Eren wouldn't have been surprised if he sent Shadis into orbit as he slammed the office door open and stormed inside, shutting the door with the same ferocity as he opened it with and practically threw his tampered gear onto Shadis' desk and flopped down into the chair opposite in a huff. Eren was beyond pissed. He had only experienced this anger once before, and that was whenever he thought about his apparently traitorous parents. The ODM gear was an essential part of him, a part of him being a soldier, and someone dared to destroy it, to destroy a part of him. And he was wracking his brain trying to think of anyone he might have angered that week for them to do this, but he kept drawing a blank.
"Eren is something the matter?" Shadis asked looking down at the gear on his desk then back up to the person it belonged to.
"Someone's tampered with it, look at the gas cylinders carefully," Eren said. Shadis frowned but nevertheless inspected the gas cylinder in front of him, then he checked the other one. He couldn't believe it. The holes were small that at first glance there doesn't seem to be a problem it wasn't until you gave it a closer look that you could see the small hole, a hole which Shadis knew through years of experience of working with the ODM gear couldn't be made accidentally – someone had done this deliberately. Someone had pierced the gas cylinders with the intention for Eren to wear and use the gear and for it to fail on him whilst he was up in the air and Shadis could tell that this wasn't to make Eren look bad. Someone had a personal vendetta against Eren.
"Do you know who's responsible?" Shadis asked horrified, during the three years the cadets would train to become a soldier it was drilled into them about the importance of maintaining their gear and working together as a team both were vital for survival against the titans, the thought someone dared to tamper with another person equipment after having these ideals forced down their throats was shocking indeed. Whoever did this would not get away with it lightly.
"No! If I did, then I would have a go at them. I haven't even seen anyone acting suspic…" Eren trailed off. He was such an idiot! He was thinking about people he might have pissed off recently but that wasn't it, he hadn't been getting along with Mikasa since they've joined the cadet corps and now he thought about it, he remembers seeing her going into the shed where the gear was stored. He had thought little about it at first, he just assumed that she was planning on doing some extra training but with her standoff behaviour towards him and the other cadets throughout this last year and now his tampered gear… ah… it all made sense. Mikasa for some unknown reason had tampered with his gear.
He stood up, ignoring the sound of his chair scraping against the floor, and grabbed the gear from Shadis' desk, and stormed out of the office. He knew Mikasa didn't like the idea of him joining the cadets and later the scouting regiment; he understood she was concerned for his safety but that didn't give her the right to mess around with his gear; she was his sister for god's sake; they were meant to look out for each other and help one another not do this. Eren couldn't even think of a reasonable explanation for why she had done this, yes, this last year he had been distant from her spending more of his time with Ymir, Christa, Armin, Reiner, and Bertholdt then later Jean and Marco then with her but Mikasa needed to make her own friends among the cadets and not stick to his side like a titan chasing after its prey.
He knew where he would find her – the mess hall. Eren and his friends had planned to get a quick training session in before supper when he noticed his tampered gear and between realising that and getting to Shadis office, supper would have started. He couldn't even feel sorry for her as he swung the mess hall door open and scanned the room filled with his fellow 104th cadets. If she did this to his gear then she deserved to be publicly humiliated after getting into a fight with Ymir only last week and actually punching Christa when she tried to intervene. To be honest, Mikasa wasn't really in anyone's good books.
Mikasa sat on a nearly empty table. The only other occupant was Annie. Eren felt everyone's eyes on him as he maneuvers his way around the tables and almost threw his gear at Mikasa. Her facial expression held no emotion like usual however, Eren knew Mikasa, and her eyes gave away the shock and surprise she was feeling.
"Did you do this?" Eren said glaring at her, "and I don't want any bullshit excuse Mikasa. Did you tamper with my gear?".
Mikasa stayed quiet for a few minutes, internally weighing out her options. She could deny it and push the blame onto someone else or she could be honest and make Eren see her way, "Yes, I did".
"Mikasa" Eren shouted. He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it. Mikasa, his adoptive sister, had willingly sabotaged his equipment after he had borne his heart to her the day they signed up for the cadet corps, "Why?".
