Armin looked around the clearing where the small group of Survey corps soldiers was resting on their way to Mitras for Eren's annual trial-thingy. On the opposite side he could see Captain Levi talking about something (probably) important with Commander Erwin, he also could see Hanji walking around, looking for someone who'd be willing to listen to her ramble. Ymir and Connie were in the middle of an insult match (Ymir was winning hands down but Connie refused to admit defeat) while Krista fruitlessly tried to stop them and Sasha laughed at them (when she wasn't busy complaining about how hungry she was). Jean was sitting next to Armin with an arm casually resting around his waist with Mikasa standing behind the two of them, leaning against a tree and glaring passive-aggressively at the offending appendage (Eren wasn't the only one who had the honour of being subjected to her protective tendencies).
Everyone was present. Except...
"Isn't Eren back yet? His second is getting kind of long..." Armin wondered out loud and immediately, he could hear Mikasa snap to attention behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder at her while she scanned the clearing with narrowed eyes and stiff stance, no longer leisurely leaning back.
"I'm sure he'll come back any moment now. What could go wrong on a toilet break?" Jean tried casually in an effort to prevent panic. They weren't outside the walls, after all; there wasn't much to worry about as a fully equipped, fully trained soldier. Really, what could go wrong?
Just as the words left Jean's mouth, an inhuman roar echoed around the forest from somewhere deep within and Jean had to resist the urge to bang his head against the nearest hard surface in favour of following Mikasa, Captain Levi, and Squad Leader Hanji, who immediately set off in the direction of Jaeger's enraged cry.
His only thought as he manoeuvred between the trees was 'Seriously, Jaeger? Seriously?'
A kind of long second ago
Eren had just finished his toilet break and was slowly making his way back to the clearing the Corps were currently resting at. He didn't bother moving quietly or paying attention to his surroundings because... what could go wrong?
Well obviously, something could. Being a trained soldier doesn't help you much when you don't see or hear the attack coming and Eren didn't hear the noise of people closing in on him from behind, thinking he was making all the noise, going through the bushes without a care as he was, but suddenly, everything went black.
He woke up a little while later (yay for titan regeneration) in a cart that was just starting to move, stripped of his 3DMG with his wrists tied together behind his back, and surrounded by a bunch of ugly older guys. Obviously thieves.
They were arguing if they should just kill him or try to sell him (he was young and kind of pretty; some sick, rich noble was bound to want him for themselves) when Eren sat up and called to them angrily, "Hey!" The men jumped, turning to look at the captive soldier with shock written all over their faces. "Release me and return my gear immediately and maybe I'll let you go without handing you over to the police. Do you idiots seriously think you can sell or kill me?" Eren hissed viciously when he had their attention. No one was allowed to look down on him. No one. Bound wrists were not nearly enough to hold him back.
The thieves stared at him with wide eyes for a second before they exchanged looks and Thug 1 smacked Thug 2 ("You went too easy on him! Now he's awake and he's gonna be a bitch about this!" "But I really hit him hard! I don't get how he can be awake, yet!"), while Thug 3, apparently the leader of the group, laughed condescendingly in Eren's face, ignoring his arguing companions.
"Oh? And what will you do about it, huh? Even if you are from the strongest and craziest branch of the military, you can't do a single thing all tied up and alone, without this expensive thing here," he said lightly, nudging Eren's gear that laid at his feet for emphasis.
Eren glared at him and spat, "I can take you all on by myself even without my hands." He paused, looking the men up and down before he continued, "But for your information, I'm not alone. There are other 10 people close by. Captain Levi is here. And Commander Erwin. You stand no chance."
"Really?" The leader asked, nodding towards the front of the cart and at that, the cart started moving a bit faster. "Thanks for the info; we'd better hurry then. But I think we have time. How long will it take them to notice one little soldier's missing?"
"Oh, don't worry; not long," Eren mumbled to himself, shuddering slightly. The image of Mikasa, Levi, and Hanji knowing he said he'd be back in a second and realizing he'd been gone for more than five minutes was pretty terrifying even for him. (He was sure the Commander and Armin would notice, too. Hell, they'd probably be the first ones to realize, but they were both always so calm and collected in critical situations, so Eren wasn't worried about either of their reactions.) A second later, he looked his captors dead in the eyes one after the other, snarling, "But I'm more than enough to take you down."
The thieves obviously didn't hear the first part and laughed. "I see you agree with us. Well, the Corps have such a death rate, what's one more?" Thug 3 said jovially before he squatted right in front of Eren, staring him in the eyes as if to challenge him.
Eren clenched his jaw and glared angrily right back at him. How dare they make light of all the sacrifices the Corps made every time they left on an expedition? He was quickly losing patience with them.
