape and substance. That was why he chose anger that time. If anger was what he needed, if he had to choose one of his two nature of leave that place, then he chose the one that would make him stronger. That would lead him on the other side of the sea.
“I will embrace the pain and stay. I won’t run away from who I am anymore. Pain in anger, anger in hunger, hunger in power… That’s who I am and I will never be underestimated or ignored ever again”
“Nothing will change anyway, I’m too weak and disgusting… No one will ever accept me”
“I will accept who I am. That’s who I am, who I chose to be… A giant !!
“Yes… I’m a giant…” I’m a giant… I’m a giant… I’m a giant… I’m a giant… I’m a giant… I AM A GIANT !! I AM A GIANT !!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
PARADISE ISLAND 3rd JULY 2098‘I’m dead ?’If he wasn’t, then E2 hoped he would be dead soon. He was laying on the grass, he could smell the unpleasant smell of burnt grass around him and other smells that he couldn’t define. He didn’t have the strength.Hell, he couldn’t move his body at all, nor his legs or hands or even his fingers or toes. He didn’t even feel pain, only numb, like someone who had just woken up in the morning.He looked at his fingers and gasped. His arms were covered with burns and he wouldn’t be surprised to if there were other burns in other parts of his body. They were disgusting and E2 closed his eyes not to see them.‘You’re not dead… You simply shifted back in your human form’ said Eren through telepathy.Only then E2 noticed Eren, on his knees, by his side.The King of giants was using his powers to heal his wounds and, next to him, Marco was gently caressing his hair, like a mother did with her baby after having a nightmare.‘Shh… it’s okay… you’ve been wonderful, for your first time’ told him Marco smiling at him.‘What happened ? I don’t remember anything’‘You succeeded and turned into a giant but you lost control at some point and started attacking us’‘Did I hurt someone ?’ Asked E2 alarmed while Eren covered his naked body with a blanket.‘No, incidents like this happen all the time. We’re all prepared to deal with them’It was a good thing that E2 had improved his mastery over his telepathy, or else he’d added headache to all his other disgraces.After his first lessons with the ‘cubs’, as Frieda called the children, and hearing her speech about bonding and potential soulmate, E2 started training his telepathy. He realized back then that he was the only one, among the shifters, who was unable to keep the other shifters out of his head and to use it to speak with one person at time.Indeed, before that it was always Eren who contacted him first and decided when to interrupt the connection and the only reason why E2 could communicate with him was their bond. He wasn’t able to do the same with other shifters.He wasn’t able to defend his mind from their intrusions and that resulted in embarrassing life revelations that he would have preferred to keep for himself.So he asked Marco, the one who would ask less questions and be more than willing to spend time teaching him, to give him tips and help him with telepathy.The more he spent time with him, the more E2 was convinced that Marco was the definition of ‘angel’.‘You’re an angel Marco’‘Thank you” answered the freckle boy smiling at him.‘Ehi, I’m the one who’s healing your wounds’ told him Eren.‘Yeah… thank you’, then E2 remembered another thing ‘Why am I naked ?’‘Your clothes got burned when we tear you off the giant corps, the steam burned most of your clothes’‘Is that another normal thing ? I don’t remember any of you getting naked after a transformation’‘When one of us loses control during out giant form, the steam around the body increased and once expelled the shifter from inside, the body disintegrated quicker but also produced more steam. That’s why the grass around you and your clothes are burned”‘How can I avoid such embarrassing and painful scenario ?’‘With experience and without losing control. If you separate yourself from your giant body, you will have the time to protect yourself from the steam and avoid to get reduced like that’ answered Eren.‘I wish I could remember though…’‘I will show you everything later, for now you need to recover. Now sleep and allow your brothers to take care of you’E2 nodded, then he closed his eyes. He needed to rest and he knew he was in good hands. For the first time, he knew he could count on someone else, that he was surrounded by people who hold in great consideration his wellbeing.When he woke up almost an half day later. At the bending he felt a little disoriented. It took few minutes to finally recognize his own room, with the light blue walls, the window where he had hung postcard of sea, his old desk with books and an old laptop on it and wardrobe full of toys rather than clothes.He had left the white room that he was playing with toys and after all that months those same toys remained his guilty pleasure. His way to evade reality, to pretend to be young and innocent, just like a child. Just looking at those toys helped him to remember the person he used to be, how much he’d grown and changed and how more he would in the future.He found himself laying on a bed, in his room, with Marco, Eren and Sasha sitting beside him, chatting with each other.It was Sasha the first who noticed he was awoken.“Hello Eric. How do you feel ?” Sasha sitting on the bed next to him.“Reborn ?” Joked E2 “How long have I slept ?”“Half a day and before you ask, this is normal the first times. The body needs to get used to it, once it does, it will be easier to transform. Some of us are become so resistant to be able to perform multiple transformations in short periods of times. It’s very impressive” said Eren.“I bet” E2 murmured trying not to pout.“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You weren’t here with us when we all transform the first time. I wished you were though” said Marco “The first time I turned, I ended up throwing up for three days. All I did was sleeping and vomiting. Furthermore when I shifted back, my legs were still giant. I couldn’t move” he said laughing.“I remember. You were throwing up, wanted to move because you don’t want us to see you but your lower body was still gigantic and you couldn’t move !!” Said Sasha giggling.“Yeah, I wanted to yell, scream and vomiting at the same time. My nakedness only worsen everything.” Said Marco blushing.“Nothing in comparison with my first time.” Said Sasha playing with her ponytail “I turned into a giant with a large head and torso, but my legs and arms were thin skinned, almost on a human size. I couldn’t move my body, only my mouth and I remembered spending hours crying for help”“Yeah, that caterwauling lasted for hours.” Giggled Marco “We had no idea how to help her because she fell backward on the grass, but every time we touched her, she started wailing so we stopped”E2 felt a little better hearing that, that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t succeed after the first transformation. He took a moment to observe Eren, who was laughing and giggling with the Sasha and Marco, but he didn’t intervene in their conversation.E2 wondered how it was like Eren’s first transformation. Maybe being the nucleus came in handy in that case too. Who knew, Eren barely talked about himself.After all those months spent on the island, he realized that even though everyone kept saying that they were mentally connected and else, no one really knew their King.Eren shouted everyone out. When someone asked him something personal, Eren gave vague answers. He didn’t feel at ease when surrounded by too many people and in a conversation he preferred to listen what his interlocutor had to say rather than talking himself.Of all the people on the island, Eren was the one with the secrets and it was frustrating, because no one could hide something from him but it wasn’t true the opposite.“Is it normal to feel so much pain after ? Will it get better ?”“Well, our transformation is strictly connected to our physique. That’s why is very important for us to train and work on our muscles. When we train, our muscle fibers get destroyed and grow stronger. So the more we train, the less we suffer drawbacks” answered Eren “We can’t forget that even though we can regenerate our wounds or don’t need to eat, our body need attention and to get stronger”“Is this the reason why you didn’t make me turn earlier ?” Asked E2.“Exactly. Before you managed to perform an half transformation only thanks to my help, without it, you would have suffered more consequences. If we let you transform the first day on the island, your body wouldn’t have been bale to handle it. You could have died” answered Marco.E2 gulped “That’s why many shifters die after few years ?”“Exactly. They suffer chronic pain and cellular degeneration caused by their transformation. We bypass such conditions thanks to our King and our bond with him. He allows us to live, he sustains us, until our body is able to live own his own.” Said Sasha.“How could it be possible ?” Asked E2.“It’s like a fracture or a sprain. At first you need to lean on something to walk, then you heal and start walking your own again” explained Sasha “The sprain is the serum and the Eren is the crutch. Your body simply need time to heal and adapt to the serum but it has to do it with his own time. That’s what the Warrior Unit doesn’t understand”“What about your time spent as mindless giants ?” Asked E2 confused.“It has its… benefits” answered Marco hesitantly “But still… It’s not a pleasurable experience and… that’s it”E2 understood nor Marco or Sasha were willing to talk about their experience as mindless giants, so he quickly changed topic. Last thing he wanted was to upset those two.“I want one of my toys… maybe a peluche… something soft” he murmured absently “… Can you pick something for me ?”Marco stood up and opened his wardrobe, full of toys he found inside abandoned houses and shops, and picked a giant white teddy bear, with a red ribbon around the cheek and another one tied to the ear, and put it on the bed next to E2.E2 quickly clung on the teddy bear in search of comfort, then he looked at Eren and asked “Can I see what happened after my transformation ? I also have some questions”“Let’s talk a little more first. What do you want to know ?” Asked Eren.“Before the transformation I… I ended up in a weird dark places. There were two persons with me there, or at least I think they were… anyway, these two persons tell me two different things. One of them wanted me for rejecting my giant nature, the second want me to embrace it. Did you experienced the same thing guys ?”Sasha and Marco exchanged looks, clearly vacillating wether they wanted to talk or not about such personal experience. Eren simply denied.“I’ve never had to embrace anything. I was born giant, I’ll die giant”“Really Eren ?” Asked Marco timidly.“No one taught me how to be human. No one treated like one, at least. I’ve never had to dominate my instincts. Differently from you, I don’t feel my giant body like something detached to me. I’m a giant, no second nature or else.”“It’s sound sad” hazard Sasha not daring to look Eren in the eyes.“It doesn’t actually. I don’t feel torn like you. Ironically, the only time I don’t feel pain or I feel free and complete is when I unleash my giant instincts, because I’m free to be who I am. It’s liberating for him, maybe that’s sad”“Why is sad not feeling pain in these cases ?” Asked E2 confused.“It makes me feel different from any of you. It’s another thing I can’t relate to, so it make me feel alone” explained Eren shrugging.His words were followed by an awkward silence that needed to be filled. E2 observed Marco and Sasha and even without his telepathy, he could imagine that the two would have given everything to take back what they said about their ‘second nature’.They were on the island due to similar experiences and yet they couldn’t fully understand Eren and Eren couldn’t understand them.That made E2 feeling pretty sad. It made him realize that no matter how much he could relate with someone, there always would be something to separate him and the other person.It was scaring.‘Or maybe it’s something you should be grateful for’ told him Eren through telepathy ‘Our differences allow us to distinguish ourself from the others. It allow us to draw lines between who we are and who others are. You are E2 and they are Sasha and Marco. In the end, we need others to identify ourself’‘And who are you Eren ? What’s the difference between you and me ? Our names ? Our ages ? Our nature ?’‘Let’s see how your first transformation went…’E2 rolled his eyes. He had accepted that when Eren was determinate to avoid an argument, he talked about something else.In that case, Eren began projection imagines inside E2’s mind, to make him see, to make him know, to help him remember……The first thing he saw was himself, or better, a 15 meters tall version of himself. Of course height wasn’t the only differences. His hair were longer and messier. His delicate features became more prominent, he had an hooked nose and his eyes become sunken and he could see his teeth. Practically he had no lips. Like the giants he saw in his dreams and memory.Another things he and Eren had in common of course.At least all his limbs were in proportion with his body.He was admiring his own giant form from an external prospective.Eren changed, allowing E2 to see the world how he had seen during the transformation.‘How could I forget it ?’ Thought E2 after the perspective changed.The world was very different when looked from 15 meters high. Sure it seemed smaller, less detailed but it was beautiful nonetheless seeing the picture in his entirety.It was beautiful see how the sun shined above the town, the woods and all the beautiful shades of colors it gave to the sea.The world was smaller, more fragile, it made E2 feel safer somehow, like there was nothing else in the world that could hurt him.He clumsily took one step, like a baby who tried to walk for the first time, careful not to crush one of the shifters below.His sense sharpened. If he concentrated, he could smell sea breeze or the smell of anemone hepatica that flourished in the wood nearby the facility or Frieda’s perfume.He could hear what his brothers were saying. They were complimenting him, cheering for him but he could also hear the sound of birds, the waves of the sea and the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees.He realized that if he focused on a specific point, he could see it like in a more detailed way, like he was there personally. It was kind cool.E2 started walking with more confident, always trying not to stepping on one of his brother.‘How are you feeling ?’ Asked Frieda using telepathy.‘Confused… in a positive way though’‘Explain’ said Eren.‘I feel… closer and more distant at the same time… from everything and…’E2 was content somehow. Turning into a giant was another experience that made him feel closer to his brothers. Another thing they had in common now, something else they could talk about. Maybe it was just an impression, but even the bond he shared with the other shifters seemed deeper, stronger, in his giant form.Everything was amplified. The good emotions, but also the bad ones, including his fear…‘I… I feel closer to you guys, but also…’He felt more distant from the rest of the world. Every decision he took was immediately follow by a renunciation. He was perfectly aware of that.Nevertheless he… He… He felt hot…‘E2, are you okay ?’‘Not… exactly…’He put a hand on his forehead and it was seething, like he had a fever. He felt confused and suddenly he was hungry. Like very hungry. Like he could eat all his brothers and reaming hungry. Why didn’t take a taste ? Or two ? Or three ? From two, three, four different people ?‘No, what am I thinking ? Stay focus, E2, stay focus’What was happening ? Why was he feeling so angry ? Why was he feeling so furious ?‘You said yourself. In your giant form, everything is amplified. The good and the bad emotions as well. Apparently the fear you felt were feeling just before the transformation is growing inside you again.’ Explained Eren ‘Deep down inside of you maybe you’re still feeling afraid of angry or else’‘Oh shit… How can I control it ?’‘Direct your pain toward a goal. Like you did before the transformation’ suggested Ymir ‘The first times it’s hard staying focus. We don’t know how to keep in check our giant instincts, so they tend to be overwhelming.”‘Are you telling me that our giant nature tends to prevail ?’‘Exactly, because we perceive it like something different from us. In few words, it’s us against the giant inside us. The giant is free now and wants to stay that way and satisfy his appetizer. Your human nature needs to fight…’ said Marco.But E2 wasn’t prepared to fight against his own giant. Hell, he hadn’t imagined it could be so difficult. He tried to ignore his hunger. He gritted his teeth and pinched his arms to ignore the ever growing anger inside him, but nothing worked.His giant demanded his attention. He demanded to be left free. He demanded to be satisfied.One bite… Two bite… Three bite…Flesh… he wanted to bite flesh, to taste flesh and blood on his tongue and swallow everything. Over and over again.He wanted to taste, eat and devour flesh over and over again.Yes, yes, he wanted it. He demanded it. He would have. No one could deny him anything… He could have everything he wanted…It was the first time a lot of people observed him at the same time and he didn’t feel intimidated. Because he didn’t care about them. He was indulging his own nature and he didn’t care about what the other thought.They would die anyway… … “Oh my God…” whispered E2 covering his face with both his hands for the shame “I totally lost control. I wanted to eat all of you”“And you tried, you were a wild animal !!” Said Sasha nudging him “A real giant”“A real cannibal you mean. It’s so embarrassing” murmured E2.“It was impressive nonetheless” said Eren “You demonstrated to possess great stamina and a high resistance to pain. You’ve been incredible and don’t worry, it will get better the next time”“When ?” Asked E2.“As soon as you can stand on both your feet for more than mere seconds, jelly legs” answered Eren messing his hair.E2 pouted. He hated when Eren treated him like a child and slapped the other’s hand away. Eren laughed. His older versions returned to sit on the chair in front of the desk, next to another chair where Marco was sitting.Suddenly a sound a caught his attention. Footsteps… Someone was coming there…One… No… they were definitively two people. A woman and a man. The woman was walking in front of the man.He wasn’t able to tell who they were, he was still unable to recognize a person by their walk alone, but he was confident to have rightly guess everything else.Indeed, few minutes after Ymir and Floch entered inside his room.“Hello fellas !” Greeted them Ymir walking toward E2’s bed, grabbing his teddy and throwing it against Sasha only to lie on the bed next to E2.“Hello… are you comfortable ?” Asked E2 astonished.“Yes I am. Thank you” answered Ymir messing with his hair.“If you have energy for snotty comments I deduce you’re feeling better” said Floch crossing his arm.“He is…” said Eren standing up “… I take my leave now. I’ve things to do but I’ll visit you later. Promise” he concluded kissing E2 on his forehead.E2 was left in good hand and Eren didn’t want to risk to sour everyone’s mood again. It hurt when he was the only one not to have something positive to share.Even what he could actually share with them was different for him. He was different from everyone in that room, even E2, despite everything and he was starting to feel alone in that room.That was why he suddenly needed to occupy his mind with a concrete problem, something he could actually fix, before he got carried away by some shit only his ill mind could create.Nevertheless, not matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop the tears and he hated.…MARLEY NEW TRAINING CENTER - LAGO CITY 5th JULY 2098Erwin was surveilling the new recruits literally getting tortured by both Levi’s rudeness and Hanji’s weirdness at the opposite side of the camp.In the end, Hanji decided to join the training with the maneuvering equipment, saying that even if she’s slightly older than the other recruits, she was young and in shape to learn how to use it.Erwin accepted to support her in exchange of her promise not to neglect her work as scientist.Truth be told, Hanji’d always been a dutiful person, both in the field wearing a bulletproof and in the laboratory with her white coat on.Another admirable person was Moblit, who was an excellent sidekick, the only one able to follow Hanji in any craziness.He was undecided about wether recruiting more people or not. Probably the Emperor wouldn’t give him the permission. There hadn’t been appearances of giants in months and even though Erwin knew that they would eventually happened, those stupid fat ass rich remained hesitant to invest money if there was no apparent threat.If only those around him were more reasonable people……
MARLEY SCOUT LEGION BASE - LAGO CITY 28th JUNE 2098
Erwin was in his office, sitting in front of his desk, waiting for Pixis and Zackly to contact him. He was impatient to talk with Pixis most of all. As general of the three military branches, he participated to a reunion with members of the royal government three days ago.
Erwin could imagine what those cowards told him, no, ordered him to do.
After December, nothing else happened. No attacks, no disappearances, no cities in dust, no people turned into giants. Nothing. Of course, the political class interpreted It like a signal that the war was over, that they were safe and that they didn’t need to spend more money on that.
Even the media stopped transmitting news about the argument. Beside fomenting hatred in regard of the Warrior Unit and belittling the army for haven’t found them yet, there were no more news about giants, or Paradise or else.
“It seems like people are ready to forget… But I can’t…”
Pixis and Zackly appeared on the monitor of his computer few minutes later.
“I deduce from your face that the reunion ended with an unpleasant outcome for us” commented Erwin.
“Affirmative. The Royal Government is determinate to ignore anything that suggests the involvement of a second individual or group in what happened in Lago City. If what happened in Lago City wasn’t filmed, they wouldn’t have hesitated to occult the truth” said Zackly.
“It’s too late to pretend that everything’s fine. How do they intend to explain what happened at the port on December 2097 ?” Asked Pixis.
“After all these months of fruitless researches, they wanted to put the blame on some belligerent organization since no giants were involved. No one can link that attack to the Warrior Unit, so they’re looking for a scapegoat to feed to the press. Everything to divert the attention from the giants”
“And about the Warrior Unit ?”
“Those fools are convinced that the Warrior Unit will be found soon.” Answered Zackly adjusting his glasses on his nose.
“And once they found them ? What would happen then ? Are they planning to murder all the members of the Warrior Unit ?” Asked Erwin.
“No” answered Zackly “I’m afraid that their haughtiness clouds their judgment. They didn’t say it explicitly but it’s clear that they intend to continue researching and experimenting on them”
“What convinced them that keeping those giants alive would be more advantageous than completely annihilate them ? How do they intend to justify it to the citizens ?” Asked Pixis.
“They don’t intend to make it public, the risk to lose the approval and the loyalty of their subjects is too high. No one will forget what happened in Lago City after all.” Said Zackly “I assume that they are convinced that giants could be beneficial in the future, once they learn how to control them.”
Erwin was not surprised. If he purposely ignored all the bad things happened, he would admit that Kruger and Yeager had created impressive creatures. Giants had reached a form perfection that humans could only imagine.
Shifters didn’t need nourishment to grow strong, healthy, beautiful. Perfect.
Shifters didn’t get ill and while they could bleed or be wounded, they possessed incredible regenerative abilities that made them invulnerable.
Studying them, being able to borrow some of their perfection, becoming a little more like them would benefit humans race more than Erwin was willing to admit.
Giants were magnificent. That was the ugly truth. Another uglier one was that it was almost predictable that someone else was determinate to pursuit that path of destruction started with Tybur.
“How do they intend to control it ?” Asked Pixis confused.
Erwin had an idea and that leaded toward another nasty though. He remembered that Armin alluded about the existence of a nucleus. Something that was injected through the serum and could manipulate the brain activity of the giants.
Armin defined this ‘nucleus, the biggest secret hidden in Paradise. A secret worthy to fight for, die for, kill for.
Armin said that he and Annie hadn’t been the same since the nucleus was destroyed. He said that something snapped inside Annie at some point and, even though Erwin still didn’t trust Armin fully, he felt like there was something true in his words.
Erwin’d always been able to tell when someone was lying to him and he knew that Armin was used to mix truths and lies. That was what good liars did.
Nevertheless Armin seemed pretty desperate when he said that he was going to create a cure to prevent himself from snapping like Annie did.
He also said that the nucleus was used to implant memories or to modify them. Armin didn’t five him a detailed description of it.
“What are you thinking about Erwin ?” Asked Pixis narrowing his eyes “Do you have an idea ?”
“I… I can’t answer now. It’s just a…”
“Theory.” Concluded Pixis in his place, challenging him with his eyes “It’s always a theory with you”
“I’m not hiding anything from you.” Replied Erwin calmly “I wouldn’t make any profit by keeping important information by myself. Nevertheless, the situation is currently not favorable to us. Zackly, I need you to gain some time for us. Pixis, I need you to surveil the training camp while I’m gone”
“Gone where ?” Asked Pixis.
“Tybur had a lot of connections. It’s impossible for someone to kidnap, experiment and kill thousands people without anyone covering for you.”
“Are you insinuating that some of the royal government used to covered Tybur’s crime ? That some of them are even involved ?”
“It’s not an insinuation, but a statement. We can’t trust them, that’s why I intend to investigate on them, but first I need to more informations about my ‘theory’. I will tell you everything once I learn more”
“Sounds like a plan but… ehi !!”
Erwin closed with them before Pixis could finis his sentence. He had something better to do than explaining things to them he still couldn’t fully understand.
Without wasting time, he started searching in the old files sent by Armin anything related with the nucleus. As he suspected. The word ‘nucleus’ was mentioned only once or twice in all those files and it was never specified what exactly was.
Another doubt started forming inside his mind. Since Armin was the one who send the files, could it be possible that he also modified them to cancel any information about the nucleus ?
The members of the Royal Government weren’t fools as they looked. They were ambitious but they wouldn’t do anything that could compromise their position and their reputation. Most of all their safety. If they were insistent on keeping the giants, then it meant that they theorized that it could be possible controlling giants or they wanted to capture someone who could tell them how.
The more time passed, the less Erwin knew what to do with the Warrior Unit.
Armin wanted them dead. The world wanted them dead. Another person or group of people wanted them dead. The Royal Government was the only party that wanted them alive to study them.
He needed Hanji to check all the files again and see if she could find something about the nucleus. In the meantime, Armin would help him with the Warrior Unit and so he and Mike could investigate more about the past and the connection of each members of the Royal Government. He didn’t have to forget that everything started in Marley.
‘And I hope that everything will finish in Marley one day’
Erwin hadn’t forgotten the real reason why he started his personal crusade against Tybur and his minions. He was a selfish man, he was perfectly aware of it. Around him, people got turned into giants, city were destroyed, criminals remained unpunished and nevertheless all he could think about was his father. How much he wanted justice for him. How much he wanted to grant him his last wish. How much Erwin wanted to take his life back and move on from his past and finally started to live for himself.
…Erwin knew that the attack at the port wasn’t a casualty and worse, he knew that the Warrior Unit wasn’t to blamed which worried him even more.The more time passed, the more he was convinced that they didn’t have to fight against the Warrior Unit only.Whoever they were hiding, they weren’t responsible for what happened at the port. Even with all their abilities, it would have been impossible not to witness giant monsters kidnapping people from the ships. Why kidnapping those sailors in the first place ? To hide them where ?No, the attack was a message, or maybe another way to throw shit at the Warrior Unit.Erwin was growing impatient, because there was a missing link between Paradise Island and the Warrior Unit, something that involved Armin too but Erwin couldn’t trust the boy.That was why he asked Mike to investigate on the list of people who used to work on Paradise Island.Erwin’s hope was to find someone who used to work in Utopia once, someone who left the island before the latest incident. He remembered that scientists were rarely allowed to leave the facility they worked for, but it could happen that they needed to travel to take part to special events, conventions and stuff like that.If there was even the slightest possibility that one of them was still alive, then Erwin wanted to know. If there was a person out there who could help him to have a better understanding about what happened on Paradise three years ago, then he wanted to find that person and speak with them.“Keep frowning that way and you’ll have wrinkles. No one wants to marry a man with wrinkles” said a person behind him.“Good morning to you, doctor Arlert. Are you here to join the training ?”“Later, maybe. I’m here to discuss with you actually. About my proposal”“Your proposal of working as double agent for us ? To spy the Warrior Unit while pretending to be a good samaritan with Falco ?” Asked Erwin.“You don’t approve ? What ? Now do you care about children ?” Provoked him Armin.“What do you mean ?” Asked Erwin confused.“Your recruits. I guess that is the fate of the youngest, to fight the war of the oldest, specially the rich ones. If Falco was older, you would have proposed it yourself, don’t lie” insisted Arminn “No, even better, you would have proposed him to join the army in exchange of help to find his brother. Be honest, you don’t like it only because I proposed it first”“You’re portraying me like a despicable man, doctor Arlert. Is it your strategy to persuade ? Comparing us ?”“Cut the crap. Tell me why you don’t like my idea. After all these months, you still don’t trust me ?”“You’re still hiding things from me. I don’t trust you because I know you’re like me. We lie, we manipulate and we use others. I have no illusion over your loyalty, I know there are three sides in this story”“Three sides ?”“The warrior unit, ours and yours. I don’t know what’s your angle but I do know you have one.”“You won’t go anywhere questioning my motives every time I come to you with a proposal”“Then lead me somewhere” said Erwin “Tell me something important. What happened in Utopia in 2095 ? Or in 2090 ? Are you sure no one of your former colleague survive ?”Armin didn’t know what to do or what to say. Erwin was right when he said that they were similar. The worst mistake he could do while interacting with Erwin was to treat him like a fool.Erwin wasn’t a fool and after what happened, he wouldn’t let his guards down, not even for a second, specially around Armin.“Not matter what I say, you will put my words in discussion. Words don’t work with you, I get it, but I can prove myself with facts. You’re right when you say that I haven’t given to you anything but words until now but I can give you the opportunity to create a like between us and the Warrior Unit and you know that Falco trusts me”It was despicable, taking advantage of Flaco’s trust. Both of them were aware of that and both of them were bad enough not to give two shits.That was what they were. Erwin hated that Armin was right. He didn’t want to agree with his proposal only because it came from Armin.Pride was a luxury he couldn’t afford, neither did Armin so the best thing they could do was trying to agree on that.“How do you plan to get in contact with the Warrior Unit ?”“Falco still has his private phone with all the contacts of the Warrior Unit. He kept it hidden because he feared you would have taken it away from him”“Are you sure he didn’t use it to get in contact with his brother ?”“Affirmative. He said he was scared to be intercepted and taken into custody. He’s a frightened kid and even if he isn’t out in the field with us, he knows what the world thinks about him and the Warrior Unit. He fears that a wrong move could send him straight into a cell”“I can’t send him in jail. He’s a minor” replied Erwin.“He doesn’t know it, specially considering his current situation. Please, I only ask for one shot. Try to trust me with this”“No, you tell me first why it’s so important for you to find the Warrior Unit. Why now ?”“Because now I’m sure that I can find them. I can’t promise I will succeed in capturing them but I can promise to be your link with them. You can supervise our conversations. I will be your ears and eyes and mouth if you want me to. I will tell them what you want me to, but please, grow a set of balls and put your pride aside”“Excuse me ?” Exclaimed Erwin outraged.“I thought I’d dealt with a real man, ready to take any risk instead you’ve been training those little brats all this months without doing nothing to improve our situation. You’ve been playing in defense since this shit started. Isn’t time to attack first ?” Provoked him Armin “If we have to wait for you to trust me, then the Warrior Unit will take over the world”‘What a little jerk’ thought Erwin.Armin knew where to hit and Erwin both hated and admired it about him. It was like the young doctor could real his mind sometimes. Erwin wouldn’t be surprise if he found out that it was the case. Armin voiced exactly what he thought. If he didn’t find other evidences, if he didn’t find a way to proceed with his search for the Warrior Unit, the Emperor would soon stop funding the army and underestimate the threat.He also understood that even if Tybur was dead, all his connections with criminality, all his all allies and even his enemies were already moving not only to protect themselves but also to fighting for what used to be Tybur’s.Among all the parts, Erwin and the Scouts were the most disadvantaged, even more than the Warrior Unit who was hated by the whole world.Erwin was wrapped into a web of political intrigues and it would be surprising if he found out that the Emperor or someone else of the political class used to cover Tybur’s illegal affair in Paradise. After all, the first incident had taken place in Marley in 2068.He didn’t have to start from Paradise, but from Marley.“Okay, I’ll try to trust you. Speak with Falco, get in contact with the Warrior Unit if you can and report everything to me.”“Thank you for the vow of trust” answered Armin ironically taking his leave.Armin would deny it until his death but he was slightly offended that Erwin was still so suspicious about him. His pride was a little hurt. If, after all those months, Erwin was still so reluctant to trust him, it meant that Armin wasn’t playing his role well. Had he lost his touch ?He turned around to look at Erwin who was pretending to surveil the training and growled. He had underestimated Smith’s inability trust anyone around him.He wondered if things could have been different if Smith didn’t know about his past, if he didn’t know he was a member of the Warriors, if he didn’t know Armin had betrayed once before and everyone knew, who betrayed once could always do it again.Would have things change ? Would have things be different ? No, Smith wouldn’t have trusted him anyway, but at least wouldn’t have breathed on his neck constantly.‘A pure professional relationship is not enough. We have to become more… intimate… I have to get under his skin…’It was an option Armin hoped he could have avoided. Developing a more intimate relationship would mean that snarky retorts, pleasantries, formalities and giants couldn’t be the only topic they discusses together. It would mean opening up about himself, showing his weakness, telling the true more and lying less.Luckily for him, he had some trick up his sleeve and he was still in pretty good shape. If friendship would result in a failure, then he would play all his cards.There was no risk he would feel anything for Erwin. He’d already made that mistake once and he swore to himself and his brothers not to repeat it ever again.His heart was already shattered in pieces to ever be able to love someone else again and he sold his body once, to science. He injected himself the serum, he allowed his body to change, to be modified, to be destroyed only to reborn in multiple forms over and over again and feel more pain any time.In the end, he became so apathetic that he didn’t care anymore. He felt so detached from his own body that sometimes he didn’t even recognize himself at the mirror. What he saw was just layers of synthetic skins, or plastic, more like he saw a doll in the mirror and he was just the A.I. inside it. Trapped in.His body shouldn’t looked that way, he should be older, different, true, human. Everything it wasn’t. It was just an empty container ready to be filled with whatever Armin or Eren wanted.It was unfair blaming Eren of Armin’ state of mind and his revulsion for his own body but sometimes he looked at Erwin and he couldn’t refrain himself from thinking that if he ever had to spread his legs for the man it was because of Eren. Because he had to spy on Erwin for Eren and he had to spy on the Warrior Unit for Erwin and…He shouldn’t be complaining because that was what he really was… a spy… a container… a body……
PARADISE ISLAND 2089
“Do you understand the importance of your role in her, Doctor Arlert ?” Asked Doctor Mills again speaking to a young and naive Armin.
“I… I do” answered Armin hesitant.
He didn’t, but that wasn’t the right answer.
He knew what Doctor Mills wanted him to do. He knew why he was there, in front of that white door, without his white coat with his superior in front of him who was filling a report.
He knew that Doctor Mills was secretly studying him with his ice eyes behind his glasses, his scrunched expression that emphasized the wrinkles of his face, partially covered by his dark, careless, beard.
He smelled too. Who knew how long the man hadn’t taken a shower but judging his unkept appearance he shouldn’t be surprised.
It was because he was the only one who had visited Eren three times and still had all his limbs attached to his body.
No one had an explanation for that. Until that moment, Eren had showed hatred for everyone with a white coat whom entered his room.
Doctors, nurses, women, men, young old… Eren had showed no mercy for any of them while he ripped a limb or two from their body; when he stumbled on their head crushing them; when he bite their neck so hard and ripped their flesh with his teeth, swallowing it, devouring it. Like a beast, like a monster.
Everyone was afraid to be left alone with him in that room, that was why no one had ever entered that room twice.
Nevertheless, Eren hadn’t tried to attack Armin once since his first meeting. So, his superiors thought to assign to him the task of taking samples from Eren.
“You’re a smart kid and Eren has no knowledge about social rules or relationships. He would never be able to distinguish a genuine friendship from a friendship of convenience. Be kind with him, if he wants you to play with him you’ll play. If he wants you to read something for him, you’ll read. If he asks you anything about the outside you’ll answer him…”
“Excuse me, but wouldn’t be dangerous to encourage Eren’s curiosity toward the outside world ?” Asked Armin.
The real question he wanted to ask was if it wasn’t too cruel. Illustrating Eren a world he would never personally see.
Talking about the sea, its colors, the creatures whose lived there.
Telling about his little village and trying to make Eren understand the differences between village, town, city and country.
Sharing with him persona information about his childhood, his grandpa and the parents he no longer had. The parents Eren’d never had.
He was a scent above anything else. He understood how important Eren was for their research. He understood why entering that room and holding Eren’s hand was necessary.
“Nobody told you to tell him the truth. Invent. Tell him a good story, everything he wants to hear”
“I thought I had applied for a job as scientist not as storyteller. What you’re ordering me to do is unnecessarily cruel”
“I’m going to do you a favor and pretend not to have heard a word you say. Your moral code, you’ve ever had one, got screwed up the first time you saw the boy inside that room and signed a contract to keep your mouth shout. You’re no better than any of us, that’s why you will enter that room…” said Mills adjusting his glasses on his nose “… And you will pretend to be his friend”
“I didn’t sign for any of this” replied Armin crossing his arms.
“When you signed, you literally sold both your mind and body to us. You no longer belong to yourself, nor your mind or body.”
“What does it means ?” Asked Armin.
“That you’re an handsome specimen. A cunning ming with an attractive body… a lethal combination but useful nonetheless. Put both of them in use if it’s necessary. But I don’t know you will need. You’re a natural liar. Since you’ve come here, you haven’t told one single thing that was true”
“Excuse me, doctor Mill but this is preposterous.”
“Is it ? Everyone here is a liar and if they aren’t, they will become. It’s the rule to work here. You’ve come here pretending not to be a simple lad coming from an unknown little villages, who tries to hide his accent and arrived here with the conviction to be such a brilliant researcher and yet you found yourself making the mess.” Answered the man “You lie to doctor Langard every time she ask you a question, you lie when you say you wouldn’t like to have her position and you’re lying now telling me that you don’t have it what it takes to deceive Eren and make him to what you say”
“No… I’m a liar but that’s not…”
“You lied in your application form. You didn’t mention that you suffered of panic attacks.” Replied calmly the other man leaving Armin stunned “What ? Did you really believe that you succeeded in deceiving us ?”
Armin opened and closed his mouth several times. How did they find out ? He had been so cautions about hiding it.
The truth was that he was victim of bullying when he was a kid and the abused added with the disappearance of his parents caused him a perpetual state of anxiety, at the point that he beginning to suffer from panic attacks.
He knew that the chances to be hired would have be zero if he wrote down on his application, but he was realizing how naive he had been.
Of course they did some researches about him and of course they would have waste no time threatening him as soon as Armin as was reticent to obey a direct order.
“If you were ready to lie to get a job, I have no doubt you will use all your oratory skills in order to make Eren obey. He's just a kid, almost ten years old and kids are so easy to impress these days”
“It’s not fair” replied Armin.
“He’s been locked in a white room since he was born, that isn’t fair either and yet I didn’t see you complaining about that. Stop wasting my time and enter inside that fucking room.” Said Doctor Mills starting to lose his patience.
“Wow, no one really inside this facility sees him as human being”
“Because he’s not and we must not forget that he already killed many of us. He’s not your friend, but you can be charitable enough to offer him your company like…”
“Like a whore ?”
“Not, a whore is honest about the untruth of her interest and the superficiality of her attention with her clients. If you behave like that, Eren will know and he will kill you. So, I suggest you yo put a smile on your face…” said Doctor Mills fixing Armin’s shirt “… Enjoy your time with your new friend. And remember, you, exactly like Eren, belong to us. Your mind and body. Dare to disobey and you will become the new bait for our next experiment with giants”
…It was then, that for the first time Armin questioned his moral code, for real. He meant, he knew that the human experimentation conducted in Utopia was wrong, but the scientist inside him always silenced that part inside him.He always told himself that if he did what he did, it was to earn money in order to guarantee his grandpa a serene old age.That he wasn’t a bad person, just an honest worker who tired to do his job at his best.That he had no other choice. He always blamed everyone else to justify his bad deeds. That he understood that day.That he was an hypocrite and a coward. He sold himself to Tybur as soon as he put a foot inside Eren’s too and smiled at him and he sold himself to Eren because he felt guilty toward him, but not just for that.His friendship with Eren had become true, at some point, but at the beginning there were no emotions involved. Nothing. Because if Armin allowed himself to feel something for Eren, then he would have seen him like a human being and he would lost his resolve.Eren knew that though. He knew why Armin was holding that hand to him the first time, or at least he suspected something. So Eren grabbed that same hand to drag him toward him, deeper, deeper, inside his web and suddenly Armin was tangled in Eren’s schemes with no way out.Nevertheless he had learnt how to feel only through his body, to detach his mind and heart from his body every time he had to do something he didn’t want to.His hands were tired together, so it was the only thing he could do.He allowed his body taking Eren’s hand, lying to his superiors and now spreading his legs for Erwin if he had to.Everything, to make Eren’s happy…‘Stop immediately, least you want Eren to know what you’re thinking, idiot ! You idiot, you idiot…’“Doctor Arlert !” A voice startled him “Nice to see you here. Let me to introduce myself…’One of the many biologists from the other country had noticed him and was curious to discuss giants with him.Armin was secretly grateful for that distraction and to have a civil conversation with someone whom, not only shared his same passion for knowledge and giants, but also didn’t look at him like he was a ticking bomb.‘Finally, a little taste of normalcy’ thought Armin greeting his colleague with a radiating smile.… PARADISE ISLAND - UTOPIA 2098 10th JULY 2098“A penny for your thoughts” said Frieda looking at Eren.They were in Frieda’s personally refugee, her laboratory outside Utopia, where she conducted all her experiments. She was sitting in front of a desk, analyzing some data to check wether her last experiment with the sailors was working or not.If the crystal room in Utopia was Eren’s nest and refugee, the laboratory near the sea was her.Despite everything she went through, she was still pretty fond of laboratories. She loved the smell of chemicals and discoveries.Science and biology were her guilty pleasure. A passion she couldn’t give up.She loved learning new things about her body, how It worked, how it evolved and how it could evolve in the future and she loved running experiments, considering each one of them useful no matter the results.In fact she and Eren were there because she was finishing to collect the new data to analyze them.Next to her, Eren was working on his next plan and, observing his frowning expression and his pout, it was clear that he was undecided about something.The King of the island didn’t share her passion for biology research. All his worst experiences were highly connected with syringes, scientists, thirst for knowledge and furthermore Eren hated the smell of laboratory.Nevertheless, Eren didn’t mind keeping her company during her researches, specially while he was busy planning something and wanted her opinion on the matter.Eren’s plans were almost perfect because he was scrupulous and planned them in every detail, nothing left to chance.She was impressed by how low the possibility of failing was every time. Some shifters joked that Eren possessed a secret clairvoyance ability, others that Eren could see the future.Among everyone, Frieda was the oldest shifter. She witnessed shifters developing abilities of all kind, day after day, year after year and she saw Eren growing up, as a giant, as a King.Eren always insisted that being a monarch was overrated, that all you needed to be one was one more requirement. So she wouldn’t be surprise if Eren could secretly see the future.He was the nucleus, his DNA changed constantly. He was one of a kind and who could predict how many other ability he would develop later.She hoped she would be there by his side to witness them all.“You can read them.” Answered Eren without looking at her.“Why ? I miss your voice” joked Frieda “What are you planning ?”“I’m planning our next move. As you know” said Eren “I’ve been reading Armin’s mind and he has made no progress with Erwin Smith. This complicates a little my original plan, so I’m trying to adequate it”“Are you still planning to send some of us in Marley though ?”“Yes, but I will split them up in two groups”“Why ?” Asked Freida.“I’m planning to form two group of three people or four people. I haven’t decided yet… Anyway. One of the group will be recruited in the army and the second…”“The second ?” Asked Frieda tilting her head on the side.“The point is that Erwin doesn’t trust Armin for some reason. Since I don’t know Erwin personally I can’t be sure wether he doesn’t trust because it’s his nature, or because he knows that Armin is a shifter or a former member of the Warrior Unit. There are too many informations I don’t know so there are many variables to put into account” answered Eren “The informations I found about him on Internet could only do much but that’s no t the point”“What the point is then ?”“I need some of us to move freely without having his breath on their neck as he’s doing with Armin but I also need someone who can use his powers freely, like Armin again, so that I can throw a bait not only to the Warrior Unit but also to everyone who had some connection with Tybur” answered Eren, proud of his plan.“And who’s going to be the bait ?” Asked Frieda “You know, I usually support your plans, not matter how dangerous or crazy they could be, but you said you don’t have many informations. Maybe we shouldn’t get ourself so much involved with the army”“I’m afraid this is inevitable. Our paths are destined to cross, the only thing we can do is to cross us with theirs on our own terms” answered Eren.“I thought our paths will crossed only once we are ready to crush them !” Growled Frieda.“Well we must wait. I share your sentiment, I desire nothing more than spreading their guts on the ground and finally granted your wish, but before that, we need to find ‘them’” said Eren standing up and kneeling in front of Frieda “I need E2 to infiltrate and be my eyes. You understand why, but I also need to find Grisha Yeager. I was convinced that Zeke would have found him by now, but apparently I was wrong.”Grisha Yeager was all Eren had left, the only hope he had to finally know the truth. To find peace. Of all the things he had learnt about his origins all over the years, there was only one question that remained unanswered.Eren’s telepathy was extraordinary. He passed from being able to read the mind of those with the serum, to being able to read everyone’s mind in general. Nevertheless to read someone’s mind, he needed to know them personally or that some of his brothers knew that person, yet it wasn’t the same thing.His mind wasn’t connected with Grisha Yeager and he didn’t know him personally. To increase his anxiety and frustration, he knew almost nothing about the man.He only knew when he was born, his job, his family. Everything someone could find on internet but that was all. Even in Kruger’s memories there wasn’t anything useful. Their paths departed after the disappeared of Kruger and then Grisha isolated himself and then disappeared.That was another of Eren’s deepest secret. He told to his brother that killing Grisha Yeager was necessary in order to achieve their goals and, in a world when everyone could easily read his mind like a book, Eren forced himself to think it so many time that he ended up believing it.He had accumulated so many mixed feelings about the man over the years that he didn’t know what he would do once he found him. When he found him.Eren would never give up, not before he had his answer.“You’re frowning again” observed Frieda caressing Eren’s hair.“I’m just tired. That’s all. I have all this abilities and nevertheless I’m still here, in a crystal room, surrounded by my enemies and a target on my nape. I… I’m tired of living in fear” said Eren “I desire for nothing more than to keep the promise I made to you, to all of you. I’m such a disappointment”“Don’t be like that. I’m sorry if I doubted you before. You know that my motherly instinct take over me and I don’t want any of you to be in danger. If I could, I would keep you here in this crystal castle forever” said Frieda “Always young and perfect, like in a dollhouse”“It’s pretty creepy what you just said. We’re not your dolls and this is not a dollhouse Frieda.” Replied Eren taking Frieda’s hand off of his hair, only to hug her later “The idea of being locked up inside a room isn’t that appealing to me.”“Yeah… sorry. Finished what you were saying. How do you intend to stem the Smith problem ?”“I’m afraid there’s only one way. We need to expose ourself another time. I hate the idea of our brothers alone, on a foreign land, surrounded by our enemies but I have no other ideas” confessed Eren “My abilities are powerful but have still limitations, nevertheless my bond with our brothers is strong and if they are in need of protection, I will lend them my strength. That I can promise”“You haven’t failed once until this moment, if you can promise that all of them will come back home once the mission is over, I will support you fully”Eren closed his eyes and lowered his head. It was all Frieda needed to understand that, after Mina, another of her ‘children’ were going to die at the hands of humans. She closed her eyes, trying not cry but in the end, little crystal droplets from her eyes.She didn’t have the heart to ask how many but she could imagine. It was a mistake on her part, developing such intense maternal feelings for the other shifters but as one of the firsts of her kind, when she looked at them she didn’t see subjects, she didn’t see brothers, she saw children. Children in need of her protection.“When do you plan to send them away ?”“As soon as E2 will be able to perform a decent full transformation. I’ve already decided that I want him to be part of the group whose abilities will be known by Smith”“He’s still news to all this mess, are you really sure he will be able to bear such pressure ? Smith will surely turn him into a guinea pig, specially if he realizes how much special he is”“Zeke knew about his existence. He’s already searching for E2 and reading his mind, I know he’s not going to stop. E2 is the key. If those bastards find out that Zeke is looking for the guy and that the army is protecting him, they will surely think that there has to be a reason. They will do their move and when it happens, we will do ours”“And with Armin spying on both Smith and the Warrior Unit, you will be able to leak the news. You will be able to anticipate their move. They will know what you want them to know, they will do what you want them to do and be where you want them to do…” deduced Frieda “… It’s an excellent plan after all”“I admit that I shouldn’t burden Armin alone with such responsibility but unfortunately my abilities don’t allow me to find those people myself. I know who they are, you do to but they don’t have the serum, we don’t know where they are and I don’t know them personally, only through Tybur’s memories. It’s kinda frustrating how much people are different from someone’s memory”“Well, you should consider that almost a year passed from Tybur’s death. And you’re right, if we wait another year, humans will be more than equipped for a war against us. We need to find those people quickly” said Frieda “Furthermore my little experiment with the sailors is working. Slowly, but it’s giving me some results”“That’s what matters. Results” said Eren standing up “I know that some of them won’t agree with the plan, but it’s the only one to take down the Warrior Unit, those idiots of the Royal Government and the army all together once and for all”“All right, what else are you planning to do ?”“Nothing striking, but the war is not only fought with weapons and armies. You also said that you need to test your new little experiment, didn’t you ?” Asked Eren grinning “I mean, you need more volunteers don’t you ?”“Oh…” smirked Frieda understanding “Actually, I do. I do need more volunteers for my little experiment. Those guys…” she said indicating the unconscious body of the sailors on the other side of the glass “Are not enough to conduct a proper research to state weather or not my new serum is going to work. I need a larger sample”“I will procure it to you. They won’t know what hit them and when they do, it will be too late.” Said Eren “If what I have in mind is going to happen, you will have to start looking for a larger laboratory”IN THE MEANTIME…E2 was at the beach with Sasha, Ymir and Marco. The day before they had bet that if E2 managed to accomplish a full transformation without loosing control after, they would accompany him to the beach. If he lost control, then he would have to take part into another lesson with the ‘cubs’.E2 didn’t mind that actually.Bonding with people still wasn’t easy for him. He often misinterpreted others’ jokes, he still felt uncomfortable with looking people in the eyes or when someone touched him, hugged him and stuff like that. He didn’t understand guys of his age, so bonding with the ‘cubs’ had been pretty difficult for him.He didn’t know what children liked in a person, so he began with imitating Sasha but the cubs quickly understood that he was just pretending to be another person. That he was act like himself. No one would ever tell that children could be that smart but they were.They noticed that he wasn’t at ease with them, that he spoke rarely, that tended to keep his distances. At some point, one of the youngest children asked his name and took his hand and introduced him to the others. It was pretty embarrassing, but in the end, with a little effort, he learnt all their name and spent a nice afternoon with them.He proposed to take them at the beach, but Ymir almost killed him with her eyes. She didn’t share his love for those she called ‘brats’.“Oh, what amazing sight. You want to ruin a perfect day of peace and quiet with those brats” said Ymir laying on the sand.“Don’t be that way. They’re so adorable when you learn how to behave around them. They’re cute, when they look at you with those adorable puppy eyes you can’t resist hugging them and…”“Yeah, yeah, we know you’re proud of your little rants” hissed Ymir rolling her eyes “Let’s focus on a more interesting topic. My dear E2, before you left the island, you need to get laid”“YMIR !!” Yelled Marco nudging her, red in face “You can’t say things like that !!”“Why not ? We’re going to leave this island soon and probably we will die. No one deserves to die virgin” said Ymir “Me and Marika already have plans”“Eh ? Can someone translate for me please ?” Asked E2 who fatigued following the sense of the conversation “And who’s Marika ?”“You’ve met her once but I guess you two haven’t properly introduced” said Marco “Well, Marika is she”Marco sent E2 a mental imagine of Marika inside his head.He saw the imagine of a girl, with long blond hair, woven into three braids on the right side, wearing a black leather trousers and a black t-shirt with a pair of boots. She was a pretty girl, but she also looked a little intimidating. She wore various bracelets on both her wrists and a necklace around her neck.She also had delicate features, green eyes and her porcelain skin. In her past life, she would have looked like an angel, or a princess. She probably was that kind of girl that all the boys wanted and all the girls envied. Almost impossible not to notice in a crowd, but maybe E2 really didn’t remember her at that reunion. In his defense, he met so many people that day that it was impossible to remember all those faces and names. He hoped he didn’t offend her.“She’s a special friend of mine” said Ymir alluding “A very special, special friend”“Ymir, you know that I don’t understand half of the things you say”“That’s because you should stop being so literal. You should have learnt by now that people rarely mean what they say” replied Ymir throwing sand at him.“I’m sorry, but I can’t refrain myself from wondering why someone need to say something when they want to say something different. Why people don’t simply say what they want to say ? Doing this they also risk to get the wrong answer” replied E2 pouting “People are so complicated” he finished throwing sand back at Ymir.“Well, we’re side tracking. I was talking about me and Marika and all the hot things we’re planning to do together”“Hot things ? You mean like sunbathing ? Or something that has to be done in a warm environment ?” Asked E2 innocently.“Any environment could be warm enough when you do it the right way” winked Ymir “If it’s cold, you make it hot”“Ah ? How can I make something hot ?” Asked E2 “Marco, Sasha, please help me”Finally, Marco decided he had enough “What Ymir is shamelessly implying is that she and Marika are planning to have sexual intercouse with Marika and she’s suggesting us to do the same”E2 blinked several times before asking again “So, it’s normal for girls to like other girls ? I’m still pretty stranger to these dynamics and how can I be sure someone like me or not ?”E2 was really curious about the topic. After all, there was a boy he had been dreaming since he arrived on the island and even though he he was pretty ignorant about everything that involved relationships, he knew that that boy had to mean something to him.He wasn’t familiar with what a boy was supposed to do with a male friend or a male special friend, as Ymir called them. E2 found hard distinguish the hugs shared between a couple of friends or a couple like Frank and Anna, but he knew that between him and the boy of his dreams there was something ‘intimate’. Furthermore, that boy was very gorgeous, at least compared to society standards of beauty.Another reason why he needed to learn more about relationships. If he found the boy, he didn’t want look awkward. He wanted to make a good impression and he wanted to feel normal, for once.“Well, people could like whoever they want. Eren doesn’t care who we spent our time with as long as we remain faithful to our kind” answered Ymir “He doesn’t judge us and he doesn’t want us to be someone different from what we are”E2 bite his lower lip. That wasn’t a good news. The Ackerman guy wasn’t like him and he doubted that Eren would ever approve their friendship or any kind of interaction that could compromise him.Although Ymir affirmed that Eren didn’t hold anything against homosexual people, E2 knew better. Levi being a man wasn’t the main problem.It was also pretty arrogant on his part, thinking that he had a chance with Levi. He didn’t even know what guy personally, he didn’t even know if the other liked men or not.E2 didn’t know what meant liking a man or a woman. He needed to learn more.“So, let’s get back on track. How can I make something hot with a person ? How do I start ?”“Are you serious ?” Asked Marco stunned.“Well, it appears that all of you know more than me. Be honest, how many times have you got laid in your life ?”“E2 !!” Exclaimed Sasha blushing “You don’t go asking these kind of questions to a girl”“Honestly, it’s very private. We are not all uninhibited like Ymir” murmured Marco lowering his head embarrassed.“I didn’t mean to pry. I just want to understand better this stuff of intimacy. I don’t know, Frank and Anna have this and they look up so I wouldn’t mind having something similar.” Explained E2 playing with the sleeve of his hoodie.“Well, if you want what Frank and Anna have then it’s totally different from what I was proposing to you.” Said Ymir.“Why ? Is because they do what they do with clothes on so is less hot and intimate ?” Asked E2 blinking.“No, it’s because they do what they do in public with their clothes on that makes what they have more important and deeper” answered Ymir suddenly serious.“I don’t understand” said Eren “What could be more intimate than seeing someone naked ?”All that stuff was confusing him. Then he thought about his ‘dreams’ and slightly blushed. It was only when he thought about those dreams and that he was trying very hard to keep everyone out of his mind, that he suddenly realized that there could be different kind of intimacy.“Of E2…” said Marco caressing his head “Don’t have rush to know everything. There are things you need to learn with time. Trying to explain them to you will be more confusing. What I can tell you is that what Anna and Frank share is very special, more intimate then getting laid and naked. Being in a relationship requires a certain kind of commitment that it’s not for everyone”“Are you talking from experience ? Do you have someone special Marco ?”E2 wouldn’t be surprised after all. Wether they were female or male, Marco was a lovely guy and anyone would be lucky to be in a relationship with him, clothes on or not, warm or cold temperature.“I… I used to… That’s why I’m telling you that you don’t have to waste all your firsts times following Ymir’s stupid advices just to learn the difference between getting laid or being in a relationship. Believe, despite what people say, it’s not guaranteed that you would like being in a shallow relationship with someone”“So, you’re saying that Marika isn’t important to Ymir ?”“Not as much as Anna is important to Frank” answered Ymir sincerely “Tell me what you want but as Marco said, that level of commitment is quite scaring and, considering that I can die anytime soon, I’m kind scared of getting attached to someone. I don’t want to hurt someone and I don’t want to get hurt by losing someone”E2 nodded. He didn’t take that into consideration. It was easy during those moments to forget that there was a world outside the island that wanted them to disappear. Maybe he should follow Ymir’s advice and trying to get laid with someone like him, a giant. Simeone who E2 knew he could rely on and being sincere from the beginning.Maybe he shouldn’t get attached to someone he didn’t know personally. Maybe he should let Levi go and focus on someone who would be more accepted among his brothers.Suddenly he wished he’d never asked to discuss about the topic. He would have preferred keeping dreaming about Levi and a possible future together but, it was pretty naive.Deep down, he was still a child.“Hey, don’t be so sad” said Marco taking his hand “You will find someone special too. Someone who will be happy to stand by your side and precious all your first times with you.”“What if I die before to find them ?” Whined E2, like a petulant child who had just learnt he would never had the toy he wanted so bad, “I don’t know how to speak normally with someone, how am I supposed to get laid or to persuade someone to kiss me ?”‘How would it be like kissing Levi?’E2 was sure. He didn’t want to kiss anyone but him. At least one time. He wanted to kiss Levi like Anna kissed Frank and maybe hug him too.It would be naive thinking that he and Levi could have what Anna and Frank had. If what Marco told him was true, and E2 suspected it was, there was no future with Levi but there could be a brief present.He actually hoped it.He wanted to feel him with both his body and heart and create something beautiful, even if ephemeral.…MARLEY - VILLA HELOS 15th SEPTEMBER 2098‘An year has passed already…’ thought Levi.He took a look at the villa in front of him, one of the many that used to belong to Tybur but didn’t figure with the rest of his property.How could a family hide an entire villa from the rest of world ? That was beyond Levi’s understanding. Nevertheless he was waiting there with other members of the Scouts Legion, while Mike was trying to unlock the main door.They had been sent there, well equipped with weapons and determination, to face whatever threat they could find on the other side of that door.“It’s very Resident Evil” joked Hanji salivating at the mere thought of all the creatures she could find that night and the voice distorted by the helmet.“I hope not. Only four people survived that game in the end” replied Armin.“I’ve no idea what you two fuckers are talking about but what I hope is to find answers once and for all.” Said Levi “I want this shit to be over soon”A year had passed since the world learnt the existence of the giants. A year since the Scouts legions had been hunting down the Warrior Unit, seizing any Tybur’s property, interrogating any scientist, researcher or former worker of Tybur and nevertheless…And nevertheless the Warrior Unit was still free, hiding somewhere, and there were still people who hadn’t been found and Tybur had so many connections that they had just scratching the surface.Villa Helos, was a villa situated on one of the few islands of Marley. It wasn’t extended like Paradise, it was much smaller than it, maybe that was the reason why it had been easy to hide there.It wasn’t sure, but recently proofs and tips suggested that inside that Villa there could still be people who were hiding and secretly conducting experiments.It was improbable, but they were in no position of ignoring anonymous tips.“Fucking Tybur” he whispered fixing his helmet.He hadn’t been sleeping well for almost a week. The dreams had become much more intense. He could almost smell the boy beside him. He smelled of summer days, sea breeze, coconut and something else he could remember when he woke up.He did remember how soft the skin of the boy’s hand was at his touch and his hair…Levi mentally kicked himself. That wasn’t the moment to lose himself inside his thoughts, but he couldn’t ignore that it was like his body was trying to tell him something.Like something deep down inside him already knew that once crossed the threshold of that villa, his life would change again.Like a part of him strongly and unconsciously desired something on the other side of the main door. Like he felt that that thing was already his and he wanted to touch it again.Unbeknownst to him, a brunette boy with green eyes was waiting for him inside one of the many room of the villa.‘I’m here’Though E2, hoping with all his heart that Levi could be sharing his same feeling. Just one touch and finally Levi would feel real in his hands.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY - VILLA HELOS 15th SEPTEMBER 22:00 Erwin Smith was growing impatient. After all those months he finally had a leak. Few weeks ago, he managed to arrest Leon Denver. Proof had been found that that man used to be one of Tybur’s fences. Denver had been interrogated for days, before he finally decided to spill the bean. Apparently Denver used to visit a warehouse situated in the outskirts of Lago City, headed to an employee of Tybur.Tybur used to head properties to his employees not only to buy their loyalty but also to use them for different purposes. The reason why Erwin interested that property in particular wasn’t the kind of goods, specially because after what happened in Lago City everything was destroyed. Nevertheless, phone records remained and so a long list of fences Tybur used to do business with. It was given to him by another employee under interrogation. In that way, they learnt about Denver, so Erwin started tracking him, informing about him.The fence wasn’t a fool. Apparently Denver predicted that someone would be looking for him, so he tried to cover his tracks but in the end they found him. During the time spent in searching for him, Erwin had found proves of Denver’s movements nearby the port of Liberio. In the end, Denver confessed that he was working for another client, was there to surveil a load of goods that needed to be sent to Villa Helos under their request.Denver didn’t know the name of his client, they only communicated through third parties and the client had paid Denver with a large sum of cash, split in two payment, given to him by two different persons every time.When Erwin asked him to tell him what kind of good he was supposed to send, Denver answered him that his client requested a long list of chemicals, drugs and medical equipment but he didn’t know what was the purpose.It was clear that Denver didn’t know anything else, so Erwin decided to focus his attention of Villa Helos.Villa Helos was one of the old and the smallest property of Tybur in Marley. He was situated on one of the island that formed the archipelago of Marley, but apparently Tybur hadn’t lived there or visited that place in a long time, but other people close to Tybur came and went to that Villa for apparently no reason.Erwin saw a scheme in all of that though.Villa Helos was situated between Marley and Paradis, it wouldn’t be improbable that any kind goods or person Tybur wanted to bring on Paradis passed from there.What if that Villa wasn’t empty ? What if that Villa had been used for illegal purposes ? What if people from Paradise were sent there ? Villa Helos wasn’t suitable to conduct experiments there, specially with giants, but he knew that there was a lab.Thousands and more questions like that formed inside his head, until Erwin decided to take matter inside his hands and planned that blitz in Villa Helos. “Villa Helos…” muttered Nanami through her helmet “… A pretentious name” Helos was the name of one of Tybur’s ancestors, who had distinguished himself among his comrades in one of the many battles that modeled the great Emperor of Marley.Deep down, a dark desire awaken in Erwin. He wished he could set that Villa on fire, seeing it burn brick after brick. He wished Tybur was still alive to see him enter his property and destroyed everything he had built. He wished Tybur was still alive, to kill him himself…Once they maned to open the main door, one after one they entered inside the Villa.As he expected, the main hall was well cleaned, nothing was out of places. There were wooden tables on which vases, ashtrays and various kind of objects were, all perfectly clean. Not a speck of dust on them, which meant that they were regularly cleaned. According to the datas they collected, no one officially lived there, but it didn’t exclude the possibility of meeting someone, just like the guards they had to met in front of the gates. “Someone lives here, or someone comes here to clean regularly” commented Hanji “You’re right, this Villa didn’t seem abandoned” commented someone else. “Mike, send the floor plan to any of us. We’re going to split” ordered Erwin. According to the plan they had of the Villa, there were two underground floors and Erwin was certain that if there was something hidden inside that building was there. Nevertheless he wanted to be scrupulous. He split everyone in three groups, one would check the floors upstairs and the other two would check one of the two underground floors.The plan was to signal once they finished checkin any room of each floor and once done to come back there and waiting for others.In case of them found something or were in danger, they had to contact the others and wait for reinforce before to do something reckless.While Erwin was giving them their orders, Armin came closer to Levi and and spoke. “I envy him for act so collected. It looks like he isn’t afraid to die” he whispered. “Well, Eyebrows has a talent for surviving” hummed Levi “Pity that his talent doesn’t extend to others” “Nevertheless you’re here, waiting for your orders and ready to obey him. For a person you don’t even trust ?” Said Armin. “It’s not a matter of trust. Eyebrows and I are… friends I guess ? I know that there are shits he’s hiding from him and that his head is fucking messier and complicated than one of those jigsaw puzzle Shitty Four Eyes enjoys doing during her free time but… I simply decide that I don’t care” “You and I joined him in his crusade around the same time. We don’t know him so well, nevertheless it’s clear that he favors you over me although we’re quite similar”“Are you referring about my… secondary nature ?” Huffed Levi “As I wouldn’t know that the only reason why Erwin asked me to join him in the first place was essential the serum though my veins. He needed him but I needed him too. We’ve been honest about it since the beginning” Armin nodded. Nonetheless he was surprised that Levi didn’t mind being used that way, but probably he behaved like that because he used Erwin as well.Maybe that was the reason why their relationship had grown more during the latest year. Levi and Erwin had never hidden or pretended not to see on what their friendship was founded. Need. Convenience. Exchange.Nothing was given for free and they both knew. Both used the other and it was obvious and that paradoxically made that relationship the most genuine and sincere Erwin ever had.Erwin didn’t need to lie with Levi to make the other obey his order. He didn’t need to persuade the raven hair man with empty promises, mellifluous words and gentle smiles. The blond commander knew that Levi would have obeyed because, in the end, they both got what they want.Erwin got the serum, a perfect killing machine and blunt bud that would never lie to him.Levi got a roof over his head, answers about his condition and a bud that, in spite of his flaws, in few months had given to him what he didn’t have before.Armin’s relationship with Erwin wasn’t like that, at all. Armin and Erwin had been dancing around each other with lies, half truths and riddles singe the beginning and after all those years, Armin was starting to doubt his ability of forming a genuine relationship with anyone. “Aren’t you worried that your secrets will ruin your friendship ?” He asked with genuine curiosity. “Secrets don’t ruin a friendship, lies do. At least that’s what I think” answered Levi shrugging. “… We’re going to meet here again in three hours. Good luck to all of you” concluded Erwin. Erwin was a little disappointed that no one had appeared from nowhere ready to intimidate them or worse.That situation wasn’t normal. Entering was too easy. Leaving only two guards outside to surveil the Villa was ridiculous, almost like did on purpose. Like someone wanted them to believe that someone still lived or worked inside the Villa but at the same time was inviting them inside with open arms.The question was, inviting toward what ? Death or answers ? ‘Well, I guess I won’t find out remaining here’ thought Erwin observing the other teams leaving. The Special Operations Squad, otherwise known as Squad Levi was sent to check the one of the underground floor, followed by another squad composed of Hanji, Moblit, Nanaba and other two soldiers. Erwin, Mike, Armin and others were going to investigate upstairs.Armin knew why Erwin had put him in the same team with him. It was another test. He told Erwin that he’d never worked in Villa Helos, so he didn’t know the Villa nor wether o not there were secret passages. Armin was really getting desperate with Erwin. He finally had the courage to invite him to a date last month, as friend and he remained surprised when Erwin accepted his invitation.Since he invited Erwin as friend, they didn’t do anything extravagant that night. They simply decided to have a picnic together outside the facility, just the two of them. Armin took a chessboard with them, so they simply spent sometime talking and playing chess.It wasn’t the worst friend-date he had in his life. His time spent with Eren in his white room, monitored and observed like he was a fish into an aquarium. Aside from Erwin who continued to observe him with the same severity of a teacher during an exam. It was during that occasion that Armin understood that they the best way to deal with Erwin was trying not to get upset for it.Erwin looked everyone with severity, almost like he constantly and silently blaming everyone for keeping something secret from him. If Armin avoided to look offended or to start a fight with Erwin every time the other accused him of something, then he could even manage to spent a nice afternoon with him.It helped that Erwin was an attractive man. The blond commander didn’t smile often, but when he did, he was actually gorgeous and he even looked younger. Furthermore he was very intelligent and cultured and Armin could discuss with him about many different topics.Literature, history, science, policy even cook. After that first ‘date’, they began to spend more time together. Sometimes Mike and Levi joined them, sometime even Hanji and Moblit. Armin preferred when there were other people, they provided him a buffer that prevented him from seeing Erwin anything but an enemy. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to work here” commented Armin looking around, more to interrupt his stream of conscious that was carrying on toward dangerous thoughts. “Why ? There aren’t giants here ?” Asked Erwin. “Exactly. I know that our researches weren’t ethical but I do insist that the serum remain an extraordinary invention but this isn’t an ideal place to study it” answered Armin “It’s a good news after all. I bet no one is ready to face a giant after what happened in Lago City” concluded going upstairs, walking before Erwin. Armin had an idea about what Eren had in store for them that night, but he didn’t know all the details himself. He was actually surprised when Eren mentioned Villa Helos. It was one of the oldest poverties of Tybur. The Villa was built and decorate in victorian style, although it was more emptier than it used to do.When the Tybur family risked the bankrupt the first time, the first things they sold were their antiques from their oldest Villas. Paintings, furnitures, carpets, jewels, family heirlooms…Villas Helos was one of the first property to be emptied and almost put up for sale. Only after having reached a certain financial stability, Tybur chanced his mind about Villa Helos and decided to use it to gain money.At the beginning the villa was supposed to be turned into an hotel, then before Kruger invented the serum, it was an orphanage.Tybur decided to welcome inside it orphans of all age in order to offer them a roof over their head, food and an education. It was probably one of the few act of pure generosity ever done by that cursed family. Unless it was done merely for public approval. Then few years after the 2068, Tybur risked the bankrupt again, so Villa Helos stopped being an orphanage but Tybur found another building where to transfer the orphans. Nevertheless, Villa Helos had never be an orphanage again and with the time it simply became another facility to study the serum. “Do you know that this used to be an orphanage ?” Asked Armin out of nowhere while they were walking down a corridor. “Yes, many years ago.” Commented Erwin “I’m glad I didn’t spend my childhood here. I don’t believe anymore in any kind of generosity that comes from a Tybur” Erwin opened a door on his left and entered, followed by Mike and Armin while the others continued their search along the corridors. Once they were sure that there was nothing interesting inside that room, they left and continued their searching. … ‘I didn’t miss any of this’ thought E2 playing with the sleeve of his white shirt. He was locked up inside one of the cells situated in Villa Helos, next to his cell there was Marco and inside another one there was Sasha.It wasn’t a pleasing situation, specially because it reminded him of all the years spent in a white room, wearing a white pajama all day.He hadn’t realized how cruel it was, until he saw the sea for the first time and then he found himself locked up in a room again, what Tybur and even Tom did to him.They had locked him inside a room, denying him any chance to live. To see the world. It was in that moment that he hated Tom for the first time, that he ceased, for a moment, to blame himself for his death.Tom had it coming, exactly like Tybur and any person responsible of his imprisonment. If only he thought about how many times he wasted fighting with Eren about Tom’s death…Finding himself locked up inside a white room again represented a second awaken for him. A reminder that even thought he managed to escape his prison once, no one guaranteed to him that he wouldn’t being imprisoned again.It was a reminder that he had so many things to lose and that there was so much at stake.Nevertheless, he was trying to see the positive side of this experience. First of all, he had managed to improve his transformation after many failed attempts.Second of all, Eren trusted him enough to entrust him with that mission.In the end, he would finally learn more about the humans and specially one human in particular. Levi. The same Levi he hoped he would meet that night and for that he was happy Eren picked them to be sent there and pretend to be prisoners inside. Villa Helos wasn’t suited to be turned into a facility like the one in Utopia; nevertheless Tybur sent there the people from Paradis, the ones that survived the injection and became shifters or Ackermans.They were sent there to be observed, studied, to be injected with different kind of serum, subjected to different proofs and tests and if they succeeded everything they were sent to the training center and join the Warrior Unit. It was a good cover according to Eren. Erwin Smith found them there and welcomed them in the army, asking for a collaboration and protection in exchange of samples and tests of the serum. Eren assured him that he would made the acquaintance of another shifter, friend of Eren.Armin Arlert, that the name he said. He asked about him to Marco and Sasha before being separated and both of them agreed that Armin and Eren shared a deep friendship. They said that among all the shifters Armin was the person who knew Eren the most after Freda. From what he gathered, Armin was intelligent, assertive, he was the port to land during a storm caused by Eren’s anger. The silence to Eren’s noise. The rain that turned off the fire caused by Eren’s passion. E2 felt a little intimidated. He had no idea how to handle someone who was portrayed so smart and intelligent since he knew he still had many gaps. ‘Hey Marco… Can you tell me if someone arrived ?’ He asked using telepathy. ‘I’d tell you to try to deduce it yourself but I guess you just want to talk a bit, don’t you ?’ ‘Yeah… I’m getting nervous here. It would be the first time I find myself in the company of someone who doesn’t weak a white coat or someone of you.” ‘It’s normal, don’t worry. We can talk about whatever you want’ ‘I hope I don’t offend you but… you used to be a human before right ? How are the humans ?’ Marco, who was inside another cell bite his lower lip. He had shared with E2 many stories about his time as human. After all, thanks to his family, he had a serene and happy childhood and adolescence. He didn’t feel at ease, because E2 didn’t have any of that things and it made Marco feel like he was throwing in the other’s face all his happiness. But how answer to his questions about how humans are ?How humans are ? ‘I wouldn’t know. They… they are complicated, I guess. They are more fragile than us, that’s why they did what they did. They have flaws and want desperately to fix them’ ‘But we have flaws as well. Our abilities are weaker during the night; after too many transformations our body barely function; we… I… I don’t feel anything perfect’ ‘That’s because you have a low self-esteem and you compare yourself with everyone. You should stop, you know ? It was okay when you arrived on Paradise, observing the others and trying to learn from others, but now you should believe in yourself more’ ‘It’s just that I see myself so plain comparing to everyone. You’re kind and sweet; Sasha is a force of nature; Ymir is a badass… all of you have a personality that defines you and are special your own way and… and Marco ? Why are you here ?’ ‘What do you mean ?’ ‘I mean that Eren didn’t oblige anyone to fight by his side. Any of you chose to fight with him, to die for him. Why did you ? Why did you swear on your life to fight for Eren ?’ Marco sighed and rested his arms on his knees. Why was he there ? Why did he agreed on being imprisoned again ? Why did he decide to swear loyalty to Eren ?Why did he decide to fight a war ? Because that same war had chosen him before he could actually had a choice. That was the truth. Because he had to, for his family. For himself… For the boy he used to be and the man he would never become. For the past he lived and the future that he risked to lose. For the past he had already lost.He still remembered clearly how everything started. How could he not ? Historically speaking, they were difficult times, full of tensions due to internal struggles between Paradise of North and of South. It became a witch hunt at some point. Everyone suspected anyone to support the opposite faction and everyone avoided to confront each other on political issues for the fear of saying something inappropriate and there was a lot of tension that prevented everyone to live with tranquility.Paradise of the North was ruled by the Emperor of Marley after the assassin of the entire royal family but not everyone were happy to have to obey to a King when the South was a democracy. In the same way, North politicians wanted to restore the monarchy in the South too. In few words, one wrong move was all it took to send someone straight into Tybur’s web of paranoia, cruelty and avarice. To instigate fear among the citizens a man suspected of spying activities for the Paradise of the South had been killed in front of them. Ti give them a warning… They were terrible times indeed. …
PARADISE ISLAND 2090
‘I want to go home’
Marco had been observing the ceiling with tears in his eyes, trying so much not to cry like a baby but it was getting harder any second.
How could it be possible that day could end like that ?
The day had started so well. He had finally managed to find a new job to financially support his family. His father used to have a restaurant but five years ago, his activity failed and he had to sold it. After that they got overwhelmed by debts, so both Marco and his mother found a job to pay them. Unfortunately, three months ago Marco lost his job and only that morning he managed to find another one.
His parents had been so happy for him, so much that his mother spent a little sum of their savings to buy him a little present.
It was everything so perfect…
He would have started his new job the next morning, at the end of the months he would have received his salary and everything would have been exactly how it was supposed to be. That evening he decided to get out with a couple friends but while he was returning to him house something happened… something terrible but he didn’t remember it…
What he knew was that he woke up in jail, with his clothes stained with blood, much blood and it didn’t belong to him.
He tried to ask for informations but no one accepted to talk with him.
Why was he there ? How could he end up there ? In jail ?
And why ? Why did they left him there ?
When he heard some footsteps, he stood up from the bench inside his cells and came closer to the bars.
“Please sir, at least tell me why I’m here. Everyone refuses to talk with me”
“And for good reasons, stay back you rant !!” ordered the guard beating the truncheon against the bars.
“Please, allow me to speak with my parents. They would be worrying by now” begged Marco bursting in tears.
He was pathetic but he was getting desperate. He had been in that cell for three hours already, maybe even more and he promised to his parents that he would have come back home before midnight because the next day he had to wake up early.
His parents, his dear mom and dad surely were waiting for him to come back home, worrying for him and he couldn’t get in contact with them because his cell had been sequestered with his wallet.
He was scared, alone in that cell and his mind was so confused. The smell of blood was nauseating, it made him feel dizzy and he wanted something he could use to clean his face.
“Then you shouldn’t have got wasted so bad to kill a man”
“Kill a man ? Me ?” Asked Marco stunned “No, it’s impossible. There has to be a mistake, I could never…”
“You could never ? Have you seen yourself ?” Asked the agent with voice full of disdain “A man died and you’re responsible for it.”
“No, no I didn’t drink that much. I don’t know how I ended up like this but I’m not a murderer. You arrested the wrong man” insisted Marco rising his voice “Please, you need to listen to me !!”
But everyone was deaf to his prayers that night. Not matter how much he cries, how much he pleaded to speak with his parents, to tell them that he was okay but that he needed help.
No one allowed him to talk with them or to have any contact with them for day.
He didn’t even had a lawyer to defend himself. Nothing.
No one gave him a change of clothes either, or something to eat. They only gave him a bottle of water, or at least he believed it was water but it had a weird taste.
It was only after that he realized that they were torturing him, weakening him but he didn’t know the reason yet.
Everything became clear few days later.
He only remember that after some days he had been obliged to sign a confession where he confessed to have murdered a man he didn’t know in cold blood.
Marco at the beginning refused to sign that paper but they continued to tortured him. Every days they brought him inside the interrogatory room and an agent put the paper to sign in front of him. Then the same agent every time showed the proofs they had against him.
The corpse of the man… or at least what had left of him.
‘How could have I done something so terrible ?’
Marco thought it every time he looked at that picture. At the beginning he tried to avoid to look at the picture but then he looked at it so intensely that he still remember any detailed. He did to cling on something during those grueling hours spent in that room, between a psychologist that tried to convince him to be guilty of murdered and an agent that throw at his false proofs of his guiltiness.
He tried to focus his attention on the silliest detailed, it was the only way he had to preserve his mental health.
While he was in his cell, he focus on his own smell, the stained of blood off his clothes, sometimes the smell of bleach when the cleaning man washed the floor.
He would never forget that mutilated body.
He would never forget that he only knew that that amount of bones and interiors belonged to a man because someone told him before.
The body was ripped into four pieces, or at least four were the limbs that he could recognize. A leg, the torso, one arm and half of the face. The rest of his faces seemed to have been crushed by something. Like someone had pressed an objects with so much strength that it completely crushed the jaw and blew his teeth. Some of them at least. There were some teeth near his face but they couldn’t be all.
He recognize the torso of the poor man only from one nipple, only one. The rest of the torso was covered with deep scratches and there were several bruises. Those scratches didn’t look human though. Marco looked at his own fingers and wondered how someone could actually believed that he did something like that with his bare hands.
They said they didn’t find anything on him that could explain those wound, but he was found on the crime scene covered with blood and that was enough for them.
The leg and the arms were full of bruises as well but the scratches were less deep than the ones on the torso, but there was one bruises around the wrist of the arm that caught his attention.
It looked like a hand, no, it wasn’t just a bruises it looked more like a burn. As if someone had grabbed his wrist with an object that burned the skin. What kind of object could have left a hand shaped burn ??
What kind of monster ?
He noticed that there was a similar wound on the leg at the height of the thigh.
The rest was jus flesh and blood. So Marco decided to focus on the eyes of the man.
‘Oh, he had such a beautiful eyes’
Marco thought noticing that they were blue. He wondered if the man’s beloved would be able to recognize him from those. He hoped so. Maybe he was the only one in all that story whom actually wanted justice for that man.
There were times when he looked at the picture and then at the clothes he was wearing, that he could swear to be hearing someone screaming. Someone beginning him to save him.
That man maybe. If that was the case, Marco failed to help him.
Then there were times he almost convinced himself that he had done that. That he was responsible for it. That he deserved to be punished, and hurt and tortured.
There were moments, when the guard ignored him, the policeman put that paper in front of him and the psychologist tried to manipulate him, that he wished he could do the same to them.
To put his hands around their throat and squeeze, until their faces became red, until they beg to breath again and in the end they stopped moving.
He looked at the picture and sometimes he wished he knew how could be possible do something like that.
Where the culprit began ? From the head, from the neck or the legs ?
One thing was sure. Against him there were only circumstantial proofs but no one cared and he couldn’t have a lawyer.
He wasn’t stupid. He knew that something was wrong, that maybe they knew who was responsible for it and they were trying to protect them by setting him up.
Then one day, when Marco had convinced himself to sign the confession to have even one crumb to swallow, the policeman spoke to him before to pull out the sheet with the confession.
“I will spoke frankly with you lad. You must to sign the confession. This story doesn’t involve you alone and I can’t let you die in this cell without you signing the paper.”
“Really ? Can’t you falsify my sign ? Or do you simply enjoy making me suffer ?” Asked Marco snorting.
“I could now that you make me think about it. But if I sign it in our place, then it means that I can finally get rid of you and let your body rot in a dump. Is what you want ?”
“I want a little humanity from you.”
“The same humanity you showed to your victim ?”
“I’m innocent and you know it” grunted Marco more forcefully than intended.
“Listen carefully lad. If you sign now this sheet before I do for you, there will always be the hope that you’re going to live another day. You will go in prison but you will live. If you refuse again, I will kill you and then I will make your beloved ones’ life a living hell”
“Why ? What’s happening ? That wasn’t an ordinary murder isn’t it ? That night I saw something I shouldn’t have, didn’t I ? I will never leave this police station alive, won’t I ?”
It was so depressing. Being arrested for something he didn’t even remember. Marco didn’t know wether it was a good or a bad thing. If only he could remember some detail, everything would have made more sense.
Unfortunately, all he could think about was a crumble of food. He was hungry and no longer able to think rationally. Furthermore, the threat toward his parents was loud and clear and Marco didn’t want to make his parents suffer any longer.
He had also lost track of time, he didn’t know how long his parents had been suffering for his missing. If they had any idea of where he was, if they knew that he had been incriminated for murdered and if that was the case, if they believed it.
He hoped they didn’t. He hoped they were okay and safe.
There was something else he didn’t quite understand. He knew that someone who didn’t eat but regularly drink water could live longer than someone who didn’t have food and water at the same time, but there was something else that was weird.
His body. He didn’t lose weight, at least not as much as he should have. His trousers felt only slightly larger but not too much. He felt weak and hungry, his mind was clouded by the desire for something to bite and swallow and nevertheless his body was still in perfect shape. He looked just a little paler but nothing else changed about him.
It wasn’t normal. He didn’t feel normal anymore.
“Sign the paper lad” insisted he officer “You’re charged of murdering an official of the kingdom of Marley. What is was ? A signs of protest ? You support the South ? You…”
Marco stopped listening what the officer was saying. In the end, the man told him what Marco wanted to know, what remained to do was deciding wether to sign that paper or no.
Basically Marco needed to decide wether he would live another day. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have any hope to cling on.
In the end he lost hope before he lost his mind and worse, he was losing any trait that used to define him.
If there was a word that everyone who knew him use to describe him was ‘angel’ and he was. Always kind, always ready to help anyone, always gentle and sensible. Even when someone hurt him or offend him, Marco never got angry. Even when his family risked the bankrupt the first time, he always found a reason to smile and emotionally support his family.
But in that moment he was alone, hungry and surrounded by people who seemed to enjoy looking him suffer.
He found himself more than once looking at the man’s jugular and wishing to rip it out with his teeth. He wished he could reduce the officer’s body exactly like the man in the picture.
He signed the paper, then he was sent to Utopia, but not in prison but in the facility. Few days later his arrival he got injected with the serum and turned himself into a mindless giant and then he remembered that night.
He remembered everything and his heart filled with hatred. He swore to himself that he would get his revenge but of course as a mindless giant his body no longer belonged to him.
But then he heard a voice, an angel who swore him the sea and he trusted that angel…
… Of course it wasn’t an angel. Eren was anything but an angel. Eren was resentful, full of hatred, with anger issues that passed from being a fire ready to set the entire island on fire into a snowstorm able to freeze anyone to death.Relentless, unpredictable and untamed like the sea…Marco feared him, but nevertheless he didn’t regret his decision to join him. When Marco shifted back into his human form, he felt like there was no place he could belong in the world. He wasn’t a human being and neither a giant.He had a name but it didn’t mean anything because there was no one to call him by that. ‘Eren gave me back my life… or better he gave me a new one. It’s because of him if I have still a name that has some meaning. He helped me a lot, all of us actually. But it’s not just for him’ ‘What do you mean ?’ Asked E2. ‘Someone hurt me, E2. Someone took me away from my family and imprisoned me in a white room, same as you. I will never forget what they did to me and I will never forgive’ ‘I’m sorry, Marco. I guess this room brings back bad memories to you’ ‘Yeah…’ ‘What is Sasha doing ?’ ‘She’s sleeping. She’s sharing her dreams with us.” ‘Really ?’ “Really. Try to sleep, it will take a little before they found us here’ ‘Okay’. E2 lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. Sasha’s dreams were a better options than those white walls anyway. … Erwin, Armin and Mike found themselves inside another studio. On the door there was a plaque but the names on it were names or the name was illegible. And the studio was no longer a studio. On a side of the room there were old desks, chairs, boxes, old books. Nothing useful on the other side of the wall, various pictures were hung, with a prints of the villa and pictures of different locations and people. “These pictures are very old. They dated back when this place was still an orphanage” commented Armin looking at them a little more closely. Erwin was about to order them to leave the room, since there was nothing interesting inside but then something caught his attention. A picture took long time ago, in 2034. It portrayed a picture of teenagers wearing a school uniform in front of the villa, behind them there were people wearing suits and white coat but Erwin remained stunned for alarmed for another reason.He grabbed the picture from the wall to take a better look and his eyes widened. He recognized two persons in particular. One of them was Eren Kruger. He was in the second line, tall, composed, a perfect posture with his head up and shoulder and back straight. A dull expression adorning his face, with his eyes half closed, like he was detached from reality and he wasn’t even looking toward the camera lens. Even back then, it seemed, he looked toward a direction that was his alone, a future, a goal that ordinary people couldn't understand.The second person instead… he would recognize him anywhere, at any age, at any place. ‘Dad…’ he thought with tears in his eyes. How could it be possible ? Why his father didn’t tell him anything about that ? He’d always known that his father had a lot of secrets. They were the reason why he was killed after all. Nevertheless he didn’t imagine that his father was involved with Tyburs at that point, nor he could imagine his father knew Eren Kruger. The gears inside his head were set in motion and any of the ideas that came up in his head were appreciated. Kruger’s life was still wrapped in a veil of mystery. No information was found about his family, his childhood, nothing and then Erwin found a picture of him with his father.His father was frightened of talking about his past. He never said a word to him or his mother but Erwin was good at reading the people, he always was, since he was a kid. Behind the picture were written the names of all the boys and noticed that his father was indicated with another name: Joseph N-11.Not even a last name. A number. His father, in that building, in that life, was a number. A label. Eren Kruger instead was indicated with the name Eren and the number 9. Apparently Kruger didn't feel the need to change his name differently from his father, nor that ne needed since he ended up work for Tybur anyway. He wondered if the other guys changed their names in the end or if they changed their life or if they remained stuck in Tybur's web and what kind of life they lived.His father’s eyes lost any light when questions about his childhood were brought up and he always cried after, in the bathroom when he thought Erwin couldn’t listen. But Erwin was always around when his father suffered, always ready to offer his parent any form of support, always ready to remind him that he loved him, that he needed him there.He was also proud of his ability to keep his emotions at bay. His pride would never get over the chance of being seen weak by Armin and Mike. Nor he was willing to give them a fully explanations about the revelations. “It’s Kruger” he said showing the picture to Mike and Armin. “Are you sure ?” Asked Mike surprised. Armin looked at the picture and gasped. There was no doubt, Kruger had lived there. A coincidence ? Of course no, he stopped believing in coincidence a long time ago.Kruger was born there, was raised according to Tybur’s ideology and creed. He ended up working and dying for Tybur. Only a person with his background could have come up with a crazy idea like the Ymir serum. But it wasn’t everything. Did Eren know that ? Was is the reason why he picked that villa for his little play ?Armin should have predicted. Eren did nothing by chance. He should have suspected that Eren Kruger had lived there once, maybe he wanted Armin to learn more about the man but why ? Eren had always been curious about Eren Kruger and Grisha Yeager for some reason. Armin initially had suspected that it was due the fact that Eren wanted to meet the creators of the serum but then, another doubt growth inside his head. What if Eren wanted to capture Grisha Yeager to improve the serum ? Or to eat him ?Armin had no interest in Grisha Yeager’s fate, that man’s existence had caused only problems and pain to those around him, but…He looked at Erwin and he couldn’t refrain himself from worrying about him. He hadn’t said anything but he noticed that there was something else about that picture that had caught the other’s attention. It was almost imperceptible, but he noticed that little twitch in his otherwise perfect mask of indifference. He tried to understand what it was but he had no idea and asking Erwin directly was out of questions. ‘What kind of mess I’ve put myself in ?’ He thought almost dejected. “Well, it looks like we have nothing left to do here. If Kruger had lived here, then we will find more proof searching around.” He said. “You’re right…” admitted Erwin with melancholy putting the picture back on the wall “Let’s go” He turned his back at the picture, refusing to look at it again. He didn’t need it to remember his father’s face after all. It was just a reminder. In the end he learnt something new, his father’s past was connected somehow with Tybur’s family. He had lived inside that orphanage and something happened to him inside those four walls. Something that signed his father’s life forever. Something so severe that someone thought his father deserved to die.
It wasn't fate that leaded Erwin there that night, but his determination. Erwin'd never forgotten his dreams, not even once but that picture convinced him that his was on the right path to reach his ultimate goal and then...
‘I will avenge you, papa. I will have my answers and one day I will make everyone know why a man wonderful as you were had to die’ … ‘I don’t like this place, at all’ Levi and his squad ended up inside a morgue. Levi grimaced when he entered inside that room. The air was stale and there was a smell of rust ? There wasn’t that smell of chemicals that he had expected from what was expected to be a sterile environment. He was relief he didn’t found a decaying body. “Let’s see if we can find something interesting” muttered Levi “Eld and I will stay here. Oluo, Gunther and Petra go searching another room. If some shit happens, don’t hesitate to warn us” The three nodded then left the morgue, while Eld remained there with him. Maybe splitting up the squad wasn’t a good idea but the area was too vast and men too few. There wasn’t anything interesting in that room. Levi and Eld only found expired medicine, surgical tools and various papers about human anatomy, test results and bandages. Only one objected caught his attention in the entire room, a computer put on a desk with others documents and pens on it. Levi tried to turn it on and he was surprised that it still worked but his joy didn’t last. It required a password to enter inside. “Fuck…” he muttered “Eld ? Do you know how to hacker one of these things ?” He asked pointing at the computer. “I can try, just give me some minute” answered Eld leaning forward the keyboard of the computer. Levi nodded, then he started searching the room again. He noticed a door that he hadn’t noticed before. He grabbed the handle but the door was locked. He huffed, then he took his lockpick from one of his pockets and opened the door. ‘Old habits die hard, don’t they Furlan ?’ He thought. He needed to pushed the door a little bit, before it opened completely. Levi didn’t have the time to take a peek inside, before he was hit by a terrible smell that made him wrinkle his nose. For someone obsessed with cleaning like him a room like that made his hands itching for the irritation. He looked for a switch in that room but he found none. He took his flashlight and he saw that the room was tight, with a shelve on a side and there were mortuary bags hang on the other ones. He entered inside and took a peek on the objects on the shelves. Nothing interesting, other chemicals, empty containers, other were full with liquids Levi wanted to know nothing about. Then something caught his attention. It was a little wooden box, perfectly clean, completely out of place, almost like someone put it in there for a purpose. Carefully he grabbed it to watch it closely. It looked like a normal wooden box after all…He opened and found some negatives. He grabbed them but left the box on the shelve. ‘So weird…’ He thought leaving that room. “Did you enter ?” Asked Levi. “Yes, I’m in… but there’s nothing interesting. Incomplete datas…. Researches about the serum… Sorry, but I’m not into this stuff” “Me neither. Make a copy of this shit and send them to Shitty Four Eyes. If there’s some meaning in all this shit, she will know” “Okay… Did you have find something interesting ?” “Some negatives in a wooden box. That’s the weird thing” “What do you mean sir ?” “A perfectly clean wooden box into an abandoned room ? Doesn’t seem strange to you ?” “After witnessing a giant ? Not exactly. There’s a list of names, people who worked here and files with number sequences. Probably to indicate someone else. Maybe the people they experimented on…” “Probably. It that’s…” Before Levi could finish his sentence, he heard Petra’s voice through his radio.
“Corporal !! Jinn !! Do you hear me ??”
“Ral ! What’s happening ?”
“We were checking a room but we didn’t realize… We fell into a trap… Schultz is…”
“Schultz is what ?? Ral ??’ Nobody answered. Levi and Eld shared a look before Levi ordered him to follow him out the morgue. After what happened with Izzy and Furlan, Levi hated separating himself from his squad. It caused a sense of loss of control, like he couldn’t be there to protect them, to arrive in time to save them. Levi wasn’t emotionally ready for another loss. He kept himself occupied with his training, his meetings with Erwin and the others but when he was alone in the night, if he didn’t dream about the boy then he dreamed Izzy’s head on the grass. ‘We shouldn’t have split up. I should have trusted my judgment more. I only hope to arrive in time’ … ‘Boring… no giants… boring… no giants… no giants… boring… boring… BORING !!’ Hanji was getting impatient. Armin had warned her that it would be improbable to encounter giants but deep down she hoped that it would be less boring at least. Until then, Hanji and Moblit, Nanaba and the other had found the control room and they found interesting that it was in such well shaped. Everything worked perfectly fine. The monitors, the computer, the entire security system which was kinda annoying since only the employee had the access to certain room with an electronic bracelet and not everyone had the access to all the rooms. “We need to find that ID wristband to have the access to all the rooms or coming here would be pointless” stated Moblit who was looking around the room with the hope of finding it. “Excuse me sir” said one of the solider with them “Isn’t a little strange that we haven’t found anyone and nevertheless everything here works perfectly ?” ‘Yea, too weird and too boring’ Thought Hanji observing the monitors. No a trace of dust was on it but where was anybody ? “I doubt that everyone had left this place badly surveilled for fear of being arrested. What would be the point of coming back here ? For the domestic chores ?” Said Hanji with sarcasm. “Well, this was a little facility. I doubt they kept something important here. Probably someone had been hidden here before they left for somewhere else safer.” Theorized Nanaba. “I doubt the Warrior Unit has been here if that’s what you think. They wouldn’t have dared to cross the sea to arrive here. It’s easier to hide in Marley where could rely on more allies than staying on this island. No. Someone else has been living here or using the facility for a purpose… we just need to find out why” stated Hanji. “This place is perfect to conduct illegal activities. You can hide a lot of things in a place like this” said another solider. “Well… apparently we need a password to have access to the security system or else we need to find an ID wristband so…” Moblit couldn’t finish the sentence they heard Levi’s voice through Hanji’s radio. He told them that some members of his squad were in trouble but he couldn’t access where they were because the door could be opened only with a password or a an ID and he didn’t have any. “Corporal, tell me exactly where are you and what’s happening ?” Asked Moblit.
“I wasn’t with them when it happened. I don’t know how they ended up in that shit hole. There’s no time for fucking explanations though. Hurry up and help me find a fucking solution”
“He’s worried. We need to find a way to help him so we need to split up. Moblit you and two people go find an ID bracelet…” then she looked at the last soldier “You will stay with me and…” They froze. They heard something nearby. It sounded like a whining, followed by the sound of footsteps ? They couldn’t be sure, but they knew that it was the first time they heard a sound like that. “What was that ?” Whispered Moblit. “No idea…” whispered Nanaba. Silence, then suddenly whatever was on the other side of the door, almost like sensing their presence there, began to scratch and hitting the door. If it was a possibility, then they knew that whatever thing was trying to enter inside wasn’t human, at all. “I guess we’re going to find out” muttered Hanji. … ‘God, it couldn’t be avoided it, could it ?’ Thought Armin examining a corpse inside the library. That man had died several days ago and from what he could see, he had been killed due to the wound at the neck. A deep scratch, provoked by something with long, sharp claws but it wasn’t the worst part. This man worked here as a member of the security in the villa, he wore an ID wristband and from the unloaded gun Armin theorized that the man had tried to defend himself but failed and died a very painful death. Judging from the wound at the center of the abdomen, it was clear that someone had rip the flesh out. Pulling and tearing it. He suspected he knew what kind of creature did that but he hoped was wrong. He wasn’t equipped to take care of everyone in case some of them got attacked. “You know what happened to him don’t you ?” And of course Erwin had been observing him examining the body. Erwin knew how to read Armin’s body language at that point. “I hope I’m wrong but it wasn’t a person who killed this man.” Armin put an hand inside the wound in the stomach to prove his theory. If he was right, he would find something. He regretted not to have produced some kind of cure before to depart. He hadn’t made any progress with the creation of a vaccine that could cure or make dormant the genes that activate the serum unfortunately.Nevertheless, his research about vaccine that his former colleague had stolen from him after his betrayal helped them to develop a vaccine for those who hadn’t been injected with the serum but it wasn’t the only interesting thing. Apparently his theory about Ackerman genes wasn’t completely wrong but that wasn’t the point in that moment.What really mattered was that if he was right and that if they got attacked, Levi and Armin were the only ones who could survive, but in the worst case scenario only Levi’s blood could be used to create a cure. He was relief, not everything was lost in the end. “ Do you think that this threat isn’t human right ? Why haven’t we found such a threat in others facility ?” Asked Erwin kneeling next to him. “The other facility didn’t produce the serum nor conduct experiment with it and don’t forget that Tybur Industry was invested with many other activities of all fields.” Said Armin slipping the hand more inside. “Yes, but we found serum even in other facility” “To send it to the Training Center, Lago City and the other facilities situated in Marley where they could conduct experiments with the serum with discretion… ah… found it” He pulled out his hand and showed Erwin some strange seeds he’d never seen. “What are these ?” “Traces of our killer. I will give you a fully explanation in case we met one of it.” Said Armin putting the seed into a little plastic bag “I fear this is not the only victim we will find but for the moment let’s see what we can find in this library” “Okay, in the meantime you can tell me more about this creature” “We called it the ‘parasite’ or project YSP-002. Practically any creature infected with Ymir serum can’t reproduce themselves through a sexual act but only gobbling the other’s organism. Like a virus doesn’t possess a metabolism that couldn’t reproduce itself outside the host that’s why it needs a cell to replicate itself. Giants doesn’t have a metabolism and couldn’t reproduce itself if not though another injection or being devoured by another giants but…” said Armin starting to observe the different books on the shelves.“But ?” “But humans aren’t the only kind of creature the serum had been tested on and apparently plants can produce some seeds like these that behave like a virus. They feed themselves on the blood of the organism where they left. They took root in the body and upon gestation they alter the host anatomy and…” “They sprout into a little carnivore monster” concluded Erwin “amazing” “You didn’t have to study them close like I did. They’re not easy to deal with. Ymir serum can revive dead cells but it’s not the same thing.” “How long will it take before this man turned himself into a monster ?” “Well, to complete the transformation process at least some day is required. After the seed finish to nourish themselves on the blood, they release the serum through the veins of the host. This man couldn’t have died more than a couples of days ago” Erwin nodded. After risking his life at the hands of a giant twice, he was mentally prepared to fight against other kind of weird creatures.Armin waited for an order that never came. He expected Erwin to be more worried about the wellbeing of his men, to tell him to update the others about the presence of a creature genetically modified that could kill them. Instead Erwin remained calm and collected while he continued to look through the books.Was it trust in his men ? Or was it selfishness ? What was Armin supposed to do ? Should he take the initiative ? Was it a test to see if Armin behaved according to Erwin’s will ?He didn’t know what to think anymore. After that Erwin had seen that picture something about him seemed off. Erwin looked distracted, something Armin couldn’t believe being possible. How could a man like him get distracted in a moment like that ? In a place so dangerous ? “I will… update the others about this creature” said Armin. “Are you telling me ? Or are you asking me ?” “Telling you” stated Armin “Can you tell me what are you looking for exactly ?” “Answers, as always. Don’t waste time with me. Warn the others” Armin looked confused. He didn’t believe Erwin at all. The blond commander wasn’t the only one that had learnt how to perfectly read the other, Armin learnt to read Erwin pretty good as well. That man was looking for something, he always did when he was inside a facility. Answers… but what were the questions ?He tried to get in contact with the others, but no one answered his calls. Something happened to them and while it would be in his best interest to let them die, he knew that Erwin would find a way to put the blame on him. “Okay, I don’t know what the hell you’re being through but please snap out of it. You’re worrying me !” He said unconsciously tasing his voice. “I’m focus, mind your business doctor Arlert” Erwin spoke with such coldness, he would freeze anyone on the spot but not Armin. The blond scientist was done with all that bullshit. He wouldn’t believe possible, but he needed Erwin to remain focused. He needed his commander to take the lead or else he would lose his mind.Armin would never admit, not even under torture, but in those months spent together he had learnt how to trust Erwin’s judgment. Armin admired his intelligence and his leadership and… “I can’t mind my business when my commander isn’t focused. What was it ?” “What was is it what ?” Asked Erwin. “The picture. Something caught your attention. I don’t know what it was but I know for sure something’s troubling you, don’t deny it !!” “Don’t raise you voice with me. Pull your head out of your fantasies and focus on the matter yourself” replied Erwin.“Sure, as soon as you get yours out of your ass” “Excuse me ??” “Okay, we’re all stressed here, maybe we just need to take a deep breath” said Mike sensing that the two were about to argue.“No, this is the last thing we need. We can’t continue this operation if our commander has his head in the clouds !!” Said Armin pointing at Erwin “I’m practically telling you that your men are in danger and you don’t care !! You simply shrug your shoulders as if they aren’t your responsibilities !!” “They’re soldiers !! They knew the risks when I recruited them !” “They know NOTHING !! We infiltrated in this villa with no idea about what we could have found here. You recruited them to fight against men not… He heard something barely noticeable, bu he knew it was nearby. Footsteps ? No. It was more like something was rubbing itself on the floor ? Or was it on the wall ?Dammit, he was so angry he couldn’t concentrate but he could feel something coming toward them. Something dangerous, something that smelled of blood and another smell Armin was pretty familiar with. “What’s happening Armin ?” Asked Erwin who noticed the change in the behavior. “Be prepared Erwin, something is going to attack us soon” … ‘What hell is shitty glass doing ?’ Levi found himself inside what looked like a control room and on the other side there was a sort of living room but Levi thought at that point it was a trap. What was the point of creating that trap ? That entire villa was a mess. How could it be possible building something like that ?He had no idea how to enter the other side of the room to reach his men. He didn’t even know what happened exactly. His men were laying on the floor, in spasms but that wasn’t what worried him the most. On the wall something had growth, climbing plants and there flowers in there.Something inside him, maybe his Ackerman side, was suggesting him that those flowers were dangerous and what was more dangerous was that hole in the wall where the climbing plants exited. Jinn was looking for a password inside that computer but apparently he didn’t have any luck and Levi couldn’t waste more time if he wanted to save his men.
‘You could always just break the glass. You can do it. Or do you enjoy seeing your men suffering on the floor, like a people admire seeing fishes locked inside an aquarium ?’
That voice… ‘What do you want ? I haven’t heard you for months. This is not the time’
‘Actually it is. You’re alone in this moment. Do you realize that ? You’ve been alone for so long after all, you should have got used to handle problems on your own.’
‘How do you know it ?’
‘We’re mentally connected. I hear your thoughts, you hate being alone. I understand it. I’ve been alone most of my life too. I had to learn how to open my doors without keys, or passwords or someone who give them to me. Only with my own strength’
‘I can’t. What if I make everything worse ?’
‘What if you can’t save them in time ? Or are you still in denial of your true nature ?’
‘I’m not going to have this conversation with a voice inside my head’
‘Excellent, ‘cause this is no the time for a conversation. You need to save them. Break that glass’
‘I don’t have the strength’
‘Sure about that ?’
Levi rolled his eyes ‘What if I break my hand ?’
‘You know it will heal soon.’
Levi nodded. It was true. He didn’t have nothing to lose but his men in that situation and there was something else he had to put into account. Shitty Four Eyes wasn’t coming and an unpleasant sensation was starting to grow inside him. Shitty Four Eyes wasn’t a quitter, if she hadn’t contacted him or arrived there to help him, it meant that something was keeping her occupied. Probably she needed his help too, maybe she was in danger and he was just wasting his time with a nameless voice inside his head. He used his strength to force the door. At the beginning it didn’t move and the voice inside his head didn’t hesitate to ridicule him for that. Levi told them to go fuck themselves, then he applied more strength with his arms and in the end the door got opened. He quickly entered inside and dragged all his men outside that room and then close the door. He kneeled beside them and tried to talk to them but they didn’t answer to him. Their pupils were dilated, their complexion was pale and their lips purple. He touched Petra’s forehead and she was too cold. Whatever toxin they had breathed in the other room, was killing them. He needed to find the blond mushroom or Shitty Four eyes if he wanted to save them. “I’ll be back soon, please don’t fucking dying on me you fuckers” He quickly left the room and tried to contact Hanji or Armin again but the first didn’t answer and the second communicated to him that he couldn’t help him.
“Sorry but… shit… We’re having a situation here. I can’t talk to you, but I can help you produce a… fuck cure.”
“What the fucking hell is happening there ?”
“We have company, what do you think ? Those idiots… they should have know… better”
“What the hell are you talking about ?”
“They should have burned the entire place down… The plant you mentioned… it’s a pain in the ass…”
“Tell me something I don’t know”
“Levi, this plant is not a normal plant. If you want to save your men and Hanji can’t help you, then you need to follow my instructions and produce a cure by yourself”
“How am I supposed to do that ?”
“Isn’t there a sort of laboratory or…”
“Me and Jinn have found a morgue here. There are instruments and chemicals, but I wouldn’t know how to do it.”
“Oh fuck… Commander… We need to… Yes I think is enough. If we’re lucky… We may can produce something else to kill the monster… once killed… Doctor Zoe will be able to help you to cure your men”
‘Fucking awesome, now I have to play the little chemist’
‘Don’t worry, if you forget something, I will tell you. I will tell you everything to help you’
For some absurd reason, Levi believed them. … ‘Oh my God !! The fun has started !!’ Hanji Zoe couldn’t believe her eyes. In front of her there was one of the most magnificent creature she’d ever seen with her eyes. The creature in front of her was a human silhouette even thought it wasn’t human at all. It was tall, made of climbing plants, with mouths and eyes that opened and closed along the body. As soon as that creature entered, they were overwhelmed by a sickly smell of decay, withered flowers and rot. There were stems connected to its back, who knew where they lead ? What would they find if they follow them ?That wasn’t the moment though. If they wanted to find out, they need to dispose of that thing first. “If I remember correctly what I read in the files, these kind of creatures could live only if regularly exposed to sunlight or regularly feed on blood. We should cover mouth and nose, these creatures can produce a toxin that caused hallucinations or wor…” “WATCH OUT !!” Shouted Nanaba. Someone screamed indicating the ceiling. Climbing plants had growth, covering the ceiling and that stomas and few flowers were growing.The creature attacked so fast no one realized until the creature throw them against the wall, where the climbing plants started wrapping them to block them. Quickly, Hanji grabbed her knife and used it to cut the plant before the creature wrapped it around her neck. Unfortunately due to the impact her rifle slipped from her hand, so she could only used her gun to shoot against the steams wrapped around Nanaba’s neck and to save the other two soldiers. Much to her displeasure, the monster already attacked and eaten part of the jugular for last soldier but it wasn’t everything. The creature’s stems entered inside the wound and started absorbing his victim’s blood. To make everything worse, due to the impact Moblit had lost consciousness and the climbing plants were wrapping his entire body. ‘I’m sorry’ thought Hanji trying to stand up but she noticed that other stems were wrapped around her leg and she quickly cut them to free herself. She had almost done when she witnessed the monster in front of them mutated again. Slowly the stems got absorbed inside the monster’s body, leaving the place to a tick layer of muscle tissue. The mouthes and eyes that covered his blood disappeared and appeared only one big mouth with jagged teeth and at the end of its ‘hands’ there were claws from which a strange purple liquid dripped. On its body appeared pimples of the same colors. It was a disgusting sight. ‘Venom ?’ She thought observing the claws. She also noticed that, despite its transformation, the stems on the back of the creature were still there, which meant that he may needed those things for some reason and it couldn’t absorb them inside its body. She fixed her glasses, peering at those stems over them and then checking on the others. They had nothing to lose but their lives after all and that thing already killed one of them. Nanaba and the other soldier managed to grab their rifles back and started shooting against the creature, but that thing managed to kill the other solider wounding him with its claws while the stems on the wall blocking the solider from moving. Luckily, Nanaba managed to avoid the attack. She grabbed her knife and started trying to free Moblit from the climbing while Hanji, after retrieving her rifle, started shooting at the creature.She had already lost two men, she wasn’t going to lose Moblit and Nanaba too. “Nanaba !! Protect Moblit !! I will try to keep it occupied and to find a way to kill him !” Ordered Hanji. Nanaba nodded, while she was cutting the climbing plants around Moblit’s body. She couldn’t spend the entire night cutting that plant that kept regenerating itself though.She needed to find a way to kill them once and for all. They had tried to contact Armin once but the latter didn’t answer. Nanaba wanted to try again. Doctor Arlert was the one, among all of them, who knew better how to deal with those monsters. She peered at Hanji and the other doctor was clearly in trouble. Bullets didn’t seem to work against that monster, ‘Please answer’ ‘Oh finally… someone of you answered… What’s happening ?’ ‘We’ve bumped into a creature. It’s like walking plant but now it’s turned into something else’
‘Yea… I’ll tell you everything late. What’s important now is not to exposed that thing to any form of light. The darker is the surrounding the better. You also can’t kill that thing in her muscular form. You need to wait that it shift back and then set it on fire…’
“Easier said than done !!” Shouted Hanji getting on her knee to load her rifle. “How could we make it shift back to its plant form ?” Asked Nanaba.
“That creature is nothing but an extension of a primeval plant that has to be found and destroyed. Two stems connected this creature to this plant I guess. You need to cut the stems and and resist until the monster shift back into its plant form. You need to be careful though. The stems mustn’t grow back”
“What if we fail ?”
“I’ve a backup plan for you”
“What do you…” “Nanaba !! Do we have something to set this thing on fire ?” Asked Hanji who was running out of ammo. “Unfortunately no. I don’t have incendiary grenades with me, only a lighter. I will check if Moblit has something” ‘I can’t waste all my munitions with this things. I need to find a way to cut those stems’ thought Hanji avoiding another attack of the monster. Hanji fell backward on the floor. She needed to reload her rifle but the creature was right in front of her. The creature stood in front of her, ready to kill her with its claws.The creature emitted a shrill sound and several drops of saliva felt on Hanji’s face, whom grimaced for the disgust. Nanaba gasped. ‘I’m going to die’ Hanji thought. The creature was ready to attack when suddenly it screamed and then one of its arm felt on the ground. “I couldn’t turn my back on you for one second, shitty four eyes” said Levi before grabbing the monster by his head and poured a liquid inside it. “Is there anyone else live here ?” Asked Levi. “Moblit” answered Nanaba. “Carry his ass out of here. Shitty Four Eyes help her” ordered Levi cutting the other arms and kicked the monster away from him “We don’t have much time left” “What do you mean ?” Asked Hanji putting one of Moblit’s arm around her shoulders. “Look up” Nanaba and Hanji did as Levi said and gasped. The little buds from before had growth into flowers and in that moment were emitting a weird purplish gaseous substance. A toxin, probably, that soon would have filled the entire room. Nanaba and Hanji dragged Moblit out the room as fast as they could, while Levi grabbed the arm of the creature from the floor and then ran out the door with it, kicking the door before the creature could reach them. “Shitty Four Eyes, use that arm to produce a cure. Armin said that it was needed some drop of it.” Said Levi. “What an amazing thing !” Exclaimed Hanji like a child whom had just received a Christmas present, letting Moblit go. Nanaba flinched when she found herself holding up Moblit alone, then she asked “Aren’t we supposed to run away before the creature exit from the room ?” “No, it was Armin’s backup plan. He gives me the instruction to use some chemicals I found in the morgue downstairs. He said that shit is a simply extension of a plant. So, his plan was to make that thing drunk that chemicals and wait for the stems to grow again in order to…”“In order to make the primeval plant feed on it” “According to Armin it shouldn’t kill it, but gives us the time to find it and burn it down” “Why did he tell us to burn that thing then ?” Asked Nanaba putting Moblit on the floor on a sitting position. “To survive the night I guess. You didn’t have the tools to prepare the chemicals I guess” said Levi. Scratches on the other side of the door made them jump. Quickly Levi helped Nanaba to hold Moblit, while Hanji walked ahed of them. On the other side of the room, the creature shrilled, managed somehow to open the door. Levi was right, the monster shifted back into his plant form, being his back only one stems had growth and on its body all the eyes and mouth had reappeared. From one of the mouth, a long tongue exited and wrapped itself around Hanji’s legs, pulling her toward the creature.Levi cut it, freeing Hanji. In the meantime, the creature had come close, ready to attack Nanaba but totally ignoring Levi, something that surprised all. ‘Why doesn’t it attack me ?’ Thought Levi.
‘You know why. It senses you’re like it somehow. That you’re of the same kind.’
‘We’re nothing like’ replied Levi dragging the creature away from its friends.
‘Sure about that ? Order it to lead you to the primeval plant. I bet it will. It will recognize you as a superior specimen of its kind.’
For some reason that statement made Levi see red. How could someone he didn’t know comparing him to that think ? As he should spare that thing’s existence just because both of them were injected with the serum. Levi was anything like that. He wasn’t a freak show, he wasn’t a monster. He was human once and he would be again as soon as Hanji or Armin would find a vaccine.He had no intention of remaining in that conditions and he didn’t want to be reminded anymore that he was different. His hands itched, his face powdered with red. He gritted his teeth and snarled.He was tired of dealing with all that shit !! He was tired of being told to be different !! If he had to pass through that thing to put an end on that insanity then he would.
‘Denial, so predictable’
‘Shut the fuck up !! I’m not anything like this shits!! I’m human !! I was human ONCE !! I WILL BE HUMAN AGAIN !!’ He lost himself in his fury. Like all those months spent in repressing the pain and the anger for his friends’ death were finally overwhelming him, denying any control over his actions. It was like suddenly all the injustices he had suffered since he was born, a life in poverty, the death of his mother, the loss of his sister, the reformatory, the dirty, all of that were suddenly hitting him all at once until nothing more was left of the man.His body no longer belonged of Levi the man, it belonged to the monster he had become, obeying to another mind that knew no compassion, or empathy or humanity.His body suddenly followed only one order: to kill.He was in danger so he needed to kill his enemy. Quickly. With one shot. So he did it, he picked a target… thinking about the shitty life his mother had to live to bring foot on their table.He aimed… thinking about his uncle Kenny who had abandoned him.He attacked.. thinking about those weird dreams and that fucking voice who wanted him to embrace a side of his nature he was still elaborating, trying to understand himself.
‘Look at your hands. Would a human be able of such violence ? Would a human be able to do this ?’
He killed… that guy in reformatory whom defied him…He killed… that man in the alley whom threatened him with a gun…He killed… that first giant…He killed… something he’d been good at it, excellent at it, since the day Kenny put a knife in his hand, since he was a human… ‘cause you don’t need to be a monster to take a life… not matter how meaningless it could be. ‘Shut up !! I’m not one of this things !!’
‘One of what exactly ? If you’re human as you say, then explain me what you’re doing…’
Levi…
‘Don’t say my name !!’
Leviiiiii…..
‘I don’t…’
Someone slapped him, awakening him from… from whatever hell was happening to him. The first thing he saw was Hanji right in front of him. On hand on his right shoulder, another one on his left cheek. No crazy look in her eyes, only worry. “Are you with me Levi ?” She asked softly. “What… did you call me ?” Asked Levi confused. “I did… You seemed… lost…” “I was… I don’t know…” Levi looked over Hanji, looking for the creature only to find it on the floor… shattered in thousands leaves, stems and the purple liquid. He looked at his hands and saw that they were dirty of the same purple liquid and that caused him a sense of sickness. Dirty… he was dirty… he couldn’t be dirty… he hated it… he loathed…. He couldn’t go back there…He ripped his gloves off his hands not to see those fucking stains on them. He knew that his hands would never be clean, not matter how much soap he used or how many times he washed them. How clean was his apartment, or his clothes or the knives he used. It was awful… It was so awful… so unfair… that anytime he tried to forget all the dirty the life had thrown at him, something happened and more dirty was thrown at him. Was it so wrong if he didn’t give two shits for that monster ? Was it so wrong if he was more focus on commiserating himself ? “You were… you killed it… We’re safe, thanks to you” said Hanji hugging him. In any other occasion, Levi wouldn’t have hesitated to push her away but he realized that an hug was something had been needing for a long time. He would’ve never admitted it, specially to Shitty Four Eyes, but he was grateful for her. Grateful for her spontaneity, her heart and her friendship. Because after all that time, he was finally ready to recognize her as his friend.Levi didn’t need to say anything after all. Hanji knew it, she felt it, when Levi accepted her friendship, accepted her in his life.Truthfully, she hadn’t expected such outcome when she met Levi. The other was so cold, so distant, so unapproachable. Levi was mourning his friends when he joined their squad, he was suffering and he was afraid; but Hanii knew that all it took was giving Levi his space, his time to heal and to get better. “I’m good Hanji… I’m good. How are you ?” Levi needed to be sure that all of them were safe and sound. “Safe, thanks to you.” Said Hanji letting him go “You also brought to me this little souvenir. Why do you need it for ?” …
He’s hurt. I can feel it. I can feel his pain, his anger, his fear. I want to be there with him.
He’s a dangerous man, but dangerous in a good way.
He lost control and killed that creature, a creature that was like me. Abandoned inside that building, like him. Forgotten, by those who had created it and doomed to such existence.
I saw him rip that creature to shreds with his bare hands. He didn’t do it to protect his friends, he did not to hear any voice in his head.
I can relate with that. I can relate with so many thing…
‘I’m tired of being here, I didn’t remember that staying inside a white room could be so boring’ E2 was tired of dreaming of woods and meat and had enough of those four white walls. Only thinking about how many years he had lived that way caused a huge pain in his chest. He didn’t want to stay in that room one minute more. Fate was being too slow, it was time for E2 to take the lead or he would meet Levi when the latter had white hair. He couldn’t wait fate to unite him with his other half, no more, so E2 would looking for Levi, following his instincts and the bond they shared.He could feel through his bond that that man, Levi, was here and was upset for some reason and he wanted to find him.He still didn’t understand how their bond worked or what it meant, but if he wanted to find out he needed to meet Levi. “I’m done with this shit” he exclaimed standing up from the bed. He fixed the collar around the neck and grabbed the ID wristband from under his cushion and put it inside a pocket. ‘E2 ? What are you doing ?’ Asked Marco. ‘I’m tired of waiting. I want to do something’ ‘How are you going to explain it ? How are you going to explain the ID wristband ?’ ‘I’ll invent something. I just want to get out of here, it’s suffocating and it brings back too many bad memories’ E2 kicked the door of his cell and exited. He didn’t remember exactly the way out there but thankfully, he could use his senses to orientate inside that place. Smells, body temperature, breathing, heart beating…All the skills he had learnt during his permanence on the island came in handy, finally. That was a great opportunity to test all of them and see if he was finally worthy of fighting side by side with his brothers. He hadn’t done something alone in a long time and surely it was the first time he took the initiative like that. Always following the rules, always obeying others’ commands. He was done with it. Levi’d never been so close to him and E2 wanted to speak with him before anyone else. Just the two of them if the occasion presented itself. Would Levi recognize him ? The boy from his dreams ? Was Levi feeling their bond like E2 ? ‘Are you waiting for me, as I am ? Levi ?’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
PARADISE ISLAND 2090
Once upon a time….
‘All the stories starts like that…’ thought a ten years old Eren, sat on his bed with a book of fairytales on his legs.
Sometimes he wondered why those idiots out there took the disturb to bring him that shits to read. It was okay, few years ago, when he was still learning how to read, before he started to put together the pieces about his life.
Once upon a time, when he used to believe that he could be healed by the illness he was afflicted and that his father would come one day and bring him home.
In most of the fairytales that he had read, there was always a girl who dreamed to be saved by the man of her dreams, so Eren identified himself with her, dreaming for the day when his father would finally say to him that he could go back home.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t a princess and his life wasn’t a fairytale. A cumbersome truth he was slowly realizing.
As a ten years old who had spent all his life inside a white room, Eren wasn’t stupid as the adults around him seemed to think and he wasn’t resourceful.
His abilities were slowly developing under everyone’s nose and Eren was good at hiding it. Not that it was that hard hide something from other when they barely looked at you, specially when you were a kid.
Once upon a time… there was a young lady… and this young lady burned down her own house with her stepmother inside… because she was faked… and she deserved…
‘Pity that stories like this don’t exist. I’d read them. They’d make me smile’
That was why he adored when Armin read to him ‘The Lady of Shalott’. One of the nurse once left to him a book full of macabre fairy tales, but not matter how dark they got, the dubious morality of some character or how difficult were the trials and pitfalls given to them, in the end they all got their happy ending.
The stories he appreciated the most were those when the protagonist in the end succeeded only thanks to his ability. No fairy grandmother, no magic wand, only sacrifices, good decisions and a little bit of luck.
Life could be somewhat macabre, like a fairytale…
Once upon a time… a giant baby was found on an island surrounded by sea… bad people wanted to keep the baby for themselves… but then the baby grows up… and kills them all…
There was no love inside his stories. He was too young after all and he found the kiss pictures pretty disgusting, like any kids.
Like any kid, he learnt how to hate something before to love it. Kids didn’t realize the meaning of love before they experienced a deep loss. They bite, suck, threw and destroyed the toys given to them. They may loved their parents but they remained unaware of it, often expecting more from them than what they gave in return.
No one had to teach children how to destroy something, but you needed to give them instructions to build something. No one had to teach children how to lie to their parents, but they needed someone around to explain why that was wrong.
Chaos was instilled in human nature, order was taught. People could live inside the world only because once was properly balanced by the other, but when one of the two missed… That person was incomplete…
Like Eren, whose rules were based on characters imagined by someone else. He knew nothing about love, but he had some memories and sometimes he dreamed about things he didn’t understand. He dreamed about an older version of himself who learnt the meaning of love.
Once upon a time… a monster learned how to love…
Once upon a time was for everyone. The same rule didn’t apply for the happy ending though. Monsters didn’t get an happy ending, according to all the story he had read. Again, life wasn’t a fairy tales and he was a young lady.
Differently from all those boys and girls of the stories, he had some voices inside his head and those dreams that were leading him somewhere, outside that room.
He was just a kid, he didn’t know why he had them, he only knew he had to follow them. It was what his instinct suggested him to do.
The voice inside his head were the only things that seemed willing to talk to him after all.
Once upon a time…
He read…
Once upon a time… there was an angry child… who knew how to hate and who would learn how to love… but in the meantime…
‘In the meantime, I will read this stupid fairytale. I have nothing better to do after all’
He looked at the corpse at the feet of his bed and grinned. That poor little thing…
The poor poor nurse simply came to take a sample but Eren didn’t want to be interrupted during his reading. The little bloody thing grabbed the book and threw it on the other side of the room. He ordered the other two masked people who came with him to keep him still, but Eren was quicker. He killed all of them. He grabbed the nurse’s neck and squeezed but the little thing answered with an headbutt and managed to get free.
Ten years old Eren knew that dance too well though and in few minutes the nurse’s corpse lay on the floor in a pool of blood.
Eren looked his and and pouted. He tried to use something to clean his hands but there blood was still there and then were sticky. They left stains on the the book’s pages.
‘Pity, I will make them buy me another one. They will… I promise them to be good’
He had learnt early in his life that people obeyed easier when their life was at stake. A good lesson indeed.
…
‘Stop invading my head with your memories’
‘I’m doing nothing of the sort. You’re just scared because you’re alone for the first time after long time and you’re trying to distracting yourself, by invading my mind’
E2 bite his lower lip to avoid to snarl back at Eren, even though the latter wasn’t psychical near him. The other was right though. He was sure he had lost himself inside the villa. He was walking along that endlessly dark corridor, with no one around and again, he figuratively run back to Eren for reassurance.He was starting to hate it. After leaving the ‘nest’, he should have developed some sort of independence from Eren; apparently he hadn’t. So annoying.
‘You were pretty macabre back then too, trust me’
‘I was full of anger and I have nothing to vent it with. Can you blame me ?’
E2 rolled his eyes. He didn’t remember to have ever felt all the anger Eren had. Emotions were still new to him. He was still learning how to deal with having emotions in general. It was another thing that distinguished him and Eren. If Eren felt too much, E2 felt nothing at all. So Eren filled him with all the emotions and sensations he could no longer handle and E2 welcomed them with the hoped of making them his own. For E2 all the emotions felt the same; for Eren any had its own taste, its own meaning, even though most of the emotions he felt were negative ones,The memory he’d just seen helped him to join the nots about Eren’s ideology. For him, all people were born with impulses for destructions. Thanatos, Tom’d say. Eren wanted to leave the wall, for his father to come and take him away but it never happened and so his negative emotions growth until he could no longer control them, since no one taught him how to do it.E2’d never had that hope. He was told that the white room would have been his home and that Tom was his friend, so he simply lived according to those two statement. No sea, no home, no hope was given to him. He was on his own inside that room.
‘Why did you pick this place ? What’s the story ?’
‘Why do you think that I have picked this place for a reason ?’
‘Isn’t the entire crusade a sort of biography of your life ? All the places, all the characters… in the end everything is about you’
‘Coincidence ?’
‘Never. Not when you’re involved. Why this place ?’
‘It’s here that everything started. Eren Kruger grew here before to work for Tybur’
‘So there was a reason in the end. Why are you so interest in Kruger though ? Isn’t the guy dead ?’
‘His past isn’t. Unfortunately him and I are connected and for all my life I’ve felt the urge to know him. His story is my story, that’s it’
E2 nodded, satisfied with Eren’s answer. Eren Kruger was an important life of their life, live or death. They existed only thanks to him. His brilliance or his deviance ?It didn’t matter because in the end they still owed him their lives. And E2 still didn’t know where the hell to go. All the corridors seemed identical, even though he could clearly feel his presence somewhere.
‘Are you looking for him ?’
He almost tripped over his feet when Eren suddenly talked to him. ‘How do you know ?’ Asked E2 suddenly alarmed. Levi was an Ackerman and to further worsen the situation he worked for their enemies. Nevertheless the two were linked and E2 didn’t want Eren to screw up everything as he usually did. The memory about Tom’s death returned and that thought itself made E2 wavered in the firmness of his intentions.In the remote possibility that Eren wanted E2 to find and kill Levi, E2 wouldn’t be able to do nothing to prevent that like the last time with Tom. Maybe he should return to his cell… He’d do it, if he found the way.
‘Don’t ask silly questions. How many times do I have to remind you that our minds are linked ?’
‘Are you…’ he gulped, wrapping his arms around his body, ‘… Angry ?’
‘Should I ? You haven’t met this guy in person yet you have a crush already ? No idea you were so precocious’
E2 frowned, confused about what Eren meant. At least the other didn’t seem angry by his voice and surely it wouldn’t help having him right in front of him.There or not, Eren was difficult to understand anyway, but he was also impulsive and easily driven by his anger. If he wanted, he could command E2 to shift into his giant form and destroy the villa but he didn’t. It didn’t exclude the possibility that Eren would give that command later of course, but something suggested that he wouldn’t. Eren was moody and easy to anger but he would never sabotage his own plans, not for silly reasons anyway,
‘I’m… relieved, I guess. I… feel some sort of connection, like ours. I dream about him, like those princesses in your fairytales.’
‘Levi is not your prince and you’re not a princess. You shouldn’t waste your time in pursuing him’
‘Why ? Because he’s an Ackerman and you don’t like him ?’
‘No. Because the foundations for an healthy relationship aren’t firm when lies are involved and you’re going to lie to him. For any question he’ll make, you will answer thousands lies. I won’t deny this opportunity to develop your social skills, I simply don’t want you to suffer in the end’
‘I don’t get it. Why would I suffer ? It’s no like I expect to marry him and live in a big castle with him. I simply want to meet him and understand if he feels the bond between us like I do.’
‘I hope you’re right.’
‘Aren’t you annoyed that I’m not following your plan ?’
‘No. I realize that I’ve been oppressive and bossy toward you. Now that you’re better at controlling your ability, I feel like I should give you more trust. So, do it your way, just be careful’
E2 was stunned. Seriously Eren wasn’t going to sabotage him ? Or trying to convince him to go back in his cell and wait there ? Or taking control over him to kill Levi ?Eren also admitted to have been arrogant and maybe it was also a way to apologize to him for what happened to Tom. For someone who hated the entire world for having being oppressive and controlling to him, Eren had done the same with him that night and E2 was really grateful that Eren was willing to place more trust in him.
‘Now, if only I manage to find my way out of here, or else I will never be taken seriously and for good reasons’
…
‘Fuck this shit… How could I let this happen ?’
