Chapter 50: Conversation
Armin looks at the group of people that is surrounding him. The commandant, captain Levi who is clearly in pain, Hanji and Eren who try to fuss over him and the rest of the 104th. They are all here to listen to whatever information Berthold has to offer. The other soldier are busy getting their camp ready for the night but they are allowed to stay. Armin wonders why Erwin let´s them stay, they are the new recruits. No one that is important but he guesses that the commandant sees no different because Eren stays and he would tell them anyway.
Berthold has his arms tied behind his back. He had even offered it to make them feel more save. They know he is the colossal titan. Taller as the wall and his transformation would probably kill them all. But the shifter is calm, sad but calm, like always.
Annie is in her crystal, Hanji had a look at her but she couldn't really tell how long she would stay in it. Berthold told them that it would take some time and offers in the same sentence all the information he has about titans, shifters and whatever else they would ask of him. To Armin´s surprise it´s Levi who asks the first question.
"What do you want in return for this information?" A grim look covers the smaller man´s face.
"My best friend is dead, I never wanted to fight and Annie is sleeping. I have no where to go and never wanted to hurt anyone." He answers.
"Fine, then let us hear what you can tell us." Levi let himself sit back and rest against Eren.
"I guess I could start with how titan-shifter were created or better who the titans came to be." They were all silence. No one knew that it was this kind of heavy information their friend has to offer. Hanji has a wild look in her eyes and holds a notebook with a pen, ready to write down every word Berthold has to offer. "It all started as human´s created a new drug, a special drug that should made them stronger and faster and better. Shortly said a drug to create super-humans. The experiment to improve humanity was a disaster and the drug turned humans into titans. There were only a few, the ones that were the test subjects." Berthold sighs but continues. "There was an accident and the drug found it´s way into the air and poisoned hundred of people. Everyone effected got turned into a titan."
"Does that mean there is a limited number of titan´s?" Erwin asks and Berthold nods.
"Now we come to the shifters. A titan-shifter is born from a woman that is pregnant at the moment she is turned into a titan. The pregnancy takes hundred of years but when the children are born their mothers turn back into humans to take care of the babies. There children have the ability to change between forms. They keep their human mind and don't have the needs of a human body. The mother of this child has around five to six years to care for the child before she dies." Berthold looks at Annie. "I always thought there are only us three. Our mothers lived together after we were born, all in the same year. We never knew that there was another one. Our parents didn't like the wall and the people in it. They blamed them for their existence out in the titan infected place and they wanted their revenge. They didn't knew they would die and as we children were alone we had nothing better to do than follow the plan our mothers had thought off. Not that we knew any better."
"I think there was a man." Everyone looks at Eren. "I can´t really remember but I think there was a man as I grew up. He taught me things like digging graves and tending to wounds but I don't remember my mother." Strange things to teach a child but who knows what the man were thinking.
"We have no idea where you come from, you are younger than us. But what difference does it make by a pregnancy that takes hundreds of years. Maybe you are just the youngest. The man could be someone that came from the wall. I doubt you will ever find out and I know nothing about it. I´m sorry. Berthold offers.