Chapter 7: This is Sparta

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

Previously: Eren gets his own horse, The Batmobile. He likes his squad, especially Petra. He's pissed at Levi for not apologizing and mostly ignoring him. Sonny and Bean are killed.


"So this Joffrey lied because of his pride and that got the boy and the wolf killed? What a bastard," Gunther said, shaking his head.

Eren snorted. "He really was a cunt."

"Hold on." Oluo frowned, voice full of confusion. "I thought Joffrey was at the Wall."

"That was Jon," Eld corrected him. "Keep up, man."

"This is too confusing." Oluo threw his hands up. "Way too many names. I give up."

"You're the one who begged me to explain when you overheard me telling the story to Petra. Now you're giving up because of too many names? You quitter."

Eld walked casually along with Eren while their other two teammates hurried ahead, not wanting to be late and incur Levi's wrath. "I heard you've been allowed to send letters to your friends."

"After I finish it, Petra has to read it and blackout whatever she thinks shouldn't be there."

"You've really grown attached to her."

"She reminds me of my mom," Eren said, a fond smile on his face.


"...and she's so graceful when she kills Titans it's like watching poetry in motion. She's so strong and brave and loyal and beautiful, I'm going to marry that girl," Eren said dreamily.

"She sounds amazing," Petra said.

"She is."

Eren stopped daydreaming and turned back to his letter. It was already over a page long with how he met his new squad, who his favorite was, whom he liked to annoy, what kind of things he was learning, and any other shenanigans he'd been up to. Normally, Petra would keep talking, knowing when he preferred it to be quiet. But she was being uncharacteristically silent even though she knew he enjoyed talking with her.

"What's wrong?" Eren asked her.

"I'm sorry?"

"You've been acting weird since yesterday." And he had a pretty good idea why.

"Why were you being disrespectful to Captain Levi?" Petra looked at him in disproval.

"You've been waiting for me to walk into this, haven't you?"

"Answer the question, please."

Eren's jaw clenched. "Maybe you should ask Captain Jackass." He stood up and attempted to stomp away.

Her hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back down. "Don't just get up and run away when I'm talking to you," Petra scolded.

"I'm sorry," Eren blurted instinctively at the stern tone. He crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his face. "I'm sorry but I can't say anything. It's classified."

"What do you mean? Like a confidentiality order?"

"I agreed to one for this." He gestured to the paper before him. "And four hundred sixty-three cups of pudding."

"What?" Petra said incredulously. "Pudding?"

"Well, what can I say? We elves like to stick to the main food groups: candy, candy cane, candy corn, and syrup. But the pudding was so good I decided to make an exception. So I'm getting vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, and butterscotch! Let me know if you want one. I can hook you up!" Eren said proudly.

"You're changing the subject." Petra sighed and turned back to her own letter, realizing she wouldn't get anything out of him.

"Who are you writing to?"

"My father."

Eren peeked over at her shoulder to read the letter.

"What are you doing?" Petra automatically covered the paper with her hand.

"Is that how you always talk about Captain Dipshit?"

"What do you mean? And don't call him that. It's extremely rude and unprofessional and—"

"Sounds like you like him."

"Excuse me?"

"You like him. As in, you want to marry him, bang him, and have his evil little cravat-wearing babies."

Petra spluttered, mortified. "No! What! I—what?" She uncovered the letter and asked. "Is that what it really sounds like?"

"Yup."

"No wonder he keeps dropping hints about marriage."


Eren's expression soured briefly when he caught sight of Levi. They were meeting in the same mess hall where Hange first joined them a few nights back, offering to tell him about Titans and her research. She sat at one end of the table with Levi at the other. Eren turned to face her. "Is that a sketchpad?" He nodded to the item before her.

Hange slid the sketchpad and a pencil toward him. "I want you to draw the Armored Titan for me."

Eren eyed the items skeptically. "I'm not really much of an artist."

"That's okay. Moblit's made a good sketch based on the descriptions from several reliable eye-witnesses. But I wanna see if how you remember the Armored is any different. Or if it might trigger something in your memories."

Slowly, Eren opened the sketchpad, holding the pencil to the paper. I can't remember what the bastard looks like! He frowned, deep in thought. C'mon memories! He could feel the others' eyes on him. Why couldn't he picture him? Eren II had said the memories should come more easily now. Was he just overthinking it? Maybe all he needed was to let his hand move on its own.

