Chapter 7

Aristea did the others a favor and taught them the things she knew. She went one-on-one with Annie once in hand-to-hand combat and she must say that she was impressed with the level of skills the other girl had. Even so, she let everything end in a draw after putting up quite a good show for everyone to see. Annie still had room for improvement, whereas she already mastered martial arts. Ares's strict training from years back was already ingrained into her body.

She was still a goddess, after all. She wasn't restrained with human capacities.

It seemed that after revealing to everyone the truth about herself-partially-she got closer to them. She began to understand their behavior a little more and forged a bond with the other trainees, particularly Eren's group. She also learned to go easier on them since they did not possess the same qualities as a god had. They easily tired themselves out.

When she was training them once during the night, she did not let them rest until dawn arrived.

"Come on, Eren." Aristea evaded the punches he threw her way without any problem. "Is that the best you can do?"

His punches were getting sloppier from the exhaustion he was feeling, and that was clear on his face. He narrowed his eyes and determinedly threw a punch forward. However, Aristea charged forward, coming in close contact against him.

He caught a whiff of her fragrant scent as her hair brushed his face briefly. It was a refreshing scent of mint with a sweet undertone—like chocolate.

His face went red and he got distracted for a moment when he realized she was pressed up against him.

"Uh—"

Aristea easily grabbed his wrist before kneeing him on the stomach. He grunted in pain as he doubled over.

The goddess then twisted his arm skillfully before pinning him down and sitting on top of him. "That's not even acceptable." She said.

Eren looked up and met her eyes with his. Her top was soaked with sweat, making it see through. Not only that, but she had the first buttons open, showing off a decent amount of skin around her chest area.

The boy did not know why, but he was feeling flustered about their position. Not to mention that Aristea was attractive, that made the situation far worse.

"You're distracted." She said as she coolly got off of him. "Try to collect your thoughts first."

Her back was against the shining moon as she brushed back the locks of raven-black hair slick with sweat. Eren was already aware of her above average looks ever since that day during the cliff. She was a little on the odd side, but she had her good points.

With his face red, he sat up and reluctantly brushed off the dirt from his clothes, watching as the girl approached the others.

"Oy, Jaeger." Jean called, catching the way he looked at Aristea. "He," he laughed. "Got a little crush, eh? Jaeger?"

Eren's attention snapped towards him. "What?"

"Haha! Jaeger's got a—" Knowing what he was about to blurt out, Eren pounced on him and covered his mouth. He began wrestling with him, as Jean continued to threaten a red-faced Eren from telling what he discovered.

"Shut up!"

"Hahaha! You got a cru—"

"I said shut up!"

Aristea, seeing the trouble between the two, called out, "Jean! You're up!"

Jean pushed Eren off him and flashed him a cocky grin. "I can't assure you I won't slip, eh."

"I'll kill you, bastard."

"Ha, watch and learn. I ain't about to act like you did, idiot."

"Ha, let's see you try. Don't get me started about your crush on Mikasa." He smirked triumphantly as Jean's face twisted in horror.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Eren huffed as he watched him engage into combat with Aristea. All the while, Jean kept shooting suspicious looks at him, which gave Aristea the chance to crush his skull—well, almost.

In the end, Aristea threw Jean next to Eren and towered over them domineeringly. "You two are distracted. Those who are distracted do not do well in battle. Why can't you be more like Mikasa?" She grunted.

Whereas Sasha, Connie, and Armin already collapsed, Eren was still insisting on going. If it weren't for Aristea realizing the extent of her harshness towards them, she wouldn't have stopped. She had Mikasa's help reminding her that they were only humans, but it was hard to remember sometimes.

"Agh." Jean panted as he collapsed. "She's fucking worse than Shadis! What sort of torture is this?" He looked up and glared at Aristea. "Are you sure you were forced to do this as a child? Why aren't you dead?"

"It's only like that at first." She answered. "You'll get used to it."