"Isn't that obvious? I wanted to protect you!" Mikasa said, raising her voice a little, but other than that stayed completely calm, Eren on the other hand lost it. He never felt so angry towards Mikasa in his brief life with her.
"You punctured a hole in both my gas cylinders! How the fuck is that protecting me?! That is the opposite of protecting me! Had I used my gear without realising what you did, I would be in the infirmary with whom knows what type of extensive injuries! A fall from a fifty-meter height if far from protecting me," Eren screamed. He didn't care what looks he was getting from the other cadets, he didn't care if he was acting differently from who he usually was. All he cared about was why his sister had such a warped understanding of how to protect him, this was not protecting him!
"It was a small price to pay to save your life," Mikasa said, she couldn't believe how emotional Eren was acting, his emotions were clouding his judgment and understanding that what she was doing for him was right, "Had the instructors seen that you were actually incapable of using your gear during the test next week then they would have no choice but to dismiss you from the corps. You would be saved and forget this pathetic soldier dream of yours, you join the scouting regiment then you die. I'm protecting you and preventing this from happening. Don't you value how important your life is to me, Eren!".
"I couldn't care less about my life! I couldn't care less about your warped priorities about protecting me," Eren started, "I am no one. I am not a person; I am not a human being. I am an empty shell, a false image, I could die tomorrow, and I couldn't care less because what do I have to lose. My family? Who I know nothing about and from the little I do, they're dead! My brother? Whose been missing and out of my life for over three years well he might be dead. This brain of mine filled with nothing because I don't remember anything. Tell me Mikasa why should I give a damn about something that I don't know about! I don't know who I am, I don't know what I am, and at this rate, I will never know where I'm from. My life means nothing to me, and it never will! Being a soldier is my only hope at being something because it can't become that then I might as well go outside Wall Rose and hand myself over to the titans because I have nothing and I repeat nothing to live for. Not my family, not my brother, and certainly not for you! Mikasa Ackerman, you are the worse person I have ever met in my life and I can't even be sure if that's true. If you can't understand how important being a cadet and a soldier means to me, then you know nothing about who I potentially really am and if you can't accept that, if for some obscure reason that your brain cannot accept this then tough shit because from this day forward I want nothing to do with you, you mean nothing to me,".
"You no longer have the right to associate with me, you have no right to call me by my first name. You are no longer my sister," Eren finished storming out of the mess hall, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang.
During all his years as a soldier and later as an instructor, he had never ever seen anything like this. Trust, teamwork, and looking after one's gear were important to survival as a soldier whether they are outside the walls fighting titans or working with the Military Police going after humans, you need to trust your team and work effectively in the field to ensure that you and your team live to see another day. Listening to Eren awoke something inside of Shadis that he never felt before and when Eren had left the mess hall, leaving a shocked and distressed Mikasa behind, Shadis stepped into her line of sight and glared at the young cadet taking great pleasure when she flinched and visible shrunk into herself. He might have said nothing at first when Eren was shouting but that didn't mean he was going to stand back and let her get away with what she had done, he was going to make an example out of her to the other and future cadets to ensure that nothing like this happened again.
"Cadet Ackerman, I am very disappointed in you. Not only did you disregard one of our most important principles, but you nearly injured a fellow cadet. This has never happened in our whole military history, and I hope this teaches a lesson to the other cadets. Cadet Ackerman, you are one of our most priced cadets with a promising future in any regiment you choose and you were on track to receive first place in our top ten however I cannot overlook your action and I hereby announce that you cannot receive a place in the top ten from here out no matter how hard to work form now one and you will lose out on the opportunity of joining the Military Police. You are forbidden from entering the ODM storage shed unless you are retrieving your own gear and are with someone else, you may not handle anyone expects your own gear," Shadis said, "For the next two years until you graduate you will be on probation, you try anything like this again and you will be back on the fields faster than you can say, titan,".
Shadis then turned to face the other cadets in the room, giving all of them a stern look before adding, "this better be a lesson to you all, you try to do anything similar whether it be to Cadet Yeager or another cadet then you will not have a second chance,".
