"The creative adult is the child who survived."
Ursula Leguin
Chapter 11: Tinkering and Training
A large airship with a rotor on the back and metal wings was flying in the sky. Its destination was close, and the pilots determined their exact time of arrival would be two more minutes. Throughout the entire voyage, the passengers were telling stories to pass the time. And now, a young boy with black hair was telling his story.
"So after Sasha took one look at that meat, everything went to Hell. Instead of her hands, she used her mouth to grab it before anyone could get some for ourselves. I didn't see it, but I heard it took about five minutes for Jean and Connie to make her share."
Eren's friends and Dina, who had her own reasons for joining them, laughed at the story, and the woman shared a story of her own. "Have I ever told you the first time I tried farming?" she asked. "Well, like Cinder here, my first job was to clean the stables. Just as I was sweeping around the back, a horse began to nibble on my head, apparently mistaking my hair for straw."
Everyone laughed again, and Nora sprang off her seat. "Ooh, ooh! I got a good story!" she said as she looked at everyone. "So... there we were... in the middle of the night."
Ren turned to Nora. "You told me it was day," he corrected her.
Nora ignored him as she continued her story. "We were surrounded by Ursai."
"Ursai? You told me you saw Beowolves."
"Dozens of them!"
"Two of them."
"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora sat down with a proud smile on her face. Ren sighed as he explained Nora's "story."
"Nora's been having this dream since we came back," he explained. "I guess she wanted to make it sound interesting."
Everyone laughed once again, although it took a few seconds for Ren to loosen up and laugh at Nora's exaggerated dream. Cinder stood up and prepared to share a funny story of her own, but a voice cut her off. "Could you all keep it down?!"
"..."
They all turned around to see a stretcher on wheels in the back of the airship. And on that stretcher was Mercury Black, who was trying to ignore the pain in his legs by sleeping. And unfortunately for him, the laughter was preventing him from doing so. Dina put a finger to her lips and watched the children nod before she moved to Mercury's bed and gently stroked his head, attempting to comfort the hurt child.
"I'm sorry, Mercury," she sympathetically said. "We'll be landing soon, so you just rest. We'll all be quiet."
Mercury took a deep breath before closing his eyes. "...Sure," he said. "Whatever."
It had been about two days since the incident with Marcus Black. The doctor at Kuroyuri had been working day and night to arrange a trip to Mistral's hospital for the young boy. Now that time had come, and the children volunteered to travel with him. While Dina was more than willing to help the young boy after Eren told her what he did, she had another reason for being in Mistral.
The airship landed and the doors opened to reveal the backdoor of what appeared to be a hospital. Two uniformed men suddenly rushed onto the ship and moved the stretcher. Everyone began to run after them as Dina explained what happened to him.
"Our town's doctor told me to tell you that he was able to clean the wounds and prevent any infection," she said. "Other than giving him two splints and some medicine for the pain, there wasn't anything he could do."
"Don't worry, ma'am. The best surgeons in the Kingdom are waiting right now," said one of the orderlies.
Mercury groaned in pain, causing Dina's heart to ache. "Should I go in there? He doesn't have anyone to take care of him."
"Ma'am, the only thing you can do is wait with the other children. We'll take it from here."
Mercury's groans became louder, and he impulsively grabbed Dina's hand. When she saw what was happening, Dina gently gripped his hand, forming an embrace between the two strangers. "You'll be fine, Mercury," she said. "It's going to be okay."
He didn't think about it before, but Mercury was starting to get scared. He had no idea what was going to happen, what the doctors were going to do to him. And his fears only grew when one of the orderlies prevented Dina from going into the operating room. Alone, all the boy could do was try to calm himself by breathing. The rest was up to whatever God was watching him.
Dina sadly took a seat in the waiting room, where the rest of the children were waiting for her. Cinder took her hand to offer some comfort, and Eren walked over to her. "He'll be fine," he said. Dina smiled at the children, grateful she had them to help her through times like this.
Once he saw that Dina was smiling and Cinder was staying with her, Eren walked over to Nora. "Hey, Nora. We haven't had a lot of time to talk. Are you okay?"
"I'm okay," she said, showing Eren her wrists. "The rope burns stopped hurting this morning. And Ren's parents have been talking about it with me." Nora turned to Ren. "And so have you." She pulled him into a hug. "Thanks for coming for us."
Ren smiled and returned the hug. "I'll always be here for you, Nora," he promised.
"Me too," said Eren, causing Nora to smile.
"Me too," said Cinder, who walked over and handed Vasilisa to Nora. "You see? As long as we stick together, we'll be okay." Cinder looked to Eren and Ren. "Right?"
"Right!" the two boys said with passion. All four of them knew in their hearts that as long as they were around each other, things wouldn't be as bad as they seemed.
"Excuse me?"
The children and Dina turned to the sound of the voice to see a tan woman with dark hair wearing a dress shirt and blue dress pants. Everyone knew that she didn't look like a nurse or doctor, so they could only guess who she was. The woman turned to Dina. "Are you Dina Fritz?" she asked.
"Oh, yes." Dina stood up and shook the woman's hand. "You must be Detective Montoya. I'm sorry we had to meet here, we have a-"
"Never mind that," the police detective commanded. "I'm here about the allegations you told me over the phone. I hope you realize how serious it is, accusing a Councilman of what you told me."
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth. And I have proof, if you're willing to listen."
"...Alright." The detective walked into a more secluded part of the waiting room, one with a door. "Let's talk."
Mercury's eyes were beginning to open, slowly but surely. As he was waking up, he could still feel some pain in his legs. It wasn't as serious as before, but the pain was still lingering. It wasn't morning, but a light had shined on Mercury's face and had woken him up. It wasn't sunlight, it was something blue and not very warm. A voice found its way into his ears.