"Bullshit!" He cursed. "Oy, Marco!"

He was only answered by a slight snore.

"What the—Marco!"

"I can still go on." Eren puffed, sweating heavily.

"Damn it, Jaeger." Reiner growled.

"Reiner," Berthold said.

"Ah—ha." Sasha panted. "Please—rest! FOOD!"

"Idiot." Connie smacked her.

"I think it's time to rest." Aristea said instead, seeing the delusional state Sasha was entering due to food deprivation.

"About damn time." Jean happily collapsed next to Marco. "Oy, Armin! Get me some water!"

"I don't think I can." Armin grunted as he replied.

"Man, I'm tired." Connie groaned. "And we still have training later."

They all breathed out heavily.

(#)

Their routine went the same way the next few nights, but they took occasional rests to ensure they performed well the next day. Aristea and the others agreed that they would only do the same training twice a week with five days in between to ensure they were well-rested. Eren and the others improved in their performance drastically. Aristea was more than elated when she saw the results of their hard work and felt an overwhelmingly sense of fulfillment

Connie danced around the fire, cheering wildly. "Yeah! We showed 'em didn't we?"

"You should see the look on those guys faced when we did."

Everyone was rejoicing from the results of a major test. It wasn't the exam but it had a big influence on their performance record. Mikasa was currently ranking the first within the whole group whereas the others followed suit. Aristea was happy for them and, as promised, she stayed out of the top rankings.

"We have mostly Aristea to thank for everything." Armin quipped. "I wouldn't be able to keep up if it weren't for the extra effort, after all."

Everyone stared at her gratefully.

"You thank yourselves. You worked hard."

"But really. You worked hard yourself." Said someone.

"You purposely held back in the test, though. I don't think I feel right about that." Eren said, frowning. "You should be celebrating with us."

"Cocky as it may sound, I've already gone through all of that. I'm not about to steal the glory from someone else." She flashed them a cocky grin which made the guilt ease from their hearts. "Besides, if I don't hold back, I'll outshine you all." She huffed playfully in the end as she turned up her nose and puffed out her chest.

Jean playfully threw a stale bread her way. "Oy! Don't get cocky! You can be Goddess Messiah all you want, but you ain't gonna outshine us!"

Somehow, Goddess Messiah was already starting to stick to their speeches whenever addressing Aristea. It was already a common thing for the other trainees to call her that during certain occasions, which a few others did not understand.

They all began laughing.

Mikasa smiled as she watched Eren laugh along. Ever since Aristea came, Eren wasn't that bloodthirsty about slaughtering titans. She was able to put a genuine smile on his face and replace some of the hatred in his heart with happiness like she wasn't able to do.

"Can we go to bed early tonight? I'm really tired." Connie yawned as he pulled Sasha with him and began to drag her away.

Armin smiled at the two while he looked between Mikasa and Eren. "Are you two going?"

"You two go ahead."

As usual, Mikasa was on the roll, "Eren, are you sure?"

"It's fine, Mikasa. I have Aristea with me."

Aristea caught the eye of Mikasa and nodded. "We'll be fine."

There were just overprotective times when Mikasa would refuse to leave Eren alone. It went without saying that she already trusted Aristea in that sense, acknowledging the fact that she would be able to defend him and keep him in line if the need ever arises.

Aristea did not know why but maybe it had something to do with a particular incident.

(FLASHBACK)

Aristea did not know what provoked Eren to pick a fight with another trainee, but it was clear in his eyes that he was already about to decapitate the poor lad. The most unusual of it all was that Jean was siding with him, and had the look of bloodlust clear on his face as well.

"You . . . you're going to regret that." Eren murderously clenched his fist and glowered at the other trainee.

"It's true right? You're just—"

He wasn't able to say anything as Eren threw his fist to punch him. However, Aristea was speedily within the scene, catching the flying fist inside her palms. Letting her voice turn dangerously low, she turned to eye the two frenemies.

