After going through a bottle of water, Rivaille had deemed Eren 'ready' enough to continue their downward trek. After packing their bags securely, they continued down, careful not to get ash on their boots. Rivaille was thoroughly tired now, clothes hanging in strips and tatters on his body.

His once white pants were stained with a dark dirt,

Jacket sleeves ripped and torn by tree branches.

And his cravat was nowhere as clean as it had been. They needed shelter, and fast. That's why when Eren pointed out the wooden cabin by the base of the mountain, Rivaille didn't believe him at first-it was too good to be true.

"Brat. You're not seeing things, right?"

"No."

"Are you sure?! Here, let me check." Rivaille gave a hard slap to Eren's head, then clamped his hands around Eren's skull and turned him again. "Is it still there?!"

"Yes." Eren winced, rubbing his forehead. "There has to be some way that doesn't involve pain, right?"

"Eh. But I'm a sadist, you know me."

"True, True." Eren sighed. "I must be a masochist to put up with you."

Rivaille snorted. "I am your corporal, after all." He opened his mouth to say something else, but then stopped, deciding that whatever thought he was chewing on wasn't important. "Let's go, brat."

Eren nodded in confusion, but followed Rivaille down the slope anyway, boots sinking into the slightly spongy earth.

Again, the mountain was smaller than he thought, so they reached the base in no time.

Rivaille stumbled a bit, but held strong, brushing himself off and walking towards the faraway cabin.

"Rivaille?"

"Hm?"

"Don't you think.." Eren gulped.
"There should be at least some titans around here?"

"….You never know." Rivaille said finally.
"I don't think so, though. Titans are…'rare', nowadays."

"I guess.." Eren mumbled. "Hey, sometimes I'm glad that the titans evolved."

Rivaille, who was taking a sip of water, spluttered. "What the fuck!? These shitty-"

"No, no, I didn't mean that!" Eren frantically explained. "I mean, can you imagine a world without titans? What would we do, then? We would have no purpose-there would be no Recon Corps-"

"….Shut up." Rivaille sighed, drawing a hand through his hair. "We really need a shower."

"Stop avoiding the topic."

"I'm not." Rivaille patiently explained. "Let's wait until we get to the cabin, okay? If anyone's in there-there's probably no one there-we can ask them why there aren't any titans there. And if by any chance, we run into the motherfucker that created the titans-"

"Why are you so desperate to believe that a human created them?! What about natural causes?!"

"There's nothing fucking natural about them, idiot! Hell, they don't even digest the food! They throw it back up! I know that humans probably taste horrible, but that's no reason to just throw it back up because you don't like it!"

"..Are you honestly getting mad because we don't get eaten properly? That all the food our bodies provide is getting wasted?" Eren snickered.

"…Shut up." Rivaille huffed and walked on. The grass by his feet blew in an unseen wind, and the air turned colder. Or maybe that was just his imagination-but he had a bad feeling about entering the house.

"…Eren."
"Eh?" The boy looked at him.

"…Stay behind me, okay?"

"Why wouldn't I?" The boy asked in confusion, raising an eyebrow. Rivaille sighed. "Nothing-I just have this bad feeling-"

"Fine! I'll open the door!" Eren snapped suddenly.

"What? No, Eren-"

Eren strode forward and put his hand on the faded doorknob. "One…two…three-"

The door flew open on its own and Eren yelped, leaping back.

A gnarled face was peering at him, leaning closer. Rivaille hurriedly ran over to where they were, yanking Eren back, further away from the strange man.

"Who are you?" He stupidly hissed, eyes wide.

"Me?" The voice of the man was strangely familiar. "I…don't know."

Rivaille opened and closed his mouth, but found nothing to say,. "…."

"Do you want to come in?" The man smiled, eyes giving a vapid look.

"Sure, why not?" Eren shrugged off Rivaille's complaints and started going in the cabin, pulling Rivaille along with him.

The strange man closed the door behind him, and Rivaille looked around warily. The scent of drying jerky was in the air, and he found that source of that by the window. Strips of meat were drying-it seemed like cow meat, but he couldn't be sure. A formidable array of knives lay on the counter, and Rivaille gingerly fingered one, touching the cold steel. He quickly snuck a peek over his shoulder-Eren and the strange man was talking over a carved bobble-

Wasn't this going a bit fast?! Rivaille thought in confusion. Furthermore, why would a cabin-a furnished cabin, and a human be doing out here, in the middle of no where? And I didn't see animals-this doesn't make any sense!

He fingered the cold knife skeptically; the texture and feel felt familiar. Suddenly, the realization came to him. These knives were made by the same metal that our blades are made from-how did he get these?! Fuck-this is making my head spin-

"Rivaille!" Eren called enthusiastically. "Look at these!"

Rivaille turned to see what he was talking about. In his hand, Eren held a wood carving. It was a bear, with a salmon in its mouth. Everything was shaped with great care and detail.
"Did…you make this?" He found himself asking the strange man.

"Yep!" The man grinned, seemingly proud of himself.

"It's…beautiful." Rivaille admitted truthfully.

"Thank you." The man grinned back at him. "It took me a long time!"

"I can tell." He turned over the carving, admiring it. It was truly a wonderful piece of work-Rivaille hadn't seen such a sculpture since-since-

"Irvin.." he whispered in realization.