"Reports have just arrived that Councilman Charles, has been arrested early this morning. Allegations about kidnapping and selling women, both young and old, on the black market were made against him, and with the large amount of evidence against him, it seems unlikely he'll be released anytime soon. After a search on his property was conducted, authorities found a hidden room that seemed to act as a den for child pornography. Along with that was a young malnourished girl, who was immediately sent to the hospital. The evidence also pinpointed that Councilman Charles is also known as 'King Charlemagne', Mistral's most wanted human trafficker. The staff of the Mistral Watch are praying for the young girl's recovery. In other news, the Grimm activity in Argus-"
"Ms. Fritz, turn that off! He's awake!"
The television in Mercury's hospital room turned off and Eren and Dina moved closer to Mercury's bed. Dina smiled when she saw his eyes were fully open. "Hello, Mercury. How are you feeling?"
"...They... still hurt," Mercury groggily said, being careful to lay absolutely still. "What... What did they do?"
Dina cleared her throat before answering, wiping her forehead to clear the sweat from her nerves. "Well... they looked at your legs, they needed to see what happened to you. Now, they're going to see what they can do."
"We wanted to wait here with you," said Eren. "Cinder, Nora, and Ren are still here, they just got hungry."
Mercury had a lot going on for him right now. Knowing that his father wasn't going to come back anytime soon, being unable to walk, having all these new people around him... it wasn't a very normal time for him right now. "Why... are you helping me?" he asked. That was perhaps the one thing that wasn't making a lot of sense at the moment.
But Dina was more than happy to clarify. "Helping children is something I've learned that I'm good at," she explained, thinking about her time with Eren and Cinder. "And I don't have a reason to stop now."
"Same here," said Eren. "I did something like this before, and it was probably the best choice I've made. And I don't have a lotta regrets right now."
Mercury still had a little trouble understanding their reasons, but that didn't stop him from saying one other thing. "Well... thanks."
A soft knocking on the door caused everyone to turn towards another doctor. "Sorry to bother you, but I was hoping we could talk outside. And we're bringing someone else in now." The doctor turned to Mercury. "Sorry, young man. I hope you don't mind sharing a room."
"If they'll be quiet, it'll be okay."
The doctor nodded and held the door open for Eren and Dina. As they walked out and waved to Mercury, Eren and Dina saw another child in a wheelchair being sent into Mercury's room. Dina couldn't stop staring at her, she looked so tired and so hungry. And she also looked very familiar. "Oh, dear," she said softly. "Isn't that the child they found at that Councilman's house?"
"Yes," said the doctor. "Physically, she'll be fine, just needs some rest and food. But I may reconsider sending her to the psychiatric ward, I can't imagine what that monster did to her."
"Neither can I." Dina looked back to the doctor. "What about Mercury?"
"Well... that's something else I'm concerned about." The doctor put on a pair of glasses he had in his pocket and looked at a clipboard. "His legs took more damage than we thought. Fortunately, it's been long enough to rule out that no bone marrow got into his bloodstream. That would have been bad."
"How bad?" Eren asked.
"Bad enough that... nothing could save him."
Dina frowned when she heard that, but still remained hopeful. "But you can do something now. Right?" she asked.
"Well... that's something we need to talk about." The doctor looked up from his clipboard. "The report your town's doctor provided helped us see what the extent of his damage was. His kneecaps and tendons are capable of healing when given the right treatment, but there are some factors to take into consideration."
"Such as?"
"Mostly time. With his kneecaps and tendons healing, the process alone could take a couple of years. Add some physical therapy in the mix, it would take even more time before he can walk properly again."
"But still possible."
"Oh, yes. More than possible." The doctor put away his glasses. "But, Ms. Fritz, if I may be blunt... a process like this, the number of surgeries we'll need to perform, it won't just take time. I'm afraid I need to ask you about-"
"I see." Dina looked down. "It'll be expensive, won't it?"
"I'm afraid so. If you can't afford something like this, there's a second option, one I would probably prefer. We can amputate his legs and gain a prosthetic pair in a few-"
"No, no, no!" Dina cried. "I can't tell him we have to take his legs!"
Eren also didn't like the idea. "Why can't you cut us a break?!" he asked. "Money really shouldn't be an issue here, there's a kid who needs help!' Back home, soldiers who were injured by Titans rarely had to pay for their treatments, and his father didn't ask for too much money when he worked as a doctor.
"I'm sorry, young man. I hate the idea of medical bills as much as you do. But I'm afraid this hospital isn't exactly a charity organization." He could see that the two of them were having trouble dealing with the situation, so the doctor decided to give them some time to think.
Dina slumped into a chair. She put a hand on her forehead as she pondered the situation she had found herself in. Eren was also a little overwhelmed, so he decided to talk with Dina. "Are you okay?" he asked calmly.
Dina sighed before she answered him. "I don't know what to do, Eren. This kind of surgery won't just take time, it'll take too much money. The costs are more than I make in a year. But... I can't just leave that boy like that."
"What about the other idea the doctor had, about... prosthetic limbs? I never saw anything like it back home, but... is it possible to give him those kind of legs?"
Dina wiped her brow. "Modern medicine on Remnant isn't like how you might know it, Eren. Prosthetic limbs are made by people to replace lost arms and legs."
"So it could replace his legs."
"Yes, but the cost is still high. And I don't want him to know we may have to take his legs." Dina started to tear up. "Eren... I don't know what to-"
"Oh, there you are."
Dina and Eren looked up to see Detective Montoya walking towards them. Once she saw Dina rub her eyes, she stopped. "I'm sorry, am I... interrupting something?"
"Um... no, it's fine," Eren said. "Do you need something, Detective?"
"I just wanted to give your mother this."
Dina stood up. "Oh, Eren's not my-" She stopped talking when she looked down at an envelope the detective was holding. "What's this?" she asked.
