Eren had to say it was good to be clean again. He hadn't had the chance to wash properly since the day Mikasa had called the house phone to warn him. But he couldn't deny the pain that had blossomed in his chest at Levi's words.

"You're lucky I'm still on orders to not treat you like the criminal you are."

The words had hurt, though he refused to let that… that bastard know that. Instead, Eren had decided to be the bigger man and not give in to the taunt, not give the man the reaction he had been digging for. So he had dropped it, finishing his shower (because god knew when he'd get another one) and dressing. It had been humiliating enough to be forced to strip and scrub in front of the older man. It had been too close to one of the dreams he'd had of the older man at night, though that had ended a lot differently than yesterday's debacle.

"Fucking dick," Eren muttered aloud, rolling onto his side and staring at the wall. They weren't tying him down anymore, and the IV was gone as well, and it was nice to be able to hold onto a thought for longer than three seconds. He hated drugs. He hated needles, he hated injections, he hated not being in control.

When breakfast came, he ate it without saying a word to the guard. Normally, he would tell them thank you, sometimes even asking what the weather was like outside, but today he ignored them. Eld, the guard who normally brought his food, seemed to hesitate before walking back out, his partner glancing between Eld and Eren. Eren was left to eat his breakfast in silence, the door not opening again until Petra came to retrieve him for his meeting with Levi.

Which he wasn't looking forward to in the slightest. But he took a deep breath, getting himself under control and making sure that his temper wouldn't boil over when he finally stepped into the room and had to see that bastard again. He couldn't stop the flare of anger at the sight of the short corporal, but didn't let it show on his face as he took a seat across from the bastard.

"There will be a few changes to our routine. The first being that every night you will be escorted to my quarters, where you will shower and receive new clothes. This will happen after dinner. Until further notice, you will not be permitted any contact with your sister. You will be brought clean sheets once a week, and you will change them and leave the old sheets with your meal tray to be removed. You will be provided basic toiletries, including a hair brush, which I expect you to use to keep yourself groomed and clean. Do you have any questions?"

"None, sir," Eren responded, keeping his voice pleasant. Levi gave him a long look, as if trying to see if Eren was being genuine, before opening the folder.

"Then let's get down to business."


Armin placed the folders on the edge of Hanji's desk, a post-it note with today's date left on top of the pile, along with a rubber band securing them together. This was the safest way to make sure that nothing was lost in the chaos that was Hanji's desk, as other piles of folders, books, papers, and junk had overtaken the surface. Once a week she would comb through the clutter, getting things put away and filed as needed and cleaning her desk off so it looked workable, but then not even a day later it would be back to normal. Armin suspected the only reason Hanji got away with that was because Levi refused to go down to her office anymore, and no one else had the balls to order Hanji around.

He couldn't help himself from letting his eyes wander over the other files, his natural curiousity driving him to look at dates and names that meant little to him. It was easy to forget that the Jaegers were not the only problem in the country; as head of Research and Intelligence, Hanji had many projects and lines of information to keep on top of, and the fact that they had the last two Jaegers in custody meant very little in the grand scheme of things.

"Overwhelming, isn't it?" a voice said from behind him, and Armin turned around quickly, letting a guilty, sheepish look take over his features as he laced his fingers together.

"Oh, don't worry. These are all just bits and pieces, nothing too compromising," she assured, walking around him and picking up a few pieces of paper. "Like these are some observation pieces from the Columbia agents," she said, turning a photo towards him, "and a person we believe to be involved in The Outfit," and then held up a folder, "and interrogation notes from the Buscelli and Merell case. They'll get placed where they belong, but you knowing just a few pieces of information isn't enough to be worried about."

Armin nodded, though he couldn't help but wonder why Hanji would show him this information so freely. A lot of these were confidential, on a need-to-know basis, but she seemed to not care as she set down the files and papers in her hands. She sat in her chair, gesturing to another one across from her, before lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on them.

