SPECIAL OPERATIONS SQUAD
DAY 2
TIME: 0930 hours
Eren felt like he had just fallen asleep when Armin shook him awake.
If he was irritable yesterday, he was extremely cantankerous today. Because for the first time in a week, he had fallen asleep before the sun had risen, yet here was Armin, disrupting his effort to catch up on all that sleep.
"Eren," the blond boy called. "We're training in half an hour. If you want to get breakfast, you had better get up now."
Eren pondered this thought. He wasn't really hungry, but Armin did have a point about training. If he was late, Levi would bite his head off.
Eren let out a sound from his bed that told his friend he would be getting up, but Armin refused to leave Eren alone until he was sure that the shifter was awake and alert. Eren only managed to get his friend to leave his room when he was physically sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes.
The old bedframe creaked when Eren stood up off the low mattress, and the sunlight that came in through his window illuminated the tiny specks of dust that floated through the air. He was lucky, considering he got this room to himself. He noted last night that there were two rooms downstairs which would probably house Captain Levi and Hange, and four upstairs. Before heading in to his room last night, he saw Armin and Jean take one together at the end of the hall, while Mikasa was quick to take the next by herself. Eren had shut his door before Connie or Sasha could ask to share, so he assumed they had settled in the last one across from him.
Downstairs in the kitchen, it was empty. By the time Eren had assembled all his gear, it was ten to ten, and the squad was outside, presumably stretching or running laps. Eren settled for a glass of water before heading out. Normally, he enjoyed training with the ODM gear, but this morning, he felt like utter shit, and practising on an empty stomach was only sure to make things worse. So, he reluctantly drank the glass of water, and left it in the sink, not caring about the repercussions for not washing the dish.
Eren bent to tie his shoelaces, and when he straightened himself up, he was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of vertigo. For a moment, his vision went dark, and he shoved his hands towards the wall to steady himself, squeezing his eyes shut. A sensation familiar to nausea brewed in Eren's stomach, but disappeared with the dizziness in time.
Quick steps thundered down the stairs, and a hand slapped Eren on the back before ducking past him through the front door. Eren had lived with his squad long enough to recognise Connie's footsteps, heavy and blunt as he passed. "Race you outside, Eren!"
Eren blinked away spots from his vision. His thoughts were too slow to respond to Connie before he was out of sight, heading towards the edge of the treeline where the others were gathered.
Here goes nothing, the titan shifter thought as he stalked towards the group outside.
"Now that you're all here," Captain Levi began as Eren joined the group, looking more dead than alive and earning a disapproving stare from Levi, "we can begin. Start your exercises with staying seventeen metres off the ground at all times, lest you want to be titan fodder. The forest here should make that more than manageable. Hange has prepared tarps hanging from the trees in the perimeter to serve as titans."
Jean raised his hand, awaiting Levi's nod before he stated his question. "Tarps, sir?"
Levi's gaze narrowed. "Yes, Kirstein. Tarps, for lack of a better material. If you wanted the regular paraphernalia, you should have volunteered to carry it all before we left."
Jean's cheeks flushed before Levi scanned the rest of the squad. "If that's it for questions, get your asses off the ground and begin."
Eren watched as his squadmates one by one rose into the trees with their ODM gear, and was shocked out of his stupor when Mikasa rested a hand on his shoulder. "Are you ready to go?"
Eren shrugged off the concerned girl's hand and responded with a nod, not braving to open his mouth. It felt like the next time he did, he would lose the little water he had drank so far today.
"Eren, you're hot," Mikasa commented, slinking around her adopted sibling so that they were face to face. "And pale. Are you sure you're well?"
"Just fine," Eren dared to say, gripping the handles of his equipment so hard that the tips of his knuckles were drained of all tints of red. Before Mikasa could obviously declare otherwise, he was several metres above her, leaping onto branches and towards the Hange-acquired pseudotitans.
Levi's new squad adapted well to the change in scenery, and of the forty cloth tarps that Levi unravelled from branches to put the 104th in a defensive mode, thirty were gone within the first hour. Eren found himself trailing along behind his team, uncharacteristically lingering behind the action. Besides Mikasa, none of the other teens seemed to notice, but every now and then, Eren could feel Levi's piercing gaze baring into him like the sun the day before.
