~The Hunted Becomes the Hunter~
Summary: If it's possible for a human to turn into a Titan, would it be possible for humans to turn into other things? Follow eight children who had been taken from their homes by Titans and were given abilities that could turn the tables in the endless war against the giant monstrosities. The Titans will now know the saying "A cornered rat can still fight back" for the prey has become the predator.
~Chapter 1: A Strange Sight~
Sounds of wings flapping can be heard as a bird of prey soar through the air, high above a desolate ruined town that's littered with broken houses and dried bloodstains. The owl's amber eyes scanned the area before swooping down a particular house that is somewhat still in one piece, despite the broken wall on the side and the small hole in the roof.
The owl landed inside a room before turning into a young man with neck-long deep burgundy hair and sky-blue eyes, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and trousers. Stretching his wings out, he walked into another room that is lit by a small campfire in the middle of the room. As he walked in, the other occupants turned to him.
"Welcome back, Nii-san." a long raven-haired girl greeted him, her ears and tail twitching.
The redhead nodded as he took his place in between one bob-styled blonde boy and another brunette male.
"Find anything?" a blonde female asked as she cleaned her blade.
"Just more Titans prowling around the area." he replied, accepting the meat that had been cooking over the fire. "There seems to be more of them coming around lately."
"Do you think they found us?" a very tall male asked, fiddling his fingers.
The redhead shrugged, "Who knows. If yes, we'll have to change location again."
"Can't we just beat the shit out of them?" the brunette suggested.
"We can't. If we did, we'll only attract more. Before long, they'll eventually capture us and put us back into that place again..." the redhead shuddered at the memory.
The brunette flattened his ears, not wanting to go through that again.
"That reminds me, how is our guest?" the redhead asked.
"He's sleeping." a blonde muscled male replied, jabbing his thumb towards the back where a figure is covered with molted feathers. "We managed to stop the bleeding like you asked, and bandaged him thoroughly."
"Though the problem is that, he has a fever and we don't have the necessary herbs or medicine for it." a freckled female added.
The redhead hummed in thought, "I see. We'll just have to steal from inside the walls then." He then turned to raven haired girl and the brunette male. "The both of you will have to sneak inside and grab the stuff, alright?" They nodded. "And you-" he pointed to the male. "Don't get distracted, alright?"
"Geez, I'm not a kid, Nii-san!" the male pouted.
"I beg to differ..." the raven female muttered.
XXXX
The guards guarding the gates yawned as they stood in attention, making sure no one goes near the gates while trying to keep their eyes from drooping. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, not even when a dark-brown dog and a black cat crawled through the gates. It's not unusual to see animals from the Titans territory coming inside the walls so nothing strange about that as they proceeded to doze off again.
If they were to stay awake a bit longer, they would have heard the dog snickering at them before following its feline companion further into town.
One of the advantages of being what they are is that they could change the size of their animal forms so it wouldn't be as suspicious as having a full-grown wolf or a black panther.
"Man, they sure are slacking. What have they been doing since we last been here?" the canine whispered as they walked into a dark alleyway and turned back into their human forms. "If they keep this up, Wall Rose would fall like Wall Maria."
"Eren, don't say such stuff!" the girl chastised him. "Besides, we're here to get medicine, not to criticize the guards."
"Alright, alright." the brunette, Eren, said as they walked out into the open and walked among the others. "...Where do we exactly go?"
The female just sighed.
Meanwhile, soaring above the town is the same owl, surveying the town and making sure his siblings doesn't attract too much attention. The owl, tired of his frequent flying, gently swooped down into an opened window that belonged to a castle-like place and preened his feathers.
"OH MY GOD~" a squeal alarmed the bird and he was about to fly away but was immediately grabbed by the intruder. "WHY, HELLO THERE, MY PRETTY LITTLE BIRD!" The owl flinched at the high-pitched voice and was struggling to get away as the person swayed left and right, cooing over him.
"Hanji! Will you shut the hell up! You'll wake the dead if you squeal like a hyperactive pig!" a voice stopped her from further suffocating him before turning to the owner of the voice who, to his surprise, is from a short male with an undercut hairstyle. "In which case, why the hell are you squealing?"
"Levi, look! Look at this beauty right here!" the woman, Hanji, lifted him up to the male who stared at the bird with disinterest. "You don't see any of this kind that often!"
"...And why is that thing doing in my office?"