"I know it's not really a secret that I've been considering taking you under my wing once Erwin approves it," Hanji started, and Armin gave a nod. It was why he had to come down so often, though now either Mike or Moblit had to escort him through the prisoner cell block. Hanji nodded as well, continuing to speak.

"But it's more than that. I'm not going to be here forever, and I need someone who will be able to take my place and keep things running as they should be. This isn't an easy position. It's downright exhausting, overwhelming, and frankly boring on some days. Having to sort through hundreds of active cases, and even more inactive ones that might be related, and then the cold cases where information has dried up, and then you need to check and see if anything you've received might be able to shed light on those. It takes a lot of effort, and even more brainpower to know what you need to be doing."

"Are you saying you want me to… to…" Armin stuttered, his mind going blank as the concept slowly sank in.

"I want you to take over as head of the R&I when my time comes to an end. I don't plan on that being for several years, so there will be plenty of time to show you the ins and outs, don't worry! Erwin also knows this, so he understands my intentions and motivations and is willing to work with us on getting this going. But you still have to go through the motions, receive the proper promotions and ranks before anything can happen, and I can't show too much favouritism or else it'll cause problems down the road."

"I… I understand…"

"Oh dear, I think I broke you. Well, better scuttle off to lunch! We'll talk about this later in a more official setting."

"Yes, sir."

"Very well, run along."

Armin wandered from R&I in a daze, Moblit shooting him worried glances as they made their way through the building.

"Good luck," Moblit said as he turned to head back down to the basement, and Armin gave an absent nod, entering the mess hall in a fog.

Head of R&I. Hanji Zoe wanted him to take over for her. He couldn't stop the smile from breaking out across his face.


Jean wondered when things became so complicated. It used to be very straight-forward; his job, his expectations, who were the good guys, and who were the bad ones. Now, it wasn't that simple.

Sasha was being restrained in one of the holding cells awaiting a psychological evaluation, Connie was still in a coma, Armin was… doing something, he didn't get to see much of the other blond, and he swore the Jaeger brats got more privileges than they did.

He also felt Marco pulling away from him, though that might be in his own head. They usually spent a lot of their free time together, watching movies or hanging out, but recently Marco had been putting in extra hours, volunteering for more duties, and Jean didn't know why.

Well, he did, but he didn't want to think about that mistake. He should have known better than to try and kiss his best friend.

He wanted to blame the alcohol. They had gotten shit-faced while watching crappy horror movies two weeks ago, and Jean had been stupid enough to try and show Marco what Jean felt for him. It hadn't ended well, and ever since then Marco had been doing everything to avoid being around him.

Shaking his head, Jean forced the memories from his mind as he raised his rifle again. Most of his free time was now spent at the range. His last evaluation had been lackluster, and Jean knew that if he wanted to stay on the fast track to a rank promotion, he needed to bring it up. He aimed down the scope, aligning the marks to the center of the 'head,' and pulled the trigger.

He swore as it pierced too far to the left, punching a hole through the thick black outline. That would have taken off an ear, but wouldn't stop a terrorist. Wouldn't stop another incident where Eren had them at his mercy. Wouldn't stop him from having more Connie's or Sasha's because he failed to protect them again.

He lifted his gun once more, reloading the chamber and aiming. He refused to give up, to fail, to be at the mercy of the enemy.


Eren picked at his dinner, not feeling hungry but knowing that he should eat it anyway. He had not said thank you to Eld or Gunther again, ignoring them as they came in and placed his food down. He knew that after he finished eating, Levi would be coming back to take him to shower again. As the man had said, there was a kit waiting on his bed when he had arrived, and a pile of sheets had been on the table instead of lunch. Those had been taken when his lunch was brought, when he had also ignored Eld and Gunther's presence.

He wasn't going to treat them like friends, not when he knew what they really thought of him. He had thought, for a brief time, that they didn't see him as a copy of his parents, as a criminal, and had been warming up to the thought of being free again. Of not being scared to walk down the street, of not having to hide his face because it looked like hers. But Levi had set him straight, and these assholes didn't deserve the time of day. He was going to do his time, do his duty to his country, but that was it. He wasn't going to be nice about it, he wasn't going to harbour any illusions of freedom. He doubted he'd come out of this alive, that they'd ever let him go. He was going to be the scapegoat they needed because the real ones were dead.

