Chapter One: Awakening
A/N: FINALLY! I'm getting around to really writing the sequel the way I need it to be written. I know I had few chapters up before, but I just wasn't satisfied with those. So here's a brand-spanking-new version that's better than the other one! (At least, in my opinion…)
I gotta give a HUGE shout-out to MercedesCarello and aniqa1234! You guys ROCK! (No really, I don't think I could have done this without you!)
Welcome to the second part: Behind the Walls!
As she sat cross-legged on the little cot, she picked at the fraying sleeve of the shirt she'd woken up in two days ago. Trying to determine the exact shade of yellow it was provided her with a distraction for a while. She thought of the curd from fresh milk that they'd turn into cheese, but no, that shade was too white to match the coarse material of the long-sleeved shirt she wore. Her next thought turned to the way the sun looked in the middle of summer, on one of those days when cloudless, hot rain would pour from the sky, leaving the sun to look washed out and runny like the yolk of an egg. Deciding that that was the closest she was going to come to comparing the color, she glanced around the room.
How many times had she looked around this cell-like room? She'd counted every brick on each of the four walls twice, studied the striations in the wooden door, made a friend out of the little brown spider that lived in a crack at the ceiling above the door, and stared up at the barred window. Once, she'd moved the cot directly under the window and stood on it to reach the ledge of the high window. She'd tried to pull herself up to look out of it, but her body was too weak. She hadn't been able to lift herself six inches, much less the two feet she still needed to go to see outside.
If the room had been silent, she was sure she'd have gone mad by now. There were, however, noises of all sorts coming from both the broken window and whatever lay beyond the locked door that kept her inside the cramped room. She would hear voices occasionally, but she could never make out the words spoken. Shouts and bells and whistles and all sorts of other sounds she couldn't name came in through the window. She'd only known it was broken when she'd tried to lift herself up to look out of it. When she fell back down to the mattress, she discovered small cuts on her fingers. Earlier today, when she'd tried for the second time to glance outside, she'd grasped a large shard of glass and brought it down with her and hid it inside of the mattress. Logically, she knew someone would have to come into the room again eventually. When they did, she'd be ready to fight her way out if necessary. They couldn't keep her locked in this infernal room forever and without reason!
Once when she'd woken up, she'd found a tray of food on the floor beside the door. Greedily, she'd devoured the plate and wanted more. It had never occurred to her to ration the small meal. No one had returned since, though, and the tray remained on the floor. She wondered why the food had been placed there in the first place. Were they really trying to keep her alive? If so, then why lock her up alone? Had she broken some law? Why was it necessary for her to be treated like a prisoner? If they weren't trying to keep her alive, then why not just kill her? Their motives made little sense to her. Whenever she tried to speculate as to their reasoning, it only infuriated her.
For now, she stretched her legs out on the cot before her. The soft brown boots she wore had been her only possession left to her. Shirt, pants, socks, and underwear were all new to her and fit poorly. Everything was too big. She'd taken the belt provided and used it to both keep up her pants and hold the baggy peasant-style shirt to her waist so that it didn't billow around her when she moved. Despite not knowing how long she would be in this room alone or when her next meal would come to her, she'd stretched and performed basic exercises. Her body was too weak, and that disgusted her. When she wasn't lying down and studying every minuscule detail of the room or trying to determine what caused the bang outside, she'd been moving: sit-ups, push-ups, lunges, squats, and whatever else she thought of.
Her boots… The soft leather was worn and the soles needed to be replaced soon. They laced entirely up- more than halfway to her knees. Six buckles had been added later to help keep the leather tight across her calves. The loose pants she'd been provided were tucked down inside of the boots, folded as flat as possible. Fingers dancing lightly over the faded rust shade, she thought about her brother.
