Chapter Seven

Avalon's P.O.V.

This can't be happening. Four words were on a repetitive loop in my mind. Emily took the news surprisingly well. She was often found quietly sitting next to Evan in the hospital, patting his face with a cool, wet cloth.

But I found her on nights where she quietly curled up in a ball and started sobbing uncontrollably. Still, she fought to keep her calm demeanor in front of Evan. It had been two days. Two days since Isla and Erwin had brought Evan to the hospital, with Isla a nervous wreck.

Isla was still recovering. She depended heavily on Erwin for support, and I wondered what had happened between them. Screams were constant from Evan's room; they were filled with such agony and torture behind them, I feared my own expiration date. The medic team had already given him pain relievers and tried to knock him out with a strong drug. It didn't work. Evan's misery continued on.

"Can't we put him out of the pain and kill him?" Levi huffed. He was getting little sleep from the screaming, and I couldn't blame him. "That would be the more human thing to do, wouldn't it?" His blades and 3DMG were spotless. "What's going on with him anyway?"

I bit my lip. He knew about the expiration dates, but never knew that they were so close. For both Isla and I as well. "Disease. It's a killer among the experiments." I smoothly lied, praying that he didn't ask anything else. "I would kill him, but…." I took a small kitchen knife I had been hiding in my boot and cut my own wrist.

I couldn't feel a thing. It was like my body was numb. Blood cascaded down my arm, but the skin slowly healed, mending the scar until there was no mark or blemish that I had been injured. Except for the purple blood that had escaped during the healing process, I looked perfectly fine. Even our blood color had changed. "Lately, our healing rates are better than a Titan's." My proper guess would be that when the dates neared, the healing was accelerated so that the only possible thing that we would die from would be the date itself. It was such a cruel way to die…my hatred for the scientists was rocketing every second, every scream Evan emitted.

Emily creaked open the door. Bags under her eyes told me that it wasn't just Levi losing sleep. "Avalon, you and Levi continue on with the Scouting Legion. You had an expedition planned soon, right?" She leaned onto the thick wood, giving me a sad smile. "I'll try to help Evan." She had said try. It seemed that even Emily knew of the situation.

Two Hours Later…

I visited Annie. Not surprisingly, Armin was with her. So were Mikasa, Eren, Sasha, Connie, and Jean. "Hello." I spoke. I had flipped through the training records and memorized the names and faces of all who were probably going to be a big help with the Titans.

"You're…you're…" Sasha sputtered, "Avalon! The big singer! The really really really good one!" I was shocked she could talk at all, considering the small detail that she was devouring down a loaf of bread.

"So I've heard," I replied, "Annie, how are you?"

Annie wore a simple, white sundress. Her hair was done up in her usual style. "I have a favor to ask of you, Avalon. Everyone else, leave. You're all annoying." Blunt as usual. From underground, Evan's screams weren't present. I doubted that she knew of his date yet. "I need your blood."

"I'm pretty sure I gave some to Hanji in case you went rogue," I shot back, "Why do you want to become human all of a sudden? Wasn't being a shifter a good thing? I mean, look at me, Evan, and Isla. We were experiments used to try and replicate what you are right now. At least you don't have a date."

Her blue eyes widened. "One of you reached your date." It wasn't phrased like a question. "Was it the guy? The one who dated the mother-like girl?" In a simple dress, she looked like an innocent angel. If you managed to ignore the handcuffs and dirty cot. "I never wanted to become one of the shifters…it was the only way for my father to be impressed of me."

"What? How did you even come to know about us experiments and expiration dates anyway?"

"You don't know…the shifters knew about the experiments. Teams were sent out to locate the labs and destroy them." She looked away. "I want to become human again."

"Why?"

"Because," she blushed. I thought it was quite ironic that the girl who showed no emotion was embarrassed or nervous about something. "I want to live with Armin." It hadn't occurred to me that shifters would want to become human in the first place. Unlike normal Titans, they were able to control their transformations, allowing for them to masquerade has regular humans.

"The blonde, scrawny guy?" I asked, incredulous. "The guy who sold you off to the Scouting Legion?" I couldn't comprehend something like this. I felt like I shouldn't be doing this. But that didn't stop the blood drops from filling the glass and my hand giving her it. "You are so lucky I happen to be a sucker for cheesy romances."

"Since you're stuck in your own cheesy romance?" She shot back, and I was tempted to smash the blood vial to the floor. "I don't know why you're holding back, but just tell Levi. He probably reciprocates them."

"How much do you know about the Coordinate?" I asked, trying to stay away from the topic of Levi. "Was it common knowledge among shifters?"

"No. What do you know?" Curious, she looked at me. Annie's eyes were large; I had a feeling she knew next to nothing about the Coordinate. "I swear I won't tell anyone. Thanks for the blood. I finally get to be…human."

"The information I know would undoubtedly help. But…it would also kill Eren. I can't do that to Mikasa and Armin," I noticed that her eyes lit up a bit when I spoke about Armin. I stood up and gave her a wry smile. "Good luck with Armin."