Mikasa was angry at him, he had no friends here, he was the bad guy that they wanted. No, he was the one they needed. There was a difference, and Eren felt it clear as day. Even if their end goal was the same, he knew his role for them, and he was going to play it the way they wanted him to. So Eren felt his stomach twist as he tried to force the food down, wondering absently if Mikasa was eating her own meal. He hoped she was; she needed all the nutrients she could get.

He gave up on his meal after he choked on his own vomit, barely stopping himself from throwing up all over his tray. He lay down on his side, inhaling the scent of laundry soap on the pillowcase. He mused at how long it would take to stop breathing if he held it over his face. At least eight minutes, twelve at the most. His body would start trying to subconsciously save himself though, so a pillow wouldn't do it. He'd have to get it stuck, to where he couldn't use his hands to pull it away, or have enough room to jerk free and gasp for air.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened, the sound of boots on concrete echoing in his cell. Levi's deep voice followed shortly after, Eren sighing as the expected orders were issued.

"Get up and bring your kit."

Eren pushed himself upright, giving one last lingering look at his pillow before he reached over and grabbed the plastic-wrapped bathroom supplies he had placed on the small, stainless steel sink. He hadn't bothered to open it yet. He figured he'd wait until he was taken to a real bathroom.

He followed Levi in silence, one of the guards following along behind them. Eren didn't bother to look to see which one. At this point they were all the same to him. A small voice in the back of his head did remind him that Eld and Gunther would have been relieved of guard duty by now, but he shoved that aside. It didn't matter anymore when they were on shift. Nothing mattered anymore.

He moved towards the bathroom before Levi could even say anything, taking his clothes off and leaving them outside the door before turning the water on. He tore open his kit, taking out the soaps and leaving the brush, toothbrush, deodorant, and toothpaste on the counter. There wasn't a shaving razor in the kit, probably so that he couldn't be given a 'dangerous weapon' or some bullshit like that, and as Eren washed up he could feel the stubble that had slowly been growing along his jaw scratch against his skin. He normally didn't need to shave more than once a week, but it had been several by this point, and he finally had the beginnings of a beard. It disgusted him, seeing the hair on his face that grew in the same manner as his.

His face might look like hers, but it was his beard that grew in.

Levi didn't try to talk to him, just leaned against the door frame and made sure Eren didn't do… whatever the fuck he could do in a shower that didn't involve showering. It was annoying and embarrassing, but if he was able to use hot water he wasn't going to bitch about it. He knew when to cut his losses, and this was one of those times.

Will I ever have privacy again? Will I ever shower without having someone staring at me the entire time?

Those weren't thoughts worth dwelling on, so Eren finished up and turned the water off, stepping out of the tub and drying himself off, dressing in the clean clothes provided, and tearing the plastic wrap off of the toothbrush. He scrubbed at his mouth, getting rid of the gritty yet slimy feeling that he had grown accustomed to. He ran a brush through his hair a few times, though he knew it wouldn't matter once his hair dried. At this length, it was only going to look like a mess, whether he tried to tame it or not. He really needed a haircut.

"Ready?" Levi asked, and Eren gave a single nod, picking up his showering gear and tucking it in the crook of his arm. Levi led him back, another guard trailing behind them at a distance. He could hear their footsteps, a slight step off from both Eren's and Levi's stride, and he focused on that instead of the bastard in front of him.

He put his supplies back in the basin on the sink once he was in his room, noting that his dinner was gone. He heard the door shut, locking him away from the real world once again. He felt the absence of his sister with a sharp pain in his chest, the need to have her by his side hitting him hard. He tried to push it aside as he laid back down on the bed, pulling the pillow to his chest and burying his face in it.

Twelve minutes. It would take twelve minutes to fix everything.