Chapter 5: Already One of Us
After the exhausting introductions were finally complete and Mathias's room had been closed, Eren and the rest of the subjects sat around talking before they were forced to go to bed. Eren learned quickly that most of the subjects did not like sharing, especially if it involved their pasts outside of Atlas Corp. Whenever he even mentioned the outside world, the rest of them would tense up and immediately change the subject. While Eren would have pressed further, he decided not to make any more enemies that day. He was already pretty sure at least one of them was not pleased with him.
As Eren was about to enter his room he noticed a wooden plague hung next to his neighbor's door. A look around the common room revealed that every door had a piece of wood next to it, except his. He turned back to the door next to his and read the blocky letters burned into the wood:
Guinevere Gray
Subject 4
"Angel"
"It's how they identify us," a meek voice said behind him.
Eren jumped and spun around, coming face to face with little Andy, one of the last few to leave the common room. She watched him with piecing blue eyes and a set face.
"O-oh, so I guess that means I'll get one too, huh?" Eren asked, smiling sheepishly to ease the tension. Andy cocked her head to the side and nodded.
"You'll also get one of these," she said quietly, before lifting up her left sleeve.
At first Eren didn't know what he was staring at until his brain finally pieced two and two together and he let out a stunned gasp. Where smooth, pale skin should have been there was scarred, puckered flesh in the shape of letters that read: PT-SMD.
"Wha-what is that?" Eren stuttered, horrified. As if the day couldn't get any stranger.
"It's our tags and it shows that they own us," Andy said, sadly stroking the destroyed tissue. She suddenly looked up into Eren's face and her eyes were seriously and almost desperate.
"Don't believe everything you're told about this place. Gwen always sugar-coats it for newcomers, but this place is absolute hell," she said, she then leaned up and whispered. "It's all smiles and laughs when the tests are done, because no one wants to talk about what's going on. It's easier to cope when you ignore the problem.
"These tests, they can't be all that bad, c-can they?" Eren asked, fearing the answer.
Andy ducked her head and whispered so low Eren almost couldn't hear her. "I hope you're still you after tomorrow…"
With that final sentence, Andy scurried away back to her room and slammed the door, leaving Eren frozen in the room, the last one left.
Shaking himself out of his stupor, he quickly turned and shut his door. He struggled to his bed, pulled out his duffle bag, and changed into sleeping clothes before slumping in his cot. It wasn't the best bed he'd ever had, but it was definitely better than those awful lumpy cots he had to share back in training camp. He might actually be able to sleep properly for once.
Staring up at his ceiling, the brunette tried his best to let his mind go and fall asleep but he was still disturbed by the day's events. Just this morning he had been eating breakfast with his friends and anticipating the drills Shadis would put them through that day. Now, he was being held by a suspiciously mysterious corporation in the middle of nowhere, waiting to be tested on like some human guinea pig. He wanted to look on the brighter side of things, but with so little information on where his life was going, as well as the ominous words from Andy, it was hard to think positively.
Another thought that worried him was how he would end up after this "treatment" he was going to receive tomorrow. He'd seen how messed up the others had become because of this project, both physically and mentally, and it terrified him to think about what awful thing would happen after his treatment the next day. Would he become completely insane like Mathias? Or was it a gradual thing? Gwen did say Mat was put through a lot of tortuous tests when he first came here, at least that was one thing he didn't have to worry about.
Why didn't he try to escape before? When he was contently riding along in that carriage? Sure there had been a couple of guards but he could have easily run. Neither of them looked particularly fast and he was a good sprinter, but why didn't he? Curiosity? Fear? He had been feeling both of those on the ride over. Maybe it was shock that kept him in his seat and forced him to continue to his doom.
Eren sighed and rolled over. All his thoughts were really stressing him out. It took a lot of will power for him to shut his brain off and finally fall into a fitful sleep.
The next morning, Eren tried to stifle his yawn as he sluggishly followed a nameless guard up the stairs from the subject living quarters. In the past hour, the brunette had been roughly shaken awake and dragged out of bed, barely having time to change his clothes and grab his key. The man had shoved a measly breakfast of bread and some kind of brown, grainy bar that tasted gritty and salty. When Eren had asked what it was, the man explained it for protein and energy and that was it. Eren finished his meal and continued to follow the quiet man.
"Enjoy your moments of humanity, kid, 'cause you're about to lose it," chuckled the guard, opening the final door that led out in to the main entrance. The guard was steering him towards the door on the opposite side of the room, but Eren's eyes focused on the steel door to his right. Behind that door laid freedom, if he could get away…
"Don't even think about it," a voice snapped, startling Eren. The guard was glaring at him with venom and nodded toward the exit. "There's two of my good buddies outside that door, so unless you want a gun to your head, I suggest you keep walking."