Thug 3 looked him up and down when he realized he had no chance of winning in the staring contest. "But hey, now that I look at you, you really could fetch us quite a price. Pretty face, fit body, interesting eyes, feisty. You look like you won't break easily. Some pervert will have fun making you break. Maybe you'll even like it," he laughed, finding his own words funny. "Usually people with too much fight in them enjoy being under someone the most." He gave Eren a smirk that earned him another furious glare that made him look away from the sheer force behind the infamous maniacal eyes.
As his eyes fell down from Eren's face, they caught a particular oddity in the young soldier's attire. "Hey, what's this?" Eren flinched and growled lowly when Thug 3 reached towards his neck, pulling down the green cloak a little to get a better look at the strip of leather sitting snuggly underneath.
"Oh my god, is that a collar? I don't know if I should be happy or disgusted I was right about you liking the shit the old perverts do." He made a face as he eyed the collar carefully.
Eren didn't say anything in response, too focused on trying to suppress his rage, but they only taunted further. "So he's already someone's pet? Who do you think it is?" asked Thug 1 with amusement and curiosity in his voice.
"Maybe just one of the other kids who are just going to die. Does it really matter?" Thug 2 sighed, apparently not very keen on interacting with the soldier, and Eren had to, although reluctantly, agree with him. Did it really matter? What the hell did they care who he's dating?
Thug 3, however, snorted, "Yes, it matters. Look at the look he's giving us. It's funny."
"Won't you tell us who your master is, little pet?" Thug 1 joined in, peering from around the leader's shoulder to look at the collar as well.
"He's pretty so maybe he's caught the eye of someone high up." Eren's eye twitched. "Oooh, bulls eye, huh?" The two laughed loudly, prodding further.
"So, tell us, who is it? The blond, macho big boss of yours?" One guessed but the other shook his head, looking thoughtful.
"Nah, he seems more like the cute, tiny type."
"So who? Maybe it's Humanity's strongest. I saw him once. He's so short, he has to have a complex to compensate for. I wouldn't be surprised if he was getting off on putting collars on kids who dared to be taller than him."
Eren's mind went blank at that. He had had enough. He went to punch the closest thug but when his hand got held back, he remembered he was kind of tied up. He tried to slip his hands out of the restraints without much success. He didn't have much experience fighting just with his legs as he wasn't Levi to do so most of the time. He paused to think about what would be the best course of action but suddenly, he felt another skin on his when Thug 3 went to tug at his collar to emphasize a point that Eren had completely missed in his mind-wiping fury, jolting him back to reality.
And that was the last straw for Eren. No one was allowed to touch his collar but Levi. As much as he hated to admit it, he loved the stupid piece of leather. It was the best proof of Levi's love he could wish for. (As long as the damn leash wasn't attached to it.) It was making a statement. Eren was his and his only. No fucking way could some stupid disgusting human trash get away with putting his filthy hands on it.
Eren felt deceivingly calm when he wondered why he was even holding back. He look each of them straight in the eyes one by one, smiling in that crazy, determined way of his before he bit hard into his lower lip until he could taste blood. They'd pay for all this.
His audience stared in shock, lost for what the hell he was trying to accomplish by biting his lip off.
Until they realized what it was they were seeing.
Then they screamed, terrified, and frozen in place and time.
Who could really blame them; they had never even seen a titan before, much less witnessed one materialize out of nowhere, this close to wall Sina no less. And to think they only wanted a 3DMG to sell and have money to feed their families with for the next month...
Eren would smirk with satisfaction seeing them almost froth at the mouth from the sight of his transformation were he physically capable of doing so in this form.
"What the actual fuck, Eren."
"They pissed me off."
Levi let go of a frustrated sigh, rubbing at his temples, as Eren stubbornly glared into the empty space to his left.
"That doesn't give you the authorisation to shift within the fucking walls on your way to the fucking trial that's supposed to judge if you are still trustworthy enough," Levi lectured in a low growl. "And stop fucking laughing, Hanji."
At that, Hanji burst out in a new wave of laughter. "But it's so funny!" she finally managed to get out when she caught her breath. "Of all people they could have kidnapped, they chose Eren!" she had to lean on the giant, slowly evaporating body for support as she got overwhelmed again. "How can you not find it funny? Look, everyone finds it funny!" she said, gesturing widely around them.
Levi looked around at her words and was horrified to see she was right. Well, mostly. Besides Mikasa, who was seething, being held back from beheading the poor thieves, who were still in shock and each sporting their own set of light and/or semi-serious injuries (that were obviously not inflicted by any sort of titan), everyone was doing their best not to start laughing. (Safe for Ymir. She wasn't trying.) Even Erwin was visibly suppressing amused chuckles over the situation.
Levi glared at them but unfortunately, it didn't have the desired effect as they were all too amused to notice or care.
People were still chuckling occasionally, Levi was still angry, and Eren was still sulking by the time the Survey Corps arrived in Stohess and handed the thieves over to the Military police.