Levi, Hanji, Jinn, Nanaba, Moblit and the others were in the morgue. They had dragged Oluo, Petra and Gunther there and Hanji had started quickly to work about a cure. Levi told her that Armin informed him that they needed a drop of the creature’s venom to prepare a cure.Levi decided to wait outside, in case another monster arrived. That was what he said and no one dared to reply.He simply wanted to be alone and reflect about what happened to him before. “This sample is so amazing. I wish I could keep it with me !!” He heard Hanji screaming from the other side of the room. If there was no monster nearby, she would surely lead them there with her shrills. He wished he could have a cup of black tea, in that moment it would be the only thing able to calm him a little bit. It wasn’t the first time he lost control like that and he would be lying if he said that it was the first time. The first time was at the training camp, as an Ackerman, but the first time he had felt the urge to end someone’s life as human. He wasn’t a good man but used to find solace in thinking he wasn’t a beast. Apparently not. Someone tapped on his shoulder and he had to refrain himself from snarling. “Caporal Levi… Dr Zoe need a sample of your blood for the cure. Apparently once again your Ackerman blood comes in handy” said Nanaba. Levi nodded and followed the woman inside the morgue. He noticed that Hanji had already found everything she needed to take a blood sample and made him sign to sit on a chair. Without saying a word, Levi sat. He allowed Hanji pull up the sleeve and put him the tourniquet and take a sample of his blood with a syringe. “This should be enough. Let’s see if it works.” Said Hanji pouring out Levi’s blood inside another inside a test tube. “How long will it take to figure it out ?” Asked Nanaba who was checking on Moblit, still unconscious. “I wouldn’t know. It’s the first time I do something like this without proper tools.” Said Hans injecting the cure to Gunther “At least I managed to find these” According to the datas collated by Jinn in the computer, when that place was an orphanage, that room was used as a chemistry laboratory before to be turned into a morgue. It was disturbing being there, where a lot of people had been killed or worse. If they concentrated hard enough, they could almost hear all the screams and pleads inside their head. “Have you found anything useful at least ?” Asked Jinn who was still checking the computer. “No. Apparently we still need an ID wristband to have access to all the rooms in this villa. We were looking for a way to bypass it somehow but then we got attacked” answered Nanaba “The others died” “This place is a fucking nightmare !” Exclaimed Levi pulling down his sleeve with anger and walking toward the door. “Hey wait !! We’re not alone” said Jinn indicating something on the monitor. Nanaba and Levi approached him to take a look and they gasped. The monitor showed someone dressed up in white clothes walking along a corridor. The image was far from sharp, but it was clear that it was a boy and he wasn’t part of them. Who was he ? What was he doing in that place, all alone and dressed up like that ? Was he actually alone ? Was he dangerous ? Was an enemy ? Was he a shifter ? How did he arrived there ?Hundreds and more questions formed inside their head. “Where is he ? Why is so dark there ?” asked Nanaba. “Give me a second…” murmured Jinn tapping on the keyboard “… Apparently we were misinformed. There’s another floor and this guy is there.” “What’s on that floor ?” asked Levi. “The basement basically…. The furnace… the main power system and… an old parking lot the used as storage area, the laundry, the cold storage and other two room that aren’t specified” “What’s this boy doing there ?” Said Nanaba “Let me ask him” said Levi. “Where you’re going ?” Asked Hanji alarmed, while she was injecting the cure to Petra. “To find that fucking ID wristband and kill some other fucker. I’m done with this fucking place” answered Levi closing the door behind himself before someone could try to stop him. Guilty was devouring him. It was his decision who had leaded his men into a deadly trap and after almost a year, he was losing again someone he cared about. Someone he felt responsible for. If he arrived one second later, he would have lost Hanji, Moblit and Nanaba too and he also risked to kill them himself in the end.That force inside him was pure instinct and whether it got triggered by his anger, or any negative emotion he felt or simply when he was in danger but what he knew was that after a year he was still unable to control it completely. It made him feel dejected and he didn’t want anyone to notice. He’d never appreciated when people intrude in his life, yes there was pride in that but he was determinate to deal with that side of him alone. That monster helped him to understand that he still needed to improve, so he was looking for another occasion in which he could further test his ability, hoping that the next time he would manage to remain in control.Armin was right on that matter. Always fight with the same person was useless when you found yourself in different contests against different opponents. Experience different types of creatures and situations could only help him to improve all his skills and learn more about his nature.Fight that monster had been useful under that point of view. It reminded him that, even though giants were his ultimate enemy, there were still other creatures out there that had been generated by the same serum, other creatures that couldn’t be left wondering around.And that person… it was the final straw. Erwin had suspected that the possibility of meeting someone there was high, soldiers, former employee, mercenaries, members of the warrior unit, anyone but someone dressed up like a ghost.He had an unpleasant sensation about that person, didn’t know why. He felt like he should know who he was but he didn’t.
‘I’ve seen him once… Or so I think…’
How could he state it ? He hadn’t seen the person’s face clearly after all but something about him reminded the boy of his dreams. Fuck, he hated how stupid it sounded, even in his head. He sighed “I want a fucking cup of black tea. Is is too much to ask ? Fuck.” … “I hate all of this” murmured Armin whom was trying to take the leaves out of his hair “Why this always happens to me ? Even when I was a simply researcher, I was always the one picked by those monsters. It like the knew that I was an easy target…” “Are you seriously complaining now ?” Asked Erwin “We have wasted ammo because you couldn’t control that thing until the very last’ Armin knew that Eren wasn’t actually complaining about ammo. The creature had killed everyone but he, Armin and Mike. They were alone, the mission had just begun, many of them were already dead and who knew how many other creature they would face by the end.Their situation was far from ideal, it was pretty shitty actually. The scene in front of them was nauseating. Withered grass and the blood of their fallen comrades oozed those walls to the point that any of them wanted to remain there one second more. “I’ve already apologized once. What do I have to do ? Get on my knee and beg you for forgiveness your majesty ?” He shouldn’t be snapping to his commander, but be attacked by that monster reminded him many bad memories from Paradis Island. In any profession, the new entrees had to work their way up to the ladder, it wasn’t new after all. No smart person would think to do the most interesting task the first day of work, not matter if you worked for Tybur or not.You cleaned the tools, you collected the datas, you brought the coffee to your boss and put up with everything in silence. Oh, he forgot to mention… it also meant to be used as a bait when they needed to take samples from Eren, the giants and the other monsters inside the facility. A fucking honor indeed. If Eren was in a bad moon, they risked their lives within few seconds so that was the worst case scenario.It may sound unbelievable but it was truth, giants and the other creatures were easier to deal with than ten years old Eren. About him…
‘Eren you jerk, I know you’re involved in this’
The jerk ordered that thing to attack him, it was the only explanation. As another creature created by the serum, Armin shouldn’t have been attacked, unless someone else ordered it to. That someone could only be Eren.
‘Ehehehe, I couldn’t resist. I know you’re nostalgic about your times as young researcher. I hope you enjoyed my little present’
‘You terrible jerk who laughs at my expenses’
‘It’s almost symbolic since you’re working your way up to the ladder again’
‘Yeah, this is my strength. Working my ass up to the ladder you fucker. Do it again and I’ll never forgive you’
‘Don’t pout. You’ll form wrinkles around your mouth’
“You little shit…” murmured Armin. He bite his lip and blushed when he realized to have spoken loud. At least he hadn’t said nothing compromising. “Stopped complaining, Doctor Arlert. You should have been used by now” insisted Erwin. “Anyway, that thing is gone and we’re pretty late by now. I suggest to split up and check the remaining room here and then go upstairs together” “Seriously ? After what just happened you want to split up ?” Asked Armin stunned.“I think it’s a good idea after all. If something happens, we call for backup” said Mike. “Are you really want to take off my leash ? Aren’t you scared I’m going to leave you here ?” Asked Armin with sarcasm.“Doctor Arlert, I confess you have many appealing traits. Sarcasms isn’t one of them though” Armin snorted, but said nothing more. It was clear that Erwin wasn’t going to change his mind. He could see some sense in it after all. They were a little group at that point so. Maybe he should enjoy his few minutes of freedom till it lasted. It didn’t last indeed, because in the end Erwin changed his mind and ordered him to check another room with Mike, while Erwin check another one alone. Not so bad since Armin didn’t mind Mike’s company. The man was skilled and capable, furthermore he didn’t vivisect him with his gaze every time Armin did something that looked out of ordinary.Unbeknownst to Armin, Erwin purposely decided to partner Armin with Mike. He needed Armin out of his way to be sure the other wasn’t trying to hide something from them and he also trusted Mike deeply. He knew that the other would observe Armin in his behalf without being told.Hanji’d told him once he was too much paranoid for his own good and that he allowed the said paranoia to cloud his judgment. Erwin disagreed, he was simply constantly heedful and not matter how many times Armin had helped them or saved their life, Erwin couldn’t ignore that little doubt inside his mind.That tingling sensation at the pit of the stomach that kept insinuating the doubt about Armin’s loyalty. That was actually distracting.The first room he checked was kinda creepy. The furnitures were covered with white blankets, the walls were full of molds and whatever was hung on the walls was impossible to recognize due to the dust. Until that moment it was the most run down room. When he switched off the light he saw a couple of body on the floor, surrounded by a pool of fresh blood, which meant that they hand’t been killed long ago. He kneeling next to them and observing the corpses. According to their wound, he could deduce that they had been killed by the same creature that attacked them. Luckily for him, he wasn’t squeamish. Slowly he inserted his hand inside the first body and extracted it once he managed to find the seeds inside. He did the same with the other one. Once he assured that those two men weren’t going to turn into one of those creatures, he took sometime to examine them attentively.He found a little notebook on one one them. It was partially dirty of blood, so few pages couldn’t be read unfortunately. On the other pages were written codex essentially, so he put it inside his pocket. The other’s man had a phone inside his hand but it got destroyed, probably due to the creature’s attacks. He found nothing interesting so he was about to stand up and leave that room when something caught his attention. In the blood pool there was something that shimmer. Kneeling again he grabbed it to observe it better and saw… a crystal, a diamond ? Probably. It those men were mercenaries or smugglers or anything like that it wouldn’t be weird, or so he thought. There was something about that stone that didn’t convince him. ‘I’m getting paranoid. I find clues even where they aren’t. I need a holiday’ He left the room and entered inside another one that looked like a living room. The parquet that creaked under his footsteps meant that it was pretty old. A contrast with the rest of the furnitures that were all perfectly clean. He switched on the light and saw an elegant Persian carpet and close there was a sofa and there he noted another weird detail. Both the sofa cover and the pillow cases still faintly smelled of fabric softener. On the other side of the couch, there was a coffee table with no trace of dust on it but there was a blood prints on it and it looked fresh. “What the…” “Help me… please…” Quickly he turned around and pointed his gun and flashlight. Leaning along the wall, there was a man with a nasty wound on the left shoulder. The man was keeping his hand on the wound in the vane attempt to stop the bleeding. He was dressed up in military styled uniform but it was clear that man wasn’t a soldier. His uniform was dark grey, with a bulletproof and a gas mask on the floor near to him. “What happened ?” Asked Erwin kneeling next to him “What’s your name ?” “My… name… doesn’t matter. Please, help…” The man was pale and from the blood on his uniform and floor, it was clear that he had already lost too much blood. Only a transfusion could help him maybe. He wasn’t a doctor after all but he had no intention of leaving that man. “Keep pressing on the wound. I call my colleague. She will be able to help you” “I’ll… be dead already…” sniffed the man on, surrendering to his fate. “I’m… sorry…” “Don’t be. We… shouldn’t have come close to that thing… the plant in the basement…” “What do you mean ?” “We thought we’d found a treasure there… we were wrong… We found our doom. He sent us here… to die…” “He ? He who ?” “No names… he…” The man closed his eyes and his lost his grip on the wound, dying. Erwin tried to call him, but in the end he understood that there was nothing he could do. The man was dead and brought with him many precious informations that could help Erwin to clarify the entire situation. It was deplorable, but Erwin found solace in thinking the other wouldn’t mind if he did a little search in his pockets. He found the other’s phone but he needed a fingerprint to unlock it. He grabbed the man’s hand and put a finger on the phone. “Good” he said letting the other’s hand. The first thing he chose to check his messages. He learnt that that man was a member of a group of smugglers that had been worked with Leon Denver for the last three months. According to the words he shared with his comrades, they had been binging inside that villa materials of any sorts, Chemicals, weapons, money and other kind of things in change of crystals, but it wasn’t mentioned any name Erwin could link to the buyer. Even the man had said he knew no name, so that man’s identity remained a mystery. He didn’t have the time to check the phone, he knew but he was impatient to gain more information. His theory was right, that place had been used for smuggling business. Leon Denver had business with a nameless man that paid with crystals. That partnership had started few months ago, so it didn’t have nothing to do with Tybur. Could the mystery man belong to the Warrior Unit ? Erwin wasn’t convinced. Leon Denver, during the interrogation, confessed that he had no business with anyone related with Tybur and somehow Erwin believed. Furthermore the owner of the phone had mentioned in different messages how weird it was for him to bring the goods there only to send them in Paradis Island few days later. Apparently, the man didn’t understand why the nameless would want them to send his goods on a desert island.
‘Paradis Island ?’
Didn’t Armin tell them that there no one but him and Annie lived in Paradise after the incident of 2095 ? Armin always insisted that no one survived the incident, that the island was desert that whatever Tybur was hiding there was gone. Was it all a lie ? Surely it wasn’t completely true. Someone was running some kind of activity there. Maybe that person didn’t actually live on Paradise, maybe they simply took advantage of the fact that Paradise was believed to be desert, so they could conduct illegal business without annoyances.It wasn’t the only information that caught his attention though. Some messages mentioned that they were payed in crystals. Crystals… Paradise… giants… Armin… the corps in the other room…His head couldn’t avoid to join the knots, not matter how much he tried.The commander concentrated again on his searching and when he checked the other pockets and from one of them a little crystal fell. A type of crystal he already seen before… he put it inside his pocket with the phone. No one of that was going to be discussed in Armin’s presence, that was his decision. Armin had been lying to them since the fist day for reasons he couldn’t understand, yet. If only he had captured Annie Leonhart too that night. She would have provide precious informations to him and maybe she wouldn’t have been so good at lying like Armin.
‘It’s not like you love playing easy’
No, he’d never liked winning easy. He appreciated nothing more than a good competition with someone he deemed worthy of his time, someone who could offer him a pure challenge, specially on an intellectual level. Nevertheless the joy for a good challenge could be quickly over overcome by the bitterness, specially when he learnt that his opponent was cheating. He and Armin were playing the same game but with different rules.Armin could play with the cards he wanted, Erwin instead could only try to win with those that fate put in his hands, at least until that moment. He could have the upper hand.There proofs in his hands, proofs that he could hide from Armin in order to investigate without risking intromission of any sort.The crystals, the phone and the little notebook that proved not only that someone was smuggling illegal goods in Paradise, but also that maybe the island wasn’t desert as he believed and that the mystery man was paying with crystals. Of course those were merely theories and theories needed to be proved correct. All it would take was Hanji’s expertise. She would analyze the crystals and only then…
‘Only then I will know for sure if I’m simply losing my mind or I’m right’
…
‘I’m guess that was supposed to be a laundry room ? If that’s the name of course…’
E2, tired of walking around the corridors, decided to open the first door he found. It shouldn’t be so surprising though. Before to notice the room, he realized it was there due to the intense smell of detergents and fabric softeners. There was nothing interesting there, but he left the door opened to orientate himself in those corridors. The next room he found was a storage. It was full of boxes, tools of any kind, old cars and various kind of stuff E2 wouldn’t know how to name. Another detail that worried him were those signs on the walls and the ceiling. They looked like scratches, what kind of creature could have left those ?Surely an animal o a creature injected with the serum. He needed to be careful. Any creature with the serum was loyal to Eren, but there was no loyal without nourishment. Those creatures had been abandoned for almost a year without being exposed to sunlight, a source of nourishment no one of them could without. It wasn’t a surprise that those things had attacked the mercenaries. Or maybe that was Eren’s plan since the beginning. Who knew with him. A scent caught his attention, a scent that came from a pile of boxes that shouldn’t be far from him. Following the scent, he arrived in front of the boxes and opened them.
‘Crystals ?’
Giant crystal. Since that crystal was product by their body, it had a particular smell that only shifters could sense and since everyone smelled differently, so did the crystal.
‘I bet that If I concentrate and I’ll be able to tell who had produced them’
They weren’t his business after all. Whatever Eren was planning to do with those were his problem to handle. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the smells inside that room. Gunpowder. Nitroglycerin ? Fertilizes. Paints. Ymir serum. Drugs. There was another smell though that was lighter than the others. A smell that seemed familiar and new at the same time…
‘It’s like the plants in Paradise. A various mixtures of smells combined with the serum’
How could he smell something like that in a parking lot ? There wasn’t even a rustle there, nothing. Or maybe he was simply searching in the wrong direction. He started following that scent until he arrived in a side of the parking lot that was full of herbaceous stems. From what he could gather, they departed from the other side of the wall and stretched all over the ceiling. He grabbed some stems, trying to see if there was something hidden and he managed to find a door closed with a padlock. Also an objected had fallen on the floor. He kneeled to observed it better and once he grabbed he noticed that it was a red collar with a bell and a tag.
‘Windy’
It was the name on it. Maybe some of the smuggles had a pet with them. Well, if the collar was on the floor, it meant that the pet was no longer alive. E2 left it on the floor and decide to concentrate of the padlock. The smell of plant came from there and he needed to see what was on the side of the door. “A piece of cake… someone’d say” he said grabbing the padlock. He was truly exited for that. If he managed to find the plant where all the creatures were created from, he’d be the first thing he managed to do on his own without anyone’s help. Without Eren’s help most of all. He could finally prove he could do things on his own, that he was no more a lost cause. Once the padlock was no longer in the way, he made to grab the handle of the door but then he felt something against his back. “Am I interrupting something ?” Asked a steel voice behind him. Did he actually think he was no longer a lost cause ? Seriously ? He would slap himself if someone wasn’t pressing something against his back. Not someone, because he had recognized that voice as soon as the person pronounced the first word. How could he not remember after all ? The man of his dreams, Levi Ackerman. So close to him, so far to reach with a weapon between them. He’d never imagined their first meet to be like that, it was far from ideal.
‘I think it’s kinda appropriate actually’
He was going to answer to Eren when Levi spoke up again “Who the fuck are you ? What the fuck you’re doing ??” “I’m… I’m… I…” he stuttered. "What are you doing ? Introduce yourself ?" Easier said than done. He didn’t even remember his real name in that moment. How could he hope to remember his alias ? What a genius he was, he was making a fool of himself in front of the man he’d chose to take part in that mission for. It was so unfair, but he didn’t seem to control his reactions. “You what ? You’re stupid ? Don’t you remember your fucking name ?”
‘He saw right through you’
‘Shut up Eren. How could he see me if I’m giving him my shoulders ?’
‘Oh God…’
“I’m… you… surprised me… I… I didn’t think I’d find someone else here…” he stuttered again the most coherent states he could formulate. “I can see but that doesn’t answer my question. Who are…” “Eric… You can call me by that name.”“Eric and…” E2 closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No longer intentioned of continuing that conversation looking at the door, he slowly turned around to look Levi in his eyes. To finally see him for the first time. To finally know if Levi could recognize him…He turned around and met a wondrous pair of grey eyes. They were even more beautiful than Freya’s. He was even more beautiful than Freya, something he couldn’t believe to be possible.So it was true when people said that reality could be worse or better but never equal to do a dream. No illusions or dreams could be ever compared to something he could look with his eyes, touch with his fingers, someone he could smell. Levi had a pleasant smell of black tea ? And soap and blood ? What happened to him ? It was a good thing that he’d introduced himself before turning around, because he surely couldn’t speak in that moment. Not even one syllable and there wasn’t even need to touch his cheeks to know he was blushing. The more time passed, the more he looked like an idiot, he knew. His legs were trembling, his heart was beating faster and he was trying not to gawk like an idiot. Nevertheless he was content, even happy because Levi was finally there, with him and he was okay, which was a good thing. He even forgot about the sword the other was pointing at him. He knew perfectly of what materials that was made, of the only materials that could cut a giant’s nape.
‘From person he’s thousands times better, don’t you think Eren ?’
Eren didn’t answer to him, probably the other was considering his thoughts silly. Who would blame him ?
‘Close that stupid sewer of yours you dumb’
And here he was… Eren with all his kindness… “Jerk…” he muttered. “What the hell you say ?” Asked Levi seething. That idiot in front of him was making him lose his patience. That weirdo had been ogling at him like an idiot. Levi wanted to ask the other if he was on drugs, probably he was. That boy, with his chubby cheeks, his messy hair and his shabby white clothes, looked pretty young. Fifteen ? Sixteen ? Surely not close to twenty. He didn’t seem dangerous but he couldn’t be sure. What the hell he was going there dressed up like that ? How did he arrive there ? Was he normal ? Was he a shifter ? Did that little shit dare call him a jerk ? “Sorry, I was… nothing important. Who are you ?” Asked E2 blushing even more. “I asked you a question first. What the hell are you doing here ? On this island ? In this place ?” “No idea. Someone brought me here long time ago. They said that it was only temporary, that I would have gone somewhere better but they never came back and… then someone else arrived and… that’s it, I guess” “You guess ? What does that mean ?” “I’ve spent a long time locked up inside a cell and then one day a person with this bracelet found me. They opened the door and I stole the bracelet from them. I tried to run, they followed me but then we realized we weren’t alone. Or better, I did. Something was following” answered E2 showing the ID wristband to Levi. Levi looked at the boy suspicious. He thinned his eyes but he lowered his sword. That boy didn’t seem intention to attack him. He looked kinda scared actually and also kinda familiar. Something about his hair, his silhouette, his sun turned skin remembered him someone he’d seen before, he just couldn’t figure it out who or when or where. It was a simply sensation that suggested him that he should know that boy. Something suggested him that he should feel something, but it wasn’t like that.He could see in the boy’s eyes that he was waiting for something too, like a sign, on his part but Levi didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He simply wanted to know what the other was doing there. “I know there are others with me. I just… I don’t know how to free them too” continued E2 sounded a little irritated. Disappointment would be reductive to define what E2 was feeling in that moment. He didn’t expected a Romeo and Juliet meeting style but at least he hoped to see some sign of recognition on Levi’s part.There was the emptiness in those eyes instead. Nothing, absolutely nothing. No librealization, nothing. The only reason Levi was looking at him was because he was trying to understand what the hell he was doing on that island, nothing more. It was cruel. It was unfair.Why didn’t Levi recognize him ? Weren’t they having the same dreams ? Weren’t they connected ? He felt it. E2 felt that the person behind him was Levi, he could tell it from his voice, why it wasn’t the same for Levi himself ? “Why were you taken there ?” “They injected us with something and then they took us here, but it’s been a long time. I don’t remember how it happened, only that…” Something moved inside the storage room. They looked at each other and it was obvious that they both were thinking the same thing. They weren’t alone and weren’t safe. Levi stepped back and turned around, ready to defend himself and that weird boy he’d just met. He hadn’t said loud but Levi knew for sure that they other had been injected with the serum. Armin said the truth when he told him that he could feel the presence of other beings with the serum when they stood in his presence. He had felt it the second he entered inside the storage room but he failed to perceive the presence of another creature like them. Shit. He got distracted, a mistake he couldn’t commit, no in his current situation. E2 didn’t know what to do at that point. When he left the cell, he intend to look for Levi just to see him. He didn’t put in consideration the possibility of being caught, to talk with him, to have to remain with him. If they got attacked, what was he supposed to do ? Should he use his powers in front of Levi ? Or should he behave like damsel in distress and let Levi do all the work to defend them ?
‘No, that’s out of question’
‘This is an unexpected turn of the event. How would you explain your mastery with abilities you’re not even supposed to know ?’
‘I can’t let him die'
The firmness in his mind didn’t left space for any reply. No neuron in his mind wavered. Maybe it was silly or risky but he refused to let Levi die in front of him. Enemies or not, Levi and him were similar, in more than one way.
‘Although he didn’t even recognize you as you wanted… you still want to protect him? You’ve just met this man. You don’t even know if you actually like him’
‘It’s not about like him or not. That’s not only about him, it’s about me too. I know it was him in my dreams and I’d never met him before.’
‘You’d dreamed too before to meet me personally.’
‘Your answer is invalid, we both know that. Unless you’re trying to tell me that you’ve been making me dream Levi without telling me’
‘No, I’m a jerk, but not at that point. I’d never deceived you with the prospect of a relationship that has no chance to bloom’
‘It’s what you think about my situation with Levi ?’
‘That depends on you, be careful though. Hearts are fragile things’
E2 ignored the last thing Eren said and focused on Levi.The raven hair man looked at the young man behind him, to be sure that he was still there and that nothing was going to attack him. He still needed to figure it out where he’d seen him before. The boy looked so young, his face had the features of the adolescence, his eyes the light of innocence. More than a boy, he resembled more a big lost puppy, following him with the eyes for the fear of remaining alone again. It was… adorable, yes. That word was suitable for the situation.Furthermore, Levi didn’t want to leave the other alone, since he still needed to understand if and what role the other could have in that situation.If the boy took advantage of another threat to attack, then Levi’d know he was enemy. If the boy ran away, hide or tried to do something stupid like trying to help Levi, that’d confirmed that the boy indeed told him the true and that he was actually in need of help.
‘What are you going to do brat ?’
‘I’m not a brat’ answered E2 pouting. Pouting wasn’t a sign of maturity, but E2 was done with being treated like a baby. He had enough when he was on the island. It was only when he noticed that bewildered expression on Levi’s face that he realized to have done something wrong. “What ?” “What did you say ?” E2 opened his mouth, stunned ‘I didn’t say anything… did you hear me ?’ ‘I… I did… Didn’t you want me to hear you ?’ Levi’d never managed to be the one to use his telepathy on the other people. Armin told him that telepathy was something that needed to be taught by someone else to be mastered and that only with time he would have learnt how to read others’ mind. He’d never succeeded before… With that boy it came so natural instead…No, it wasn’t him. He did nothing. He didn’t even think to read the other’s mind and it was clear that Eric had no intention of telling him something through telepathy.It was spontaneous, like blinking, or breathing.E2 was filled with a sense of hope. Maybe that was a sign, another sign of their connection. Maybe Levi would finally start to think about them and finally realized that there was a special bond between them. Unfortunately, the hope was soon crushed when he focus on Levi’s eyes. There was only confusion, in that expression, nothing else.
‘Do you… what’s does it mean ?’
E2 took advantage of his fake ignorance toward his powers to have push Levi thinking deeper about the situation, but something else didn’t agree with the plan apparently.The creature that had devastated the storage room before picked that moment to interrupt them, annihilating any sense of solidarity E2 could have felt toward it before.Both of them snorted, Levi for the disgust and E2 for the anger. The creature in front of them was enormous. The creature was an enormous cat, infected with the serum clearly, but its height wasn’t the only concerning detail. The fur was grey but presented different wounds that had some weird shades of green. Maybe that creature had been attacked by the plants inside the villa too. The giant beast was showing them its fangs from where was leaking a bluish liquid.The most concerning detail was that its furs was entirely covered by disgusting greenish pustules that also gave off a terrible smell.E2’d never seen anything like that in Paradise. ‘You were right. The plan inside the villa had attacked it. Even though the poison couldn’t kill it, it could still affect him for a certain period of times, and not in a bad way. The wounds make the creature’s blood poisonous that’s why its saliva is blue’ explained Eren. ‘Basically, what doesn’t kill you make you stronger ?’ Asked E2 confused. “What ?” exclaimed Levi confused. “Nothing, I was just… I’m confused” No, he wasn’t. What Eren told him made perfect sense. An Ymir creature couldn’t kill another one, only harm when they felt threatened in their territory. Unfortunately, since there was a hierarchy that couldn’t be ignored, sometimes being harm by another creature could increased the power level of the offended. It was a little counterproductive but it was how worked among them.That creature in front of them was the living proof. Its tail was split in three, his pupils were of the same green of the wounds and its claws were visible from its paws. The creature growled at them again before its dimension reduced, then jumped of the wall and started running all around the parking lot.E2 wasn’t good at reading people’s behavior, even less animals’, but if he was good at understand something it was when a predator was literally surrounding its prays. “Of fuck” exclaimed Levi and E2 at the same time. … ‘The hunt has just began’ thought Sasha who had just woken up from her sleep.
‘I can feel it, his worry. I shouldn’t have let him go’
‘There was nothing you could have done to change his mind. He’s like Eren in this. Once he set his mind on something, there was nothing that can stop him. It’s part of growing up’
‘I felt overprotective toward him. He’s so much like Eren. He looks like him, he shares his same origins and the same life and nevertheless E2 doesn’t walk with the confidence of a leader; doesn’t speak with the same authority and his features still show the innocence of youth. Eren wants to take all of this away from him’
His thoughts were dangerous, he knew. Nothing was more dangerous than offending the king of the island but Marco had already lived under dictatorship when he was human. He still remembered how it was like not to be free of expression his thoughts, his opinions, to whisper them for the fear of being heard by the wrong people.Eren wasn’t anything like that, he’d given him that much. Otherwise Marco wouldn’t be working for him. Eren was the first who asked to be warned when he went overboard, when he isolated himself too much or when he was too demanding toward others. Marco excused him every time because Eren hadn’t been around very much kind people. He wasn’t used to people who were gentle with him without asking for anything in return. He was used to people who commanded, demanded and ordered people around. The kind of people Marco didn’t tolerate.The kind of person Eren was raised to be somehow. It was scaring. When the King of the giants was furious, everyone knew, everyone felt, everyone got on their knees and bow their head for the fear to meet his eyes. It was petrifying, the power one single person could have over thousands men. Terrible and magnificent at the same time. Eren was all of that. Close to them for his wish of freedom, so distant for the power within him.E2 was completely different and Marco envied him a little. He wished he could have his same innocence but he had any left. No one of them. Not anymore. ‘I can understand your sentiment. Even though he’d spent the last years in cell, E2 is probably the most sane among all of us. We’re totally screwed up, in a way or another’ agreed Sasha.
‘Maybe in another life, we would have worked in a circus as freaks’
‘We’re still in time. Once the war is over, people will be in need of laughing’
‘Some laughs now would be very much appreciated too’
‘Yeah… Even if in these latest years there were moments when I laughed to tears, it’s always there. The fear, the anxiety, the enemy… Eren was right, when he said that the island wasn’t our safe port but simply our trench. Gone is our paradise’
‘Yeah…’
They remained in silence for some minute, lost in their sadness and in their mourning. Both of them had lost so much over the years. Their youth, their humanity, their life, their freedom. They were weak, trapped by the chain of dictatorship and with no one that took their defenses.
‘And you Sasha ?’
‘What about me ?’
‘If E2 asks why you’re fighting, what would you answer to him ?’
‘Why are you asking me ? You know my story’
Everyone on the island did. They knew everything about everyone, for a compulsive need of trusting each other, without anything between them that could threat that trust.There was no person on the island who hadn’t been betrayed at least once in their life, so they developed a compulsive need of knowing everything about the others and hating when someone tried to lie.Not that it was possible. They always knew when someone was lying to them. Not matter how good of a liar was the person in front of them, they simply were good at reading body language and they could tell it from their heartbeat, their little ticks and everything else. Ackermans could do the same, if they had someone who taught them how.
‘Indulge me, it’s not like we have better things to do’
‘I chose to fight for Eren because I’m not strong enough. Because I know that I won’t be welcomed anywhere else and I’m too afraid of remaining alone again. Furthermore, in Paradis there is my wood. My family is gone, my home too, but that wood… that old oak…’
…
PARADISE ISLAND 2083
‘This is my Paradise’
Sasha was laying on the grass under the shadow of the big oak near her house. She was born in a little village of Dauper, situated in a mountain forest that traditionally sustained itself by hunting, farming, horse-breeding and carpentry.
Its inhabitants leaded a simple life, they were all modest people who trusted everyone and were always friendly toward visitors.
Everyone knew everyone and there was a strong sense of community. Sasha was a little scarce on that part. Her father often reproved her when she behaved like a spoiled brat, always remembered her that it was her duty to think about the wellbeing of the other people first and then about her needs.
Sasha was born hungry, that was an undeniable truth. Food was the first thought she had in the morning and the last before she went to sleep. Due to that often her family and friends laughed at her expenses for that. She didn’t mind after all, she knew that they didn’t do it with ill intents and she was the first who ironized about her hunger.
For someone else her life could appear boring, unsatisfying, with few opportunities for a career but Sasha loved it.
She loved living in Dauper, hunting in the wood, sleeping under the shadow of the oaks, helping her parents with her factory and she hoped to spend the rest of her life there, but she couldn’t imagine back then that she would have lost everything.
In 2068, when all the members of the Royal family were brutally murdered and the remaining members of the nobility was forced to swear loyalty to the Emperor of Marley everything changed. Paradis was split in two for the power struggles between north and sud, that were lasting for over a decade by then, put in a bad position the small border towns, like her Dauper.
North and south fought about wether Dauper was collocated more toward the north or south in order to expand their influence and their territory and the same was for all the other villages on the border. The people in Dauper avoided to speak in public, but it was palpable that they were all scared to be won over by the north and to become part of the marleyan empire.
In the north there was the dictatorship, not to mention the influence of one of the most powerful family of Marley, the Tybur.
According to her father, that family hadn’t hesitate one second to start their business in the north as soon as the royal family was out of their way and Tybur supported the Emperor and his expansionist aims. Paradise Island was in strategic position for both trade and war purposes, the Emperor had already his eyes sets on the south and it was only a matter of time before he tried to conquer it again, specially after having the north in his hands.
They all feared to fell under the Emperor’s control, ‘cause it would have meant ended up controlled by Tybur who, after the incident happened in 2068, didn’t have a good reputation.
Several news had come about him in Dauper and most of them portrayed him in a negative way.
Nevertheless Sasha and her family tried not to think about it and to enjoy their simple life the best they could.
“Sasha ?? Sasha ?! Sas... oh finally, my little fox !” He exclaimed seeing his daughter “I’ve been looking for you for hours !!” Exclaimed her father.
“Why ? You know that you can always find me here”
“A father can always hope that his lazy fox would do something more productive than laying on the grass all day. Come on, your mother needs you back home”
“Alright, alright” said Sasha standing up and fixing her quiver behind her back “I’m coming”
Sasha smiled at her father, who only pretended to reprove her but secretly shared her love for their wood, in particularly the old oak at its center and he always encouraged her to cultivate her love for nature and adventure.
Mr. Blouse was a large but not overweight man, with shaggy brown hair and dark eyes. Due to his lifestyle and his job, he often wore a striped har, comfortable clothes with tall black boots and a pack of arrows on his back. It was him who taught Sasha how to shoot with the bow and everything she knew about hunting.
Sometimes they hunted together and Sasha treasured those bonding moments with her father.
“You shouldn’t spend so much time in the wood anymore. You should socialize more, you know ?”
“My friends are not good at hunting like I am and I don’t mind spending my time here.”
“A lone wolf has no chance to survive if it spends too much time away from its pack”
“Then it’s a fortune I’m a fox and not a wolf” joked Sasha
“Ah Sasha, what am I supposed to do with you ?”
Sasha giggled before she kissed her father on his cheek. When they arrived home, Sasha found her mother looking at her with a deep frown.
She had dark hair tied in bun, brown eyes, dressed up in a long light blue dress and apron. It was clear that she was cooking before being interrupted by her daughter and husband’s arrival.
It was their routine after all. Sasha who felt asleep in the wood, her father that looked for her and found her and her mother who waited her at home to scold her.
It was their life, it was their family, it was their own paradise and they were happy. So happy. They couldn’t afford expensive clothes, cars. They didn’t live in a villa and their family was pretty small but it was full of love.
That was until 2083 of course.
After several negotiations, in the end the north managed to annex several border towns, including Dauper. At the beginning life didn’t seem so different. There were more patrols and the inhabitants were more cautious when it came to express opinions on political matters but that was all. Or so they thought.
It didn’t pass too much time before was communicated to some of them the news that they should have left their homes in few months because Marleyan Royal council decided to make fields and to build a border wall that kept separate them from the south.
Many people they knew lost their home and were obliged to move into the nearest city, to find a job and get used to a life that didn’t belong to them.
Meanwhile, Sasha looked powerless her father barely eating for the worry of being the next to be throw out of his house and her mother aging inevitably, with more wrinkles around her eyes for the worry.
The place that they considered their paradise was slowly slipping away from them and they had no possibility to fight for it.
The more time passed, the harder become paying all the new taxes imposed to them. They basically lived of hunting, farming and carpentry but the manufacturing industry couldn’t compete with all the industry that, with the new technologies, managed to produce and place on the market at least the triple of the products of Dauper inhabitants. If people weren’t thrown out from their houses, they left them in searching of a better luck int he cities with the savings they had left.
Sasha’s family fought tooth and nails not to have abandoned their home. She stopped spending her time under the shadow of her dear old oak.
Sasha had to witness her father coming back home thinner, more tired, exhausted and hopeless everyday. Her mother decided to cut all their spendings, with the hope to arrive at the end of the month with some savings. Fathers gave their daughters a present on their birthday, Sasha’s found her a job so that she could partecipate actively in the payment of taxes.
But it seemed that their troubles were destined to persist.
In 2084 the tree in the woods began to get sick and the few inhabitants remained in Dauper tried to find a cure but they failed to trace the origins of the disease.
They asked many times help to the royal council to save the wood, but those jerks were deaf to their requests and blind to their desperation.
“How could we possible ?” Cried her mother one evening “We spend the entire day working to bring crumbs on our table and yet soon we won’t be able to afford even that. We’re slowly dying and no one cared…” she said through her sobs “We haven’t asked nothing for an entire year, only to be helped to save our home and still they don’t care…”
Sasha, who was sitting next to her mother, kept her head lower, looking at the half empty plate of vegetable broth and imagining that it was chicken instead. She barely remembered the last time she had eaten meat, probably she had even long forgotten the taste and the smell.
She looked at her plate and she felt an emotion that was totally new to her. Hatred.
That moment represented all her selfishness. Her mother was next to her, crying all the disgraces that were tormenting her family and her father in front of her that was barely holding back his tears and all she could think about was her desire for meat.
The wood, her wood, her home was slowly dying and she was too concentrated on her own hunger to even care. She was slowly dying inside, like everyone else and yet she didn’t care about anyone’s pain but hers.
Her life had become all work, fatigue and sacrifices and not even a piece of meat to put under her teeth. It was so unfair…
“My dear…” said her father hugging his wife “… I’m afraid that there’s nothing left to do at this point. Our home… is gone. If they wanted to save it… Nobody cares about us”
“I can’t live this way anymore” cried the poor woman hugging her husband “What future our little Sasha will ever have here ?”
“I know, I know… We will move by the next month. We… I’m sure that living in a city would be a welcomed change. Surely it won’t be worse than this. What do you think, little fox ?”
“… Meat…” answered Sasha absently.
“What honey ?” Asked her mother confused.
Her mother’s voice snapped Sasha out of her mind. She raised her head and looked at her parents, blinking a couple times.
Sasha would never forgot the desperation portrayed on her parents’ face, worried about their future, her future most of all. Their eyes had lost any light and whatever happiness could have been before was replaced with glowing pain. Too worried and scared of what they life would turn out to be once they would leave everything they knew.
Completely in contrast to what Sasha was concerned about.
“I think… I agree with you”
“Are you sure, my fox ? Do you know what would mean ?”
Sasha wasn’t sure, nor she did know what her father meant. That night seemed a completely normal to any other. They sat together, eat their vegetable broth, holding back the tears only to stand up with the stomach half empty.
What her father was telling her was that soon they would have left everything they knew, their house, their lifestyle, their wood and the old oak. Her dear old oak…
She was so hungry at that moment that she didn’t even cared that the tree were sick, that her oak was slowly dying like her. That everything around her smelt of death, that she would never go hunting with her father again, that she was forever living her nest.
She cared about nothing, but food, but herself, but being better.
“Yes, it’d mean food, a better place to live in, more time to spend together… meat…”
“Meat ?” Whispered her father clearly disappointed in her “That’s all you could think about ?”
“I’m just so hungry, dad…” confessed Sasha lowering her head “… Don’t you see ? This place is slowly dying, like us, but we can still chose to save ourself. What else we can do ? What does this place has to offer to us at this point ?”
“Sasha, you was born here, you…”
“We can be happy somewhere else. I want us to be together and happy, like we used to be”
It was a lie, of course. She was simply thinking about herself, about how to enjoy her youth again, leaving the world of the adults behind.
That night no more words were spoken, they weren’t needed. The next day her father put all their belongings on sale and started house hunting with Sasha’s mother. Once they managed to afford a little apartment in the nearest town and his father assured himself a job, they picked a date for their moving house.
It was clear that, of all three, Sasha was the only one to be exited to leave Dauper once and for all. She already imagined how their life would improved, how much meat she would finally be able to eat. She was so exited that she decided to visit her oak one last time, the evening before the moving and it was that night that Sasha found herself in front of reality, with no father or mother there to shield her.
On her way through the wood she saw them. Tybur’s men. She would have recognized the logo of Tybur’s company everywhere.
Quickly she hide behind a tree and she saw them pouring a strange green liquid all around the trees.
‘What the hell are they doing ?’
The smart thing to do was to come back home and pretend not to have seen anything and she was about to do that, before to be overwhelmed by all the negative emotions that had been feeding on her since Dauper was annexed to the north. All the troubles had started back then and apparently the cause of that always was in front of their eyes, they just hadn’t seen it.
She spied them, being careful not to get caught,
She grew up in that wood and knew it like her pockets, better than those men for sure.
“I think Tybur will be satisfied. Once everyone will have left Dauper, he will be finally able to conduct his experimentations here more freely”
“Exactly, but those worms have been quite resilient. I’ll give them that much”
“Their bad. Mr Tybur’s getting impatient, if they don’t leave by the end of the month, Mr Tybur wants them to die with this wood. He has a cover prepared for the occasion already”
‘Bastard !!’ Thought Sasha indignant.
How dared they ? How dared they consider her, her family and her people worms ? How dared they treated people like that ?
Weren’t all their human ? Hadn’t nature made all of them equal ? Didn’t they have the same right to live ? What right did Tybur have to throw them away from their houses and send them away ? How could he ? How could fate give so much power to one person ?
Humans weren’t born equal, that was one of the many lessons she learnt that night.
She was glad she had taken her bow with her. Those weren’t men, but beasts, devils and she was sure that if they caught her spying on them, they would kill her. At least with a weapon she had some chance to survive the night.
Sasha Blouse was a selfish person, always a child that couldn’t resist a piece of meat, always unable to keep her mouth shout and her ears open when she should. That night, she persuaded herself to be actually able to fight those people alone but nothing went as planned, or maybe it did, simply they didn’t fit with Sasha’s intentions.
She followed them until she arrived at her old oak. She could barley recognized it, without all her beautiful leaves, devoid of any vitality and the branches dry and visibly sick. The most disturbing detail was that the oak’s trunk was entirely covered by purple, pustular-like spots, which also gave off an unbearable rotten smell.
That wasn’t her dear oak anymore, it was just the remaining, the shadow of what it used to be.
‘What have they done to you ?’
If she had known better, she would have left instead of coming closer to the infected tree. She would have realized how dangerous was for her to breath the smell that secreted substance. Furthermore, an expert huntress like her, should have been able to recognize a pray when she saw one. Just as hungry as she was, so was the oak and unfortunately they both desired the same things, only Sasha didn’t know.
Nevertheless she should have recognized the feeling of being put in the corner, with no way out, but she didn’t. She stayed there, still, ignorant of all the branches of the oak that were slowly surrounding her. Only when it was too late, she noticed a movement behind her and managed to avoid the attack of one of the branches only to be scratched by another when she tried to escape.
Another branch grabbed her by the ankle, succeeding into making her fall on the ground and started to drag her close to the oak. Sasha grabbed the knife she had taken with her and tried to free herself.
‘Almost there…’
She almost did it, when a branch hit her on the stomach, penetrating her skin. No words could describe the intense pain she felt when the branch hit her, penetrated her skin, entered inside her body and infected her.
The oak she loved so much attacked her, tried to eat her, infected her that night. Those pustular-like spots contained the serum inside them, that same serum that would turn her into a monster…
…
‘Tybur’s men found me that night and killed me. Due to the serum, my body was covered with all those spots, like the oak and it’s not even the worst part.’
‘What could be worse than that ?’
‘The oak attacked me that night because it wasn’t receiving the nourishment it really craved, human blood. Due to my reckless, the oak fed on my blood and became stronger. Just like the plant inside this villa, that fed itself on the blood of the smugglers and on that cat that now is infected… just like…’
‘Oh…’
‘Yeah… the oak nourished the entire wood with the blood it managed to absorb from me. The trees… were all hungry so they fed on the men in the woods and… by the end of the morning everyone in Dauper was gone… my parents… My mom… my dad… gone’
Sasha could no longer suppressed her sobbing. Those memories were so painful to remember, even after all those years. She just couldn’t accept her stupidity. If she had just run away instead of playing the heroine, she would have left Dauper the next day with her parents and they would have remained together. If she had been less focus on her needs and more attentive toward her environment, she would have taken her parents away from Dauper. But of course, Sasha Blouse was selfish.Her happiness before everything.Her serenity before her duty.Her wishes before her family.Always unsatisfied, always looking for something else, something more. For herself. For her gluttony she’d been punished, by being turned into food by her oak first and then to inherit that insatiable hunger after her transformation. She’d never shifted back as human, she was no longer Sasha Blouse, but her hunger. Anything about her life, her self control, her relationships, her sexual life were influenced by her hunger.There was no moderation in any aspect of her life, because when she couldn’t eat uncontrollably, she had sexual intercourse without protections, she ate her own nails and had many other habits that couldn’t be defined healthy. All excessive, all out of control. She was driven by her instincts, like beast, with no control at all. Totally the family’s black sheep.
‘That’s what you meant when you said that the hunt has just begun’
‘Yeah, hunger is a necessity I understand very much. The plant is just hungry and hunger clouds any rationality. It’d explain how men could eat their own similar'
‘I’m sorry Sasha…’
“I deserved. I’m not like you, or Freda, or Eren.’
‘What do you mean ?’
‘I don’t fight for an ideal or anything like that. I fight because this is the only way I can live my life the way I want, because I know that otherwise I’d been left alone, and I don’t want. I don’t want to lose anything anymore. Eren knew I’m defective and nevertheless he accepts me, that’s why when he does something wrong I easily forgive him. Because I don’t want him to reject me, because he loves just like he hates… with sincerity and without half measures…’
Marco didn’t know what to say. Sasha was defective, everyone on the island knew. She had been injected by the oak, not by a regular injection as Marco or Freda. That induced her into a comatose state. When her body was brought to Utopia, she was still alive and different researchers experimented on her to understand how could she still be alive. Only after Sasha, researchers had started to understand how people could react to the serum based on the way they got infected and the source of the infection. A plant infected by the serum adapted to it differently from a person and so the serum. The type injected to Sasha through the branches of the oak had mutated and not in a good way. Apparently Sasha’s body wasn’t ideal to adapt to the serum based essentially on plant cells, specially when the transfusion wasn’t gradually as it should have been and when she turned into a giant she literally attacked all the other giants trying to devour it.Tybur almost ordered to dispose her. Even in her mindless giant form Sasha had some flaws. If she wasn’t nourished more than other, she got tired and fell asleep even before the evening. Her skin was thinner, which made her the favorite subject of the researcher when they needed to cut a limb from one of them but that made her nape more defenseless. As a plant she needed water too, differently from the others who could live only of sunlight and as a plant she was more sensible to smell and also she emitted a stronger scent herself that allowed other to individuate her easily. Both her allies and her enemies.She was the only one who couldn’t use her physical abilities during the night and her titan form was smaller than the one during the day. It was such mess.Frieda and Armin had tried to help her correct her flaws but her hunger remained the same, so her need to drink, so her thinner skin and her less durability. Even worse were her preferences in matter of food. Since her giver was a plant, she kept some characteristic typic of plants and that influenced her diet. No vegetables. The first and only time she ate a vegetables she throw up. It was perceived more cannibalistic eating something that came from the earth than meat. What irony, really.
‘Why am I so flawed ? Now you know why I’m such a defective product. If Tybur was still alive, he wouldn’t know what to do with me anyway.’
‘Don’t say things like that. You’re slightly different from us but that doesn’t mean you’re not worthy. We love you and we care about you’
‘Yeah… that’s the problem. That I’m not like you Marco. You worked hard for your family and you put your heart in everything you do. I… I… am… I’. So weak and I’d be able to let you rot in the rubbish for a piece of meat. I know myself, I can be so wretched… I’m simply a broken doll… a beast…’ she admitted keeping crying and sobbing.
She was a beast through and through indeed.She ate like an animal too. She launched herself on meat when she saw it and she knew that it made others feel uncomfortable when they had lunch with her.The most embarrassing times were those when she had to be restrained not to eat all the food. Those were the times when she felt like a beast and not matter how hard she tried to resist, she always failed. At least she was alone in that cell, so that no one could see her crying.
‘You don’t have to be like me, Sasha. You don’t have to be anyone but you. Wretched, selfish, tough and independent. You don’t own anything to anyone and no one own you’
‘Thank you, Marco. You’re really an angel’
…
‘What the fuck ?’
Levi grabbed E2 by the waist before to use his grappling hook to budge on the opposite side of the storeroom before the creature could attack them. Since they couldn’t use the VME indoors, Erwin considered the grappling hook a valid substitution. It was indeed, specially in a room like that. “Wow, it was like flying !” Exclaimed E2 content like a child once they landed on the other side of the room “I had no idea that someone so short could have a grip so firm !” He exclaimed without thinking. “What did you say BRAT ?” Growled Levi at E2. Only then E2 realized what he said and quickly apologized. How could he be so stupid ? Offending Levi wasn’t the best approach, but at least he learnt that his height was a soft spot. Nevertheless he blushed thinking at the way Levi held him. He was sincerely surprised by Levi’s strength and wonder if that was natural or something that came only with the serum. Feeling Levi’s eyes on him, he quickly babbled some apologized, comically forming a X with his arms but Levi huffed at him. “Don’t get distracted brat !” Hissed Levi. That brat had no qualms, he hit Levi right in the throat without any filter. If they were in another situation, Levi’d punched the other right in the face, while pretending not to have appreciated the boldness. “I don’t see how I can help you though. Last time I checked, cats weren’t so big” said E2, probably sounding more idiotic than ever, but he needed to pretend to have spent the last decade inside a room without knowing anything about the world. The creature turned around. The size was slightly smaller than before. It was obvious that he had the ability of changing his size, exactly like a shifter. Fucking fantastic. It was also kinda intelligent since it seemed to be able to regulate his size according to the situation. That creature had realized that a big size would slow its movements and prevented it from moving freely around the room. At least against that creature it came at handy.The creature ran toward them and Levi threw the hook at E2 to grab one his blade.
‘Why doesn’t he use a rifle ?’
‘Shut the fuck up brat. Your voice in my head is noisy and distracts me’
‘Sorry, I was just wondering if using a rifle wouldn’t be more helpful’
‘I’m better with cold weapons’
‘Because there’s no fire inside them so they’re basically colder than a rifle ? Don’t you like things that could keep you warm ?’ Asked E2 a little confused.
Levi turned around, looking at the other shocked. He got it that the other had been imprisoned for many years but he didn’t expect… well… that.
‘Are you serious ?’
‘Did I say something wrong again ?’
Levi chose not to reply for two reasons. First, he had a monster to fight. Second, he felt a little sad for the boy. Levi hadn’t spent his years locked up in a room but he knew what it meant feeling ignorant compared to the people around him. With no money, no school, no books, he’d grown up to be a lost cause, a delinquent. A rat. He’d suffered more for that once he decided to work with Erwin Smith and when the voice inside his head recited the verses of the ‘Lady of Shalott’.After that he started reading more books. They kept him company at night, when he couldn’t sleep and he found himself enjoy reading them with a cup of black tea. Reading and learning made him feel good in the end, more normal, more intelligent somehow. It surely helped his self-esteem. That was the reason why he didn’t want to rage over the boy. It would be cruel.
‘They’re called cold weapon because they don’t involve explosions or fire, as you said. But that’s not the reason why I prefer them over a rifle. It’s just… the way I am…’
The creature changed his size again before to attack him. It tried to attack them with one of its pawn but Levi pushed E2 behind and cut the creature’s pawn with the blade. The gigantic cat hissed at Levi and tried to bite his head off but the corporal avoided the attack again, that time cutting the cat on its snout, trying not to accidentally cut one of those pustules. He didn’t know what would happen if he did, but he didn’t feel brave enough to want to find out, specially when there was another person with him.E2 felt so useless and frustrated in that moment.He could have killed that creature with a snap of his fingers if he wanted. Instead he had to pretend to be incapable and a dead weight.Or maybe he could help Levi in another way.
‘I’m probably ridiculing myself more but… I wonder what would happen if we hit the cat’s pustules ?’
He formulated the question as he was simply thinking about a possibility but he knew that Eren’d understand. E2 simply couldn’t understand why he couldn’t expel Levi out of his mind although he had trained a lot with the others to improve all his skills. Well, Eren was more careful than him and he would avoid to be caught by Levi. He could gain informations from Eren and also be helpful in his way. Levi was incredibile. Despite his shortness, even without the hook, he was agile and elegant in his movement. Able to avoid the attacks from the creature and also to attack it with precision. E2 felt so small compared to him and so far from his level, but he didn’t regret his choice to leave the island. If he was careful enough, he was sure he was going to learn a lot of things from that experience.
‘Cunning. I’m not your encyclopedia. I also thought to have taught you what some weapons are indeed called ‘cold’ ’
Eren had, but E2 was so nervous that he babbled the first thing that came to his mind.
‘I don’t want to die tonight !’
‘Brat would you shut up ??’
‘I can’t believe how much you managed to embarrass yourself tonight. Are you sure you don’t want to die ?’
‘It’s scientifically impossibile to die for shame.’
‘If this thing don’t kill you, I will brat, SHUT THE FUCK UP !!”
‘He has the mouth of a sailor. It’s kinda sexy…’
E2 blushed but managed to avoid any comment. He was done with being scolded because of Eren.
‘Fine, I’ll help you. Try to be more subtle in the future. Those pustules indicate that the cat has been infected similar to Sasha. The plant has tried to eat it but accidentally affected the cat in the end. He didn’t have seeds inside him, but he’s suffering a lot and he also sense an enemy in his territory…’
Levi… An Ackerman. Fuck.
‘…You have to help Levi. As you have seen the cat can change its side, like a shifter, but faster and without risking all the psychical damages of a shifter. You have to offer him the right occasion to cut the cat’s nape and there’s one way to do it’
‘How ?’
‘How what brat ? Don’t stand there like an idiot, take over !’
After all those years spent in the street, where he had to constantly watch his back, he’d learnt to never allow anything to distract him but that bratty voice inside his head was difficult to ignore.Armin was far more good to keep their minds separated, but he shouldn’t be surprised. If he and the kid survived that night, he intended to ask Armin to teach that kid how to properly control his telepathy. The cat assumed what supposed to be its normal size and almost managed to bite him on his arm before to grow again.
‘This beast is a pain in my ass more than those things with the leaves’
Levi was fast but that cat was faster and the spots where Levi could aim were few due to those pustules. Maybe it was his Ackerman thing, but just like with the plant monsters, something inside him highly suggested to avoid them. Always his instinct was suggesting him to trust the boy, to team up with him and for protect him. Once the cat landed on floor he tried to take advantage of that trying to cut it on the nape but the cat grew again and Levi found himself on its back.
‘It’s time, E2. Levi won’t have another occasion like that. If the cat dwindles again, it’ll start again and I think you both have wasted enough time down here’
“Windy !!” Called E2 the cat, remembering the name on the collar. The cat remained still for a second then it looked right toward E2.
‘It’s a creature like you and it’s a pet. It’s trained to respond the call of its owner. You’re a superior specimen but a creature like it nonetheless. Keep calling its name…’
“Windy !! Come… come here…” ordered E2 raising his hand toward the cat.
‘Our creatures always responds to our call. It’s in their nature.’
"Windy come here" Slowly the cat came closer to him and accosted with his snout to his hand, smelling it and licking it. “Fuck !” Exclaimed Levi falling on the floor “What’s happening ?” “I don’t know… I found a collar with a name and… I called it… Felt like it was what I could have done to help you and… you should…” The cat bite E2’s hand and the boy hissed for the pain. At that point Levi didn’t hesitate any further. With his blade, he cut the nape of the giant beast who, after a shrill of agony, collapsed on the ground, dead. “Are you okay ?” Asked Levi grabbing E2’s hand to examine it. “Yes, thank you for asking” answered E2 timidly “You’re so great. So fast and strong and so was that beast. It wasn’t easy to kill for sure” “Indeed, it was a team effort, Eric” exclaimed Levi ruffling E2’s hair. ‘Flatterer…’ told Eren, but E2 totally ignored him. It was the first time Levi pronounced his ‘name’ and E2 lowered his head, to hide his cheeks powdered with red.Levi had to admit that he found the brat pretty cute when he blushed. Yes, it wasn’t a good idea lowering his head to someone shorter than him that could easily see the red on the cheeks.The two were so lost in the moment not to notice the cracks on the ceiling caused by the cat before. That structured weren’t gigantic cats proof and it was going to fall on their head.E2, who had the finest hearing of the two, was the first to notice that the ceiling was about to crumble on their head. “Fuck !” E2 yelled raising his head toward the ceiling. He needed to protect Levi, that was all he wanted. The only thing he had in mind. His only goal. The trigger to his hardening ability that create a structure able to prevent the crumble of the ceiling over their head.He wasn’t used to swear, but the word he yelled was the most appropriated to sum up the entire situation. He screwed up everything and Levi’s horrified expression only confirmed it.
‘What’s… this…? What happened ?’
Yes, yes, that could do the trick. If he could convince Levi that his stupor was due to the crystal came out of him and not because he reveled to be able to use an ability, an ability that he wasn’t even supposed to know he had. He screwed the entire situation but he wasn’t going to fail Marco, Sasha and all the people who counted on him. He couldn’t. That was the opportunity to demonstrate that he was reliable, that he could handle any kind of situation. “What’s… this ?? What… happened ?” He said stuttering his words. At least he didn’t need to pretend to be afraid. He was for real. That Levi could kill him and the deadpanned expression on the other wasn’t helping. Was Levi always so inscrutable ? How could he ?
‘If he doesn’t kill him, I’m planning to ask him to teach me how’
“To teach you what exactly ?” Asked Levi threatening the other with his blade. Armin once told him that the hardening ability was difficult to master, specially if the shifter used it in his human form. How could a boy who claimed to have been imprisoned for years be able to master that ability ? “You’re so good at hiding what you’re thinking. Compared to you I’m an open journal” “Book, an open book but that’s not the point.” “Why a book ? We’re talking about my feelings. If someone reads me it’s like a journal where I express…” “That’s beside the point. How could you do that ?” Asked Levi posting at the crystal structure. “I hope you could enlighten me actually. You seemed more acquainted than me about this business” “What the fuck are you babbling about ? Do I look like a fucking scientist ?”“Just like someone who knows what the hell is happening in the world right now. You don’t seem surprised by the crystal, more about the fact that I’m able to use it” “I do and I have informations but I’m not the most appropriated person to explain these fucking things to you. I just want to be sure I can trust you” “Since our meeting, all I’ve done is to help you. I helped you with the cat, did’t I ?” “You did” “And even though I have no idea how I did it… this crystal thing… I only… I just wanted to protect y… us. That’s what triggered inside me. The fear of death under the rubble” He used the word ‘triggered’ on purpose, trying to push Levi on the right direction and it was a good choice of word. Levi remembered what Armin told them that any wound could trigger the transformation and sometimes even the hardening ability, even thought he’d notice that not always Armin hurt himself to use it. He looked at the boy and he still wasn’t sure if the other was worthy of his trust but again his Ackerman instincts were telling him to keep the boy by his side, that he had nothing to fear from him and that he needed to keep him safe. It was completely different from anything he’d ever felt before. It wasn’t the first time he wanted to protect someone, but it was the first time that his instinct suggested him to and he wanted to understand why. He needed to because he couldn’t explain whatever was happening to him, if it was real or simply another weirdness induced by his second nature and that why he needed to know.Armin couldn’t be trusted, maybe even that boy. Maybe Levi would never be able to trust anyone in his life anymore. Not after his ‘father’, not after Kenny, or Tybur. It was worth the risk, because nothing was worse than not knowing and at least that would be his choice. Levi could make his choice freely, he could decide wether or not welcome someone in his life. A privilege he’d been denied countless times in his life. “Levi… Levi Ackerman” “Excuse me ?” Asked E2 confused. “I didn’t tell my name before” said Levi lowering the blade. “Oh…” No more words were needed. Not between them, ‘cause E2 understood perfectly what Levi intended to do by introducing himself. It was an acceptance of his explanations. Levi was giving him his trust and E2 was happy for it. For the first time, E2 could sincerely say that he was happy, even though Levi didn’t recognize their bond. It didn’t matter, because whatever relationship they were going to form, it would be on them. Without any influence, without any dream. It would be more genuine. As far as genuine a relationship made of secrets could be, of course. “Nice to meet you, Levi Ackerman”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Levi, I’m not sure wether I should reprove you or compliment you for your findings” As soon as E2 accepted Levi’s proposal for a truce, Levi decided to updated Erwin about what happened in the storage room. About his meeting with Eric, the cat and the boxes full of vials with the serum and crystals. He told him about the boy’s ability too. It wasn’t something that he could hide from Erwin after all. “You can simply keep your mouth shout, Eyebrows. I know it’s a lot to take but that’s the situation” said Levi with his signature scowl on his face. “I understand that. I’m relief to know you’re okay. Did the kid tell you how long he has been wandering around in this building ?” “How many days brat ?” Asked Levi to E2 “A couple of days, maybe more. Not sure about it” mumbled E2. “I see. Well, if the other people share your conditions, I’m sure they’re still fine and waiting to set free. Thank you for helping Levi. I hope to eventually meet you in person” “Me too. I long for it” “Levi, you know what you have to do, right ?” “Of course I know. I’m going to be a fucking babysitter for the rest of the night. I don’t need you to tell me you dumbass” ‘You don’t care about the hierarchy for sure’ thought E2.
‘Shut up brat’
Erwin ignored Levi’s rudeness, used by then to his harsh attitude. Sometimes he even considered it funny but he would never confess it to Levi.Not that Erwin needed to speak openly for Levi to clearly understand him. Indeed, the commander wasn’t saying openly but Levi had learnt to read between the lines when it came to Erwin. The commander was ordering him to keep an eye on the boy because they didn’t know if they could trust him and also wanted to be sure if there were actually other people in the villa.The boy had the serum. His abilities were a proof of that, even though Levi didn’t tell him about the telepathy. He wanted to tell Erwin in person. Before he could see Eric’s face, he couldn’t read his mind, no connection, no telepathy. His mind was filled with silence, just how he liked. Then once he was able to see the boy’s face something snapped, inside him. Slowly, his mind was invaded by Eric’s thoughts and once they entered, Levi could no longer ignore them. Nevertheless, before that telepathic ‘bond’ was completed, he could sweat to have heard disconnected words and the same voice with two different tones, but he thought that it was impossible so he didn’t pay attention. But then Eric used his hardening ability in front of him and admitted to have been injected with a serum.So Levi regretted not to have paid attention or not to have pretended that he could hear nothing inside his mind. Maybe it wasn’t late to fix that mistake and maybe it was petty, taking advantage of someone he’d just met but Levi couldn’t put the lives of his friends in danger because he hadn’t been careful enough.After all there was nothing to fear, if the boy had nothing to hide. E2 was reflecting over similar issues. He felt trapped, a familiar sensation he hadn’t experienced in a long time.How could he refrain himself from thinking ? Thinking was natural as breathing and there was no way he could arrive at the end of the night without betraying himself and…
‘Calm yourself, immediately. I can’t tell for sure but I know how people behave in these kind of situations. Probably Levi’s observing all your reactions to verify wether you’re hiding something or not’
“So, what’s your plan ?” Asked E2 timidly. He didn’t like the way that situation made him feel. Like he was being tested. It remembered him of the times when he was in Lago, when he was constantly examined by other people.God, he’d never forgot how inadequate and insignificant those looked made him feel. He was constantly put under pressure, like everyone was just waiting for him to make a mistake.Levi’s presence was filling him with all those sensations, even when the raven hair man wasn’t directly looking at him. ‘Please don’t look at me that way…’ he thought without ‘thinking’.
‘Like what ?’
‘Like that. Like you’re waiting for me to do something wrong. Please don’t do it. Other people looked at me that way in the past. The same people who brought me here… I hate it… and I hate them…’
Levi didn’t answer to him, simply because he didn’t know what to say. Probably because there was nothing appropriate to say in cases like that.He had no idea what that boy had been through in all those years but one thing was sure. Wether he had been locked inside that villa for couple of days, a month or years that pain was real. It was tangible, in the way his green eyes got darker and sadder, like he was about to cry. Like he was afraid that one slight movement could offend Levi. “I understand Eyebrows. I’ll update you once I find the other people in here” he said dismissing Erwin “Did you hear Eyebrows ? We need to find the people locked up in here” “I did. But I wouldn’t know how to lead you.”
‘I literally spent the whole night wandering around corridors before finding this place…’
‘Fucking fantastic’
“Oh, but there’s something else we should do before” exclaimed E2 “Before you found me I was about to make a discovery” “Which was ?” Asked Levi skeptical. E2 giggled, content that he was going to share soon his discovery with the other man, before gently grabbing Levi by the wrist and leading him toward the door he was about to open before being interrupted. The most surprising thing though was that Levi wasn’t trying to withdraw from his grip. “What’s around your wrist kid ?” Asked Levi noticing a bracelet.“Oh that ? I don’t know. The people who kept me here used to to open the door, or so I head. Once I managed to leave the cell I took it. Why ? Is that important ?” “Very much kid” He found it. An ID wristband to open the door where he and the other couldn’t accede. He found it in the most improbable way but it didn’t matter.Levi warned Eric that it was important for them and not to lose it. The boy promised it, content to be able to help Levi again.They stopped in front of the door, half covered by climbing plant, exactly where the two met for the first time.Levi lowered his gaze and see that there was a red collar on the floor. He grabbed and observed it. “So that’s how you knew that beast’s name” “Don’t be so mean. Look at it, that cat surely was an adorable little pet before turning that way” “If you say so. I’m not fond of animals” “Pity. I think it would be beautiful having one. Well, I didn’t brought you here to discuss about animals” E2 grabbed the handle of the door and slowly opened it. He had to admit that Levi’s presence behind him was pleasant, because if anything someone had his back.He took a peak inside the room and the first thing that caught his attention was the smell. “I think we may have found something here… can you feel the smell ?” Whispered E2 to Levi. Levi leaned forward and he smelled a faint smell of grass and something sweeter and more delicate, maybe flowers but also blood. It was similar to the smell exhaled by those creatures from before. “Do you… think we should ask for help ?” Asked E2 uncertain. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Half of my squad is hurt and the other is busy taking care of them. We’re alone on this kid. Are you scared ?” Asked Levi without any sarcasm “I’d understand if you want to stop here” “I don’t want to leave you alone. I don’t know why but I feel like I should stay by your side” It was a lie. E2 knew perfectly why he felt like they should stay together, but of course he couldn’t say it frankly without looking delusional. Strong of his intentions, he opened the door completely, allowing Levi to see what was inside too. “Oh geez… This going to be one hell of a ride” “What a ride has to do with this room ?” “I’ll tell you later kid” …
‘This night is getting more and more interesting’
After those monsters and the discovery of the illegal traffic of goods send to Paradise, he was convinced that nothing could surprise him and yet he was wrong. There were people locked up inside that villa and one of them was a shifter for sure. IIf that was a good thing or not, only time would tell him. Nevertheless he knew that Levi was the most capable man he’d ever met. If the boy’s intentions were honest, he was in good hands since Levi would keep him safe.If the intentions were bad, Levi would know how to take care of himself. He was an Ackerman and most of all he was a fighter. “Okay, we have company apparently. Levi has found a boy in the basement and apparently he’s a shifter”“A shifter ?” Asked Mike stunned “In here ?” “Well, maybe he was one of the goods Tybur kept in here” commented Armin with disdain. The three of them reunited as soon as Mike and Armin finished to check the remaining rooms. In the end they found nothing interesting. Nothing about the illegal traffic conducted there or about Eren Kruger. There were only old documents about researches that weren’t even connected with the serum, but they found ammo and there was a door where they couldn’t accede because it was required an ID.Armin was annoyed by something else instead. The boy with Levi, a shifter…What in the hell was happening downstairs ? Why E2 left the cell ? Why things never went according to plan ?
‘Eren… if you knew it, why didn’t you tell me ? Why didn’t you try to stop E2 ?’
‘I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stop him and honestly I didn’t want to. Until this moment, we have used him with gloves, maybe it’s time that we leave him more freedom.’
‘In your opinion, this is the appropriated opportunity to take the leash off ? We risk everything tonight’
‘He knows. He won’t fail’
‘I hope you’re right. Levi is a cunning man and Erwin even more than that. I really hope that he understands the severity of our situation. Of MY position’
‘I know the danger I’ve put you in and I’m very grateful for that. I know I don’t tell you often, but I’m grateful’
And Armin could no longer be mad at Eren. That boy was a thorn in his side with his moody and childish attitude, his whims, the long silence and the half truth but nevertheless Armin knew another side of him. The fragile and sincere side of his personality. Eren had poor social skills but when he was grateful toward someone, he showed it. With actions, not with words only. Eren helped him even before to become a shifter. He was one of the first to learn that shifters possessed telepathy and that Eren knew everything about everyone due to it and sometimes he shared those informations with Armin. Their friendship was an absolute mess between Armin who didn’t accept to be manipulated by Eren and Eren’s paranoia but it was sincere.
‘Thank you’
“Dr Arlert !” Mike’s hand on his should made him jumped. “I’m sorry. I was distracted. What were you saying ?” “We were discussing about proceeding upstairs. There’s only one floor left and sooner we finished the sooner we can reunite with others.” Said Erwin walking toward the stairs at the center of the corridor.“Do you want us to split up again ?” Asked Armin. “Not soon. Before we need to be sure that we won’t find any surprise waiting for us. Together we have more chance to survive” “I agree” answered Armin “I can’t use all my abilities here but at least I can count on my healing abilities and you can count on my medical experience”“Weren’t you a biologist ?” Asked Mike confused. “Yes, but during my first months I was more like an attendant and, as you can imagine, working with giants meant that incidents happened on daily bases and I learnt one thing or two” Put the stitches. Remove the crystals from the wounds. Perform the amputations on site when they were required. Put an end on the torments of the person in front of him…Of course wipe the blood off the floor with the bleach after. “At least we know we’re in good hands” said Erwin looking at Armin with kindness. The three arrived upstairs and the first thing that they noticed was the dust on the carpet, the windows covered with curtains and were the few painting hung on the walls, which in turn had cracks. There also where others on the carpets covered with sheets and the ceiling was covered with disgusting webs.It was completely different from the other floors that they had searched. The other two were cleaned, in perfect shape, the carpets, the walls, the furnitures, like time hadn’t passed but that floor was another story. Aside from those paintings on the floor, that floor lacked of any other furnitures. In the other two there were vases, display cabinets and old father clocks. Instead there was nothing there, completely nothing. In the end, the light emanated from the lamps on the ceiling was dimmer, which made the entire corridor looking more gloomy. “Wow, this floor hasn’t been used for a long time” commented Mike. “A good think maybe. We will finish quickly” said Armin “Left or right ? Where do we start ?” “Right” answered Erwin. They were all so lost in there thoughts that they didn’t realize that something was observing them. … It was incredible. In a twisted way of course, but it was incredible nonetheless. In front of them, the room was entirely covered with enormous greenish roots, covered by purple rounded casings that partially contained a body inside them. Somebody had their leg or an arm out, one even the bust, wrapped in green stems similar to the ones connected to the monsters Levi had fought before. The smell inside that room was nauseating and overwhelming, like the plant itself wanted to use it to keep them away. “It’s… overwhelming” commented E2 covering the nose with his hand. He was feeling challenged by the plant that was hidden by all that roots. It was so hateful. Since he and the plant belonged to the same kind, the giant inside Eren refused to be sent away by someone it considered inferior to him. E2 didn’t care that the plant didn’t want him there. He couldn’t wait to drag Levi out of there but his giant thought otherwise. It demanded to reduce that detestable plant in thousands tiny pieces, for it to have questioned its superiority.What E2 didn’t know was that Levi was feeling the same, but for different reasons. His ‘instinct’ was telling him that there was a terrible threat nearby and that he needed to be ready to defend himself and the boy. At least he knew where everybody had gone. Inside the casings-pustules like there were women dressed up in maid uniforms, mercenaries and other were too high to see what or who was inside. Nor that Levi cared. What mattered was that he finally knew where those terrible creatures came from and what was creating them. If they found a way to kill that thing, they would prevent someone else to be killed that night. “How are we supposed to deal with this thing though ?” Asked Levi observing the plant, not daring to come too close. “No idea” answered E2. He really didn’t. He’d never seen anything like that in Paradise. Sure Frieda taught him a little about the serum, how it work and how its effect could differ from creature to creature, but her big words only confused him for the major of times. He wished he had paid more attention. He wished he had nourished his cultural level the same way he trained his body. If he was knew more about the topic, he’d been more than a dead weight for Levi. “I’m sorry” he added. “It’s not your fault. I wish the little mushroom was here with us” “How would a mushroom be helpful against that plant ?” E2 really could’t imagine Levi fighting the plant with a mushroom. “Stop taking me literally, you obnoxious brat. I was talking about a person who would know how to help us” E2 knew perfectly who Levi was talking about. Armin Arlert. He’d never met the doctor before, but he was pretty famous among the shifters and Eren often talked about him so E2 could say to know him and he agreed that Armin could help them but they were alone in that. “Well, sometimes we have to play with the cards we have” said E2 “We fought a monster before, we can deal with this if we work together” “It’s just that I don’t…” Apparently the plant could no longer suffered the presence of two intruders in its territory and decided that moment to attack them. Two casings broke and monsters came out of them. “We have company. Stay behind me. I know how to deal with those” said Levi. “But…” “Didn’t you hear me ? Stay behind brat !” ‘How can I be helpful ??’ ‘Easy, by taking the lead. You have genetic on your part. Use it. Try to remember…” …
PARADISE ISLAND - FEW MONTHS BEFORE…
“Ready for your little botany lesson ?”
E2, Marco, Frieda and Sasha accompanied him to the greenhouse to learn more about the plants of Paradise, that were all effected with the serum.
According to the them, it would be useful if he learnt something about the plants and how to use them in a fight. E2 didn’t see the point since there would be no affected plants in Marley but he enjoyed spending time with the others and learning more and more everyday.
The guy who had just spoken to him was Alain Moreau.
He was one of the few researchers who chose to side with Eren in his crusade after 2095. He used to work in a greenhouse and study the effect of the serum on plants.
According to what Marco told him about Alain, at the beginning no one trust him or want to be in his company because he used to work for Tybur.
Marco was one of the first who approached him in a friendly manner, nor that E2 was actually surprised. Marco was kind and friendly and never let any prejudices to prevent him from forming more friendships. Gradually Alain started to spend less time alone in the greenhouse and more time with others, specially Marco.
E2 wasn’t an expert of social dynamics, so he enjoyed observing how the people around him interact with each other. Marco didn’t interact with Alain the same way he did with Frieda, Ymir or Thomas. The two seemed close in another way.
Alain was in his early thirty, he had dark curly hair, olive skin and dark eyes. He had slim physique, the round checks, adorned with a strange birthmark on the left ones.
Despite the serum, he hadn’t gained an impressive musculature, probably because he spent more time there in the greenhouse than elsewhere. Due to that, his opponents tended wrongly to underestimated him, forgetting the most dangerous asset Alain possessed. His vast knowledge about plants and how the virus could affect them.
Among the shifters on the island, he was one of those who had the deepest connection with them, probably because he spent most of his time taking care of them.
Their use in a fight was his speciality and since they were on an island full of plants, it was a luck for him, not so much for those who dared to challenge him.
“I think so. Thanks for your time” said E2.
“Don’t thank me. It’s a pleasure helping another fellow shifter” said Alain hugging E2 “Welcome in my little world. I promise, you will love the plants as I do once we finish our lesson”
“I have no doubt” answered E2 politely.
Unfortunately Marco, Frieda and Sasha couldn’t remain with them, so E2 was left alone with Alain. He really hoped that Alain wouldn’t use one of those big, scientific and inapprensibile words that made him want to tear his hair off his head.
It was one of the reason why he was always so hesitant when someone propose him to encounter new people, specially if they had a degree like Alain.
Compared to them he felt so mediocre, so ignorant so… well, insignificant.
His life had been pretty insignificant after all. Rotting inside a white room was nothing commendable.
He wished he had gone to school too.
Alain showed him some plot plants to begin their lesson.
“These are pot plants but, due to the serum, I can tell than in a months I will have to plant them out again. There are not vases that fit gigantic plants unfortunately” joked Alain showed a succulent plant “Take it. Tell me what you notice”
Slowly, E2 grabbed the vase from Alain and the first thing that caught his attention was its smell. It was pretty weird, he had the sensation that that plant was trying to communicate something to him through its smell. It was becoming more defined, more intense, more acrid.
“The smell… it’s changing its smell the more I lean toward it to smell it”
“Yeah, they do that, don’t they ?” Said Alain caressing the plant like it was a pet.
“Why ?”
“Because your smell its unfamiliar and it’s vaulting wether you’re an enemy or not”
“Oh… yeah, plants are very vulnerable and they constantly need to defend themselves from animals, humans and more. I will teach you how to take care of them before to use them in a fight”
“Why ?”
“Because plants, just like people, needs to know that they can count on you too. Take care of them, love them, protect them and they will do the same for you in a fight. Just like any other Ymir creature, you’re emotionally connected with them. Maybe you don’t feel it right now, but the giant inside of you senses it. That’s why you’re growling, because your giant’s feeling challenged”
E2 was stunned. Was he growling ? If he was he didn’t realize it. He didn’t mean to actually. Surely it was his inner giant but how was he supposed to create a connection with something that constantly challenged his giant when he didn’t even have that strong bond with the giant itself ?
It was brief, like a blink, but for a moment he’d been tempted to crush the plant he was holding and reduce it in thousands tiny little pieces for challenging him with its smell.
That was an urgent issue to fix. He needed to bond deeper with his giant, if he wanted to be the one in control and not the contrary.
He’d seen what happened when the giant took control over him and he didn’t want that to happen ever again, specially because Marco, Eren or Ymir or anyone of the shifter wouldn’t always be there to stop him from hurting someone.
“I’m sorry” he whispered lowering his head.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve heard you’re still working on your bond with your giant, so that’s normal. Maybe creating a bond with a plant will enlighten you on your bond too.”
“I hope. Keeping my giant in check is tiring. Every single time I feel an intense emotion I’m afraid of losing control. My emotions and his mix to the point I don’t distinguish myself from it”
“Maybe ‘cuz you see you two as two different things when you’re one. You just need to rely on it and start from there, but we aren’t here to talk about it. Put the vase on that table” ordered Alain indicating a table not too far from them.
E2 followed the instruction and put the vase on the table.
“First thing first, what new mothers do to their baby to form a bond with them ?”
E2 blinked several times. That answer hit a sour spot, because he’d never had a mother. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how could it be like having one. Or being in a family. No on had ever taken good care of him and no one had ever wanted to form a bond with him for a long time. He had no idea how to take care of another thing, living or not. He had never cared about anything, no one of the toys ever given to him, or the food he didn’t need, or the clean clothes.
He’d been slowly learning what meant caring for something since he arrived on the island, but until that moment it were the others that took care of them. Never the other way around.
“Don’t know… they bring toy to them”
“Yes… but that after. First they need to assure the safety and the healthiness of their baby. The plant is safe in here so what you need to give to it ?”
“Food ?”
“Exactly. Just like us, ordinary fertilizer aren’t enough for them. They needed something more… peculiar…”
E2 didn’t need to be told explicitly. One look shared between them and he already knew what the other meant. Those plants, just like them, possessed the same appetites. He’d witnessed them once in the mind of one of the nurse back in Lago City.
The poor thing had witness a colleague being devoured by a plant. Flesh, blood, bones…
In the end, they were predators, just like them…
… “Blood…” he growled… He could feel his fangs appearing, his body temperature rising and muscle tissue hardening around his hands. It wasn’t good. His giant was taking over and he needed to stop it before things escalating beyond the limit. He quickly bite his hands until his fangs penetrated the skin and few drops of blood felt on the stems of the plant, to nourish them. To control them. Few drops would be enough to control the plant, to ordered it to die, to leave them alone. He was sincerely getting tired of all that situation, of all that anger bottled up, constantly on the verge to explode at any threat. He was tired of needing to control himself all the time.“Idiot what the fuck you’re doing ?” Asked Levi why he was fighting the monsters. “I don’t know, call it an intuition but I feel like that’s what I’m supposed to do” “Bleeding to death ?” Asked Levi after he finally succeeded in killing one of them. “At least that’s something I can do alone” tried to joke E2. He didn’t pay attention to Levi’s answer, probably the man was telling him to fuck himself anyway, but he felt the bond between him and the plant as soon as it was formed. The mere second the plant absorbed his blood. Feed on it. The moment it felt someone was taking care of it. Just what it needed. Like any living being, any seed who still needed to learn how to feed alone, like a baby that wanted nothing more than someone who took care of them.The plant felt lonely, abandoned, forgotten, by her former owners, by her own kind, by the men. ‘Such a tragedy…’ he thought. Such a tragedy indeed. Forgotten beings lived an existence that wasn’t worthy to be lived. It was a waste and in the end they became nothing but burden to themselves too. His human side tied him he should feel a little sympathy, his giant side instead told him, demanded him to just end that waste of space. To take it out of its sight. So he did. Because as soon as he was directly bonded with the plant, he could ordered it rather he wanted, including dying. So he did. He felt item when it died. He knew which stem would wither even before it happened. It was sadistic, it was sick, it was unfair but it was needed to be done. And he liked, deep down, the sensation to be the one in control. So much that he licked his lips and his eyes became gold for the excitement. “What have you done ?” Asked Levi. The raven hair would be lying if he said that he didn’t consider all of that quite alarming. He tried to focus on what Eric said. That he had an intuition, maybe it was similar to his owns. He had ‘intuitions’ too. Moment when something was triggered inside him and he knew exactly what was needed to do. Just like then.Something inside him reassured him that E2 was reliable, that he was sincerely trying to help and that he was safe with him.For some insane reason, that feeling inside him suggested that he was safe with a boy who had spent the last decade locked up in a cell, who knew nothing about the world. “I wanted it to die… to rot… and it’s obeying… It’s engulfing itself… Don’t ask me how but… I just know… It’s just is…” he said. It was just the reality, wasn’t it ? What else could be waiting for something that was bloomed to rot ? Nothing more than dry leaves on infertile ground. And he felt it, when it died. He felt taste of rotten on the top of his tongue, wether it was due the death he caused or from the darkness inside him, E2 wasn’t able to give himself an explanation. What he knew was that he’d just showed Levi the worst side of himself, the monstrous side of him, that side, that face, that form that was more and more difficult for him to keep under control. “I’m not feeling well…” he whispered falling on the ground “My head… What…”
An image appeared inside his head. An empty room, with grey walls, no windows, only a disturbing background screech and there was something on the central wall but he couldn’t distinguish what exactly was.
He tried to focus on the room until he saw someone in front of him, at the center of the room. The person wasn’t much taller than him, dressed up in a grey tracksuit. The person was looking at something at his right, so E2 could distinguish the presence of something on his neck.
“Argh !! It hurt !!” E2 screamed grabbing his head with his hands. What the hell was happening inside his head ? Why those imagines were appearing at that very moment ?
That guy was still there, still looking at his right but E2 had no idea what was so interesting about a grey wall. Or maybe that imagine was simply incomplete or it was just an hallucination caused by the plant’s toxin.
He tried to speak but he couldn’t. He could barely feel his body when he was in that room and that nothingness he felt was actually scary. He didn’t want to be there, in that cold room, filled with silence and pain, in the company of someone he didn’t know. He was unfamiliar with that place but something inside him, a sensation, a growing feeling inside him, was telling him that something terrible had happened there.
He tried to speak again, but then the scenario changed again and he found himself in a garden. In front of him there was still the person from before, looking at something at his right, exposing the mark on his neck but it was taller. It was an adult silhouette. More imposing, more threatening in a way.
He pointed toward a shed with his face.
“I hope… I hope someone… Someone will know…”
Those were the first and last words that person pronounced before…
…Before that illusion ended and he found himself on the ground, surrounded by dry leaves and the smell of rotten…Levi, whom could no longer handle the yelling and screaming of agony, decided to approach the kid cautiously. Suddenly he found himself in a completely new and unexpected situation to handle and he wasn’t sure he was suited for the job. Erwin and Hanji would have known what to do. The first was a quick thinker, who worked well under pressure and the second had the knowledge required to handle the shifters. Nevertheless, he couldn’t leave the boy there, he didn’t want. So he kneeled on the ground next to him, gently caressed his hair, like he remember his mother used to do with him. He didn’t know what else to do in that situation, so he simply followed his instinct and apparently it was working. The kid, Eric, was slowly relaxing under his touch. The grimace of pain was slowly fading, and his young features looked more relaxed after a couple of minutes. “Thanks…” whispered E2 enjoying Levi’s touch “… I don’t know what happened to me…” “It’s okay… It must be too much to handle kid. This entire situation is a fucking mess…” “Yeah… Thank you for your help but I think I’m fine” said E2 sitting on the floor “I’m sorry for making you waste precious time. I recognize that this isn’t the ideal situation to lose consciousness” “Stop fucking apologize, it’s fucking annoying. If you feel better though, here, let me help you” said Levi helping E2 standing up. “Thanks. What should we do now ?” “Well, the plant is gone and we have your ID wristband. We should find my comrades and than we can find the other prisoners together. Are you absolute sure that there are other people here ?” E2 nodded then he said “Yes. I told them I’d be back for them, but then I lost myself in this place. Those people with the white coat gave them the same cure they gave to me. They told us we needed it”
‘They’re shifters too then. Shifters who have no fucking idea how to control their abilities, fucking amazing’
‘Sorry’
‘I told you to stop fucking apologize kid’
That was another issue to add to the list. The idea that that kid could have free access to his mind was dangerous, specially because he still had no idea wether Eric could be trusted or not. The ‘conscious’ inside him was telling him he could lower his guard, but the rational side instead was telling him that there was something wrong about the entire situation. That there was something sinister, hidden from his eyes, a dark truth weaved into a falce innocence. Just like everything that was connected with Tybur. “Let’s find my comrades. Then we will find your friends, I promise” “I know, thank you, Levi” answered E2 with gratefulness “Once we find my friend, remind me that there’s something I need to tell you”“Can’t you tell me now ?” Asked Levi entering inside the parking lot. “No, I need to… I need to think about what happened before.” Answered E2 closing the gray door and following Levi in the parking lot. He noticed that the leaves and the climbing plants had withered. Good but not good. At least Levi and him could be sure nothing was going to attack them in the parking lot, or at least not the plant.
‘It’s not difficult to understand. What you have just seen were memories from Kruger’s past. I mean, this place talks about him. I choose this place because I hoped it could unlock inside you some memories from his past’
Eren’s voice made him jumped. He hissed, hoping Levi didn’t hear him.Since he couldn’t ask more questions to Eren without Levi knowing, he waited for the latter to say more.
‘Just like I told you before, the better I know someone the deeper my connection with them is. Unfortunately, Krueger’s like is full of mysteries. Frieda is the one who knew him best and nevertheless I asked her not to think about him anymore to not confuse my mind”
Levi was walking ahead of him, while he was simply following in silence, hoping that Levi wouldn’t chose that moment to speak with him. The raven haired man instead took his radio and start speaking with someone, a woman apparently but E2 didn’t pay attention to it. It was the first time Eren was willing to speak freely about one of their creators and E2 was curious as well to know Krueger better.He was the father of all the shifters, E2 could consider the man his father as well.
‘She had some memories of him. Moments about his as a man, moments shared together, the scientist he used to be and those memories helped me to unlock some of his memories inside me but then I realized that those memories were conditioning me as well. I was no longer able to be objective because Frieda mostly possess good memories about him. So I started considering him a positive figure, idolizing him amolst, but it influenced my entire perspective, preventing to unlock other memories’
It made sense somehow. No one could have an objective opinion about a person knowing only the positive things about them and learning about them through the stories of another person could influence the judgment. But then E2 wondered how Eren managed to communicate with him the first time.
‘A trauma. It’s too early for you to know, but an intense stress could sometimes make bad memories resurfaces. In my case, a trauma from my past allowed me to unlock Krueger’s conscience inside me and some of his memories but not everything. He wants me to discover his past on my own’
So, if he got it correctly, there it was highly possible that he would unlock more memories about Kruger’s past by the end of the mission. He couldn’t say that it was exited about it. Whatever memories he had about that place, surely they couldn’t be happy ones. ‘Wouldn’t hurt a little happiness in my life…’ he unconsciously thought. ‘Sure it wouldn’t. I’d like some in mine too’ answered Levi turning around to look at him. Levi’s voice snapped E2 out of his thoughts. He blinked several times. He was so focus on his conversation with Eren that he didn’t even realize to have been walking along the corridor, following Levi. “Did you have an unhappy life ?” Asked E2 tilting his head. Levi turned around again. He didn’t know how to answer. After all, his interlocutor was a person who had spent the latest years locked up in a cell. No freedom, no family, no friends, no identity.Compared to that his life had been hard, but not empty. It was full of both tragedy and joy. His family was poor, he had no toys and few clothes. His mother sold her body and slept with strangers men in the same bed where she told him fairytales and sang lullabies.Then his mother gifted him with a sister and his little family became a little brighter, happier, larger. Then both his mother and sister were ripped from him, but then Kenny came and, in spite of his rude and abrasive personality, somehow filled the void left by the two important women in his life.Then he had Isabel and Furlan… and lost them too… “My life has been an alternate of emptiness and fulness, of loss and gain, of death and life. I had the honor of encounter many people who cared about me and whose affect I reciprocated.” “It seems intense. Surely it is compared to my life. I have only one word to describe my life: emptiness. I’ve never had anything in my life. No freedom, no name, no family… I’ve never cared for one thing in my life. Not even myself. I wish I could learn” “What exactly ?” “To care. If you care for something, you have something to lose. The more you risk to lose, the higher is the stake, the less meaningless your life is. That’s what I have learned comparing our lives. I wished I had someone whom I was willing to die for. It’s sounds… pleasurable in some sense” Levi stopped walking for a moment. Pleasurable ? To have something to fight for ? Someone to lose ? Someone to die for ? It wasn’t. Or having feelings would scare many people, ‘cuz feelings were scaring things, not matter how many times he tried to rationalize them. But he also imagined a life without his mother’s affection, or the friendship of Furlan and Isabel. He wouldn’t changed a thing in his life after all. “I’m not an expert. But I can tell you that anytime I cared for someone, I got hurt in a way or another. Good things always gets paid with pain. I fell, I stole, I killed, I cried and mourned for those I loved but it was worthy. I wish you the same…” said Levi looking E2 in the eyes “… To find someone, you will fall, steal, kill, cry for. An empty life it isn’t worth to live” “Oh…” simply said E2, not knowing what else to say “I’m still a little confused though. What’s so special about losing someone only to learn how to care for them ?”“Not so big on feelings, are we kid ?” “Big on… what do you mean ?” Asked E2 passing his hands over his clothes “Am I too thin ? Oh… No, you mean I’m too young to understand feelings !” Exclaimed E2, exited like a child “Did I guess right ? Right ? Ri… ouch” He pouted when Levi hit him on his head. “Just shut up kid, before I muzzle you” The raven haired man had enough of hearing the other blab.E2 pouted and crossed his arms, like a child reprimanded by his parent, but obeyed and said nothing more.If Levi was right or wrong, only time would tell, but he was willing to taking the risk. He was no longer the scared boy he was when he escaped from Lago City.He had learned to be brave and take the risk. Being with Levi was, indeed, a risk. A risk he chose to take but that he didn’t regret.There was something between them, a bond, and the fact that they could read each other’s mind only confirmed his suspicious. “By the way, I was talking with my colleague, as you heard…” E2 didn’t, but he didn’t correct Levi. “… They’re waiting for us. I didn’t explain them everything, there will be time for all the explanations later” … ‘Something is following us. I can feel its presence behind us’ thought Armin. Whatever creature was behind them, he couldn’t define it. The walls were full of the smell of the plant, so he could count on his olfaction, but he could hear it. Slow, calm but firm movements. Footsteps ? Maybe. A human being ? No, not an ordinary human. He recognized the step of a beast, of a hunter. Of something that was waiting for the right moment to attack. “There’s a door here. Let’s check this room…” was saying Erwin to Mike. It was just a moment, but he felt when the temperature rose. The only thing he could do was pushing Erwin and Mike inside that room before a gigantic and burning arm appeared and destroyed the entire corridor. Due to the impact, Armin, Erwin and Mike were thrown against the wall. “Oh God…” whispered Mike caressing his hair “It hurt” “What was that ?” Asked Erwin confused. “A problem” answered Armin standing up and running away “Don’t leave the room for any reasons. I got this”Of course Erwin tried to stop him but Armin ignored him. Among them, he was the only one who could handle that situation, since he knew exactly what that thing was. Just like excited, the ceiling and the walls of the corridor were gone and the arm too but he knew that the threat was still out there. He jumped on the ground on the other side of the villa, in the garden. Since the corridor upstairs was gone and that his opponent was aware of his abilities, it would be unlike that they would fight him in a narrow place. He’d do the same thing after all. But if his opponent was aware of the right use for his abilities, then he was in advantage. Differently to Armin, they didn’t care to destroy things in order to attack, instead Armin needed to be careful and to protect Erwin and Mike. Another advantage that his opponent had was its transformation’s process. The heat from before was enough to severely burn a person but not to cremate them to death. If Armin had done the same, the explosion generated would have probably melt half of the villa, maybe even more, since among all the giants, the colossal was the one that emitted more steam than others.
‘That happens when you care about something’
‘Oh, so now you care about those men ?’ Asked Eren.
‘Don’t put words in my mouth, you savage’
‘Savage ? Come on, you can do better than that’
‘I’ve no energy to waste in this childish banter’
‘I agree with you on this’
Armin started walking along the garden, following the trail of smoke, the smell of burnt grass, everything that could lead him toward the source of that explosion. He could feel that that creature was hiding nearby. He could feel the smell of its skin underneath the smoke. He could feel their heart beating. Their breathing… Quickly he jumped and dodged another attack from his mysterious opponent. It was clear that his opponent was a beginner, the second attack was definitively weaker than the first. “So little stamina dear ?” Asked Armin licking his lips. It was so good that Erwin and Mike were, for once, distant from him. For once, he could let his mask fall and free his true nature from any sort of shackle. Anyone one the island knew that Armin’s angelic face was but another mask to cover a darker side of him that came out during a fight.A sadistic, darker, poisoning side of him, necessary for the job he used to had and for the live he chose. A side of him that told him to think about himself. A side of him who hated losing more than anything else. A side of him who was ready to do anything to win, to put his opponent to their knees. Who could already tasted the victory on his lips.His eyes, the eyes of a best, became golden and shining, in the darkness of the garden. The eyes of someone who could clearly see a silhouette few meters in front of him.
‘Found you’
“You did, Doctor Arlert” said the man, still hiding himself in the dark. “Please, don’t be so formal now. We’re old acquaintance, aren’t we ?” Asked Armin with curiosity “David ?” David Parrish. It was the leader of the mercenaries hired to control and protect the goods they hide in the villa. A greedy man, but a competent leader, with an excellent business acumen. Hiring him had been a good idea at the beginning, he was the kind of man who didn’t ask too many questions but then he started putting his nose in their private business.Eren was uncertain wether to get rid of him or not, apparently Parrish preceded him. “Did you inject yourself with the serum, didn’t you ?” “You left me no choice. I know you’re behind that thing, that damn plant, killed my men and everyone who came nearby this fucking shit hole !! What the hell are you ??”“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Armin shrugged “Anyway, it’s clear that your presence is quite an inconvenience for the Scouts Legion.” David Parrish walked toward Armin, showing his face in the moonlight. It was obvious that Parrish had injected to himself the virus wrongly, but apparently he didn’t turn into a mindless giant and that made Armin realize something. “You injected yourself with the serum too…” he muttered observing Parrish’ face. He’d never been much of a looker, but in that moment he almost didn’t look human at all. Half of the skin of his face was gone, the right side to be specific, showing the teeth, the gums, the eyeball, like his colossal form. The other side of the face was any better though, it was full of burns, like his skin was consuming from inside due to the high temperature emitted. The thick muscular tissue expanded throughout the chest and the left arm. On the other side, the skin was covered with pustules, probably caused by the plant but in the end they were all mere details. What Armin was interested about was the vaccineNevertheless, whatever vaccine he had managed to obtain to save his skin, had limited effects but some effects nonetheless.Armin was sure that it wasn’t one of their vaccine, Eren forbidden them to sell them. He didn’t want to take the risk that their prototypes could end in the wrong hands so, where the hell Parrish had found one ? Who was producing them ? Where was it sold ? Black market for sure, since according to his information, no one had produced one that could work. “Where the hell did you get a vaccine ??” Parrish sneered cruelly “So now I’m one step ahed of you guys, am I not ? I’m not an idiot, I know you would have tried to kill me sooner or later. It was only a matter of time”“So you decided to inject yourself with the serum, how brave” Armin mocked him “Since you know a lot of things, than you already know that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep your mouth shout” “What tell you I haven’t already spill the beans ah ? Doctor Arlert ? What if I told everything to the guy that sold me the vaccine ? What if I tell you that he promised to me that he will turn me into something better ?” Armin could think about one single person who could promise something like that and creating an efficient vaccine too. “Zeke Yeager is still alive isn’t he ? The bastard survived Lago Incident…” ‘… And started selling the serum and a vaccine on the black market’ ‘Apparently a serum without its vaccine can’t be sold easily on black market, but Zeke and the Warrior Unit needed money. The bastard has been careful about using his telepathy with Annie.’ Said Eren in his mind.
‘It’s not a bad thing actually… not at all… We can bring Smith to Zeke if we play well this card but before that… Let me handle this’
Producing a vaccine wasn’t a walk in the park, specially if Zeke wasn’t well equipped. Reading all the files on the matter, the first vaccine had been created many years after his dead, even if the facilities were all we’ll equipped with both machines, instruments and the most brilliant minds of all the empire, except his one of course.Nevertheless, the vaccine they created had its faults. Could be used only to avoid trigger the transformation, but it had to be injected again after a certain amount of time and it didn’t work at 100%. “You didn’t say anything. I’m sure of this ‘cause you know nothing concrete. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m done dealing with scum” Armin was sure about that. They sat up the best cover for the occasion. That they were testing a new medicine for Tybur, in one of the few remaining facility in Paradise, where it was deemed the safest to prevent the government from finding them.They made believe Parrish that they were desperate, that he ad the upper hand in their businesses but of course it was all a lie. Eren also expected that sooner or later Parrish would have become greedier and more demanding and that he would probably planned to betray them. In the end, his head was simply inevitable. “I’ll make you wish you’d never said it. I’ll avenge the life of my men” Parrish punched the ground but before it exploded, Armin bite his hand and pushed his body out away generating a giant arm and then he used the hardening ability on it to limit the impact. He turned around and saw Erwin and Mike looking at the, while holding themself on the walls.Armin couldn’t allow Parrish to come close to them, so he created a wall of crystal to protect them. Parrish knew that he wasn’t alone in that corridor, he would tried to attack Erwin and Mike to put Armin in a position of vulnerability.Parrish attacked him again, giving Armin no quarter, biting his hand again and punching the ground to make it crumble under his feet. “Come on, doctor Arlert, you can do better than that !! I know it !!” “I bet you do” Since Parrish was basically infected, he could have access to the shared memories, even thought he had no idea how to unlock them. Nevertheless, if Parrish knew how to trigger his abilities, it was due to them which meant that his bond with the nucleus was a seed, but it was blooming. Armin wouldn’t let it bloom any further.He couldn’t turn into his giant form but it wouldn’t be necessary. All he had to do to win the game was to get close enough and then trigger half of transformation. The hight temperature and the impact would have been enough to kill Parrish or at least to prevent him from attack again and offering Armin a chance to kill him definitively. Since it was night his explosion wouldn’t have been powerful and destructive like it could have been during daytime.If he played his cards well, Parrish would be dead by the next five minutes. “Ahhhh !! These shits hurt !!” Parrish was referring to the pustules on his body. Every time he used his abilities, some pustules broke and it caused him pain, but then new ones formed on his body. Armin needed to be careful not to infect himself. Armin decided to take the risk and used the same technique used by Parrish. He punched the ground with his arm and then he triggered the transformation of the arm to cause an explosion. Parrish didn’t dodge his attack in time, so he was suffering burns and it was clear that he wouldn’t endure the heat very long. In that moment, Armin got another idea. He started running toward him, grabbed a blade and attempted to cut Parrish’s nape but the man, instead of dying, succumbed to his own pain and turn himself into a mindless giant. “Shit !!” Shouted Armin when the explosion caused by the transformation pushed him against the wall he had created before. Apparently the vaccine not only wasn’t efficient at 100% but it had short-term effects or maybe its effects were vanished due to the plant’s toxin or the heat. He had no idea, but what he knew was that he wanted a sample of it. In order to achieve that, he needed to cut Parrish’s nape.Surely it wasn’t going to be easy. Parrish’s giant form was simply hideous and revolting. It’s body was entirely covered by the purple pustules, it emitted a smell of rotten herbs and burnt meat. His legs and arms were slimmer than his broad abdomen, his chubby cheek and the empty expression on his face.That creature was no longer a man, it was just an empty shell. No longer a person, but a problem, an obstacle on Armin’s way.The giant made his first move, trying to grab him with his fatty hands. Armin waited until the hands were close enough to block them with his hardening ability to the ground, but some pustules broke, causing immensely pain to Parrish. He transmitted all his pain in his shout and the intensity made the ground tremble under Armin’s feet. It was so intense that wrecked the crystal that restrained it. As soon as it was free, its pustules broke all at once and the enormous silhouette was covered by a purple smoke. It was probably the toxin. To protect himself, Armin protected his body covering it entirely with a crystal layer, like an armor.
‘You want a sample of its DNA ? You can’t. If you lick his blood, you won’t be able to predict the possibile effects of the vaccine and the toxin combined. You can die’
‘Worried for me ? Eren ?’
‘You offend me. I think I’ve proven multiple times I care’
‘You do, in your own unconventional ways’
‘Unconventional ?’
Armin didn’t want to dwell in that topic. It wasn’t the time and he wasn’t in the mood. His friendship with Eren was pretty crooked, made of half truths and half lies. Eren still didn’t know how to properly care and Armin had to work on his trust issues, but they were work in progress. Eren tried clumsily to earn his trust giving him ‘presents’, like informations about him or updates about his true abilities, informations unknown to his colleagues.In return Armin tried to trust him, to have faith that Eren wouldn’t kill him too, just like everyone else, once he would be no longer useful. In the end, they formed a deep bond, a bode made of substance and shape but no name. Wether it was friendship, brotherhood, or simply allegiance, only time would tell. Until that moment, they had simply danced around the topic. Eren was still new to relationships in general and Armin was still afraid of the brunette. Afraid of his strength, his power,
‘You can’t control Parrish, can you ?’
‘I can’t. The toxin prevents me from forming a stable connection with him. It’s poisoning his mind. Soon he would lose any human form. He’s suffering a lot.’
‘Can’t you even try to acquire some of his memories ? It’s the only chance we have to learn what Zeke’s planning to do’
‘As I told you, his nervous system is highly damaged and unfortunately the hippocampus and the limbic system in general were the first to be highly damaged by the toxin. Even if Parrish shifts back in his human form, his mind would be compromised. He would be a vegetal’
‘So, I can only hope to take a sample and to learn something from it’
‘Unfortunately’
Armin sighed. Using his abilities during the night always required more energies than daytime. He needed to kill Parrish once and for all. His attacks would get weaker and weaker until he had no more strength left, not even to keep his eyes open.
‘Your energy, you can give me that, Eren’
‘As you wish’
One last time, he would attack one last time… One last time…He focused on all the pain he was feeling for the wounds, the bruises and the frustration to trigger a complete transformation. He succeeded only a couple of times, but when he was focus, he could shifted into a short version of his colossal and contain the heat of the transformations. During the day it was impossible, but during the night, when all his abilities and senses weren’t empowered by the sunlight, there was a possibility to success. Furthermore Eren was going to help him.Since that thing was infected and could infect Armin’s titan body too, the best course of action was to burn it down, so he needed to focus on the heat of his body rather than to its explosion. If the body exploded but one part of the body managed to survive and regenerated than it would be game over for him and his comrades. ‘Are you ready ?’ Asked Eren ‘I am’ answered Armin with his golden eyes shining in the darkness. First the thunder, then the pain, the broken bones, the unconsciousness and the awaken inside his new form. Quickly he ran toward the mindless giant and then trapped him with his arms, to held the other’s arm still and then Armin hardened his body while leaving the nape.He hardened his body again and used a blade to cut the giant’s nape.
‘It’s not much, but at least I obtained a sample’
‘Good job Armin’
‘Thank you’.
He jumped off Parrish’d body, just in time before the carcass of his giant body started burning the other giant. It was an horrible view indeed. The giant screamed, like an animal in cage, scratching and wiggling to get away from the heat but it couldn’t. Armin turned around, clinging on the knowledge that Parrish was going to die for the cut on his nape, that whatever hell he was living, would be over soon.
‘Rejoin the others. While you go, I have very important news to share with you’
‘Really ? What news ?’
‘I think I have unlocked some Kruger’s memory, or at least I gained some more pieces to solve his riddle’
‘So my suggestion was right. We need to reconstruct his past to unlock it within you. After all, he lived here once, when he was a kid. He had been linked with Tybur family for longer than we expected’
‘Exactly. I’m not sure wether they’re actually memories or just simple imagines Kruger formed to lead me somewhere, but if they has been unlocked, if Kruger has gone through the trouble to create them then there must be a reason’
‘It’s good. It means we’re close to reveal the truth.’
Eren wasn’t the only one obsessed with Kruger after all. The man was a legend, not only for his achievements but for the mystery that surrounded his persona.Like Homer, the presumed author of Iliad and Odyssey, whose genius was known and passed through the generations but anything else about his life remained unknown to posterity; so Kruger became a legend over the years. The man had no family, no friends, no lovers. His name appeared only the researches conducted with the serum. Armin wanted to learn more about the man. He wanted to know how could he came up with something both magnificent and terrifying like the serum.There was a reason why Eren, Kruger and probably Grisha and Zeke Yeager were special too. The first serum, the one and only created by Kruger personally, had never been successfully replicated. Even with Eren’s sample, the most successful serum that far allowed shifters to benefit of the effects only for a decade, more or less, depending on the person.A shifter could live longer only after having lived as mindless giant but even then there was the risk that, after reverting back into a human form, the damages provoked at the neuron system could be irreversible. Like Parrish’s case. Eren was Kruger’s masterpiece so far, a masterpiece Tybur couldn’t emulate, or substitute. Tybur tried, but a try was a failure. All of them, so far, were nothing but failure compared to Eren. He partially destroyed the wall of crystal, so he could rejoin with Erwin and Mike.The two men were waiting for him in the same room where he left them.“Are you two okay ?” He asked sincerely worried, which was worrying itself. “Yes, just come bruises but we’re fine. What the hell happened ?” Asked Mike. “There was a man, a mercenary I’d say. He told me a lot of interesting informations. I can’t wait to share them with you. What about you ? Found something useful inside this room ?” Asked Armin looking around. “Inside this one, nothing much but we at least find some medicines and this…” said Erwin showing Armin an ID wristband. “Oh !” Exclaimed Armin pleased. “That’s not the only good news, let me show you” said Erwin smirking.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
VILLA HELOS 2028
‘Sleepy…’
A eight years old Eren Kruger was sitting in the back seat of a car, next to the window. Next with him, two other boys were sitting without saying a word. In front of him, two officers of Marley Empire. One of them was driving, the other was smoking keeping his window down a little, commenting how annoying were the drops of water entering inside the car.
It was a rainy day and Eren was very cold. The striped cotton-shirt he was wearing with a green dungarees didn’t keep him warm. He was content at least that he was wearing the new pair of shoes his mother bought him for his birthday.
His mom…
‘Mom…’
It happed all so fast.
One minute he was having breakfast with his family, his father sat next to him with a cup of coffee and his mother in front of him eating a biscuit and the next…
He only remembered marleyan soldiers finding him inside a closet. One of them had grabbed him by the army and dragged out his house. Before to leave, he noticed a disturbing smell of smoke, drenched with something else. Something he wasn’t familiar with and nevertheless it suggested to him that something terrible happened there, that he was supposed to be afraid and he was never going to see his family again.
Those stranger men threw him in the car, refused to answer his questions and completely ignored him during the journey.
Eren was scared.
His father warned him and his mother that the war between Marley and their country would have reached their little village too.
In the last decade, the new Empire of Marley had become an unparalleled war power in the world and due to that its recent expansionistic aims knew no limitations. Some world powers had already fallen under Marley’s army, others had stipulated contracts and allegiance in order to preserve some quality of independence and autonomy.
Their country had been in war with Marley for less than a year but many of neighboring territories already belonged to Marley. His father was convinced that they still had the time to move somewhere else, before poverty, destruction and all the disgraces that followed any way reached their house, but he was wrong apparently.
Eren didn’t remember what happened but he could imagine. He was too little to understand why men declared war against each other, but not enough not to realize that something terrible was done to his parents, something that involve fire, pain and that unpleasant smell that even smoke could hide.
He was taken to a facility that looked like an old factory, with brick walls outside and grey walls on the inside. The white pavement was dirty, the windows were obscured by the dust, the ones that didn’t have broken glass of course. The drafts emitted from the windows, soldiers’ footsteps and the decadence that characterized the entire place only made the entire situation more macabre and depressing.
He was brought into a room, where there were other children around his age. He didn’t remember their faces or their names, only their eyes. They were empty, completely lifeless. Differently from him, they didn’t even jump when a soldier came too close to them, or raise the voice or a door got slammed for the wind. They simply stayed there, still, silent.
Eren lost the count of days he spent inside that factory, he only remembered that at some point, one of the soldiers who brought them food, water and blankets to keep them warm, ordered him to follow inside another room.
The room was empty, for the exception of a table at the center, where a man was sitting and reading some papers.
There was a fat man, wearing a white coat, round glasses and black trousers and didn’t greet or look up when Eren entered inside the room.
“Sit” ordered the man pointing at the chair in front of him.
Eren obeyed. He sat in front of that man, not daring to look him in the eyes and fearing what was going to happen to him next.
That man didn’t seem dangerous, but which man did ? All men were equal and all men were capable of despicable acts. His parents’ death was the proof. The entire situation he was in, the war…
“You shouldn’t get distracted like that…” said the man catching Eren’s attention “… Pay attention to your surroundings or you’ll be an easy target”
“Someone will kill me ?” Asked Eren confused.
“Someone will observe you, study you. See what makes you flinch, what catch your interest, gain information about you without you realizing. When this person will learn enough, he will be able to predict every move of yours”
“It’s alarming, I guess”
“Don’t… guess…” hissed the doctor, clearly disturbed by that choice of word “Wether you’re sure about something or shut up.”
“Sorry”
“And do not apologize” ordered him the doctor, raising his gaze for the first time “If you do or say something, do with conviction so that you won’t regret or feel the need to apologize for after”
Eren froze when those half closed, chocolate, empty eyes looked at him.
Brown in the grey.
Emptiness in the fear.
Those eyes… the authority behind them was simply overwhelming.
No emotion lied there. They were cold and empty, the eyes of a person detached from reality, whom, in front of him, saw and watched something that no one else could.
Now that he noticed, on the doctor’s coat there was no plate with name on it, his clothes were impersonal, almost like the man wanted to erase anything about himself as a man. For the fear to disclose personal information.
The most personal detail of the doctor, were indeed his eyes.
Eren preferred the focus on the little scar under the left eyes, the wrinkles, the moles and the well groomed bear, any other detail of the man’s face but the eyes. He chose to focus on his sunken and pale face that made him looked unhealthy, his greasy gray brown hair, the chapped lips or the thin fingers of his hand. No longer his eyes.
He looked inside them for less then a second but it was enough to send chills thorough his body.
“Here” said the doctor passing him a pile of papers “Answers the questions and specific how you solved them”
“Like tests in school ? Do I have to write my name up ?”
“No, if everything goes right, you won’t need your name anymore.”
“What do…”
“Don’t waste time” said the doctor indicating an electronic clock on the table “Starting now, you have forty minutes”
The doctor didn’t have to said it twice and Eren chose not to reflect over the importance of his name and instead chose to concentrate on his paper test. His grades at schools were always motive of praises for his parents and his teachers often compliments him for his deductive skills and intelligence.
Almost any adults he had met before told he was a precocious kid, smarter, more perceptive and attentive than his classmates. A motive of pride for his parents.
For the rest of the kids instead he was weird. His friends often told him he had the tendency of thinking weird and senseless stuff but Eren always replied that there was a sense, they simply couldn’t understand.
He finished the test ten minute before time ran out. He gave the doctor the paper, whom answered with a farewell gesture, without even looking at him.
Eren left the room and a soldier brought him back in the room with the other kids, before calling another name.
When he sat on the floor, the other kids demanded to know what happened to him, but Eren simply answered that a weird man asked him to answer some question, without further elaborate.
The other kids lost interest pretty quickly when a solider arrived bringing them food, but Eren couldn’t forget.
He couldn’t ignore the weight of those words said by that man and the meaning behind them. He couldn’t forget what he said about his name and those brown eyes.
That person… that man… if he could be defined that way…
He had the eyes of a mystery. Eyes implanted on a mask of lies. He had the eyes of a lie.
If Kruger closed his eyes and then tried to remember something about the man, nothing came but the lie he was and that threatening sensation that surrounded him.
‘No’s ever looked at me that way… those eyes were so… I was so scared….’ He thought wrapping his arms around himself, trying to find comfort in them.
He grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around his body and closed his eyes. He dreamed something, but he didn’t remember what. All he knew, was that when he woke up, his cheeks were wet and a sense of emptiness and desperation filled his heart.
… “Argh…” hissed E2 caressing his head. “Is everything okay ?” Asked Levi looking at him. “I… I don’t know…” answered E2 with sincerity. It was true after all. He didn’t know how to describe the mess that was his head as soon as the first memory appeared inside it. Everything around him spinner around and then simply disappeared. He closed his eyes and he found inside those memories. He wasn’t part of them, but he simply watched then like a spectator in front of the TV. In the last memory Kruger was a child and E2 almost didn’t recognize him. It was hard thought about that frail and scared kid, who still wore the sings of childhood on his face, like the bio terrorist he was now known in the whole world.Eren Kruger, the man whose creation put the entire human kind on its knees. “Try to resist for a little more. Once we reunite with others, you can take some rest. Then we will search for the other prisoners” “Okay” simple answered E2. He felt tired, not he felt exhausted. He shouldn’t have used his ability during the night, they completely drained him of all his energies and the dizziness that followed any memory didn’t help. He hoped Levi’s teammates had some food, maybe it would help. To solve that prelim at least. He couldn’t help to feel a little disappointed. That night apparently was successful for anyone but him. Eren was unlocking Kruger’s memories, Commander Smith was getting new informations, Armin learnt about Zeke Yeager’s involvement with Parrish, and him ?Where was his reward ? E2 accepted to infiltrate because he hoped to get some kind of explanation about the dreams he had, where he and Levi were together on that beach and then ?Levi couldn’t look more aloof toward him, like E2 was nothing but a stranger and not someone who could resemble some dreams he had. Because Levi was having the same dreams wasn’t he ?At that point E2 doubted it. He was oblivious and incapable of reading the atmosphere but still capable of realizing wether he looked familiar to someone or not. A lot of shifters on the island mistook him for Eren the first time they saw him. They looked at him, put an arm around hi shoulders and started babbling about things they discussed with Eren before. E2 hated those moments.He didn’t hesitate to cut his hair as long as they grew too much, for the fear to look anything more like Eren.Maybe, he should behave more like Eren though… Maybe he should try a different approach. “You know… I haven’t been sleeping very well recently… since I got lost here. I don’t know… I had some weird dream…” he said observing Levi like a hawk, studying any single movement. Levi stiffed for a moment, before he started walking again. Disappointed, but not entirely discourage E2 tried again. “I’ve been dreaming about places I’ve never seen before… with a person I’ve never met… Is that normal ? Does it happen to other people too ?” He asked playing stupid. He didn’t want Levi to suspect him, but if he put the question like he didn’t know wether it was normal or not, due to his inexperience with real life, there wouldn’t be nothing strange. All Levi knew was that E2 had never had many interactions with normal people, so it’d obvious some curiosity on his part. “I wouldn’t know kid, fortunately, I never remember my dreams” replied Levi rolling his eyes. E2 puffed his cheeks, starting to get very frustrated, “Really ? Ever ?” “Not, ever. Now please keep your mouth shout. I get you’re curious but stop harassing me. I’m not in the mood for playing teacher with you” “Fine” muttered E2 defeated. Levi didn’t mean to be that harsh but what E2 told him left him unsettled. It made him think about the dreams he had been having recently. He didn’t like with Eric when he told him that he didn’t usually remember his dreams, because they weren’t. He often had nightmares, about his mom, about the street and his life as criminal. It was better, for him and his sanity, to forget about those.Nevertheless he couldn’t take off his minds those regarding that beach and that mysterious boy who held his hand, like he was the most special thing in the world and yet refused to show his face. He wanted to answer that it was normal, dreaming about stranger people and unknown places. That dreams needed to be interpret and that more about the faces and places, someone should analyze the meaning behind them but it wasn’t.Those dreams, that man… He knew him, a part of him knew him… A part of him yearned for him, ached to tangle his fingers with his own again…It was so strange… and confusing… why was it happening to him of all people ? Couldn’t he have something simple in his life ? “I hope your friends are okay. This night is quite eventful for everyone” “It is. Those fuckers know how to take care of themselves though” “Just to be sure, you give names people you like ? Or just everyone ?” Asked E2 tilting his head. Levi had the mouth of a drunken sailor, pretty much like Ymir, but he sounded less offensive. Ymir always came out offensive and arrogant toward anyone. There were people she tolerated, like Marika for example and Marco and Frieda, but she didn’t spare Sasha sarcastic comments on her accent or on her gigantic aspect.Levi instead… He didn’t understand him at all. “What did I tell you about harassing me brat ?” “Oh come on !!” Pouted E2 and crossed his arms “Don’t be so mean with me. Aren’t you my knight in a shiny armor like in a fairytale ?” Levi looked at E2 astonished ? He ? A former criminal that looked like a knight ? Impossible. The idea was simply ridiculous. “It’s clear you know nothing about fairytales then” Levi quipped humorlessly. “If you say so” E2 had nothing more to say and he didn’t want to irritate Levi. He really hoped that in the future their relationship would improve though. A part of him, still cringed on the hope that Levi would remember about him and that…Well… It would be cute, to have someone for himself. The simple idea made him fell less alone. …
DESERT…
“Someone is playing hard to get it… It’s usually entertaining but not tonight…” whispered Eren playing with the sand.
He used to love spending time there, when he was locked up inside the white room, but then it became simply disappointing. Once he saw the sea for the first time, touched the hand, heard the birds, feel the warm of the sun on his skin that place was simply artificial, fake and unsatisfying. Empty.
No smells, no sounds, no people, nothing. Like his white room. Like him.
“What makes tonight so special ?” Asked ‘Kruger’ behind him.
Eren turned around and saw Kruger behind him. Eren hated how much the former researcher’s mere presence was imposing, even though they had approximately the same height. Kruger also theorized that Eren would grow further taller. Eren hoped not to.
He feared that his height could become another thing that differentiate him from the rest.
Eren didn’t want to feel more alienated from the rest of the world than he already did. It was hard enough adjust his behavior the first months after the liberation of the other shifters.
He had to get used to be the ‘weird one’. The one who never understood the double sense in any line they said, the one who didn’t understand when someone was kidding him or not and to control his tempter even when his hands were itching for being nervous in crowded places.
There were times when he wished for nothing more than to be invisible, but he couldn’t.
There were times when he had been tempted to quit all that shit and leave inside a cottage near the sea, but of course, for all the things in his life, the same rule applied.
He had to fought tooth and nails to have what he wanted, specially if his enemy was basically the rest of the world.
But to return to the main issue, which was Kruger, or at least that entity that was inside his mind and had fun mocking him and challenging him.
He hated it.
Kruger hadn’t changed since the last time they met there, like usual. He didn’t get old, he didn’t change clothes, he simply was, like the desert and the starry sky.
The usual white wrinkly shirt, with his brown trousers, the black boots and the stoic and dull expression on his face.
What caught his attention the most were always his eyes though. His half closed grey eyes. The eyes of someone detached from reality, surrounded by a world that was his own. Maybe he had been living there, in that desert, for his whole life.
“I wish you to stop treating me like a child” muttered Eren closing his eyes.
“I wish you to stop brooding about the past. You finally have an army, power and the means to conquer your future and yet you’re wasting time with your senseless search for something in my past”
Eren sneered “A man like you should know that the world can’t be mine, not yet. Not before I will get ride of those who have the means to stop me. When I reveal my existence to the world, I shall be safe from threat”
“In the meantime, you will have new enemies to worry about”
Eren held it in consideration too.
The Survey Corps.
Zeke Yeager.
The time…
“Not if I can control them too. I sent Armin on the other side of the sea for one reason”
He could have articulated better his line. Said in that way, it sounded like he was merely using Armin but he actually meant that he simply believed Armin to be a capable man. He was sure he could trust him and his judgment.
Frieda advised him to send someone with Armin, since the blond was known to crumble under pressure but Eren chose not to.
He didn’t want Armin to feel under pressure, more than he already was.
“Can you trust your pawn ?”
“As long as he doesn’t get eaten” answered Eren pinching the sand, imitating the gesture he did while playing chess.
“Sometimes I wonder if you have truly left the white room Eren”
“Sometimes I wonder if you’re truly nothing more than a reminiscence… Eren”
E R E N…
He hated how that name sounded coming from his mouth. Four letters, one name, one sound.
Eren…
A name that was nothing more than an etiquette, for both of them. Eren wasn’t their real name. It was given by the circumstances.
For Kruger it meant the beginning of his new life under Tybur.
For Eren it was simply a reminder of his entire existence. The reason why he was brought in the world.
He hated it…
He hated it that mark on his soul…
He hated it… with all his heart…
“I see you’re still pursuing your plan ah ? Even though you can see the future somehow” said Kruger sitting next to him.
“I can’t learn the truth without knowing the past and you know why I chose this course of action.”
“Of course I do, I don’t understand why you chose to achieve that goal specifically.”
“Because, for the moment, I consider it the best course of action for me” said Eren “What’s wrong with wanting a past ?”
“Past is overrated. You can’t change it, you can’t take it back, you can choose to brood over it or to let it go”
“I can’t turn my back on my roots if I don’t even know here to look, that’s the problem. I’m screwed up, total screwed up and I demand…”“To know why ?”
Eren rolled his eyes.
Kruger and he had that conversation thousand time and it was pointless every time. Kruger couldn’t understand. He had a shitty past and of course he wanted to erase it completely, more focus on the improvement of his future.
He respected that. Nevertheless he wanted the other to try to understand his need to learn about his as well.
“I’m playing our little master-creature game… one memory for another… I unlocked one tonight.” Eren sighed closing his eyes “Speak”
“You know, sometimes I have the feelings that you’re simply trying to delay the end. Like you’re wanting to give yourself a chance to step back from your intentions at some point. In case something changed your mind”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about old man” replied Eren “Spill the beans”
“I spent the rest of my childhood and most of my adolescence inside that villa. As soon as I was assigned there, they called me Eren Kruger. They called me that for so many years and erased any trace of my name. At that point that I remembered it only after my injection but of course you don’t care about that. You want to my help to find Grisha Yeager, don’t you ?”
“We’re connected. You’re aware of it and so am I and nevertheless he’s been hiding from me all this years. I want to know why I can’t create a connection with him. Is he stronger than me ?”
“He could have been a nucleus in your place” answered Kruger vaguely.
“Cut the crap. Tell me what I’m doing wrong” demanded Eren trying not to raise his voice “You used to be friends, or colleagues at lest. Surely he had to tell you something about his family, his connections… anything”
“I can tell you how to improve your ability. About Grisha Yeager, you will have to wait for more memories.”“Why ? Why do you insist on hiding that man from me ?”“Because when you meet him, I want you to know… to understand everything. I want you to see the full picture when you look him in the eye for the first time” answered Kruger standing up and offering an hand to Eren “You’re no longer a child. You can do things driven by your fury anymore”
“Fine” answered Eren standing up, not accepting Kruger’s hand “Help me with my ability starting now. I have a lot of anger ready to unleash”
“And anger alone can lead toward a failure”
Eren rolled his eyes, impatient to put an end on all those useless chit chats. Kruger knew he wouldn’t listen him so why did he kept bother anyways ? Eren couldn’t understand that and when he asked, Kruger refused to answer.
Apparently the older man was determinate to be a puzzle wrapped in mystery, even after his death, even when he was no more than an imagine in that place.
Kruger forced to smile but then he quickly give up. He didn’t know how to smile, he forgot how to do it a long time ago and he’d never learned how to console someone or take care of someone in general. Eren was a complicated boy, for obvious reasons.
A boy he wasn’t capable of raising, but he was capable of making stronger, to face the world’s adversity at least.
“And what about your little plaything then ?” Asked Kruger “Your other half has been thinking about that Ackerman a lot”
“What about him ? E2 is curious about human kind, that’s it.”
“E2 ? You’ve been thinking about him a lot too. You’re delaying your plans for him too ? So that you can step back in case Levi develops feelings for you ? Or for him ?”
“Shut the fuck up !!” Said Eren attack him with a crystal dagger.
“That’s it. I mentioned the the guy and you lost your cool. You allow your anger to cloud your judgment” said Kruegr reproaching Eren after dodging the dagger.
“Shut the fuck up !!” Said Eren biting his hand and shifting in his giant form.
Eren hated the desert. It was a place with no color, no life, no smell, nothing but death, but there was one thing he loved about it. There was no law or rules either. He could turn into a giant thousands times and never feel tired after.
He could provoke thousands explosions and never destroying the surrounding.
