Yay! Another chapter! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I'm so sorry this update is so late!
Levi POV.
Please dear god tell me this is not happening. I think as I stare at the destroyed training field. Luckily no one had been killed, a few injured, but no casualties. I had already checked the entire castle for Eren. He isn't here. I think. The thought sending shivers throughout my entire body.
Flashback, 10 hours ago.
'Dang it. Ackerman can't take him, as she has training. Petra and my squad can't take him as they have to be at the meeting as well. No one in the 104th can take him as they have training like Ackerman. Hanji is a no go, as she will be in the meeting. Mike is out as well for the same reason. God dammit the only options for me are some other soldiers or leave him alone.' I think while I watch him play with a box I had handed him.
He's sitting contently in my lap while I have an internal debate on whether or not to skip the meeting and watch him or leave him in the care of some of the soldiers. 'Okay. IF I leave him in the care of some soldiers, who should I choose….' I then sort through all the men and women under my command, trying to figure out who I can leave him with, and who won't make me have a panic attack by leaving him with them.
I finally settle on a pair of soldiers who have been here about 2 years. There reserved, but will do the job I ask of them. I then gently remove the box from Eren's grasp, he gives a small protest before settling his attention on me. "Eren. Erwin is making me go to a meeting soon. And unfortunately I can't take you." He nods at me, apparently understanding what most 3 year olds wouldn't be able to.
"So I'm going to let you play outside alright? Don't worry, there will be two soldiers out there to watch you alright?" Eren smiles at me and nods again. I return his smile with a small one of my own before standing. Finding the two I had chosen was easy, getting them to agree was a piece of cake. So soon I was setting Eren down near the pair of them, who were diligently watching him like a pair of hawks.
There names were Marian and Desmond. The reason I chose them was because both of them had children of their own. Marian had a daughter, Desmond had two sons. So I knew the pair had knowledge of children and would watch him carefully. Finally feeling alright with leaving him I walked back into the building after waving to Eren, who happily waved back before going back to playing.
I walked quickly to the meeting room, entering as one of the last people entered with me. Everyone was seated at the long table within the room. I took the seat to Erwin's immediate left, Mike right across from me, and Hanji next to him. The others take their seats, making my leg bounce at the slowness. Petra takes a seat next to me and asks "Captain, where's Eren?" "I left him with a pair of soldiers, he's alright." I answer back softly,
She nods in affirmative and sets her attention on Erwin as he begins speaking. "As you all know because Eren has been changed into a child, we must keep him away from the Military Police. As they would use this as a reason to take him in for their own experiments, as how much harm can a child do?"
I reflexively swallow at that, the thought of Eren handed over to those bastards making my blood boil. I clenched my teeth to keep from growling. Pretty much everyone was pissed at the thought of Eren being handed over to them, even Mike.
Erwin than says "Unfortunately, we may be forced to hand him over soon….." I stiffen, my entire body going rigid before I stand up and slam both my hands on the table. "What?" I openly growl, hearing the others jump up and start shouting protests. Even Mike gave a shout of indignation at the thought, Hanji simply looked beyond livid.
Erwin than held up both of his hands, waiting for all of us to calm down and seat ourselves again. I force myself to sit again, sitting straight backed, legs and arms crossed. The others soon follow my lead and sit down, but we all stare at Erwin with rapt attention. He nods at us and pulls out a folded sheet of paper from the stack in front of him.
He unfolds it carefully and reads aloud "Dear Commander Erwin Smith. I commander Dok and a group of 20 soldiers shall be coming to your base in 3 days. We shall be making a review upon the progress the Titan Shifter Eren Jaeger has made and be submitting a report to Commander Zackly. Thank you. Commander Nile Dok."
I could literally feel my blood run cold. Making me shiver unconsciously while I tried to process what Erwin just said. I head seen his mouth move, and heard the words he said. But they just didn't seem to compute. While they did I simply sat there frozen, along with the rest of the room.
