Chapter 7: Awakening

Steam seemed to cover the earth; a glorious flurry of greyish smoke danced around the sky below the blood-stained clouds. The ground was shaking following the attack from the lightning bolt, sending currents for miles around, the vibrations felt by every living organism as far as the eye could see. The land before them was washed red, with further red raindrops flying through the air. A blood curdling war cry repeated itself over and over, thrashing the eardrums of all, and disrupting the order.

Jean tried and failed to open his eyes, firstly due to the terror that had frozen his body, he desperately did not wish to see the sight before him, it had all happened so fast. Armin being eaten by a titan and then a force so great his mind had almost forgotten what it felt like. The overriding reason to not opening his eyes was due to them being sealed shut by blood, crusted around his eyelashes, acting as a barrier to his sight. Slowly, he began to scratch away at them, the slow scratches turned into rapid, craze driven lurches at his own skin, blood soon built up under his fingernails but this time it was his own. The stinging of his eyes was numb to him as his eye lids cautiously began to open, everything was blurry. He couldn't even make out any shapes, it was as if his body had been removed from the horrific battle scene he had been in previously and relocated to a place of nothingness, emptiness. The rubbing of his eyes several times gradually brought his sight back to him.

The steam was everywhere, masking his sight and smell of where he truly was, he could no longer hear the voices of his comrades, or even their cries. Whilst searching the area around him, he suddenly noticed a figure in the distance, slowly moving, trying to stand up, without thinking his legs acted for him, charging towards the figure. The steam hurt his eyes. He was so close, they were almost in reach, he threw his hands out in front of him, almost diving onto the person hunched down, below. He gripped their shoulders forcefully and pulled their face up to see who it was and how badly they were injured. The sight of the face before him, instantly, made his arms drop to his sides, like dead weights. A mixture of horror and confusion flooded through his body, how could this be?

"Armin?!"

His voice cracked as the words fell out of his mouth, barely audible. The boy he'd just seen be eaten in front of his eyes, his comrade, his friend, was kneeling on the ground in front of him, injury free yet covered in titan blood. Was this hell? Had he, too, been eaten without even realising?

"…Je…Jean?"

A tiny voice cried out from in front of him, followed by a fit of coughs. Jean rushed to his side and held his body gently.

"Armin?! Are you okay? How are you alive? What the fuck happened there? Are the others dead?"

All of Jean's thoughts came rushing out at once, crashing into Armin's stiff body, his eyes barely alive.

"Eren…"

"Eren? What about him? Did he save you? Where is he?"

Jean searched the smaller boy's face for any answers about Eren, he couldn't stand the guy, but he desperately didn't want him to be dead either.

"He's there."

Armin, slowly, raised a shaking finger in the direction behind Jean. Jean turned around slowly, the steam having cleared slightly bettering the view. What he saw then was something he couldn't ever understand or even begin to stomach. There, only a few metres away from them, was a huge, fifteen metre class titan, with brown shaggy hair, long elongated ears and glowing green eyes, staring at them.

"For fuck's sake Ackerman! What did I tell you!"

Levi's voice raged into Mikasa's ears as he finally caught up to her, pulling violently on the reins of her horse. Mikasa's eyes were filled with horror and concern, she barely even registered her horse slowing abruptly underneath her, or Levi's presence for that matter.

"ACKERMAN? ARE YOU EVEN FUCKING LISTENING?"

Levi had seen red, never, had he had a new recruit go rogue on their first expedition, and disobeyed orders so willingly. It enraged him, what was she thinking? Why did she have that look on her face? Did she know what that eruption had been just now? He had a small, uneasy feeling that this girl knew a hell of a lot more than she was letting on.

"ACKERMAN, YOU BETTER FUCKING GIVE ME SOME ANSWERS AND START OBEYING ORDERS OR I SWEAR BY THE FUCKING WALLS I WILL CUT YOU FROM THIS HORSE RIGHT THIS SECOND!"