"King Charlemagne was on the Mistral Police's Most Wanted list for years," Detective Montoya explained. "Who would've thought he was a Councilman? Anyway, there was a huge reward for anyone who could find him. And since we couldn't have done it without you, the chief figured the reward belongs to you." As Dina took the envelope, Rosa Montoya left without a word.
Eren looked back at Dina. "Huh, I didn't know about that."
"Neither did I." Dina opened the envelope. "But I guess we should see..." Dina looked at the contents of the envelope, which was a check for a certain amount of Lien. Eren looked as well, the sight causing him to fail to notice Cinder, Ren, and Nora walk towards them.
"Hey, Eren," she said. "Hi, Ms. Fritz. How's Mercury doing?"
A tear fell down Dina's cheek. "He'll be just fine, Cinder. I promise."
Nora walked up to Dina and looked at the small check she was holding. "Wow! That's a lot of zeroes!"
The surgeries for Mercury's legs went underway. They were mostly focused on his tendons and bones, making them stay in the right place with special casts. Mercury was given anesthesia throughout each one, and would always wake up to see Dina and everyone else checking in on him. They would also check in on the little girl who was resting by him.
One day, a few hours after Mercury came out of surgery, the girl had begun leaving her room with a nurse. The nurse would always put her in a wheelchair and walk outside, but she was having trouble today.
"Darn it," she said as she tried to unfold the wheelchair to no avail. "We need to get more wheelchairs." Turning to the girl, the nurse told her that she would try to find another one, if they weren't already in use. So she put the broken chair next to Mercury's bed and left the room.
Mercury was thinking about getting some rest, but he instead found himself looking at the girl next to him. She seemed to be heartbroken, the idea about not going outside seemed to bring her spirits down. Mercury had seen faces like that when he was working with his dad, and was partially expecting her to beg for help. But given the fact she didn't talk much, that didn't seem likely.
"And it's pointless, anyway," Mercury reminded himself. "If I help, I'm just gonna get-"
That was when he remembered that he was alone. His dad was nowhere near him, not even on the same level of existence anymore. Anything he did right now, right or wrong, his father wouldn't be here to punish him for it. He could do whatever he wanted, no fear of being beaten.
And since he had nothing better to do, looking at the wheelchair wouldn't hurt anything.
The girl couldn't stop staring at the evening sky. It had been so long since she saw daylight, since she had been given something decent to eat. When she realized that things at the hospital would be nothing like that basement, she made a promise that she would enjoy everything the outside world had to offer. But now, seeing the sunlight once again was most likely not going to happen.
"Okay, it should be good."
The girl turned around and gasped. Mercury had carefully moved across his bed to get a better look at the wheelchair. When he saw that one piece was jammed under a small pipe that had fallen loose, Mercury was able to fix both pieces and push the chair open, which surprisingly didn't take a lot of energy.
The door opened to reveal the same nurse before. "I hope you don't mind waiting a few minutes," she said as she closed the door. "Our elderly patients need the-" She stopped talking when she saw Mercury was moving. "Young man, you shouldn't move like that! You might hurt your-!" She stopped once again as she looked at the fixed chair.
"There were a couple of pieces loose," he explained. "It should work now."
The nurse looked at the wheelchair and moved it around, seeing that it was indeed fixed. "Um... thank you," she said. "How old did you say you were?"
"Nine."
"And you fixed this by yourself?"
"I had to learn how to fix some broken weapons my dad brought home. He also made me fix a few things around the house. Chairs, mostly."
"Well, thank you. This was really helpful." The nurse turned back at the smiling girl. "Ready to go outside?" The girl happily nodded and the nurse helped her in the wheelchair. As they walked out, the nurse looked back at Mercury. "You be careful, now. I meant what I said about hurting your legs." As she walked out the room, the girl looked back at Mercury and gave a small wave.
About fifteen minutes later, the nurse and the girl returned. "Now that was a nice trip," she said as she helped the patient into her bed. "Wouldn't you agree?"
The girl nodded with a smile.
But this only made the nurse frown. "Still don't feel like talking yet?"
The girl slowly shook her head.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." The nurse walked by Mercury, who was reading a magazine while resting on his bed. "Thank you for your help, young man. Would you like to take a trip outside too?"
"I'm fine for right now," Mercury answered. "But thanks."
With that, the nurse left the room. Just then, Mercury felt something touch his arm. Looking down, he saw a small flower sitting by it. The girl was waving at him and pointing at the flower. Mercury picked it up and looked at it, taking the gesture as a way for the girl to say "thank you".
"Um... no problem," he said as he put the flower down. "But you could just say thank you."
The girl slowly shook her head.
"No?" Mercury thought back on a few times the nurses talked to the girl, but she only responded by shaking or nodding her head. The doctors said that she was capable of talking, but whatever happened to her made her slow to speak again. "You don't really like to talk much, do you?"
The girl shook her head again.
"You're just not ready yet?"
The girl shook her head again.
"Alright. Take your time, I guess." Mercury looked at the flower again. "Well, thanks for the flower..." Mercury suddenly realized that he never knew his new friend's name. "What did you say your name was?"
The girl didn't shake or nod her head, she simply shrugged.
"You don't know your name?"
The girl shook her head.
"Huh. Well... I gotta call you something." Mercury took a couple of seconds to think of something. Her blue eyes gave him one idea. "How about... Blue Eyes?"
The girl shook her head, not really liking the name.
"Yeah, it's kind of dumb." Mercury thought of some other words. "Maybe... Spring?"
The girl shook her head.
"Flower Girl?"
She shook her head.
"She Who Must Not Be Named?"
The girl took a moment to think about it... but still shook her head.
Mercury looked at the magazine in front of him, the title giving him another idea. "How about... Vernal?"
The girl took another few seconds to think about the name. The name sounded really nice, and much better than what Mercury suggested. So with a smile, she nodded.
