They are the immortal ones. Created for war from project Titan. Very few are the perfect beings they sought. Eren is one of them.
Not sure if lemons shall occur. Might just keep it at M for gore, character deaths, strong language, accidental limb removals, and mental illnesses. I only edited half and left it alone for a couple months so please forgive me for this transgression I got too wrapped up in the second chapter and a Original work of mine. This in my chief side project so don't expect any other chapters soon.
"Subject has calmed down sufficiently" a cold mechanical like woman's voice said over a set of speakers.
Eren panted. He didn't want to be here. He also didn't want to get shipped out to war. For three centuries he'd been doing that obediently. And as He said; it's time to think for himself.
They stuck him with needles pumping a heavy drug into his system to make the muscles in his immortal body relax. Drugs worked on him, swords, fire, decapitations, arrows, guns, cannons. None of those worked. He is the perfect killing machine incapable of death.
"I'll kill you all. E-every last one o-of you" Eren threatened as his mind became a blank slate before the dreams started.
The story of Eren Yeagers life could be what one would consider a tragedy. He had been subject to a painful experiment by his father in order to give him a second chance at life. this second chance could be more akin to hell for some.
The Titan experiments began in Germany during World War II. It began with trying to make German soldiers stronger and more invulnerable. There was slight success in the strength but the other tests went wrong and the subjects either died on their own or commited suicide.
The United States of America found the affected soldiers and brought them to America with the promise of fixing their problem. And the Americans did. They took away the pain as they experimented on them. The tests the Germans conducted made them feel raw pain all the time- probably why the previous batches of Titan soldiers died before- the Americans also continued with the experiment. Developing it to be far superior to the German done one.
It was in the late 1950's when the first success was found. In the beginning the subjects worked wonderfully in the Vietnam war. Unfortunately that had only been the beginning. Slowly the experiments mutated into beings less than humans. Their strength had mutated and these became known as Titans and their goal apparently had been to kill humans and eat them. Their bodies had also mutated along the way creating monsters that were uncontrollable. The government purged this group and began their work from scratch once more.
Soon they got it right along the way creating the first generations.
The first generations still had a life span back then and could be killed by decapitation if you got them in their Achilles heel at th back of their neck. These Titans were still prone to outbreaks of intense rage under stressful cercumstances, yet they were very effective weapons giving America a leg up in the wars they were fighting.
Still they pursued the idea of the perfect Titan. One that was strong without mutating, did not lose to their emotions, did not lose intelligence, and did not possess the Achilles Heel that the previous generations had.
By about Eren's generation they finally figured it out which had been in the year 2020.
In fact it had been Eren's father who figured it out. A world war broke out between various African and Middle Eastern countries decided to wage war with the world creating World War III. The German born man had migrated to America with his wife to pursue medical sciences. When he stumbled across the studies he finished the serum.
Eren had been in Germany with his parents on a vacation when the area they were staying got bombed. had been out of town for some reason Eren never knew and their hotel got bombed.
In the wreckage his mom did not make it due to her shielding her son, and Eren lost many body parts. His arm and leg had been blown away from the blast, his eyes burned from the dust and bits of shrapnel had gotten into his eyes. His dad dug through the remains of the hotel to find the burned corpse of his wife and his barely alive son.
Dr. Yeager made the executive decision to save Eren's life using the only amount of serum he had perfected. There in the wreckage he placed the syringe to the back of Eren's neck.
The pain was something Eren would never forget. The serum left a fire that burned along his veins as it got pumped through his body leaving an ice cold feeling in it's wake. The cold was not numbing as it left a horrible ache. Dr. Yeager thought he had killed his son instead of giving him a second chance so they buried him.
Unbeknownst to any except for Eren he grew back his limbs in that coffin. The pain of regrowing his limbs was something that he thought the pain of the injection could not surpass, and yet he was wrong. The bones grew back first, then the muscles, and finally the skin. When the pains all finally died down Eren could finally move and found he as buried alive. through perseverence he dug himself out of his grave. He wandered for some time, eating off the wilderness until he finally came across civilisation.
The next one hundred years became something of a blur. If Eren truly wanted to he would not be able to tell you what he had done in that time. His handlers had told him they found him in the the woods and had saved him from starvation. Then they trained him how to fight because they were on the edge of war.
Somehow ren was found by the military and conscripted into their units and eventually it became known that he could not die. He would fight for them with disregard to his own healh. and mot of all he was emotionless. their perfect soldier. soon he rose through their ranks and found himself as a general after some time.
then one day on a battlefield he broke down. the opposition did not have many adults left so they had sent children to war.
Apparently that day had even exactly 100 years to the day since he came a Titan as the experiments became named.
With Eren no longer their emotionless killer he had becme something of a problem child. tey had kept this under wraps and pulled him from the frontlines. The empire finished the war losing more people than had originally been projected because of this. Even o the empire rejoiced. they had grown in sie exponentially with this war and everything was good. All except for one citizen. This one citizen was in a locked padded cell because of the emotional trauma of this war.
The empire decided to start experimenting. They used Eren as the base for many new medicines. They could replicate his regrowth to make somebody stay young longer, and these medicines could help heal wounds of various sorts. Even with all of this they could not find what it was that would replicate the total effects. They could not completely regrow cellular structures into say arms or legs, or create eternal youth, or prevent somebody from dying.
Over time Eren had gotten better, the empire finally released him from the holding cell and they had him working as a peace keeper for the interior. This was part of an agreement they struck with him. he would work six days a week doing his duties as a peace keeper unless the scientists had need of him. In return they would give him space, time away from fighting, and he could do as much as he pleased on his days off.
Being a peace keeper seemed ideal. The humans of the world knew his face. The only living immortal. He scared everybody into place, yet they loved him. Something about the boy was so personable they could not hate him. He became a familiar face when the people had questions, he was commonly the one they would talk to.
And experiments continued. Experiments about how to replicate the serum, how to kill Eren, see how far he could be pushed, see if he can be pushed farther. One time they starved him for almost a month. They learnt that if that after three weeks all of Eren's functions cease except for the very basic ones like breathing.
Eren didn't mind of course. The food is good, he gets to do basically what he wants within the given parameters. As it is h had no drive in life considering every one he knew was dead and the people he did associate with wer the type that easily coerced him into this decision.
And then four centuries pass. The people and lands change. He saw the beginnings of the current empire founded around his existence that promised that the people would no longer suffer the problems of the past. Nowhere Eren went did he see people suffering so he guessed that was true.
For three hundred years the experiments lessened and basically Eren became a full time patrolman. The occasional grunt had an idea that made its way to the forefront of everything. In 490 years from the beginning Eren got assigned a personal scientist person of sorts who documented his every move heavily and continued with some experiments to find the correct serum.
And why did that happen? Because Eren's father disappeared into the wind after he injected his perfected serum in Eren and nobody could find anything about his mixture. Eren personally could barely remember that night or even that first century. What he did remember was pain.
So the scientist continued the great search for immortality. Eren eventually counted them to be one of his friends.
That is the beginning.
Eren continued his rounds when he heard rumours of slave traders in the area- which is illegal in this province- and traveled to the area.
He spent a good two hours searching the woods to find a small unsuspecting hunting cabin that usually littered forests like these. He glanced in a window to find two men and a small girlish figure on the floor lying as if she's asleep.
Eren politely knocked on the door. One of the men gruffly opened the door. Eren stabbed him in his stomach with a hidden blade. He walked inside to hear the second man freaking out holding the young girl by her hair, knife blade at her throat.
"Any closer and she dies" the man threatened. Eren paused. It's been the first time in nearly a century that anybody has tried threatening anything in front of him.
"I do not think you want to try anything" Eren calmly told him. He thought the man held a slight grin on his face when suddenly a white light flashed before his eyes. A harsh clanging metal sound rang through the air of a third man hitting Eren in the head with something metal.
