I was supposed to post this almost a week ago, but the place I was vacation at had the worst wifi! I couldn't even open the page! But here it is finally!
To the Guest who asked about Eren's Coordinate abilities, while the suggest was a great one, I don't feel entirely comfortable trying to incorporate it into my story, because honestly I don't completely understand the whole past memories thing and I read the manga! I think adding the memories would make things a little too complicated, trust me, it'd be better off for everyone if I didn't try to explain that mess ^.^' I did incorporate his ability however just not to its full extent. It'll be explained in the next chapter.
By the way, writing Piers talking was torturous x.x so many S's...
Hope y'all enjoy! Reviews are greatly appreciated! ^.^
Chapter 19: The Shadows Speak
When the officers' carriage finally arrived at their headquarters, they quickly went inside and marched down the hall. None of them spoke, but they all knew where they were going. It was late and while the tired soldiers wanted to retire to their beds they needed to discuss the day's events while it was still fresh in their minds.
Once inside Erwin's office, Hange and Levi were quick to take seats on the couch, while Erwin sat at his desk and Mike chose to lean against the wall behind him. None of the soldiers noticed the shifting of the shadows as a dark mass hide beneath the couch.
The silence was deafening for a few moments, with the men deep in thought over the events while Hange organized her scrambled notes and hummed to herself.
"I think today went well!" exclaimed Hange, finding the silence too heavy. She laid out her notes on the small table in front of her and started rummaging through them haphazardly, dropping a few sheets in her haste. "I gathered so much information! But if only I could have spoken to the shifters one-on-one, it would have given my research so much more depth!"
"I doubt you would have gotten much out of them. I don't know if the rest of you noticed, but that Drake women clearly wasn't telling us everything," Levi stated, voicing his earlier suspicions.
"Yes, she was quick to offer us an explanation of her research, wasn't she? For someone experimenting on children in secret, you would think she'd be more resistant to opening to us," Erwin agreed.
Levi had been listening to his colleague intently but while Erwin spoke a low, grating noise caught his attention. The veteran soldier glared around the room, look for the source of the sound, but found nothing out of place. He diverted his eyes back, but remained wary.
"But it was her idea to show her research and the subjects remember," said Hange pointedly.
"Only because she got caught," Levi added. "Had Rogue not interfered in their mission in Trost, none of this would have happened. We wouldn't be arguing with each other over how the hell a titan could lift a boulder and block a hole another titan made."
"I suppose we have much to thank Rogue for then," replied Erwin offhandedly. "But I do agree with Levi. Violet Drake is most certainly hiding something."
"This is why I wanted to speak to the shifters in private! Rogue especially would have been perfect to talk to. We could have learned everything from him! I'm sure he'd have been happy to tell us," Hange pouted. "If only we could talk to one of them."
Piers chuckled from his hiding place, finding the conversation far too perfect an opportunity not to take. Before his chance was gone, Wraith slunk out from under the couch. The dark shadows billowed out and began to condense, shift and grow, writhing and expanding in front of the shocked officers. The black tendrils took a human form, but stayed incorporeal. Piers did not fully trust these humans, as Rogue did, so staying in a form where he could easily protect himself and run was preferable. He spoke to them in a soft, wispy voice.
"I may be able to help with your problem."
"Sasha! Sasha! We shouldn't be out of bed like this!" Christa whispered, rushing after the brown-haired cadet.
"It's okay! I know a short-cut to the kitchens! I'm just going to get a midnight snack is all!" Sasha replied, excitedly.
"We've only been here for a day and you're already going to get us kicked out of the Survey Corp?" Ymir said, still blanked-faced as always as she followed behind the other two.
"You didn't have to follow me!"
"We tried to stop you!"
"Actually, I wanted to stay in bed, but Christa wouldn't stop nagging me."
The three girls rounded a corner and Sasha suddenly slammed into a solid object, knocking her to the floor and halting the other two.
Standing in their way was Mikasa, arms crossed, and expression stern. Behind her stood Armin, Jean, and Reiner, all looking tired and a bit grumpy.
"Could you guys be any louder?" grumbled Jean, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I'm surprised the whole castle isn't awake by now."
"I would have been quiet if these two hadn't followed me," Sasha groaned back. "Why are you guys out of bed anyway?"
"I'm here to take you back to our room," Mikasa said crossly.
"We just saw Mikasa taking off, so we thought we'd tag along and see what's going on," smirked Reiner. "Can't let you ladies have all the fun."
"I just want to go back to bed," Ymir mumbled.
"But, but, I'm huuuuuungry!" argued Sasha, pleadingly. "Please, Mikasa, just one little snack? The kitchens are just down this hall!"
"No, Sasha," Mikasa insisted, grabbing her arm and dragging her back the way they'd come. "And keep your voice down. If we're quiet we can make it back to the dorm before anyone finds out we left."