Mikasa had come back from her bathroom excuse and was now watching the scene with wide eyes. She was about to go and interfere when Aristea had beaten her to it.

"That's enough." She said.

"Get out of my way, Aristea. This bastard—"

Eren was taken aback when Aristea suddenly slapped him on the face. He was not even able to comprehend what happened except when his face was thrown to the side, throbbing with a dull pain he did not expect. "Picking a fight will only result to unfavorable circumstances. Should you want to satisfy your anger, kindly inform the instructor and I'm sure he will work something out to settle whatever problem there is between the three of you."

At the mention of Keith Shadis, everyone was already on the other side of the room. "Or," she added. "You can settle it here and now using me as a witness that whatever misunderstanding here is finally resolved."

The change in her manner of speech and formality filled the air with awkwardness. Eren cradled his throbbing cheek between his hands as he looked at Aristea. "Sorry."

"Shouldn't you be telling that to him?"

"Tch." Eren turned away and looked at Jean, who was irked. "Fine. Sorry."

She eyed Jean. "Whatever."

She glowered at him. "Do you—"

"FINE! I apologize! There, you happy?!"

The other guy seemed more than satisfied seeing the humiliation on Jean and Eren's face.

"And you," Aristea glowered at him. "I wasn't around for the first few minutes so I cannot judge you, however, don't you think you should be apologizing as well? You should know that I'm holding back because we aren't close, but you are picking a fight with close friends of mine, so whatever business you have with them, that concerns me as well. I'm quite certain that everyone in the room will vouch for my innocence should my fist ever land on your face. Whatever I do, I do for a reasonable cause."

The guy started shaking. "Whatever bitch! You—"

He was no longer able to finish when the punch Eren thought of throwing before finally landed on his cheek—through Aristea. He crashed on the floor, landing with a loud thump just as Shadis came around the corner with a snarl.

"What's going on here?"

Aristea pulled herself into an impressive soldier stance as Shadis approached her. "Have you any excuses for this, SOLDIER?"

"Sir!" She saluted. "I have but one."

"SPEAK!"

"I was trying to settle a feud between this group and this guy when he didn't want to make up. Eren and Jean's side has already apologized, this guy, however . . ." She trailed off but kept eye contact with him.

Shadis turned to the boy. "Soldier!" He towered over him as he was lying on the floor. "Is that true?"

"S-sir . . . I just—"

"I'm asking you a yes or no! IS THAT TRUE?!"

"Y-yes . . ."

"Run until you drop!" He said before turning to Aristea. "Apollene, since you're responsible for keeping those two in line, you handle their punishment."

Eren and Jean gulped as they saw the smirk on her face. "Will do, sir!"

It was only when she was handling the punishment of Eren and Jean when Mikasa came about with a rare smile. "Thank you."

(FLASHBACK FINISHED)

Aristea quirked a brow at Eren as he stayed while everyone else turned to leave.

"Is there something you need to do?"

He looked around cautiously, making sure everyone else was gone before turning to Aristea, waves of embarrassment washing off of him.

"It's just . . ." He scratched his head. "I haven't been able to sleep properly the last few nights."

Aristea took the hint in his words.

"Do you wish for me to play for you?" Aristea gave a soft chuckle as Eren's rosy cheeks turned shades darker that it even reached his ears.

"S-sort of . . ."

"I know how that feels." She told him. "I don't play nearly as good as my father. But he puts me to sleep through his music every night."

"Really?"

She nodded. "But I didn't bring my flute with me." She told him. "I'll sing for you instead, if that's okay."

Eren's eyes visibly widened. "You can sing?"

"Is that shocking?" She felt herself smiling as the boy adorably shook his head. "Aha, you're really cute Eren."

He flushed, looked away, and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I am?"

"You are."

He then murmured something under his breath that she wasn't quite able to catch. It went along the lines of 'you' something.

"What?"

He looked at her. "Nothing."