That was one thing Eren was grateful for. Overnight, a pack of clouds had begun to creep into the sky, layering over the sun as the day went on. That, and the shade offered by the trees in the forest, almost made Eren forget about how much his skin was really starting to burn.
Almost.
Eren and Sasha had fallen into synch with each other, diving parallel towards the next tarp, and had both swung past at the same time, each slicing an impressive gash into the centre of the fabric with their swords before continuing to careen to the opposite branch the other was on.
Sasha had her wire clamped tightly to the trunk of Eren's old tree, and in a matter of seconds, was upright on the sturdy branch and brushed herself off, proud with achieving such a clean cut. Eren glided towards Sasha's former tree, where his ODM wire had perched itself, and after turning his head for a split second to observe the tarp, was stunned with a wave of vertigo that made his stomach lurch.
Note to self, Eren thought as he flew towards the tree branch in a daze, don't move more than necessary.
With an ungraceful stumble, Eren's feet anchored onto the wide branch, but he hit the surface with so much force, his knees refused to carry his weight as they crumpled beneath him, and he toppled off the ledge.
Somebody shouted as Eren collided with the ground- Mikasa? – and for a moment, time seemed to stop as blackness shrouded Eren's vision. What seemed like only a second later, a pair of calloused but gentle hands were on his shoulders, and the voice from before was directly overtop of him.
The hands lifted from his shoulders and cupped the sides of his face as his name was being called. At first, it felt like they were shouting down a tunnel, and with each second that passed, they were getting closer and closer.
"-ren! Eren, can you hear me?"
Eren felt the pull of unconsciousness pulling him back under, but he felt a slight obligation to reply to the voice above him.
"What?" he muttered, if only to shut the voice up.
Footsteps from somewhere around his head quickened in their direction, along with another pair that was swift, but not hasty.
"Mikasa!" the voice called. "I don't know what happened! He swung by me, we got the tarp, his gear seemed to be working properly-"
As the second pair of footsteps approached, Eren propped his head up with his elbows, and was immediately encased by another bout of nausea and dizziness. Rougher hands braced his back, and before he knew it, his head was resting on a pair of knees.
"Tch," the third person said. "Jaeger, you're hotter than a cup of tea. Why the hell didn't you say something?"
Eren blinked his eyes open slowly, and was overwhelmed by the three people above him. They were all speaking a flurry of words, some that Eren caught on to, but didn't have the energy to string together. So, he stuck with another, "what?"
Mikasa propped down onto her knees beside Eren, mirroring the Captain. "Permission to take him back to the cabin, sir?"
Another tch as the accompanying hand brushed against Eren's forehead. "He's burning up more than the Colossal. Get him inside, I suppose, and pass him off to Hange for now. She won't be busy if there's no titan to train with. Damn brat, with your damn germs…" Levi brushed the hair out of Eren's face. "It would be a really shitty thing to do if you died on us, you know."
Eren hummed in response as his eyes drifted shut once more. He wasn't dying, he thought. Just in need of a long ass nap.
Wordlessly, Mikasa scooped up Eren in her arms, and rushed out of the forest in a burst of energy that she hadn't used for training yet, and reached the cabin in maximum time. For once, she agreed with her midget Captain. It would be shitty of Eren to die on them, so she was going to make sure he didn't.
In light of recent events, and the notable absence of two certain skilled members of the squad, the previous vigour of the rest of the 104th had been reduced to smithereens, and Levi ordered the remaining kids back to the cabin. It was clear that training had become less of an activity and more of a chore. For Levi, this was the prefect opportunity to get some actual work done, and no sooner had everyone taken their boots off inside did he begin to assign the chores.
Mikasa was nowhere to be found on the first floor, and Levi assumed she was upstairs tending to Jaeger with Hange, even though his fellow superior was completely capable of doing so on her own. Clingy brat.
"Jean," Levi said, his voice short. "Get the broom and sweep these floors. It's fucking disgusting. Sasha… you're dusting. Connie and Armin will make lunch."
Connie and Armin both saluted cheerfully, and dashed into the kitchen to begin preparing the midday meal, while cries of protest emerged from Sasha and Jean.
"Sir! I would much prefer to be cooking, sir!"
Jean piped up, "Sweeping should be left to Sasha, sir, since she got the broom! I could cook as well!"