The world went black for a moment. Eren woke up on the hard wooden floor with his arms bound to his sides and his legs with thick ropes.
"This kid is the military's pet. You idiots what did you do to garner his attention" he heard the muffled sound of one of the men arguing. Muffled because he could barely hear past the ringing in his ears.
"Sorry boss. I don't know what happened I barely even know what on earth is goin' on" the man who threatened Eren earlier said.
"Well get the girl out of here before this monster wakes up!" Barked the boss man.
The man grumbled and picked the girl up. Eren quietly began to pull his legs apart. His strength is at least ten times that of your average human body builder.
The first man left with the girl leaving his boss behind with Eren.
"They say you can't die. I wonder if this is really true. If I were to chop your body into tiny pieces and burn them would you come back to life still?" The boss leered down at Eren. "And don't bother pretending to be asleep. I know you aren't."
Eren opened his eyes looking the man directly in his face. He could feel his eyes burning as if shooting daggers at the man. The man actually took a step back. "They've tried that twice. Last time was just fifty years ago" Eren told him. "It took many months for my ashes that were incinerated in various boxes to do their magic and here I am today" the ropes along Eren's legs snapped.
The man paled. "You nihilistic monster!"
"Hahaha, you're going to have to try harder. I've been called worse things before" Eren taunted as he rose with his arms still bound to his sides. As he finally pulled himself to his entire height he called on his absolute brute strength to make the ropes break off loudly and violently.
The man squealed when Eren grabbed his hair and threw him out the window at the man running into the trees.
Eren climbed through the rubble to find the girl had subdued the last abductor. His arms were pinned to his back and her foot smashed his face into the mud.
Eren asked her "What do you think? Should they live or die?"
"Die"
"Alright if you say so" and then Eren stomped on their skulls in sending brain matter flying. He continued stomping on the ground decimating their corpses.
"U-um" he heard from the girl. "My name is Mikasa" Eren kicked a couple fragments of body away and turned to the girl.
"Pleasure Mikasa. I'm Eren Yeager" Eren swiftly bowed.
It turns out that the slave traders had murdered both of Mikasa's parents and she had no extended family save for an older brother who disappeared a long time ago. So Eren took her with him to the compound where he lived.
Eren waved his hand over a scanner to let them in. "Pretty cool right? It's a great place to live. There's a gaming room, a library, exercise room, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff" Eren had explained a couple of the rooms as they passed them. They stopped at Eren's room. "You'll stay the night in my room. I won't be in there for a while so… yeah" said Eren as he ran a tan hand through his thick brown hair.
Mikasa murmured a few things. Eren sighed and rummaged through his drawers for some clothes for her. He pulled out a long tan shirt and some baggy drawstring pants. He tossed them in her direction. "Try those on" Eren told her. "I have some paper work to do tonight. So you sleep for tonight and tomorrow we talk about your future.
Eren wrote up the incident report and how he handled everything. He may be the perfect Titan experiment but he still suffered fits of rage- probably about the same amount as a normal human, but that had been tamed over the past three centuries- and other emotions. So he chalked up their deaths to that.
They would accept it. It's not like they could truly punish him and it's not like Eren is afraid of death.
Eren walked back to his room when he heard some of the people who lived in the facility talking "yeah did you hear about the rebellion kidnapping that man? Stole him from his house and set it on fire" one of the men said.
"Oh yeah. I heard that from my cousin who lives in that town. Said the house went up like kindling." The woman responded. Eren listened quietly not alerting them with his presence. They continued talking about it. A rebellion had started up by the signs and they had violent tendencies. Eren expected the assignment to track them down or dispose of them all to come soon.
He would wait for that. He expected his superiors to get the correct info on what's going on. As it is his body is tired and he needs to eat.
"You're very human" Mikasa said three days later. Eren paused. They had been eating together in the cafeteria. These had been the first words she uttered aloud since she introduced herself.
"Maybe because I am human" Eren agreed chuckling.
"Your personality doesn't match your body" she blatantly said.
"Well. That's because my mind is 475 years older than my body." Eren explained. "One sees things and does things that changes oneself in that 490 years they've been around"
Mikasa gave a soft grunt and continued eating her oatmeal.
"Train me to get stronger" Mikasa suddenly demanded Eren while he trained in the training room. The wooden dummy struck Eren in his face breaking his nose.
He bit back a low growl and looked at her straight in the face as he set his nose. It felt straight and the steam from the repairs rose up. Something about Eren's body steamed while he healed from anything.
Mikasa watched him with a blank look. Eren wondered if he broke her. It's not like she cried from her parents dying. That had been a week ago today and she hasn't cried, talked, or gone insane. Unless this is her going insane. Eren almost decided to take her to Hanji to check her out.
"Are you sure?" Eren asked. Mikasa nodded. Sighing Eren began" okay if I do this you won't be recognisable. You will wake up at impossible times and sleep later than you want. You will eat what I eat and train five days a week with me if I am here. You will be the strongest human alive when I'm through" Mikasa's eyes shone with water when Eren finished the rant. "Do you accept?"
"I do" she murmured.
Eren smiled and took her hand. "I promise I will make it so that nothing bad can happen to you ever again" he vowed. The flood works burst and she began to cry earnestly on Eren's shoulder wrapping her arms around his neck.
Eren just finished tucking Mikasa into bed. He got called on by Hanji for an experiment at midnight so he had some time to kill. Mikasa's training progressed quickly with Hanji's help on determining what Mikasa's body is capable of, what it isn't capable of, and what they can do to improve the in capabilities into capabilities.
A year since Eren found Mikasa treated them both well. Already Mikasa went out on missions with Eren. His silent shadow he conversed easily with. She unnerved the humans that worked around Eren because of how she behaved. She hardly talked, smiled, laughed, cried, lashed out in anger. They called her the ice queen.
Eren could see that she did laugh and cry however it was on her own terms and Eren seems to be the only one to do it. He behaved like a parent to the girl just as she behaved like one to him. Mikasa constantly reminded Eren that he needed to eat or sleep. Usually Eren would chuckle and do as she said however there were times where he couldn't quiet his mind down to sleep or wasn't hungry.
Eren decided he wanted to mark the one year of them being a team. He would go out to town tomorrow to get her something.
Now what would he get her? She's a girl and girls like clothes, jewellery, make up, cute things, and boys. However none of that is Mikasa. He would figure it out when he's in town.
Eren looked at the clock and found that midnight had just about arrived. He stood up to leave the room.
Hanji basically wanted to make sure that none of Eren's skills had deteriorated so they went through the usuals; checked his regrowth rate, tried some poisons and new drugs, suffocated Eren. By the end of it all Eren surmised that if he were not a Titan he would have died at least a dozen times.
Hanji stopped Eren as he was walking out. Eren looked down at the hand on his arm. Looking up a mournful expression crossed Hanji's features. "There's an experiment that has been requested and approved and it's nothing like what we've done before" xe started.
"What is it Hanji?" Eren prodded confused.
"They want to test your reproductive skills and see if you can birth a Titan child" Hanji explained.
Eren stood there gape mouthed.r "No!" He shouted angrily. "No, no, no, no, NO!"
"They just want your semen. They'll just artificially inseminate somebody or do the test tube thing. You won't even have to be involved" Hanji insisted. "Unless you want to be involved? We can find a nice young woman to mate with you and be your lawful wife"
Eren backed away, shaking Hanji's hand from his arm violently. "My moral code doesnt allow for this. I can ignore a lot of things but not this. Whoever came up with that idea should be digusted with themselves." Eren sternly said as he left the lab.
Mikasa held onto Eren's arm as they walked down a shopping district.
"You can have anything you want Mikasa" Eren reminded her as she declined entering most of the girly shops.
"But I don't want anything in those weird places" she muttered.
"Well. Is there anything you want?" Eren tried.