Eren grumbled under his breath and fell into step behind the man again as he unlocked and opened the door. Behind it was a long hallway lined with several doors. On the right side of three of the doors were large viewing windows. As they passed these windows, Eren looked inside the first window they passed and shuddered at the contents of the room. Inside was a solitary chair equipped with arm and leg straps and a lone metal table with a set of sterilized tools sitting innocently on top. Eren quickly looked away and didn't bother looking into the other rooms.
"And I suggest you fix that attitude. Drake hates it when her subordinates don't cooperate."
"Oh, I wonder why I don't want to cooperate. Maybe it has something to do with getting poked and prodded like a piece of meat? Or maybe it's because I just had my life completely ripped away from me to become a puppet for a two-faced psychopath?" Eren snarled lowly, fists clenched on either side.
The guard threw his head back and laughed, further startling Eren as he simply watched in stunned silence.
"You've got a serious spark in ya, kid, I'll give you that! Most of the subjects I bring up here are all quiet and timid, but not you, eh? I think you're the first one to actually speak his mind about all this and I gotta admit, it's an interesting change. Wonder how Drake's gonna take it," he chuckled. They approached the door at the end of the hall and when it swung open there stood the devil herself in a much-too-expensive-looking dress and a slimy smile on her deviously beautiful face. Behind her stood two more stoic guards watching Eren's every move.
"Thank you, Joel, you're dismissed," Violet said, nodded to the guard.
"Don't change too much, kid," Joel muttered, nudging Eren's arm before and before marching back down the hall.
Eren eyed Violet wearily, but she simply smiled and ushered him inside. The room he found himself in wasn't as traumatic as Eren expected. It was a simple laboratory with strange little instruments and vials scattered around several sturdy metal tables. A few men and women in lab-coats were working in their stations, not paying any mind to the newcomer. Violet ushered Eren towards one of the stations and forced him into a chair next to the table.
"Now, Eren, no need to look so on edge. All we're doing right now is taking a small blood sample to analyze," Violet consoled, patting his shoulder as a show of comfort. Eren glared at her, but kept his mouth shut, taking that guards word to heart.
One of the timid scientists approached him and asked for his arm, empty syringe in hand. After giving the woman a look that sent shivers of fear through her, Eren held out his arm and allowed her to extract a decent amount of blood from him before scurrying back to her station and preparing her analysis under the microscope. Eren grew immediately bored.
"What are we doing after this, Violet?" he asked, looking back at her. Next to her, the guards stiffen and stared at Eren as if he'd grown two heads. Oh, that's right, speaking her name was some kind of taboo around here. Too bad Eren didn't care.
Violet didn't seem at all fazed by Eren's words; actually she almost seemed pleased by them. She smiled and thoughtfully replied, "After this, we'll have to inject the formula into you and then take you back to your room. You'll be unconscious the rest of the day and night and hopefully by tomorrow you'll be able to transform for the first time."
"Hm, alright, I least I get to sleep the rest of the day," said Eren, leaning back in his chair and getting comfortable.
Violet laughs at that and nods. "Yes, I suppose, you'll just have a lazy day, but don't think it'll be like that every day, how would we get anything done!" she teased. The two of them were talking like they were old friends, much to the confusion and discomfort of the others in the room, while at the same time they were both sizing each other up. Neither one trusted the other, and it was doubtful they ever would, but for now, they would be civilized.
"I'm quite excited for tomorrow, I will admit, I'm very curious as to how your ti—." Violet started before she was cut off by a frantic voice behind her.
"M-M-Ms. Drake! Ms. Drake, y-you should take a look this!" stammered the doctor that had taken Eren's blood. The boy frowned at her, what was wrong with his blood?
Violet glared at her for a moment, before she sighed and walked to the table, bending down to take a look into the scope.
The brunette watched in mild curiosity as Violet stared into the microscope, irritation slowly changed to astonishment and then to utter disbelief. She quickly snapped up so fast Eren thought she might have almost broken her back. The woman stared at him in amazement and suspicion.
"What? Is there something wrong with the sample?" Eren asked, just as confuse as they seemed to be.
"Hm," Violet hummed, turning back to the sample again. "How very strange…"
Now Eren was starting to get worried. He didn't have some horrible blood disease or anything, right? He really couldn't deal with another tragedy in his already drama filled life.
"Take another sample immediately," Violet ordered, all traces of friendliness gone. The woman complied and took more blood from Eren. After examining it as long as the first one, she lifted her head and said in a mystified voice, "It's the same…"
Violet shoved her aside and peered into the glass. "How is this possible?"