Mikasa suddenly snapped her head to him, her eyes streaming with tears.

{Levi's POV}

Wait, why was she crying? Nothing had happened. Was she that worried about Yeager's safety just because some weird thing had happened where he might be at the moment. Something wasn't right at all and I hated it. Her eyes still pierced into mine, they were begging eyes, begging me to let her go, begging me to not ask her questions right now. What the fuck was going on? As her superior I couldn't allow such reckless behaviour, she was putting my life at risk as well as that of my squad, who I had now left unprotected, despite them being able to handle themselves, it still was completely bang out of order. However, as a Captain of the military my curiosity and constant need to be in the know ripped through me, convincing me to follow her there.

"Right, here's what's going to happen. I will escort you to the sight of the sudden explosion. You WILL obey my every command. Breaking formation like this is strictly forbidden, Erwin calls all the shots but in an uncertainty like this one, rules can be broken. But get it in your head I am only allowing this as by being Captain it is my duty to ensure the safety of the soldiers, and for that reason alone, definitely not for your sake or Yeager's."

Mikasa nodded abruptly at my words, her expression not changing an inch as she did so, I'd never seen her shed so much emotion. I wanted to kick myself at what I'd just said, it was the right call, but the reason I'd given wasn't strictly true. A part of me hated the thought of her feeling or looking any worse than she did and sending her alone into titan country was something I couldn't bear. She's my subordinate for fuck's sake and a teenage girl, this was so wrong, the care I had for her, but the connection we have, the similarities, I couldn't ignore it any longer. Looking into those pain riddles eyes sent my heart aching slightly, it was time to put her out of her misery, I prayed that Yeager was alright, purely so she'd go back to her usual self. Stupid, damn kid.

"Let's go."

"Armin…what the fuck do you mean that's Eren?"

Jean's voice was barely audible, a whisper at best, was Armin really saying that the titan before him was Eren. It must have been an abnormal he had never seen anything like it before. Armin, struggled slightly, he began to lift his body until he was kneeling on his own beside Jean, examining the titan. The normal look of intensity and intrigue had returned to his eyes.

"Yes, Jean. That titan there, is Eren, that's why it's not eating or killing us."

"WHAT? EREN IS A FUCKING TITAN? WHAT?"

Jean felt his head begin to throb; this couldn't be real. Eren was just a stupid, scrawny kid with a chip on his shoulder and too much to prove, there was no way he was this…this beast!

"Look Jean, I have as many questions as you, but we are still in titan country and still an easy target, we need to gather the others now and get back to our horses. I have no idea of how conscious Eren is right now, but the fact that he's not eating us is a good sign."

Jean stared back at him in disbelief. This was utter madness, but he had no other choice, he saw the determination and seriousness in Armin's eyes, he was dead set on this and wasn't to be challenged. If anyone could get them out of this, it was Armin, so Jean knew to trust him wholly.

"I'll go search for the others; you grab the horses."

Armin smiled gratefully at his words before dashing off through the last remnants of steam.

Jean searched frantically, always making sure to keep a close, cautious eye on Eren, who was still standing in the same position, motionless. Luckily, he was still masked by the titan steam, hiding him from sight, but that would soon change, if it really was Eren like Armin said, how were they going to convince the entirety of the Survey Corps, not to kill him? This was all too much. Captain Levi would surely kill them all instead. Brilliant, he was a dead man anyway. All of a sudden, his heart went racing, as something grabbed his leg. Instantly, he looked down to see a small, pale hand wrapped around his ankle, the bones of an evaporating titan carcass, pinning them to the ground. Frantically, Jean hauled the bones off of them and revealed Sasha lying, curled up on the bloody grass.

"Sasha! How badly are you hurt?!"

Jean sat her up gently as she fluttered her eyes at him, still evidently dazed by the previous events. After a few moments, she coughed and shook her head, rubbing her eyes, just as he had.

"Jean…what is going on? Is everyone dead?"