Mercury smiled too, also liking the name. "Nice to meet you, Vernal. Thanks for the flower."
Ren was enjoying the peace and quiet of his room. The last visit he paid Mercury was a long one, and the sleep he was getting was well needed. And just like every sleep, he was starting to wake up.
And he woke up to see Nora staring down at him.
"Wake up, lazy butt!" Nora enthusiastically ordered. ""It's morning, it's morning, it's morning!"
Ren groaned as he sat up and listened to Nora. He was normally someone who woke up bright and early, but last night was a rather long one. He wanted nothing more than to sleep, but Nora had other plans. "Nora, what time is it?" Ren groggily asked.
"Time to see Eren and Cinder!" Nora answered. "They're outside right now, they wanna talk to us!"
"Tell them they have to wait." Ren slumped back into bed.
Nora was never a very patient girl, but she was ready to grant his request. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly had an idea on how to get Ren to join them. "You know, Ren... I've been practicing my singing. Maybe you want to hear it?" Nora cleared her throat and prepared to sing.
"No, no, wait!" Ren pleaded as he jumped out of bed. Sighing in both relief and in annoyance, he moved towards his dresser. "Tell them I'll need a few minutes."
"Okay!" Nora ran out of the room and then out of the house, wishing a good morning to both Li and An. Ren on the other hand, took a few minutes to change. Once he had his green shirt and white pants on, he walked outside to see Eren, Cinder, and Nora waiting for him.
"Okay, we're all here," Eren said as he began to walk away. "Come on, we need to talk." Cinder and Nora followed him, with Ren behind them.
"What's going on, Cinder?" Ren asked when he finally caught up to her.
"I don't know," she replied to both Ren and Nora. "Eren woke me up and told me that we needed to talk. But he wanted to talk to you too."
"I hope he's okay," Nora said. "He looks like there's something going on."
"I'm fine," Eren said, who was listening to the whole thing. "But it's all of you I'm worried about." As he continued to walk, Eren didn't notice everyone else stop and stare at each other, confused by what he was talking about. Nevertheless, they followed him all the way to Dina's farm. And rather than going inside the house, they all stood in the middle of the field.
"What's going on, Eren?" Ren asked calmly.
"Yeah, why are you acting weird?" Nora asked.
Eren sighed as he turned around and explained himself. "Listen, guys. Things have gotten back to normal here. Ren, Nora, you two are safe. And using some of the money Ms. Fritz got from Mistral, the Mayor's going to get some better defenses against the Grimm."
"I heard about that," said Ren, who walked ahead of Cinder and Nora. "Soon, that moat we have won't be our only source of defense."
"Right. And now we can start on our next method of defending ourselves."
"...Which is?" Cinder asked.
"Teaching you how to fight."
Nora gasped as Ren's eyes widened. Both of them were unsure about the idea, and Cinder was starting to have some doubts about someone like Nora and Ren trying to fight. Before they could protest, Eren explained his idea a little more. "Cinder, teaching you how to fight helped us escape from Atlas and take down that Huntsman"
"I remember," Cinder admitted. "I couldn't have done that without you teaching me. But I thought we were supposed to do this to protect people like Ren and Nora?"
"Just hear me out first." Eren turned to Ren. "Ren, you haven't passed up an opportunity to help Nora. But other than your Semblance, there wasn't much you could do when the Grimm attacked and when Mercury's dad was choking you."
"...And there may be another time like that," Ren said as he stared at the ground.
Eren nodded as he made his final point. "Nora, we're always gonna be here for you. But Mercury's dad could have really hurt you, and we would've had no idea. Or worse... we could have come too late."
Nora didn't say anything, she simply nodded. Being kidnapped by Marcus Black was one of the scariest experiences in her life, one that she didn't want to repeat again. "So... what do we do now?" she asked. "How can I make sure that won't happen again?"
"By letting me train you. I learned how to fight back home, how to defend myself against regular people, not just Titans. Cinder learned a few things, but I didn't have the chance to teach her everything. I can do that now."
"How long do you think until we're ready?" Ren asked.
"A few years, I'd have to say. My training in the military was long and hard, but it was something I needed. And I think it's something you all need too. I'm not going to force you to do this, I just think that it's something that will help you."
Cinder moved up to Eren. "I think you already know my answer," she said. After everything they'd done so far, every danger they faced, she was still willing to help Eren.
"Mine too."
Eren and Cinder turned to Ren. "If you think this is something that's going to help us protect ourselves and each other, I'm ready to start."
"Me too," said Nora, who took Ren's hand, in an effort to show that he wouldn't be alone in this.
Eren smiled. "Alright... let's get started."
[Play 'Battle Tapes- Sweatshop Boys' on YouTube]
Eren was running down a dirt path, moving his arms steady and running at a steady pace. "Doing great, everyone!" he encouraged. "Try and keep up!"
Cinder, Ren, and Nora were all running behind Eren, panting and feeling that their hearts were about to explode. Nora stopped running and immediately fell to the ground.
Eren gave a series of exercises to everyone, staring with curled push-ups. "We'll work on a new form once you're strong enough," Eren said as he watched Ren and Cinder move up and down. "Right now, focus on pushing yourself off the-" Eren stopped talking when he saw Nora eating a pancake instead of exercising.
"Um... you hungry?" she asked with a smile as she looked up at Eren.
"..."
Later on, Eren watched Ren and Cinder spar with a piece of wood, pretending it was a knife. Cinder grabbed Ren's hand to get the wood. They soon began to play tug-of-war with the wood.
"No, no, no!" Eren said as he stopped them. "It's not gonna be that simple. Ren, you need to use your other hand to get Cinder away from you. And Cinder, you can't just go for the weapon, you need to attack another way. Try again."
