Evening

Things were looking up somewhat, Rivaille decided, looking back at Eren. The boy was limping along-but he was a little better yesterday, but still releasing the occasional cough or sneeze. Apparently, Rivaille had fallen asleep on Eren's leg, and now that leg was asleep. Rivaille was affronted. He didn't weight that much, mind you. The first thing that he'd told Eren to do after the boy was up-was to take a shower. He smelled horrendus, and Rivaille swore that if he got so much as 3 feet close to him-and these were his exact words-"I'll cut your nipples off."

Of course, Eren had immediately rushed to the river to scrub himself off, borrowing Rivaille trusty bar of soap. None of them mentioned what happened last night-

mainly because Eren felt awkward and self conscious, and Rivaille was just...Rivaille and not mentioning anything that didn't have to do with titans and cleaning.

When Eren'd gotten done scrubbing himself, Rivaille had kicked him and told him to "fucking get a move on." They'd lost enough time with Eren being "sick" and all, and now they had to catch that time up, which is why Eren was forced to walk. Rivaille had refused outright to carry him, snapping that Eren'd caused enough trouble-and- "Would you just move that goddamn ass of yours faster?!"

Eren whimpered and hobbled faster to catch up to the irked commander.

~X~

Mikasa and Armin were settling down for the night, unpacking a bit of food to share. Armin was chewing on a stale piece of bread, watching the fire flickering. The light shone in his eyes, making them waver and blink; his eyes were too light to reflect anything.

Mikasa was laying on her side, looking at the bombs that they'd left. Yesterday, they'd encountered another titan on the plains that they were in right now, and used up three bombs, because Armin had overshot one and exploded a tree.

Mikasa rolled around two black dots in her palm, frowing as she listened to the soft clink clink of the metal. "After this, what are we going to do?"

Armin shrugged and tossed her a pear. "We'll cross that road when we get there. Right now, just relax. We need all our strength in the morning."

Mikasa nodded, biting into the fruit. "Do you think that Eren's okay?"

"He's fine," Armin reassured. "I can just imagine Rivaille kicking him around right now...You're f-ing slow, brat! Move faster!" Armin did a absolutely horrible imitation of the corporal.

"...was that honestly supposed to reassure me?" Mikasa asked, eyes smiling a bit despite the frown tugging on her face.

Armin laughed. "Well, you wouldn't want me to say that they're the best of friends now-helping eachother out with everything, right?"

Mikasa closed her eyes and pressed her hands to her temples. "..I can't even imagine that."

Mikasa's imagination

(Rivaille and Eren have freaking huge shojo manga eyes..you should know what those look like..)

"Oh Eren, you need help?" Rivaille came to look at Eren, who was struggling to pull his pants up, obvious concern in his eyes.

"Oh! Rivaille~!" Eren giggled, looking at him and batting his eyelashes. "That would be lovely! But.." He turned away, a blush on his cheeks. "I'm afraid that I would inconvience you!"

Rivaille bent down and held Eren's hands in his. "No, no, don't think of it like that! I would do anything for you, my friend!"

End of Mikasa's imagination.

"Oy! Mikasa! Mikasa!" Armin hissed lowly, waving a hand in front of her face. Mikasa jumped and opened her eyes, the half-eatan pear almost slipping out of her hands. She grabbed it quickly, saving from a dirty death.

"What?" She whispered back, eyes darting around.

"I hear something!"

"Is it a titan?"

"I don't think so; it's too quiet."

Mikasa grimaced and closed her eyes again, listening for any noises. Sure enough, there were soft, light footsteps creeping towards them. "Humans?"

"most likely."

"What would humans be doing out here, then?!"

"I don't know!"

Mikasa groaned and inconspicuously got her sword from where it was laying by the fire. "Don't let them think that we know."

Armin nodded, getting his sword as well. "On the count of three?"

Mikasa nodded, darting wary eyes back and forth across the plains. "One.."

"Two.."

"Three!" They both leapt up then, tensing in half-crouches. A burst of action came from the east and west sides of the plains. There were scurries of quick footfalls, and as they looked for the source of the commotion, they saw them.

Horses. But it wasn't just the horses that were coming at them. There were people on the horses-faces covered by hooded cloaks and robes, riding towards them.

