...Chapter One: Blood And Roses...
It was the mission that should have never been, at least in Eren's opinion. Whoever the Female Titan was, they were deadly skilled. He couldn't help but hang his head in shame at the accusing glares and armor piercing whispers from the townspeople as they rode back into Karanese. He tried to ignore them, he really did. There were just too many to block out.
His shell-shocked mind didn't even properly register them arriving home, only snapping out of his daze when Armin began to tug on his arm. The poor blond had an expression of crushing grief and extreme worry, mixed with a hearty dose of fear. Of what, Eren didn't really want to know. They'd seen too much, experienced too much, for a simple spider to get to them.
"What are you doing, brat? Dismount."
Oh. So that's what. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir," Eren rushed to say, nearly launching out of the saddle to salute the Captain, Armin following suit. The shorter man just stared with that same terrifying, disinterested glare, his gray eyes giving away nothing but boredom. Pure, unadulterated boredom.
Captain Levi's eyes followed Eren as he regained his footing after being on horseback for so long, never once breaking his composure. "Be sure you don't ignore an order again. Help unload the bodies of your comrades, then you'll be on cleaning duty." He then turned on his heel and strode away, not looking back once. And not dismissing Eren and Armin. The two teens glanced at each other from their peripherals, beyond confused, then loosened their stances and followed their superior with their eyes.
Once he was out of sight in the castle, they dropped their salutes and rushed to help their fellow Scouts unload the bodies of people they thought of as friends. So many. Too many. Something Eren wanted to change with every fiber of his being. And something he now had the power to do.
Unloading everyone took longer than expected, since some of the higher-ups hadn't known about some of them being left behind, so the count didn't add up. After two hours, Armin and Eren were dismissed by Hange, whose goggles were pushed up and brows pulled together. Eren had never seen them* look so distressed, even after Sonny and Bean were killed not long ago.
Cleaning, though... Cleaning was the hard part, as he, Armin, and a few other Cadets had to go through the deceased corp members' rooms and clear them out to give their possessions, as few as were allowed, to the grieving families. Packing the civvies of people he had once ate with, had good times with, done a few stupid things while tipsy with, was heart shattering.
It was when he entered Petra's room that his calm broke, and he fell to the floorboards with his head in his hands as his body was wracked with dry sobs. Feeling a warmth spread from his hands down his arms, the teen glanced at his palms, his chest shuddering at the sight that met his gaze.
Fresh, dark red blood stained his sleeves. Seeing no wounds, he knew it had to be hers. The poor woman he might as well have killed with his own hands. Poor, poor Petra. It was his fault.
It was his fucking fault!
Tasting bile, Eren shot to his feet and down the hall to the level's communal washroom, the door slamming into the wall. Captain Levi would kill him if there were cracks in the tiles. The thought of his eminent demise meant nothing to him now; in fact, he'd welcome it.
He rushed to a sink, retching into the basin, but nothing came up. There wasn't anything to vomit anyway, he hadn't eaten all day and last night. His stomach calmed for now, he turned the facet to the hottest temperature it could go to, instantly sticking his hands under the running tap, falling backwards with a shout as he saw the water itself ran red.
He jumped to his feet to turn off the offending water, only to see it now ran clear. More shaken than he'd been in awhile, he held up his hands to see them clean, if red and steaming as they healed themselves. Eren shut off the tap, stumbling numbly to the room Petra had occupied not two full days before.
Once alone with the air and her limited belongings, he leaned against the door and slid to the floor, tears finally welling up. "I'm sorry... It should have been me."
The next day, the day of the funerals and the day Eren and his fellow Cadets brought the possessions to the families, wasn't any better. If anything, it was worse. The first thing that went horribly wrong was simply walking through the Karanese gates. His uniform alone drew too much attention, the box he carried just added more weight to the stares.
Finding the Ral home proved to be more difficult than he thought, even with a map, and the less than warm welcome at the door by the tall blond man, at least as tall as the Commander, and one and a half times as broad-shouldered, was enough to make Eren back up several steps into the street.
"Wha' d'ya mean, my little girl ain't comin' home?!" The man bellowed, drawing more than a few eyes in the dimming light of day.
