Oh my gosh you guys don't know how hard it was for me to write this chapter! It took forever and once again...I'm late. My family and I am having a bad month. A WEEK after the internet was fixed, lighting hit our modem. POOF! Internet GONE! AGAIN. Oh and then the roof fell in and I got a depressionrelapse, (that has been dormantfor four years. Damn it! Why NOW!)...

ANYWAY...

I'm ranting. As I said, damn hard Chapter to write. And the last of PART 1! WAhhh! TT

But don't worry. There's a special surprise at the end.

So...ON WITH IT!

Chapter 11: Fear (3 July 2015)

"He's dangerous! We should have gotten rid of him already!" An angry scout shouted, some shouting in agreement.

"He saved our lives! Is that worth nothing!" Petra defended. "He did nothing to prove that he has any malicious intent towards us."

"Petra's right! Didn't you see the titans attack him!? They just saw him as another human! They tried to kill him!" Gunter joined.

"Your just defending the little beast because you practically helped raise him. All of you! What's to say that he hasn't been playing you from the start!"

"We trust him!"

"Trust!? He said nothing about it! To any of you! Come to think of it, who's to say that Captain Levi isn't a titan too! They are brothers aren't they!" Angered yelling filled the room as more and more where overwhelmed by their fear of the situation. Levi made no move to defend himself. He merely stared into his cup. No where near the world...

"Silence! All of you. That's an order." The crowd was dimmed at the Commander's command. "It is true that Eren's situation has gotten us all rattled. But that's no reason to lose our heads. To tell you the truth both I and Captain Levi knew to an extent of Eren's abilities."

Erwin silenced them before they could start again. "While we did not know how far his capabilities where or whether or not he was aware of them, we did make the judgement call to keep it between us."

The shouting started up again this time regarding the higher ranking officers betrayal. Levi didn't notice. His attention was somewhere else. To be specific a certain small figure hiding in the doorway...

"Eren... I know you're here."

The room fell silent. All attention turned to the small boy who slowly stepped out from behind the door. His entire body was shaking. His breathing was erratic and his eyes wide.

He was terrified. This was plain to see.

Guilt crept its way into the faces of everyone in the room, knowing full well that he had most likely heard most of their argument.

"...Eren-"

Petra tried stepping forward, but he jumped back whimpering. She stopped her advance, shocked by his reaction. They didn't have the chance to stop him.

He ran.

Ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

In the distance he could hear the shouts of his pursuers. Whether these were shouts of anger or fear he didn't know. He was far to upset to care. He just ran and he kept running until his legs couldn't hold him anymore...

-xXx-

The disgruntled members of the scouting legion scurried around the courtyard of the castle. He watched as the chaos ensued. From where he sat, they looked like rats retreating from a fire...

"I thought I'd find you here."

Eren jumped at the sound of his brother's voice coming from behind him. He simply took a seat next to him.

As if nothing happened.

Levi was always good at that. It made the coming conversation all the more dreaded. They sat in silence, both unwilling to start the conversation. Eventually, though, someone had to say something and knowing Eren, that wasn't going to be him. However he's been wrong before. Levi opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Eren's voice broke the silence.

"...it was all my fault.."

"What?"

"It was all my fault." a shaky voice repeated.

"I-if I didn't sneak into that caravan, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have-" He choked, unable to continue his sentence. He hung his head in shame, silent tears streaming down his face. His voice died down to barely a whisper. "Maybe I really am a monster..."

"Hey." Levi grabbed him by the shoulders, stooping Eren's crying and looking him straight in the eyes. "Don't you ever say that your a monster. Ever. You will not now nor ever, be a monster .You have nothing to be sorry about so don't apologize. You are my little brother and nothing will ever change that. Understood?"

Wide eyes stared into his own. "You-your not mad?"

"Of course not. I'm confused to say the least. But I can't be mad at you for something that wasn't your fault. I had my suspicions."

"You knew?! But how?"

"You were always different Eren. Granted, Titan was not exactly what I expected...but still."

Eren said nothing. His gaze instead drifted back to the emptying courtyard. Levi eyed him out of the corner of his eye. How did it ever come to this? He was never the support giving type. That's Petra's job. But he had to do something. His thoughts flashed to images of red hair, smiling and midnight stargazing. He resisted the urge to snort. Even when they weren't around anymore, Farlan and Isabel always had a way to solve his dilemmas. He turned his head to the first few stars in the midnight sky. "You know... I used to come up here all the time with Farlan and Isabel."

Eren looked up interested. Levi never spoke about things from before the accident. "Do you remember what I told you that day, about what happened to them. How they got hurt?"

Eren nodded. He remembered. How could he forget. The interior will never be the same again after that little 'incident'...