"Eh?" Eren looked at him. "Isn't Irvin on a mission? Why did you-"

Rivaille tossed the wood carving to Eren-(Be careful, that'll break!)-and with a single fluid motion, slammed the man to the wall. "Who the fuck are you?!" He snarled. "Your cutlery-knives-and I bet, even your scalpel-are made out of our blades!" He tightened his grip on the man's collar. "Who are you?!" He repeated, breathing harshly. "Did you lure soldiers in here-and then eat them?! Is that it? Well? Answer me!" He demanded. "Those strips of meat there-are they human, or animal?"

"Rivaille, stop!" Eren quickly grabbed his arm, forcing him off the other man. "What the fuck are you doing?!" He hissed. "We're getting shelter, sleeping under a goddamn roof for once, and you decide to screw it all up and kill someone?!"

"Don't you understand?!" Rivaille growled. "This guy isn't normal. Something's wrong with him. I think that it's-"

"What are you guys talking about?" The man's face suddenly appeared over Rivaille's shoulder, and Eren leaped back in surprise. "I-I'm sorry about before!" he hastily apologized.

"Eh? For what?" The man looked surprised.

"…Short-term memory loss." Rivaille finished, sighing.

The man had led them to a far-off room in the corner, which contained one (filthy) bed, and a shaky table. But Eren was too tired to care, and as soon as he arranged his bags, he fell on the bed like a ragdoll, curling a blanket around himself. There was a candle on the table, and Rivaille lit it with a bit of coal and ash that he'd picked up from the mountain.

After that, he tested the bed strength, and once satisfied that it would hold his weight, he crawled in next to Eren, settling his back against his. Eren took his hand and gave it a soft kiss, and Rivaille quickly took it back.

"No fucking tonight, brat. The bed's full of ticks and god knows what."

Eren made a snorting noise that sounded like a laugh, and he curled his fingers around Rivaille's tightly. They laid in content silence for a moment.

"What do you think of that…person?" Rivaille asked Eren quietly.

"Eh?" Eren turned his body so that it was parallel to the ceiling. "He's…strange, that's for sure."

He admitted. "But at the same time-increasingly familiar."

"The knives that he used were made of the same metal as our blades-I think they were melted down." Rivaille confessed.

"..Then, do you think that he lured other soldiers here and took their blades?"

"Ate them, to be honest."

"But, Rivaille." The other could feel him shifting awkwardly. "If he wasn't a bad person-"

"People who eat other people-unless they're doing it for pure fun-which is sick-they don't think that they're the bad people at all. They think that what they're doing is right."

Eren paused for a moment. "Then-if his situation was normal."

"Yes, continue?"

"What other explanation would make sense for his knives?"
"That they were his?" Rivaille quirked his eyebrow; this was getting confusing.

Eren grinned, and Rivaille could see his flashing eyes in the growing dark. "Look what I found when you were pinning him to the wall." With a bit of rustling, he produced a dark mass of cloth, and threw it at Rivaille.

Rivaille caught it awkwardly, flapping it open. It was a Recon Corps cloak, the green velvet fabric supple against his fingers. There was an embossed name on the inside, and Rivaille could barely make out the letters-

Smith, Irvin.

"…..Is it just me, or do we keep finding random things of missing people?." Rivaille's laugh was choked, and Eren saw him clutch the fabric tighter. "All these years…all these fucking years…and that bastard was right under our noses."

"What did happen to Irvin, anyway?" Eren asked quietly.

Rivaille turned to look at him. "He was sent out on a solo mission, because we didn't have enough people to spare-there was the attack at the castle-you were there, right?"

He barely waited after Eren nodded before continuing. "Hanji told him not to go-but he had to-the status of the Recon Corps was being dirtied-and the military police told us that if we couldn't come up with a way to-'kill all the fucking titans by sundown'"-Rivaille imitated a garrison's voice-"Then the king would disband the Recon Corps. And Irvin couldn't have that." He coughed.

"He went out to find a way to kill the titans on his own…and hasn't come back in two years. We thought he died." He admitted in a whisper. "But…Hanji kept refusing to believe it-and I guess, because of her, we never really believed it either.

Eren drew his hands from Rivaille's and wrapped them around his waist instead, spooning the other. "I'll protect you.." he murmured. "I'll protect you against anything.."

Rivaille didn't let himself jolt in surprise, but stiffened instead. When he felt Eren's arms slacken and his breathing grew heavier, he wiggled out of his grasp, turning himself to look at the boy instead.

The syringe was still in the bag. It was like a dark obsession now, Rivaille noted bitterly.

The syringe. Imagine all the possibilities of being a titan-

The syringe. Killing those fucking bastards like-

Rivaille groaned quietly, putting his hand to his head.

The syringe.

The syringe.

The syringe.

But he would wait until Eren was there-he owed him that much, at the least.

"...I want to protect you." Rivaille admitted, looking at Eren's sleeping face in the flickering candlelight; he threaded his fingers through his hair gently.

Innocent, Pure.

"I want to be with you forever." He bowed his head, whether in embarrassment or shame, he didn't know.

"I love you. I love you so much that-it's frightening. Because, Eren." Rivaille lifted his eyes slightly.

"I've never been in love before."

Ahah! I am done with one oneshot! *trumpets blare*

But anyway-thank you guys so much for sticking with me so far! This is going to be a long journey-I hope so, anyway. There's so many possibilities, and all that smut-

YES. I KNOW. I HAVE BEEN DENYING YOU TOO LONG. SMUT WILL COME….sometime. XD

But the oneshot that I finished is about a Mute!Eren, and Rivaille, of course.

It's called-"A white sunset in February", and I would love to hear your comments and critiques!

Thank you!

K.K

Reviews will make a Neko Eren-wait, what?!