Just as the two prepared to try again, Eren turned around to see Nora running laps. "Keep running, Nora! And let me tell you what happened to the last time a girl brought food to training!"
The next day, everyone was sore and not looking forward to training. But that didn't stop Eren from giving them the same exercise as before.
"Okay, Cinder. You be the bad guy now. Use that wood to attack Ren."
Cinder did as she was told and swung at Ren. As he tried to dodge and grab the wood, Cinder only landed more strikes on him.
"Good job," Eren complimented his sister as Ren looked up from the ground. "Those were fast and good strikes." He then looked down at Ren. "We'll work on your reflexes."
The days and weeks that passed were like this. Fighting and exercising until everyone was ready to drop. But everyone improved in their own way, mainly with Ren and his speed. As he threw Cinder against a tree when sparring with the knife, Ren felt Eren pat his shoulder.
"Nice throw," he said as he turned to Cinder. "Cinder, try to keep your balance this time." He then turned to Nora, who was doing her push-ups while waiting to spar. But her strength was starting to fail her, as she fell to the ground. Eren simply looked away, failing to notice Nora hit the ground in frustration.
One day after training, Ren noticed Nora practicing her exercises in her room. Seeing her struggle both day and night, Ren helped her with some push-ups. When she asked him about running better, Ren gave Nora one answer.
"You have to want to do it, Nora. If you don't want it, then doing anything is impossible."
The next day, Nora once again struggled to keep up with Cinder and Ren while running. But then, she remembered what Ren said, and decided that she truly wanted to run faster. So with a sudden burst of energy, she passed them in the middle, causing Ren and Cinder to fall to the ground once her arms hit them.
Eren's jaw dropped when he saw Nora running faster. When she stopped running and cheered, he found himself chucking.
"Remember Nora, you have to find a way to get me on the ground so I can't hit you with this wood."
"Got it."
Nora had been trying various ways to get Eren on the ground when he had the knife. Her attempts didn't work since she didn't have the strength to throw him or grab it out of his hands. But today would be different. With a smile, Nora told Eren to attack her.
So with a charge, Eren swung the knife at Nora's chest.
But she immediately backed away and sent her leg up, right into Eren's crotch.
With a yell, Eren dropped the wood and fell to the ground, clutching his crotch and ignoring Nora's joy.
"I win! I win!" Nora yelled.
"Way to go, Nora!" Cinder cheered.
Ren would have joined Cinder's cheers, if he wasn't cringing about Eren's injury. "Eren, are you okay?" he asked calmly.
Later in the day, after Eren got off his feet and grabbed an ice pack, he came out of the house with a new plan. "Okay, I think you all should learn... proper fighting techniques."
"You got the basics down, so let's try something different this time. Kill this Grimm."
Using his Titan powers, Eren had summoned a Beowolf. It lunged at Ren, who jumped out of the way and quickly got up. Using his father's knife, he stabbed its hand first to keep it in place. With a yell, Nora punched it in the throat, which caused it to fall backwards. Cinder picked up a pitchfork and stabbed it in the chest, watching it turn to dust.
As they looked back to Eren, everyone saw him create another Beowolf from a pool of his blood.
"Again."
[End music]
Each day became harder, but everyone got stronger. The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into years. In those years, Eren, Cinder, Ren, and Nora had become teenagers, and were stronger than ever. Especially Nora, whose enthusiasm had manifested into her training, making her faster and stronger than most teenagers. She had become so strong that when a lightning bolt struck her during training, it merely unlocked her Semblance.
Cinder and Ren had also become faster and stronger, thanks to Eren's training. They were both incredibly skilled with sharp objects, mainly knives for Ren. And Eren made sure to practice as well, regaining much of the strength he developed when he was a soldier. And best of all, their teenage bodies had become reflections of the strength they all gained.
Ren's new outfit was similar to what he used to wear as a child; a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. That same trimming moved down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar. Along with this, he began to wear a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit and light-tan pants with black shoes. After Ren decided to grow his hair much longer than it was when he was younger, his father showed him how to tie it in a small ponytail.
Nora had been through quite the change as well. Well defined muscles formed around her body, which definitely made her the physically strongest of her friends. This became a fact that she had bragged about to Mercury, much to Cinder's annoyance and the boy's amusement. Her simple outfit from her childhood was discarded long ago, in favor of a collared black sleeveless vest with a blue central front section with red accents. That same vest had the emblem of a hammer on the back.
Under the vest, Nora wore a white sleeveless T-shirt with a heart-shaped cutout above her waist line in the center, accompanied with a pair of white detached sleeves on each arm and a pair of light pink fingerless gloves. Just a week ago, she started spotting a short pink skirt with a single white layer under it. Her white and pink ankle boots made Kuroyuri's terrain easier for her to travel.
Cinder arguably had gone through the biggest change. She was always the scrawniest when she was younger, but now she stood proudly at 5'11. Thanks to a sudden growth spurt, her body matured into one that made many women green with envy and caused many heads to turn. And the years of hard training has also left her body packed with well defined muscles. Her choice of fashion consisted of gray pants and black steel-toed combat boots, a beige leather, sleeveless jacket with light-beige details, dark brown gloves, a sarashi tied around her chest and another around her hips, and a pauldron on her left shoulder. She also wore a belt around her waist, which had multiple brown pouches attached to it. Her fingernails were always seen painted with red nail polish.
Eren had definitely grown as well, his training had left him with new muscles and a set of abs. Not very caring of how he looked fashion-wise, Eren decided to wear a very simple outfit; a white shirt and gray jeans. The white shirt was under a black jacket that Eren could tie up if he needed to, not very different from the outfit he wore the last days he was on Paradis. His hair had grown back into the way he used to have it, a tied black bunch. He was starting to remind himself of his time on Paradis.
It was easy to say that Eren and his friends were all ready to face whatever threat came their way. All that they needed were weapons to match.