"If we never took Lobov's job to kill Erwin, we would have never left the underground, I would have never joined the survey corps, and I would have never found you. Sure Isabel and Farlow would still have all of their limbs intact, they would have had easier lives, we would still have been a team and Erwin would have been my enemy, but for how long? Our days were numbered and they still are. Everything happens for a reason Eren. You may not understand it now but you will, eventually. For everything you lose, you gain twice as much. That is something that took me a while to learn. There would be no tomorrow without yesterday."

Silence befell the rooftop once again as these words sunk in.

"No regrets..." a small smile crept it's way to his face. "...I get it."

Eren's gaze traveled back to the now empty courtyard. "...Levi? W-what's going to happen to me?"

Levi placed a hand on his little brother's shoulder and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry. I won't ever let them hurt you."

Eren smiled and returned his gaze back to the sky. Levi couldn't help but do the same. Not bad for someone who isn't generally supportive.

-xXx-

The room was silent as they pondered his words.

"Are you sure about this?"

He nodded.

"You do understand that if this all goes south, it will be on all our heads."

"If this all goes south I will take care of it. If I am incapable of doing so, I will entrust my squad to do what is necessary." Behind him, said squad shuffled uncomfortably, but made no protest to their captain's choice. The commander regarded his most trusted captain with meticulous thought. If this goes wrong it could spell disaster, not just them but the entire survey corps, however if not it could mean a fighting chance against the titans. Especially ones such as the Colossal and the Armored. His eyes drifted to the boy. The anxiety was flowing out of him in waves, yet he held his ground. He had to hand it to him. The kid has some self-control. A crucial element if this is to succeed...

He just had to hope his choice was the right one.

In a flash of grey Erwin drew his blade, yelps of surprise was uttered from the surrounding group at the commander's sudden action. Levi pulled Eren behind him in a defensive stance.

...

..

.

"Here..."

The boy stared at the silver blade held out in front of him in shocked confusion. He looked to Levi for guidance only to see him equally confused. His questioning gaze traveled back to the commander.

Erwin smiled and gestured to the blade. "Take it. You are going to need it if you are going to be one of us."

Erwin watched as the light flooded back into the boy's eyes. The tension in the room dissipated instantly at the calm gesture.

Eren's eyes flicked from the blade to the man and back to the blade again, until he finally took it. Careful not to cut himself again. "A-are you sure?"

Erwin nodded. "Your training starts tomorrow."

He turned to the other occupants in the room. "Hange. Eren will be under your orders from now. You and Levi will be in charge of his training."

"Yes sir!" Hange saluted with a grin. As the occupants of the room moved closer to congratulate the youngest Ackerman, the commander moved to the other. His face turned serious. "You realize what this means right?"

The captain nodded gravely.

"You understand what you must do?"

"I'll begin with preparations immediately." With that Levi left to congratulate his brother.

The commander watched them from where he was standing. The young boy was happily expressing his excitement to Levi. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "May fate shine upon us all.."

Hopefully his choice won't come back to bite him in the future. With that he brushed himself off and joined the rest in their celebration.

He resisted the urge to groan. He's going to have the paperwork of a lifetime after this fiasco.

Good? Bad? I NEED TO KNOW!

I was honestly surprised at the amount of people who have been reading my story lately, and even more so at the amount who wants me to continue sooo...Part 2 here we come!

I don't know when I'll start posting again. I haven't written much yet, though I have finished the plot outline. And you will be pleased to know that there's a good twenty to thirty chapters on its way. I may post OVAs every now and then. just to keep the story alive. Things that never made it to the story.

Deleted scenes if you will.

Such as where's Farlan and Isabel, and Levi's birthday. If there is something you guys wanted to see or you have an idea, PLEASE tell me! Any idea is a good idea...sometimes...hehe.

Anyway, since we are continuing there's a little present I posted as well. But first a few more announcements are to be made.

-Not many people on Fanfiction know this, but I'm a MAJOR Naruto Fan. I would write fanfiction but my ideas are all long term stories and I want to Finnish my baby (this fic) first. However I tend to write down plot bunnies and ideas If I get them and a view days ago I revised that Archive of mine and found some pretty interesting stuff. (I generally love writing interesting plots, and AUs tend to be my thing, though If you guys are interested check at my profile. I posted it there. I have one for AOT too, though I'm still debating on whether or not I'll let it go.

-I wanted to thank the reviewer who pointed out my mistake in the previous chapter. Your awesome.

-Also I recently made a Twitter account for my Fanfiction. If you want to talk or ask me something, feel free to find me at ziixx01.

-Thank you guys for all your unending support! I adore you all!

NOW GO SEE YOUR SURPRISE! GO! YOU HUMAN...THINGAMABOBS!

(updated: 19 February 2016)