He could defy Kruger’s authority, challenge him and fight teeth and nails to prove he was right. And he would… fight…
…
“I see you haven’t wasted time” commented Armin looking at the hole in the floor. Erwin told him that due to the explosion, part of the floor of the room crumbled and formed a hole. Mike went there, looking for an exit, and there he found the control room. Unfortunately, many datas got lost due to the ceiling crumbling on the computers, but if they were lucky they could still do something to recuperate the datas. Furthermore, while searching the room, Mike also found an ID wristband so that he could open the door. “It was one of the room we couldn’t open without this” said Erwin showing the ID around his wrist. “Good, at least we gained something from the attack” said Armin “And you had your fun in there, didn’t you guys ?” Armin rolled his eyes. Half of his clothes got burned in the explosion but at least his body temperature kept him warm. Nevertheless he didn’t feel at ease being half naked in front of two men, specially if one of them was Erwin Smith.Had he already told that he was way too happy to see the man alive ? Had he already told that he heart lost a beat when Smith smiled at him with gratitude ?Had he already told that he was on the verge of slapping himself for feelings things he shouldn’t ?Why should he care if Smith saw him half naked ? He wasn’t the little squirt he used to be before the serum. He wasn’t exactly proud of his body to show it off to everyone, but at least the serum gifted him with some decent muscles. Nevertheless Smith possessed the hateful capacity of making him feel insecure, in every sense of the word. So hateful… “Well, we couldn’t leave all the fun to you, could we ?” Joked Mike observing the room downstair. “At least we can leave this room now. I think that the corridor is inaccessible, isn’t it ?” Asked Erwin, pragmatic as always. Pragmatism was the mask he chose to hide most of the time.Thinking about what to do next was better than focusing on his feelings and he was done with feeling in general that night. He’d already lost his focus once, when he saw his father in that picture and again when that thing attacked them and Armin decided to fight it alone.He worried… for real… he worried for the young doctor. It was irrational and dangerous, due to the situation, but he cared for the other’s wellbeing. At least enough to be happy to see the other returning victorious after his fight. The moment when he saw Arm… the young doctor came back, safe and sound, he was relief and…It didn’t matter… He shouldn’t spare more energies on the matter. “No, there’s no longer a corridor actually” said Armin “So this room below is the only way to leave the room” he looked at his side “Do you remember if there was any room at our left ?” “I think there is, but I wouldn’t know how to enter” answered Mike. “I can try to create a hole. One more wouldn’t ruin the architecture of this building” said Armin putting his hands on the wall. With his hands he exerted a slight pressure on the wall, the always more until he felt the wall breaking after his push. In the end he managed to create a hole in the wall. “I think we should check every single room” said Armin using his ability to see in the dark “Since we’re here anyway. Did you find something interesting here ?” The room they were in looked uneventful, compared to other. It was a bedroom, from what they gathered. It was a bedroom.There where three beds on the right side, two wooden closets, twos wooden desk and the furnitures looked pretty new. In the desk they found documents, diary mostly, old reports but nothing interesting. The same in the closet. It was clear that there was nothing interesting there. “I think it’s time to join the others” said Erwin “This was the last floor and it’s half destroyed so there’s no point in remaining here” “I agree” said Armin “Let’s stick together this time. We don’t know what else could appear tonight” … “OHHH !! ONLY YOU LEVIIIIII COUDL HAVE FOUND SUCH SWEETY IN A PLACE LIKE THIS !!! LOOK AT THESE CHEEKS !! IF I PULL THEM THIS HARDER DO YOU FEEL PAIN ??” Those were the first words shouted from Hanji as soon as Levi and E2 entered inside the morgue. In few seconds she manages to make Levi half deaf and to rip half of E2’s skin from his face. She didn’t even give E2 the time to introduce himself to the others that she grabbed him by the arm and then pulled his cheeks.E2 didn’t know how to respond to that assault, allowing that weird woman to touch him and look at him with those weird and scary eyes. Well, he’d been looked at in worse way by many people he met and he met crazier people than that woman. “Shitty Four Eyes, stop harassing the kid !!” Said Levi pushing Hanji away. “Oh Levi !!” Whined Hanji “He’s probably the best thing happened to me tonight !! A shifter right in front of me, how can you ask me to control myself ?” “Shut up or I’ll find a way to muzzle you” said Levi coming closer to his men “How are they ??” Oluo, Petra and Gunther were lying on the operating table. They still looked pale but their lips were no longer purple and when he grabbed Petra’s hand, he noticed that it was warm.She was warm, and breathing, and alive, all of them were. That was all that mattered. He wasn’t ready to lose anyone else important to him. He wasn’t ready to mourn other people, to repress other tears, Maybe it was selfish, because they were the one who almost lost their lives and nevertheless he was thinking about himself, his heart. It was too early to say that he cared or not about them, to consider them simple colleagues, subordinates or friends. But they were under his care, he felt responsible, just like he felt responsible for the boy.He raised his gaze and looked over the boy, whom was nervously pulling the wires from the sleeves of the sweatshirt under Hanji’s scrutiny. Well everyone’s actually and if Levi knew something about body language, it was clear that no one was particularly enthusiastic to be in the same room with the boy, just like they were afraid of being in the same room with Armin at the beginning. “So, tell me, Eric, how long have you been here ? Tonight you used your powers for the first time, so how do you feel now ? I know that usually shifters are weaker during the night and nevertheless…” “Of for fuck’s sake, Hanji give him a moment !!” That time it was Nanaba to reprimand the scientist and Levi mentally thanked her for it. No one at that point had the strength to deal with Hanji’s energy. They sample needed a moment to recover before to come back in the hell that awaited for them outside the morgue. They had to find Eric’s friends and to rejoin with Erwin and the others. “How many people are locked up here ?” Asked Nanaba to E2. “I guess we were in three. Or so I hope.” Answered E2 “I hope they’re okay but I don’t know how to lead you to them.” “It’s not a problem. We have found a blueprint of this place. I think I found where your friends are” said Eld pointing with his finger something on the screen. “Armin also says that other shifters can detect the presence of their kind. Have you ever tried ?” “I don’t know, I mean… I was with them all the time. Our cells were one next to the other, I didn’t pay attention” said E2 stepping back. “So what you’re saying is that you’re complete useless ?” Asked Eld. “Eld” said Levi reprimand the other “Not now. It’s not the moment to fight, it’s the moment to collaborate and I don’t think someone had the will to teach Eric how to be a shifter, so all of you, stop bothering him” It was not up for discussion.It was an order for all of them. E2 envied the authority that Levi had over everyone else. It was scaring but also admirable somehow. Like Eren.E2 noticed the shifted in the atmosphere every single time Eren entered inside a room. Some interrupted whatever they were doing to look at him, others whispered, other remained quiet, almost afraid of doing or saying something that Eren’d have disapproved. Some looked at him with admiration, others with fear but in end everyone bow their head when they saw him and Eren didn’t even need to ask for it.He’d never had to proclaim himself with some title and nevertheless everyone knew who was the king of Paradis Island. It didn’t need to be said openly. It was obvious, undeniable, unchangeable.The same was happening in front of his eyes, only with Levi. “What are you planning to do ? Corporal ?” Asked Moblit. “It’s obvious that Petra, Oluo and Gunther still need to rest. We can’t bring them with us and defend ourself from some monster. They would be a burden. So, Shitty Four Eyes remains here with them to supervise them and to contact us in case they open their eyes. Moblit, you should remain here with her. Nanaba and Eld instead will come with me and the boy to find the other prisoners” Nanana nodded without hesitation. Eld instead looked more uncertain, probably because of the boy but he would never defy Levi’s orders. After all at the academy no one taught him that he had to agree with his superior’s commands. “Thank you, for your help” said E2. A little gratitude was proper in that situation, even though he knew that they were saving him and the others only for the mission. Because they were essential to learn more about whatever happened in that villa, to study the serum that ran in their veins. No one did anything for nothing, but as long as the mission could succeed and he could spend some time with Levi then he had nothing to complain for.Of course no one answered him, they simply pretended he wasn’t there and he didn’t mind it actually. That scary woman set him off with her weird behavior and the entire situation was new to him, instead being alone in a room full of people that didn’t speak with him was normal, for him. He knew how to handle it.Also, he needed a moment for himself to recover from the dizziness. He hoped not to unlock more memories while they went rescuing the others. He didn’t want to give them more reasons to resent him.After a while, Levi told them that there was no more time to waste and that they should move. E2 followed him, Eld and Nanaba out of the morgue, away from that scary woman for his relief.Eren hadn’t spoken with him for a while, which E2 didn’t know how to interpret. Sometimes his silence was more dangerous than the poisonous words he said. E2 hated not being able to use his telepathy to communicate with the others freely. He felt impaired of an important part of him. “What’s bothering you brat ?? Shouldn’t you be happy we’re saving your friends ?” Asked Nanaba looking at him. “I am” answered E2 “Can’t wait to leave this labyrinth behind” “Us too, kid.” Said Eld looking sternly at him “Tonight wasn’t a walk in the park” “Why ? Is there a park here ? Or did you mean the garden ?” Asked E2 confused. “What ?” Asked Eld confused. “ELD !! Dropped it, immediately !!” Ordered Levi rolling his eyes.
‘He hates me. It’s so clear’
E2 couldn’t avoid to think it.
‘He doesn’t hate you, brat. He’s simply scared and tired that he didn’t measure his words’
‘Oh… Okay, I trust your judgment. You’ve known him for longer than I have’
Furthermore E2 wasn’t good at judging people. He gladly left the job to Eren. In the end, finding Marco and Sasha wasn’t that hard. Well, Eld’s sense of orientation and ability to read a map was far better than E2’s, so it wasn’t surprising. Marco and Sasha looked relief to see him when Levi opened the door of their cells. Again he didn’t know if he was supposed to feel offended for their lack of trust. Well, Eren’d say that their worry was legitimate since he lost himself in the corridors and didn’t know how to come back to them. Levi asked them if they were shifters too or if they knew what he was talking about. Sasha and Marco simply confirmed that they had been injected with a serum after being locked up there, but they said nothing more. All according to plans. “I’m so glad act you’re okay” E2 exclaimed hugging them, but it was only a pretext to whisper them “I can’t use my telepathy, so apologize if I don’t answer you. I’ll explain you later.” “Alright, you had your tearful reunion brats !! Move aside brat, they must identify themselves !”“Oh, my name is Sarah, I don’t remember my last name. Something with B maybe ? Sorry…” she said shrugging and biting her nails. Marco was about to introduce himself too when he was interrupted. “Angel…” murmured E2 unconsciously. Marco had telepathically just told him something very nice. About how amazing he’d been that night and E2, not being able to mentally respond to the other, unconsciously said it aloud. He could’t avoid to blush when he realized his mistake, but after all he simply said what he thought and Marco was nothing less than an angel. An handsome angel with freckles. “Angel Booth, nice to meet you” said Marco smiling with kindness at everyone. “Great, now we’re all fucking acquaintance Move your asses, I’m fucking done with this place !” “Sure” said Marco astonished of such rudeness. “He has the mouth of a sailor…” whispered Sasha. “I heard that ponytail !” “Pony…” Marco grabbed her by the arm before she had the chance to reply. It was clear to everyone that their saviors didn’t want to tarry in that place one second more.E2 looked at the dirty pavements where he could see dead mice too, the webs and the dirty that decorated the walls and he couldn’t believe he had the courage to spend time in there. His nose wrinkled when it caught the suffocating smell of rust and dead animals. He couldn’t believe that in the past, people like them were actually locked up in those cells, for years sometimes. He definitively didn’t envy them. One night had been more than enough for him. At least the white room where he used to be was clean and tidy and the furnitures didn’t consist of dead animals. “What happened in may absence ?” Muttered E2.“The usual… lying on the bed, praying for you to be okay…” said Marco ‘We reinforced our emotional connection’ he joked. Marco didn’t know what to think actually. He hadn’t been in the company with humans, without the goal to kill them, since he shifted back in his human form. He was surrounded and almost overwhelmed by their thoughts, their smell, so different from the one of his kind and the weirdness of the entire situation. He was worried for Sasha most of all.He feared she couldn’t handle the situation due to her lack of control. “Oh… I see. I wish I’d come sooner” said E2. “We’re glad you’re okay” said Sasha.
‘God, it was getting boring. I swear, I don’t want to spend one more night in a cell in my life’
Sasha hated the silence and hated not being able to communicate with E2. She hated not to have something she could concentrate on, ‘cause she couldn’t distract herself from her appetites. She smelled them, their skin and their blood, and she couldn’t refrain herself from imagining it under her teeth. On her tongue. Inside her mouth. Oh, she was sure they were so lovely, to eat, to devour, to chew, to swallow. Food… they were food… she wanted them… maybe just a little taste… they would be more lovely after a couple of bites… ‘Sasha, dropped it !! You’re drooling’ scolded her Marco. Sasha cleaned her mouth with her sleeve and covered the blush on his face. Marco smiled and gently grabbed her hand, like to say that nobody else noticed and that it was everything okay. “Ohi brat, give me your bracelet. We’re going to need it” ordered Levi, interrupting their conversation. E2 gave him the bracelet, almost freezing in his place when their skin touched. He hoped the others didn’t noticed, specially Levi. He wished Eren was there with him… He wished he could be more like Eren, so good at hiding his emotions… So good at controlling his own body. So far better than him in every sense…He tried to snap out of it. That wasn’t the time for that. Whines wouldn’t rise self-esteem, but a sign from Levi would.There were a lot of news he wished to shared with his friends, but he had to wait for another moment. If there was a slight chance that there was a way to use telepathy without Levi knowing he was determinate to find it.At least to unleash his frustration every time Levi behaved like that.They searched and found any room that had to be opened with the ID bracelet. One of them was the server room. Eld was able to get some datas but he also said that most of them were encrypted or protected. To bypass all them would require too much time. Time they didn’t have. “It’s okay. Try to recuperate what you can. Maybe Big nose will be able to do something” “Big nose ?” Asked E2 confused. “You’ll meet him.” Shrugged Levi “But before that, we need to check every single room of this villa, reunite with Shitty Four Eyes and only then we will reunite with them and leave this fucking shit hole” Tiredness was beginning to make itself feel. It wasn’t the body to be tired, but Levi was mentally exhausted. The monsters, the loss, the failure… neither of those were new in his life.He knew the taste of each one of them and nevertheless he simply needed to stop. That night a lot of things, that he wasn’t able to understand, happened. First, he lost control over his ability.Second, that voice in his head.Third, the kid and whatever shit that bonded them.It wasn’t a matter of dynamic between their two kinds, or he would have had something similar with Armin or the other two shifters, instead he couldn’t read their thoughts and that was worrying. ‘Cause he knew that E2 possessed the ability to communicate with him mentally and so did those two shifters. He wondered if they were using it to communicate right then and what they were discussing about if that was the case. Who knew if they were telling them the truth ? How long have they been there ? Locked up ? Enough time to join forces and decide to plot against them ?He was getting paranoid like Erwin and it was dangerous. He needed to focus on something else, to do something, anything that prevented him to think anything. He contacted Erwin and updated him about the recent events.He told him that they rescued the other two shifters and that they found the server room, but we needed Mike to get all the datas. Erwin told him that he, Mike and Armin would be joining the soon and that they finished to check any room. “… Where can we meet you ?” Asked Erwin. “We left Hanji in the morgue with Moblit. Oluo, Gunther and Petra were still unconscious. We couldn’t bring them with us” “Understandable. Once you’ve finished, go there two. We will reunite there and we will decide what to do next” “What to do next ? Are we not going to leave this shit hole ?” “We need to secure it first. It’s clear that this place is hiding a lot of things and that one night isn’t enough to unfold all of them. Doctor Arlert said that he didn’t feel the presence of any other creature like him, expect for the three shifters with you.” “As you wish, Eyebrows” Levi wasn’t happy, at all. He longed for the moment when the blond mushroom could give him some explanation about the situation between him and the boy. “Hey brat !” He said to catch the other’s attention “How is your dizziness ?” “It’s getting better. Maybe I simply need some time to recover” answered E2 with gratitude.“Dizziness ?” Asked Marco tilting his head “Is this related to this weird ability you have ?” “We, actually” corrected him E2 “I think… I suppose they have injected all of us with the same stuff. Ehm…” He didn’t know how to explain them the entire Kruger situation. It was a topic that needed to be discussed in a proper setting, where they could speak calmly one to another, when Levi wasn’t around and maybe Eren was. He hadn’t felt him in his head for too long and he was getting a little worried. He hoped Eren was okay… …
DESERT…
“Sloppy… you’re already out of breath” commented Kruger contemptuous “This place is a mere extension of our essence. We can mold it however we like and nevertheless during this fight I realize something…"
Eren growled at him. Daring him with his golden eyes, showing his teeth, to say what he was about to say. He was seething.
Kruger smiled at that childish attempt to scare him, growling like a little kitten whose owner didn’t give the treats.
Eren hated the other’s condescension, when the other belittle him, when he treated him like a child. He wished Kruger was alive so he could rip his jugular with his teeth to make him shut up.
“Do not provoke me…”
“You think you’ve reached an impressive level of power but listen when I say you’re still pretty unripe. You’re still growing, blossoming. Your haven’t reached the full extension of your power”
“Of course not. I’m perfectly aware of this and nevertheless I’m the most powerful creature in the whole world. My mere presence, no, my mere existence is enough to make my enemies trembling of fears”
“But that’s not enough for you isn’t ? You feel incomplete, don’t you ?” Said Kruger “You want to reach your full potential and I can’t blame you for that. Nevertheless, I’m afraid you’re not ready. You’re still pretty temperamental, impulsive. You let your emotions get in the way of your greatness…”
“Shut the fuck up !!” Yelled Eren attacking Kruger with a wall of sands “I have enough of your bullshit !! You said I’m your greatest creation, then stop belittling me !! You know what I’m capable of !!”
“I do but I also know what you will be capable of doing. You’re a mere seed, you’re still blossoming… You will become a beautiful and rare flower, but only if you don’t lose your motivation”
“What do you mean ?”
“You’ve finally reached what ? The 25% of your potential ? The 30% ? The 50% ? I don’t know and neither do you and nevertheless you’re acting like you’ve reached the 100%. Don’t you feel it ? Inside of you ? Your abilities are getting stronger, but only if you don’t impose limite to yourself”
“What are you talking about ?? I don’t understand…”
Eren fell on his knees on the sand, grabbing his head with his hands. He was done with all those riddles. Kruger played that game with him every time they played little family.
Kruger didn’t know how to be a father figure and Eren didn’t know how to be a good son and in the end they always were at each other’s throat. Or better, Eren growled and snarled and then attacked Kruger with all his might.
Kruger did nothing to discourage such attitude and simply defended himself from Eren’s rage.
Eren hated that their relationship was unbalanced, the impression Kruger gave about knowing all the answered and not wanting to share them with him.
He hated it, he hated not knowing, he hated being played like a fool.
“You have a lot of remaining abilities to learn and develop.”
“But the others…”
“You’re anything like them. You’re the nucleus, the brain of the entire body. If you don’t bloom, develop, the rest of the body won’t do it in your place. You have to concentrate on your growth now”
“My growth ?”
“Exactly. You’ve trained your body hard enough to reach your current level when you were imprisoned, but then you focused too much on your crusade and furthermore you allowed others imposing you limits you can easily surpass”
“How ?”
“With the right incentives and the right guidance”
“So what’s next ? How can I achieve my next ability ?”
“Let me give you a tip about the creation of the serum. It’s strictly connected to the development story of all living beings. You where it started ? In the ocean. The first form of live on the earth appeared there”
“So ?”
“Catch up, boy. At least try. Your DNA is a mix of the genome of any kingdoms; plantae, animalia, chromista, fungi and protozoa. When I talk about animal genome, I intend any kind of genome, including aquatic species, like Narkidae”
“Like what ?”
“As I said, you should focus on your growth and you need to study more. Without knowledge, you will achieve nothing, including setting the world on fire or whatever”
Eren rolled his eyes. It was another thing Kruger reproached him often about. The older insisted with him on dedicating more time to study, if not out of curiosity at least to learn more about himself and his giant body. It was true that he used to invest more time with the books he was provided with, but then when his crusade began it became the center of his whole universe.
His crusade, his new people, the ones he promised a new world and… his own personal mission… The part of the puzzle he shared with no one.
“Tell me more about this new ability I’m about to develop” he muttered.
“You can generate electricity through your body, a proof of that is the thunders you can generate. Your electric organs could do more than that though, if you concentrate and train your new ability, you will be able to harness electromagnetism as well. Then who knows… maybe you will be able to generate magnetic fields and manipulate metal objects…”
“You mean… a sort of telekinesis ?” Asked Eren confused.
“Sort of. Do you want to try ?”
“I do and I promise to resume my studies. I had no idea I could develop other abilities, now that I know I don’t intend to waste anymore time”
“That’s the spirit lad. Now… close your eyes and let me lead you…”
Eren obeyed, he closed his eyes and concentrate on Kruger’s voice.
“Imagine the thunder… concentrate on your body… the electricity generated by your nervous system… imagine it wrapping your body entirely. Imagine it flowing through your veins…”
He did, he concentrated on his neurons, he activated them, used them to generate electricity.
The electric shock that went throughout his upper body was painful. It was like being struck by one of his lightning and he had experience with that, with Frieda’s lightening and thunders to be specific and he got hurt every single time.
He couldn’t believe he was willing put his body through that torture that time.
Gritting his teeth was useless, before it could wrap his entire body, he lost concentration, because he wasn’t used to control the electricity generated by all his neurons at one.
“It’s tiring…” he muttered, barely breathing “I didn’t imagine it…”
“That’s because you used this ability only to generate electricity, to generate thunders or electric shocks through a specific part of your body. You weren’t suppose to succeed at the first try, but now you’re going to try again and again until you succeed”
Eren nodded. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and tried again, and again, and again…
”Wir werden Wunder bewirken…Eren” (we’re going to make miracles happen… Eren)
…
‘Something’s wrong… something’s weird…’ thought E2 putting an hand on his forehead. His body… something inside his body, in his own head, was wrong. Very wrong and he was pretty sure that that time Kruger’s memories weren’t the cause.No, when that happened he felt dizzy, the environment around him was clouded and he could barely stand on his two legs. At the moment he felt nothing of those things. He felt like his entire body was slowing burning from inside, thousand times worse than that time when Ymir convinced him to taste spicy sauce. His throat was dry, he was sweating and taking one look around, he realized that the others noticed the change in his, specially Marco who was observing him with narrow eyes. “Your forehead is hot…” murmured Marco putting a hand on his forehead “Are you alright ?” “Not so sure… I feel… A fire… there’s a fire inside me… Don’t know why” “Well, we can fucking feel it kid. You’re a living radiator” said Levi looking at him. “Well, at least we won’t suffer cold from now on” joked Eld, but he was looking E2 with worry and fear, like he was a bomb ready to explode at any moment. E2 could see that Eld didn’t trust him. His grip on the rifle grew more and more secure, he gave his back to E2 but he knew that he was observing him with the corner of his eye, ready to attack him, even kill him at the first sign of danger, or at Levi’s command.He shifted his gaze to Levi and was surprised to notice that the raven hair man didn’t seem worried about his rising temperature. He simply dismissed the entire situation with a shrug, calling him a radiator. Truth be told, Levi was surprised himself but he was slowly learning to trust his instinct and his instinct, despite how weird it could get, was suggesting him not to worry about the boy. That Eric wasn’t his enemy and Levi had to care for him.That worried him, his need to protect the boy, not matter what, not matter from who. “Hurry up to retrieve the date. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can leave this place” “What’s going to happen to us ?” Asked Sasha “I noticed how you look at us… We don’t intend to do any harm” “I’m convinced of that” answered Nanaba “Unfortunately recent events have prove the danger your nature could represent for us, so please, try to be understanding of our worries” ‘Diplomatic’ commented Sasha. ‘At least she’s honest. She’s scared and she admitted.’ Said Marco ‘That’s not what she should be concerned about, we should focus more on what’s happening to E2. This rise of temperature is not normal’
‘Yeah but we these people around we can’t speak freely about the situation. For the moment, we should not try to scare E2’
E2 wanted to answer that it was already too late for that, that he was scared because that pain inside was another thing to add to the list of things he had no control over. One thing was certain, it was all Eren’s doing, as always. He wished Eren was in front him to use him like a punchball.He couldn’t even contact him because Levi was there with him, so he had no way to find out what the hell was happening to his body temperature. Was he dying ? At that point nothing could surprise him. “Would you mind if I sit while you finish ?” He asked politely sitting down on the floor. “Try to resist kid. We have almost finished” said Levi coming closer to him. E2 nodded, not knowing what else to say. There wasn’t much to say actually and he was glad that no one was making questions. It would only added another awkward moment to the list of awkward moments of his life and he still needed to get used to people interrogating him about his nature like he was some kind of freak show. Eren warned him that his path on this side of the sea wasn’t going to be easy. That the Scout Legion wasn’t a charity association and that they wouldn’t help him, Marco and Sasha simply out of generosity and that people were going to experiment on him, over and over again.E2 thought he was ready. His body had been property of someone else since his born, he thought he could handle but then he realized that he wasn’t ready. He didn’t want another ride of tests, syringes inside his body, or crazy people ogling at him like an animal at the zoo. ‘Hey, don’t worry about anything. We’re here’ said Marco. The angelic freckled creature sat next to him and hold his hand, smiling at him gently. E2 reciprocated the smile and then he put his head on Marco’s shoulder, closing his eyes. Marco’s familiar scent made him feel protected and safe, safe enough to fall asleep on his shoulder. …
“What is my life at this point ?” Murmured a young Kruger when he exited from the car that brought him and small group of boys to a villa.
From the outside it looked like one of those villa that children saw in cartoons or romantic movies. The kind of places filled with love, fancy forniture, elegant people who lived their own fairytale but from the inside Kruger doubted that it was going to resemble the castle of a prince.
He had no idea of what was going to happen to him, or to any other of the guys with him, inside that place, but if it was anything like the place he left then he better hoped to be strong enough.
The soldiers thought they didn’t notice but they did, that after all those tests, the doctor ordered them to be divided into two groups.
Kruger’s group was sent into another room and no one had ever seen again one single child of the other group. Some of them wanted to believe that they were still alive, that they were simply somewhere else, maybe in another building.
Hope was everything they could cling on.
Kruger looked at the other children, not remembering any of their names and they surely didn’t remember his either.
Actually, he was barely remembering it himself. After any encounter with the doctor, hearing him telling him that names weren’t important, that it didn’t define a person, that for his own sake he should forget his own, that the name his parents gave him hold no importance anymore.
The more the doctor told him those things, the deeper them penetrated inside his head and the more he reflected on them.
Was his name really that important ? When no one else was going to call him by it anymore ? When he was forgetting it alright ? When his parents were already dead ?
When he was going to become someone else ?
Did he actually care at that point ?
Did all that have any point actually ?
“A name is the line that separates life and death. You realize to live when someone call you by your name and you realize you’re dead when no one remember it. Nothing exists without one, because only a name could shape the substance and gives it a sense. Remember it…”
Kruger understood the meaning behind that phrase. Doctor wanted to warn him that from then on, only he remembered his true name, his past, times where he was happy and that alone made Kruger his prisoner. That from then on he would be dead for the world, because no one would ever know him, the real him.
From then on, his life was going to be a lie. He would be nothing more than a fraud. A mask.
That was the curse he was going to bear. That nothing was going to be real for him anymore.
Nor his name, nor his body, his life, his relationship, his words, nothing…
Kruger…
That was the name the doctor chose for him…
Kruger would never forget that man and he would never forget how he made him feel.
Powerless. Weak. Useless. A soulless doll in his hand.
And it was then that he realized that after all it didn’t matter forgetting his name, but he had to remember that sensation, the face of the man who pushed him on his knees and he swore, in that moment, when a man that looked like a butler exited from the villa to invite them in, that he was going to avenge his parents.
That one day, all those people who hurt him and his family, would learn the real meaning of death and despair.
One day, he would model the world in another shape, one chosen from him, one that reflected his ambitions.
Yes, he would make this world reborn, he would give everything new names, new shapes, new existences. He would decide who live and who die, just like those men were doing with them, like they did with him and his parents.
That would be his legacy… That would be his only reason to live… And if not him, someone else modeled after him.
Someone who would understand his pain, someone who would fight for his ideology, someone willing to do whatever it took to make that world real…
Oh he could already see… that world… his world…
His father always complimented his for his ability to look over anything else, not to allow anything to put limit to his imagination, to his goals, the things he wanted.
The same rule applied for the current situation.
He was going to become strong, he was going to become everything he currently wasn’t.
“The same rule applies for you E2, do not forget what I showed you before. You need to retrieve whatever I hide in the place I indicated to you”
…
FEW HOURS LATER… “Do you think it’s this ?” Asked one voice stopping in front of a shed. The first voice looked toward the other, waiting for a response. They were sent to Marley last week as Eren asked them.They were given the task to assure that everything that night would’ve been going according to their plan, that the Scout Legion would have found their brothers and that they would have saved them. They disposed of everyone else, the mercenaries, the staff, everyone. They feed the plant so that it could feed on everyone until the arrival of the Survey Corp. The sun rose few minutes ago, leaving the tragedy happened in that villa for the whole world to see, with half of the villa crumbled, the corpse in the garden and the deadly silence around them. “According to the imagine sent by Eren, I’m pretty sure” said a second voice. “It’s run-down. I wonder how it didn’t crumble” “We’re not here to valuate the property. We’re here to retrieve something” “Something” said the first voice with a click of their tongue “Very detailed as description” “We should hurry. The Scout Legion left the place one hour ago, but we don’t if or when they plan to come back here.” Eren believes that Commander Smyth wouldn’t be satisfying with one simple recognition and that he would probably come back there again.They believed him. Eren was good at predicting people’s behavior and until that moment he’d never been wrong. They opened the shed and entered inside, closing the door behind them. Inside the shed they found fertilizer and others chemicals products expired, gardening tools and different packed boxes but nothing that seemed important, a couple of broken lawnmowers and ride-on mowers. “I see nothing important here” said the second voice. “Well, we don’t even have an idea of what we’re looking for.” “Eren said it’s something that’s relate to Kruger. Something meaningful for that man only but that man is an unsolved mystery.” “Let’s take a look to the boxes. We don’t know what’s in there, maybe we will find something.” They came close to the boxes, observed them and opened one after the other until one. Some were bigger than others, in some of them there was a name written on, until they found one with the name ‘Eren’ written on it. “Jackpot” said the second voice “It’s written Kruger’s name on it. I think we found the ‘something’.” The person grabbed the box and started walking toward the exit of the shed, glad to have easily found what they needed to find. After all those days spent there, waiting for the Scout Legion to arrive, they were both tired to stay there. They wanted to come back hime, where they felt safe and protected and were not surrounded by all those petty humans. “Good, it means that we can finally leave this shithole and come back to Paradis. I’m tired of being here. I want to come back home” commented the other following their mate. “Shouldn’t we checked it at least?” “Eren wouldn’t appreciated if we opened it before him. If we’re wrong, Armin would come back here again with the Scout Legion. These are Eren’s order” The other nodded. Eren was always jealous over his stuff after all. “I hope Eren will be satisfied for how the night concluded” “Wouldn’t known. Freda told he hasn’t left the crystal room yet and she mentioned weird sounds coming from there. Screams or something like that. Do you think our king is involved with BDSM practice ?” “How could he be involved in BDSM practice alone ? I thought it was a couple thing and so far I’ve never seen Eren romantically or sexually involved with someone” “Exists masturbation or maybe our King is one of those” “One of those?” “Those whom have those weird kinky for pain.” “Whatever. I don’t want to think about Eren that way.” The person ended abruptly that weird conversation with that answer. The other person no longer spoke, but silently followed the other toward the exit of the villa.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“The sea it’s so beautiful this morning” he said moving his hair from his eyes.
The sea breeze and the sunlight caressed his face, giving him a sense of peace he hadn’t felt in a long time. Of all the place in the world, the sea was his favorite one. He wished he was born a fish and lived there, where all the cruelty of the world couldn’t reach him.
The ocean was a place full of predators and preys, but first ones only acted according to their natures, they devoured the littler fishes because they had to survive and while survival was a selfish act it wasn’t cruel. Not always, at least.
E2 wanted to belong to the ocean, wanted to live there…
“It is, I wish I could live here” said the voice of another person next to him.
E2 looked at his left and smiled.
Levi Ackerman was there with him, like the other times and like any time he didn’t look so out of reach from him, or so different from him.
They were equals there, or at least they could pretend to be. Nevertheless E2 was happy to have him there, with him, holding his hand and looking at him like he was more than a freak show.
“I wish I could live in the ocean”
“There’s no black tea there. I don’t think I’d like it”
“There would be no dirty and rubbish either” replied E2.
“No, but I wouldn’t be happy to live down there, where the sun can’t reach me. I used to live in dark place, I almost lost hope to leave it and live in a place where I could see the sun”
“Then I guess we could live here. Where the sun can illuminates your face and I can be near the ocean” said E2 smiling at Levi and tugging the sleeve of the black shirt he was wearing.
E2 looked at Levi with furrowed brow and a pout on his lip. Why Levi didn’t look at him ? Why didn’t turn toward him ?
The more E2 tugged the other’s sleeve, the more Levi ignored it to look straight at the sea.
Why was happening that ? Why wasn’t Levi looking at him ? Why ?
Everything else was so perfect. The two of them, alone, hand in hand, in the most beautiful place in the world and Levi was so… handsome ?? Pretty ? Was a boy handsome or pretty ? E2 thought a boy could be both. Handsome and pretty.
Levi was wearing a black shirt a pair of trousers of the same color, nothing too extraordinary but in E2’s eyes they made Levi looked more than ordinary. Well, it wasn’t difficult actually. Levi was a handsome pretty man.
A handsome pretty man that wasn’t looking at him ?
“Why ?” He murmured.
… 17th September MARLEY SCOUT LEGION BASE 2098
What happened to him ?
He felt asleep.
He’s hurt ?
He’s simply tired I guess.
We should let him sleep. I don’t think he can hurt someone in his sleep.
“Where am…” murmured E2 slowing regaining his conscious. He tried to open his eyes but the the light in the room prevented him from doing it. He was in a state of total torpor and he couldn’t feel the rest of his body. Where was he ? Where were Marco and Sasha ? Where was Eren ?All those questions made his head hurt and he groaned in frustration. The last thing he remembered was his abnormal body temperature, so high to warm the entire room he was in, then Marco and him sitting on the floor holding hands and then nothing. If that was true, why did he have those voice in the head ?Maybe he woke up at some point, or maybe… “Argh…” he groaned. Or maybe he should simply stop brooding over it since his head was begging him to stop. It was a relief that he was already laying on the bed, since he felt dizzy and confused and scared, because he didn’t know where the hell he was.He hoped that someone would come there soon, someone familiar, someone that wasn’t that crazy woman that almost drooled over him as soon as she learnt he was a shifter, someone with a type of smell he was familiar with. Someone who could reassure him… Someone…
‘Someone that’s not afraid of you’
His eyes snapped open and looked around the room until he saw a young man standing next to his bed. His smell wasn’t familiar, but he could tell from it and the telepathy was a shifter, like him. Blond hair in a long undercut, large blue eyes, boyish face… Armin Arlert. Eren’s famous best friend. Eren’s shadow. Eren’s bishop. He didn’t dare pronounce his name, nor thinking it. He didn’t know if Levi was nearby and he couldn’t risk the other to know that Armin and him were already familiar to one another.
‘Yeah, Levi told me that you share a special bond. Don’t worry, it’s not a problem, just a little inconvenience, but I will help you with it’
“Good morning sleepy, how do you feel ?” Asked Armin. “Dizzy, my head hurt” E2 pouted, putting a hand on his forehead. “I bet. When we met, you were literally boiling. We had to low your temperature with cold bath.” “Oh God… it wasn’t the kind of introduction I wanted to make” sighed E2 closing his eyes for his embarrassment. “At least you know how to make people talk about you” joked Armin “Can I take your parameters ?” It was after that request that E2 notice the absolute lack of beeping machines around him, something that’d never happened when the nurses or the doctors visited him in the white room. During the visit, they always linked him to some kind of machine to take his parameters, always without asking for permission. Much to his surprise and relief, the room was different from the white room. The sheets of his bed were blue, for example. The sheets in his room were always white, anything in that room, but his toys were white and the toys they gave to him weren’t even picked by him. Tom only gave him those he thought E2 could appreciate. Other furnitures in the room were blue, not like the sheets, a different shades of blue, but colored nonetheless and E2 loved it. It sill looked pretty empty, but at least was colored. He looked at himself and saw that he was wearing a blue pajama, another thing colored, different from the white one. “I see, you’re used to other procedures but allow me to explain.” Said Armin sitting on the bed and taking his hand “I was worried that replaying that you would have panicked if you woke up in an environment similar to the white room” “Oh… thank you for your thoughtfulness” said E2 “And… by the way you can take my parameters” “Thank you Eric, for your collaboration” They didn’t talk while Armin was taking his parameters. Armin’s touch was gentle, different from anyone that had ever put their hands on him. Their touch was always forceful, cold, imposed, something E2 had to endure without a saying in it and E2 tried to distract himself by losing himself in his own world, where those people couldn’t reach him. He didn’t need it with Armin, but silence was comfortable anyway and his throat was still a little bit sore. Once Armin finished, he updated E2 about his parameters even thought the latter didn’t fully understand it but was still glad to have been taken in consideration for the second time in a raw. “I finished here. Are you up for more conversation ?” “I suspected that I shouldn’t have waited longer for more interactions” “I won’t lie by saying that people are joyful of meeting you but I can tell that they promised to be polite” “Great…” murmured E2 “At least they won’t ignore me” It was a clear reference, one that Armin caught up really quickly. After all Eren told him Armin was smart. ‘If it could help you, he’s been ignoring everyone. He always behaves like that when he’s scheming something. In the end the waiting it’s always worthy’ E2 nodded, looking Armin walking toward the door to open it and E2 could see Commander Erwin and Levi waiting outside. E2 observed the two men entering inside his ‘room’. Commander Smith was exactly how he had imagined him to be the first time he saw his face on a picture. Commanding, and commanding was his walking, the ones of a leader, the ones of a man who was used to men walking behind him. Head up, straight shoulder, his movements expressed confidence, authority and many other things E2 wasn’t able to define. Somehow the Commander remembered him of Eren, somehow E2 feared him like he feared Eren. Those two seemed were the kind of men that play with food before eat them or kill someone twice to be sure they were dead. They were both dangerous, that would explain why Eren felt the need to send Armin there. “Greeting Eric, I’m Commander Erwin Smith” said Erwin smiling gently at him, though his smile kept some sort of severity “I hope you’re feeling well” “I’m fine sir. Nice to meet you” answered E2 smiling politely at the other man “I’m sorry for causing you trouble, I didn’t feel well” “No need to apologize” said Erwin “The circumstances of our meeting weren’t ideal for various reasons, but we can improve from there.” “So, you’re not going to punish me ?” Asked E2 with a little fear. He looked around and the place was similar to the white room and at the same time too much different. At least that room had windows where he could see outside and the furnitures weren’t all white, Armin hadn’t been locked up inside a white room, but the blond didn’t give Smith any reason to believe he was a threat for their lives. E2 didn’t make the same impression, but he almost lost the control of his abilities and he didn’t even had a valid explanation for it. All he had were suspects, but he was almost sure that what happened was related with Eren and his sudden disappearance. “Of course not. I can’t imagine how difficult is for you to deal with all this sudden changes at once, but I promise that you’re going to have all of our support. Of course, you have to collaborate with us” “Of course. Whatever you want, I’m in debt” nodded E2 grabbing the sheets of the bed to keep his hands occupied. He was nervous. Erwin Smith made him nervous. He was a kind man, or at least he wanted to look like one and maybe he actually was but E2 knew that his kindness was a mere act. He wanted to entangle E2 in a web of lies, promises and plot. Eren warned him, Smith was going to use him and E2 would let him. He was used to be ordered around after all, it was nothing new to him and nevertheless it hurt. It hurt knowing to be used, it hurt knowing that those smiles were fake, that those gestures aimed to something.It hurt when Eren made him saw the hypocrisy behind Tom’s kindness toward him. It felt like someone slapped him right out of a dream, a beautiful dream only to throw him inside another. “I’m glad to know it. You seem a clever boy. Levi told me what you did, he told me that you found out how to kill the plant in the villa” “Oh… that was accidental actually. It was more… more like a sensation… I don’t know how to explain it, sorry” he said lowering his gaze. “I’m not expecting you to…” Armin remained there, in the room, observing the interaction between Erwin and E2. Truth be told, he lost a heartbeat when he saw E2 personally the first time.He knew that he looked like Eren but he didn’t expect to find an almost perfect clone of him. E2 looked a couple of years younger than Eren and his hair were short, but the most evident difference between the two was the look in the eyes. The innocence that Eren’d never had was all there, in those two emerald gems that were still looking at the world like a wonderful place ready to be discovered. Eren didn’t have that look.The innocence in his face made him look even younger than his age and the green of the eyes brighter and also softened his features, while Eren’s hardness and coldness made him looked older, unapproachable and made his eyes looked darker. Another disturbing detail regarded E2’s age.He looked like the fifteen years pls version of Eren, the same age when Eren conquered Paradis Island, when he showed, for the first time, his real power to the world.When he introduced himself to his people as their King. ‘Even after all these years that memory still scares me’ And nevertheless, the copy of the monstrous king of giant, E2, was scared of Erwin, a simple, weak human being, afraid to disappoint him, afraid of his judgment, but he was also hopeful. E2 knew that Erwin was going to use him and nevertheless he was ready to give him a chance, how could he ? After all the terrible things men like Erwin had done to him ?Erwin gently took E2’s hand in his, explaining to him that they intended to run some tests, to study the serum inside him and so they were going to do with ‘Angel’ and ‘Sarah’ but Erwin also promised that they weren’t going to be treated like prisoners. Hey were free to do whatever they wanted, as long as they didn’t represent a threat for other people’s life. “So, basically, I’m going to live here and you’re going to protect me ?” Asked E2 softly. “Yes, I’m offering my protection and my friendship. My colleagues and I are going to help you figure it out everything” “Okay, then I thank you” Said E2 with a bright smile. Another person, whom had assisted the entire scene silently like Armin, was Levi. The Corporal of the Scouts Legion always was a silent figure that followed Erwin Smith wherever he went, but usually Levi wasn’t really interested in what Erwin said or to who, as long as they got what they wanted. Instead that time he had spent the entire time observing the boy’s every move. Predictably, Eric was hanging from Erwin’s lips, as everyone in front of Erwin’s eloquence. Levi expected less trust from him, after everything he’d been through. Maybe Eric was simply afraid of being locked up inside the room if he angered Erwin. Impossible.Erwin had order to arrange that room with colored furniture in order to offer E2 a comfortable place where to wake up, in order to achieve his trust. It was Levi to give him the suggestion.He saw where Eric was locked up, in that dirty place, with a bed on the verge of crumbling under his weight and lacking any color. Levi couldn’t explain, but a part of him, a part that he didn’t even know to exist, urged him to protect the boy, to take care of him. The same part of him that urged him to protect Eric back in the villa. “Hello, Corporal Ackerman” greeted him Eric with a gentle smile “I’m content you’re okay.” “Me too, brat. Don’t fucking pull that shit on me again though” “What shit ?” Asked E2 confused “I don’t remember to have ever…” “Don’t take it literally” said Armin putting a hand on his face. “Oh… sorry.” Said Eric “Where are my friends ?” “Sarah and Angel are okay. Hanji is running some test to be sure of it but once they finish, you three will meet” “Amazing !” Exclaimed E2 happy but then he thought “But… I have to be tested too ?” “Starting tomorrow yes, you will. You need to recover first and surely you need time to adjust to the new arrangement for sure.” “Thank you for your considerations.” Replied E2 with another smile. Erwin nodded, satisfied with the outcome obtained. He remained in the room for a couple of minutes more, then he excused himself, leaving the room followed by Armin. There were a lot of things he needed to discuss more, for example his bond with Levi, but Erwin didn’t want the boy to feel overwhelmed. He had no idea how a boy like Eric, used to be ordered around and locked up in a room, could react under pressured. It was clear that he lack the basic for social interactions, but Erwin was sure that it wasn’t the only think he lacked and not the most dangerous, like control over his abilities. “So, what do you think about him ?” Asked Armin following him out the room.“What do you think about him ?” Asked Erwin. Another thing he chose to ignore for the sake of everyone was Armin’s reaction when he saw the boy for the first time. The others may hadn’t noticed, but Erwin did. He looked straight at Armin and for a moment, for a brief moment, his eyes widened. Nothing worthy of a second thought, but Erwin and Amin were alive. They were used to hide their emotions and to have a perfect control over their body in any situation and nevertheless for a brief moment, when Armin’s eyes landed on the boy, he looked like he’d just seen a ghost. It wouldn’t be surprising if Armin was hiding something from him, after all Erwin was doing the same since he didn’t tell the other about the notebook he found. Nevertheless what at the beginning seemed to be an entertaining game, at that point it was nothing but frustrating. The truth was that after seeing the picture of his father in that villa, he was getting slightly impatient. When he left Paradis Island to join the army to apply for the police force in Marley he didn’t bring all his father’s things with him, convinced that he had all the time to bring them with him in Marley once he managed to rent a decent apartment but in the end the accident happened and… and he lost the only remaining fragments of his childhood. “Your eloquence has no limits, Commander. What’s your angle now ?” “Creating an adequate and comfortable environment for Eric and his friends, in order to create a relationship based on collaboration and trust.” “I didm’t mean that. I meant in the long run. Gaining their trust is only the first step, isn’t it ? Don’t lie, after a year I know you enough. You can’t deceive me” said Armin with a smirk. Erwin grinned. Armin was always capable of seeing through his lies, well almost always. Erwin was as much as capable of hiding things from him too, when he wanted to.Once they came back at the base, Erwin sent a message to Mike, Levi and his squad and told them about the notebook he found. The ones containing some coded datas about illicit traffics from Paradis Island. He reunited them telling about it and asking Mike to decode it, in order to obtain more informations and also asked Levi’ squad collaboration. Hanji wasn’t there with them because she was running some test on Sarah and Angel with Armin’s help, and Erwin knew that it was the only moment he could organize a reunion without the blond researcher and making it look suspicious. Of course he updated Hanji about the matter as soon as the opportunity presented. “Of course I can, that’s my appealing isn’t it ?” Grinned Erwin looking Armin in the eyes, challenging him. Armin rose his chin, accepting the challenge “So you’re hiding something from me ah ?” “Of course I am, my true intentions for my own future” joked Erwin. “Ah ah, very funny” snorted Armin crossing his arms “You’re basically married with your job. If divorce is put on the table is because someone else has fired you” “Probably, you know I can be unpredictable when I want to, nevertheless I know what you’re referring to. Levi and Eric, am I right ?” Armin nodded.He noticed that Erwin chose not to mention the bond between Levi and E2 to the boy and he knew that it wasn’t out of respect for Levi or E2. It was because he didn’t want E2 to feel forced to speak about something so intimate and he also wanted to give him the chance to talk about it with Levi and encourage some sort of relationship between them.Erwin, what a manipulator.A stronger bond between the two of them meant a stronger allegiance between E2 and the Scout Legion, that was Erwin’s angle. “Those two shared a bond we can’t understand. Not even I. I’ve never experience something like that” ‘Something so dangerous’ he thought. It wasn’t a complete lie. He had witnessed other times a bond forming between two shifters. It was rare, even on Paradise, but it happened. When two shifters were destined to one another, their giants formed a bond that allowed them to share something special, something in the form of thoughts, other times in the forms of dreams but never something so peculiar and permanent and specially not between an Ackerman and a Shifter.Not to mention that E2 wasn’t an ordinary shifter…That surprised and scared Armin altogether when he learnt it from Sasha and Marco. Whatever bond Levi shared with E2, automatically was shared with Eren and for someone who bet everything on hiding his persona from the world, nothing represented a threat more than that. That wan why he desperately tried to get in contact with Eren and discuss with him about the matter and Armin was furious that Eren hand’t contacted him yet to fix the issue. Because that was, an issue they needed to fix, immediately.Levi couldn’t came closer to Eren, or it would be the end, for all of them. All the sacrifices, all their goals, all their fallen brothers… everything would be in vain. If Eren thought that something like that wasn’t a priority for him, then Armin was going to take matters in his own hands, before it was too late. He didn’t know E2 too well, well he didn’t know him at all actually, but he hoped he was responsible enough to be careful around Levi. Eren didn’t open up about him, another thing that bothered Armin deeply. The brunette simply told him that according to a conversation between Lyla Tybur and Tom witnessed by E2 the latter was a mere clone, but of course after devouring Tybur and Lyla he learnt something more, about E2’s born. Something he didn’t share with anyone, not even E2. Or Armin. And Armin was the one who knew him the most… and nevertheless he wasn’t warned about the bond, a bond that shouldn’t be encouraged.Of course Erwin thought differently since a bond between the two was exactly what he wanted. “Couldn’t you and Levi do the same ?” “No. He’s an Ackerman, even if I could read someone’s mind, his would be protected just like he’s shielded from any other of my abilities. What happened between them… I believe it shouldn’t be encouraged” “How can you be so sure ? You said yourself that it’d never happened before” “And as a researcher I can tell you that an anomalia not always should be encouraged…” “But I’m sure that as researcher you would have tested it to satisfy your curiosity and you wouldn’t have ignored” Armin groaned. He couldn’t be too much pushy on the matter and if he deliberately sabotage the relationship between Levi and E2, would only make everything worse since Erwin would be more convinced that he was hiding something. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. You stubborn ass” said Armin pouting. “Are you really pouting like a child ? Only because I don’t agree with you ?” “Only because this situation between us is getting frustrating” said Armin “I’m hungry, I’m going to sunbathe” he concluded, ignoring how meaningless his last quote could be, for human standards anyway. Shifters needed sunlight to feed.When he was about to leave Erwin alone in the corridor, the man grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Something’s bothering you and I’m not responsible for it, am I wrong ? You look pretty frustrated” Armin sighed. He was and he hated that Erwin had learnt to read him so well. He was frustrated of being surrounded by men that didn’t listen to him, that ignore him, that didn’t trust him enough to hide from him important informations. He was done with Eren, with Erwin, with everyone. He needed a pause from all of them and from all that stress.He felt like he was suffocating in those four walls where he had no friends he could count on. He had been sent there, all alone, obligated to wear a mask on his face all day non stop and then it was the moment when he needed a break. Eren was ignoring him, Erwin didn’t want to listen to him and he needed a break from both of them like right then. “I am. I need a break, leave me alone” But Erwin didn’t let him go.“If I’m not the one to blame, then who is him ?”“Who said anything about him ?” Asked Armin narrowing his eyes. Erwin gave him an eloquent look that only angered Armin more. He needed to leave immediately. He was too stressed and tired to brood about his words to guess how Erwin realized that there was an ‘him’ at the root of his emotional turmoil. “Don’t look at me that way” he hissed at the older man.“What way now ? It’s not like you to show so many emotions. Whoever he is, he really offended you” “There’s no he !” Armin insisted “There’s you that don’t want to listen to me and that won’t allow me to sunbathe to recover” He was actually hungry, like really hungry. He hand’t exposed himself at the sunlight since he came back from the mission. That would explain why he was so moody. Erwin narrowed his eyes and Amin was tempted to show him his middle finger but then he changed his mind. Erwin was right. He exposed himself too much that day. He needed to calm himself and he needed to spend more time with the Commander. Erwin was hiding something from him, something else other than the bond he wanted to encourage between Levi and E2. “We should go for a picnic” he said “Even if you don’t want to talk with me it’s okay. I don’t want to talk with you either but… I don’t want to be alone” The sincerity behind his words surprised the blond researcher even more than Erwin. When Eren sent him on Marley about one year ago, he didn’t think he would remained there all that time. Alone, without another of his kind, no one he could trust, no one he could share his worries. Since he became a giant, he got used to share thoughts and feelings with other shifters, and somehow it made him feel less alone. It was frustrating sometimes, when he wanted his head all for himself, but once he came there he missed it. He missed his friends and the bond he shared with them. He could count on Sasha and Marco but at the moment he couldn’t speak with them and he also know that all their future interactions would be supervised by Erwin. He wasn’t so fool and naive to think that Erwin would allow any interaction with other shifters without elaborating theory about plots and betrayal. “I agree. Give me some minute to prepare everything, then we will meet outside” said Erwin gently smiling at Armin. Meanwhile, Levi and E2 were left alone in the room.There was a certain tension between them, E2 could feel in spite of his scarce knowledge of social interactions. He could tell that Levi had no idea what to do with him and neither E2. Since they came back at the base, Levi had been feeling nervous, constantly on the edge, but because he felt threatened but for something that he couldn’t describe with words. A sensation, a feeling, a thought that was constantly on his mind, maybe the force inside, whatever. All he knew was that he needed to keep an eye on that boy. “Can you… sit down ?” Asked E2 timidly “I feel uncomfortable if you keep standing up like that” Levi’s posture remembered him of the people who visited him in the white room. The look of judgment, indifference or disgust they gave to him wasn’t something he could easily get over, but luckily Levi didn’t look like that.He was more cautious than scared or disgusted by him which was a relief. He wondered how he would react if the raven hair knew he was standing in the presence of the clone of the king of giants. The same king that had been ignoring him since the end of the mission. Levi nodded and sat on the bed, keeping some distance form E2. He didn’t feel comfortable around people he barely know. “Thank you” whispered E2 “May I ask you something ?” “What ?” “What happened after I fell asleep ? Last thing I remember is Angel and I on the floor and I fell asleep on his shoulder. Nothing else” E2 crossed his fingers and hope he didn’t hurt anyone. “Your body temperature kept raising and at some point your body started emitting electricity. Luckily for you, the blond mushroom managed to stop you. It was clear the we couldn’t stay in that fucking shithole one minute more, so we left. You slept for two days” Erwin warned him about spilling informations about that night, to avoid to make E2 feel guilty about what happened but Levi wasn’t that kind of man. He was a blunt and straightforward person, sometimes unintentionally cruel, but lying and deceiving people around him wasn’t his style. Even back in his criminal days, Furlan was better at dealing with people than him that was far better at getting rid of them. He wasn’t polite and he didn’t possess eloquence or skills able to enchant people around him like Erwin. He was able to lead a squad and to come out with plans that worked and nevertheless he didn’t like it. He felt trapped when he had to be responsible for other people. He worked better alone, that was the truth. It was easier for him and no one had to deal with his bad attitude.At least the boy didn’t seem to mind it. Another thing that confirmed that Eric hadn’t been around nice people to make the difference. “Oh… I’m relieved that no one was hurt because of me. I didn’t know how to explain what happened. It’d never happened to me before” It was true somehow. Even back when he was in the white room and his and Eren’s mind were linked, it’d never happened something like that. His body’d never suffered the consequences of Eren’s actions. “My friends…”“No, you were the only one who turned himself into a fucking radiator” So, his guess was right. It had something to do with the bond between Eren and him. It was the only possible explanation. “Well, as I said, I’m relieved.” He said with an embarrassed smile, putting an hand on his hair “Also… Commander Smith didn’t mention the bond between us, but I supposed you tell him” “Of course I did. I’m a reserved man and the last thing I know is a brat like you fucking invading my space thank you” “First, I’m not a brat. I’m not that much younger than you !” Replied E2 crossing his arms. “Are you fucking kidding me brat ? You’re a teenager” said Levi crossing his arms as well and raising his child. He was and he was hating it right then. He didn’t understand it really, why, since he was Eren’s clone, was he younger ? Eren was 19 years old, more or less. Not even he was close to Levi’s age but at least he wasn’t a teenager, like him.He should stop comparing himself with Eren, for the sake of hi self-esteem.Levi on the other hand considered the boy pretty entertaining. “Fine, old man” he said rolling his eyes “You’re not exactly normal are you ? I could feel something different about you but you’re not like me either” “Yeah, long story short, I’ve been injected as well but I didn’t turn into a shifter. For the details, you will have to wait for tomorrow when you will begin your tests with Shitty Four Eyes” “You’re really affectionate with your friends, you know that ?” Joked E2 barely refraining himself from laughing. “Shitty glasses is not my friend” said Levi and E2 could swear he was pouting and blushing “Don’t jump at conclusion, you fool” said Levi hitting E2 on the forehead. “Ouch !! I’m starting to think you remain here only to reproach me” pouted E2. “You’re irritating, but I stayed because I felt like you didn’t want to remain here all alone.” Answered Levi putting a hand on E2’s legs to emphasize his word. “Yes, thank your for your company indeed. I don’t like being alone in a new environment. Last time it happened it didn’t end up well” “Mind to share ?” Tried Levi. “Maybe another time.” Said E2 uncomfortable “I’m… a little hungry…” he looked at the window and pointed at it “I’m going to sit in front of the window. Sunlight will make me feel better. Can you stay here with me ?” “As long as you want me, kid” answered Levi patting E2’s head. E2 smiled brightly at him and Levi couldn’t avoid to notice how much young he was and how unfair it was the entire situation for him.He didn’t know what Eric thought about the bond, probably he felt relief to have a connection with someone else for the first time, or at least he didn’t seem disturbed like Levi was. Eric was used to silence so maybe he appreciated being surrounded by people, Levi on the other hand could barely stand to be in a room with more than a couple person for more than few minutes. He was convinced that one of the reason for that sufferance toward people was due to his past, where he had to accept the imposed presence of all those stranger men inside his house, in his space, sleeping with his mother and leave their dirty sweat in the bed where Levi himself slept.It would explained why he didn’t like the idea of sharing his mind with someone he didn’t know. “It doesn’t bother you ?” Asked Levi. E2 blinked, while he was moving a chair in front of the window “What exactly ?” ‘Our bond’ clarified Levi looking at E2 intently. E2 expected that question, he simply hoped his answer wouldn’t offend Levi and since they were discussing their bond he decided to answer through it.
‘I’m sorry but since I have no memory of my past… Since the first memory I have of my life is of that place I… I’m simply too used to be surrounded by stranger people. It’s nothing new to me. I’ve never had something I could consider ‘my space’ or something like that. For me it’s normal and I’m sorry it’s no the same for you’
‘It’s not your fucking fault, brat’ answered Levi standing up and walking closer to E2. What else could he expect ? Eric didn’t grow up like. Well, no one he knew did, but the brat was another special case. The brat grew up owning nothing and being owned by everyone. Levi paled if he stopped for a moment to think about all those things happened to Eric. If he wanted to find them out, he needed to get closer to the boy, according to Eyebrows’ gently suggestion. As soon as the blond commander learnt about their bond, he didn’t waste time in encouraging the development of some sort of relationship between the two. For the sake of the mission of course, and Levi obeyed, because he wanted to know the reason of the bond and because he wanted to protect the boy. That was what the force inside him suggested him to do and until that moment that force’d never disappointed him differently from many other people he had the displeasure to meet.Repressing his thoughts, he put a hand on Eric’ shoulder and remained there, with him, in silence. … 17th September PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA ‘Come on… I almost made’ thought Eren gritting his teeth. He spent the last two days training his new technique under Kruger’s guidance. After two infernal days spent in pain, loss of blood and fainting, he managed in generating small magnetic fields around parts of his body. He succeeded in making levitate small metallic and magnetic objects around him and only once he managed to manipulate the magnetic filed to manipulate electrical current but only for mere seconds and it caused him to lose his senses. After that, Kruger reproached him, suggesting him to concentrate on the development of one ability at time and not to hurry and cause useless damages to his body. He managed to move and making levitate bracelets, cutlery and other small objects, but when he tried to do the same with bigger objects, like a sword, he managed to maintain the field only for a couple of second. “FUCK !” He screamed when the sword fell on the ground after few seconds from the creation of the magnetic field “FUCK !” He kicked the sword so hard to reduced it in dust, but his rage wasn’t sated. Nevertheless, before he could vent his rage against another innocent object, Kruger’s voice caught his attention.
‘Stop acting like a beast. You’ve been training for two days only, you need to be patient’
‘I think it was obvious at this point that patience is a virtue that I don’t possess’ replied Eren putting his hands on his hear to refrain himself from the destroying the entire room.
‘I think it’s time you get it. You’re no longer a teenager. This kind of behavior doesn’t suit you and won’t be beneficial in the long run’
Eren rolled his, sitting on the crystal floor. He was running out of energy, his body needed food and a rest, but his mind instead was focus only on one thought. Only one. Master his new ability. It was a fixated thought on his mind, something that kept coming back, not matter how many times he tried to ignore it. Again, his impatience prevented him from taking care of himself and from listening what other people had to tell to him.
‘Go feeding yourself and then sleep. You need it. You’re more irritable and moody than usual’
‘Not hungry, just angry. I don’t understand. Every time I think that I have a better understanding of my body, you throw another shit on me !’Eren wasn’t good at tolerating or adapting to changes around him. They destabilized him, specially those regarding his own body. He grew up dealing with a body that changed constantly, day after day, and any of that made Eren feel like a stranger in his own skin and consequentially he hated his body. That empty shell that didn’t belong to him, that was the cause of all his misery. If he could, he would rip his own skin apart, bite all his fingers, making his fucking body disappear. That same body that was simply too much to handle.
‘Don’t behave like a child. You need this ability, like you needed all the others I’ve taught you until now and you need to eat. You can’t torture your body like this every time it happen something you don’t like’
‘It’s not like that’
‘It’s exactly like that. You have a problem, more than one actually and no one taught you how to handle them.’
Eren ignored him. He left the crystal room, smiling politely at the shifters he encountered and then he exited from the building. There was only one place where he wanted to be, the only one where he could find the peace, the quiet and the food he needed. The beach and the sea.Aware of not being gifted with a pleasant attitude, Eren was grateful that the other shifters were keeping their distance, feeling deep inside them, through their bond, that he was having one of his phase and that wasn’t in the mood for a proper conversation. He was grateful that they were so understanding toward his moody attitude, even if he couldn’t avoid to wonder wether they were so understanding because they cared for him or because they feared him. ‘Whatever… I don’t care right now’ he thought rolling his eyes.
‘You do, or you wouldn’t make so many efforts to form a positive relationship with them. Your efforts are appreciated and seen, that’s why your mistakes are forgiven. They knows you don’t know how to have relationship’
‘Shut the fuck up, old man. As if you were any better than me. You were fucked up in the head, just like I am’
‘That’s why I worry for your mental health. You should learn to allow others to take care of you’
‘I won’t accept the help of anyone to fix my head. Thank you’ ‘Didn’t mean just that…’ ‘Look, lead me alone. Your voice has been driving to insanity since the first time I heart it, so if you care about me shut up’
‘It happened a long time ago, Eren’
‘Yeah, a long time ago, when you threw straight in my face the ugly truth that the best part of my life was fake, that all my life before was a lie… It happened a long time ago… of course’ He touched his cheeks and realized that he was crying all along, thinking about what happened long time ago. It felt like yesterday and it still hurt like hell. He would never forget that moment. All the shits that came after started from that moment: his anger issues, his nightmares, his bloodlust, the problems with his self-esteem, the hatred, his giant, the hell… everything escalated from that fucking moment.
‘You were living a lie’
‘It was real to me… now the only thing remotely real is my pain’
‘Forgive me then’
Eren didn’t answer him. He dried his tears and kept walking toward the beach. Once he arrived he walked toward the water. He walked until he could no longer feel the sand under his feet, where the tears couldn’t be distinguished from the seawater. He came there because he’d never learnt to share his misery to the world, only his anger and his hatred in the form of giants that destroyed everything on their path. His misery on the other hand had to be hidden, drown in the sea and it belonged to him. It was his burden, his weakness, his fault and flaw and he wanted to deal on his own.For as long as he could remember, people always told him he was so fucking perfect: the perfect machine, the perfect living blood bag, the perfect body.And he was. Who else before him had a body so fucking perfect ? So powerful ?And yet his mind gave in to all the ugliness of his life and then he was drowning, only to shut it up, only to pretend, one time more, that once he resurfaced the world would be a better place for someone like him.Instead… recalling that fucking day…
‘Eren, there’s a truth you need to know…’
‘Such a perfect specimen… he would bring us many fortune’
‘Kruger’s masterpiece…’
‘What you think to know… everything… is a lie…’
‘Am I an unwanted child ?’
‘… It’s all fake, none of this is real…’
‘It was real to me…’ ‘Where is my family ?’
‘You don’t have a family’
Those words were said to him, those words were proven right not longer after and then nothing was the same. It was then that he learnt he was nothing more than Kruger’s masterpiece and others’ little chore to put up with. He was alone, like Kruger used to. In his mind, drown in the sea, his memories and Kruger’s memories merged again, like it happened other times when he felt strong emotions or when he felt a strong emotional connection with Kruger himself to unlock his memory involuntarily. When it happened, they usually weren’t ‘useful’ memory about Kruger’s past. Nothing about his research, or his experiment, or important relationship with colleagues or superiors. Since Eren felt immense pain, the memories he unlocked were filled with immense pain.
“… Do you understand now Kruger ? You have no place in the world. You will never leave this shit hole, so accept it”
He was looking the scene from Kruger’s eyes. He was lying on the ground, keeping a hand on his abdomen, where he was feeling an immense pain. He looked up and saw a man but he couldn’t distinguish his face. That man was very muscular and possessed a well defined physique and was also very tall. What was he doing ?
“So senseless… pretending to fail… No failure is going to set you free from the sad truth that you’re alone in this world… Since you’re here try at least to be useful to yourself”
The scenario changed again. Kruger was in a classroom and the faceless teacher was communicating them the results of their latest exam. Once he finished, the man congratulated Kruger for getting the highest grade for the fifth time in a row.
“Here your reward. You’ll the first of your years to be allow to partecipate to the physical training. Aren’t you happy ?”
Kruger didn’t know wether he should feel happy or not. Being admitted in the physical train meaning an advancement for sure. It meant stop donating blood for the army, it meant avoiding the fear to donate organs for other people’s children, like it had happened to the children who failed the preliminary tests. It meant a further step toward obtaining a permeant job in the Tybur Industry in the future.
It meant obtaining everything that Kruger needed to obtain his revenge.
But he also knew that the physical training was hard. Eleven years old Kruger was no longer a naive child, he’d seen the terrors of the war and the cruelty that happened in that building on daily basis. He knew from older guys that lived in the structure that only few survived the training and the only salvation was getting high grades in class that could at least guarantee them a job as researcher in the company. It was either that, or either became a living blood bag, a donator of organs, or being used as a guinea pig.
Instead, if you failed to get high grades but excel in the psychical training one get a ticket for the army, but before that, they needed to be sure you were a complete idiot and taking from you all the blood they wanted and needed.
Kruger was immensely sad and scared. He looked around, observing his classmate’s faces and he could see that they were scared for him too as they were for themselves. For what would happen to them if their grandes didn’t improve.
The scenario changed again. He found himself in front of a door. He was Kruger again, yet an older version that time, and he was keeping a syringe in his right hand and a gun in his left ones. He could feel the presence other people behind him.
It was another test… the last one before he could finally be employed in the Tybur Industry. It was a test for his loyalty, to prove that he was committed with the cause, that all the anger from the past was gone.
That he had fully embraced the name and role that they imposed to him.
He knew what he was going to find behind that door, he could already hear the screams and the beg and he could already feel and smell the blood on his hands.
It would be his choice. It would be his fault…
In his life, that wasn’t the first crime he committed. He committed more, in his head, and desired to commit even more. Nevertheless he was sorry that, in order to kill his enemies, the innocents would pay the price for him.
Both the syringe and the gun hurt his hands, the thought of what was going to do hurt…
‘I think you’ve seen enough’ Eren didn’t answer. He swam to the surface, taking a deep breath once his head was out of water, relieved to feel the sunlight on his face again. He hated those hideous memory lane in his head. They were disconnected one to another, the details were blurred, like in a dream, and in the end they left him with nothing but other pain and anger. They also reminded him how much similar he was to his creator. They were both dragged into a situation bigger than them and they both did what they had to do to survive, not matter who was going to pay the price, not matter who was going to lose.Their life didn’t allow them any weakness or indecision. They always had to be ready to hit, fast and hard, to kill. That was why Eren was always reluctant to waste time when he was so focus in going forward. Or swim forward in that case. It was a mistake diving in the water with his clothes on, but what was done was done. So he sat on the sand soaking wet, closed his eyes and enjoyed the sunlight. After an half an hour, once he felt relaxed enough and in good shape for a proper adult conversation, he contacted Kruger again. ‘While I was down there…’ he began sitting on the sand ‘… I thought about other abilities. For example, Sasha has been injected through a plant and her skin can secrete different kind of toxin, or other giants could copy others’ abilities by eating a piece of them… I thought it depended on the type of injection…’ It was a lie of course. It was a mere excuse to avoid the last topic and to avoid talking about Kruger’s memories too.He dried his tears once again, a little disappointed to be left alone with that voice in his head, but he wanted it so he couldn’t complain. Better discussing about his abilities, it was an easier issue to fix and that what he needed. Issues that he could fix. ‘They abilities are your abilities. They could do what they are able to do because you allow them. Your genes actually. Miss Blouse could easily unlock abilities related with plants for the nature of her injections, but remember that the serum that infected those plants in the first place has been created with your blood.’ ‘Oh… why didn’t you tell me before ?’ ‘After all these years hearing that you’re the nucleus I thought you would have figured it out’ ‘Of course. So since others have unlocked them for me, I can already used them, right ?’ ‘Theoretically correct. Let’s see if you’re right’ Eren nodded. He was actually curious to know if he could actually do it. He knew the topic of input and output. He could send informations to others and allowed them to develop their abilities, but after witnessing shifters like Sasha, that had similar abilities to the infected plants, abilities he didn’t possess, convinced that shifters could develop abilities on their own. Without his direct intervention.Kruger was telling him that in the end shifters always gave him something back, input that Eren elaborated and decided wether to give them back again or not. Like a computer. He chose which datas to share and which not.He thought about Sasha, about how she managed to secret the toxin from her skin, and tried to imitate her. To feel what she felt, to think what she thought, while she did it. He thought at the words she used when she described it.He rose one hand, closed his eyes and concentrated. He waited, and waited, but nothing happened.He tried again, and again but no toxin was coming out of his hand. ‘Don’t think about Sasha. She has her own emotions when she triggers her abilities. You have yours. Focus on yourself, on your feelings, on what you want from yourself and your ability’ What did he want ? Easy.He wanted to be enough to achieve his goals. He wanted to be more than Kruger’s masterpiece. He wanted to be his own person. He wanted something that was real for him, something that wasn’t pain. He wanted to go forward. His giant and him, one thing, one and only.The Attack titan and him… together… “Together…” he whispered. Then it happened… he smelled the toxin and when he opened his eyes, he saw a faint greenish smoke coming out of his hand. He smelled like flowers and plant, a sweet scent to attract the preys and made them fall victim of it but of course it didn’t work on Eren. It was a little joy after all, compared to two days of incessant failures. ‘Feeling a little better ?’ ‘Feeling a little busier than before. Now I know I have no more time to waste. Nevertheless I’m going to train here. Only now I realize how much I missed the sun’ … MARLEY ODIHA 19th September 2098 Zeke Yeager, Yelena, Reiner and Pick arrived in front of a little chalet in the mountain of Ohida, while Pork, Magath, Onyankopon and Colt and the other remained in their new base to protect. Complaints didn’t miss, on Pork’ side to be specific but Zeke insisted that they needed at least one shifter to remain there and protect their new base.The latest months had been chaotic for the Warrior Unit and conflicts among the members didn’t lacked. The point was that the necessary equipment and the chemicals for the creation of the serum and its vaccine were very expensive, so at some point they had to ‘accept’ other kind of dirty jobs to earn the money they needed. Dirty jobs entrusted to them by Jin. Magath, the old-fashioned military man, wanted nothing to do with a man like Jin, like he was any better. Magath knew, just like Zeke, the rotten side of the Tybur Industry and they both decided to closed their eyes and turned around. Reiner was the second idiot-hypocrite who at the beginning was reluctant to join what he defined ‘dark business’, because he didn’t want get his hands dirty and hurt innocent people. Zeke challenged him in a fight and the proud idiot accepted and lost, of course. Reiner was the kind of person Zeke hated the most. The ones ready to point the finger against the others to remind them of their guilt and yet incapable of dealing with his own sins.Zeke knew that that coward had attempted suicide several times instead of finding a way to solve the problems he caused. Coward.That was why he needed to put Reiner in line. If the coward feared someone enough, they would think twice before thinking to betray them or to defy them and since Reiner was a coward, Zeke needed to make sure where they both stood. Yelena was his most loyal follower and she never questioned his choice and Onyankopon went wherever Yelena did. Pick didn’t trust him, it was clear, but she was smart enough to understand that they needed money or they would find themselves soon without a place to live, weapons, foods and everything they needed to survive. Both shifters and humansColt had been considered his successors since the day of his recruiting in the army and the last he wanted was to disappoint Zeke and he also was willing to do anything it took to bring his brother back home.In the end, Pork wasn’t intelligent as Pieck but he was a survivor. He was willing to kill for Tybur and the Warrior Unit and then he was ready to kill for himself. In the end, they all accepted to collaborate with Jin and accept illegal job from him. Reluctantly, of course, but they knew they had no choice. In the eyes of the world nothing distinguished them from Jin. They were all criminals, junk of society, a blasphemy on people’s tongue.There was no place in the world for them, their beloved had been arrested, their colleagues imprisoned and almost all their hideout had been sized.Tom wouldn’t approve his choice, but he also lied to Zeke, he hide the truth from him, he hide the boy and all the secrets regarding him.Zeke could understand that maybe Tom was trying to protect him, but Zeke was a shifter and he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Nevertheless, before the villa they were hiding was found by the authority, Zeke found old researches. Nothing relevant, only a bunch of observations about the serum and its effects on birds but there was something else that caught Zeke’s attention. The names signed on one research. Two of them belonged to two people that used to work in Utopia, exactly where everything started, where the nucleus was kept and the first facility to be destroyed and one of them after retiring moved there in Odiha. Dr Devon Hawksin. He was one of the top researchers employed in Utopia, excellent in study of the serum and its effects on animals and his researches had given a lot of contributes to devo other studies about animals but also for those shifters that, like Zeke, assumed animals features after the transformation. Shifting into a giant wasn’t a walk through the park but turning into body that didn’t possess human traits was atrocious and he could consider himself luck since monkey were more similar to humans than other animals. Animals possessed a different bone structure, which meant that after the transformation, the shifter was basically obliged to adapt himself to a bone structured that made them move according to it. He knew of another shifter who turned into a bird and during a conversation his colleague told him how uncomfortable he was in a body that worked completely different from his, that didn’t have arms and legs and that made him feel limited in his movements. Doctor Hawkins’ job was to study animals, in particular the few shifters that turned in animal forms and try to figure it out how to prevent future similar transformations ‘cause shifters like that showed more limitations than others, for example his bird-shifter colleague, but that wasn’t important at the moment.What mattered was that Zeke had finally found the man’s residence and that he was about the interrogate the man about the nucleus and other informations regarding the experiments run in Utopia. “Are you sure he will talk with us ? Considering the situation we’re in, I wouldn’t be surprised if he call the police as soon as he see us” said Pieck observing the chalet. The wooden chalet in front of them looked pretty small and rather dilapidated. The grass int he courtyard was tall and uncared and the porch was dirty, with dry leaves and other kind of junk on it and a little carpet full of dust that covered it entirely. The door was a simple wooden one and Pick was sure that even a simple touch could break. It didn’t look like the residence of a former researcher or maybe that was the goal. Maybe Hawkins chose to live in a place like that to hide himself from everyone, including Tybur. Pieck couldn’t imagine a world when someone retired and managed to cut Tybur out of their life forever. Tybur was too much paranoid for that, to leave someone who had worked for him, who knew the dirty side of his Industry, to live alone with the risk of being exposed. “He will or we’ll make him. The only reason why he hasn’t been arrested before is because his name figures only in old documents and researchers before 2089, the year he retired and the nature of his experiments are hidden since all the datas about him went lost in Paradise” said Zeke “I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate to be set up” “If you feel so confident, why did you bring us here ? Armed ?” Asked Reiner. “Reiner do yourself a favor and keep your mouth shout. It makes you look more intelligent than you actually are” said Yelena, almost reading Zeke’s thought. Zeke walked toward the porch and stopped few centimeters in front of the door. He knock a couple of time and then he waited. No one answered, so he knocked again and again but one answered.When he was beginning to lose his patience, he heard footsteps on the other side of the door. He put a hand on the gun he was carrying, ready to defend himself from any attack.Someone would say he didn’t need a gun to defend himself, but using it attract attention less then transforming. If it was true that this chalet was in a place forgotten by God, it was also true that the last thing Zeke needed was someone to notice the thunder of the transformation and warning the authority. He took a deep breath and waited until the door was slightly opened. “What the hell are you doing here ?” Asked a hoarse voice “How did you find me ?” He couldn’t fully see the face of the man behind the door. He saw an old man, with light brown eyes surrounded by wrinkles, marked featured hidden by a poorly groomed beard and dry and uncared lips.The man didn’t keep his eyes off him for even a second and was scrutinizing Zeke, observing his every move, waiting for a wrong move on his part. “I deduce you know who I am” said Zeke. “Don’t be stupid. There’s no employer in the Tybur Industry that doesn’t know who you are, Zeke Yeager. Grisha’s son” Zeke rolled his eyes “You could have stopped at my name. We need to talk, Dr Hawksin” “Talk ? With your dogs armed and ready to cut my throat ? How can I know that you’re not here to kill me so that I wouldn’t set you up ?” “If I really wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have taken the disturb to knock at your door.” Replied Zeke “Open the door, I really need to talk to you” Hawkins didn’t look convince and for a moment Zeke feared that he would have to kick the door to enter inside but then the man opened the door completely.“Fine, come in brats, don’t waste my time any longer. The things we’re going to talk about are very important and I suspect that you’re not going to them”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY ODIHA 19th September 2098 ‘This place is a real dump’ Zeke wasn’t in the position to be skittish about the couch he was sitting on. Full of dust, sunken, with springs that protruded from everywhere. It was uncomfortable, suited for an uncomfortable situation and an uncomfortable conversation. Next to him, Reiner was playing nervously with his sleeve, trying and failing to repress his disdain for the condition of the coach and the house, while Pick and Yelena were doing a better job at hiding their emotions, as usual.Dr Hawkins was in the kitchen, fumbling with different objects, trying to prepare them some tea. Zeke had tried to dissuade him but apparently dr Hawkins needed some time for himself before starting their storytelling session. In the meantime, Zeke was observing the environment, trying to pick any little intel that any object in the room could tell him about Hawkins. Difficult, actually. The interior of the house reflected the dilapidation of the exterior. The furnitures in the dining room were covered with a thick layer of dust, expect for the books stored in the library that occupied all the opposite wall. What surprised Zeke the most was that no one of those books were about biology, or chemistry or scientific topic. They were novels and poetry books, romantic poetry books, to be specific. The books where probably the most personal thing in the entire room.There were no pictures or degrees or any kind of certifications related to Hawkins’ career hanging on the walls and Zeke didn’t believe it was a coincidence. Apparently Hawkins was determinate to eradicate anything related to his past. It wasn’t surprising looking where that same career leaded Hawkins. In that dump.Zeke’s eyes fell on the coffee table in front of the couch, with a vase with fake dusty flowers, an ashtray with pinches of cigarettes and old newspaper articles about the Tybur Industries. So Hawkins didn’t succeed in cutting all the ties with his past after all… “How long does it take to prepare a cup of tea ?” Murmured Pick. “He’s old, it a miracle if he’s still walking” commented Yelena. “Girls, please don’t be rude with our host. We really need his collaboration and I don’t think that offending him will be very helpful in this moment” said Zeke “He doesn’t trust us, it’s obvious.” “I’m still convinced that we should have forced him. Who can guarantee us that he will tell us the truth ?” Said Pick. “He’s used to live in fear. Look around, Tybur did a number on him with threats and blackmails. If we use the same approach he will tell us everything he thinks we want to hear only to have us out of his way.” Said Zeke. “He could betray us. Maybe he’s calling someone to tell them that we’re here” said Reiner. “In that case, we’d hear it, we’re shifters and he knows it. If he tries something funny, he’d be dead in less than a second” “He looks like the suicidal type” commented Pick again. After a couple of minutes, Dr Hawkins returned in the dining room, holding a tray with a teapot with five cups of tea. Zeke observed the man and couldn’t believe that he used to be a valued and famous researcher. The doctor in front of him didn’t resemble the man he saw in a picture inside the villa. The picture he saw portrayed a man with another degree in his hand, fierce in his expensive brand new suit, ready to surprise the whole world with his researchesIt was like watching and old relic devoid of all the glory of the past, with his discolored ocher sweater, his dirty trousers and the slippers with holes in different points. He also wore a pair of glasses.His movements were clumsy and slow, his hands were trembling and he could notice that the nails were dirty and some were even broken knuckles were cracked.Once he put the tray on the coffee table, the former doctor sat on a purple armchair, reduced to the same state of the couch, situated next to the couch, next to Zeke. “What do you want to know ?” Asked the doctor fixing the glasses on his nose. “Everything” answered Zeke “What happened on Paradise ? What’s the nucleus ? Do you know something about my father ?” “I start with the simplest one. No, I have no idea where your father is. Tybur had looked for him for a long time but then he gave up.” Zeke didn’t insist. He expected that answer after all but it was worthy a try. After all if someone like Tybur couldn’t find him and didn’t know where he is, no one else could and Zeke was starting to lose hope.It was like his father didn’t simply go away from home, but disappeared from the face of the earth. He wished he could be able to hide himself as well. “Not surprised.” Mumbled Zeke. “Sorry kid, but I wasn’t even well acquainted with your father before his disappearance. I’ve met him only a couple of times and we strictly discussed about our researches. His disappearance didn’t surprise me either, it was only a matter of time before your father tried to disappear and others to follow his example” “Like you ?” Asked Zeke.“No. I’m still alive only because I asked for my retirement. Pure luck. I wouldn’t have survived what happened on Paradise” “That is ?” Asked Pick. “Betrayal. Deceive. Anger. Revenge. Rebellion. Denial. Rejection…”“What the hell these words means ?” Asked Yelena. “Reflect on them. What could they refer to ? A thing or a person ?” “We’re not here to solve riddles, we came here for answer” gritted Reiner that was starting to lose his patience. ‘A human’ thought Zeke, looking the doctor right in the eyes. What did it mean related to the nucleus ? The doctor didn’t take his eyes off him for even a second, waiting for him to figure it out and smirking when he realized that Zeke had solved the puzzle. “You are able to do incredible things, aren’t you ? Doctor Yeager ?” He could. It was undeniable. He was the son of the second shifter ever existed and one of the most powerful around. He was the Beast Titan, an indomitable force and the diamond of the Warrior Unit, the strongest of the warriors. A perfect mind inside a more perfect body.He could do things that other shifters couldn’t unless he allowed them to and that was the only thing he shared with his father and with the nucleus itself, but what did it mean ? He questioned his father about the nucleus once and his father always implied in his answers that it was an object, something programmed by Tybur’s engineer to control and manipulate the shifters and that it was based on Grisha’s psychic ability or something like that. His father told him that Tybur didn’t want to depend on their serum forever, in case something happened to them and apparently they succeeded in creating a plant that possessed a lymph similar to their serum. Once the serum was injected, the shifters had to go on Paradise regularly, to be injected with another serum that kept them under the control of the nucleus that was in Tybur’s hand.Practically, the nucleus controlled every shifters and being in Tybur’s hand allowed him to do the same. Zeke had no reason not to trust his father, somehow his explanation had sense and when he questioned Tom, the man answered him that he had no idea. The nucleus was the biggest mystery of the industry and only few people knew what it was and nevertheless Zeke always identified as an ‘it’. “I can. I’m not an average shifter. Tybur knew it” “Oh he did and don’t you think that it’s surprising that Tybur hadn’t locked you up somewhere in order to have you all for himself ? To be sure to have the serum inside you at hand ? So that your father would never leave the industry in order to stay by your side ?” Zeke narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like what Dr Hawkins was implying. Because he was implying that wasn’t he ?That he should have realized that something was off when Tybur didn’t lock him up in one of his facility as soon as he developed his second nature. He didn’t even have to apply for a position in the Industry, but indirectly Tybur had programmed his life in the research department just like his mother used to plan parties and gala before she got sick. His father always warned him to watch his back against Tybur and his paranoia, that was a reason why he taught him how to develop abilities that weren’t known by no one else but the two of them, to be able to defend himself in case Tybur decided to turn the other shifters against him. ‘Nevertheless, that bastard left me in this precarious situation, without a second thought. Without leaving me an indication about his hideout and apparently he lied to me. Again’ “What are you implying, dr Hawkins ?” “That the fall of the great Tybur Empire started just like this…” he said snapping his fingers “…With a lie” … PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA ‘I wished I could come back there sometimes’ Eren thought while he tried to levitate a couple of small metallic objects with his new ability.
‘Anyone would prefer to remain blind in front of an unfair truth. It’s in our nature. Pay attention now’
‘I can’t. Sometimes I fell like I didn’t give to myself the necessary time to emotionally deal with my past.’ As soon as Eren learnt the truth, the world, his reality crumbled around him and he had nothing to hold on to and he was a kid. Nine years old, to be specific and not matter how many years had passed, he would never forget that day. Never. Never… … PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA FACILITY - 2089
‘He said he will visit me today and daddy is not a lie. He promised to me’
An eight years old Eren was particularly exited that day because his daddy was going to visit him. He made a pinky promised and pinky promised were sacred.
Eren promised to his daddy that he would have been a good boy with his friends, that he would have let them taking parameters and making injections to him and in return his father would have spent some time with him.
Eren kept his part of the promise and he knew that his daddy would do the same. His father always kept his promises and one day, once Eren would be healed from his illness, he would bring him home and they would be family.
“A beautiful, special, little family… like in this book” whispered Eren reading a book of fairytales that was given to him by his daddy.
Little Eren didn’t know much of the world and its rules back then. How could he since he’d never left that white room ?
He didn’t know that the brunette man whom entered inside his white room, the one with the white coat, the gentle brown eyes and the sweet smile wasn’t his father.
“My boy” said the man sitting on the bed and hugging Eren tightly.
“Daddy !! You came !!” Exclaimed Eren hugging his father with his little arms.
Little Eren couldn’t imagine why his giant something inside him, deep down, kept rejecting that man.
His giant a part of him, that demanded to be heard, was suggesting him not to trust that man, to put as much distance as possible from him. That that man couldn’t be trusted, that he wasn’t his daddy.
Sometimes his giant that part of him surfaced under the form of a voice, sometimes it was merely a sensation, other times… like some sort of itch, or desire or thought inside his head.
Not matter what kind of form it took, the message was always the same, that he couldn’t trust that man, that he needed to put an end on his life.
Eren was scared when those kind of thoughts took form inside his head, because he knew what a child shouldn’t have that kind of thoughts.
“Of course I came, I promised to you didn’t I ?” Said his father caressing his hair.
Eren smiled, looking at his father and observing his face.
His daddy told him that due to his job he couldn’t spend much time with him, but that he was trying to be more present in his life. The interlude between a visit to another always seemed endless, that was why Eren loved looking at his father’s face, to memorize it. Not to forget any detail, not even the littlest one.
Not the mole on the chin, the dimples, the marked featured, the expression lines around the hazel eyes and the curly brunette hair.l
“Yes, you did. Did you bring me another present ?” Eren asked noticing the package in his father’s hand.
“Of course. I saw this book and it made me think about you.”
“Daddy, you’re terrible. You spoiled me the present” said Eren pointing his little finger with a pout on his lips.
“Oh, I did, sorry” said the man embarrassed touching his hair.
Eren grabbed the present with his little hands and opened it impatiently tearing off the paper. When he finished, he gasped exited looking at the new book. On the cover there was the portrait of a beautiful woman with long red hair, wearing an elegant white dress that made her looked like a princess. The woman was on a boat, on a river, surrounded by trees, she was in a wood.
Free and ethereal.
Eren wished he could be on the boat with her, he’d make her smile since she looked so sad. Why was she so sad ?
On the cover the title said ‘The lady of Shalott’.
“She looks sad on the cover” he commented.
“Yeah she does” murmured the man “She’s sad because she’s far away from her family and can’t be with them because a witch cursed her.”
“Like me ? I can’t be with you because I’m ill” said Eren.
His father didn’t answer to him, he simply lowered his head, not daring looking at the child next to him. Eren looked confused at his father’s reaction and wanted to know what wrong. Wrong with him.
“Why that face ? Last time you said that I’m improving. I’m feeling great and healthy, dad” he said grabbing the other’s sleeve “When can I back home with you ?”
“Eren, I already explained it to you. Your illness is… complicated. I know you want to come home and nothing would make me happier than reunite my family but I need to be absolutely sure you’re safe and healthy”
“It’s what you always say” replied Eren crossing his arms and looking away.
In his tantrum he threw his new book on the other side of the room. His father sighed at his side and tried to hug him again in order to calm him but Eren refused any contact. He stood up and sat on the floor, starting to play with his toys. He needed to keep his littles hands occupied or he would have done something he maybe would regret later.
The itch had returned and so the intense need to destroy everything around him.
He shouldn’t feel that way, a child shouldn’t feel that kind of anger, that ire, that need to see everything around him reduced to dust.
He cared for his father, but he couldn’t avoid to feel rejected, over and over again.
There was something wrong in the way his father approached him, a discordant note in his voice when he talked about them as family.
It was a like a part of him rejected him as his father as much as the man rejected him as his son.
There was something wrong in his gesture and in his scent too.
Impossible to smell due to the amount of perfume, hair spray and aftershave. Too insignificant when there weren’t product to conceal it, too ordinary to belong to someone different, a shifter, like Eren. Too foreign to belong to a father.
It was like Eren couldn’t recognize him at all sometimes. Why ?
His giant the force inside him knew the answer of course. That man wasn’t his father, he was simply in denial.
‘He is my father. I’m simply annoyed’ he thought later, laying on his bed, once his father left the white room ‘He always reproves me for being impatient but he promised me that he will visit me soon and he’d always kept his promised before. One day he will bring me home too’
‘He is not our father’
Eren almost fell from the bed when after hearing that strange voice, more similar to the growl of an animal than anything else.
What was disturbing him was the fact that that growl seemed to belong to him, like he was the one who did it. Why ?
‘I simply imagined it’ he said turning around, trying to get some sleep.
His day was long and tiring. Maybe his father was right an he was underestimating the severity of his illness. Maybe he was developing new symptoms that he didn’t have before and then he was starting to suffering of hallucinations, like voices in his head.
Maybe he should have told his father about the itch that he’d been feeling. He had to, if he wanted to get better and he wanted it, desperately.
He had enough of that damn white room, when outside his door there was an entire new world, his family, waiting for him.
‘Are you sure about that boy ?’
Eren put his hands on his ears in a ridiculous attempt to ignore that voice. His father was right, he was still sick. He couldn’t come back home in that conditions and if he was beginning to hear voices inside his head it meant that he wasn’t improving. His healthy had worsen, irreversibly maybe, which meant that he risked not to ever leave that place.
‘There there, there’s no need to cry. You’re not sick, or crazy. You’re perfectly fine, perfect even. Those outside that door are sick. Those are liars. Imperfect. Unworthy’
‘Filthy insignificant little humans’
‘Stop, please stop, stop, stop, stop !’
… It didn’t stop. After that episode, his silent life inside those white walls became suddenly noisy. Iside his head the voice of Kruger and his giant left him with no choice but question all his life. His 8 years old self still had no idea of what he actually was and what he could become, he had no idea of what were those voice inside his head, maybe he would have ignored them better if he did or maybe he wouldn’t have hesitated that much before embracing his true self.Because, in the end, those voice leaded him toward his true self, toward the giant inside him and toward the freedom. The same freedom that he’d always wanted to reach. In the end he realized that he wasn’t sick, but he was simply different. More powerful than any other person outside the room. In the end, Kruger’s voice reached him during the day and his person appeared inside his dreams in the desert and everything became clearer. Finally he knew the path he had to follow…
‘I made you a favor…’
‘I made you another in return. I know you didn’t help me for free. You want something from me, I know’ Eren wasn’t so naive anymore not to understand or at least suspect that Kruger’s help came with a price, even back then. As soon as Eren’s powers are enough to allow him to establish some sort of bon with Kruger, the man took upon himself the job of raising Eren. He taught him about his nature and all the abilities related to it, taught him how to develop them and use them against his enemies. It was thanks to him if Eren managed to leave the white room and for it the latter was highly grateful. But… ‘You’re no different from them. You’re using me’
‘And you’re doing the same. Our bond may not be perfect but it’s the most honest you’ve ever had. No one know you more than me and you don’t need to hide anything from me.’
‘Don’t I ?’
‘You can’t hide something inside your head from something else that is in your head too.’
‘True. The same rule applies for you, you know ? Sooner or later, I will unlock all your memories and once I do it, I will devour you’ Instinctively he licked his lips while thinking that. That was their little game after all. Kruger didn’t lie when he said that their relationship was the only one based on pure honesty. Both of them wanted something from the other, something they couldn’t achieve on their own. Their goals however weren’t completely compatible. Eren had his idea about the world and so did Kruger. They both wanted revenge against the world, more specifically the Marleyan Empire but there was something they kept disagreeing on and that was okay.Eren almost lost himself in Kruger’s personality and any difference between them was useful for him to draw the line between him and Kruger.Any tiny difference was fundamental to remember Eren that he wasn’t Kruger, that he wasn’t his little puppet or his masterpiece, but his own person.
‘I count on it’
‘I own you nothing’
‘No you don’t.’
Eren smirked, looking at his hand and imagining it wrapped around Kruger’s neck. He may looked like a human being but he had the soul of a giant. He wasn’t able to feel like anyone else, his anger was a pure fire, his fury was an earthquake and the strength of his will was an hurricane. Just like his giant, he was born to be a predator and there were no rules, or medicines or bonds that could imprison him.Those whom tried to control him learnt it the hard way. … MARLEY ODIHA To say that Zeke and the other were horrified wasn’t enough to describe the multitude of emotions that they were feelings. It wasn’t easy to accept the truth, a terrible, uncomfortable truth that had been in front of them, hidden by a tick layer of lies told by Tybur to them but that was there nonetheless.The nucleus, the origin of their powers, the most powerful thing ever created by a human being, was a person itself and no an ordinary person. “Surprised ? You shouldn’t be. You’re shifters after all, did you really believe that the thing that gave you your powers could be a simply plant or whatever ?” Mocked them Hawkins. “It’s not possible. Tybur wouldn’t have risked that much. He wouldn’t have accepted to depend on something so unpredictable like a human being, someone who would grow old and die” replied Yelena. “We’re not talking about an ordinary person. We’re talking about the nucleus. A boy with a blood able to generate shifters, like you, like Kruger had created the first giant. I can imagine how you feel though. If I hadn’t witnessed it myself I wouldn’t have believed either, but it’s the truth. Our entire organization was founded on the shoulder of a boy”A boy that couldn’t be define human. A boy that contained within himself the fearful force of the nature itself, a boy that was able to to destroy in a day an organization that Tybur’s family had build in years and that, Hawkins was sure of it, would destroy the entire Marleyan Empire sooner or later. As soon as Liberio fell, Hawkins knew it was only a metter of time before the world as they knew would disappear.The world had no idea of the real danger they were fighting against. “How ?” Asked Zeke “How could be possible ?” He needed to know. As far as he knew, he was the only one being born with superhuman abilities and he had inherited them from his father. So how could be possible that there was another boy with in the same condition ? Who was their sire ? Was his father ? Did he cheat on his mother and had another child ? Was it the reason why he left ? Never like in that moment Zeke was thankful to be so able to conceal his emotions from the rest of the world behind a mask of indifference while inside him the curiosity and the need to know were devouring him. “Tybur never told us anything about the boy. All I could share with you are theory based on my personal observations. Before he died, only few people remembered Kruger’s real aspect, for many others instead he remained a memory. That’s why I’m convinced that that boy was Krueger’s clone” Zeke almost jumped from the couch. He didn’t expect that, he was preparing himself for the worst but what Hawkins was saying wasn’t easy to digest either. “How could he be Kruger’s clone ? The man died years ago” replied Pieck. “For the love of God, didn’t they teach you anything about the serum at the training camp ?” Commented Hawkins disturbed by their ignorance and silly questions “Did you at least know how Kruger die ?” Of course they knew. Everyone knew how the first shifter ever existed died. Since he was the fist to ever tried to shift in his giant form, his old untrained body wasn’t suited to withstand the fatigue and the pain caused by a transformation and in the the scientist perished, leaving behind only another shifter, Grisha, and one of his arms. Zeke and Pieck were the first to understand what Hawkins was trying to say them.Kruger’s arm was infected, it was a part of him and if it remained intact, it could be possible that the totipotent cells inside it regenerated and gave birth to a new, younger, healthier body, more suited to contain the serum.Shifters could move the position of there consciousness in other part of their bodies, in order to defend himself from those trained to attack them, maybe Kruger knew how to do it and transferred it in his arm before die.It was a risky hypothesis, one that unfortunately couldn’t be proved with facts, but one that had sense somehow. “Did the boy look so much like him ?” Asked Yelena. “It was identical. Or so I thought. I saw Kruger in a picture once or twice and there was some kind of resemblance with the boy inside the white room. They also had the same abilities and Tybur always kept his existence a secret. I shared this theory with my colleagues and some of them agreed with me, those who knew Kruger’s aspect at least” “So it was Kruger all along ? All this mess is all his doing ? Why ?” Asked Reiner confused “Didn’t he work for Tybur ?” “Not exactly. Tybur’s family financed Marley’s Empire during the the war. The emperor conquered a lot of countries, included the one where Kruger lived with his family.” “Do you mean…” began Pieck. “Kruger wasn’t different from you, guys. He didn’t work for Tybur because he wanted to, but because he was brainwashed to be loyal to our Empire. During the war, the Emperor approved Tybur patriarch’s proposal to start a project to raise and brainwash young brilliant minds able to bring glory to our empire.” Hawkins stopped to take another sip of tea “The emperor ordered to kill anyone but the children and to submit them to peculiar physical and psychological test in order to select those with the perfect body and mind. Kruger succeeded all the test and in no time he became one of the most promising researchers whom ever worked for Tybur.” “Until he created the serum and decided to betray Tybur for revenge, am I right ?” Asked Zeke. “In any plan there’s a failure rate. Tybur was simply too arrogant to see it. I think that all the sings were under his nose.” “What makes you say this ?” Asked Reiner “Couldn’t his betray be simply due to the serum that fucked with his mind ?” “If it was, then everything would have ended with his dead.” Stated Zeke. “Exactly. I guess you’re one of the smart ones. Think about all the things that happened after Kruger’s dead. You could see how everything got worse, day after day, since we found that arm in that yard. Your father became the second shifter, you’re the first ever born with the serum, then Tybur became obsessed with the improvement of the serum, then Paradise and Lago City. The entire empire will be the next” “If you knew all this why didn’t you tell to anyone ? Why did you choose to remain here like a coward ? Why are you telling this to us now when the entire world hates us ?” Asked Yelena. … 'Because they deserved to know why they had to die’ thought Eren smirking cruelly.
‘I still don’t understand your plan. Why did you allow Hawkins to tell them that I was still alive ? That the nucleus is a person ? This endangers you’
Eren rolled his eyes. Typical of Kruger to underestimate him, to think that he had been too impulsive when he came up with that plan. He knew that Zeke would have searched in the old archives names of the researchers whom worked in Utopia before the 2095 and whom where still alive. Luckily for them, Hakwins satisfied all the requirements, unlucky for them, he worked for Eren.It was Eren who ordered Hawkins to reveal half of the truth about the nucleus but that was for Zeke only. The others could rot in hell for what ha cared but something, a part of him insisted on keeping Zeke alive and Eren suspected why.Nevertheless he ordered Hawkins to go there in order to reunite the Warrior Unit in one single place but of course there weren’t all of them, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was having them there and seeing them die. He didn’t count on Hawkins fighting skills, but at least he wanted to kill part of them and weakened them more. ‘Not exactly. They had no proofs, no wealths, no armies or allies. Look at them, they have been abandoned by everyone and at this point no now would believe them or accept to help them.’
‘Zeke’s earning money thanks to all the products sold on the black market and the others has been doing illegal affairs to pay everything Zeke needs to produce the serum’
‘Correct, but the black market put them right in Erwin’s path. With Armin’s help he would find them and kill them if my plan fails now.’
‘Even in that case, what if Zeke proposes a deal ?’
‘The world would be mine by then. Erwin and Zeke would never trust each other, an allegiance between the Warriors and the Scout Legion would be fragile and Armin would be there to shatter it in thousand pieces’ His eyes became golden thinking about it. He was gambling, he knew that and so did Kruger, but even though he could predict the future, he knew that there was always a percentage of risk but if he didn’t risk he would never win and he would never test his theories. ‘I have another theory I want to test, but I don’t want to do it using someone of mines’
‘What theory ?’
Eren closed his eyes and he saw, he remembered, the white room painted in red, the corpse before him and the fury that had been growing inside of him since that day. A poisonous one, one that he had learnt to mold in base of the circumstances but that was always there, ready to explode and take over him.He could still smell, the blood, on that candid white floor, where he lost his purity, when he painted his own life with red and began his crusade against his enemies. … PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA 2089
‘He’s coming, he promised me… he…’
‘Would take you home ? Of course he would, next time he comes. He would take you home, or the next time after’
‘He’s my father…’
‘We think not’
Eren closed his and turned over on his bed, facing the pile of toys on the other side of the room. He didn’t know why he collected all the toys that hid dad had given to him on that wall. He settled them facing the wall, like they were grounded, guilty of betrayal, complice of a lie, shadow puppets that feed him with only a miserable part of the world.
He thought that those toys were his father’s way to amend for his failures to find a cure for is illness, but the more time it passed, the more insisting the voice inside of him became. There were plushie, dolls, a dollhouse actually, figures of masked men, a ball and other kinds of toys for both girls and boys but Eren didn’t know the difference back then. He played with the dolls just like he played with the figures, he didn’t make any difference ‘cause he liked all his toys because it was his dad whom gave them to him.
But it wasn’t only the voice though, he’d been having all those weird dreams, in most of them he was in a red room, inherited in a strange fluid that smelled awful and around him there were limbs and corpses and sometimes he believed to hear some voices inside there. Sometimes he could even smell something familiar, a scent that he’d smelled only once in his life and yet…
‘And yet I remember it for all of use, ‘cause that smell belongs to our real mother’
‘Shut up, dad said that mom’s waiting for us at home…’
‘We have no home, no family, no one but you and I. We, one and the same’
‘Shut up’
‘I don’t need you to let me in, I’m already within you…’
‘Shut up !’
‘I’m you and you’re me, stop rejecting me’
“SHUT UP !”
Eren rose on the bed and hit the wall in front of him with his little hand, not expecting the consequence of that action. On the wall, exactly where he hit it, there was a hole, ones that someone like him shouldn’t be able to cause. A hole that he’d never caused before, not even when sometimes he kicked the walls out of frustration. Yeah, he could be a very fussy child sometimes but… the rage he was feeling in that moment… no, it didn’t belong to him. It couldn’t…
‘Look at what you’ve done, you could go away from here on your own. We could do everything we want without that liar.’
‘No, you’re wrong. He must to have his reasons’
‘He doesn’t… need reasons to keep you here… he thinks he’s the strongest of us so he could decided for all’
‘Of course not. He can’t keep me here just because he can. You’re lying and and I’m going to tell dad about all of this. He was right when he said that I’m ill… I’m sick…’
Eren was hyperventilating, his green baby eyes became gold, his senses were sharpening to the point he could swear he was smelling and distinguishing perfectly the scent of each one of his toys separately and the that one of the detergents used to wash his jumpsuit. He could hear some footsteps outside his door, but also voices, a lot of voice he’d never heard before and another weird sound, a buzz that came inside his room, up, where it was the door. He looked and he saw something, hidden inside the aerator. What was it ?
‘Don’t you want to find out ?’
‘Why didn’t I realize that it was there before ? What’s happening in this room ?’
‘In this room ? Nothing. You’re the one who’s changing, you’re the one who’s realizing…’
‘Realizing what ? What do you want ?’
‘I want to finally become one with my other half. I want you to acknowledge me finally. I want you to realize that you’re different from any others’
‘Because I’m sick, that’s why they locked me up here’
That room, that he was beginning to see with different eyes, it wasn’t a safe place for him. It was his prison. He wasn’t put there to be cured, but to be tortured and tormented but those people and his fa… no that man was a complice.
No… no… no…
He was simply getting crazy over the voices in his head again. Who was so crazy to believe in voices instead of trusting the word of a normal person ? Someone he could see ? Talk with ? Touch ? Someone with a face, with a substance.
Someone…
‘Someone you should leave behind. It’s time to embrace your true nature, to accept who you really are’
‘I don’t…’
His thoughts got interrupted when he heard the sound of footsteps and he heard voices, not from his head that time.
‘I don’t know how he could be able to do it…’
‘How did he triggered his abilities ? What else he learnt ? What else he suspects ?’
‘He’s unstable right now. I will have to reassure him before I try to administer the new drugs to him’
That was his ‘father’s voice…
So his father knew about that ? About the strength ? And the fact that he wasn’t exactly normal ? Or that he wasn’t actually illl ? Not only his father, but also the people with him… All of them knew that would eventually happened. All of them knew he could do all those things, that he had all those abilities, like they called them and always according to them there was much more to learn.
His father had all the answers and he deliberately lied to him. All those years Eren had been feed with nothing but lies. All his life… was a lie…
Everything was a lie… fake… plastic… like his toys, like his little plastic ‘friends’. He wanted to destroy all his toys, rip them to shreds, rip all of them, all those people to shreds.
He wanted all of them GONE.
There was an itch on his hands, an itch caused by a strong desire of destroying everything inside that room and all the people out. All those monsters who put him there, he wanted all of them to suffer by his hands and most of all, he wanted to get out of that room.
Where was his real father ? And his mother ? Why did they leave him there ? What were those people planning to do with him ?
‘I WANT HIM GONE !’
‘Then kill him. We can kill him. We can do it and so much worse’
‘I… I…’
‘It’s them or us. This time you should make the first move’
‘What… I…’
‘You what ? A murder is not always a crime, specially in this case. It’s time for you to wake up from the dream they’ve put you in and build your own reality’
‘A dream ?’
‘Yes, like a dream, like the sleeping beauty… You were having beautiful dreams… protected and secluded from reality… But it was only a dream…’
In his head began appearing different imagines from a different time. It was like looking the pictures of his books but in that case the characters could move, and talk, they seemed real, like in a dream. He wasn’t dreaming though and those imagines weren’t fake.
They belonged to someone, someone close to him. Someone very close to him and he was living that moments like he was that person.
That person who was a child in those memories, like him, was in grey room, surrounded by other people, but there was one in particular, an adult one right in front of him.
Eren couldn’t see their face though, actually he couldn’t distinguish anyone or anything in that room. All he knew was that he was kneeling on the ground and he felt pain everywhere, specially at the height of the stomach, probably due to a precedent hit. Why did that person felt the need to hit so hard ?
The physically pain was barely bearable but what was more suffocating was the fear he felt toward that man. A fear Eren had never felt before.
A paralyzing one, a consuming one, a demanding one. The one that acted like a poisonous, that prevent anyone from moving, from even daring to look up at the threat, the one who demand submission from the people under its effect.
It was a kind of fear he would never forget… a kind of fear he wished he could provoke to his enemies…
“You can’t hide forever…Life is not fair and sooner you learn how to fight the sooner we will be out of here…” that was saying the adult figure to him.
He couldn’t hear all the words, the sound was altered for some reason…
‘It’s because you’ve just unlock a minimal percentage of your abilities, enough to talk with your giant and with me but not enough to have access to my memories…’
That time the voice in his head was different, it was an adult one, completely different from the other one that sounded more like the growl of an animal than a voice. That other one was weaker though, like a whisper and sounded more estranged to him.
In a sense that Eren felt like that voice wasn’t a part of him, like the growl. It was something else but he simply didn’t know enough words to describe it.
All he knew was that that voice, those voices, meant something but he Edina’t have the time to find out for the moment.
The sound of footsteps outside his door was louder, it meant that his father and his colleagues were arriving. They would probably wait outside the door and let the man entering the room alone.
‘It’s practically…’
‘… An opportunity…’
Eren nodded. He assumed the kneeling pose he had in that picture, the one that expressed weakness and submission.
The door opened and the fraud entered and that person, the same one that used to be a reassuring figure for him, the beacon of light in the middle of a storm, the anchor of salvation, the apple of his eyes and from then on his first enemy.
“Eren, what happened there ?” Asked the man looking at the wall and meanwhile kneeling on the floor, in front of his son.
Eren, whom had learnt to read any shade of the man’s voice, perceived a certain note of fear and uncertainty in his voice. The man probably believed to have everything under control, they all probably believed that that day would never come, that he would remain ignorant of his true nature. That he would remain their little baby angel, forever, unable to hurt them, unable to fight and stand for himself.
His father was navigating into a new territory, where he didn’t have any point of reference, where he didn’t know the right words, the right movements, the right gestures…
Where he simply knew nothing.
“I was having a nightmare… and I didn’t feel well… You were right dad… I’m sick… I’m terribly sick…” he whispered looking down on the floor.
“Oh dear… You must be so scared…my little boy…” said the man without touching him “We’re going to fix this…”
“Fix me ? Like a broken a toy ? You can’t fix this… You were right, I’m terribly sick dad. I’m sick…”
“Yes, my boy. You’re affected by a terrible illness, one my colleagues and I have no experiences with. But… I’m your dad… I’m going to take care of you…”
“Are you ?” Asked Eren wrapping his tiny arms around the other man.
“Of course I’m going to take care of you…”
“No… are you really my daddy ?”
The man tensed after that question, which was enough for an answer to Eren. But it wasn’t only that. Whatever happened to him, sharpened all his senses. He could distinguish his own smell from the one of the other man and it was completely different.
Only later he would learn that puppies recognized their parents from their scent and that the scent was fundamental to form a bond with a parental figures, so in that moment he didn’t completely understood why such a simple detail was enough to make him feel a great disgust toward that man.
How could he be so sure that that man wasn’t his father just by the scent ?
The child didn’t know, the man would learn eventually and the giant had known it for a long time that despicable truth and the consequences that would come with it.
“Of course, I’m your daddy” answered the man hugging the little boy.
“You are ?”
“Of course I am. I’ve always been here with you…”
‘…Only to leave me few minutes after…’
‘Then prevent him from leaving this room alive again’
‘…. only to feed me up with lies…’
‘Then make him shut his mouth forever…’
‘… only to tell me another lie…’
‘It’s time to show him the true then’
‘… only to abandon me over and over again…’
‘It’s time for your o leave him at his doom’
‘… only to pretend to be my father once you came back…’
‘A cruel crime that deserves a fair punishment’
‘… only to make me believe I belong to someone…’
‘You belong to something greater, a greater fate'
‘…. that there was someone for me out of here…’
‘There’s the entire world out there for you to conquer’
He looked at the man, studying his face. He observed any single features, any single wrinkle, any single detail so that he could never forget him, the growing fear and worry and those deceiving eyes and that damn mouth…
‘… You liar…’
‘Get angry, don’t repress it’
No, he was tired of repressing all the negative emotions he could feel. He was angry, he was hurt, he wanted to hurt everyone around him.
If that was what he was then let it be…
‘… You monster…’
‘Show him a true monster’
‘… You’re not family…’
‘He’s the enemy, he must to be annihilated'
‘… You’re not like me…’
‘No, he’s an inferior being. He’s not like us’
‘He’s not your father’ said the second voice in his head.
“You’re not my father” he sneered.
Then it happened again. His eyes became golden, the presence inside him resurfaced again and with it all the rage and he hatred he could ever feel in that moment and he tightened his grip around the man so much that, before the poor doctor could even realize, all the torso bones got shattered in pieces with an awful sound, before Eren freed him by his grip and let the lifeless body fall on the ground without giving another look. He didn’t need it.
He would remember that moment for the rest of his life. The moment when he left behind his human nature to embrace his giant ones.
Eren wasn’t estranged of terms like ‘life’ and ‘death’ or ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, he read about them in the fairytales but those silly stories for baby would never lead him anywhere.
Killing a man was wrong ? Yes.
Killing a man that lied to him ? Maybe.
Killing a man responsible for his imprisonment and who made him believe to be sick ? Absolutely not, specially when it was the right thing to do with himself.
Something inside his belly was suggesting him not to waste too much time thinking about it, to get over it quickly and make the next move till he had the upper hand. He kicked hard the door of the room and entered the corridor, leaving his first but not the last victim inside the white room painted with red.
…. And somehow Eren never looked back at what he did. He killed that man and it was easy, so easy that he simply accepted that it was part of himself, of his nature. That it was right to do it because he could, just like for that man was right to lie to him because he could. Eren could finally protect himself and stand for his right so it was right. That murder was right for himself, that was all.He killed that man because it was right for him… with no hesitation, or fear, or mercy, or self doubt. ‘I killed a person when I was only eight years old and I haven’t lost one night of sleep since then. It came so naturally and so easily that I simply accepted that it’s something I’m good at it’
‘Killing people ?’
‘Not to regret any choice I make. Just like that time, I do something and I quickly move on to the next step.’
‘You’ve learnt to be focused, which is a good thing. If yo hadn’t learnt it, you wouldn’t have come this far’
‘Yeah… Not far enough though…’ he said maneuvering with his fingers little metallic objects ‘I had been so concentrated on my plans to conquer the world that didn’t invest enough time in my own growth.’
‘Then stop wasting time and stop hesitating. Just like then, get rid of the Scout Legion and of Tybur’s leftovers before they found a way to cut your nape’
‘Careful, I’d believe you actually care about me…’ ‘What theory could be so important for you to be willing to waste more time ?’ Asked Kruger ignoring Eren’s remark. Eren didn’t respond. If Kruger was so determinate to have an answer he could use one of his old tricks, but Eren actually hoped he wouldn’t. Kruger would try to make him change his mind, question his decisions, would probably do something to interfere with his plans and a confrontation was the last thing Eren needed. With his new ability, he focused on a target and there he threw all the metallic objects he was maneuvering. ‘I hope to strike this time too…’ … MARLEY ODIHA “…And after that day he kept killing, with no hesitation, fear or mercy for those in front of him. After eight years of utter control, he succeeded in submit all of us ro his will. We lived according to his moods. If we kept him content enough, he allowed us to take samples of his blood without having our limbs ripped from us.” Concluded Hawkins finishing his cup of tea. “Then why didn’t you find a way to control him back ?” Asked Pieck “He was eight, how much terrifying he could have been ?”“If you were there you wouldn’t be talking like this, girl. We were in charge of producing drugs to make him stay put but his organism easily get immune to them and of course, once he woke up and realized what had happened, he was pissed off and take his frustration out on the first of us whom dared to enter his room. There was no way to avoid his wrath, he was the nucleus. Without his blood, failure was assured” Before anyone else could ask another question, Zeke needed to know something “Did my father know about this ?” “I guess so. Among those whom worked for Tybur, only those who worked in Utopia knew the truth about the nucleus and white coat or not, my colleagues and I liked to theorize about a lot of things. When we learnt about it, we simply thought that it had its sense and that dr Yeager knew it and that was why he left" Zeke snorted. Of course it did. He was the first to imagine why Tybur hadn’t locked his father and him in a cell like the other shifters. Why he didn’t take regularly spinal fluids for them, why Zeke was free of doing whatever he wanted, or so he believed. Tybur pulled the strings of his life from behind. He made sure Zeke attended the best school in the country, that he took various degrees that would allow him to work for him and most of all under Tom’s watchful eyes.The same Tom that was tasked to observe another mysterious boy that was somehow connected with his death. Could he asked Hawkins about that ? “How could we use this information to clean our names ?” Asked Reiner, interrupting Zeke’s thoughts, “The entire world believes us to be the devils, but we didn’t plan to entirely destroy the world. This is all Krueger’s doing, since the beginning, why do we have to pay for this ?” “Are you really so stupid to believe that you still have any chance of taking back the life you had ?” “Why not ? Once we proved that Kruger is still alive…” “Nothing will chance, won’t it ?” Conclude Pick “We would still be shifters, we would be seen like threats. It won’t matter if we prove that Kruger’s alive, the entire world needs someone to blame, someone plausible, someone that isn’t a ghost and we’re the perfect scapegoat. The media, the police, the Scout Legion, everyone would do everything to make us look guilty. Even the Emperor is against us now” “The emperor ? Tybur worked for him, he was royalty…” Reiner couldn’t understand, or better, he didn’t want to understand. He refused to see the truth for how ugly reality had become for them. His life had never been simple. He grew up without a father and with a delusional mother. He was always the slowest, the weakest, the one with fantasies and nevertheless he tried to do his best to live according his role, to live by his mother, superiors and society’ standard and in the end all his sacrifices were repaid with bounty on his head. Zeke and Pick were the first who understood what Hawkins wanted to mean. Tybur belonged to Paradise aristocracy and once the family switched side and allied with the Emperor during the great world. Then through an arranged marriage and the success and prestige brought by the industry, the Tybur family secured a position of prestige among Marleyan royalty. “And that’s another problem” said Zeke “The emperor’s reputation is on the line because of what happened. He would do anything to erase any kind of connection he has with Tybur’s illegal activities. I bet my hand he’s the one who’s sponsoring the Scout Legion now” “You’re right” confirmed Hawkins “He’s a politician, he switches sides easily. He goes where it’s convenient for him and for the moment the keeping the Scout Legion close to him is the only card he could play to gain the public favor” “Does the emperor know ? About Kruger ?” Asked Zeke. “Of course not. He would have ordered Tybur to stop everything before it could escalate this way. Furthermore, Tybur trusted no one. The emperor already tried once to banish his family from this country back when Kruger died the first time and that deep down his Paradisyan origin didn’t favor him in the eyes of marleyan.” Answered Hawkins looking at the old grandfather’s clock. “What else do you know, about Lago city ?” Asked Zeke. “Nothing actually. I’ve never worked there.” Said Hawkins standing up and collecting all the cups on the coffee table “And to be honest ? I don’t give a damn and also our time for chit chats is up” “Wh… wait. You can’t leave like this !” Exclaimed Reiner standing up “There has to be something we could do. You studied Kruger, you should be able to offer us a solution”“My field concentrated on animals. I run different studies on those who develop an animal gigantic form like Mr Yeager, but Kruger is a different story entirely. I told you everything I could, now you’re on your own.” Concluded Hawkins going to ward kitchen with the tray “Close the door once you left” Reiner, Yelena and Pick were glad to hear that. The air in the house had becoming more and more unpleasant and the general bad mood surely didn’t help. All of them needed time to elaborate the informations they gained. Zeke remained behind, after smelling something weird in the air, something different than the stale air, or the smell of tea, or the smell of smoke. It was a peculiar scent that he usually smell on shifters, but he was wrong, right ? Hawkins couldn’t be a shifter, right ?He should definitively sharpen his senses though. He had spent his entire life rejecting his giant nature but at that point he needed that side to him to evolve more than ever. If he did, he would have been able to predict what was going to happen to them.Not even five minutes later, after Zeke closed the door behind, they heard a great explosion behind them, so strong and so destructive that it blew up the entire house and hurled all of them away in different part of the woods.Among the fire and smoke, a figure was walking along the flames, with ripped clothes, the left arm missing that was slowly growing into another one, with the skins that looked more like the mount of a snake that was slowly covering the shoulder, the neck and part of the chin.The wrinkles, the mole and any feature of dr Hawkins’ face changed and were replaced by his younger self with the difference that it assumed reptilian features. His eyes were yellow and abnormally rounded, his teeth shaper and lips violet, and the skin on his face was greenish and his entire body was slowly changed to assume another form.He used the scream to gather all his own ‘friends’ in that moment. “It’s time for a good hunt, my fiends” he grinned.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY ODIHA 19th September 2098
“… Utopia city is no longer a safe place after the latest incident taken place in the facility where Tybur conducted several…”
Hawkins snorted. ‘In the end the little bastard won the game and was finally free. Predictable.’ That was he thought when he learnt about the Utopia’s fall on tv.It was clear that that bastard wasn’t going to stop until he would be free from that room. It was only a matter of time and his colleagues should have see it coming. Their bad they hadn’t. He did and he switched side when he still could. Someone would say he made a deal with the devil but between Yeager and Tybur he actually saw no different.The simple truth was that Tybur was no longer someone to fear. He was old, weak, tired, with one foot in the grave since there were rumors about a conspiracy planned by Marleyan royalty to get rid of him in order to take control of the Industries. Yeager on the other hand was young, perfectly healthy, empowered with abilities that they could only imagine and with all the means necessary to have the world at his feet. Hawkins didn’t want to be one of his enemies when Yeager would be at the top of the world so he made a deal. He gave them the security access key, the password of all the files, he updated him about any research conducted in the facility and also helped him to reclute other allies among his colleagues.There was a general dissatisfaction among his colleagues for Tybur’s dictatorship. Expressing political opinion was practicably forbidden if they didn’t want to be hang in the middle of a square like in the medieval time, but he knew that many wanted to restore Paradisyian monarchy or at least to institute new form of government like South Paradise.He didn’t how or with who but Yeager made clear that he had connections with someone outside and after he made the deal Hawkins secretly shared informations with them. He’d never seen their face though, but he simply followed their instructions, even when it was ordered to him to ask to retire. According to the rule, retire was equivalent to death.Tybur didn’t let anyone go, not without keeping supervising their life. It wasn’t the kind of life Hawkins and his colleagues wanted for themselves, it wasn’t the kind of career he dreamed to achieve when he was younger.All the prizes he won thanks to his researches on animals guaranteed him a certain prestige but it came with a prize because Tybur employed him with no legal means and then obliged him to stay, even when the situation became unbearable. As soon as he arrived in Marley, one of Yeager’s minions helped him to hide and then he had to inject himself the serum to prove his loyalty once and for all. Hawkins had no family, no job, no life, nothing he cared about so he didn’t care if the serum would kill him as long as it was his choice. Another reason why he chose to side with Yeager was because the little pest managed to flatter his ego by choosing him among everyone else.His ego was one of weakness, it was an undeniable truth and Yeager by choosing him made him feel special, important, reliable. Yeager touched all the points where he knew his ego would feel fluttered the most but in the Hawkins didn’t care much about it, the most important was that he was chosen. He spent six years of his life under a false identity, changing homes frequently and avoiding any unnecessary contact or interactions with people in general until he received an important message 3 weeks ago that it warned him to be ready.
“The time has come that I test a theory,
I must ask you to leave some clues about your new whereabout.
You will be receiving the visit of the Warrior Unit and to them you will have
To do and say exactly what I tell you to…
I trust no one else with this important task…”
As soon as he received the new orders he left his old apartment and moved in that cottage and tried to recreate the right environment for a retired fugitive scientist that wanted to leave his past behind once and for all. The cottage he found was perfect for the mission. It was dilapidated, with old furnitures, most of them didn’t even worked, but at least he had the necessary to prepare his favorite cups of tea. Also as a shifter he needed very little to survive. He unpacked the necessary to make it at least looked livable for human standards and so the Warrior Unit fell in his trap. It had been easier then he expected. Aside from Zeke Yeager, the other were a bunch of fools. It was clear that the holder of the beast titan didn’t trust the others enough to give them all the informations about what happened in Lago City.Zeke was on the trail of E2 to avenge Tom’s death but it was clear that the others had no idea, maybe only the blond woman. Hawkins was sure of it because Zeke asked all the right questions and made the right observations but hearing his heartbeat Hawkins realized that he was anxious to learn something else but Hawkins chose not answer.Telling them about E2 was not in the orders. “Master, I won’t disappoint you !” He hissed like a snake. His face and the features of his mouth had more reptilian features than humans ones so he could no longer speak as such but barely hissing like a snake but it didn’t matter to him. He didn’t have to communicate with humans after all. What mattered was that his little preciouses responded to his call and came there to fight with him. Few days ago, his master gave him new orders telling him that he needed to gain datas about Beast Titan’s combat abilities. The fight between Mina and him had been fruitful for that but he needed more because he was testing a theory. Furthermore he wanted to see more of the Warrior Unit in actions and if Hawkins managed to, to kill some of them. All of them if he could but one. Zeke Yeager couldn’t die.Hawkins didn’t demand his orders, he simply waited for the Warrior Unit to pay him a visit and then to put his plan in motion. Yeager ordered him to tell them about the nucleus, because according to him they deserved to know who and why was going to kill them. Hakwins knew it was a lie, probably one of them came too close to the truth so Yeager decided to feed them with alf truth. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. All it matter was to prove his master that he could get the job done, that he made the right choice back then when he chose him to pursue his plan, that in matter of animals he was the best and because of that, he was the best beast titan on earth. He sniffed the different smells coming from the woods but he easily recognized the ones coming from his main target, the beast titan. “My fiends… my snakes… Let me use your eyes… Oh I see…” he said with a crazy smile, drooling from him mouth at the thought of tasting Warrior Unit’s blood “My precious lend me your eyes…” It was one of his abilities. If a ripped a limb from his body he could divide it in different snakes. The bigger is the limbs the more snakes he could create and since those snakes generated from something that used to be part of him, he could control them, like he controlled his own body. He hadn’t had the opportunity of putting in good use his giant abilities but now he could finally use all his tricky moves on those pigs. He was content, exited, happy… oh so happy…. He’d need cared about people, that was why he put so much work on animals, they were far more interesting to study.People were god’s worst and most imperfect creation, but animals… oh animals…They tolerated pain even better during the various experimentations. People screamed and screamed so loud he wanted to hammer their head; animals were another thing entirely and they adapted to the serum so well. It was clear in their genetic that they were destinate to be more special. They were faster, more agile, stronger and rich with other abilities that humans could only imagine. Humans were so boring… even in their giant form… no, their mindless giant form actually reflected their plain stupidity and the second serum could enrich them with a more definitive form that surely didn’t lack flaws. “We smell you Zeke Yeager… We smell you… oh we smell you… We coming… we coming…” he hissed running toward the wood. …
MARLEY LIBERIO CITY 2078
‘Today’s my birthday’ thought an eight years old Zeke, with the blanket snuggled around him. Any other child would be enthusiastic, jumping on the bed of his parents to wake them up, impatient to open the presents, but not Zeke.
It was his first birthday without his mother, Dina, she was the one who always organized his birthday’s party and made sure that everything was perfect. Zeke loved the party she used to organize for him and all her efforts to make him happy, despite being very sick.
After her first and only pregnancy, Dina’s health started to get worse and worse each years, until she died two months ago, abandoning her only child in the care of a man who had forgotten how to be a husband and a father.
Her mother’d never told him anything about her relationship with her father, she didn’t have to, it was evident that they only pretended to be the perfect married couple in front of the other and then acted like strangers when there were home. They stopped to sleep in the same when Zeke was four years old, they barely talked, or did something together.
Dina looked for Grisha’s attention, but his father built a wall around him, a wall that kept everyone away. It wasn’t that Grisha didn’t make any effort to keep the pieces of his life together, but those efforts were so weak and inefficient that at the end of the day, the coldness that he reserved to his mother, how he kept her at distance, the way he pondered the words during their conversations, as he was talking with one of his patient rather than with his wife.
Maybe he was irrational, but Zeke was convinced that if his father had treated his mother better, she would have lived longer, maybe even cured by her illness, but her father dragged her down in the same spiral of loneliness and madness where he was.
Zeke forced himself not to cry, his grandparents would arrive soon to spend the day with him. He left the warm shelter of blankets and went out from his bedroom.
When he possessed in front of his mother’s bedroom, new tears formed in his eyes, because he knew that behind that door, he would find an empty bed and an empty room filled with silence.
‘She wouldn’t want to see me cry today’ he thought.
He should hurry up. He passed in front of his father’s bedroom and he noticed that the door was slightly opened. He was suddenly curious to know if his father was still sleeping or if he was already locked up inside his lab, doing whatever hell he usually did there.
In the end, he decided that there was nothing wrong in taking a look. So he peeked inside and he was surprised not only to see that his father was sitting on his bed, but he was also crying holding something inside his hands, but it was too dark so Zeke didn’t know what it was.
But thanks to his ‘abilities’ he could hear what his father was bubbling through his tears.
“I… I’m… so sorry… I wish you were here… I wish… I knew what to do…”
It was like seeing his father for the first time. His long uncombed hair, the tired face, the dark circles around his eyes, he had lost weight too. Even though he wasn’t so close to his father, it was sad seeing him crying like that. He slowly opened the door and walked toward his father. His father didn’t seem to have noticed him, so Zeke walked until he could hug his father. Grisha jumped, but then he realized that his son was hugging him and then he held him tight.
Zeke felt comforted from his hug, it was one of the few demonstration of affection that his father gave to him, but at the same time Zeke couldn’t fully enjoy the hug. It didn’t feel the hug given by a father, but by a stranger who happen to be there to comfort him.
Zeke didn’t want to be hugged by a stranger, he needed his daddy, he needed someone who really loved him. Did his father love him ? Zeke wasn’t stupid, he saw how the other fathers behaved with their children. All his friends had learned how to ride a bike, how to swim and other things by their fathers. His mother was too weak to teach him how to do all those activities, so his grandparent did, but it wasn’t the same.
His father taught him other kind of ‘stuff’ that he wasn’t allowed to tell to his mother. For example, that he could turn into a monster.
‘A Titan’ replied a voice inside his head ‘A powerful Beast Titan’
And there was that voice in his head, that voice that didn’t stop to torment him, to follow him inside his dreams. Zeke told to his father about the desert, but his father told him that it was normal. Sometimes he and his father trained where they were in the desert. His father told him that when they could access to desert only during REM sleep, when brain activity facilitated a process of memory consolidation, because the desert had the same function of a normal dream that helped the brain strengthen the linking and the consolidation of semantic memories. Practically everything that was learned in the desert, the brain transformed it into pictures, that then the brain turned into memories. It was like the theory was learned in the desert and the practice was used in reality. It was so weird. All he had to do, he could do while he was sleeping, in the desert, it was better than spending hours to learn something in reality.
Nevertheless those moments seemed so unreal, so fake and his father always had a sad face when he looked at him, like he hoped to see someone else in his place, or like he was looking for someone in him. He didn’t know.
“Oh Zeke, I’m sorry you have to see me this way. Happy birthday” said Grisha caressing his blond hair.
“Thanks, are you okay ?”
“Better, but don’t worry about me. Today’s your day. What do you want for breakfast ?”
Zeke wrinkled. His father rarely cooked something, he was too busy with his experiment and make Zeke order takeaway food, or asked her grandma to cook something for both of them. Apparently his father was willing to act more like a father that day.
“I want pancakes with chocolate”
“Okay then. Get prepare in the meantime. Your grandparents will be here soon”
He nodded but before to leave the room he took another look at his father’s hands, then he noticed that his father was holding a white cover, one of those used for children, but Zeke didn’t remember to have ever seen that thing before. On all his cover were sewn monkeys, that was another reason why his mother loved calling him ‘little monkey’, despite Zeke being a calm and silent child. Maybe he was wrong but he had a strange sensation about that cover, now he needed to get ready for his grandparents’ arrival.
… “Ouch…” Zeke groaned fixing the glasses on his nose. ‘Why am I thinking about it now ? Why am I thinking about that man ?’ Since his father’s abandonment, Zeke did the best he could to completely forget anything about him. To repress any memory with him in the deep of his unconscious, because the heartbreak was too much to bear. Why did his father leave ? Why did he only take his sister with him ? How could he not tell him about the nucleus ? Why didn’t love him enough ? And why did Zeke remember about that weird cover in his father’s hand ? Who did it belong to ? His parents’ marriage didn’t work, he knew. He saw how his parents acted with each other when they were alone and when there were other people around and they behaved like different persons. His mother had never forgive him for how things went messed up after Kruger’s death, between the serum and the giant and the fact that Zeke didn’t born normal, as both of them had hoped. The fights, the tense atmosphere at home and the constant lying of his father made his mother sick to the point that she died few months before Zeke’s eight birthday. It was another thing Zeke could never forgive him for. He rejected his giant nature because it was something that connected him with his father deeply and he could not allow it but in that moment he couldn’t allow his father’s memories to restrain him. His giant and him were completely compatible because Zeke had spent most of his life rejecting him and that of course came with a prize. His body wasn’t suitable to suffer more transformation in a raw and secondly his giant, even though able of impressive things, was pretty weak because it was unused. The fight with that girl proved it. Her giant was weaker than his and nevertheless it was clear that she had spent years training with his, getting acquainted with her giant nature and developed their abilities, getting more and more compatible. She was confident and sure in her giant skin, something he was not. Something he needed to learn to be, something he was still learning to be. In all those months spent in hiding, he trained and trained but of course few months of training were nothing compared to years and of course there was still his father’ shadow there to repress him. ‘He’s coming… be careful…’ his giant warned him.