"Not really." She responded. Eren sighed and they continued walking. The snow started falling. Mikasa wore the usual outfit of the military and shivered a bit despite the cloak covering her shoulders.
Eren looked at a second hand stores window and found a red scarf on the mannequin. "Go sit on that bench for a bit I will be right back." Erne told her. Mikasa- being her normal self and doing everything Eren told her to do- sat on the bench in front of the pet store.
Eren bought the scarf with his pension he hardly ever touched and silently wrapped the scarf around Mikasa's neck. She pulled the fabric up to her nose and sniffed it.
"It smells weird" she said with a completely straight face.
Eren laughed. "It smells new." He said. Mikasa smiled at him. Her face turned slightly more serious. "What did hanji want last night?"
"Hanji wanted to just check how everything was working" Eren replied. He wasn't going to tell her about what hanji really wanted to do.
"Is everything working alright?" Mikasa asked.
Eren shrugged. "I guess. It's not like hanji said anything about me hitting the gym"
"Maybe you should eat more often" Mikasa lightly jabbed.
"I eat just enough thank you very much!" Eren responded by giving her a noogie. Slowly Eren noticed that she had grown quite a bit since they met. Soon she will be taller than him and an adult. He sighed and they started walking back to the compound.
"Eren Yeager you have denied a request that could better humanity?" One of his superiors had started. Eren figured he would get in trouble for him saying no. "Even though you are contracted to comply with all experiments"
"If you would please sir, this is not an experiment. It's an abomination." Eren began "you are playing with things that should not be played with. If they had asked for you to do this I am sure you would have said the same thing. Reprimand me all you want but I will not keep this on my moral conscious for I find it rude, wrong, and disgusting."
The man sputtered as Eren took Mikasa's hand and headed off to the gym.
"You lied to me" Mikasa murmured.
"I did not find it important. I might have agreed to comply with experiments. This is just too far from that" Eren told her "this is a subject I hope to drop and forget. I might be 500 years old but I'm still 15" with that they dressed in their training gear in silence.
Eren pumped irons while he carefully watched Mikasa work on her reflexes and agility as she used the jungle gym.
Eren played on that sort of thing when he was a little boy, but this thing is bigger and deadlier. It's almost like an obstacle course complete with things that jumped out at you at random times. It had three settings and Eren no longer needed to use it as he mastered it some time ago, he kept it in the ever expanding gym because sometimes the trainees would use this room. Mikasa has yet to complete the first level however she did get near then end before the ultimate "Deathlord" came out. The Deathlord required one to use speed and reflexes against it to get past and finish the course.
Mikasa had five minutes before it went deathlord on her. After she gets defeated she will then join Eren in lifting various weights and then they will go for a cool down run of about two miles.
Five minutes passed and the deathlord came out. Mikasa parkoured her way to a high place jumped doing a somersault in the air crashing her leg into the robots head staggering it. She lands hard on the floor and Eren pauses in his weight lifting to gauge if the young girl is alright. Eren watches as the deathlords health drops down to twenty percent before it manages to catch Mikasa and defeat her. Sighing Eren got up and picked up Mikasa. He brought the young eleven year old over to the benches where they lift weights and handed her some five pound bell weights so that she can work on her triceps.
They continue in silence save for the upbeat dubstep in the background as ancient as Eren. Apparently dubstep is considered "retro" and only new age kids listen to it. Erens old age and he thought he could get away with that. Mikasa liked to tease him about his music taste even though he knew she fell asleep to the ancient music of her people even though her people had been lost to time and mixed genetics. Eren thought it was cute and did not tell her tha he knew.
A couple years later along with many attempts by Hanji and several scientists to get Eren to procreate, Eren finds that the empire is at war. A rebel army had declared war and soon he would be shipped out to the front lines hopefully as a scare tactic if anything. Their demands were not ones Eren was to know. What he knew was that his orders was to use scare tactics first and kill second except for their leaders. Those are to be punished by the emperor in a public spectacle.
Many people gathered in the compound where Eren lived. He had taken to sending them through drills to prepare them for who could have more experiences with war than the 500 year old immortal who had seen countless battles and wars?
Yet Eren hit a road bump a week before deployment. "You are staying Mikasa" Eren stubbornly commanded. "You're just a child" seemed to be his main argument however physically he and Mikasa are almost matched. He beat her in sheer strength, yet he is much faster and can take him down in a fight due to her insane flexibility as well.
"Eren Yeager I am seventeen years old" Mikasa stubbornly argued back "Technically I am older than you are!"
Eren sighed. "And yet you're still a child! I don't want you anywhere near the front lines!"
"You are a hypocrite Eren Yeager!" She hissed.
Eren slapped her across the cheek leaving a large red mark "What is the point of winning if you can't stand living?" Eren demanded "if you were to die I don't know what I would do Mikasa. Live. That is all I ask for"
Mikasa opened and closed her mouth before she pouted and sauntered off.
"I see she's gotten to the typical teenage rebellion years" Eren heard somebody say. Eren turned to see his commander Niles Dawk.
"You act as though I am her parent" Eren coolly said.
"You act as though you are a parent" Dawk teased throwing Eren's words back at him.
"I guess so" Eren murmured. Looking up Eren noticed Commander Dawks strange look. "Is something wrong sir?" Eren asked.
"No. I think. Prepare to head out soon. Gear up in full battle gear" Niles said before leaving Eren gaping at him for the strange order.
Eren slipped on the black, grey, and red body suit with self repair technology that can soften the hardest of hits, he also slipped on several belts which he secured various instruments to from various guns to a baton to a small dagger. Holding his helmet in hand he decided to leave it off as well as not securing the bodysuit past his clavicle leaving it unzipped.
The equipment is mostly very light weight to be easier to wield and carry into battle. It's definitely some of the best technology the empire has to offer. It however is not suited well for cold weather in the least. They have some gear that can be used in place for colder regions but it's not anywhere near as good.
"Yeager" I heard Commander Dawk command. I stand straight with my fist curled over my heart and behind my back in salute.
"Yes sir!" I say thinking of what's going on.
"We are sending you on patrol with a squad of greens. You are in command. Go scout the borders and possibly recon inside enemy territory. You have four days before you are to report back." Dawk says.
"Alright but no matter what keep Mikasa out of any fighting" I say.
"That was a order General Yeager" he says apparently leaving no room for argument but I notice a slight nod of his head to acknowledge what I said.
The place where the greenbacks meet is crowded. The official document says to pick three of them and head out immediately with four days worth of provisions.
I choose recruits Connie Springer, Thomas Wagner, and Marco Bodt. The young hopefuls each looked excited to escape from this prison- I mean training centre- so they gladly packed their provisions.
We got into a vehicle and drove to the edge of the farmland that rims the city. It's just beyond the farmland that lays a desert wasteland that if one were to spend half a day traversing they could come across the next closest settlement.
We traveled from the Utopia district which holds an important place among the empire as it's where the military trains and it's the facility where they keep their guard dog aka me. In the utopia district is many second homes held by the government as well as expensive farmland with good soil. It's also heavily guarded thanks to that since it also has the easiest access to Sina which inside lies the Capitol.
The Empire controls a lot of the livable land left in th world. It consists of the mainlan and its colonies. The mainland is composed of three general areas characterised by the people living in such areas. The outer sections seem to have been taken by the opposing force and it's alright if they have it because it's mostly just farmland. The second circle is where artisans live, working class, shopping, and the military is trained and maintained in. The centre which is guarded on all sides by a ring of mountains is Sina with four districts and a fortress of sorts where the emperor lives in command of the people. The mountains that wall off the area are called collectively as Sina but the other areas are just loosely considered part of "Maria" or "Rose". The far outer reaches is mostly mass farmland, but there's a few decent sized towns out there.
We drove to the edge of Maria and began entering Rose. Rose currently is held by the rebels so we drove along the border looking for anything strange or unusual.