Levi narrowed his eyes at the incompetence before him. "Sasha. You would eat half of the meal before it's even been prepped. And Jean, everyone here knows that you can't cook for shit. Now get on with your respective duties before I decide that someone needs to muck the stables."
Looking a bit more terrified than before, Jean and Sasha ran off to clean. Levi didn't mention that he would be saving the stables for Mikasa when she came downstairs, because it seemed to work as the perfect motivator.
Levi peered at his watch. Mikasa had been upstairs for quite a while. Perhaps it was time to check on the girl.
Just as Levi made his way towards the staircase, A dismal Mikasa slipped down, the scarf on her face not hiding the saddened look in her eyes. She resembled the clouds outside, with the threat of tears mirroring the storm that seemed to be brewing. With just the smallest push, they would spill down her cheeks and into the red fabric covering her mouth.
"Oi, brat," Levi greeted. "The stables need cleaning."
Mikasa didn't spare her Captain a look before exiting through the front door, ensuring it slammed behind her.
Levi looked up the stairs, only to see Hange leaning against the wall at the top. "Damn brats," he muttered, ascending the wooden planks to meet Hange. "Fucking dripping with angst."
Hange slung an arm around Levi. "They just care about each other. I think it's wholesome."
Levi slinked out from her grip. "Of course you do, shitty glasses. How's Eren?"
In the dim hallway, Hange's face fell slightly. "Well, he won't be doing much for the rest of the day. He's out like a rock. There is one thing I'm concerned about, though…"
Levi's interest spiked internally, but he kept his composure as Hange quietly swung open the door closest to the top of the stairs, revealing a room that was equally dark as the corridor they had come from, although the shutters on the second floor windows didn't seem to be bolted shut like their counterparts downstairs. "And what might that be?"
Hange closed the door behind the two, drowning out any and all noise from the ruckus the 104th was causing below. Inside the quaint bedroom, the roof was slanted towards the window, there was a small wooden dresser in the corner, and closer to the window where the roof was lower, a rigid bedframe not a third of a metre off the ground. Underneath a thin sheet was Eren, who, even in sleep, looked rather distressed.
That was nothing new. The entirety of the Survey Corps had adapted to hardened faces when they slept, as their dreams were burdened to relive the nightmares they faced in the day. But underneath a thick lock of brown hair was a previously white bandage, with a light shade of red seeping through the material. Hange let out a sigh. "His regenerative properties seem to be on pause. It's as if he's too busy fighting off the infection inside of him to heal his exterior."
Levi turned from Eren to Hange, who was scribbling ferociously in a worn notebook. "It's actually super fascinating, once you get over the injury part."
Levi squinted in the dark. "Don't you want the window opened? The brat's never going to wake up if it's dark as hell in here."
Hange jumped between Levi and the window. "Actually, I'm hoping he'll be able to sleep this off. Healing will take longer if he's awake and exhausted. Give it time, Levi, and Eren will be back on his feet before you know it."
Levi shot the titan shifter another concerned look, glad that Hange probably couldn't make it out in the dark. "You had better be right, four-eyes."
Silence swarmed the room, partly from acknowledging Eren, and partly because Levi and Hange had run out of things to say, instead lingering in the dark, neither wanting to return to the chaos downstairs.
It seemed that they wouldn't have a choice, though, when the light smell of smoke drifted up the stairs and under the door.
"Walls," Levi breathed, swinging the door open and having the smell multiply tenfold. "I'll handle this."
Hange didn't protest as Levi descended the stairs and stalked into the kitchen, where it was so smoky, he could have mistaken in for fog was it not indoors.
"Connie," he scowled. "Arlert. You each had one job to do."
Connie stopped waving his hands back and forth over a pot on the fire and saluted fiercely at Levi. "Captain! The food is okay, sir!"
"Good. Or else you would find yourself on a supply run back to the village. Now make sure you don't burn the damn food."
Connie immediately fell out of form, and returned to madly rummaging with the pot, and Levi elected to open the back door for air. Not only would it clear out the smoke, it would illuminate the damn place.
After propping it open with a stub of wood, Levi nearly turned around to return inside when his eyes caught on an interesting item on the wall outside. Practically an entire sack of gunpowder was leaning against the wall. It was as tall as Levi's waist. And, looking up at the sky, the clouds definitely spelled rain.