‘I heard him… from west…’
His body moved on his own and managed to avoid the crystal darts thrown at his way again and again. Hawkins was fast, very fast and gave him no quarter to even think about what to do. Zeke was at disadvantage on every lever. He was fighting in an unfamiliar territory, against an enemy he knew nothing about and furthermore he had no way to reunite with the others in the current situation. All of them were by themselves against an enemy that had already tricked the once.Zeke had a low compatibility with his giant due to his past but Reiner and Pieck should have realized that Hawkins was a shifter, at least by the scent. Why didn’t they realize it ? How could Hawkins hide his nature so well ?
‘An explosion is coming from the left…’
He allowed his giant to lead him in the woods but he knew that he could’t run forever. He needed a plan and quickly. He bite his hand and used it to trigger a partial transformation to generate a crystal arm to shield himself from Hawkins. A temporary and pathetic solution, but the only one that came to his mind. He needed time to think and going to the desert wasn’t an option. His body would remain vulnerable and he couldn’t risk.
‘We’re cornered. His darts are poisoned, if we get hit we will get paralyzed’
‘How could it be possible ? We’re shifters, we‘re supposed to be immune’
‘Not this time. He’s stronger than us…’
‘He cannot be. I am…’
‘We are disconnected. You don’t allow me to merge with you’
Zeke didn’t reply anymore. He remained there, waiting for another sound that indicate him Hawkins’ position. If he stayed put, Hawkins would probably stop to attack him from distance or at least he would attack him frontally, which would make his movements predictable.It didn’t matter the direction where the attack would come from, all it matted was to predict his attack somehow. Zeke needed to be the first to attack and to attack hard enough to put an end to the fight. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the sounds around him, meanwhile he was preparing to attack…
‘From below.’
‘FUCK !’
He barely avoided the explosion from below that time and he was ashamed to admit but he didn’t expect an attack like that. Again he used his hardening ability to crate a barrier to protect him but he knew that he couldn’t keep going like that. 'What the hell are you doing kid ?' Hissed Hawkins connecting their minds 'You can’t keep playing in defense here. Didn’t your daddy teach you how to fight ?' Zeke gritted his teeth at the mention of his father. The man tried to teach him how to be a shifter and, when he was a child, Zeke managed to learn something but once his father disappeared from his life he rejected everything and once he became one of the top researchers of Lago City and then the time to train his abilities was reduced. He didn’t mine though. Back then his position was secured, he had Tom, he had the respect of his colleagues and he was convinced that everything was going to go well but he was wrong. 'You worked for Tybur, how could you betray him ? Why did you sell your own colleagues to the enemy ?' He asked. Zeke merely cared for an answer at that point. Everything that came out from Hawkins’ mouth could be just another lie. Zeke wouldn’t believe another word the other said, but he needed to earn more time to think and even to study the other’s form. The man had completely lost any human feature and his face fully resembled a snake with his rounded yellow eyes, the big mouth with the fangs and the greenish scales that covered any centimeters of uncovered skin. It was quite the site but the mere aspect tell him nothing about his abilities.Zeke could imagine that Hawkins possessed abilities like snakes and he could perceive that he possessed a strong giant but not stronger than the one possessed by the girl in Lago City. Nevertheless he had a beast giant and in a match of strength, Zeke knew he was the weaker one at the moment. All he could do was to play on defense and diminish his offense until he found a way to win or to reunite with others. 'Oh… you want to talk now ? I’m mure you need to earn more time, it’s so clear you have no idea about what to do' hissed Hawkins openly mocking the other shifter. 'I was just worrying about you since you have a certain age' rebutted Zeke obtaining the mere result of making the other laugh. Hawkins was sincerely having the time of his life. He wasn’t much of a skilled fighter either, having inherited the powers of his master in an old age and after spending his whole life on books and researches, nevertheless he had to admit to be disappointed.He expected a little more of a challenge. He was warned that the beast titan was far from reaching the full potential but he didn’t expect such level. It was almost like he was fighting against an abnormal mindless giant. Fast and strong enough not to die quickly but not enough to endure a fight against a shifter.His master was going to be disappointed, he was disappointed but he hoped that the rest of the warriors would be more entertaining. His master didn’t set any limits on killing them after all. … “What the hell…” Reiner groaned trying to clean his clothes from the dust and dirt “Why I didn’t realize I have a shifter in front of him ?” The old man he had met possessed no trait of a typical shifter. No scent, or aura, or physical peculiarity that usually helped Reiner to realize if someone around him was a shifter. He should have realized that he stood in the presence of a shifter, exactly like commander Yeager and Pieck… her senses were sharper than his, she should have realized before him at least.What the hell was that monster and how could he be able to conceal his strength so well ? And, most of all, how were they going to defeat him ?Something told him that cutting his nape wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. “I shouldn’t be wasting more time in this futile thoughts though. I must find the others.” His selfishness and his cowardice followed him there too but he was too ashamed to admit that what happened triggered something inside his head, something related to what happened in Utopia. One moment everything was okay and the moment later he smelled that awful scent of blood and then all the facility was on fire, his friends and superior gone and a part of him died forever under that grey sky. He didn’t want to be left alone again. He didn’t want to face that shifter alone, just like he didn’t want to fight at Tybur’s party. He didn’t want to turn again, to hurt himself again, he didn’t even know why he was still fighting since everything had become so hard.When Commander Yeager told them he had found someone from Utopia he dared to hope. He hoped that they would found answers and that they could prove their innocence in order to have their lives back but then Pieck and Zeke made him realized that it would never happen. Innocent or not, the world was allied against Marley after learning of the serum. So thy didn’t he simply let himself die ? “Oh God… I’m so pathetic, am I no ?” He asked to himself with tears in his eyes. Both Berthold and Annie would have handled that situation thousands times better than him. They would have handled everything better than him. He survived the training to become a warrior only for pure luck and he was assigned in the corps only because Marcel put a good word for him and only to save Porco. “I am really pathetic…” he muttered letting himself falling on the ground.
“Reiner… REINER ! WE NEED TO FIND ANNIE ! THIS CITY IS LOST…”
Berthold was screaming and yelling at him, holding his wrist tight, while they were looking for Annie in the facility. Around them, he could see people run for their life and scream for the fear.
What was happening ? Why did he smell blood and smoke all around him ? Why there air was pregnant with pain and fear ?
Why did he legs fell so heavy ?
Berthold, his friend, was trying to tell him something but he couldn’t hear any word he was saying. All he could think was not Annie, but the need to run away at the cost of leaving her behind… of ignoring his friend’s wish because that was what he was…
A coward…
He had enough. He looked at the dirt on his trousers and the little wounds that were already healing on his hands and thoughts about what the hell was he living for ? His mother raised only for a goal he could no longer hoped to achieve so he was no longer useful for her. That was the only reason he was born, to achieve what she could not when she was younger, but he failed so he’d better pay to die soon and quickly, since he didn’t even have the guts to kill himself and spare someone else the trouble.
“Reiner… it doesn’t matter…”
‘Yes, it did. Because it matters to you… I’m so selfish…’
He was too weak. He didn’t fit for that life, he wasn’t able to deal with all that, not how much he wanted to be. He simply didn’t have the courage to remain there one second more. He already witnessed Marcel getting eaten and all he could do was running away in fear. It was the first time he ran faster than everyone and that itself was enough to sum up all his cowardice. Marcel was his friend too and nevertheless, in moment of need, Reiner let him die, because that was the right thing for himself to do and the same was happening with Annie.
Berthold was nice enough not to bring that up, because there was no point in talking with someone who was so useless.
“I don’t blame you… you’re not obliged”
‘Yes, I am. I’m supposed to be”
He was a terrible friend, the worst one could ever have. He was weak and he could do nothing to Berthold, his fear paralyzed his body completely and annihilated his resolution. He had no idea how they succeeded in finding an exit from the facility, but unfortunately they didn’t find Annie on the way and they couldn’t even feel her presence.
Reiner was convinced she was dead at that point, so why coming back there ? The walls were so close and they could so easily run away leaving that hell behind…
“She could be dead…” he murmured weakly while his face was slowly getting wet for his tears…
Berthold turned around to look at him with his gently brown eyes. Even in that moment, there was no malice or disappointment in those eyes, just acceptance and maybe kindness for someone who lived in the fear. Reiner wouldn’t blame him if he was pitying him or secretly despising his weakness.
Berthold didn’t need to scream or yell at him to destroy him completely…
“I’m not asking you to die with us…”
Berthold never asked him anything, if it was due to courtesy or simply because he knew that Reiner could never live up to expectations, he didn’t know. What he knew was that he left his mates to die and Berthold died with that knowledge. That undeniably truth that Reiner kept confirming… “Shit… shit… shit ! Shit ! Shit “ he repeated hitting on his head. Meanwhile, many pairs of yellow eyes were studying, observing, mocking him from distance with their hisses. … In another part of the wood, Pieck and Yelena were trying to recover from the impact. Due to the explosion, Yelena lost her guns and Pieck’s purse got broken and her phone and supplies went lost. Yelena was frustrated because without her weapons she couldn’t protect herself but could simply rely on Pieck, which meant being a burden to her and hold her back from using all her abilities without fearing to hurt her. “We’re in a world of trouble” Yelena commented looking around the woods. “Couldn’t say it better” commented Pieck “I wish I have taken more weapons with me before coming here, but at this point it doesn’t matter. We need to find a way to orient ourselves in this woods and find the others” “Do you think that Reiner and Zeke are together ?” “Probably not, but something’s telling me that Hawkins will first engage battle with Yeager and that he would probably try to prevent us from reunite with him” “Why ? The commander is the strongest of us, shouldn’t he try to kill us before ?” “If killing us was his only goal then he would have already killed us but he decided to attack us instead. No one of us realized he was a shifter, he could have easily killed us but he didn’t which meant that he had something else in mind and I don’t know how to interpret it” Pieck was always a master at concealing her true emotions but she was seething from inside. She didn’t possess a strong giant but nevertheless she thought that her senses were a valuable asses, but apparently she was wrong. Not only her, but Zeke and Reiner as well. Just like at Tybur’s party, they realized they were under attack only when it was too late. Hawkins was a dangerous opponent, not matter what kind of giant he possessed. He used to be a researcher, he personally studied and observed shifters like them, he knew all their strength and weaknesses and surely he knew the type of giant each one of them have, which meant he could adapt his fighting style to them while they couldn’t do the same. What kind of giant did Hawkins possess ? What level did he reach ? What were his peculiar abilities ? For how long had he been training for that moment ?It was clear that the entire meeting was set up, which meant that they absolutely couldn’t underestimate his strength. “We don’t know his goals, but whatever they are, we need to find a way to kill him here” “Don’t you think we should interrogate him before ?” “I high doubt we would make that far. It would be a miracle if we escape from here” “I don’t think that there’s any chance we could avoid the fight” Pieck silently agreed. It was already strange that the enemy hadn’t attack them already. What was Hawkins waiting for ? And according to her senses, Reiner and Zeke were still alive. Surely they didn’t share a close bond, not even through their giants, but they were a squad nonetheless and Pieck had learnt to sense when one of her squad was on the verge of death. No, they were all okay, at least for the moment, which was good because if her senses were telling her that the others were okay, maybe she could even find them. He put ah hand on a tree and closed her eyes, concentrating on her comrades and sharpening all her senses. It was difficult for her smelling something different among the smoke and the perfume of the trees and grass, but she needed to find a tray. Nevertheless, before she could find something, she heard something else that caught her attention and put her on alert. “We’re surrounded” she exclaimed “Prepare yourself” “Surrounded ? By what ? Who ?” Pieck heard them. Thousands hisses around them and sound of little bodies crawling on the ground. Snakes… Why there were so many snakes so suddenly ? And why were they coming toward them ? They also were emitting a weird scent, a scent that was familiar to her. A scent that was human. “I was wrong…” she muttered “He’s already here. Prepare to fight !” … Zeke couldn’t avoid to be impressed by Hawkins’ form and abilities. It was impressing how good he was at using his abilities keeping some of his human features and without going through a complete transformation’s process. Zeke hoped he would be able to do the same one day. Nobody in the Warrior Unit was able to do it because no one knew that it was possible, but apparently it was. They simply had to learn how to do it.
‘I didn’t know that it was possible using our abilities this way’
‘You’d be surprised of how many things you don’t know.'
Zeke mentally agreed with the other man. There were too many things he was ignorant of, that was why he needed to make the other talk. Hawkins looked like the kind of man who was dying to talk about himself, his accomplishments and to brag about his knowledge only to belittle and mock the others. Zeke would play that game, he could play the fool if it would allow him to get what he wanted.
‘You surely knows a lot of things instead ah. You look out of my lease for sure’
‘I am. I was destined for something greater, I was chosen after all’
‘Chosen ah ?’
So there was a person behind Hawkins’ actions. Maybe not Kruger, unless what the man told them was truth, but surely there was someone who was pulling the strings. Zeke needed to know who.
‘Someone who paid you better than Tybur for sure.’
‘Money are not so important in the end, not at my age anyway. Tybur was old and out of resources, if you had been there with me on Paradise you would have done the same.’
Zeke didn’t doubt that. He worked in Lago Ciry and there wasn’t a day when he didn’t desire to quit his job and run away. Working there was hell, even if the man wasn’t there, anyone could feel the pressure caused by Tybur’s mere existence. There was an ever-present fear among them and the constant sensation to be watched, observed, as Tybur waited for the littlest mistake to erase them from the face of the earth. He imagined that on Paradise that sensation was thousand times worse. He wasn’t an hypocrite, if he was given the chance, he would have betrayed too.
‘Then why did you chose to talk with us ? Why wasting so much time in silly chit chats instead of killing us immediately ?’
‘Take a look at your watch, boy. It’s almost midday, the moment when we’re at out peak, or at least the most of us’
‘Shit’ he thought. So Hawkins’ plan was to kill from the beginning but of course he wanted to be at his peek. Zeke would have done the same but he doubted that the sun would favor him that time. When he fought with the girl, he lost when she attacked him with the lightning and the only reason why she lost was because Yelena shot her. The lost still burned… ‘So you fed us with lies only to gain more time’ he concluded. ‘Yes and no… I admit that seeing you so confused is very entertaining. You’re so desperate fo answers that you ignored many variables coming here’ mocked him Hawkins. The former researcher attacked again. His left arm took the form of a snake and he used it to try to bite Zeke, but the man avoided the attack. Zeke bite his finger again and he used it to perform an half transformation to used his harden abilities and try to catch Hawkins’ arm and it work, at least for some seconds. The crystal cut the snake’s head but it quickly regenerated itself. ‘What do you mean ?’ Asked Zeke referring to what was said before.
‘That I set up this scenario all for you. You were the one I was worried. The others are simpletons and the time spent with them only confirmed. I’m a scientist through and through, I can’t resist to prove my theories, specially when I have such willings guinea pigs’
Old habits died hard after all. He couldn’t wait to kill the other members of the warrior unit and run some experiments on them. It would be so much interesting studying their giants, their abilities and taking their spinal fluid from them. His master would gain any informations he needed and then he was going to compliment and reward him.
‘Your heaven fell, didn’t it ? One day you were all the peak of the world and now you are bugs the world longs to get rid of. Someone destroyed your pedestals and you don’t know who or why. You have nothing to fight and at your current position all you can do is to wait for your enemy to attack. Pathetic.’
Hawkins tried to attack him again but Zeke bite his hand and with an half transformation he used his arm to catch Hawkins and then he used the harden ability to trap him. He didn’t extract his hand from the flesh though. He didn’t want to risk to lose his grip on Hawkins. ‘So many words. You surely do know a lot of stuff’ said Zeke tightening his grip.
‘Oh, I know everything. I was given a task, to gain informations from you, to learn what you know, but out know nothing. I knew you were the smartest and probably looking for employees still alive whom used to work in Utopia was your idea and nevertheless you’d never considered the probability that some of us are alive because we betrayed’
Of course he had. Zeke simply couldn’t believe that it was possible to betray Tybur, the most powerful man after the Emperor, and get away with it. Hawkins sneered and hissed before he stretched his purple reptilian tongue to wrapped it around Zeke’s neck. The beast giant holder defended himself using the hardening ability to impale the tongue but when it did divided into two, he molded the crystal to wrapped it entirely.Hawkins rolled his eyes and bite his tongue to the point of detaching from his mouth. That Yeager was not at his master’s level but it was quite capable, enough to defend himself from unpredictable attacks.
‘Oh come one, you should have considered. How could it be possible that someone like me, who had been hiding from Tybur for years, was suddenly so easy to find ?’
‘You wanted to be found…’
‘Exactly. With the Scout Legion out there, I needed to find a place where we could fight undisturbed. I was asked to collect combat data about you, the legendary beast giant and the entire warrior unit, of course, but guess what else I learnt ?’
‘What else ? Enlighten me’
‘That you’re not united. You don’t trust each other and you’re keeping informations from them, that’s why you asked about Lago City didn’t you ? You know something they don’t’.
‘If you know something about Lago City… you’d better start talking’
‘Make me, eh eh eh’
Hawkins used his reptilian ability again, that time to stretch his neck, that became long like a snake and assumed the features of a cobra. Fast like a snake, he attacked and Zeke avoided it only by mere seconds extracting the hand from his giant flesh and make it explode, trying to burn Hawkins’s face. Indeed the explosion wounded the researcher’s face but the wounds, again, quickly regenerated and with his long neck the man attacked Zeke again. Zeke waited for the snake to be close enough with his opened mouth to bite his finger again and impaled that horrible snout on the ground.
‘Now talk’
‘Fine, let’s talk about how you’re going to to avenge your precious doctor Xavier. He knew a lot of things and he hide them from you, didn’t you ? Why are you still so loyal to him ? Is because of your daddy that abandoned you ? Is that why you’re so weak ? Why you and your giant are not connected ? Is that why you keeps rejecting that side of you ?’
Zeke was stunned for those words and he loosened his grip on his crystal darts so Hawkins took advantage of that. He set himself free and then hissed at Zeke before turning his left arm in the body of a snake and wrapping Zeke with his coils and then hardening them. He wrapped Zeke from his mouth to his knees, to prevent him rom hurting himself and using his abilities again. Just like his guises pigs during an experiment, Hawkins was curious to see how Yeager was going to set himself free from his coils. Would he struggle to the end ? Would he pray ? He knew his master was able to trigger his giants abilities even without hurting himself anymore and the same was supposed to apply for Yeager but apparently the young man wasn’t able to do it. Predictable.If Hawkins reflected on their fight, he would say that Yeager fought more like a mere man than a giant. He lacked of their instinct, their aggressive attitude in a fight pushed by the need of defending the turf, and he almost never used his senses. Yeager also played more in the defensive too. How that boy hoped to win keeping on like that ? How could he hope to evolve if he kept that attitude ? He couldn’t hope to reject his giant side forever. His gigantic instincts would always fight for supremacy over the weaker humans one. But what could do the trick ? How could he hope to collect datas from Zeke if he couldn’t observe how he fought like a giant ?He needed to trigger his instincts, by directly challenging them. ‘The girl… you could have killed her easily, you know ?’ He tried ‘But she managed to win the fight because she held a better connection with her giant. You’re so weak… You’re so ordinary while you could have been so much more… What I was worrying about ? I’m going to defeat you and kill the rest of the warrior unit and so I will finally be recognized for my strength. Now, stop fighting like a pathetic human !! You’re a giant then FIGHT LIKE A GIANT !! WE ARE THE STRONGEST SPECIE ONT THE EARTH AFTER ALL !!’ ‘I’m not a giant…’ said Zeke…
‘It’s not enough denying the truth and act like a human not to be a giant. Not to be what you truly are’
‘I’m not a giant…’ insisted Zeke. ‘Then I guess you’re not going to get it out alive, not from a coils. Only a giant can stand proud on the same ring with me and hope to win. I suppose you’re a lower rank ah ?’ Lower rank.Two words that agitated something inside him, deep, deep inside him. A part that he was trying to tame but those words triggered something inside, a fury, a pride that didn’t belong to him but to something inside that had no intention of ignoring the offense or stepping back from the challenge and that increased his frustration.His body was trapped, so he couldn’t activate his abilities and keep fighting. The only solution was to use his abilities without hurting his body, like Hawkins, and allowing himself to evolve. But how ? And was he mentally ready to let that happen ?
‘How dare you…’
‘Shut up’
Hawkins was satisfied with that reaction. He could feel the beast giant inside the other man emerging, fighting for the dominance, which meant that his words were having some effects. Excellent. Few more words and he would fight against the shifter and no longer the man.
‘We both possessed beast giants and nevertheless your is a real weakling and weaklings die big deal’
‘Shut up…’
‘Apparently you’re pathetic as commander too. I scattered my fiends around the woods… I see what they see and they act under my command. I can tell you, your comrades are in big troubles and due to your weakness they will die here. Their defeat will be your faul’
‘I’ll make you regret these words’
Zeke wished he could see his giant and punched it right in their teeth and tame them, bring them back under his control. Closed it in a box and let it them until he said otherwise. That was how things had always been and that was how he wanted them to be forever. He always hated when things changed, because it meant something was no longer under his control, that the rules were suddenly changing and the variables were mutating and he had to try to keep up with that again. It was never easy for him to adapt to the unexpected in spite of being a researcher and being prepared for it during an experiment. He tried to ignore the itch on his hands and the raising of his temperature but it was becoming harder by the second.
‘Both of you shut…’
‘I’m going to bring your head to master and put a monkey mask on it, since it’s only thing that could remotely resemble a monkey about you…’
‘I’m going to kill you after that you bastard.’
‘No, no, I’m not going to…’
‘Look at you, full of wounds, like a fragile human. Not even your healing ability isn’t as efficient as mine. How many times you hurt me ? My body shows no signs of your violence, could you say the same ? You dull little thing ?’
Zeke couldn’t deny the truth in those words. His time as a fighter in the warrior unit was short, since he got employed as researcher pretty soon after his degree. No one of his ability was particularly developed. On his face he still showed the bruises and the cuts caused by Hawkins’ attacks. He felt the pain caused by the coils wrapped around his body and his back hurt for the impact from before. Even though it was almost midday, he couldn’t wait one second more to try to set himself free. He hated the mere idea, but what other choice did he have ? The giant inside him was becoming more insistent, claiming its place inside his body and mind, and was hard denying it that desire, specially in that situation of defeat. Could he sacrifice his pride and anger for a victory ? Was he ready to give up to his principles to carry on with his mission ?Could he ?Meanwhile Zeke was trying to get over his inner turmoil, Hawkins used his last move, a really dirty one. He used his pheromones as the ultimate sign of domination and superiority over the other giant. Because that was his turf, his ring, his territory. That was his kingdom and in his kingdom only giants were allowed, the humans were not accepted at least to sate his appetite. Master ordered him to bring him combat data of the beast giant and that was what he was going to do, not matter what. Zeke’s giant realized was what happening before the man himself. His skin was seething, his muscles were slowly inflating, his features were chaining, his teeth sharpening and before he could lose his conscious the memory of Tom’s kind smile came to his mind…He rejected the giant inside of him to reject his father as well, could he accept that side of him again, for Tom ?For whom lied to him ? But also the man who raised him ? Who was a father figure ?Suddenly the answer couldn’t be more obvious.
‘I could… for Tom… I could…’
"Good... I'm so very hungry right now... I can smell blood and flesh and I want them... I want them... I WANT THEM !!"
And then the man was no more… … “Goddamit !!” Exclaimed Reiner trying to put some distance between him and the snakes that were following him. One second before he was on the ground complaining about the mess he was in and the one second after hundred snakes were surrounding and the more he killed them the more they multiplied, like Hydra. He was trying to locate Pieck, Yelena and Commander Yeager in the wood but those snakes keeping appearing from all directions, preventing him to concentrate.He couldn’t keep on right that. One solution would be transform but he had no idea where the others were so he couldn’t risk to involve them in the explosion or to expose himself to unnecessary danger. No one could tell if Hawkins was actually the only one shifter around there, not if there were someone as good as the researcher to hide their real nature. Suddenly he began to smell a strong smell of smoke and a sift in the air, like he was getting closer to an area where the temperature was higher. “Is someone burning down this bloody wood ?” He muttered. He kept running and running, trying to kill all the snakes on he arrived in an area where the trees and the grass were on fire and all the snakes were slowly dying because of the flames. He had no idea if it was a good idea getting there but if he turned around all he could see were the snakes; also if he got burned, he would heal but the same didn’t apply for the snakes. Good. At that point the flames were better than the snakes. He ran away again until he smelled something familiar, a human scent. Yelena.And another one, familiar as well but slightly different. It was a human one but he knew whom it belonged. Pieck. “I almost found them !” He exclaimed. After few minutes he finally found both Pieck and Yelena. Pieck was kneeling on the ground, one hand in the ground and another on a tree. Her clothes were slightly burned around the sleeves, which meant that it was her whom used her abilities to set the woods on fire after creating a crystal structure to protect Yelena from the flames. It was the only idea that came to their mind.Yelena had no weapons to defend herself and Pieck would have only lost time keeping attacking those snakes that always regenerate. Flames were the only way to destroy them completely without wasting too much energy on them. “Excellent plan Pieck !” He told her once he was close enough. “You sure know how to keep a lady waiting” she replied “You’re okay ?” “Fine, what about Yeager ?” “I’ve been pretty busy here to find him, you know ? I just hope he’s okay” said Pieck. “Yeah… How do you thing we should…” Before Reiner could finish his sentence, an explosion took place in another area of the wood.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
MARLEY ODIHA 19th September 2098 “He’s slowly embracing his true nature… good” commented Eren. While Zeke and Hawkins were fighting, he came back in his crystal, where he had more metallic objects he could train with, before to pass to another kind of training. Kruger was right when he said that Eren had the tendency of underestimating his importance and power as the nucleus. Even though shifters developed different kind of abilities after the injections, Eren couldn’t forget that all those abilities came from the same source, him. Eren possessed all the abilities that could be developed by any shifter but he hadn’t paid much attention to them, which was a huge mistake. He needed to train them without to waist any more time and nevertheless, through Hawkins’ eyes, both Kruger and him were still watching closely the fight between the two shifters. He knew Hawkins wouldn’t have disappointed him. Eren precisely ordered him to gain informations about the combat data of the beast giant, but he specified for that because he knew that Hawkins would have pushed all Zeke’s buttons to make him merge with his giant and that was what Eren wanted. What he needed to prove his theory. ‘He’s not that strong though. I’m disappointed’ said Kruger.
‘He has a long road ahead of him, but once he finally merges with his giant and accept that part of him everything will be easier for him’
‘He would never become strong quickly’
That was something Eren actually hoped but not something he feared. He knew a lot of things that Zeke ignored and so the warrior units and knowledge beat brute strength.Zeke was a skilled fighter thanks to the training to become a member of the warrior unit, but fighting like a warrior was different than fighting like a shifter or a pure giant. A warrior fought following a honor code, rules and a fighting style anyone had to follow and fought for an ideal.A shifter fought their instincts other than their opponent, always on the edge, divided; willing to use the brute strength they had to win but not to abandon themselves to their instinct to annihilate the opponent and the belief represented by them.A giant was completely different.A giant was pure instinct, to protect its turf, to fight to death, to destroy and devour its opponent. Rational and irrational at the same time. Strong, powerful, invincible, everything that a person could desire to be. What happened when a shifter merged with their giant ? A magic. Eren couldn’t define it otherwise. He’d never regretted to have accept and merged with the giant inside him, specially because his life improved after that but it wasn’t just that. He simply felt completed, like all. The shatter pieces of his essence were suddenly together, completing the picture, completing him. Among all the things of his life, merging with his giant was the easiest thing to do and to accept for him. The others had seeing him like a monster after that happened but it didn’t matter, Eren considered them monsters as well for what they did to him and to his kind.
‘And that is good. I don’t want him to become powerful; nevertheless you know that there are a lot of ways for a shifter to become stronger in brief time’
There were the so called legit ways, which were the sunlight, the training and time and then there were the famous controversial ways…One of them was…He looked at his hands, the hands of a man, the hands of a king and in their place he remembered… …
… The hands of a child, of a child who saw the world for a first time. The child who was seeing rifles and guns and men ready to hurt him again… the hands of a child that were painted with red and… and then he realized his little belly was empty.
He wanted food so badly but he didn’t crave for any of the food that was usually served to him in the white room. He wanted… No they wanted something different. His giant and him, wanted something different. Crave for something different and they were so hungry.
“I’m so hungry… why am I so hungry ?”
“I’m so hungry” he whispered “Now I know why” If he closed his eyes he could still smell…
Blood… Blood behind him… blood in front of him… waiting for him, waiting to be tasted…
8 years old Eren just wanted a taste of it and maybe gave a little bite to that flesh was was so gracefully served in front of him. Would its eco wrong ? Was so wrong to desire something and acting according to his nature ? Was it wrong ?
After all he read once that it was only naturally that the strongest feed on the weaker and his giant and he were stronger than anyone else. It wouldn’t be cannibalism right ? If he took a little taste of that soldier’s finger right ? Was it that wrong ?
“But it’s right for us…” he muttered before running toward the soldier “Humans only knows how to die when they fight us… that’s so right for us”
…
“It was right for me” Eren whispered opening his eyes to close them to those memories “It would be right for him”
‘Would it be ? Eating another shifter is not quite the same of eating a human’
‘Who says that ?’
‘A giant eats and devours humans because it doesn’t recognize them as part of its kind, but eating another giant is cannibalism’
‘Is it ah ? I remember eating a member of the warrior unit once, it means I’m a cannibal and I wasn’t even aware of it ?’
Eren said it jokingly, like the idea of being a cannibal couldn’t disturb him. It didn’t actually. He remembered to have eating several members of the warrior unit and those who decided to fight against him when he started his revolution.Those pigs, those little twerps, thought they could threat him with their empty words, because words that couldn’t be followed by facts were empty, air that passed, without any importance. And where they were then ? He managed to outsmart all of them. One day he was their little plaything and the next thing he had all of them wrapped around his little fingers, ready to obey any command he gave.
‘He was like us’
‘In that case, I simply took from him what was taken from me. I don’t waste my powers with those whose proved to be undeserving. If I ate him, it means that he wasn’t strong enough for this life, so it means my stomach suited him better’
‘And what place suits better for Zeke Yeager ?’
‘We’ll see it now’
…
MARLEY COASTS 2080
A 9 years old Zeke Yeager had just arrived in front of the entrance of the training center. His father had disappeared for a year and Tybur took responsibility for his growth. His grandparents couldn’t deny it to Tybur, since their finances depended on him, in spite of the immense hatred they felt for the man whom destroyed their family.
Zeke hated Tybur as well and with the same intensity, but he understood that he couldn’t refuse Tybur’s imposition proposal to work for him, specially with the serum in his veins. He had no choice, that was why he was there, with his blue jacket, his short black trousers and his black shoes, perfectly cleaned and the most annoyed expression he could ever shown to the world.
He was the giant beast, the future diamond of the warrior unit, destined to be turned into a war machine for Marley.
And who was to blame for it ? His father of course. The same father whom grabbed his bags and disappeared God’s knew where, leaving his family behind without an explanation or a clue to find him.
Oh right, not everyone. He brought his new little dolly with him. That stung. That hurt him deeply, because for him, a father had no the right to chose between his children, but he did and Zeke wasn’t the one whom Grisha picked.
He was left in front of that hateful building, like a sacrificial victim, to pay their debts toward Tybur.
‘I hate all of this already’ he thought.
And with the same intensity he hated his life there. Since the first day, it was clear as the day that he wasn’t suited for military life. He hated waking up before the dawn, he was always the slowest, the weakest, the one whom missed any target during the shooting training, the first to fall and the last to stand up again.
He hated when his instructors pushed him to the limits only to observe how quickly his wounds could regenerate, or when he was instructed to work harder, to run faster, because he physically could. His body could handle the training for sure, but his mind… his mind didn’t want to be there, and it made him escape in the desert more and more, despite his intentions of denying anything about his nature. In that place, the desert was the only place where he felt actually free. Where he could be alone in peace and quiet and pretend his life was still his own.
Zeke even tried to pretend to fail to turn himself once, but it didn’t end well. To turn into a giant, a goal was needed, an intention behind that drove the human to turn himself into a monster, and even though he tried not to turn himself before the wound healed, one of the soldier hit him so hard to make him want to kill him. He did, of course it didn’t end well and he was punished.
He almost surrendered to a life made of darkness, hatred, rejection and abandonment until a light came toward him. Appeared from nowhere, when he was on the verge of losing any hope.
One day, after the training, he was instructed to remaining at the training camp longer than the other trainees because differently from them he had to train with his superhuman abilities too. One of the superiors also informed him that the day they would have a special guest. A researcher that came from Marley and that apparently was interested in studying his beast giant, like anyone else.
Zeke was their little freak-show to parade.
The young cadet was surprised when he found the training camp empty, since he expected more public for whatever kind of entertainment the doctor had in store for him.
Since he was alone and bored, he started running around the camp, trying to distract himself while keeping the mind occupied.
After 30 minutes Zeke saw a man arriving at the training camp. He’d never seen him before, not at the training camp anyway. The man was wearing an old brown coat, with a pair of black trousers and black shoes dirty of mud and a pair of glasses. He seemed a rather unkempt person. Something about him made Zeke feel uncomfortable.
“Good afternoon, young man. You must be Zeke Yeager, nice to meet you. My name is Doctor Tom Xavier” said the man with a gentle smile on his chubby face.
The first thing that came up inside Zeke’s mind was that the man had the face of a baby due to the chubbiness of his cheeks, differently from his rather skinny body that was swimming inside his clothes.
“Nice to meet you, doctor.” Answered Zeke with no enthusiasm “You’re late”
“Oh, not so late after all.” Said the man scratching his head embarrassed “I have the feeling that you weren’t actually waiting me after all. So, what do you plan to do for today ?”
Zeke looked at the man like he was dumb for making that question. Was he serious ? Was the older man making fun of him ? Since when Zeke was free to chose something ?
Did he really want to know what Zeke was planning to do that day ?
“I’m planning to kill everyone here and come back home, how did it sound ?” He replied with a threatening expression on his face, with his eyes getting golden and showing his teeth to the other man.
For a second both of them were stunned for that. Zeke gasped, before his eyes returned to their normal color and he lowered his head ashamed.
That wasn’t supposed to happen, but he’d bottling up so much emotions, negative ones the most, that he knew that he’d lash out at some point. It happened when he accidentally killed the man and it happened when he could no longer suppressed his murderous intentions. It happened when his giant and him shared the same intentions and desires, usually driven by the same animalistic and brutal instincts.
It was a side of him that his father both encouraged and discouraged. Grisha used to say to him that it was important for him to become compatible with his giant, or else he would risk to lose control completely over it, at the point that the giant would no longer recognize him as the dominant side of them and started to fight for control. At the same time allowing too much freedom to his giant, would have meant starting to fusing with him, at the point when he would no longer be able to tell the difference between them.
“Then it seems that we’re both busy people, young man. I’ve always thought I would probably die by the hand of a shifter, I almost hoped for a moment. Giants are so incredible”
Zeke didn’t expect such reaction and for a moment he didn’t know how to reply “You’re crazy, you know that sir ? What’s so fascinating with the giants ? Everyone here is scared of them, even though our entire organization’s power comes from them. And why are we wasting time ? Shouldn’t we be more focus on training so that my giant will be ready to fight in Marley’s name ?”
The last part dripped of sarcasm of course. Magath didn’t hold him in high consideration because of his poor attitude toward military life and for obvious reasons.
The man, the doctor, looked at him with an expression that Zeke couldn’t read. It was a mixture of sadness, compassion and maybe even understanding, but there was no trace of pity or disgust.
That man, Zeke thought, had to have endure a lot of pain in his life. His cheerfulness, he was seeing, was fake, betrayed by his body language. That man didn’t want to be there with him just like Zeke didn’t want him there.
Those brown eyes were so sad and melancholy while he was trying to appeared to cheerful and easy-going, maybe because he was talking with a child, but Zeke was not an ordinary child.
“I don’t work well with people who aren’t sincere with me. I hate the constant need to be guarded around them”
“Sure you’re a discerning young boy. Fortunately, we’re going to spend a lot of time together. We have all the time to know each other better and who knows, maybe one day we will be colleagues and you will wear a white coat like me”
“The white suits better old farts like you” rebuked Zeke showing no respect at all “Cut the crap. You’re here only for my giant. I bet you’re dying to cut me off like anybody else”
If Zeke hadn’t been so bitter and busy with his tantrums, he wouldn’t have missed the sour expression formed on Xavier’s face. The kid simply wasn’t in the right state of mind to actually care for something that didn’t regard his own feelings.
He simply couldn’t see the hurt in Xavier’s eyes, where it was the reflect the mourn and the loss for his own child, one he was seeing in the little blond boy, in his young traits and in his angry pout.
“Do you know why I like giants ?” He asked to the little boy.
Zeke looked at the older man confused. Was he dumb ? Didn’t he get that he wasn’t in the mood for conversations ? That he wanted nothing to do with him ? That he wanted to be left alone ? And what kind of dumb question was it ?
No one liked giants, they only got fear from people. People feared him, and they despised him, because of his giant, because of his father’s legacy.
“No one likes giants.” He said.
“Who told you that ? I like all of them. Mindless giants, abnormal giants, shifters… they’re people after all. I like people, with all their peculiar traits”
“No one of them is treated like a person though”
“And that’s the reason why they lose part of their charm. Ethically and morally speaking, what was done to them is wrong and unforgivable, so they should at least being taken care of. They didn’t choose, but we can choose how to treat them. I chose to be nice with people”
“To assuage your guilt ?” Asked Zeke sincerely curious for once.
He wondered if his father had ever felt something like that. If he’d ever felt guilty for all the troubles he caused for his family, his mother, his grandparents and to him.
No one of them had chosen the life they were living. Zeke didn’t choose to be a freak, his grandparents didn’t choose to raise him in Grisha’s place, his mother didn’t choose to fall ill and die after his father’s neglecting.
He’d never had any control on his life, so what was the point of that conversation ?
“You can assuage it all you want” he continued “It will change nothing. Maybe that’s why father left. He knew there was nothing he could do, he didn’t even try. Like him, I can’t do anything, I can’t change anything about my condition”
Zeke bite his lip, trying not to sob and start crying. It was the last thing he wanted to do in front of a stranger.
What he didn’t expect, was a simple gesture of kindness offered by that strange man. A hug.
Something simple that people usually took for granted, but Zeke.
When was the last time he was hugged ? When was the last time someone offered to him a simple gesture of kindness ? It didn’t take much and nevertheless, in that place no one ever showed him any sign of compassion.
They taught him how life was cruel, cold and unfair and that anything needed to be conquered, but not that man.
“That’s not entirely true actually. You can still choose whatever you want to be. You want to be a giant ? Be a giant. You want to be a human ? Be a human. You’re free, you’re important and you’re special. Don’t ever forget that. I will never make you forget that”
And somehow, those were the exactly words little Zeke needed to hear…
…
Zeke couldn’t say wether those words had been more of a curse for him or an anchor of salvation, since things had gone wrong for both of them and Zeke was currently in a situation that was obligating him to put in discussion all his decisions again.That day, Tom promised him they would get to know each other more each day and somehow they had, and then he confessed to Zeke that he didn’t share the same Marleyan beliefs and that sooner or later Marley would have paid its avarice. He was right of course.Another thing that distinguished him from his colleagues was that Tom was the only one who studied giants for the pleasure of doing. He wasn’t interested in creating the perfect shifter or the perfect giants, but he was simply fascinated of them, even though they were’t perfect or lack a lot of important attributes that could make them appetibile based on social standards.Maybe because Tom himself didn’t have all the requirements that made him interesting or appealing on social standards, he was awkward, clumsy, with an incomprehensible sense of humor and nevertheless he was the best person in Zeke’s eyes. But what Zeke appreciated the most about him was that Tom had his own dream and didn’t comfort to Marleyan’s ambitions. He had his own opinions and one dream that he could no longer achieve, but Zeke could still make it true for him.
‘I wish for a world where giants’s never existed. The world wasn’t a good place to live but with them isn’t going to be much better. Even though I found them fascinating, they do not belong to this earth. We created them and others are going to fear them’
Zeke agreed with him on them and that was why he decided to reject that side of him, promising to him and himself that one day he would have erase any giant on earth and destroy Tybur’s plan to avenge his family. And Tom and his family were the only two reasons why he would allow himself to become like that…
‘Me with my impure blood… this cursed blood that came from that man… I will grant Tom’s wish’
An impure like him…A beast, with an ape-like appearance, 17 meters in height with dark fur that covered his entire body, with sharp teeth, with a disproportional torso compared to his slim legs and arms and his small head and the dark sclera and red irises that made him look even more monstrous.The transformation process was painful just like he remembered, but that time his anger at his opponent somehow soothed it and increased his power. Did Dr Hawkins wanted a raw fight ? Then he would get it. He would have the man’s head but not before he would make him spill everything he knew about Kruger and the nucleus. ‘Are we compatible ?’ He asked to his giant.
‘As long as you permit me to move. You’re the one whom restrain us’
‘No restraints today. We’re aiming for the head’
‘What are you two plotting there ? You should concentrated on the fight’
Hawkins, who had turned himself in his 17 meters giant form, in a snake-like appearance, attacked again. That time Hawkins turned his two arms in snakes away and aimed at his body. Zeke grabbed them before they could bite him and ripped them from the rest of the arm. He realized late his mistake, because from the arm a weird purple liquid exited. A liquid that surely he shouldn’t have touched.
‘You should have noticed my poison, young man’
Zeke didn’t respond, he simply ripped his own hands before regenerate them. Hawkins was fast and apparently he was capable of long range attacks, which meant that, in order to defeat him, he needed to get close and try not to get poisoned in return. If he got close, there would be the possibility of Hawkins’ attacks became less precise. The other man had the body of a snake, which meant that its body was more flexible than Zeke’s and more faster but if he got close his body would be uncovered and Zeke would be able to attack him. Where the hell were the others ? What were they doing ?
‘Don’t get distracted with those pebbles… we need to focus on him only’ reproached him his giant.
One positive thing about his arms was that they were long and flexible but also stronger than they looked. He could use them like whips, enduring his coat and using his claws to make them even more dangerous as weapons. Hawkins tried to attack him with his long arm but Zeke lowered his body and used his left arm to hit the other right in the face. He managed to scratch his right eyes and before Hawkins could regenerate it, Zeke gripped him by his neck and under his arm and then he used his weight to make the other losing his balance and fell. Hawkins could have more experience at being in his giant form but Zeke was trained to fight in it, he was trained to be a warrior and, once he fully synchronized himself with his giant, there was nothing his opponent could do to defeat him. And he was going to win the mental battle against Kruger too.He still didn’t have a full grip on the situation, but he understood that the was he was fighting was on a mental field, against a smart and brilliant opponent who had been pulling all their strings, like they were nothing more than his marionettes.
‘Tell your master that I hate everyone whom tries to control my life in my place and that for this I’m going to kill him’
‘Kill him ? Oh, you are so funny’
Hawkins ripped his arm and should from the rest of his body to free himself from Zeke’s grip and then, as quickly as he could, he stood up and grabbed the other by the nape only to push his face against the ground, over and over again.
‘He says things like that very often…’
A push… his nose started bleeding… ‘…but it’s clear who between you two…” … Another push… his nose was almost broken…
‘…has the power to live their life freely…’
… Another push… his nose was broke and he started bleeding from his lip as well…
‘… Look at where you are !…’
…Another push… he lost some teeth…
‘….With your snout in the mug…’
…Another final push, that time with both his hands… blood spill profusely on the ground…
‘…Exactly where you belo…’
Hawkins couldn’t finish his sentence that Zeke used his hardening ability to block his fingers on his head to keep him still and distracting him, while he used the same ability with his hands, in order to form crystal claws he used to cut Hawkins’ legs off and make him fall on the ground, next to him.
‘We’re at the same level now, kinda appropriate if you ask me’
He inserted one hand inside the ground and then crystal emerged from the ground to impale Hawkins’ silhouette. Feeling victorious, Zeke stood up and looked down on his opponent. Fighting in his monkey form didn’t allow him to move with the same agility of his human form, but it didn’t help his lack of training. Well, as long as he could endure the fatigue, it didn’t matter. Hawkins was impaled, all he had to do was to eat him and then he would gain his memory. He wasn’t going to fail this time and he had no time to waste.
‘Did you forget it ? Snakes are born to crawl on the ground’
Snakes shed their skin, it was a common knowledge, so Hawkins changed it and the crystal stakes on his body fell on the ground. Then he reformed his gigantic body, modeling it into a full snake form, even bigger than the one before. But troubles didn’t end there for Zeke.He’d been so focused on Hawkins to the point that he stopped observing his surroundings, which, in a battle, was a fatal mistake.Thousands little snakes were crawling along his feet and ankles, which was simply disgusting, but also irritating. All those little monsters were biting him and, even though their poison wasn’t fatal for him, it still had some effect and it was painful. It felt like thousands pins stinging his skin and he couldn’t remove them.
‘Do you want my nape ? Come and get it. Do not underestimate my fiends and I though’
‘Tsk… Snakes suits you, a being like you can only crawl on the ground’
Zeke used his control on his body temperature to raise it and burn all the snakes on his body.
‘I thought you wanted a raw fight, but guess what ? I have some trick up my sleeve as well’
Hawkins internally grinned. That was exactly the outcome he desired, for Zeke to use the scream and witness his power personally in order to collect data to give to his master. Zeke Yeager possessed similar abilities to his master, he could have been the nucleus himself if Tybur had chosen him to be locked inside Utopia’s facility, but those abilities were underdeveloped. Compered to Eren, Zeke was more similar to a six years old kid who was learning who had just begun learning how to write and read correctly. What a waste of potential and that boy was supposed to be the ace of the warrior unit, the only thing interesting about him was that his DNA, but nothing more. Zeke, on the other hand, had been studying his opponent all along as well and he thought to have realized something important. When Hawkins was holding his head down, he could have easily bite his nape off and kill him, but he didn’t, which put him in a position of disadvantage, because it meant that Zeke could kill him but Hawkins couldn’t. Kruger wanted him alive and he probably had ordered Hawkins to set all that ridiculous fight to study him, or more specifically, his giant.Zeke’s opponent was a researcher after all, collect data and analyze subjects used to be his job, also he was famous for his studies conducted on animals, who better than him could have do the job ? He was treating Zeke like a guinea pig and, if there was something the shifter hated, was to be treated like less of a human and, he swore, Hawkins was going to regret his actions.
‘You’re so weak for submit your will to a child, I’m not going to be humiliated by someone weak like you’
‘A child ? He’s never been a child. That person… Kruger… you could see the power within him inside his eyes. In few days he held control over the entire facility and in order to survive there was no other choice but submit’
‘Yeah maybe that’s your place, on your knees with our head down’
Lucky for him, Zeke knew the best ways to make the other submit or to trick them in making them believe he wanted to submit them.He opened his mouth, making the other believe that he was going to use his scream, and he purposely put his body in a condition of disadvantage. With his arm open, his entire torso unprotected and his body still in one position, someone like Hawkins could have easily take advantage of that but the other remained still instead.Waiting, observing, collecting data… He would do nothing before Zeke screamed and that was an opportunity the latter couldn’t ignore. Hawkins, completely ignorant of Zeke’s intentions, stayed still, waiting for the other to use the ultimate move before knocking him out, killing the other members of the warriors unit and finished the job. Unfortunately, Zeke had something else in store for him but he didn’t realized it on time. The blond knew that he was going to use a very dangerous move and that there was no guarantee that it would work, but he knew that that was a battle he couldn’t win on a mere physical level. Hawkins was a brilliant man, who had set up all that with meticulousness, taking all the possibility of failure and success in consideration, just like with any other experiment, and as a researcher they both knew that there was only one thing they could never control. That little percentage of entropy that no one, not matter how meticulous were, could control.Zeke was that little percentage, together with his giant. As soon as he opened his mouth, a long crystal dagger got out and hit Hawkins right in the face, then he generate others crustal daggers with the rest of his body and kept hitting the other with them but he knew it wouldn’t be enough, but all of Tham served only to gain more time for another attack. He pushed the dart that came out of his mouth with all his strength in order to destroy the other head and nape and he succeeded but apparently, he miscalculate the situation again.
‘Did you really think I didn’t take into account that you would have tried a trick like that ? Did you really thing that I would have remained still only to wait for you to destroy my nape with that pathetic move ?’
The nape was empty… How could it be possible ? Or better, he knew that was possible. The move was called “Brain Function Transfer” and it allow to transfer certain function of the brain to other part of the body even when it was partially or fully destroyed, but it was difficult to successfully carry and should only be used as last resort or it could increase the danger of suffering from consequences.Hawkins couldn’t have had enough time to used it, which meant that there was only another explanation and that was even worse.
‘He removed the control center from inside the body, just like a War Hummer Titan, but it isn’t an ability that our type of giant should possess. I don’t even possess it, so how could it be possible ?’
‘I can hear the gears inside your head… Not knowing the answers is driving you crazy, isn’t it ? You’re dying to eat me to know all my secrets, aren’t you ? All your answers a few centimeters from you and you’re still unable to grab them. They kept slipping from you… Poor boy. You’re still fighting like a human but at least you’ve given me the possibility to observe some interesting datas to report to my master’
Zeke gritted his teeth in fury.Everytime… every single time he thought to have the upper hand… he failed… inevitably…He was tired of that. He was done playing that game. He… was… not… a… failure…He didn’t even know why he was thinking about his father in that moment. Maybe it was because that man was the first to have ever made him feel like he was nothing but a failure, or why else would he have leaved ? Bringing his perfect little princess with him ? Zeke hated him, and he hated her and he wished he could kill them both with his fingers. To annihilate them. It was all their fault if his live had slowly descended in all that madness, his father that left him unprotected and that little bastard that took his father away. He hated them… he hated them as much as he hated himself and what he was… yes… it was the answer he needed… his hatred…
‘My hatred is the key for a complete fusion with my giant. To become one, even if for few seconds. I think I understand…’
‘You left me behind… I was trying to lead you during the whole fight…’
His giant’s voice inside his head was all it took to cause him migraine.
‘You’re not allowed to talk… unless spoken too’
It wouldn’t help to have more than his voice inside his head. He needed to concentrate on his surrounding, on the current situation, on his next move.It was confirmed that Hawkins had no intention killing him, but of course the same rule didn’t apply for the other, furthermore allowing him to escape would result in another failure for him. It would be like starting over from the beginning and the warrior unit had no more time to waste. With the whole world on their search, with few resource to finance their survival and the raising frustration among them, Zeke knew that another defeat would make cruel what remaining balance and stability of the unit.
‘Is this the reason why your father left you ? Because he realized that you would have been nothing but a failure ?’
Zeke tried to ignore his anger and the raising hatred inside his heart in order to locate Hawkins. His giant silhouette was slowly disintegrate, turning slowly into ashes, while the shifter was hiding somewhere in the wood. Taunting him, mocking him, with the attitude of someone who knew he’d already won. Hateful, so hateful, just like anyone else who stood in his way.He repressed his retort, he needed the other to keep talking to locate him. His giant had to locate him.
‘Find him’
‘Already trying’
‘Try harder’
‘Even the sweet Tom Xavier had secrets of his own didn’t he ? He didn’t trust you either and you were his little protégé’
Zeke gasped. So, Hawkins knew that Tom was hiding from him ? He knew about the boy ? He worked for Tybur, of course he had to know something and again he was using that to taunt him.The blond shifter knew that there was only one way to win the fight and it was to indulge in Hawkins’ request and using the scream to order him to show himself. Zeke was an original giant, he could command any giant and imposed his will on them and Hawkins was no different. Even though he hated it, ‘cause it looked more like a defeat on his part, he was mature enough to set his pride aside. He would have all the time to have his revenge on Hawkins but for the moment he needed to capture him and gain his informations. ‘You’re a disappointment’ he told to his giant though.
‘You’re the one to blame. You try to be compatible with me and yet you keep rejecting me. We’re not united’
‘I’m trying my best, okay ? It’s not easy for me’
He loathed that he was trying to justify how he felt to his giant but to be one and only, he thought that he should at least try to be sincere. They both needed time, to learn how to work together after all those years of rejection, one day we would be one and only and would mate, allies, even friend, but for the moment, Zeke was willing to concede that.
‘I’m losing and I’m angry for this’
‘I understand… but I’m not the reason why our fathers left us’
‘Fathers ?’
‘You really don’t know ah ? You don’t remember’
No, Zeke didn’t remember. What the hell giant was talking about ? Why did it use the plural ? What was hiding from him ?How could he possibile that Zeke couldn’t trust his giant either ? Something that was inside of him, that was part of him ? Interrogate it about his past was going to be the next move he planned to do. If there was something about his father that his giant remembered then he needed to find out, nurturing their relationship in the process, until they would be completely compatible. For the moment, no other distraction was allowed.
‘Remember wh…’
‘Give up already ? You’ve already played all your cards ? No more ideas ? I guess you need a little encouragement. I guess you realized that what I want from you, is combat data and I’m willing to do anything in order to observe you screaming’
Hawkins was talking to him again, reminding him that there were more urgent things on the plate that required his attention.
‘I…’
‘You’re going to scream for me, I can guarantee it to you’
Zeke growled, hating how Hawkins was speaking to him, as if the fact that Zeke would use the scream was already a certainty for him. Like he knew to have cornered him already. It wasn’t even what worried him the most.Hawkins should know the effects Zeke’ scream could have on a giant like him and nevertheless the former researcher seemed not to fear it at all. Why ? Was he bluffing ? Or there was another trick ? If Zeke screamed, he could be sure that the outcome would be the one he imagined ? Until that moment, anytime he thought he had the situation under control, he was proven to be wrong. At that point, was he really ready for another miscalculation ?
‘We have to risk, in any case we wouldn’t lose completely. Either you scream and you control him, or not. Killing him it’s not the main goal anymore. I think I know where he’s hiding, but I think we need to split a little. Exited my nape without separate us completely. He only needed to think it’
Zeke nodded instinctively. Fighting brutally and driven by animalistic instinct wasn’t his thing, not matter how much he tried, his rational human side still overcame his gigantic side. There were still too many barriers he needed to low before to fully evolve into something new, for the moment he could only fight with that little percentage of his power he had achieved.If his giant could compensate what he could not, then he would let it be, as long as they managed to achieve something useful that time.Without thinking further, with wide arms, he screamed and put in it everything he felt. His frustration for not having the answers he wanted, his hatred for his father, his sense of loss for not knowing what to do, his defeat for having to embrace something he swore he would forever reject, his giant and, in the end, he put all his determination to prove Hawkins that, not matter what he did, he would be always the one in charge between the two. In that screamed he also expressed his command.Then as soon as the screamed end, he exited from his giant’s nape but let an hand inside it and remained attached to the neck to not fall below. Nevertheless, what he witnessed outside his giant’s nape wasn’t something he expected.In front of him there was only the ashes and the smoke coming from the other giant’s corp and the wood, but nothing more. No trace of Hawkins.There was that immense silence that surrounded him, which was a little unsettling considering the situation. He waited few seconds more but it was clear that the scream didn’t work. He used it to order any shifters in the woods to stand in his presence and get on their knees and while, looking up, he could clearly see Reiner and Pieck running toward him in their giant forms, there was no trace of Hawkins. None at all. ‘What happened ?’ Asked Zeke alarmed.
‘Nothing… what you ordered…’
‘It means he doesn’t obey my commands. If not mine… how could it be possible ? Until this moment any single giant obeyed it, could Kruger’s influence be really so strong ?’
And where was Hawkins in that moment ? Zeke couldn’t even feel his presence anymore and he was start panicking. Where the did he go ? When exactly did he leave the battlefield ? How could he didn’t realize it ?
‘He didn’t leave… He’s still here’
‘Smart giant you have. Nevertheless, I have all the datas I needed. See you next time, young shifter but before that, let me give you another gift’
‘FROM BEHIND !’ The giant yelled. Something from behind was on the verge of attacking him…
‘Poor fool… my master is destined to make miracle happen… you’re not match for him, or me… You’re so weak that you disgust me, but for now, I allow you to live. Maybe…’
Was that scum taunting him ? Was he basically saying that he was going to live another day for a courtesy ? Did Hawkins actually dare to go that far with his mocks ? Didn’t the man that Zeke’s angry was the ones of his giant too ? Didn’t the man realize that his fury was no longer human ? That the taste of defeat and humiliation remembered him too much of a past of abandonment. Didn’t that fool realize that during their fight he had opened too much doors that should have remained locked ? Zeke recognized to have committed another mistake because he hadn’t realized that the little coward created another giant form, smaller than one before but with the same reptilian form but that time Zeke was thirsty for blood. Everything inside out of him was seething, there was a burning inferno ready to set the entire wood on fire. He didn’t even realized to have completely returned inside his giant’s nape, in his rush to start fighting again, or that Reiner and Pick had almost arrived where he was, no, his eyes saw nothing but black due to the wrath he was felling in that moment. His, no, their golden eyes were concentrated on Hawkins and him alone, undecided about what limb tear off first. His giant, again, took initiative and guided him in his attacks. Claws hard and teeth, sharp teeth, and animal instinct drove him toward his opponent, avoiding the first attack at his head and managing to scratch him at the level of his let eyes. Of course that wasn’t enough to sate his thirst for blood.
‘I have no intention of accepting your courtesy. I’m going to kill you or make you submit to me, because I refuse to be look down by scum like you’
He’d been looked down by people for his whole life, by his father… … another scratch, that time deeper and longer, that almost ripped Hawkins’ left side of face… he imagined to scratch his father’s face while doing it… …by Magath… … He punched Hawkins’ stomach so hard that he trespassed it and when he extracted it, he tore his stomach out of it, and then his liver and everything else he could grabbed with his hands… … He wished he had ripped those interiors from Magath’s stomach for every time he insulted him and humiliated him at the training center… … He grabbed Hakwins’ death, holding it tighter and tighter, at the point he could hear the bones cracking under his fingers…. … He imagined to be chocking Kruger’s neck, looking him in the eyes, while the other begged him to let him live… … He bite hard on his neck, longing to taste Hawkins’ blood on his tongue but it didn’t happen…
‘What the hell…’
It was like awaking from a dream… or a nightmare…Zeke didn’t recall what limb he tore first or for last, all he knew was that he abandoned himself to his giant, letting it guiding him in his ravage and that he loved.After all that, he felt strangely in peace with himself, glad that he had finally awoken a part of him that longed to be free and he felt like that.He used all he had, his hands, his claws, his teeth, his head, all of him was covered in blood, poison and parts of tore flesh and broken bones and nevertheless he felt in peace with himself after a long time. Or better, he used to feel like that few seconds ago, until he bite the nape off…It was empty… there was nothing inside that…
‘He tricked me again, that little shit…’
Hawkins was a shifter that could turn himself into a snake, which meant that he could be anywhere by then and that looking for him would be a complete waste of time and that silhouette was the only thing he could take his frustration on. In that tangle of snakes he found a limb of flesh that he recognize being the one that connected it with Hawkins and it was slowly disintegrating and before it could happened, before Zeke could even contemplate it, his giant tore it and ate it, swallowing it and did the same with other part of the dying silhouette. Any bite of Hawkins’ body, any cell of his DNA, at that point was enough for him, it had to be enough to have access to part of his memories.
Hawkins was in the desert, on his knees, showing his respect to eight mysterious silhouette Zeke couldn’t define, he tried to get closer but he could only hear what one of them was saying.
“My lords, my plan to catch the attention of Zeke Yeager is already in motion. Soon I will bring to you what you have requested…”
“Very well, our situation is dire. Our lord and master needs that datas as soon as possibile. If you can, kill the other members of the warrior unit but not Zeke Yeager”
It was a female voice who was talking to Hawkins but it didn’t sound familiar to Zeke.
“I can kill Mr Yeager too if you order me”
Zeke rolled his eyes. How presumptuous.
“According to our king that’s not necessary” said the same woman “Stick to the plan and do not dare to do anything that could put any of us in danger”
“Never, I’ve been helping my lord and master since he was a little child and not even once I disappointed him. You have my words”
“I hope so, for you”
Zeke’s eyes widen. It was only for few seconds, before the memory changed, but he could swear to have seen the face of a woman of rare beauty, with black hair, grey eyes and the ivory skin. He had no idea who she was, but at least she now knew the face of one of Kruger’s allies. In the memory there where eight persons and it was clear that Kruger was not among them, which meant eight persons Zeke needed to look and defeat in order to get him.
Then the memory changed.
The surrounding was clouded, exactly like in a dream, but he could perfectly recognize Hawkins, alone in a room of his old cottage, the one it was destroyed by the fire.
The former researcher was sitting in front of his desk, papers, pen and pencils scattered on the surface. There was nothing that caught Zeke’s curiosity but what Hawkins was muttering.
“… If I conduct this mission correctly… maybe… he would give me more power… I will finally became one of them… I’ll become his ninth apostles, one of the strongest giants of Paradise. He had to recognize me after this… after everything I’ve done for him…”
It confirmed Zeke’s theory that aside from Kruger there were eight other giants he had to be wary and he needed to use Hawkins’ memories to learn as much as he could about them, to learn who they were and ,mostly important, what they were able to do.
“… That bitch… if she wasn’t the second strongest giant… she’s the one who make him wary of me. She’s the one who whispered at his ears and told him to keep me at distant… that little heartless bitch… I’d be hung if she learns I think about her this way…”
Bitch ? So the second in command was a woman, the one he saw in the other memory and she had to be a very strong giant, but what was her name ? What were her abilities ? What could make her so powerful to be so feared among the other shifters ?
“… I don’t even know why I cannot kill Zeke Yeager. What use does he has ? He asked me to collect the datas about the scream, even though he already knows it’s not going to work for him, so what’s the point ?”
Zeke was stunned.
Yeah, what point would that be ? If Kruger already knew that his scream would have had no effect on Hawkins ? Was he conducting other experiments ? Was it linked to the disappearance of that group of sailors ? What kind of researches Kruger could be conducting ?
“… I suspected it has something to do with the links… I…”
It was there that the memories got interrupted and Zeke came back to his senses. He was laying on the grass, next to his disintegrating giant silhouette, and there were limbs of flesh attached to his arms and legs which meant that he had been extracted from the nape not long ago. It was easy to deduct even from the smoking coming from his body and the heat, like he was having a fever. He surely was suffering a migraine. His fight on double level against Hawkins was exhausting and he overused his hardening ability, not to mention the use of the scream cost any energy left in him, but strangely he didn’t feel angry.Relief, more or less, because something useful was obtained from all that violence. Informations.Even though he didn’t know their names, or all their faces, he knew something more about the hierarchy among the giants of Paradise Island and that Kruger was interested in something regarding the effects of their screams and the link and about that, he had a theory already.A scream could be used to give orders on giants, but it worked better on those Zeke had strong connections with or that had received a certain quantity of his spinal fluid, so it was probable that Kruger wanted to be sure that Zeke couldn’t command one of his giants.It was a good news, because it could mean that the opposite was true as well. The last thing he needed was Kruger to control the shifters of the warrior unit and order them around. It would be the worst case scenario for them, something that Zeke needed to work on to prevent it from happening at any cost and that was going to be his next goal. “Zeke… Chief Yeager ?” It was then that he noticed Yelena, Pick and Reiner next to him. The latter two were still on their knees, which meant that the effect of his scream hadn’t terminated yet. He would apologize to them later for using it, but for the moment, he couldn’t wait to come back to their hide-out, rest for a little bit and share the new informations with everyone. If to win their fight they would have to fight eight giants before Kruger, then they had to be prepared, all of them, both shifters with their giants and the human members. It was fundamental, if they wanted to survive.Meanwhile, after he took back his order, Pieck and Reiner could move freely and help Yelena moving Zeke. The three shared Zeke’s desire to come back home as soon as possible after all the events occurred. They couldn’t have come and fight alongside Zeke sooner because they had been draw back by the snakes and the gigantic silhouettes that attacked them continuously. For every single one of them that they killed, two others was created until they were no longer created and they were ordered to reach out their chief by his scream. They were both surprised and disturbed by the fact that Zeke had used his scream on them and they both swear that they were going to discuss about it, but for the moment, they simply wanted to enjoy the fact that they were still alive and together and for the moment it was enough. …
INSIDE THE DESERT…
‘Oh, why am I… Did he…’
Armin Arlert had gone to bed few minutes ago, needing some rest after spending all day taking care of E2 and checked his parameters and the ones of Sasha and Marco, meanwhile suffering Erwin’s mental games.
It had been extremely frustrating approaching them while pretending not to know them. Only when he had them in front of him he realized how much he missed all of them and the deepness of their connection. It had been very lonely being the only shifter in the Scout Legion, where everyone were wary of him and ready for any wrong move on his part to cut his nape, he really longed for someone who could understand how he felt and who actually enjoy his company without having second ends.
But he also knew he couldn’t spent too much time alone with the two shifters without raising suspects from Erwin, so he left them and went to his room for a little rest, glad that Falco was already sleeping as well. Last thing he needed was another conversation with the boy that could increase his sense of guilty and shame.
Apparently Eren had other plans in store for them though…
He wasn’t alone in the desert. He could distinguish next to him the silhouette of Sasha and Marco, those who were physically closer than him, and both of them looked surprised to have been summoned there.
“Hi there” Armin said to them “Long time no see” he joked.
“Indeed” replied Sasha waving her hand “It’s been a while since the last time we’ve all been summoned here for a reunion”
“I wonder what Eren wants to discuss about” said Marco.
“I hope it will be good news, but I doubt” said Armin.
Although the desert was a place that always managed to make him feel a sense of peace, that sense was dissipated every single time a reunion among the nine titans of Paradise was organized. Eren didn’t reunite them there often, only when he wanted to discuss important topic that he wanted to share only with the people he trusted the most.
The eight legendary giants of Paradise, his aristocrats, his apostles, his most loyal and strongest followers.
Among the eight, Frieda occupied the first place, Armin the second, Marco the fifth and Sasha the seventh, not that it was actually important.
The hierarchy weren’t so rigid, in the end it was pure formality, at least for almost all of them. That Frieda was the queen of the island was commonly acknowledged and accepted but the remaining membered hold the same importance, in that Eren had been cunning, Armin had to recognize that.
Eren knew how to play the fool but he wasn’t anything like that. He could be an excellent match for the blond to play chess.
“Do you think that Frieda is going to reprove us for something happened during our mission ?” Asked Sasha playing with her hair.
“For what ? The link between E2 and Caporal Ackerman ? Hardly, it couldn’t be predict. We did the best we could and in the end everything went according to plan” said Armin.
“Have you talked to him recently ?” Whispered Marco lowering his gaze “We haven’t since we left Paradise”
Armin didn’t know how to answer properly. On one side, he wanted to share with them his frustration about being ignored by Eren for a long time and being contacted only when was convenient for the brunet, on the other side, he didn’t want to make them worry for silly things. They needed to be reassured, he needed to give them words of comfort or to praise them for their work or their moral would remain afflicted.
“No I haven’t. He surely has been busy with the plan.”
“He trusts you deeply, he doesn’t feel the need to check over you constantly” said Marco.
“Yeah” he said not to show his bitterness “I’m honored to be one of his best friend”
If he was so important for the bid guy, why was he the one who had been sailed oversea ? Because he was the only one able to compete on a mental level with Erwin ? Didn’t Eren think that maybe he wasn’t that strong and needed a little emotion support from him ?
Of course Eren didn’t think about it, not because he didn’t care but because he was highly ignorant of everything regarding the emotional area of relationships. Just like Erwin and everyone around him apparently.
“The first he ever had. He talked about you very often when you left. He missed you but he didn’t feel comfortable enough with us to openly say it”
“Really ?” Asked Armin feeling surprised but also suspicious.
“Yeah” confirmed Marco “He also worried about you a lot. We could always understand when he was mentally speaking with you. He made a certain expression and we couldn’t even interrupt him or talk to him. Not even Frieda”
Marco and Sasha had never openly said it, but if there was a reason why they had learnt to trust Eren and Armin over the years it was partially due to their weird relationship. It was hard say what they were, if they were simply allies or friends, but one thing was certain. They mutually respect each other.
For them, who had been both victims of dictatorship, it was a relief, because Eren didn’t impose his will on others. Eren was able, in spite of his past, to rely on others, take them into consideration and even, in his own weird way, care for them.
All of these things were clear as the day when they saw him interact with Armin the first time.
On the other hand, Armin, whom used to work for Tybur and was supposed to be considered their mortal enemy, gained the trust of their kind and friend, so they could trust him too and learn to care for him as well.
Frieda could be the queen, but the true leaders that connected all the subjects of Paradise were Eren, with him being the strongest of them all, and Armin, with him representing the human and compassionate side of their king. Where Eren couldn’t arrive with his poor social skills, Armin compensated for him.
When Armin’s courage failed and his insecurity took over him, Eren was there to remember him his worth and protect him in his own ways.
All of them knew that if Eren had been able to develop a decent friendship with them was thanks to Armin’s advice, just like they knew that Armin was able to evolve in all his abilities and personality only thanks to Eren whom encouraged him to surpass his limits.
They were a pair, no doubt.
“I missed him too, and all of you. These past year was hard for me and Smith doesn’t make things easy”
“He’s a very handsome man though” said Sasha “But yeah, he so intimidating. Is he always so serious ?”
“Always. I suspect he sleeps with his eyes opened” joked Armin.
“He should” said Marco “He’s in a dangerous position and has a target on his back. In his place, I wouldn’t sleep at all. It’s like an eternal dictatorship for him”
It was always hard for Marco to recall his past. He could never forget how it was like to live under dictatorship, that sensation of having a target on his back, of having to be careful about how he walked by or looked someone people around him, the things he had to say or even think.
He felt so suppressed and suffocated by fear and tension, for himself and for his parents, that he barely slept at night, fearing every new day, at the point that he remembered how to breath only after becoming a shifter.
Armin, noticing his mood, took his hand, tryin got comfort him.
“Don’t think about the past. Besides, the other arrived and our king too”
Marco looked around and saw Frieda, Floch, Ymir and the other two had arrived, but were the most distant from them that Armin could barely distinguish their features clearly. It didn’t matter, their mere presence was enough to bring him a sense of calm and the warm typical of a family.
Regarding Eren, well, it hadn’t passed much time since the last time he saw him and nevertheless Marco missed him deeply.
In his imposing presence, Eren was able to give him a sense of safety e reassurance.
“Greeting, all of you my friends. I’m sorry for having summoned all of you here without any previous warning but I have something very important to tell you.”
“What is it about ? The job you assigned to that incompetent ?” Asked Frieda almost growling with a severe expression “What did he do ?”
“What job ? I know nothing about” replied Armin crossing his arms "Or are you talking about Hawkins' job ?"
Eren looked at him, apologizing with his turquoise eyes, but Armin kept starting at him. The brunette didn’t need someone questioning his decisions and Armin rarely did it, but he was the one who tried to fix any mistake when something didn’t go according to plan.
“I summoned you here to discuss the order I gave Hawkins about setting a trap to the warrior unit, collecting combat data about Zeke Yeager and killing the rest of the members and…” explained Eren quickly.
“And ?” Asked Marco alarmed.
“The first and the second part of the plan worked, but Hawkins didn’t finish the job. He couldn’t kill not even once of the members, but at least he collected important datas for me.”
He quickly finished explaining everything that had happened but, observing all their faces, he could tell that they weren’t happy about his news, specially Armin, but he planned to talk with him later. There were a lot of things that needed to be discussed alone.
As he expected, Frieda was the first to speak up her mind and of course, she was completely and utterly furious with him.
“Which are ? That he couldn’t use the scream on us?” Shouted Frieda angry “We already knew about that. The screams can’t work on us because we don’t recognize any leader but you. I told you that this task was just a waste of time, you're playing with the fire” she ended pointing her finger at him.
“It’s not only that. I needed to know his level. Among the warrior unit, he’s the strongest shifter…”
“… And know he knew what his weaknesses are and is going to fix all of them”
“… He won’t have time. He’s selling drugs in the black market, one tip or two, and we’ll put Smith on his trail, that’s not the problem and I didn’t summon you here to apologize or to excuse my decisions. I know it’s hard to find but there’s a logic behind this. Zeke will never reach my level, but most important, he has no idea about Grisha Yeager’s whereabouts”
“After all this time ?” Asked Floch surprised “Why didn’t that doctor contact his son ?”
“I don’t know, but from what I gather, Grisha has found a replacement for him already. A daughter. Maybe she’s like him too and if she’s better than him, then she will be our greatest threat” explained Eren.
“Fuck ! After everything all we have done to reach this point !” Shouted Ymir angered “That bastard found another little pet ?”
“He did, that’s why it’s become even more important than before to find them and kill them” Eren said “Time’s not on our side and now that we’re out of the closet, we can’t come back in the shadow to plan our next move. We need to move on with the plan, have the rest of the warrior unit arrested and find Grisha before anyone else to kill him”
“And what about Marley ?” Asked Frieda “What about having our revenge on Marleyan aristocracy ? Zeke Yeager now knows my face”
“No records about you remained anymore Frieda” replied Floch calmly “Everything he could have found about you was on Paradise and we destroyed everything. You have nothing to worry about”
“Plus this has made him easy to predict” reply Armin “Now that Zeke knows that ‘Kruger’ is conducting experiments on the link and that he knows the face of one of us, is going to move on this direction, which means that we can control his moves indirectly. It’s not bad”
“For you, he doesn’t know your face” reply Frieda narrowing her eyes.
“I exposed myself in front of the warrior unit and the scout legion. I’m in a more delicate position than you, don’t forget that” he replied coldly.
Eren sighed. He was used to those kind of scene between Frieda and Armin, but he knew that it was making the other feel uncomfortable, so he decided to move on with their reunion.
“Armin was right. I would have never dared something to jeopardize our missions and our goals, all our goals…” he said looking at Frieda “You all are important to me, the fact that I’m sharing all of this with you is a proof. You’re allies, you’re my family and I will do anything to protect you. Do you remember my promise when I chose you eight to be my most trusted soldiers ?”
Everyone in the desert nodded and then got on their knees, showing a pose of submission, obedience and respect, to enforce their meaning and their sense of trust toward Eren.
The king looked at them pleased. They were his best friends, the pope he trusted the most, his knights, his apostles, his aristocrats, the main pieces on his chessboard…
“Tomorrow will be a new day my friends and the world is going to see the miracles we’re able to perform. We’re a force together and remember, you have nothing to worry about. After all, humans only knew how to die when they fight giants like us. We’re superior beings but most importantly we’re united, we’re one and we’re going to win as one. Our link is sacred for me and it’s out strength. Remember this and nothing is going to stop our ascension”
Among them, only Armin had no his eyes revolted below. His blue eyes were fixed in the ones of his king, looking at them intensely.
Eren smiled, looking right back at him.
His eyes became gold and Armin understood that they have a lot of things to talk about.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
CHAPTER 27 DESERT 19th September 2098 10.00 p.m. “It’s only me and you Armin, finally” whispered Eren, smiling gently at the other boy.
He could deduce from his friend’s frown that he didn’t share the sentiment and that he was holding a grudge with him for what happened.
“You wouldn’t think that I would risk our entire operation after all we’ve done to obtain these results ?”
They had spent five years planning their crusade, step by step, side by side. Eren and Armin knew what and who had sacrificed along their journey, dreams, ambitions, a comfortable life with their newfound abilities, relationships, more in Armin’s case actually, comrades. If only Armin could see the full picture like he did he would understand that what he did was inevitable.
“Look, I understand that you’re willing to get rid of the Warrior Unit, but we decided to use them as scapegoat for our plans, but now they know the face of one of us. Frieda nonetheless, that put us in danger. I covered for you, I defended you, but don’t think that I don’t expect an explanation”
“Look, Frieda Reiss is death for the world, they have no resources, no funds, no money, no army. Considering that in our position, they would be conquering Paradis already without care for us, they’re lucky I didn’t decide to capture them and use them as my guinea pigs”
“You did though. Zeke Yeager. You should leave him alone, it’s clear that your strategy isn’t working.”
Armin knew that he hit a soft spot, but one of the motives why his relationship between him and Eren worked it was because they were comfortable enough to speak frankly to each other. Armin knew that the reason behind Eren’s obstinacy toward Zeke was Grisha Yeager.
Eren hoped that if he put Zeke into a dangerous situation, Grisha would leave his hideout to rescue his son and then, once in the open, Eren would have the occasion to capture him and comply his revenge, but apparently he underestimate how bad of a father that man was.
Armin was less surprised actually. A man whom abandoned his only son after his mother’s death couldn’t be a good father and, once the whole world had started looking for him after his crimes were revealed, Grisha would be very careful not to leave his hideout.
“I already changed strategy. As I said, the warrior unit have very few resources left, but now, as you deduced, I gave them something juicy to aim for. Now they knew a part of the true, they have a name and a face to pursue which meant that I practically planned their next moves for them”
“Money” realized Armin “So when before I said that you did what I did to control their future actions, was I right ?”
“Precisely. That’s one of the reason why we worked so well you and I. I don’t need to further explain myself with you”
Armin had to admit that it was brilliant. Before Hawkins, the warrior unit had no certainties, only suspicious and they believed the nucleus to be destroyed in Paradise, but after that they knew that the nucleus is a very dangerous person, very much alive, whom had put a target on their back and their families’ as well. Not only but Eren also gave them a lead where to start from.
If Kruger was still alive, then they would have no hesitation in believing that Frieda was alive as well and that she was probably working with Kruger.
If they were intelligent enough, they would pursue Frieda before Kruger, they would try to get information from her, not knowing that in their search for Frieda, they would make their moves predictable.
Armin could finally see the line Eren had seen.
Money first.
Then weapons.
Then informations.
Then allies. Marley Royal family and if I didn’t work, the Legion Scout.
Two of their enemies together to get rid of at the same time…
Armin looked up at Eren, saw his reflex in his golden eyes and, from his smirking, he realized that Armin had figure out his intentions.
If something diverted from the original plan, than Eren would manipulate the events again with their help, everything to obtain the most convenience outcome for them.
“Warrior Unit were wasting their resources wandering around in search for answers. They were losing hope and faith, I gave them something to hold on to and I made things a little easier for them but only keeping in mind our benefits. Be honest, Armin. Once you were out of the picture, we could no longer control them, now we could again. We have the upper hand”
“And with me in the Legion Scout we control them as well. What about the Emperor though? Marleyan politic is at his bottom but it didn’t fell yet. What should we do ?”
“Nothing at the moment. Legion Scout will make the government crumble for us, we can simply wait. You try not to make yourself look suspicious though. That Smith persona, he still doubts your honesty", it wasn't a question, but a statement.
“He does” the admission stung Armin’s pride but it was the truth.
“Feelings are slowly to grow, you once told me that. You also told me once that easiest things are the less worthy. You found your match, should be thrilling” said Eren teasing the other.
“I don’t feel so lucky actually” said Armin without further explanations.
There was no point in talking with Eren about feelings and relationships, the other seemed to be unable to grip over than a certain point, not matter how many books and romance Armin had made him read. The concept of feelings simply hadn’t clicked in Eren’s head yet. Surely, Armin knew that Eren was sincere when he said he cared for them and surely Eren knew anger and fury but, in the end, he knew how to deal only with basic emotions.
Complicated emotions or feelings, like the ones he had developed with Erwin, with so many shades of colors, so contradicting and yet so right, Armin knew that Eren wouldn’t understand and he himself had yet to find the right words to describe each one of them correctly.
“Stick to the plan and try to make him trust you, not matter what. It was given this mission to you because you’re smart and brilliant like him, but also because you know how to turn off your emotions when it comes to people. You can switch from seeing them as persons to sacrificial lambs in a blink, that’s what makes you the perfect man to play with Smith.”
Those words stung again and Armin knew they were referred to his past in the Tybur Industries, when it was ordered to him to play the part of Eren’s little friend and entered his grace and Armin acted upon it very easily.
Eren had spared him because he saw him an opportunity, because he realized that Armin could be more worthy to him alive than dead, and so he started wrapping his claws around his neck and heart, until Armin accepted to form an allegiance with him. Eren may had been a kid when all that happened, but Armin didn’t see the eyes of a kid, when the brunette committed his murder in front of him inside the white room.
It was researcher, a couple years older than Armin, and his attitude rubbed off on Eren the wrong way for some motive Armin couldn’t remember. Eren was just a kid, but he was already so strong and intimidating, and, before Armin could even realize, the man was on the ground, screaming for pain, after Eren had kicked both his legs so strongly to break them. After that, Eren took his hand and ripped two fingers with his teeth, laughing and smiling maniacally at the man below him.
Armin would never forget the sound of ripped fingers and the teeth chewing and biting human flesh, not to mention that smell of blood, sweet and bleach. Eren’s room always smelled of bleach, because there was always blood to clean.
He had hated bleach since then. But what he hated the most ?
A part of him, the part that was able to see a logic even behind the most brutal actions committed by Eren to remember everyone that he had their life in his hands, that they were still alive because he wanted them to, that they were supposed to fear him, was completely at utterly fascinated by that violence. The violence he replicated every time he had to amputate a limb to one of his colleagues after an incident, or had to commit something that wasn’t considerate ethical only for the sake of a research, that and more were the moments when he felt something inside resurface. A twisted, intense and consuming desire for violence, innate in any human beings, but normal ones were able to suppress it while Armin was growing more and more addicted.
The twenty years old shifter Armin was addicted to the life Eren gave to him, just like his younger human version, that was the truth.
“Are you planning one of your picnic today, aren't you ?” asked Eren innocently.
Armin nodded. He knew Eren’s angle, he expected it.
“Then you know what you have to do. Honesty and trust have to go both ways. My actions could be reckless sometimes, but I never forget who and what I’m doing it for. I hope it’s the same for you”
“It is” said Armin looking the other straight in the eyes.
Eren smiled again gently “Then we have nothing more to say. I wish you a good day, old friend”
His golden eyes was the last thing he saw before leaving the desert.
…
“Mr Arlert… Mr Arlert… Mr Arlert !!” Someone was calling him, shaking him in his sleep, and Armin realized only a couple minutes later that it was young Falco.The kid explained him that Armin was agitating in the sleep and that he was getting scared, so he decided to wake him up. “You were murmuring things, you even started crying.” whispered Falco looking at him with worry. Instinctively, Armin touched his cheeks and he realized that they were actually wet. Why did he cry ? His conversation with Eren had gone better than he originally predicted, so why ? Why there was a lingerer sense of anguish in him ? Why was he feeling so sad all sudden ?He looked at the boy, who was sitting next to his bed, waiting for an explanation, so Armin quickly cleaned his cheeks with the sleeve of his pajamas and then caressed Falco’s hair with tenderness. “Thanks Falco” he said trying to sound reassuringly “I had a nightmare” “Yeah… I have them too.” Murmured Falco lowering his eyes “I miss my brother” “I’m sure he misses you as well” he said tapping the space next to him on the bed, inviting Falco for a hug. The boy said next to him and allowed Armin to hug him in silence. They remained like that in silence for a little, before Falco spoke up again. “Do you miss your family Mr. Arlert ?” Armin hesitated to answer at first. He hadn’t thought about his family, his grandpa mostly, for a long time. He tried not to, because if he considered that his grandpa was one of the many things he had sacrificed only to find himself where he was, with no prospects, or futures and with a serum inside his veins that had made him unhuman, then he would simply paralyzed.If he dared to remember the warm bread his grandpa used to cook on Sunday, or when he taught him to ride a back, or when he congratulated him to be employed at the Industries, then Armin, he knew, he would crumble under the weight of his lost past. “Yes, a lot” he answered, because it was the most logical answer to give to a kid who was in the mood of a good sentimental talking. “Are they still alive ?” asked Falco. “No, they are all gone. I’ve no one left, thanks God” “Why ?” “Because I don’t have to worry about them being a target now. My enemies had nothing on me, I have no weak spot, no one to disappoint anymore, or to protect, or to fight for. Only myself and in this moment, believe me, it’s a blessing” He truly believed and deep down Falco agreed with him. His brother, Colt, was on the run and if he got captured he was going to be sentenced to death for crime against humanity, and his family, had been imprisoned and used as bait to lure Colt away from his hideout.Armin knew on whom Falco had nightmare about, the kid was living each day with the fear of witnessing his brother’s head and with him all his former comrades, while being locked there, surrounded by their enemies who watched them like hawks. “I don’t want my brother to die” he whispered. Armin replied nothing, there was nothing he could say to console the other and he didn’t want to lie anymore to him, because Armin wanted his brother dead and the rest of the warrior unit with him. They were his enemies, the last obstacle standing in his way and he couldn’t way to get rid of all of them. The only use he could have of the warrior unit, was that they distracted Eren enough sometimes, that Armin could continue his researches in piece about finding a way to preventing his mind to be controlled. He swore his loyalty to Eren, but the fear of being controlled and reduced to a puppet if the brunette should decide he was no longer useful for him, was enough to make Armin chill. It would be his personal form of hell.It was ironic, since Armin was one of the people who taught Eren the art of manipulation.The king of giant told the truth when he said that Armin had the capacity of switch his consideration of people in a blink, one second he considered the person in front of him a human being and the next nothing but a nuisance that needed to be erased from the face of earth. This kind of dissociation was necessary in his line of work after all. You could not put it up with the guilty injecting a serum to someone if you considered them your similar, a human being.Armin couldn’t afford it, just like he couldn’t afford to see Falco for what he was, a boy, innocent, pure, not guilty. Armin couldn’t afford that line of thought, because for him and his kind, the ones like Falco, were nothing but the enemy they had to destroy and erased from the face of the earth.He looked down, at Falco’s neck and he wondered, even if for a single moment, how easy for him would be snapping it and making other believe that it was an accident.
“I was having a nightmare, he tried to awoken me and I hit him so hard to kill him, I’m sorry”
He already had a good lie prepared. Would Colt Grice be heartbroken ? Would he lose his mind ? To the point of making a wrong move ? Would he expose the warrior unit ?His giant was almost tempted to do it, to snap that little neck and see what happen next, but Armin took a deep breath and kept hugging Falco in silence, until another idea came up to his mind.It had been dangerous getting in contact with the warriors unit and that one time they succeeded, just after the mission at the walls, Armim allowed Falco to speak with Colt only for few minutes, then they lost contact again because the warrior unit had to move away from their hideout. Nevertheless, nothing could prevent him from trying to get in contact with them again. Eren already know where they were hiding, he was sure of it, and a part of him was suggesting that Erwin was going to think something similar to him.He looked down on Falco sleeping form and sighed. He blinked and in front of him, he no longer saw a person, but a bait. … “Thank you for being here, and sorry for the hours, but I wanted to be sure that our conversation will remain private” said Erwin closing the door of his office. He had requested a reunion with Mike, Levi, Hanjo and Moblit in his office to discuss with them about his finding in the villa. One of them was the notebook he found on that dying man and that was on his desk. If those reunions became a habit, he should really considerate to pick a bigger office since his was apparently too tiny for a reunion including five people. He had prepared coffee for all of them and a cup of black tea for Levi, since he knew that no one of them would go sleeping very soon, surprised himself to still have some surface of his office free of any paper.He was a neat freak, loving keeping his office in order, so that he knew where to find anything, but the latest days had been quite adventures and he trusted no one to clean his office. “I guess that you purposely wait the right moment, you don’t want Armin to know” deduced Hanji adjusting her glasses on her nose. “He couldn’t be trusted.” Said Erwin. “After all the things he has done ?” asked Moblit. “Especially after all the things he has done. Don’t misunderstand my words, but Armin and I are more similar than I’m willing to admit and not in a good way. He knows it as well, that’s where our little game starts”. A similar could always recognize a similar. Erwin had realized that Armin was exactly like him as soon as their eyes met and if, on one side, it made him intrigued, on the other side, it set him on alert. A person like him, or like Armin, couldn’t be trusted. Lies and deceives came out from their mouths easily as breathing. “We need to decode this…” said indicating the notebook “… and we also need to plan our next moves” “Next move ? I thought you wanted to wait for us to examine all the informations we stole from the villa” said Hanji. “That was before I received a warning about an explosion taken place in the woods of Odiha. It arrived a couple of hours ago” said Erwin turning around the laptop on his desk and showing the email, even though the others couldn’t read it from their distance “Apparently a fight took place, a fight between two giants and Pixis suspects that one of the two was Zeke Yeager” “Why the fuck that monkey should expose himself that way ?” asked Levi crossing his arms, annoyed. “Because they found a lead, or that’s what I think. Whatever it was, it was important enough to make them leave their hideout so it means that we have to take it seriously” answered Erwin “I already ordered Mike to find out what or who could be there before the attack happened. According to our lists, no Tybur’s property should have been there, but they were so many and it’s possible that one of them slipped” “So we’re still playing in defense ah ?” asked Levi narrowing his eyes. “What do you mean ?” asked Moblit. “That we’re not making progresses quickly enough. Those fuckers always one step ahead. They destroy and then we have to try to repair what those dickheads have broken. It’s getting fucking frustrating” commented Levi. Erwin agreed with him. They couldn’t continue like that and if the occasion to caught the warrior unit out of surprise then they had to create it. What would he do in their place ? What would it be their most practical worry ? Where they would go for help ? Criminals, of course, but how ?Tybur’s connections ? Probably, but they have no money so… “Money…” “What ?” asked the others confused. “Their next move will be find funds, money. They’re running out of them after an year spent into hiding” “I thought you suspect that they’re selling stuff in the black market” said Hanji. “I did, but I bet that they’re earning loose changes in compared to the sums they actually needed, especially if most of the money are used for the production of the serum. We’re working on it and on a vaccine, we know how elevate the costs are” “It’s not like we’re any better. After what happened at that villa, you have to admit that we paid an high price in matters of weapons, men and resources. I don’t think that Zachary is going to accept a new request for a mission at the moment, at least not so soon” reflected Hanji. Hanji had a point, even more than one. Money were always a problem weren’t they ? And after the rescue of those kids, funds were even more than necessary since they needed to study the serum and taking samples from them and provided them with everything they needed. It wasn’t something easy to deal with, not to mention that many members of the Scouts were scared of them and Erwin knew that words would keep them at bay only until a certain point.They needed to enlist other people, invited them to join the army because, it was clear that to kill even one giant was needed more than single man, more than courage, more than a flaming heart. Erwin needed more than that. He needed more people like Levi, more people able to develop the Ackerman gene. It may sounded vile from his part, to want to turn people into army, but they were living in desperate time. That was why he had secretly asked Hanji to study Levi’s blood, in the hope to create a serum that could trigger only the Ackerman gene, without turning people into giant, but for that money were needed too and also results. If the government decided that their missions were pointless or that they had no idea how to proceed, Scouts would have thousands thorns in their side and Erwin couldn’t allow that scenario. Furthermore, Pixis told him that, if they hadn’t accept to trying to recreate the serum, other industries would have been assigned to, and Erwin preferred to be able to keep the research under control instead of depend on someone else he didn’t trust. ‘I think the only way to gain more time is to enlist more people’ he thought. No, it was definitively time to enlist other people. Recruiting them, selecting them and training them was the best option, it would increase the numbers of Scouts, giving them time to further study the serums and also time to plan their next move to capture the warrior unit without having government breathing on their neck. They would also have more time to decode the notebook and all the information they obtain at the villa and, in the meantime, he would continue his little game with Armin. “Of course not, I said about creating an occasion not rushing it. If we want to use the element of surprise, we need to do it carefully, but I have another option in mind. Hanji, at what point we are with the creation of a serum capable of triggering the Ackerman gene ?” “The crazy bitch is having fun by treating me like a dart board” commented Levi sending a death glare toward Hanji. Gone was the initial distrust, from Levi part. It was hard for an introvert like him to get used to the presence of someone so loud, invasive of his personal space, and inopportune, but slowly Hanji was creating a space in Levi’s heart.Maybe it was too early to define their relationship a friendship, but it was safe to safe that there was a certain level of trust between the two, especially after the villa, high enough that Levi allowed Hanji to use her needles on him anyway and even other of her crazy instruments.One thing was certain, after an entire afternoon spent in her company, he learnt to respect Moblit as well and also feel pity for him. How that man could deal with that crazy ass entire days was inexplicable for him, he would have killed her in her sleep long time ago.Nevertheless she was the only person he trusted enough to allow her to treat him like a guinea pig, but he would be lying if he said he was perfectly okay with it or with the end they were aiming with that researches. An arm of people like him ?Ackerman were giants’ natural enemies according to what they gathered, but was it ethical okay turning people into anomalies like he was ? The woman smirking “Eh eh eh, only for the sake of science and, admit it Levi, you LOVE spending time with me !” she said trying to pinch his checks. “Absolutely not you crazy fucker !” said Levi grabbing her wrist to protect his face. “Tell me the truth Levi, your eyes can’t lie !” she said trying to get her face closer to him “Oh, you have a little mole under your eyes, I’d never noticed” “Stay away you crazy four eyes ! You look like a maniac !” “She doesn’t look, she is” commented Moblit looking Levi with pity. “Oh, Moblit you love me too. I can tell, we share a special connection you and I” Which made Erwin remember another point. “Regarding special bound, what about your connection with the boy ? How is it going ?” asked Erwin. He would be lying if he said that the bond between his friend and that boy he barely knew didn’t worry about him. There was something about that boy that put him off, he didn’t know what exactly, but sometimes he had the feelings that, when the boy looked at him, there was another person behind his eyes that was observing him as well, a sensation he felt sometimes with Armin as well and he didn’t like it.If Erwin had some doubts about the situation, Levi had ambivalent feelings, not on the bound itself. He was trained to keep him mind empty, especially around people, it made him feel comfortable not to have thought that could influence his attitude around people, but there was that persistent feeling of melancholy that didn’t make him feel at ease. Not to mention that he dreamed about the beach and see once again and the boy, the boy next to him whose face was he wasn’t allowed to know.Who was him ? Why did he dream about him ? He remembered the softness the boy’s hand when he held him and the alluring scent of mint coming from him. “It’s still there. I don’t know how. I can hear his thoughts clearly, like they’re my own, but I can feel that he tries not to think around me. He’s guarded around me” “It’s understandable” “It’s disgusting. He’s almost half of my age, God” said Levi with disgust. “Don’t consider it from a romantic point of view then.” Said Hanji “Unless you’re horny and you need your mama to find someone to entertain you ?” asked maliciously “What’s your type ? Someone taller than you for sure isn’t it ? ” “Make another comment on my height and I’ll short you of ten centimeters shitty glasses !” said Levi pinching her nose to push her away. “Did I hit a soft spot ? Don’t lose hope Levi, short as you are, you look a perfect power bottom” joked Hanji, loving too much tease Levi. “I’m going to fucking kill you, shitty for eyes, you will better learn how to sleep with your eyes opened !” “Now, now, please, stopping acting like children” said Moblit. “She started !” said Levi pointing a finger at Hanji. Erwin covered his mouth with an hand to hide a smile. The world outside their base was in danger and nevertheless he couldn’t deny how much he needed to live those moments, together with his comrades, joking with them, spending time with them, seeing them smile (except for Levi, but there was still time to fix it).He was a monster, he was aware of that, but he would anything to protect them, fight for them and alongside them. They were his family by choice, he picked each one of them to play a role in his crusade, but inevitably they became the most important persons in his life.Attachments were dangerous, but apparently it was the only lesson he couldn’t learn.He was a monster, but he had a heart and it could be fragile, it could be broken, it could be shattered. If they died, his heart would lose pieces, if he bet on it and then lose, his heart would be hurt, but he also knew that heart was something to sacrifice sometimes, specially if it was for the people he cared about the most. “I thinks it’s all for tonight. Thank you for attending the reunion, please if you make any progress with the serum or this notebook, let me know” He gave the notebook to Mike and repeated his gratefulness to Hanji and Moblit before the left the office. Levi remained with him instead, the cup of tea still in his hand but he hadn’t taken a sip yet. “It’s getting cold” he commented just to initiate whatever conversation Levi wanted to have with him. “I’m going to get to the fucking point with you. What are you planning for real ?” asked Levi without hesitation in his voice, the voice of someone who knew he was right. “So you noticed ah ?” asked Erwin a little bit pleased “That I’m planning something”“I used to be a criminal, reading fuckers like you like open books was a requirement. So, what you’re planning for real ah ? With my blood, to start somewhere.” “You’re not asking my opinion on ethical matters of course” “Of course” replied Levi frankly. If Erwin was a man of principles and values, he wouldn’t have accepted all the compromises required to proceed without interferences from both his superiors and the government. He was a rational man, one that didn’t allow foolish sentimentality to cloud his judgment, one that didn’t hesitate to use the dirtiest tricks to get rid of anyone whom got in his way. Levi was like him, he had to if he wanted to survive among the worst of the worst.Erwin was possibly the worst kind of man someone could ever meet. It was the kind of person whom hide his cruelty after a mask of politeness, not necessarily fake, since Levi believed the commander to be a respectful and educated man, but the cruelty inside his heart remained. It was undeniable.Erwin sent hundreds and hundreds of men to die for him, for his crusade every single day, persuaded by the promises of a better world, of glory and unrealized dreams coming truth. A blinding light to hide the darkness of the death they would meet on the field. A man would have gone mad after years lived like that, but not Erwin, firm in his duty, sprouting those nonsense to those foolish men who couldn’t see over his angelic face. The only reason why Levi had seen Erwin for who he really was it was thanks to his experience as criminal. Of men like Erwin, the underground was full. “Pixis told me it was already planned. If we volunteer first, we can at least control the entire research” “So, everything is reduced to the same thing, control” “Yes” admitted Erwin “That’s why, I have to ask…” “Don’t ask” said Levi “Order me. There’s a reason why you and I, in spite of all this shit, work. Because we can speak frankly. So sprouts whatever thing you want me to do with that fucking mouth, but don’t treat me like others. I’m not like them.” He concluded looking the man straight into his eyes. “We’re certain a pair aren’t we ?” joked Erwin even though he was completely serious. They were, it was undeniable. The most unpredictable pair the world had ever seen, the former criminal and the former cop, the corporal and the commander. The brute strength and the cunning mind. A force to reckon, composed of two persons who complemented each other in a way they didn’t originally predict. In that year spent together, working side by side, they had reached a certain level of trust and comfort between each other, mostly due to the fact that Levi had seen Erwin for the man he was and so had Erwin.The commander only had to order, and Levi had tortured, killed, hunted men for him and Erwin was always behind him while he did it, while he hit a man so hard to make him faint, or when he tortured another one by breaking all the bones of both his arms, or when he killed someone and make it looked like accident. Erwin was always there behind him and so was Levi, when the blond practically sent his men to die away.They weren’t good men and with each other they could stop pretend, at least Erwin, Levi didn’t even try to appear like a man of principles. They didn’t have to turn their face away from the other’s crime, because in the end the crime of one was those of the others and one day they would both pay for their bad deeds, until that moment, if those deaths were needed to move on with their crusade, let it be.They were no longer kids whom believed that behaving well would bring many beautiful and magical things their way, no, they were grown adults whom knew that sometimes morals and principles had to be cast away and favored more “practical way” to get what they want, specially where words and threats couldn’t arrive.It was liberating, having found someone that made them feel comfortable about freeing their worst side, the one innate on any human being, but that took a new form entirely when it came to them, being able to be cruel and hurt people by seeing them for less of they actually are. Men willing to resort to violence to be the one in control, to get power over people and obtain what they wanted.They were that kind of persons. “Do you still have any contact with one of your former colleagues ?” asked Erwin. “You mean among Marleyan criminality ? Yeah, some of them still own me a favor or two” “Some of them knew that you work for me now ?” “I don’t think so. Maybe they think I died the night at the party. What do you need me to do ?” “As I said before, I suspect that the warrior units is selling stuff at the black market to earn money, nevertheless they surely need someone to sell them as well all they need and this…” he said taking a sheet from his desk “Is a list of all the contacts Tybur had, at least those we managed to learn. I want you to find them and, if some of them earn you some favor, I want you to convince them to make a deal” Levi furrowed, before taking a look at the list, then he asked “What if they won’t ?” “Then ‘persuade’ them, as long as we found out who’s selling to the Warrior Unit and anticipate them. Even if we manage to cut off someone of their deal, we will be able to restrict this list to few people, ones we will persuade to collaborate with us to keep an eyes on the unit, and have and advantage and once we will earn more manpower and weapons, we will be able to capture, arrest them and kill them before the government decide to turn them into weapons for Marleyan army” “We will need money for this, you that right ? These fuckers are familiar with violence, it won’t be easy to scare away and we will money to pay their silence” “Money are not going to be a problem. Do you remember the crystals we found at the villa ? There were many boxes with them inside it. We’re going to use them to pay those people” said Erwin. When Hanji expressed her worries about their funds before, he had already thought about using those crystals to cover their expenses but he didn’t want to share that intention with them. The less people knew about it, the safer they were and he trusted Levi to keep the secret the most among all of them, even Mike. It was a delicate matter and he knew that, if something came out, Pixis wasn’t going to cover for him that time that was why he didn’t involve the others. If something happen and he got quitted, Hanji would take his place and in a certain way it would like remaining in charge for him. “How are you going to cover for it ?” asked Levi stunned. “The catalogue with all the things we had found in that place is supervised by me and I have yet to send a copy for Pixis. Once I saw those crystals, I knew I could earn something from them, something more practical and more useful to us than being left in a box, sent to other researches site or worse being used to create jewels for the emperor.” “You thought about everything eyebrows. Amazing” “Furthermore, on the notebook I gave to Mike, I found a symbol, it was the only drawn in it…” he said giving another picture to Levi, there were four triangles with a rhombus at the center and a snake that wrapped all of it “… it was on the uniform of the dying man I found in the villa. I believe that it’s the specific symbol of a group of mercenary, it’s not much, but maybe we could find out who they were and maybe someone will be able to tell us who they were in business with” “Is that all ?” asked Levi “When I can leave to get in contact with them ? Certain businesses needed to be taken care personally and for them, I’m still a criminal” “The sooner the better. Take a moment to reflect about all the equipment you need and I’ll arrange everything for you” “I’ll be on my way then eyebrows” said Levi leaving his office without another word. Their conversation was over anyway and Levi wanted to start his mission as soon as possible. In the meantime, Erwin sighed, passing a hand through his hair, feeling exhausted after the reunion and the conversation with Levi. He sat behind his desk, undecided weather to clean up his office or if it was better quit and go to bed to rest a little. Pointless, since his mind was still fully crowded with all the planning regarding the next operations.He closed his eyes for a moment, looking up at the ceiling, when someone knock at his door. He furrowed, surely it wasn’t Levi, he wasn’t the type of knocking, not even Hanji. “Yes ?” he simply said. The door got opened and the last person he expected entered inside the room, dressed up in his pajamas with messy hair, but a determinate expression on his face and two cups of something warm, maybe chocolate according to the sweet smell coming from them. “Goodnight commander, may I talk to you ?” asked Armin politely. “Sure, take a sit” he said, inviting Armin to sit in front of him a put a cup of hot chocolate on the desk. “I have something to talk with you. I think we’re dancing around it for too long, but I have an idea about controlling the warriors unit’s next move” Erwin furrowed, but remained in silence, waiting for a further explanation. He slowly grabbed the cup of chocolate and took a sip. It was exactly what he needed to calm himself. “The boy. It’s our winning card. You asked me once to make him get in contact with the warrior unit, to pass them some basic information but then our contact got interrupted after we found their hideout, after they left it” “So ? Do you want to try to get in contact with them ?” “Yes, it won’t be easy but I think that if we are a little bit forceful, we will be able to push them in our right direction and in meantime learning what they learn. You and I know that, ironically, they have more lead and clues about Tybur’ secrets, they know where to look, that’s why they always anticipated us, but if I manage to reestablish our contact, then we will know what they knew. They will collect intel for us and in meantime we will keep an eye on them until the time to arrest them come.” “And what role the boy would have in all of this ?” Erwin already figured it out, but he wanted to hear it from Armin’s mouth. Word by word. “I know you’re already planning a way to anticipate their move…” “How ?” “Because it’s something I would do in your place. Anyway anticipate their moves, is not enough. They’re not always one step ahead of us, they also know more than we do and if they were smart, Yeager surely is, they had erased their traces and the information they gathered to prevent us from learning them as well. We need to collaborate with them without them knowing and the boy is the key to do it. We have to use the warriors unit before to arrest them” “You said yourself, Yeager is smart, he’s not going to fall for our trap” “I wasn’t referring to Yeager indeed. He’s a rational man, I was talking about hitting them on their feelings. Colt Grice is Falco’s older brother and he’s nothing like Yeager, sure, he’s a dutiful soldier but he would die for his brother and if he realizes that Falco is in danger, I’m sure, he would even sell his comrades.” “Are you sure Colt Grice would let his feelings jeopardize his unit’s mission ? That his love for his younger brother is stronger than his fear and respect for Yeager ?” “The biggest madness are committed in the name of love commander” replied Armin quickly, sure, with a bit of melancholy. Like he was, in a certain way, admitting that guilty as well. “How are you going to convince the boy ?” “I’m going to use the scalpel instead of machete. I will cut his resolution slowly, trying to convince him that is the best course of action. I’m his emotional support here, if I’m kind enough, he will do anything I say” There was a certain coldness in his tone of voice and Erwin understood that Armin was trying to dissociate himself from the vile words that were coming out his mouth. It was a tactic he used as well, it was the only way for those like them to have the gut to look at themselves, in the mirror, without wanting to scratch their face with their nails for the disgust they felt toward what they saw.Monsters, abominations, worms.Dissociate their feelings from their actions was the only thing that allowed them to do the things they did. “What’s my role in this ?” “To reestablish the connection, I need to appear as a traitor. They think I work for them and they needed to believe it. Falco needs to believe it. You have to be with me when I talk with him and if you can find a way to get me in contact with them, please do it” Erwin nodded. Levi could handle it. According to him, his former colleagues believed him to be still one of them, a criminal. Levi could lie to them and tell him that it was given to him a job to get in contact with Colt Grice. It was a brilliant plan actually. Also to weaken the warrior unit from inside. Emotions were dangerous and actions driven by desperations were unpredictable, could results into something that people himself could have never expected.If Grice’s love for his brother could be the key to manipulate and control them from inside then Erwin was fine with it.The end justified the means. “When do you want to talk with the boy ?” “Tomorrow morning. He’s sleeping right now and I want him to be perfectly lucid when we’re going to talk with him” “Okay. Is that all ?” “How are you ?” asked Armin softly, while his eyes recuperate a little bit of color, betraying a certain softness in them. “I’m tired” answered Erwin. ‘Tired’ was a general word that could mean both everything and nothing at the same time. Erwin was tired of many things at the moment, but he wasn’t in the mood to elaborate. “Stay here with me” he simply said “Finish your cup of chocolate with me” “And then ?” “Then what ?” “Nothing” said Armin taking a sip of his chocolate “You should rest though, or else you will be too tired to play our little game” he joked. Erwin smiled “You won’t play when I’m not able to keep up with you. Winning to have cheated would hurt your pride” “True” Armin giggled, forgetting for a moment who and where they were. If only fate had been kinder with them, Armin would have loved a man like Erwin, smart, educated, ambitious and refined to share some interesting conversation with, but also someone he didn’t need to hide his darkest side from. A man like Erwin would have loved the most twisted part of him as well, without hesitation, without fear or even shame.Erwin was man who knew what he wanted and how to get it and Armin loved that part of him, otherwise he knew he wouldn’t be able to put it up with some whiny, spineless man with no ambition in his life ‘These are dangerous thoughts, aren’t they ?’ “I better go, in case the kid woke up again” he said standing up and avoiding the other’s eyes “Goodnight, commander” … Secret Location 20th September 2098 ‘So, here we come’ thought Armin in front of Erwin’s door. Falco and him went there as soon as they finished their morning breakfast and even though Armin had hidden all his inner turmoil, he could feel that the boy next to him was tense.Armin had wore his white coat for the occasion, somehow it helped him to facilitate his dissociation process, since the worst actions he’d ever committed were committed with the coat on him. It was the clothe that better represented how cruel he actually was, that better hide and represented the monster he really was.The boy, on his side, was wearing a simple light blue shirt, a pair of jeans and white shoes. “Stay calm and be collaborative Falco.” He told him putting an hand over his shoulder. It could mistake for a sign of reassurance, but it was a sign of dominance. Armin was invading the other’ space to communicate him that it was better to listen and obey. Falco was trained as a warrior, implicitly he would feel what that gesture meant and act according to it. “What am I supposed to do if he asks me something I don’t want to ?” “Keep in mind that Commander Smith is all that separates us from prison, Falco.” He simply answered. It was enough. Falco nodded, even though that wasn’t the answer he had hoped to hear. Armin wasn’t there to console him, he was there to persuade Falco to act according to the plan. He blinked again and in front of him all he saw was one of the samples he used to study, one to molded in order to obtain the results he wanted. Something lifeless and unworthy unless Armin could earn something from it. “Once we enter the room, remember, not matter what he says, keep in mind that our lives depend on him” “I under…” “Your family’s life depend on him as well” continued Armin interrupting the boy, to emphasize that his voice and word mattered the most. Without saying anything further, he knocked at the door and waited to be called inside. Falco jumped when Erwin’s voice invited them him, but Armin didn’t give him the time to calm himself that he opened the door and practically dragged the boy inside, closing the door behind them.Falco needed to understand that there was no way out of that situation, unless Erwin wanted to.The commander’s office was a little strict, or maybe the piles of documents shattered around the room made it look that way, or maybe it was the suppressing atmosphere inside it that made feel Falco suffocating and willing to get out of there as soon as possible. “Good morning, commander Smith. What do you want to talk with us ?” asked Armin pushing Falco toward the chair in front of Erwin’s desk and made him sit. Falco gulped. For some reason, commander’s figure looked more imposing and intimidating than before, with his uniform, the perfect posture and those cold and calculating eyes that could perfectly matched those of commander Yeager. “Thanks to both you for coming here. I apologized for not clarifies the motives, but I want to discuss something with you, young Grice. Something regarding your family, to be more specific. Dr. Arlert told me you’re deeply worried about them” “What about my family ?” “As you surely know, they’re still officially imprisoned, until your brother won’t be arrested for his association with the Tybur Industries. You’d agree with me that your parents shouldn’t suffer like this right ?” Falco nodded, trying not to burst in tears in front of that man. The thought of his family suffering for something they hadn’t done, for crimes they were unware, not knowing if he had the chance to see them again, hurt. He was aching for his family and praying for them every night, but he didn’t understand why the commander wanted to talk about them so suddenly. “Good, I’ll go straight to the point can help your family, but of course you have to do your part.” “What do you mean ? What part ?” Armin took sit next to Falco and grabbed his little hands “The point is, Falco, that even though Falco will be declared innocent the recent events, like Lago City or the kidnapping of those sailors, he would ended up in prison anyway and in the meantime your family will keep paying. It doesn’t have to be that way though” Falco, in spite of his young age, was starting to realize where that conversation was going and he didn’t like it. At all, even though he wasn’t stupid, but he saw the logical behind it nonetheless and that hurt.If he felt thorn before, then he was feeling completely conflicted. He thought about Armin’s words, about the fact that they were there only because Erwin wanted them to, because he was protecting them, for the moment for asking something in return war arrived and the price was higher than he had originally imagined. “Are you asking me to betray my comrades ?” asked Falco to Armin. He was looking at the doctor like he could barely recognize him, like he was looking at the vilest man on earth. There was no way Falco was going to betray his family. He knew that they were being blamed for horrible crimes, but many of the charges were committed by someone else and the unit had the right do try to prove its innocence.Furthermore, Falco couldn’t imagine himself working with his unit’s enemy, he simply couldn’t. It went against his principles. “He’s ordering you actually” said Armin “You don’t have a choice Falco” “So, you accepted the deal ?” asked Falco looking at him with disappointment. Of course the other accepted to work for the Scouts Legion, even though he promised Falco to help him reunite with the warriors unit and then help them as well. How could he ? What did he obtain in return ? What could have been so important and tempting to make Armin shift side ? “Don’t look at me like that, kid. I’m simply trying to survive. We both know that if things go wrong, the world will demand our head and those of our families.” Almost like he was reading Falco’s thoughts. “How could you ? You’re asking me to do something horrible” “More horrible than kidnapping people to turn them into cannibalistic monster ?” asked Armin “Women, men, children… ripped away from their family to create the same serum injected to any member of the warrior unit. Their gifted is based on the sacrifices of those people, isn’t it horrible ?” “You know that not all of them had a choice…” “And that is supposed to justify them ? To make them different from me ? Or they simply decide to sacrifice others to survive another day ? It’s not like you have any other choice, you could use this excuse as well if it helps you sleep at night” “I mean…” “I used to be a researcher before to join the warrior unit. Do you know what was my first task ?” said Armin interrupting the other again. There was only one voice that mattered and that was his. “I don’t want to know” said Falco taking his eyes off him and covering his ears. “I bet commander Yeager was assigned a similar task… we are taught how to use a scalpel and use it to cut the skin… the people we use it on weren’t always unconscious you know that ? It was that or Tybur had given order to put a bullet in my head. For Yeager was different and you know it. When he decided to cut people with a scalpel, he did it because he wanted” “Why are you telling me this ? My brother isn’t guilty for that” “You know, experience taught me that it’s incorrect separate theoretical research from the ones in the field, you know why ? Because in the second you put in actions the datas you collect in the first. Your brother belongs to the second, in the eyes of the world is not innocent. Not matter how hard you want to convince yourself that this nightmare is going to turn into a fairytale so soon.” “So do you want commander Yeager ?” Falco felt ambivalent feelings toward that man. He respected him, just like any soldier was taught to respect a superior, and nevertheless there was always something off about him, something that Falco couldn’t figure out, but that was there and was alarming.The man looked at everyone like their were his next guinea pigs. Like he couldn’t wait to perform a vivisection on them, to see how much time it took before they die under his gaze.He was a cruel and sadistic man that would sacrifice the entire warriors unit, Falco knew it, because he was blinded by his charisma like Colt. There were things that only a coward like him could see, after all, and a weak heart like him recognized an indomitable threat when he saw one.Zeke Yeager was a man to fear, whom didn’t care about the members of his unit or Falco would have been reunite with his brother already. “I want the warriors unit” said Erwin, leaving no room for discussion “I can help you with your family but the unit had to pay for the crimes it took part into, for all the people who have lost their lives by their hands. You could either decide to save a part of your family or to drag it down with you and your brother. That’s all” “You asked me if I miss my family ? I do” said Armin “And if my family was still alive, I’d do anything to protect them from my mistakes, because that’s what a good son do. If you do a good job, maybe your brother will be forgiven as well. Don’t you want to know if he’s okay after all ? Don’t you miss him ? Don’t you miss them ?” “Are you trying to convince me that betray is the right thing do to ?” asked Falco “Warriors are my family as well” Armin and Erwin shared a look, then the commander nodded.They leaded Falco exactly where they wanted to. Family.He opened the second drawer of his desk and took a little I-pod from there. He opened it and tapped something before putting it on his desk. After few seconds, the imagine of his mother appeared on the screen. “What… ?” Falco almost didn’t recognize her. His mother looked older, her blond hair were messy, more wrinkle surrounded her eyes and marked her check and she looked thinner and sick and she had an evident bruise on her lip and on one of her cheekbones. What were those people doing to her ? Where was his father ? Why wasn’t he with her ? “Falco ? Is that really you ?” asked his mother through her sobbing. “I convinced my superiors to allow you to talk with her, explaining them the entire situation.”
“Falco, my baby, why isn’t Colt with you ? Are you okay ?”
“I’m okay mom, I don’t know where Colt is, but you don’t have to worry about me. Where’s dad ?” At his question, his mother bursted in tears, covering her mouth to repress her sobbing, which made Falco hyperventilating. Why wasn’t she answering him ? Where was his dad ? Was he…
“Your father, is very sick Falco. His heart couldn’t endure the pain caused by your disappearance and everything happened after that, but the cures are expensive and… no one’s helping us. They look at us like we’re criminals… it’s like they’re simply wait your father’s death… Oh Falco… your father…”
Falco got not chance to reply that the call was cut off from his mother’ side and the screen went black again. He looked up at Erwin, with tears wetting his checks and the eyes full of desperation. In return, there was nothing but coldness in those of the commander and for once he was actually scared of him, more than he’d ever been scared of Zeke Yeager.He finally understood Armin’s words as well. There was no point in sticking with his duties toward the unit, not if he wanted to save at least what was left of his family. He’d never believed that such a moment would come, but it was clear that he had no choice. His mother didn’t look well and his father was dying and if he didn’t help, the fault would be his. He was naïve when he believed that the unit would have fixed everything in short time, but it was clear that his family was running out of time and never like in that moment he felt the pressure of the hatred of the whole world on him.The world hated them and wanted them to pay for Tybur’s crimes… He had no other choice but… “What do you want me to do ?” he asked softly. Armin and Erwin smiled, knowing that they had won the match “You’re going to be trained as a member of the scouts, then, once we will managed to get in contact with your brother, you’re going to tell him everything we order you to. You’re going to discover all they have known and in return, I’m going to guarantee a weekly call with your mom, treatments for your father and, once all this will end, I’m going to put a good to favor your family. So, try not to do anything reckless okay ?” It was a veiled warning to him not to even think about betraying them or doing something funny, or else his parents would pay for his actions. He was in trap, surrounded by enemies he couldn’t fight and the only thing a coward like could do was to accept the offer, lower his gaze and do anything he could to protect himself and his family. “Good, you can go now. Mike’s waiting for you outside. Your training will start tomorrow” said Erwin with a gentle smile. Falco simply nodded, too afraid to look the man in the eyes. He stood up and left the room that suddenly seemed too suffocating for him, leaving Armin and Erwin alone.The blond commander looked at younger doctor and he saw him blink and all his humanity and compassion turned on again, filling those baby blue eyes with sadness and surrendering knowledge that what they did was horrible and vile but necessary.Armin allowed one single tear leaving his eyes, showing his pain and shame to Erwin, letting for once his wall to crumble, expecting Erwin to take advantage of that, but the commander surprised him again. Erwin looked at him with gentle eyes, slowly taking his hand to comfort him, to make him understand that he shared the same feelings, that it was okay to break down once in a while and that if he wanted to cry, Erwin wasn’t going to consider him weak. “We are such complicated men…” he whispered, while more tears were wetting his checks. “We’re simple man in a complicated life, actually.” Corrected him Erwin. “Why can’t we be like this with the things we actually want ?” “Because the things we actually want would only obstacle our ambitions in the long run.” “I’m not strong enough to suppress them, at the moment. What about you ?” asked Armin through the tears. “Armin…” said Erwin calling by his name “… stop…” "We should postpone our picnic for today." "Armin..." Armin didn’t listen to him. He started unbuttoning the first buttons of the white coat he was wearing, then he took it off and let if fall on the floor and started doing the same with the buttons of the shirt he was wearing underneath.The doctor had no idea where all that boldness come from, but the game between him and Erwin wasn’t over yet, because in the end, everything about them was reduced to that, right ?They were nothing but a game, their relationship nothing but a competition and if he had to be vile that day, then why not continuing that way ? Corrupting his body and his feelings one more time to get what he wanted, because he knew, that if he invited Erwin to dance with him, sooner or later the man would join him on the dancefloor. Because he wasn’t seducing him, no, seduction had nothing to do with it, he was challenging Erwin, to make that dare with him, to see in the end who was the last one standing.Sex was such overrated activity, people were too focused on the pleasure it could give, too see the things they could actually obtain from it.A man like Erwin was the ones of his dream and if fate had been kinder with them, in that moment, he would be actually seducing him because he felt attracted to him. But fate had been cruel, it had other plans in store for them, it pushed Armin to start touching his left nipple, without stopping look at the commander’s eyes. “Sex could be like a caress of solace” he simply said “Or are you going to say that it’s against work ethic” Erwin laughed “You know by know that I’m not strict when it comes with work ethic” “So what’s the problem with my invitation ?” “You’re inviting me to play a dangerous game, once done, we could never go back” “We’re going to face the consequences, when the time comes, but for now…” he said finishing unbuttoning his shirt “I wait for your next move, commander” “Am I not too old for you ?” “My physically age is 20, if you’re wondering whether sex between us two is legal, my chronological ones instead well… it’s not polite to ask” he joked again. Erwin snorted again. He was a decade older than Armin, but it wasn’t that what made him hesitant, not even the sex itself.Sex was only a means like another to an end, it was easy for him to dissociate during the act, but he knew that between him and Armin, dissociation wasn’t going to be an option.He couldn’t play a game if he wasn’t into it, that was what worry him the most, specially after they both showed the other a sparkle of their human side after hiding it behind their mask for so long. It was a risk, a gamble, he had more to lose than to gain, from it and nevertheless…He’d been alone so long, he’d been hiding himself from for so long, and then he finally met his perfect pair, someone twisted, vile, smart, cunning, like him. Someone that intrigued him because he couldn’t control and at the same time he wanted to see submitted to him in a never ending game for control. Erwin wanted to mold that body with his own hands, he wanted to see whom, between the two, would make rationality prevail in that abysses of passion and emotions.His eyes darken at mere thought of all the things he wished he could do to that man in front of him. “Put on your coat again, we’re not doing it here” … Their game started in Commander’s bedroom.Armin had wore again his white coat only to let it fell again on Erwin’s floor. His bedroom was immaculate as Armin expected, perfectly clean and also void of any personal item. There were no family pictures, not even certifications regarding his military career hung on the walls and even the furniture was essential and all colored with a sterile white, like the desk on the right, with another computer on it, some folders and a lamp, beside it there was the closet and a shoe cabinet. On the other side there was a door, an armchair, and the double sized bed with indigo sheets, the only color in that room and a bedside table with a book and a lamp.It was a room that told nothing of its owner, it could be anyone’s, and Erwin preferred it that way.He was finishing unbuttoning his shirt when he felt Erwin’s behind him, one of his left hand started touching the tip of his hair, while the other hand gently grabbed his hip over the shirt.Armin moved until his back touched Erwin’s chest, gently taking the hand on his hip and guide it on the naked skin of his torso, while Erwin lowered himself until Armin could feel his warm breath next to his neck.Armin let his head fall on Erwin’s shoulder, while with his left hand he gently cupped Erwin’s face, inviting the other to came closer, to kiss him, but Erwin kissed him on his check, moving the hand from his hair to his chin and lips, starting kissing his neck, while the other hand started touching and teasing his nipple.The young shifter bite his lip to repress his moans, silently enjoying the marveling sensation of Erwin’s lips and teeth on his neck. “You know that hickey won’t last long right ?” he asked. “Pity…” “Yeah…” said Armin starting unbuttoning his pants “…A real pity” That time it was Erwin whom took initiative “Want it wet ?” he asked before continuing licking and biting the skin of his neck. Armin smirked, he grabbed the hand that was teasing his nipple and licked it, tasting his skin while slowly sliding his tongue along the length of the palm, surprised that those hands were soft. He let the hand go and then he finished opening his trousers and let it fell on the floor. He was going to lower his boxers as well, but Erwin was faster than him, he lowered his hand along his torso, belly, until his fingers met light around Armin, his palm fit over him near the head and then he suddenly squeezed, dragging an hiss and another moan out of Armin’s mouth.He’d never been so hard in his life, to the point that he could barely keep his eyes open, to the point that the whole world disappear and all his reality was reduced to that sinful hand wrapped around his intimacy and the intoxicating perfume Erwin used to wore.The commander moved his hand confidently, he dragged his fingers all the way to the base, then up, then down again, squeezing him all at the right places.At some point, Armin stopped repressing his moans, completely abandoning himself at the sweet sensations he was receiving, moving his hips according to Erwin’s hand. “Erwin” he moaned bowing his head back and licking Erwin chin. “You like it don’t you ?” asked Erwin taking Armin’s shirt off and touching his bare back with his fingers, sending chills to the younger man “You like being touched like this by a powerful man like me right ?” he asked biting Armin’s ear. “You get hard at the mere thought of what a cruel man like me could do to you right ?” asked Erwin pinching Armin’s buttcheck and pushing it against him, so that the younger man could feel the effects he had on him. Armin moaned again and said “I do and I loved the effect I have on you. A powerful man like you… attracted to me… willing to play with me…” he finished the sentence and grabbed Erwin’s other hand started licking his fingers and looking him straight in the eyes. It was another invitation, Erwin knew, observing while Armin sucked his fingers, licked them, tasted them and invited him to use them on him.It was the closest thing to a kiss he was going to get, kissing was too intimate and only for people we liked and Armin knew that Erwin wasn’t going to concede him a kiss.Once Armin was satisfied, he let go his fingers, the same fingers that slipped inside him, while his hole clenched around welcoming the sensation of being fingered. Armin had no idea how could he still standing, spreading out his legs, split between the powerful touch of Erwin’s hand on his cock and his hips moving on his fingers, fucking on them.Both were equally pleasing and were driving him mad.He wrapped his hand around Erwin’s, moving them together and keeping moving his hips again. Erwin speeded up his movements and Armin knew that he wasn’t going to last long. “Stop…” he murmured “It’s our first time, I want to cum with you in me” he said pushing the hand away and finishing to undress himself. Only then he realized that he was practically fully naked while Erwin was still fully clothed. Not that he minded, being naked in front of someone wasn’t a position of submission, it all depended on how that person behaved according to the situation.He moved closer to Erwin, whom was taking off his uniform and helped him undressing him, admiring his body, the scars on his torso, wishing for one day to know how he got any of them, wishing for that kind of intimacy, when Erwin felt comfortable enough to open up to him. It was just a fantasy, he knew, but he hoped it come true, one day.If he had thought that Erwin was an attractive man before, then the only thing he could thing was that he was handsome, with the perfection that could rival the heroes depicted in the poems. The scars didn’t make him less beautiful, not when they were prove of his courage, of his sacrifice and his hardship. Erwin was a complicate man, that didn’t concede his body to the first whom complimented him, he didn’t let other guiding him over the bed, opening his drawer to take the lube and applying it on his cock. “I want to give you pleasure” said Armin “I want to be yours” “Don’t say things like that. We both know you belong to someone, at that someone is not me” said Erwin with a certain severity, mixed to a melancholy and maybe a little bit of jealousy. “That person isn’t here now” said Armin neither confirming or denying what Erwin stated “I’m yours for now, I want to be yours.” He said surrounding Erwin’s neck with his arms. He settled himself on Erwin’s thighs, while the man wrapped his arms around him, keeping them close. Armin started rocking his body, taking control of the pace, but Erwin mirrored his movements, while kissing him on the shoulder, on his neck, sucking his nipple, touching his hair.Abandoning himself at his desire and at the loving sensation of feeling one with Erwin, Armin closed his eyes, threw his head back and moaned, calling out Erwin’s name.The man grabbed his ass with one hand and started stroking his cock with the other, painted Armin’s neck with his hot breath.Two monsters united with the same desire, so close, and yet so apart that not even a kiss was allowed between them. What a pretty picture… “Only a monster like me… could ever…” started saying Erwin. “I know…” painted Armin “We found each other in the worst way possible” He didn’t dare to say more. Words were very dangerous in that moment, when their rationality was annulled in favor of their emotions. Armin preferred to stay focused on the movements of his hips, at the feeling of Erwin’s cock inside him and his strong hands touching him, because if he thought for a moment about how much he had wanted it with him, that a deep part of him was happy to be there in the arms of this complicated man that took his breath away.It was only when they both reached the orgasm, that Armin realized not to have thought about Eren and his calculating golden eyes once.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Paradis Island 19th September 2098 ‘Here we go again…’ Floch thought looking at the sea ‘They must be so desperate…’ It was a rainy day on the island, the kind of day when only mad men, or the desperate ones, would be brave enough for a little trip through the waves. Another grave misfortune on their part was that they were sailing toward Paradis during Floch’s guard duty.Paradis’ coasts hadn’t been under attack in a long time. Tybur’s men had lost hope to conquer again Paradis after the incident happen in 2095. For five years Floch and his comrades had seen ships and floats sailing toward them with the hope to retrieve the nucleus but Floch always managed to overpower them and protect his island, his king’s reign. After two years ships stopped sailing there, Marley lost Paradis forever and it became their turf to protect.Until that day… ‘Floch, is everything okay ?’ asked Thomas’ voice in his head. ‘We have company but don’t worry… I can handle it…’ answered Floch while his eyes were turning golden. He was going to bite his hand and dive inside the water when someone gently grabbed his wrist and stop him.Floch would have recognize that beautiful tanned hand everywhere, but how could he miss to sense his presence though ?He turned around and saw his king in front of him, tall and proud as ever, dressed up all in black, with his hair tied in a ponytail that looked even darker due to the rainy weather, beautiful and lethal as ever. “Don’t worry, you were doing a great job. Always protecting what’s ours” said Eren with a gentle smile “I was just training with my powers, trying to suppress my scent. That’s why I called them, to take me back to Marley” Eren knew he could rely on Floch’s discretion on that matter. In his place, Frieda would have attempted to persuade him to rethink about it, to the point of involving the entire island. Of course she would find out sooner or later, but Eren knew that he was doing the right thing.He needed to train his powers outside the borders of the island, with real target and trying to keep part of them a secret, even from his own people. Maybe he was being unfair, but his capability of seeing the future was suggesting him more and more that somethings were better kept hidden even from the people closest to him. For the moment it was the best strategy. “What do you mean ? Are you leaving Paradis ?” asked Floch alarmed “Take me with you” “I need you here to protect our people Floch and there’s no room for discussion” said Eren not admitting any reply. “Why ? You have left Paradis few times, how could you expect me not to worry about you being all alone in Marley ? Where all your enemies have been waiting for a wrong move on your part to capture you ?” “Floch, as I said before, I need to train with my powers and I also have a plan”Eren didn’t explain further, he didn’t feel the need to, not with Floch anyway. According to the information Armin provided him with, Erwin was trying to anticipate Zeke Yeager’s moves by forming a web of spies and that Corporal Levi was going to use his acquaintances among criminals for it.Eren could use the situation for his advantage as well. To find that man… to have him in his grasps… “A plan ?” “Until today, all our plans to make that man leave his hideout had been fruitless and we have no more time to waste. Frieda is right, if we have to strike, now is the right moment but if that man is still out there…” “You would be in danger… I know…” “We all would be, that’s why I have to do and I have to do it alone. I’m the most powerful creature on earth, no one could stop me and you know that I can do things that not even Paradis’ researchers knew I could do. I will be fine, but Paradis, without me, Armin, Sasha and Marco, needs your protection.” “I understand” Floch looked unconvinced, but he knew that he it would be futile replying further. Eren had made his mind and he wasn’t as persuasive as Armin to be able to make Eren staying there. He still hated the idea, but he also understood the importance of finding that man, plus everything that Eren wished was a command for him.Floch wanted nothing more than pleasure his king. “I will wait for your return. Have a safe journey” he whispered gently grabbing Eren’s hand and kissing his knuckles. Eren smiled gently and a little bit embarrassed. At the beginning, when everything concerning the social interactions was new to him, he rejected any physical touch, but then thanks to Armin he got used to hugs, handshakes, caresses and even Floch’s weird approaches to him.Armin once suggested that Floch had romantic feelings for him and that Eren shouldn’t have indulged him by responding to him. When Floch grabbed his hand, Eren allowed him to, when the other caresses his cheeks, Eren allowed him to, when Floch gently kissed him on his lips or with his tongue, Eren allowed him to.Maybe Armin was right, he shouldn’t be doing it, but a part of him couldn’t help but feel curious about that sort of stuff. Romantic stuff, actually.Any other person on the island had already at least kissed someone once in their life, Eren had never even hold hands with anyone before. His lacks of experience in that department increased his sense of being different from the others.Maybe it was unfair toward Floch but Eren wanted his time to have a better understanding of his feelings as well. “Thank you Floch, take care of yourself” He looked toward the ship and took a deep breath, his journey toward Marley was about to become. … Marley underground 21st September 2098 ‘I missed nothing about this place’ That was Levi thought about his former home. It was exactly like he remembered it, with its decadent buildings that were slowly falling down, the street so dirty and full of rubbish that it was impossible not to smell it, the people outside the street were or beggars, or thieves or little criminals, while the big shots were hiding somewhere, but Levi was confident that he could easily find them if he asked the right questions to the right people.He looked up and sighed. There was a reason why that place was called underground, the sky there was always clouded, the sun always hidden from them, almost like it had forgotten to shine there as well. It suited the atmosphere of that place, it increased the sense of living like worms underground, unworthy of the sunlight, unworthy to be seen or considered by the rest of the world.God, staying there wasn’t good for his mood. “Let’s get started” he whispered. The first thing he needed to do was to come back to his place, he needed to collect some of his stuff left there before someone else occupied his place and maybe put their hands on something valuable. Levi was the man of the action but Furlan was the one with contacts and information so he would better start from there before wasting time by asking people around.Rumors spread fast in that hell and if some of the people he was looking for knew that a stranger was asking about them, there would be the risk not to find them. A risk he couldn’t afford at the time.He arrived at the apartment he shared with Isabel and Furlan an half an hour later and maybe he spent another fifteen minutes outside because he lacked the courage to enter and to face the memories of his failures.There was nothing worse than coming back to an empty house full of memories of something he could never have back.He turned the lights on, surprised that it still worked, and took a look around. He snorted, the place was full of dust and webs, it was cold and looked so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.The ceiling had more cracks and so the rest of the beige walls, the couch and the rest of the furniture were covered by dust and he noticed that something was missing, for example the little tv that he and Furlan managed to buy few months before their last missions, or for example the fake vase that Izzy meant to sell by passing it off for a valuable one. “We’re all busy people ah ?” commented Levi with high sarcasm “Shit…” He composed himself and focused on his task. He wasn’t there for a memory lane but to get Furlan’s information about his contacts in the underground and he had no intention of staying there more than necessary.The apartment they shared was small, as soon as you entered it there was the living room, with a poor wooden floor that creak at any step, there was a purple couch and a white plastic coffee table at the center with a block note and a pencil on it and behind the couch there was a small dining table with the chair, one of them full of scotch tape for all those times they had to reassemble it. Again, behind them there was the kitchen and Levi snorted in disgusting at only thinking about the spoiled food that he would have found inside the fridge.At the left side of the room, there was a wooden door that leaded toward a corridor that leaded toward their three bedrooms that were on the right side and the bathroom and a the lumber-room on the left ones. Furlan’s bedroom was the first on the left.He walked straight toward Furlan’s bedroom, trying not to be overwhelmed by memories again and focusing on his searching.Furlan’s bedroom used to be the second cleanest room of the house, the closest to Levi’ standards since Isabel was still living her adolescence apparently and Levi could barely see the pavement when he entered her bedroom.Right then it was clear that somebody had been there and had been looked for something, money or something valuable to sell. “Not a fucking surprise” he murmured looking at the mess around him. The bed was completely unmade, the drawers of the bedside table and of the dresser were on the floor, with all the things scattered on the ground. There were Furlan’s clothes, his pencils, the few books he possessed, his journals and there was also a broken frame.Levi knew what it was about. He gently grabbed it to reveal a picture of him, Furlan and Isobel, it was taken few days later they managed to rent this apartment together.Furlan thought that wasted some money on that picture to celebrate the moment was worthy, Levi didn’t agree but accepted to pose with them anyway.Again, he wasn’t there for that. He needed to find that list of contacts and then leave that place behind once and for all and try to move on.He searched all around the room, until he found Furlan’ secret place under the pavement. He found a Furlan’s wooden box, where he knew he kept his personal things and he was a little bit surprised to find it there after an year.His “powers” were starting to kick in, telling him that something wasn’t good, that that box wasn’t supposed to be there, he quickly opened it and found the journal where Furlan wrote down his contacts and took it before his instincts spoke out in his head for the first time in there. ‘You’re not alone… You should leave… leave the box out…’
He had been naïve, he shouldn’t have come back here, he should have expected that someone had been waiting for his return and set him a trap after all that time. When he left the underground before joining that mission with Furlan and Isabel, he left many enemies behind that were waiting to get their pound of flesh.He realized why it was suggested to him not to put the box back where he took it when he heard something clicking under the pavement, an imperceptible sound that he wouldn’t have heard without his abilities, but he did. ‘Shit…’ He had to run…He used his powers to analyze the situation and chose right best course of actions. His instincts were telling him that it was not wise to escape from the windows, that there were three people waiting for him on the roof of the nearby building and that he was being observed from somewhere.He didn’t put the box back, he simply checked the journal for a moment to be sure to have taken the right thing, but his instincts were telling him not to get worried about it. ‘So that’s why this place is still empty, it was kept this way for me… they were waiting for my return…’ At this point Levi wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the underground learnt that he worked with the Scouts Legion even if Erwin did his best to keep it a secret.Well, he still had many resources and even more since the day he left that shithole and surely he wasn’t going to be trapped like a rat without fighting and surely he didn’t come there unprepared. He stood up and run outside Furlan’s bedroom before it got filled with smoke, he closed the door behind and then his instincts suggested him to wait a couple minute for the smoke to fill the room and then leaving the apartment.So he did.He left the building following his instincts from the back exit and then he kept walking without looking behind and avoiding the fight. It was better that way for the moment not to attract any more attention on him… ‘It’s not for this…’ Sometimes Levi didn’t understand his instincts and the meaning behind them, but until that moment his abilities had never failed him and at the moment he needed them if he wanted to survive. ‘I have no time to play games’ ‘It’s close…’
Those words made his freeze. What’s close ? There was someone else whom was following him ? Was he still in danger ?