"It's okay if it looks shitty," Oluo taunted him. "We're expecting nothing less."

"Don't listen to this idiot. Just do your best," Petra encouraged him warmly.

Eren ignored the older man and nodded to her, and carefully began to draw. He could see they were surprised when he finished in less than half a minute. Eld and Moblit, sitting on either side of him, leaned in. Confusion covered their faces.

"What is it?" Petra asked, wanting to see.

Chuckling nervously, Eren held up the sketch for everyone to see: one stick figure kicking another stick figure and the words "THIS IS SPARTA!" underneath them.

"Stop fooling around, Eren," Gunther scolded, a disapproving look on his face. "This is serious. We're the ones who have to defeat the Armored Titan, and to do that we need to know as much as we can about him."

"I know! I was just warming up!" Eren said defensively. "I was only—AHHHH!"

They jumped at his sudden scream.

"What? What?" Hange demanded, standing so fast she knocked over her chair.

Eren tried to school his features, eyes still wide. "That's one big ass armored motherfucker! That Armored Titan bastard I mean of course!" He blathered. Eren II's memories had finally come through. "We're gonna need a fucking RYNO if we wanna take its ass out!"

"Rhino?"

"What is he talking about now?"

"Beats me."

"I wonder about half the things he says."

Unsurprisingly, they didn't understand his reference to one of his favorite weapons: Rip Ya a New One. He opened his mouth to explain but thought the concept of a missile launcher was beyond them. "I'll draw him for real this time."

"That's..." Moblit began when Eren held up his finished product. "...about what I have. Kind of. Same basics," he said lamely. "Um, you know, face, arms, legs, armor."

It's worse than Jaco's drawing of Frieza. Eren perked up. At least while he was stuck in this crappy world, there would be more dubbed episodes of Dragon Ball Super out when he returned home. "How exactly are we going to beat the Armored Titan? I mean, the dude's completely covered in armor."

"He'll have a weakness," Levi said. "We just have to figure out what is it."

"We all know that," Eren said impatiently. "I'm asking how do we find out what it is?" He addressed the question to Hange. She was the smart one.

"Unfortunately, without more data, we can't do anything but speculate at this point." She cheered up quickly. "But that's what we have you for! Tomorrow we'll begin the experiments to learn more about Titans and Titan-Shifters!"


Eren snickered while he drew.

Stepping back, he admired his work.

He was in an empty classroom with a blackboard in the front and a desk nearby. Oluo was the first to arrive. "Come here, Oreo." He waved to the man. Eren had gotten him to arrive just before the others came by bribing him and saying he'd tell Oluo a secret about Petra. He tossed Oluo the chalk. Oluo caught it reflexively. "Give me a minute," Eren said, backing away. "I'll be right back. You can admire my art in the meantime."

Eren waited patiently outside the door until he heard the others. He opened the door and stepped in right when they turned the corner. Oluo was standing in the middle of the room, gaping at Eren's doodle on the blackboard. "Oreo," he said in disgust, "what the hell, man? That's just vulgar!"

That was when the rest of their squad plus Hange joined the two of them.

Oluo looked at him in confusion before looking at the chalk in his hand and the blackboard before turning to the unamused expressions on the others' faces.

Except for Hange. She laughed at the drawing of one stick figure spanking the other one that was on all fours with a dialogue bubble saying Oh baby!

"It wasn't me!" Oluo yelled and pointed accusingly at Eren. "He did it!"

Eren stared pointedly at the chalk in Oluo's hand. He had made sure to dust off his own hands to get rid of the evidence.

"Honestly, Oluo! You're so juvenile!" Petra said, arms folded. "What kind of example are you setting for Eren?"

"But, Petra—"

Levi threw an eraser at his face, looking far from pleased. "Clean it right now. I'll punish you after this."

Throwing Eren a glare, Oluo erased the drawing, sulking, his face red the entire time.

"You did this, didn't you?" Eld whispered, leaning down.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Really? Because that looked an awful lot like the style of drawing you made yesterday," Gunther pointed out.

Eren shrugged. "Hey, it's stick figure doodles, not rocket science. Anyone can do it."