"Cadet Ackerman, I want you running laps for the rest of this week you are only allowed to have breaks whenever you are required for lectures and practical or entitled to food and sleep or to do your assigned chores starting now," Shadis said striding around the table grabbing Mikasa by the arm and dragged her out of the mess hall. Eren was like a son to him, he had seen how lost the young boy had been when he was with the scouting regiment after they found him without his memories, Shadis had seen how much Eren had struggled to fit in with the others and he would rather become the Commander of the Scouting Regiment and lead all of them to their doom than let Eren become that scared little boy again.
Ymir darted through the forest, chasing after Eren. She had gotten quite close with her fellow cadet in the last year; he reminded her of the children she knew growing up with a kind and caring heart but there was a darker side hidden in those eyes of his which constantly flickered between hate and disgust to confusion and looking lost. Eren interested her, he was a mystery which she was determined to solve, but first and foremost; she felt protective of him. She had seen the way Mikasa was treating Eren the little that they did spend together throughout the last year; she saw what Mikasa did trying to sabotage Eren's progress and if Ymir or Reiner had interfered, then Mikasa might have succeeded if it wasn't for Eren being Instructor Shadis favourite. She knew that Eren had some history with their instructor but she didn't know what but then again that just added to the mystery which was Eren Yeager - a kind hearted cadet, who looked like the ODM gear was his second skin and had mad hand-to-hand combat skills that even Mikasa couldn't take him down.
But that wasn't what got Ymir thinking, the confession amongst his shouting in the mess hall was burnt into the forefront of her mind. Eren disregard for himself and his own perception threw all her previous thoughts on Eren out the window, she had always suspected like Christa, that Eren was acting, that he was putting on a front whilst he was with the other cadets but she didn't realise to what extent that Eren had been hiding his true self and how he really felt about himself.
"You didn't need to follow me Ymir," Eren said as Ymir entered a clearing in the forest, Eren sat on the floor crossed leg underneath a tall tree, his eyes were closed and he was facing forward.
"Yeah, well after what Ackerman did. I wanted to make sure you were alright. We friends have to stick together when the other is hurting," Ymir said slowly approaching Eren, who still had his eyes closed and refused to look at her.
"Ymir, I'm fine, trust me. You don't need to worry about me, I just need a few hours to myself then I'll be back to normal" Eren said, he didn't need people to worry about him, he lived through his family being ripped away from him before then he should be able to do so again.
"Who wants to be normal," Ymir said, bumping her shoulder with Eren's as she sat down beside him, "Fine, you don't want to talk than listen, I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time, a baby girl was born to two wealthy parents however, this girl wasn't what the parents wanted to instead when no one was looking they threw their child down a hole and left her for dead. However, this hole leads to an underground lake beside an underground city and a little boy saw this baby and rescued her before taking her back to his family. The family feeling sorry for the baby and took her in and raised her like she was one of their own, the girl had a good life growing up but when she turned seven her brother betrayed his family to the Military Police and they were taken away from her whilst her brother was given a comfortable life above the surface. Now the girl was alone, trapped inside the human version of hell with no means to protect herself, so the girl was taken and sold into slavery, but the girl was smart and there was one thing she knew about that her owners didn't. Her adoptive father had taught her how to hold a knife and use it against others,".
"One night when her owner was sleeping the girl snuck into his room and stabbed him when his body was discovered the following day the girl was long gone taking all the other slaves with her. They escaped to the surface world where they hid with the other orphanage children but not wanting to risk the other children being found and dragged back to the underground the girl left her only friends and makeshift family and travelled escaping from Wall Sina or Wall Rose days after the fall of Wall Maria and carefully hid amongst the refugees where after two years of living in filth and hard labour she joined the military for a better lifestyle," Ymir said finishing her story before turning to face Eren who had now opened his eyes and was looking at her, "after that life, I refused to answer to my real name and became someone else, someone who was untouchable and I chose the name Ymir,".
"Ymir…" Eren started before trailing off, he had no idea his friend had been through that at such a young age before escaping the underground and joining the military, "I'm sorry you had to live through that, no one should have to go through hell at a young age".
"That's not why I told you about my past," Ymir said, "I told you because I want you to understand that I know what it's like to have your entire world turned upside down, I know what it's like to go through hell and still being forced to keep going. I don't want you to tell me whatever you experienced because that's your choice, all I'm saying is if you need someone to talk to who will keep an open mind then I'm here for you… just don't tell the others. I've got a reputation to uphold,".