‘You have nothing to worry about… it’s closer and closer…’
‘What’s closer ? What’s close…’ “Ah” Levi gasped, grabbing his head and falling with his knees on the ground. He was having a headache, a very strong one and in the worst moment ever. The longer he remained in an open space, the more he was exposed to dangers. He gritted his teeth and slowly stood up and moved, as fast as he could, to find somewhere to hide where he would have time to read Furlan’s journal and try to gain some information about that group of mercenaries the Scout legion found in the villa.
‘It’s close… the moment… it’s close… closer… it’s behind us…’
Levi turned around but he saw nothing if not the same dark and dirty alley and the abandoned buildings around him, but he felt no one and saw no one and couldn’t understand the meaning behind those words, so he decided to ignore them again and continuing his searching.Nevertheless, the voices inside his head that were telling him that something was closer and closer hadn’t left him for even a second. …
‘It’s close…’
Eren remained always surprised when it was his giant to speak with him. Usually, he was more used to Kruger’s voice than the one of his giant. That voice was more feral, guttural and hoarse, sometimes the words weren’t even scanned correctly but Eren always understood him and secretly he considered those conversations more pleasant than the ones he shared with Kruger.He considered his giant a more intimate and intricate part of him, Eren was the giant and the giant was him, they complemented each other in a way that nothing else ever had before.Somehow, it was like his giant had taken care of him more than anybody else in his life. ‘What’s close ?’ he asked.
‘Our moment… it’s close…’
‘You’re behaving like Kruger right now ? Do I have to guess with you too ?’ Eren giggled looking at the degrade below him. He couldn’t believe that people were actually willing to live in that sewer that wasn’t ideal even for rats.It was the first time he personally saw people reduced like that, similar images appeared to his mind the first few times he was mentally connected with some people at the island who shared similar experiences during the former dictatorship.If that place wasn’t a clear resemble of how humans could easily degrade other humans he wouldn’t know what else could be…The world didn’t need him and his race to show humans how insignificant they could be and nevertheless he was created with the sole purpose of being used to create more misery. ‘I don’t even know where to start here…’ he said sitting on the roof cornice with a pout in his face. Armin and Hawkins would have been more capable than him to find a good lead in those slums, but he was trying to get emancipate from everybody else for once in his life. He had a lot of abilities he could count on and they were powerful enough even without the sun, surely he would find the right person for his purposes.
‘It’s close… we should find them…’
‘Whatever you say, whatever you say…’ He was about to jump off the building when he saw that there armed people on the roof of the next building and something suggested him that there was something going on somewhere nearby.
‘It’s close… we kill them… we kill them ar…’
“We kill them all ?” repeated Eren playing with his air “Shouldn’t we avoid the fight not to catch unnecessary attention ?”
‘Kill… them… ar…’
Well, he was there to train with his new found abilities and to test how powerful they could be even without the sun. He couldn’t test his new ferromagnetism abilities since he didn’t have objects for his use, but he could use his new electrokinesis and his thermokinesis for the occasion.He jumped on the other roof, right behind those two armed people, they had to be two inept not to realize his presence behind them until he practically killed them both.He electrified to death one of them to the boy of burning every cell of his body and he practically literally melt his skin by raising his body temperature till his own flesh started burning.Nevertheless it wasn’t satisfying at all. The predator inside him thought those two weren’t challenging preys and that it was still longing for a good hunt but Eren had no time for this.
‘It’s close, close, close. We follow…’
‘We have other things to do. Whatever it is close, it would still be here when we finish our business’
‘You can’t escape… We can’t escape… I wait… It’s close… I wait…’
…
Marley underground 20th Septmember 2098 8.00 o’clock a.m. Levi groaned frustrated. The last day had been hard, he escaped a trap set inside his former house, he had to admit that Furlan’s contacts were more useful than his own, since he didn’t used to be exactly a social butterfly and his relationships with other criminals were pretty tense and if it wasn’t for Furlan he would have beheaded a lot of them many years ago.At least he found another place where to hide and spend the night before start his searching again.There he was indeed, back in the street and ready for more unpleasant things to come.He intended to start with those whose owned him a favor and then he would start searching for the men on Furlan’s list.The first name on the list was Yuto Okuyama called ‘the banker’, in the underground it was him whom managed and occasionally laundered the money of the major criminals. The man was one of the few links that connected the activities among the underground and other criminal groups in other cities. If Levi cut the man’s throat he would have at his back almost half of the criminals in the underground for sure, but he managed to get a deal he would have more than half of them as allies.Before to leave the underground, Levi killed a man for him and hadn’t requested his favor back, so he hoped for their meeting to start the right way.He stood in front of his pub, where he found two of his loyal dogs with their second hand suits right in the front that were observing him, trying to look threatening to him but for Levi they were nothing but fools that were trying too hard to look intimidating. “I need to talk to him” he simply said. “And who are you ?” “Levi” then he added “Ackerman” “Ackerman ? It’s a name we have heard quite often recently” “Really ?” asked Levi not quite interested. Ackerman wasn’t a last name used in the underground, or at least Levi didn’t know people with that name when he lived there. “Can I talk with him then ?” he asked again. “Boss is pretty busy at the moment” “He won’t be busy for him, specially if you so nicely remember him he owns me a favor and I’m not even asking. I’m demanding” Those two idiots were going to grab their guns but Levi was faster than them, he grabbed one’s wrist and then kicked the other in the stomach and then kicked him again in the face before to grab his knife and threatening the other right at the height of the throat. “Not funny business, I’m not in the mood. Call him and tell him that Levi Ackerman is here to retrieve his favor, now” “I’m him… but it was true… he’s busy with a woman…” “He can postpone his time with the lady for a couple of minutes, I’m in hurry…” … In the meantime… ‘What a disgusting man…’ Eren, or better Erin, didn’t expect to be so easy to have his way in criminal words only by wearing a skirt, a little bit of make-up and a pair of high heels. Men surely underestimated women, bad mistake.That place was full of drunken people ready to spill any sort of stuff, more if you offered them money and even more if you were a woman willing to show them your legs and allow them to live their dirties fantasies. Eren could do both of them thanks to his abilities.He could literally make the people around him see and think whatever he wanted, it was that way that he gained the loyalty of a high percentage of giants before his release from the white room.Humans in their giants form had no memories about their human life, nevertheless when they dreamed they could have dream about trawls of it and Eren realized he could help them to keep those trawls even during the day. Many of them were grateful to him for them.It was about that time that Eren created the desert, a place where all their consciousnesses were link in one place and their memories and dreams were kept protected, ready to have access to the conscious of the people that could remember every time they wanted.With time, he learnt how to use that ability with those non linked to him through the serum, that was why it was so easy manipulate ‘the banker’ of the underground.He was a very unpleasant man to look at it. He was skinny and pale like a skeleton, the eyes were hollowed out in the face to such an extent that they looked more like two gigantic mole and the lips were purple and thin that looked like someone painted them on the face, his face was wriggled and only few white strands of hair remained on the head.He was wearing a suits that surely had seen better days and all those rings around his fingers only accentuated how skinny they were. “I wouldn’t want to waste your time more than I’ve already had…” said Eren crossing his legs and showing them to the other man that surely didn’t waste time to admire them “But I do really need your expertise on the matter” “No time is wasted in your company my dear, for a man of my age is so rare these days to enjoy the company of a lovely lady like you” “Such a shame isn’t it ?” said Eren with a sweet tone of voice. “It is ind… Oh, I’m sorry” Eren rolled his eyes. It was the second time someone interrupted their conversation and it was dreadful to interrupt his mental control over him every time. He looked around, trying to ignore the intense smell of smoke and liquor, and take a look at the tacky décor of the room. He was pondering about how ugly was that paint of those two men shooting at each other when a name caught his attention. “Ackerman… Levi ?” ‘Levi ?’
‘It’s close…’
“I have no time to waste…” “You’re going to receive him… now… you’re going to satisfy all his requests” he ordered the other man, his eyes turning golden and manipulating his will. As soon as those words were pronounced, the banker accepted to receive Levi and Erin decided that it was the time to hide somewhere and overhear their conversation. He hide himself behind one of the door of the room just before that Levi entered to speak with the man. ‘Somebody was here…’ was the first thing that came to Levi’s mind. He didn’t even know why he was so sure about it, but every cell of his body were screaming that someone was there, someone he had to find, someone he had to be close to. Someone who smelled like the ocean… someone so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time…
‘Closer… closer…’
“Mr Ackerman ? Mr Ackerman ?” Levi snapped from his thoughts and looked at the undertaker looked like in front of him and his disgusting smell of alcohol and cigarettes. The banker looked ugly just like he remembered and he was sure that was just as vicious. “You own me a favor” he said looking the man straight into his eyes. “I remember indeed. What kind of favor could possibly be so important to drag a rat like you back in a place like this ?” “Yeager” he simply said “I’ve been told he’s selling products on the black market and I fucking know that indirectly or directly, you gained something from the selling. I want to know everything you know” Eren, who had been listening from the other side of the door, gasped. Armin told him the truth, Erwin Smith was still searching for the warrior unit and that was good, but he had no idea that he would sent Levi there.It were his instincts that suggested him strongly to come there, even though Eren didn’t know the reason, but he always followed them because they’d never failed him before.They suggested him to go to Marley so he did and maybe Eren himself invented the excuse of having to increase his powers, but nevertheless it was true that sometimes he did things without knowing the exact reason. Maybe Floch was right, maybe he should have stayed home that time… ‘It’s closer… open the door…’ Eren had no intention of opening the door, he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and ignored the voice of his giant. He couldn’t jeopardize his mission to follow his instincts “Yeager ah ? Why are you so interested ? Who you’re working with ? Maybe we can make a deal” “I don’t need a deal when you fucker own me already a favor, I don’t think I need you to remember what exactly I did for you” “Yeager has been come quite precious for my recent incomes…” “Your incomes are going to be the least of your fucking problems…” said Levi grabbing his gun “…If you don’t me to paint your shitty walls with you blood” “Why the violence ? Look where I live, would you blame if I aspire at something better any chance I got ? Nevertheless, if you want to know about Yeager, I can simply tell where I get his money to launder them. If you want to know more about the deals he made you should go asking the Good Samaritan…” “Santino you mean ?” The man nodded and Levi sighed. “And what about Odile ?” “Uh, now what you possibly could want from her ?” “Where I can find her ? I don’t have time to play with her and distinguish her swans from the others. I need her help urgently” “Unfortunately on that part, I can’t help you. She knew how to hide from me and, I’m afraid to say, our relationship has been a little bit tense recently. You’re on your own with that.” Levi snorted “Surprising…” then he added “… thanks for you uselessness. What made you spill the bean so easily ?” Levi grew up in that shithole and live there enough to know that the banker accepted to tell him everything he knew too simply. What was his angle ? What was happening that Levi couldn’t grasp? “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m always willing to help my colleagues in the underground, although I’m afraid, out time is up” “I know where the door is, last thing I want is for your legs to snap in two because of me” Levi was about to turn around and leave when the voices returned inside his head.
“Closer… Closer…’
Levi looked around, he thought about the smell of the ocean but he saw no one and he could sense no danger around him so what the hell was close ? What was he supposed to find ?On the other side of the door, Eren was trying to resist the same impulse that was pressing him to open the door and introduce himself to Levi.As much as he would have appreciated, he couldn’t indulge that desire. He looked too much like E2 and if Levi saw his face…Well, it wasn’t the time for meeting. It would be better if they remained separated…
“Closer… you cannot escape… He tried once… he failed once… closer… this time again…”
Tried ? Failed ? He ? Who the hell his giant was talking about ? What he couldn’t escape ? Why did Eren have the sensation that his giant knew something that he didn’t ?Something very important that he shouldn’t ignore ? Something that he had to know ? Something that maybe connect him with that man ?He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize that Levi had left the room a couple of minutes prior. He opened the door and said goodbye to the banker before leaving the building and getting back to the room he rent.His feet were hurting, his heart was beating lauder and faster and the voices inside his head showed no sign to stop. ‘What an intense morning indeed…’ … Marley underground 23rd September 2098
“Very good, I’ll send all the money you need in few hours. I’m very grateful for your job, Levi”
“Yeah whatever you say Eyebrowns” Levi was back in the room he rent and he was speaking through the phone with Erwin to keep him update.Levi was finally getting somewhere. After a couple of days looking for Santino, also known as the good Samaritan, he managed to have an encounter with him. Santino was more useful than Okuyama, he told him some names of the people who were directly working with Yeager and also that he was planning another auction where highest quality products were going to be sold and that the former researcher was going to participate for sure in order to gain money. Levi paid him well to remain in contact and being kept update about the auction and Yeager’s movements.Unfortunately, not even him knew about where to find Odile.Odile, or Zola, was one of the most notorious spies and informants in the underground, and everyone called her Odile because, just like the famous character from the ballet, was able to impersonate almost everyone and being a perfect double and also have deep web of spies able to keep her update about everything happening in there.Since she was able to personify everyone, you could have her in front of you without realizing which made her very hard to find.
“We have to prepare and equip ourselves for auction’s day, it’s going to be a unique opportunity and we can’t afford any mistake”
“That’s why we need to anticipate their movements. Before to come back, there’s another name I want, no, that I need to find.”
“The woman you mentioned ? Odile ?”
“Yes, I don’t know how but she always knows everything about what happens in the underground. If she’s interested in our offer, we would have on our side a precious ally”
“I trusted your judgment in this.”
“And you ? Any progress I should be aware about ?”
“The kids are collaborative, specially E2. He asked about you this morning, I told him you would come back soon and not to worry about you”
Levi didn’t know what to answer. He still felt uncomfortable about his link with the kid whom not only was a minor but was a complete stranger.He’d never been good with people, unless he had to threaten or kill them, Furlan and Erwin were more capable than him on that department, but he actually wanted to come back to the place that he considered home at that point.The underground everything related to him was in the past, he no longer belonged there, he was no longer a rat or worm that ate others’ crumbs and that used the knife before the words with people. It may had been only a year, but Erwin changed him and made a better man out of him somehow and deep down Levi was very grateful to him.It should be dangerous getting attached to a person in the current situation and after having lost so many people dear to him, but how pointless and empty was a life without links ?He could lose Erwin and all his new family any day, any time and nevertheless without them, where would he be ?He started working with them only because he wanted to understand his powers and because he wanted to avenge Isabel and Furlan, but then it became something more important than that, something more deeper than influenced his abilities as well.It was just an hypothesis, but Hanji once said that, according to her, studying different samples and doing different tests on his abilities, the factor that more than others influenced them were his relationship.According to her, what triggers his abilities was his strong will to protect the others from any danger he perceived related to those important and dear to him. After all the first time they appeared it was after he lost Isabel and Furlan and all times after were triggered when some members of his new family risked their life. She also said that the more links he created, the stronger his abilities became because he it meant he had more people to protect.There were so many things about his powers that were still based on mere theories and few certainties, so many things to uncover and many of them he was still afraid to learn, many aspects that he still couldn’t control but he was confident that, with the adequate help, he would be able to use his abilities to protect the people he loved. That was his new mission. “Are you all safe ?” he asked.
“We’re good. Hanji still lives in her laboratory with Moblit, Mike is busy training the new recruits and Armin is helping me with some business”
“Are you collaborating ? Do you trust him now ?” “Trust… there’s no place for trust in our relationship.” “You’re moping”
“It’s… Loneliness is hard…”
… When you find someone who can complete you…
Those were the unspoken words that Levi perfectly heard, but didn’t ask Erwin to further elaborate, it would be more like putting salt on an open wound and Levi didn’t want that.He wouldn’t even know what to say since he’d never been in a relationship like that. He’d never met someone that he felt like his person, the one he felt he couldn’t live without, the one he felt like they could complete him, the one he felt he needed to protect among everyone else… “I’ll keep you update… Call me if you need me back”
“I will… good luck Levi”
…
In the desert…
‘Why is he so late ? It’s not like him. I hope he’s okay…’
Eren thought walking back and forth in the desert. He asked Armin to meet him there, but his friend hadn’t arrived yet. Until that moment, Armin was the only one aware of the real reasons why he chose to come there and of his real intentions, since he was the one he trusted the most.
Armin had his secrets and had his own angles, Eren was aware of it. He wouldn’t let Armin developing a serum. Armin didn’t want him to know knowing that Eren knew, and Eren pretended he didn’t know even if they both knew he knew.
But they were comfortable in their white lies and both understood the other part. As long as Armin didn’t directly stabbed him right in the back, Eren thought he could forgive Armin everything.
Eren trusted Armin more than he had trusted Kruger ever…
He hadn’t been focusing on Kruger very much recently, but even the latter had been pretty absent from his mind lately. It was better that way in the end, Eren couldn’t actually say he missed him.
“Ah… nevertheless as soon as I come back… I will have to concentrate on him again…”
“On who ?”
Eren gasped, he turned around and saw Armin in front of him.
He blinked a couple of times because there was something a little bit off about his friend. Armin’s white coat was full of wrinkles, his hair were uncombed and his eyes looked pretty sad.
Without even realizing, Eren hugged him tight and used the pheromones he could emit from his skin to calm the other.
It was one of the firsts discoveries, the fact that like animals and plants and he could emit specific scent with his skin to communicate with others. At the beginning, when he was still new to social interactions, it had been particularly useful since he was pretty awkward at conversations.
“What’s happening ?”
“I don’t know…”
“Is Smith still being a dick with you ?”
“No, but he’s part of the problem”
“What do you mean ?”
“I mean… that I thought for a moment how nice it was… you know ? Being less lonely…”
“Am I supposed to read between the lines, am I now ? You know I can’t” pouted Eren, trying to understand what the other was saying without success.
Armin smiled and patted Eren on the shoulder “Right, sorry. I will tell you more when I understand the situation better myself”
Armin wasn’t in the mood to talk about Erwin with Eren. After what happened between them, after making love togetherhaving sex together something inevitably changed between them. Armin realized he had started looking at Erwin with different eyes and that scared him to death, because he couldn’t afford it. Not one of them could. Not in that life.
He’d always been careful to avoid that kind of situations, even before joining the rebellion. Having links with someone was dangerous being emotionally connected with someone, it became a weakness that Tybur could use against you and already back then Armin couldn’t afford more weakness other than his family.
His grandpa was gone, because of him, because he dare standing up for his rights. He played his cards and he failed and his grandpa payed the price.
His situation with Erwin was no different… Whatever situation was developing between them, Armin needed to put an end on it before it was too late.
Working with him had been hard, the interactions were filled with embarrassment and Armin had developed the weird tendencies of looking at Erwin’s hands and remembering the way they touched his body and…
“Okay, maybe I will have learned to read between the line by then” Eren said kissing Armin on the forehead and interrupting Armin’s thoughts which was something the latter was very grateful about.
“What about ? How’s the mission…” Armin looked at Eren and giggled “… Going ? I see you’re having fun. How many hearts did you break ?”
Eren was really handsome, or beautiful wearing that simple black dress, with a pair of black boots and a bracelet around his wrist. Even though he was a boy, his body was athletic, muscular, but also slim, sophisticated and rangy, that allowed him to pass for a girl. Even his facial features were delicate and feminine, specially when he wore the make-up and when he comb his hair with a chignon or when he tied them in a feminine way.
“Not many, I realized that I attract a lot of old pervs that creep me out. That place reeks with pigs who behave like they’ve never seen a girl before”
“More like they used to see pretty girls like this in a brothel” commented Armin with bitterness “I’m relief to see you’re doing well.”
“Well, I have more occasion than I expected to use my powers. I lost the count of the people who had tried to stab me, rob me, kidnap me, rape me in a day”
“Are you being discrete at least ?”
“People disappear very easily where I am. Rats are very helpful to cover my crimes though”
“Eren !” exclaimed Armin jabbing the other at his shoulder.
“What ? It’s true. I told you that place reeks of creepy people. Nevertheless I haven’t found someone useful for the final scope yet. Someone who could catch the attention of the royals and have them behind my back again.”
“I told you it wasn’t going to be easy. Six years have passed, I’m sure many of them are convinced that the nucleus is gone for good and many didn’t even know what exactly it was”
“They need to hope again. Maybe I should stop covering my crimes… I need to catch their attention somehow…”
“The underground is filled with criminals. Maybe you should find someone whom used to be directly connected with Tybur and shared false tips about the nucleus”
“Maybe I will need something more than tips…” Said Eren touching his chin with his fingers “… But I know someone… Thanks for the idea”
“Please be careful, sometimes you get too much exited when you get ideas”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” said Eren smirking and blinking at Armin.
Armin rolled the eyes and hit Eren on the forehead “Be careful, or I will kick you straight in the ass”
“You’re not tall enough to kick me in the ass bud” said Eren pocking Armin’s right cheek.
“I’m tall enough to kick you somewhere else bud” rebutted Armin.
Eren looked Armin straight in the eyes, trying to remain compose and look serious, but failed miserably and bursted out laughing, accompanied by Armin.
It was the kind of moments shared between them that both of them missed very much. The moments where they both could forget that one was the nucleus of Paradis and the king of giants and the other was a former researcher and an undercover shifter in an enemy territory.
The kind of moments that allowed them to be two simple boys that lived the first romantic feelings, the first experiences lived outside their comfort zone and…
“And I missed you Armin. Once we reunited, I think I will never let you go again” said Eren hugging Armin again.
Armin responded to the hug and smiled, trying not to cry “When I came back I will never let you go again, I promise. I know that I don’t tell you everything, but I also know that you’re trying, by respecting my boundaries. I’m very grateful for this”.
“I think friends are allowed to have a secret or two”
Armin wanted to object that the secret thing was for him only since he couldn’t alone push Eren out of his mind, but nevertheless he was glad that Eren was actually trying to understand him.
“I need to come back…” said Armin “…Erwin is looking for me…”
Eren decided to ignore the fact that Armin used Smith’s first name and decided to kiss him again of the check before leaving the desert…
…
Marley underground 30th September 2098 ‘Why the weird things happen every single time I’m in a place ?’ Levi couldn’t avoid to think when the whole underground was murmuring and blabbering about a new serial killer. It wasn’t the serial killer thing what was alarming the whole criminality, in a place like that there was new one every week, but it was the fact that there were high possibilities that it was a shifter.Next to any corpse were found pieces of crystal and pieces of paper with words written in a weird language that no one in the underground could read or translate.Many theorized that it could be some old dialect spoken in Paradise that disappeared after the incident happened in 2090 and that after that it went forgotten.Some could imagine Levi surprised when one of those pieces of paper ended in his hand and he realized he could perfectly understand that language.
‘…Come find me…’
“Why can I read it ?” he whispered. That morning he was continuing his searching for Odile when he entered in another narrow alley, where the walls of the two buildings at the sides were filled with cracks and faded graffiti and where dirty cats walked besides him following rats, and there he found a small group of people reunited around a corpse. It was only when he was close enough that he saw that there was a body on the floor and that the people around him were looting it because he had some crystal on them.Of course, rats were everywhere…When they saw Levi arriving, they quickly run away, leaving only a couple of crystals behind and the piece of paper. The imagine in front of him was awful.The man, whoever he had been, was unrecognizable, his face was completely melted, even part of his teeth, his eyes had been scratched out before the skin burned completely and the clothes, or what remained of them was attached to the body.Observing the brutality of the act and the crystals around, it was plausible that the murder was a shifter, that was clear, but what was the point of leaving those messages behind ?Levi didn’t understand that.Did the murder want to be found ? If that was the case, then by who and why ? “What kind of sick game are you playing ?” muttered Levi.
“Closer… Closer…”
“Could it be the reason… for the voices inside my head ?” whispered Levi. Maybe his instincts had been on alert for that. Maybe the murder was playing… with him ? It made sense somehow. People in the underground died at any hour and nobody took the disturb to look for them, the killer knew it and used it to their advantage to hide his trail from him. “I don’t have fucking time for this shit” he cursed “Whoever the fucker is, I have no fucking intention of playing stupid games with them.” “You don’t have five minutes for me either ?” asked a voiced behind him “Rumors are telling me you’ve been looking for me, Levi” “Odile…” he whispered turning around to look at his interlocutor. In front of him there was tall figure, that was wearing an elegant black tuxedo that emphasized the height and the slenderness of the silhouette and that, in Levi’s opinion, also increased the idea that the person whom was wearing it was a boy and not actually a woman.She had dark skin, full lips, thin eyebrows, not like Erwin though, and a big scar that parted from the right side of the chin and finished just under her left eyes. “Is this…” “Don’t waste our time with questions you know I have no fucking intention to answer” she said rolling her eyes “Whether this is my true face or not, that’s not what you want to know, right ?” It was incredible how people of the underground were able to hold a conversation over a corpse like people in a café, like the death itself was nothing more than a decoration that made encounters a little bit spicy. “Pretty picture isn’t it ?” she asked looking at the body. “Lovely” simply commented Levi “You were right. I’m here for business” “Me too, but we would better have this conversation elsewhere. Follow me” She leaded him inside a grocery, where the cashier waved at her with a bandage hand before giving her a pair of keys. She took it and then leaded Levi toward a secret door, hidden in the storage of the grocery. She opened it and Levi saw a flight of stairs. “Where are you taking me ?” “You’ve come so far, do you want to leave now ?” she asked crossing her arms. Levi closed his eyes. His instincts were quite calm, he wasn’t on alert and he didn’t perceive any danger around him and even in that case, he had a mission to complete and he was also an elite soldier perfectly able to take care of himself.Without answering, Levi motioned with his head to Odile to lead the way.She leaded him in a dark room, illuminated only by the light of the many monitors of computers and tablets around the room on the tables and there was only one swivel chair at the center. There was also another door but it was closed. “You keep yourself busy” he commented. “How do you think I’m able to impersonate everyone and know everything ? I keep myself constantly updated about everything that happened here” answer Odile “It was pretty easy avoiding you this way. Until I had a bad encounters that left me… unsettled…” “What do you mean ?” asked Levi leaning at the wall. “I’m not sure… I don’t remember the details… Only that I was scared to death and a pair of yellow eyes…” Levi’s eyes widened. Yellow eyes ?Armin had yellow eyes when he used his abilities and so the others shifters. He chose not to say anything though and keep listening. “… What I know is that after that moment I’ve been having funny ideas… ideas that I don’t feel like mines.” Levi wanted to say that he understood her perfectly but still he remained silent, waiting for her to keep talking. “Other than those yellow eyes, there was something else I clearly remember… whoever I met… they said your name. Levi Ackerman.” Odile would never forgot that weird encounter, or at least what she managed to remember. All she knew was that she felt like someone had been following her, she tried to escape when she was pushed on the ground and then grabbed by the throat. One of the other two spies that were there with her tried to help her in vain and she got killed and the other was knocked off before she could do anything.When Odile looked up and she met a pair of golden eyes that were looking at her with an intense insanity, almost like they belonged to a beast more than a person.The person in front of her murmured some words, but she could only remember the name and the strong scent of sea coming from the silhouette. Nothing more.After that, she had beginning to have weird dreams, thoughts and ideas that didn’t feel like hers but more like someone had put them in her head.For a person who had lived in the underground since the birth, she was convinced to have become a though person, very difficult to scare or to impress but that encounter left her in a weird state of alert and she highly hoped not to meet that person ever again in her life. ‘Holy shit I knew it’ “But that person looked kinda possessed when they did. More like he would have kept the informations for themselves. I got scared and I felt like I had to find you.” “Why do I sense that this warning is not given to me only as an act of kindness ?” “You know the rules…” said Odile rolling her eyes “… Kindness don’t make your stomach full around here.” “I will give you your money… But before that… I have another offer for you. An allegiance” “To find Zeke Yeager, as far as I know. You have already made a deal with the banker and the good Samaritan. You must be very determinate to find him. You or whoever you’re working for” Levi smirked. Of course Odile had been spying on him as well. Well, she spared him useless talking and explanations since she knew exactly what he wanted from her. If she made a deal with her as well, he could almost consider conclude his business there in the underground.With the baker that checked Yeager’s incomes, the good Samaritan that planned the auction and Odile that spied him, Erwin would have the warrior unit in the palm of his hands. “That’s an information you will have to find out yourself. You have a web of spies and you have the means to find Yeager and keep me update about his movements. Once he will be captured, you will be compensate for your job” “Enough to live this shithole once and for all ?” “Enough to change your life completely, yes” “How long do you plan to stay here ?” “As long as necessary” “Give me couple of week, maybe even less. Pay me a percentage upfront, you will have news from me as soon as I have something important to say” “So do we have a deal ?” asked Levi to clarify the situation. “We have a deal” … ‘What the fuck ? Seriously now…’
‘You are slowly…’
‘I can’t believe… Never do something like that again’
‘Never be slow aggain… waiting is tirring…’
‘Waiting for what…’ Eren was having troubles to keep his giant in check and it was escalating. After he heard the names of people Levi were interested, Eren decided to avoid them like the plague, trying so hard to ignore his giant that instead wanted him to look for them in order to get closer to Levi.Why the sudden determination, Eren couldn’t explain, what he knew was that he had been acting dangerously, just like killing those people, leaving the body in plain sight and leaving those pieces of papers with the hope that Levi would come looking for him, which was the last thing Eren needed.The last time the giant took complete control over him happened around 2090 and ended up with drastic consequences, even for him.That was why Kruger insisted on not leaving much freedom to his giant, or it would take over him, Eren learnt it the hard way and managed to develop a good level of control over the years. Nevertheless, since the giant learnt that Levi was so close to them, it had been pressing Eren more and more to find him.Eren knew what it would have meant. It would have meant jeopardize his mission, it would have meant starting something that Eren feared that he could not be able to control.Every time he tried to use his powers to “see” the future, he realized that he couldn’t see a clear path if he decided to introduce himself to Levi and he knew why.He still knew too little about the man and he still hadn’t learnt enough about social stuff to use his information to foreseen a clear path. It would be like jumping without a parachute and that was a risk he couldn’t afford, but apparently his giant had other opinions. ‘I’m tired…’ Eren thought. He was in the hotel room he rent. It was a quite clean room, considering everything, with a full size bed with clean blanket and sheets, even though brown wasn’t the color he liked the most. There was also an old wardrobe filled with stickers and hole. Someone had fun throwing knife at the poor thing. There was a bedside table with a lamp on it but Eren couldn’t turn it on, maybe it was broken. The bathroom was in common and Eren tried to spent there less time as possible. “I’m going to rest a little…” he yawned “Can’t keep my eyes opened” As soon as he closed his eyes, he started dreaming… …
In 2032 an eleven years old Eren Kruger was attending a class in Villa Helos about ethology, regarding birds to be more specific. Back then, he didn’t understand why those lessons were necessary, even for those whom were going to be located in the laboratories as researchers.
That day Kruger was particularly distracted, probably because he didn’t have much interest in the topic at the time, but he remembered one quote that catch his attention.
“… birds don’t live by the same rules of the other animals, for example about the 92% of the species are monogamous. Both the father and the mother in these case actively participate in the growing of their offspring. Like owls for example. They are extremely protective toward each other and toward their offspring, to the point of fighting and dying even against bigger predators…”.
Kruger couldn’t avoid thinking about his own family, or at least what he could remember about his parents and the owl plushie he had to leave back at home. He couldn’t avoid thinking about his mother’ screaming and the futile tentative of his father to protect them.
Nevertheless he would think more and more about that lesson, about the fact that birds were different from the other kind of animals, to the point that even when the serum was a mere idea, the animals themselves played a big role in the creation of the idea.
Animals were so much more interesting and smarter even when it came with relationships.
In his years of studying, many were the topic that he found interesting in different moment of his life. The olfactory communication for example. For years people had been considered “optical animals”, but during the latest years it had been proved that they were capable, just like animals, to use their sense of smell to perceive certain kind of pheromones that could be useful to find potential partners.
Someone would wonder, why was so important to him study how men and women coupled, what were the requirements, what women searched in a man to find him suitable for a relationship and what men searched in women, when he himself had never settled down and never had any intention about it.
Well in adulthood, while he was still perfection his serum on the animals, he noticed that many of them happened to be barren after it which somehow obstacle the normal process of reproduction that would have allowed the gradual adaptation and empowerment of the serum.
Humans had evolved, generation after generation, the sons and daughters were born genetically stronger than their parents, more resistant to illness, more resistant to new lifestyle, smarter, stronger, more and more attractive and intelligent.
For that reason the serum could be naturally improved through a pregnancy that allowed the fetus to adapt to the serum during the gestation period and if the pregnancy was successful, the offspring inherited a more adapted and empowered version of the serum.
His theory was proven right when two birds recognized each other as potential partners and after a long period of courtship, the first eggs were produced and the offspring had the serum.
After that Kruger noticed, specially in mammals, that partners were able to recognize themselves according to their pheromones but also through something else, something indescribable, a certain push that suggested them that the similar in front of them was the right one. Genetic and reproduction were only a part of this process, because the offspring not always survived the period of gestation, so it was clear that the final product wasn’t the main goal.
Nevertheless it was an interesting part of the process and Kruger wondered what form this sort of realization between partners would take on people…
….
‘Here…’
‘Here…’
Eren opened the eyes and realized that he heard two different voices inside his head, one of them belong to his giant but the other… “Who the hell are you ?” Eren blinked and saw Levi in front of him…. ‘What the fuck ?’ That wasn’t one of their usual dream, there was no sea, no sand, no blue sky. Just the two of them, one in front of the other and the symphony created by their hearts that recognized the other part of the soul even before the owner themselves.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marley Underground, 30th September 2098 Someone once told him that setting the deepest and wildest part of the self free was liberating, that it could make someone feel sensations they could only dream of. Eren didn’t remember who told him that, but he clearly remembered that, after the first time he allowed his giant to take control over him, he could taste blood on his tongue.It had been confusing, more than liberating actually, but he was young back then, so it was okay not to understand things deeply. But when he arrived there, in the infamous underground, the last thing he needed was his giant to act on its own accord.As usual, it was the taste of blood and the repeating memory lapses he had been having that made him realize what was happening. What he actually didn’t understand at the beginning, was why his giant was behaving like that, exposing them to possible dangers and attracting unwanted attention, but then, after a dream, he maybe was starting to realize why that scent, why the person in front of him caught its attention so quickly. “Who the hell are you ?” Levi took his blade and pointed it at his throat “Answer me !” That was not a part of the plan, not at all. Eren was completely sure that Levi surely had noticed his physical similarity with E2 and, if he had developed enough his powers, he would surely realize that the person in front of him was a shifter.Fuck…He had to come up with something. Fight wasn’t an option, his business there weren’t finished at all and he knew that, if something went wrong, he wouldn’t have another chance to leave the island undisturbed and he was tired of having someone following around all the time, it was exhausting, it was claustrophobic. It made him feel like he still was in the white room.Even though the underground wasn’t the place of his dream, at the least there he had no one with their breath on his neck. They called him the king and nevertheless he felt like he had to always ask for permission to do anything he wanted, like he was a child that needed to be babysit all the time.No, he had to keep his cool. “My name is Eren” he said simply without even contemplating to lie “What’s yours ?” According to his experience in there, it wasn’t unusual for the underground people not to have a last name. “You’re a shifter…” “Am I ? And what are you exactly ?” asked Eren, trying and failing not to show his golden eyes. It was clear, his giant had gone nuts. Instead of trying to help him in that situation, it was only making everything more complicated, not to mention the pain he was feeling at the height of his chest. His heart was beating faster than ever and he didn’t understand why, he just wanted it to stop because it hurt. Since Levi chose for the silent treatment, Eren kept talking “I don’t want problems. I barely escape one of the Tybur’s facility…” For once in his life, Levi didn’t know how to behave. The young boy in front of him looked almost exactly like Eric, to the point that he could be his older brother or something like that.The boy in front of him, because he definitively was a boy dressed up like a girl, looked a little bit more mature, taller and more muscular than Eric, his features were sharper and more mature and his hair were darker and longer, but aside from that, he was exactly like the teen Levi had met. “Escaping his facility…” “Isn’t impossible if you wait for the right moment and if you have spent enough time there to know how to move” “How many others have escaped with you ? From which facility ?” “I don’t know. They keep us in a cage, there weren’t exactly opportunity to socialize and such experience turns anyone into a selfish person” “What’s that supposed to mean exactly?” It meant that Eren had no idea where to lead the conversation without being involved in a fight with the one he his giant may had developed an obsession over. Levi’s instincts recognized him as a shifter, and since the older man was an Ackerman , Eren couldn’t even use his abilities to erase his memories and he feared that his giant wouldn’t allow it. How could things get so complicated and so fast ? “That I have no idea where the others are. I have my own agenda and so I run and so did they.” He kept lying. “Shit…” “Look… I don’t want to be locked up in another cage. Can you just let me go ?” he asked gently, almost pleading. Who he was kidding ? He was definitively begging Levi to let him go. He didn’t understand why his giant was behaving the way he was, weather because Levi was an Ackerman or another reason, but a fight wasn’t an option and also wasn’t part of the plan.His was a futile tentative. Levi couldn’t let him go, he had duty toward the Scout Legion. A fight seemed inevitable, but Levi wasn’t a cruel man. He wasn’t the kind of man ready to do whatever it took to achieve what he wanted.If Eren managed to persuade him not to fight in the right way… “I can’t let you go” ‘Of course not’ Eren thought then he said “I don’t know many things about your kind, but I can sense you’re quite strong… so am I…”. He made a step a back and quickly attacked Levi using his hardening ability to cover his hand and make his nails sharper. Then he proceed to attack the infamous Scout Legion’s corporal, trying to scratch him right at the face.Levi, on the other hand, activated his abilities as well that allowed him to predict the other’s attack and avoid it.They both repeated it, again and again, together leading that little dance between them, Eren attacking and fighting the other repeatedly and Levi defending himself and predicting any attack.Both of them hadn’t reached their full potential yet and nevertheless Eren could admit that Levi was the strongest Ackerman he’d ever fought, even among those who were on the island and that had been training with their abilities longer than Levi.Having an enemy like that was dangerous and nevertheless Eren didn’t think, not even once to kill him. But he was the strongest of his kind and if he couldn’t kill Levi then who ?He tried to change tactic when he managed to catch Levi’s wrist and be close enough to emit calming pheromones through his skin to slow Levi down but apparently he lowered enough to allow the other to give him a headbutt on the nose.Levi felt unsteady for a moment, when a delicate smell reached his nose and for a moment his will and his strength faltered, but then he recomposed himself and managed to hit the other.Nevertheless he could feel that there was something wrong, within himself, with his abilities. He felt like more than helping him as usual they were holding him back, almost like they wanted to prevent him from hurting his opponent.Eren was feeling the same, he couldn’t use his abilities like usual, they were weaker, his sense more clouded and his giant was messing with his head so much he could barely think.His giant kept telling him to stop, that he wasn’t in danger, that he was exactly where he was supposed to be and that he needed to stop attacking the other.Eren shut it down, he generated other crystal darts and threw them at Levi but he avoided all of them and almost managed to hit Eren straight at the height of the stomach, but the giant grabbed his wrist and stop his attack.He was also regretting to have worn those fucking high heels that day, they were so uncomfortable in a fight and so was the dress he was wearing. “Aren’t you getting tired of this dance ?” asked Eren looking Levi in his eyes “I could think of better ways to spend our time together” he concluded in a flirty way, while managing to grab Levi’s wrist and slightly burning it by raising his body temperature. Levi managed to cut his hand off, which felt on the ground before to disappear. “Tsk, I could think thousands better fucker to spend my time with !” said Levi trying to attack the other again. “Ouch, if only your attacks could be sharp like your words I would be already dead” said Eren while his hand was quickly regenerating. Eren created a crystal wall between them to put some distance and maybe try to run away, but Levi was quicker and jumped over the wall and threw the knife at Eren, hitting him on the shoulder.It was then that the King of giants got an idea to get away from that situation. “You know if you hurt me, I won’t be the one paying the consequences. One transformation could reduce this place in dust. You know and so do I. I have no qualms in doing whatever it takes to remain free” Eren said pointing with a finger at the knife inside his shoulder. “Is that a threat ?” asked Levi sharpening his eyes, getting on alert. “I just want to be free… Do you know what it’s like not to be able to see the sun ? To feel its warmth on your face ? Do you have any idea ? I don’t want to hurt anyone but I’m ready to fight and die not to be locked up again” said Eren slowly extracting the knife out of his shoulder and throwing it at Levi that managed to grab it. ‘Shit…’ Levi thought.The boy was right. Levi knew how terrible a shifter’s transformation could be, how destructive could it be to the surroundings. The members of the Scouts Legion had learnt to keep their distance when Armin trigger his transformation, luckily the blond shifter had also learnt how to control it better. But what about the one in front of him ?Levi could understand him indeed. He could understand how strong could be the desire to see the sun, to feel it warmth on the face, to feel wrapped by it while enjoying the beautiful sight of the sky.No, the boy was right. A fight couldn’t be an option. Erwin hadn’t sent him in the underground to jeopardize their plan.Meeting another shifter was a fatality, but at the moment killing him wasn’t an option, not if he wanted thousands life on his conscience and if he wanted his mission to succeed.Erwin’s plans depended on the deals he made with the people in the underground, deals that would be useless if the people in questions were dead.He also knew that, in case of another tragedy, actions and repercussions would follow and Erwin didn’t need that. “I can’t allow you to wander around” “I’ve been here for a while, noting happened. I have no intention of killing anyone.” “I can’t be sure of it. Someone claimed to have been attacked by a weird creature with golden eyes, how could you explain me this ?” “They tried to steal from me, I overreacted. That’s all. People here die all the time” Levi rolled his eyes. He lowered his blade and put it back in his pocket. “Their mistake if they can’t recognize a defenseless little girl from a piece of shit like you ah ?” “Ehi ! Don’t be rude now. I can dress up however I want dude. I saw men with make-up around here as well” Eren was actually surprised that Levi managed to realize that he was a guy and not a girl. He thought that his disguise was excellent but apparently there was still room for improvement. Until that moment no one had realized that he was a boy, he also had learnt how to walk with high heels to play the part the best he could and it was the only part of female clothing that considered uncomfortable.For the remaining part, skirt, tops, trousers, jeans and what else, nothing actually mattered for him.Eren didn’t have conventional parameters related to the sexual gender. He used to play with dolls just like he played with soldiers when he was a child.And he had always played with people just like he played with his toys so… “My wound hasn’t healed yet, I can make you everything I want for a little longer” Levi’s eyes sharpened “Don’t you dare you little sh…” “Buy me something to drink. You seem to know this place quite a lot. Give me something worth to remember as well” said Eren reaching Levi’s face and slowly caressing his cheek, just like Flock did with him. Slowly, sensually, almost like he wanted to imprint on his fingertips how soft Levi’ skin was, surprised that Levi hadn’t cut his hand off yet.Somehow it encouraged Eren to keep caressing his face, until his entire palm covered Levi’s left cheek and he could touch his lips with his thumb.Doing that, Eren didn’t realize he was getting closer and closer to the other, to the point he could feel Levi’s breath on his face, getting more and more hypnotized by the wonderful color of the other’s eyes.Levi, on the other hand, couldn’t move. It was like he was dissociated from his body.The more he tried to move his hand to push the other away from him, the more he could do nothing but stand still and enjoy that little gesture of affection from the other guy.A guy the with most beautiful pair of eyes he’d ever seen, a guy dressed up like a girl that also happened to be a shifter and that dangerously looked similar to someone younger than him.All the situation was creepy and wrong and Levi needed to put an end on it, but his body wasn’t collaborating.He’d never felt such a thing for anyone before, especially not a stranger. If he had to be honest, in the last year he spent in the Scout Legion, when he didn’t have to worry about money or things like that, he started to explore his sexuality a little more deeper and he had his first experiences with comrades and random strangers, but no one of them had ever affected him like that.His heart was beating fast inside his chest to the point that it hurt and was taking his breath away and he could barely refrain his legs from trembling.Fortunately, his OCD came to his help when he reflected about how dirty was the hand that was touching his face. “Don’t touch my face with this dirty hand !” he yelled irritated slapping that hand away. Eren pouted “You’re so rude. That’s not the way to address a lady”“You’re not a lady” “I can identify myself as such so you should respect me as you would respect a lady” said Eren crossing his arms. “Fine, stop making this ruckus. I’m going to take you somewhere then I will kick your ass on the other side of the planet” “Fuck off, you have no idea how many men wish to be in your place” said Eren in a flirty manner. His flirty persona was a façade of course. Eren “Are you referring to those idiots that couldn’t even distinguish a girl from a boy ?” “Why wasting our time talking about them ? We have better things to do and better place to be. Lead the way” said Eren showing his flirty persona again. Levi rolled his eyes and then started walking ahead, noticing with a certain relief that the other was simply following in silence. Good, he wasn’t really in the mood for those weird talks. He needed to reflect about what happened to him during the fight, why and how he could prevent it next time if he ever found himself fighting again that shifter again.He was only realizing in that moment that he was no longer hearing those weird voices in his head and that he was no longer on alert but it didn’t make the situation any easier. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. He shouldn’t be doing any of that.He should have killed that monster in front of him the first chance he got instead of walking beside him and taking him somewhere to offer him a drink.That wasn’t appropriate. “Can we talk about something ? This silence is making me feel uncomfortable” said Eren. It was a little bit embarrassing saying it aloud, but after all those years spent in the white room alone with the voices inside his head had made silence quite insufferable for Eren. It make him feel unfocused, unstable, uncapable of distinguish with clarity what was real and what was simply generated inside his head.It made him feel like he was constantly on the verge of losing his mind.Even if someone considered him taciturn for nature, Eren tended to remain silent during the conversations only because he felt too embarrassed to speak aloud, too afraid of saying something stupid.The first thing he did after being free it was paying a former prostitute to teach him how to interact properly with people and develop some sort of charisma that any leader should possess.That alone had been so embarrassing for him, to admit to someone else than Armin that he had no idea about how to speak properly with another person, even though Armin often said that he possessed manipulation skills, something that Eren wasn’t aware of at the beginning.Probably because he’d never needed them before. When he was in the white room and he wanted something, the quickest and easiest way to get was to rip a limb or two to a person or two and then he would have got it without a further complain.No many words where needed back then and nevertheless Eren hated the silence, especially after the only way to fill it was Kruger’s voice and then his giant’s. “I don’t like talking” said Levi. It sounded a little harsh but he was honest. He didn’t like talking, he preferred listening what others have to say to him and express his opinion only when he felt too.Furthermore he wouldn’t know what to say in situation like the current ones. What were two mortal enemies supposed to talk about ? After having fight to kill ? “It’s okay. I’ll do the talking, I just need to talk. Silence is too much hard for me” “How come ? I actually adore it” “When I used to be a prisoner, I spent a lot of time alone with my head. After years it’s impossible not to become mental, believe me. I came to the point when I could barely distinguish my thoughts from my own words.” Admitted Eren touching his hair. Levi didn’t comment but he listened and deep down he felt sorry for the other. He’d felt imprisoned in his poverty his entire life and nevertheless he couldn’t imagine what the other had been through. Being locked up inside a room, without being allowed to meet people, to get out every time they wanted, to be free to be whoever they wanted and do whatever they wanted. “I didn’t expect to meet someone like you here…” “I was born in here actually” said Levi without knowing why he had to say something like that. “Oh ? There are worse place where to be born. I was practically born in one of Tybur’s facility before being moved in another one once I reached the adolescence” “Really ?” asked Levi stunned looking at the other “So all this time…?” “All this time” admitted Eren without knowing why he was sharing something so intimate to a stranger. Both men were questioning their weird behaviors. Both of them had grown to distrust the other, to always watch their backs, to measure their words, to say half-truths and half lies, to allow people to get close while keeping them at distance.It wasn’t like them to be so talkative and to be so opened up about themselves, to feel so at ease with someone they had just met. Nevertheless their hearts were still beating fast to the point their chests hurt and there was that incessant need to hold their hands.Levi crossed the arms only to ignore that sensation and return to look straight ahead of him. “People there… I thought they were so mean… then I just realized that they were scared…” ‘…And that was where why power began…’ He didn’t say that aloud though. It was true nevertheless. He was weak and he allowed people to do many hurtful things to him, but when he realized that they were just Tybur’s puppets and not the monsters under his bed he realized that, just like dolls, he could break them.He followed his instincts and ripped all of them apart, both physically and mentally. He ruined so many people he could no longer remember all their faces and names but it was too early to show that side of him to Levi, or else the other wouldn’t hesitate to cut his nape off.Ymir once joked that, in a relationship, flaws were the last things a partner should show off. In Eren’s case, it meant revealing his entire being at last.He wasn’t the boyfriend material, not for Levi at least. “I wasn’t scared though. It’s hard to be afraid of something you’re so accustomed to. When I left that place I realized that I had many less things to worry about. For example, I didn’t have to worry about food, money, taxes, find a job, get marry… It’s silly isn’t it ? But I think this to feel a little better so…” Levi couldn’t avoid to smile that time “Yeah, it sounds a little silly… But it’s a way to cope with all this shit” “Yeah. There were times when they didn’t even bring food, they did to see how long I could survive without food. They were the worse periods, I lost any sense of orientation. I couldn’t even count hours, or minutes… Days appeared so long…” “You survived in the end. That what matters. It fucked you up though. You’re…” “I am ?” Levi almost let slip that he thought the other was on the verge on losing control. He didn’t know how but he knew. He felt in his guts actually. At the first, when he first saw the boy, he didn’t feel threatened, but he felt like he was near the sea during the winter. Calm, but cold.After their fight, there was a moment of calm, then after the first moment of their conversation, Levi felt like he was near the sea during a cloud day, then the wind was slowly raising and the air was getting colder and colder.Eren, on the other side, knew his memories were getting on him so he tried to think about something else to talk about, maybe something that would help him to know Levi better.His giant was trying to talk to him but Eren was pushing it away. He was too angry with his giant at the moment. It was all its fault if he was in that situation.That nuisance had been sabotaging him since the moment he left the island, it made him do things he didn’t want to do, things he no longer remembered and he hated it.One thing was doing something bad consciously and taking the responsibility personally and another was doing something bad, without any intention and not remembering anything after and all because his giant was, what was the word ? Needy ? Horny ? Obsessed with someone ?Whatever it was, now Eren found himself in the uncomfortable position of picking up the pieces to fix all his giants’ mistakes.He took a deep breath and then spoke up again. “Where are you taking me ?” he asked. “Somewhere calm. It may sounds weird, but there are place where we can have some privacy” “Somewhere where we can’t fight, somewhere where I will be obligated to keep my part of the deal” “I won’t be able to use my abilities either. Surrounded by other people I won’t try to kill you, you won’t try anything funny” said Levi.“And you will be able to keep an eye on me. You’re not taking me to a date, you’re simply surveilling me” Eren made it sound like he was joking, but deep down he totally expected something like that. When he proposed Levi to take him somewhere, he hoped the other would lead him away, in an isolated place where Eren would feel comfortable enough to drop the entire façade, but he’d been too optimistic.He would have to put it up with those fucking high heels for a little longer.Nevertheless a side of him was pleased with the current situation. Levi represent a novelty to him, a situation he’d never had to deal with and a good challenge.The strongest Ackerman he’d ever met and the king of giants, what a view indeed. Plus, even though Levi was better known for his strength and power on the battlefield rather than his intellectual traits, Eren noticed that he was also a cunning man.Furthermore, just like Eren, Levi was wearing a mask, not evident like Eren but it was there on his face, showing up a façade to the world, hiding his true self, to defend himself or just for the force of habit, the brunette couldn’t tell.Nevertheless that weird dance of pulling and pushing was fun. “We haven’t known each other for enough time to invite you for a date, kid” Even though he couldn’t kill the other, Levi wasn’t so irresponsible to let a shifter wandering around on his own with the risk of killing other people, not even criminals like those who lived in the underground. Most of them were real fuckers but other were obligated to live like that and adapt to others’ rules and lifestyle. Leaving that place was hard and expensive and even though the criminality rate was high, it was very uncommon in the end that people left the place for good.Who managed to have the money had also gained the power and so they chose to rule in hell instead of starting over in heaven and other times happened that people were simply too afraid of breaking their link with the big guys of the city. It happened when someone got too much involved in someone else’ business. And others simply were doom to born and rot in that place.Nevertheless the start was hard for everyone in the same way and even though Levi felt detached from anyone in there, he simply couldn’t let them die by the hands of a shifter.They were worms, but so was he… And worms crawled together… “Not a kid, I’m almost twenty. You’re just old for me maybe. Or maybe I have… what’s the word ? A kink ? Yeah, I have a kink for older men” “You don’t know my age, how could you tell ?” “Surely you’re older, so…” said Eren shrugging “So, what kind of man are you ?” “What kind of… ? What the hell do you mean ?” “Well, I’m a taciturn guy that at the same time doesn’t want to be left alone in the silence and need to talk with others to feel comfortable. I think it’s a good start but you ? What kind of person you are ?” “I’m the kind of man who apparently can’t stay out of trouble. I was about to leave this place once and for all and look at the trouble I got myself involved” “Hey, nobody is obligating you to spend your time with me. You can simply let me go and just for the record, there are men out there that would kill you to be in your place, duh !” Levi rolled his eyes but didn’t reply that time. The other said the truth, nothing but his sense of obligation was forcing him to spend the time with the other creature, but what other choice did he have ?He sighed and looked around. His instincts were at peace, almost like they were telling him that he was safe, that he could lower his guard and nothing could threaten him and nevertheless he felt like he was walking on eggshell.One wrong step, one wrong move, a breath taken in the wrong direction and that fragile balance created between them would be lost and they would return to be at each other throat. “Have you ever invited someone to a date ?” asked Eren “A guy I know invited me once. It was fun” Actually he didn’t realize it was a date at first. Armin made him realize it.One day Floch invited him to have a walk near the sea together. Eren didn’t see nothing weird about the request, so he accepted, but then he realized that Floch was acting weird, that he was dancing around him almost like he feared some sort of repercussion from Eren’s part.Then suddenly Floch grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles, then hugged him and then scented him, like Eren had seen different animals doing.Then Floch asked him if he could kiss him on the neck and Eren allowed him to. It was then that he learnt he actually loved kisses on the neck. “That’s something I don’t fucking share with a stranger” “Oh come on…” said Eren rolling his eyes “We’ve been walking for a while. It almost looks like you’re leading me on the other side of the world only for me to tease you to death” “Oh fuck off breath !” Levi snapped and hit Eren straight at the hip. “Oh come on, you can’t snap for something like this. Who’s the brat between us then !” They kept doing like that, mocking and teasing and hitting (mostly Levi) the other, until they finally reached their destination. Levi brought him in one of the most decent and stocked, but mostly discrete, place in the underground and also it was one of the few places where he could find his favorite brand of black tea.It was an old café, mostly frequented by old men and women too old for the old bourbon or without the necessary money to afford something more expensive than water with drops of coffee inside it. The walls and the furniture had lived better days. Surely the wooden tables and chair had been beautiful long time ago, but not anymore.The chairs were all wobbly and when the people sat on them they emitted a terrible screech, impossible to ignore. There were many pictures hang on the walls, pictures that portray old content moments with clients, another reason why Levi appreciated that place. It was the only one that preserved some sort of positive experiences inside it and it was also a calm place.On the left side there was the bar, with a showcase where it was still some desserts, but Levi wasn’t fun of those things and there was also a rifle hung on the wall.Men got there only for the lace and then left the place only to return the next month to retrieve the lace again. “It’s calm, in here. Not in a bad way though” commented Eren looking around, observing the people, the pictures on the wall and watching with disgust the webs on the ceiling. “In what sense ?” “I learnt that this place could be quite in two way. When it’s only calm apparently, but it’s only the calm before the storm before someone try to literally stab you in the back and then there’s this kind of calm. When you finally find a safe place and you can breathe without worrying about breathing too loud. I wouldn’t know how to explain it in another way” Levi agreed with him, on the first part “I agree but only for the first part” he said “You haven’t been here long enough to realize that there’s no safe place in here” “Shouldn’t this rule be applied to the whole world then ? How could we possible live then ?” “It’s hard, but it’s worthy I guess. I lived here once and when you grew up in place like that you simply don’t have think if living is worthy or not…” “You simply fight to live another day, you don’t learn deep concepts like right or wrong, you don’t even care whether your life is actually worthy or not. Place like this teaches you that your born and that you have to fight to live, not matter how low you stand. Right ?” Levi was looking at him stunned, because Eren had just described his whole life, while he was simply talking about his own experiences. The underground and the white room were quite the same. They weren’t the place when someone could afford to reflect about sense of life, philosophy was for those who had lived deep enough to reflect about the meaning of the existence, but for those who didn’t feel to exist themselves, it was useless, pointless, fruitless because it leaded nowhere.You couldn’t find answers if you didn’t know where to ask questions so…. “I think my life is worthy after all.” said Eren “I lost a lot of opportunities in the past, but in the end I still have the opportunity to enjoy a warm cup of black tea with an handsome man” Levi rolled his eyes, then he thought about something “How do you know I’m here for the black tea ?” “Because as soon as we entered, the young lady has started to prepare it as soon as she recognized you. We’re the only two people who have just entered and all the other clients are already enjoying their orders” said Eren shrugging, then he showed his flirty persona again “Are you a celebrity or something ? Or maybe that girl is waiting for you to make a move ?” “Not interested, if that’s the case” said Levi without explain further. “Why ? She’s pretty, she’s also your height” joked Eren. Levi answered showing the middle finger, it made the other chuckle.Almost like they had called her, the young lady Eren had noticed before was slowly walking in their direction with a tray with two cups and a teapot and a little plate with some biscuit. She was cute, short, wearing an anonymous black dress that was supposed to resemble a waitress uniform but, in Eren’s opinion, it was nothing special, but she was cute. She had short green hair, a piercing on the lower lip and a beautiful pair of blue eyes. “Here’s your order for you and your friend, Mr. Ackerman” “Thank you” said Levi barely looking at her.“He’s quite a catch isn’t him ?” asked Eren without shame making the poor girl almost drop the trail. Levi kicked him under the table while the girl quickly finished to serve them before to get away from her table. “Was that necessary you piece of shit ?” asked Levi forcefully grabbing his cup. “Oh come on, I was making her a favor. I thought she was the bold time, she called you with your last name” “Which is a general courtesy” “I doubt she will remember my last name next time she saw me if I tell her.”“Just shut the fuck up dude” “Chill dude. That attitude of yours won’t make you popular with the ladies” Levi didn’t dignify that comment with an answer. Being popular with the ladies wasn’t even at the bottom of the list of the things he aspired to do.Eren sharpened his eyes, feeling that there was something about Levi that he wasn’t catching. He thought about the first time Levi saw him, there was a glint of curiosity but also horror, and then interest. Surely Levi had noticed his resemblance with E2, but then he looked at him in a different way.In a way he’d never looked at E2… It was only for a moment but Eren had the impression that Levi saw a man in him rather then a…He chose not to voice his thoughts in the end and slowly poured some tea in his cup as well. Armin once told him that someone’ sexuality was a rather delicate topic and that, even when he had thoughts about it, he should refrain himself from openly talk about it.He took a sip and only then he noticed that the girl didn’t bring any sugar. He took a look at Levi and he was calmly drinking his own tea. ‘Not sugar ah ? What a weird man’ he thought, but he didn’t mind it. … Paradise Island, Utopia “Did he at least tell you when he will come back ?” Floch rolled his eyes again. Since Eren had left the island, he offered himself to surveille the coasts, waiting for the return of his king and being harassed by both Frieda and Ymir to know where Eren was at moment. He truly didn’t know where he was or when he would come back, but the two women didn’t believe him.He looked up, seeing the sun hidden by the clouds, almost like it refused to show himself until the king came back. It was so poetic.Floch would have spent the entire morning admiring the clouds rather than discussing with Ymir. To calm himself, he started playing with his own fingers, kept hidden with a pair of red gloves that matched his red boots, the only colour of his entire outfit. He was wearing a black leather jacket, a pair of black trousers and silver necklace around his neck. “What if he never returns ?” he dare to joke. It was a bad one, he knew.If the king got captured, they would be ruined, any single one of them. Or if he decided that the life outside the confinements of the island was worthier to be lived, then no one else would have stood up for them and they would be ruined nonetheless.That was Floch’s worst nightmare, that his king would never come back to him. “Don’t even say it. Frieda is very worried. He left the island without even a warning, how could you let him leave ?” “You’re saying it almost like I could have persuaded him to stay.” Said Floch turning around to look at Ymir “You know that there’s one person he truly listens and he’s in Marley with him. Nothing I could have said would have made him change his mind” It hurt saying those words, but they were true. Only Armin was able to reason with Eren most of the time, it happened that his instincts would prevail over any reason. Nevertheless Floch was jealous of their relationship.He wished he could be his Armin, and be his confidant.He wished he could be his Frieda, and be his mother figure.He wished he could be his giant, and be one and only with him.He wished he could be his Marco, and be his second best friend.He wished he could his soulmate, so that Eren would be his and his alone… “You’re so useless Floch” commented Ymir “You’re just a dog that wags his tail around his owner.” Those words made him smirk. Ymir sometimes simply tried too hard to look more intimidating than she actually was. With those large grey jacket that was supposed to make her shoulder looked larger in order to make her presence be more imposing than she actually was, or the leather trousers that were supposed to emphasize her muscle and the boots with studs that were supposed to make her look tougher. She was intimidating actually, a lot of people were wary of her, not him though, not those who were too close to her to see her façade. “Oh please, don’t act like a diva, you’re only pissing me off” said Floch showing her the middle finger “And you’re just like me. A dog licking Frieda’s boots” “I dare you say that again fucker” said Ymir assuming her fighting posture while her eyes became yellow. “You’re so touchy sometimes. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to waste with you” “Of course, you’re just the kind of dog that is all bark and no bite. You should have at least follow him, disobey his order” “Why disobeying his orders are an option when we’re not allowed to do the same with Frieda ?” “Because she’s been raised to be a ruler and she knows how the world works, we can’t say the same with Eren” “Don’t know, your poor choice of words could make someone believe you’re switching sides”“Being honest doesn’t make me a traitor, you should watch your mouth before accusing someone” “Sorry…” said Floch, totally unconvinced “But honestly, I don’t know what you expect me to say”. Ymir rolled his eyes, wishing for Marco and Sasha to be there. The first would have done a better job at reasoning with Eren and the second was funny to tease and, since she left, Ymir hadn’t found someone else with funny reactions as hers that reacted at her remarks. “Frieda’s being restless. She’s just worried” “And I am not ? I’ve been surveying this fucking beach with no rest since the day he left. If something bad happen, I will feel responsible for the rest of my fucking life” “You will no longer have a life if something happen to him” Floch had a bad thought for a moment but he stopped in time. He knew that something happened to Eren he would paid the consequences personally but what Ymir didn’t know was that something bad actually happened, he would take his own life himself. Because there was simply no life for him before the king.There was nothing actually, absolutely nothing… ….
PARADISE ISLAND
One year after he was born, Floch was diagnosed with a mixed cerebral palsy, which meant that he suffered from brain damage in more than one area of the brain and it all happened after a traumatic head injury caused by a moment of distraction from his parents and few minutes of lacking of oxygen when he lost his senses.
He suffered from damage at the motor cortex, which resulted in high difficulty with the movements of his lower libs, extremely rigidity accompanied with involuntary movements followed by spasms and sometimes tremors, epilepsy, delayed development regarding the language and the communication skills and other kind of issues he didn’t want to think about.
As result, he was completely detached from life and the few clear memories he had were about his parents, crying, fighting over him…
“We will find someone else. He’s made some progress, I’m confident…” that was his mother’s voice…
“It’s been years now. I lost the count of how many doctors visited him. We must accept that we have to live with the a vegetative son”
“Don’t say things like this”
“And why not ? It’s not like he could hear us. He’s also partially deaf and almost blind at the right eyes, he’s barely even a person. I could barely look at him sometimes…”
His father was right. At the time Floch was almost completely deaf and was able to see perfectly only with one eyes. He had to rely on his parents to do almost anything and even though he had made some improvements over the years, but still when he 8 years old all he could do was able to stay sit, but without keeping his head straight, he had to be helped with his food and sometimes he had difficult with chewing it. He couldn’t walk on his own, so he sat on a wheelchair.
The point was that he wasn’t actually a living thing, he was so damaged that his could barely be defined as life. It was a miracle that his body adapted to the serum after the injection and when Eren turned all of them into humans again with his screams, then Floch was finally free to start an entire new life.
Those words hurt, but with the time Floch came to understand his father. When he learnt the difference himself between his former existence and his newfound life, he could understand why his father didn’t consider him a living being. It hurt nonetheless, but he could understand.
In the end, his parents decided at some point to move in the North Paradise, with the hope of finding a cure for him, but in the end, all the doctors agreed that there wasn’t much they could do for him.
Nevertheless, his parents were always there with him as years passed…
“Hello my precious boy” said his mother every time she enter inside his room, she would kiss him on his cheeks and then proceed to talk to him about her day.
His father’s visits were rarer and more uneventful, he never kissed Floch, or talked about his day, he simply took his hands and sometimes abandoned himself into desperate crying.
Floch wished he could have talked with him, to know why he was crying or for whom, for his son, for himself, for another reason. Just like he wished he had hugged his mother at least once in his life, but he couldn’t. He was born into a damaged body, that was the reality.
He would never expected that the incident happened in 2095, the same incident that ruined the life of thousands people, would have turned around his life completely, and in better for once. Floch remembered his mother running away for her safety, leaving him behind in his bedroom while the room was filling with green smoke. His father wasn’t at home, but Floch learnt that he died in the incident anyway.
He didn’t even remember if he was scared or not, only that terrible smell that penetrated his nose and lungs, then an inexplicable pain and then he was naked among the ruins of what used to be his house.
The first thought that came to his mind was dedicated to his parents, even though he couldn’t say to have any deep relationship with them, even though his mother abandoned him at last, they at least took care of him for his whole life instead of simply getting rid of him.
“Imm… Liv…” he couldn’t speak properly at the beginning, but he realized pretty quickly that his life had completely changed.
He could clearly see his hands, distinguish his fingers, one after one, the moles near his palm, he could feel the ground under his legs and he could perfectly distinguish any sound around him.
He looked up and remembered to have started crying for how much beautiful and blue the sky was, the same sky he could barely see, in that moment appeared so vast, and so clear, and so wonderful to make him cry.
He discovered life that day… He discovered his new life… A life full of colours and sounds and sensations and beauty… For the first time he felt like he actually belonged to the world.
Floch Forster was simply reborn…
He couldn’t walk properly, but two other shifters noticed him and helped him to lead him where their king was waiting for them.
What a vision it was… when he was able to see his king for the first time, it was like seeing the sun itself for the first time.
His life had become so much brighter after it. With the memories of the other shifters, he quickly learned how to sit properly, then how to stand up and walk, then to run and then to fight. The same happened with his talking and anything else he had to learn to live properly his new life.
In few months he had learnt everything he hadn’t learnt in almost sixteen years of life. Finally, at the age of sixteen, he was able to live a proper life. To make friends and to know love.
The first word he pronounced correctly was ‘Eren’, it was the most beautiful word he knew, the one he would pronounce from sunrise to sunset, the only word that hold any meaning to him.
That was what bound him to the cause, his immense gratitude and devotion to his king, to the one who gave him a second life. And when, in 2095, the moment arrived, to pledge his loyalty, he didn’t hesitate to bend his knee, gently grabbing his king’s soft hand, kiss his knuckles and saying…
“My life belong to you, I swear to serve you until the end, I swear it on my life”
…
“I will no longer have a life if he died” repeated Floch looking at the sea. “At least we agree on something” said Ymir walking back toward the city. Floch watched her leave for a moment, before turning his eyes on the sea again.Why did he have to fall in love with someone like the sea ?He felt particularly connected with him because Floch, better than the others, understood how hard could be to feel part of something, something so complicated like society, after years spent in isolation. Floch was relief to know that he wasn’t the only one who knew nothing regarding human relationships. At the beginning he felt more like a wallflower during the social events and something suggested him that Eren felt the same.Society could be so scary sometimes. It had so many rules to be applied in thousands different situation with thousand different people according to their role.There were so many words, greeting and gestures for any situation that people had to know to be recognized as part of a determinate group. There were things that could be expressed and other had to be kept hidden, there were gesture deemed inappropriate in any situation and others that had to be done at any.It was everything so overwhelming at first, it was like he and Eren were attending an accelerating course about society in order to keep up with others.Floch didn’t know how to behave as well, so he and Eren learnt together. Floch had learnt faster than Eren, probably because, cerebral palsy aside, Floch had more trust in person and had more curiosity about people in general. Where Eren tended to isolate himself, Floch instead longed to be with people, to learn more about them, to learn how to behave with them, what to say and what not, when to laugh and when to cry, when to hug them and when not.In the first years he made all the experiences he hadn’t lived in his past life. He learnt how to bike, how to swim, how to drive, how to play football, how to write, how to sing, how to flirt, how to kiss a girl and then a boy, how to touch a girl and then a boy. He also lost his virginity during the first year as shifter. He wasn’t interested in that person, but somehow he felt like he had to live all the experiences for himself, his parents and for his king as well, so that he could share them with him.When he and Eren were alone, he shared with the other all he had learnt and Eren seemed to appreciate and nevertheless, when he had to choose, Armin was always the first, but Floch tried not to take it personally.Sometimes his former illness kicked in again and made him acted weird, but nevertheless he considered himself a complete new person.Floch didn’t consider himself a deep person, his past didn’t allow him to reflect deep about the meaning of life, at the beginning because his brain simply couldn’t perform such complicate tasks and then because he simply decided to enjoy any day of his life, without any further thought of hesitation.Specially because he couldn’t see any meaning in his past life, what point his past life could have ? In comparison the one he could have with his king ?With time, Floch simply decided that his life was worthy because it had Eren in it. That he had suffered all those years only to be able to kiss his hand sixteen years after.He didn’t care if the entire world would see him a nothing more than piece of rubbish, or a monster, or someone unworthy to live. He didn’t care at all, because Eren told him that he was born in that world and so he deserved to live not matter what.Floch swore to live for him, before than himself. That was all. “Please, come back. I miss you so much” he whispered through the wind. … Marley Underground 30th September 2097 Eren felt the need to sneeze but refrain himself since he was in a public space.Armin once told him that someone could sneeze when another person thought intensely about them. What a weird theory indeed. “It’s the first time I tasted black tea” he said “I think I like it” “I’m glad” said Levi pouring in his cup more tea. “Don’t you eat cookies ?” “I don’t like sweet things” “More for me then” Eren didn’t like eating in general. Just like any other thing he didn’t actually need, Eren disregards food. Another reason why he hated mealtime.Shifters didn’t need food, but most of them kept the tradition to do mealtime with actual food only because they felt linked with those human habits. Eren didn’t and he always felt awkward sitting at the table, when others picked their food and put it on their plate, and he wanted nothing more than stand up and leave it instead.Sometimes his hands trembles because he felt too embarrassed when he had to pick the food, or when he chewed it and swallowed it, because he always thought he did it too loud.At the table, he did everything as fast as he could or as silent as he could, hoping to disappear. How could people handle being at the table for so long when he could barely handle for a couple of minute?It was different in that situation though.He felt strangely calm, he took the biscuit and his hand didn’t tremble. “When I chew, does it disturb you ?” he asked innocently. “Why should it disturb me ?” asked Levi thinned his eyes. It disturbed Eren very deeply actually.Eating in general was difficult for him. Every time he chewed or swallowed something, it was always the taste of blood the first thing he sensed. Every single time, just to remember him how different and detached he was from the rest of the world. “Why the sudden frown kid ?” Eren looked at him, at another person that was detached from the world. He knew Levi was like him, he could feel it.Being born in a place like that, where the rules of normal society felt more like utopias, surely had some lasting effects on Levi.He could feel that Levi, not matter what he did or where he want, would always feel different from the rest of the people. That was what isolation did to people. That was what happened when someone simply couldn’t fit into a society. That was what happened when someone had been raised to fear the world so much to the point that all he could do was pretending to be part of it, to play by the rules, when in reality the mere thought of being surrounded by people make the hands trembling for the fear of doing something wrong.Eren and Levi were the strongest creature of the entire world and nevertheless they were probably the most scared of it, because they didn’t understand how to properly live into it, only to survive and try to live by the rules but in the end, try to live and live weren’t the same things.And it hurt, that sensation of being defeated since the beginning.Even among his kind, Eren knew that there would always be that sense of loss and alienation that would make him feel detached from them. “I just… I just realized how lonely I’ve been feeling my entire life” Levi didn’t know the stream of consciousness inside Eren’s hand and nevertheless he felt like he perfectly understood what the other was trying to say to him, because he’d been feeling the same his entire life.There, alone in a bar, understood how pitiful could be that a perfect stranger he’d just met, understood him fully and better than anyone else.Because he could his own loneliness mirrored in those green eyes, and it hurt. Maybe because in their case, in case of two detached people, words weren't needed to realize that the other was just like them.Because even before developing his abilities, Levi knew that he would be screwed up if he ever entered into a society. It was easier for him remaining in the underground, with his certainties and his knives. There were few rules in that place and were simple and didn’t require any further exploration.But underground wasn’t real society, and Levi was completely detached from it.He noticed during the first months in the Scouts. He simply couldn’t completely fit, there would always be something about situation that made him wary, or confused.That made him sad, he hated to feel that way.He thought that things would get better with time until he could no longer feel awkward around people. That was another reason why he preferred to remain in silence, because deep down he was too much afraid to say something stupid or something inappropriate that would embarrassed him in front of other people.In spite of his façade, he hated feeling different from others.He didn’t understand how a simple cup of tea and some biscuits could have lead both him and the kid to think about that depressing stuff, but at least they were in company and they could understand each other perfectly. “What do you want from your life Levi ?” asked Eren before to finish his tea. “I have no fucking idea at the moment” answered Levi truthfully. He wanted a lot of things, but nothing for himself.He wanted to avenge Furlan and Isabel, because they were his family, and he wanted to accomplish his mission to help Erwin, who was his new family. But for himself ?What could his life possibly give to him ? “What about you kid ?” Eren took a moment to look at the man in front of him and to reflect about his past and a new future that he was starting to see in front of his eyes, just like a movie.Of course, they were simple images, but he like what he was seeing and he had the means to turn them in reality. He didn’t have a past, it was taken away from him and the same was for Levi, but they could have a future, maybe even together.Eren wouldn’t mind it, a future with someone who could understand him, who was so much like him and different at the same time.Maybe he was finally understanding why his giant had been so determinate to make him encounter Levi, maybe it was trying to tell him that it had found his perfect match.Kruger once explained to him that, just like animals “recognized” their perfect mate by the smell, so the giants could recognize someone who could be their perfect partner and maybe that person for Eren was Levi.Levi Ackerman was an interesting man, absolutely handsome and absolutely capable. A firecracker that could match with Eren’s determination and intensity. A life together would be far from boring, but he was digressing then.If Levi was his perfect match, then he had to be sure of it, before to make his first time, until then, he would enjoy one last biscuit.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marley Scouts Legion Base 1st October 2098 Armin had been working nonstop till that morning. He locked himself up inside the laboratory with Hanji and Moblit and avoided to leave it at any cost.The reason ?He lacked the courage to get out and risk to meet Erwin.After what happened between them, once he realized what actually happened, once they both realized that they had given into feelings passion, they simply couldn’t handle the consequences of it. Armin should have felt accomplished of himself after all, he had bend Erwin over his will, he managed to convince Erwin to have sex with him, he finally succeeded to lower all his defenses and nevertheless Armin felt like he was the one who had lost the game.When Armin looked in Erwin’s eyes something snapped inside him, something deep inside him, maybe even connected to his own giant, seemed to recognize something or, to use better words, realize something that Armin couldn’t define with simple words.All he knew was that he’d been dreaming that moment over and over again, to the point that he preferred to stay awake and work, instead of dreaming about those big, strong, warm hands on his wrist, guiding him, sustaining him, touching him, caressing him.If he closed his eyes, he could still vividly remember them on his body and Armin loved it. Loved it so hard to hate it, because it made him lose control over his body.Because every time he thought about those hands, his body reacted accordingly. He got exited in a way that he wasn’t allowed to feel. He craved for something that he shouldn’t crave. And he was burning for a sin that he wouldn’t be forgiven for.He made a mistake.It hurt. But it was true.He, in spite of his intelligence and rationality, committed a terrible mistake that involve a more sentimental issues that he wasn’t ready to deal with. ‘How did I end up in a situation like this ? What’s happening to me ? Why my chest is hurting so much ?’ “Armin ? Is everything alright ?” asked him Moblit putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’re so red on your face. Your body temperature is raising. Keep going like this and we will have to wear a swimsuit !” joked Hanji “Let’s do it, let’s wearing swimsuits together !!” “Dr. Zoe, that would be so much inappropriate !” said Moblit scandalized. “Appropriate for a good experiment you mean. Let’s do it, let’ see how many functions Armin’s body temperature could have !” “That’ so gross !! You’re embarrassing him !” It wasn’t Hanji’s fault actually. Armin’s body temperature raised the same moment he linked the words “swimsuit” and “Erwin” and about how erotic it could be and how much he would love it.What could be more sublime than their bodies united as one ? What could be more erotic than his teeth on Erwin’ shoulders and ate his flesh ?The mere thought made him salivating, drooling over the sensation of that sweet flesh on his tongue. It could look creep, but for a shifter to consider someone’s flesh tasty was actually something positive, it meant compatibility. It meant that the giant really appreciated the pray in front of it.It meant that it wanted it, so much that it wanted to “devour” and when a giant wanted to devour someone, it meant that it wanted to possess it completely. It meant that it want that person, body, soul and memories, to belong to it and it alone.His giant wanted to devour Erwin, Armin instead wanted to put as much distance as possible between them. “I’m not the one embarrassing him, am I ?” Armin jumped when he noticed Hanji’s face so close to his. Her brown eyes were scrutinizing him completely, almost reading Armin’s thoughts.The blond shifter gulped, blinking a couple of times, trying to take a step back to hide himself from those eyes, but Hanji grabbed his chin and prolonged the eye contact.After a couple of second, the woman smirked and then started laughing hysterically. “Someone’s here has a crush !” she started yelling at full lungs. “Dr. Zoe, it’s not polite to expose someone’s feelings this way !” Armin wanted to die that moment. He hoped that someone would kill him and never get back to live. How could she understand it so easily ? Like it was written on his face ? “I have nothing, I… my giant and I… we… WE NEED SOME AIR !!” He screamed running out of the laboratories. “Eh eh eh !! I knew it !! This is going to be so much fun !!” said Hanji laughing hysterically. “Dr. Zoe, you’re so insensitive sometimes !!” Meanwhile Armin exited and arrived at the backyard, where he started taking deep breaths, trying to lower his body temperature.In and out, in and out… one and two… one and two…He took off his coat and let it fell on the grass and he also loosen the black tie he was wearing and that made him feel suffocated.He sat on the ground and sighed, noticing only then that its temperature was so high to burn the grass beneath his fingers.Once the Scouts Legion obtained the approval of the government for their operation, they had also got the permission to amply their base and all the other structures around the area. One of them was the backyard and it was very beautiful. It was one of the few places that wasn’t dedicate for training only. There was a brick path at the center that leaded toward the center, where there benches surrounded by fruit trees. It was surrounded by a wall and following the brick path was possible arriving to a green door that leaded to the little vegetable garden and another one that leaded to another brick path to arrive to the greenhouse.It was Mike’s idea to open a little vegetable garden, according to him it could be useful for the trainees in a therapeutically way and also for them so they could have some vegetable and fruit on their own, without waiting for the supplies to arrive. The greenhouse was for instead requested from Hanji and also from another one of their researchers so that they could cultivate plants useful for medical and experimental purposes. ‘What the fuck ?! I have no control anymore. It’s all his fault’ He laid on the grass and closed his eyes. He felt exhausted with so many worries on his mind. First Erwin and the emotion turmoil he was responsible of, then Eren, who was wondering in the underground alone, without any sort of protection, and then there was his giant that seemed determinate to cause him any sort of problem. Oh, he forgot to mention Hanji and her ability of poking her nose in everyone’s business. Damn !!!
‘Armin ! We need to talk, now !’
And then there was Frieda’s harassment. Every day, every hour, Frieda scold him for having allowed Eren to leave Paradise without telling her anything.He was considered Eren’s right hand but Armin knew that there were limits for him as well. Eren was determinate to prove himself that he was able to survive in the world and Armin wanted to have faith in him. Paradis island shouldn’t be another prison for him, Eren should be allowed to come and go without asking for anyone’s permission, but Frieda was too paranoid to leave him out of her sight. ‘If you want to talk about Eren then no, we haven’t talked today yet.’‘So you have no idea what he’s been doing’ ‘I know he’s an adult and that if he needs help, he wouldn’t hesitate to get in contact with us. Have faith in him, he’s a capable man’.
‘He hasn’t lived in the outside world, he doesn’t know it like us’
‘A valid reason to encourage him to explore the current world to become more aware of how it works’
‘He already knows how cruel the world can be’
‘The white room isn’t the world, is only a partial faithful reproduction of its worst traits. Explore the real world would only benefit him, it would make his ideas stronger and his determination higher’.
‘What if something else happens ?’
‘Like what for example ?’
‘Something that could waver his will, change his mind.’
Armin furrowed and thought about the possibility. Since the first day he knew Eren, nothing had ever made him faltered from his goals. He had clear and precise idea about what he planned to do with himself, his powers, his enemies and the entire world.Eren didn’t have a strong sense of identity, but the nucleus of his self, albeit fragile, was based on his ambitions, on what he liked and what not, on what he wanted and what didn’t.Eren deserved the possibility of learning more about the world, he wasn’t a fragile, delicate flower that had to be kept hidden and locked inside the walls of Paradis.The king of giants’ will knew no limits after all. Eren wasn’t made for being locked, his nature, his powers were made to allow him to surpass any possible limits. ‘He made a promise to all of us. I think that he’s doing this experience for us as well’
‘What do you mean ?’
‘I think he’s always felt inferior compared to us in matter of experience. I think that he’s always felt like he must to rely on us because he’s unable to walk on his own in the world. I think he wants to prove that we could trust him as well, that he’s able to further improve himself for us’ It was partially true after all.Eren once confessed to him that he felt deeply insecure about himself in comparison with other shifters. He felt like he started a crusade against something he didn’t actually knew, with no real experience apart from being secluded.The first few months spent outside the cell were hard for Eren.He was visibly in great difficult with everything, he rarely was the first to approach other people even for a little conversation, he didn’t know how to properly greet them, how to start a conversation or how to finish it, well, usually he remained in silence and simply listened what the other person had to say. Armin tried to help, but then Eren asked the help of a group of former prostitutes and escorts to help him improve his social skills.The results were evident, it helped Eren with his charisma and everything else, but one thing was to improve his social skills and another was to change whatever was inside his heart.That didn’t change.Armin felt it, almost saw it, that invisible wall that separated Eren from the rest of the world.Eren was different from the rest of them, detached from their reality, but it wasn’t a bad thing after all. Armin was confident that it wasn’t necessary understanding someone completely to decide to be at their side forever.Eren had his secrets, had his insecurities and had his complexes and Armin was fine with it. That was why Eren accepted him more than everyone else, because Armin was one of the few people who didn’t want him to be different.Armin understood the efforts Eren was making to integrate himself more and to become more like them and less like himself. More like a person, a shifter and less like a giant.Armin was sincerely convinced that Eren’s experience in the underground would help him to develop a more complete and mature view of the world and its rules and that would help him in the future.He also went there with for a precise reason. Eren was confident that he could find someone who could help them find what was left of the royal family and the emperor’s minions and Armin had faith in him. ‘I don’t think it’s a capricious. I think that he needs this experience, to be sure that he could lead himself before us’
‘Does he at least keep you update about what’s doing ?’
‘He does. He said he found someone beneficial for our plans. He can be persuasive when he wanted, so I’m confident that he would return to Paradis with great news’
‘Fine, but if you sense that something’s wrong with him, please, convince him to abort the mission and come back as soon as possible’
‘I will, don’t worry. You know his wellbeing is important to me as much as for you’ Frieda interrupted their conversation without more words, but Armin had no intention to deal with her moody behavior, he was already busy dealing with his own inner turmoil. “Argh !” he groaned. What was he supposed to do then ? What ?If Eren was there he would ask him to erase those memories from his head. Eren…. Eren… Eren… If that fucker hadn’t asked him to play with Erwin’s mind, Armin would have found himself in that situation. It was true, Eren asked him only to seduce him, not to have sex with him and Armin wasn’t obligated and nevertheless he did and then he found himself dealing with feelings he didn’t want to have. “Eren… you fucker…” he whispered. “What did he do ?” asked a voice near him. Armin jumped from the surprised. He opened his eyes and saw E2 next to him. “What the hell are you doing here ? And dressed up like that ?” E2, who was wearing his plain grey pajamas with a pair of white shoes, simply shrugged, but at least had the decency not to sit on the grass. “It’s not like I have more clothes.” He said “So, what did Eren do to you ?” “Firstly, don’t say that name aloud, secondly, I don’t want to talk about him” said Armin trying not to sound too harsh. It wasn’t E2’s fault that he looked so much like the person Armin wanted to punch not once, not twice and thousands times.It was only thanks to E2’ softer features and his innocent look that Armin managed to repress his negative instincts. “I can relate with that” said E2 playing with the sleeves of his pajamas, undecided in between asking Armin if he could sit with him or not. “What are you doing outside ?” “I got permission. I can stay in the backyard, as long as I communicate it to someone and you’ve been seen running here so I thought it was okay to stay for a while. They’re testing Marco and Sasha so I can take a break. What are you doing here ?” “I’m… thinking about some… stuff.” said Armin, without any further explanation. “You look worried” Armin cursed that E2 was able to understand his feelings at the most inappropriate moments. He wasn’t ready to face unwanted feeling, especially with someone who barely knew the meaning of the word. No offense, but if Eren had managed to build some sort of fundaments about how society words, E2 was still trying to create that fundament.Armin didn’t consider him stupid, but he wasn’t in the mood to explain himself and to explain things that he knew E2 wouldn’t understand. “I’m just tired.” “Is Ere… is he ignoring you as well as usual ?” “He’s busy. Don’t be mad at him. He’s doing some important stuff elsewhere, he’s doing it for us” “Oh. Okay. It’s just weird for him. There are periods when I could hear him all day and then periods when he’s so quiet and calm in my mind that it feels weird. I get worried when it happens.” “What about you ? How are you ?” “Confused actually.” The problem was that a lot of inexplicable things had happened to him recently. Since the day Levi left for his mission, E2 had stopped to dream about him and the beach, but he started to have weird dreams about the desert.In there, there were Eren and Levi, but E2 couldn’t get closer enough to hear what they said or to see what they did, all he knew was that they were together and that the desert wanted to keep any intruder at distance. The desert was calm though, and so were the expressions of Levi and Eren’s faces and E2 felt strangely calm as well.Almost like he was mirroring Eren’s calmness, but there was something more than that.Then after the dream of the desert, there was another one that always followed, but it was darker than the first.E2 dreamed about himself, being ripped and eaten apart by hundreds giants, hundreds faceless monsters that after assumed… “Armin, what exactly am I ?” he asked timidly, playing nervously with the sleeves of the pajamas. “What do you mean ?” asked Armin, pretending not to having understood the meaning of the question. “How I was born ? Why did I look exactly like… you know… Why I was born with memories and… Do you know why ?” E2 tried to stay calm, but in the end he clearly expressed all his turmoil through his questions. The fact was that after his experience in Helos, he’d been dreaming about different things he couldn’t understand. Not only about Kruger, but also about Eren and Levi.All those dreams, all those memories, made him reflect about why he never had a dream about his own past. Why wasn’t he the protagonist of his own dream ?He remembered the first time he saw Tom, they shared a lot of moments together, so why he’d never dreamed about him ? Why only memories that belonged to someone else ?Sometimes he felt like he was born only to live someone else’ life. It made him sad.In that place, surrounded by the members of the Scouts Legion, he didn’t feel at ease. “E2… this is not a conversation you should have with me” “Unfortunately, Eren refuses to explain me anything. He always says that I need to figure it out the true by myself, step after step, but how could I without even know where to start ?” asked E2 crossing his arms. Armin sighed. He blamed Eren for this, again.Eren was supposed to help E2 with his memories, to help him find a way to understand his origins, not matter how hard it could be. It would be devastating, that was why it was fundamental that Eren adequately prepared it for the moment. “Listen, I can’t tell you everything, but I promise that I will talk with him and that together we will tell you everything you want to know, okay ?” What sly liar. That he was, nothing but a liar. He always lied and to everyone.His grandpa, Eren, his colleagues, Erwin, Falco, E2…All he said were nothing but lies. It was so natural for him to do it that sometimes Armin believed himself no longer able of telling something real.It made him question if he could still consider himself a real person. If there was something in him real or if he was so good to impose himself to believe something real to lie.It made him feel so detached from reality… “Okay…” whispered E2 “I wonder where Levi is, I hope he’s okay” “You shouldn’t you know ? He represents a danger for us” said Armin, trying to ignore how much hypocrite he was sounding. “I know. But we’re linked somehow and I don’t know how I could ignore it.” replied E2. When Levi went away, at the beginning it was a relief for E2. It meant for him not to have to worry about his thoughts, to be free to communicate with Sasha, Marco and Armin undisturbed and to have his mind all for himself. After a while, he started to miss him though.When Levi was there, he used to spend time with E2 several times during the day, if it was only for their link, E2 had no idea, but he appreciated the man’s company.Levi wasn’t a talkative person, he usually just sat next to him and sometimes he heard E2’s mumblings or try to answer his thousands questions about the world.For someone who looked constantly angry with the world, Levi was unusually soft and kind with him, patient most of all and he didn’t seem to bothered by E2’s curiosity.It was nice actually. Levi gave him a sense of calm and he made E2 feel safe somehow. It was nice after all that happened to him.Sometimes he dreamed about Levi as well, or, to be more specific, he dreamed about Levi’s life, like he was living the moment through Levi’s eyes but in his dreams. It was a weird sensation, but for the moment he wanted to keep it for himself rather than sharing it with Armin. “Why do you think Levi left ?” he asked instead. “I have my suspicious. Did you know the corporal used to be a criminal ?” “Really ? I had no idea” answered E2 stunned. “And a dangerous one. I may be wrong, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Levi was sent to get in contact with someone of his former business partners”. They did their researches after all. Before leaving Paradis and arriving in Marley, the shifters had got all the information the needed about the people who, more than others, could represent a potential threat for them.They knew where Levi came from, his troubled past, his reputation as one of the most feared criminal of the underground. What they didn’t expect was for him to possess the Ackerman’s gene. Unexpected indeed, but they could handle it.Nevertheless Levi was a man of many resources, ones that could be fruitful for a man like Erwin and for Armin and his people it could be a problem. If only they had more connections in the underground, they would have been able to keep a closer eyes on the situation there but the past told that the people there couldn’t be trusted. A clear example was the group of mercenaries they hired to handle their stuff in Helos. Those bastards smelled an opportunity and started putting their noses where they shouldn’t, stealing some samples of the serum, crystals and some other of their items before they realized it. All those stuff ended up in the black market and when Eren found out, he ordered to kill them immediately and try to fix the situation.It was too late to have their stuff back, but at least they managed to limit the damage.After that, they stopped to deal with those kind of people, but it put them at disadvantage when it took to spy on Levi and learn about his connections. “Did you talk with Eren about this ?” asked E2 tilting his head to the side. “I did, he seemed to agree with me indeed but then he simply disappeared. I hope, wherever he is, that he’s trying to solve this situation as well” “He is. He’s a control freak” “Yeah, but he can’t do everything on his own and at the moment he’s not even on the island” “He has people he could rely on” commented E2 playing with his sleeves. ‘And nevertheless deep down, he trusts very few’ Armin thought, but, seeing E2’s face, it was clear that they shared the same opinion. “I’ll come back inside. Do you come with me ?” asked E2 after a moment of silence. “No, I want to stay here a little longer” “Okay” E2 left the backyard without adding another word. It was clear that Armin’ silence and mood were making him feel uncomfortable since he couldn’t figure them out and so he couldn’t completely understand Armin.If lies made Armin feel dethatched from reality, in E2’s case was his inability to understand the world around him. They were so different and yet they both shared the same sense of loneliness and detachment from the world around them.Armin for a moment wanted to beg E2 to stay, because he was afraid that being in that yard alone wouldn’t help him not to think about what happened between Erwin and him. “Why did I let it happen ?” he groaned, before closing his eyes. The peace didn’t last long before he heard footsteps, ones he could never confuse. Ones that made him wish he was anywhere else but there.His finest sense of smell also distinguish Erwin’s aftershave, the same he wore the day when Armin could finally kiss the soft skin of his neck and… “Hello Commander Smith” he said to interrupt his thoughts, covering his eyes with an arm so that he could avoid looking at the other man directly. “Good morning Armin” said Erwin without using the proper titles “I was looking for you” “Why ? Now that Levi’s away, you want to make me your second in command ?” asked Armin sarcastically. “Of course not” Erwin answered with a little smile “Anyone has a specific place in my life and I can tell, you and Levi could never switch yours” “And where my place in your life would be?” asked Armin uncovering his eyes. “Wherever you want it to be. For the moment, I’d be quite content if you concede me a second of your time and stop avoiding me” “I’m not avoiding you. I’m simply taking time for myself and, don’t deny, you and Levi are doing something you don’t want me to know” “I want no one to know actually. Not at the moment” said Erwin. “Okay…” he simply said. “Are you worried about your infidelity now ?” asked Erwin trying to sound indifferent. ‘Infidelity ? I don’t have a boyfriend’ Armin thought. ‘And nevertheless something about you tells me you’re not mine and will never be’ It happened, their minds connected with each other for a moment and in that moment they heard each other thoughts.It lasted a moment, only a moment, but it was enough for their minds to become one.It reminded them of the situation between Levi and E2 and it both scared and confused them, since it’d never happened before.Before Erwin could speak, Armin took the word first. He wanted to talk about what happened with Eren before anyone else so he needed to distract Erwin. “I don’t have a boyfriend, I’m not unfaithful” he said. Another lie, of course. But he didn’t know who he was being unfaithful to… “I don’t have anyone” he repeated. “Armin… what happened…” started to say Erwin with a concerned expression. “What happened it was… special for me. I don’t sleep with the first man I see” “You know I wasn’t talking about that. I’m talking about what happened few seconds ago” “Oh you mean when you accused me of being unfaithful ?” said Armin ‘pretending’ to be offended. Armin stood up and tried to put some distance between him and Erwin but the latter gently grabbed him by the wrist and then took his hand.Erwin, on his part, knew he was showing a certain vulnerability, but he needed to discuss what happened with Armin. Actually, there were many things he wanted to discuss with Armin.The younger blond wasn’t the only one who lived a life of lies and wasn’t the only one who was trying to trace a line between what was real and what was not.For Erwin, his feelings were real, he was real when he was making love having sex with Armin. “I’m sorry if I offended you” he said Erwin allowing himself to reveal a certain urgency. He allowed himself to show a little part of his feelings, just enough to make the other feel comfortable. After spending his whole existence living in lies, Erwin knew how to mold himself, how to express himself in order to show enough to make the other trust his words but not enough to make them see through his schemes.It may sound harsh but he couldn’t afford to forget, not even for a second, that the meaning of his whole life was on the line and that Armin was an opportunity that he couldn’t waste. That was what he kept telling to himself, in order to continue with his mission.Any other thing, any other emotion, his heart that beat fast every time he was with Armin, the urgency he had to see him and to be sure he was okay, all of that passed in second place. “I accept your apologies… Now I need to go back inside…” muttered Armin lowering his eyes. “We need to talk about what’s happening. I don’t want our relationship to be like this. You’re avoiding me and I can understand but I don’t want to accept it” “I’m not avoiding you, I’m just clarifying my head and… I don’t know…” ‘I don’t even know what I want right now’ Armin thought. And it happened again, their minds linked and Erwin could hear his thoughts as if Armin had said those words aloud.That was going to be a problem, a very big problem.It was bothersome enough that E2 couldn’t freely communicate with them through telepathy because of his bond with Levi, but if he was starting to develop something similar with Erwin they were simply fucked.There was no way in hell Armin could allow Erwin inside his head, not when telepathy was the only way to communicate with that jerk face of Eren, not when his head was the only place where he could escape the stress of living a lie.It was the same for Erwin. “Pretending that this is not happening is not going to make it go away” he said, trying to make Armin stay and talk. Armin could tell he lost himself in those blue eyes. He found himself unable to say no, unable to say yes, unable to say anything, not matter how hard he tried to force the words out of his mouth.He found himself unable to stop himself from getting away from Erwin, from preventing himself to get closer and closer, to the point where he could feel Erwin’s breath on his face, his lips on his own, his tongue exploring his mouth and his arms wrapping around his waist until Armin could no longer run away.Armin found himself unable to control his heart from beating fast inside his chest, to stop his legs and his entire body from shivering, to stop his hands from touching Erwin’s face and hair while his tongue kept playing with the one of the other.Armin loved it and he hated it for it. He loved the moment, he loved Erwin being so close to him, holding him tight and devouring his mouth. He wished for that moment to never end.Erwin, on his part, started kissing Armin only to prevent him from running away at the beginning, but after few seconds, when his lips savored the other’s mouth, he felt so inebriated, so attracted from that sweet taste that he would spend the rest of his life with the man in his arm and his lips on the other’s.So lost in that moment, of passion, of sweetness, of sadness, of lust and desire, two liars found a truth in that stolen kiss.Maybe it wasn’t a bad opportunity after all. Because in the purity of their feelings, there was always space for some horrific, machiavellian thoughts. To turn their newfound weakness in a new source of strength.It was a gamble, it was dangerous, it was cruel, it was despicable, just like both of them were.Using their own feelings and the ones of the other person wasn’t the best way to start a relationship, but that kiss was only the last gesture of a long series of well planned moves toward the other. That was what they imposed themselves to think, while their tongues kept searching each other, their hands got tangled in the other’s hair, like two spiders wrapped around their webs of lies. … Marley Underground 10th October 2098 After their date encounter at the café, Eren and Levi had been spending more and more time together. Levi always reminded him that it was to keep Eren on a tighter leash, to prevent him from hurting other people, but Eren had nothing to complain about.It was probably the best opportunity he could ever hope for to observe Levi, to keep an eye on him and his progress.Armin warned him about Levi and Eren could understand why.He could feel, his giant could feel it, that Levi was one of the most powerful Ackerman he could ever met and the man only reached probably the 20% or the 30% of his potential.He should get rid of him, he should just rip his little body in two parts, just like he did or he would do with anyone else who stood in his way but…
‘We… no… do… it’
His giant didn’t hesitate to voice his opinion. Eren’s control over is had been slipping and when it happened, the consequences were always terrible.Furthermore, there was something else about him that was worrying him.When he first met Levi he didn’t dig deeper but then he started reflecting about the “memory” he had, about Kruger’s study about mating.Eren still couldn’t see the full picture because of his lack of knowledge, but he knew that something similar had already happened on Paradis several times. At the beginning he didn’t understand how it could happened, since he was the nucleus and his mind was linked to those of everyone on the island infected with the serum, but at some point it happened that some shifter’s giant started living some kind of ‘imprinting’ on someone else. At the beginning it only regarded shifters, so Eren didn’t notice, but then it happened between a shifter and an Ackerman that lived on the island.The shifter’s giant recognized that person as a potential mate and formed a bond that basically linked those two people together. A bond that allowed them to know each other’s feelings and thoughts and it was an exclusive bond, where Eren wasn’t allow to participate, but he kept this part for himself.The Ackerman could basically read the shifter’s mind and vice versa but the same rule didn’t aply for other shifters or other Ackerman, it was a link that belonged to them only.The same bond that linked Levi with E2 and through E2 with Eren as well.Levi and him were currently sitting on a pub, around them there were the noises of drunken men, the smell of their sweat and the arousal of those who were already flirting with the prostitute they hired to appear more virile in front of their friends. The place was bigger than the other pub they’d been together and it looked also a little bit fancier, with modern furniture, the dimmers light and the dance floor at the center where were few dances, mostly preferred sitting, drinking or go somewhere to flirt with someone.At the pub there was also a band was playing boring jazz music, but no one was there to listen to it, the men were there for the alcohol, their dirty business and the naked women.It was so decadent that Eren could smell their desperation, their non satisfaction for their lives, even from where he was sitting.In that moment, Eren was no longer wearing a feminine outfit, he didn’t feel in the mood for thousands men ogling and salivating over him.He also wanted to test Levi.He had the impression that Levi had some preference for men over women, so he decided to make an impression. For that evening he decided to clean up a little, he wore a black jacket without any shirt under, showing off a little bit of his chest, he wore tight pants to emphasize the his legs and he tangled his air in a bun, using a little bit of make up to emphasize the color of his eyes and a pair of tall black boots.When Levi saw him at the exit of his hotel, the reaction completely satisfied both Eren and his giant. Levi had sent him a gaze of pure lust and desire, similar to those of the men when Eren wore a dress instead of a pair of pants, but more composed and a little bit more polite.Levi didn’t look at him like he was a mere sex doll, but like he was something both to revere from afar and desire.Eren kind liked that look.Levi on his part was a very handsome man and he didn’t even have to work for it. He was wearing a simple black shirt a little bit unbuttoned, to show a little bit of chest and a pair of black trousers with black shoes. “At least it’s not boring here” commented Eren playing with his glass full of whiskey “I can’t stand their smell though” “Picky now ? After all that time flirting with those pigs wearing a skirt ?” “It’s difficult not to be after meeting someone better” said Eren in a flirting tone, taking a sip of his drink. “This attitude won’t get you anywhere. Knock it off, brat” “Of course, I don’t have to go anywhere, I’m exactly where I have to be” said Eren getting closer to Levi. “I don’t hit on kids” “I’m eighteen, I’m not a kid and I’m more mature than I look” “Could have fooled me” Eren snorted. Levi had no idea of the person that was sitting next to him and he had no idea of the person Levi was, of the criminal he used to be.Demons modelled people, Eren knew it very well. His own demons had modelled him in the abomination, monster person he was, he was very acquainted with his demons, but not with Levi’s.All he knew was that he had to be wary as well of the person beside him and the effect his had on his giant. “You’re giving me certain hints after all, for all the time you’re spending here with me.” “You know why, I can’t let you out of my sight” “It’s only an excuse. You let me out of your sight the few times you ran around somewhere doing whatever thing you’re supposed to do in a place like this. You’re simply delaying the inevitable” “What the hell do you mean ?” “We will part our ways, one way or another. I have no intention of coming with you and you surely won’t desert the army. You wanted to arrest me and the only reason you haven’t done it yet is to keep all these people say, but you can’t stay here forever, same as me.” “Get straight to the fucking point kid” “Whether we depart our way the right way, with a simply handshake or maybe a good fuck if I’m lucky…” Eren barely dodged Levi’s kick when he suggested it, but the brunette simply smirked, pretty entertained by the other’s reaction, but then he continued. “… or in the wrong way, just like we started, with a fight. I don’t want to fight you, Levi. Your duty is to arrest me but you don’t want it either, that's why you're postponing our farewell.” Levi hated that the other was right. He was indeed delaying the inevitable, inventing poor excuses with Erwin to remain there while all the deals he had to make were already solved. They had in the palm of their hand Okuyama, the banker, which meant that they had control over the finances of all the people in the underground and the money of Zeke Yeager; they had a deal with the Good Samaritan who control the black market and Odile would be their eyes and ears, so why didn’t he come back at the base ?Why didn’t he kill the boy ? Why wasn’t he even trying ? Why were his instincts getting in the way ? Why something inside him was telling him to protect the person at his side rather than kill him ? Why ? What made him so different from any other shifter he’d ever met before ? He didn’t feel that need of protection not even toward Armin whom was basically a comrade. “You want to protect me” said Eren slowly caressing Levi’s arm.“Drop it, kid” “You don’t want to kill me” said Eren getting closer and closer to Levi’s neck. He’d met several Ackerman on the island. Once Eren managed to earn their respect and loyalty, all of them swore two things to him: to kill and to be killed in his name.It was in their nature, to fight till death for their beloved ones. When someone earned the loyalty of an Ackerman above anyone else, they became their center and that Ackerman would only live to please them, to kill for them or to be killed for them.They could rebel at some point but deep down that sentiment always remained. The person they loved would never have to fear them, not matter how dire the situation could become.Some of them fought with Eren something, but in the end, their loyalty belonged to him. If they recognized someone as a leader, it was him and only him.Levi didn’t work differently, the only difference was that his giant reacted to him as well. “I said drop it, kid” “You would kill for me…” said the brunette whispering in the other’s ear. God, Levi’ skin smelled so good even without using any sort of perfume. It made Eren’s mouth salivating at the mere thought of piercing that porcelain skin with his teeth and mark that neck for everybody to see who Levi belong to.He his giant wanted it so badly. It would be just one taste, one single taste. One single taste to mark that skin, was it so wrong after all ? When any cell inside him were screaming that that man already belong to him ?Levi, on his part, was frozen on his spot. He couldn’t move, but not for the fear, but for the lust and the pleasure he was beginning to feel only by hearing that sensual voice near his ear.What the hell was happening to him ? Why was he feeling this hot all sudden ? Why was he behaving like a teenager who just learnt about sex ?And with a stranger, a shifter, worst of all ? That wasn’t him at all.He shouldn’t get involved with that boy. “I said…” “Okay, no need to get angry. Tell me something about you. You used to live here, didn’t you ?” asked Eren “People still talked about you here”. Eren backed a little bit, since Levi didn’t like people invading his personal space. He could sense the other arousal, but he wasn’t there to enter in Levi’s pants, not in that place, not at that time.There was something else he needed to do first. He needed to learn more about Levi’s life, in order to be able to control him and predict his moves, just like he did with everyone else. “Ignore them, and my life is no one of your business”. After joining the Scouts, Levi had tried to leave his past behind. It was too much painful for him, especially after losing Isabel and Furlan, without even having the possibility of giving them a proper burial, just like it happened with his mother.Eren was right, there was no sense in staying in the same shithole he tried so desperately to escape from, so why didn’t he try to put an end on his misery once and for all ?His mission was over and there was nothing that kept him there so… “Then it must be interesting, if you want to keep it secret so badly” said Eren playing with his own hair. “Interesting or not, I’m not going to share it with you. It’s not worthy” “You don’t have to be ashamed to have been alone in the world. Or in a place like this, for what matters”“What the fuck would know about being alone in the world ?” asked Levi before realized he made a mistake. He reacted badly, which meant he exposed a weakness for the other to use. He didn’t know what exactly Eren hoped to achieve with that conversation, if the other was simply being annoying, or if he had something else in mind, but Levi couldn’t lost his composure, not in front of a guy who clearly was a potential threat for him. “Being imprisoned isn’t enough ?” Eren snorted when Levi answered with a pout. “Touché” Eren understood that it would be better change the topic of conversation again. “Do you have siblings ? I don’t, but I hope I will be able to form a family of choice, one day.” “A family of shifters ? What a nightmare” “What’s wrong with not wanting to be alone in the world ? And you still haven’t answered. Do you have a family ? Or a family of choices ?” Levi’s mood soured. What was he supposed to say ? “I’m orphan of both of them, that’s all you need to know” Eren recalled for a moment what happened during the night of Tybur’s death. Levi was there and Eren was there as well. He witnessed when Levi’s abilities were triggered and now that he thought about, he also remembered what triggered them.Back then he didn’t reflect about it very deeply, but in that moment he could vividly recalled a red haired girl being killed by a giant and Levi’s fury following after…Those two didn’t look alike, that was probably one member of the family of choices Levi was ‘talking’ about.Eren had been collecting information about Levi since that famous night. He got his criminals records, he knew that he had been in reformatory, that on his birth certificate there was only the name of his mother, Olympia, which could also be false.The problem with people like Levi was that there were too many missing pieces in their lives. Levi, for being an Ackerman, had to get injected with the serum, but when ?Eren got his hands on the archives of all the facilities where shifters were kept, he knew all their names, he collected all their dates, he linked his mind to them so he could knew all their secrets, their feelings, their thoughts, so he could see their souls, but Levi’s name didn’t appear to any of them.There had to be a facility, a place, that wasn’t registered, where Levi got injected with the serum, but Eren couldn’t find it and as far as Armin learnt, Levi had no idea where he got injected as well.Nevertheless, he knew that Levin the underground shared a home with other two people, his family of choice, and the girl had to be one of them. What about the other ? It was a blond guy if he wasn’t mistaken… “You lost them then ? How ?” “Again that…” “It must be painful then. They are not with you, aren’t they ? You lost them” he said Eren without any filter. “I said I don’t want to talk about it” hissed Levi grabbing the other by the neck and narrowing his eyes “How we ended up talking about me anyway ?” More than afraid, Eren found himself strangely attracted by those fiery eyes and those strong hands around his neck. He whished Levi to squeeze tighter and tighter, until he would no longer breath.Eren would be glad to die if the last thing he would see were those beautiful monster, the eyes of a beast, the eyes of a hunter who had their pray in their grasps.He imagined how many other wonderful things those hands were to do, from torturing someone to death to kill them in one instant. Did Levi’s past lovers knew how lucky they were ?If they were chocked by his hands ? Slapped on their face few moments before to reach the apex of pleasure ?Eren could almost imagine how wonderful it would be for Levi to pull his hair, causing him real pain, while Eren, in return, would give Levi the utmost pleasure. It made him salivating, all the games they could play in bed. Games made of blood, bite, pulls and all the other things that would make someone feel a depraved, but Eren was a depraved person, a shameless one that accepted to like what other usually despised.People wanted to make love with a prince, not to fuck with a beast, but if Eren had to pick one of the two, he definitively would choose the latter. “You hate this place, you hate those like me and yet you’re still here and I’m still alive. I was trying to prove a point” “It’s a shitty way, you bastard” “There are worse way, I can name a few” said Eren shrugging. He didn’t want to anger Levi, but he was trying to make the other talk, but with no success. Levi had his guard all up, while Eren needed to make the other open up to him. The more he knew about Levi, the more Eren would be able to anticipate all his moves, to read better his emotions, to the point where Levi could never again represent a threat to him, not matter how powerful he would become.No one could ever be a threat for him. His shifters were everywhere in the world, collecting datas for him to use, to predict his enemies’ moves, to check on his friends, to keep moving forward without having to look back.He was the nucleus, no one better than him could keep his friends closer to him, linked to him, bound him, and his enemies even closer. “Sorry if I’m too blunt, but it happened after many years spent talking with myself. I don’t have to use filters with myself” “Then why don’t you talk about yourself ? You can’t fucking behave like this when you met someone. You can’t fucking be so direct and so fucking invasive” “I’m sorry” simply said Eren and he meant it “I got carried away.” “No shit, kid” exclaimed Levi taking a long sip of his whiskey. “I don’t remember much of my family so I don’t know how much interesting I will be. I don’t have many memories left of my mother and I have one confusing imagine of my father. After my escape, I’m still looking for my family of choice. Your life is far more interesting than yours” said Eren. “More colorful than interesting, I’d say. It’s just a different kind of tragedy” “Mine more splatter and yours more psychological and thriller ?” joked Eren “I like it” “You’re surely handling it better than me since you can spit out such shitty jokes” “I always believed that a tragedy is simply a comedy with a dark sense of humor” shrugged Eren “And, as I said, I’m free now. I can dress up however I want and have a drink with a hot guy like you” “Keep behaving like a hormonal teenager and I will fucking kill you by the end of the night, kid.” “Then do something to entertain me, I’m getting bored here.” “Not one of my fucking business” said Levi finishing his glass of whiskey. Eren pouted, then he looked at the dance floor and decided to go there. Armin always warned him not to talk to someone in a confrontational way, but he made the same mistake over and over again and after that, Levi wasn’t going to open up to him soon.He needed to distract Levi somehow or to wait for him to feel less tense around him. Maybe giving him space would be helpful.He arrived at the center of the dance floor, ignoring the looks of lust, desire and envy that both women and men sent his way, for him they were all insignificant.The only one he cared about was Levi, the rest of the world was insignificant…Just when he arrived at the center, the singer of the band started singing a new song (I’ve seen that face before, Sharon Kovacs):
Strange, I’ve seen that face before
See him hanging ‘round my door
Like a hawk stealin’ for the prey
Like the night waitin’ for a day
It sounded almost like that song was describing his situation with Levi. About seeing each other before, in their dreams, through the eyes of E2, so close and yet so distant, so familiar and yet so foreign altogether.He danced thinking about those feelings, looking straight at Levi, while he started dancing sensually, moving his hips slowly, sensually, just like he’d been taught back at the island.Back then, he thought that learning all those stuff would be useless since a relationship or a fling weren’t included in his goals but apparently being able to be a little bit sensual was always usual in any aspect of life, even with people he didn’t directly intend to seduce.Apparently, being sensual increased someone’s charisma somehow and Eren needed to be both charismatic and sensual in that situation, if he wanted Levi to get closer to him.Levi, from where he was sitting, couldn’t keep his eyes off that kid, split in between allowing that attraction to bloom and repressing it because it was wrong from many point of view.That boy looked too much alike Eric, a minor kid he shared some weird link with, and second that boy was a shifter, one of his natural enemy and a potential threat for his new family of choice.Was he really willing to allow the passion to burn and risk the safety of Erwin and all the other members of the Scouts ?For a man that was devouring him entirely with his eyes, like a hawk, ready to catch its prey.
Strange, he shadows me back home
Footsteps echo on the stones…
That man was a danger, Levi was perfectly aware of that, but for the moment he tried to think like Erwin would. What would his commander to in a similar situation ?He already knew the answer, he could practically see it with his own eyes.Erwin was already in a similar situation, with the blond mushroom.Everyone back at the base noticed the weird dance between the two, everyone could see that those two were playing a dangerous game of lies, deception and attraction that would only lead to a terrible outcome, but for the good of the mission Erwin was willing to bet on his heart.Was Levi ready to do the same ? Was he strong enough ? Was he willing to get that far ? To play with his wounded heart ? Only to keep an enemy closer to him ? Was he brave enough to stand up and join Eren on the dance floor ?If he did, there was no turning back, he knew. He would have to play the game until he or Eren would lose.But why should he ?Erwin accepted to play with Armin because he was fundamental for their mission since he was a shifter and also a researcher who had personally conducted studies on shifters. Who was Eren ? Was he really someone so important in the big picture to gamble his heart ?He didn’t know, but like was strange, full of sudden events that couldn’t be predicted or controlled. Whether Eren was important or not, his instincts were pulling him toward him, so it had to mean something, didn’t it ?