Years ago, long before his death, they'd had a cobbler in the village. The old man was ancient, but he had a gift when it came to crafting shoes of all shapes and sizes. Erik had asked the man to create a pair of boots fit for fighting Titans in. Eve was summoned and forced to sit while he took various measurements of her feet and legs. She'd spent much of her downtime watching the man craft the boots. She'd been the one to kill the cow the hide had come from the previous winter. She'd been an old dairy cow- the oldest in the village. When she'd stopped giving milk and deteriorated into a state of misery, they'd slaughtered her and survived for weeks on her meat. The cobbler talked about the cow as he worked the leather through a press, shaping it to exact and precise measurements. Eve frowned and brushed over the laces. The day he'd finished the boots and Erik had found her to give them to her, they'd been attacked and the cobbler was killed. She'd worn the boots with pride, though, and remembered suffering through the worst blisters of her life. Once they were broken in, she'd almost never taken them off.
The memories continued to flood through her mind now that her mental wall shutting them all out was broken down. Aldrich, Christophe's friend from the Garrison that had returned home with him just before Wall Maria fell, had been one of her teachers. He'd been fearsome and courageous. His experience, two whole years more than what Christophe had, brought them to safety inside that forest village. Eve frowned. Her own home had been outside of the forest and closer to a different village that the one she'd called home for so very long. Her family had been ushered to the safety of the trees along with a few other families by Aldrich. Christophe had been running for others at the time. The shabby fence the village had already possessed was fortified, though it still did little good. She could remember her hands full of splinters as she helped repair the fence in between her lessons with Aldrich and Christophe. She, along with her brother and so many others, were taught to use the 3D maneuvering gear and the twin blades. Some, like she and her brother, advanced faster than others.
Then, and Eve could feel the tears coming even before the memory fully hit her, her brother had died. They'd been practicing during their down time, trying to perfect the concept of using momentum to propel themselves forward rather than gas. She'd successfully swung from tree to tree without using a speck of gas. Erik, determined to do the same, had fallen. There was never a time when they practiced without their blades out anymore- it was too risky to learn a maneuver without them and then lose a limb during combat for trying the same thing. She'd watched from a tree in horror as his body was twisted in the steel cable and the blade snatched from his hand, slicing off one of his arms just as the cable snapped his neck. Her memories of fighting to get him free of the cables were blurry and she'd completely forgotten his funeral, but she'd hated the gear ever since. She and Aldrich fought over it every single day until he, too, was killed.
Aldrich's death had been her fault. She knew that, though Christophe had never directly said it to her. It was because she'd refused to wear the damn gear that he'd had to swoop down and save her from a Titan hand grabbing for her. She'd had her own plan, and had cursed Aldrich for interfering. The moment she was in the tree he'd been aiming for, though, the Abnormal Titan had snatched his cables out of the air. She could still see the bald Titan's glossy head as her mentor and friend was devoured whole. Its crooked eyes found her once more when she screamed at it. Without gear, only the swords, she'd jumped forward and slid down over its ear to its shoulder and hacked the back of its neck to pieces, all while its short little arms tried to latch onto her. Christophe had found her a few minutes later, still slicing into the Titan, but at its swollen belly- even as the steam engulfed her and singed her clothes. She'd found Aldrich's soft brown cloak with the roses on the back of it and had pulled it out of the Titan's belly just as Christophe snatched her away before every inch of her exposed skin was just as blistered as her hands.
Voices in the hall outside of her room snapped her out of her memories. Her hand swiped over her face, mopping up the streaks of tears. Her hand went straight for the hole in the mattress where she'd stashed the shard of glass. With both hands hidden by the length of the sleeves, she waited. Every nerve in her body was singing, every muscle tensed and ready to jump. While her body may have still been weak, all of her previous injuries had healed nicely.
There was a light knock on the door just as a set of keys scraped inside the lock. She could hear the tumblers grating against each other. Then the ancient metal lock was flipped entirely, and the door swung open. There were three people in the doorway, and two wore similar expressions of shock. The third looked more relieved than anything. The first two, those who were shocked, she didn't recognize. The third, however, she sneered at.
