Chapter 16: Breakthrough


After he had finished eating, Eren was ordered to go out and keep an eye on Heidi. The moon was beginning to rise in the dark night sky.

"Here you go, Eren," Petra said, getting his attention, as she held out a cup of tea.

"Ah, thank you," Eren said, accepting it gratefully.

"Is she still running?" Levi asked, coming out to check on them after a while.

"Yes, sir. She hasn't stopped once... but she is starting to slow down..." Eren answered as Heidi came jogging back around, panting heavily and dripping with sweat. She was doing incredibly well for someone who had started out running on empty to begin with.

"Captain, how much longer are you planning to make her run?" Petra asked, concerned. Heidi looked like she was dying out there...

"That depends... Frankly, I'm running out of ideas. There isn't much more I can do, short of actually killing her..." Levi answered, considering his options, while he watched Heidi run. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Eren's face as he grimaced sympathetically. He could only imagine the kind of hell the strict the captain must have put Heidi through during their training...

"Ah!" Petra gasped when Heidi stumbled on something and started to fall, face-first.

"!!" Eren exclaimed in alarm, shooting to his feet.

'Shit...!' Heidi cursed as the ground drew closer. If she fell now, she didn't think she could get back up again! She had to keep moving, but her body had finally reached its limit. Her face was only a few inches away from the ground. This was the end... She was going to be known as Vomit Girl forever! She had known, both instinctively and logically, that no matter how harshly Levi had treated her or how badly he had scared her before, that he had no real intention of killing her, and that he was being careful not to let her die. But this—his threat to make that disgusting, humiliating nickname permanent—now, that, that she didn't doubt for one second. He would do it. Hours of physical pain and constant death threats she could endure, but that promised epithet was just too much for her. No—she'd die before she let that happen!! Suddenly, it was as if a floodgate had been opened, and a new surge of extraordinary strength and vitality suddenly swept through Heidi. Her pupils contracted and dilated as her hands shot out in front of her.

"Oh!!" Eren and Petra gasped in surprise as, in one swift and fluid motion, she tucked and rolled into a somersault, got back on her feet, and took off with a sudden burst of speed without stopping.

"..." Levi stared at her. In that instant, the moonlight had reflected off of her eyes, allowing him to see the change in them. This was more than just a simple second wind. She had finally done it. After everything he had put her through today, Vomit Girl had finally managed to activate her controlled berserker state while running...

"Captain!" Petra said excitedly as she realized what must have happened.

"Yeah, I know," he said calmly, straightening up. "It's over. You can stop now!" he called out. Heidi immediately halted and walked back over to them. Despite having been on the verge of collapsing only seconds ago, she was now cool, calm, and collected as she stood before them, and she held herself well. There was an aura of strength and power emanating from her. It was like they were looking at a completely different person. "Well done... Heidi," Levi said reaching out to give her a pat on the head. He immediately regretted doing so once he felt how wet with sweat her hair was, but Heidi's whole face lit up with happiness upon hearing him finally acknowledge her and call her by her real name, and she smiled brightly at him, as if all were completely forgiven. "..." Levi stared down at her, not quite sure how to react. "Just take a bath before you do anything else," he ordered, pulling out his handkerchief to wipe his hand off as he turned and headed back inside.

"Yes, sir!" Heidi responded cheerfully.

"Good for you, Heidi!" Petra said with a smile. Not only did the captain praise her, but she had received one of his extremely rare head-pats!

"Yeah, way to go!!" Eren praised her, patting her on the back. "Now you just have to turn it off!"

"Eh?" Heidi said, blinking. "Um, I'm not really sure I know how..." she confessed, rubbing the back of her neck. Last time she had just fought until she lost consciousness...

"..." They all stood there in silence for a moment, wondering what they should do.

"Well, for now, just try not to break anything..." Petra said with wry smile as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. She'd hate to imagine what would happen if she did... Hopefully the bath would help her relax.

—∞—

The bath really did seem to help, because the moment Heidi finished filling her empty stomach, she promptly fell asleep at the table with a very relaxed and satisfied look on her face.

"Geez, look at her..." Oruo muttered. "So carefree... Does she have any idea how nerve-wracking it was for us during supper because of her?" The captain had been in such a foul mood, they could have cut the tension filling the air with a knife.

"I don't think that was entirely her fault..." Petra said charitably. After all, he had already been in a bad mood before she talked back to him, and he had calmed down considerably once he had some tea and something to eat.

"You're being too nice to her, Petra," Oruo told her with a frown. "That Vomit Girl—" Whatever he had been about to say died in his throat when a knife flew past the side of his face, almost close enough to cut him, with enough force to embed itself in the stone wall behind him. He glanced back at Heidi and saw that her right arm was now laying across the table, and her knife was missing from her plate.

"..." They all stared at the sleeping girl, stunned.

"This brat! She's actually awake, isn't she!?" Oruo shouted incredulously.

"No, she's definitely asleep," Eren said with certainty. "You have to be extra careful around Heidi when she's unconscious, because if you try to say or do something she doesn't like, her defenses automatically kick in, and she doesn't hold back at all..."