"Do you think they're harmless?" Armin quickly asked Mikasa, sword trembling in his hand.

"If they were harmless, don't you think that they'd have put a flag of truce or something of that sort?" Mikasa replied, eyes fixed on the approaching problem.

"...Never mind." Armin gulped and faced the other side; he was back to back with Mikasa now.

The quick ka thump of the horses were growing closer, and as they neared them, Armin noticed thin curved arches in their hands. "Mikasa! They have-"

A thin arrow twanged by them, the vibration making it shiver for a moment before rooting into the ground. Mikasa clutched her blade tighter and shifted her bag up to her shoulder; she was going to use that as a shield to block as many arrows possible.

There was a harsh whinny from the lead horse as it whistled right by them, and a dark figure rolled off the steed, landing on his feet deftly. This was reciprocated by each rider and horse, until Mikasa and Armin were surrounded by a whole brigade of people.

"Who..are you?" Armin gulped and bowed slightly-not enough to look submissive, but not enough to look impolite either.

"We are...the Sgherstein." The low voice in the front took off his hood, revealing his face in the firelight. Armin had to hold back a gasp; a corner of the man's face was missing, from the bottom of his right eye to his chin, there was just a strip of hollow..organs, with stripped skin and flesh.

At an unknown signal, the rest of the cult took their hoods off as well, and Mikasa and Armin noticed that they all were injured in some way, weather it be a damaged face, or missing limbs. Armin pressed closer to Mikasa, whispering-"What the hell is this?"

The leader spread his arms wide, as if they were long lost friends that he hadn't seen in a long time. "Worship Eryat! The god of flesh, who created the titans! We must bow to his every wish, for his word is the word of god!"

"Created the titans?" Mikasa's eyes furrowed.

"No." Armin gasped. "The titans couldn't have been created by a god-we don't even know if gods exist!"

The leader smiled and put his arms down slowly and carefully with a precision that frightened Armin. "Eryat knows that humankind is suffering. He created the titans to get all the dirty people out. All the people who died; they're only part of Eyat's plan to cleanse the world!"

"Bullshit!" Armin looked at Mikasa in surprise-he'd never heard her cuss before. "There were good people who died out there! Are you saying that all this-all their deaths-was part of Eyat's 'wonderful plan to restore the world'?! If your 'god' really cared about you, shouldn't he want humankind to have less sacrifices?!"

Out of all the responses Armin could've thought, he could've never imagined for the leader to smile and beckon to a person who was standing behind him. A small box was passed from the person to the leader-and that box was velvet, a substance that was almost extinct today. Why did they have something like that?! Inside, there was a faint shimmer-a dagger was resting on the velvet fabric, glistening and sparking in the light of the moon.

"For Eryat." And with a small breath, the leader slashed his wrist-as Armin looked at him, he could see other scars there too; he'd obviously done this ritual before.

"Armin. Do you see how they're looking at him?" Mikasa breathed into his ear. Sure enough, the rest of the procession was staring at their leader in awe and something that could've been described as reverence, but the blood-they were staring at it hungrily and greedily, eyes wide with lust.

"What the hell is this?" Armin breathed, sickened.

The leader offered his wrist to them. "Join us." He hissed. "We will bring you to the light of Eryat. He will save and protect you from everything!"

"We're not joining your cult!" Mikasa breathed, shifting her stance.

"We are not a cult!" the scream of the leader was enough to make Armin and Mikasa fall silent. "We are true worshipers of Eryat and everything that he represents!"

"Eryat..Eryat.." the murmur of the rest of the group was soft and lilting. They'd bowed so low that their noses were touching the dirt of the plains.

"Is this like the religion that worships the walls?" Armin asked, hitching his breath.

"We do not worship those walls that humans use to hide from Eryat..we despise them." And the hatred in that voice was enough to rival Eren's.

"Could Eryat..be the ape-titan?" Armin gulped.

Mikasa gritted her teeth. "Don't speculate about that now! We have more pressing matters!"

"Join us.." The leader repeated. "Or else.."

"Is that a threat?" Mikasa gritted her teeth and bit her lip.

"Will you join?" The priest didn't answer her question.

"No!" Armin gasped; the mob was shifting and growing. Three people on the front row reached up their hands to their mouths-he recognized that movement. "Mikasa! They're all human-titans!"