"Do you think we will get into a huge fight?" Thomas asked.
"Probably not. It's mostly routine stuff" Eren says rolling down one of the bullet proof windows. He felt the wind tousle at his hair and sighed.
"Are you sure?" Marco asked.
"Sure thing cadet Bodt. I've been on thousands of missions. I pretty much know everything and anything about the business" Eren laughed lightly.
They continued on for several hours making small talk. Eren noticed that the cadets were nervous around him. There were probably many reasons for that too. He didn't blame them at least. The most likely reason would probably be Eren's superiority and age as well as his infamy as the Immortal Dog of the military.
They continued the drive for three hours before they stopped at the border.
"Alright cadets let's inspect the area for any mines. Any suspicious brush, lumps of dirt, or whatever seems even remotely suspicious and poke it with a stick" Eren commanded as they got out of the car "this area has been known to have mines so be careful and poke where you're going to step. Poles are in the trunk, as are cattle prods, guns, and gear"
Eren opened the trunk and everybody grabbed their equipment and started poking around, literally.
They each spread out but not out of communications range and poked the ground to see if it was safe. Fortunately there were only three mines and they got behind their blast shields in enough time to not get hit by them.
"Cadets that's enough for the night let's get going" Eren decided once it reached late afternoon. The four of them piled into the car before driving off.
They drove for an hour straight until the sun finally dipped down past the horizon. Eren stopped the car outside a small village which they each paid for a room in the inn before drifting off into sleep.
The next day was much the same as the first. Drive a long way, poke around, go to the next town.
It was the third day when Eren announced "today we are actually going to enter enemy territory for recon. You follow my lead, keep up, stay silent. This is no place for idle chatter from here on out" Eren commanded. "Do I make myself clear?" The cadets each saluted and affirmed. "Grab a day's worth of food the car stays here. Travel heavy armed"
Eren slipped on some gear and stood at the ready. The cadets took a while in the excitement. When they were ready Eren showed them that the trees allow for easy gear use. Be careful on the gas and use the minimum possible amount at all times and they should be fine.
They silently went through the trees, Eren's heart pounding in excitement as he felt the breeze roll by. He felt like he could actually fly.
Something flashed for a moment in the corner of Eren's eye. He signalled for them to stop. He landed on a tree branch nearby and watched as Marcos anchor was cut as he swung to a tree.
Eren jumped from his position and caught marco just as they landed on the ground breaking several of Eren's bones and making him feel like a horse kicked him in the stomach.
"Shit!" Marco said getting off Eren. Steam didn't rise from the limbs like normal.
"Don't move" a cold voice could be heard.
Eren turned his head to see a man with silver eyes look down at him.
"Well, well. Look at what I caught. The military's dog and his puppies. How nice" the man sneered. "Ral, Bossard tie these brats up" the man called out. Erens vision swam.
"Like the tranquilliser? It even stops you from healing for a good few days" the man said noticing Eren. "Be gentle with the Titan. He is our prize catch after all" the man said as Eren blanked out.
"Look he's awake!" Eren heard this when he woke up. His eye felt like it was crusted shut and as though sand got in there as it felt like it was scratching his eyes. Looking around he found his cadets each shackled to the wall on long chains. Marco had a crude eye patch covering his eye.
Eren sighed and then started coughing up blood. Obviously his lung has been nearly punctured by a broken rib.
"What's the status report" Eren hoarsely breathed.
"We were captured by the resistance. One of the towns we stayed at gave us up. It's been four days." Connie told Eren.
"I see" Eren murmured. He closed his eyes.
"They gave us food and water. Do you want some General Yeager" Thomas asked.
"Water" Eren decided.
So this is what is is like to be mortal he thought. It fucking sucks.
Thomas passed the water to Connor who is closest to Eren and poured it in his mouth. Eren nearly choked as the sweet liquid poured down his throat while he lay on his back, but he managed to get most in his mouth.
"Their doctor says you have three broken ribs, a broken leg, both of your arms broke and a small cranial fracture. We are all okay except marco, but he got a twig in his eye" Thomas informed.
Eren had already noted the broken ribs, broken leg, and he knew at least one arm had broken. truth be told he wasn't surprised at that extent of the damage. In fact he had expected more damage unto himself.
He fell asleep once more letting the realm of darkness take him in its healing embrace.
It took a week before the drug in his system wore off enough. In that time Eren slept through most of it and when he woke up he was engulfed in a cloud.
This was when he met him.
The leader of the rebels Erwin Smith.
"Greetings General Yeager" Erwin politely greeted Eren. "I'm Erwin Smith and as much as I would like to I'm afraid we cannot let you go since you are a threat to us and our cause. The unfortunate thing is we cannot kill you even with our scientists drugs" Erwin paused for a moment. "Now here's the thing Yeager. I can tell that whatever we bind you with will probably never be able to hold you forever. But we have your cadets and can easily use them as hostages. It's your decision of what happens next"
Eren didn't say anything to him except to listen to his speech.
"We will happily share our resources with you and them however under our encampment we have rules I would rather you not them not break. One is that you must be escorted at all times if you leave this room, two anything Captain Levi or I say must be followed as if it were your superiors ordering you, three do not contact your people, and if you don't follow our rules then we will kill one of your subordinates. Do these seem acceptable to you?" He asked.
"Yes" Eren said through the steam that rose from the inside of his mouth. No didn't seem like an option considering they could just keep Eren from ever healing and killing his subordinates.
"Good. I shall have our doctor take a look over you when they get back then and if you are completely healed you are going to be put to work" Erwin said getting up. Eren didn't really see his face thanks to the steam but he saw his outline.
Hours passed and slowly the steam went away until there was just tiny clouds when Eren opened his mouth. Hanji surmised that the steam happens because it could be the body's way of fighting infections or that because the body part heats up so much due to the fact it's re growing at a extraordinarily fast speed.
Eren spent his time now opening and closing his mouth trying to make smoke rings like he once saw in a old movie from 500 years ago.
"Greetings Eren!" He heard a bright and familiar voice say.
"Hanji you work with them?" Eren asked astonished to see the person who experimented on him so heavily for so long.
"Well yeah. I'm their insider. Don't you remember me developing that drug on you? How do you think they got it? Erwin and Levi are really old friends of mine that I could never let down. You understand right? People do a lot of things for family. Including the lengths you go through for Mikasa" Hanji said sitting on the edge of Eren's bed.
"I see. I understand now." Eren said his body shaking. He felt betrayed and angered for the betrayal. "I'll kill you. I swear I will!" He vehemently spat.
"I figured you would behave this way" Hanji sighed pulling a syringe out of xis back pocket. Hanji injected the black liquid into Eren's arm and he watched as the steam that still rose from his mouth dissipated in the air signalling that the drug had an immediate effect.
"I know it won't last forever and it won't prevent you from not being killed but I think I figured out how to make sure your healing abilities can remain stunted. I even have a theory that you will start ageing with a prolonged effect to this. However this is a theory. Now please allow me to assess your body" Hanji sighs as xe reaches out and probes along erens ribs. "Healed nicely of course" xe murmurs before poking Eren's arms and legs. "It must have been a nasty fall. I already treated Bodts eye to protect it from infection, but he lost the eye forever. I couldn't help him with that." Hanji tells Eren as it talking about the weather.
"I'll fucking kill you. I swear I will" Eren growls.
"Sure, sure go ahead but doing so will only cause you pain and misery." Xe laughed.
Eren closed his eyes.
"It seems you only are suffering from that hole in your lung" Hanji says. "Even that's small so I doubt you're going to bleed out considering you now heal at a normal human's pace even though you probably still won't die. I'll keep them from making you work for about a week and we will see from there. I'll see you tomorrow Yeager" Hanji smiled getting up.
A few hours later Eren's squad of greens came marking into their prison cell and each collapsed in exhaustion.