Strange, he’s standing there alone
Stary eyes chill me to the bone
Eren’s eyes became golden for a moment, his giant took control over him, reaching out for his perfect match, openly inviting him to join him in that dance of perdition and that time his invitation was accepted.After all, they were betting on everything but love. They both accepted that there was no place for love in their life and the heart could be the worst of the weapon, if it was well used. … At the same time in another side of the underground, a mysterious person had just arrived, or rather just come back in that place after a long time, looking for someone in particular.The man had a tall and slim silhouette and was talking with someone on the phone. “I’ve just arrived, are you sure the prick is here ? If I find out you wasted my fucking time…”
“I’m totally sure boss, my sources reported the presence of someone very similar to him in the underground and with similar abilities. We finally found him”
“I highly hope it… for you” The man interrupted the call and fix the had on his head, thinking about his last reunion with his little friend.Apparently a very special person had been found there, in his former hunting territory and that was why he was sent there, to capture it and take it back to the capital before the Scouts Legion or the Warrior Unit found them.If the information collected were true, then capture that person would result in the end of all the troubles of his superiors, Marley Empire would be secure once again over the rest of the world and he would secure himself a life of luxury. “Beware my dear, because the ripper is getting closer and closer…” Keeping closer the enemies was more important than keeping closer the friends, but it was dangerous when the firsts were too close, because in that case they wouldn’t hesitate to go for the throat at the first chance they got and Kenny Ackerman wasn’t a man who hesitate to go for someone throat.And if the blood on his hands and on the underground floor wasn’t enough for a proof, then his name and the fear it could still cause, could testify that once someone became his pray there wasn’t a way to escape from his knife if not after their death.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marley Underground 10th October 2098 What was the best thing of not having anything ?Eren found the answer during his childhood. When someone had nothing, consequentially had nothing to lose but everything to conquer.That entire thought characterized Eren’s entire life. He started his own existence without any control even over his own body, but after fifteen years he was finally able to conquer an entire island, making his worst enemies bend their knees before him and see the sea. He gained a family, power, freedom and then a potential mate.If the first three things were his to control and his alone to fight for, the last one was out of his reach and so out of his control. He couldn’t fight for a bond if his other half wasn’t on the same page as him, and something told him that he and Levi would never be on the same side.Which was supposed to be comforting somehow, he could never lose something he basically could never have…Even though he got used to be alone in the world, for a moment, after Levi grabbed his hands to join him on the dance floor, Eren returned with his mind inside his white room.He felt trapped, by his own nature, incapacitated to have something that, after all, was rightful his.Another mistake on his part was to have underestimated Levi’s bond with E2. That alone was supposed to be a warning for him.It was pure luck that his giant hadn’t created a similar connection with Levi yet, or he would be in a big trouble.With Levi in his arm he wondered for a moment, looking at his porcelain neck, how that sweet flesh would taste on his tongue, if it was delicious just like it looked. If it wouldn’t be easier for him to just snap it and put an end to all his inner turmoil but again, his giant, would have stopped him if he tried.Where the hell was Kruger when he needed him ?If the man was inside his head, speaking with him, he would help Eren controlling his giant and fixing the problem, because the more he spent time with Levi the more his giant’s will was taking control over him.His giant was desperately trying to convince him to protect Levi, to put himself at his service and make all his dreams come true, but the human side of Eren, the rational part, was trying to figure it out how to use the bond for his own benefit.After all a bond always worked both ways, so if his giant wanted to protect Levi and was ready to fight for him, at the same time a part of Levi was ready to do the same for Eren. ‘What if I…’ “May I kiss you ?” he whispered looking Levi straight in his eyes. “What ? You can’t ask something like this out of blue” “Out of blue ?” Eren tilted his head to the side “What does it mean ? What blue ?” “It’s a saying. It means that you can’t say something so important all of sudden in a conversation.” That scene looked so familiar to Levi. That reaction reminded him a lot about his conversations with Eric, when the boy didn’t understand the meaning of some phrases. The boy could barely distinguish sarcasm, irony, or malice when someone spoke to him, he knew almost nothing about how the world actually worked and he tended to be awkward with people.It was sad actually.Eren looked like Eric so much but was also so different at the same time.Eren carried confidence with him, it was evident from his posture, the way he walked, the fact that not only he didn’t mind others’ attention, but he also demanded it.Eren wanted to be noticed, he wanted people to see him, to pay attention to him in any occasion. He said what he wanted to say, right at someone face without measuring his words, he did what he wanted to do and expected the others to follow him.Eric was nothing like that. If Eren had bloomed, Eric hadn’t blossomed yet. Eric was unripe, just like any adolescent, he was in a moment of changes, his body was in between of childhood and adulthood, his features were still a little chubby and soft and his eyes still carried a sort of innocence.Eren’s featured were harder, his body was athletic and his eyes, so full of lust and desire, were way too far from the innocence of a baby’s. “Oh, okay. But I asked it anyway, do I have your permission ?” Levi looked around. The people in that place weren’t known for being open minded. Even if those pigs were able of the dirtiest stuff in bed when they were alone, when in the open they had to pretend to respect the perfect imagine of a delinquent with a narrow mind and a hatred for specific group of people, including gay ones.Levi wasn’t in the mood for beef that night.He’d lived in that shithole for a long time, too much, to have witnessed, since he was a child people committing the worst things against homosexual people in there and, even though both Eren and him were perfectly capable of defending themselves, Levi didn’t want to turn that place in a blood pool. “Not here, let’s go somewhere else” “For a kiss ?” pouted Eren. “You have no idea how many troubles a kiss could cause” Again, Levi wished he was anywhere else but there. In the underground, no one could be openly homosexual. It didn’t matter what someone did in his own turf, if they had sex with men or women, what mattered was the imagine they sold to the other people.That wasn’t a place where someone could ever hope to find an inch of love or compassion and under certain aspects it was a good thing that way. Anything you owned was nothing but a weakness, something that the people there were ready to take you away only to show to the rest of the criminal words, and to themselves, to be a little bit worthier to possess that thing.In a place like that, everyone born with nothing but their life to possess and sometimes not even that, so the first thing they learnt was how to hunt down others in order to survive. “Do you think I’m afraid of this bunch of ants ?” asked Eren betraying a certain disgust in his voice. He hated that Levi could think less of him, that he didn’t trust Eren to be able to handle those drunken pigs on his own, that he would let them decide what he could or couldn’t do.A lot of people inferior to him had tried to do the same thing and they were all ended up in the same place, dead, at his feet.Of course this attitude wasn’t appreciated by Levi. “Stop immediately” “Fuc… Fine. Fick dich selber” (fuck you) “What ?” asked Levi confused. What was that language ? He’d never heard it.“Nothing”. Eren dismissed Levi, reprimanding himself for speaking that language. Kruger’s native language, a language that was reduced to be nothing but a sort of dialect spoken in small villages inhabited by three or four people. “It didn’t sound like nothing” “It means fuck you okay ? I apologize” said Eren feeling a little bit frustrated. Levi hit him on the shoulder and then said “You’d better kid. Now let’s go somewhere before I change my mind and decide to cut your fucking tongue off” “Charming” commented Eren mocking the other man. Levi ignored him. He let the other’s hand go and walked toward the exit, followed by Eren.He didn’t expect the night to end that way, but he accepted to dance and so he would kept dancing. … “Did I have loosen up your tongue, scum ?” asked Kenny. He had returned in that shithole for less than an hour and he had already returned to his usual old habits. He had managed to capture one of Odile’s spies and bring them inside one of his hideouts to interrogate them.Even though he left that place long time ago, Kenny never stopped to be kept updated about all the business that took place in the underground, so he knew about Odile and her spies. Unfortunately he couldn’t tail her but one of her subordinated didn’t get so lucky and found herself on her knees, with a knife at her jugular, a broken nose and a broken knee.Her entire face was covered in blood, more tones and filth, but it was clear that she was suffering and hurting a lot. “I kn… know… no…” Before she could even think to waste his time again and telling him another lie, he hit her again and one of her teeth fell on the ground. “I hope for you one teeth is enough for a warning… WHERE IS THIS PERSON ?” he asked showing her a picture. The picture showed a tall and slim female silhouette, dressed up in black, while was ripping apart a person in front of her.No one should possess such strength, so much to be able to rip a human’s limb with bare hands and Kenny was sure that that person had to be the shifter he was looking for.After the Utopia’s fall and the disappearance of all the Warriors Unit’s members, his superiors lost all their specimen and shifters, finding themselves, their positions and their power defenseless against the attack of their enemies and at the mercy of the events.That was why, when three days ago, the presence of a powerful shifter was finally reported in the underground, his superiors sent someone to investigate and their informants reported that the person was boy, used to dress up in feminine clothes, that looked very similar to Eren Kruger.With the fall of Utopia and Tybur’s death, they lost any possibility of replacing the nucleus, believed to be death after 2095, but then, after a picture sent by their informants, they found a certain similarity between that shifter and Kruger.Tybur told them that the nucleus wasn’t what they expected, that it was a boy and his name was Eren and showed them a picture without adding anything more.When Reiss saw the picture he immediately thought that it was the picture of Eren Kruger. There were too many unresolved aspects about his death and the appearance of the nucleus and Reiss was convinced that Kruger never actually died, but survived somehow and reincarnated in a younger version of himself that then was used to become the nucleus.Not everyone shared the same idea, some replied that the boy had green eyes, Kruger’s were blue-grey, but Reiss replied that it could happen to some shifter to change the color of the hair or the eyes after the injection.Nevertheless, if that boy was Kruger or simply someone who looked similar to him, it didn’t matter. Their informants told them that he was a powerful shifter, that could be used as specimen to conduct further research, improve the serum and try to have the upper hand over the Scouts Legion and all their enemies.Furthermore, another main goal was to conquer the island.Public opinion still questioned why Marley hadn’t tried to conquer Paradis Island after the incident happen in 2095, especially after the recent events but the truth was that they had tried, several times, but all the troupes and the ships sent there had never returned. Paradis belonged to giants and if Marelyan royalty wanted to conquer it again, it was necessary to generate a new nucleus that they could use to control the giants on the island and only after control the entire world.If that shifter was strong just how it looked, then all it needed to be done was to capture him, experiment on him and use him to make the giants obey to them.But in order to achieve that, Kenny had to make that bitch spill the bean. “I don’t know… He’s… he spends time with… He spends time with different men…” “So what ? I don’t fucking care who he spreads his legs for. Where I can find him ?” “He spends a lot of time with… with a man… my boss said that he’s a member of the Scouts Legion, look for him and you will find the person you’re looking for” “And do you know the name of this soldier ?” “Odile calls him Levi, I know nothing more… ple…” Before she could finish the sentence, Kenny slaughtered her throat and let her fall on the ground, dirtying it with her blood.One name, one single name was all he needed to know in order to plan his next move. He didn’t even need for further information, after all how many people were named Levi and were capable enough to be a part of the Scouts ? Not only, but no ordinary soldier would venture themselves in the underground without a specific motive. Furthermore, Levi hadn’t been an ordinary criminal in there.Levi managed to achieve a certain level of respect among his criminal fellows and Kenny was sure that he still had some connection with few of them. Probably Smith was aware of Levi’s criminal records before to employ him and then he decided to use Levi’s connections for his own purposes.It had to be him then… Kenny was ready to bet his life on it.His job had got easier all sudden. It would have been more difficult for him to tail someone whose pretending to be a girl and whose name was unknown to the most, but tail someone who was almost like a legend in that place would a piece of cake. “Oi oi, blood is not water after all… it’s time for a little family reunion, Levi” He looked at the pitiful thing on his floor and immediately contacted one of his subordinates to clean up the mess.Even though he’d always loved violence, what he hated the most was the cleaning after. Nor that it was ever needed before, Kenny was so proud of his crimes to consider them work of arts, but then he decided to slightly change his life, but fortunately, he had enough money to hire someone to clean his hands in his place. … They barely had the time to close the door behind them before Eren pushed Levi against a wall, grabbed his face with his hands and started kissing him.Levi had taken Eren to his hideout. It was nothing special actually, it was a studio flat, with a small kitchen on a side with the table and one chair, the bed at the center of the room, with a bedside table, a lamp on it and also a bottle of water, in front there was a tv and next to it there was the closet and there was also a door that leaded in the bathroom.Saying that it was also spotless, perfectly cleaned and tidy, was an euphemism.In spite of the initial vehemence, the kiss resulted delicate, slow and sweet. Eren simply kiss Levi on his lips, waiting patiently for Levi to allow him to deepen the kiss. In the meantime, he gently tangled the fingers of his right hand with Levi’s left one, while with the other was slowly caressing those beautiful raven hair.Eren had to be patient, even though his giant was pushing him to devour Levi without any further hesitation, but Eren kept it at bay.A good meal had to be tasted, before to be swallowed and eaten up completely and Eren wanted to taste Levi’s lips, caressing his hair, to see how soft those beautiful black threads were under the touch of his fingers.He also feared that if he got too much exited and too much soon, he would lost control over himself. Instead he wanted Levi to want it as much as Eren want, he wanted them to be at the same page and desire the same thing.Levi, on the other hand, didn’t expect the other to be so delicate, especially for someone who was willing to make up with him in front of a group of drunken and armed strangers.More than kissing him, it felt like Eren was waiting for Levi’s permission to kiss him properly, permission that didn’t hesitate to be given.Levi slowly opened his mouth, licking Eren’s lips with his tongue, clearly inviting the other to do the same.Eren at that point deepen the kiss, his tongue responded to Levi’s, dancing with it, entering the other mouth to savor the taste completely, pushing with Levi’s body further and further against the wall, wanting to fell the raven man closer and closer to him.Levi let go Eren’s hand and wrapped the other with his arms, standing on his tiptoe, loosen the other’s bun to caress his hair as well.At some point, it wasn’t enough anymore for Eren, so he hoisted Levi off his feet and almost instinctively Levi wrapped his legs around the other’s waist, while the kiss was slowly becoming more consuming, demanding, passionate.Both their mind were becoming hazy, fogged, slowly losing themselves in the moment, allowing to be carried away by the passion and the flames that were burning between them. “What are we doing ?” asked Levi. “We’re leaving the moment” answered Eren biting Levi’s lower lip. “We won’t… If we let this happen, there won’t be a turn back” Eren giggled amused “As if I want a turn back… I know what I want. I may not know a lot about myself, I may not know who I am but I certainly know I want you and I want this” then he grabbed Levi’s hair to look him straight in the eyes “What about you ? If we sin together, would you be able not to regret it ?” Regret.Eren’s used the magic word. The word that had defined Levi’s whole life.Erwin was told him to live without regret, to take a decision in spite of any consequences, if that decision was good for him or if he could have some happiness for himself.If Levi had been sure to be ready to sell his ass for the sake of the Scouts and bound the shifter in front of him to him forever, in that moment he was no longer sure if it was a good idea.He’d slept with other men before, he’d been physically attracted to all of them, even if for the duration of a kiss, a caress and then the orgasm, but they were all ordinary men whose Levi had nothing more to share with if not his body.That time, with Eren, the situation was completely different. It was really a path with no return.It was realizing in that moment, while Eren’s eyes were switching between green and golden, that that man wasn’t an ordinary man and furthermore there was something about him, something inside him that was calling out Levi’s own instincts, something more primordial inside him. Like Eren’s own giant was reaching out for Levi… reaching out for something inside him… begging to be recognized as well…Would unite with Eren as one seal a deal that Levi wasn’t ready to seal ? Would become one with the other person be an answer that Levi, deep down, wasn’t ready to give ?But if not in that moment, then when ?He hoped Levi wouldn’t change his mind, he hoped he was good enough for the other man to share a special moment together.The truth was that he shared the same fears as Levi, but at the same time, after all the flings he had in the past, he felt for the first time that he actually longed for that kind of intimacy with someone.Once he was out of his cell, he asked to be educated in any aspect of life, including sex. Former prostitutes and escorts taught him how to charm people with words, with simply gestures of his hands, how to approach someone, to flirt, to have sex with them, but still felt rather insecure in that department.Even though Eren had learnt a lot of interesting stuff from them and they had all his gratitude for it, and he was also grateful to Floch, who was the one who had initially encouraged him to learn anything about sex, he wasn’t confident in his own skin to be willing to get naked in front of people, even worse when the attraction was genuine.So even when the sex was good, Eren’d never felt completely at ease with that kind of intimacy, he’d always felt like something was missing to make the sex even more special and deep down, Eren was aware that, in other circumstances, he wouldn’t have had sex with any of them, both women and men.It was also in one of those sexual intercourse that he realized that he enjoyed sex more with men, he didn’t know how to explain but the mere thought of having under him, of reducing someone who, at least physically, was supposed to be his equal, to mere moans and whims under his touch and kisses, to make them to submit to him and make them to want to be him and at the same time have him all for themselves. With Levi was different though, for once in his life, he actually felt the need to become one with someone, to merge with Levi with both body and soul.He knew if he let Levi go he would forever regret it and he was tired of living with regrets and again, he his giant wanted that moment to be special for Levi.He his giant wanted to be remember by Levi for the rest of his life but he it also wanted to make the other feel comfortable and protected, but also enchanted by them both.Since inside his DNA there were traces of the DNA of other species, including animals and plants, Eren learnt once, during one of his sexual performance, that he was able to manipulate the pheromones of his body, making them more enticing, more attracting, more inviting.Humans, differently from animals, weren’t able to perfectly percept each other’s pheromones, thus didn’t make easy for them to communicate through them, but among shifters, pheromones were usually used during a conversation or even to accentuate a mutual sense of belonging to the same group. Sometimes pheromones were used to communicate better something that couldn’t be explained through words.Ideal, for Eren, who wasn’t able to communicate with words how much he wanted Levi, how much he his giant needed him, how strong was his its desire for him and that the same desire was driving him it mad.Slowly, from his skin, an enticing scent of sea breeze, coconut, grapefruit, birch and vetiver starting to come out until it was strong enough for Levi to smell it. ‘What’s happening to me ? Where is this smell coming from ?’ Instinctively, Levi put his face close to Eren’s neck and started to lick and bite that soft skin, wanted to taste on his tongue that smell that was driving him crazy. “What the hell are you doing ?” he asked before biting again that neck. “It’s part of my nature. We shifters, just like animals, can use our pheromones to communicate with others and to make us more attracting, especially in occasion like this” answered Eren bending the neck in order to allow Levi to kiss more skin. Eren felt a little embarrassed about his pheromones. Normally, he used them only for strict necessity and usually only when he wanted to, but that time the giant… the situation… “You’re practically drugging me with your shitty scent ?” growled Levi. “It’s not so shitty if you’re practically devouring my neck… ehi…” Eren hissed when Levi bite particularly hard the skin of his neck “I’m not doing on purpose”. “Stop it… I…” “I want you, Levi. Please don’t reject me…” ‘I know how rejection feels like…’ Again, the only word in Levi’s mind was regret.Was he really willing to live with another regret ? Or for once in his life he was ready to risk and live with a remorse at worst ?He wanted all of that so much after all and he wanted Eren’s lips on his own again and he wanted the other to devour his mouth, to devour him completely and to belong to him, even if only for the duration of a night.He answered Eren with another kiss on the lips, allowing the other to claim his mouth again, moaning loudly as the other’s tongue entered inside his mouth and rubbed against it.They didn’t know how much time they spent kissing each other, until Eren, with one last lick to Levi’s lips, tightened his grip on Levi to carry him to bed, while Levi couldn’t refrain a whine, already wanted Eren to kiss him again.The shifter gently eased Levi onto the sheets, hovering over him, taking Levi’s right hand and kissing it on the knuckles. Then he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, slowly revealing his torso, his sharply defined pectorals, his broad shoulders and his beautiful sun tanned skin.Levi, on his part, could do nothing but stare like an idiot, barely refraining himself from salivating while his trousers were getting more and more uncomfortable and tight.Slowly Eren started unbuttoning Levi’ shirt as well, but without taking it off. He looked at Levi’s nipples and started kissing and sucking the right one, while with his left hand he was unbuttoning Levi’s pants, while Levi’s hips bucked up, yearning, longing, wishing for more contact. “You have a wonderful taste” said Eren before kissing and licking the other nipple “I want more…” He didn’t know what it got to his mind but he pinched Levi’s nipple hard enough to make the other feel pain, but Levi, instead of hissing for the pain, moaned even lauder, wishing for it hurt even more. “Do you have a… pain king ? Interesting” commented Eren pinched hard the other nipple.“It’s called kink dumb… ahhh !!” Levi couldn’t finished the sentence, moaning louder the more the pain was getting intense. Was that idiot right ? Did he actually have a pain kink ? It would only the last of a long list of things that would make him a freak, but in that moment he didn’t care.He and pain got along quite well after all. Maybe that was why he’d never been quite satisfied with sex before. For someone grown up in violence, it was impossible to discern it from his life, any aspect of his life and his past lovers were too soft, too gentle, too careful.Levi wasn’t soft, or gentle, or delicate, he wanted the sex to be rough, passionate, violent, like a firestorm to burn him completely. “More…” he simply said. “My my, this is going to be so fun…” Eren finished undressing Levi’s lower body, then he grabbed Levi’s thighs so strongly to leave his fingertips on that soft skin. He spread Levi’s legs and eagerly started licking the tip of Levi’s cock, while with his hands he started pinching the skin stronger and stronger as Levi’s moans got louder.Eren wanted to test Levi’s limits, to know how far he could get, he used his body temperature to make his hands warmer, not enough to burn Levi’s skin, but enough to make him feel a little bit of nuisance.It would be such a waste leaving scorch on that beautiful skin. “You’re so full of surprises…” “You too… Ackerman… you too…” No more time for words.Eren dragged his tongue up and down Levi’s cock, then he opened his mouth and took the cock inside, sucking eagerly, bobbing his head up and down, switching between tongue and teeth, getting addicted to that taste, while Levi forcefully grabbed and pulled his hair, moaning and squirming.Even though those sounds were sweet music to his ears, Eren was getting impatient so he grabbed Levi’s face, pushing two fingers inside his mouth that Levi started sucking and licking, following Eren’s own movements.Once they were wet enough, Eren pulled his fingers off Levi’s mouth and awarded him with those two fingers, stretching him out, hitting the pleasurable spot, sliding deep inside to the knuckles, causing Levi to start moaning again.What a vision……It was the best part of sex… reducing someone to mere whims… someone like Levi… a strong men like him… reduced in those condition, with flushed cheeks, erect nipples and swollen lips… all thanks to him… to Eren… Eren did that to Levi…
“… We did this to Levi… Levi… ours… Mark him”
Levi that was moving his hips with his fingers, moaning his name, waiting for Eren to give him more of himself and Eren was more than glad to comply.He put his fingers out of Levi, finished undressed himself as well and then he kissed the other again. First on the mouth, wanting Levi to feel his own taste on Eren’s tongue, then Eren kissed him on the neck, biting and sucking the skin till he left a mark and doing the same to the rest of Levi’s upper body. “Enough… I want… I need you” said Levi moving his hips to emphasize what he said. His legs went over Eren’s shoulders, in order to allow the other to get closer to him, Eren’s cock pressed against his hole, waiting patiently for Eren to take him.Without any further warning, Eren thrusted inside him, possessing him, taking him, merging with him, his eyes switching to golden for the pleasure.Levi screamed, grabbing the pillows, moving his hips to match Eren’s movements while the last thrusted further and further inside.Eren’s cock hit the pleasure spot and Levi squeezed tighter, eyes rolled back, mouth opened, inviting Eren to kiss him again. “Kiss me” he ordered. Eren kissed him, but then he bite his lower lip so hard to make it bleed and Levi’s blood was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted. “Delicious…” he whispered “I…” Levi slapped him hard on his face, enough to make Eren’s lips to bleed as well, then he grabbed his face and kissed him again, tasting the other’s blood as well.It wasn’t normal, it was disgusting, what they were doing was disgusting and wrong, but they loved.They were burning together and what happened between them was going to hurt them and they loved it as well.But if Eren was completely satisfied with was he was feeling, his giant was feeling anxious.
‘Bond not completed… not yet’
‘I don’t need…’
‘Doesn’t recognize… us’
Feeling the pull of his giant, Eren accelerated the space, making feel Levi both pain and pleasure and making him moan louder.Eren also bite him on the shoulder, making him bleed, but Levi pulled his hair again and with his left hand and pressed a finger on Eren’s right eye and then he scratched it, making the other bleed.In that intense mix of pain, pleasure, sweat and blood, they both reached the apex of pleasure, then Eren lay next to Levi on his bed, who, for once, didn’t mind his pillows to get dirtied with blood.Next to him Eren looked at him with emptiness, while his eyes returned green and the blood from his eyes flowed, making the other looked like he was crying blood from his eyes and maybe it was that way.
‘broken… bond uncompleted…’
“You will have to clean the sheets…” said Levi, when in reality he didn’t mind Eren’s blood on the pillow or his own blood flowing from his shoulder. It wouldn’t remain a scar, he didn’t heal fast as a shifter but he knew that, with time, nothing would remain on his shoulder. Nor the scars, or the pain. In a twisted way, he looked at Eren’s wound and he found it beautiful, just like Eren found beautiful what he did on his shoulder. It was a depravity… that feeling, that complacency for violence… … Marley Scouts Legion Base 10th October 2098 ‘What is he doing ? Weeks have passed, he told me he would have come back home sooner’ Erwin was worried for and about Levi.Levi’s latest reports had been more and more scarce and less detailed and when they spoke each other through the phone, Levi sounded evasive, like he was both trying to hiding something from Erwin and apologizing for his behavior.Erwin thought for a moment to get to the underground to learn by himself what was going on, but he had too many responsibility toward the Scout to leave everything and travel so far.He also feared that Levi would have interpreted it as a sign that Erwin didn’t trust him. It wasn’t anything like that, Levi had rights to have secrets with him, but Erwin had the same rights to feel worried about him, especially in times like those. “Are you thinking about Levi ?” asked Armin caressing his hair. They were laying on his bed, completely naked after having made love a sexual intercourse. Erwin’s chest displayed many bitemarks, differently from Armin but only because his body already made them disappear. “I’m worried about him” confirmed Erwin without adding more. Armin hummed and he kept caressing Erwin’s head. The commander hadn’t revealed him anything about Levi, though Armin could perfectly imagine where Levi was and what he was doing. He only wondered if Levi had crossed his path with Eren, since they were in the same place.He wondered about how a possible encounter between the two could end. Would they recognize each other as a natural enemies ? Would they try to kill each other ? Would Eren be able to fight Levi and survive ? Or the contrary ?He also tried not to think too much when Erwin was around. It didn’t happen regularly that they minds linked and they were able to hear each other’s thoughts, but that was what made the entire situation scarier, not to be able to predict what exactly trigger the bond between them. Why the link wasn’t permanent ? How could it be turned on and off ? How did it work ?Hanji was trying to understand it, but Armin felt defeated. It wasn’t the first bond Armin witnessed, the island was full and he and his fellows hadn’t figure it out how it got actually activated and how it worked exactly yet.Furthermore, Eren hadn’t come back to the island yet and Frieda was getting restless and so the rest of the shifters. They demanded to know where the hell the king was and when he planned to come back to the island.Eren had been missing for too much time and to make the situation worse, he had locked the link and was impossible to communicate with him, to know where he was, how he was and what the hell he was doing. Floch had no idea where he was and Frieda begged Armin to do anything he could to get in contact with him since they couldn’t even call invoke him in the desert, but Armin had no idea about what to do.Eren had talked to him, updated about his business but he was evasive about his return and he wasn’t particular detailed when he spoke about his mission in the underground. Eren’d never been particularly talkative, but Armin recognized that there was something Eren was trying to hide and that was worrying. ‘I will certainly kill him as soon as the occasion presents itself. He’s not going to get away with this’ Armin thought. “You seem worried too” continued Erwin. ‘Furious actually’ he thought, glad to realized that Erwin wasn’t reading his mind. “I’m just… not used to this. Spending my time with a man, being able to caress his hair and… I kinda like this but also feel weird.” “Is this your first relationship ? With a man ?” asked Erwin enjoying the sensation of Armin’s fingers on his hair. “It’s the first relationship with anyone. I wasn’t popular when I was an adolescent, never won the puberty lottery after all and then when I get hired by Tybur I simply didn’t have time. I was also surrounded by people I couldn’t trust so I wasn’t even motivated to get in their pants. I had few flings during college though, nothing important” It sounded like a contradiction. Armin and Erwin didn’t trust each other either and nevertheless they found themselves naked, in the same bed and in each other’s arm.Sex, with feelings or not feelings, put anyone in a position of vulnerability and when you shared the bed with someone who was your enemy it was even worse.Not matter how you tried to control the littles gestures and movements of your body, or the expressions on your face, the true self always slip at someone point.Sex was pure instinct, it was part of human nature and so it triggered the most unconscious, animalistic part of a person and in return the most real.Relationships were another thing entirely. Honesty was a requirement, a requirement that Armin couldn’t afford. “What about you ?” he asked. “Almost the same. I was in love before, but I’ve never confessed my love” “Because of your job, isn’t it ?” asked Armin even if he already knew the answer. “Yeah.” He made a lot of sacrifices, to get where he was, to achieve all his goals. He committed the vilest actions, told the cruelest lies, deceived, used and abused the people around him.Few people had seen the real him and decided to stay close to him, one of them was Levi but he was away. “You know about my granpa.” Said Armin without even knowing why he was talking about his grandfather “He was the only family I had. I started working for Tybur for him, because I wanted to give him a serene oldness, but then… I left him even before he died. I sacrificed the most important man of my life, it was easy until I lost him.” “You couldn’t imagine you’d never seen him again” said Erwin “I lost my parents too. My mother divorced my father when I was a child and I’ve never seen her again and never looked for her again. My father died few years later” “I’m sorry. I lost my parents when I was a child as well” Armin didn’t actually know. When they made their researches about Erwin Smith, they easily found all they needed to know about his career in the military, then the police force and then in the Scouts Legion, but about his personal life, they found almost nothing.They found out that Erwin had indeed been an orphan and that he lived with his grandparents, both dead when he joined the army, but they couldn’t find almost nothing about his parents, specially his father. It seemed like he appeared out of the blue. “Can I ask how it happened ?” asked Erwin. “They were inventors, they worked for an important company that rival Tybur’s Industries. Before they could put their product on the market, they were killed and their product stolen and I ended up working for their murders because back then, when you live in the North Paradis, you had no choice if you want to live a good life” “I can’t imagine” said Erwin “My father was murdered as well, but the case was archived and the murdered never found.” “Do you suspect Tybur ? Is this why you wanted to arrest him so badly ?” Erwin didn’t want to arrest Tybur, he wanted to destroy everything he created, annihilated anything that had his name on it and then killed him. “Why do you think that ?” “Sometimes I get the feeling that this is whole situation is little bit personal for you” said Armin. Erwin remained in silence. Enjoying the moment of peace and the hood company he had, wishing for more moments like those.Since their kiss, it could be correct to say that Armin and him became officially a ‘couple’ and they started to spend more and more time together, both working and making love having sex, but the lair of lies underneath remained.Erwin was still working with Hanji to decode that mercenary’s diary and to develop a serum to trigger the Ackerman gene and Armin was still working for Eren and so spying on Erwin for him.They shared a deep bond with each other, not already blossomed, but it was there and nevertheless, something that was supposed to be so pure, ended up being the latest dirty means to have an advantage on the other.Why was that ? Why they couldn’t protect that either ? From themselves ? From their lives ? From their choices ? Why was happiness so impossible to reach for them ? “I think I should go” whispered Armin, without moving an inch of his body. “Stay” begged ordered Erwin. “Okay.” … Marley Underground 14th October 2098 “You’re quite popular here, aren’t you ?” asked Eren kissing and licking Levi’s neck. After that night, they hanged out even more together than before, but if before the main reason was to keep an eye on each other, after that night something between them changed.Eren practically moved in Levi’s hideout, he provided food for him, avoided to kill people for him, to make ruckus in the underground for him and in return he got to be with Levi, to make love with him have sex with him, to hold hands with him, to see he smile, even if for few seconds.They were in Levi’s bed in that moment, naked, after spending an entire morning making out, doing chores, because Levi demanded his house to be cleaned and to do the laundry of the sheets, eating and making out again. “I have a reputation” said Levi scratching Eren’s bare shoulders with his nails. “Indeed, I love it. When we walk along the street, everyone looked at you in fear. I wonder the half of the things you did to earn that kind of reaction” he concluded biting hard with his teeth Levi’s neck. Not enough to make him bleed, but enough to make him feel pain. The pain Levi enjoyed. “I was born here. My mother was a prostitute, quite popular actually. She was…. Very beautiful, but she got sick and one day she didn’t come back home. Then… in a place like this, you have to learn a predator and have to do bad things to survive. It’s the only way.” “So you’ve always lived here ?” Levi opened his mouth to answer but then he thought about his nightmares, those related to a place he couldn’t remember, where there was he and his sister and unfamiliar people all around him.He only remembered the time he spent with his uncle, after that, and then Kenny left as well and Levi ended up in a reformatory.He closed his eyes, not wanting to think about that period, so he kissed Eren on the lips, to have a grip on reality, to switch that hateful memory with a tender one.An act of love tenderness was always a pleasant memory. “No, I got adopted by a man and live elsewhere for a while, then abandoned again in this shithole and then I did all I have to do to survive. Once I realized that there was no way I could escape from here with what I had and who I was, I decided that I would have turned myself in anything that would have allowed me to have a better life” Eren kissed Levi’s cheeks, then he lowered and started kissing his chest, while his hands were exploring his chest, touching that skin, that same skin he got completely addicted to. “I can relate with that. In the white room, I didn’t have to think about food, payments, or simply things like doing the laundry, but I realized very quickly that it wasn’t life. Life was something else entirely” said Eren kissing Levi on the lips and then deepen the kiss. “How do you survive then ? All alone ?” asked Levi between a kiss and another.“I wasn’t alone. There was my giant with me.” Said Eren looking Levi in the eyes. “Your giant ?” “Yeah. The moment someone get the injection, they become a shifter, they had the power to turn into giants, but the giant itself is a reflection of the unconsciousness of the person. My giant reflects my deepest self, for example. It is something that grows inside me and at some point, me and him became one and two at the same time” “Really ?” “It’s like your instincts. They lead you in any move, they help you chose the best course of the action, they’re part of you but they don’t take form of a person, like a giant” “So that’s the difference, ah ?” asked Levi sincerely curious. Levi had never thought about a giant in those terms, as a part of the person but at the same time something completely different. Maybe because it was easier thinking about shifters as monsters altogether, without focusing too much on the person themselves, their story and their soul.It made easier in the end to get rid of them without having his hands trembling when he used his sword to cut their nape.It was the same politic he used in the underground, it was better seeing someone as a target then a person, the moment you committed that mistake you were dead.And what he was doing with Eren was even worse, because not only he was seeing him as a person, but also as something more, more dangerous…Something Levi should be afraid of.Eren started licking, sucking and biting Levi’s neck, wanting to leave a bitemark. “Answer the question” said Levi slapping his shoulder. “More or less, I’m not an Ackerman. I can’t know what you feel. I can tell how I feel regarding my giant” puffed Eren, rolling his eyes. “What about your family ? You said you remember your mother once” continued Levi. Eren sighed. Levi wasn’t in the mood for the fun stuff, so he rolled over and laid on the bed and grabbed the pillow with his hands. “I do, I think. I dream about a brunet woman sometimes, a woman that looks a little bit like me. Sometimes she talks to me, I think she also told me her name but I can’t remember” said Eren shrugging. He didn’t feel comfortable talking about his mother, because he hadn’t figured it out what he felt about her exactly. She was a memory, nothing more real than a dream and sometimes he wasn’t even sure if she was actually real or maybe a hope he clinged upon for his need to have a family or to have had a family at some point in his life. “What about your father ? Mines was one of her clients, mom had no idea who he was exactly” “I don’t know anything about my father. He was never in the picture” It wasn’t exactly a lie. He really didn’t know anything about his father, only a name and his professional career, anything else was a mistery to him.In that department, he and Levi were perfectly alike, they both were orphans somehow.They had lost of one their parents and never had the other one. They were norm in an environment that taught them quickly how defenseless they were against a cruel world, ready to devour them, without anyone to protect them or to teach them how to fend for themselves.The abandonment ? The loneliness ? The loss ? The mourn ? The despair ? The violence ? The pain ?Those were their world, those were their language, their way of living. The things that made them feel comfortable because they knew how to act in return. “Cool…” hummed Levi, taking his phone from his bedside table. “Are you checking your phone again ? Worried about your boyfriend ?” asked Eren mocking Levi. “I don’t have a fucking boyfriend. I’m not a piece of shit” said Levi hitting Eren in the shin. “Could have fooled me” hissed Eren “When are you going to come back ?” “So eager to get rid of me ?” “You’re spending your time with me, eating with me, spending your time with me. You have a live elsewhere though and I won’t be in the picture. I’m just…” Levi interrupted him by kissing him again, not wanting to hear another word about the topic.Eren was right of course. He knew Erwin was getting worried about him, that he was pressing for Levi to come back at the base, that he was needed there, next to his new family and his comrades and nevertheless Levi was more and more reluctant to leave that little bubble of pleasure and pain that he created there with Eren, the worse match he could ever found in his current situation.Levi was neglecting his duty, his role, his mission, only to make love get fucked by a stranger, with the excuse of having to keep an eye on him.The worse was that Levi didn’t feel guilty, at all.He didn’t feel guilty when he took the sheets off Eren’s beautiful and attractive, body, and he didn’t feel guilty when he put himself between Eren’s legs, or when he started massaging Eren’s cock before his tongue ran up against Eren’s hardened cock, playing with the balls with his hands.Then he stopped squeezing and took the cock in his mouth and started sucking.He didn’t feel guilty when he hit Eren on his face hard enough to make him spit a teeth, he didn’t feel guilty when he started riding Eren while the latest was chocking him and Levi scratched the skin of his chest and stomach.Pleasure and violence, saliva, sweat and blood.Levi and Eren, the Ackerman and the shifter.What a combination…Eren’s eyes switched to golden ine more time.
‘… Closer… patient… bond…’
“I’m close” Eren whispered slapping Levi on the face and making his lower lip bleed. Levi punched him on the stomach while he kept riding him. “Patient, kid” “Okay”
“… okay…”
… Marley Scouts Legion Base 18th October 2098 E2 had been anxious lately. He was in his bed and was trying to sleep but anytime he tried to, weird dreams prevent him from sleeping peacefully.His giant had been restless as well, it was like it was trying to tell him something.He closed his eyes again, trying to fell asleep but it didn’t work. He had the same dream.About a man, with a long coat and a gun in his left hand a knife in his right one, that man was a danger, his giant was trying to warn him to run away but E2 couldn’t, but there was also something else.In all the dreams about the man with the coat, Levi was also there and beside him there was Eren as well.What did it mean ? Did Eren and Levi meet ? When ? Where ?Was it the reason why he had been having all those weird dreams about them ? Dreams made of violence and pleasure ?Dreams where he could feel both an intense pleasure and pain, dreams where he saw two bodies merging as one doing sex.Ymir told him about sex once, he could be a virgin but he understood what he was seeing in those dreams and that was definitively sex.How could Eren do something so vile ? To seduce Levi only for his own goals ? But then, why was E2 so surprised when he knew what Eren was capable of ?He was capable of seducing a man one minute before only to dispose of him the second after, that was the kind of predator Eren was.Was Levi the reason why Eren was neglecting his duty as king of giants and delaying his return to the island ? Was that unholy union the reason why Eren had been ignoring him, Armin and everyone else ?And who was the man with the coat ? What the hell was going on in their Eren’s life ?And, most importantly ? What was E2 going to do ? Was he going to spill the bean with the others ? Or was he going to wait for the occasion and speak with Eren first ? And maybe listening only the latest of a long list of lies ? What would be the right thing to do ?He hated so much Eren for putting him in that kind of situation, especially because E2 wasn’t that good of a liar. ‘Oh Eren, where are you ? What the hell are you doing ?’ E2 couldn’t even deny that, a part of him, was also hurt and jealous to see Levi behaving that way with Eren.E2 considered Levi as his special one and seeing him so attracted by Eren hurt, hurt very much but at the same time he couldn’t think of something more right than that. Again, the duality of his nature, both his human and gigantic one, seemed not to be able to collide.He sighed. ‘I’m simply tired. Eren… I will keep your secret, but you have a lot of explaining to do and this time you won’t be able to avoid this conversation’ He thought before closing his eyes and trying to sleep again. … Marley Underground 21st October 2098 ‘Found you, fucking finally’ thought Kenny Ackerman observing his prey from a roof. He made sign to his men, collocated around him, to be ready.It had taken more time than they expected, but in the end the little fox finally left its cave and went outside and wandered in a place where Kenny and his men could easily overpower him and capture. It didn’t matter if his nephew was with him, Levi was strong, Kenny knew it, since he trained the little runt himself, but he wasn’t at his level and he wasn’t like him.Levi stood no chance against the famous Ripper of the underground and the same rule apply for that shifter. ‘Be ready Levi and Kruger, because the Ripper is coming’ At the same time, both Levi’s instincts and Eren’s giant warned them about the imminent danger. ‘An enemy is close, on the roof, ready to shoot vertically, very quick in his movements’ said the voice inside Levi’s head.
“Danger is coming. From above. Someone powerful, be ready to fight”
‘…An Ackerman…’ Levi’s eyes widened.
‘… An Ackerman…’
Eren smirked.He looked at Levi and, deep down in his eyes, while his own switched to their golden shade, he saw something similar, the same anticipation and excitement for what was going to be, they were sure of that, a challenging fight.
‘Finally’
‘Finally’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marley Underground 2079
“What does my little sweetie wants for his birthday ?”
The next day it would be his birthday, but Levi wasn’t in the mood for silly things.
He was sitting on the floor, next to his mother’s dressing table, with his sister in his arms and he was looking at his mother while she was untangling her hair.
Kuchel was a beautiful woman, Levi didn’t think it only because he was her son, but because she was, it was undeniable, but his mother’s beauty was also her curse.
After the hair, Levi knew, she would pass to the makeup to cover all those dirty signs those pigs had left on her beautiful face. Why his mother let those men enter inside their house ?
Back then Levi couldn’t fully understand that. He saw all their faces, they were ugly, rude, scurrilous, some of them smelled like rubbish and smoke, some of them wore clothes with stains and were also older, too much older than his mother.
Why did she put it up with them ?
The bathroom’s door wasn’t thick enough to prevent Levi from hearing those dirty words, the names they gave to his mother and the hits she received from them, because yes, some of them , were also violent toward her and enjoyed leaving on her signs of their doings.
Levi could do nothing to stop them from doing those nasty things…
“Come on, if it’s not too much expensive, I can try to buy it for you as soon as possible” she said putting her comb down.
There was nothing more vulnerable than a child…
A child depended on an adult in order to survive. It was how the world worked. Nature programmed people to work that way, but adults weren’t always responsible and the children couldn’t always remain children, they had to evolve faster than others sometimes.
Levi belonged to this group. He was a child, depending on his mother’s cures, on that men’s money, to survive, but he also had dreams that belonged to a monster man.
“I think I would like…”
To be an adult already. To be taller, in order to look them in the eyes while he sent them away from his house, from his mother.
To be stronger, in order to have the strength to fight them as their equal and be able to defend his mother and sister.
To be older, in order not to have to show respect to anyone he didn’t truly respect. To stop being a good boy…
He wanted to be taller, stronger, older… he wanted to be anything he wasn’t…
He wanted to be able to do anything he shouldn’t. His mother was a good person at heart, which, in the underground’s language, meant she was a weak person. A weak person that hoped for a better future for her children, somewhere else than that shithole, still hanging on the hope that, with a little patience and a little time, she would be able to afford a better life for her family.
Levi had a different, more realistic and more cynical vision of life.
He wasn’t an adult and nevertheless, he had already realized that there was no escape from the underground, not without fighting with the same weapons of those who ruled it. The only way to afford a better life was to life according to those rules and those who rules had money and Levi had no money or power to take his family away from that place.
So that was what he want, to grow up, earn money, become someone important and take his family somewhere else where they could live a better life.
He didn’t want to become like one of those men who entered inside their house, his mother would loath him that way, but he wanted to have money, age, strength, height.
“… I want a cup of tea” he lied.
“When I have the money, I will take you to a café and buy you a cup of tea with sugar”
‘Sugar is so expensive, just like life’ that was all Levi could think.
…
Marley Underground 21st October 2098 When he was a kid, he wanted to be everything he wasn’t.Thorough the years, he grew, he became stronger (not taller, for his dismay), he became powerful, earning abilities that allowed him to have quite a reputation in the underground, but it was only after that man arrived.Kenny…He was a ruthless man, with no principle and no care for anyone in the world but himself, but Levi owned him his life and all he had learnt to survive. Sometimes, in the most dangerous situation, Levi tried to imagine what Kenny would do in his place, how he would act, how he would behave, how he would tail a shifter.In the few occasion when Levi witnessed him tailing a target in group, Kenny would use amateurs, in secluded positions with a good view on the target. But if he also knew Kenny better… he was…
‘From behind !’
‘From behind !’
Levi had barely the time to turn around that he heard a shoot and then there was only chaos. Eren had the time to create a crystal barrier to protect them, but then other people appeared from the roofs and from the alleys.A detail that Levi noticed quickly was that all of them were wearing the vertical maneuvering equipment, with the only difference that there were firearms. The main components of the equipment were worn on the shoulders and upper back instead of the hips.He regretted not be wearing his own equipment, but he never left his house unharmed and also, he brought with him his hookshot as well. It wasn’t comfortable like the vertical equipment, since for used it he had one hand occupied, but at least it allowed him to move rapidly and easily avoid other’s people attacks. Eren, on the other hand, considered the situation pretty annoying since he was having fun with Levi, but any dream had an end, didn’t it ? “Ugh” he groaned “I would have preferred a better ending for our evening !” he said throwing a couple of dart crystal against his opponents to create some distance. “Yo Levi !! You grown any yet !!” said the man on the other side of the barrier. Eren gasped and looked toward Levi who appeared petrified. What the hell was happening ? Did the two know each other ? Why wasn’t Levi reacting ?In Levi’s defense, he was horrified that Kenny was there. That man belonged to a past that Levi was desperately trying to leave behind, but apparently the saying was true. No one could run from the past forever, the past always came back and it needed to be deal head on.The crystal he had generated wasn’t that tall, so the man who had shot them, could easily surpass it with the vertical maneuvering equipment.Eren quickly ran toward Levi and jumped just in time to avoid the next shoot. “Oh ? It doesn’t look like you changed at all !” That quote irked Levi enough to make him scream “KENNY !!” and then threw a knife against the man. It gave enough time for them to move again, further away from Kenny and in that moment, Eren thought about stealing one of those equipment. Eren had no idea how to use it but he didn’t need it, Levi on the other hand could benefit from one of those. He only needed to take one from one of those idiots.His senses were telling him that the only one who could be a potential threat for him was the one behind him, the Ackerman ones, but the others were far below his level. They were just an annoyance.One of them shoot right at his arm, ripping it from the rest of his body and Eren used that wound on his advantage.Even when separated from his body, the totipotent cells of his body allowed Eren to turn them into neurons he could control few minutes after the limb was no longer part of him.Eren used that, to increase the dimension of that arm and made it explode, in order to drive the opponents away and generate some smoke to hide him and Levi.He made sign to Levi to get away and Levi used his hook to enter inside a window of one of the flat around them. One of the opponents hadn’t flew fast enough to get back on the roof, before Eren grabbed him by the ankle and twisted it. The man didn’t have the time to scream that Eren pushed him so hard that his hand passed through the flesh of his stomach.The blood started to spill everywhere, on Eren’s arm and clothes, on the ground and the shifter smirked at the divine vision and at that enchanting smell.Hi licked his chin, where there were small drop of blood and savored that magnificent taste. ‘Pathetic’ Eren thought, before grabbing the body and taking it quickly where Levi was. Levi broke a window to enter inside that flat, from the aspect of it and the smell, the various bottles on the pavements, the webs on the wall and the stained furniture, and the thousands pictures of people on the walls, that place looked more like an hideout than a place where someone would live.Nevertheless it wasn’t like a place where he could hide forever, especially from someone like Kenny.Luckily for him, he wasn’t alone in that battle.He saw Eren entering from the window, with someone in his arm. “What the hell did you do ?” he asked looking at the dead man. “I brought you a gift” Eren answered indicating the man’s equipment with his eyes “I hope you would like it”. Eren then proceed to use his hardening ability again to block the window, in order to keep the men away. Nor that they would need it anyway.Those men wore the equipment, which meant that they were prepared to fight in an open space, not in a closed one like an apartment. Outside those men would be more able to use the equipment to fight, to move faster and avoid easier any sort of attack.They didn’t even need to follow Eren and Levi inside the apartment after all. The two couldn’t stay there forever, so all those men had to do was to wait for them to get outside on their own and then the fight would start over again. “We will earn some time this way” said Eren “But of course, we can’t stay here forever. I don’t even know what they’re aiming for” “What do you mean ?” asked Levi. “Those weapons aren’t suited to fight a shifter. I recognize the model. They were used by the guards at the facility. A wound caused by a firearm like that could rip a limb, but it couldn’t kill a shifter or incapacitated them long enough to capture them. I think they weren’t prepared to find me here” Actually, they could work on some lower level of shifter, one that weren’t aware of his abilities, like E2 for example, but surely those weapons could do nothing on someone like Eren.He had grown up with those toys pointed at him, he knew that damages they could do on him and they weren’t grave enough to incapacitate him for even a minute.He groaned, he thought that hunt would be more pleasant but at least those worms were offering him a good opportunity to test his new abilities. “Or maybe, those were only a part of the cavalry. Maybe some of them had more powerful weapons to use against you” replied Levi. “Whatever, they perfectly work with men though. Be careful” said Eren. What an irony, an Ackerman and a shifter working together. It sounded like a joke without a good punchline, but Eren wasn’t in the mood for jokes, neither his giant actually.He didn’t like the sensation of being cornered like a rat, but Levi needed time to wear the equipment and to elaborate a strategy. “The Ackerman is the threat, once we kill him…” “No” Levi interrupted him “I will deal with him. You get rid of all the others” “Why ? Something personal about you two ?” asked Eren “Did he kill your cat ? Were you rivals in the underground ?” “You really don’t know when to fucking shut up ah ?” “The fastest way to know someone is to learn how to make them angry, or so I have heard somewhere. I don’t know. I just realized that you don’t get angry unless it’s a personal matter” “Then you should know that this isn’t the fucking time to put your nose in things you couldn’t understand” “Well, it’s clear that whatever will happen out there it’s on us. I’m not going to restrain myself against them” said Eren standing up and crossing his arms, “I want to be clear about this. If it’s personal for you then I will leave the man to you but if he fights me instead, I won’t be considered responsible for the outcome of our fight, whatever it would be.” In those days, Eren had come to adore Levi on various ways, even the dangerous ones, but he couldn’t forget his years of captivities. He had no idea who that Ackerman was for Levi, but he had no intention of being capture and used as guinea pigs all over again. If the occasion presented itself, Eren would show no hesitation to spill that man’s blood on the ground as he did with thousands other people before.He wanted that to be clear. “You seem sure to win against a man like him. You don’t know what he’s capable of” “And so does him, and you. I told you Levi…” said Eren while his eyes were turning gold “I have no intention of being imprisoned again. Men or women, soldiers or civilians it doesn’t matter to me. I won’t have mercy for those who threaten me” Levi finished to wear the equipment and looked Eren straight in his golden eyes. The eyes of a predator that was preparing for a good hunt. “I have nothing even barely human left in me” ‘Never have actually’ said Eren “For me, they are food. I eat them before they eat me.” “It’s disgusting” “I’m a giant.” He said. Giant, not shifter. “Giants feed on human flesh. We may have tried to forget this in these last days, but one truth remains and is that I’m not like you. I don’t play by the same rules as you. I am a giant and I will always be a giant” “It’s fucking clear kid” That was it. The moment when the little bubble they created exploded and they returned to the respective world.Levi had been irresponsible, to allow himself to forget, for even one moment, who he was dancing with. It all started to keep the other under control, to maybe persuade him to join him in the Scouts, but then, after a kiss, a caress on the face, he forgot his original plan and consequentially he forgot who he was dealing with.He allowed himself to forget that he didn’t come back in the underground for a liaison but because Erwin needed him and Levi had to come back to him.That was it, the moment when Levi and Eren’s ways were separating.Eren, who perceived the sudden hostility from the other man, gulped. He didn’t like how Levi was looking at him, or the fact that he was being called ‘kid’ again, like Levi was trying put as much distance as possible between them.What did he think ? That Eren was happy with the situation ? That he wouldn’t follow him everywhere if he could ? That he wouldn’t remain in their bubble forever ?It wasn’t Eren’s fault if they had to separate without even completing their bond. His giant was rebelling against the idea, but Eren was trying to keep it at bay because that wasn’t the moment for those kind of things, not when he had to fight to protect himself and Levi from those people.Nevertheless, Eren allowed himself to take one last gamble, before to return to fight. “Would you run away with me ?” he asked, sounding a little hesitant. “What insanity are you sprouting now kid ?” asked Levi abruptly. “Run away with me. I’m not the only one with a choice here. If I propose you to run somewhere, only you and me, would you accept it ?” Levi remained in silence, because he didn’t expect such proposal. Nevertheless, he didn’t need to think about an answer. He already knew, and so did Eren.It was just a gamble, nothing more.Levi belonged to the Scouts and Eren belonged somewhere Levi couldn’t follow him to.Eren was right, the bubble explode. They had to return to their paths, before it became even more difficult to drift apart. “Just as I expected. That’s it. Playtime is over” said Eren, sounded defeated and without even hiding his disappointment “I will go first and drag as many men as possible away from your acquaintance. Please stay safe” he said before jumping from another window without giving Levi another glance. It sounded more like a goodbye,Levi was used not to have what he wanted. When he was a kid there were many things he wanted and he didn’t have in the end.He thought he was over it, but if took a look at himself, even then, grown up, fully equipped and with special ability, he didn’t feel much different from his younger self.The underground had the power to make him feel that way, like he could never change, not matter how much hard he fought for, or how much he could improve himself, in the end he would always find with his hands dirty of blood, with stained clothes and surrounded by violence, misery and loss.All alone in that rubbish, with a fight that was waiting for him outside, welcoming him back in the world where he belonged. Where his past was waiting for him. ‘At least, my new family isn’t here to witness the true monster that I am’ he thought looking at the moon.
…
MARLEY UNDERGROUND 2084
For being such a dangerous place, the rules of the underground were very simple and clear.
Be ready to kill or either prepare yourself to die.
The strongest survived, who survived had the right to steal and claim any belongings of the loser as their own and lastly, to rule in there you had to become someone.
When people were born in the underground, they all started by not being anyone, the luckiest had a name, others didn’t even had that. Those who didn’t have a name, have to earn one.
To earn one, ones had to have a mentor, a figure that taught them how to live in that world.
Levi had a mentor at some point, one who turned his name into a sign, something that would made the entire underground know who he was and why he had to be feared.
… First he had to learn how to grip a knife…
… Then how to get along with people… and say a hello to them…
… How to swing a deal…
… How to swing a knife…
All he needed to know how to survive in the underground, but if he wanted to leave that shithole, then he would have to find the way on his own.
So Levi sharpened his knives and learnt how to fight, tooth and nails, every day of his life, to survive another day.
At the age of twelve, Levi was starting to have quite a reputation among criminals in the underground and he, deep down, was actually proud of it.
His mother wouldn’t have approved. She wanted Levi to become someone, to run away from that hell, to study, to become a decent man and an honest worker and but she was an idealist and a fool.
It was horrible to think, but Levi realized long ago that he simply wasn’t suited for a normal life. Not when his drive for blood and violence was so strong to make his hands tremble and make him stay awake during the nights. He beat up the first person when he was ten, or maybe he was even younger, he didn’t remember exactly, but he could still hear the sweet sound of their teeth cracking the his foot.
Levi learnt pretty early that he had a twisted passion for violence, a passion that crossed the simple line between life and death. He did what he did to survive, but not only, a part of him did what he did because he liked it, because he knew how to hurt and he wanted to hurt and couldn’t get enough.
He couldn’t get enough of cutting people’s limbs with his knives, to hear their screams of pleas, to see the fear in his eyes.
The eyes of his victims were the best mirrors for Levi, they perfectly show the monster he was.
“I can’t hear you fucker… what were you telling about my height, ah ?” he said kicking and pressing his food so hard on the man’s under him to the point of dislocating his jaw.
“Am I too short ? Am I a kid ? What am I ? A bastard ?”
Levi gave the man another kick, harder that time, finally breaking some teeth.
Around him, people had gathered, attracted by that commotion, both curious and surprised to see a kid beating a man to death before their eyes.
Levi had rubbed him, the man found out and wanted to teach a lesson, but he didn’t know who he was fighting against.
Sometimes Levi stole because he had no other choices, but sometimes he stole and got purposely caught only because he hoped to create the situation to vent some of his frustration. He usually avoided beef, but sometimes he felt an immense itching on his hands that Levi simply couldn’t ignore.
Had it always been that way ? Or it was only because of him ?
… Kenny… that was his name…
The man was behind him, observing him, watching him, valuating his progress and Levi wanted to make him proud.
He had been living with Kenny for a couple of years and in that period of time, Levi learnt everything he needed to survive in a place like the underground, but with time, survival wasn’t enough.
The first time Kenny ordered him to beat someone, Levi obeyed, the first time only because he was too afraid to disappoint Kenny and being sent away from his house and return back in the streets.
He beat the man, he heard him cry, ignored his begging, breaking his teeth, making him bleed his nose, but he felt nothing.
The second time, it wasn’t a direct order. They were in public, a man offended his mother, one of her former clients who recognized Levi and Levi recognized the pig as well.
It was a matter of honor, a matter of family, so Levi didn’t wait for an order that time. He didn’t even care who that pig was and, later, Levi would reflect about how reckless and stupid he had been for beating someone whom could have been pretty powerful in the underground.
Levi simply acted his wrath that time, showing all his savagery, acting like a beast, and that was a mistake. Once they were back home, Kenny explained him his mistake in front of a glass of whiskey.
Well, Kenny drank it, Levi simply sat in front of him in silence, waiting for the eventual reproach.
“You lost, you know why ?” asked Kenny drinking the first glass.
Kenny’s house in the underground was quite decent, some would even say that it belong to a rich person. A rich one for the underground’ standards of course.
Kenny had a dishwasher and a modern television, ones that Levi had never seen in anyone’s house before. It was well kept, even though Kenny couldn’t be defined as a perfectionist when it came with house chores, but Levi had been lived in worse places, so he didn’t complain.
Well, he complained about anything actually, especially the first months, when Levi still couldn’t believe that someone was willing to take care of him, welcome him in their house and take care of him.
When that conversation happened one year prior, they were in Kenny’s kitchen. It was the smallest room of the house, it only had a small cook, a fridge with almost all beers and alcohol inside and some pantry where there were more ammos and tobacco tins than food, or pens or other things that were required in a kitchen.
Since it was the smallest room, there was only a small window in the room, but it was almost always closed, so in the room there was usually the unpleasant smell of cooking and tobacco and Levi couldn’t stand it.
Anyway, to get back at Kenny’s question, no, he didn’t know the answer.
“No” he simply said looking at Kenny.
Kenny put one of his dirty boot on the table, another habit that Levi considered quite disgusting, but again, that wasn’t his house.
“You rat, you showed a weakness. One thing is beating a fucking bastard when you’re in public because you wanted other bastards to fear you and another is reacting after a provocation.”
“He insulted my mother” replied Levi.
“He wanted to cause a reaction and he got. That fucker underestimated you, but you should never show off when something hit you in the shin, rant. Others have to believe nothing can hurt you. Any weakness you have, it will be used against you at the first occasion, so never, never, show that something can get under your skin”
“So, should I have let him get away with his words ?Wouldn’t that make me look weak anyway ?”
“No, if you don’t show any useless emotion you give the impression that those bullshit can’t hurt you and then, in private circumstances, you teach that fucker a lesson. That’s what you have to do” said Kenny started drinking directly from the bottle.
Levi nodded, then he stood up to look for something edible.
After that conversation, Levi learned another important lesson. Being impassible in front of anything and maintain cold blood, against any challenge, in front of any opponents.
After that conversation, the next day, that same man confronted Kenny and Levi, that time accompanied by some of his ‘friends’, claiming that he wanted reparation for the offense in his regards.
Again, he insulted Levi’s mother just like he did the day before. That time, Levi didn’t react immediately, he even pretended to be sorry for his behavior and apologized. The man forgave Levi, saying that he was still young and immature and only for that his life would be spared, but he didn’t imagine that Levi would get his revenge on him later, in private.
That time Levi was angered, so he simply thought that it was normal to feel pleasure for hurting someone whom insulted his mother prior. It was also the first time his hands didn’t tremble for an act of violence. Everything seemed to natural and so right that, after leaving that man lying in his own blood, he felt good, he felt powerful, he felt like, for the first time, he had a possibility to defend himself against the whole world.
But then… then…
Man after man, blood after blood, he started to realize that maybe, deep down, he didn’t behave that way because he had to, but because he wanted to. Because he needed to.
After years spent in enduring men’s abuses against his mother, he felt life there was something inside him, something he had suppressed, something he had rejected but that was ready to finally come out and reveal itself to the world.
Until that moment, until he was thirteen, it was all about beating, the beast inside him was sated after the opponent fall on the ground, even better with one or more teeth missing, but then again, the beast was getting more and more demanding. One punch wasn’t enough, one cut, two cuts, three tooth missing, the entire jaw dislocated, all five fingers cut off, weren’t enough.
It wanted more, Levi wanted more.
So that time he did it, in front of his eyes, in front of Kenny’s eyes, he swung the knife one last time and cut the man’s throat.
His knife firm in his grip, his hand didn’t hesitate, it didn’t tremble, his face didn’t betray any emotion. It all happened so fast and nevertheless Levi swore he would remember any single detail of it for the rest of his life.
He would never forget his hand moving faster toward the man’s throat, the cut, the blood that quickly spilled from it, and the torrent of emotions inside the man’s eyes.
At the beginning his eyes were wide open, dark with fear and terror, then, after the cut, they got less and less expressive, the light was slowly abandoning them and so the color of their soul.
In the end, he died, taking something of Levi with him forever. His innocence.
‘Forgive me mother, you would have wanted something different for me. But I am this, in the end, scum remains scum…’.
The first time was always messy, not matter how talented someone was.
The blood spilled everywhere, on the floor, on the corpse, on Levi’s face and clothes, on the walls and it filled the room with its disgusting smell.
The blood ended on his hands made them itch and, once back home, Levi took a shower and scratched his body and hands so hardly to leave red sign on his porcelain skin.
‘Whatever you feel, you’ll get used to it’.
That was what Kenny told him, but Levi felt nothing. He felt satisfied, then the man fell dead on the floor and the emptiness overcame him. He didn’t speak a word, he simply clean his knife using his t-shirt, and then simply followed Kenny back home to take his shower.
After the shower, when he came back inside his room, he noticed that there very clothes to wash and the pavement was a little dirt and that view disturbed him somehow.
‘Tomorrow I will clean up this mess’ he thought scratching his hands again.
…
Marley Underground 21st October 2098 Levi was no longer a teenager that was still making his first footsteps in the undergrounds’ world, he wasn’t anymore the boy who was afraid of his own shadow. He conquered the underground once and he could it again, but if it came with his mentor, if it came with his own past then… ‘Then, even more, I need to show no hesitation’ he thought concentrating and relying on his instincts completely. He closed his eyes and concentrated, then he looked up toward the window.Kenny was behind that attack, so in some sense, it made easier for him to predict his strategy. He heard some shoots outside but he didn’t let them distract him, his instincts were reassuring him that Eren was okay and that he was doing pretty well out there, he didn’t know how he knew, but he did.Regarding his own situation, an object in the room, a chair, caught his attention. His instincts were telling him to use to make an open.He grabbed a chair and threw it outside the window. As he expected, it was quickly shoot by the people outside.
‘Look up !’
There was one of them close to him, he shoot one of the hook and hit him right on the forehead, then he shoot the other hook on the opposite roof and made the man fell below and shoot the other two in the forehead.He barely had the time to land before he had to move again to avoid Kenny’s next attack. “Finally, the little rodent has come out to play. How are you Levi ? I heard you changed sides, you’re part of the military now ! What a fucker !” Kenny said shooting at him. “Well, what I can say, I don’t like wasting time !” shouted Levi back at the other “What about you ? Still slaughtering and stealing people around ?”“What can I say, old habits die hard !” said Kenny “I see you’re no different after all, how many of my men have are already dead ?” “You don’t give a shit so why are you asking ? Where’s him ?” He kept his eyes on Kenny, while he was relying on instincts to understand where there were Eren was, it was better than focusing on Kenny’s poisonous words.Old habits died hard ah ? Kenny had no idea.Levi came back in the hell he knew for less than a month and he returned to his old habits. For him it was like he regressed to who he used to be. After all, even if he left the underground behind, the underground never abandoned him. Deep down Levi knew that it was too late for him to hope to get closer to his ideal self, but at least he was working hard to change and improve his life. Kenny represented everything he hated, all the parts of himself that Levi loathed the most and wanted to change and had to change if he wanted to move on with his life. “Wanna help your friend ? Wanna bet of who between you and me gonna get him first ?” ‘So he escaped from Kenny’ Levi thought with surprise. “That other rodent was pretty fast, I barely noticed him jumping from the window. I realized only when five of my men got murdered in front of my eyes. I lost his track, I don’t know where he’s hiding, but he must be somewhere close.” Sneered Kenny Levi had no idea why but all his instincts were on alert inside his head, telling him to fight, to evade, to run, to see, to realize that the opponent in front of him was different from any others.It was a similar and yet different sensation he felt when he met Eren the first time. His instincts quickly recognized that the other man was a shifter, but that time, his instincts were on alert but in a different way.Kenny… Levi hadn’t seen him in a long time and when he was taken in, Levi was pretty young and had all to learn about Kenny, but he remembered that he always thought that there was something about the man, an aura, that emanated a certain danger when people approached him for the first time.Levi’d never felt threatened though, but he felt that aura, he felt that there was something ‘inhuman’ about him.He witnessed Kenny survive the worst situation possible, he saw him heal from mortal wounds, wounds that would be fatal for anyone but Levi always thought that Kenny’s will to live was simply stronger than the pain and danger. But then, once he grew up, once he knew that there were ways someone could achieve abilities that a normal person didn’t have “So you’re here for him ah ? Why ?” “That’s no one of your fucking business, you little rodent. All you need to know is that you’re in my way” “No, you’re in my fucking way, old man !” he said shooting at Kenny and then moving again, going around a building’s corner just in time to avoid another shoot. He wasn’t used to that kind of equipment, his first instinct was to take the blades at his hips and guns weren’t his favorite choice of weapons. Guns were cold, a cut generated by a knife was strangely intimate. To cut someone off to death you had to stay close to them, enough to be able to hear the knife passing through their clothes and skin,A shoot could never replace the sensation that knife in his hand could give to him, the blood that remain on the blade, testifying that that life belonged to him at that point.Yeah, even in the middle of a battle, he was able to fantasize about how intimate would be to cut all those man off with a knife, for their blood to stain his clothes and his blade, for to see the life abandoning their eyes. “Here I am, the ripper himself and you’re fucking wasting my precious time by running around !” said Kenny landing on a roof to see where the hell Levi was hiding in that moment. But Levi was right behind him and shoot at him and then it happened. Kenny’s eyes glowed and managed to avoid Levi’s attack. “Predictable !” he yelled “I’ve taught you better than this !” Levi was still pondering about that glow, it looked quite similar to his own, when his own instincts got activated, just like in that moment, when the same voice inside his head was warning him that there were three people behind, ready to attack him.He shoot his hooks below and jumped from the roof and started flying over again, allowing his instincts to guide him and avoid all the shoots.Levi lost the track of time spent flying along the palaces and avoiding the shoots, until his instincts kicked in again, stronger than before.It was Kenny again and in front of him, few meters ahead, there was Eren that was jumping on the opposite roof. “Stop running you rat! I can’t wait to have fun with you !!” sneered Kenny pointing his gun.
‘Kill him now ! Aim for the head !’
He saw red and, driven madly from that force inside him, he allowed his instinct to take control over him and decided to go toward and Kenny and kill attack him.They weren’t his usual instincts though, at least not just them. There was another aura, more dangerous, more imponent, that was driving Levi’s thirsty of blood in that moment.A part of him, the part that was still reacting to Eren’s giant, was slowly taking over him and leading toward Kenny, that time not to simply fight him but to kill him.And, almost like sensing his aura, Kenny looked away from Eren and turned toward Levi, almost like he was being called by that same force that demanded a reaction from him.A reaction that arrived in few seconds.Without looking at him, Kenny shot toward Eren, who avoided the hit and jumped below the flat, but, even though the hit was directed at him, it wasn’t Eren the target in that moment. At all.The person Kenny wanted to provoke was Levi and he succeeded. He wanted to prove a point, to be sure of something and he was right.What a sight it was, the fury of an another Ackerman right before his eyes. How couldn’t he recognize it sooner ? It was so obvious.Levi and him were alike. The fact that Levi had been so good at avoiding any kind of attacks didn’t surprise him at the beginning, he’d raised him good, he’d raised him to be a killing machine, an heartless assassin ready to survive in any sort of situation.But he failed to notice that there was something else that was driven Levi, a deep knowledge that allowed him to know exactly what he needed to do to win that fight. “So I guess that shit worked on you too after all” he commented aloud, before defending himself against Levi who had grabbed his knife instead of his gun to hit him that time. Levi slowed down for a moment before attacking again “What do you fucking mean with that shit ? You knew about all of this ? We’re fucking alike ?” he asked swinging his knife again. “Are you saying you don’t remember it rant ?” “I remember you abandoning me, you little shit !” “Oh, don’t even try you little louse. I taught you all you needed to know to survive, my job was finished. I did what I could !” Kenny tried to kick Levi in the stomach but Levi grabbed his leg and pushed him backward to make him lose the balance. “What about this ? How did this happen ?” asked Levi clearly referring to his own powers “How could you do this to me ?” Levi was furious. He felt betrayed by that man for the second time. How could Kenny know that he had been injected and keep it a secret ?How could he disappear one day without saying nothing ? Without reappearing anymore ?Levi often thought about him, in spite of his fury, in spite of the pain he felt for being abandoned for the second fucking time in his life, he often thought about him and the time he spent together.Kenny used to be so mysterious about the reasons why he took Levi in. Not matter how many times Levi asked, Kenny never told him the truth. He simply shrugged and said to Levi that he took him in because he was bored.A lie of course. A man like Kenny didn’t take a child inn for boredom, but Levi was grateful to him, in spite of anything.But then ? Knowing that Kenny was aware that someone did something to him and told him nothing, not even before abandoning, it made him feel furious and betrayed.All his instincts were on alert, finally fully recognizing the other as a similar but an opponent at the same time. An obstacle, an annoyance that Levi wanted to extinguish. “Me ? I did nothing, you’re the one who doesn’t remember the hell I took you from” said Kenny standing up again and grabbing his own knife that time “You’re the one who forgot”. “I forgot nothing. I was in the streets when you found me, my mother had been dead for a couple of months and my sister…” Kenny punched him in the face and Levi lost his balance, but before Kenny could attack him again, Levi used his legs and wrapped them around Kenny’s left leg and made him fall back. But then Kenny, with his damn long legs kicked again Levi in the face, and made to grab Levi by the leg but the raven hair managed to cut him on his hand. “You were in an orphanage when I found you. Your sister was already taken away, but you were left behind.” “Bullshit, I don’t remember to have ever been in an orphanage. I remember to have lived in the streets after mom’s death” No, Levi knew, deep down, that Kenny wasn’t completely lie. A part of his own brain, since the death of Isabel and Furlan, was desperately trying to resurface in order to make him remember.Levi dreamed about a place where he was in line, and there were other kids in front of him and behind him, a place that Levi simply refused to remember.Kenny attacked him with his knife and Levi managed to parry the blow with his own knife.Kenny pushed ahead and Levi pushed against him, not one of them dared to looked elsewhere but in each other’s eyes.They were studying each other, while their instincts were still telling them to hold on, to prepare their next move and not to lower their guard, for any reason.Kenny himself was impressed by Levi’s abilities. His own instincts were telling him that Levi shouldn’t have developed his abilities more than a year and nevertheless “Well, that’s not my fucking problem rant. I told you what you had to do once, but apparently you were too much of a brat to follow simple instrunctions. I thought that shit didn’t work on you but I was wrong.” “How did I got injected ?” said Levi pointing a gun against Kenny that time “Where did you find me ? I think you own me this” “Do you want the truth ah runt ? Sorry kiddo, but I’m not here to waste my precious time with you” Kenny shoot the hooks behind him and then whistled, making signs to his fellows to attack Levi in that moment to make him stay away.Levi shoot the hooks behind him and retread, but one of the bullet wound him on the forehead.He was moving again, but that time, his instincts were out of control.Too many indications, too many voices, too many dangers around him, his head was about to explode.An image of a yellow house appeared inside his mind… ‘Fuck…’ He gritted his teeth and started moving again, trying to be surrounded by those men. He counted ten but they could be more.Again, an image of a medical room appeared inside his head, a man with a white coat was giving him the shoulders. The head started hurting more. ‘Fuck’ One man appeared in front of him and he shoot his hook straight at his waist, killing him and using his body as shield…
Another imagine, that time of the same man with the white coat, that was keeping something inside his hand, next to him there were other people.
Where was him ? Why were those imagines appearing only that moment ? What triggered them ? What was happening to him ?His headache made him lose the balance for a moment and risked to be shoot, but he quickly entered inside a window again and found repaired inside the nearest building. ‘FUCK !’ He thought grabbing his head with both his hands. …
Typical enough for meThat I burn inside in agonyWhat power will enable meTo bury my vision?The hunger coming over meAs I learn to hide the agonyTo make a final remedyTo close the door once and for all
MARLEY UNDERGROUND 2088
Levi had never been defeated, everyone who knew his name were aware of that. They all said that there was something wrong within him, that he was inhuman. Kenny always dismissed those voices with one of his usual threat but Levi couldn’t refrain himself from wonder if those people were right.
Those years spent living with Kenny, training with him, learning from him how to fight, how to use any weapon, not only a knife, but also guns, rifles and even improvised weapons, he slowly became what he used to aspire to become.
An older, stronger, more dangerous version of himself. He was supposed to feel proud of it, but the truth was that Levi lived in a complete apathy, for the only exception of those moment when he could express all the wrath he truly felt.
At the beginning it was only a mean to survive, but then violence became an integral part of him, of his life, of his being, of the way he saw the world.
If he used to fight people only when provoked, then it simply became part of his routine. He was the one who looked for any sort of excuse to put his hands on someone and that wasn’t healthy, but he was addicted to it.
He was addicted to the kind of excitement and euphoria violence could make him feel, he craved for it, he craved also because sometimes he thought that it was the only way he knew to live his own existence, that there was no other way for him to be in the world if not with a knife in his hand.
He felt so out of place, not matter where he want, not matter if he was alone or surrounded by other people. He simply felt so detached from everything, as if there was something that was constantly missing, something that he needed to find, in order to give a sense to his own existence, but was it was ?
Violence was a way to placate that sense of detachment, to fill both his mind and hands with something that wasn’t his loneliness.
The night was always worse. He dreamed about his mother, her job, those filthy men inside their house, his mother’s illness, her disappearance, his sister, all the things he lost. A group of people who came for him and his sister and took them toward that yellow house…
Levi closed his eyes and punched, harder that time, the man in front of him.
“Ple… ple… ase… sto…”
Levi pushed his head on the ground and kicked his nose that time.
There the reason why he grew so addicted to violence. It made him feel everything he’d never been, so in control of his own life and of others, so powerful, so alive, it made him feel like a person that existed in that moment.
In those moment, he knew exactly what he had to do.
All he had to do was to rely on his feelings and sensations and acting according to them, then everything else was easier.
Somehow he knew exactly where to hit to hurt a person the most, how deep to cut their flesh to make them feel pain but not to make them die, how to hurt them and make them feel hell, but not enough to make them lose their senses. He knew when it was the case to insist and push further, or when it was a loss cause and it was better to retreat.
Kenny said he felt something similar sometimes, he said that it was like having an inside voice that told him exactly what it needed to be done. Levi felt the same somehow.
There, in the eyes of that man below him, he no longer saw a mere reflection of his weakness, no. He saw himself in all his monstrosity but in his reality at the same time. He saw nothing more than a monster, that, somehow, it was like saying that he saw nothing more than a person.
“Shut the fuck up !” he screamed kicking the man again.
He barely noticed the crowd around him, those who encouraged and applauded him, those who were divided between wanting to help the men under him or to run away, those who were undecided whether to kill him then, when he was busy with someone else.
Levi had no care for them, if only for one person.
He could feel, he could always feel Kenny’s eyes on him, observing him, studying him, judging him, until… until he no longer felt them.
That was what made him stop kick that man for a moment and look up toward the crowd, he saw Kenny’ silhouette, he was giving the shoulder and was slowly getting away.
He didn’t know how, but deep down inside his heart, Levi knew he would never see him again, not back at home, not the next day or the next month, probably ever again.
It was then, in what it was a moment of dominance and control for him, that Levi realized that violence wasn’t so helpful, that someone he learned to love appreciate was slipping away from him and he could do nothing to keep them close.
Why was Kenny leaving ? Where was he going ?
‘Don’t leave me here’
He wanted to scream but he couldn’t. He couldn’t beg and cry Kenny to stay, not in front of those people who were only waiting for him to show any kind of weakness.
Kenny had been so cruel for choosing to leave him in a moment when he was surrounded by predators and couldn’t follow him and beg him to stay.
He couldn’t even ask him why… just like with his mother who simply slipped away from him…
There, in that sense of impotence, while his world was crumbling again, his newfound certainties gone, the fear of abandonment resurfaced and the ever increasing wrath he was feeling, he extracted the knife from his pocket and looked at that man.
The man’s eyes widened and he was about to beg Levi to stop but Levi was deaf to any pleading.
For the first time after a long time, his fingers were trembling holding the knife, trying to maintain a firm grip on it, like Levi was trying to stay strong and firm while his own reality was slipping from his fingers, threatening to destroy all over again any kind of sense of security he had.
One once told him that people needed love and reassurance to develop a sense of self, because only if someone learnt to love himself through other’s love, could have a certain mental stability to protect his self when reality became harsh and cruel.
“Ple… ple…”
Levi cut his throat, but not to make a point, or to make other people fear him, or for his crave of violence, he simply wanted to put an end on all of that and get back home to his apartment. Because that would be his apartment only, right ?
Levi had his mother once, but then he lost her and his world was turned into ashes, then his sister was taken from him and then Kenny appeared. There weren’t words to describe his bond with Kenny, it was made of love, like his bond with his mother or sister, Kenny was too much peculiar in his behavior to be considered a father figure or a parent, but through the years a bond was formed and then Levi lost it again.
That time violence disappointed him, fury was long forgotten and his will to live and fight was turned off. What was the point of living if he lived in a world that made him feel so detached ?
Whatever sensation turned on inside him, that guided him in those moment, disappeared forever and the emptiness returned. What was the point of surviving, of knowing exactly what to do, if he wasn’t even sure to want to live for himself ?After all, for someone who felt so out of place in his own reality, would also be very different from others being a welcoming news ?
“Tsk… pathetic…”
He wasn’t referring to the man, but to himself. There he stood, in a street with a dead man before his eyes, looking victorious in the eyes of the crowd, and nevertheless Levi felt defeated and utterly sad.
Without sparing another look to his surroundings, he chose to leave, unable to handle that situation any longer.
When he came back home, he noticed that all Kenny’s things were gone. That man was gone, without any words, without any explanations, bringing with him half of the weapons and all the alcohol inside the house. Levi noticed it when he entered inside the kitchen and saw that the fridge was completely empty. It was then that he noticed a note on the fridge.
The calligraphy was atrocious, barely readable but Levi was used by then to Kenny’s calligraphy.
“The refugee of dreams’, it’s the orphanage where I found you. In the Stohess District, at the borders with the underground, in the areas where they emperor once planned to build home for refugee, but now are simply hovels for prostitutes and junkies. If you want to know more about what happened to you, you will find your answers there. That’s all I have to say to you
Kenny”
Taken by the fury and the betrayal, Levi ripped that note and threw it on the floor, without sparing another glance at it. In that moment, he didn’t care about anything anymore, more less his past.
In that moment all he wanted was to remain alone with his pain.
He sat alone on the table and stabbed it with his knife.
“At least that fucker had the decency to pay the bills for this month”
…
Typical enough for meThat I burn inside in agonyWhat power will enable meTo make this decision?Despair has fallen over meNo way to hide the agonyEmbracing my calamityTo save myself once and for all
Marley Underground 21st October 2098
After that day violence remained a constant, but the thrill was gone, the euphoria was gone. Violence was what connected him to Kenny, just love connected him with his mother but neither of two had been enough to keep those people close to him. Even though nothing apparently seemed to change about him, Levi knew that something that was growing inside him had been suppressed, a part of him that maybe he wasn’t ready to accept. After that, that sensation of knowing what to do disappeared, but Levi was a smart and cunning boy, so all he had to do was relying on his experience and knowledge to keep surviving in the underground.So violence turned back into be a simple mean to survive and love was suffocated, partially due to the environment and partially due to Levi’s reticence to love someone ever again.Through the years, Levi learnt how to resist his impulse for violence, how to hide his emotions better, how to remain cold and calculating against any opponent, in any kind of situation. Whatever pain he could feel, was quickly buried inside him not to resurface anymore. It was his way to deal with his life.Nevertheless, whatever thing was turned off that day, resurfaced again, stronger and liver than ever inside him, his powers, his Ackerman’s abilities.The day he lost his family again and Levi, due to the mourn, the anger, the sensation of not knowing what to do against a foreign opponent, the giants, triggered those abilities again. Those abilities that weren’t disappeared, but remained dormant inside him, grew with him, became powerful the more Levi himself became powerful and, when the moment came, they showed themselves in all their magnitude, leading him toward the victory and the survival. Because in that moment, it returned the need to know what to do, in order to protect those he cared about, to protect himself and the world he knew. That time Levi had no intention to let the events to change his life, to take away those he loved, without fighting back and that was what allowed him to have his abilities back.But how could he have forgotten the note ? “He was right… I forgot that fucking note… I was a brat… But why am I remembering only now ?” Maybe it was because he spent so many years trying to suppress the pain of those day that he simply decided to remove from his memories those sensations and the note.After all, when Kenny left he was fifteen, he was jobless and had no means of sustenance, so investigating about his past was the last of his worries, then he ended up in reformatory and then on the streets of the underground again, so the note was long forgotten.“Stohess District…” His headache was becoming more bearable after that memory lane. Good, because he couldn’t afford to waste any more time. Outside, there was still a battle in course, Eren could be in danger and he had to stop Kenny before it was too late.Kenny wasn’t someone who moved his ass for no reason, if he decided to target Eren it was because someone paid him highly for it. Levi had to know who.He heard shoots outside the window, Eren had to be close and someone was shooting against him.There was no more hesitation, no more headache, no more fear, no more chains to drag him down. For the first time, after years, he fully embraced his true nature, he acted according to his impulses, not to the mere violence, but to the impulse of protecting someone that, in a weird way, had become important to him.It didn’t matter if in that moment he became a monster, it was the fury that was making him into one, like the suffering and life made a criminal out of him.He looked out of the window, just in time to see Eren killing three men and Kenny behind him ready to shoot again.Levi didn’t even have to think about it, the vision of what he had to do invaded his mind and his body acted according to it. All he had to do was to wait Eren to jump below, before to take the aim and shoot right at Kenny’s gear.Of course, in doing this, he revealed his position to the other men, but he didn’t care. He felt strangely calm, controlled and collected, like he had nothing to worry about, like he was the one who had their lives in the palm of his hands.With the equipment on him, with his gun in his left hand and the knife in his right ones, he was ready to join the battle. He shoot his hooks and jumped from the window. Kenny wouldn’t stay still for longer, he would find another equipment to wear very soon, that was why he needed to find him as soon as possible and all the people who stood in his way were mere annoyance.As soon as he jumped from the window, five men surrounded him. ‘Do you want to kill me ? Come and get me, you bastards’. He shoot the hook in the leg of the one closest to him, then shoot the other hook below him and pointed his gun up, shooting another straight in the face, enjoying the view of his blood spilling and falling everywhere.Violence didn’t have the same effect on him anymore, but Levi lived with it and through it. He was born in violence and the underground was his crib, his turf, his territory, his home. It was the place the made him who he was and no one there could even dream to threaten him.The underground was his hunting territory, those men were his preys and had no idea of the beast they had unleashed.One man managed to get closer to him, but Levi quickly flew toward him before the other could shoot him and cut his throat with his knife, enjoyed the sensation of cutting off his flesh and feeling the blood falling on the blade. What a sweet sound it was, when his victim gasped, trying to stop the blood from exiting but without any success. His fingers on the knife and gun didn’t tremble for even a second, and the more he killed, the more exited he felt.He was completely abandoning himself to that renovate sensation, living in that moment when finally he felt in control of his actions and his live. All he had to do was to swing his knife and then he knew he would win in the end.He continued that way, hunting, flying and killing anyone on his path, one cut, two cuts, a shot in the leg, a hook in the hips, the flesh ripped from the body, blood painting building, floor and clothes, and his thirsty for blood growing inside him more and more, until his instincts told him to land in a small square, where he knew he would find Kenny. “Found you, you fucker !” he said shooting another man straight in the face “You won’t run away this time, not without a fucking explanation”. After all, who better than a criminal like him knew how to deal with another one ? Specially the one who formed him ? 'Let' see if the student finally passes his master'
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
VILLA HELOS 2038
An eighteen years old Kruger was attending a lesson about military strategies. In few months he would be enlisted to join the military for at least three years in order to get the funds to keep studying. According to the new Marley’s rules, anyone had to be enlisted in the military after the eighteenth birthday, especially those whose, like Kruger, came from conquered population. That rule admitted no exceptions.
Kruger was excited, because it meant that, in the eyes of law, he was officially no longer a child.
He had enough of that feeling of impotence due to his minor age. After his kidnapping, Kruger had grown to hate his childhood.
A child had no rights, had no means, or strength or powers to fight or defend what belonged to them. A child could only succumb to the cruelty of the world, but not Kruger. He was officially an adult that could finally start to put his plans in motion.
If he played his cards correctly, he would distinguish himself in the military, he would make sure to be honorably discharged in order to earn the respect of someone important in the military. Then, once the period of enlistment was finished, he would be provided with the money he needed to start his researches and then, if he obtained the results he expected, he would finally have his revenge on the country who took everything away from him.
The child he used to be had grown up, it was gone and in his place there was a man who was no longer afraid to face reality. Even though he forgot his real name, even though he forgot almost everything about his family, the pain deep inside his heart remained, alive, flaming, destructive, inside him, leading him toward a path he could still not see with clarity but Kruger knew he had to follow.
“Shingeki, who of you knows the meaning of this term ?” asked their teacher.
Kruger raised his hands and waited for the permission to speak. Once the teacher nodded, Kruger stood up and then he started talking.
“Shingeki is a specific term used in Japanese culture to indicate military advance, a type of strategy designed to cut through the enemy lines using brute force. That was because it was common belief that the main force of an army resides in its advance”
“Excellent Kruger, you may sit now”
Kruger nodded, then he bowed, according to the etiquette, and then he sat down. The teacher started talking again but Kruger was no longer listening. Before to join the military, Kruger and the others had to attend a course about military strategies and, after all, he had to admit to find it quite illuminating.
Kruger had never had interested about anything that directly regarded the military, even thought he had to read “The Art of War” once.
‘Shingeki…’
Kruger found himself compelled to that word, to its meaning and what it exactly represented. An advanced, brute and unstoppable toward the enemy’s lines, a cut through their force, a straight walk toward victory and the complete annihilation of the enemies troupes.
It was a word that summed up Kruger’s intentions and the scope of his life, to advance, not matter what, against his enemy, until he would destroy the entire empire of Marley and avenge his family.
He felt shame for every single time he had to bow in front of his enemies, for any hand kissed, any sign of submission on his part, but it was the only smart thing to do for someone who didn’t have the means to fight, not at the moment.
But if he bowed in that moment, it was only to put his enemies on their knees in the future.
For someone who was living his life on his knees, Kruger could only trick the others, made them believe all his eyes.
“Shingeki…” he whispered.
A word, a curse.
…
PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA 2089
‘What is that ?’
What were those imagines ? Who was that man ? Why was he so angry ? Why was him inside Eren’s head ?
The curiosity he felt toward that situation was quickly surpassed by the wonder he felt when he actually realized that he was out of his room. Well, that white corridor wasn’t so much different from his room, but at least it was a different environment.
‘Finally… we… free…’
Free to do what ? Wondered young Eren licking the blood of his fake father from his fingers.
Why was the blood so taste ? Why did he like it so much ?
It shouldn’t be normal. But the more he licked it, the more he wanted, the more powerful he felt. If he closed his eyes, he realized he could hear, smell and sense things he didn’t think possible.
Eren was in awed. He’d never been outside that small white room, so he couldn’t believe that he was finally out and he had no intention of returning there.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know that there were cameras outside his room, so the security learnt pretty quickly that he escaped and that he killed a man.
He heard a siren and a voice that rang throughout the corridor where he was.
“Subject on the run ! Enable security protocols !”
“What’s happening ?” he muttered, a little bit scared of all those unknown sounds.
His head rang again.
‘RUN !’
Eren gasped, then he heard heavy footsteps behind him. After few minutes, a group of six armed men, who were wearing a military equipment and a cask, arrived, carrying their rifles with them. One of them lowered his rifle and looked inside Eren’s room, where the dead man was still lying.
“Oh my God…” he said.
Another soldier hit him on the shoulder and reproached him “Don’t get distracted ! We must find the boy”
“He should still be around here somewhere” said another one.
Eren was at the center of the corridor and he took advantage of that moment of distraction to start running, but unfortunately one of them noticed him and started screaming.
“You, freeze !!”
“Don’t move !”
As Eren would be willing to listen anything they say. He started running, without turning back, without even know where he was going, but he didn’t care. He had to run, he couldn’t be imprisoned again and those men were pretty scary.
A man shot right next to him, but missed him for few centimeters. Eren covered his head with his little hands but didn’t stopped, he started running even faster.
“Idiot ! You could have killed him !”
‘So, they can’t hurt me ?’ Eren thought.
‘Exactly, so you can take advantage of that. You can kill them, but they can’t kill you’
It was the adult voice the one who spoke that time.
‘Who are you ? What’s your name ?’
‘Eren, just like you. But you can call me Kruger’
“Kug… Kuger ?”
Child Eren wasn’t able to perfectly pronounce that name, but it wasn’t important in that moment. Those people were still following him and Eren was scared. He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know where to run and he had those strange voice inside his head and he didn’t know why.
Too many changes, too many things he didn’t understand, and he was so scared and he felt so alone.
Another man shot at him and the bullet hit him on the arm, making him bleed.
Eren gasped, almost tripping over his own legs, but for some miracle he managed not to fell and keep running.
While he was doing so, at some point, from an automatic sliding door that Eren barely noticed, two people with the white coat exited and Eren bumped into the leg of one of them,
“What the fu… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUTSIDE ?” yelled the men making Eren jumping.
The poor child wasn’t used to people being so aggressive to him, also, his fake father usually got on his knees to speak with him, but that person looked so much taller and more imposing to him that Eren feared he was about to cry for fear and frustration.
That man was about to out his hands to him, but something inside Eren snapped again.
‘Stay away from me…’ he thought.
‘Don’t… your… dirty… claws… on.. ME!’
Again, that voice. That voice that made him snapped again and when the hand was close enough, Eren bit it so hard to the point of ripping those fingers with his teeth and then he swallowed them. The man screamed, looking at his hand horrified, but Eren wasn’t satisfied.
He felt it again, inside his little belly, that sensation growing and growing inside again. That hunger he didn’t feel for the food that was brought to him everyday. There was always a certain dissatisfaction about that food but it wasn’t just that.
There was also that itch, on his hands, that he could no longer stand or ignore. An ever growing sensation that was demanding to be felt.
It was then that he noticed that the itch was also particularly strong at the height of his shoulder, where there was the wound. Eren hated it, he wanted that damn wound to disappear from his body, he wanted it to stop hurting and it was then that something scary happened again.
A little explosion and then Eren felt an even more intense pain from his arm and his body getting pushed against a wall.
He hissed again for the pain, but then he coughed due to the smoke around him. It had a strange smell anyway, Eren could swear he sense the smell of blood, of his own blood and he felt something weird around his arm. Something warm, that was pulsing, that was rubbery and when he ‘saw’ (how could he see through the smoke ?) a gigantic version of his arm, but it wasn’t just that.
At the end of it, there was an hand that had literally crushed those two people against the wall, to the point of making them barely recognizable. Only blood and small part of organs and clothes remained of them, but nothing more. The impact of that arm was so strong that it passed through the door and crushed those people against the opposite wall of that room, but Eren had no idea what kind of room it was.
He could only hear the whining of more people inside it, still alive but heavily wounded for the impact, Eren could smell their blood as well and it was making him salivating, but then he heard those voices again.
“What the hell happened ?”
“He activated his powers, god damned, how did he know how ?”
‘Activated ? Eh ?’
‘I’ll explain it to you’ said Kruger inside his head ‘That thing that exited from your arm, is part of your giant body.’
‘My giant… what ?’
‘You’re a giant, Eren. You can turn yourself into a higher and more stronger version of yourself. You belong to a race far superior than an ordinary person. Your ability got activated because of your wound. Every time you got hurt and you have a goal to achieve, your giant cells got activated and have access to your giant’
‘So, all I have to do is to get hurt ?’
‘Pain, followed by anger, followed by the right determination to pursue a goal is the key. Pain is the fuel that allow a person to achieve everything they wanted, because without pain, there wouldn’t be any dream for improvement’
‘What ?’
Eren wasn’t understanding anything about what that Kugger was saying. Those complicated words didn’t have any sense for him and the pain and the smell of blood weren’t helping his concentration.
‘I forgot for a moment, you’re too young. Don’t worry, we have time, now you have to move. You can’t stay blocked there’
Easier said than done. Eren was trying and trying to rip his hand from that mass, but he wasn’t succeeding. The smoke was almost all evaporated and the men were getting closer and closer, so Eren closed his eyes and ripped his arm from that thing with all his strength.
He fell on the floor and hissed for the pain, but then he quickly stood up and kept running again.
Even though the wound on his shoulder was healed and he was no longer bleeding, he was still deeply hazy for the recent events and very scared.
He learnt that he had no family, he killed a person, he was out of his room for the first time and there were armed people that were following him, he also heard voices inside his head, one of them that knew him more than Eren himself and that was telling him that he was a giant.
All of that was simply too much for him to handle.
What was that thing that came out of his body ? Was it really part of him ? He could really do that ?
Was… he… really… A MONSTER ?
He could still feel the taste of blood on his tongue…
Was he really a monster for enjoying something so delicious ? Or was he a monster for wanting MORE ?
…
Marley Underground 21st October 2098 “What a flaming moon tonight” he commented right before he jumped from the window. He told everything he had to say to Levi, well not everything, but enough to feel too much regret. He was sincere when he proposed Levi to run away with him, to build a life together somewhere else, only the two of them.Eren allowed himself to dream, for a moment, even though he expected Levi’s rejection, it hurt nonetheless. Eren felt rejected all over again, but he didn’t have the time to deal with his feelings at the moment. He was surrounded by countless men reading to shoot straight at him, but Eren was faster than them. Even though Levi was perfectly able to take care of himself, those men were there for Eren and he planned to lead them as far away as possible.He carefully avoided all the shoots in order not to be wounded and not to allow them to make any of his limb explode or in that case he would have lost mobility.He used his pheromones to make them stay away, while he got far enough from Levi’s hideout, but he noticed that the one, the Ackerman, wasn’t following him with the others.Why ? Should he feel concerned ? Should he come back to Levi ? “No, he wanted to deal with that man by himself. I shouldn’t get involved more than I already am.” Commented Eren avoiding another shoot. He came to a dead end and it was then he decided it was the moment to turn around for his next move. He used his harden ability on his back and started creating and throwing crystal darts against those men. It was efficient, even though it was annoying destroying another shirt to use that move.He managed to hit a couple of them, but those who were behind managed to avoid his attack and moved around the roofs to protect them. “As if an entire building can protect you from me” commented Eren with sarcasm. They had no idea who they stood against. An ordinary shifter ? An innocuous beast that was running away with the tail between the legs ?No. Eren wasn’t just any shifter and he wasn’t scared. He felt excited, like someone just gave him hundreds new toys to play with. He passed his tongue through his teeth, that were becoming sbarper, and licked his lip. He closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of blood all around and crystal crawls were forming at the base of his fingers.His golden eyes shined brighter than the moon and all the stars in the sky, reflecting a joyful emotion that made him look more like a beast than a person. “What are you waiting for ?” he screamed to five men that were behind him, he could feel their presence “Don’t you want to come play with me ?” “You shouldn’t underestimate us, boy ! You will come back with us, one way or another !” yelled one of them. “Hilarious. I don’t know who equipped you, but those you’re handing are just toys.” “Shut up !” shouted another shooting straight at his arm. Eren didn’t even try to avoid the hit that time. He allowed the bullet to hit him straight at the left shoulder.“That was just a warning !” “No…” said Eren “… This is a warning !” He activated his abilities on the left side and turned his arm. The roof underneath crumbled under the weight, but Eren managed to grab the man and squeeze his body, enjoying to hear his cries, his pleads to live, to see the skin of his body burning due do the body temperature of his skin and the final terror when Eren raised his hand and let the man fall below. “Ops, I’m so clumsy” he giggled, then he turned serious again “Who’s next ?” Time for little chats was over.No one bothered to answer him anymore but all those people, even more that had left their hideouts, started shooting straight at him. Eren ripped his hand away from the mass and proceed to attack and kill anyone of them.
‘All that pain… I need… pain… blood…’
He completely abandoned himself to his gigantic instincts, he managed to catch a hook on of the man and then Eren pulled the man to him. He made them fell on his knees and looked at them in his eyes.Then he scratched his check and slowly licked his blood.
‘Delicious… more… more’
Eren would have gladly spent the rest of his days licking that sweet liquid, enjoying the smell and the test of flesh. Not satisfied enough, he started producing little electrical current through his hand, slowly torturing the man further. “Isn’t amazing ? It’s a little trick” he said looking euphoric. Nevertheless his moment of euphoria was interrupted.That poor creature was struggling, barely concealing his fear, trying to get free but Eren was stronger than him.Another man shoot near them to make Eren retrieve but he threw the man in his grasp against the one who shoot him and then impaled both of them with a crystal dart.He finished licking the blood on his hand and sighed. “I hate when my meals are interrupted, but that’s what I got for playing with my food”. Kruger wouldn’t had hesitate to reproach him. Playing with food was for kids and for fools. A smart person didn’t waste time, playing with fortune only to act according to their own sadism, but they got rid of any potential threat as soon as possible, not to give them the time to react. …
PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA 2089
‘Stop licking your fingers boy, you can’t waste any more time’
Little Eren didn’t even notice to have stopped for a moment only to lick his fingers still dirty of blood. All while the men were still following him and, to make the situation worse, even more men joined the others to follow him.
Eren still had no idea where he was going, he was simply following other than the voices inside his eyes, a call, a mysterious call that was telling him to reach a room inside that building, but Eren still wasn’t able to give an exact meaning to it.
For certain, he couldn’t be capture, not when he was so close, not after all he did. He shivered at the thought of what those people had in store for him.
He kept following that sensation inside his belly that was telling him exactly where to go. He lost the count of the many people he passed by, all of them tried to stop him, to grab him, to refrain him from running, but still there was something inside him that was guiding toward an end, bad or good, he didn’t know.
He was having a headache, while in front of him kept appearing the image of a gate. Maybe he was supposed to get there…
‘You will get there…’
‘What do you mean ?’
‘There’s a time for everything. It’s better if you leave the experience first, it will be easier to understand then’
‘Understand what ?’
‘Everything Eren, everything’
‘What’s behind that gate ?’
‘The truth, Eren. Don’t be afraid to pursue it’
Little Eren gulped, but he didn’t slow down anyway. It was too late for that. He followed any instruction his ‘instinct’ were giving to him.
He kept running, through any corridor, taking any elevator, hiding behind any door, not to be caught.
That infinite white labyrinth, with its sterile smell of bleach, medicals and the blood he left behind was hideous. That whole place stanched of death. It was so artificial, so white and yet so dirty, and so lifeless that Eren found it quite disturbing. Who would want to live there forever ? In that place where everything, every corridor, every door, every person looked exactly alike ? Where any difference and individuality was nullified ? Where even the personal scent that distinguish any person was overwhelmed by the bleach and the disinfectant ?
That place was dead, it devoured a person from inside and turned them into a corrupted and lifeless version of themselves.
After hours that seemed more like days, he finally arrived in front of that gate that wasn’t leaving his mind. He looked taller and more imposing than in his mind, and he still had no idea why he had to be there.
“Why should I go there ?”
That instinct inside him were telling him more and more that he was exactly where he was supposed to be. That it was time for him to unite with them.
He didn’t know how he knew, but he could feel that there was someone on the other side of that gate, waiting for him, but who ? His real family ? Someone similar to him ? Who he was going to reunite with ? He didn’t know if he was ready for another imaginary family, he didn’t know if he could handle it or if he wanted it to.
“With who ?” he asked to no one.
‘ … family… we… family…’
“I have no family” said Eren, narrowing his eyes “I have no place in the world”
‘Wrong, you haven’t found it yet.’
It was the first time he saw those words aloud, and in doing that he made them more real and it hurt. Another reason why he was hesitant He was alone in the world and he was realizing it in that moment. He had no family, all his life had been nothing but a lie. There was no one in the world for him, he was alone, with only two voices inside his head and nothing more.
He was no one, his name wasn’t his name, his father wasn’t his father, who was he then ? What was the reason for his existence ?
In front of that hellish gate, he wondered, was it really worth advance at that point ? Or should he make everything easier for him and turn back to the life existence he knew ?
He had no idea how to unlock it, all he knew was that he had to enter inside.
‘… Family…’
“I have no family” he repeated like a mantra.
‘You… me… family…’
“I don’t even know your name…”
‘Give me… name… then…’
‘Give it a name, everyone and everything needs a name. Give it a name and it would be more real. You will give it substance’
“I don’t even know if my name is real…”
‘You don’t need to. Eren is my name as well. It could be yours too. We’re connected, you and I, after all’
Eren sighed and looked at the gate. He had the feeling that, if he entered inside it, his life would change forever and it was scaring. His little legs were trembling, just like his entire body. He could barely stop the tears from wetting his chubby cheeks and he was biting his lips so hard that they were bleeding.
He didn’t feel ready, he didn’t even know how much worthy it was if he entered or not. What difference would make ?
He heard multiple footsteps from behind, those men were getting closer and closer and Eren knew that they would corner him soon if he didn’t do something.
If only he could find a way to open the gate, but the button was too higher for him and he wasn’t willing to hurt himself and use his new abilities, he was too much scared and not exactly fond of the pain. If only he could pierce that door, if only he could pierce it with brute force and advance. It was then that he remembered that memories from before.
Then he remembered, those words…
“…Shingeki is a specific term used in Japanese culture to indicate military advance, a type of strategy designed to cut through the enemy lines using brute force. This follows the thought according to the main force of an army resides in the his advance…”
Yes, advance.
There was no way back for Eren. He had nothing to lose by trespassing the gate and it was too late to turn back. He couldn’t. Even if he came back to his room, nothing would be the same. His toys wouldn’t hold the same importance, his room would look different, his fake father wouldn’t return to visit him. His little bubble was gone, the little boy he used to be was gone.
He saw those memories, he saw how powerless and defenseless a child could be against the world. He didn’t want to be like that anymore, he wanted to know, he wanted to see and become as strong as he could. From that moment, he would only look in front of him, without any regret, without thinking about the past and he would mold the future as he liked.
He was ready, he had a name, he had a goal.
“Shingeki… your name, is Shingeki”
‘Call me… Promise you… world… anything… you want… you order… I give… you… I’m yours… to command…’
“Shingeki”
‘Louder… give me a… command…’
“Shingeki !”
‘Scream it !’
Eren closed his eyes and thought about everything happened to him. About his white room, about those people ripping the flesh from him and using syringes on him, about his father and his fake promises, about the pain, the loneliness, the hunger he felt toward blood and the excitement he felt when he was finally able to fight back for the first time. He wanted to feel that again, for the rest of his life. He wanted to be powerful, he wanted to destroy everything, he would destroy each one of the people inside that building, one by one. They all would die by him. That was what he wanted, that was his command.
“SHINGEKI !!!”
His eyes switched from green to gold… the men arrived in that instant behind him… and then it happened…
… Nine years had passed since that day at the gate. Entering inside it somehow symbolized Eren fully embracing his inner giant, abandoning any reticence and unlocking what he always meant to be, what he always had been.That day he had no idea about what he was doing, he had no idea about what to do with himself, with his giant, Kruger, those newfound abilities that seemed to appear from nowhere.That younger and confused version of himself was gone, once he left that gate. Once he witnessed the truth with his eyes, once he realized exactly where he belonged and what he wanted to do with his life.Eren knew exactly who he was by that moment and how important Shingeki was to him.From that day Shingeki and him became one, the day Shingeki was officially born and Eren accepted it as part of him. Shingeki swore his loyalty to him, swore to change the world with him, to be at his services, to make his dreams come true.From that moment, there wasn’t a moment they didn’t share together until that day. ‘We’re going to have fun, are you ready Shingeki ?” It was the perfect moment for him to test all his new abilities and to further develop those he already had, one of them was his capability of foreseen the future to anticipate other’s move.It usually worked only when he could rely on a certain amount of information, so it was usually useless in battle, but Eren wanted to be able to use it even in the battlefield.When he usually use his ability to see the future, it was like he was seeing a movie. Pictures appears in front of him, showing him any kind of scenario, but when he tried to use it to foreseen a more recent and probable future, it was like seeing a scene in slow motion. People and objects around him appeared like they were moving slower, giving him the time to avoid any attack and defend himself properly but never to fully anticipate a possible scenario.Maybe that time, when all his opponents were wearing the same equipment, Eren would be able to further develop that ability. The equipment made the movements of his opponents quite predictable and he also knew that area of the underground so he could predict where they were going to hide and from where they planned to attack.It was also an opportunity to use his ferromagnetism and his electromagnetism. After all to test his ability is one of the main reason why he came there.His eyes switched from green to cold, he took a breath and then he started moving.Just like he expected, men started appearing from any direction, attacking and then hiding faster behind the roofs in order to avoid to being hit by him.Useless to say that Eren was able to predict all their movements.It wasn’t easy, seeing events in slow motions was quite uncomfortable, but Eren managed to move all the hits, he could clearly see the trajectories of any bullet that came at him and had time to use his ferromagnetism to move them. It was still difficult since Eren wasn’t used to use it when objects were already moving, but again, it was a useful exercise for him.One, two, three… six bullets, he managed to move the trajectory of each one of them and used them to hit the people around them. He even managed to hit a man straight in the forehead, much for his satisfaction. He was at the heat of the battle, when the main rant, the Ackerman one, suddenly appeared from nowhere to shoot straight at him. His instincts and his ability to foreseen the future that time didn’t work fast enough. The Ackerman’s ability to anticipate his movements as well matched Eren’s own and wounded him on the right side.Eren gritted his teeth and hissed, but managed to avoid the second shot, by using his ferromagnetism and use the bullet to hit another person close to him. “That’s an interesting move there, kid. I’ve never seen another shifter doing it” commented the man, fixing the hat on his head. “You shouldn’t be surprised. You’re the big shot right ? You’re the one who’s supposed to capture me. Is the reason why you’re using those useless plastic thing to hunt me ?” After all, they weren’t there to kill him. They were there to capture him and a strong, powerful Ackerman was worthy fifty soldiers, but not even him knew how powerful Eren was. “Are you familiar with them ah ? Mr. Kruger ?” That made Eren raised his eyebrows. So, the man in front of him believed him to be Kruger ?It wasn’t the first after all, but if that was the case, then it meant that he’d been informed that way and that, whoever was behind him, also thought that.Another Tybur’s lie for sure. Not bad, it meant his identity was still safe. “Mr Kruger ?” he whispered “Are you here to hunt a ghost ?” asked Eren, titling his head on the side and using his power to pull the hooks of the vertical equipment of the other men and grabbed each of the them, while the men were falling down.The only thing that kept them from falling was Eren’s grip on their equipment. “Do you think to impress me fucker ? You have no idea who you’re dealing with.” Eren snorted and then he said “I don’t need to know a dead man” he said before using the electromagnetism on the hooks he was holding. Quickly the electrical discharges crossed toward the equipment and spread over the men’s body. “Are you in for a dinner ? I personally love rare meat but for some strange reason others want it well done.”. “Do you think to impress me ? Do you think I fucking care for those worms ?” said Kenny shooting straight at Eren “Do your worst, you monster” Eren smirked. Of course people didn’t know when to go down the easy way. Even when put down a certain amount of pain, strong people were still able to fight. One of the men, shoot him at the same time with Kenny and Eren didn’t predict. He committed the mistake of underestimating a person’s will to fight.“Who sent you here ? Old dear Rod ? How is he doing ?” asked Eren with sarcasm “I haven’t seen him in a long time” Eren’d never met the met in person actually, bur Eren Kruger and Frieda had, so Eren knew him through their memories. Eren didn’t have a high opinion of the man, surely didn’t have to be particularly smart if, after three years, hadn’t managed to fix the problem with nucleus.The only thing that the Marleyan empire had done was to send a couple of ships with the hope to conquer the island and retrieve what remain of the nucleus, but of course any attempt was in vain.If Eren followed that pattern, then it was obvious that if he left a trail in the underground, all Reiss would do was to send someone to be certain of the trail and then he would order them to capture him, giving them the bare minimum to survive. The reason ?If it was worthy, Reiss would have got the maximum gain by using the bare resources, in case of failure, the losses would be minimal. It was logic, under a certain point of view, but if he didn’t decide to take an higher risk then he would never stand a chance against Eren.One Ackerman and people armed with useless weapons wasn’t exactly a brilliant strategy to take down someone who was considered not only the nucleus but also the creator of all the giants. “You’re going to see him soon” “I can’t wait” his golden eyes got even brighter. Even without his giant’s eyes he could see that the man in front of him was a worthy opponent, but using them he could see the other’ spirit. The man in front of him wasn’t a soldier, or a fighter, no, he was an hunter, an assassin, a predator and the underground was his hunting territory. He was more similar to Eren on that department and Eren was exited for finally fighting a worthy opponent.He wanted to fight, he wanted to make his blood rushing through his veins so fast that they could explode, he wanted to show that man that he wasn’t just an ordinary shifter with an ordinary giant.No, they were Eren and Shingeki, together they were the one an truly king of giants. …
PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA 2089
“What is… what does…”
Eren couldn’t believe his eyes. He had to be dreaming, there couldn’t be any other explanation. What he was seeing went beyond any imagination. Of all the things he thought to find after trespassing the gate, he would have never imagined seeing something like that.
“Freeze !! Don’t fucking move !”
“Get back here now !”
The men behind him kept shouting at him to retreat, while they were still pointing their rifles against him, but Eren was deaf to their screams and orders. He simply kept walking toward those creatures, almost hypnotized by them, still following that voice inside him that was telling him not to feel scared, that he was safe, finally, there, with his family, with his own kind.
He entered in a tall room, with grey and white walls, illuminated by the same irritating, cold, anonymous white light. From above, he could barely see electronic bridge and if he narrowed his eyes, he could see and hear people from above, saying words he could barely understand, but for once, stranger people weren’t the main focus of his thoughts.
No, Eren’s attention was completely focused on those magnificent, tall creatures that occupied the entire floor of that room.
In that room, there were six giants in total, they had to be tall from 3 to 5 meters, not one of them reached the 10 meters, which had sense since it was more practical that way. In that space, the researchers had the opportunity to observe the giants from a safe distance from above.
From the open space above, they could see how the giants interact with each other, what triggered certain behavior, their habits. Indeed there were monitors and computers that allowed the researchers to observe them and collect data. It was one of the most surveilled area of the facility, due to the danger that would comport allowing a bunch of giants wandering freely if the security system failed. Just like in that case, but they could never imagine that, of all people, the nucleus himself would show up inside that area.
Everything around him ceased to exist, not the men behind him, or the people above him that were yelling and screaming, terrified to find the nucleus free from his room and surrounded by the other giants. Just like Eren, the giants inside the room were getting closer, trying to take a better look at him. Their usually void expression were suddenly filled with curiosity, but they didn’t move from where they were standing. They simply remained there, looking straight at Eren, almost like they were waiting for something, a permission to move. A command, from a boy who had no idea to be their king.
The king they had been waiting for so many years…
“Come back here boy, immediately !”
“What we should do ?”
“Ehi !! How the hell he arrived here ? Bring him back to his room now !” said a voice through a speaker.
“He can’t stay here !! Someone must to take him back to his room ?”
“No one can’t enter, there are the other giants in there !!”
“How the hell this mess happen ?”
“Where is that idiot of Frank ? He was supposed to take care of that brat”
“Stop complaining, our priority is to get that kid back to his room !”
“What if the giants kill him !”
“Giants don’t each other, don’t be ridiculous !”
“We have to kill the giants, it’s the only way. We can’t take him back with them inside the room !”
Eren fell on his knees on the floor, covering his ears with his hands. All those noises and voices around him sounded more amplified, probably due to his new abilities. He could barely handle it, he wanted them to stop talking, to stop making him feel so dizzy. He didn’t want to come back to his room, he wanted to remain there, where his instincts were telling him would feel safe. He wanted to stay with his similar.
There, where he felt some kind of connections…
“Please stop… I want this to stop…” he said starting to cry “Please, I don’t want to hear anything anymore”
He wanted it to stop, he wanted to feel safe. He wanted…
“I’m over with this ! I’m going to take him back with this and drag his ass back to his room !!”
A man shoot at Eren and a hook hit him on his leg, causing Eren a great pain that made him scream and yell when that man started pulling him.
He had no idea that that mere action, that scream was all he had to do in order to give a command, in order to be fully recognized by the other giants as one of them, as their commander, their king.
‘It hurts, make it stop ! Make them go away’
Those were Eren’s thoughts while he was being dragged away by those men, those were his will, those words were the commands he gave through his scream.
The closest giant to him, a male one, immediately reacted to that call and pulled the hook off Eren’s leg and caught him with his hand in order to protect him from any other eventual attack.
Another giant, attracted by the smell of blood, came closer to it and licked it and then something interesting happened. That three meters giant that licked the blood quickly turned himself at least fifteen meters tall, enough to be able to reach the bridge and the platform above and destroy it.
People started screaming again, that time more terrified than alarmed. They couldn’t explain how something like that could happen, they couldn’t imagine that Eren’s blood could have that effect on another giant, but that wasn’t the last horrified thing that happened.
After that giant, the other three and five meters tried to reach and attack the men responsible for attacking Eren, but due to their height they couldn’t trespass the gate, but one of them managed to reach a couple of men with his long arm and dragged them inside the area.
The men weren’t equipped to deal with giants, so the weapons they were using weren’t efficient and couldn’t protect their comrades that ended up being eaten by the other giants.
Eating human flesh somehow made them feel more euphoric, they looked more lucid, more lively then before.
The area they were in was no longer their prison, but their hunting territory. While the tallest was still trying to kill everyone on the platform above, the others were divided in protecting Eren and trying to kill the men behind the gate.
The giants’ size didn’t allow them to enter, so they started kicking and punching the wall in order to create more space to pass it over.
Meanwhile, protected for the first time by another being, Eren was observing all the events, stunned.
But it wasn’t just that, it was also the first time he felt actually connected to others creatures.
After he screamed, even if they lasted only few seconds, he saw things, imagines, memories of the six giants around him.
Memories of their past lives, memories of their families, of their jobs, of their happiest and saddest moments, Eren saw all of this and he felt part of that stream of lives, consciousness and souls. For the first time in his life, he felt actually part of something.
“What’s happening ?” he whispered.
‘Are you seeing ? It’s your army. People at your command’
“Eh ? What do you mean ?”
‘Allow me to show you’
Again, other memories imagines started appearing inside Eren’s mind.
…
VILLA HELOS 2038
Not all men could become a king. Not all men could achieve greatness. Not all men could leave a mark on the world. At the same time, the opposite was true as well.
Not all king were born to be such. Not all the great men could achieve the real grandeur. Not all who were born with all, a good family name, money, power, skills, beauty were destined to rule the world.
Men weren’t born equal, but the world was equally cruel for anyone and if someone was strong enough to defy their own conditions, then all they had to do in life was to wait.
Wait for the moment to encounter the right person before to get rid of them once they had nothing else to give, to shake the right hands before chaining them to your own faith, to kneel to the right person before to stab them in the back, to learn a certain language in order to speak the same language of your enemy and be sure that they understood the reason why they got killed.
Kruger learnt all these important notions growing up under the mentorship of a Marleyan former instructor whose name he didn’t remember.
After all, of all the important things about a person, the name was the last someone needed to remember. That was the first lesson when those people made Kruger forget his first real name.
A man to become a king needed to be in possess of certain requirements.
Eighteen years old Eren Kruger, was waiting in line, wearing the Marleyan army uniform, for his turn to pronounce his vow of loyalty toward a country he loathed with all his mind.
The next day he would leave with his battalion for the front and where he would spend the next five years of his life, three, if he proved he was more useful inside a laboratory, which was exactly what Kruger aimed for.
He and those who would be his comrades had been taken to the training camp, where the ceremony had been organized by the imperial family to officialize the enlistment of the new recruits. Around him there were hundreds of people, both boys and girls, some of them were there because they had no choice, others hoped to obtain a place in the Warriors Unit, others simply believed in the values of Marley. Kruger was the only one who was there for his own motives, with a clear path in his mind to follow.
Firstly, he had to distinguish himself on the battlefield, he had to become someone respectable among the rest of the soldiers. Before the three years, if he wanted his plans to have even the slightest chance to succeed, he would need to cover his now plain uniform with medals, in order to make the government forget about his roots. Only few people who had been raised as orphans of war were given the opportunity to achieve something in their life, have access to any kind of resources, or have the opportunity to live a normal life without any sort of control. The rest of the orphans were all doomed to die in young age as many of Kruger’s former classmates, or being used as lab rats, or being recruited as soldiers in order to be sacrificed at the front.
Kruger, after witnessing the deaths of many of his compatriots, swore to himself that his death would have a sense, that he would die for his own cause on his own terms and not for that country that he wanted to reduce in ashes.
Kruger needed to become someone for Marley, but in order to do that…
“Kruger Eren, step forward !”
His commander ordered him to move, in front of him there was the Marleyan emperor, dressed up in his ridiculous ceremonial uniform, adorned with golden medals that surely weren’t obtain for having excelled in the battlefield. Those medals were disgusting to look at it, Kruger wanted to spit on each one of them.
It was his turn… The moment where everything officially started. His baptism to his own cause. His officially reborn. The snake inside him changed his skin all over again, the uniform he was wearing was going to be his new mask.
“Do you swear, on your life, that you will bring honor to Marleyan uniform?”
“I swear on my life”
… That I will turn this uniform in the armor I would fight my person battle with…
“ That you will bring honor to Marley ?”
“I swear on my life”
… That I will bring honor to my family and to all my fallen compatriots…
“That you will fight to defend the honor of our country ?”
“I swear on my life”
… That I will fight tooth and nails to achieve my goals…
“That you will sacrifice your life for this country ?”
“I swear on my life”
… That I will see this country burn, if not in this, in a next life…
He bowed and then delicately took the emperor’s hand, like he was holding the devil’s ones instead.
…I swear on my life that I’m going to make miracles happen… miracles for my own people…
…
The memory stopped abruptly and Eren returned with his mind at the moment he was living in the open space. Then his mind got dizzy again. He closed his eyes and he saw it again.
…Kruger was on the battlefield and it looked like he was born to be there. Without any hesitation, or fear, or remorse, he pushed him through the enemy’s line, shooting, cutting, snapping necks with bare hands. Not matter how hard the fight was, if he had a weapon or not, he was advancing and advancing without looking back even once. Straight to the end, straight to the goal and nothing could make him look away. He and the battlefield were one thing, he had one single goal in mind. To win, to survive, to continue his crusade.
Then the imagine chanced and he saw Kruger receiving his first medal after a successful mission on the battlefield. Then it changed again and he saw Kruger being discharged from the army for being employed as researcher. Then it changed again and he saw Kruger winning a major prize for one of his researches. Then again, and again, always faster to the point that Eren couldn’t distinguish the imagines he was seeing.
Then he was no longer dizzy and Eren managed to keep his eyes opened, even though he still felt a little bit disoriented and confused by all that memories.
‘What happened ?’
‘It happened that it’s too early for you to see all my memories. I told you. I can show you them but only for a limited period of time. We both have to be patient, one day you will be strong enough to see everything, to know the truth, but for the moment let me show you your army’
‘My army ?’
‘Exactly, your army. Give them an order and they will follow you’
‘How can I trust you ? I don’t know who you are’
‘We will have time to get to know each other better. I’m only a voice inside your head, but sooner or later you will be able to see me. But for the moment… try to have faith in me’
For someone was poorly accultured, Eren was smart and completely driven by survival instincts. In absence of better options and considering how far he went by simply following that voice inside his head, he had no other choice than having faith in someone else all over again.
‘It maybe not be enough, but it is enough to show you what you have to do…’
‘I don’t like people telling me what to do…’
Eren was getting stressed and irritated all over again. He was done, with everything that was happening to him, with all those people telling him what to do and hurting him. He wanted them gone, he wanted to destroy everything around him.
His leg hurt, the blood was covering the floor and the wound was healing too slowly for Eren’s taste.
He looked at the giants around him and he thought.
‘So this is my army ah ? My little wooden soldiers to play with ?’
No, the toys to crush where the people who wanted to hurt him and the giants were his allies, but he couldn’t hold on them. He couldn’t, he was alone in the world…
He had no family… he had no roots… he didn’t even feel sadness anymore…
But he was angry… he was angry… HE WAS ANGRY…
‘Call me…’
Eren was feeling, something growing inside of his body, that fuel that was flaming through his veins, that something that devouring any part of him. Like a snake that was wrapping his soul with his coils, Eren let that sensation wrapping him, consuming him, turning him into something he would never imagine.
…The devil was knocking at his door…
“SHINGEKI !!”
…And he opened it.
The last thing he saw before losing his sense were electrical charges wrapping his body, then there was an explosion, then there was nothing and then he was simply reborn.
Due to his young age and for the fact that it was indeed the first time he shifted into a giant, Eren’s giant wasn’t taller than five meters, which meant that he wasn’t taller enough to reach the platform above. His giant body wasn’t athletic at all, it was rounded around his belly, the rest of his body was proportionated, still characterized by the chubbiness of if young age and the lack of any physical training that could morph his body.
His physic wasn’t a problem though. The tallest giant got on his knees and allowed Eren to get on him to reach the platform.
The people that were witnessing everything that was happening started to run away terrified, especially when Eren managed to land a hitting the platform, hitting the monitors and then proceeding to kill a couple of people who didn’t get away fast enough.
Unfortunately, the platform wasn’t able to sustain his weight, so Eren could stay there, but it wasn’t a problem. For all the time he was there, he killed, and destroyed and ate everything and everyone he wanted. He was the one in control, he was the one with the strength and those people could no longer hurting him. His movements were clumsy and uncoordinated, only driven by fury. He was moving like a noisy kid that was having a tantrum, but it was enough given the situation.
For the first time in his life he felt like he found a sense in his own life, like he was born to be like that. When he saw his own transformation, he was supposed to be disgusted from what he saw, but he found himself magnificent, for the first time in his life he liked what he saw.
He wished he could remain like that forever, in his true form, in his true skin. He was born to be like that, free, powerful, strong, tall, a monster.
Yes, Eren was a monster and he was okay with that.
‘I’m going to kill them…’ he thought looking at the people running in front of him ‘One by one… I’m going to kill them… We’re going to kill them…’
And he would never stop…
…
… He would keep advancing against his enemy and kill all of them, one by one. After his first transformation, Kruger had to fight him tooth and nail. Eren became very rebellious, fully abandoning himself to his instincts and using violence to get what he wanted.He was so blinded by both his fury and hunger that he couldn’t understand the meaning of the memory that Kruger shared with him in that occasion.Only with time, Eren understood the importance of that memory. Kruger wanted to tell him to play by rules, that he needed to bow his head and bend the need before to expect the others to do the same for him. With that memory, Kruger wanted to show him all his sacrifices in order to achieve what he wanted, that he gave to the world an image of himself that was completely fake, but he did so that Eren could born one day. So if Eren wanted to create a new world one day, he needed to do the same.Eren rejected that principle at first, considering it an act of weakness, but then he realized that Kruger was right. The only difference between them was that Eren was born as a monster, but possessing ability without being able to control them was more a burden than anything else, so both Eren and Kruger were born with nothing. They lived in a world where they had nothing, no name, no money, no power, no funds, no sources or weapons, but Kruger assured to get all those in order to Eren to have it and proceed with the plan.Eren had learned through the years how to suppress his hunger, his instincts for blood, violence and flesh. It wasn’t always easy, sometimes Eren simply needed to lash out his anger somehow, but in the long run he managed to behave himself enough to continue with his plan and earn all he needed to arrive to that moment.The first thing Eren got was his own nature, then his army, then everything else. But most of all, he got Shingeki. “I wondered what face Reiss made when he realized that everything that used to be his ended up in the hand of a shifter” he commented before attacking again. Eren was the first to attack, relying on Shingeki’s instincts in order to predict Kenny’s attacks. Even though he was wounded and could shift in his giant form, it was better not to do it. Considering the setting where he was fighting, it would be easier moving in his human form, more easier to hide and attack and also, as long as his opponents would wear that equipment they would be advantaged in fighting a giant, even without proper weapons.Also a giant in the underground would stand out too much and that was the last thing Eren needed.He attacked and attacked, fully relying on his own animal instincts, without any hesitation. He didn’t see Levi around, but that wasn’t the time to get distracted by other things.“Why don’t you make the things easier for the both of us Kruger ? For how many time more do you intend to hide like a rat ?” “Who’s hiding ? You know exactly where I am. You simply had to wait for me to show up to have the guts to actually hunt me” mocked Eren while defending himself from a shoot. “The more you sprouted nonsenses and the stronger is the temptation of skinning you alive, you rat !” “You keep calling me rat, but who’s the real one ah ? Where’s Reiss hiding ? He knows I’m going to find him sooner or later. We have a lot to catch up.” “You will have the chance when I will drag your ass to him !” “You’re still so smug, even when you’re a clearly disadvantage !” “What the hell do you mean ?” “If you know me at all, you know that I see the world as nothing more than a battlefield, you see this place as your hunting territory instead, because you have the order to capture me alive. This doesn’t apply to me, for me this is not an hunt… is mortal combat” For Eren, all people were the same, they were nothing more than fresh meat for his teeth. He was so used to see the whole world as his enemy that at that point all the world was nothing more than a battlefield where any form of violence was fair and allowed.He had all the best cards in the deck, he only had to play them right. He ended up using all his new abilities, he used his ferromagnetism to manipulate Kenny’s hooks and made him losing balance on it and to deviate all his bullet, enjoying to see his frustration while Eren was doing so.He also used his electrification to keep all of them at distance or to kill those who came too close to him, while he was still attacking the Ackerman.That was his style in combat, his main focus was on the attack, it was the best thing to do. Weather he got hurt or not, it would be the same because with a wound he could activated his powers, but if he attacked first and if he did it the right way, then he would won, with one single hit if he was lucky.Like an arrow or a bullet, he got straight to the target and hit without any hesitation.Kenny, on the other hand, was trying to repress his frustration. That rut, Kruger, spoke the truth.He and his men weren’t equipped to deal with a shifter like that, not matter how trained they were. His own instincts were more alert than ever been, especially when the Kruger’s eyes switched to gold and something in him seemed to snap.The aura changed completely, it turned darker, more aggressive, like a black hole that was ready to suck the whole world inside it.Kenny’d never met someone with the same aura before and he’d never seen a shifter being able to do all those things like manipulating the metal or producing electricity before.The young man before him maybe wasn’t Kruger but he was the nucleus or had to be the strongest shifter ever created before, that was sure. Whatever was the truth, it was essential that Kenny managed to capture him and bring him to Reiss, it was the only way to have answers.His instincts were running wile, he hadn’t had a headache like that in a while, it meant that the threat he was dealing with was so dangerous and unpredictable to set all his instincts on alarm. “What are you really ?” he asked after Eren deviated another hit. Eren smirked then he answered “Wrong question, you should ask what I want” he said before managing to land a hit on Kenny’s arm that break his defense. The ripper staggered for a moment, but he recovered quickly to able to move around and reload his weapon then he managed to hit him at the arm and Eren used it to trigger a partial transformation on that arm to kill three men that were behind him and then he started running, looking for an open space. It wouldn’t be wise, in some other circumstances, giving his shoulder to his opponent but his instincts were telling him not to be afraid, that everything was going to be fine.
‘He’s… close… close’
‘Levi !’ After few seconds, someone, not Levi, shoot straight at Kenny’s equipment, actually breaking him. Eren smirked and his adoration for Levi grew a little more. It was always moving when he felt that someone had his back, Eren wasn’t used to it.Meanwhile Kenny managed to land safely on the ground below, but his equipment was heavily damaged. “Fuck those two kids !” he said throwing his equipment away “I’m not paying enough for this !” In that moment, his second in command, Traute Craven, landed beside him. “What happened captain ?” “It happened that I didn’t expect Levi to be here and I underestimated the threat we’re facing” said Kenny “He’s not an ordinary shifter Craven” “Yeah, not one of the members of the Warriors Unit was able to do any of those things. We should have brought more dangerous weapons with. So, what’s the plan ? Do we retreat ?” “Not yet. I have no intention of coming back with empty hands… Listen, I have a plan” Meanwhile Eren landed on another roof and turned around but he didn’t see Kenny behind him. He was sure that the man didn’t give up on following him though. He was only hiding somewhere to gain more time and to get another equipment before returning to tail him.Eren was ready for him though. He was ready for anything. Behind him, he noticed that he left a trail of blood, ripped body, destruction, death and violence. He advanced through the enemy lines without holding back, not even for a second. He should be horrified, a normal person probably would be, but not him. That was his battlefield, that was his mark. His promise to himself, to keep going and fight, more and more, always and forever, not matter who he was fighting against, not matter how dire the situation was.He would keep advance and fight. …
PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA 2089
“God, I thought we would never got him back again”
“Man, Tybur’s going to be furious for this !”
“The damages he caused to the building today and the all the data that got lost… god damned, Tybur’s going to kill us for sure”
“We’ll deal with this tomorrow. What’s matter is that we managed to restrain him and bring him back into the room. It’s all cleaned up, there’s no more blood”
“How did he escape in the first place ?”
“We will never know, surely he won’t give us answers…”
“We should keep a closer eyes on him from now on, What happened today couldn’t repeat. If he could do all this mess at eight years old, I can’t imagine how he’s going be when he became older”
“We should have put this into account though. It was something we could have predict. His abilities got triggered with a wound, it could have happened in his room as well…”
“Yeas… we must to take more precautions…”
Eren, barely conscious, was lying on the clean white sheets of his bed, but he didn’t move, he didn’t react when all those people manhandle him. He did absolutely nothing. He had no strength left not even to keep his eyes opened. He felt pain through his whole body, to the point that even moving his fingers hurt, so he remained perfectly stilled.
The best day of his life turned out to end with sourness, physical pain and disappointment. He had been a fool, to believe that he could escape from there.
After he switched into a giant, he ended up killing and destroying everything around, and he felt joyous for it, he felt free, invincible, but then men with strange equipment arrived and started flying around him.
In the end, one of them managed to cut his nape and knock him out, then proceed to kill the tallest giant and the rest were put asleep for a while and then they were killed as well.
Eren was immediately dragged into a room, for a checkup and then he was brought back into his bedroom, the same room where he thought he would escape forever.
If he had the energies to cry he would. Even though the room was filled with that awful smell of bleach, if he distracted himself enough he could still smell the blood beneath it.
He loved it, he wanted it, more than candies, more than chocolate, more than any rubbish they brought to him, he wanted more blood and he wanted to switch again, but most of all, HE WANTED TO KILL EVERYONE.
ALL OF THEM…
Then he felt a buzz in his head.
‘Be patient, I didn’t lead you there for you to act like a fool.’
‘Then you brought me there only to hurt me ? Like that other bastards ? Are you happy now ?’
‘You would never believe me if you didn’t see it with your eyes. I showed you the truth, now you have to deal with it. Your entire past is a lie, but you can still do something in your present if you want to have a future’
‘How ? Look how it ended. I’m here, just where it started, and I can’t move, I feel pain everywhere and I’m weak. All my arm has been killed, I sensed their death just when it happened. The connections I had with them is gone’
‘Those won’t be the last you makes a connection with and won’t be the last to die for you. Listen to me, I showed you some of my memories for you to understand how the world works. This facility is only a part of it, but outside it even worse and if you’re not prepared to fight tooth and nails for you live, then you won’t stood a chance’
‘And how can I fight the world if I remain here ?’
‘You’ll have to be patient. Look at the things clearly, you’re just a kid. You have no name, no money, no weapons, no army and resources to live outside in the world. That’s why remaining here is the smartest thing to do. In here, with my guidance, you’ll have the chance to get all these things before you escape, maybe even more.’
Eren didn’t reply that time. The voice, not, Kruger was right. He had nothing, he was nothing. Even with his ability and six giants around him he was defeated, that happened because he was inexperience, because he attacked without a clear plan in mind, only driven by his own rage and hunger. He lowered his guard, he overestimated himself and he got defeated.
He failed, it was his fault, but he had to learn from it. He couldn’t allow the despair to overwhelm him, or it would over for real. Not matter what he decided, he knew there would be blood, probably he would ended up like that, immobilized by the pain and unable to fight, many other times, but he had to fight, he had to stand up for himself.
Not matter what, he had to keep advancing. He thought about the trail of blood, corpses and destruction he left behind. A normal person would staggered in front of all that violence, but not him, he couldn’t turn back, he could waver. He had to keep going, till the end, wherever his instincts would tell him to do.
‘What I have to do ?’
‘To keep fighting, day by day, and keep advancing through the enemies’ lines. I didn’t show you but there are many ways to penetrate through the enemies’ territories, some crueler than others, some didn’t even require violence. I’ll teach all of them to you, until the moment when you are able to keep going on your own. But remember one thing’
‘What ?’
‘Not matter what happened, don’t ever look back, don’t ever regret. Live your life according to your wish and if you have a goal do anything you have to do to achieve it. Fight, run and advance until you have everything you want.’
‘Keep advancing ah ? You heard it… Shingeki !’