Sasha spoke quietly but her eyes were fierce as she met his gaze. There was a large cut on her right leg and blood was pouring at an increasing rate.

"Sasha, we need to make you a tourniquet and fast."

Jean, ripped some material from his own shirt and wrapped it firmly around her leg, easing the bleeding. Hopefully that would hold until they managed to get proper medical attention, or at least an actual bandage.

"Do you think you can walk? Or do you need me to carry you, we have to move, we can't stay here. I'll explain when we've got the horses."

Sasha looked up at him worriedly but nodded her head, slowly she gripped his arm as she lifted herself up. A wince flew across her face as she put weight on her leg, but she shook it off quickly.

"It hurts but I'll manage."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, let's go!"

The two swiftly made their way to a clearing beside some trees, Jean had purposefully taken Sasha away from Eren. He didn't have time to try and explain that now, especially as Connie and Armin were nowhere to be seen with the horses.

"Sasha! Jean! Over here!"

Armin's voice hit them both like a bullet, relief flooding through both of them, they'd never been happier to see Armin and Connie atop two horses beckoning them over.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you guys!"

Connie almost choked on the words, his eyes tearing up a little.

"The feeling is certainly mutual."

Jean and Sasha clambered onto their horses and looked to Armin questioningly.

"What do we do, Armin? Does Connie know?"

Jean tried to speak subtly but to no avail.

"Ur…yeah he filled me on our current situation."

"What are you all talking about, what situation?"

"Well Sasha, has nothing struck you as odd?"

Jean stared at her alarmingly, could she really have forgotten witnessing Armin fall into a titan's mouth just minutes before? Sasha watched them all stare at her as she tried to recollect some thoughts.

"Urgh…I'm sorry my memory's gone to shit, I just felt a huge force and then I was crushed by a titan body part falling onto me and I can't seem to remember how it all happened."

"I was eaten by a titan."

Armin's words sent a rush of pain to their core. Sasha's eyes widened at the words, realisation suddenly overwhelming her.

"OH MY GOD! Armin?! How are you alive?"

Armin briefly relayed the new piece of information to Sasha whilst the others sat in silence, still in complete shock.

"So, what do we do now then? I mean we have to protect Eren right?"

"Those were my thoughts exactly. I have to see if I can get him out of there, if he still is even in there? I'm not sure how this works but I am alive because of him so I'm sure as hell not about to watch him die."

The group nodded in agreeance before hatching a plan to try and test Eren's consciousness.

They galloped over to Eren, the steam now completely gone, revealing him in the vast plain of titan country. Anyone would be able to see him now. Armin used his ODM gear to land on his shoulder whilst the others maintained a safe distance, watching for other titans, or worse, Survey Corps soldiers.

"Eren! Can you hear me? It's me, your best friend, Armin!"

Armin screamed the words into the titan's ears but Eren provided no response. There wasn't much time, soon Hanji and Mike would return or even other scouts, he had to move quickly. Armin arrived at the last resort; it could cost him his life, but he'd do anything to save Eren's. After a brief pause he lifted his blade and swung forcefully down into the nape of his neck, cutting deep into the flesh.

Silence seemed to fill the air for a few seconds before an almighty roar echoed through the land, Armin barely managed to hold on to Eren's shoulder as he began to writhe and throw his body about in a fury. The sound was deafening and also terrifying. The titan's eyes grew an even crazier shade of fluorescent green and his mouth hung open in an almost smile-like way, his tongue licked his lips as he roared again.

"EREN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

Armin screamed once more into the ear of the titan, however, this time his neck snapped instantly towards him, noticing for the first time the small blonde boy that stood, clinging to his shoulder. Armin froze with fear, could this be a repeat of what had just happened? He closed his eyes fearfully, not wanting to see himself be dropped into the jaws of yet another titan. Large, heavy fingers wrapped themselves around his body as he flew through the air within their grasp. Suddenly, he stopped. Armin opened his eyes slowly to see enormous, green eyes staring back at him curiously. The fingers loosened their grip slightly and the titan carefully lowered his hand to the ground, releasing Armin onto the floor. It was Eren.