Everyone of us sat there frozen in silence. Once my mind had finally processed and come to terms with what the letter said and meant I felt my temper rise. Making anger rise within me so fast I thought I was going to explode. I managed to tame my temper as Erwin spoke again. "I have Commander Pixis keeping me updated on when they'll arrive, but till then we need to find a way to turn him back."
We all nod, knowing that we have to get him back to normal, and now we have a deadline. Hanji gets up and says "I'll get to work on that cure. I'm close, I just need another day, two max." We nod as Mike stands and says "I'll get the soldiers ready. We need to have them prepared as well." Erwin gives the pair a nod just as all hell breaks loose.
A soldier suddenly slams into the room, one arm injured and bleeding as he shouts "We're being attacked! A group of people came out of the forest on the south side and attacked. Their in the base, as most of us were in the northern training ground." I pale. I had left Eren near the southern entrance to the castle.
I glance at Petra, who shares the same look of horror with me. "Levi! You and Petra go find Eren! Mike! Grab the others from the training ground and cut the group off. Hanji, get to your lab and keep them out of there! The rest of squad Levi go with her! I'll head them off at the gate with whatever soldiers are still here."
The second he was finished Petra and I were gone, running as fast as we could towards the south gate. 'We're moving to slow!' I think as I race past corridors. When we finally come upon the south gate it's in shambles. The doors are smashed open, one of them barely hanging onto its hinges.
I run past the doors, turning right instantly and running over to where I had left Eren. The area is a mess, footprints everywhere. But no Eren. I look around and find Marian and Desmond, both slumped in pools of blood. I check them and their still alive, but barely. As I go to move them Desmond wakes up, just enough to recognize me and say "They….. Took him…." Before passing out again.
I want to scream, knowing that these thugs have him. I grip his shirt tightly before saying "We have to get them to medical. They'll die if we don't." She nods, tears are falling softly down her face as she picks Marian up. I lift up Desmond and we half run to medical. Its near the west gate, so we make it there quickly before finding Erwin.
He's moving toward the east gate, with around 10 people with him. He looks up when we approach and asks "Where is he?" I clench my fist and say "They took him. They grabbed him before we got there. They also heavily wounded the two I had watching him." He nods and says "The group still here is headed back towards the south gate. Apprehend all you can, but don't kill anyone."
I nod before running again, Petra hot on my heels. As Erwin said they were heading towards the south gate, the first one goes down with a well placed kick, the second my fist connecting with his throat and my leg his stomach. Petra and I move quickly, taking down around 20 of them. The rest getting away, but moving towards Mike and the others.
By the end of it we had caught about 50 or so people, a few getting away into the forest. The ones we caught we tied up and placed in cells in the dungeon. Mikasa, the 104th, and my squad all helped me look for him. After finding nothing we all went back inside, going to our own rooms or the barracks. Or in my case, toward the south gate.
Flashback End.
We all spent the next 7 hours hunting for him. We went through the castle, the training grounds, even the nearby forest. Still, nothing. Not a whisper or trail. It was as though he had just vanished, the people having taken him vanishing with him. I stalked from the south gate to Hanji's lab.
Where I knew Erwin would be. I open the door into her lab, finding Erwin shuffling through a large stack of papers on one of Hanji's large tables. Hanji herself is working away feverishly at another table. He doesn't even look up at me before saying "No." I'm about the yell at him before he says "I'm looking through places we've found people like them before. Then we can split up and check places like them nearby. Get your squad ready."
Just as he said this Hanji suddenly screamed. We both whip around and she runs over to us holding up a large flask of dark blue liquid. "I DID IT! tHIS SHOULD FIX HIM!" SHe screams in my face. I stare at it for a full second before doing something I never thought I would do. I burst out into a full smile in front of her.
She freezes and stares at me before jumping again and screaming "YOU'RE SMILING!" Even Erwin was staring at me. Hanji then gets a serious look and says "You have to bring him here. You can't take it with you." As she does she returns to her table and places a cork in the flask, before placing it in the freezer.
"It has to be kept at a temperature below freezing. Or else it will change the chemicals in it. Also know that this SHOULD fix him. I'm not absolutely positive. All I know is that when I tested it on his blood the blood cells aged to that of an older human male." I nod, before looking back at Erwin as he nods.