"That Levi made us clean their head quarters under intense supervision" Thomas explained to Eren.
"I see. Do you know where we are?" Eren asked.
"Some kind of castle and I couldn't really tell where." Connor said.
"Alright cadets. We follow their rules. My orders are to follow what they say and do not forget what team you are on. Play it safe and under the radar. Your position and leader has been compromised what do you do"
"We report to the next in charge or make our way back to base" marco suggested.
"Correct however doing either of those will get you killed. They're using a drug that inhibits my healing abilities so I'm almost as mortal as you, but they still cannot kill me. You however are all expendable so if I step a toe out of line you all die. The rules have been made clear correct?"
"Yes sir!" They each said.
"Good" Eren murmurs. His stomach growled loudly and the cadets each smiled.
A week passed slowly with Eren in the cells while his greens apparently cleaned the castle. They said the short man named Levi is very strict, strong, and has a strange need for clean. They also said Erwin is usually holed up in his study with others in charge and their guesses are them coming up with battle plans. Overall each green is not treated badly ad they get two meals a day as well as adequate rest which Eren is thankful for.
Hanji came up with a collar that has to be refilled at least once a week that keeps a slow drip of serum in Eren at all times. The leather is itchy and there's a needle constantly poking in Eren's neck so he tends to scratch at it.
Life is easy but he wonders how Mikasa is doing and if anybody set her on front lines for fighting.
While Eren is thinking about Mikasa Erwin and Hanji each come into the dungeon cell.
"Greetings General Yeager" Erwin says as Hanji unclips erens shackles from the wall.
"Commander" Eren responded.
"We are going to place you under 24 hour watch of Captain Levi. Everything he says you do. If he tells you jump, you say how high. Am I clear?" Eren briefly wonders how such a man seems so threatening what with his strange toupee comb over.
"Sure" Eren says.
"Great" Erwin briefly flashes a smile. "I now leave you in Hanji's care."
Hanji smiles happily as always. "Hey Eren. How are you feeling today?"
"Same as usual I guess" Eren grumbles. He starts thinking of ways to kill Hanji. He could choke the traitor.
"Great! I'm going to inject this beautiful little device into you and it should monitor a few things from your heart beat to the dosage of anti-healing serum in your blood stream. Alright? The beautiful thing is that with this and your new collar we can remotely administer the serum. Wonderful right?" Xe gets the scalpel ready and pulls away erens collar. "We've been using only a small dose that as soon as the collar disconnect from your skin it wears off almost immediately with about a five minute range of continued normal healing. With this we can have you immediately heal over the device!" Xe slides in behind Eren and unhooked the collar pulling the needle out. Eren feels the pain of the scalpel but chooses to ignore it as the slender device is inserted into the back of his neck. He feels Hanji's needle sew up the skin and they wait until the serums drug completely wears off as a cloud surrounds Eren once more.
"It's amazing it's like your body repairs everything from purging toxins in the air to burning off dead skin" Hanji remarks. "I'll have your new collar ready by tomorrow Eren. See you then" Hanji says sliding off the bed.
Eren sighs and rubs his neck slightly. The device is actually almost seamless. It seems Hanji at some point designed it to fit back there this way. Twisting Eren's neck around he found that it actually flexes with him. It's really weird but at least it's not uncomfortable and he could probably forget about it later on.
Eren settles against the wall on his bed for the day and settles into a light doze as his body is engulfed in the cloud.
"Oi little shit get your ass up" Eren hears and opens his eye slightly to see it's not Mikasa waking him up. "Get your ass up kid we are going to do some cleaning" he heads again. Eren opens both of his eyes this time and sees that the man with the silver eyes is standing there with a strip of something stuff in his hands.
"Morning" Eren says.
"I said get your ass up Yeager" the man says again. Eren begrudgingly untangles himself from his blankets and the many chains that surround him jangle. Eren peers at the man silently as he gauges him. Short but feels tall, black hair with an undercut, cold silver eyes like a dagger, a mouth that looks like it rarely smiles. Eren couldn't even guess at the man's age since it's so ambiguous.
The man pulls a key from under his cravat and starts unlocking erens chains one at a time.
Hanji who looks asleep still pulls the collar around Eren's neck. This one seems to made of a far flexible material but it is wider than the last and wraps neatly around with a lock mechanism in the back of his neck with the needle poking right next to major veins. The needles pain is ignored as skin heals around it instantly.
"Here you go Levi" Hanji says passing a small remote the size of a phone from erens days to Levi. "It's-" Hanji gets cut off by a yawn "pretty easy to figure out. This changes dosage from light to paralysing, this monitors him which records for my use, and this little button shuts it completely off. If it's on there's a drip no matter what but the lightest will only prevent Eren from doing light healing." Hanji says. "I'll try to come back in a week or so. Don't break my titan I leave armin in charge of his overall health" with that the scientist exited the dungeon.
"You smell like fucking roadkill " Levi says after a few minutes of silence.
"Nobody let me shower" Eren defended himself. He looked down and his clothes were coated in dried blood and sweat. Mostly blood. His blood probably.
They walk along silently to where Levi's subordinates were watching erens subordinates clean.
"Clean. I want this place spotless" Levi commanded.
Eren started sweeping the floor alongside his greens when Levi kicked him in the backs of his legs.
"Come on dog, clean like a dog" Levi smirks. "All fours"
Eren lowers to the ground fighting the urge to stand up and punch the man in the face. He sweeps clumsily since all of the weight of the broom is in the handle.
They continue like this before Levi claps his hands and says "come on dog" Eren glares at him pushing all of the dirt into the dustpan.
"I said come on dog. That means now and not later" Levi snaps. Eren places the broom against the wall and stands up. Once erect Eren feels a quick pain in his stomach.
"Bad dog you don't walk like a human" Levi scolds. Holding his stomach Eren starts crawling with one hand to Levi.
He walks around as some steam clouds his vision slowly. Little puffs of air rise up. When Eren starts walking on all fours he finds that Levi pauses in step and looks at him before sitting on his back.
"I don't know about your dogs but the ones I've had don't give rides" Eren snaps.
"You're right" Levi says. "You're an ass, now carry me around" he commands.
Levi makes Eren carry him everywhere during the whole day even up and down stairs. By the end of the first hour of doing it Eren realises that Levi is just doing this to show off the fact that Eren is under his control.
Eren collapses with the greens that night exhausted.
"Are you alright general Yeager?" Marco asks.
"I'm fine cadet. How's your eye?"
"It's alright. It's gone. That doctor person what's his name... Hanji? Well he pulled it out." marco says. He pulls the patch up and Eren see the blank hole with ravaged eyelid covering. The wound however is very clean and Eren has to admit Hanji has a way with this sort of thing.
Eren sighs. "I'm sorry guys"
"Don't say that! We've realised exactly what you are going through to keep us alive and we are greatful of you general Yeager!" Thomas says.
Eren smiles and feels the collar around his neck for a moment. "Thanks guys. Get some sleep okay?"
Levi finds that Eren is the perfect mule apparently as he makes Eren be his "steed" every time Eren isn't cleaning. At night Eren is usually too tired to eat the dinner and just passes out as soon as he gets back and he found that the constant drip of the serum makes him more tired and require more sleep as well as hungrier. Eren felt like there wasn't a time where he didn't feel hungrier.
A week slowly passed by. Then two. The third week of being a dog steed the castle is in commotion. The bits and pieces that Eren hears is that the Capitol found their base and were sending soldiers to battle.
Levi didn't come to the cell that day so Eren sat by himself while his cadets were made to pack up the castle.
"Yeager" Eren heard and looked up to see Erwin Smith.
"I haven't contacted my people" Eren says before anything else. "We had a deal. My cadets live because I don't contact my people and behave as your dog"
"That's true and that's not why I am here. I'm here to ask you something." Erwin sits down in front of the cell's door on the wooden chair. "Will you fight for us? Any side that has a Titan is inevitably the winning side. Name your price and we will do anything we can."