"YES EREN!"

The others all cheered at the sight. Out of nowhere something caught Eren's attention instead, instantly, he let out another blood-curdling cry before, sprinting, full pace in the opposite direction of them. The others watched in shock as they followed his running path. A hoard of three titans were approaching them, unaware to the soldiers. Armin quickly returned to the others.

"We have to follow him! It's definitely still Eren and I have no idea how long he can stay in titan form, but we have to be there when he returns back into his human self."

"What the fuck was that?"

The sound of Eren's cry crashed straight into Levi.

"Ackerman did you hear that?"

His face was riddled with confusion and concern, titans never usually made any sounds, granted the odd abnormal could but he had never, ever heard something quite like that. It sounded monstrous, deadly, and fucking unnerving. Mikasa didn't respond to his question she simply rode on, harder and faster in the direction of the sound, her face growing more constricted with distress by the second. Levi, too, picked up his pace, whatever was making those noises, was no ordinary titan and needed to be stopped, quickly, before it made its way through the entire Survey Corps and Levi was just the person to do it.

"Ackerman, I believe there's an incredibly dangerous titan up ahead. I will need to take care of it immediately, you go and search for Yeager and other survivors, do not engage with it, do you understand me?"

Mikasa, nodded nervously, before pushing her horse even harder as the two sped, dangerously closer to the titan in question. In a few minutes they would be there and neither of them were looking forward to what was going to greet them.

{Levi's POV}

She better not fucking engage with it. I swear to fucking god, if she even reaches for her blade, I'll cut her hand off. What even was this thing? Of all my years going on these treacherous missions I've never heard anything of the sort. Yeager please don't be fucking dead, if you are, I'll kill you all over again, and if you're not I'll do it anyway, just for making her look so damned awful. If she dies today, I honestly don't know what I'll do, I've had soldiers die in front of me before, good soldiers, even great ones. It always hurts but as Erwin told me regret is a dangerous thing. But I know it won't just be regret with her, I actually care for her goddamn it, I shouldn't and I've tried countless times not to think of her when I'm alone or not to find myself wondering what she's doing, but my body has betrayed me. I am after all a man. A fucking disgusting, good for nothing man, but a man none the same. I don't ever deserve her care or attention, I'm a worthless, scarred piece of shit, but my cravings for it are becoming too much to bear. I need her, and only her. It's selfish as fuck, but hey, what's new with me?

Titan steam suddenly appeared from just behind the closest set of trees. Ackerman adjusted her horse accordingly and I followed suit, we were close, very close. In a matter of seconds, I'll be faced with my toughest fight yet. Bring it on. The trees were suddenly around us and we headed for the other side. As we burst through into the other side my mind went slightly blank for the first time in a long time. What the fuck was going on? A large, muscular titan was attacking a hoard of three titans, just ahead of us. I'd never seen anything like it in my entire life. Titans don't attack each other, well sometimes over food, but never, ever like this. The muscular titan was throwing punches and kicks, pulling the limbs off of the others and ripping their napes out with its teeth.

"Ackerman…don't come any closer, this is bad."

Levi's voice was stern as he continued to stare at the extraordinary sight, but Ackerman was no longer beside him, she was already metres ahead of him racing towards the battle scene. Damn fucking brat! I can't use my ODM gear yet I'm too far out, for fuck's sake. I decided to ready my blades regardless, this thing looked lethal, it had proper human like fighting techniques. Luckily, my horse picked up the pace and I prepared to leap from the saddle and into mid-air.

"NO! CAPTAIN! DON'T!"

I snapped my head suddenly to see the 104th cadets gathered in a group by two large trees, Ackerman was with them. Arlert was the one who had screamed, he was galloping towards me, eyes stricken with worry and desperation. Yeager was nowhere to be seen. Fuck.