‘Shing… Shingeki… yes’
’Together, we’re going to make miracles happen… I promise’
… ‘And we’re still advancing, right Shingeki ? Through the enemies’ line, right ?’ He asked admiring the scenario of blood and violence he created. The Ackerman hadn’t showed up yet, but Eren knew that the man had to be somewhere close and that wouldn’t surrender without capture him.But Eren was ready to fight him, he was ready to fight the whole world at once if he had to.Since that day in Utopia, Eren, with Kruger’s help and Shingeki’s support, had grown to be the monster, the leader, the fighter, the giant he was that day. From that day, his life assumed new colors and a new goal formed inside his mind, a vision, that Eren’d been running to since that day and nothing and no one would stop him from arriving there. ‘Are you with me ? Shingeki ?’
‘Yes, command me… master’
‘Time to kill a rat, Shingeki’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Marley Underground 16th October 2098
Eren was singing, more murmuring a melody, while he was in the bathroom combing his hair with Levi’s brush. IN that moment, looking himself in the mirror, he noticed that his hair were slightly longer and he appointed to himself to ask Floch to cut them again. The first time Eren tried to do it on his own it was a disaster.
The memory made him smile, relaxed, for the first time in a long time. Usually Eren didn’t let himself enjoying a peace of moment like that, especially when he was in the same room with a stranger.
Even though his instincts were telling him that Levi could be trusted, his rationality kept telling not to lower his guard. Levi was dangerous, he could easily cut Eren’s nape without any second thought the moment Eren turned his back.
“You’re just like a girl, you’ve been combing those fucking hair for an eternity” commented Levi looking at him from the bathroom’s door, with his arm crossed and a pout on his face.
Eren took a moment to admire him. Levi was wearing only a sweatpants, fully showing his torso and his muscles. How could a man look so ethereal ? Levi was handsome, muscular, but his porcelain skin made him looked more delicate, almost angelic.
Eren also secretly adored that Levi was much shorter than him, he loved he could wrapped his silhouette entirely in his arms and the fact that Eren could look down on him and admire all the smallest details of Levi’s face.
‘I think this is for me what others defines as heaven…’
“What can I say ? I’m a little vain. I wish I have brought my makeup with me” commented Eren.
Aside from his habit of disguising himself during missions, Eren enjoyed using make up. It made him feel more confident somehow and more covered, in front of the world. He tried to have a tattoo once, on his neck, but his body quickly made his disappear. He tattooed to himself a flying owl, similar to the one he had, but then it was gone. At least the living one was still with him.
“How can you put it up with all that shit ? And when did I allow you to borrow my brush ?”
“Never, but I really needed to comb my hair. I promise I will clean it.” Said Eren starting to take his hair off the brush.
“Let it” said Levi throwing his brush inside a drawer “I’m fucking done waiting”.
Eren giggled while Levi was leading him outside the bathroom and back to the bed, where they started to kissing each other again.
They had been living like that for a couple of days, they alternated between kissing, touching and talking about the simplest things, the most innocuous ones and doing the simplest tasks. They also shared things about themselves, the colors they liked, the food they enjoyed to eat, how they spent their free time.
Personal information that said everything and nothing at the same time about a person.
“I love kissing you.” He said savoring those sweet lips “I love how your tongue tastes…”
Levi moaned inside his mouth, secretly loving to be under someone, a man that so perfectly fitted his type under so many criteria. Except for one. Eren was his enemy.
He didn’t belong in his arm, he was supposed to grab his bags and return to Erwin, but he couldn’t. His instincts were telling to stay there, that he belonged there, in the arms of a man he couldn’t understand.
“You know, I’ve been alone for a very long time. I don’t know what exactly is what we have but… It’s the longest I’ve ever had with someone…”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. His ongoing thing with Floch was something different from what he had with Levi.
It was similar somehow because he felt like he didn’t have to lie but at the same time he had to with both of them. With Floch, he didn’t have to hide his true nature, since they were both shifters, but at the same time Eren had to hide the fact that he felt distant from him as well.
Floch wasn’t his soulmate, they weren’t equals, in any way. Floch was full of life, full of wish to enjoy any single aspect of it, the social aspects, the romantic aspects and somehow Floch was convinced that he owned Eren his life for being able to have any sort of experiences, but it wasn’t real.
If he survived the serum was a mere coincidence and his feelings for Eren weren’t sincere, but Floch still had to realize that. About Levi, Eren felt like they could relate to each other on so many levels. Levi could understand Eren’s loneliness, the hardship of a life spent and wasted on what it looked more like a battlefield than a life. Levi was like him, different from the entire world, even from those who were supposed to be his similar, but he was just him, one and only. Levi didn’t have say it aloud, but Eren recognized in him that part of loneliness, the same sense of detachment, the same love for violence, blood and some many other things Eren couldn’t define.
“Me too… I’ve never had… Not for so long. Nothing lasted more than a couple of hours” said Levi caressing Eren’s hair.
“The duration it’s not what makes something important though.” Said Eren started kissing Levi’s neck “A moment lasts one instant could be more important than another lasted a year”
“It’s a way to tell me that you will never forget about this brief time with me ?” asked Levi looking quite smug.
“I don’t think there’s need to specific it” said Eren licking his neck, smelling the sweet scent of coconut, mint and blood coming from that skin “I love it” said biting that skin hard, enough to live a sign but not enough to make it bleed.
Enough to make him love it.
…
If you're burning long enoughYou no longer feel the painSo look at me while I'm embracing the flame
If your veins are pumping mudYour heart will choke on this dirtSo look at me while I'm clawing for breath...
Marley Underground 21st October 2098 ‘Why am I thinking about that moment in a situation like this ?’ Eren thought, touching his check. Why was he obsessed with Levi ? Why was he still thinking about the softness of his skin underneath his teeth ? Why in that moment of all moments ever ? Why couldn’t he divide violence from passion? Maybe because for Eren there couldn’t be violence without passion and passion without violence. He was passionate when he had to win a fight, and he was a violent lover during a passionate moment. Levi happened to love both the violent and the passionate side of him.
‘Concentrate !’
Even Shingeki reprimanded him for his behavior. He sighed, then he started looking for Kenny again, that man was close, he could feel it. The fun was about to begin.When Kenny accepted the job, he didn’t expect that turn of events. He thought it would have been an easier job, to have a boring fight, capture the target easily and go back home. He didn’t expect to find Levi there and he didn’t expect that he would find a shifter so powerful.He was aware that his chances of capture him were slim, but he couldn’t come back to Reiss with empty hands. ‘They’re coming…’ Kenny didn’t need his instincts to know that Levi and Kruger were looking for him. The question was, which one of them would reach him first ? And, for how long he would be able to handle both of them ?Levi’s abilities were strong, but he wasn’t at his level yet, probably the little rat had triggered his abilities not longer than a year, maybe two years. Kenny had been training with those abilities for years, but the same applied for Kruger. His weren’t abilities that came out of nowhere, no, his movements were controlled, well directed and measured to attack, defend, and kill.Kruger couldn’t be underestimated… ‘From behind’ “Fucking finally” he murmured preparing his rifle- “FOUND YA !!” screamed a voice from behind. Kenny shoot straight and Kruger’s chest, but the young man grabbed the bullet with an hand and crushed it with his fingers.Eren felt a pinch on his hands and it wasn’t caused by the bullet but by something that was inside it. He smelled his hand and indeed could intercept a certain smell of medicine. “What was it ? Poison ?” asked Eren giggling and licking his hands “Will it kill me ? Knock me out ? Will it cause me at least an headache ?” “Smug fucker” said Kenny standing up “I will ri…” “Rip me apart ? Cut my throat ? Skin me alive ? Torture me ? Lock me up ? I lost the count of how many men told me something similar. I can’t remember all their names, you’re just the last of a long list” said Eren creating a crystal spear “I’m going to kill you. Before sunrise I will decorate this spear with your head” Then he attacked, that time he ran toward Kenny and attacked him with the spear. Kenny tried to keep him distant with his rifle, but Eren managed to avoid all the attacks, and then Eren attacked him again with his spear. Kenny avoided it, moving to his side and hit Eren’s hand with both his knee and elbow to make him lose his grip on the spear. Then he tried to elbow him straight at the throat but Eren pushed his elbow to the side, and tried to kick Kenny at his side, but Kenny grabbed him by the ankle and pushed him back, making him lose his balance.Nevertheless, Eren pushed himself from the ground and stand back again. “No more tricks ah ?” asked Kenny. “Nah” replied Eren “It’s just you and me. Let’s deal with this with punches, I’m okay with that” Eren tried to kick Kenny but he grabbed his leg again, turned his waist and made Eren fell again on the ground.
‘Shingeki, this is the second time our ass fell on the ground ! How ?’
‘Cheating… he… uses… instincts…’
Kenny tried to point the rifle again him but Eren kicked it and then from the ground kicked Kenny on the stomach, then he kicked Kenny’s legs from where he stood and made the man fall on the ground. Then he create a crystal dagger and manage to cut the man on the leg, but the wound wasn’t deep enough and Kenny managed to kick him in the face. Hard.Eren stepped back and stood up, the same did Kenny. Eren ran toward him again and pretended to kick him again but then he grabbed Kenny by the shoulders and started hitting him on the stomach with his knee, but then Kenny elbowed him again behind his nape, grabbed him by the wrist and made him fall on the knees, but Eren punched him right on the stomach and on the wound on the legs, then he jumped, holding Kenny by the neck and then he made him fall to the ground and created another dagger to hit him on the leg. “You said no more tricks !” said Kenny extracting the crystal from his leg. “You’re the one using your instincts to predict my movements. You’re playing dirty here !” “How the fuck do you know ?” Eren snorted then he said “How naïve… The serum that rans in your veins..” “The seru…” Kenny tried to conceal the sudden worry that came from that realization but Eren saw through him. “Yes…” Eren whispered when he saw Kenny understanding the meaning behind his words “It came from me. I’m the nucleus, you’re a product of mine.” “You’re wrong, I’m not like you. I can’t shift into a giant” That made Eren bursting in laugh. That was the first reaction, denial was always the first reaction he got and it was funny every single fucking time.It was so naïve on their part not to understand that the moment they got injected, it was like made a deal with Eren himself to belong to him forever.What did they think the serum was made of if not his blood ? His cells ? His neurons ? Where did they think their abilities came from ?After all, he was called the nucleus for one reason and nevertheless sometimes people tended to forget about it. It was so poetically contradicting somehow. Didn’t people long to belong to something ? Anything else ? Didn’t they dream to be like Eren ? Invincible ? Powerful ? Immortal ?Why were they scared of the price they pay only when it was too late ? They no longer wanted to belong be like him only after it was too late. “The outcome doesn’t matter. A father can have a boy or a girl but they’re his children nonetheless. Just like that, you’re a part of me till the end. My blood is part of you, you’re part of me. You can’t escape, don’t you get it ? No one can” “Are you sprouting this shit to tell me what exactly ?” asked Kenny pointing his rifle against Eren. “That no matter what, you won’t be able to run away from me.” Said Eren “Tell Reiss that there’s no place in the world where he could hide from me.” Eren covered his knuckles with a thick layer of crystal and then proceed to attack Kenny again. He pretended to aim for the head but then he hit Kenny on the wound on the leg, and then kicked him again, and attack, attack and attack.Kenny was trying to do his best to ignore the effect those words had on him, trying to stay focused on the fight but the reality was different. He underestimated the situation completely. He had tried to ignore he was fighting against the creator of the Ymir serum, that Kruger knew everything about his abilities, even more than Kenny himself, but the truth was that the ripper was at disadvantage. It was undeniable, but not for this he was going down without a fight. He had a clear plan in his mind and enough time to put it in motion. All he needed to do was to wait for the right occasion to strike. “Oh, I almost forgot. Speaking of fathers and creators, where is he hiding ?” asked Eren with a much darker tone. “Reiss ? I alr…” “I’m talking about Grisha Yeager. Where is he hiding ?” clarified Eren. “That piece of shit… He’s death for all I care” “He’s not.” Said Eren “I feel it. Our powers are connected and nevertheless he continues to defy me.” “Why would you look for him anyway ?” asked Kenny not expecting an answer, not an honest one anyway.“Why not ? He’s just like me. We have a lot to talk about” answered Eren. Eren had just set another trick. He knew that Kenny would report to Reiss everything happened during his stay in the underground, including his fight with ‘Kruger’ and their dialogue about Grisha Yeager.Eren did not lie when he said that he couldn’t find the man, but if were more people to look for him, then it would be simpler. Eren wanted the man to know, to feel, that he was trapped.He wanted Grisha Yeager to feel pressed, to the point that the man would inevitably commit a mistake that would allow Eren to find him.Unlike to what happened with any other shifter, Eren and Grisha were equals, their powers matches each other, at least for the moment. But Eren was getting more powerful and stronger after any day, so the same was for Grisha and Eren needed to find him before the man could get stronger than him. Eren wanted to have the upper hand, for the moment when he finally met the man. “But it’s not the moment to talk about the man.” He said in the end before starting to attack again and again. Meanwhile, Levi, who had almost reached them, was fighting again five of Kenny’s underlings. Levi managed to avoid their attack just in time before the closest one to him could shoot him straight to the chest. ‘Fuck, I don’t have fucking time for this.’ From his distance, he could see Eren and Kenny fighting and he was relief to see that both of them were still standing, but for how long more ?He had to intervene before things got even more sour than they already were.He needed to speak with Kenny about his memories, especially the ones about the note, he needed to discuss with him about his past, about that place and, deep down, he also wanted Kenny to be safe.Even if many years had passed, and Levi was abandoned, he still deeply cared for the only man he’d left and for the man who, against all odds, took him in and raised him like a son, even if for a short period of time.He followed his instincts and was able to predict the movements of all his opponents in order to defend himself adequately. Since he was using his equipment, his movements were limited and easy to predict, but the same was for them.
‘Time for a little upgrade…’
Levi had no time to wonder what the ‘voice’ was talking about that his body started moving on his own and surrounded by electrical charges like before.After that he lost himself in his sensations again. He saw nothing but red in front of his eyes. Suddenly the whole world became his own personal battlefield, where there was but one law, to kill in order to win. It was no longer a mere matter of survival, it was a matter of blood and pride. He wanted to kill and he wanted to hunt down anyone who stood in his way.With his equipment, he went below few seconds after the other people shoot at him and few seconds before their bullet could hit him. As he predicted, the bullets hit each other, generating smoke and making an hideous sound that distracted his opponent and offered Levi the right opportunity to strike again. He shoot at the one at the center right in the head and then he moved vertically in order to shoot another one in the arm with his hook.He was running out of ammos, so it was wise not to waste too much bullets with them and preserving them for his battle against Kenny. He also hoped to steal some bullets from those idiots if the occasion presented itself.Once the hook hit the arm, Levi dragged the man with him and that made the movement of the equipment unpredictable, exactly like Levi wanted. When the man fell next to him, Levi was quick to grab him and pushed them inside one of the windows.Not one of the brightest ideas, since Levi ended up picking the window of bedroom where there were four people involved into a sexual intercourse and were already all of them naked and active, but at least he had the opportunity to knock that idiot out and steal his bullet before to return to his fight.With the help of his equipment, he kicked another man in the stomach, pushing him away from him and managing to make him lose the balance and also the senses once his head hit the wall.Only two people last standing and then he would be able to go to Kenny. ‘Finally, I’m done with this shit’ Without any hesitation, only driven by his love for violence, he used his equipment in order to get closer to one of them, then he retreated his hooks and held on the back of the man. “What the hel…” The man screamed for pain as soon as Levi stabbed him in the back and then let him go, just in time before the other shoot at his comrade for accident, but not before Levi managed to steal the bullets as well. “Shit…” the man whispered “What the fuck is wrong with you ? You demon !!” The man was terrified and was looking at Levi like he was the devil himself. Like he was looking straight to an aberration but Levi found himself loving that look and he wanted that man to die looking at him like that. What a beautiful imagine it would be. He snorted, then he said “What’s wrong with me ? Nothing. I never feel so good in my fucking life if not in moments like this” That was the truth. He felt alive only in moments like that, when he felt free to be who he was, to do anything he wanted, to do what he knew what to do at best.Without any further hesitation, he used his equipment one last time, to reach that man. As he predicted, in one last desperate attempt to kill him, that idiot pointed his rifle against to him, ready to shoot him. Unfortunately, just like the equipment, the bullets followed a specific trajectory and so they were easy to avoid and it was what Levi did.His last opponent tried to shoot him again but he finished his bullets and he had no time to reload his rifle so he used the equipment to move aside, but he wasn’t fast enough. The moment he moved, Levi grabbed with his hand one of the hook, making the other lose balance.The man tried to retracted the hook, but that was all Levi was waiting for. “Game over…” he whispered, once he was close enough to cut the man’s throat. Levi kicked him hard in the stomach and then he took a moment to see his last victim, hanging from the roof, with only one hook and his throat open from where the blood was running.A normal person would have found the scene grotesque at best, but not Levi. For him, it was simply poetic, beautiful, a sign of his dominance and his strength, but it wasn’t the time to gloat.He had one last unfinished business to deal with.From where he was, he could see Eren fighting Kenny with his all might and somehow, it seemed like he could feel through their bond Eren’ struggle but also how addicted he was to that situation, to all that violence and to blood.God, why was Levi so attracted to violence ? …
Marley Underground 16th October 2098
Levi didn’t feel satisfied. It wasn’t normal that he didn’t feel satisfied because a cannibalistic monster wasn’t biting his skin hard enough to make him feel the right quantity of pain necessary to turn him on, but was happening exactly that.
Why was he so deviated ? Why couldn’t he enjoy normal stuff in bed ? Why did he want violence to color any aspect of his life ? How could a man like him being turned on by being in a position of submission ?
How could he be so turned on being submitted by no other than a shifter ?
“Why are you holding yourself back ? Do you think I can’t handle it ?” asked Levi.
‘Oh, so he noticed ah ?’ Eren thought with a little smirk.
“Aren’t you afraid that once I get a taste of your blood I won’t be able to restrain myself ?” asked Eren “Sometimes I really think you want to die, in a flashy way of course”
Levi hummed, pushing Eren further in his neck. Did he really want to die ? Maybe.
Sometimes his life seemed so insignificant in a reality where he was considered significant and important for everyone but himself. Erwin needed him to fight alongside him, Hanji needed him alive to study whatever shit made him the way he was, the army needed his abilities to fight against the giants. He was a valuable asset for a lot of people and for various reasons but Levi, deep down, he felt like he nothing. Nothing relevant, nothing valuable, only a piece of rubbish who was far too proud to die. So what if he died by Eren’s teeth ? What was the worst that could happen after he died ?
“Do you realize that the same applies for you ? I can cut your nape anytime I want if you keep behaving like this”
“I do actually, sometimes I even fantasize about you killing me…” said Eren with a little glint of madness inside his eyes “… Can you imagine it ? You killing me with your knife and I killing you by ripping your throat at the same ti…”
Levi slapped him with force, then he said “You dick, you’re salivating, it’s disgusting. What are you ? A dog ?”
Eren touched his chin and he realized that Levi told him the truth. He was so lost in his sick thoughts that he didn’t even realize he was salivating, but now he was tasting his own saliva mixed with the blood of his broken lip and he giggled.
His mind was so perverted, so sick and able to give birth to the twisted thoughts ever, he was perfectly aware of it. The real worry was when he decided to turn his deranged thoughts into actions though.
“So, am I allowed to rip your jugular ? Can you handle it ?” he asked licking his lip.
Oh God, he would love it for sure and damn, what kind of relationship was that ? Why couldn’t he have something normal with another person ? Why everything in his life had to possess that shade of madness and sickness ? If he didn’t know better, he would have thought he was losing his mind but he already had, long time ago. But nevertheless, even when he asked Levi his permission for ripping his jugular, and, even if the twisted part of Eren would actually have loved it and been able to do it, he knew that, when referred to Levi, those words had another meaning entirely.
Levi had similar thoughts. Was normal for a person to get hard after being threatened to have their jugular ripped ? No, it wasn’t, but he got hard. The mere thought of feeling pain was exciting somehow for him. Violence, was exciting for him, was safer for him. He knew how to behave when violence was involved. Someone hit him and he hit them back. In bed the same rule could be applied, Eren bite him hard and Levi pulled his hair. Eren scratched him and Levi slapped him hard.
A feeling
violence was what made their fling special. Tender pain was all they had. Because pain was the point, right ? No the tenderness that followed… Right ?
Violence
was the language eh ?
Because, even if he hadn’t known Eren for long, Levi somehow could understand the hidden meaning behind his weird proposal.
“May I rip your jugular ?” asked Eren again ‘May I kiss your neck ?’
“Fuck off you freak. If you have to, you dog, try at least to make me feel something” said Levi ‘Yes you can kiss my neck and leave a mark if you want’
“Am I allowed to devour you completely then ? I’m hungry” Eren said biting Levi’s neck again ‘Can you belong to me ? Be all mine ? I want all of you’.
Eren loved Levi’s skin, did he already say it ? He loved the natural scent he could smell underneath the aftershave and bubble bath Levi applied and he loved how soft it when he bite it with his teeth.
Levi’ skin was so delicate, it didn’t take too much for it to be marked and carry the love bites Eren wanted to leave. He was a possessive bastard, it was undeniable. As soon as he took Eren for the first time, deep down, Eren decided that that man belonged to him, that no matter what would happen the next day, where Levi would go, who he would have sex with, Levi would not be able to escape Eren’s grasps.
The moment they connected, the moment they both accepted their bond, they accepted to be connected to one another.
… ‘Fuck off, Levi, don’t get distracted by this shit’ Levi reprimanded himself. That wasn’t the moment to…He gasped. He felt a pain at the height of the arm, the kind of pain caused by a cut. He looked at his arm but nothing was there, so where that pain came from ? Was his pain to begin with ? Or it belonged to someone else ? Someone Levi felt deeply connected with ? It wasn’t the moment to lose himself in that swirl of violence and passion that happened only few days prior. Those memories and those sensation were risky, not only because he was in the middle of a fight and one single mistake could be fatal, but also because that entire experience was dangerous for Levi’s mental health.In the meantime, Eren and Kenny were still fighting, punch to punch, kick to kick. Knife to crystal dagger.A predator against another predator. “He’s arriving, can you feel it ?” asked Eren after defending himself from Kenny’s last attack. “I can, that rat…” Kenny couldn’t help but feeling a little proud. After all, if Levi had grown to be such a competent fighter, it was all thanks to him.Unfortunately, that didn’t go unnoticed by his opponent.Eren had been studying the man in front of him since the beginning of their fight, trying to understand if, how and whose were his weakest spots and it was clear as the day that Levi was one of them. Interesting. Eren couldn’t help but wonder what kind of relationship they had and if Kenny cared about Levi enough for Eren to use him as an advantage. “You seem proud” commented Eren raising an eyebrow “What’s your relationship ?” “What the fuck are you doing with him you bastard ? Stay the fuck away from him !” “Oh my, I’m getting a shovel talk. How nice” commented Eren, clearly entertained “So, you’re a kind of parenting figure ? My my, if I’d known, I would have tried to make a better first impression, but…” he clicked his tongue “… Let’s be honest, I’m the guy a family would approve for their son” “You’re sprouting too much shit for my tastes !! Shut the fuck up !!” Eren giggled but then he turned serious “You’re right, time for words is over” “I agree” said Kenny shooting at him. Eren used his ability to deviate the bullet and then direct it against Kenny again.Kenny didn’t expect that move, but he easily avoid the bullet then barely managed to avoid a punch for Eren, but that was all he needed. He quickly extract knife and cut Eren’s hand off.The boy didn’t even hiss. He simply kicked Kenny in the stomach and then get a little away from him. “Let me guess, my hand isn’t going to regenerate pretty soon ah ? Is that the effect of that bullet ?” “A dirty move on my part...” said Kenny taking Eren’s hand from the ground “But you left me with no choice. The poison on the bullet is working after all.” “A mistake on my part.” Commented Eeren “An hand should impress Reiss indeed. Not joking, others didn’t survived the first three seconds in a fight with me. But enough with the pleasantries… Why don’t you tell her to join our fight ?” Kenny gasped for a moment and Eren smirked. “Oh, you thought I didn’t notice your friend hidden behind the roof ? What is she waiting for ?” ‘Shit’ Kenny thought. At the beginning Eren didn’t realize “Well well, no more fair play then. With one hand lost, I think this is simply legit”. He used the pain he was feeling at his wrist to trigger the transformation at the other arm and he used it to attack Kenny.The man, who had changed the equipment, keeping Eren’s hand tight in one hand, activated the hooks to fly away but he wasn’t fast enough because Eren caught him by the leg, but one combined attack between him and his vice succeed to make a couple of fingers exploding. ‘Shit’ Eren thought. He’d been reckless. He shouldn’t have touched that bullet, a reminder for the next battle. Whatever was on it made his transformation slightly weaker and more slwoly in the movements. Nothing tragic, but tedious nonetheless. Well, it wasn’t exactly a problem after all.He didn’t intend to kill that man that night, the moment he realized that the Ackerman could be a good mean to find Grisha Yeager, he decided he had other plans in store for him.He prepared himself for the next attack when suddenly he felt something that surely didn’t belong to him. Like he was in a hurry, but also full of adrenaline and also terribly pleased with something. The same kind of pleasure Eren felt anytime he killed someone but that wasn’t the case. At least not for him, that sensation didn’t belong to him so what ?Was it due to the fact that Levi was getting closer to where he was ? Was due to their bond that was slowly establishing between them ? And if that was the case, shouldn’t Eren try to stop it ? Before it was too late ?How could he have been so fool not to recognize all the signals after all ? There were feelings inside his chest that didn’t belong to him, he didn’t even know they could exist… why ? Why was happening there of all times ?Why ? Why ? Why ? Why ?
…
The bond wasn’t unilateral and Eren gambled on a big risk as well. That fling they were having was dangerous for him too and if he failed to handle it, it would be lethal.
Once he was satisfied, he started kissing and biting Levi’s left shoulder, because the neck alone wasn’t enough. A bite wasn’t enough, a kiss wasn’t enough, one portion of that ethereal body wasn’t enough. When he was satisfied with the shoulder, he lowered himself and concentrated on the left nipple. At first he started licking it, but then he kissed it before started sucking it.
Meanwhile, Levi, with eyes closed, was totally abandoning himself to all those sensation that Eren’s attentions were making him feel.
He loved being touched like that, he loved Eren’s lips and his hands exploring and wandering all over his body, like it was always the first time. And like any time, Levi started touching, caressing and pulling Eren’s hair.
It didn’t take much for Levi to get hard again and for Eren to realize it. Not without a certain smugness for having caused that reaction, Eren’s right hand, slowly started to lower Levi’s sweatpants and touching his erection about his boxer, then he started kissing and sucking the other nipple. Slow, his movements were slow, because he intended to enjoy anything with calm, with his own time, taking his pleasure but also giving it to Levi.
“Hmm” Levi tried to bite his lower lip, trying not to emit any embarrassing sound.
He used to believe he wasn’t vocal during sex, but he’d never had a sexual partner like Eren. Someone who seemed to be so compatible with him, and not only in bed. Someone who seemed to know exactly how to touch him, how to worship him, how to make him feel exactly like he wanted to feel.
Eren pouted a little, if Levi was able to repress his moans, it meant he wasn’t being good enough. He needed to be better, then, it was a challenge.
He decided it was time to completely undress Levi, so he removed from his pants and boxer and then he slowly lowered his fingers on Levi’s abdomen and then on his right leg, consciously avoiding his intimacy. There was no need to rush and Eren wanted to torture Levi a little before to give him pleasure. His hand was touching all the skin around Levi’s cock but it, looking Levi getting more and more impatient.
“What the fuck are you waiting for ?” Levi hissed.
“Fucking nothing, indeed”
For a moment, Eren’s eyes switched to their golden color, before he took Levi’s cock in his mouth and started sucking, violently, without any hesitation but trying to avoid using his teeth. His head bobbed up and down at a steady space, while Levi was getting harder and he pushed forward, prodding further into Eren’s mouth. Levi started moving his hips, literally fucking Eren’s mouth, so the other grabbed his waist to keep him still, to remember Levi who was in charge between the two of them. It turned him on, the knowledge of being the one in control, to be the one to dominate their dynamic, so in love with Levi other’s submission that he could get easily get addicted to that sensation.
Levi fitted all the criteria for Eren’s ideal partner, someone to be fucked like to fight against to. Hard, fast and bloody.
“Get on all fours” he said at some point after licking Levi’s cock one last time.
And how could Levi deny him that demand ?He didn’t even think about that he already turned over and did just as Eren said.
“Lick these” he said putting two fingers inside Levi’s mouth, who eagerly started sucking them before Eren retracted them.
Eren started kissing his back w one of his finger drew circles around Levi’s holes, slowly making him mad. And maybe Levi secretly loved that, after being fucked by so many people clearly weaker than him, he was finally being taken by someone stronger, at least physically.
At some point, the finger was substituted by something hot and slick. Eren’s tongue circled around the hole, then it pushed inside, getting deeper after any push, then, while his tongue was still working around, he slowly pushed again a finger inside, until he found the prostate and at that point Levi could no longer repress his moans.
At that point, Levi’s hands gave out and he landed on his elbows, but to prevent himself to moan like a whole, he bite his wrist hard enough that he made it bleed and the scent of blood only made Eren salivating and turned him on even more, starting aiming at the same spot again and again, faster and faster.
“Holy shit…” Eren murmured “How could be possible that I’m the one shaken while you’re the one with a finger inside ? You little bitch, always playing dirty with my mind”
If anyone called him a ‘little bitch’, Levi would chop their head off their neck but then…
Then Eren simply turned him over and without asking for permission, he grabbed his wrist and started licking his blood, like if his own life depended on it.
‘Del…ici…ous… want more…’
Eren couldn’t agree more with Shingeki and who was him to deny his dear giant something ? Something that he wanted so much himself ? He started licking and kissing and sucking that sweet skin and a normal person would have slapped him straight in the face.
He felt so inebriated, to the point that he could lose himself in all that red. Oh, if only could he also take a bite instead of simply licking that blood ?
Levi would have punched anyone who would have dared showing such attitude with him, so why was he moaning even more than when Eren was teasing him with his tongue ?
How could he felt so enchanted by his own blood dirtying Eren’s lips ?And why his hand, instead of pushing the other away, grabbed Eren by his neck to squeeze it ?
But he didn’t to hurt him, no. He did it because he wanted it. Because the vein on Eren’s neck was standing out so beautiful that Levi wanted to wrap it around his fingers, to hear his heartbeat beneath his fingers. And Eren allowed him to.
…
If your soul's never been lostHow can it ever be foundSo look at me while I'm wearing this cold night
If it's anger that you wantI would love to feed my wolvesSo look at me while I'm getting too close
Can't you see me?
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now, right Shingeki ?’ He knew what was happening. He was furious, for some reason, he suddenly felt very furious, because fate was playing with him again and he couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t, he didn’t want, he refuse it.Someone would reproach him, for having ignored all the signals that were under his nose, but Eren didn’t want to believe till the last moment, that his other half could really be so out of his reach to the point that they were an enemy.Life had to hate him so much didn’t it ? There couldn’t be any other explanation.Love was supposed to be easy, the only easy thing in his life. Easy like a romance, easy like a walk through the park, he was supposed to recognize his other half and then everything would be okay, they would walk the same path of revenge and destruction against the world and it would be them for the rest of their lives. It would be so easy, so fucking easy. It was so fucking easy in his head, why couldn’t be fucking easy in the reality too ?He didn’t want his other half to be… to meet them like that…Violence wasn’t supposed to be part of that as well. “So, what’s the matter nucleus ? Are you done ? That’s all you got ? Don’t you feel good ?” mocked him Kenny “If I had known that that shit could have some effect, I would have used earlier” All he got ? Him ? Did he get anything at all ?Surely that man didn’t get it, who he was and what he could become when he got furious. He didn’t understand why, but when he got angry, he and Shingeki became even more connected to one another… “What do you think you’re talking to ?” he asked. His voice barely recognizable. His voice got mixed with the more guttural one that belonged to Shingeki, his body temperature was also quickly raising, to the point that his body was already generating smoke.What that fool thought he was ? His body had almost adapted himself to that poison, how could a shit like that put him down ? “Do you see me… as a… weak ? As an… object… that belong to… someone ? Didn’t… you say yourself… I’m the nucleus ? You know… what this… means ?” He was mumbling, like a delirious and delusional man, victim of his own insanity but Eren was lucid. He was completely lucid, just maybe a little bit furious and his fury was making him behave like a mad man, but it was okay. He was perfectly okay with it. “What the fuck are…” “Why… why… can’t I have… one… good… thing… why… so complicated… always… life hates… me… I’m… so fucking… hungry… yeah… no… angry… hungry… no angry… angry… Hungry” Anger was rising, was inflaming inside his vein. Eren’s body was producing more and more smoke all around, to the point that the trousers he was wearing was slowly starting to burn around his knees.What a nuisance… What a torment…He couldn’t handle it anymore. His head was about to explode, it happened all that time he got so angry, when he was so angry to the point that he and Shingeki merged almost completely. It was hard to describe, but there was usual a clear line between Shingeki and him, like there was a line, a barrier, as Bion said, that separated consciousness from unconsciousness, but when Eren got furious like that, to the point to lose any sort of rationality, any sort of clarity, any sort of feature that made him hima and not Shingeki.It was painful, to feel his head splitting into two, causing migraines, causing him a pain that only further fueled his fury. “Argh !!” he screamed taking his head between his hands. Chaos, his head was filled with chaos. Memories over memories overlapped. Memories of his own, memories of Shingeki, memories of Kruger’s childhood. He was losing any sense of self, he was immersed into an ocean of memories, lost in a desert of connections, but where did he end and the others start ? All his life was overlapped to the life of any people he met, he hated. He was lost… in that darkness… it was getting darker… his headache… pain…He gritted his teeth in pain. “I’m done with this shit, this ends now !” exclaimed Kenny raising his rifle and pointing it toward Eren again. He raised his arm, to make Caven understand that it was arrived the moment for the last hit, before leaving that shithole once and for all. He was acting the brave but he could feel, through his senses, that the situation was getting unstable. Something was happening to the nucleus and soon the poison would have no longer any affect. Kenny had been warned that it would work only once, that the nucleus was able to adapt to any poison and toxin after being exposed to them few times.If Kruger was metabolizing the poison after few minutes that its effects fully kicked in, then it meant that it would be pointless using it again him.One it, just one it in the right place and he would have some chance to capture the nucleus in the end.So he acted. He made sign and Craven shoot, but just too late. The bullet hit Eren, but on the neck and not behind the nape due to He felt the tragedy arrived and he only had the time to use his equipment one last time and flew far from Kruger before it was too late.Eren Shingeki They caused a massive explosion, that generated smoke and destroyed the ground around. Eren didn’t turn, he couldn’t do it for the moment, but with his hood arm, he punched the ground harder and then, from below, he let it turn into his gigantic form, that not only was the cause for the explosion, but also for the destruction of the ground below.But it wasn’t over already. No. Eren was lost, clouded by his anger, so much that all he wanted was to destroy everyone and everything around him, starting with the rat.He wanted to kill him, to rip him apart, to have a feast on his flesh, to put his head on a spike as a warning for anybody else who dared to compare him to any other ordinary giant, to treat him like he was nothing.The arm underneath grew, causing a second and even more destructive explosion that almost hit the buildings around. ‘Good… I want… to… destroy them… I want… to erase them… I want… I need… fucking… fuck… destroy… anger !!” “Eren !!” ‘Mate… close… Levi… here… safe… better…’ Levi, who had been witnessing and feeling Eren’s turmoil, was quickly get closer to him.He would have arrived sooner, but at first he was too overwhelmed by Eren’s turmoil. He felt disoriented, confused, a weird mixed between a strong anger and a sense of hunger, a curious combination he’d never felt before. Levi suspected that there was more that was happening to Eren in that moment, something that he should unlock, in order to get emotionally closer to him, but Levi didn’t have time to that.He didn’t have time to think about the bond, not when Eren was in a clear pain, threaten to destroy everything around him. Levi needed to stop him, for Eren’s good, Kenny’s safety and the ones of all the people who lived there.In spite of all his mistakes, Levi swore to protect people from giants, including Eren’s rage and he wouldn’t allow the shifter to cause death and destruction, not under his watch.So he flew as fast as he could and when he was close enough to make the other hear his voice but not enough to be wrapped by the fog or be hit by the explosion, he screamed Eren’s name: “EREN !!”
…
While still licking Levi’s hand, Eren dared to look him in the eyes, in a moment of weakness or in a simple act of courtesy, to be sure simply be certain that Levi didn’t mind what he was doing, that he didn’t feel disturbed, so that he could not feel guilty continue with was he was doing.
Once again, Levi managed to surprise him.
In those blue yes, he only saw passion and desire directed at him, he saw a fire that was burning him entirely and Eren wouldn’t mind to be wrapped in that swirl of sin and love.
How could a simple look make him feel so much ? How could one single man make him feel like that?
Why of all that people… ?
He gave Levi’s wrist one last lick, then he grabbed his other hand, the one Levi was wrapping around his neck and pushed it on the pillow and intertwine their fingers.
For a while, he didn’t do anything, he simply observed Levi’s face, trying to impress in his memory any single little detail, from the exact shade of the color of his eyes, their shape, the delicate feature of his face, his nose, the shape of his lips, everything.
Then suddenly he kissed him, without asking for permission, with his blood in the mouth and on the tongue, he kissed Levi with the same fervor he was tasting his blood before.
Levi tangled the fingers of the other hand on Eren’s hair, giving fully access to Eren inside his mouth, welcoming his tongue and his own blood on it.
Levi realized he didn’t mind, as long as Eren kissed him like that. As long as they bodies were closes, their fingers intertwined and his legs wrapped Eren like a snake wrapped his prey with his coils.
Eren interrupted the kiss for a moment, just the time to take a condom from the bedside table but then he started wandering about something.
“Would you like to do it without ?”
He regretted asking as soon as those words came out from his mouth, expecting a punch right in the face from Levi, but again that amazing creature that was under him surprised him completely.
“Are you fucking sure ? Are you clean ?” asked Levi playing with Eren’s hair.
On his part, Levi was surprised of himself as well. He always refused to have sex without a condom, not even with his past lovers that were all soldiers and so he was sure they were clean.
Since when did he become so irresponsible ? Where did it go his judgment ? Why didn’t he say no ?
No one more than him, whose mother was a prostitute, knew better about the importance of protections during sex and nevertheless there he was, underneath a man he couldn’t fully trust, but also ready to have sex without a condom.
When did he lose his mind ?
“Aside from the serum ? Sure. I used to have regularly checkup when I was imprisoned and the serum makes me immunes to any sort of disease anyway and the same applies for you. I can’t transmit something you already have”
“True. Okay, no condom, fuck me already then” Levi said, that time kissing Eren first.
He surely would regret it later, at least he hoped so, it would be a sign that there a little bit of sanity left in him. If that moment didn’t come, Levi wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Better being locked up in a psychiatric ward and being treated properly.
While Levi was momentarily lost in his thoughts, Eren took the lube from the bedside table and used it, more than usual, since they were already having sex with no condom.
“God, you’ll be the death of me” Eren murmured while he was moving his fingers again inside Levi in order to properly prepare him.
Then he took away his hand, leaving Levi an awful emptiness that was making him feel desperate. Then he felt Eren’s hands gripping hard his sides, spreading his legs and penetrating him, slowly, stopping from time to time, to give Levi the time to adjust, before moving again.
“Fuck, move” said Levi moving his hand from Eren’s hair to his shoulder “I’m not a delicate flower, fucking move”
‘Make me feel pain, I need to feel pain. I need to believe we’re not making love, that this only a fling, that it’s just sex. I need this picture inside my mind’ Levi thought.
‘My my, don’t sound so desperate. It’s just sex’ answered Eren through their minds.
‘Get out of my head, you bastard !’ thought Levi smacking Eren’s hand pulling his hair, but the brunette gently grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles.
He shouldn’t. Any form of kindness and tenderness was dangerous, it could lead somewhere Eren would not want to come back from and that was scaring and risking.
Eren couldn’t afford, for him was could have anything with his power, loving an enemy, an enemy that could be his potential mate, was a risk he couldn’t afford. The fact that that situation applied for him, the king of giants of all people, was kinda ironic, but the more power someone had the higher was the cost for it. But still, he remained still inside Levi, to five him the time to adjust and when he started moving, he couldn’t avoid to kiss him on the lips, sometimes were simple pecks, other times he simply wanted to taste that sinful mouth. He always asked Levi how he felt, especially when he thought to be too much rough and even if he was immersed in his own pleasure, he couldn’t avoid to pay attention to Levi’s reactions, because he wanted the other to feel good, but not only about sex.
He wanted Levi to feel safe in arms, to know he could let go, his moans, his desire, his passion, Eren was there to take care of anything and to satisfy him completely.
He panted, he moaned and whispered Levi’s name.
After all the pain, the blood, the slaps and hits and all that obsession with rough sex, in the end Eren wasn’t able to give nothing but tenderness.
Gentle, sweet, dangerous tenderness.
“You’re so precious… you’re so important… I got you, okay ?”
He wasn’t supposed to say those things. He should say ‘You’re a good fuck’, ‘You make me so hard’, ‘I’m going to take you rough’ and all that kind of stuff he usually said to his past lovers but none of them came to his mind or came out of his mouth.
‘You shouldn’t say something like this’ thought Levi.
‘I know’ thought Eren in response, holding tighter the hand on the pillow.
‘We can’t keep doing this… move faster… make me believe this is just sex…’
Levi sound so desperate in his head that Eren was highly tempted to obey. To be so rough to hurt him, to make him limp, to make him feel sore but Eren couldn’t find the strength in himself to do so. He simply couldn’t. He didn’t want, deep down, for that to be simply sex, it would an insult.
What they were sharing wasn’t mere sex, it wasn’t just a fling and even if it couldn’t be love, Eren wanted it to be precious.
‘I can’t… I can’t…’
“I can’t…” he whispered, while his golden eyes became even brighter.
‘Those eyes…’ Levi thought.
Were the eyes of a beast, not the eyes of someone he was supposed to feel attracted. Not the type of eyes he was supposed to see his reflection and in the same reflection seeing his own soul. Those perfect golden eyes reflected exactly that, Levi’s true nature, the truth he was trying to deny.
That truth was that…
“Don’t say it, you don’t need to say it or think about it… just look at me, okay ?”
Eren didn’t give him the time to answer that he kissed Levi deeply, while he was still moving, that time a little bit faster but always gently, careful not to hurt Levi.
In the end, those prohibited words were pronounced by no one other than their own consciousness.
‘Close… close… mate…’
said Shingeki inside Eren’s head ‘Not complete yet… soon’
‘Mate… here… protect… mate’ told Levi’s instincts to him.
But why ? In that moment when they were united with both body and soul, while Eren’s golden eyes were reflecting Levi’s blue one, a part of them still couldn’t recognize the other ?
In that whirl of passion and tenderness, what was missing ? What else they had to see, to fully accept that they belong to each other ? To complete their bond ? To fully be one ?
…
“EREN !” One word, four letters, a name, for others a blasphemy, for others a curse, for others a salvation, for him an heritage. In that moment, an anchor and a snare that could connect him back to reality and with Levi.Eren snapped back, Shingeki disappeared again, there were no more memories or voice inside his head and all he felt was a tender and welcoming sense of calm, a torpor that was spreading all over his body, that was helping him to distinguish again everything around him, through his own anger, in spite of Shingeki’s hunger.But how ? Why did Shingeki retreat ? It was like Levi directly commanded his giant for a moment, as if Shingeki responded to Levi’s desperation to make him stop, but why ? How ? ‘So that’s it ah ?’ Eren thought, not without a sense of resignation. Being mate with someone he couldn’t have ? Surely there were fates worse than death and nevertheless, even in that moment of despair, Eren believed he’d never been happier in his life before.They found the answer in that moment. It had been in front of their eyes since the beginning, but they were seeing it in that moment, surrounded by the smell of blood, destruction and death.Violence.Violence was the other half that missed to fully accept the bond. After all, two creatures like them, born and raised in violence, couldn’t accept the other without recognized how important was the violence in both their life. But it wasn’t just that, right ?Passion had planted the seed, violence made it sprouted, what would make it bloom ?But it wasn’t just that was it ?They saw in each other eyes how trapped they felt in their lives, how lonely they felt in a reality where they one of a kind, where they were supposed to feel so special and nevertheless nothing was special to them. How exiting should be, to be so great, to be able to do so many amazing things and at the same time not to be considered important by no one ?Eren was in pain before. He was in so much pain just few minutes ago, he’d been in a similar pain so many times before, even after he escape from his prison but no one, not matter how connections he had with the other shifters, was able to understand how he actually felt. They could only imagine his pain but never understand it, they could never see and feel how lonely he actually was.He, Eren the king of giants, was again so alone in the middle of a street and no one was there, no one but someone he should consider an enemy.He was in his best condition to fight and nevertheless he was crying, he was showing his vulnerability and his pain to someone he shouldn’t trust. How pathetic he had to be…That was his breaking point, that was where his proud began. He wouldn’t allow Levi, or anybody else to see how hurt he was, bond or not, he simply wasn’t ready for that. To show off his alienation and the pain that came from it for everyone to see.Levi on the other side, perfectly recognized the kind of pain he saw in Eren’s eyes. The kind of pain that he screamed when he was alone, because he felt when he was alone, which meant always.He constantly felt alone, he constantly felt like there was a wall between him and the rest of the world that he couldn’t surpass, that not matter what he did, the wall became higher and more difficult to surpass.The kind of pain that came with the resignation that not matter what, it would always stay there because if you were so different, how could you ever fit in the world ? In a world that needed you so badly but at the same time wasn’t equipped to deal with what you were ?Words weren’t needed, he knew that the moment arrived.He witnessed something he shouldn’t have, he read it in Eren’s eyes, he saw something too much personal for Levi and for the whole world. A naked body wasn’t intimate as pain, not even close.In that moment, where they eyes met, the world didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that Kenny and Craven took advantage of that situation to fly away with Eren’s hand along with the few subordinates that survived that terrible night, it didn’t matter the destruction of the street and the smoke in the air, it didn’t matter that Eren’s eyes were still golden, the pain was there, so his humanity, so his vulnerability and Levi could feel it all, because that was his own.
…
“May I kiss you ?” whispered Eren caressing Levi’s face.
The other, who was still recovered after making love having sex, furrowed and pouted, uncertain about what to say, trying not to lose himself in a spiral of guilt and shame, the same he always felt after sex, when the lucidity came back and freed his eyes from the fog of passion.
The thoughts were always the same, Erwin, Hanji, the Scouts Legion, his duty toward himself and the others, but as fast as they came as fast they went away.
He was behaving like an adolescent victim of their own hormones, enjoying the risk of a clandestine fling, ignoring all his responsibilities and for someone he should kill rather than fuck. How did he end up in that situation ?
He was turning himself into one of those romantic idiots that he saw in the few romance Petra obliged him to watch with the members of his teams. Levi hated those movies, since he considered all the plots the same, predictable and the characters stupid.
Once he found himself in that situation, he could say that those movies were simply trash, making people believed that love was easy, that all it took was to somehow idolize the other person, that once you loved them all about them looked beautiful and perfect, but there was nothing more wrong than that. Every time Levi looked at Eren all he saw were the motives he shouldn’t be with him in the first place, but also that Levi was willing to accept it.
He looked at Eren’s golden eyes and he thought that they were dangerously beautiful, he hated them because they didn’t suit the lies Levi were telling to himself and he loved them because he loved the passion he saw in them.
He witnessed Eren’ strength and others abilities and Levi should feel repulsed for any of that, for the beast those abilities made him, but Levi was enchanted by that amazing creature, so much that he wanted to rip apart any person who dared to hurt him.
He wasn’t blind to Eren’s faults. Levi found irritating Eren’s smugness, his arrogance, his flirty persona and all the silly things that could come out of his mouth and he hated how he avoided talking about the past and the fact that he could read Levi’s mind.
That to say, Levi wasn’t lost in some sort of delirious and the same was for Eren.
On the other side, Eren was thinking that, for thousands moments like that one, he would be willing, for the first time, to be anything he was not. It happened before, that he could see people for what they were, people and not pawns to use, but people that he could learn to care about.
Levi was the farthest thing from his ideal partner. Eren didn’t have one, but if he could have chosen someone, surely he wouldn’t have choose someone whose duty was to cut his nape. In that mess that was his life, he always believed that falling in love would be easy, without much expectation. He thought to meet someone like him, realizing to like them more than a simple friend and then he would get to know them better, learn to appreciate them for any simple thing and that everything would be fine. Silly, to think about love when he was the leading a crusade ?
Love was supposed to be easy, to meet a person and be with them, have date with them and showing their love to the words, being enough compatible to have hobbies in common, other than murder of course, and be free to talk and share their thoughts.
Eren didn’t know anything about love but he thought that love was peace, apparently not in his case. Fight, violence and chaos colored his love life sentimental life as well apparently.
“Why are you asking such question after having fucked me ? Without a condom ?” asked Levi.
Eren shrugged “I was thinking about one of those romance you know ? I realized that the major part of them ended the same way”
“With a ridiculous happy ending ?”
“With the two lead actors kissing each other. I don’t know why I was having those silly thoughts. I fooled myself that we could be one of those couple, for a while at least”
“We would never be the characters of a romance, I can’t see myself living a life like that”
“Why ? Certain romance are so tragic, to the point that they make me laugh”
“Tragedy isn’t something to be laughed at”
“It is instead, after being through so much pain, you can only laugh and try to see the irony in it, you it would be over for good” joked Eren “Nevertheless, can I kiss you ?”
“A goodbye kiss ah ? Tired of me already ?” joked Levi moving his hair from his face.
“Oh God no. We’re conventional at all. I can’t imagine how this is going to end actually, surely not like it would finish for any other couple” Eren giggled, then he continue “But I really want to kiss you right now”.
In the end, it was Levi who initiated the kiss. He wanted to kiss Eren badly, he wanted those beautiful lips on his own and he wanted to feel those soft hair between his fingers as well.
Any thoughts about a possible end or a goodbye disappeared, replaced only by the sound of their heartbeats, their scents mixed and the tenderness shared between their lips.
…
But in the endMy skin is too tightSo do I want you to see me like thatThis air that we breatheBecame our curseAnd just like this air we will disperse‘It’s time to part our ways…’ Neither of them thought those words or had the courage to say. Eren from the ground and Levi that had just landed on the ground to take a better look at him, one last look.Eren thought for a moment if he hadn’t cursed himself with those words. Sometimes he was afraid of himself for being able to predict the future without even using his abilities.How else could end that fling, adventure, fairytales that, simply that, between Levi and him if not just like it started ?Without any words, without any goodbye speech or any last kiss. It ended just like it started abruptly, with one single last glance.One last blink before both of them returned to their previous life, their duties, their people and their lies. It couldn’t end in any other way. Too many words wouldn’t be enough in the end to describe what those days together had meant for them, the impact they caused on their lives, the bond that was born out of it and that alone was supposed to make them hesitate. Two halves couldn’t be separated and in fact that wasn’t a goodbye, just a ‘see you soon’. They both knew it. They weren’t going to be separate forever, they path would crossed again, their fates were intertwined, they could only hope that, when the moment came, it would not be too much painful.For two creatures born and raised and violence, there wasn’t place for something tender and sweet like love, that was why they let it burn into a spiral of passion, but once the passion was over and the need for tender returned that all they had was to return to what they knew better, violence.Unfortunately, violence was something else that connected them. Violence, passion and tenderness, those made their bond, those modelled it, but which one of them would prevail ?What would that thing between Levi and Eren be ? Just a spiral of passion ? A weapon to use against one another ? Or it would be such sweet as those movies Eren hated because he couldn’t have what he saw ? Because in many of those movies the last scene was a kiss but…There it ended, one last look, light blue in the turquoise, then nothing more.Levi blinked his eyes and Eren was gone.It was time for them to return back to their reality, back behind those castles of lies, defenses and vulnerability that risked to break that night.That night they learnt that there was only one thing worse than loneliness, it was the sense of long that remained after losing again the only person in the whole world able to make them feel complete, understood, free and, deep down, even happy.
If I could see right through youYou could see right through meAnd lock me up inside this single stareIf I could see right through meYou could see right through youAnd notice that we're just one breath away
Just one breath away
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Scouts Legion base 23rd October 2098 9:45 p.m. “Mmm… It’s so strange…” commented Hanji checking all the data on her computer over and over again. It’d been two days since Levi’s return to the base and those who knew him best, like her and Erwin, could tell that he came back wrong, somehow.Something happened in the underground, but for the moment Levi refused to talk about it with anyone, including Erwin. He was constantly evasive, measuring his words around people and hiding himself behind a screaming silence. Erwin was patient with him, he understood that Levi needed a little space, but Hanji knew that Erwin was hiding something as well.It wasn’t a new that Erwin was hiding something, since he was always so difficult to understand, but that time, Hanji sensed that whatever was troubling Erwin, it had to be pretty serious and it regarded Armin.Hanji was crazy, but she wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t blind enough to pretend not to see the kind of game Erwin and Armin were playing with each other.The stolen gaze, the intimate gestures, the fact that they spent a lot of time together, alone, in the commander’s bedroom…Hanji for the moment was decisive about not talking with Erwin about that, but she knew he knew she suspected something and they would not be able to avoid to talk about it forever.She only hoped that that moment would arrive later than sooner. “What’s strange Dr. Zoe ?” asked Moblit sat at his desk next to hers. “This.” Said Hanji pointing at the pc “How could this be normal ?” Moblit looked right where Hanji’s finger was pointing and he furrowed, leaning more to be sure he was seeing right. “How in the hell… Should we inform the commander ?” Hanji bite her lower lip. Telling that to Erwin was the right thing to do, since he was her superior and he needed to be informed about something so important but, on the other hand, she knew that there was another person that had more right to know about it first. “Aren’t you hiding enough information to our commander ? You already…” “I know…” she said interrupting Moblit “But I need time” “Time for what ?” asked Moblit in a frantic tone “Commander Smith won’t pretend to believe in your lies forever” Hanji remained in silence. Not knowing what to answer. When Erwin came to her, telling that there were times when he and Armin were mentally connected, like Levi and Eric, Erwin asked her to investigate the situation. Hanji followed the procedure, she took samples of Erwin and Armin’s blood and she confronted the results obtained with those of Levi and Eric’s blood.The outcome was simply terrifying. He repeated the same procedure, several times and he tried other methods but the answer was always the same, not matter what she do, not matter the procedure, not matter the variables she used. It was always the same, undeniable, terrifying, outcome.An outcome that if Erwin knew, if everyone knew, would change the situation forever and not necessarily for the better.How would Erwin react ? What would he do after ? Would he falter in his decisions and actions ?Hanji was trying to stall but Moblit was right, Erwin already knew that she was hiding the results to him and Armin, who used to be a researcher of the serum, probably already knew the outcome and understood why she was behaving that way. “I know, I just… I don’t know how to throw this bomb at him and…” “Maybe you can start with this, this is not strictly relate with him and it’s even more important than that other situation” said Moblit still pointing at the monitor. “This is not related to Erwin, but with Levi. He won’t trust me anymore if I snitch. Since he came back here, he’s acting all defensive, he told Erwin the strictly necessary “You can’t postpone the matter forever, especially with Armin here, when he happens to be. Where the hell is he right now ?” Hanji had an idea but didn’t dare to say it aloud. Moblit was convinced to be more capable than her to read the atmosphere and to have a greater knowledge about social behavior, nevertheless he didn’t see, like her, what was going on between Erwin and Armin or he wouldn’t take the matter so lightly. “I’m aware of it. Fine, we should speak with Levi first. Where is he at the moment ?” “He came back from the training about half an hour ago. Apparently he rushed inside his room and hasn’t come out yet”. “I’ll send him a message. I need to talk to him about something first. I need to know I can trust him and he needs to know he has someone he could rely on here” “What are talking about ?” ‘That Levi is convinced to be completely alone in the world’ Hanji thought with a resigned sigh. If Levi’ silent wasn’t a proof enough that he didn’t fully trust no one of the legion, not even those he considered to be the closest to him and Hanji had no doubt that Levi considered her a friend.She was one of the two people to know about his little flings, about his mother’s death and her job, about his sister and other private things that Levi didn’t share with any person he met. Nevertheless, she also knew that there were other things, more strictly related to Levi, more personal, that regarded him personally, not his mother, not the underground, not the gone sister, but just him, things that he felt deeply ashamed of and refused to talk about. Whatever happened in the underground could be included in that last category.She looked at the comb on his desk, inside a plastic bag that was on her desk.Levi gave it to her when he came back. He simply told her to check something for him and to use a sample of Eric’s DNA, he needed to be sure about something and he also begged asked her not to say anything to Erwin for the moment. To inform him before anyone else.At the beginning Hanji didn’t know what to say, it was the first time Levi ever asked something personal. Hanji couldn’t deny his request, so she silently took the comb from his hand and took it to her lab. She understood the reason in that moment, but she still couldn’t see the full picture. At least after that Levi would own her some answer, maybe that was also a way for Levi to reach out to her, so that she would make the first step toward him. Who could tell. “I’ll send him a message” she said grabbing her phone. “What about the commander ?” “It’s not like I’m divulging information. Firstly, I need to clarify something with Levi. I’ll speak with Erwin as soon as possible but now…” then she got even more serious “I need you to do something very important” “What ?” asked Moblit just as serious. “I want a cheesecake… go make me one !!” she exclaimed when she wrapped her arms around her stomach “I think I can die if I don’t eat one now !!” “What the hell…” muttered Moblit “It’s 2.00 a.m., goddamit !! WHERE THE HELL I’M GOING TO FIND A CHEESCAKE !!” … Meanwhile, Levi was still inside the shower and with no intention of getting out of it soon. He was feeling tired, not for the fatigue of training with his squad, but because he was trying not to sleep. Every time he did, he saw him and all the moments together, but, above all, he saw him disappear in front of his eyes, with no last kiss, or goodbyes or any last words. Nothing, just like he had previously predicted. “Our life is not a romance ah ?” he murmured underneath the water that fell upon him. That story, his story, wasn’t a romance. When he met someone he could potentially love like there weren’t any sparks or cheesy soundtracks. There weren’t dramatic moments, filled with words of love and promises of eternal devotion, he could only take what was given to him.His life wasn’t a love story, it was a story of death, blood, violence, a violence so vile that swallowed everything else. When a romance ended with a kiss, a promise, or any sort of happy ending, real life was always the same. Unpredictable, unforgivable, it didn’t waste any time.Life made him meet him in an alley and then there weren’t words wasted, they both felt, through their punches, that there was something that connected them and then, in another dreary alley, he was gone.After a while, Levi thought that it was better that way. Their fling couldn’t continue and it was better that there were no goodbyes, because that way Levi had nothing to cling on to.No words that could taunted his mind.
Words would have made everything more real…
If words weren’t pronounced, then they remained in one’s heart and mind, they remained something abstract, without substance, a mere thought, an idea, that consciousness could repress with the proper defenses. But if words were spoken aloud, then it was another matter entirely.Ideas could came up from nowhere, thoughts were generated by the events and the questions that derived from them, but in the end all of them were fragments of the mind.Words instead belonged to reality. They came out of someone’s mind to generate a thought, to turn it into an action, making it more real.Levi had nothing to suffer, nothing real, nothing tangible and he hoped that soon, all his memories of that period as well, would disappear, reduced to mere ideas, to pictures inside his head.He looked at his body, full of scratches, red signs and old wounds, that nevertheless hurt so much that Levi could see them still bleeding somehow. It was acceptable, pain was better. Pain was acceptable, more than remember the pleasure that same boy felt underneath a pair of tanned strong hands.He sighed again.Since the moment he came back, it was painful to look at Eric. The resemblance was uncanny, but Levi suspected that it could be more than that. That was why, the first thing he did after talking with Erwin, was to go to Hanji and give her his comb. The same one he used to comb his hair, some of which were still there. A part of him felt vile for exposing his existence, another was simply worried to expose his own dirty secret, another knew that it was the right thing to do. His instincts somehow agreed with him.If Levi wanted a concrete chance to find out the truth about that mysterious boy, he knew had to learn to rely on someone else for real. Hanji could be trusted, she was smart, competent and loyal and even if sometimes he was tempted to locked her up somewhere, he cared for her and she cared for him.Erwin, on the other hand…Levi felt uncomfortable to tell Erwin that he slept with a shifter, that he didn’t kill him, that he also formed some kind of bond with them, that when he closed his eyes, he could still feel, his pain and anger inflaming Levi’s whole chest, something that was gone as soon as he left.For a moment Levi thought that their bond hadn’t formed yet, but his instincts were telling him that the bond was there and that he didn’t left him alone, unprotected, or his giant wouldn’t have allow him to leave without taking Levi with him. That made Levi so confused about the dynamic of a shifter and their giant, he always thought that the shifter was the one in control, but his instincts were suggesting that they were both equal in the relationship. The giant put itself at the service of his shifter, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have its own will sometimes. Just like Levi’s instincts, his giant could lead his actions for a better outcome, an outcome that he couldn’t see at the moment.Meanwhile, the water that was falling on him was no longer warm, but he realized it only in that moment. For how long did he remain there ? “I can’t going on like this…” he murmured “Shit” He exited from the shower, wore some comfortable clothes and then he grabbed his phone to check if there were news from Hanji. A part of him hoped he wouldn’t find any, feeling too emotional vulnerable for another confrontation, but another part, the delinquent one, who had no fear of pain, even when inevitable, wanted to get rid of that emotional turmoil he felt as soon as possible. “Let’s get over with this” he said sitting on his bed. He found one notification from Hanji. He sighed. “No rest for the wicked ah ?” … Armin was feeling exhausted and the vein on his head was on the verge of exploding. He’d been a fool to think that Frieda would stop bothering him once Eren returned to Paradis. Apparently he did come back, but wrong somehow.Frieda told him that Eren was hiding something from her, but Armin tried to reassure her that Eren was a reserved person but that he would never being secretive if he did something that could be against them. Furthermore Eren used to keep things from himself and usually he tended to open up with his own times, they just had to wait.Also, Armin was sure that, when Eren decided to open up, he would be the first person Eren would talk with. Eren trusted him the most among the shifters on the island, he was the one who knew him the best and if that flattered him somehow, on the other hand was causing him anxiety.More than the confrontation itself, what worried Armin the most was the topic. What was making behaving Eren abnormal ? What happened in the underground ? Would Armin be able to help him ?It wasn’t only Eren to worry him but also his younger doppelganger E2.E2 had behaving weird as well recently and it got more evident after Levi’s return.Armin tried to make E2 talk with him but he simply shrugged and reassured him that was nothing, so Armin asked Sasha and Marco to investigate. Those two had spent more time with E2 on Paradise, he thought they would have been luckier with him, but he was wrong. E2 didn’t open up with them either.E2 had been having nightmares during the night, Armin knew because several times he had been called because apparently E2’s nightmares were so terrific that the boy accidently got hurt during his sleep and his colleagues feared that he could accidently trigger a transformation.That nights were particularly hard, waking E2 up wasn’t easy and when he did sometimes he didn’t realize he was no longer dreaming and so he started crying, scratching himself and hitting everything around and Armin, being the only shifter they could rely on, had to deal with him in those situations.Armin didn’t know what triggered these nightmares, if they were just nightmares of course and had something to do with Eren’s experience in the underground instead.Eren and E2 weren’t the only who were being weird though, there was another one, Levi who had come back weird but in that case Armin didn’t dare to make any speculation.Even after almost two years, Levi remained a mystery to Armin. The only reason why Armin realized that something was wrong with Levi, it was the man’s attitude toward Erwin.Since the day of his return, Armin saw Levi avoiding certain topic of conversations with Erwin or even being in his company for longer than necessary, when before they could have spent hours talking about any sort of topic.And, on top of that long list of problems… “What’s bothering you so much ? Are you thinking about E2 ?” Erwin. One name, one word. That was all he needed to add it to his list of problems.He was in his office. They hadn’t just had sex, they were seriously working. Armin on solving the E2 problems and Erwin was dealing with the same boring documentations.Armin didn’t envy him at all. “More or less. Since he started having nightmares, I constantly feel like I get to prepare for the worse. At least he hasn’t triggered any transformation yet. I’m trying to work on a solution. I used to have nightmares the first months after switching back, but nothing ever triggered a transformation” “He hurt himself in his sleep and when he woke up his eyes are gold sometimes, you told me that” “I know” sighed Armin “I tried to make him talk with me but he wouldn’t” “Give him more time, but for the moment, what matter the most is that he doesn’t cause any trouble that could make people around him fear even more. Maybe we should put him in the same room with Sarah and Angel. With them he would feel less alone” For a moment Armin asked Erwin who the hell he was talking about, then he remembered that those were the fake names of Sasha and Marco. “Maybe.” He sighed putting his hand over Erwin’s. Those small touches were happening more and more often and Armin wasn’t sure if it was a good thing. They were so spontaneous, so natural, that it scared him. “What about you ?” asked Armin “Are you worried about Levi ?” “He will talk to me when he feels ready” “What if this never happens ?” “Then I will reach out to him and wait. Levi needs to know that I trust him” Armin smiled. He was realizing that Erwin and Levi’s friendship mirrored a lot his with Eren. Erwin was handling the situation with Levi in the exact same manner he was with Eren.If Eren felt to be able to open up easily with Armin was partially due to the fact that Armin never pressured him to talk. He waited and when Eren didn’t come to him then Armin reached out for him and then everything came naturally.That didn’t make the waiting better, though. Armin couldn’t avoid to worry about that hardhead, he felt it. All shifters were connected to Eren through an emotional and spiritual bond, but for Armin was different. That bond was stronger, because it was born out of their mutual respect and friendship. Armin didn’t even need to activate his bond to know when Eren wasn’t okay, he just knew and it hurt, because in spite of everything, Armin actually wanted Eren to be happy and he had the impression that his friend had been happy for the past few days, at least for a while. But he could be wrong, maybe he was imagining things.Maybe his relationship with Erwin was confusing his judgment and was making him see the life like some sort of romantic comedy. “Levi isn’t the only thing that he’s bothering you, isn’t it ?” asked Armin, already knowing that Erwin wasn’t going to answer sincerely that time “Hanji hasn’t informed you yet about the results of the research that regard us ah ?” Erwin put the pen on the desk and looked Armin in the eyes. Armin crossed his arms, waiting for the lies that would come out from the mouth of the man in front of him.Both of them reprised their game, watching, observing and studying each other, waiting. Armin thought he would never get bored of that game. Others would find those moments unnerving but not him, he was always glad to play those games with Erwin, since the other was one of the few persons he could play them with in the first place.Erwin smiled a little. “If you don’t want to spill the bean, then I have to find another way to get the answers I want” “Of course. Because I already know what the hell is happening here” “You do. Maybe you don’t fully understand it, but you do know, you just enjoy playing hard to get it.” “The waiting is becoming more and more insufferable though ah ?” provoked Armin “Did you at least try to understand why I’m not saying anything ? Tell me, do you think I’m doing it to spare you a lot of trouble or to torment you ?” “Or maybe to spare yourself” said Erwin. Once again, Erwin managed to catch Armin off guard, every single time the younger blond thought to have the upper hand.Erwin’ smile grew even bigger, knowing that he got another point in his favor. Armin thought to have the advantage only because he already knew the answer Erwin wanted, but in knowing the outcome, Erwin knew that Armin was trying to deal with it and if Armin was dealing with it, then it meant that the outcome wasn’t convenient for him either.Somehow, they remained on the same board and in the same situation.Erwin wanted to know the results for his need to always know everything in order to stay in control of his life, but at the same time he feared the outcome because he feared that whatever it would be, it could influence even more whatever hell was going on between him and Armin.And for Armin was the same. In the intimacy of a bedroom, they could cover up, ignore and deny it how much they wanted, but in the end they were fighting their own battles and once the passion was over, the walls were quickly up again. “You’re insufferable” said Armin crossing his arms. “So are you. That’s what we are.” Said Erwin taking the pen back in his hand and starting to work again. Armin clicked his tongue new his teeth, then he emulated Erwin and started working again. … ‘I’m fucking done with this shit’ “Spill the bean shitty glasses, I can hear your fucking questions from where I’m fucking standing” Levi was sitting on the opposite side of Hanji’s desk, inside her laboratory and that itself was making him feel uncomfortable because, for the first time since he knew her, he couldn’t avoid to feel like he was in an enemy territory.Hanji giggled for Levi’s behavior, but for those who knew her better, it was clear she hers sounded more like an hysterical laughing.It was clear that all the people inside that room were uncomfortable and wanted to be everywhere but there and were willing to talk about anything but the reason why they were there in the first place. “Okay… How did you get the hair ?” “Didn’t you want to ask me who did I get it from ?” “Not Eric that’s for sure” commented Moblit before Hanji could elbowed him in the shin. It was too late, Levi heard his words perfectly and that comment alone gave him all the answers he actually needed. So his suspects were actually real, but what that didn’t even mean ? “What the hell ?” he muttered. “Levi, what happened in the underground ?” “What happened ?” asked Levi with his voice full of sarcasm “I met someone who looked alike Eric and who was a shifter, but he was older, almost twenties, but he escaped.”“And how did you manage to steal their comb ?” asked Moblit. Hanji’s guts were suggesting her an answer she wasn’t sure to appreciate it. God how she wanted to be bad at reading the atmosphere as Moblit believed.She barely needed to look at Levi for few seconds to understand that he wasn’t at ease and that he had no intention of opening up, not in front of Moblit anyway. “Moblit, can you bring me another coffee ?” Moblit, in return, had known Hanji for many years, not to know that that was simply an excuse to make him leave the laboratory and, in spite of his reluctance, he obeyed and left the laboratory without saying any more word.Levi observed the men leaving the room and he felt relief. He looked at Hanji and made her sign with his eyes to get closer to him, it was his way to tell her that he was thankful but also that he was ready to talk with her and answer her questions.Hanji put her chair closer to where Levi was and waited patiently for the other to speak first. “I met someone, in the underground.” Hanji easily deduced that he was talking about the owner of that sample of hair. “He was… terrifying. In both a bad and good ways. He complemented my own… need for violence sometimes but he also was…” Levi stopped abruptly, passing an hand through his hair, looking defeat. He tried to formulate a conversation but his own thoughts were even more messier then the words he had just said. He thought he was ready, to open up about him with another person but apparently he wasn’t. Speaking about him meant to show to Hanji a more vulnerable and sentimental side of him, the one who desperately was in search of someone who could complement any single aspect of him, even the ugliest ones. What was he supposed to tell her ?That he had been willing to jeopardize an entire mission to make love have sex with someone who could be the creator of the serum itself ?That he felt so attracted to that person, like a magnet, or a mouth to a flame, that when he was with him he couldn’t think about anyone else or anything else but him. That he had been such a fool to believe he could start that thing without getting emotional attached to a person that complimented him in so many way and whom, apparently, according to some strange joke of fate, he was destined to share a bond with.Was he ready to talk to her about what Eren represented to him ? An escape from his own loneliness ? His own alienation from the reality he lived ? Was he, above all, put turn his thoughts into substance through the words ? Or wanted to let those memories being turned into vivid dreams ? “Levi, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about right now. You can talk to me about him another day, but for the moment, just tell me who he is” From Levi’s hesitation, Hanji understood that it wasn’t the time to speak about that aspect of experience, not the sentimental one at least. She understood that Levi was still trying to deal with whatever feelings he had developed for that guy, both the good and the bad ones, and that at the moment Levi was stuck at phase of denial.Levi was doing everything in order to deny anything that happened, in order to forget all the events and emotions related to them and if Hanji further pressured him to open up about it, she would probably get the effect of making him feel uncomfortable and probably would refuse to talk at all.It was better to focus on the course of the events, without getting too much into the personal side of them. “I have no idea. I bumped in someone else when I was there, Kenny Ackerman, my uncle.” “What ?” asked Hanji “Your… the ripper of the underground ?” She had known about him longer before Levi told her that he was his uncle. Kenny Ackerman’s reputation went beyond the border of the underground and when he left that place, he committed any sort of crime in any town he visited before disappearing from the face of the earth.The fact that he was working for someone, who was aware that Kruger was still alive, it was dangerous, but it wasn’t Levi’s fault. If he hadn’t been there, he would have never known any of that. His only mistake, in Hanji’s eyes, was to have allowed that guy go. “I don’t know why he was there, but I’m sure someone payed him to capture this person. After Kenny flew away, I managed to capture one of his minions and I made them talk. Apparently Kenny was there because he was convinced to find Eren Kruger there, or the nucleus or a shifter strong enough to become the new nucleus” “Kruger ? Like Eren Kruger ? THE EREN KRUGER ? Are you sure of this ?” “More than sure of it, but if you ask me if he was Kruger or not I can’t tell it.” “Well, the results don’t lie and I tried the procedure multiple times to be sure. Whether that person you met is Kruger or not, the sample you brought to me showed a compatibility” “Do you mean that that guy and Eric are related ?” “No, Levi” said Hanji showing him a paper and pointing at some point with her finger “I meant that the results are telling that the person you met and Eric are the same person.” That time Levi’s reaction delayed to arrive, because Levi’s brain simply wasn’t prepared to metabolize something like that. Of all the outcomes he anticipated when he gave the comb to Hanji, that wasn’t even in the list. “WHAT THE FUCK ? I mean, they looked alike but not so alike. The guy I met was older and more… the disinhibited and easy going guy. Not to mention that he looked less ignorant about the world in general and…” “Look, I believe you. I’ve been monitoring Eric, Sasha and Marco since their arrival and I can tell that the boy hasn’t left the building, not even once. Erwin wouldn’t have allowed.”“So how could it be possible ? How could two people who surely are not even twins shared the same DNA ?” Hanji had no idea, nor a possible explanation to give. What was happening went beyond all her knowledge. It could be possible sharing the same DNA, it was the case with monozygotic twins, but two different people ?Levi said that the boy he met was older than Eric and she believed him. He also said that that man could be Kruger but, in spite of that, the problem remained. Could it be possible that Tybur managed to clone another person ? “What if Eric is a clone ?” she whispered. “What ? What the fuck are you bubbling about ? How could be possible ?” “We thought that a thing like a giant was impossible to create and nevertheless we have three people able to shift into ones right under our roof. This could be possible as well” “Oh fucking fantastic then !” said Levi standing up from the chair and kicking it against the wall “We have a potential clone of Kruger, another guy that could be Kruger out there somewhere and my uncle that is aware of this and is probably working for someone else, fucking fantastic !” Levi felt furious, with him but with himself above anyone else. He felt furious with himself, so fucking much, that if he were alone, he would be punching his own face.He felt furious toward himself because, in spite of how messy the entire situation was, he still couldn’t avoid to worry about him. The knowledge that Kenny was still out there and after Eren was causing great worry to Levi.He couldn’t avoid to think about where Eren was ? Was he safe ? Did he manage to escape Kenny ? Or the underground in general ? Did he manage to find a place where he would be finally happy ? “Fuck !” said Levi “I shouldn’t have let him go. I shouldn’t have let Kenny go either but things went messy back then, so messy I didn’t know where the hell to turn.” “Kenny is not the only problem though. Who he is working for ?” “I had no idea… the man died before I could make him spill the bean on that part. I focused more on Kenny’s business with Kruger.” “Well this is another problem. Another issues is that whoever employed Kenny Ackerman is also looking for the new nucleus, or for the creator of the serum.” “Look, I don’t know what happened but I know you and your abilities, I don’t blame you. But you also know that I have to report this to Erwin as soon as possible. This is a serious matter” “I know, I’m going to talk to him tonight” said Levi “Our relationship is based on honesty and I don’t want to keep this to myself for too much longer anyway. It was the moment to be honest with him.” Hanji was right. That couldn’t be hidden to Erwin, it wouldn’t also be irresponsible from them but also an act of betrayal in regard of the respect and the friendship Levi shared with the man.Yes, he would speak personally with Erwin as soon as possible and he would answer any question, it was right that way.“Do you want me to come with you ?” suggested Hanji. “No, but thank you anyway” he said giving Hanji a pat of gratitude on her shoulder “I own you one” Levi was grateful for Hanji’s proposal and her support but that was a conversation he needed to front head on and on his own. Levi had a lot of faults, but he wasn’t a coward and even though he didn’t feel ready to open up about what happened, especially in regard of the emotional aspect, it was better to have the talk sooner rather than later. Time would have made everything more difficult.In the worst case scenario, he would spend the rest of his life hidden in Hanji’s laboratory in order to avoid Erwin’s disappointment forever. Hanji would be glad to have him at her disposal as her guinea pig anyway, but he hoped for a better outcome. Even though he came to trust her, she was still a freak.“You can count on this. Prepare your wallet, I’m going to be really hungry tomorrow morning”“You bloodsucker bitch !” commented Levi leaving the laboratory. …
‘Armin… Are you busy ? I really need to talk with you right now’
Armin almost jumped from his chair when he heard Eren’s voice inside his head. He expected Eren to contact him but not so soon and no so late. Usually Eren let weeks pass by before deciding whether he wanted to talk about something or not. Apparently whatever happened in the underground was far too big for him to taking the time he wanted. ‘I’m…’ Remembering about his bond with Erwin he stopped abruptly what he was about to think and he pictured Erwin on the other side of the desk instead, so that Eren could understand where he was and who he was with.
‘Came up with an excuse, meet with me in the desert’
And Armin, like any loyal dog, put the pen on the desk. Eren had been keeping him at distance since he returned from the underground and nevertheless Armin was ready to leave everything he was doing to meet the piece of shit in the desert.Armin hated that side of himself, the one who was ready to run to Eren every time the other called out for him. Eren had his time to approach people and to have his talks with them, Armin understood that, but it was the silence in between that irked him and everyone else. “I need a pause…” Armin said fixing the papers he was reading “…Also… I think someone’s going to pay you a visit…” he said after hearing footsteps getting closer. Erwin furrowed, imagining who would want to talk with him at that hour of the night and he also felt a little annoying because Armin was leaving.Erwin had noticed, the slight jump Armin did before to tell him that he needed a pause. He wasn’t a fool and, just because he was working, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t aware of his surroundings. He also noticed the switch on Armin’s facial expression. Armin may wasn’t aware of it, but Erwin had learnt Armin’s range of emotional expressions and there one peculiar expression he did when something or someone called him out.After what happened between them and after learning of the mental bond shared between Levi and E2, Erwin deduced that shifters were able to communicate through their minds. Of course he had no proof and he was sure that if he asked one of the shifters, he would get no answer, but he was pretty sure to be right.There was someone out there, someone who reached out for Armin from time to time. Sometimes he joked with Armin about it, addressing that invisible person as his boyfriend, but whoever they were Erwin knew they were important to Armin. Erwin sometimes wanted to know how much important they actually were and what Armin was willing to do with them. Sometimes Erwin wondered if that person was a man or a woman, if they were a relative or not, if they were a friend or something more. Sometimes he wondered if he wanted to know to learn another thing about Armin or simply to have peace of mind. Of course he didn’t share with anyone his fears, he felt ridiculous to himself for even thinking about that but after what happened with Armin, after their minds linked, Erwin was convinced that they were developing some kind of a connection that was allowing Erwin a deeper understanding of the other. All speculations without proofs of course but something deep inside him, his sixth sense maybe, was suggesting him that there was someone else, indirectly, involved in their relationship, someone Erwin didn’t know but he should be aware of. “Well then” he said “See you later.” Armin smiled gently at him, then he leaned and kissed Erwin on the check. Then he turned around and was about to leave when the door opened and Levi entered inside the room.Levi didn’t seem surprise to see Armin there and he acknowledge him with a head nod. Armin answered with another smile, then he left the room closing the door behind him and leaving the other two men alone, into an uncomfortable silent.All Levi had to do was to look Erwin in the eyes for the other to understand that the time for their talk had come. Erwin invited Levi to sit in front of him and he waited patiently for Levi to speak. Levi didn’t waste time. He told him everything. He told about the deals he made, about Eren and about Kenny. He didn’t omit anything that time. He told Erwin anything about what happened between him and Eren. “I don’t know how to describe what I felt, I just thought that I could handle but every single time I turned around, my own instincts made me come back to him. I don’t want to excuse myself, I haven’t been strong enough to resist those calls” He told Erwin that Eren was a powerful shifter, his instincts made him understand and nevertheless he’d never perceived a sense of danger around him, probably because, due to their forming bond, Levi was the only one who was actually safe around Eren. He told about what Eren told him, his years spent inside a facility, the fact that he had no family or friends left and about their flings. “It’s just started. At the beginning I was trying to tell myself that it was only to keep an eye on him. He had been flirting the entire time he stayed with me so I thought that I could handle. He was so irritating and… I…” “You don’t have to justify yourself.” Said Erwin “I feel rather relief that you’re already facing it though” Erwin was about to add that Levi, due to his inexperience for relationship and romance, had simply been too naïve not to recognize the sign of an improbable infatuation, but Erwin didn’t feel like he was in any position to judge the other.It was also the first time he said something since Levi started to talk. Erwin remained perfectly calm and collected, not only because, of all the scenarios that came to his mind, a potential and dangerous affair wasn’t contemplated, but Erwin didn’t show any reaction. He simply didn’t know how to react without sounding hypocrite even to himself. How cruel fate could be when it made you meet a person you felt so compatible with that, at the same time, was your biggest enemy ? Why did it happen to meet someone, develop feelings for them only to be reminded, at the end of the day, that you couldn’t be with them because others people and facts had established it ? Erwin should feel disappointed, as commander and as a friend, that Levi had wasted precious time and resources for a fling and with a shifter nonetheless, but he couldn’t find in his heart the strength of reproaching the man in front of him. Levi was the epitome of the perfect soldier but, in the end, he remained just a man, a man who had never loved or being loved and who felt a strong thrive for violence, a thrive that few people can feel. Levi’s past had morphed him into a criminal first and then into a killing machine later, Levi was ignorant when it came to love and Erwin couldn’t blame it for it. “I am sorry…” Levi whispered. “What are you apologizing for ?” “For not having killed him…” “Him who ? Eren or your uncle ?” “Both, probably. One is a shifter and the other is a murderer who is after that shifter. I left both of them go. Why are you not angry ?” asked Levi avoiding Erwin’s eyes for the first time since he entered inside the room. “Should I be angry ? Should I fire you ? Should I yell at you ? Hit at you ? Should I say you are a disappointment to me ?” asked Erwin crossing his arms “No. You’ve been naïve. You told me once you’ve always repressed the side of you that need a relationship and you certainly didn’t expect to find someone you could like in that situation.” “So ?” “So what I feel to say to you is that I’m glad you managed to come home safe and sound but I also feel obligated to warn you that another mistake like this isn’t going to be tolerated.” Erwin paused, not hiding how much that conversation was hard for him as well “I can accept your naivety and I’m glad you’re facing your responsibilities toward it. I’m also willing to compliment you for all the information you earned but at the same time, my position and my role impose me to tell you bluntly that you committed a grave mistake” “I’m aware of it” “You partially fixed it. I’m not going to talk about your fling with Pixis and Zachary. This is going to remain between you, me and Hanji.” “Okay. I can’t pretend this isn’t happened but for those who don’t know, it’s better if it never happened. Even if I’m your superior, I’m also your friend, I’m willing to cover up for you as much as I can” “I don’t want you to jeopardize your career for me” Levi whispered, almost like he was scared of his own words. “Really Levi ?” asked Erwin smiling for the first time “After all this time ? After all we’ve done together ?” Levi looked Erwin straight in the eyes again and he understood what Erwin was talking about.Since the day he sworn loyalty to the man in front of him, Levi committed several crimes to help Erwin in his operation, many even in front of him and Erwin always covered up for him. But their friendship didn’t just base on that.Levi saw the man Erwin actually was, rather than the one he pretended to be, Levi saw the monster and he swore absolute acceptance and obedience to it. Erwin, on the other hand, knew Levi wasn’t a good man, that he had a past marked with blood and that he wouldn’t hesitate to cut a person’s throat without losing a night of sleep.It was a reassurance somehow. Much like it happened with Eren, Levi could show himself in all his ugliness in front of Erwin without the fear of being judged.In return, Erwin was seeing Levi for the man who was in that moment. A man naked of any armor, posing nude in his vulnerability in front of him.Sat before his eyes, there was no longer the corporal of the Scouts Legion, but there was a man with a shattered heart, with lower shoulder and lowered head and a shivering silhouette.Levi looked more like a child, aware to have made a mistake, waiting for his mother to slap him and be grounded. The posture showed Erwin a broken man that was offering himself into his hands to seal their fate. Erwin could have done and said anything to him in that moment and Levi, who had put himself into a position of vulnerability, would have left him to.That was the power Levi gave to him. Levi put all himself in Erwin’s hands, for him to do of him whatever he wanted but Erwin’d never abused that power. Not even in a moment like that, because where the power ended between them, the respect begun.Levi had just served Erwin a succulent opportunity to do to everything he wanted by using only the words. Erwin could have degraded him, manipulated him, made him feel so bad about himself, so disgusted about himself that Levi, driven by the sense of guilt and shame, would have done everything to earn his forgiveness. Erwin would have behaved that way with everyone else, everyone he didn’t respect, but not with Levi and not only because he needed Levi to be strong and steady, but because, even the most sadistic side of Erwin, the one who enjoyed hurting and manipulating people with words, didn’t want to hurt a friend.Erwin wouldn’t feel any joy in hurting Levi and even if he punished the man, the pain that would follow could risk to compromise their friendship and the trust between them and Erwin didn’t want it. Levi understood it, deep down, he got it and he was grateful to Erwin for it. He felt also renovated for it. “Why ?” asked Levi. Why did you spare me from your cruelty ? Why didn’t you play me with your words ? Why didn’t you punish me with your manipulation ? What was stopping you ? What could make me so special to make you be so lenient with me ? Why ? Why ?Those and thousands similar questions were exchanged between them, almost like they could communicate through their minds just like shifters could. That happened when you learnt to know a person better than you knew himself. To the point that Levi didn’t even voice those questions, becase he didn’t even need answers he already knew. Erwin knew as well. It wasn’t a matter of trust, it was more a matter of reciprocal understanding.Erwin gently took Levi’s hand and smiled.In that gesture he wanted Levi to understand that when Erwin looked at him, he didn’t saw someone to manipulate, someone to use and abuse. He didn’t need it, their bond was deeper than that. Erwin didn’t need to use on Levi the same tricks he used on everyone else.In that moment, all Erwin saw was a friend who needed reassurance and that was exactly what Erwin intend to give to him. And for that man that was his best friend, Levi decided that it was about time for him to get his shit together and recompose, if not for him, at least for Erwin. “I’ll tell you more about Eren when the time come. There are more important things than my fling that we should talk about” said Levi at some point, crossing his arms and looking Erwin straight in the eyes. There it was, the switch.No longer there was in front of Erwin a fragile kid, afraid of being reproached, but it returned Levi Ackerman the corporal of the Scouts Legion. His posture changed, high broad shoulder, grave expression, arms crossed and eyes cold as the ice.Evidently, the most uncomfortable part of the confrontation was over, all that remained was the serious business. “I met someone else there. My fucking uncle, Kenny. I don’t know who that asshole’s working for, but…” Levi told Erwin everything about his fight with Kenny and the fact that he was there capture Eren, that he called the guy Kruger and also what Kenny told about his past. Levi told Erwin that Kenny knew he had been injected and was in possession of extraordinary abilities and so was the person he was working for. “He raised me, until he disappeared. That dickhead left me a note but I totally forgot about it until the moment he reminded me about it.” “So, you’re telling me that there’s a possibility that you’ve been taken into a facility and injected with the serum without you remembering anything about it ?” “I don’t remember a fuck. That is the reason why I believed him. It can’t be possible for me to develop these abilities out of nowhere. I had to be injected at some point in my life and now I know where to look for an answer” “So you intend to further investigate the matter I hope?” Erwin wasn’t asking it actually. It sounded like a question but it wasn’t. Erwin already knew that Levi was going to investigate the matter and he had no intention of stopping him.After all, the more they learned, the better. Any peace of the puzzle, even the one that seemed more marginal or insignificant, in the end, could be helpful for them to see the entire picture. “But it wasn’t just that. After that asshole flew away, I managed to interrogate one of his men. Before he died, he told him that whoever hired Kenny for the job, was convinced that Eren was in reality Eren Kruger. He also told me that the person behind Kenny is desperate to replace the nucleus lost on Paradis”“So, the nucleus is actually a person. Probably Kruger himself” deduced Erwin. “It’s a possibility. After all what do we know about his dead ? For all we know, Kruger injected himself with the serum before his death, then what ? Or maybe…” “Or maybe what ?” “I went to see four eyes before coming here…” Levi reported to Erwin everything that happened in Hanji’s laboratory and any single detail of their conversation. For once in his life, Erwin didn’t know if he was able to handle so much information all at once. It was intriguing as much as annoying, to feel to have finally the answer to all your questions in un grasps only to be disillusioned all over again.He tried to compartmentalize all the information he got, to put order inside his head.So on one side there was Kenny Ackerman, who had been employed by someone to capture a shifter that according to the mysterious employee, could be Kruger himself, or a clone, or someone with the same abilities that could be a potential replacement. Not only that, but that very same shifter had the exact same DNA of Eric, which meant that Eric had just become the legion top priority.If Kenny Ackerman, or someone else with the same intentions and information, learnt that there could be two shifters with the same DNA and the same abilities, it would be catastrophic.It was just a suspect, but Erwin was convinced not to have the Emperor on his side, nor the government, if he did, he would have been received personally by the emperor to discuss about his strategy to take down the warrior unit but someone kept getting on his way, hiding information from him, denying his requests and putting obstacle after obstacle on his way. Someone powerful, with the means to create him all those troubles, someone who was involved with Tybur’s illicit affairs and that earned to continue them with any means they could, even after Tybur’s death. “We need to upgrade the security around Eric” concluded Erwin. “We also need to find Kenny and Eren” said Levi “A famous killer and a powerful dangerous shifter… how hard it could be ?” “Very, I can’t speak for Eren, but your uncle knows how to make lose his trails.” “He’s not going to stop looking for Eren and I’m pretty sure that sooner or later, that asshole would come after me as well. I have abilities, like him, I could be useful to that fucker and he also knew that I know nothing about my past and that I’m going to investigate this shit. I made myself predictable” “You’re making too easy for him. If he exposes himself, it would be to capture Eren first. Sure you’re powerful and you could be useful but you’re not the main target also…” “Also ?” “I don’t know. Something isn’t convincing me. I mean, if Eren is actually Kruger, how could he be so naïve to leave a trace of DNA in your possession ?” “You don’t think it could be a simple distraction, could you ?” “No. A man so careful, so analytical and collected to have been able to elaborate a plan so intricate wouldn’t commit such a silly mistake. I think he left a trace of himself but I can’t figure it out why” Erwin had a point. Levi didn’t understand fully understand his abilities and he couldn’t say to Erwin that Eren wasn’t Kruger because something deep down inside him just knew. Levi himself didn’t know until what limit he could fully trust his instincts, but in that moment it was like all of the voices inside his head were screaming at him, begging him to believe that the man he met wasn’t an illusion and he wasn’t Kruger. A part of him was also telling him that those few strands of hairs had been left to him too. Not only for him, but for him too. The same voice was begging Levi to listen, to keep believing that Eren was out there waiting to be found.The bond was still weak and nevertheless sometimes Levi swore he could feel, in his chest, that Eren was missing him as well and was trying to find him through their bonds, in their dreams, when reality mixed with fantasy, where the laws or reality couldn’t stop them from loving each other. It was foolish, to follow that thoughts, but his bond, that damn fucking bond was still pushing Levi toward that path.The most rational side of him was trying to see the situation from another point of view. That Eren had left those hairs behind because he was aiming for something, or someone who he thought he could find thanks to Levi. “To send a message ? That he knows we have Eric ?” asked Levi “Eren told me he lost his family, but he lied to me about many shits. I can’t be sure of anything, but there’s the possibility that Eren knows about Eric somehow” “How ? Did he tell you something about his years of imprisonment ?” “He told me about his routine but of course he didn’t mention anything in particular, but what if Eric was born inside a facility ? Maybe we should focus on him” “Or maybe, Eren’s aiming for something else. Maybe he wants to be looked for, or he wants to lead us somewhere…” Erwin stood up and started walking around the room “We’re at disadvantage, he’s playing with us and I don’t know where to start to turn the tables around” ‘The bond… isn’t over yet’
“Argh” groaned Levi putting an hand on his head. The voice inside caused him pain in his head. If only that stupid voice had stopped him from meeting Eren and sleeping with him, Levi would have been a happier man right then. Nevertheless the voice leaded him toward the man he tortured to get the information he needed and it was also suggesting a possible strategy to find Eren again, their new bond. “What’s happening ?” asked Erwin getting closer to Levi. “The voice… the voice is suggesting me something” “What ?” “The bond. The bond between Eren and I. It formed before Eren could leave. I know because I knew he was about to leave even before he actually did. I’m sure that all we need to do is to follow it” “How can you be so sure ? There are so many things we still don’t know about the bond” “It doesn’t matter. With me, you and Armin we can learn more. It’s only a matter of time, you know that Hanji is a very competent person. We can trust her and you can trust me. My instinct got me this far, it will lead me toward Eren as well” “The bond goes both ways though. I think it’s too much risky.” “We need to study it anyway, because even if we decide not to use it, it doesn’t mean that Eren won’t and, if he’s actually Kruger, then we would be in danger. We need to know how to control the bond. How it works, what triggers it, how we can use to our advantage. It’s not the time to be cautious, like you said, it’s the time to be audacious. We can’t waste any more time and as I was saying, maybe we should considering Eric more in this situation” “Eric can’t lie” quickly understood Erwin. Sarah and Angel could. Erwin wasn’t even convinced those were their real names, but Eric was easy to read like an open book. He couldn’t lie, about anything and sometime he contradicted himself, pretended not to understand what sometimes people around him say for fear of saying the wrong thing and when he felt not at ease, he simply remained in silence, refusing to answer.It was easy to understand what Eric liked, what he didn’t like, when he felt comfortable and when uncomfortable, what he loved and what he hated. When he tried to lie, it was so evident in his face, he started blabbering nonsenses and shivering, to the point that Erwin considered him almost cute and tender, like a baby afraid of being uncovered by his parents with his hands in the bottle of jam. “If we ask him subtly, we can understand what connects him to Eren or Eren Kruger” said Erwin “After all, one thing is to look like a person, but sharing the DNA is another entirely.” “So, what are we going to do commander ?” “I will follow your suggestion, but at the same time, Levi, you will have to follow my lead completely” “What the fuck do you mean ?” “I mean that you can’t afford to be naïve in this game no more, especially when you don’t know how capable your opponent is in the art of love” “For real ? Are you fucking with me ?” asked Levi snorting. “Levi, the last thing I want is making you feel uncomfortable, but you have to admit that you’re pretty ignorant in this department. You’re too blunt and direct but we can work on this.” “So you plan to teach me how to manipulate a man like you do with your little blond mushroom ?” It was a jab. Both men knew it and both knew it hurt. Guilty or not, Levi remained the same. He attacked when he felt attacked and Erwin admitted to himself that he could have been more delicate. “I’m sorry” said Erwin “But you must be honest. While you’re a capable fighter, you’re still defenseless against the game of love. I just want you to protect your heart” “Will it actually work at least ?” asked Levi, praying for Erwin to give him a positive answer. Levi needed to believe that there was a way he could protect his heart, if he was still in time. Erwin’s words hurt him and nevertheless they were true. He had been a fool. He allowed Eren to seduce him, to kiss him, to touch him, to play with his heart, believing he could play with Eren’s in return but he failed. He simply abandoned himself in that moment and forgot he was playing a game.He didn’t enjoy the idea of playing with someone’s feelings, but he really did want to learn how to protect his heart, or at least what was left of it. “I hope” answered Erwin, sitting on his chair again and reaching out to Levi, who gently took his hand in return. It was their way to make peace with each other and it was their way to show that they reached a mutual understanding.Erwin took a moment to watch his fingers tangled with Levi’s and concede himself to smile. He was glad that, in all that mess, he still had someone to hold on. A warm hand to hold, even in the coldest moment. … E2 was in the bedroom with Sasha and Marco. The three of them had been allowed to stay together for a couple of hours before the curfew. They weren’t doing nothing in particular, just playing cards and saying some word from time to time.E2 wasn’t in the mood for useless chatting. He hadn’t slept well recently due to the same nightmare. During the night, he dreamed about being devoured, then he dreamed about Levi and Eren together.E2 was ignorant about life but he wasn’t stupid. Levi had been avoiding him since his return to the base, Eren had been ignoring him and Armin had been more tense than ever. “E2 come one. You lost three time in a row” said Sasha after winning their third game. “I’m sorry, I can’t concentrate” he said sighing and throwing his cards on the floor with a certain frustration. “We noticed. It’s because of him ?” asked Marco mixing the cards again. “Yes and not. I mean, he knows why I feel troubled but he is ignoring me so I have no idea what’s making me feel like this and it’s not like I have many distractions here” said E2 watching Marco mixing the cards distractedly. “You can’t be distracted from him” replied Sasha “You can’t force him out of your mind” “We can, he’s not being so much intrusive. But I see Armin, something’s going on and he wouldn’t tell us” said Marco appearing worried for Armin, while he started giving the cards to all the players. “Armin’s being busy with Commander Smith. That man is a snake. I can smell a predator from a mile and that man is the definition of a predator” commented Sasha. Erwin Smith had been nothing but kind with all of them, but they knew that deep down all that kindness there was more. Erwin Smith had the tongue of a politician, his words had nothing to envy to the sharpness of the swords he used to fight the giants.Eren made the right choice when he decided to send Armin there to deal with the man. Armin was the only one who stood a chance to fight Erwin. “I would like to be updated about what’s happening recently on Paradis” commented Marco watching at the cards he had in his hand rather dissatisfied. “Me too, I’m feeling rather excluded here.” Said Sasha starting the game “I have no idea if the others are good, if they are safe, what Eren’s doing, what he plans to do… I once thought that my life on the island felt more like a prison, but now I rather miss it.” “And Armin can’t spend more time than necessary with us. We have barely seen him recently, I have so many questions for him and so little time to spend with him” said Marco throwing his can on the floor. “The last thing I know about Eren, is that he left Paradis” said E2, omitting intentionally that he knew he and Levi were in the same place. “Shit” commented Sasha taking another card from the deck on the floor “When Eren leaves the island, something big is going to happen. Remember last time ? He planned the whole Tybur disaster” “I wonder what he’s planning to do this time” said Marco “I heard Frieda and she’s not happy. She asks about us, but she didn’t tell us anything. Maybe they don’t want to worry us” E2 was about to reply but he refrained himself. He was angry with Eren and indirectly with Levi for what could have happened between them in the last days. E2 didn’t know, but he knew something important changed between them, he could just feel it and he wasn’t sure if he liked it.All he knew was that the delicate balance between him and them was gone.As soon as Levi came to his mind, he felt it again, that strange pull that was calling him. He turned around and looked at the mirror inside his room, the one where the people from outside could observe him without him knowing.He didn’t even need to use his abilities to perfectly see who was on the other side, he just know who he was, the bond was telling him, but for the first time he didn’t feel like a source of relief. He hugged himself, almost like he felt the need to protect himself from that call. “Are you okay E2 ?” asked Marco gently taking his hand. E2 was about to answer when a voice inside all of their head called them out.
“I know I’m unforgivable, but I really missed you and I’m sorry for making you worry. Meet with me at the desert, there’ something I need to talk with all of you”
‘Speaking of the devil’ E2 thought, while he was torn between to forces he wasn’t sure to be able to fight.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Paradis Island October 23nd 2098 ‘Home sweet home’ Eren thought just before he arrived in front of the ruins of the facility in Utopia. He walked through the white corridors, responded to the polite salute of his friends, until he arrived to the most interesting side of the building. The part of the facility that got wrecked in 2095 had been rebuild in crystal and there it was his bedroom, the place where he wanted to be the most in that moment.Even though he couldn’t physically feel tired, he was mentally exhausted. Those days in the underground had absorbed all his energy. After the fight with Kenny Ackerman, he quickly went to pack all his stuff and left the underground, trying to ignore his inner turmoil.He didn’t like how he and Levi were left but there was no other choice, Eren couldn’t remain, not without risking seriously to compromise everything he’d fought for since the day he was free.He arrived in front of the door and was about to open it when he realized that someone was already waiting for him behind that door.Amazing. “What the hell have you been doing ?” Those were the first words Frieda told him as soon as returned in Utopia, in his own room, where he hoped to be welcome with silence and be left alone with his own thoughts. He found Frieda and Ymir instead. Judgmental eyes looking straight at him, arms crossed, fiery eyes, head tall, exactly like a queen waiting for her most disobedient subject, or the most rebellious of her children. “I’ve been busy” he simply said “But I have many good news to share with you” he concluded with a smile before hugging her tightly. “I’m not here to simply welcome you. I’m here to speak with you and reproach you for your reckless behavior, do you realize it ?” asked Frieda, hugging him back. “I understand, but once I tell you the whole truth, you will forgive me” he said kissing her on the check. “You’re so confident that I will forgive you so easily ah ? I’m tired of you doing things behind my back” “You’re making it sound like I’m planning to do something against you” said Eren getting away from her to give a hug to Ymir as well. Ymir, differently from Frieda, didn’t respond to his hug but acknowledge his presence with a polite bow that Eren didn’t appreciate. All those senseless formalities were simply ridiculous, according to Eren, they increased a sense of separation and difference between him and his friends. According to Frieda, who was raised to be a queen, those formalities were a sign of respect and had to be imposed because, not matter what, the difference between a leader and their followers would always be there and evident.Eren considered the concept ridiculous, but when it came to social interactions, he tended to trust Frieda’s indications. “It’s hard to have trust in someone who barely speaks a word to you” replied Frieda calmly, like she was explaining a complicated concept to a child. “I’m not your son Frieda.” Said Eren coldly. If there was something Eren hated was being treated like a child, specially by Frieda. To be fair, there were moments when Eren, who grew up without a mother, loved the motherly affection he received from the women he knew, Frieda in the first place.A woman love was a treasure and if he wasn’t so obsessed with balancing power with sex and love, he would have considered himself lucky to fall in love with a girl, but he was able to appreciate a more motherly approach toward him, until it was too invasive, like that.Eren hated people who sucked the life out of him, not matter the reason or the situation, he wanted to be left alone and he hated being reproached in front of another people.Frieda had to be really angry with him for doing it, but Eren didn’t think to deserve such to be belittled and treated like a child in front of Ymir, but of course, Frieda wanted to humiliate him and she wanted to do with fashion. “No, but I thought we were partners. Partners work together” “They do” replied Eren shrugging “But someone needed to stay there and protect the island while I was gone. With me, Sasha, Marco and Armin gone, this island remained without four of the nine strongest giants. If I didn’t trust you as my partner, I wouldn’t have gone” “Well then and what, pray tell, do you have to so urgently to leave the island without telling me ? What kept you so busy that you couldn’t even answer my calls ? I thought that they captured you at some point” said Frieda raising her chin and challenging Eren with her eyes. She was really curious to know how he would reply to her worries in his regards. It was also a challenge and Eren was aware. She wanted to see if he was so brave and so shameless to try to lie to her or refuse to answer her questions.Eren wasn’t in the mood for one of her mind games but he also knew that leaving the room at that point, only to refuse to talk with her, would lead them toward a misunderstanding that would make everything worse. He was also willing to admit that he didn’t behave correctly with her and that he needed to apologize. What better occasion than that ? “No one can capture me” said Eren “A lot of people tried and they are all dead” “I do hope so but you know, I have a sensation that, whatever you did, it was reckless, dangerous and irresponsible, because sometimes you really can’t stay out of troubles.” Said Frieda with a rather condescending tone. Eren hated moments like that. He loved fighting in general, but he hated when it came to Frieda. He hated fighting like that with the people he cared, but he hated being treated with condescension even more, especially by Frieda. “I told you once that we can’t always play on defense, sometimes we need to directly move the tides if we want them on our favor. I had a plan, I put it motion and it worked. Have I ever disappointed you ? Have I ever given you any indication that I would be willing to put you or any of your people in danger ?” said Eren getting closer to Frieda. Ymir instinctively got closer to Frieda, almost like she was preparing to defend her from Eren.Of course that dynamic didn’t go unnoticed to Eren.He looked at Ymir and she looked at him in return, but for the first time since he’d known her, it seemed to him to see at someone he no longer knew as well as he thought. There was a certain awareness and coldness in the way she was behaving around him. ‘So, something has happened while I was away…’ Eren though, careful not to let Frieda or Ymir inside his mind. He didn’t even leave the island for that much, but apparently he needed to stop isolate himself too much. He hated being looked like that, in his own bedroom. Like he was an outsider, a stranger, in his own territory.Frieda, on the other hand, was feeling more confident thanks to that. She didn’t want to welcome Eren like that, but he needed to understand that that time she was not joking that time. Eren had to stop to do everything on his own, without sharing his plans with anyone, only Armin at the best and leaving all the others behind worrying for him.She was willing to accept at the beginning but not more. He treated her like she was anyone else, but she wasn’t, she was the queen of the island, the second strongest giant ever created, she proved her loyalty and her capability over and over again and she earned to have some respect, she deserved it. “All I want is for you to treat me for what I am. I’m not an ordinary woman, in here I’m the Queen” ‘I command here as well’ Frieda didn’t say it, or think it. It wasn’t necessary, it was highly implied in her last statement. “Not in here only, if you give the time to properly explain myself” said Eren observing Frieda attentively “I know I should listen to you more when you tell me to have better consideration for social relationship and I swear, I’m going to further improve on that department as well, but tell me, have I ever disappointed you ?” “You have, when you left once again without consulting me !” Eren sighed. He was about to reply but then he changed his mind. Even though both of them were physically weaker than him, Eren was at disadvantage.If he was the Eren of few years ago, the one who easily lost his temper over the little things that irked him, he would have attacked them both already, showing his own immaturity and his own instability. Kruger was right, he was no longer a child, he had to remain compose and collected and he had to know when he had to surrender.He slowly came close to Frieda, he gently took her hand in his and then he kneeled before her.Sometimes, submission was the only way to get the upper hand in a situation. He hated using those tricks with Frieda, but really, he wasn’t in the mood for that shit.Was he feeling bothered ? Of course, but he had to conceal.Was he feeling resentful for Frieda’s luck of trust ? Without any doubt, but he had to hide it.Any negative emotion could be dangerous in a delicate situation like his. Frieda’s lack of trust mirrored the luck of trust of his people in his regards and that was a personal defeat. “You’re my Queen, Frieda. I know I don’t often show you, but you know I need you. Without you here to lead me I’m loss. It may looks like I don’t care about you or our people, like I discard your feelings and your worries about me but it’s not like this” said Eren “The day we met, I promised you your kingdom and your crown and I’m going to give them to you, sooner than you think” Frieda’s eyes sharpened.She was born and raised as both a queen and a politician. She was raised to rule, to use any means to have absolute power and control over people. Even though she compensated the most brutal, egotistical, manipulative and power-hungry side of her personality with her genuine kindness, generosity and maternal instincts, sometimes Eren’s rebellious personality made the first side of her personality fully overcome the second.A part of her hated that she couldn’t anticipate Eren’s move, that, not matter how many years had passed, she still couldn’t control him like, deep down, she wanted to.He was a free spirit, no chain could trap him, not even the sentimental ones. She could tell him she loved him with all her heart and he would still abandoned if he considered it opportune.It was just the way he was, but before that day, she’d been too kind with him, too ready to forgive him, only to be sure to keep him close, but apparently it was the moment to change strategy.Eren needed to understand, once and for all, that she wouldn’t always be there for him, that it was time to stop doing things his way and on his own, that there were other people who depended on him, that he couldn’t just leave the kingdom like that and expecting her to protect it. Eren was taking everything for granted and it was not fair.Oh, if only she could put her claws inside his mind, if only she could read his mind like he could read the one of everyone else on the island, if only she could see the world as he did, then who knew ? She would finally able to fully understand him. That was all she wanted, to fully understand him and his twisted little mind.Her silence encouraged Eren to continue. “I need you, I would be lost without you and you know it. It’s not only a matter of public imagine, of learning things from you, but you know that you’re the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever had. I love you and adore like one and the fact that I’m here, to swear it on my life after all this time, it makes really sad” he concluded. Eren knew, of course, what Frieda was thinking in that moment. She was thinking about weather making it easier or even more difficult for him to earn her forgiveness, or if and how much he was being sincere in that moment. Nevertheless he also knew she had no other choice than to forgive him, if not in that moment in front of a witness, just to hold her grudge a little longer, then she would forgive him later.They were connected, she was the Queen, but he was the King. They were strong on their own and stronger together. He needed her for public relations and her political acumen, but she needed him for his abilities and for being the nucleus.She also knew that if she wanted to have her revenge and have her kingdom back, she would have to rely on him. There was no other choice.Submission, manipulation, flattery…Even locked up in a tiny room, Eren understood how certain people functioned and how he could make them work as he wanted. How else he would have been able to persuade Hawkins to join his crusade and betray Tybur ?Frieda could pretend all she wanted, but Eren knew her background, he could imagined what she’d been told her whole life. That she was special, different, the most important girl of the nation, the one destined to rule over Paradis, that she was an ordinary woman and that she was the queen.She had had to believe those words very much, considering how painful it was her fall from grace in the end. Sometimes Eren wondered if what hurt the most was the betrayal of her family or the fall of all the illusions. Those same illusions Eren had to feed a little, at least to keep her content. He committed a big mistake by giving her the short stake, he underestimated her pride and he didn’t take her feelings into account. Well, that was sad, because in his eyes she was all those things and more, but simply Eren found her also insufferable when she didn’t leave him a little freedom. But that wasn’t the moment for that, it was the moment to earn her forgiveness.Ymir, who had been observing in silence the entire scene, was uncertain about what to think exactly. In spite of her reluctance to open her heart to others after the betrayal of her parents, thoroughgoing the years she learnt to care for both Frieda and Eren.Nevertheless, there was something off about the scene in front of her eyes. A sour note, in that melody of words that her friends were singing to each other. It was compelling but at the same time alarming, for a moment she could barely recognize the people in front of her eyes. Not matter how much she was trying to read the atmosphere, she simply knew that she wasn’t capable of doing it, to interpret that foreign language. “I will organize a reunion” said Eren standing up again “Just concede me a couple of hours, then we will speak with the other members of the nine and then we will share everything with our people” “No we won’t. Our people don’t have to know everything. Or at least, let me hear what you’re going to tell them. Not all news are good equally for anyone to hear. Someone could het anxious” “They’ll better. From now on everything is going to change. Trust me Freida, almost all the pieces are positioned on the chessboard and I know exactly where they are. I can attack them and I can defend us from them.” Said Eren getting closer to his go game positioned on a table at the center of the room. “You don’t like playing chess, you play go” “My enemies play chess, I have to get adapt if I want the slightest chance to win. Chess and go have the same goal after all, destroy the opponent. Not matter how, I will give you the throne and crown you deserve and even more. Now please, leave me alone. I need to rest” Frieda staggered for a moment but then she nodded and left the room, followed by Ymir. She closed the door behind and walked along the corridor, sometimes looking back, to be sure that Ymir was still following her. “What do you think, Ymir ?” she asked. “I think that the king needs to learn how to handle better his social relationship. For the rest, I think I will wait to hear what he wants to tell us” Ymir remained silent for a couple of minutes, then she continued “What doesn’t convince you ?” “His aptitude in general. He should have learnt better by now, but I see that he’s still repeating the same mistakes over and over again. He keeps isolating himself, keeping secrets, disappearing from time to time… Not exactly the attitude of a leader, he needs to improve, as soon as possible” Frieda concluded the conversation with those words, more pending it, without any sort of conclusion. The remaining of the conversation wasn’t worthy of being said aloud. Ymir understood anyway. Frieda considered herself a patient women and, if fate had been more generous with her, she would have been a benevolent mother, able to properly raise all the children she wanted, but Eren…A child like him… ‘With a child a like him… a child like him… I could have loved him ?’ she thought. “He’s young, Frieda. Sometimes we tend to forget we’re much older than him” commented Ymir “I think he means, when he says he needs your guidance, now more than ever. Don’t think about his age as a disadvantage for you” Ymir was right. Frieda had underestimated the importance of Eren’s age and youth.Eren was both mature and immature for his age and Frieda needed to find a way to keep him in check, but if his age could lead him to show some troublesome behavior, it was also right that he could still be easily influenced by those around him.No, Frieda was doing fine with him. She had been a good “mother” for him, she needed to make the leash tighter and shorter. “I see you get it” said Ymir walking next to her “Armin used to be the one who kept him in check. His attitude has changed since Armin’s departure. Maybe Eren simply needs a new shoulder to cry on” “Do you think ah ?” “Someone with the same sharp mind but who would be able to keep him check” …For you…Those words weren’t said, but Frieda heard them anyway. Ymir was right. Frieda needed someone like that, someone to take Armin’s place.After his departure, Frieda had hoped, with all her heart, that she would have been the one to tale that place and become Eren’s main confidant, but it didn’t happen. She was sure that Armin would be the first Eren was going to talk about his little trip and that wasn’t good.It wasn’t fair.But it wasn’t too late to fix the situation for the better. Ymir was right, best friends came and went, all she needed to do was to find a fine replacement, someone who would be her eyes and ears, someone who would observe Eren in her place, someone Eren would get attached enough to speak about where he went and what happened to him with more details.She already knew that Armin was the one who would get the full version of it, but she was done with that, she was tired of being told lies, of being excluded and if Eren wasn’t willing to change a little bit for her, then Frieda had no other choice but to play dirty.In the meantime, Eren, left alone in the coldness and the darkness of his room, he walked straight toward his mirror and, one after one, he stripped himself of all his clothes before he stood in front of the cold surface and put an hand on it.For those who didn’t know him, it could be a simple act of narcissism, standing naked in front of a mirror, touching the skin of his chest, just above his right nipple and passing the fingers there, but his eyes were empty, lost in a distant memory.He wasn’t admiring his sun tanned skin, the one all his lovers complimented him, or his long legs, or the biceps, or the skin of his body, perfectly devoid of any moles, scars or birthmarks, no. His eyes were seeing something else in that reflection. Unknowingly he pinched the nipple, until it hurt so much it felt good.There, alone and naked in front of the mirror, it was the only moment he had to revive in those sweet touches of those white, strong callous hands, those soft kiss on his skin given by those red, thin, swollen lips and the scent of his own skin combined with another one.Summer mixed with winter, blood mixed with iron, watermelon and sea mixed with oranges and mountains. Wherever Eren’ skin was hot and warm, like summer, Levi was cold and gelid like winter, but Eren adored it nonetheless. If he closed his eyes, he could still smell that scent, feel Levi’s taste on his tongue, feel his hands all over him and that only increased his desire for the other and his anger at the life for not being able to get what he wanted.Why did life hate him so much ?Why couldn’t he have his other half ? Why couldn’t he just take Levi there with him ? Why couldn’t he just abandon himself to those dark impulses he was feeling ? The same who were telling him to quickly get rid of all the rotten apple around him, set the whole world on fire and chained Levi in his bed forever ? Would it be really so wrong ?Would it be really wrong for him to have what he wanted ?He opened his eyes again and looked at them in the mirror. “The only company I have left…” he sighed There Eren could live his emotions, in loneliness, because in that moment, in his life, there was no space for someone else to share what he had felt with Levi. Not even his mind was safe, his body was the only mean he had to revive those precious moments.He could imagine, even without using his ability to foreseen the future, that the eyes of the entire island would be on him, watching all his next moves.He sighed, while with his body he recreated all the signs that Levi left on him, all the hickeys, all the bites, all the scratches… all those needed to be healed once and for all and with time, forgotten.But before he would have to continue with his life, trying to ignore that what happened in the underground hadn’t changed something inside him forever, before he would have to keep living his life as before, using that body as a weapon, both in the battlefield and in his bedroom, he wanted to take one last look at the body that was so lucky to know love, affection and care, at least once on his life. One last time, he wanted to remember how his body looked like when it belonged to Levi, before other people would touch it, kiss it, taint it, ruin it, dirty it. “I’m sorry Levi, that I can’t dedicate you more than this, that I will be able to see you only in my dreams… but…” He didn’t say anything more. Any more words would have sound more like excuse and Eren didn’t want to taint those moments or his feelings with his words. Words were useless in that moment. “Levi…” he whispered. ‘Mate’ said Shingeki. ‘Eren…’
“Shit…” whispered Eren after hearing Kruger’s voice for the first time in weeks. He should have known that Shingeki wouldn’t have been able to lock Kruger in their unconsciousness forever. Kruger resurfaced, just in time with all the other problems Eren would have to fix, if he wanted to proceed with his crusade and even more urgently keep his head on his neck. He sighed, then he whispered “Well… I need him anyway, now more than ever” After all, if he wanted to win that game, he would need to keep his friends close, his enemies closer and the devil on his shoulder. “You already know don’t you ?” he asked.
‘You’d better keep it a secret. I warned you that this moment would come. You didn’t listen to me’
“Every cloud has a silver lining…” he muttered “Levi is not going to be a problem”
‘Weren’t you thinking a moment ago about how unfair your life is only because you can’t lock him up in your bedroom ?’
Eren rolled his eyes. “It was just a spur of the moment. I’m not a beast. Besides, he wouldn’t get kidnapped by me without fighting” he commented with a smile while with his fingers touch a the sign of a bite on his left shoulders. His smile grew even more wider when he remembered how passionate Levi had been in that occasion and how much deep and hard he had bite Eren on that shoulder.No, Levi would fight tooth and nails if Eren ever decided to do something stupid against him.
‘He represents a weakness for you’
“Only if I let him to be” answered Eren playing with his hair “Something that isn’t going to happen. I know what Levi represents to me, so all I have to do is to keep my distance and keep my instincts at bay. It also means that no one could ever be able to replace him”
‘This is positive because…?’
“Because it means that no other woman or man would ever be able to attract me that way. I will always be the one with the upper hand”
‘Levi can still break your heart’
Eren smirked with sarcasm. “You’re wrong again, Kruger. There’s only one person in this world who can break my heart and that person already has a target on his back. Don’t ever doubt me” said Eren gritting his teeth and almost breaking the mirror beneath the pressure of his fingers. He wasn’t a fool and he didn’t need Kruger to lecture him about Levi. He knew how to handle the situation, he already had everything figure it out. His ability to foreseen the future was showing him the path to follow and he intend to it ‘till the end.
‘I hope for you, you’re right’
“Wow, it’s when you act like this that I almost believe you care for me” commented Eren. Kruger didn’t reply anymore and Eren huffed for the predictable reaction. It was what he wanted in the end, for the other to shut up. He had enough of others’ nonsenses and he was in the mood for a bath, a long one, maybe in the company of a friend. …
Scouts Legion base 23rd Desert October 2098
As soon as Eren requested him to talk, Armin knew that the matter had to be pretty serious. He realized from Eren’s tone and the way he could hear his friend almost beg him to speak with him.
From the tone of voice, Eren sounded desperate, like he was literally begging Armin to be there for him and it didn’t happen often and when it did, Armin had to take advantage of it.
Those moments happened rarely, Armin longed for them to happen, those were the few occasion he had to sincerely speak with Eren.
So here he was, running toward the first empty lumber-room he could find, not even waiting to arrive to his bedroom where he knew he would find Falco sleeping anyway, so he could talk with Eren in peace. He even turned his phone off to be sure of that.
He sat somewhere, between the boxes on the ground and the shelves, he closed his eyes and let himself be transported in the desert, where he knew his friend was waiting for him and there he found him.
Seeing Eren in person was always an adventure, an intense one. Standing in his presence, in the proximity of his grandeur, was always a vision. The desert, that was an equally beautiful place, witht the eternal starry sky, the amazing shades of blue and violet
Eren was wearing a leather pair of trousers, that emphasized the muscles of his legs and his height, he was wearing a black adherent armhole shirt that put on a show the muscles of his arms and he had his hair tied in a ponytail. When Armin got closer to him, he also noticed that Eren was wearing make-up that emphasize the beauty of his hair.
How could a man with the strength of crushing an entire building look so delicate and handsome at the same time ? But wasn’t that the point ?
An outfit was never just an outfit after all and Eren wasn’t so vain to show off his muscle to be admired for his physic, he usually tended to hide his body more than to show it to the whole world. When Eren showed his muscle, was always to show a sort of power and dominance. So what was Eren trying to prove ? Or maybe was Armin that was seeing sign of potential manipulation everywhere ?
It was a huge possibility that he was getting paranoid due to dealing with Erwin and his mind games on a daily basis, to the point of seeing sign of dominance even in Eren’s outfit.
Eren didn’t need it, not with him, Armin just needed to collect himself.
“Hello motherfucker” he greeted his friend “So you’re alive after all”
“How much angry you are at me from 1 to 10 ?” asked Eren blinking at him.
Smug bastard, Armin knew what he was doing that little shit but he wasn’t going to buy it, not that time. He had been really worried about him that time, especially because Eren was outside the border of Paradis and everything could have happened to him and/or everything and everyone who could get involved with him.
Eren had grown up a lot from the destructive, furious, rebellious and impulsive teenager he was before but Armin knew that that side of him was still there, deep down. A person could change but the substance remained and Armin was sure that all the anger and hatred that Eren had been harboring was still there, ready to get triggered by anything that could irk him over a certain limit.
“One hundred. What the hell have you been doing ?”
“A lot, but before I tell anything to the others, I wanted you to know everything first”
“Why ? I didn’t think I was so important to you”
“Don’t be so mean” said Eren getting closer to Armin and gently taking his hands before kissing him on the checks “Once you come back, I will never let you go again. I miss you very much and you know I’m not lying”
Armin knew. It needed a liar to unmask another and Armin knew that Eren was not lying. If not for the sake of a true friendship, he knew that Eren was rather possessive of the things he considered his. Eren wasn’t fond of people, but once he started caring for someone then that person became his and Eren knew how to take care of his things, from the healthiest to the most twisted ways. Armin knew both of them.
“How are you ?” asked Eren still holding his hand and inviting Armin to sit on the desert, next to him.
“Can’t we pass the pleasantries ?”
“You know that, when it’s you, these are not pleasantries. I don’t bother myself with matters I don’t care about, you know it, including politeness”
“Yeah, I know” said Armin giggling, thinking about moments of their past. “I’m tired actually. Erwin doesn’t let me out of his sight. He’s controlling me, waiting for a wrong move on my part and in the end we…”
Armin remained silent for a moment, undecided whether to tell Eren or not about the bond. How would the other react ? Would he feel betrayed ? Would he feel glad because that way they had a possibility to control Erwin ? Would he ask Armin to come back to Paradis immediately in order not to get compromised ? Would Armin accept to leave Erwin if Eren asked him to ?
“We… fix everything in bed, I guess” concluded Armin “He thinks you’re my significant other”
“What ?”
“From the way he behaves and jokes with me. It seems like something transpires from my behavior”
“I’m sorry for causing you all these troubles” said Eren leaning on Armin “I wish I could say something but I’m a disaster with these kinds of things, I’d probably say something stupid”.
“What about you Eren ? What the hell were you thinking when you decided to leave the island ?”
“I need fresh air, but be sure, I’m not planning to leave again, at least not too soon. Frieda made me realize something”
“What ?”
“That my position is not solid as I thought it was. While you were here, I relayed on you a lot for public relations, you were my voice for our people to hear but then you left and I realized that, in the eyes of the people, I’m still not a solid figure to count on”
“I warned you it would have happened sooner or later. You know no authority but your own, because you grew up without a solid parental figure, someone who would give you solid rules, someone who would teach you what means to be responsible for another person”
“Yeah, my people still think that I’m their leader only because I was born for it. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the people, birthright to rule meant nothing anymore.”
“No, our people want a solid figure to lead them toward salvation, whatever form it would have. I told you not too isolate yourself too much. A little bit of mystery is good. In a world so predictable, people loves losing their minds behind an enigma but not when it’s too much intricate. At that point it is no longer intriguing, it’s tedious. You need people to keep losing their minds behind you, you need their attention, their love and their trust or everything we fought for is lost” said Armin.
Armin was relief on some part. It was time for Eren to realize that, in the battle for power, nothing, not even love, could be taken for granted.
Love was like a plant, it needed to be nurtured and taken care of to bloom, or else it would perish, at the worst time.
Eren hadn’t been raised like his people, he had never known no law but his own, even when he was locked up in his white bedroom, Eren listened to no other authority but his own.
No one taught him what a law or a rule even meant. No one put any sort of limit to his behavior or even bother to correct his attitude. No one told him not to destroy his own toys, not to say bad words, not to yell at older people, to greet after entering a room, to be polite in any sort of situation.
It was a miracle that Eren hadn’t grown up to be a complete savage. Simply Eren had no idea how an authority should be, what law he was supposed to represent and what where his rules and what he expected from his people.
On that department, Armin and Frieda, who was a politician through and through, helped Eren a lot but apparently it was no longer enough.
For normal people, a power, to be respected, needed to assume a form and a substance, that could be the ones of a crown, or a parliament, or a bunch or rules, or even a statue of stones, but people needed to follow a certainty rather than a mere idea.
Eren, surrounded by his silence, the mysteries regarding his born and life and all his secrets, with the passing of time had become an idea to follow… by another person that could represent him better.
A good and fearful reputation was necessary for a good commander, Erwin was a perfect example of that, people were attracted by his charm but at the same time were wary of his cold and practical attitude, it helped to create some sort of distance, but that distance couldn’t be too vast, or else the followers would lose the sight of the one who they were supposed to follow.
Even if it was tedious and in most of the cases hateful, any society needed its politics and politics, to exist, needed someone who knew how to represent it and how to make it respected by the civilians.
After all, doing politics meant to set the activities associate with making decisions inside and regarding a group and it regarded any form of power of relations that existed inside that specific group. The people of Paradis were used to someone leading them, telling them what they could or they could not do. Eren needed to adequate to it and he would, but it was also time for him to develop his own kingdom, his own laws. He couldn’t start from where the former kingdom was interrupted, if he wanted to be recognize as a leader, he needed to leave his own sign and be followed for who he was and the goal he wanted to achieve.
“You summed up pretty much my entire situation. I left the island and when I returned I realized that I’ve been away from my people for too much time. As you told me once, if exposed with brilliance, people would be willing to follow even a mere idea, but if the idea becomes something too much abstract, then people start questioning it and the idea could get substituted by something concrete” said Eren “I need to become concrete, in the eyes of my people, Armin. It’s time for my design to assume a specific form”.
“What do you mean ? What form are you talking about ?”
“Listen to me Armin, we have a lot to catch up on. I hope you have time”.
“I’m currently locked up in a laundry room while were talking, what about you ?”
“I’m enjoying a bath and I wanted the company of a friend” said Eren blinking at Armin.
“Cretin” said Armin giggling “Why don’t you start by finding a boyfriend ? Stability always put someone in a good life in the eyes of society”
“Yeah and then like any other ruler, I will form my personal harem of whore to use at my disposal” commented Eren sarcastically.
“It’s not always like that and a family always help with appearance”
“Tell Frieda that, it didn’t work good for her family” commented Eren lying on the sand.
“About her, how are you going to make up to her ?”
“By listening to her. I hurt her feelings by making her feel excluded, so the least I could do is to involve her more in my life. I will try to be a better son for her”.
“You have no idea about how to be a son” commented Armin lying next to Eren on the sand.
“You have no idea about how to be a sincere person, Armin.” Said Eren starting playing with Armin’s hair.
“What’s that supposed to mean ?” asked Armin.
Eren bite his lower lip, undecided whether to continue the conversation or not, but it could no longer be procrastinated. If Eren wanted to improve his social skills and work on his flaws then he had to start with Armin and work on their friendship. Their friendship had origin in an improbable situation, where there was a certain power imbalance and that condition was still present.
They weren’t equals, they’d never be, Eren had the power to make of Armin everything he wanted and that itself scared the blond to death. Not matter how much he tried to rationalize his situation, there was always a lingering fear that remained inside Armin’s hearth that create a rift between him and Eren.
Eren, on the other hand, felt that there was something that was bothering Armin and that something was about him and he didn’t want to let it go that time.
“You’re angry at me as well. Be honest with me please.” Said Eren looking him in the eyes “Say all you have to say”
“I’m angry at you” Armin confessed “I hate when you ignore me, I hate when you disappear for too long without telling me anything. I’m flattered that I’m the one you always choose to share your feelings, but then you keep pushing me away and it hurts. I know I can’t be trusted, I said so many lies that sometimes I could barely believe my own words, but…”
“The same applies to me I guess. You’re a liar and I’m socially incompetent, I wouldn’t survive without you and you know”
It was the second time he pronounced those words and it was the first time he meant it, actually meant it with all his heart.
“Spare these nonsenses for those who believe you”
“You believe me, I know” said Eren winking at him.
“Stupid, I thought we were having a moment”
“We are. Seriously I expect anybody to be afraid to voice their thoughts to me but not you, never you. If something bothers you, you have to tell me” said Eren lying on his side and starting caressing Armin’s check.