"Well, there went our nightly adventure," Jean remarked, suspiciously pleased.
The group had only walked through a few corridors before they heard voices at the end of their hall, closing in fast. Most of the group started to panic, realizing the voices belonged to the recruits assigned to night patrol.
"Hide! Quick!" whispered Armin, hurriedly. Mikasa reacted fast and shoved her comrades into the nearest door, which happen to be a barren storeroom. She closed the door and pressed her ear to it, pushing the others away when they tried to do the same. She heard the footsteps of the soldiers as they passed the door and faded down the hall. They all breathed a sigh of relief.
"You moron! Look how much trouble you almost got us in!" hissed Jean, keeping his voice low and glaring at Sasha.
"Technically, if we'd stayed I bed and just let Sasha go, none of us would be worrying about this crap," said Ymir, dully.
"If we hurry, we might be able to make it back to bed before they come around again," theorized Armin.
"Then let's get out of here, before they come back…" Christa said, quickly opening the door, only to shut it again and turn to them with a panicked expression. "The Commander and Squad Leaders are coming!"
"They must be just getting back from their meeting in Trost," said Reiner, remembering a conversation he'd overheard between two of the Squad Leaders. "Just wait for them to go by and then leave."
The recruits waited with bated breath, anxious to leave their precarious situation and get back into bed. When they heard the footsteps pass their door they expected them to fade off down the hall but to their surprise, the door next to theirs opened and closed a moment later. There was silence then and just as Mikasa was about to herd to them to the safety of their dorms, Sasha exclaimed behind them.
"Guys! Guys, come here! I think I can hear the meeting their having!" Sasha excited whispered from the corner of the room. She was standing under a grated vent with her head tilted to the side.
"No, Sasha, we aren't staying here any longer than necessary," Mikasa insisted. "We all need to get back to our rooms before anyone catches us."
"I'm with Mikasa on this one," Armin agreed.
Sasha rolled her eyes. "You guys are no fun. It could be some really important stuff they're talking about."
Ignoring her comrades hushed protests, Sasha grabbed a dusty chair and quietly stepped up to the vent, peering into the adjoining room, but the inner panels were closed, blocking off any view.
"Sasha, get down," Mikasa scowled, but the brunette didn't listen.
"I swear, Potato Girl, if you get us any more trouble…" Ymir grumbled.
"Guys, I think they're talking about their meeting," Sasha said, pressing her ear to the grate and balancing precariously on the chair.
"Hear anything they're saying?" Reiner asked, surprisingly the only one not trying to rip Sasha off the chair.
"Don't encourage her, Reiner," hissed Jean.
"Oh, come on, don't tell me you're not curious," replied Reiner. "I mean, the higher ups go to some top-secret meeting, one the squad leaders won't tell us about, and you aren't the least bit curious about it?"
Jean glared at his larger friend before giving up in a huff of defeat and leaning against the wall. Mikasa continued to scowl but she gave up as well.
"What are they saying now, Sasha?" Armin asked, trying not to sound too keen.
"Um, let's see here…" The brunette listened closely, trying to make out the muffled sounds. She stared at the grate hard, as if watching it would make the voices louder, before she noticed a small rusted vent lever.
"Aha!"
Without answering her confused friends, Sasha quickly grabbed the old piece of metal and yanked it down.
A loud screeching noise filled the room as the corroded metal was forced to move and the vent was opened further, allowing sound, light, and an explosion of dust into their compact room.
Tense silence fell over the recruits as they listened to the adjoining room for any sounds of detection. Luckily, the murmuring of voices only paused for a moment before continuing, and they all breathed a sigh of relief before scrambling closer to the vent. With the inner panels open and the copious amounts of dust removed, the voices were now clear enough to be heard throughout their hiding spot.
"Are you actually trying to get us caught, Potato Girl?!" whispered Jean through gritted teeth. "That was way too close!"
"Are we going to listen to them or not?" Ymir asked, looking less than interested.
The rest nodded in agreement before turning their focus back to the grate and the voices floating from the other side.
"…For someone experimenting on children in secret, you would think she'd be more resistant to opening to us," they heard Commander Erwin say.
"But it was her idea to show her research and the subjects, remember?" This came from Squad Leader Hange.
"Only because she got caught," Captain Levi chimed in. "Had Rogue not interfered in their mission in Trost, none of this would have happened. We would still be arguing with each other over how the hell a titan could lift a boulder and block a hole another titan made."
If there were any more reluctance in the cadets to listen to a private meeting, it was quickly erased when that statement was made.
"They're meeting in Trost had to do with those Abnormals?" Armin whispered, pale-faced. "I knew it had to be something important not to tell us, but this…"
"Yeah, and what the hell were they saying about research and subjects and experimenting on children?" Reiner added, brow furrowing in concern and confusion. "You don't think those titans we saw were kids."