"CAPTAIN, PLEASE! DON'T APPROACH THE TITAN. IT'S EREN! THE TITAN FIGHTING THE OTHERS OFF IS EREN YEAGER!"

My blades almost fell out of my hands. What? The kid was delusional, this titan must have eaten Yeager and now the poor kid couldn't come to terms with the death, I'd seen it a few times before. I shook my head at the kid sympathetically before launching from my horse towards the titan, I began to spin through the air as per my usual trick. Suddenly, my foot was yanked downwards, pain searing through it, what the fuck? I looked down to see the indentations of spikes that had pierced my leg. Someone had just shot their fucking ODM gear at me. Fucking bastards, they were going to pay for that. Out of nowhere again my leg felt the same searing pain, however, this time my body fell down towards the ground at a rapid pace, who was sabotaging me like this? My leg was fucked! I tried to look and reassemble my balance, but the ground was too near there was no way I could get out of this one. I prepared myself to smack the ground however, I felt nothing of the sort. Just the loud thump of my weight being carried.

"Jesus my arms."

I snapped my neck to see Jean Kirstein staring back at me, my whole body in his arms like a fucking child. I immediately flipped him over my shoulder to the ground with a heavy thud, his face grimacing at the sight of me standing atop him.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? INJURING A CAPTAIN IN THE LINE OF BATTLE!?"

"I'm incredibly sorry sir, I wasn't the one who injured you, I just caught you so you wouldn't hit the ground."

The kid's face was almost tearing up at the sight. Pathetic. But I wanted to know what the fuck was going on, whoever did this to me was going to die.

"I did it."

The familiar voice sent a shiver done my spine. Of fucking course, it was her, who else would it have been really. I spun round instantly to see her faces just centimetres away from my own. The proximity between us was enticing, however, my anger thrashed straight through that.

"Ackerman, I swear to fuck I will kill you right here, right now. I have never had a soldier purposefully injure me on the battlefield before, I can have you executed for that!"

I practically spat the words at her, her expression didn't change, her eyes still full of pain and worry.

"I'm sorry, sir, I really didn't want to have to do that, but you wouldn't listen, and you must!"

Her eyes pleaded with mine, her voice cracked before me, the words clung to the air around us, the noise of titans battling each other in the background. I didn't know what to say, what she had done was unforgivable, but the yearning in her expression was something I'd never seen before, she was desperate for me to listen to them, begging me in fact.

"What Armin said was true. The titan, with the green eyes, that's Eren, he has the ability to shift into a titan and he saved Armin's life just now and he's saved all of my comrades again just now by battling these titans. He's fully conscious and is protecting us. So, if you kill that titan, you will be killing Eren himself, and I cannot let you do that."

My mind exploded with a million things at once, her honest face and serious eyes told me she was telling the truth. Yeager was a fucking titan, the pathetic little kid I'd seen countless times and grown to despise, he was the stacked titan ripping apart the others with ease. It was all too much. But there was only one that could be done, he was still a soldier, or so I thought. Technically, he was a soldier under the protection of myself, as a Captain, and he'd already proved himself on the battlefield. As it stood for the moment, he was an incredibly valuable military weapon, one they most certainly couldn't afford to go to waste, Erwin would have to see this, Hanji too, fuck she'd have a damn field day.

"Well fuck me. I see, there's no other choice. Listen up all of you! Your new mission for this expedition is to protect Yeager at all costs. I will ride up to Erwin and notify him of the new situation and we'll take it from there. Understand? Do not let that kid die, do you hear me?"

The brats all nodded in silence. Their faces blind with determination.

"Thank you…sir."

The tiniest of voices chirped up from behind me, her voice was smooth and soft, gratefulness in every hint of it, it was intoxicating. I felt a host of unwanted emotions try to clamber their way through me, but I shut them out. There were bigger things to deal with at the moment, first and foremost, people could now turn into titans. This changed everything.