And the source of these weapons surprisingly came from Mercury. His surgeries and therapies had helped him regain the ability to walk, despite the amount of time he unfortunately needed to stay at the hospital. Furthermore, he had a lot of downtime when he was out of surgery and therapy. So whenever Eren and his friends came to visit, Mercury would spend time talking about making weapons for them all. Given that he was able to fix all kinds of things, mainly weapons and appliances at the hospital, Mercury was willing to give creating from scratch a try. All he needed were ideas and supplies.
Eren and his friends all began working at Dina's farm to earn their own money, if they weren't fighting Grimm that came close to the village. So with the money they made from cultivating and selling produce, they all brought tools and supplies to Mercury, who took what he had and made something new.
For Ren, Mercury created two pistols capable of firing Dust rounds at an incredible speed. The pistols included two hooks at the bottom of the barrel capable of stabbing Grimm and hooking onto almost any surface. And for Nora, he created something extraordinary to see what he could actually do. With her ideas and everything she brought to the hospital, Mercury made a large hammer that Nora could wield with no difficulty. It also doubled as a grenade launcher, firing large grenades with pink explosions. While Ren named his guns "StormFlower", Nora called the large hammer "Magnhild."
As for Eren and Cinder, they decided to pay their long-distance friend a visit to see what his progress was on their weapons.
"We're landing right now," said Cinder, who was speaking into a Scroll she had gotten a few months ago. "Sure, we'll tell Mercury you said 'Hi.' Don't worry, we'll ask him about coming to Kuroyuri."
Eren tapped Cinder's shoulder to get her attention. "Ask if she needs anything while we're here," he asked politely.
"Eren wants to know if you need anything from Mistral. No? Okay, see you at home. Bye, Mom." Cinder hung up the Scroll and turned to Eren. "Mom says she's fine."
"Okay." Eren looked out the window. "Here we are."
The airship landed in front of the Mistral hospital, leaving Eren and Cinder to walk inside. Once they did, the sounds and sights of nurses and doctors running around like crazy welcomed them.
"I guess it's one of those days," Eren noticed.
"I guess so." Cinder looked at the receptionist desk to see a woman with curly brown hair. "Well, let's hope someone's in a good mood today."
As soon as the receptionist looked up to see two familiar teenagers walking towards her, she smiled a friendly, toothy smile. "Hey, you two," she said.
"Hi Betty," Eren greeted the receptionist. "How are you holding up?"
"Eh, same shit, different day. Here to see Mercury?"
"As always."
"Aw, come on." Betty leaned closer. "You two never have any time just to see me?"
"Of course we do," Cinder said with a smile. "You're the first person we see each time we come here."
"True, true." Betty looked to Eren. "But most gentlemen bring something nice for their lady friends."
"Yeah, well... I guess I'm not a gentleman," Eren retorted.
"No, I guess not." Betty looked at her computer and pressed a few keys. "Looks like Mercury's having some physical therapy today."
"Thank you." Eren and Cinder walked over to the elevator and waved to Betty. "How does she make me laugh harder each time we come here?" Cinder asked.
"Maybe she's finding new ways not to go crazy in here," Eren theorized.
After an elevator ride up three floors, Eren and Cinder walked to the physical therapy room, where they found Mercury taking normal steps with a physical therapist. She smiled proudly at the progress they were making, that Mercury could finally walk at an average pace. And even Mercury was happy to walk like this again. Ever since his surgeries were finished, he was excited about the therapy.
And he was feeling even better when Eren and Cinder came for another visit. After waving at them Mercury reluctantly sat in a wheelchair and made his way to the hallway.
Eren and Cinder looked at each other in confusion. "Is that really necessary?" he asked. "He looked better."
"Hospital policy, I suppose," Cinder responded. As Mercury found himself in the hall, Cinder smiled at him. "And how's our patient today?"
"Yeah, yeah," Mercury said while rolling his eyes. "Call me that while you can. I'll be outta here in a few weeks."
"Good," Eren said. "Everyone back home's waiting to see you."
"About that." Mercury pushed himself down the hall back to his room, not wanting anyone to assist him with something he could do on his own. "Are you sure Ms. Fritz is okay for me to come back with you? Finding a job in Mistral's not as hard as we thought."
"Yeah, of course. Kuroyuri's got a lot of jobs too. Like the farm we live on."
"We told Mom about the weapons you helped Nora and Ren make," said Cinder. "We have a few broken tools at the farm that we're sure you can help with. She said you can even live in the house."
"Really?" Mercury stopped rolling. "That... sounds pretty good. What's the catch?"
"Other than working, a few chores here and there. Nothing we can't handle."
"And Ms. Fritz insisted that you come."
Mercury took a minute to think about it. His mechanical skills would definitely help at the farm, and a roof over his head would be good to have. And it would be good to see Ren and Nora on a daily basis.
"I'll think about it," he said. "How are Ren and Nora doing with their weapons?"
"Ren's getting better with those guns," Eren explained. "And Nora loves the hammer."
"I thought she would."
Cinder cleared her throat as she walked with Eren and Mercury. "Listen, I don't want to sound greedy... but-"
"Any luck with our weapons?" Eren quickly asked.
"Eren!"
Mercury put his hand up to Cinder. "No, it's fine," he said. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I've only been doing physical therapy and exercise sixteen hours a day."
Cinder nodded at Eren, immediately taking Mercury's side. Eren rubbed his head and looked away. "...Sorry," he said.
Mercury suddenly slapped his chest. "Don't be so serious, Eren", he said with a laugh as he rolled into his room. "But listen, I've been looking at the drawings you gave me for something like this." Mercury rolled over to his table and pulled out a piece of paper. The paper had a drawing of a figure with two large pieces of metal on its side and a grappling hook coming out of one side.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking my weapon should be," Eren explained.