"No, we saw at least one of them remember? Angel looked like she was about our age…" said Mikasa.
"Mikasa and I also saw two more of them at that trial, one of them the Captain mentioned: Rogue," continued Armin, arms crossed as he thought. "If I remember right, this Rogue acted like a leader to them. "
When they returned to listening to the officers they heard Hange groaning in frustration.
"…Rogue especially would have been perfect to talk to. We could have learned everything from him! I'm sure he'd have been happy to tell us," Hange pouted. "If only we could talk to one of them."
At this moment, the cadets heard a silence in the other room but it was quickly chased away by a collective gasp from the higher ups and the sound of rushed movement. Then there came a chilled voice that sent a shiver over their spines.
"I may be able to help with your problem…" the voice hissed.
"Who the hell is that?!" Jean quietly exclaimed.
"I might be able to see inside now," Sasha whispered, leaning up and peering into the next room.
"See anything, Sasha?" asked Mikasa.
"Er, kinda. I can see the Commander's desk and…oh! Oh! I see something else! Its um…"
"What? What do you see?" Armin urged, anxious to know the owner of that awful voice.
"He's like some kind of shadow man. I-I don't know how to describe it, but it's like a bunch of black smoke in the middle of the room…" Sasha explained, sweat forming on her forehead.
The cadets all exchanged incredulous looks but before they could comment on Sasha strange observation, voices started up again.
"Who are you? How did you get in this building?" came the hard voice of the Commander.
"I am Wraith, one of the shifters of Atlassss Corp," Wraith said quietly and with little emotion. "How I came here is not important, what I have to say is what you should be concerned with."
"What the hell's Atlas Corp?" whispered Sasha. The others just shrugged.
Inside the room, the officers were unaware of the cadets eavesdropping and their attention was solely focused on Wraith. The shadow titan, however, had a sneaking suspicion they were being watched, but kept it to himself.
"Let me guess, Rogue sent you?" Levi asked as he settled back into the couch. When the intruder had first appeared, the soldiers had leapt into action, but seeing little threat in the boy, Levi backed down.
"Yessss, he isss growing…desssperate," Wraith admitted reluctantly. "It wasss uneasy getting here and he will no doubt take the conssssequences of my actionss, but it will be worth it in the end, if you are willing to listen."
"Oh, this is perfect!" Hange squealed, grabbing a fresh notebook and pen. "We can finally learn more about you without any censoring! Go on, go on! Sit down there and tell us everything you can."
Piers stared at the woman, taken aback by her over-enthusiastic tone but his featureless, smoky face revealed nothing. He took a seat in the only available chair pushed against the wall.
"I'm surprised Rogue is going through so much trouble to reach us," Erwin said, frowning in thought. "First, he sends Angel, and now you? And from what you've said before, he takes a large portion of the blame for this, correct?"
"He hasss great faith in you," Piers said, simply. "He believesss you are the only oness willing to help ussss."
"So what, he thinks we're a bunch of bleeding hearts ready to stick our necks out to help?" Levi asked skeptically.
"No," Piers said, dully. "He thinksss you will help, becaussse you want to defeat the titansss and keep humanity alive, and we are the perfect weaponsss for such a task."
"'You help us, we help you, right?" Erwin said, remembering their conversation with Angel before the trial.
"What's the catch?" Mike finally spoke up, having been quiet throughout the conversation.
"Catch?"
"Yes, what do you want exactly? You keep going on about us helping you, but what exactly does that mean? What are you wanting out of this arrangement?"
"What does anyone who has been trapped in a cage want?" hissed Piers, thinking it was quite obvious.
"Freedom," Erwin said. "You want freedom, correct? That was something Angel was focused on during our conversation."
"Yessss, we want our freedom, to be treated as people, not as titansss," explained Wraith. "Rogue is willing to go to great lengthsss to achieve this, even if it means putting himsssself in danger."
"Well, I suppose that's something we have in common then," Hange exclaimed.
"Wraith, we are more than willing to help, especially if it means gaining an advantage in this war," said Erwin. "But I think we should hear the full story, as much as you can tell us."
"Oh, I have much to tell. Where should I ssssstart…?" he pondered to himself.
"The beginning seems like a good place," Levi said, probably more sarcastic than he should have been given the situation.
Wraith glared but let the comment go.
"I sssuppose I should ssstart by sssaying, you were right not to trussst Violet Drake," Piers began, his hissing worsening as he thought of the devil woman. "She is a monsssstrous woman, who would do anything for power…"
"Do you really have to talk like that? Surely you could control it," interrupted Levi, growing irritated by the prolonged hissing.
"It iss not sssomething I control," the boy replied. "I did not alwaysss ssspeak like thissss. The exxxperiments have done ssstrange things to all of us, in one way or another. Truthfully, I'm sssurprised you haven't asssked about my shadow form."