With a grunt, Levi grabbed the sides of the burlap sack and pulled it inside, nearly bumping into Jean as he did so.
"Captain!" the tall boy said, nearly dropping the broom he was holding. "Sasha moved the gunpowder outside for me. Just as a precaution so it wasn't knocked over. Just think of the mess."
"Your intellect is baffling," Levi cut off. He wasn't in the mood for bullshit today. "Are you two aware that it's going to rain soon?"
Jean's face blanched. "Uh-"
"And are you aware that gunpowder is useless if it's wet?"
Jean swallowed. "Yes, sir."
Levi was not impressed. "Okay. Then why did you think it would be smart to keep it outside?"
Jean searched his mind for words, but none came to him.
"That's what I thought. Keep sweeping, Kirstein. And maybe use your brain this time."
Jean resisted the urge to frown at the Captain. "Yessir."
Moving on from Jean, Levi hauled the abnormally large bag of gunpowder to the side of the front door, wondering how on earth Sasha had managed to get it outside in the first place.
SPECIAL OPERATIONS SQUAD
DAY 2
TIME: 1700 hours
Supper was light that evening. Partly in an effort to preserve resources for the rest of the week, and partly because Connie had, in fact, burned a portion of the meal.
"If I got to cook, at least it wouldn't have gone to waste," Sasha had huffed, eating a small hunk of bread dipped in stew morosely.
"Yeah," Connie mumbled, leaning his elbow on the table and picking at his own meal. "You would have eaten everything before we even got the chance."
"This is why I should cook," Jean said, picking off a burnt piece of crust from his loaf. "You know, I've heard this black stuff is carcinogenic. Connie's trying to kill us."
Connie dropped his fork with a clatter, about to send a spew of insults toward Jean, but was stopped with a kick under the table from Mikasa. "Eren is trying to sleep."
With the mention of the elephant in the room, the riot slowly died down, and the tension on everyone's faces was replaced with dejection. Hange's footsteps sounded from down the corridor, but to untrained ears, they belonged to someone just as lifeless as the rest of the table, because they entered the kitchen with a frown and a bowl of soup in their hands.
"Eren isn't eating," they announced to no one in particular. "Truth be told, I could hardly get him coherent enough to ask. I didn't want it to go to waste."
Hange set the bowl in the centre of the table, and it hardly left their grasp before Sasha reached to grab it with both hands with glassy eyes and a coveting stare. The rest of the table sighed as they stood to prepare their dishes to be washed.
Levi surveyed the only remaining food, which seemed to be the last of Connie's bread. The exterior crust was blackened and burnt, but if it were to be cut off with a serrated knife, the inside was relatively soft. It would still taste fine after losing its heat from being cooked, and would last a while before going stale. Perfect, the Captain thought, for the sporadically sleeping titan-shifter upstairs.
Before Sasha could make a move, Levi grabbed the plate with the bread, and took a knife from the block on the counter. Amidst the arguing from his squad over who would be the one cleaning the dishes that night, he slipped silently out of the room and headed down the corridor to the staircase with the food.
Once Levi arrived at Eren's door, he made no effort to conceal the squeaking made by the hinges when it opened. Even with the noise, Eren didn't budge underneath the mess of blankets.
Levi sighed and sat in the chair that Hange had occupied before him. The scientist had been up here all day, and as intriguing the situation was to them, everybody needed a break at some point, and it made sense to cover Eren in shifts. Begrudgingly, Levi sided with that logic, but that didn't stop him from hating that it was needed.
With a grunt from the excessive reach, Levi slipped the plate of bread onto the dresser next to the chair, where on the same counter sat a pile of books. Levi grabbed the one on top and inspected it. The spine was all but gone, and the pages were yellow with wear, but the smell of the paper was crisp. There was just enough light streaming from underneath the doorway for the words on the pages to be legible. Disinterested but bored, Levi flipped it to the first page and began reading.
After just a couple of sentences, a noise jolted Levi out of his newfound reverie. Eren had shuffled in his covers, but to Levi's disappointment, remained sleeping.
Annoying brat must be dreaming, Levi thought, contemplating the fevered lump on the bed next to him before returning to his book. This time, though quietly, Levi read aloud.