They watched Levi while Hange sat on the teacher's desk. Levi drew the back of a Titan and circled its nape. "I found a way to half-kill you."

"I have no doubt that you did." Eren switched targets. This time he was more mean-spirited than mischievous prankster. He noticed Hange shifting in his periphery, likely picking up on it. He wondered if the others had picked up on it, too. But they were standing a few feet behind him so he couldn't tell. "But I'm not sure you'll be able to pull off half killing me."

"Captain Levi is the best soldier, have some faith." Gunther was clearly oblivious to the actual meaning of Eren's words. "He can definitely stop you if you start rampaging."

Levi ignored them both, continuing to explain before Eren could throw down the gauntlet and issue a formal challenge. "This method requires the entire squad's skills. We'll cut off the ends of your arms and legs. But they'll grow back."

If they don't grow back you'll be hearing from my lawyer. Eren thought. Which reminds me, I gotta find a lawyer.

"It's dangerous for all of us. We could end up seriously hurting you. Or you might kill us accidentally."

"Can we start my experiments now?" Hange cut in suddenly and loudly when Eren opened his mouth to deliver a scathing reply. "They're risky, I know. But to learn something new and have a better understanding is well worth the risk to our lives."


Where the hell is Hange? Eren stood by The Batmobile. Hange was supposed to be here already. Levi was a few feet over to his right with his horse.

"She probably lost some notes in that mess of an office of hers," Levi said and Eren pretended to look around.

"Do you see anyone?" Eren asked his horse. "No way is Captain Short-Stack actually talking to me." The Batmobile nickered and he nodded, expression solemn. "Yeah, you're right." The horse neighed. "Don't worry," he said, patted her, smiling widely, "you'll be okay. If he tries to knock out one of your teeth I'll squash him under my foot like the insignificant little cockroach he is. Not that you'll need any help driving him into the ground since he's already halfway there."

"You need to watch yourself. You're treading on thin ice with your little jabs," Levi warned, for once staring directly at him. "Do I have to remind you that you're under a confidentiality order? Breaking it means death."

"Are you threatening me—"

"Hey, guys!" Hange called out, riding toward them, once again diffusing the situation. "Ready to go?"

Eren inhaled and exhaled, letting the anger go. He mounted his horse. "The Batmobile and I are ready for action!" Hange led them to a field of grass with an old well. He grabbed the rope and climbed down without preamble. "What now?" Eren yelled when he reached the bottom, cupping his mouth.

"I'll fire a smoke round once it's ready and then it's up to you!" Hange shouted down.

Eren gave her a two-finger salute, before he clarified. "Got it!"

"This dried-up well can hold even a mindless Titan! Probably!"

Probably, she says. Their heads disappeared and he waited for them to get away and load the flare gun. A trail of green smoke shot up to the sky. That's my cue. But he waited a good twenty seconds, not wanting to show he had perfect control and expose his lie about not remembering about his Titan powers. Alright, that should do it.

His hand stopped halfway to his mouth. Should I mess with them? It would be so easy to hold one arm up now so when he transformed, he wouldn't be stuck and pull himself out after some wiggling and maneuvering. Maybe he should beat his chest like an ape. He snickered at what their reactions would be to that. Nah, better not. He had already been making pointed remarks and adding a prank of pretending to be feral might actually get him in hot water. Levi's face popped up in his head. If it didn't get him killed first, that is. The hobbit is formidable, he admitted grudgingly. Eren had to give him that.

Lightning exploded out of the well when he transformed.

His Titan form, the Rogue Titan he had learned people had taken to calling him, appeared, stuck in the well. His face and the top part of his shoulders were visible aboveground. His massive, muscular shoulders were squished tightly, leaving him unable to so much as twitch, making him uncomfortable. But it was nothing he couldn't handle. And he could still move his head around. He nodded his massive head to let them know he was in control.

Hange let out an inhuman screech, jumping off her horse and racing over.

Rogue laughed when she tripped and fell face-first in her rush to get to him.

"Eren?"

The Titan winked at her.

"HOLY CRAP! THIS IS SO UNBELIEVABLE!" Hange looked like she was almost having a seizure. Or an orgasm.

Eren chuckled internally while the scientist rambled praises about his majestic form and squealed in excitement every other sentence. He wondered if his Titan was able to sneeze and was tempted to try it on Levi, but he didn't want the man's poor horse to be caught in the attack. It wasn't the horse's fault her rider was a horrible, evil midget.

