Alright- remember that one time at basic training when Eren was yelling that Jean was going to rip his shirt? Well- this chapter explains the reason why Eren was so concerned his shirt stay intact.
Levi stood on the branch of his favorite big ass tree, surveying the brats in their gear as they swooped and dived over the wooden training dummies, blades glinting in the sunlight. Everyone was performing admirably.
Levi couldn't help but watch Akerman, though. The girl's skill was unbelievable- she should've been taken to a specialty squad by now, but she seemed to perform that much better when she was near Eren.
Arlet was incredibly graceful with his 3DMG, calculating every move. Christa was determined and focused, Ymir was concerned with staying near her, and Connie and Sasha were average.
Jean was flashy and precise, and Jager... well, Jager was absolutely reckless. He stayed close to the ground and trees, waiting until the absolute last second to throw himself into the air with teeth grit in determination, blades flashing with lethal power as he destroyed whatever was in his path. While his strategy was effective, it was also incredibly risky- if his timing was a split second off, he'd miss his strike, or, if the scenario were a real one, risk being stepped on by a titan.
Despite the flaws in his workmanship, though, he kept pace- and sometimes even surpassed- his peers. It was both harrowing and enthralling to watch, really. Levi couldn't believe he was so accurate, given the rather rough nature of his strategy, but for him, it appeared to work.
Eren's 3DMG cables anchored in the bark of a tree and he crouched on the trunk, parallel to the ground, defying all the laws of phys, eyes narrowing in the sunlight as he chose his next target. With shocking grace he disengaged his cables, in free fall for a split second before they'd anchored into a tree branch above, swinging towards the dummy.
He hadn't anticipated Christa to be going for the same one, however. The two cadets were on a collision course- Christa's blue eyes widened in terror for a moment, and Eren's green eyes flew open in surprise, before he'd dis-engaged his cables and was falling, barely missing Christa as he plunged the seventy feet downwards, striking branches on his way down...
Levi heard the sound of cables deploying and was shocked to watch Jager manage to lodge his left cable into the tree trunk and swing down, slowing his fall and rolling, landing in a heap in the dirt...
Christa was hanging from her gear, swinging, looking frantically below her, and the training grounds was silent with shock. "Eren!"
In a flash of raven Hair and silver cables, Mikasa was descending to the forest floor, with Levi and the rest of the 104th on his heels. Levi hadn't realozed it, but his mouth had gone dry and his heart had sped up at the thought of Eren on the ground.
He'd seen dedath and injury before, but he couldn't see this, couldn't handle watching Eren- the boy he'd raised- die. He refused to.
Before he could think any further, his feet were touching the ground and he was on his feet, running towards where Mikasa was knelt neck to teh heap of a boy in the dirt...
Eren turned to look at him- blood was trickling down the corner of his mouth, his hair was a mess, and he was smeared with dirt. Despite that, though, he gave Levi a weary smile. "S-sorry, Captain." he panted, giving him an apologetic look. "I-it was an accident..."
Levi was far to busy scanning the boy for injures to care at the moment. Jager had a bloody nose and he must've bitten his lip. His shirt was in shreds, there were scrapes from branches on his back, and he was a mess. But he wasn't seriously injured- that was good.
The rest of the 104th converged on them at once, Christa looking terrified.
"Eren, I'm so sorry!" tears were streaming down Christa's face as she looked down at him, horrified.
"Eren- are you alright man!?"
"Do you need food!?"
"Is anything broken!?"
Eren turned gingerly so he was sitting up, wincing slightly. "Wait- what?" he couldn't understand anything over the jumble of voices.
"Oi! Give him some space, and shut up!" Levi snapped, tone more harsh than he'd intended. Everyone stared for a moment, before they stepped back obediently.
Eren took a breath, wiping his mouth and smearing his bloody lip. He give Christa a small smile. "Hey- it's alright, okay? It was an accident."
B-but you disengaged your gear! You fell like fifty feet!" Christa was gesturing wildly, blonde hair flying.
Eren gave a rough laugh, nodding. "Yeah, I guess I did. I'm fine, though, and you're okay, so it all worked out in the end..."
"why would you disengage your gear?" Reiner spoke up, voicing what everyone wanted to know.
Eren looked back at the hulking blonde, green eyes deadly serious. "Because I didn't want one of us to have our limbs severed by 3DMG cables if we collided. And I could survive a fall like that- she couldn't."
Though what Eren was saying was true, Levi was still incredibly annoyed he would worry them all like that. While the officer in him would admit Eren had made the right decision, the man that had raised Jager for two weeks was annoyed and rattled at how giving the brat was.
Levi took advantage of the ensuing silence, stepping forward and kneeling in front of Jager, taking the boy by the jaw and examining the scratches on his face. He learned close tot he boy, lowering his vocie. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yesir." Eren stuttered, nodding. "At least- nothing's broken, I'm pretty sure..."
Levi nodded, taking one last look at the boy before standing. "Alright, brats- that's enough training for the day. Reiner- bertholdt- help Jager back to the castle."
"I can walk, Sir." Eren interrupted, slowly standing. As he did, the shredded remains that were his shirt fell to the forest floor, revealing surprisingly toned abs, as well as jagged white lines interrupting the tan flesh, and a rose blossom of scar tissue spanning outward just above the boy's left side.
Levi's eyes widened at the sight of the wounds, and Eren frowned for a moment, before heb realized what Levi was looking at.
He looked down at himself for a moment, a sharp intake of breath happening as he realized he wasn't covered by his shirt. "Shit-" was all he uttered, before he quickly turned around, revealing the white slashes across his back, skin covering the long-since healed over wounds...
Armin was quickly behind his friend, throwing his cloak over Eren's shoulders and covering him.
Eren gave Armin a small smile as thanks, while Armin simply nodded knowingly.
