EREN
Everyone says that extraordinary things happen on ordinary days. It is possible that this was true. In any case, it was all a matter of perspective. It had been an ordinary day that the Colossal Titan first broke through the wall. However, in that same sense, it had been an extraordinary day that his mother died and he vowed revenge, which had kick-started a chain of events so great it would be near impossible to image how the world would be now if he hadn't. It had been an ordinary day when he asked his father to allow him to accompany him to the Ackerman's house, but because his father had allowed it, it became an extraordinary day on which he met Mikasa. It was made more extraordinary by the fact that he killed two men at the young age of nine to save her. It had been an ordinary, routine cleaning of the walls when the Colossal Titan had appeared for a second time. This had created the extraordinary circumstances in which he had first become a Titan. After that, there hadn't been many ordinary days.
Until just recently.
The entire Recon Corps had been on a "break" of sorts after the capture of Annie, the Female Titan. Erwin had been working with Levi to rebuild the squad that would look after Eren. Most everyone was relaxing in the castle fortress in an attempt to recover from the intensity of the past few days. The new recruits were set to work tidying up. Again. Even though they were considered full members since they'd survived a trip outside the walls. (The older members kept saying that it didn't count because it had lasted less than a day).
In any sense, it had been nice. Eren and his friends had let their guards drop. They'd laughed more, relaxed more, and genuinely talked more than they had since… it felt like forever. Their hearts were heavy with the memory of lost friends, but their spirits were light because they had to be. Connie and Sasha had even vowed to make Corporal "Grumpy Pants" Rivaille smile. So far… they were failing.
"He never smiles. It's hopeless!" Sasha moaned one night as the younger members of the Survey Corps sat down to dinner.
"He smiles when he's cleaning. Maybe that's what we need to do. Crap all over a room and get him new cleaning supplies," Connie suggested, smirking as he shoved a roll into his mouth.
"Go ahead and do that, but don't expect me to join you," Jean scoffed.
"Oh lighten up, horse-face," Eren teased, poking Jean with his fork.
"Horse face! That's a good one!" Connie laughed. Even Mikasa, who tried so hard to hide away all and any emotion, cracked a smile. Jean tried to laugh it off.
"Sure, whatever. At least I'm not spreading crazy rumors about a half-metal, magic kid from another world," Jean pointedly glared at Christa, a playful glint to his eye.
She attempted to control her giggling long enough to become defensive. "He's real! I saw him with my own eyes!"
"Wait, who is this?" Reiner asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.
"Just a stupid rumor."
"I said he's real."
"This isn't clearing anything up."
"I don't know if it's a rumor or not, but this is essentially what the story is," Armin piped up, throwing an annoyed glance at Jean and Christa, who blushed. "Basically, about a week ago just north of the Karanese District, a little boy saw the wall "melt" and someone ran through. The newcomer rebuilt the wall with a clap of his hands before collapsing. Supposedly he's been roaming the cities magically fixing the broken items of the residents in exchange for information. Some people say he's looking for someone, others say he's trying to learn as much as he can about us so he can more easily either kill us off or subjugate us. Also, most people believe he's partly metal. The most common metal rumor is that his entire right half is silver," Armin finished.
"I've seen him! I swear I have!" Christa exclaimed before anyone else could say anything.
"That's a pretty ridiculous tale," Reiner said, "Do you think it's true?"
"They say that behind every rumor there's a grain of truth," Bertolt said quietly.
"So, if we're assuming that there is some truth behind this story, what would it be?" Reiner asked.
"Maybe he's a titan shifter?" Ymir suggested.
"Doesn't that seem a bit far-fetched for titan shifter? Besides, if he was, wouldn't he want to stay below the radar?" Armin pointed out.
"Well maybe the person he's looking for needs to know that he's looking for them, so that's why he's putting himself out there," Christa said.
"Who is he looking for? Does anybody know?" Eren asked, only mildly interested in the topic at hand.
"The name varies quite a bit, but it's something like Carrie Elric or Carlie Elrod or something like that." Armin said, his face scrunching as eh fought to remember.
"I heard Karla Elrod," Christa piped in.
"Basically the name varies and no one's ever heard of her, so no one really bothers," Armin finished.
"Huh," Reiner sat back and began munching on a roll. Everyone was quiet.
"Of course," Christa's face was thoughtful and she seemed to be oblivious to everyone in the room, "It could have been Karla Elric, I couldn't hear very well."