While Hange made observations and babbled away, he kept still—not like he had a choice—looking quite bored.

A goofy smile came over his face when his thoughts turned to Mikasa. And while Hange kept poking and prodding every visible part of his body, he daydreamed about running off to the edge of wherever they were to find a large body of water and watching the sunset with Mikasa perched on his huge shoulder. Maybe they'd have Armin tag along. His Armin back home loved the beach.

The image of an island suddenly popped up in his head.

Eren ignored Hange's apology, thinking her actions had startled him. That couldn't be Eren II's memory. Where had that come from?

Grisha's words came back to him. "Their memories will tell you how to use it!"

Whose memories had his dad been referring to? Was this what he meant at that time? We're on an island, huh? I wonder where. Another thought came to him: If they were on an island, then what about the rest of the world? What was happening in other countries? Other continents? Now he was even more convinced they could not be the last of humanity. And the plot thickens.


Were there Titans in the rest of the world, harassing humans hiding behind their own giant walls? Eren sipped his tea, deep in thought. The way he saw the island, it was like he was approaching it on a boat or a ship. Which didn't prove it was an island, because it could be a peninsula, but he just knew it was an island. Was that memory from the first time humans came to hide here from the Titans? Again, he couldn't explain it, but he knew instinctively that it wasn't a century old memory, but much more recent.

Eren scanned his surroundings, trying to find Petra, easy to locate thanks to her hair. The corner of his mouth turned down slightly when he saw who she was with. "Excuse me," he pardoned himself from his squadmates. He needed to get his hands on some maps. And history books.

Eren suddenly came to a halt. His green eyes narrowed.

There was a golden-orange explosion as he partially transformed. When the steam cleared around him, he noted, in some satisfaction, nothing crawling around the red muscle fist punched into the ground. Before he could pull himself out of the half-formed wrist, he heard Levi speak.

"I said calm down." The man was standing before Eren, his back to him.

What is he— It was then Eren saw his squadmates had surrounded him, swords out, looking serious. Uh-oh.

"Eren, what's the meaning of this?!"

"Why did you transform without permission?"

"Eld, wait," Eren began but was interrupted.

"Answer him, bastard!"

"C'mon, Oreo, no need to—"

"Eren, what were you thinking?!"

"Petra, I'm—"

"Prove you're not our enemy!" Gunther shouted.

That had been such a bad idea. Eren mentally slapped himself. You're being a total imbecile today, aren't you? First thinking it might be funny to pretend to be a feral Titan—but, thankfully, having enough sense not to go through with it—and now this. Get your head on straight, Yeager, or you'll get yourself killed. He attempted to remove himself from the red Titan flesh.

"Don't you dare move! I'll cut your head off! I'm serious! Want to try me?!"

"Sorry, Oreo, I'm more of a Chunky Chips fan myself." That was really not the best thing to say. Why did his mouth have to run ahead of his brain in dire situations? Like when people were pointing swords or cannons at him. Sometimes Eren really wished he would cope with stress differently.

They continued to yell at him.

Every time he tried to say something, someone would interrupt. Finally, Eren got fed up and screamed. "WILL YOU ALL SHUT YOUR PIE-HOLES ALREADY?!"

They gaped at him.

"Thank you. Now, like I was saying—"

"Eren!" A feminine voice shrieked.

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

That was when Hange joined him. "Can I touch—"

"No." Eren finally freed himself and jumped down. She reached out to the red muscles and was burned. "I warned you."

The others lowered their weapons when Levi waved them down. "Let's go," Levi said, his tone leaving no room for Eren's usual shit.

Eren's stomach dropped. Levi and Hange led him back to the basement. She attacked him with questions but he was barely listening, nausea beginning to crawl in his stomach when the seriousness of his actions began to really hit home.

How could he be so brainless? Worry tore at him at his foolish actions. He had grown comfortable with his squad—although clearly, they didn't feel the same and he tried not to think about how much that stung. But even if they were his friends, they were still soldiers first and foremost. He was in the military, even if they wore strange uniforms. What the hell had he been thinking? Of course, he should have expected consequences for breaking rules. Especially one as important as this one.