"Let my cadets go." Eren simply says "and fucking get rid of this collar."
"Deal. Win on our side and I will consider taking the collar off." Erwin says unlocking the door. "Our insider says they intend to take the castle down tonight by stealth"
Eren laughs. "Those idiots would never be able to take this place down with me here. Gather everything to leave tomorrow though. If I am to be your dog I intend to do a good job of guarding the house."
Eren stood on a parapet facing away from cities and towns because he knew that it would be from that direction they would get attacked. They probably would have made a u turn before attacking in order create a surprise attack.
Too bad they didn't count on Eren working on the other team.
Eren wrapped a dark cloth around his face and looked over the edge of the parapet just barely able to see rustling leaves.
It has begun.
Several anchors flew out of nowhere and attached to the sides of the walls as their people flew up the cables.
Eren smiled as they got to the top. He pulled out his blade and let go his cables swinging at them and grabbing the people as he went. The empire's greatest soldier working against them. It had to have happened eventually. But for him to seamlessly switch sides so easily felt weird to Eren. He didn't kill the soldiers- it's not their fault they're attacking the rebels base- but many were probably seriously injured. He was spinning so fast around and between cables he knew that if it were daylight out he would be a blur.
As a light flashed he saw him at the bottom of the tower. Commander Dawk. As Eren's scarf came loose from around his face the full moon made its way through the clouds. Eren watched as Dawk recognised him. Eren half saluted him as he cut down the last empire infantry. With this he made his way to the top of the tower and out of Dawks view.
"aaaghhh he recognised me! I know it! Now he's going to go back on his promise" Eren raged in the cell while he punched the bars to the place bending them terribly. The cadets all sat in the corner and watched him as he banged on the cells in anger resorting into the dead language known as German.
"is something the matter General Yeager" Connie asked. Eren turned from the severely dented door and looked at the frightened cadets.
"you all know of special class Ackerman do you not?" Eren asked them as he sat on his cot.
Marco nodded. "she's like your adopted daughter or something. But she's also your unofficial second in command"
Eren smirked "they won't give me a second in command because of the power I already have as an immortal. But yes she is like my daughter or sister since she's older than me. Physically at least." he tacked on making Thomas snort " we are about to go to war against the rebels and I made Commander Dawk promise to not put special class Ackerman on the lines. I fear he recognised me working against the empire and will break his promise"
"but doesn't she need her parents permission to join the military? I mean if she's under the age of 21 that's the rules. Shouldn't she still be labeled as a trainee?" Marco pointed out.
"you are a smart one Bodt. The issue is Mikasa's parents are dead and I am her legal guardian with no back up guardians or existing family members from both sides. If I am not present to make the decision on such a thing then it will go to my commander. I have personally trained not another person but another killing machine. And my handlers like that. She is the only person I have ever trained to be able to approach my level but also we all know she would do anything to help me so if she thinks I might be in danger then they would not even have to ask twice" Eren murmurs something in German about how those bastards are crazy.
"oooooh!" Thomas exclaimed "I understand! If you have personally trained her then she is worth five squads put together. if they put her on the lines it's almost a guaranteed win!" he looks so proud of himself for figuring that out. Eren wanted to give him a cookie.
"Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner." he murmured. He should have had Hanji sign as guardian too.
The next day Erwin came in with a smaller version of himself in tow.
"The name is Armin pleased to meet you" Armin said as Eren and his eyes met. Eren scowled and the boy quivered. It will be a lot of fun to mess with him.
"i came down here to release the cadets. The price of their release is a memory altering serum which has been carefully dosed to make them forget being here. We will take them to a spot in the woods just inside the border that gets patrolled frequently and even set off flares. By nightfall they should be nestled in the Utopia district once more." Erwin says.
"alright" Eren murmurs looking at his cadets.
Eren assisted the resistance in moving their headquarters to a remote location. By assisted Levi made him work or he would constantly get beat up as Levi loved to test his strength on Eren.
During that time Eren learnt that at one point seven years ago most of the resistance had been in the military and were fighting against a now dead empire when something happened that made them defect and Now they're fighting for their lives. Eren simply did not make friends with the rebels and contented himself to get lost in the mindless cleaning or when he was in his cell he would try to remember.
Hanji showed up one day to take a look at Eren's condition. Which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't just get beat up by Levi and teeny tiny puffs of steam were surrounding his body showing that while his healing abilities were working they're at minimal input. Hanji quickly grabbed the remote from Levi and turned off the serum allowing Eren to begin to gully heal.
"You need to stop beating him up Levi" Hanji admonished. "I know his body can take it but I don't want you to put too much stress on him. He might go back on autopilot"
"Autopilot?" Levi asked.
"You know how they said they won world three through a nuclear bomb? Well that's actually very far from the truth: they found Eren and told him that the enemy was the threat to his parents demise and the boy flew into such a rage that he destroyed everything." Hanji smiled for a moment when eren looked over at them while he was placing some boxes down in the corner of the room. when he left to go grab more boxes xe continued "If he does that then there's no way we can get him to listen to us or get him to do anything at all because for some strange reason that I can't understand his first priority is to sleep and his second is find the strongest people to be able to sleep. he's destruction personified awakened, a sleeping bomb... otherwise"
"you don't think i wouldn't be able to contain him?" levi asks.
"no." Hanji simply says. "I think this because when he was just a normal teen his hotel had been bombed by the middle easterners. Either way I've seen it happen once and that was on a video. his body had been completely destroyed and over the course of 10 months it had pieced itself together enough for him to break more than half of the bones of the researchers who had been attending to him at the time. they had tried to wake him up and he had no real recollection on what had happened for the past one hundred years. he's the greatest medical marvel the world has ever seen and i don't want you to get hurt." hanji sighs briefly.
"what?" levi notices the sigh. eren stops moving boxes for a moment and wipes a hand across his forehead. He looks over at Levi and Hanji.
hanji waves at eren slightly "my vacation is almost up and i need to go put in some appearances at some medical conferences about some of the drugs i had developed when i had eren to test them on. oh and the military is furious. something about finding every single one of those rebels and decapitating each one of them. they will make a public spectacle. maybe even track down the families and give them front row seats. if you want my offer still stands that i will track down your sister and parents to hide them."
levi leans back against the wall crossing his arms "no it's fine . i destroyed all of the records of myself a long time ago. they could never find out anything of that sort. if anything you're searching will tip them off."
"got it! aright i need to head out. i won't be able to meet with you guys for a long time. but i will send a bird to the usual place"
"don't break your neck"
Life in the old castle fell into a sort of routine. During the day, should they be awake since Levi and Eren patrolled at night, they would be found cleaning and doing exercises. Eren was given a small squad to train. At first he resisted but then a few kicks to the face he relented. As humanity's hope he was used to being given greens to train, especially failure greens who didn't make the cut so that they would be ready next time there was entrance exams. As soon as they achieved ranks and were sent to squads Eren and them cut ties. These men and women usually were the most successful.
levi and eren worked very closely for a year building a bond of trust between the two. Levi helped Eren see the error of the empire's way by introducing him to the freed slaves. Eren had no clue just how much of the empires money was dirtied. Large portions of the nation of which was mostly slave holding that Eren had no clue about.
but oh this wasn't just it. apparently the nuclear bombs of eren's time were not gone ad we're still fully active so even if they didn't have the titan they had a way to do without him so many years if he did get in their way. after all it only takes his body a year and a half to fully regenerate from total destruction last they checked.
Eren had also made friends with Armin in short time. They conversed about various topics, many of the past especially erens time when he wasn't a Titan. Armin talked about his joining the resistance with his uncle who was the commander of the rebels.