Eren turned back to face his gaping squad, eyes nervous and smile clearly forced. "You said something about heading back, right, Captain?"'
Levi simply nodded, and the squad was silent as they tropped back through the forest.
"Hey!" Ymir shattered the silence, striding forward. "You gonna tell us what the hell this-" she motioned to her torso and back with her hands, before staring right at Eren- "is about?"
"He doesn't have to tell you anything!" Mikasa snapped defensively.
"We deserve to know! I mean, that doesn't just happen to somebody..." Ymir protested.
She stopped, falling silent, when she realized Eren was still walking towards the castle, the hood of the cloak up to conceal his hair, Armin trotting beside him.
"Hey- Eren! Quit walking and answer the question!" Ymir shouted, moving to go after him. She was stopped when Mikasa deftly stepped forward, knocking the irate brunette to the ground.
"What the hell, Mikasa!?"
Mikasa's eyes were smoldering, black coals as the scrutinized the squad, fists clenched, muscles taught.
"Forget everything you saw today. If you speak of it again, it'll be the last words you ever say." was all she said, before she was turning, running up the forest path towards the castle, to catch up with Eren and Armin. A moment later, she disappeared from sight, leaving the shocked squad and Levi behind them.
"Captain?" Jean asked, uncertain as to what to do.
Levi had started walking, and the squad fell into step behind him.
"What are we going to do, Sir?" Jean pressed.
"Nothing." Levi said absently.
"What do you mean, nothing!? We have a right to know what happened to him!" Ymir burst out.
Levi whirled. "You have a right to serve as a soldier, and you have a right to privacy. Jager has the same right, and you will respect it, understand Cadet? Jager's personal life doesn't interfere with the functioning of this squad, so you have no right or reason to go shouting for answers. Unless you want him to do the same of all of you. Would you like that, Cadet?" Levi stepped forward, eyes glinting. "To have Jager know all your secrets? Every detail of you?"
Ymir stepped back suddenly, looking border-line alarmed. Levi didn't even pause to wonder why she'd reacted to strongly to the statement- instead, he smirked triumphantly. "That's what I thought. You're all to obey Akerman- forget what you saw today. If I hear of any of you harassing Jager about this, I will punish you."
With that, Levi kept walking, leaving the rest of the 104th behind him.
Levi knew what those scars were. They were a common thing in the underground- they were from knife wounds.
Levi had never known that Jagger had been involved in knife fights, but it made sense. He remembered Eren's sudden suspicion of everyone at age eleven, his insistence of carrying a knife with him everywhere. Not to mention the way the boy ate like he was starving, the way he sized up everything around him as though expecting to be attacked.
Arlet and Akerman had clearly understood that, as well.
Though Levi had never seen the scars on the boy's body- he had to bet they'd appeared around age eleven. Jager had a period of time in his records where he veritably disappeared- he had a ration card, along with Arlet and Akerman, following the fall of wall Maria, but that was it. They had all been listed as orphaned. Chances were they'd been on the streets together, fighting to survive, until they'd joined the army.
It made him wonder how many scars Akerman and Arlet had, as well. though Akerman was always stoic and able to handle herself in a fight, Levi was willing to bet that she, and even Arlet, pacifist as he was- as more than one scar beneath their clothes, though they probably weren't as scarred as Jager, since the boy had been the most hot-headed and carried his blade like a security blanket.
Maybe that was why Akerman wrapped that damn tattered scarf around her face despite the fact it was worn our and couldn't provide much warmth. Maybe it accounted for why Arlet handled his flare pistol with such speed, and why he was always so shy, falling back and eyeing outsiders with a nervous smile and pale blue eyes that were clearly thinking of a thousand escape routes. Maybe it was why the three of them stayed so close together every chance they could.
Levi had some slash wounds of his own across his back, and a stab below his right shoulder blade. He couldn't blame Jager for not wanting to talk about it, though it made him empathize with the boy a little more.
Regardless, this just confirmed to Levi the fact he had known all along- there was much more to Eren Jager than a stupid brat with a temper problem.
Eren smiled at his friends at dinner that night- he was once again covered by his signature green shirt, and he took a bite of bread as everyone sat down.
"Hey, guys."
He was greeted with a half-hearted murmur of greetings,m as Jean, Reiner and Bertholdt scrutinized him curiously but asked nothing. Eren ignored their eyes on him, instead taking a bite of his roll before setting to down, picking up him spoon and taking a bite of stew...
"Are you going to finish that!?" Sasha was practically lunging across the table, red hair all around her, as she pointed to the half eaten roll pathetically. "This? Huh, are you going to finish it? C'mon, Eren, don't just sit there, I need to know!" Sasha was practically begging, and Eren choked for a moment, before he was swallowing his stew, laughing and coughing at her eagerness. "N-no. You can have it..." he laughed slightly- Sasha surely wasn't treating him any differently.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Sasha fell silent as she shoved the roll in her mouth, and Eren shook his head, smiling.
Slowly, the table dissolved into the normal conversation.
The Singanshina trio exchanged a brief look for a moment, pleased with the outcome. There were still a lot of things their squad mates didn't know about them- and a lot that they hoped they never would.
There we go! A little bit darker than these past few chapters, but the fic has to be serious sometimes, you know?
Also- to address a plot hole. A lot of you might be wondering why nobody noticed Eren's scars in the barn when he was trying on the bra- well, they only had one lantern, so it was pretty dim in there, and I'm assuming everyone was too occupied with the fact Eren was wearing a bra to consider getting another lantern or looking at his skin too closely. It's also why Armin was the one who gathered up the handkerchiefs- so that Eren didn't have to get to close to anybody and risk having them see the scars on his skin up close.
Please review! I should be studying, but I needed to update today! :)