"Good of you to come, Commander," she snapped. "How long were you planning on leaving me locked up? Just going to try to starve me to death?"
"How long have you been awake?" he asked. He was resigned, not surprised or upset. She wanted to stab him and make him pay for leaving her to resort to her memories for a lack of anything else to do. She studied him for a long moment before answering. He looked clean enough, but the dark circles under his eyes and the way his hair was tousled told her that he was exhausted in no small way. She'd never seen him look do disheveled before, and that was off-putting.
"Two days." He sighed and looked over at the men at his left.
Those men looked horrified by her answer. Their plain uniforms of tan told her they held no rank or position of importance. If they were military, then they were grunts or trainees. Their soft shoes left her leaning towards ideas of medical assistants of some kind. They stared at each other for a brief moment, then seemed to notice Erwin's pointed look. One of them stepped back and ran down the hall. Eve's hands shook.
"I apologize for their lack of attention," he stated. She shrugged, but had noticed that he hadn't come into the room and his body blocked the only exit. She wondered momentarily if she was strong enough to fight her way passed him. The measly shard of glass in her hand felt useless when she thought about having to use it on him of all people. "I suppose you have questions."
She rolled her eyes at him. "With those powers of deduction, no wonder they made you the commander of the Survey Corps." Her tone was biting and sarcastic. He smirked at her despite the blatant insult. "Where are my people?"
"Settling in," he answered. She narrowed her eyes at him, expecting a much better answer. His blank expression told her she wasn't going to get anything better than half-assed responses for the moment.
"Am I allowed to leave?" She could feel the shard of glass in her hand biting into her skin.
"You aren't a prisoner here." That wasn't an answer, she thought. His next look to her was with narrowed eyes. She caught his eyes darting down to her hand and cursed when she realized her palm was full of blood and it had started dripping between the cracks in her fingers. "Drop it." She lifted her hand and obeyed, the shard falling to the cot in front of her. The remaining man at the door slid by the Commander and darted into the room. He snatched up the glass and ran it back over to the Commander before vanishing from the room.
"Planning to stab me and run?" he asked dryly.
She shrugged. "I just want out. I was prepared to kill the king himself if he was the first person to step through that door." Erwin's smirk relaxed her. She grabbed the sheet on the cot and wrapped it tightly around the cut in her palm. It wasn't very deep, but she didn't need to lose any blood. "When?"
He'd understood the abstract question. "Soon." His equally abstract answer only annoyed her. "When those two return, they will bandage up your hand and give you a bite to eat. After that, you are to come with me to go see General Pixis." Her stomach, empty as it was, knotted painfully. He didn't appear pleased to deliver this news to her.
"Fair enough," she choked out. Before she could say anything more, the second man had returned with a vanilla-colored bucket full of medical supplies. She paid him little attention as he doctored up her hand. The sandy-colored head was bent down over his work when his darker companion returned. Erwin actually stepped out of the way for him as he carried the dark blue tray into the room. There was little more than a loaf of bread, a wedge of cheese, and a thin slice of meat, but she was ravenous. She chewed the meat first, devouring it as fast as she could manage. With the bread and cheese, she took a little more time. She'd take one small bite of cheese and a large bite of the bread and chew them together. It was a meager meal, but enough to satisfy her for a short time.
When the blond finished with her hand, he retreated just as the brunette had. They both hid behind the Commander. She ignored all three of them while she ate, and wondered why they hadn't brought her any water. After the bread and cheese was gone, she sighed. Her stomach was full beyond capacity now, but she felt so good for assuaging the hunger pains that had begun to get the best of her. Erwin dismissed the two behind him and she stood once they scampered down the hall.