That name caught Eren off guard. He spit out the drink in his mouth and slammed his cup on the table in surprise. "Karla Elric? Are you sure?" He practically shouted.
"Whoa there, Eren. What makes you so interested all of the sudden?"
Eren turned to glare at Jean's smug face. "Karla Elric was my mother's maiden name. If he's looking for her then…" Then he must be from wherever she came from.
When he was little, she told him magnificent tales of another land where one thing could turn into another with a clap of your hands if you were skilled enough. She always said she was from that land, and one day a boy from there would show up to get her and take her back home. As he got older, he heard less and less of the other world, and slowly came to believe that it was all a fairy tale his mother created.
Until now.
"Dude, he knew your mom? That's so weird," Connie gaped.
"Christa, Armin, do either of you know his name?" Eren demanded.
"Edward, I think…" Armin said.
"Yep. Edward," Christa confirmed.
"And you're sure about this?" Eren insisted.
"Geez Eren, I didn't know it was this important to you," Connie said, waving his hands in front of his face as if to show surrender.
"Yeah, what is your problem?" Jean asked, smirking.
Eren was thoroughly annoyed. "I don't remember very well, but when I was little, my mom told me stories about another world where people could do magic of sorts. She said she was from there and one day my cousin, her nephew, Edward Elric would show up in a little glass booth and take her back home."
"And you believed her?" Sasha asked, mouth agape.
"Hell no! The only proof she had was that there was no record of her existence anywhere until my dad saw her 'fall from the sky' about four years before I was born."
"Maybe it's all one giant, elaborate prank your mom and dad planned," Connie suggested.
"I would say less of a prank and more pertaining to Eren's basement and whatever the hell is locked inside there," Reiner added, shrugging.
"I don't know what importance he has, but I need to find him," Eren insisted, standing up.
Mikasa grabbed his sleeve, "Eren. How do you know this is even real? It could just be someone trying to catch you off guard," She insisted, her eyes showing none of the worry she felt.
"It couldn't be. The only ones who knew about this were Mom, me, and Dad!" Eren yelled, yanking his arm away from Mikasa's grip.
"Maybe we can talk to Levi tomorrow," Armin half-squeaked.
"Or we could just go tonight!"
"You're not allowed to leave without an escort of trusted senior officers," Jean pointed out, also standing to meet Eren's eyes.
Eren stared him down. "Fine," he sighed exasperatedly, over exaggerating his annoyance with his friend. "But we should send out a military search to find him."
"On what grounds? We can't just capture a civilian because your mom might have known him," Jean retorted.
"We could claim we suspect him of being a titan shifter. It's common knowledge that eh Survey Corps is after them," Eren replied, stone faced.
"He has a point," Armin said hopefully after a moment of heated silence.
"If he does know something, it would be best to bring him in as soon as possible," Mikasa added.
Eren nodded sharply, "I'll go talk to the Corporal."
"Oh hell no you're not going alone," Jean smacked his hand on the table. Eren glared at him, which Jean returned coldly.
Eren turned and walked out of the room, pausing at the doorway to throw a cold comment to Jean. "Hey asshole, coming or not?"
…
The senior officers accepted their proposal and a squad went out in search of the mystery boy that night.
"If this kid and all of his magic shit turn out to be real, everyone will want him. The Military Police will want him dead, the Garrison will want him, we'll want him, hell, I bet even that frakking church will want their hands on him." Levi said as he toyed with a glass holding some variety of alcoholic beverage.
Eren nodded, "I know, sir, but-"
"But nothing. I just wish Erwin didn't trust brats like you so damn much." Levi muttered. "You're dismissed," He waved the two younger boys out of the room.
"How long do you think it'll take to find him?" Jean asked as they descended the stairs into the cool, musty basement.
"Not long. If Christa says she's seen him then there's a good chance he's somewhere in the area," Eren replied. "They'll probably have him by morning."
"That's assuming they give top priority to this goose-chase of yours."
"It's too great of a coincidence to not be important."
"But he's six years late, if he indeed is here to whisk your mom away."
"Closer to twenty."
"Twenty?"
"Yeah. The first record of her anywhere is twenty years ago in the Shinganshina medical records."
"So we are accepting the fact that your mother is from another world?"
Eren was quiet. "Not just yet."
…
"Get your shitty ass out of bed!" Corporal Reveille yelled into the dungeon cell that had become Eren's room. The younger boy groaned and sat up.
"What is it, heichou?" he moaned as he fought to wake up.