"How is what possible," Eren asked tiredly, now he was getting annoyed.
The director looked back up at him, her unsettling eyes staring at him as if she could see right through him.
"It seems you have already been given the serum treatment," Violet said, still suspicious of the oblivious boy.
Eren stared at her, eyebrows raised in shock. He already had the formula running through his veins? Did that mean he was a—?
"I-I'm already a titan?!" Eren yelped, horrified and downright astonishment. How? How did this happen?!
"It would appear so…" Violet said, thoughtfully tapping her chin and peering at Eren. "You had no knowledge of this?"
"Wha—? N-No! Of course I didn't!" shouted the boy, doing the only thing he knew how to do when he was confused: get angry.
"Then how on earth did the serum end up in your blood?"
"How am I supposed to know?!"
"U-um, ma'am?" piped up the scientist. When Violet nodded to her she added, "Whatever formula is in his blood, it isn't like ours. There are similarities, but they're most definitely not the same. I can't even…I don't even know how it was made!"
"What do you mean?" asked Violet snappily.
"I mean, this strand of the serum is so advanced I don't even know where to begin analyzing it! I…whoever made this must have been a genius," she ended, sounding almost in reverence. "This formula is almost perfect…"
Violet frowned and hummed again, staring at Eren, who was doing his best to calm down from this earth-shattering revelation.
"I'm sure this has something to do with Grisha," she finally said.
Eren jerked at his father's name and stared at her blankly. Why the hell did his father have to do with this?
"I'm sure you didn't know this, Eren, but your father was once a part of this project," explained Violet stiffly. "He left the project a little before Wall Maria fell but I always suspected he would still work on it on his own, but I never would have believed that he'd actually successfully create the titan shifting serum."
Eren, of course, knew all of this from the time he spied on his father and Violet the night Grisha left. After that though, he knew very little and even he had to admit he was surprised by his father apparent accomplishment. When would his father have time to do this?
"Well, I suppose there isn't much we can do except take a few more samples and hopefully replicate the strand. If we can do that, we might be able to fix the…abnormalities in the other subjects," Violet muttered to herself while the doctor quickly wrote down what she said. She then turned her attention to the dazed boy in the chair.
"As for you, I see no reason why we can't test out your abilities today, since we don't need to wait for the treatment to take effect," Violet said, motioning for Eren to stand and follow her out. He numbly stood and did as he was told, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to protest. He followed her out of the lab and back down the creepy hall to the entrance room.
How was this even possible? How the hell was he a titan shifter already? Was it his father's doing? If so, he supposed he had another thing to be angry at him about, along with the abandonment. Is this what those horrifying dreams were about? What if those weren't dreams, but actually memories? God, how did his life end up like this?
Eren had no idea where they were going, but he followed along obediently with Violet in front and the two guards in the back. He didn't even glance at the exit door when they passed it on their way to the stairway down. Were they going back to the common room?
The answer to that was definitely no. At the end of the staircase there was the door leading into the shifter living quarters but instead of going to it, Violet stopped at the bottom of the stairs and spun around to face the void space between the staircase and the wall. It looked only like a narrow, dark corner but Eren was surprise to see Violet walk toward it, lighting a lantern as she did, and illuminating the hidden doorway tucked away behind the stairs. If the space hadn't been revealed, Eren would have never known it was there.
"This building has quite a few little tricks and secrets," Violet said, amused by the stunned look on Eren's face. "You never know what you might find in an old bunker like this…"
She flung open the door and a gust of unexpected, chilly air burst through and sent goose bumps over Eren's arms. From where he stood, the boy could only see darkness, until Violet led him inside and onto a stone platform, overlooking one of the largest and most incredible underground rooms Eren had ever laid eyes on.
"Welcome to the Arena," Violet said, smiling.
Eren gawked at the sheer size of the room. It looked like a giant underground cavern with large rock spikes jutting from the ceiling and around the edges of the room. The center had been smoothed over to make room for exercise equipment and oddly enough, a huge circle with a smaller circle inside. If he didn't know better, Eren would have thought they were sparring circles, but how could they be so big?
"This is where you will train both your human and titan body with the other subjects," continued Violet, she started walking down a set a stairs that led to floor of the room. Eren followed, careful of the jagged steps but still gaping around at the room. "Today, however, you'll transform and show us what you can do."
They all stopped in the center of the room, the guards quickly retreating to the wall to watch. Violet turned and gave a bone-chilling smile, before reaching into her pocket and pulled out a small pocket knife. She handed to Eren, who stared at it with a frown. What was he supposed to do with a little knife?
"Now, Eren, let's see what you've got."