"Let's go." She sighed, but was resigned to follow him. Part of her expected him to slam the door in her face as soon as she got near it to prevent her from leaving the room. She was an outsider here, and knew that few people would trust her. Erwin was probably one of the few that did trust her- at least to a certain point. After all, she'd dropped the shard of glass at his order. That had been as much of a show of obedience as it was her symbol of trusting him not to leave her locked up any longer. Once they were both out in the hall, she breathed a sigh of relief. She looked around frantically. Her room had been at the very end of a long corridor with several other doors similar to her own. How many other people had been locked up here in this asylum?
"Where are my things?" she asked. He glanced down at her when she stepped up to his side. Remembering the pain of walking from before, she was glad the gash in her leg had healed to a pink, fleshy scar. How long had she and her people been behind the Walls? For her leg to be healed so far along, it had to be more than just a couple of days… The thought of that, as once before, made her nauseous. With plenty of food in her stomach, the pain wasn't quite as intense, but she needed something to drink. Her dry throat was making it difficult to keep her food down.
"Your people took the majority of your belongings, including your horse, with him to the small district we had them settle in." As they moved by a small table loaded with supplies of all sorts, Erwin reached over and grabbed a large container of water. He passed it to her before they continued. The slight, graying woman sitting behind the table almost protested, but when Eve began guzzling the water, she pursed her lips. Eve did not return the container.
"And my clothes? My gear, my belt, my sweater?" She gestured to the ridiculous outfit she was wearing now. "These are far too big."
"Not a main priority for the moment," Erwin clipped. She scowled, but bit her tongue to keep from insulting him. She had to keep in mind that she was no longer a major player in his game. She was just a refugee now. Whatever part she had left to play wasn't going to be of her own design. This was foreign territory to her, and Erwin was the only soul she knew. She had to have a least enough faith in him not to stab her in the back.
She kept her thoughts to herself for the moment. If she wanted answers, she'd have to weasel them out of the Commander when she was sure they wouldn't be overheard, or she'd have to find someone else. Armin would have been her first choice. It would be easy to use him- to manipulate him into giving her all the information she wanted. It surprised her, just for a moment, that she didn't feel guilty for considering that as an option. Armin had been a spy for Erwin against her, though, even if he hadn't intended to be. She couldn't forgive him for that. At least, not until she knew exactly how much he'd revealed.
The corridor turned just after the table where Erwin had taken the water. The second hall was shorter, but ended in a long staircase. Erwin led the way down, and Eve took the time to fall back. She stared out of the windows at the bustling city outside. They were a few stories high- high enough for her to detect construction in one part of the city leading all the way to the Wall that loomed in the distance. She had never been to the interior before, and what she knew of it had been nothing more than rumors passed along. If she had to guess, she'd say they were behind Wall Sheena, though. The streets were cobble and glistened in the sun. There was no dirt or trash to be found here. The people that meandered about didn't look rushed or particularly worried about anything. They were well dressed and several were bedecked with jewelry.
Her fists clenched. The scrape on her right palm throbbed, but it didn't deter her anger. Those people in the streets below her were ignorant of her struggles and her pain. They didn't understand what it was like to live every day in fear. They had their Walls to cower behind and they had the time and the money to waste on frivolous activities. She wanted to scream at them, to drag them all out into the open to witness the true horror of the Titans- just like she'd done to Lacey. Erwin seemed to sense her anger and stopped on the stair case. They were about half-way down to the next level. She looked down at him, eyes narrowed.
"Leave them to their ignorance," he muttered. He turned his back to her and they continued walking. "You wanted to afford your people the same luxury, after all. From now on, they should be able to live their lives in peace, safe behind Wall Rose." He was right, but at least her people knew what they were living apart from. They knew the sacrifices that it took to keep the people behind the Walls safe and alive. They would not take their easy lives for granted.
The decent down the stairs continued. When they reached the next floor, they had to move to the other end of the hall before they got to the next staircase. Eve was silent, passing more doors like the ones on the previous floor. She couldn't help but wonder if anyone behind those doors was like her- locked up for days without food or water. Again, she found herself gritting her teeth to keep from snapping about how poorly she was treated. She might be a refugee, now, but damn it, she was a citizen in this kingdom, too!
