AN: Sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter, it was the hardest one yet but I hope you enjoy it that much more! This chapter is a bit shorter then the last but that's because there is one more left! I know last time I said this would likely be the last one but I just had to much to fit into one chapter so the next one will be the final chapter, for real. As always, if you come across a spelling or grammatical error please let me know! Reviews are vary appreciated! let me know what you think!

The sky was orange. Eren had opened his eyes and saw that the orange sky, it was evening. Eren was lying on the grass looking up when he came too. He sat up and looked around, he was in the castles front field near Hanji's research tent. Mikasa was sitting at the table, watching Eren. She got up when she saw that Eren was awake and walked round to table to him. Eren brushed the hair out of his face to see her better, he noticed that his hair felt limp and greasy and was longer than it should have been. He thought to himself that the Captain must have said to not let me into the castle until I could clean myself off. Eren moved his hands to brush his hair behind his ears and that's when his eyes went wide as he felt his ears. They were pointed. Eren looked to Mikasa, his bright green eyes shaking for confirmation and Mikasa frowned. Mikasa was standing next to Eren, she was holding a mirror as she looked to Eren "here" was all she said as she handed it to Eren. Eren reached out for the mirror and took it, not sure what to expect. He lifted the mirror to his face and looked into his reflection, there he was. His hair was now down to his chin, his eyes were the same bright green that he saw that morning and his ears were pointed, though not much longer than they normally were everything else seemed normal.

Eren looked up to Mikasa and just stared at her, not sure what to say or do. Mikasa looked to Eren, biting her lower lip "It seems that your retaining some physical traits of your titan. Hanji isn't sure if it will fade away as an aftereffect or if it's permanent…" Eren just continued to stare at Mikasa in a state of shock "Tell me Mikasa… What do I look like as a titan? All I know is that its 15 meters." Mikasa held out her arm to help Eren up and he took her hand, dropping the mirror on the ground. They sat at the table with Hanji's notes that were cleaned up by Levi and Mikasa handed Eren two pieces of paper. There were drawing on them made by Hanji, the first was a sketch of the full body of the titan with notes around it and the second was a close up of his titan's face. Looking at the sketch of the face, Eren could see the long pointed ears, nose and chin. He saw the wide mouth with countless teeth and no lips, the narrow bright green eyes and long dark brown hair. Eren then looked over the first sketch and saw the muscular build of the titan. He thought that the build of the titan reminded him of Mikasa, remembering that he once told her that she had a body built for killing titans. Hanji had noted that like normal titans, he had skin but looks to be much stronger than a normal titan. Hanji had written questions to herself on the paper. If Eren could harden his skin like the armored titan could he take it down in a fight or could he do that without armor of his own? Judging by how Annie, in her titan could sever limbs with a kick it would be safe to assume that despite his physical strength he is still as abnormally light as a normal titan. Eren looked away from the notes and started up at the sky as it was turning dark. I really know nothing about my titan form, Eren thought to himself as he looked back at the sketches. It looks less human then a normal titan does he thought to himself, I'm more of a monster then even a titan is.

"Let's head in for dinner" Mikasa said to Eren, standing up and taking the pages from under Eren's hand. Eren looked up at Mikasa "you go ahead, I need a moment..." Mikasa frowned at Eren "are you sure you'll be alright on your own" Mikasa asked to Eren. Eren was quiet for a moment before answering "no, but I need to be. I'll come in when I'm ready, I swear." Mikasa nodded and left Eren to his thoughts. Eren watched Mikasa fade into the distance as she made her way to the castle, Eren focused his eyes on Mikasa and suddenly he could see her clearly again. Eren shut his eyes tight and turned his head down, he opened his eyes again and saw where the mirror had fallen. He got up and marched over to it and picked the mirror up, looking into his reflection. Glowing green eyes stared back at him in the mirror "NO!" Eren shouted to himself, throwing the mirror down. The mirror bounced off the grass and lanced with its reflective side facing up near Eren as he collapsed to his knees, hands over the sides of his head, he could feel the pointed ears against his hands. "This is not who I am, I am human, I am Human!" Eren clenched his hands over his ears, trying to force them to take on their normal shape as he shut his eyes again, willing them to stop glowing and return to their normal shade of green. After a few moments Eren felt his ears get hot and let go of them, dropping his arms to the ground his right hand brushing against the mirror. Eren picked up the mirror again and opened his eyes, not sure what he would see this time he looked into his reflection. It was harder to make out as everything seemed darker, like it should be for this time of night. Eren could make out steam coming off of his ears, as they receded back to a normal shape, his eyes were no longer glowing as well. His hair was still down to his chin but he could deal with that, he was just glad that he was returning to normal again. Eren stood up and looked around for a moment, everything was dark and that was fine by him, as he made his way into the castle.