"I assumed you would explain sooner or later," Erwin explained, shrugging.
Piers nodded and mentally backtracked to his storytelling.
"When Project Titan first began, Atlassss Corp. attempted to ussse adult sssubjectsss, thisss was back when they were funded by the government," Piers began, trying to recall everything he had overheard and learned over the years. It was something Piers was always good at even before his wraith form. Hiding and listening from the shadows, leaning secrets and storing them away for later. "They had created their firssst sssserum from captured titansss and believed their project was a successsss, but when they gave the serum to their volunteersss, the transssformation failed."
Hange was scribbling away on her paper, trying to write down every word Piers said.
"They tried sssso many variations of the formula, and each time the ssssubjects would get clossser and closssser to a full transsssformation, but in the end, it killed them."
"They had sssso many failuressss, the government began taking their funding away, but they ssstill believed Atlasss Corp would ssssucceed. It wasn't until Drake ssssuggested using children and teenagers in the experimentssss insssstead, that the funding wasss completely cut off."
"Didn't stop them, did it?" Levi muttered, earning a shush from Hange.
"No, it did not. The first successsssful transsssformation created the shifter we call Razor, he was their only subject at the time and because of this he recccceived the worst of the testing."
"Do you have real names? Because I doubt your mothers would name you 'Wraith' and 'Razor'," Hange interrupted curiously.
"Do you want him to finish his story or not?" snapped Levi, impatiently.
"I will answer your quessstion. Yessss, we have birth names, but we prefer to use our titan namessss outside of private conversationsss with each other." Seeing the confused looks Piers continued, "Our true names are all we have left of our human lives, it is basssically our only tie to our humanity. To usss, our true names are ssssacred, and sssso we prefer to keep them a ssssecret amongst ourselves, unlessss we abssssolutely trust you."
Hange nodded and quickly wrote down his explanation. When she was finished and lifted her eager eyes for Piers to continue with the story, he paused for a moment to remember where he left off, before he continued.
"Over the course of several years, we were each taken from our homesss but they were careful to only take those who wouldn't be missssed. When we arrived, we were immediately given our variation of the serum and forced to transssform. After that we would be comatosssse for days before we were dragged away for testing and more exxxperiments."
Hange raised her hand, but was quickly shot down by a cold stare from Levi. Erwin decided to step in.
"Save your questions until he's done, Hange."
The women sighed and began writing her questions. Wraith continued as if uninterrupted.
"For the majority of usss, the tessssts were manageable; painful, but tolerable. For Razor…they were abssssolute torture." Piers paused to shudder at the memory of Mathias being dragged back to his cell late at night, broken and unconscious while he secretly watched from his room.
"He wassss the first, ssso he endured the worssst of the tessssts, and eventually it drove him completely inssssane," said Wraith wistfully. "I wassss one of the earlier ssssubjects, so I watched as he sssslowly lost himssself. The tessssts, the punishmentsss, they became too much for him and he finally ssssnapped and attacked one of the guards, almost killing him."
The soldiers tensed at that. This was the first they were hearing of this uncontrollable shifter and the more they listened they more horrified they became.
"He was tortured for nearly a week after that. The ressst of uss tried to remain ignorant to his ssssuffering, too afraid to attract attention to ourssselves."
"Sssadly, many of ussss began to ssslowly lose our minds. We became violent and unconccccerned with the ssssafety of others. Assss if the mental degeneration wasssssn't enough, there were the physical onesss as well. The sssserum changed our human bodies in gruessssome ways, one sssubject grew cat ears and a tail, while another went completely blind. They were the onessss you did not meet during your visssit. In my cassse, my body gained the ability to completely breakdown into a shadow form, but I am weaker thisssss way."
"Didn't you try to escape?" Hange whispered, too much in disbelief to hold her question.
Wraith turned his impassive gaze onto her, his blank face somehow conveying tired sadness.
"Of coursssse we did. We made ssso many attemptsss but the punishmentsss became too sssteep for ussss. We decided it was easier to ssstay there and endure the worssst then continue to fight and become true monstersss…like Razor…"
"We were complacent little weaponssss, content with being treated like animalssss. They even branded usss…"
Piers solidified his arm just enough to reveal his sleeve, which he raised to reveal the scarred letters of PT-SW.
"They dripped a rare acccid into it, to prevent ussss from healing."
"PT-SW? What does that mean?" Erwin asked, eyebrows pulled together in concern.
"Project Titan- Sssubject Wraith. We all recccceived one with our titan names, becaussse that was all we were to them. A set of letters, a nameless tool."
"We had no hope. We had given up long ago and were preparing our livessss for the worsssst. That is until the last ssssubject was brought in. They gave him the name, Rogue..."