Eren laughed, "I don't know who I am,".
"I don't mean it like I have figured myself out yet, I mean it literally. When I was nine or ten, I lost my memories of my entire life. I have no idea who my parents are, or when or where I was born. I was found wandering alone, and I nearly died," Eren said. He might as well be honest with one person like Ymir had said, if anyone were going to understand pain then it would be her.
"Were you found and save by Instructor Shadis, it would explain why you're so close with him," Ymir said, Eren nodded. What was the point of lying now if Ymir was figuring it out for herself, "but roughly when you were found what like three plus years ago that would be when Shadis was still the Commander of the Scouting Regiment but that would mean, you were found outside the walls… oh my, how did you end up there?".
Eren shrugged, it was another question added to his never-ending pile about his life. He didn't understand how he got outside the walls, how he survived in titan territory for so long, and with the little memories he is gaining, he doubts he would find out anytime soon or at all but it wasn't something he could really think of now, "Instructor Shadis saved me from the titan's grasp and smuggled me back inside the walls before setting me up with accommodation at the Scouting Regiments Headquarters where I learned how to use the ODM gear before he found me a place to stay with Carla. She was my adoptive mother until she died in the Fall of Wall Maria, through her I meant Armin and Mikasa, who were already living with her,".
"Does they know about this?" Ymir asked, if Mikasa knew that Eren nearly died outside the walls it would kind of explain why she was so protective of him.
"No, they swore me to tell no one. Those who know besides me and you are Instructor Shadis, Carla, and four members of the Scouting Regiment. I've never spoken about that time to anyone not even Carla so there was no chance that Armin or Mikasa could have overheard, all they know is that somehow I've lost my memories and that I was found on the brink of death whether they suspect something about me being outside the walls then I wouldn't know but I'm sure Armin would have said something had he had his suspicions," Eren explained.
"And still somehow between you meeting Mikasa and to the present day she lost her marbles and became an obsessive stalker," Ymir said, Eren nodded. He honestly had no idea what happened to Mikasa, she had never been like this when they first met, "I guess there is only one thing to do, I'm officially promoting myself to being your bodyguard for the rest of our training, and even after if needs be,".
"I don't need a bodyguard," Eren said. He was number one in hand-to-hand combat, he didn't need anyone to protect him.
"Aww, that's cute," Ymir said grinning, "You actually thought you could refuse,".
~1 Week Later~
Armin sighed as he watched for the fourth time that morning Mikasa walked over to Eren and just like the other three times Ymir or Reiner blocked her path whilst Christa and Bertholdt hurried Eren away. He still couldn't comprehend what had happened the previous week let along the whole year, Armin knew he was partly to blame before they discovered about Eren's fixed place with the scouting regiment he encouraged Mikasa to try to convince Eren to either quit or join another regiment but now he felt bad about it. Armin saw how Eren seemed to come into his own whilst he trained as a soldier, and he regretted ever trying to hold him back.
Armin understood why Eren had said what he did the day they enlisted in the Military, the Eren he saw now was nowhere near the Eren he used to be. He had become more confident with himself and what he was doing. Armin could only wish Mikasa could see Eren in this new light. Honestly, what Mikasa had done shocked and horrified him, that someone he called a sister would go so far to make sure Eren never became a soldier. It scared him. It scared him how possessive Mikasa had become over the years Eren had been in their lives; she had always been protective of Armin whenever their district bullies picked on him but never had she been on another level of protectiveness or possessiveness that she would go after the bullies before they tried anything or try to injurer them beyond the normal hit.
It scared Armin that if Mikasa was capable of this now, then what would she do when they graduate and she eventually joins the scouting regiment, would she try again to get Eren kicked out or would she use a different strategy because as much as Armin hated to admit it to himself but he doubts anything would stop Mikasa until either she succeeded and Eren quit or was dismissed from the Military, or if Eren dies on a mission because of her, or someone forces her to be far away from Eren. Armin hated thinking about either of those three options, but he had no choice. He knew Mikasa would try again, and Armin would do everything in his power to stop her.