"We found that brat you sent us after. You'd better get up there quickly, or Hanji will have dissected him before you get a word in." Levi grimaced and walked away.
Blinking sleep from his eyes, Eren stumbled out of bed and threw his clothes on. As the reality of what Levi had said sank in, Eren's excited anger began to flourish and he became steadily more alert. Without meaning to, Eren realized he was running for the stairs. This boy was real. He very possibly had known his mom. That was all that was certain. He could know something about the basement. If he could do magic then he could be useful. Eren never would have considered the magic portion of the rumor to be true if his mother hadn't also testified towards that fact. In any sense, it all would be determined now.
He reached the top of the stairs. Two older officers were braced against the thrashing of a short, blond boy. This couldn't possibly be Edward, could it? He was just so… small.
"Get your bloody hands off me!" the boy yelled, trying frantically to pull his hands away from the officers holding him captive. "I told you, I'm not a damned titan shifter! I've only seen one of the bloody things in my life! Dammit, let go!" he yelled. He really didn't look like much. Long, blond hair framed intensely gold eyes. He was wearing a red coat that looked like it'd seen more wear than it was worth atop a solid black outfit. White gloves covered his hands. It almost looked like he was trying to hide something. Maybe the metal rumor was true.
Hanji bounced over to Eren. "We found him and I am dying to do some tests so-"
"Hanji," Erwin warned from the side of the room. She bowed her head in submission and walked over to her commander's side.
"Tests? If you try any funny business is swear to- dammit don't hold me so tight! I'm just looking for someone. Peacefully. Do any of you know Karla Elric?" The blond looked around the room hopefully.
Rage boiled in Eren's chest. This brat was looking for his mom. Before anyone could say anything to stop him, Eren's fist was hurtling toward the soft spot in Edward's abdomen. "You know nothing about my mom!" Eren yelled as the smaller boy doubled over in pain.
Edward coughed as he tried to catch his breath. "And who, exactly, is your mom?"
"Are you pretending not to know?!" From the other side of the room, some people moved to restrain Eren. Erwin waved them back. Eren could sort this out on his own.
The blond boy's eyes went wide. "Oh no. how long has it been? You can't be her kid! I saw her a week ago! Where is she? Can I see her?"
"She's dead. She's been dead for nearly six years, you bastard!"
The fire left the small boy's golden eyes. He looked down slowly, as if in defeat. "No…" he breathed. "Dammit, NO. I promised her. I promised her I would get her home! Dammit I'm always too frakking late!" he screamed at the floor, his voice obviously threatening to break. The officers holding him released his arms and he collapsed to the floor. "Dammit, why?" he moaned.
"Really effective, Eren. Nice work," Jean called from the top of the stairs.
"Shut it, asshole," Eren said, throwing a nasty look over his shoulder to the taller boy.
"Maybe you can tell us who you are, exactly," Erwin offered as a conversational change of course.
The blond looked up to meet Erwin's gaze. "My name is Edward Elric, son of Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim. I'm sixteen years old, I'm a State Alchemist, and I just want to get back home."
Zoe Hanji's face lit up. "Alchemy? I've heard about Alchemy. It was proven impossible about 3,000 years ago, was it not?"
"Hanji, where did you learn this?" Erwin asked.
"From that time I snuck into the Emperor's palace library and read as much as I could about human history and the outside world," Hanji beamed.
"Should've guessed," Levi rolled his eyes at his friend's ridiculous enthusiasm.
"Anywho, Alchemy," Zoe motioned Edward to keep talking.
"It should be impossible in this world, but something happened and I can do Alchemy here. Like this," Ed clapped his hands together and pressed tem to the floor. To everyone's amazement, the floor morphed and changed shape under his hands to take the form of a small, wooden doll. Some officers became uneasy and reached for their swords.
"That's amazing! Levi, can I keep him?" Hanji exclaimed, grabbing the Corporal's arm.
"Say, do you have any military experience with that 'State Alchemist' title?" Erwin asked as Levi tried to pull Hanji off of him.
"Yeah. I've been an Alchemist for the State Military since I was twelve."
"Well then, it's going to get out that we have you, and knowing the Military Police, they're going to want to kill you. So we can fight to keep you in the Recon Corps if you want," Erwin smiled. Having someone like this in the Recon Corps would mean big things in terms of success rate.
Ed look flustered. "Uh, sure. But only because I have nothing better to do."
Eren grimaced. Did he really have to stay?