Mikasa cursed, running back to where their supplies were. "Are they abnormal?"

Armin gulped as the first human transformed into a 10 meter titan. "Not that I know of!"

Mikasa quickly hoisted their bags on her shoulder and ran back to Armin. "We're making a run for it!"

Armin nodded, shifting glances back at the mob. The titans quickly caught up to them, screeching and yelling. The 10 meter grabbed Mikasa in his grip, leering. Then a 8 meter came from behind and choked Armin, dangling his feet from the air.

"Don't hurt them." The tone of the leader was calm and collected. "I want them..alive."

The titans growled for a moment longer, then walked back to the mob with slow, calculating steps. Armin and Mikasa looked at each other in despair and alarm.

What were they going to do now?

~X~

Eren was burning. He squinted up ahead to where Rivaille was, wincing as the moon shone in his eyes. Even the moon was too bright tonight-it seemed like a shining beacon to Eren.

"Rivaille?" He ventured.

"Hm?" The other didn't look back at him; continuing walking.

"Is the moon..really bright to you?"

Rivaille stopped, looking back at Eren. "What the hell are you saying? The moon's the moon, unless your head's screwed up."

"But.." Eren put a hand to his forehead, wavering. "It's just really…bright.."

Rivaille looked at him with a mixture of disdain and concern. "Deal with it."

He continued walking, only to hear a thump from behind him. He whirled back around-Eren had fainted, lying there on the forest floor. "Eren?"

Eren started shifting, moving around and groaning. His body withered, the motions increasingly faster each time he convulsed, building up, when-there was a cloud of smoke, and when Rivaille impatiently moved it away, Eren's titan was leering down at him. "Oy! Eren! I told you not to-"

A gigantic fist slammed by Rivaille's side, making him curse and jump away. "Eren! What the hell?!"

"RAWWWGGHHHHH!" Eren started panting heavily, tongue lolling out. What was strange, Rivaille thought-was that it sounded like two roars, instead of one. But Eren was clearly the only titan here-so-

He spun around to the back of the titan, sliding and slipping on the neck. Another face leered at him from the back-Eren's titan had two heads.

"Oh, fuck. Are you an abnormal now too?!" Rivaille sighed in expiration, inwardly cursing. How was he supposed to cut Eren out now?! The titan growled at him, hands reaching to his back; he could see Rivaille clearly from there.

"Eren! Wake up, you dumbass! It's me! Rivaille!" The titan did nothing but give another roar and charge, hands groping and searching for him. The other head made it worse, snapping and hissing at Rivaille.

Rivaille thought quickly, mind moving. If Eren was now an abnormal , then he couldn't cut Eren out without sufficient time-which he didn't have now, goddammit!

That aside, he might end up hurting Eren, which was something that had to be avoided, so saying.

"Shit shit shit!" He avoided the foot that came stomping down by his leg. He had to conserve gas as well, because then, if they ran out of that and met another abnormal titan, then they would be fucked. Literally.

Sorry for the late update, guys! D: I'm in Austin right now! yay! :D So, yesterday we went to Seaworld..AND THERE WERE NO TURTLES. nnnooooooooo muu

(Sorry, I know you don't want o hear about my private life.I'll shut up now. :D

So, here's a kinda longish chapter to pull you through-I don't know when I'll update next..and who knows..when Free! airs, I might switch fandoms..NONONONO RIVAEREEEEEEE FTWW. XD

I made a twitter recently..so if you want to keep up with my updates..I sometimes give story hints too..*winkwinknudgenudege* Link's on my profile, if you want to! (you know you want to) *waggles eyebrows suggestively*

Yeah.

Not a long author notes this time...so sorry for the late updateee!

Until next time! Ja ne~!

K.K

P.S I JUST SAW THE MOST AMAZING TUMBLR POST. I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHINGGGG

THIS IS NOT BY MEEEE (darn), but crimsoninsight

I should probably brush up on my German before I go to Germany, or else it'd be like-

Germans: Kann ich Ihnen helfen?Me: SIE SIND DAS ESSEN UND WIR SIND DIE JÄGER HOH HOH HOH

Please review! Thank you! (reviews save lives. It was scientifically proven. o.0)