A/n: Hey everyone! Thanks for commenting/faving/subscribing~

Don't worry, it's only been 1400 words so far - all shall be explained ^0^

The first interlude

When Eren is rushed back to the village, all he can think of is how disappointed his mother will be. He didn't mean to go off the path, really, he just wanted to be able to return home and brag to Armin and Jean and Connie and the others about how he's old enough and brave enough to walk off the path.

His mother is sobbing in relief when she sees him, and hugs him tightly.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she says, and he knows she means it. She doesn't mention the scent – that would be for later – she needs to get over the current tragedy before moving onto the next, the one that would be her son's. Eren realises vaguely that his mother's life has been tragedy after tragedy and a spike of guilt shoots through him. Her elopement with his father, death of her parents, the death of their close friends (Mikasa's parents), the disappearance of her husband, the reluctant acceptance of their village… Eren wants to be the Hunter that would show their village that the Jaeger family still has it in them. Even now, that's been ruined.

The basket is soaked with thick soup, the bread soggy, but Carla says nothing. Acknowledging the basket would acknowledge Eren's fate, and that's not something she wants to do right now.

"Go to sleep, Eren," Carla says soothingly. Eren pulls off his green hood in bewilderment and hangs it on a hook, before going to bed silently. His last thought before slipping into unconsciousness was how warm Levi's hand was on his wrist.

"…a cure?" Eren wakes up to the warm sunlight streaming onto his blankets. He can hear snippets of conversation coming from the main area of the cabin. It sounds like Armin is talking to his mother. He blinks, rubs his eyes, and steps towards the door as quietly as possible.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Jaeger," says Armin, his tone as respectful as usual. "I've been up all night searching for information. It doesn't happen often enough for recorded precedence, and even then, the villagers leave the Promised to their fates."

Carla closes her eyes briefly. "Thank you for everything, Armin."

"No, it's fine," he assures her. "I'll keep searching, for sure."

"I'm so grateful that Eren has you as a friend."

Armin flushes with pride. "Thank you, but it's really nothing. I do owe Eren everything, after all – he and Mikasa save me all the time, it's the least I can do..."

"What's happening?" croaks Eren, his voice layered with sleep. Carla and Armin jolt upright, shocked by his sudden interruption.

"Ah, Eren," says Carla gently. "Get yourself ready first, will you?"

Eren's stubborn green eyes narrow but he acquiesces for now. The guilt from last night had returned when he saw the tired lines on his mother's face. It's his fault, he realises. As the only Jaeger man left behind, he has a duty, unlike that good-for-nothing father of his.

"Yes, Mama," he replies, and he goes to change.

In the end, his mother does not say anything, and Eren does not broach the subject. He doesn't want to. He can't stand the sight of those sad, sad eyes again. Eren doesn't realise it but overnight, he has grown. Growing towards the fate for him, the fate he cannot ask about.

It's another three years before he can.

Three years later

The others are weirdly kind to him most of the time, and it's uncomfortable. He knows it's forced, he knows that Sasha's offering of half a boiled potato or slice of bread is out of pity, that Reiner's suggestion to play sports with him and Bertholdt is out of pity, that Annie's offering to teach him her special style of combat (which she refused in the past to do so) is out of pity – it's all every action seems to be. Even Mikasa and Armin tread carefully around him, worried that he'll shatter like porcelain thrown against a cobbled ground. Only Marco and Jean treat him as normal – Marco treats everyone kindly, though, and Jean is just the honest asshole that can't put on a mask. Eren appreciates his bluntness though – it's an escape, so that Eren can pretend that what's going to happen won't happen. That what happened that night he was lost in the forest and his grandmother was murdered was simply a dream.

Everyone's pity for the only son of the woman who has already suffered so much has become so, so stifling that one day, Eren breaks.

It's just the three of them as usual – Eren, Mikasa and Armin. Mikasa and Armin had returned from a hunt. While Eren wanted to join in too, the village simply could not risk it. If Eren was harmed in any way, the terror that would befall them at the hands of the Cambion would be horrifying. As a result, they continued to wrap Eren in ignorance, hoping that it would protect him against his inevitable fate.

"Why?" he asks. "Just tell me, please, Armin, Mikasa, just tell me what's going on."

Armin's cornflower blue eyes widen and he trembles. Mikasa says nothing.

"You never asked before, why now?" asks Armin, and Eren shrugs.

Armin is tempted to tell Eren to just read the tales of the Promised and the Taken – but that is too cruel as there are terrifying speculations in them (and he's not allowed to read them anyway), and Eren is not a reading type, in any case.

"In our world," Armin begins, "there are tales…"

Eren, do you know the story of Ilse? She was a woman with wonderful fighting capabilities, the hope of her generation. There are things in our world that are unexplainable by the natural sciences, and the thing that took interest in her is one of them. One day, it trapped her while she was on an expedition and so she was caught as her comrades were killed. The thing that had taken interest in her dragged her to its den, and there it begged her to be bonded to her eternally. She told it she would think about it and wrote in her diary what had occurred, and decided that being the partner of such a thing was a worse fate than death. She promised to sneak out and hide her diary in a tree trunk before returning to taunt the creature, and presumably, she was killed.

Her diary was discovered a decade ago by the Hunters Erwin and Hanji from the next village over on their first expedition. It provided a valuable source of information about those creatures. Apparently in their normal forms they resemble humans, though some are not powerful enough to hide the odd features of horns or ears or a tail. They can eat humans but they can also feed off human energy in other ways… you know what I mean. This form of energy is a good long term source, however there are complex rituals that must be performed beforehand.

They're called Cambions, Eren. Children of the fallen – demons – and the Promised.

And this is where you come in. Cambions often hunt in packs, and the group that went after your grandmother and then you are no exception, clearly. You never told us their names, nor what really happened, but they were interested in you, weren't they? They all left marks on you, Eren. When a cambion touches a human, even innocently, a trace of their darkness is left behind. And you had traces on your neck and wrists.

I don't know what will happen to you, Eren, none of us do, for no one who is Promised ever comes back.

"That doesn't mean I'll die, right?" Eren asks hopefully, and Armin can't meet his eyes, can't promise something that he can't guarantee. "W-well why haven't they come for me, yet?"

"They will, soon." Mikasa speaks for the first time during the conversation. Her voice is hoarse and a little distraught. "You've noticed it, surely?"

Of course, thinks Eren bitterly. Everyone was even 'kinder' than usual.

It is believed that if a Cambion claims a human, they will return to take them one year after adulthood.

"It's okay, Eren," says Armin gently.

Armin and Mikasa say nothing more to the brunette. They don't want to give him too much hope – not for what they're planning. What the whole village has been planning.

They weren't going to give up Eren without a fight.