"Seriously...?" Gunther asked, sweat-dropping. That sounded dangerous, especially considering how close she had just come to maiming Oruo...

"Hmph. There's no way something like that's possible..." Oruo said stubbornly as a bead of nervous sweat slid down the side of his face. "I'm sure it was just a coincidence that Vomit Girl—"

BAM.

Oruo froze, white with shock, as he stared down at the fork Heidi had just stabbed into the table in the thin gap between his middle and index finger.

"Maybe you should stop calling her that..." Erd advised him.

"Good evening, Squad Levi..." Hange greeted them rather dispiritedly, trudging into the room to join them, obviously still feeling down about losing Sawney and Bean.

"Ah, Ms. Hange, you're back..." Eren said.

"Have they found the culprit yet?" Gunther asked.

"No, not yet..." Hange said glumly. "What happened here?" the dejected squad leader asked curiously after noticing the knife in the wall and the fork in the table.

"Heidi. Apparently, she fights in her sleep..." Erd answered with a wry smile.

"Heh, is that so?" Hange asked, glancing at the sleeping girl. She looked so innocent like that, it was hard to believe. Deciding to test that theory firsthand, the curious squad leader took out a pebble that just so happened to be on Hange's person and threw it at Heidi. Without opening her eyes, Heidi snatched up the empty plate in front of her and used it to deflect the pebble, altering its course so that it nailed Oruo right between the eyes. For a moment, it was completely silent aside from the small laugh Petra let out as Oruo sat there, stunned.

"This... isn't it actually kind of fun...!?" Hange said with sparkling eyes, pulling out another pebble. The titan-lover seemed to have found a new toy.

"What's fun?" Levi asked, leaning in the doorway. He was surprised to see Hange looking so happy after seeing how depressed the shitty-glasses had been only a moment ago when Hange came back to update him on what was going on outside.

"This!" Hange said, tossing the pebble. Once again, the incoming projectile was instantly blocked by Heidi's plate, only this time it hit Oruo on the nose.

"Why is it always me!!?" he demanded incredulously, shooting up out of his chair.

"Hey, calm down... She isn't even conscious!" Gunther reminded him while he and Erd held him back.

"That's right, she doesn't know what she's doing," Petra added.

"No way, she's definitely doing it purpose!!!" Oruo snapped, struggling to break free and pummel the snoozing brat. "I'm gonna—"

DINK.

Everyone went perfectly still when another pebble bounced off of Oruo's forehead. Eren and the four veterans turned their heads and saw that Hange was sitting perfectly still, while their stoic squad leader's hand was still raised. While they weren't looking, Hange had handed him a pebble so he could try it out for himself.

"You're right, that is amusing," Levi agreed with a straight face. To think Heidi could move so well even in her sleep... That old geezer really had put her through the wringer.

"C-Captain...!?" Oruo cried, feeling betrayed. Not him too!

"By the way, why do you have so many random pebbles on you, Squad Leader Hange?" Eren asked curiously.

"Hm? They're not random. I took these from the ground where Sawney and Bean were killed. If you look closely, there's still some of their blood on them. Don't worry, I still have plenty left," Hange replied, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"!" Oruo said, flinching in shock. You mean they were throwing titan remains at him!?

"Don't pick stuff like that up! It's gross," Levi scolded her sternly as he whipped out his handkerchief and began scrubbing the hand that had touched the pebble.

—∞—

The next morning, Heidi woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking.

"Ugh... Where am I?" she groaned groggily when she realized she wasn't in her bed, feeling extremely sore. It seemed they had left her sitting at the dining table with a blanket draped over her.

"Good morning," Petra greeted her brightly as she set a plate of ham and eggs down in front of her.

"Morning..." Heidi returned her greeting, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Here you go~!" Hange said cheerfully, adding a cup of what looked like black muck next to the plate. "Drink up!"

'Not this crap again...' Heidi thought, grimacing.

"Squad Leader Hange... What...?" Petra asked tentatively, watching as Heidi pinched her nose and began quickly chugging down the cup's questionable-looking contents.

"Oh, that? It's a special medicine to aid in recovery from the side-effects of the bersekergang. It's very effective, but it tastes really nasty..." Hange explained with a knowing look on her face as Heidi slammed down the empty cup with a shudder and began frantically shoveling food into her mouth to get rid of the vile taste left in it. Hange had tried some out of curiosity, and the results hadn't been pretty. As a result, the inquisitive squad leader found it impressive that Heidi could keep it down.

"Oh, I see... I'll go get you some juice, then," Petra said sympathetically, heading back into the kitchen as they were joined by Levi and the others.

"Oh, thank you... Let me help you with that," Heidi said, standing up to help her serve the others. Bad taste aside, she was already feeling much better. For some reason, Oruo flinched slightly and turned on her with what she supposed was meant to be a scornful glare when she approached him with his plate. "... Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Don't mind him. He's just holding a grudge for what happened yesterday," Gunther said carelessly.

"Hm? Did something happen after I fell asleep?" Heidi asked innocently, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Are you trying to say you don't remember?" Oruo asked incredulously.