Erwin gave her no direction or explanation when they reached the bottom floor and exited the building. She was now out among the people she'd looked down on and criticized. A few would look at her, a little surprised by her appearance, but they just moved on. Other didn't even spare her a glance. She struggled to keep up with Erwin as his fast stride carried him across the street. She wanted to stop and look at everything. The richness of the area was appalling to her- and beautiful. Buildings beautifully built and lined with gold with huge stained-glass windows all towered over her in their magnificence. The few times she'd been to the large city between her village and Shingashina District was the only experience of this sort she'd ever had- and the buildings when she'd seen them were mostly ruined or had fallen into disrepair.
"Watch out!" Eve's head snapped to the side and she neatly darted out of the road, away from a fast-moving carriage. The driver shook a fist in her direction, but she knew that she could have killed him easily if she'd cared to, and that made her feel a little better.
"Keep up," Erwin said sternly. She scowled at him once more, but jogged over to his side and attempted to match his pace. Her legs were too short to fall into perfect step with him, but she made up for it with speed. When Erwin paused at another street, she took a moment to guzzle more water. Her dehydration was getting to her now, and she felt she was going to need ten more of these containers of water before the day was over to make up for all that she'd missed. Between the food and the water and the fresh air, she felt her strength returning gradually. She had to jog to catch back up to Erwin- who seemed determined to both leave her behind and have her keep up. They continued to dart around the city before they eventually reached another building- one not so regale as the others Eve had seen on this little field trip. Rather than a large, elegant door, there was nothing more than a thin cloth nailed up to block the entrance. He pulled it aside and gestured for her to go in.
She took one step inside, but went no further until Erwin was by her side once more. It took a moment for her eyes to readjust to the darkness after being out in the bright sunlight, but once they did, she relaxed. Before, she'd only been able to tell that the room was full of people all seated at low tables. Now that she could make out details, she began to recognize familiar faces.
"Eve!" Several members of the Survey Corps were on their feet and making their way toward her within a few seconds of her arrival. "What happened? Why haven't we seen you in so long? What's going on?" She held her hands up in a defensive position and looked up at Erwin.
"I don't know anything," she admitted. "You'll have to ask him." She jerked one thumb over at the Commander, but he turned and stepped over to the short bar to the left of the doorway. Armin, Jean, Reiner, Sasha, Connie, and even Eren and Mikasa were all surrounding her- keeping her from darting over by Erwin's side to grill him for proper answers.
"How long have you been awake?" Sasha asked. "Are you hungry? Come sit down!"
"I've been awake for two days, and no, I ate a little just before we left…" She knew she couldn't eat more at the moment. "I just need water…" And with those words, four canteens were thrust in her direction. She chuckled nervously and accepted one of them- she didn't know whose.
"It's been three weeks since we got here," Armin told her, a small frown on his face. "Were you out for that entire time?"
"I think the term is 'coma', " Jean said. He looked her over. "She looks skinnier than before."
"She does, doesn't she?" Connie said thoughtfully. Eve frowned. Why did it matter? "I've never heard of someone sleeping for three weeks…"
"She said she doesn't know anything…" Reiner muttered darkly. He looked down at her, his golden eyes narrowing. She felt the pit of her stomach tighten once more. "You should probably go sit down."
Armin grabbed her bandaged hand. "A lot's happened…"
A/N: Ahhhhhhh cliffhangers! The bane to every reader and the joy for most writers! (one of them, anyway- me, anyway)
Hopefully it won't take me too terribly long to crank out another chapter (wrote this one in just a few hours!)
Read and review, y'all- it makes a world of difference. (And I'm pretty positive there are probably a few grammar mistakes lingering around there somewhere... Catch 'em for me!)
Seriously, makes me feel like it's Christmas freakin' mornin when I get those emails! ;)