Eren felt fear pulsing through his veins. What were they going to do to him? Hand him over to the Military Police to be turned into a lab rat? Or was it straight to the chopping block because he couldn't be controlled and was too dangerous to be allowed to live any longer? Or worst of them all, what if they tried to go after Mikasa and Armin to keep him in line?

Suddenly, he remembered: They don't know I know how to control my powers so they have to think it was an accident! He was glad Levi was walking in front of him and Hange behind him so neither could see his relieved face. Think, Eren! Think! How could he spin the truth so it'd lead them to the truth but without landing him in deep shit with the government?

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Levi asked. "Why did you transform?"

Eren bowed his head, feeling ashamed. "I saw a spider." It was true. He clenched his fists tightly, making sure to bring attention to them by making them tremble. "I've always been afraid of them and I just wanted to kill it and I wasn't thinking—"

"Of course!" Realization dawned on Hange's face. "Injury! And intent! That's why you transformed! That's why the entire body didn't appear, only a fist!"

Eren didn't need to fake the shocked expression. He was genuinely taken back by how quickly she had reached the right conclusion. Damn, she's even smarter than I give her credit for. He didn't even have to drop any of the other hints he had prepared. "What are you talking about?" Eren continued to feign ignorance.

"You wanted to kill the spider and you must have dug your nails so deeply into your palms that they broke the skin. You took some time in the well. Do you remember what you did before you transformed?"

"I punched the wall because I was frustrated."

"Pick up the boulder, squash the spider," Hange said in amazement. "You needed both an injury and a clear goal in mind. It must be why it took you so long in the well. You didn't have a proper objective at first."

"Okay, then," Levi decided after listening to their exchange. "In this case, you'll be forgiven since you didn't deliberately transform without permission."

That was exactly what I did. Never again, though, Eren vowed.

"I need to add this to my notes!" Hange ran off, rambling. "And I'll go explain it to the higher-ups."

"Now that you know," Levi said after she left, "you'll be held accountable for any unauthorized transformations in the future."

"I can't believe I almost got beheaded over a stupid spider." Eren turned his back to Levi and sat down on the stone steps. "They turned on me so quickly," he muttered quietly.

Levi's answer surprised him, apparently having heard him. "Of course they did. That's why I chose them."

For once, Eren actually bothered to listen to Levi instead of spacing-out as he usually did when Levi talked.


Everyone was waiting for him when he joined them in the evening, having spent the rest of the afternoon in his cell as "punishment." His squadmates apologized sincerely. It did make him feel better. Before he could tell them Levi had explained to him the reasons behind their actions and that he understood, they did something that left him open-mouthed.

His squadmates bit their hands as a way of acknowledging his pain and declaring that they considered him one of their own. They were admitting their mistake and praising him for his endurance. They're accepting me as one of them, he thought warmly.

"I'm so sorry, Eren," Petra apologized, voice full of regret. "We've been so jumpy. You must be disappointed in our stupidity."

Had one of the men said it he might have been tempted to be a wiseass and make fun.

"However, even so, we're going to rely on you. And we want you to rely on us. So have faith in us."

Swallowing with difficulty, Eren smiled. And the uneasy atmosphere disappeared, just like that. "You know, there is something you can do to make up for turning on me like that."

They exchanged a knowing look between each other.

"I knew it." Oluo rolled his eyes. "Didn't take long, did it?"

Eld sighed loudly. "He's started with the guilt-trips already."

"We're not calling ourselves the Revengers," Levi said quickly.

"It's the Avengers. And nobody asked you, tiny Captain Qwark."

"That's still a no, Eren."

"But, Petra," he whined, "you pointed your blade at me with the intent to kill!" He made those adorable puppy-dog eyes of his at her.

"He's never going to let this go," Gunther groaned.


References

Joffrey Baratheon — Prince of Westeros, Game of Thrones

Jon Snow — Member of the Stark family, Game of Thrones

"We elves like to stick to the main food groups: candy, candy cane, candy corn, and syrup." —Elf

"This is Sparta!" — quote from the movie 300

RYNO — The most powerful weapon in the Ratchet & Clank video game series

Jaco — A galactic patrolman, Dragon Ball series

Frieza — Villain from anime Dragon Ball Z/Super

Captain Qwark — Greedy, cowardly goofball who pretends to be a brave hero, Ratchet & Clank


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