Eren clutched the box tighter to his chest, then thrust it out to Mr. Ral with a bowed head. "I am deeply sorry, sir. These were her-"
He stopped, box falling with a dull thud to the pavement and head snapping back up to stare wide-eyed at Mr. Ral, who grabbed hold of the front of his shirt. "It was you, ya brat! Wasn't it? Ain't you the Shifter everyone's been talkin' about?"
Eren's mental cogs turned at a blinding speed, a bit too fast for his mouth to keep up. "I, uh, ye-yes sir. I am sorry sir-"
Whatever he wanted to say next was cut off by a small hand grabbing tight to Mr. Ral's wrist. Eren's gaze flicked over to the hooded person on his left, their eyes hidden but their mouth in a clear snarl. The man holding onto Eren was pulled off his uniform, and a bunch of red roses was thrust into his hand. "Need I remind you," an alto voice spoke from the hood, and Eren next looked down to the person's other attire. A long, blue skirt and black, heeled riding boots. Safe to assume his savior was female. "Mr. Ral, that it is a severe crime to injure a member of the military?"
"N-no," Mr. Ral said, backing up into his door, petals falling from the fresh cut flowers. Eren tried to not compare their color to that of blood, but the hallucinations of yesterday were as fresh as the roses.
"Please leave." The words were punctuated by the slamming door, the force of it blowing Eren's hair back. The hooded woman snorted, turned on a thick heel, and started down the street away from the befuddled teen. Several moments passed before he collected himself again, and he took off after the woman.
"Miss! Please wait!"
"Why should I?" she snapped back, not turning back for a second as the sharp click of her heels continued.
Eren caught up to her, still having to power walk to keep up. She may have been short, shorter than the Captain, but she was fast. "I want to thank you, miss-"
"That's Ma'am to you," she barked, cutting him off once again.
"Ex-excuse me... Ma'am?" he asked, now nearly at a jog as she sped up, trying to lose him.
"Just ask your Commander. He'll know." And here she turned into an inn, leaving him reeling. The only people who spoke like that were commanding officers... Right?
One week later
Eren was left in the dark by Commander Erwin and Captain Levi, unsurprisingly, until the day it was announced at mess that a new training regime would start that very afternoon. His fellow rookies didn't dare groan with the cold, nearly unblinking stare of the Captain on them.
"Three teams of Military Police elite will be arriving here today to train you in advanced hand-to-hand combat!" Their Commander's voice rang crystal clear through the hall, the only sound that anyone made as the members of the Survey Corp listened to each and every syllable like it would be the last thing they'd ever hear. "From now on, we cannot assume someone is an ally simply because they are human in appearance."
Eren felt several pairs of eyes flick to him in time with one another, a heavy weight lifting from him as they returned to Commander Erwin. Not all of it, however, as the Captain's gaze remained trained on him. Hesitant, he met that gray colored gaze, and to his eternal shock, the Captain gave a polite nod. A nod!
"Dismissed!" finished the Commander, and Eren shook his head as he came back to the present. Both commanding officers left, Hange close on their heels, and chatter slowly trickled back to the occupants of the mess hall. From what he paid attention to, it was about these supposed hotshots from the MPs that were going to be teaching them. What did they have left to teach that they hadn't learned in basic?
Less than twenty minutes later, tables had been cleared and the Survey Corp stood in orderly rows, hands in tight fists crossed at the wrists behind their backs. With cloaks being required today, the heat was sweltering in full uniform. Lucky for them, it wasn't long before a group of fifteen horses rode in. Familiar green cloaks fluttered behind the riders, Military Police patches visible even from half a mile away. The entire point of having them so large.
The riders stopped short of the Corp and dismounted, quickly falling into three rows of five based on rank, team leaders in front. Hoods were flung back, and the whole group started forward as one, their horses staying where they were without being tethered. The MPs moved like a well oiled machine, fifteen boots falling in perfect time as they walked in front of the Survey Corp, still in sync as they about faced, saluted, and fell into stance, eyes staring ahead and not focused on anything in particular.
It was... Beyond intimidating, and Eren's comrades who were beginning to squirm clearly thought so as well. As Captain Levi's gaze flicked to them, they went still again, trying to mirror the MPs, but failing.