She reached out and brushed the soft locks on top of his head. "You remind me of . . . something, somehow." She took in the curious look that Eren shot her way.

"A dog."

"W-what?!"

"I don't mean it as an insult, really." She said. "The dog is Ares's sacred animal. Although Ares is very bloodthirsty and often picking fights,"

'I can hear you.' Said her uncle.

"He's a very passionate god. In love and everything else. The dog makes a perfect animal symbol for him. And you, you sometimes resemble a wild dog with your attitude in our exercises, yet at times like this, you're really much like a puppy."

"And you're a raven." Eren told her.

She tilted her head to the side questioningly. "A raven?"

"Your hair." He found himself saying. "And you're mysterious, but very bright. There's also something strange about you that I know some other people will consider bad, but I don't think it's like that at all."

"Yes, that animal is misunderstood often. It sometimes comes as a blessing. But don't you know that that's one of Apollo's sacred animal symbols?" She grinned.

"It is?"

Aristea nodded. "So, do you want me to sing anything?"

"I don't really know."

"Then, I'll do a personal favorite."

She carefully opened her mouth and let the words softly roll out of her tongue.

'I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go,

When all those shadows almost killed your light.

I remember you say, "Don't leave me here alone."

When all that's dead and gone and past . . . tonight . . .

Just close your eyes, the sun is going down.

You'll be alright. No one can hurt you now.

Come morning light,

You and I'll be safe . . . and . . . sound . . .'

Her voice reverberated with a soft vibrato, hitting the notes perfectly that it sent every hair on his body standing. He felt momentarily shocked, but relaxed from the feeling it brought later on.

Eren felt the same moment of tranquility pouring through him. Aristea's music resembled a shield from nightmares he often had before—about titans, especially. It had the calming and soothing effect on him that put him in a state of peace.

Aristea watched as Eren slowly fell into slumber. He was really adorable when he fall asleep. His face resembled a cute child that Aristea couldn't help but swoon at the uber cuteness.

When the song finished, she leaned forward and stared at the serenity on Eren's face. "You're really like a puppy."

'Adorable, isn't he?' Aphrodite giggled in her ear. 'Now, even the other gods had fallen asleep listening to your song, my dear. I must admit that you are quite right. Ares does resemble a dog himself. Perhaps he bears a striking resemblance to this young man here.'

"He does, doesn't he?" She murmured to himself.

'I am guessing you had taken quite a liking to him. Even I will not be able to resist such cuteness!'

Aristea blushed at Aphrodite's words. "What are you saying?"

'Oh, I know a blooming romance when I see one! Now, don't you worry. I'll try keeping your father from interfering. Just enjoy your romance, little one!'

"Ha?"

Eren is a little cute. Well, very cute.

'Oh, and remember the ring I gave you?' The goddess of love giggled.

"Yeah?"

'Should you ever make up your mind, try giving it to Eren.'

"WHAT?"

The boy stirred.

Aristea toned down. "What?"

'Trust my words, child.'

"Why?"

'You'll find out if you do it.'

Aristea sighed and looked down at Eren. He looked so peaceful.

Seeing this, Aristea looked up at the sky as she leaned against the tree where Eren rested.

For some reason, Eren instigated her protective instincts. There was something about the boy that made her soften whenever she saw his face. She always had a soft spot for really cute things? Perhaps it was because she was starting to see him as a younger brother she never had? Aristea had older, half-siblings, but she never really was close to them.

"I will watch over you."

I just want to tell you guys that the main love story isn't about to happen in this part. As you can all remember this is a Levi x OC x Eren fanfiction, so there's still someone else being left out. XD I'm going to say that nobody else will fall in love with Aristea within the Anime, but I may add another OC to the *ehem* for some entertainment.

Please be reminded as well that Aristea already had her training prior to coming down, so anything that may have been taught to the trainees, she already learned them. As she said, her last years of training involve getting along humans and learning about them since it's supposed to teach her a lesson - courtesy of the gods.