"It's no use, Mr. Oruo," Eren said. "No matter what happens, she never seems to remember."

"That's such bullshit!" Oruo muttered angrily. Even if she couldn't remember, he still wanted an apology!

"What are you guys talking about?" Heidi asked, furrowing her brow slightly in confusion, totally lost.

"No, it's true," Eren insisted. "I heard she didn't even remember when she punched out Peter during the graduation party."

"What? When did that happen?" Heidi asked with a frown. That wasn't something she was likely to forget, despite how often it seemed to happen.

"When you fell asleep after drinking a boatload of spiked cider," he replied. "He thought you had your guard down, so he tried to kiss you."

"Over my dead body," Heidi said darkly through clenched teeth. "My judgment would never be that impaired!"

"No, don't worry, I heard it was an instant K.O." Eren reassured her as a bead of sweat slid down the side of his face. She looked ready to kill. Wherever Peter was, he'd better start running.

"Who's this Peter?" Hange asked curiously. It sounded like there was a real story there.

"No one important," Heidi answered curtly as she sat back down with a scowl on her face.

"Yeah, he's just the guy who used to make your life miserable back when we lived in Shiganshina," Eren quipped.

"Eh? You were bullied?" Petra asked Heidi, taken aback.

"It wasn't that big a deal... They mostly just made fun of my hair. Peter and his gang tried to cut it once, so I kicked their asses. After that, they decided it wasn't worth attacking me directly, so the abuse was only verbal from then on," Heidi explained as she clenched her fists under the table. "They'd call me things like 'tomato head'... I don't even like tomatoes...!" she exclaimed, looking away when she noticed Levi was watching her with a deep frown on his face as he listened, blushing a little out of embarrassment. She didn't like talking about it enough as it was without people staring at her so intensely. Of course, the reason for the strong expression of disapproval on his face was because it reminded him of how people used to do the same thing to Isabel. That kind of pointless bullying really pissed him off.

"Wait, if you were that strong, then why didn't you just beat them again?" Eren asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Because I was afraid of what my mom would do to me if she found out," Heidi stated seriously. "After the first incident, she threatened to roast me if I ever got in another fight."

"She got mad at you for defending yourself!?" Eren asked incredulously.

"Well, looking back, knowing what I do now... I think she was probably afraid that I might end up going berserk. I remember there being a few odd moments when she'd sometimes look at me like she was scared of something... It was probably because she knew about what happened to my father's family in the past," Heidi said thoughtfully. "But, either way, I wasn't about to risk her wrath. You've never seen her when she's really angry, Eren, so you have no idea how scary she could get when you made her mad. Her punishments were always cruelly creative..." she explained with a grim expression on her face.

"Isn't there anyone normal in your family?" Levi asked bluntly with a crease in his brow.

"Captain, that's a little..." Petra started to whisper.

"Of course," Heidi answered, nonplussed. She knew perfectly well what a circus her family was. "There's my cousin Jacob. He's going to start training to become a doctor soon," she said with a proud smile.

"Hm? You mean that little shrimp who was always hiding behind your skirt?" Eren asked, earning himself a sharp look.

"Give him a break, Eren. He was only six," Heidi said tartly. "And he's a lot tougher now." Her grandpa had given Jacob some training, too.

"Oh, that's right!" Hange exclaimed abruptly. "I almost forgot to give you this!" the squad leader said, pulling a small package out of a pocket and sliding it across the table to Heidi. "This came for you in the mail yesterday. Looks like its a little something from home."

"Oh, this is Jacob's handwriting," Heidi said when she saw the address on the outside of the package, opening it up. Inside was a box of some small round pellets with a semi-clear hard glaze and a letter.

Dear Heidi,
I know you're probably getting sick of drinking that nasty goop, so I tried making a dried version of it in the form of a pill. This way you can get the nutrients you need without having to drink it, and it should be more convenient to carry around with you on the go. I tried covering them in homemade honey candy to make them easier to swallow. I wrote the recipe on the back of this letter in case it works and you want to make more. I hope this helps.
Love,
Jacob
P.S. The recommended dosage is about five pills.

'I love you too...!!' Heidi thought, extremely touched by her younger cousin's gift. He knew her so well. Five pills might seem like a lot, but she felt it was a much, much better alternative to a whole cup full of sludge.

"What is it?" Petra asked curiously. "You look like you're about to cry from happiness."

"That's because I am!" Heidi answered excitedly. "Jacob took pity on me and came up with a new way for me to take that disgusting medicine."

"Oh, so that's what those instructions on the back are for! Are those samples?" Hange asked, reaching out and taking a pellet without permission, popping it into an open mouth to test it. "It's sweet!"

"They're meant to be swallowed like pills," Heidi informed her. Hange gulped it down and sat there in silence.

"Well?" Levi asked.

"Yep, no problems with taste," Hange said with a nod. "And it seems like it's dissolving quickly, because I'm already starting to feel like I have more energy. Your cousin did a good job."

"All right!" Heidi cheered, relieved that she wouldn't have to swallow that disgusting muck anymore.