Eren started in surprise at the familiar face of a young woman at the end of a line. Annie had come along, too. The Commander saluted as well, that was clear from his back, then said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear with clarity, "Captain Lauri Jarvi, First Lieutenant Amaya Nieves, Second Lieutenant Dmitri Yenin."
The named officers stepped forward, saluting once again. A tall brunet man, about 6'0", with steely blue eyes, broad shoulders, narrow hips, and biceps obvious even in uniform said, "Captain Jarvi, sir!"
Next was a short, reddish-brown haired woman. She stood about 5'2" at the most, had a smattering of freckles across her nose, dark amber eyes, and a severe bun, and she spoke with an unwavering alto, "First Lieutenant Nieves, sir!"
Last of the named officers was a man of average height with a stocky build with close cropped black hair and eyes so dark they nearly matched, calling out, "Second Lieutenant Yenin, sir!"
"I welcome you to the headquarters of the Survey Corp. Thank you for accepting our invitation," said Commander Erwin, and Yenin and Nieves nodded. Jarvi, on the other hand, simply smiled.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Hm? I see no reason to not... Permission granted."
Jarvi's smile grew, almost to a full blown grin. "You have met our commanding officer. He didn't give us a choice."
There was a stunned silence, broken after Erwin barked a short laugh. "Is that true, Lieutenant Amaya?" There was a silence again, and Eren had to peek around the Cadet in front of him to see her clearly. He bit his lip when he did so; she was glaring, her eyes chips of jewel colored ice, at the Captain.
Well, this was going swimmingly. Nothing wrong here.
I had felt a presence since dismounting, and had glanced around to find the source after introducing myself. Not really expecting it to come from a man not much taller than me with dead looking eyes. Or just really bored. Knowing our military, it was healthy mix of the two, and they made for a truly dangerous combination.
It can't be... I thought. That's Captain Levi? Ha... This should be fucking fun. A really big hoot. That was supposedly Humanities strongest? Humanities shortest maybe… oh shit I'm shorter, that doesn't work.
"... Nieves?" The voice of Commander Erwin finally got through, and I nearly jumped. Nearly, mind you. I managed to keep a straight face and stance.
"Hm? Yes, sir?" I asked, tone as bored as the midget Levi's gaze. "I apologize, could you repeat the question?" That's it, May. Teach those kiddies who is smarter, who is better. Okay, not the kids. Captain Levi.
Even in my mind, I kept up the chain of command and rank. I had to, if I ever wanted to become a Captain in my own right. And this mission just might propel me forward, unsurprisingly difficult when you are half a foot shorter than your peers, even the other women. I had to pull this off. Looking over the Cadets, that would be a bit harder for some. They looked determined, but we'd see how long that would last.
A few stuck out to me. Though only just a few; a blond, male and stocky, another female, lean, rather pretty looking black hair, and with an expression to rival Captain Levi's. A very tall brunet man, although his face was a bit too kind. And a familiar teen with short brown hair and green eyes.
So, Eren Yeager really was here. And they were letting him out and about, not experimenting? When had Hange gone soft? Most intriguing.
"Wouldn't you like to explain what happens next?" asked the Commander.
I nodded, his true meaning clear as a bell. 'Stop staring, you're causing a scene.' He really had a way with words and double meanings, didn't he? "Of course, Commander. Cadets!" They jumped. Ooh, this would be fun... "We will be splitting into groups to judge your ability. Please don't stick with your friends, that will just make this complicated."
"I'll pick the groups," said Captain Levi, and my lip tried to curl at how deep and rich sounding it was. That wasn't fair. Damn him. "And I'll be joining you."
"So be it," was what I said out loud, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of rattling me. I waved a gloved hand to the lined up Cadets, giving him the go-ahead, even though he didn't need it from me. I was ranked under him, after all.
But rank be damned if this bastard was involved. I would be the one to be Humanity's strongest soldier!
A/N: Thank you for reading! A special thank you goes to my new beta, and another AoT/ SnK fanfiction author: Frantastic1993! She's a real gem, and so is her fic Red Burning Wings. Also, I feel I should mention this loosely follows canon.
*I'm going by the manga for this, and Hange's gender isn't yet revealed. Until further notice, they/them pronouns will be used.
Disclaimer: I do not or claim to own AoT/ SnK. I only own my OCs and the plot.