"Me too," Cinder said. "When Eren told me what it could do, I thought the idea was interesting."
"So did I." Mercury put the paper down. "But I never really liked the design."
"What's wrong with it?"
"It doesn't seem really practical."
"What are you talking about? Grappling onto buildings to increase speed and grapple up to Grimm on roofs? Sounds practical to me."
"Well, yeah. But what about Grimm in an open field? Fighting them without using these hooks would just weigh you down. And the fuel consumption would be bad too."
"..."
Eren always knew that was a downside of the vertical maneuvering equipment. Every weapon had its flaws, but this flaw was dangerous. The second flaw was also something to take into consideration.
"Yeah, but there's not a lot I can do to change it," said Eren. "I'll find a way to work around them."
"Way ahead of you," said Mercury, who took out a second piece of paper. "Think you'd be interested in this?"
Eren and Cinder looked at the paper, amazed by what the new equipment could do. "Wow," said Cinder. "This is actually pretty good."
"You can build this?" Eren asked, hoping that it was possible.
"Not tonight he can't."
Everyone turned around to see another teenager, a girl with short brown hair and soft blue eyes wearing a light brown vest over her torn white shirt along with brown jeans. She walked over to Mercury with a smile. "Hey, you."
"Hey there, Flower Girl," Mercury said with a chuckle.
The girl leaned down to Mercury and gave him a kiss. After they separated, she looked to Eren and Cinder. "How's it going, guys?" she asked.
"Hey, Vernal," Eren said.
"Still haven't thought of a good comeback for that nickname, huh?" Cinder asked with a smirk.
"Give me time," Vernal answered with a toothy grin. "Sorry that I gotta steal your armorer here." Vernal took Mercury's chair and pushed him towards the door. Given that the two had been dating for a while, she was the only one Mercury allowed to push his chair from time to time.
"So what's the plan for tonight?" Cinder asked. "Dinner and a movie?"
"Overrated," Vernal answered. "Mercury and I are gonna hit the town, maybe show off those weapons he made for me."
"Don't know how long we'll be gone," Mercury pointed out. "But if you like the design, I'll try to start tonight." Before he could say anything else, Vernal whispered into his ear and winked at him. With a gasp and a smile, he turned back to his friends. "Actually, I'll start in the morning." Vernal whispered something to him again. "Later in the morning."
It was late in the afternoon, and everyone in Kuroyuri was getting ready to go home and starting to cook dinner. But Dina, Ren, and Nora were all waiting by Kuroyuri's landing pad, patiently waiting for a particular airship.
Well, everyone except Nora was being patient. At the moment, she was asking Ren some questions while jumping in the air.
"Are they here yet?"
"No."
"Are they here yet?"
"No."
"Are they here yet?"
"No."
"Are they here yet?"
Ren sighed as he pointed to the sky, trying to hide his annoyance. "Look up to the sky," he said. "Once you see their ship, you'll know they're here."
Nora did as she was told, and saw a nice blue orange sky, a few clouds hanging over them. Once she gazed into the beautiful sky, Nora had one thing to say.
"...Are they here yet?"
"Ugh," Ren moaned. "I give up."
"They're here!" Dina shouted as she pointed in the sky. Ren looked up to see the same airship that left a few hours ago come into view. Once it touched down to the ground, three teenagers hopped out and waved at the pilot. Once he waved back and saw there would be no new passengers, he took the ship back into the air. Without further ado, Dina and the teenagers that accompanied her began to welcome Mercury to Kuroyuri. And the first to do this was Nora.
"Well, if it isn't the Merc with a Mouth!" she said with a smile as Mercury raised his arm and formed a grasp with Nora.
"What's good, Red Bomber?" Mercury asked with a toothy grin. The two had created these nicknames for each other when they were kids, when Nora would visit Mercury in the hospital. Given that Mercury loved to talk and Nora had a habit of exploding in excitement most of the time, the names were perfect. The two had formed a close bond at the hospital, given that Nora could make his bad days have one good thing. And Mercury gave Nora some tips about exercising, given that he learned a lot from both his father and the doctors.
"Welcome back, Mercury," Ren said with an extended hand.
"Hey, Ren." Mercury shook his hand. "What's new and exciting?"
"Other than Nora's unpredictable nature and our training, every day has been the same."
Now it was Dina's turn to greet Mercury. "It's so good to see you, Mercury," she said as she embraced the boy. A heat rose to his face, given that this was the last thing he expected to experience.
"Um... good to see you too, Ms. Fritz," he said. As she released the embrace, Dina turned to see Eren and Cinder each carrying a set of equipment on their sides. Nora and Ren looked closer to see that it was a metal case of blades and arrows, which made them gasp in amazement. Mercury looked back and saw what they were doing. "Like what you see?"
Nora turned back to Mercury. "Wait, you made these?"
"Took me some time, but yeah."
Ren took a closer look at Cinder's as he walked around her. "Intriguing," he said. "But what does it do?"
Before Mercury or Eren could answer, Cinder followed Ren's glare and made a quick remark. "There's nothing behind me that involves my weapon." A smirk formed on her lips. "Or is there something else there that you like, Ren?"
"Gah!" Ren turned away in embarrassment, putting a hand up to block his vision of Cinder's behind.
Everyone began to laugh, except Dina. "Cinder," she said with crossed arms and a dry expression on her face. This wasn't the first time Cinder made remarks of her body like this, and it was never something her adoptive mother approved of.
And Cinder stopped doing so as quickly as she began. "Sorry, Mom," she said sincerely. Quickly deciding to change the subject, she told Nora and Ren that she would show off her weapon tomorrow. Dina then suggested that they all go to her house to let Mercury unpack and eat some dinner.