Armin put his hand over Eren’s and said “Then I ask you to stop pushing me away. Let me in completely, if you do, then you will have to answer me when I call you. You can’t be the one to pull the string anymore, I will have to be able to do it as well”
“Fine, we’re partners, we’ve been that even before to become friends. I will hold your hand till the end, so please do the same for me” said Eren kissing Armin on the check.
“I will. I swore my loyalty to you once, I’m renovating my vow of friendship toward you now. Not matter what, I will always stand by your side”
“Always and forever ? Against everyone ?”
The question wasn’t casual of course. Armin knew who Eren was referring to. Then why he hesitated when he swore again ? It lasted just a second, a pause between the words that wasn’t supposed to be, a blink of his eyes that wasn’t supposed to interrupt their game of looks, Eren noticed, but pretended not to and Armin was deeply sorry and he was sincere for that.
Of the entire conversation based on their friendship only one thing was clear, what was true in their life they were able to make it fake through the words, so it was better to remain in silence and enjoy each other’s presence. If they friendship was destined to last or not, only time would tell.
“I love you, Armin” said Eren putting his forehead on Armin’s.
“I love you too, Eren”.
And that, unfortunately for both of them, it wasn’t a lie.
…
Floch had a bad sensation, but he still couldn’t understand what it was exactly. He simply knew that there was a shift in the air, he could feel it, deep inside his bone, while he was surveilling the coasts, as he was ordered by his king.The same king that, the moment he returned, took his hand and kissed his knuckles with a kindness the was at the same time familiar and foreigner.His king looked different while he was walking away from him, leaded toward Utopia, where his house was. Eren asked him to come back in Utopia as soon as someone would arrive to surveil the coasts in his place. Floch quickly provided to find a substitute he could trust and they told him they would have arrived in few minutes to take his place.In the meantime, Floch had some time to himself to think about his king.There was something different in him, in his posture, in his green eyes. For people who weren’t used to interact with him nothing was different but Floch could say to know Eren on an intimate level and not just because they slept together from time to time. Flock was not only a passionate lover, ready to satisfy all Eren’s needs inside and outside the bedroom and ready to obey any order inside and outside the battlefield. Floch knew Eren as a king, as a man, a lover, a fighter and a giant so, when something was off about him, Floch could notice even without directly seeing it. But what was different ? What happened to his king ? Where had he been ? Why hadn’t he come back sooner ?Floch hoped Eren would confide in him soon, even though he knew it was a silly thought.Eren would tell everything to Armin, but not him, he knew it.At some point he noticed the presence of someone behind him and not just anybody, but the presence of the ninth of the legendary giants of the island. “I wasn’t waiting for you to substitute me… Ramzi” he said turning around to look at the ‘young boy’ behind him. Ramzi was an fourteen years old boy, but people shouldn’t be tricked by his young appearance, it was just that, an appearance. If someone looked attentively for more than a couple of minutes inside his green eyes, they would see that he was anything but a child.Ramzi, with his green eyes, his olive skin and his brunette hair, could be mistaken for Eren’ son or a younger replica, not only for his aspect but also for his strength. Of all the giants in the island, no one would have expected Ramzi to be one of the strongest and instead he was.He was wearing a dark green jacket, with a black turtleneck shirt beneath him, a pair of black trousers and green shoes at his feet. A curious combination of colors that was supposed to balance Ramzi’s childish and mature aspects of his persona.His soul was older than his body, his mind wasn’t full of childish ideas, Ramzi himself was a child only with the body but he was a soldier and the pragmatism of an adult.After getting the injection, his body stopped growing and when he shifted back in his human form, Ramzi’s body started growing again, but very slowly. If he was nine years old when he got injected, when he shifted back in 2095 he looked like a nine years old boy, then, in 2098 he didn’t looked like someone on the verge of adolescence since he kept all his childish traits, making him look like he was barely an year older than he actually was. His past human life, the one before injection, also prevented him from living his age so, inside that little body, there was a repressed adult that hated his imagine with all his heart.Eren kept him in high regards, Armin the same, somehow. Floch only acknowledged Ramzi when they were in the same reunion, otherwise they weren’t that close. “I was looking for you actually” said Ramzi “I thought we could go to Utopia together” “Why not “ Ad soon as my substitute arrives” “You know what he’s going to tell us” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. “He’s going to tell us about his little trip outside our borders” “Do you know where he went ?” asked Ramzi. “No.” admitted Floch gritting his teeth. “Are you disappointed that he didn’t take you with him ?” asked Ramzi trying to refrain himself from laughing at Floch’s face. “Are you here to get on my nerves Ramzi ? I don’t give two fucks that you look like a brat” “Fuck off Flock, the whole island know you die after him.” “So that’s why you came here and proposed me to go to Utopia together. You hoped to get some spoiler from me” “There’s no harm in trying” said Ramzi shrugging “It could be a good occasion for a conversation” he said playing with his hands. “I hope the topic will be interesting because I’m not so much in the mood for silly talks” “I want to talk about our king. People started questioning him, they no longer intend to put it up with his absences” said Ramzi “The people on this island would still be slaves if it wasn’t for our king” replied Floch “They’d better remember it” “That is not the whole truth, you know it” replied Ramzi calmly, then he took a candy from his pocket and offered one to Floch, who declined it. “Is there a point in this conversation ?” asked Floch instead. “No, I just hoped you could tell me something earlier than our next reunion” Floch didn’t believe him, not even for a second. Ramzi was eleven years old in his aspect only, his mind and soul were older than that, much older than that. Nevertheless Ramzi had learnt thorough the time how to use his youth appearance for his advantage, inside and outside the battlefield.Ramzi wasn’t the strongest of the nine, but there was something in what he outmatched all of them and it was the art of stealth.Ramzi was able to steal anything from anybody, from money, clothes, objects and information. That was why Floch understood, from the moment when Ramzi asked him to talk, that boy had gathered some important information around the island. “We won’t be able to arrive in Utopia before our next reunion, not that it matters since our king usually probably gathers us in the desert” said Floch “But I will gladly go there with you Ramzi” Ramzi snorted “Lovely. Your substitute hasn’t arrived there, so I think we can start our conversation here. After all, it’s not like you haven’t smelt it” “Smelt what exactly ?” asked Floch getting closer to Ramzi. The two ‘men’ started sizing each other with their eyes. Green locked in the brown. They were studying each other, careful not to miss even the slightest movements, the minimal shiver, any breath the other took. Like two animals that were preparing their ground before their fight. “We have a lot to talk about Floch. Hope you have enough time” …
“Greeting my dear friends, I’m sorry for having gathered all of you here of all sudden and for being absent for too much long. I’m deeply sorry”
Those were the first words Eren pronounced to his most trusted giants, once all of them were together reunited with him in the desert. He looked all of them in the eyes when he apologized to them, he wanted them to understand, not only through their bonds but also through his words, that he was deeply sorry for his past behavior.
He looked Armin for a moment and the blonde nodded at him in return, then he looked at Floch, how slightly bow at him, Sasha, Marco and Ramzi smiled. Ymir and Frieda looked impassible, probably still thinking at their last conversation, E2 looked uncomfortable there and the last person, the third of the nine giants, remained in silent, arms crossed, high shoulders and concentrated eyes and an impassible expression on the face.
It was always emotional when the nine giants reunited together in the desert. It was the first place Eren ever felt like home and those were the first people he’d ever felt some sort of connection with. He took a moment to look at them all, to impress their faces in his memory in order to keep that memory alive in his heart. He knew that the next words he would pronounced, not matter if they were received by positive or negative reactions, would change something among them. Also, not even him was able to predict how long it would take before all of them reunited together in the desert again.
He missed all of them deeply, Armin the most, but the others as well. If he was up to him, he would keep all of them there safe with him in the desert, where the world of men could not follow them with their cruelty. It would be such a beautiful dream, but that was in the end, a dream.
The reality was calling of all them to the arms and there was no more room for hesitation. Eren had to prepare all of them for the next move of their crusade, so that they could prepare to protect themselves in any circumstance.
“I’m sure all of you have some complaints about me you are more than willing to express but before that, I gathered you here to share with you the results of my last mission.”
“We’re really curious to know more about it” said Frieda pretty coldly and with a little bit of sarcasm and poison.
Eren ignored her, the others appeared to be a little uncomfortable instead, all but Ramzi, who was enjoying that scene a little bit too much, to the point that Floch had to jab him in order to make him stop giggling.
The tension in the atmosphere could be cut with a knife, all of the people could feel it and all the people fear it. Frieda and Eren had always been partners, the moments when they disagreed about something were settle in private, so it was the first time they saw them not to get along.
They knew how Frieda behaved when something bothered her and they knew how Eren reacted when he felt attacked but, for everyone’s surprises, Eren remained perfectly calm and collected.
“I went to the underground, at the beginning it was only to leave a trail. I know that Zeke Yeager is being selling products on the black market thanks to the information gathered by Armin. I know that the black market is managed by the criminality of the underground, so I made a deal with few of them in order to control the next selling of any products of Yeager”
“Fantastic !” commented Sasha “We can finally anticipate Yeager’s moves as well !”
“Not only, but this way we can also control his incomes” commented Ramzi “If we manipulate his sales we can cut off any outstanding incomes. Without money, the warriors unit won’t be able to hide for longer”
“Yes, but this wasn’t the only goal. I don’t know if luck is finally on my side, but there I got the opportunity to fight with Kenny Ackerman, also known as the Ripper of the underground, also known as the king’ killing hand” he said looking at Frieda, who gasped at the mention of that name.
“It’s impossible, from the fall of family… in 2068… He must be old and he…” muttered Frieda, almost losing her usual composure.
“He’s alive, he’s been injected and he took Ackerman as his last name. He survived, barely aged since 2068. The bastard cut my hand off” said Eren.
“What ?” asked Frieda becoming even more paler than usual “Was he strong enough to outmatch you ?”
“Of course not” snorted Eren “Why are you still following me if you doubt me so much ? That was all part of the plan”
“What plan ?” asked Ymir.
“Until this moment, Reiss was convinced that I was death, once my hand gets analyzed, he will know I’m still alive and start looking for me again, exposing himself and committing mistakes along the way”
“Are you sure about it ?” asked Marco “He’s never left his hideout since 2095, he probably thinks you’re here on an island he can’t conquer, why do you think he will…”
Suddenly, Marco interrupted what he was saying and all of them looked straight at E2, who was following the conversation with fatigue.
The poor boy didn’t understand why suddenly all the eyes of the other people were directed at him and why they looked so worried. What was he missing ?
“What ?” he asked.
“You’re planning to use him as a bait ?” asked Sasha stunned “How ?”
“You’ve been planning this before he left the island ?” asked Marco.
“Aren’t you getting too far ?” asked Ymir “He’s not ready for something like this”
“We trained him for this and he won’t be left alone, but all of us have made sacrifices to get this far. Kenny knows my face, he will look for me or any trace that can lead him toward him and I left him one as well, a good one. Levi Ackerman was in the underground as well for a mission, Armin will tell you everything later…” he said looking at Armin.
Armin nodded, but he didn’t add anything more. Eren already told everything to him and he agreed with him. It may seemed too cruel to use E2 as a bait but all of them had gone too far to hesitate more. It was no longer the time to play in defense but at the same time it was too early to attack again. It was the time to set a trap and use their enemies to reach their goals before to land another decisive attack but in order to do so, they needed Reiss to expose himself. To make a move and reach out for Zeke Yeager. That part was easy.
Both the men had connections with both the undergrounds and the black markets, they would find the way to reconnect and share the information they had, all thanks to the deals that Eren had made in the underground. At the same time, Eren would lead both Reiss and Yeager toward the Scouts Legion in order to start a conflict between the three parts.
Whichever of them won in the end didn’t matter, Eren was sure that the other two would get either utterly defeated or furtherly weakened and both of those outcome got in his favor.
In the end, only one enemy would stand against him and his people and then he could finally land his final attack before to conquer the world.
Armin helped Eren explaining all that to the others, emphasizing the logical side of all things and keeping the emotional one hidden. It was not the time to get emotional over things, they were stalling while the other three factions were slowly advancing.
Erwin was ready to recruit more people and thanks to Hanji Zoe he was close to recreate the serum, not to mention that he had Levi by his side.
Zeke Yeager was becoming more powerful as well, not only because he possessed a very powerful giants but because he was acting as some sort of substitute of the nucleus with the other members of the Warrior Units and that was making him improve with his abilities faster than ever. Furthermore, his new contacts with the black market were helping him to fund the members of the warriors and he was also recruiting more people under his commands.
In the end, Reiss was doing pretty much the same. With the military police brigade under his command and the funds of the emperor and Marleyan government, he would be able to hide until he finally had put his grasp on the Scouts Legion as well and reunite with the remaining members of the Warrior Units.
Meanwhile, they, the giants of Paradise, played with cautiousness and in defense. That situation had to end.
“I told you Frieda…” said Eren looking his queen in the eyes “… That I would do anything to give you back your kingdom. I put the cogs in motion, it’s only a matter of time before either the Scouts Legion or the Warrior Unit lead us toward your father and when that moment arrives…”
“I will finally have everything that’s rightfully mine” concluded Frieda with lucid eyes.
“But how do you think this can work out ?” asked Sasha confused.
“I’m pretty sure that, knowing Reiss, that he will send some of his men to infiltrate among the Scouts Legion” answered Eren “Amin, when is the next recruitment planned ?”
“It’s a matter of weeks. Even less. Commander Smith has already received a list with the names of the firsts candidates to put under scrutiny.” Answered Armin.
“Is it still possible to access the selections ?” asked Eren.
“The enrollment is going to terminate the next month” answered Armin.
“Then we’re still on time to proceed with the next part of the plan. Ymir and Floch will enlist as well”
“What ?” exclaimed Floch and Ymir.
“Why do you look surprise ? It was decided long ago. First Armin had to go undercover to spy on both the Warrior Units and the Scouts Legion, then Sasha, Marco and E2 would follow him to spy the progress they were making on anything regarding the serum and then Floch and Ymir for last would be recruited as soldiers in order to have more freedom than the others to move and investigate among the lines of the army and anything else that could be important.”
“True but… shouldn’t we change the plan a little bit ?” asked Ymir looking alarmed “I mean… if Reiss now knows that you’re still alive there’s always the slightest chance that he would try to come here. Sending me and Floch away would leave the island even more vulnerable to any attack”
“I will follow any order you give. I have no objections” replied Floch instead.
“Floch, how can you say something like this so easily ?” asked Ymir getting angry.
Ymir hated Floch’s blind obedience. How could he not see the danger Eren was putting their people in ? How could he agree with the plan so easily only because it was Eren’s idea ?
She looked at Frieda, hoping that she would disagree with Eren, but it was clear that, once she saw the excellent results of Eren’s latest mission, nothing Ymir would tell her could make her change her mind.
“As Eren said, it was already part of the plan. You and I both knew that we would have to leave the island eventually. It was everything already prepared so why all this ruckus ?”
“Me, Frieda and the remaining members of the nine will remain here to protect our people” said Eren “Furthermore, I’m even more sure that Yeager will try to reach out for Reiss after his fight with Hawkins”
“Why ?” asked Marco.
“Zeke Yeager knows that Frieda may be alive” said Eren “If Reiss gets wind of this, I’m sure he will make a move. Maybe he would even panic and, if we’re lucky, commit a mistake. I created the best opportunity we could have ever dreamed of to control all our enemies at once. I gave all of them a target, which means that we know their goals, we just keep to keep an eye on how they intend to pursue them”
Armin, who observed all Frieda’s reactions with attention, smirked when he found her fully immersed in the conversation and in all the advantages that E2’s involvement in the plan would bring to her personal cause.
For a moment he feared that Frieda would act like the people savior and objected about E2’s role in the mission, only to show the others how clement she could be but in the end, all Eren had to do was to show her the concrete possibility to have her kingdom back until the end of the next year and Frieda quickly forgave him and forgot about the danger Eren was going to put E2 through.
Frieda was feeling euphoric, quickly forgetting about the anger and the resentment she felt toward Eren. He gave her all the good news he promised to her. An opportunity to land a definitive strike on her father, that same father that was responsible for the murderer of her family and her conditions.
Finally she had an opportunity to drag him out of his little hideout and fight him and, once the battle was over, she would finally have her crown back.
E2, on his part, had realized, time before to arrive there, when he felt Levi’s pull, that something was about to happen and change all the cards on the table, but at the moment he wasn’t worried for his fate. His anger outmatched everything else at the moment, to the point that he no longer intend to wait for a confrontation with Eren.
“We need to talk. You said before that you’re willing to listen to any complaint, well I have a complaint and if you’re willing to put my life on the risk again, I think that I deserve the precedence. I want to talk with you, just you and me, right now”
“Mmmm…” murmured Eren “Any objection ?” he asked looking at the other shifters.
Nobody answered, so Eren looked at E2 and said “Well then, I said all that I had to. If you have any more question I will gladly answer to you as soon as I finish to speak with E2. Follow me”
Eren started walking further in the desert, quickly followed by E2.
E2 could still feel Levi’s pull inside his head, but he was determinate to ignore it in order to get the answers he wanted. He was not going to have another occasion like that to talk to Eren eye to eye.
E2 had no doubt that Eren would try to persuade him into take part of the mission and be used as a bait for that Reiss guy, but before E2 gave his answers he wanted to confront Eren about his business with Levi and he also wanted more answers about himself. He was naïve and ignorant about life but at that point he understood that he and Eren were linked by something more than their physical similarities.
The dreams he was having about Eren and Levi weren’t just dreams, they were memories and the same applied for any other dream he had. The more time passed, the more he was convinced of that. But why was he the only one who was having those dreams ? What was Eren doing with Levi ? Why, after their encounter, E2 felt even more connected with the man ?
What was Eren trying to achieve ? What was exactly the role E2 have to play in that game ?
If he had to jeopardize his life one more time for Eren’s crusade, then the latter had to at least have the decency to give him all the explanations he wanted, without hiding anything more.
On that part E2 was doubtful. He would never be able to get all the answers he wanted from Eren, he was aware of it, but at least he hoped to something important in return. Eren owned him that much and E2 was sure to make the other understand that.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Paradis Island October 23nd 2098
E2 and Eren had walked for several minutes before the latter stopped, when he deemed that they were far enough from the other nine shifters.
Eren didn’t need his ability to know exactly what E2 wanted to talk to him so badly but it was his fault. When he was with Levi, Eren had forgot a lot of things, including his bond with E2.
Their bond was different from any other he shared with other shifters. Their bond was deeper, stronger, to the point that they couldn’t simply share memories, or thoughts, but they could ‘live’ a same moment at the same time.
E2 of course still didn’t know how it could be possible and Eren wasn’t planning to tell him the whole truth, it was still too early, but he was willing to meet the other halfway.
“Ask me” he said turning around to look E2 in the eyes.
“What the hell have you been doing with Levi ? I saw you two. I know those weren’t mere dreams so don’t even think about lying to me”
“Did you tell it to someone else ?”
“And risking Levi’s life ? What do you think ? No, I know what you think. That I’m stupid and socially incompetent and you’re right but I know… I know that Levi is a danger… and…” E2 was no longer able to repress his tears of frustration “… And I know… that you…”
“That I what ?”
“GODDAMIT EREN !” E2 shouted “When I had those memories, because we’re talking about memories aren’t we ? I remember… I’m coming close”
“If you’re coming close, then why do you want to talk with me ? It looks like you can’t even believe a word I say” replied Eren remaining calm in spite of E2’s outburst.
“What is Levi to us ?” asked E2 wiping the tears with the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
“What should he be ?” asked Eren instead “You know it, spare me these silly questions”.
“We’re bonded, right ? I’ve been told about mates. Our giant can recognize its potential partner. Ours is Levi, isn’t he ? What do you think to do about it ?”
“There’s nothing to do about it. We’ve been unlucky, that’s why you’d better shut up and play along the events I’m going to create for you”
“What do you mean ?” asked E2, even if he knew exactly what Eren was about to answer.
“You feel it right ? Levi’s pull toward us ?” asked Eren “His unconsciousness his calling out our giant. We’re connected, but my bond with him can’t bloom, not without your help anyway”
“Because you can’t stay with him, right ?”
“Exactly.” Then a pause, then Eren said “You can though. Spend time with him, answer to his pull, hold his hand, hear his voice, get to know him better… do with him all the things I can’t. I don’t know if it is worthy or not, for the first time I don’t want to try any prediction. I just want to see how this situation will evolve on its own”
“So that’s what I am now ? I’m not only your bait, I’m also your tool to be Levi… without being with him”
“Would you stay away from him ? Be honest. If I order you, right here right now, to pack up all your things, come back on the island and forget about Levi, would you obey ?” Eren challenged E2.
E2 hesitated to answer. Would he really obey Eren ? Would he accept to come back and forget about Levi ? No, he wouldn’t. He was more willing to become a bait than to leave Levi.
“Why the hesitation ? If I can predict Levi’s attitude a little bit, I can tell that he’s already told the truth about us to Commander Smith.”
“Why ?”
“Because he’s a man of honor. He’s not a coward, he’s not afraid to openly admit when he screws things up. So he probably has already confessed everything to his little buddy by now, that’s why I feel the need to warn you…” he said coming closer to E2 and putting an hand on his shoulder “… Levi is going to try to use you as well”
E2 gulped, deeply hurt by those words, but he remained in silence.
“That’s right. He’s not different from any other person you met. He’s not out of the game only because he’s our mate. He’s going to use you, to obey his Commander’s orders.”
“Why are you telling me this ?”
“Because, in spite of anything you can think, I’m an honest person” said Eren shrugging “I use you, I use everyone around me, but at least I’m honest. I plan to use you as a bait in my plan and now you know. I wonder if Levi is going to be as honest as I am about his intentions toward you”
“That’s because you think that everyone is monstrous like you ?” asked E2 crossing his arms.
“No. It’s all due to the situation we’re in. Levi is our mate and enemy. You can decide, from now on, if you want Levi to be your weakness or our point of strength. I took my decision and I will accept the consequences. Now it’s your turn”
“Are you not going to order me what to do ? Aren’t you going to control my mind ? Just like with Tom ?”
“Get over that piece of shit, it’s not good to live in the past. And to answer your question, no. Feel free to do whatever the hell you want, this time the choice is your completely. Choose Levi or your people, choose to be a burden or our greatest resource, but you have to choose right here and right now”
“That’s cruel” commented E2, defeated.
The mission that was assigned to him was cruel, not only for Levi, but for him as well. Once again, Eren was demanding him to hurt someone he held dear to prove his loyalty to his cause. Firstly Tom, who was a father figure to him and then Levi.
E2 didn’t kiss Levi, he was deeply embarrassed at the idea to have sex with him, he was too young for that and Levi too old for him to do those stuff together, but, even without sharing those experiences, he held the man dear. Levi was his other half, E2 couldn’t ignore it. Just like he couldn’t ignore that he and Eren were closer than he originally thought and that the other only saw him as a tool. Not matter how hard Eren tried to make E2 believe that he cared about him, E2 felt that Eren didn’t care about him over a certain point, just like Eren didn’t care about himself over a certain point. Eren didn’t care if that mission hurt E2 more than everyone else, that piece of shit was locking his emotions without a false and cold pragmatism and E2 hated that side of him.
“Life is cruel, you should know it by now and we’re in the middle of war. The most important choice must to be taken with rapidity. For Commander Smith, the game has already begun. Levi is already there waiting for you. We can’t waste time” another pause then Eren continue “I must know if I can trust you in this or not. Are you still willing to play your part on my war ? Yes or not ?”
“I’m not like you, Eren and stop patronizing me”
“Congratulations for all these big words you’re learning” said Eren in a clear mock, then he continued “And I know you’re not like me, that’s why is going to be easier for you to make him believe anything you say. You know nothing, you don’t know the truth, so you can’t tell a lie.”
“Is this the reason why you refuse to tell me how I was born ?” asked E2 “Then why did you make me participate in this reunion ? I know all the plan now, don’t you fear that I can accidentally spill the bean ?”
“It’s not like Commander Erwin can’t anticipate such course of actions. He’s a very perspective man and he will be more focus on making Armin talk than you, so I get nothing to worry about” said Eren winking.
Eren’d never met the man personally but he already loathed him with all his heart. He has a sharp mind that was able to rival Armin’s and, until then, he was able to predict Eren’s moves with precision. Not only that, but the thing Eren hated the most was that Smith was on the right path to conquer Armin’s heart and that was unacceptable. That was another reason why Eren needed E2. Eren couldn’t find in his heart the will to hurt Levi over a certain point, but he knew that in his mental battle against Smith it was inevitable. Smith was trying to seduce Armin so, to counterbalance, Eren had to use Levi as well and he needed E2 to do it.
“So that’s it ah ?” asked E2 with sarcasm “Levi is our mate and I have to use him for the cause. My dreams are memories of the two of us and you can’t tell me anything to protect the truth from Levi, so that he couldn’t use our bound to learn all your secrets.”
“Basically yes. All I need from you is an answer…” said Eren coming closer to E2 and leaning toward him to look him in the eyes “Are you on my side ? Are you still willing to fight this war ? Yes or not ?”
“Why did you get involve with him ? Why did you risk his safety like this if you know you couldn’t protect him ? And why are you involving me now ? After all this time of radio silence ?”
“Because you know how much Levi means to me, to us. You can understand without me using words for it. I’m entrusting him to you. If you play your role well, Commander Smith will believe that Levi has an influence on you, an influence he desperately needs and so he would do anything it takes to protect Levi, but that can happen only if you allow Levi to get close to you”.
“And what about them ?” asked E2 indicating the other shifters “You don’t trust them, I can feel this as well. You didn’t even tell to Armin. How do you plan to protect Levi from them too ?”
“In the same way. Even if they find out about Levi, the moment they see that I’m using him to get at the Commander they would believe that I have no care for him at all.”
“What if they try to kill him to test you ?”
“They won’t. By then, Levi would have already become a precious source of information to anticipate Smith’s moves and everyone would be grateful for my sacrifice. Don’t you see, E2 ? Levi’s life is in your hands” said Eren “All you have to do is to low your head now, accept the mission and protect Levi on my behalf. You don’t even have to do anything in particular, just allowing Levi to get closer to you. Unlock your bonds, answer to his pull, be a friend for him. You’re young, he won’t try anything with you, but you have to be honest with him, that’s why the less you know the better is. Are you with me in this ?”
Of all the things Eren could ask to E2, that was the cruelest one. To use Levi like that, so that E2 would not be able to refuse the mission. It was also cruel that Eren was justifying all his actions with the excuse to protect Levi in return.
Even if Eren was right and E2 managed to protect Levi, it didn’t change the fact that they were using him. Although Levi was doing the same, E2 didn’t want to play dirty as well. It wasn’t the person he was. When he accepted to leave the island, it was to meet the man he was dreaming about, not to deceive and use him like a doll.
Not matter how innocent were the intentions, the actions couldn’t be erased and E2 knew that his actions were going to be morally wrong.
He looked Eren in the eyes. The other was feeling the same, he could feel it. For the first time ever, E2 saw a broken man in those green eyes, a broken man with a crown on his head and a sword ready to fall on his nape and who found his mate at the worst time ever.
It was then that he realized that Eren couldn’t care less about the mission, all he cared was for E2 to protect Levi on his behalf by both the Scouts and their people.
Eren couldn’t expose himself to directly protect those he cared about, it would be intended as a violation of the neutrality and the coldness that a ruler had always to flaunt. That request was probably the biggest act of trust ever made by Eren.
But that time, E2 wanted to be a little selfish, he wanted something in return.
“Will you tell me the truth ? One day ?” asked E2 instead.
“Is that your price ?”
“Not a price. A request. You know how it hurt to exist without an identity and whether we like it or not, our past molds our identity. I don’t care if it hurts, I prefer pain over the emptiness I feel whenever I look myself in the mirror”
Eren clicked his tongue against his teeth. He knew what E2 meant very well and he knew how terrible was the despair that came from the lack of sense of self. Eren himself hadn’t known the truth about himself and when it happened, it came all so sudden that he thought he was about to lose his mind. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the time to tell the truth to E2. Eren wasn’t ready for that step, maybe he was a coward, maybe he was truly a piece of scum, but it was still too early.
There was still a trace of innocence in E2 and Eren didn’t have in his heart the will to take it away for good, not yet.
“Okay. One day I will tell you the truth” said Eren holding E2’s hands “I swear on my life.
Once the conversation between the two was over, they returned to the other group of shifters and Eren reaffirmed his willingness to listen to any question or complain they had. He wanted the other to know that their king was there for them, that he had in heart their happiness and their wellbeing,
Sasha and Marco opened up about how homesick they were feeling and that they would appreciate more constant updates about what happened on Paradis. Eren accepted it.
Ramzi complained about Eren’s habit to isolate himself and the recent lack of communication among the nine shifters. He told that there should be more reunions and updates about the activities done by each one of them and that if someone had something to say, they had to be able to ask for a reunion.
Eren accepted that request as well.
Ymir and Floch had no request, they simply asked for more information about their imminent mission. Frieda asked to know more about Kenny Ackerman, she had already expressed all her complaints to him already.
E2 had no requested, he simply communicated the others that he had accepted the mission and he spent the rest of the reunion sat on the sand, in silence.
“What about you ? Do you have any request ?” he asked to the third of the nine giants.
… Few hours later… Paradis Island Utopia Eren was alone in his bedroom and he was training with his new abilities, meanwhile he was reflecting over his reunion with his court, analyzing any single little detail. From the facial expression of any participants, to their words and their requests.Throughout that reunion, he pushed all of them to show their cards, or part of them and to earn their trust back. Slowly, very slowly, he was gaining back all the territory he’d lost.He moved a couple of metallic objects and modelled them to turn them into sharp objected before throwing them against the wall. “I’m getting better at this as well” he commented observing all the holes on the wall where he drew red circles as targets to improve his precision.
‘You’ve been good, but is it good enough ?’
Eren rolled his eyes. Of course Kruger felt the necessity to voice his opinion over his performance at the reunion. ‘I’ve been good but ?’
‘Nothing. You’ve been good. You showed them you’re fundamental for them, that you’re not a king that wastes his time but that he actively acts for his population’.
‘Why do I feel that a but is on arrival ?’
‘You shouldn’t have used E2 so soon. That was a risky move. You prepared him to fight and to have an idea of the world he lived, but not to play a role like this. He isn’t going to be able to lie, not to Levi and not to Commander Smith’
‘He doesn’t have to lie’ replied Eren moving the metallic objects again and throwing them again against the wall ‘He knows nothing’ ‘You spoke about the plan in front of him’ ‘I still have control over him, I will intervene if I feel that he’s about to crumble. I have everything under control. I invested too much in this to let even the tiniest mistake to ruin everything’
‘You still tend to get emotional’
‘I’m not longer a kid’
‘I didn’t say you’re a kid, I said you kept your tendency to overreact and lose your temper, just like back then…’
‘Back then I didn’t know who I was. It’s terrifying and E2 is terrifying and he can crumble anytime. I can tell him the truth but I can give him a hope to keep him steady.’
‘And to keep him loyal to you. You refused to tell him the truth because this way, he will do his best to reach your expectations and he won’t do anything stupid because he knows that, in case of failure, you won’t give him the answers he wants’.
‘You make me sound so spiteful’.
‘I taught you to be even worse than that’.
Eren grinned. He was a piece of shit, that was the truth and one more time Kruger was the person who understood him the best.Discussing of his plan with his court in front of E2 wasn’t the best move, Eren gambled on it, but he had his reasons, furthermore Kruger was right when he said that Eren was pulling his strings on E2.Eren understood E2 better than anyone, that was why it was easy for the first to control the second, almost easy as breathing.Eren was the only chance E2 had to fill the emptiness inside him caused by the loneliness, the same loneliness that only someone who had no idea about who they were could feel. A kind of loneliness that Eren knew pretty well and that he could use at his own advantage. It was a kind of loneliness that couldn’t be fill, without any way out, if not learning something about themselves.E2 had Eren, he had some hope that one day that emptiness would be filled and until that hope shined, Eren had nothing to worry about. He didn’t even need to intimidate E2, until he promised to keep his word. The younger shifter was lucky, Eren had no one who gave him the same hope back when he needed the most.
…
PARADISE ISLAND UTOPIA 2089
Scream.
That was the first thing Eren did as soon as he regained his consciousness, just before jumping down his bed and starting destroy everything inside the room.
He started with all the gifts he received from that man who pretended to be his father. He destroyed each one of them, until his knuckles bleed and the floor was entirely covered by thousands pieces of shattered toys.
‘Calm down, you would alarm the other’.
Again, that tedious voice inside his head. The same voice who deceived him the day before, making him believe for a moment that he could be free only to be captured again.
“WHY ?” he screamed “Why did you show me those things ? Why do I have to stay here ?” he asked kicking the wall so hard that it broke it, but not enough to breach it.
‘Where would you go ? You’re still a kid and you have nothing. You can’t take care of yourself out there’ that man, Kruger, was trying to reason with him but his words went unlisten ‘You have to trust me, I don’t want to hurt you’.
“Do you think that, only because I’m a child, you can lie to me ? Like him ?” screamed Eren continuing to destroy everything around him.
‘Stop behaving like a savage, with that temper you won’t go that far !’.
“Where the HELL I SHOULD GOOOO ?” screamed Eren with full lungs “WHAT DO YOU WANT ? WHAT DO ALL OF YOU WAAAANT ? I’M NOT SCARED !! I’M NOT SCARED ! COME HERE !! I’M NOT SCARED !”
Eren couldn’t stop himself. The more he screamed, the angrier he got and the stronger was his need to destroy everything around him.
At the beginning he just wanted all those hateful objects to disappear once and for all, but then his anger overpowered anything else and he became blind to it.
Eren could no longer distinguish anything with clarity. All he knew was that that entire room was disturbing him and that was why he wanted to destroy it completely.
He didn’t care how many people would enter inside his room to make him shut up, he was ready to kill all of them. All of them needed to be gone. All of them deserved to die.
That man ‘Kruger’, didn’t say reply. He let Eren screaming, yelling and destroying everything around him until he became exhausted.
Eren fell on the floor and started whining and crying.
‘Have you done ?’
Eren didn’t answer. He kept wailing, sniffing and crying, no longer having the energy to do anything else.
‘Do you want a proof ? A solid proof that you can trust me ? That I will never lie to you ?’
‘Yes…’
‘Trust doesn’t work like that. Even if I tell you something, I can’t prove to you that I’m telling you the complete truth.”
‘I trusted that man’
‘You trusted that man because you’ve never experienced betrayal before. You couldn’t even prove if his words were sincere or not. Now you know what it means to be lied to, now you know the importance of trust and now you realize how hard is to actually trust someone’.
When Eren remained in silence, Kruger continued.
‘I’m sorry you had to learn loneliness so young, but I can understand you. I know how it feels not to be able to have trust in people, to live in the doubt, unable to have honest relationship with people due to the fear of being betrayed, to live with the constant sensation of living in the solitude caused by the safety we only find in our lies’.
‘What do you mean ? I can’t understand…’
‘I’ll make it simpler for you. You’re all alone, in the world. The faster you get used to the loneliness, the faster you learn how to survive in the world.’
Eren remained in silence again, reflecting about what that man was saying to him. He was too young and too ignorant to fully understand the meaning behind those words but the events of the day before left their signs in his soul for sure.
He felt alone indeed, he was alone. He used to look forward his fake father’s visits, those were the only moment when he actually spent his time with someone, but even that man was dead and all he’d left was that voice inside his head. No one would ever come to visit him anymore, no one he could trust. No one he could talk with. No one he would believe anyway.
He was alone, locked in that room, doomed to live of shadows and silence and that hateful smell of bleach. If loneliness had a smell, for Eren it was the smell of bleach.
The knowledge of being alone in the world took from him even the strength to cry. He simply remained there, sat on the floor next to his bed, with his elbows on his knees and the head between his hands.
There he stood, alone, defeated, shattered, broken, abandoned bleeding from his knuckles.
Him, a no one, nameless, orphan, monstrous freak.
‘This moment is your test bench, boy. From this moment you will know who you are’
‘Everything I knew about me is a lie’
‘Probably, but you can still learn something about yourself, but that’s up to you.’
‘What do you mean ?’
‘She left the web, she left the loom… She made three paces thro' the room… She saw the water-flower bloom… She saw the helmet and the plume…’
‘She look'd down to Camelot… Out flew the web and floated wide… The mirror crack'd from side to side… 'The curse is come upon me,' cried… The Lady of Shalott.’ Finished to recite Eren ‘Why are you citing The Lady of Shalott ? What does it have to do with me ?’
‘The moment when the Lady of Shalott realizes that all she knew was nothing more than a resemblance of reality, she chose that it was better dying and seeing the real world instead of living a life of lies. I consider her brave and strong. The moment she took that decision she realized that she was strong enough to accept her fate and the consequences of her decisions’
‘She was scared’
‘Scared but she didn’t regret her choice nevertheless. She faced her death, just like she faced the reality.’
‘So what ?’
‘Let’s learn something about you. Who you are ? A whining tiny child who will allow his loneliness to crush him ? Or are you a brave child who’s ready to be turned into a man that can conquer the entire world and face reality head on ?’
‘What are you saying ?’
Eren couldn’t imagine to become a man that could conquer the world. He felt so broken, shattered. There on the floor, he looked at his bleeding hands and he scoffed.
The wounds were already healed, but the blood was still there. A solid proof that he could still get hurt, that he could still bleed, that he was still vulnerable, that he could still feel pain.
‘It’s up to you. You can decide how to value the current situation. You can see yourself as someone broken, who needs to be fixed. Or you can see as someone who, like a snake, is ready to change skin and turned into a better version of themselves’.
Eren bite his lower lip and wiped his tears with the sleeves, thinking about the words Kruger told to him. He didn’t trust that man.
He was ignorant about the world but he knew that hearing voices inside the head wasn’t normal and that that man couldn’t be trusted. What did Eren actually know about Kruger after all ?
What did that man wanted from him ? Eren would no longer trust someone blindly, not matter how kind or assertive they may looked, would not allow anyone else to deceive him.
After many minutes that Eren remained in silence, Kruger decided to speak up again.
‘So what’s your decision ?’
‘Why do you care so much ? What if I just want to die ?’
‘With all that anger and hatred inside you ? You’re not the suicidal type. Your own pride and your own anger won’t allow you to even try. I can tell’.
Eren rolled his eyes and huffed. That bastard inside his head was right. He was too furious in that moment to even think to die and give the bastards out there the satisfaction of having made him crumble. He was too proud and he also wanted blood.
He licked the one on his knuckles and hummed, satisfied. If his own blood tasted so good, then he couldn’t wait to taste the one of another person. He hoped that one of those people out there would enter his room quickly in order to kill them and eat them. Eren wanted someone to torture, someone to rip into pieces just like he did with his own toys.
Toys couldn’t feel pain, even broken they didn’t bleed, didn’t beg for mercy, didn’t have a soul to mend at his command.
God, his hands itched for the desire of hurting someone, but that man warned him not to behave like that, but it was stronger than Eren.
When he thought about those people, the first thing that came into his mind was to act like an animal, to follow his primordial instincts rather than using his head and find a solution in a long term.
Eren closed his eyes and sighed. He thought about the thing he wanted more than else in the world.
He looked at the walls around him and then he remembered the pictures of the sea that he still kept under his pillow, and he realized that there was something he wanted with all his heart.
‘I want to be free’
‘To be free, you need to find a way to trespass that door as a free man’
‘How can I do it ?’
‘To be free and not to risk to return inside this room ever again, you need skills, abilities and resources. You lack all of three at the moment. I can help you with this but, if you agree, you have to do your part’.
‘Fine, I accept your offer. I give you my word’
‘First lesson, a man’s word means nothing. If you want to prove yourself, you have to do it through concrete facts. If you want to be a leader, you will keep this in mind when you have to measure the value of your men’.
‘Okay. Then I don’t want your word to know if I can trust you or not. I want to ask something’
‘Let’s start with one question about me then, it seems fair. I will show you. I told you, I left you all my memories to guide you in this hard life.’
Eren didn’t know what to ask. There were so many things he would like to know about that man, all equally important, but at that point, if he had to live with that voice inside his head, then he wanted to know something.
‘I want to trust you. I’m asking for trust. What can make me trust you ?’
‘I will be honest with you then. I’m going to show you a memory. The first memory’
‘I don’t want you to show me just any memory. I want to pick it’
‘Pick it then’
‘I want you to show me, when you changed your skin. I want to see what was your turning point’.
‘I had sever turning point actually, but I’m going to show you the first time… the first time I took a life. The moment when I realized that I had no change my skin. It wasn’t a choice for me back then, it was just a consequences of several prior events’
Eren nodded. He stood up and lie down on the bed, where he closed his eyes hugging his pillow.
Kruger showed him an episode happening while he was training before his enlistment. It was the first time Kruger killed someone with his hands. During the training, he had to fight one of his roommates, someone he’d been sharing any moment of the day, someone he shared a relationship with, someone he thought he would rely on forever. Someone he shared some of his secrets, someone who had shared with Kruger something in return.
In the end, the two were requested to fight each other till death and in one second, when Kruger broke the other’s neck, that was when he changed his skin, when he was able to forget all the moments shared together with that person in order to kill them and survive.
Eren understood what the other was trying to teach him by showing that memory.
Firstly, he showed Eren that anyone, at any time of his life, could become his enemy, not matter their past, not matter what kind of moments they shared, he could trust no one.
Secondly, everyone showed their true nature when they faced their death, they showed their strength and their weakness, they also showed their limitations and their willingness to throw their morals out of the windows. Eren noticed it indeed, in the memory.
Kruger that time didn’t win because he was the strongest of the two, he won because his roommate hesitated, because he was too weak to kill a man and live with such responsibility.
Thirdly, Kruger showed Eren that the path for survival was made of blood but that he couldn’t count on his strength alone. Even though his opponent had hesitated, Kruger observed him meticulously during the fight, in order to predict his moves and also, during the previous conversation they shared, Kruger always made sure that the other was the one to reveal more about himself.
Kruger had been studying his roommates all along, almost like he was preparing himself for the day he would fight him. In the end, Eren learnt more information about his roommates than Kruger himself.
Fourthly and finally, Kruger was showing him that it was better not to get attached too much to other people, since he couldn’t ever predict the exact moment he would have to sacrifice them to achieve his own goals. People were nothing but mere phases, they started and they finished and it was better when they finished for their own goals.
He didn’t know if he should be impressed or scared, maybe both, but one thing was sure. If he wanted to be free, Eren had to learn to become like that and more.
‘Did you find it interesting ?’
‘When do we start ?’
‘Close your eyes, we start immediately’
Eren obeyed. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he was no longer inside the white room, but he was in the desert. In front of him, Kruger was still a dark silhouette, he could barely distinguish his face, but it was because his abilities were still too weak in that place.
It didn’t matter though, Eren would have all the time he needed to learn more about the other man.
‘I’ll help you wrap this world in a web of lies. Your truths will shadow reality and the whole world will become your Lady of Shalott’.
…
Years of loneliness, betrayals and lies taught Eren not to trust anyone around him. Even if, back then, Kruger appeared to him as a lighthouse that drove him toward the path of grandeur, Eren knew that the man’s interest in him came with a price.Kruger needed Eren to accomplish his revenge and Eren needed Kruger to survive in the world, theirs was a relationship of convenience, it was futile to even try to deny it.That was part of the reason he was so screwed up, because in all his life all the relationships he formed were based on convenience. It was easy to see things that way, it helped him to keep an emotional distance from everyone, it made easier for him to see people as tools and not as friends or family.That was what Kruger taught him, that was why it was so easy for him to be cruel to E2.Kruger had such control over his life because he was the only person who knew the truth about Eren and that was why Eren’d never tried to push the man out of his mind, because in that case, he would lose the only one with all the answers he needed.That was the primary form of power Eren had learnt, that was the power Kruger had over him.Kruger wasn’t a fool, Eren understood it. The whole game of unlocking his memories was a mere attempt of Kruger to give Eren the hope to find out the truth, but on Kruger’s terms and on his time, so that Eren would never erased him from his mind.Eren would never know when he unlocked all the memories, all those who were important to him at least. Kruger made Eren dependent on him, just like E2 depended on Eren, just like any giant depended on Eren. That was the kind of relationship he knew.At the moment, E2 was the key, the most important mean he had to have everything he wanted, to achieve all his goals, to win his war against the whole world.A key with a mind and a heart of his own was dangerous, that was why Eren needed E2 to need him so much not even ever think to leave him or betray him.
‘I rule the play again, everything is under my control. You don’t need to worry about anything’. He made a mistake. Due to his own nature, he built too many walls between him and the people around him and he committed the mistake of isolating himself, but he was ready to fix everything.He wasn’t the Lady of Shalott, he wasn’t cursed to remain imprisoned into a false reality, he was the king of giants, he modelled the reality as he pleased.His insecurities and his fears sometimes played against him and turned him into a recluse, but he was stronger than that. He would never allow his mind to plot against him and make him weak ever again.
‘Which game are you referring too ?’
Eren snorted, looking at the chessboard that stood at the center of his bedroom.
‘Do you remember when I asked you what piece you identify yourself with ?’
‘I do, I couldn’t answer back then’
‘Now you can ?’
‘Now I see that this is not my kind of game’ Eren threw the chessboard on the floor and watched all the pieces fall. Kings, queens, bishops… were all the same to him. He preferred Go over chess. In the Go game, the goal was to conquer more territories than your opponent, the stones were all equals to use, there were no title, no limitations and in the end the winner could leave their mark on the board.The same mark Eren wanted to leave on the world. He wanted to turn all the territories in black, for everyone to see that those belonged to him.
‘You can’t change your game in the middle’
‘I’m not changing since I’ve always played this game.’
‘Frieda still doesn’t fully trust you’
‘Frieda is the least of my problem. I left several stalking horses along the way. Do you remember the box I ordered to retrieve from Villa Helos ?’
‘Yes, so ?’
‘It’s full of documents where are reported old researches about the serum. I took the liberty to add one that could possibly mention my ability to foreseen the future’
‘Shouldn’t it remain a secret ?’
‘She suspected something. I’m going to use that document to gain back her trust. The rest of those documents are all junk we already knew, but I ordered it to retrieve them because I knew that Frieda was watching me. I gave her something else to concentrate on and another reason for her to understand how fully I trust her to find out whether I can actually see the future or not’.
‘So your plan is to make her waste her time on researching something you already know to keep her busy ?’
‘Exactly’
‘What about Armin ? He’s your weakness. You told him too much and his loyalty is even wavering. His relationship with Commander Smith should worry you’
‘You underestimate our bond…’
‘You overestimate your bond. Do you remember ? Armin was one of your many test benches’.
Kruger was telling the truth. Armin had been his guinea pig, his first test bench. The first and for this the most special of all. The feelings that blossomed out of that bond came second, because in the beginning Armin was simply someone Eren needed to practice all the skills he was learning.How could he, who was nine years old when he met Armin for the first time, convince someone who was older than him, and a smart and capable researcher nonetheless, to form an allegiance with him?What could a child possibly give to Armin to make the other shift his side ?Eren alone would have never been able to do it, but with Kruger’s guidance he was able to achieve that and more. In Armin, he found not only his first guinea pig but also his first and most important ally. In return of what ?
…
PARADIS ISLAND UTOPIA 2090
‘Someone’s close to the door. More than one, I can distinguish two voices’.
Eren was sitting on his bed with a book on his knees. He was reading ‘The Lady of Shalott’, when he suddenly heard two voices arguing outside his door.
‘He must be new, one of them for sure. I don’t recognize the voice’
‘How could you ? Until now, people don’t come back here twice if he could. You scared all of them away’.
‘They piss me off and I haven’t found someone interesting yet. They’re all rude and arrogant’.
‘I have the feeling that we’re going to meet someone’s interesting today’.
As soon as Eren heard those words, the door opened and a young man entered inside. He was very young, compared to the other researchers, almost twenty, but not one year older. He had a funny haircut that reminded Eren of a mushroom, he wasn’t too much tall, for his age and his presence didn’t look took much imposing. His face was still carrying the last traces of his youth and Eren could see from his face that he didn’t want to be there. That he was feeling uncomfortable and Eren didn’t know if he wanted to help him or not.
“What are you doing ?” he asked in the end.
“Ah ?” asked the guy looking surprised.
“Why are you standing up like that ? You look stupid”
“Ah well… I feel… rather stupid right now” said the guy playing with the sleeve of his white coat.
Eren didn’t seem impressed, but that was the longest conversation he’d ever hold with anyone beside his fake father and Kruger and the guy didn’t sound offensive, so it was okay.
Maybe the other was just shy.
‘Be aware, first impressions are important but never let them cloud your judgment. He isn’t shy, his superior is on the other side of the door and he wants to impress him and also survive his time with you. He’s walking of eggshell and he doesn’t want to anger you’.
‘So what am I supposed to do ?’
‘You’re the one in charge. Your response to his presence is going to determinate whether his will be a good or a bad day. He knows it and now you too. But it’s too early to value him, invite him to sit next to you. He’s not going to attack you’.
“Sit next to me” said Eren patting the bed “You make me feel anxious”
The guy nodded then he sat next to Eren, still playing with his sleeves. The guy didn’t even introduce himself, but Eren read on his name tag that his last name was Arlert and that his name started with A.
“What’s your name ?” he asked.
“Armin.”
“It’s the first time I see you. You seem nervous. You’re shaking. Did others tell you something about me, didn’t they ? What did they tell you ?”
‘Eren… not like that. You’re being too aggressive. Look at him before to talk’.
‘I’m looking at him. He’s being rude, he barely looks at me and…’
‘And you’re forgetting everything I taught to you. LOOK AT HIM. He’s very young and yet he’s already a researcher, this means that he must to be a prodigy, someone who’s been told all his life how special he is and nevertheless he’s here with you, someone who could kill him at any moment, do you know what this means ?’.
‘No’
‘In spite of his capability, he’s still considered disposable and that hurts his ego. He doesn’t need to be attacked, he’s at the lowest of his self-esteem. His own superior expects him to return in pieces, so what you need to do is to repristinate his ego’.
‘How ? We don’t even know if he could be useful for us in the long run’.
‘At this point it doesn’t matter. You still have difficult with social interactions. You need practice, so here he is. Talk with him, get to know him better, become his friend and allow him to become yours’.
‘I don’t need any friend like him.’.
‘You do, more than you can realize right now’.
Eren tried not to pout, obviously in disagreement with Kruger. He took a look at the boy next to him and he found him boring. The guy had been spending his time with his eyes on the floor and his hands playing with his sleeves in silence. If he had tried at least to offend him, Eren would have known what to do but that guy was doing nothing, absolutely nothing and that was putting Eren out of his comfort zone. What a drag.
Nevertheless, Eren himself couldn’t tell to feel animosity toward that boy, it was just that he wasn’t use to be the first to approach someone but again, Kruger was right, it was about time that he learnt.
Furthermore, if he took a better look at the boy, he could sense Armin’s frustration as well.
Eren wasn’t the only one out of his comfort zone apparently and it was clear that Armin expected to leave the room dead, just like his other colleagues, because that was the pattern he knew. Maybe that was the disbalance Kruger liked to talk about, maybe Eren could caught Armin off guard.
It was clear after all that Armin was going to be very rigid, with all his defenses up. Eren needed to low them if he wanted to create a relationship.
“Hey” he whispered to catch Armin’s attention, who jumped a little “Do you want to read with me ?” he asked.
Armin nodded, not even asking what he was reading, before getting a little closer in order to be able to read the pages. They spent most of their time together reading ‘The Lady of Shalott’, something commenting it and discussing it. When their time was up, Armin stood up awkwardly, but Eren gently grabbed him by his sleeve and asked him when they would see again.
Poor Armin looked very surprised, but managed to smile gently at him.
“Are you sure you want to see me again ? I’m kind… I know I’m quite boring”.
Eren didn’t agree completely. The guy was a quite one, boring in the outside, but Eren wanted to give him a chance.
“Did you really expect me to kill you ah ?” he asked with a glint of sadism in his eyes.
‘Eren, don’t scare him off. He may never come back’.
“Did your pal outside of that door tell you about how I rip the body of my fake daddy apart ? I hugged him so tight that I broke all his bones… CRACK !” Eren said imitating the bones cracking action with his hands “He died quickly, others haven’t been lucky like him.”
‘Eren…’
“ Would you like me to kill your superior as well ? To crack his bones ?”
‘Eren !’
‘To make him bleed ? You don’t like him either don’t you ?”.
‘EREN !’
‘Found you… I see you now !’.
“You can tell me, You can tell me anything. I want to kill him too”.
It lasted a second, but it was enough for Eren to see in Armin’s eyes that glint of sadism and insanity that, he was sure, was in his eyes as well when he was about to take a life.
The smell around him changed and Eren saw that the one in front of him was a predator, he just didn’t know, or at least he couldn’t unleash the best inside him like Eren could.
He didn’t get scared by Eren’s words, but he got exited, joyful almost. His silhouette shivered for a moment, but not for fear, Eren was familiar with it, but for the excitement.
Eren could finally see them, the shackles wrapped around his heart, that imposed Armin to be someone he actually wasn’t only for the sake of the role he had in the society he lived. He could imagine him out there. Always polite, always gently, always collected and composed, never able to voice his opinion if he knew that it won’t be appreciated by his superior, always walk with his head bow in prostration, while there was a beast inside him that longed to be free.
That was what Eren could give to him. Freedom, to be the beast he wanted to be and more.
Before to conquer the beast and make it bow before him, he needed to win the man over.
“Come visit me next time.” He said trying not to make it sound like a command “I will wait for you”.
Armin didn’t say anything, he simply left the room, but Eren was sure that it won’t be the last time he saw him. Armin would come back, to feel more of the excitement that Eren offered to him in those few seconds. If he took in consideration Kruger’s memories, the people who worked for Tybur had to be crazy to work in a place like that. Crazy, but not too much to be locked up somewhere.
Crazy, but murderous enough to commit the worst crimes against other people, so no one was innocent and no one had his hands cleaned.
Nevertheless, even among the crazy people there was a hierarchy, like in the army where Kruger used to be part of, and it was clear that Amin was at the bottom. No one considered him precious enough not to sacrifice him in order to please Eren. Indirectly, they offered Eren the best opportunity to make the table turn for Armin and to gain a precious hand for himself.
Eren wouldn’t even have to hide the most sinister side of his aptitude in order to manipulate Armin, all he had to do was to offer the boy a better proposal.
Kruger also told him to focus on Armin’s ambitious personalities. If Eren wanted to win his loyalty, he would have to inflame his pride, so after several encounters, Eren made his next move.
Armin and him were in his bedroom and were playing card together
“Do you want to know a secret about me ?” asked Eren whispering in Armin’s ear “I can tell you something that your colleagues don’t know. Would it make you happy ? I can make you happy”
“Why would you tell me of all people ?”
“Because you’re my friend. I can trust you. There’s so many things that happen to me that I don’t understand but you can help me right ?” asked Eren already knowing the answer.
Eren had the fate of Armin’s whole career in the palm of his hands, they both were aware of it and Armin still occupied a position of power over Eren. Their relationship sprouted from imbalance and when there was imbalance of power between the two parts the only way the relationship could last is through favors, practical and concrete proves that they could trust each other.
“In return, all I want is your friendship. I see it in your face, this job is wearing you down. It doesn’t make you happy. I can make you happy, I’m offering you an hand”.
“What could you possibly give to me ?” asked Armin, seeing Eren not for a child but for who he actually was.
“You already know, don’t make me waste my time. I’m the root of any of your researches, you all need me but anyone except you pisses me off, so I hide things from you. Things that you can find interesting.” Said Eren scratching his hand, which started bleeding and then he showed his hand healing.
“I don’t see anything…”
Eren put his hand on the sheets below that burned a little where he put his knuckles. Armin gasped, he tried to take Eren’s hand but he almost got burned. The heat that came from his hand was high, not enough to burn something, but Armin could feel the warmth coming from his hand.
It was the same thing that happened when a giant body got dissolved, but he’d never imagined that Eren could use his body temperature even without turning himself and use it as a both an offensive and defensive move.
“You’re frustrated and unsatisfied. You want to advance, but your pals won’t allow you, am I right ? See…” said Eren showing his knuckles “… I can help you with that but beware if you try to betray me, I will know”.
“We could never trust each other completely, so why me ? Do you take me for a fool ?” asked Armin sounding almost offended.
“No, or I wouldn’t be speaking so clearly. I want something only you can give to me, you want something only I can give to you. I’m the nucleus after all”
“You’re… what ?” asked Armin sounding wary.
“Isn’t the way you all call me ? I’m the nucleus. I’m the one where all the abilities of your shifters come from. I give you an hand, but you have to me help me in return”
“How ?”
“I want more friends, of course.” Said Eren hugging Armin “You’re my special one, but I want more”
“When you say friends… you mean allies, right ? That’s what I am to you ? That’s why am I still breathing ? Am I right ?” asked Armin narrowing his eyes.
‘Told you he was smart’.
Eren snorted, then he said “Now don’t ruin everything. We can still be friends, but I need help. I need your help very much”.
“Well I don’t think this is going to work anymore, not for me at least...” said Armin standing up and getting toward the exit but Eren grabbed him by the wrist.
“Since you’re so reluctant to start this relationship the right way, then let me tell you something straight. I gave you something already, I expect something in return. I will prove you with time that we can work on our relationship. I’m no ordinary child. I already left this room once, everyone by now knew what happened before they locked me up again, and I can escape again…”
“Are you threatening me now ? For real ?”
“I’m telling you to pick your side smartly. I can’t be killed, you need me. I’m getting stronger, I’m growing up, who knows what I will be able to do in a couple of years or even less. I saw something in you that I like and I gave you something to prove it. I could have killed you already but I have no intention of doing so, I give you the freedom to choose. And I’m also challenging you more then threatening you”
“What ?”
“I saw it, the beast inside you. I have a beast inside that takes the form of a giant and I recognize when someone has something similar. We’re more alike than you can imagine it. I see the shackles, I see you feel trapped. I feel trapped too. Meet me in a week, you’ll give the your answer then”
Armin turned around, determinate to leave the room once and for all, when Eren suddenly spoke up again.
“Ah and Armin ?”, Armin turned around and jumped, when he saw a pair of golden eyes looking at him “Once you will give me your answer, know that, no matter what, you can’t turn back. So pick a choice you won’t regret”.
Armin gulped, then he left the room in hurry, keeping in mind those scary golden eyes that had penetrated his mind and soul. After that door closed, Eren’s eyes turned green again and he let himself fall on the bed. He looked at the ceiling, satisfied of his performance.
‘What do you think Kruger ? I did good ?’.
‘You’re learning. I think you should have talked less and maybe waited a little more before to make your proposal. Aside from this, he’s going to accept it’.
‘You think so ?’.
‘If he is smart enough, he will. What do you learn from this though ? Tell me.’
…
Eren told him what he learnt from that. He learnt how to steal pieces from his opponent’s board. That was why Eren’d never felt like playing chess. In that game, once a piece was eaten was considered dead.Eren didn’t need dead people, he needed those who were willing to shift their side and share the same vision he had of the world. Furthermore, Eren needed to surround himself of people who had what he didn’t. Armin had the freedom to wander around the facility undisturbed, also he had information that Eren needed and the ability to manipulate other colleagues in order to make them loyal to Eren.That was how their partnership started, that was how their friendship blossomed, because in the end Eren couldn’t stop himself from caring about Armin and he knew the other felt the same way.They were both reluctant to love each other as friends, but it happened, in spite of everything.From that day, Armin and him had done a lot things together, things that united them more, for the better and for the worse. They were more than friends, they were partners. Eren knew it and so did Armin. Even if Erwin Smith was going not to be just a phase, Armin wouldn’t abandon him to follow a romantic idea. Even in that case, Eren knew how to pull his strings to bring him closer to him again.
‘What about your little boyfriend ? Floch. If you send him away, you will lose an important ally here that can protect you’
‘I thought about that, but if I want to send Ymir away as well and make the situation to seem equal with Frieda, then I have to sacrifice my time with Floch’
‘You almost sound like you actually care for him’.
‘I do. Just not in the way he wants, but sex with him is fun and he’s not a bad company. He’s one of the first people who actually made me laugh’ Floch didn’t have an excellent reputation. Armin once told Eren that the serum basically resurrected Floch in a wrong way, making him crazier than he was supposed to be, but Eren didn’t mind.In the life they lived, it was a good thing to be crazy like Floch.Armin also once told Eren that he considered Floch a coward and that he used his craziness to hide that trait of his nature, but Eren didn’t mind it actually.Floch was indeed a coward, the guy himself admitted it, and nevertheless when it came to battle, he didn’t hesitate to fight tooth and nails and he didn’t hesitate to speak his mind when he felt he had to.Floch was that kind of coward that was able to surprise those around him when it was necessary and Eren loved it because it made the man unpredictable and Eren loved when someone managed to surprise him in a good way.
‘You shouldn’t put too much trust in him. He wants something from you, when he realizes he can’t have it, you won’t know how his reaction’.
Eren thought about that he didn’t consider it a problem. There was only a man Eren could possible desire on that level and he couldn’t have him. His was an impossible relationship and Floch wasn’t a substitute so Eren could take care of him as much as he could.Furthermore, Floch hadn’t found his mate yet and nothing prevented him from doing it. If that happened, Floch would have his romantic fairytale and leave Eren without having his heart broken.Speaking of Floch… ‘I’m going to look for him’.
‘Shouldn’t you train with your abilities instead ?’
‘Later. I have the sensation that Floch has something interesting to share with me’.
‘Aside from his bed ?’.
‘Aside from his bed’.
‘Be careful. He loves you Eren, his isn’t a mere obsession. He loves you’.
‘How can you say that ? Eren grinned. He took a look in the mirror and he liked what he saw. He went to his bed and lie down.Floch hadn’t arrived in Utopia yet, he was still on the way for the city, so they couldn’t stay physically together, but Eren could call him in the desert and meet him there.
‘You know, aside from Levi, I wonder who between E2, Armin or Floch will be your downfall’.
‘Why should any of them being my downfall ?’
‘Levi is your mate, E2 is your other half, Armin is your compass and Floch is your sword and shield. All of them are linked to you and nevertheless those links could be broken at any moment. Be careful about them.’.
‘I will, don’t worry about that. You taught me well’.
‘I hope so, for the sake of both us’.
‘Have more faith in me, but for the moment leave me live. I’m going to meet with Floch and have fun with him. From tomorrow, the real was is going to start and I want to enjoy one last moment of fun with Floch before his departure’. Kruger had nothing to object, so Eren considered their conversation over. He thought about the conversation he had with Kruger and how important were E2, Armin and Floch in his life.Levi became important only because his giant recognized him as a potential mate, but the other three were important because Eren chose to make them important to him.E2 was his other half, Armin was his first friend and comrade and Floch was his ‘first’. Eren saw in Floch something that he liked, the first that he actually ‘saw’ him, just like with Armin.He saw something in Floch and then Eren automatically decided that he had to belong to Eren.That was how he behaved. Eren found something he liked and then he did everything it took to have it.
…
Paradis Island Utopia 2096
“Excellent Floch !” commented Eren analyzing the other’s performance with his transformation “Keep improving like this and you will become one of the strongest shifter I know, for sure”.
Eren wasn’t lying, he actually believed in those words. Since his escape, Eren had been trying to identify the strongest shifters among his own people. Seven of them, aside from him of course, showed to possess all the requirements Eren wanted in order to form his court. Floch seemed to lack them at the beginning, but the boy was also determinate to prove to himself and Eren that he could improve himself and become stronger than he already was.
Floch was the first who made Eren realize that someone didn’t necessary have to be born as a prodigy to be exceptional at something.
Floch’s giant was peculiar, its abilities didn’t have the same effect on any kind of fields, but there were few where it was simply incredible, so much that Eren couldn’t keep his eyes off him and no day passed that Floch didn’t work on his abilities and improve them more and more any second, sharpen his strength and improve his weakness. He wasn’t a natural talent like Ymir, his giant didn’t possess the destructive of Armin’s one, he wasn’t born to be special like Frieda and nevertheless Eren felt like Floch could be an incredible asset to them.
They were near the coasts, it was an open space where Floch could train undisturbed with his giant and Eren was there with him. Any excuse was good for Eren to be near the sea and it was even better when he had good company.
Flock exited from his giant’s nape and jump down from it, landing on his knees in front of his king.
“Thank you, my…”
“Please, stop with these bullshits” said Eren taking his hands and making him standing up “You know they embarrass me”.
“I just…”
“We’re friends, aren’t we ? Stop with this nonsense” said Eren “Anyway, your improvements are excellent !! You’ve been very good”.
“Thank you, I’ve been training very hard, for you and for myself.” Said Floch, whose silhouette was still shivering “I don’t want to lose”.
“What do you mean ?” asked Eren blinking twice, not understand what Floch wanted to say to him.
Eren didn’t understand Floch at all sometimes. Maybe because he hadn’t been interested in him at the beginning, so Eren didn’t even try to know something more about him. Floch was a discover for him and Eren liked it, because it was the first time he wanted to learn something about someone because out of curiosity and not for the mere sake of his plans.
“I’m a coward and I’m weak, but I’m trying to be strong and I’m trying to be good. Do you remember when I went against you when you propose me to fight ?”
“You were right. Nobody should fight a war they don’t believe in”
“But I was wrong and that was why I tried to convince all of them to change their minds”
Floch was telling the truth. In spite of all his achievements, Eren had difficult in recruiting people to join his army. Many only saw him as a child and he couldn’t even rely on Armin because the latter was even less popular than Eren since he used to work for Tybur and Frieda was the daughter of the king that betray all of them.
In the eyes of the people, Armin and Frieda were the enemy and Eren needed desperately someone who would help him to connect with people, someone they perceived as one of them. Someone that didn’t look too much extraordinary to be perceived as an alien but enough to be perceived as a leader that they could follow. Floch proved to Eren that he could be the compass that leaded the people toward him and not only because he was the nucleus and they were biological connected with him.
If many reluctant people had changed their mind and decided to fight for him was only thanks to Floch and Eren was very grateful to him. Eren didn’t even think about Floch to help him fix that situation, it was the first time he didn’t directly look for someone for a job.
“Why were you so contrary indeed ?” asked Eren sitting on the ground and patting the spot next to his.
Eren wasn’t used to ask questions out of the blue. He was generally not particularly interested in other people’s life or opinion, unless he didn’t have to pretend to or he had to force himself to do. Sometimes it was simply too hard for him to be able to accept someone and to care for them rather than think about them as tools.
Floch sat next to him and answered “Because I realize I was a coward. I’ve spent my entire life living like a vegetable, laying on a bed and now that I have reborn, I want to live. I’m afraid not to live enough”.
Eren hummed, unable to fully understand what Floch actually meant. Eren couldn’t imagine living the life Floch used to live, but he understood what meant living a life that seemed unfair and wrong. He also understood the fear of losing everything at once, after having taste life for the first time. The first nights after his escape were the worst, leaving Eren in the constant fear of being locked up again but he kept advancing because he had a goal to achieve.
Floch wasn’t fighting for a personal motive, he could run away and live the life he wanted but he chose to stay and fight next to Eren, until the end.
“I tried to persuade others not to fight, not because I wanted to create you troubles, but because I want them to understand that joining our crusade is not a joke. I want you to be surrounded by people strong and determinate enough to live and die by your side”.
“Is that why are you making so many efforts ?”
“Indeed” answered Floch “I know that I’m not natural talent, my giant isn’t strong like Armin’s or Frieda’s, but my determination and my loyalty for you match them both. You already gave me everything I wanted, I life worthy of being lived, but I’m willing to risk it again, for you. Because I believe in you. I can show you that I can be a valuable asset for you” he concluded gently taking Eren’s hands.
Eren was surprised, but not for the situation, but for himself.
He had to fight for any single little thing he earned in his life and for the first time a person was offering something to him without that Eren had to manipulate him for doing so. He was also the first person that Eren allowed to get closer to him simply because he liked them.
Eren grew fond of Armin, but their relationship was born out of necessity, instead he spent time with Floch because he liked it. The guy was the first Eren saw as a person and not just like a mere tool. Eren was really making progresses with social interactions, with a little help of course, but he improved. He was better at reading the atmosphere, better at understanding people, better at understanding himself as well. Eren knew what he wanted and how he wanted to get it. He was slowly learning more things about himself that he couldn’t imagine before.
Just like the name of his giant was saying, he was still advancing toward his own evolution. It was the key of his success, to adapt to any situation, to continuously change himself according to the people and the environment he was in. Those who were able to always adapt and always change, were able to have success. Eren was slowly learning how to compartmentalize different aspects of his personalities and acting properly in any situation. In all that scenario, Floch was unexpected.
“Why do you care about me so much ?” asked Eren “I mean… I never do anything… I mean…”
Eren really couldn’t understand. Before Floch, he was the one who had to act in order to be noticed by the people who were close to him. He was the one who approached Armin and try to make their relationship work, he was the one who to play the role of the son with Frieda e he was the one who had to play nice with people when he wanted them to come to him.
He didn’t look for Floch, he barely ever spoke to him first, sometimes he even forgot about his existence and at first Eren was convinced that Floch was a pussy and even felt disgusted at him, he didn’t measure his words, he didn’t try to appear more charming or more charismatic than he actually was, so why was Floch behaving like that ?
Floch always looked at him like a puppy, following him everywhere and doing things to catch Eren’s attention and nevertheless, without Armin’s help, Eren wouldn’t have even noticed it at first. Maybe because deep down Eren had to still get used to be seen by people who weren’t researchers.
Also he wasn’t used to people who considered him desirable on a sexual light. He was sixteen years old, he was living the first ‘sexual tendencies’, as Armin defined them, and that was still another part of him that he was trying to understand, albeit a bit reluctant to explore.
He just didn’t know if he could ever be comfortable with that level of intimacy, specially with another person and specially without any clothe on.
“Because I’m grateful and because…” Floch stopped talking and started playing with his sleeves, avoiding looking at Eren “Because…”.
“Because ?” asked Eren.
“I kissed a boy yesterday” said Floch “I still can’t believe that I was able to kiss someone but I kinda liked it and… I know I’m not making any sense… but… I was thinking about someone else while I was doing it so…”.
Eren wasn’t understanding the point of that conversation, not matter how hard he was trying. Was Floch proposing to kiss him as well ?
Eren wouldn’t mind it actually. He already kissed both a boy and a girl as well and Floch looked only a couple of years older than him, not that physical age mattered something anyway. Floch was also cute, he didn’t possess any trait that would make him outstand in a crowd, but definitively he wasn’t ugly.
“So ?”
“Nothing I… I… don’t mind me. I changed my mind” said Floch standing up, but Eren stopped him by grabbing his wrist “I’m a fucking coward…” Eren heard him whisper.
Eren didn’t fully understand what Floch was trying to say, but he knew that he didn’t want Floch to go away. He wanted the other to stay there with him and that was new to him as well, to be him the one who wanted someone to remain close to him.
Floch didn’t hide his fear from him, nor his desire to pleasure him, to fight for him and to die for him. He was the first that was willing to give Eren everything he wanted without asking and Eren wanted what Floch was willing to give to him.
He wanted and that was why he decided, in that moment, that he would make Floch stronger, so that he would be able to fit in his court, there where he could be at his side.
In that moment, looking at Floch’s lips, Eren made the first move and kissed him, literally devouring the other’s mouth.
That was the moment when Eren actually liked someone for real, without second endings. Floch offered his loyalty and showed his flaws, he was honest and Eren was thankful for it.
He didn’t have to lie with Floch, he didn’t have to pretend, he didn’t have to wear a mask and he didn’t mind kissing him if he could make Floch happy. Eren was content too.
“Did you learn something else with this boy ?” he asked, before licking, kissing and biting Floch’s neck.
“I actually learnt some interesting stuff” said Floch holding Eren tightly.
Eren pushed Floch on the sand, who spread his legs when Eren crawled on him and then kept devouring his mouth.
“Teach me” said Eren licking Floch’s lips “I hope it will be good enough for you”.
…
‘It’s been so long since then…’ thought Eren fondly of that memory. Since that day Eren had kept growing and evolving as a person, as a shifter, a king, a lover and a man, but one thing was never changed. His will to fight and evolve until he would achieve all his goals.He was no longer ‘The Lady of Shalott’, the whole world would be it and Eren was ready to devour it completely. He would curse it, to live forever trapped in his web of lies, where he would be the nucleus and everything else would be under his complete dominion.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Paradise Island Utopia 25th October 2098 Eren was admiring Utopia’s ruins from his room, remembering the day when he finally escaped from his room. Nevertheless, his game for the victory had started many years before, thanks to Kruger. “I still can’t believe that I came so far. I thought I would have been captured in few days. I’m still here instead” commented Eren. From where he was, he could see a group of shifters training together, others were simply talking, others were resting under the sun.
‘Do you remember the first lesson I gave to you ?’.
Eren smirked, of course he remembered. It was the first lesson Kruger ever taught him, as soon as Eren accepted his proposal.
“Remember Eren, society major strength and weakness are the relationships that people form with each other. A man can’t survive on his own, society’s foundations resides in the quality of his relationship, and nevertheless, not matter how much the group is considered important, in the end a person’s ego always overcome the benefit of the collectivity”.
At first Eren didn’t understand what Kuger was trying to tell him, so basically Kruger explain to him how he would be able to conquer Tybur’s Industries first and then the whole world after.Kruger explained to him that both the Tybur’s Industries and the Marleyan empire had structured their foundation on competition.Every single member that aspired to be part of them had to aim for being the best of all. The best researcher, the best biologist, the best commander, the best soldier, the best husband, the best daughter. Everyone was in competition with Everyone.In Tybur’s Industries the community wasn’t different from the court of a king. Anyone aimed to be the best and not only to be recognized by their superiors for their brilliance, but also because be the best was the only thing that could guarantee their survival.When it the life itself at being at stake, then everyone was ready to commit the worst crimes against whoever was considered a potential threat, not matter the field, not matter the role, not matter the means. In few words, Tybur and the emperor had at their disposal men and women ready to give their life to demonstrate their value to the world and that, at the same time, weren’t loyal at each other. So if all the particles were connected to the nucleus, in that case the society, at the same time they weren’t connected with each other and it was there, in that empty space, that Eren started sewing his own link with those particles, until all of them were connected to a new nucleus, him.Tybur also created a community wrapped in suffocating atmosphere of complete distrust. After the hacker attack on all the files of his personal empire, Tybur lost his trust on people, that was why he decided to take control of any sort of communication between all the facility under his control. He decided what information and data could be shared to all the facilities and what instead had to remain a secret within one.That was why no one, except for those who worked specifically in Utopia and few other people, knew that the nucleus was in reality a person, more specifically a boy. That made things easy for Eren after his escape, no one could find him because no one knew exactly what to look for.So all Eren had to do, was to find an ally reliable and capable enough to find other people who were contrary to that reality, or at least that felt oppressed by it. Armin was the first, of course.Once Armin accepted the deal with him, his career started advancing, becoming both more admired and hated by his colleagues. People started to plot against him at some point, others accepted to form an allegiance with Eren trough him.In a group where people were told to be in competition, not to trust each other and to fight for their life, Eren had to look like an anchor for them.Eren promised all of them that he would help them to advance in their field and that all they were willing to give him, he would gave them back and even more. So he gave them information, so they could research on them and give him even more inputs on how to use his abilities better. They were also willing to share information about the facility, the building, the city and the more information he got, the more specific his predictions became.He freed them of their social shackles and helped them to embrace their true ego, their true self. Not the one imposed on them by Tybur or the empire, but their inner beast, their inner monster that longed to be free and express themselves. While it was hard for Eren to connect with people, it was easy for him to connect with their inner monster, the same that would become their giant after the injection.There was nothing more honest than someone’ subconscious, there it was real of pure instinct, where all the thoughts and the idea that couldn’t be controlled by the mind, they were simply there, existed and were the direct expression of a person’s true desires. Eren aimed to control that part of a person and make it loyal to him.Not only, but throughout the years he learnt what it meant to be the nucleus. It meant that people who got the injection were doomed to be connected to him, not matter what. It was a system and he was the main computer. He decided which information were shared with others computers, which computes deserved to be upgraded and which one of them had to be expelled from the web. He had all that power in his hand and he couldn’t even imagine.
‘What’s your next move then ?’.
Eren crossed his arms and kept looking outside “No one. The best course of action for me is to wait, at least for the moment. I put all the cogs in motion, I just have to sit and observe how my design is going to take form”.
‘You seem confident’.
‘I’m simply repeating our original plan, only on a large scale. You were right, relationships, bonds, connections, links… are the major strength and weakness of a society. Our enemies will crumble because of them. Commander Smith is the kind of man unable to trust anyone and so is Zeke Yeager, They can’t change their attitude and before their realize the seeds of mistrust I sowed all around, it will be too late”. Another lesson. The quickest and safest way to destroy an empire was to do it from the inside. Eren conquered Utopia that way and then Paradis Island. He sent Armin to Commander Smith for a reason. Eren couldn’t have predicted that Armin and Erwin were mates, but he predicted that Smith would have seen an equal in Armin, that he would have felt attracted but yet never fully able to trust him.He also predicted that Smith would have realized, sooner or later, that he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed Armin’s affection and there when the gamble started.Would Eren be able, through the doubt, the paranoia and the jealousy, to drive Smith mad ? Unable to lead the Scouts ? Unable to distinguish between reality and falsity ? Would the man lose all his rationality ? And if he wouldn’t, would he still be able to deal with the pain ? How much pain a man like him was able to handle ?And Zeke Yeager ? The man was still looking for E2, determinate to avenge Tom Xavier but at the same time he didn’t trust the Warrior Unit, because he was raised that way. Not to trust anyone, everyone was his enemy, anyone could betray him. Zeke Yeager was surely hiding some of his skills from the others and surely there were people in the unit that he trusted more than others and that created unbalance between the members.Rod Reiss was the same as well. He’d lived a life of lies. One man, two women, two families, both of them in pieces. A man like him, who used to live a double life, was too much used to lie not to think that others could lie to him at any time as well.Furthermore, all Reiss’ enemies were Eren’s allies, Frieda before anyone else.About his own people ?Eren had a plan ready for them too. Eren had always been honest with himself, sepecially with everyone that concerned his weaknesses. He knew that his social ineptitude could cause him troubles, specially when he had to share his power with people more charismatic and more socially competent than him, so he prepared a backup plan in advance.Without Armin and without Floch, he had to find a way to further blossom all the bounds he created with his people or else it would be over for him. Again, a play of trust and mistrust, but he was confident that his plan would succeed.
‘The only recommendation I have for you is to keep training with your abilities as well. You still have to reach…’
‘… My full potential. I know. I won’t neglect my training. I must to be at my best condition when the right moment arrives. I can tell you Kruger, that moment is closer than we think’.
‘And what will you do when that moment arrives ?’.
‘I will take my final decision’.
‘Which means that you still have no idea about that you really want ?’.
‘I do actually. Not matter how many informations I got, all my predictions lead me toward one specific moment. After that I can see nothing.”
‘Is this a good thing in your opinion ?’.
Eren shrugged ‘I don’t know. That moment could cause hundreds different scenarios. I will think about the solution once the problem presents itself’.
‘Be careful’.
Eren nodded, then he looked at his shifters below and smiled. They were his people and, in spite of his initial reluctance, he learned to care for them. He promised to create a new world for them and he would, not matter what, not matter how long it would take.One by one, he would defeat all his enemies and reach all his goals. ‘Don’t worry about it. Have a seat and enjoy the view of three kings fighting against each other. The one who survives in the end will be our final opponent. Want to play a bet ?’. From that day, he would established a new order of things, with him as the nucleus, right at the center of the world and everyone else under his control. A new phase of his game just began and he was ready for the next phase. … Scouts Legion base 25th October 2098 List of candidates’ names Azumabito Mikasa Forster Floch Kirschtein Jean Lenz Krista Springer Connie Wagner Thomas … Erwin was in his office, reading the list of names of the next possible recruits. All young, with a possible brilliant future ahead of them and nevertheless they chose to enlist in the military, while humanity itself was fighting its most dangerous war.Only to have had the courage to enlist, Erwin had to recognize that they had guts and he almost felt bad for them and the family that he was going to ruin. Those young boys and girls chose a dangerous and perilous path to walk on and they weren’t even fully aware of it. “Keep furrowing like that and you will look even more older than you already are, Eyebrows” commented Levi who was sitting in front of him, on the other side of the desk. “I’m reading the names’ list of the next recruitments” “What’s impressing you ? There are less brats interesting in dying young this time ?” “Levi, do I have to pray you again not to make them run away too soon ?” “If all it fucking takes is one side glance from me to make them piss in their pants then they stand no chance against a giant” replied Levi shrugging, starting to play with his knife. Erwin chose not to comment but from his silence it was clear that he agreed with Levi. He was a man who chose quality over quantity. It was a waste of time to recruit hundreds people if only a decade of them was actually useful to him.Cowards, in the long run, were nothing but a burden. Three or four cowards inside the army were useful, easy to control and manipulate through fear to do anything you wanted, even sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Nevertheless when cowards outnumbered the braves, then the army was practically useless.Erwin needed to recruit people ready to fight tooth and nails for the cause, people that were ready to face both fear and death even with trembling legs. “Well, they have three months, before they decide whether or not they suit for military life” “Yeah and in those three months we would have wasted both time and resources playing babysitter” snorted Levi “Many of them run in the Garrison as soon as they can”. “Pixis knows how to keep them busy nonetheless. Behind that smile he knows how to conceal his deviousness” then he asked “Did you have some information to share with me ?” “Maybe. Odile, from the underground, told me that in about a month, an important selling is planned and probably some members of the warrior unit is going to be there, but she isn’t sure. The items that are going to be sold are still unknown so she didn’t know if Yeager plans to try to sell the serum or not” said Levi “But I learnt from the good Samaritan that a large amount of money has been requested and those money leaded toward Shiganshina Town” “Shiganshina Town ?” Shiganshina was originally the name of a district that resided in Paradis Island, but once the people had to leave it after 2090, it had been rebuild in Marley with a different name, Shiganshina Town. Since most of the inhabitants were migrants from the island and with a bad reputation since they were considered responsible from Tybur’s crimes in a long time, the town didn’t have a good reputation, until he last year. Nevertheless it was hard to move on from years of prejudices and also Shiganshina was situated at the borders of Marley, surrounded by immense wood that signed its borders.It was an open area, where it was easy to run away and hide and also there people who had already lost everything once in there, people who couldn’t even count fully on the protection of the Emperor.It was a good place where to hide from the military and also to protect themselves from any possible attack of the Scouts Legion, if Levi’s information were true. “Well, keep investigating this. If this is true, then we will be able to attack the Scouts Legion once they leave Shiganshina at the next sell or when they come back after it. It’s the first information about their position that we had in a long” “Got it” answer Levi “Unfortunately I can’t say that same about that motherfucker of Kenny. He left the underground after me and never going back after that.” “Maybe he’s waiting for you to reach out of him in the Stohess District” “Yeah… maybe…” commented Levi “It’s no time to go there, not now” “Because you’re not ready ?” “Because it’s not the right time” repeated Levi. After their conversation, Levi hadn’t mentioned the Stohess District nor his intention to go there ever again, but Erwin knew the thought was still inside his head. He didn’t believe that Levi lacked the courage to ask him to go there, it was more like Levi was waiting for something, a signal, to be sure when to go at the right time.Erwin didn’t force the matter, at moment. It was family matters and he couldn’t intervene over a certain point. He himself still hadn’t shared everything about his father after all. Due to his past experiences, he learnt how to keep his family business to himself. “But I will definitively go there, I need to know the truth” “With Eric how is it going ?” asked Erwin instead. “He seems sad, for some reason. I mean, he’s not usually very talkative, but he said he’s having nightmares and that his giant has been speaking to him more than usual or some shit” “Really ? Interesting.” “For real ?” asked Levi skeptic. “Well, we still don’t fully understand what is a giant for a shifter. Is it something external that alive inside the host ? Or is something that already exists inside the host and that takes form after the injection ?” asked Erwin “If it’s true and the giant is communicating with Eric, maybe it could be the second”. “I wonder about the shits they could talk about”. Erwin thought about Armin and his giant, about the conversation they could possible had, and it made him smile. Armin would probably try to teach his giant how to talk properly. Armin rarely turned in his giant form since every time he shifted, the transformation itself was so violent that it could be compared to a giant explosion.Nevertheless, Erwin saw it once and he considered it marvelous. Terrifying of course, but marvelous nonetheless. “I’m going to check on him, he should be in his room right now” said Levi standing up “See you later Eyebrows” “Later, Levi” Levi left the room and after few minutes he arrived in front of E2’ door. He knocked a couple time and waited for the permission to enter.After E2 allowed him inside, Levi opened the door and stepped in. He snorted a little.E2’s room didn’t reach his standards of tidiness. There were many papers with weird figures drawn on them scattered on the floor, together with many colors, pencils and a rubber. The papers weren’t on the floor alone, but also on the bed and on the desk, where E2 was sitting, drawing something else.It was impossible to see where to put his feet. “God, brat, what’s all this mess ?” asked Levi indicating the room with the gestures of his hands. E2 shrugged “I like my room this way, it’s more colorful”. Levi sighed not knowing what to reply. He simply moved all the papers, in order not to stomp on them and then he stopped next to E2, looking at his draw and he furrowed. “What is this, E2 ?” asked Levi. E2 looked at his draw and bite his lower lip. He should stop drawing his dreams, but he couldn’t. To impress them on paper, with his colors, was for him the only way he left to try to give them a meaning.Which of them were mere dreams ? Which of them were memories ? Which of them belonged to him ? Which of them belonged to Eren ?The draw he was coloring, portrayed Eren, but not the adult one. He portrayed a young Eren, he shouldn’t be more than 8 years old. Levi couldn’t know, E2 did, that memory didn’t belong to him, it didn’t represent him.There was anger that transpired in those eyes, while Eren in a white bedroom, surrounded by broken toys, scattered papers and bloodstains in various angle of the room.Even without having been there, E2 knew that it happened as soon after Eren’s first attempt to escape. When the child woke up in his white room again, he was so driven by his fury that destroyed everything around him. It transpired, from that cold piece of paper, all the hatred that Eren felt for all those toys that his fake father gave to him. He wanted all of them to disappear, to shatter in pieces, just like he was shattered.Eren wanted all of them gone, the dollhouse and the dolls, the little wooden soldiers, the puzzles, everything had to be destroyed. His anger had been so violent that he made his own hands bleed and that pain E2 could almost feel it, while he was drawing it.In it, Eren was also screaming. Eyes open, toward the door, mouth open, that was screaming all his hatred for the world. That was the first time Eren felt something so intense that not even that room could contain. That was the beginning of all, of their story. A scream, full of hatred, contempt and fury. A request of help that remained unheard for a long time.Back then, Eren was still too immature to contain his anger, he just acted on that emotion, showing his fury for everybody to see, destroying everything around him and behaving like a savage, before Kruger decided to intervene and help Eren grow to mature. “I don’t know. A memory ? Could it be ?” answered E2 “Could you feel it ?” Could Levi feel the pain ? The anger ? The need to get out from that claustrophobic room ? Could Levi see Eren in that draw instead of E2 ?He could… Because the first name that was about to slip from his tongue was Eren and not E2. But how could he know ? Why was E2 drawing about that devil ? The same devil that made Levi tasted any form of passion and desire only to leave him with bitterness in the end ?Why did he look so angry ? Why were his eyes full of hatred ? When he was so young… “I don’t think it’s a memory” he said without controlling himself, while he let his fingers passing on the paper. Not yours. But he didn’t say it. “Why do you insist on drawing these things, Eric ?” “It’s the only way I have to give them some sense, you know that I tend to dream about places and people I don’t actually know. It’s disorientating” Answered E2. Levi took a general look at any draws around the room. He saw portrays of giants, of Villa Helos, of Tybur and many other places and people. Levi appointed to himself to take a picture to those who he considered the most interesting.Erwin had requested the boy to see a psychologist and a psychiatrist in order to elaborate anything about the years of imprisonment and anything else about his past and sometime some of drawings were brought in those sessions to be analyzed.The two professionals were still trying to understand if those drawings were metaphorical or represented real places and people and it was still difficult, even after many sessions, to figure it out, especially because the boy himself wasn’t sure which one of them were real or not. Levi couldn’t imagine how hard it could be, living like that, not being sure which parts of your life were real or fake, it had to be a like an ever ending nightmare. “Do you want to draw something with me ?” asked E2 passing a paper to Levi. Levi nodded. He sat on the chair next to E2’s, took a piece of paper and a pencil. In front of the white of the paper, he didn’t know what to do. All he knew was that he hated that color. “You don’t like white either ah ?” commented E2 “I hated it. I love the colors of the sea, on the other hand. What’s your favorite color ?” “Seriously ?” asked Levi. “You know I don’t like when there’s too much silence” said E2 “And I basically told you everything about me. Tell me more about yourself. You can admit with me you like pink” joked E2. “What’s wrong with a man who likes pink ?” asked Levi hitting E2 on his head. “Nothing at all, for me. But other men would get very angry, wouldn’t they ?” “I’m not like them” “I know, but you’re not the type that would pick pink as favorite color, so what is it ?” “It’s turquoise” answered Levi almost automatically. It wasn’t casual, of course. As soon as he thought about his favorite color in the world, the first thing that came into his mind were the color of his eyes. Of their eyes, actually.It was so frustrating how alike Eric and Eren were, so much that it was almost painful to look at Eric’s face, play the part of the friend and try not to think about Eren, their time together, their kisses, the times they made love had sex. How much he missed that jerk.The mission Erwin gave to him wasn’t fair and it was even less fair for Levi to use Eric a replacement, but it was so hard sometimes. “Oh ?” commented E2 “It’s the color of the sea. Will you bring me there someday ?” “Why do you want so badly to see the sea ?” asked Levi. “One day, when one of my caretakers visited me, they brought me a couple of postcards. On one of them there was the picture of the sea. I thought it was so beautiful. I made my caretaker promise me to bring me to the sea one day, of course he was lying” “I’m not sure it’s possible at the moment” E2 almost told him that it wasn’t a problem since he’d seen it already, back when he was in Paradis, but he stopped in time. He couldn’t risk to reveal Levi anything about Paradis, it was too dangerous. For Levi, he had to be nothing but a simple boy who had spent many time locked away from the world. Once again, he hated Erin for putting him in that position, for allowing him to be so close to their his other half in order to protect him and at the same time to keep an emotional distance, something E2 wasn’t able to do.E2 didn’t know how not to get attached to people, how to conceal his emotions, how to stop himself from caring too much and it was even harder with Levi.Eren had warned him and he could tell from Levi’ stiffness that something had changed between them forever. Both of them had started measuring their words around each other, careful about not to say too much, the words they used, the emotions they showed, the pauses between their phrases. Anything about their behavior could show something they were supposed to conceal and that made all conversations look forceful. It was so frustrating, if they thought about what they could have had, or could have been. “Because of my powers ?” asked E2 to refrain himself from thinking. “Yes” answered Levi without adding any further explanation. He didn’t want to alarm E2. It had to be sucking enough living locked up again, it wasn’t appropriate to add salt on the wound. “Okay. You have your phone with you ?” “Yes, why ?” “You can show me some videos of the sea ?” asked E2 with a pleading tone “We can watch that cartoon movie about that mermaid, it would be fun” “That shit again ? It’s for children” “Aren’t you the one with a narrow mind now ? Only children can look that kind of stuff ?” “Drop it, brat, finish your draw” “Do I have to tell Hanji that I convinced you once to sing all the songs of the Little mermaid then ?” “You promised not to tell anyone, specially that crazy witch !” “Come one, please, please, please” E2 hugged Levi, who stiffed under his touch but didn’t push him away nonetheless. Wouldn’t it better after all ? To find something else to do to fill the time ? To fill the silence ?It was easier to delegate to a cartoon movie with the job, instead to make the boy talk by himself. Levi wasn’t in the mood for a conversation, a fake one most of all. A conversation that would lead nowhere if not in a labyrinth of lies, half words, unfinished quotes and repressed emotions.He should feel grateful that Eric had proposed him a valid and more pleasant alternative. At least if Erwin would ask question, Levi had an excuse to tell him why he didn’t have anything new to tell him. Levi knew that, deep down, he couldn’t continue like that.He would have to find the moment to talk to Eric, actually talk to him and maybe learn something new about him and their bond but not in that moment. Not in that moment. “Fine, fine. We can… watch the movie” said Levi taking his phone “But finish your draw before. You can’t start something new without finish the one old one. One thing at time” “Fine, but remember your promise” said E2 returning his attention to his draw. “I will, but don’t get used to this” E2 nodded and then he continued to draw. He didn’t expect a visit from Levi that day, but he was always careful with the things he draws. He is very careful not to draw anything that could be relate with future events or with Paradis, specially not Eren.He was allowed to draw things that could be passed as dreams, or coincidence but they had to be very sporadic, because Commander Smith couldn’t see a link between them. Any ability from then on had to remain a secret and his bond with Levi wasn’t making the job easy.E2 hated to be constantly careful about his thoughts and it was being even more difficult since his nightmares had become more frequent. He just hoped to remain strong enough to protect the person besides him, for as long as he could.Meanwhile, Armin was in his room, combing his hair, wearing some perfume, trying to doll himself up a little before to meet with Erwin. Why was he doing all of that ? Why all the efforts when he already knew that he had Erwin wrapped in his web ? As much as he could, of course.Erwin would never be fully his, he knew it, but it was okay. He was used not to have what he wanted.He went to Erwin’s office, knocked the door and entered when he was allowed. “Hello Armin” said Erwin putting down his papers “I was waiting for you”. “Really ? You seem quite busy. I hope not to distract you.” “I was just reading the list of the next possible recruits”. “The corporal must to be exited” “Yeah, he’s elated really. What about you ? How do you feel ?” “Weird. At the moment everything seems to be so in stall. Today feels more like a moment of passage, where nothing is about to change. Just to fill an empty page, but I know, I can feel that from tomorrow everything will change” answered Armin playing with the pens he found on Erwin’s desk “I don’t know I what I say has some sense” “I understand you actually” said Erwin “I feel like we’re simply preparing for everything to change, quickly even” Armin hummed, then he stood up and sat on Erwin’s lap, surround his neck with his arms, enjoying the smell of his perfume, feeling complete, for a moment.Erwin hugged him back, caressed his hair, hummed in his ears and gave him kisses from time to time.Armin kissed him on the lips, at first, then deepen the kiss and allowed Erwin’s tongue in his mouth, dancing with his own tongue. “Anxious aside, you look better than the last time you were here” Right, the last time Erwin was talking about was the one before the last reunion with all the other shifters, when Armin was still angry at Eren and he was a little grumpy for that.After that, Armin avoided Erwin in order to conceal the sudden improvement of his mood and he concentrated on his job. Erwin had to be busy as well, because the man didn’t look for him and Armin felt a little bit disappointed for that.Since when his feelings were so complicated ? He was relief when Erwin didn’t look for him because so he didn’t have to lie to him and yet he was so disappointed when Erwin behaved that way, because Armin wanted Erwin to reach out to him, to need him, to want him and not only inside his bed. ‘What should I do with you ?’ he thought. “Why are you thinking that when you can do with me whatever you want in here ?” asked Erwin after reading Armin’s mind. “Seriously ?” asked Armin “As if I don’t know you have thousands questions for me.” “It seems you fixed all your problems, now that you make me notice” commented Erwin winking at Armin. Armin bite his lower lip. What were they supposed to talk about ? Why was he even trying ? Wouldn’t be better to have sex in order not to hold an actual conversation ?After all, any question the two of them would ask to the other was going to be answered with a lie, an half-truth or an unfinished sentence.
How is your research doing Armin ?
Good, I’m researching more about my serum. Lie. Bad, I’m researching a way to become independent by the serum so that I can have some privacy inside my head, but Eren knows it anyway. Truth.
How is your work doing Erwin ?
Bad, I have still no lead to find out something about Kruger, to capture the Warrior Unit or to reproduce the serum to trigger the Ackerman’s gene. Lie. Good, thanks to Levi, not only the note I found in Villa Helos leaded me into a group of mercenaries that worked in the underground and now not only I know that there are still people on Paradis but also, thanks to Levi, I now control the black market and soon I will find the Warrior Unit as well and maybe even more. True. Of course they would tell each other the lie and hide the truth and when this was already known, what was the point of talking ? Why did it hurt so much ? Not to be able to hold one single conversation ? “You know, when I was a child, I was afraid of my own shadow and when my parents died I didn’t want to leave the house” said Armin without even knowing why he was talking about his childhood “So my grandpa bought me an orange bicycle. The color was horrible and it was old, but back then we couldn’t afford very much. I was scared of learning how to bike, but my grandpa paid a lot for it and I didn’t want to offend him.”. “I can imagine it.” Said Erwin, mentally picturing a very young Armin near an orange bike, with trembling hands and afraid to disappoint his grandpa “Did you learn in the end ?” “Yes. I learned how to bike it in our garden, then outside our house and then… Well, I biked it as far as I could” “Why are you telling me this ?” “If I tell you that is because I want to talk with you about something real, would you believe me ?” “I would, Armin. I would.” Admitted Erwin and that admission hurt. “Tell me something about you, please.” Please, show me we can do something real and normal together. Armin didn’t dare to think or even pronounce those words but he felt them. He wanted Erwin to share something real, because, in spite of everything, that relationship or whatever the hell it was, was becoming important to Armin. Unbearably important, suffocating important and he hated it.He hated that he wanted it to be real, even if for a couple of seconds, even a small, part of it. He wanted it to be authentic.Armin’d never been able to be authentic, even when he was a child. He’d never liked biking, but he pretended to like it because he didn’t want his grandpa to think he wasted his money on an ungrateful nephew. He grew up with the constant need of lying to people in order to be appreciated by them that it was difficult even think to try to be real in front of someone. Lies were his comfort zone, it was better for him to be fake, in order to be constant reminded that everyone around him could be fake and that alone was a comfort zone where he would know how to navigate.But he wanted to be brave that time, he wanted to be true. “I hated riding that bike” he confessed “But I didn’t want to disappoint him. I think that my grandpa was one of the few people I’ve ever sincerely loved with all my heart” “Do you miss him ?” “I do” “Would you miss me if I die ?” asked Erwin, hoping that Armin would lie to him, not to make things even more complicated. “I will” “You should have lied”. Armin regretted not to have done it actually, but he wanted that moment not to be deturbed by another of his lies. When he accepted the mission, Armin didn’t expect that there would be a moment when he felt the need to choice. There shouldn’t be a ‘moment of the choice’, not for him who swore his life to Eren and nevertheless it was getting harder to deny that his heart was about to split in two.He hoped that the moment ‘to make his choice’ would arrive soon, while he could still avoid to feel like he have to take a decision, inside his heart, because the doubt already was a sign of weakness and betrayal and Armin didn’t want to betray Eren and neither Erwin. Why was he so determinate to preserve not one but two relationship that were born out of reciprocal interests ?Armin didn’t forget how his friendship with Eren started and it did out of pure interest. Eren understood how trapped Armin felt in his skin, how ambitious he was and how nothing in that period seemed to satisfy him, furthermore Armin wasn’t scared of Eren, not after realizing how much Eren actually needed him. The day of the proposal Eren uncovered all his cards, something not too much clever to do and, thinking then, it was obvious that Eren was still learning the art of manipulation but somehow that little mistake made their relationship look more balanced. Armin needed Eren as much as Eren needed him, so Eren wasn’t the one in control, but was simply at the other side of the string.With Erwin was the same, their love affair was born after making a deal. Erwin needed something from Armin and Armin needed something from him.Erwin needed Armin to study the serum inside his vein and as a potential weapon and asset against a conflict with the Warrior Unit and Armin needed him to have free access to any sort of confidential information, something he wouldn’t be able to do without being part of the Scouts. “I should have. Now tell me something real about you” “I…” Erwin paused, unsure about what to say, since the real things in his life were so few that he couldn’t even pick one for sure “… My mother abandoned me, when I was a child, so my father raised me all alone. He had no parents as well so it was like we were the only person in the world.” “Did he look like you ?” “No” said Erwin “He… was clumsy, the kind of person who tends to hide himself from the world. I thought it was shyness, only later I realized it was fear”. “Fear ?” asked Armin “For the conflict ?” “Exactly. He lived throughout the dictatorship of the North Paradis, when even one word could be considered dangerous.” “What happened to him ?” “He got arrested and probably killed. Then I ended up moving into the house of my mother’s cousin. A person I’d never met before that moment, in their old age and with a mind even more narrowed than a pencil. It was awful”. “I bet. Thank you for telling me this though” “You shouldn’t thank me” “I shouldn’t, but I’ve already done a lot of things that I shouldn’t have done, so I no longer care. Until I can, I want to ignore it.” Said Armin kissing Erwin again “We will have all the time to keep playing our game” Erwin said nothing, he kissed Armin again and caressed his hair.Armin was right, that moment was only a moment of pause during their game, but sooner or later they would have to make their move again. Armin didn’t know how much Erwin had actually advanced in his job, but he knew that everything was about to change, really soon.Eren had all his next moves planned, if not tomorrow, then the next week or the next month something would change forever. Eren was after the Scouts Legion, the Warrior Unit and Rod Reiss and he planned to put all the three against each other to get rid of them.Ymir and Floch would soon arrive there, his behavior would be put under a more pressured scrutiny and not in a good way. Eren warned him, about everything that was happening on Paradis, that once their plan would officially start, Armin’s guard would have to be higher than ever or else he would be killed. Armin’s life was on the life and so was Erwin’s and even though the commander’s life shouldn’t be considered his problem, in the end, for Armin it did matter.He would be the ruin of Erwin’s life and that hurt, but for the moment Eren hadn’t directly ordered him to kill Erwin, so Armin still could live his little fairytale before everything went to hell.He kissed Erwin and enjoyed the moment, not wanting to think about anything else. … Shiganshina Ruins 30th October 2098 “Fantastic !!” commented Zeke after seeing the results of his training from the shoulder of his giant. Since he’d managed to create a connection with the other shifters similar to the one they used to have with the nucleus, Zeke had been able to improve his abilities faster than before, to the point that he was able to make in few months the improvements he would have done in years. That thanks to the serum he managed to reproduce.After many failed attempts, he was finally able to reproduce an almost exact replica of the original serum with the instruments he had at his disposal. The chemicals he used didn’t reach the quality of those he used in the facility and the same applied for the instruments, but at least he reached the best outcome he could ever get.He was still far from replacing the original nucleus, his connections with the shifters was too weak, his abilities hadn’t fully developed yet, but at least he was improving and the proof of that was in front of his eyes.He managed to use his ability of using his fur to create daggers and then he learnt how to turn them into crystals as well, something he wasn’t able to do before. Nevertheless it wasn’t enough yet and the chemicals he had at his disposal to generate the serum were almost done. Soon, he would need to participate in another sell of the black market in order to afford more chemicals.He also knew that soon they would have to leave the ruins Shiganshina Town as well. After what happened in their last hideout, they decided not to remain in a place for too long but that place was ideal for them. The ruins of Shiganshina Town were close to a vast space of green, surrounded by the wood, which gave them a good place where to train in peace.They managed to encounter other former soldiers who used to be sent in the same missions with the warrior units and they even earned enough money to hire a small group of mercenaries and nevertheless their units barely reached the hundreds.They were too few and their enemies always more and more powerful.Reiner and Pieck were improving with their giants as well, Yelena, Onyankopon and Magath took the responsibility to train Gabi and the other recruits to fight giants, but still it wasn’t enough.Zeke didn’t need more giants under his command at the moment, their abilities wouldn’t be useful against the enemy he was about to fight. No, he needed people that were able to reach places he currently couldn’t, without making any noise.He still regretted to have agreed with Colt’s decision to get in contact with dr. Armin Arlert in order to be able to communicate with his younger brother.Zeke had never met dr. Arlert personally and yet his instinct was telling him that he shouldn’t trust him, that it was good that that person was no longer with them and nevertheless he still felt a shiver along his arm, as if someone was still watching every single move he made.Annie was still locked inside he crystal and for the moment Zeke was okay with that. It was one problem less to deal with for him. “Dr. Yeager !” called him one of the soldier who was with him “You’re requested back home” “Why is that ?” asked Yeager jumping from his giant, whose body started to vaporize few seconds after. “Your second in command didn’t reveal me the details” answered the soldier. Zeke nodded, then he came back home.‘Home’ was an abandoned building that used to be an old hospital. Luckily for them, the electricity still worked and they were still provided with clean water. They wouldn’t remain there for too long for the government to find their traces.They fixed the place as best as they could, turning it into the most similar thing to a military camp, well protected, well supplied but with too many entrances and exits and too many weak points from where their enemies could attack them, that was why he asked Yelena to search another place where to hide as soon as possible. He arrived in hospital’s auditorium, where all the most important reunions were kept and he found there Yelena, Magath, Reiner, Onyankopon, Pieck and Pork.He stopped when he arrived next to the first line of blue chair, right in front of the stage, where Pieck, Magath, Pork and Yelena were sitting. The rest was sitting on the chair. “What’s happening ?” he asked looking at each one of them. “Your friend Jin, he called for you. He told us that something interesting happened in the underground” answered Pick showing him one of his cells. “And why we should care about the underground’s business now ?” Replied Zeke crossing his arms. “Because he didn’t only call but he also sent this” said Magath giving to him a packet. “He sent one of his men here to give it to you” Zeke took it and opened it. Inside there were pictures. He took them and, when he watched them, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. ‘It’s him’ exclaimed his giant inside him ‘It’s him…’
‘Him who ?’ thought Zeke.He narrowed his eyes, uncapable to understand what the hell his giant was trying to tell him. Who was the person in the picture ? Why was he supposed to know them ? Why did his giant recognize him ?The picture itself wasn’t even that great. It portrayed a tall and athletic silhouette, with dark hair tied in a ponytail and they seemed to have olive skin but nothing else. That person could be anyone for him, but nothing in particular came into his mind, so why his giant was pressuring him into recognize him ? ‘Who is he ?’ he asked again. “What the hell is that ?” he asked alarmed “When ?” “Few weeks ago a couple of terrible murders took place in the underground. From the wounds and the conditions of the corps, it was believed they were caused by a feral animal, but then there was a fight and a shifter was involved, a very powerful one and not only that” explained Magath. “One of Jin’s men managed to take some pictures of the fight and one of them clearly portrays the shifter…” said Pieck taking the picture with the shifter on it “… I don’t know why we should care for him though. He’s a shifter just like any other.” “Yeah, sooner or later the Scouts will kill that fucker. Problem solved” commented Pork crossing his arms. “Jin said that Kenny Ackerman himself was after this shifter” said Magath “I know that man. He was the hound of Uri Reiss and then his brother Rod Reiss. You don’t know him but I’ve personally met him a couple of time and he’s not the kind of man you send after any ordinary shifter” “What do you mean ?” asked Reiner “Who’s this man ? How old he is ?” “Much older then he looked. He is one of the first Ackerman ever created and has worked for Tybur and his family since his injection. Once he gets a mission, he always finishes it and if in this picture he’s fighting against this shifter, then there has to be a reason” explained Magath. “What reason could be ? And why should we care ?” asked Onyankopon “Seriously, we asked Jin to keep an eye on the underground for us to know if the Scouts Legion has found something about us, we…” “Kenny Ackerman can help us to get in contact with the Emperor and Rod Reiss, that’s important.” Explained Magath. “Why ? Those people abandoned us. We’re on the run for how long ? Our families have been reduced in slavery and the whole fucking world hates us !” replied Reiner, trying not to show all his desperation “I don’t think we can consider them allies” “You’re wrong Reiner” said Pieck “Our fates are intertwined. The Emperor knew about Tybur’s illegal business, he knows that we know he was involved and that he still has connections with criminals. He’s the only one who can clean our names and give our lives back to us. If Magath is right and this Ackerman is a big shot, then we can try to use some contact in the underground to reach out for him and consequentially find Reiss. He will protect us” “How can you be so sure that the Emperor Fritz will protect us ? And…” Zeke could no longer follow the conversation. The giant inside his head was screaming, louder and louder.
‘It’s him, it’s him, it’s HIM !!’
Him who ? Him who ? Oh God, how much he wished Tom was there with him to… One moment… The boy ? The boy he was looking for ? The boy who used to be locked in the facility of Lago City ? The one Tom was looking after ? That was the reason why his giant was recognizing him ?Zeke had no possibly way to know for sure, but his giant knew for him. His giant knew who that boy was. It all made sense after all.If that boy was so important that his mere existence had to remain a secret even to him, then it meant that he had to possess something special, he had to be a shifter, but not an ordinary one and the fact that, in order to retrieve him in the underground, Reiss had sent a man like Kenny Ackerman, was only confirming his theory. “I know who he is” he said aloud. Of course, that made him gain the attention of all the other people who were looking at him like he was crazy. “What do you mean ?” asked Yelena. “The boy… He must to be the boy Tom was looking after when he was in Lago City. The boy’s existence was kept a secret but he was set free the day of Tom’s murderer.” “How can you say that the one in the picture is the same boy ?” asked Pick coming closer to him and watching the picture again. “I can’t. But my giant can. I hear it in my head, he’s telling me it’s his and you know I’m not crazy. We create a connection with the giants inside us, they speak with us and can lead us. My giant is telling me that this is the boy Tom was hiding in Lago City, the one who that girl helped to escape…” “Come on Zeke, that story made you delusional” rebuked Pieck. “You also don’t have any concrete proofs” said Pork. “I’m not crazy. I know what I’m saying” replied Zeke feeling perfectly calm for the first time after an year “If Reiss risked so much to capture that shifter, to the point of sending his best man, then there must to be a valid reason and if my giant is suggesting me that this shifter is the one of Lago City then we can’t ignore it. We need to find a way to get in touch with Reiss” Zeke was excited. Finally, after so many time, he had a clue about the boy that Tom was hiding in Lago City, the one he suspected being involved, directly or indirectly didn’t matter, with Tom’s murderer. Zeke promised that he would find him, one way or another, to learn the truth about that happened that night and why the boy was so important for the Tybur’s Industries.He could see that his comrades weren’t convinced, but they couldn’t deny that that was the first lead they had in a long time. They couldn’t continue wandering around Marley with the hope not to be caught by the Scouts Legion and they couldn’t rely on criminals forever.If they wanted to have their lives back they needed to rely on people who could be trusted, or at least that shared their same fate and that they could blackmail easily. “Furthermore, I think I have something interesting to tell Reiss as well” said Zeke. “Which is ?” asked Onyankopon. “His daughter, Frieda, may be still alive. I saw her, in Dr. Hawking’s memories, I’m sure of it. Hawking tried to hide that memory from me but he couldn’t. After all, we all know why she was killed back then” “Yeager !” exclaimed Magath in a warning tone, but Zeke ignored him. “She was plotting against her own father who planned to give up on Paradis in order to make an allegiance with Marley and the Emperor. She was killed in order to be an example for everyone who would dare to opposite to the new regime, am I right ?” asked Zeke looking at Magath, challenging his superior to contradict him, then he continued “If I remember correctly, her body was never found right ? She’d never got a proper burial, I wonder why now ? Was she actually killed ?” “What the hell are you insinuating now ?” asked Reiner “That she’s still alive ? Just like Kruger ?” “Hawking wouldn’t have fought me so much to protect someone’s dead” answered Zeke “Frieda was very powerful, she leaded a rebellion against her father. How was their name ?” “The name ?” asked Yelena confused. “The name she gave to her group of minions, what was it ?” asked Zeke “I don’t remember it, but I know that some of them got hanged and others managed to run and hide, others were turned into giants”. “You’re implying that she could be involved with what happened on the island in 2095 ?” asked Pick following all his thoughts “It would make sense after all. There were high suspects that the attack came from within the facility and not from the outside, right Reiner ?” “I… I don’t know… I…” “Reiner, you can’t avoid to speak about that day forever. Berthold is dead, Annie is locked inside a crystal, if you remember something, anything about that day…” said Pieck, then she grabbed the picture Zeke was holding “… look at him for a moment at least, maybe you can…”. Reiner stopped listening to her. The moment his eyes fell on the picture, even if the face of the shifter wasn’t perfectly recognizable, something inside Reiner snapped and he was again in 2095, in the same facility where his personal hell began. Suddenly, in front of his eyes he saw those infinite white corridors, the people around him running away, screaming, others were already dead and were coloring the pavement with their blood. In front of him a silhouette that he couldn’t see clearly… all he knew was that he had to get away from them… he felt… in danger… he felt… he had to run ! “I said I don’t want to talk about it !” said Reiner jumping from his seat and exiting from the auditorium. Reiner knew he shouldn’t behave like that, that he should face what happened in Paradis, but he still wasn’t ready. He still had nightmares after that day and he hadn’t had the courage to tell about that day to anyone. He also suffered of memory loss.There were many memories of that day that he locked inside his subconscious, at least that what said his psychologist. Reiner didn’t remember everything with clarity but according to his nightmares and all the draws he made of that day, he could have witnessed the death of someone important to him and that was for his mind simply unacceptable.The thing was that he wanted to talk about it when he would feel ready, with people he could trust, not in front of Magath’s judgmental eyes and Yeager’s indifference, he wouldn’t be able to tolerate. How could they understand that, in his nightmares, he was still there ? Inside that damn facility ?Sometimes the nightmares were so vivid that he could smell the bleach and the blood, hear the screams and touch with his hands that solid cold pavement.He was also regaining some memories. They weren’t so vivid, but his giant was helping him to complete the puzzle, but Reiner’s mind was still fighting it, in complete denial.Unknown to him, he found himself in the old mortuary of the hospital, where he knew he would find Annie. It was still hard to look at her for him and deep down he couldn’t avoid to resent her a little. Why did she lock herself in that crystal leaving them alone to fight against the world ? Leaving Reiner alone to bear everything that happen on Paradis Island ?Who was she trying to keep out of her mind ? Who was she so afraid of ? What happened to her in those two years of her disappearance ?He put a hand on the crystal, trying to mentally connect with Annie, but, as he expected, he got rejected. Annie expelled anyone who tried to connect with her and, for some weird reason, Yeager seemed to avoid her like plague and refused to give any explanation when someone asked him the reason. Reiner had his suspects but he didn’t dare to talk, no one would consider his opinion anyway.Sometimes he didn’t even know why they bother with him since he was practically useless. During the last fight with that shifter, Reiner was able to do nothing, he did the minimum to help his comrades survive, but aside from that it looked like he simply couldn’t merge with the rest.In spite of his past as a warrior, he hated to be a criminal, a drug dealer and a hit boss for Jin. It wasn’t the kind of person he was or aspire to become. He was living a life that felt intolerable for him. A life made of broken dreams and unkept promises, where he was shackled to a life he didn’t want, surrounded by people he couldn’t fully trust. There, kneeled on the cold pavement of an mortuary, unable to hear the voice of his mother, he wondered about how much he wanted to die and how much dead, by the cut of his nape, would be sweet. What was the point of surviving anyway ? His life would never be the same, he would never be free from his past, he would never be free from the curse he had to bear. Those nightmares would always remained inside his mind, heart and soul. There was no way to escape. No way at all. So why didn’t put an end of it ?There, alone, on the floor, he started crying, cursing himself and his weakness for the life he was living. Because, in the society he lived, the sufferance had to be felt alone, hidden from the eyes of society, because it was a burden that a person had to carry alone. “You’re so pathetic” commented a voice behind him. Reiner gasped, not having realized that someone followed him. He turned around and saw Pork standing in front of the entrance of the mortuary, with his arms crossed. “Seriously, man the fuck up. You’re not the only who’ suffering here” “Don’t you think I know ?” asked Reiner standing up “I was thrown in this mess after having witnessed…” “What ? Three years have passed already and you haven’t even tried for real to recover. You just live your pain and when you don’t feel pain then you live in a total sense of apathy. Wake up, you’re not the only here who’s in a mess. Our lives are ruined, our families imprisoned and we’re all trying to do our best, but you !” said Pork pointing a finger at him “Why are you still living if you gave up on life ?” “Please, don’t act like you wouldn’t have preferred my death over Berthold’s ?” “Who knows ? Maybe you’re right, but does it matter now ?” asked Pork “I can’t bring him to life, neither can you, but if you still have a little bit of dignity for yourself then stop whining like a bitch and start helping us !” “Did they send you to tell me this ? You suck at motivational speech” rebuked Reiner who had enough of Pork’s attitude toward him. “No one send me actually. No one bothers anymore. I just can’t stand see you waste our time with your moping and I don’t care if you feel offended. Your pathetic ass offends my view on a daily basis” said Pork indicating with his head the door behind him “Let’s go doing something useful, you waste of space”. “Fucker” whispered Reiner, following him out of the mortuary. After taking few steps, Pork stopped. There was one last doubt he wanted to clarify. “The man in the picture…” he said “He triggered a memory, am I right ?”. Reiner gulped, almost undecided whether to lie or not, but then he said “Yes. I don’t know why but… I… I suddenly was there again. In that facility and there was no way out of it. The people around me were running away but I couldn’t escape and there was this person at the end of the corridor…” “Who was him ? The man in the picture ?”. “Impossible to say. I can’t distinguish the feature of his face, both in my memory and in that picture. They could be two different persons. Maybe it was just a suggestion. I have to try to cope with what happened”. Pork hummed, but didn’t say anything in reply, nevertheless it was evident that no one of them truly believed that it was a mere suggestion, but they didn’t have any solid proof that suggested that the man in the picture was related to the events of Utopia.Again, all they had were questions and ever growing frustration related to the impossibility of finding the answers they wanted. Meanwhile, back in the auditorium, Pieck was about to follow Reiner and Pork as soon as they left, but Magath stopped her grabbing her by the wrist. “Let Pork handle this, we have other things to discuss. Yeager is right, we can’t keep wandering around, hoping not to get caught. This is the only lead we have” he said. “So what now ?” asked Yelena “How should we get in contact with Reiss ?”. “We can count on Jin. We will tell him to find a way through his contacts back in the underground” said Zeke “Meanwhile, we will need more funds, so I will continue to produce goods to sell on the black market. We won’t be able to hide forever and we’re still unprepared to fight the Scouts Legion”. “I agree” said Magath “We can count to get in contact with Reiss, but if he left traces that the Scouts Legion can find, then it’s only a matter of time before they start looking for him as well. When this happens, we will have to find Reiss first”. “Onyankopon, Magath and Pork will be responsible for the training for the recruits and for the protection of our new base, while Yelena and Colt will go with Jin in the underground” said Zeke. “One of us should go with them” replied Pick. “No, you, me and Reiner are easy to recognize. Since another shifter has been there, now the underground will prepare to deal with another shifter. They will search for weapons to use and they will look for any sign in order to find a shifter. It will be a witch hunt. The last thing we need is for one of those hungry dog to recognize us and sell us to the Scouts” said Zeke. “He’s right. We need to be as discreet as possible and…”. Magath kept planning their next moves, while the others were listening to him, all but Zeke.Zeke was planning to keep the existence of that boy a secret, but telling the others was the only way to convince them to look for him. Nevertheless, there were many things Zeke still felt the need to hide from them, like many of the abilities he had and what happened when he tried to connect with Annie. It was stronger than him, the need to hide his true intentions in order to avoid any sort of vulnerability.He couldn’t trust people, he was raised like that. Since he started his training in the Marleyan army, he was told that he had to aim to be the best and, to achieve that, he had to know more than other, he had to be more skillful than others, he had to be thousands steps ahead of others.Zeke recognized to be in a weak position, surrounded by many people he couldn’t fully trust and so he couldn’t fully rely on. Reiner still hadn’t overcome his depression and there was no way to offer him the help he needed, Pieck knew he was hiding something and Zeke had to remodel her memories several times in order to keep her at bay, Magath never held him in high regard and Onyankopon, even if he followed Yelena everywhere, he didn’t fully trust Zeke and Colt never accepted to work for a criminal like Jin and started resenting Zeke for that.To put it in few words, he was alone in the pursuing of his own goal, but it didn’t matter. Tables were turning and Zeke offered his comrades something to follow, everything was in his favor and all he left to do was to earn enough money in the next sells. “I’m going to my laboratory” he said “If you need me, you know where to find me” he said before leaving the auditorium, followed by Yelena and Onyankopon. Pieck, who remained there with Colt and Magath, waited for Zeke to get far enough before to speak up what was on her mind. “He’s hiding things from us” she said “I’ve been observing him and I knows he’s plotting something”. “Do you have any proof ?” asked Magath “We need to stay united. Any cause of conflict will only make us weaker”. “I have memory lapses and memories that I remembered differently. I started writing on a diary everything I do on a daily basis. Sometimes what I remember and what I wrote don’t match. Zeke is manipulating my memories. I sure that at some point I have to learn something important and he erased my memories” answered Pick. “I’ve never heard of such ability” said Colt. “Our abilities came from the nucleus and nevertheless we all differentiate at some point.” Said Pick “Our giants are different and each one of them inherited different abilities. It’s not impossible that Yeager is hiding something from us”. “Why would he keep secrets ? We’re comrades” said Colt. “It’s probably because Yeager hasn’t fully accepted who he really is” said Magath “He’s still in denial of his past and his father’s abandonment probably makes hard for him to rely on people. Even his own comrades. It would explain why he left the army as soon as he could and started working under Xavier”. “It doesn’t matter” said Pick “We need to keep an eye on him. He’s still wary of me. Maybe his guard will be lower with you two”. “Fine, thanks for your help, Pick” said Magath, then he looked at Colt and said “Not a word with Yelena and Onyankopon. They don’t have to know that we suspect Yeager. They will warn him”. Colt nodded, then all of them left their auditorium and started their daily duties. … Marley Empire Stohess 1st November 2098
“You were right in the end. Kruger is still alive”.
"We're still not sure. Ackerman cut one of his hands off. My researchers are examining it, but I'm confident that the results won't disappoint us".
"Update me as soon as you get the results. In case of a confirmation...".
Rod Reiss was sitting in his studio and was talking with someone over the phone, updating them about the recent discoveries. The person was very surprised to know what Kenny Ackerman had learnt during his last mission, maybe not even surprised, more terrified.Their worst nightmare was slowly coming true. If the shifter was actually Kruger, then everything would become more complicated for them to retrieve the nucleus.He mentally cursed Tybur for having left him in that situation, but that was partially his fault. Rod should have made Tybur share with him everything about the nucleus, but Reiss overestimated him. He thought that Tybur would have never failed, but he was wrong.Kruger was always one step ahead of them, not matter the time, not matter the situation. Reiss hated the man with all his heart, it was his fault if his entire life crumbled back in 2068. If it wasn’t for him, Paradis would have been conquered by the Marleyan empire in few days and Reiss would have been living a peaceful life with his family, but Kruger had other plans in store for them.That man, with the mind of a fox, the tongue of a snake, the heart of a lion and the soul of a phoenix, put an entire empire on its knees. “We need to find him and kil…”
“We can’t kill him. He’s the nucleus, we ne…”
“We need to find someone else. It’s clear that Kruger can’t be controlled, we need to find someone to replace him” instead Reiss “He’s already caused too much havoc. The empire is on his knees, he showed the world all our crimes and all the other countries are already planning to destroy us. Not to mention our own people…”. Reiss moved his eyes to toward the left wall, where a map of Marley was hanged. That empire was slowly crumbling. Marley lost his reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world after Tybur’s death and even more after all his crimes were revealed.A huge debt was imposed on Marley to pay for the crimes committed by the Tybur’s Industry, a debt that was still increasing and that the emperor didn’t know if it could be repaid. The empire was living an economic crisis, they were losing allegiances, the population was in revolt and sooner or later they would come for their heads. It was imposed on them a strict on the production and sell of weapons and, since they were strictly controlled, they couldn’t even rely on the black market anymore.That was what the enemies of the empire were waiting for to dismantle them and the aristocracy had few ways left to defend themselves. At that point, Reiss wasn’t even sure if finding again the warrior unit was the best choice or if it was better to abandon it to its doom.
“Look, you’re always a bit irrational when it comes to that man. I think I have good news for you though”.
“Which are ?”.
“I’ve never trusted commander Smith. His sharp intellect and his attitude to keep information for himself, so I infiltrated people in the Scouts and I learnt that the commander is hiding the existence of a boy with peculiar abilities”.
“What do you mean ?”
“A have a description. Dark hair, green eyes, tanned skin… he looks young but we know what the serum can do”.
Reiss was humming, thinking about what Kenny Ackerman referred to him about the shifter he met in the underground.The description matched, but he didn’t remember Kruger to have tanned skin, but again, the serum could change physical traits. Well it didn’t matter how Kruger looked like at that point.Kenny Ackerman reported that the shifter had some kind of relation with Levi Ackerman, the diamond of the Scouts Legion. Reiss asked the man why he didn’t try to kill him since Levi was an Ackerman as well, but Kenny simply shrugged and told him that he was busy with Kruger.It was possible that the shifter formed an allegiance with Levi Ackerman and came back to him to the Scouts Legion, which made harder for them to capture him, but Reiss was a determined man.He already found a possible solution for this problem, even without the help of the warrior unit.Someone knocked the door and asked for permission to ender inside. It was her. “I will call you later.” He said hanging on the person on the phone, then he said “Come in”. The door got opened and his daughter Historia entered inside, with her head lowered, uncertain step and her long hair partially covering her face. She was wearing a large jumpsuit, a pair of pink jeans and pair of old shoes. He appointed to himself to buy her another pair before her leave.It was always bittersweet for him to see his daughter, specially when he thought about the family they could have been and what they could have had. “Hello, princess. Have a seat” he said indicating the chair on the other side of the desk. Historia nodded and sat in front of her father. “I learnt you’re going to leave for the recruitment in few days. You must to feel nervous”. “A little bit, actually” replied Historia “But I understand the importance of this mission”. “Indeed. It’s imperative for you to be my eyes and ears in the Scouts Legion. You have to find the boy”. “I thought you trust Mr. Ackerman with this” replied Historia. In reality, Reiss didn’t trust anyone, specially a violent dog like Kenny Ackerman. That man wasn’t loyal to him, but to his brother, Uri, who died years ago due to an illness not even the serum managed to cure. Uri’s body was too weak to adapt to the serum and in the end he perished, but before that, he managed to recruit a man like Ackerman. After his dead, for some unknown reason, Kenny Ackerman kept working for Rod, but the latter never fully trusted the man, deep down scared of his violent nature.Reiss suspected that there were ulterior motives that pushed a greedy man like Ackerman to stand by his side. He tried to warn Uri several times about that man, but his brother always refused to listen.The problem wasn’t only Kenny Ackerman. Reiss didn’t trust the other members of Marleyan aristocracy. Reiss knew was aware of being in a position of complete vulnerability.Without Tybur’s protection, without an official title and a country to rule, he was nothing more than a fallen king. He had no influence, no money, no resources and in the eyes of the world he was officially dead so no one would look for him.That was why he needed Kruger. With the nucleus in his hand, he would finally have a claim on the throne of Marley and no one of those vipes would ever try to kill him or to harm his family.The only reason why those bastards hadn’t attempted on his life yet was because he persuaded them to be the only one with the information to find Kruger and with the freedom to look for him, even using dirty means and finally he was proving their worth to them, which meant that he’d just earned more time to live, but that time wasn’t endless. “This matter has to be solved within the family. You need to find the boy, it’s very important” “I understand father. I sent the application. My name will be Krista Lenz.” She said then she licked her lips and continued “I can do this”. Rod took her little hand in his and kissed her knuckles, then he said “I know, you’re not going to fail. You’re my precious daughter and you’re going to make me proud”. Historia smiled at him looking at him with eyes full of adoration and Reiss, for a moment, allowed himself to believe that that time it could be different, that he could be strong enough to fight for his family, that he could be a good father and that he would protect his daughter.While he was holding that innocent hand, he thought at the picture he had in the first drawer, the one with his old family, and prayed for everything to be alright, but then he looked at the chessboard on his desk and remembered that the game wasn’t over yet, it was just begun, but that time he would win, again.He closed his eyes for a moment and thought about that day, in Utopia’s prisons, and about the last words she said to him.
“You may think to have won the war but don’t delude yourself father. The Children of Paradis are going to come back, stronger, better, smarter… we all are going to rise up again and then we’re going to win… Mark my word… I’m going to win”.
He sighed.‘The Children of Paradis’ was the name given to the group of rebellious leaded by his daughter Frieda before her arrest. The symbol of the group was a tree, with feathers in the place of leaves with a blue background.When Reiss learnt of her involvement with the group he had no other choice than to arrest her and allow Marleyan soldiers to execute her.Many years had passed from that day, but Reiss never overcame the disappointment he felt toward Frieda for her bad choices and for her betrayal. He knew her daughter, he would have never had the guts to fight him if it wasn’t for that piece of shit of Kruger.If Kruger was still alive and was still leading ‘The Children of Paradis’, because Reiss was sure that he wasn’t causing all that havoc alone, Reiss would hunt him down till the end of earth and cut his nape with his hands.Tybur was gone, it was Reiss’s turn to continue that play of chess against Kruger and, differently from Tybur, he was going to win. Not matter how, not matter what and after his victory he would established a new order of things, with a crown on his head and an entire empire under his command and all thanks to his daughter. “I love you, my princess”
“Papa loved you… my princess…”.