Armin and Erwin came from a small town at the edge of the empire and its neighbour. Erwin enlisted in the military to protect their town from the neighbour country that had started to raid the borders. Erwin and Levi, who was from that town originally but had moved at some point in his rebellious teenage years, both worked together as the greatest combination the military had ever seen. They had even worked into higher ranks, Levi being a colonel to Erwin's brigadier general.
Around this time Eren had stepped away from the constant wars and had been working on training greens. He had grown tired of the carnage and the blood shed. Which was why Levi and Erwin had never met Eren as they rose quickly through the ranks with their squad.
Then there was a nasty border skirmish. The enemy had finally entered a significant portion of their army into the mountains that surrounded the area around Erwin's village. They descended on the village in droves and ransacked it all. Armin and a few others were the only ones who made it out okay.
Armin figured out something that day. The enemy had their technology, it even had their military manufacturing stamp. So Armin got the survivors together and they went to the city where he tracked down Erwin to tell him of it all.
This began the resistance as Erwin managed to turn the entire city against the empire.
"Eren can you get permission to come with me? There's some blueberries on the other side of the woods I want to get" Armin asked.
Levi who had been nearby listening to a radio nodded. Eren smiled as he grabbed a pack. His leash had been loosened somewhat over the past couple months. He really began to believe in the resistance as they had began to move against the king. So he started going with Levi on raids.
What they did on raid was go to a place suspected to dealing with the military or slaves or something and disrupting them. They had never aimed to kill but sometimes there were accidents. Their main objective was to gather as much of the empire's citizens and enemies as they could against it and eventually they would launch their attack. Eren however was not quite privy to that particular piece of juicy information yet.
They had friends in every city who would send them supplies to secure locations that other friends would pick up and send to another until somebody could pick it up. Erwins plans were to put everybody in the middle class and lower class against the emperor since the upper class only was made up of five percent of the total population. The military was going to be hard to fight but Eren was confident that he could easily sway most in his favour. After all he had trained the large majority of the brass.
For the first time they could begin the counterattack.
In the woods Eren carried a rifle over his shoulder while he and Armin conversed about rabbit hunting.
"I'm telling you! This beast was at least three feet tall! I spent an entire summer trying to catch that thing. He evaded every one of my traps but he also sprang them all. I didn't bring any provisions with me so I was eating squirrel all summer."
Armin laughed "I've had squirrel. I don't know how you can eat it for an entire summer. What about the other rabbits?"
Eren grimaced "You know as a man sometimes you have to make promises to yourself. I promised I would not have rabbit until I caught this one. I finally caught him. He came up to me and started eating some berries I gathered. Too bad for him they were poisonous"
"Hey wait" Armin stopped as they faced a small cliff"so even poison doesn't affect you?"
Erens steps paused as well "well yeah. What part of nearly three hundred year old immortal don't you get? I mean my entire body has been demolished but it still pieces itself back together"
Armin looked star struck for a moment, something Eren was completely used to, and then he grimaced "sounds painful"
Eren shrugged as he manoeuvred his way down "I don't know. I don't usually remember the times when I die. I get amnesia like how a computer sometimes loses data in a hard reset. The issue for me is that the more my body gets destroyed in the process the more memories I lose. Even memories of when I was completely human are starting to fade" he brushed some dirt from his pants as he held his arms out. Armin smiled a tiny bit before jumping as Eren caught him. They had grown to be close friends and even shared similar dreams of what they were going to do once the empire is brought down.
Armin started walking ahead of Eren so Eren couldn't see his face "My parents died when I was a kid. They were teachers in the city. Something about their curriculum didn't set well with the government or something so they were killed in a freak train accident. Then I went to go live with Erwin. You know the rest of that story." He probably was referring to the story he told me of the beginning of the rebellion.
Eren tries to keep the conversation going "A lot of people I know are orphans. I have a ward named Mikasa. I saved her from slavers. She should be about twenty-two now"
"I forget how long you've been with us. It's been strange these past five years"
"Was it really five years? Feels so short" Eren murmurs as they hop boulders across a stream.
"Only to you mister immortality." Armin grins as he throws a rock as Eren.
Eren catches it as he hears a twig snap. He looks at Armin whose feet are both in the water. Eren holds up one finger in the air as he listens closely. The sound of something whistles by his ear as a sharp crack resounded in the air.
Moving quickly Eren pushed Armin's head down as he looked for the sharp shooter. He heard another twig snap. Snapping his head to that direction he saw a glint of something shiny as another bullet flew by, nearly missing eren's head by several inches. He went into what he had decided to call "Titan mode". It was not a good thing in general but it was what the previous batches of Titans had been able to utilise. Hanji had informed Eren of it and they trained him with it.
In Titan mode he let go of his human instincts and became a full Titan. A lean mean killing machine. Hellbent on creating as much death and destruction as possible, triggered by injuries and a sense of purpose. His strength increased, his speed increased, and his self awareness sharply decreased. Eren knew he had not been cleared for its use in combat yet, but he had been taken by surprise when he activated it.
His-Beast-Rogues feet slept into a stance that lifted Beast-Rogue off the ground in moments launching his-beast towards the silver-holding-human. Lifting a leg-appendage up the-rogue smacked the silver-holding-human in the head-face launching them several yards breaking a tree-bush-plant in the process. Looking around His-Beast-Rogue growled a challenge-fight as more silver-holding-humans came down from the tree-sky-plants and hold silver-lighting-sticks. Before the nearest to Beast-Rogue was even able to move His-Beast attacked lightning-strikes-fast pinning the silver-holding-human to the ground while the earth-shatter-wave knocked over more silver-holding-humans.
"EREN!" Armin shouted. Feeling the blood lust dissipate Eren turned to see one had a gun to Armin's head and his neck in a choke hold.
The person, woman, behind Armin then spoke very clearly "General Yeager! Enough with these games! It is time to return to your duty!"
Eren paused at these words giving the attackers that had not been incapacitated yet the apparent go ahead to shock him. He surmised that at least seven shock batons had all attacked him at once.
Levi hoisted Eren over his shoulders as they walked. He was glad they didn't cause him to revert to full Titan mode in order to force him to forget these past couple months.
If Yeager forgot these past few years all of their work could be undone. this boy is their double edged sword.
Even so Eren fought them. He might have fought for a friend instead of the resistance, but it was a start and he could capitulate on that. He could maybe even rally people under the banner of Yeager. If they fought with the Titan then they may be able to win. They could definitely get more supporters using that method in the very least.
So in the very least for now he needed to win erens trust, then he could use the boy.
"I don't like that look on your face Levi" Erwin says. Levi looks to see Erwin using a screwdriver to adjust the robotic arm. The connectors hadn't been adjusted to his liking just yet making him miss something he was supposed to pick up or completely obliterate an object he was trying to put down. It's a learning experience.
"How is it?" Levi asks.
"Truthfully it still hurts quite a bit. Hanji made a serum that I'm supposed to take but I don't particularly care for eau de Yeager." He chuckles. The arm twitches. The cybernetics Hanji makes are truly top line, however they are usually difficult to get used to. "I know I should, I just don't want to let go of the pain"
"I understand" Levi murmurs. He ran away from his parents and little sister once he left the military, bombed the quarters that held paper records therefore destroying his paper trail and then hacked in and deleted his and Erwin's data. While in there he discovered many horrible things. Ever since he and Erwin have been the comrades that lead the resistance.
Now maybe they need a new leader for the pack.
"What has you so worked up?" Erwin asked.
Levi knew that if Erwin, Hanji, or Armin asked that question then something was up with him even if he did not realise such. "How do you feel about Yeager?"
"I think he's a smart kid. His years are long and he's so young. He's caught in such a hard place I truly pity him." He shrugs.
They back off from raiding the empire and focus on recruiting more allies. Eren still has the collar but he no longer thinks of it as an impediment. Levi uses it to show they have the Titan in their hands.