As they made the walk, Mercury couldn't help but feel that Kuroyuri was different from what he remembered. He only spent about a week in the town and that was several years ago, but he would think that he would remember a large wall with mounted turrets and a drawbridge for protection. And the village seemed to have much larger houses, some looked like they could fit two families. After a minute of walking, Mercury's curiosity revealed itself. "So... the town looks... different," he said.
"We were able to make some big changes after you left," said Dina. "The money we got for that Councilman's arrest helped pay for your surgeries and those turrets. Later on, the mayor decided than rather keep them on the ground, we could make the city's walls larger to keep out larger Grimm and raise the guns high enough for Grimm in the air."
"Don't forget about the expansion, Ms. Fritz," Eren pointed out.
"Oh, yes! We moved our old wall a few feet beyond its old position, and it was in just the right spot."
"Why's that?" Mercury asked.
"We found Dust," Cinder explained. "A deposit of Dust that stretches underground for... who knows how long? The mayor made a trade deal with Mistral and Argus, supplies for Dust."
"Whoa." This was a lot for Mercury to take in, which left him speechless for the rest of the trip back to Dina's farm. After sharing a hot meal and explaining Mercury's job of keeping the farm's equipment up and running, everyone went to bed and prepared themselves for what tomorrow would bring.
The first day of working went off without a hitch. While Eren and Cinder were moving bales of straw and cleaning the stables, Mercury was fixing a broken tractor and other farming tools. After a light lunch, Eren decided now would be a good time for training. But rather than staying at Dina's farm, Eren led Cinder, Mercury, Ren, and Nora beyond Kuroyuri's wall and close to the forest.
"Eren's given me the rundown of your training," said Mercury, who was walking close to Ren and Nora. "Not bad, it's more than what my dad taught me."
"Are you sure you feel up to this?" Nora asked. "I know you just got out of the hospital, and-Gah!" Nora suddenly felt something hit the back of her right leg, sending her off balance and hitting the ground. She looked up to see Mercury with his leg slightly extended past his body. As she rubbed the back of her head, Nora knew what the attack meant. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"
"And I'll take that as something we should work on," Mercury said as he helped Nora stand. "Sound good to you, Eren?"
"Yeah, maybe you could show them some of your stuff," Eren said as he looked into the trees.
"Me? What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know... but wish me luck."
Eren suddenly ran and jumped into the air. Quickly moving his leg, a metal hook shot out from his side and struck into a tree. The hook was connected to a metal cord that made Eren swing in the air, covering much more distance than a normal person could do.
As everyone marveled at the feat he just performed with the equipment on his side, Cinder rushed towards the same direction. "Eren, wait for me!" she shouted as she mimicked his movement. The same hook came out of the metal and latched onto another tree, sending Cinder soaring.
As Eren shot two hooks from his sides into the trees, he began to regain the same feeling he had when he was a soldier. Long ago, he asked Mercury to make him a set of vertical maneuvering equipment, the primary weapon of any soldier inside the walls of Paradis. In order to use it properly again, Eren tried to recreate the hanging challenge Instructor Shadis had during his training. His Hardening abilities made making the posts easy, and the rope was even easier to find. The hardest part turned out to be teaching Cinder how to hang correctly, since she wanted to have the same weapon herself. However, she had her own twist on the equipment.
When Cinder was going through the air, a few feet behind Eren, she found the feeling to be glorious. The wind rushing on her face, the sudden stop once she needed to fire her grappling hook again, it was all incredible. As a child, she once wondered what it would be like to fly. And now, she seemed to have mimicked a fraction of that power. And when she passed by a Beowolf, she decided to put her unique feature to use. Taking off a part of the metal rectangles on her side and combining them, Cinder made a bow and pulled a metal arrow out of the equipment. Once she aimed and let the arrow go, she saw that her aim was true and that the Beowolf was dust.
"Cinder, look out!"
Cinder looked away from the Beowolf to see herself crash into some branches. While she didn't get her hooks caught in the trees, Cinder unfortunately came flying out of the woods and into a vast empty field, with nothing to latch onto. Eren acted quickly and flung himself out of the woods, coming close to Cinder. Just when they were about to hit the ground, Eren pressed a small button where two straps met on his chest. Just as he pushed it, a boost of air escaped from under both pieces of equipment and sent Eren straight into the air rather than to the side. The boost also made him fly closer to Cinder so he could grab her. Once she was safe, Eren landed on the ground.
Mercury stopped working with Nora and Ren to check on Cinder. "Guys, you okay?!" he quickly asked.
"I'm fine," Cinder said as Eren let her go. "Sorry, Eren. Guess I got a little carried away."
"Don't worry about it," said Eren, who got up and dusted himself off. "It actually gave me a chance to try out that new feature. It works good, Mercury."
"Nice," the tinkerer said with a smile. He looked at Cinder's equipment and noticed something missing. "Cinder, did you fire an arrow?"
"I did," she replied, taking another one out. "Hit a Beowolf right in the chest. I should probably go back and get it." Cinder started to walk towards the woods. "Hey, Eren. Did you try out your-?"
*BOOM*
An explosion in the distance caught everyone's attention. As soon as they turned to the source and heard rapid gunfire follow the explosion, they all knew the same thing; Kuroyuri was under attack.
This caused everyone to start running as fast as they could. Eren and Cinder used their equipment to fly in the air to gain more distance. Once they stopped, they could see a glimpse of what kind of damage the walls were taking, as well as the ones responsible.
Mercury was the first to join them as he stopped running and looked at the large wall. "What is it?" he asked. "Grimm?"
Ren and Nora quickly joined him, and Ren was able to make out something at the bottom of the wall. While he was expecting to see the dark creatures trying to get inside, he instead saw a group of people trying to scale the wall and take down the drawbridge.
"...Worse."
Author's notes: Rosa Montoya is based on DC's Renee Montoya and Councilman Charles is based on King Charlemange (Founder of the Holy Roman Empire, who was also known for having perverted interests).