"How did he take it?" Armin asked Mikasa as soon as she entered the dining hall. Mikasa looked over to where Armin and Jean were sitting and frowned as she took a seat. "That bad eh?" Jean said as he watched Mikasa sit down "well I can't say I would take it any better" Jean continued as he turned from Mikasa to Armin. "Well he was just getting used to the fact that he can turn into a titan, that was enough to deal with considering his hatred of them" Armin told Jean. The three looked down at the wooded table and no one spoke for a while. "I… I'm sure it will fade away…" Mikasa said, her head still turned down. "Ya… Yah!" Armin's head shot up and the others turned to look at him. "I mean he's transformed quite a few times already and aside from re-growing a tooth there have never been any after effects like this. It's probably just part of learning to control his powers" Armin continued, looking from Jean to Mikasa, his eyes bright with realization. "Come to think of it, the titan traits that he's retaining are all part of what he's been working on." Jean tilted his head to one side "what do you mean, Armin?" Armin nodded his head to Jean "well his eyes have been brighter all day and last night all he was able to do was look at us" Mikasa nodded her head in comprehension "and today he was able to understand some of what we were saying!" "Well when you put it that way it makes sense" Jean told Armin, smiling slightly. "I bet once he lets go of what he's been working on the after effects will fade away!" Armin was standing now, propelled by his thoughts as he looked up and saw that Eren was coming in. Armin sat back down, smiling that he now knew how to help his friend. Eren's hair was covering his ears so the three couldn't see that they were back to normal, they were able to see Eren's dull green eyes however. "Over here, Jaeger" Jean called to Eren as he waved a hand for Eren to take the empty seat next to him. Eren smiled at the offer and made his way to sit next to Jean, glad to be making progress in their friendship. Once Eren was seated Armin handed him a plate of food, smiling to Eren and they all ate their dinner in relative silence.

Captain Levi entered the hall shortly after the four had started their dinner and sat at the far end of the table from them, pouring himself a cup of tea. "So figure out what to do with yourself yet?" Levi was looking at Eren over his cup, his eyes as cold as always. Armin turned to look at Levi "actually sir, I might have figured something out…" Eren turn to look at Armin and was about to speak up before Captain Levi continued. "Well that's expected of you, but I was asking Eren." Armin quickly closed his mouth and looked away from the table, Mikasa tapping her finger on the table out of annoyance for how her friends were being addressed. Eren grinned at the Captain and pulled his hair back, showing that his ears were back to normal, Mikasa and Jean had a shocked look in their eyes and Armin turned to look at Eren, smiling now. "Well you still need to clean that mess of hair! I want it back to a respectable length and clean when you come up for training tomorrow morning, on time for once." With that Captain Levi took one last swig from his cup and took it off to the wash station before heading up to his quarters. Once Levi was out of site Armin stood up and walked over to Eren "so you figured out what you had to do then?!" Eren grinned to Armin "Well kind of… but I would still like to hear what your thoughts on the matter were" Mikasa had also made her way to Eren's side of the table and sat next to him as Armin re-told this theory to Eren. "I guess that's what I did… though I panicked and forced myself to fully return to human, rather than letting go of my titan abilities" Eren said in a thoughtful tone. "That crazy woman wanted us to continue with your night time tests but I think it's best if we all just turn in" Jean grinned looking to Eren. "Hanji won't be back until sometime around noon tomorrow so it's training with the Captain all morning again" Jean went on. Mikasa stood up first "Eren, I'll cut your hair for you so let's head down" with that Armin waved to Eren and Mikasa as he made his way up with Jean, telling Eren that he would come down early to wake him up.

Mikasa and Eren were in an empty room where they placed a sheet on the floor and a chair over the sheet for Eren to sit in. Mikasa was trimming Eren's hair but was still keeping quiet as she did so. Eren looked around the room, not moving his head for Mikasa's sake. They had lit a number of candles so Mikasa could see what she was doing well but aside from them there was nothing else. Eren was lost in thought as he heard the sips and felt Mikasa's hand brush over his head. "Mikasa…" Eren said in a quiet tone "Hum?" Mikasa responded as she kept cutting away. "What do you think would happen if the after effects were permanent? And if there were more of them?" Mikasa stopped cutting, her arms falling to her sides as she thought about how to respond "I'm not sure… I guess those afraid of you would only become more so." Eren clenched his fist as he asked the next question "and what about those not already afraid of me?" Eren was sure Mikasa knew who he meant. Mikasa sighed deeply as she walked around to face Eren, kneeling so their eyes would meet "Eren, you know there is nothing that would make me afraid of you." Eren's eyes were quivering with fright as he thought about all that could happen "What about Armin, Jean, Captain Levi and the rest of the 104th?!" Eren was overcome with emotions in a way he had never been before, he had been overcome with rage, anger and drive but never with a fear like this. Mikasa took Eren's hands in hers and looked him straight in the eyes "you know Armin would never abandon you, he might be scared at first but never of you, he'd be scared for you. As far as Jean and the others go, they would deal with it in their own ways, like how they dealt when they first found out about your titan abilities and as far as that midget goes…" Mikasa was still conflicted on how she felt about the Captain "he would deal with you in whatever way he deals with things." Eren's breathing hitched as Mikasa spoke, still feeling scared of all that could go wrong. Mikasa stood back up, resting Eren's hands on his lap as she continued to finish cutting his hair. Eren remained quiet as she finished.