Then Eren finds the unexpected. A small country filled with strife, fighting the empire is something he never expected to find. A girl much like him.
He went with Levi to the land as a two man group. The small country lay far to the north and it had not unfroze in such a long time it is rife with famine with not enough money to set up goods trade.
Eren clad himself in a light winters jacket next to Levi fully equipped with heavy duty winter equipment. Erens natural body heat was high enough to melt the snow that fell on his shoulders. While Levi still shivered in the harsh bitter wind. Eren pulled a sled behind him loaded in goods the town they were heading to had sorely needed for a long time.
The sun started to set and still that had yet to reach the small town they should be staying in. Still they kept trudging on when Levi suddenly held up his arm signalling to Eren to stop.
A shape leaped out of small mound of snow at Levi. Eren pushed Levi out of the way and felt the beast's teeth sink into his arm.
The jacket muffled the worst of it but they had managed to tear it and some of the white filler poked out. Eren slipped into a stance and this time when the beast attacked him he managed to grab it and throw it in an arc over his head and pinned it to the ground. It growled and it's claws grazed his arm.
Looking at it properly Eren realised it to be a young polar grizzly. Not a cub but still young. Young enough to still need a mother.
"Levi. Run" Eren said in a sharp tone. As he said that they heard the unmistakable growl of a predatory mother. Eren is certain he can survive the attack but Levi may not in these conditions.
So Eren decided to run as well. He grabbed the sled and threw Levi onto it as started running as fast as he could.
How polar grizzly had gotten so close he couldn't guess. For now Eren focused on the humdrum of his steps.
Each step took him closer to the town.
Each step took Levi to safety.
"Eren!" Levi yelled. The polar grizzly mom is close behind Eren. Eren starts to run faster and the lights of the town come into view.
For now he focuses on his splayed steps.
"You disrespect the nanulak" the town elder said.
"I didn't mean to. It's dark outside. She should have chilled" Eren retorted. Levi flashed him a look and Eren sat on his cushion.
"We did not know of the threat and would have adjusted our course if we had known" Levi told the elder.
"Nanulak have protected us from the empire for several generations. And now the empires dog comes with the empire's greatest general. Perhaps they have reason to protect" a different elder said.
"We are fighting against the empire now. And we brought you supplies" Levi sounded bored.
"At what cost? Do we join you if we accept these supplies?" Another elder asked.
"No. If you decide to help us overthrow the oppressive government of the empire then that's entirely up to you. We brought you this for goodwill. If you accept it there are no strings unless you want to attach them" Levi told them. Eren opened his mouth but Levi glared at him causing Eren to shut up.
"That is very kind. We accept your supplies and welcome you here to stay for one week. We shall have decided our answer by the end of the week"
"Agh! I'm so bored" Eren grunted. He and Levi were in a hut around a fire watching the flames. Levi had a thick woollen blanket situated around his shoulders. Eren lounged on a bed made of furs with his shirt off. His arm draped over his face.
"It is boring." Levi agreed. "It is nice though. This quiet. It almost makes me forget about the world outside of this village"
Eren grunted. He rolled to his stomach just soon as a knock was on the door.
"Come in" Levi called. Eren knew that under the blanket Levi was coiled like a cobra. A knife was probably in hand as well. One did not live with such a person for nearly eight years and not learn their tricks.
A young woman came into the room and all of the hairs on Eren's body stood on end. This woman is a predator. One like him. Eren could feel his Titan side trying to take over, to fight her and show his dominance as the stronger one.
She held up a large knife and Eren reacted. He sprang out of the blankets and grabbed the arm holding the knife. Wrenching it away it fell from her hand as he kicked her foot sending her to the floor. Once there she managed to roll them over so that she lay on top of him and they struggled more as her arm got free. She held Eren arm at his side with her foot and grabbed the collar around his neck and pushed it down cutting off his air supply and dragging the needle around his jugular.
Eren stretched and hit her in the head with his own as he clawed for the knife she dropped throwing it so that her arm was cut off. The collar felt stifling but he could feel his abilities at work healing the damage.
She lay on the floor while Levi stuck a syringe in the back of her neck and held a gun to her head.
"If you want to attack us again be my guest. I have more where that came from and it will hinder your movements and abilities" Levi threatened in a low voice.
The woman growled in frustration. Her arm wasn't surrounded in steam as it was supposed to heal which Eren supposed frightened her.
"I see you've met Nanulak" a friendly toned voice rang out. Eren looked to see it was the youngest of the elders from the council. She stepped into the room and made way to the cowering girl.
"We did not attack first" Levi stated clearly. He took his foot off Nanulak and stowed his gun back in its holster.
"I am aware." The elder chuckled and bent down next to Nanulak and said some strange things to her.
Nanulak relaxed when the elder finished explaining.
"Please join our fires and break bread with us" Levi offered their traditional greeting. Eren waited to sit until Nanulak and the elder were both sitting around the sunken fire pit in the centre of their hut.
They sat in silence as Levi actually got out a small loaf of bread and he and the elder broke it in half.
"Nanulak here is much like your loyal dog as you've noticed" the elder sated breaking the silence. He hand pet Nanulaks head as she lay on the elder's lap.
"She's not quite right" Eren said. He could not place his finger on it but the sleeping girl did not feel as human.
"You would be correct I suppose. On a basic sense she is in fact of a similar composition to you. Her major downfall is that her mind cannot age while her body does. I hear you cannot age at all. Is that true? I've been caring for this child for the last twenty years. I want to know if I made the right decision"
"Tell the whole story"
Strange rumours had been heard from way down south of a human who lived eternal. Many wanted that ability too, yet none knew how.
Nanulak was born to the Elders niece in the winter. When they were packing up the village to hunt the caribou she got lost. Back then she had been called "child" for children had no names yet in which to find themselves.
Child had been taken in by a Nanulak mother and her cubs and was raised for three years. When the village found Child she was not much different than a animal and had been on the verge of losing her leg to a harsh winter. They took her to the village once more where the Elder, Tussock, took her in. Tussock did not have any children and her niece had died from heartbreak.
There in the village a strange man lived alongside them and he offered his expertise. This man, Doctor Yellow, had lived with them for several moons and he taught them some of modern medicine marvels. He looked at Child and concluded that without this "vaccine" he had crafted she would surely die.
Tussock had a hard decision to make for doctor Yellow had told her it was not the perfect one, this one might do more harm than good, but Child would be able to live. Tussock chose this "vaccine" to save her niece.
It worked wonderfully. It purged the blood poison from her, but could not heal to frost damaged leg. And she became known as Nanulak for her ordeal. The Doctor disappeared by the next moon.
They discovered later on that she could no longer age like the other kids, but she was of limited intelligence and that she could not form words. Many blamed it on her ordeal, but Tussock knew the real reason why. She told the council of her decision and they honour her decision to allow Nanulak to live provided she did not kill the others.
"She is fiercely protective of our home. She's very intelligent in the way a predator is. I think that's what she thinks she is" the elder said finishing her story.
"She sounds like she couldn't break out of Titan mode" Eren mused aloud. "I have this instinct, it's very strong, very violent, very cold, and it wants to kill everything in sight. Sometimes it can take over. Take away Eren Yeager and just leave Eren the Titan in its place razing everything in sight. I've heard it's not dissimilar to the devastation of an atomic bomb. She may be caught by the instincts and it does not allow her 'humanity' escape. Do you get where I'm going?"
"I can attest to this Titan mode. We have first hand accounts that it's almost like a different Eren. Something beastial. He's snapped out of it, she probably could too" Levi said.
"Never hurts to try. Tomorrow. We can meet on the plains so that if it goes wrong no one gets hurt" Tussock says.
And I think that's where I end Part:1 I know it's long and heavily in need of editing but I just can't. Wouldn't you like to know I've been writing this for about 2 years now? :P