He says "Grab your squad and the 104th. Hanji grab Mike and bring him here." We nod and run off to find our respective groups. I burst into the room my squad usually likes to go to after training, seeing all of them there. "Hanji's lab. Now." They all jump up as I run in the other direction. I bolt down two corridors and through a doorway and into the barracks. As I had thought the 104th were the only ones in there. "Hanji's lab." I say before turning and running back, Mikasa a step behind me.
I half ran into the room, making me skid to a stop and stare at Erwin. Everyone else darted into the room less than a minute later, quickly forming a half circle around Erwin, who had Mike at his side. He picks up a stack of paper and holds it in front of him. He glances around all of us and nods.
"As all of you now know, Eren has been kidnapped." We all nod, having already come to terms with this fact and planed on getting him back as quickly as possible. "I've researched any and all possible areas that they could go, without being detected. It's been 7 hours since he's been taken. So their either keeping him to sell, or he's dead." He says, shuffling through the papers.
We all stiffen and shiver, some of us holding back sobs or tears at the thought. I clench my fist so tightly I felt my nails dig into my palm, feeling tears well up behind my eyes at the thought. He's either….. dead… or being held to be sold as a slave to some disgusting noble who will use him as a sex toy… Or to some family that wants a kid…. I think to myself.
The thought of ANYONE hurting him making my blood boil. So I swallow my tears and anger and focus on the task at hand. "I've narrowed it down to two possible locations. One, the forest fortress located about 30 miles east of here. Second, the caves around 27 miles south of here. Squad Levi will be going with him to the caves. The 104th and myself shall be going to the fortress."
We nod an affirmative. "Get ready, you all head out in an hour." Erwin ends his speech and hands me a map and a piece of paper. I take them and shove them into my jacket pocket before making my way over to my room. I grab my saddle bags and fill them quickly, packing in under 10 minutes.
I put on the rest of my gear, making sure everything is in place. I then toss on my cloak and throw my bags over my shoulder. I walk to the stables, saddling up my horse quickly. As I do this I see the rest of my squad enter the stable and do the same. I finish before them and stand in front of my horse as I wait. They walk over as soon as there done and I pull out the map.
The map shows the caves are more southwest than south but I shrug it off and say "If we move quickly we should be able to get there before nightfall." They nod and move their horses out of the stables before mounting them. I swing into the saddle easily, moving my horse to the front as we exit the base grounds, finally on our way to get Eren.
I push my horse to the limit, moving as quickly as possible toward Eren. I grip the reins tighter, sending out one thought in hopes that it may reach him. Don't worry Eren. I'm coming for you….
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Eren's POV.
I'm scared… I think again as I sit there. My hands are tied behind my back, making my arms hurt. And my head throbs from where a man had hit me. Blood runs down my face where I had cut it, getting into my eye. I don't remember how I got here. I just remember playing outside at the castle while Levi had to go to a meeting. Before suddenly there were people running from the forest.
Two men ran up to me, grabbing me before I could move and stabbing my arm with a needle. Than stuffing me into something dark and scratchy. It smelled terrible as suddenly it was really hard to stay awake. I felt whatever I was in swing through the air before hitting something hard, making me cry out before I fell asleep.
I woke up in a dark cave. A few men sitting by a table, when I had let out a whimper one of them had hit me. Before another grabbed my arm and dragged me in here, scratching my head on a wall as he did, before tying my arms to a post in here before leaving. I let out another small sob as I pull my knees to my chest, burying my face in them as I cry.
I'm sleepy, and hungry. But I'm to scared to sleep. As the laughter and shouting of the men in the other 'room' make me jump. I miss the base. The hall was a better. It was warm too. I want Mikasa. And Levi….. I just wanna go home… I think as I sob again. Suddenly I feel a comforting feeling wash over me.
I don't know why but it somehow makes me feel less scared as I sit there, my sobs slowly stopping as the feeling settles. I drop my head onto my knees again, this time feeling tired enough to finally let sleep take me. As I do I hear Levi's whisper "Don't worry Eren…...I'm coming for you….."