Mikasa helped Eren move the candles to light to his room and then Mikasa turned to leave for her room, she stopped in the doorway, still facing out she spoke "Eren… Even if you were stuck as a titan, with or without conscious hold, I would remain by your side and see to it that no harm would befall you." Eren looked up at the silhouette of Mikasa in the doorframe as she left for the upper levels of the castle where her room was. Eren left the door to his room open as he sat on his bed lost in thought and then fell back onto it. A few candles had burnt out on their own by the time Eren got up and changed for bed. Eren was standing in front of his wash station, looking into the mirror on the wall, he looked over every aspect of himself that he could see. Steam was rising from the basin as the candles under it burned bright, letting the water rise in temperature. The mirror was beginning to get foggy causing Eren to look down at the water, watching the steam come off of it. Eren bent down to blow the candles out from under the basin and then Eren dipped the tips of his fingers into the water. The water was hot but it didn't bother Eren as much as it should have, causing Eren to look back at his reflection in the mirror. The mirror was covered in so much fog that Eren couldn't make out anything in its surface. Eren raised a hand to wipe away the fog and see himself. Eren saw his hand's reflection in the mirror as it moved along the smooth surface, it looked darker and the skin seemed so thin that Eren could see all the veins underneath. Scared, Eren quickly pulled his hand back and looked at it, it looked normal. When Eren placed his hand against the mirror again he could see the hands reflection as it was before. Wiping away all the fog, Eren saw his reflection, his long pointed chin and ears, the pointed nose, long hair, glowing green eyes and wide mouth full of teeth. Eren's eyes went wide with shock, unable to move for a moment he just stood there looking into the mirror.

Eren shakily lifted a hand to his head touching his cheek he could feel the soft skin against his fingers, in the mirror the hand was touching the back row of teeth. Eren moved his hand to feel his ear, it was still rounded at the top as a normal ear should be but the reflection's hand was at the tip of the long pointed ear. Pulling on the freshly cut hair, Eren could feel that it ended halfway past his ears at the front whereas the reflection pulled on the hair ending at its chin. "Th…This isn't me!" Eren said with a quiver in his voice, looking into the glowing green eye. "You're not me!" Eren shouted at the warped reflection. The reflection growled and lowered its head, causing Eren to take an apprehensive step back. The reflection pulled its right arm back and then thrust it forward, shattering the glass that stood between it and Eren. The large hand wrapped around Eren's body as he tried to run away. Eren was lifted off the ground as the titan stood tall, towering over all around it. Eren thrashed about trying to free himself from the grasp the titan had on him, trying to scream but finding his voice was gone. Looking down, Eren could see his home town of Shiganshina with all the people he had come to know over the past fifteen years looking up in horror at the titan. He could hear the cries of monster and calls for soldiers to kill it as he tried to call for someone to save him, still finding no sound coming out of his mouth, only steam. Finally he was able to scream, he let out a terrible roar that caused all to fall silent. Looking down again he could see Sasha, Conny, Reiner, Christa, Bertholdt, Ymir and Jean jumping from rooftop to rooftop, blades drawn lead by Captain Levi coming in to attack him. No! You have to save me! Cut me out of its hand! Eren was screaming but the only sound that escaped his wide mouth was another roar and more steam. Trying to move, Eren raised his right arm and could see something in his hand. Raising his hand to his face he saw a woman was held in his massive hand, his mother. "We have to take it down before he eats her!" Levi shouted to the new members of the scouting legion "It's already eaten two of our own, we can't let it eat one more person!" What?! I haven't eaten anyone! With his free left hand he felt around his wide mouth, finding something stuck between two teeth. With his thumb and index figure he pulled the object free. It was a red scarf.

AN: And here's my first true cliffhanger! For the record the Hulk has always been my favorite superhero so yes, I did draw inspiration from him in the last two paragraphs.