Eren couldn't believe it. He honestly believed that his eyes were deceiving him because there was no way in hell that Captain Levi, Commander Erwin, and Squad Leader Hange were standing in front of them. Shadis at breakfast this morning informed everyone that there had been a change in today's timetable and instead of having their normal ODM training they would need to come to their usual classroom for a talk. Most of the cadets grumbled, but no one protested. Who would! It terrified everyone going up against Shadis well everyone minus Eren that was but even he didn't fancy dancing with death, so he remained quiet and trudged over to their classroom with the rest of the cadets. So, all that led to now, sitting in his usual seat beside Armin, Ymir, and Christa, and waited for whatever talk to start.
So, he couldn't believe it when the classroom door opened and in walked the three least people Eren expected to see for another few years. He knew the Scouting Regiment would come for him when he graduated that was the agreement with Levi, with the recommendation Eren lost the week everyone else had before they decided which regiment they joined, and instead he would effectively immediately join the ranks of the scouting regiment and head to their headquarters to meet his fellow soldiers and get assigned to a squad but it still made little sense why they were here now, not that he was complaining, he missed Hange and Levi and if he had the chance he would love to spend some time with them, even if it was for a few minutes. And as Eren let his eyes trailing over the expressions of the other cadets, they too had no idea why Commander Erwin, Humanities Strongest Levi, and Chief Titan Researcher Hange were here.
"I'm sure all of you are wondering why we have come to talk with you today," Erwin started smiling at the young cadets whilst Levi glared his eyes only softening when they landed on Eren and Hange grinned like the maniac they were, "It has come to our attention about an incident which occurred last week about someone tampering with an ODM gear specifically the gas cylinders,".
"In the gas cylinders is stored compressed gas used to both fires and retract the grapples to help us move through the air. You all should know this from your lectures on the equipment. What might have not been explained properly is the importance of maintaining the structural integrity of the cylinders because…" Erwin trailed off, how does he explain the dangerous effect of using a damaged gear without scaring the cadets off.
"Listen Brats, what eyebrows is trying to say is that when compressed gas is exposed to air without being released through its normal means, it becomes extremely explosive. Had the brat used their gear before realising it was tampered with then they would no longer be with us" Levi snapped, he had seen this once before outside the walls, a young recruit's gear was damaged when they were trying to get away from a titan, he watched as the compressed gas ignited and the gear and the recruit blew up before his eyes. Shadis informed them who's gear had been messed with, and Levi was only thankful for his past actions for drilling into Eren to learn how the gear felt on him so he could identify if there were any issues with it later on. This strictness on a kid who at the point might have never used the gear again had saved his life not even a week ago.
Erwin sighed at Levi's bluntness, but the message got across as clear as day. All the cadets gasped in horror at the risks whilst an Asian-looking girl sitting at the back went white, it didn't take a genius for Erwin to realise that she was the one who had messed with Eren's gear unaware of the near death sentence she had given her fellow cadet, "Thank you, Levi, for that… explanation and I hope you all understand the consequences and will never try to do anything like this again but we did not come all the way to give you a lecture on the danger of using damaged gear. If you will follow us Squad Leader Hange will explain".
Everyone stood from their seats and quietly followed the Commander of the Scouting Regiment out of the classroom and into the courtyard, where waiting in horror were a seven- and fifteen-meter titans secured to two wagons.
"They're beautiful aren't they," Hange said in awe as they looked over that their precious titan babies than at the cadets whose faces were definitely a picture of pure horror well apart from Eren who was already used to being around titans since he used to help Hange and Moblit regularly with their experimentations, "I call them Alexander and Kenny after the world famous cannibals brothers from Wall Sina in 763. Did you know that titans…".
"Oi! Shitty glasses the brats are here for a titan lecture!" Levi snapped, glaring at Hange who hadn't noticed that some cadets were going green.
"Oh right! As you know the primary reason, the scouting regiment loses so many recruits in our expeditions is because people freeze when they come across a titan. So Instructor Shadis decided that you must experience what it is like being near and fighting a titan. Obviously, we've taken all the necessary precautions to keep you safe from the metal plate welded to the titan's mouth and metal welded to their arms. This test is for you to learn how titans move and to increase your survival whenever you fight then. So, who's ready to have some fun!".