I saw Isla outside. She was breathing heavily; sweat trickling down her forehead and neck. "Avalon?"

"Isla." I knew the cause of her nervousness was her date. Evan's piercing scream rang out again, and I winced. "You don't have to be scared of yours. Mine comes first."

"That doesn't reassure me at all."

"Do you want to talk? Maybe have some coffee?"

A few minutes later, I found myself pouring a mug of coffee for her. The thick black liquid was like smooth tar as I poured it into the cup. "I finally get to be…human." Quickly glancing back at Isla who had her eyes closed, I bit my wrist and shook the droplets of blood into the coffee. The drops quickly vanished into the muddy darkness, as if they hadn't even existed at all.

"Drink," I ordered as I set the mug down in front of her. She practically inhaled the liquid, leaning back in her chair. "How's Evan?"

"Not good," she gulped, "I think he's dying soon. Is this coffee old or something? It tastes funny." I shook my head. Right on time, Evan's scream resounded throughout the military camp. It was followed by a loud wail and sobbing. "What's going on!?"

"Avalon!" Emily looked up at me, teary-eyed. "Evan's…Evan's…!" She couldn't even form an understandable sentence, and I looked at Evan.

That was a sight I could never forget.

It was like he was a doll made out of clay. Multiple cracks had formed on his skin, and I watched in horror as a small piece fell and shattered. Beneath it was nothing. There was no muscles, no blood that spilled. Nothing.

This was the death that awaited me. I could only pray to the gods that Isla was spared and that my plan with the coffee worked.

A single moment later, his body shattered, leaving nothing behind. A strangled cry rose from Emily. I couldn't look at her right now, couldn't bear to raise my eyes to her pain.

Before I knew it, I was out the door, running. The door slammed against the wall, almost splintering to pieces. I could hear yells for me to stop, to wait.

I couldn't wait for them.

I ran deep into the training grounds, blindly slapping away the branches that scratched me. I finally reached the Walls that bound us in, like a constricting snake around our necks, getting tighter and tighter with each breath we took.

Before I knew it, I had used my 3DMG to get to the top. I pushed myself off, falling with my arms spread out, hair whipping behind me. It felt so good. Then I had to attach myself to the wall and slowly go down.

Exhaustion settled in my limbs. Titans were roaming around, and I watched my surroundings with guarded eyes.

Fury overcame me. It was because of Titans that we were locked in.

It was because of them experiments had started.

"If you hadn't existed!" I shrieked, launching myself off the ground and heading straight on for a cluster of Titans. I killed them all, reveling in the heated blood coating my limbs.

"If they hadn't existed, what would have happened? Experiment oh-nine wouldn't have died? Don't delude yourself." Two brown-haired girls were walking toward me. "But please, do give my regards to…Emily I believe?"

"Alyssa, don't be mean," the other one shot back. "Avalon, it's a pleasure to meet you. Of course, this would be a lot more welcoming under other circumstances but I guess meeting you in a blood-stained graveyard surrounded by dead bodies and Titans are just as…nice."

"What do you want?" I asked warily. I had realized that this was the worst possible time for me to be making potential enemies. If they were wandering around in Titan territory, that fact alone would establish them as skilled to some extent. "I didn't realize I had company."

"Of course you didn't," Alyssa said harshly. "You were too busy dilly-dallying with Experiment 09. Evan, was it? He'll die anyway. Even if Titans had existed, it wasn't like his human life was infinite. That is the inevitable fate of everything you see right now."

"Break it gently, at least." The other said.

"Lisa, you know this too. The grass we're standing on will turn wilted and gray. Everything will be demolished."

"I wasn't meaning to imply I wanted him to be immortal," I said, not backing down. "It would be better if his life was extended. Not completely made unable to die."

"Extension?"

"Like I did with Isla."

Suddenly I was pushed up against a tree, Alyssa holding my shirt in a balled-up fist. "You fucking did what? Don't you know what this means?!"

"I believe so."

Lisa tugged her twin off of me. "I doubt you kept track of which person the Coordinate passed on to."

I shook my head. "All I knew was that Isla had it."

"If that Eren Jaeger got to it, I don't want to stick around," Lisa shook her head. "I suppose you know the Coordinate's full power?"

"I've heard bits of things and pieced them together," I sat down. "Please, do explain further if you think my knowledge is lacking."

"The Coordinate is essentially a power," Alyssa said gruffly, sitting down as well. "Whoever has that power has complete control of the Titans. That includes the Titan-shifters, the experiments, and anyone who has a single drop of Titan blood in them. Whatever the holder wants truly in their heart at the moment they obtain the Coordinate will follow. The Coordinate passes on randomly, which makes it even harder to track down."

"Which is why we are hunting down Eren Jaeger." Lisa clarified.

The truth dawned to me. "You're hunting him down because if he says that he will kill the Titans, every shifter and Titan, including himself will die."


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