Hanji gasped and hugged the owl, "How dare you insult it! It is not a 'thing'! It is what people back then call them as Snowy Owls. They say that owls are the wisest animals in the world and probably the most mysterious." She raised him into the air. "Just look at its pure white feathers, and those mysterious amber eyes. Ooh, I can't wait to show this cutie to everyone. Kyaa, he's so fluffy!"
Having enough of the woman's antics and annoyed at being called 'fluffy', the owl freed himself before slashing three pairs of angry red marks on her face with his talons. Hanji was dazed for a sec before flopping onto the ground. The owl huffed in annoyance before going back to preening.
"Guess not all of us agree with you." the male smirked as he sat down in his chair. Glancing at the owl, he watched as it preened its feathers. He noticed that the owl is indeed pure white, not a speck of black, dirt or anything on its feathers. "...You like to be cleaned too?"
The owl ceased its preening and turned to him with its head tilted to one side. The Lance Corporal couldn't help but noticed that the way the owl is staring at him in curiosity and wonder seems too human to him. Without him knowing, he had reached out a hand to lightly feel the feathers of the owl. Surprisingly, the bird didn't moved away nor did it peck him. Instead it stood very still, allowing him to touch the soft plumes. Occasionally leaning into the touch.
"...Hanji's right. You're fluffy looking." Levi smirked as the owl puffed its feathers out, causing it to look like a large ball of fluff. "Now you looked like a fluff ball."
The owl huffed and turned its head in a 180 to face behind. This feat surprised the corporal for he had never seen such flexibility. Heck, he was sure no one had ever seen as such.
A knock was heard before it opened to reveal the commander, Erwin Smith. "Levi, have you seen Hanji-" the blonde man stopped as he glanced down at the floor. "...Never mind." He took notice of the angry marks on her face and was about to ask when he saw the snowy owl. "Well, I didn't know we have a visitor."
"I didn't either." he replied. "It kind of flew in, and Hanii got all hyped up over it. It seems that it doesn't like others calling it 'fluffy'." To make a point, the owl puffed out its feathers again.
"But doesn't that make it even more so?" the commander mused as he used his forefinger to caress the white bird. "Anyways, I need to ask Hanji about something, but I think we need to wake her up first."
Levi was about to suggest kicking her awake when the owl have another idea. Landing gently onto the floor beside the woman, it plucked off her glasses and placed them on the table before going back to its original position and started pecking at her face.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Hanii shrieked in pain and the barrage of pecks before getting up. "What the hell!"
"Well, that was effective." Erwin said as he tried to stifle his chuckles.
"Maybe I should try that, next time but with kicks." the corporal said.
The owl returned her glasses and put them on for her before it was hugged again, "Ooh, thank you cutie!"
The commander cleared his throat, announcing his presence which brought the woman to attention. Once freed, the bird of prey quickly flew to the other side of the desk while glaring at the woman before preening itself again. Annoyed that its feathers were ruffled again.
"We'll leave you to your duties, Levi." Erwin announced as he walked out of the door with Hanji shouting her goodbyes to the owl.
The corporal, relieved to be finally alone, gathered his paperwork and started working on them, already forgetting about his extra 'visitor'. It was only until he was about to finish the last stack of paperwork when his quill broke. He swore lightly.
"Great, that was my last one." he muttered. He was about to stand up from his chair when a soft 'pyee-pyee' was heard and he was immediately reminded of the feathered visitor. "...You're still here?"
The owl just stared at him before lifting a wing and carefully plucking a feather out. The owl presented the feather to him by placing it on top of his unfinished paperwork.
Hesitantly, he picked it up and gently turned it over a few times, "Thanks." he said before taking out a knife and cutting an ink tip into the feather's quill. The owl hooted in delight before perching itself onto the windowsill. It sat there, looking out the opened window as if watching for something. All was quiet in the office as they each did their own things.
The silence was only disrupted when there seems to be a commotion in the courtyard. The owl turned to where the noises were to find a few of the cadets swarming around a dog. A very familiar dark-brown dog who is happily absorbed by the attention.
"What the hell is all that noise?!" Levi exclaimed as he looked out of his window. "...Typical. Just over a stupid mutt, and they caused such a ruckus." The owl hooted in agreement, though for a much different reason.
Suddenly, a thick cloud of smoke appeared and a 'poof' sound was heard. When it cleared, there in place of the dog was a fifteen year old boy.
"Um, hi?" the boy greeted sheepishly.
It could be his imagination but Levi swore he saw the owl just face-palmed itself.