Eren awoke to hands in his hair.
The fingers were long, the nails too, and Eren's muddled thoughts tired valiantly to pull the characteristics into a whole. The hands were far too large to be Mikasa's and too soft to be his father's. Had his mother's hands ever felt this warm? No. They were cold from washing vegetables in the mornings and stitching in the cool air at night, the rest of her body wrapped in throws and seated next to a hot furnace. His mother's hands… they were balm on a summer's day or a shock to induce his laughter—not this. But Eren couldn't think of anyone else, no one in his life who'd comb warm fingers through his hair. Hers were the only ones.
Weren't they?
Maybe. Eren couldn't come up with anyone else just yet, not now, when his thoughts felt like jigsaw puzzle pieces, bent and soaked and warped so that they just refused to fit together. All Eren was sure of was that the hands cradling him were not ones he knew, they were a stranger's… but god did they feel good. There was a frantic pounding in the back of his skull that was slowly being massaged out of him, a stickiness that was being washed away. Eren liked these hands and he sighed into their caress.
When he did they stopped moving.
"Hey," a voice said. A woman's. "Are you awake? I'm not groping you for my own health you know."
Eren's eyes flew open and that poor jigsaw puzzle was forced into completion, the pieces stuck together with concrete and glue. He gasped at the light that assaulted him, all the blurred shapes demanding his attention, and the girl… poised above Eren, equally blurry except for a head of blond hair that sort of looked like a halo. All angelic comparisons were obliterated though when her fingers gave a final squeeze and pain shot through Eren's forehead. Then it was gone. Eren was left gasping like a fish even as his vision snapped back into focus.
He could see her features now: the hollowed cheekbones, sharp nose, thinned lips, and eyes like tacks, pinning Eren to the floor. He breathed easier when she lifted her weight off his hips, settling by his side… and then his breath caught again when she started pawing at his shirt.
"What the hell," Eren croaked. His voice might have been shot but his legs still worked. He tried scooting backwards, for all the good that did him. The girl just followed.
"You've got nothing to complain about," she said even as Eren squawked. "You've already got blood all over your shirt. What's a little more?"
Eren blinked down at himself, at his soiled uniform. Blood. Someone's blood.
"Corporal," he said and tired to sit up. The girl helped, hauling Eren even as she continued to use his shirt as a towel.
"Why is there blood on your hands?" Eren wasn't so sure he liked her hands anymore.
"Why do you have blood on your shirt?" She countered.
"It's not mine."
"Well neither is this—not mine I mean." She held up her now relatively clean fingers. "It's yours."
Eren gingerly touched the back of his head. He could feel stiffness in his hair from more drying blood but no pain. He remembered being thrown backwards…
"I healed you," the girl said casually and rolled to her feet. Eren followed, wobbling only slightly.
"Oh. Thanks."
She shrugged.
"You were…" Eren swallowed. "You were in that crystal, weren't you?"
Indeed, looking past her he could see said crystal in its new, broken state. Gone was the blue light and the ropes were all snapped, some of them frayed or even charred. The crystal itself was an emptied egg, jagged shards lying open like the petals of a flower. Eren had the fleeting, hysterical thought that this made the girl Thumbalina. His mom had read him that story, hadn't she? A long time ago but not so long that Eren didn't remember picturing Thumbalina as a hell of a lot more approachable than this girl. She may as well have just remained in the crystal; her walls were just as thick.
"You were in there," Eren repeated dumbly. It was kinda the best he could manage at the moment but he thought it did a decent job of summing up the, oh, hundred or so questions he had. Which wasn't much, really. Just a few little inquiries. Nothing important.
Right.
The girl shoved her hands in the pockets of her white pants and pursed her lips. Beyond the arctic stare it was probably the most dramatic expression she'd made so far. At length she finally said, "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes I was in there. Now I'm not. I suppose that's thanks to you." She inclined her head and some of those sharp lines softened. "Let's leave it at that."
"No." The word slipped out before Eren could check it. "No, listen! I'm so damn sick of—of—of everyone keeping things from me! What exactly is going on—?"
"He's dying." She said the words indifferently but Eren didn't miss the bulging in her pockets: fists clenching. "We don't have time for you to throw a temper tantrum. Not if you really want to help."
"Dying?"
"Yes."
"Yes." Eren breathed. "Of course I want to help." He shook his head frantically, dislodging bits of anger with every shake. He was already moving towards the door. "Fuck. You're right. Okay. But you're coming with me." Eren reached back to snag her wrist and the girl was already just a step behind him.
"No." She said and he did a double-take at the sarcasm he heard there, infusing previously monotone words. "I'll just stay here if you don't mind, twiddle my thumbs and wait for Irwin to come back and lock me up again. Go ahead without me. Really. Don't worry. I'm fine. I was thrilled to be his slave and I'd like to remain so for another handful of centuries. Then, if another little boy comes along I'll tell him the same thing. Why the hell would I want to come with you?" She shot him an icy glare even as the speed of her strides increased and she nearly overtook him. Eren boggled.
"Wow. That was a switch. Uh… what's your name?"
"Annie. Yours?"
"Taken," Eren spit and he didn't need to explain that. Annie gave a single nod that was filled with far too much understanding.
"Then it looks like we've got something in common," she said and the two of them pushed through the door.
Annie's release had wreaked havoc amongst Irwin's treasures, an unforeseen consequence that Eren didn't have the time to cheer over yet. But the destruction he and Annie had waded through stood as a testament to time passing; something had happened in that room and this was the proof. In contrast, Irwin's office was static. It looked exactly as it had when he'd left.
Right down to the five spirits standing in a line.
"Human." Petra gasped it even as the boys struggled for words of their own. "That was you? You—" her eyes strayed to the door behind him and then her voice bubbled up, overflowing. "We heard a crash and then an explosion but we couldn't move, I'm so sorry, we couldn't move, we…" Then she caught sight of Annie. "You." Petra breathed.
"Me." Annie agreed and then she waved a palm. The five spirits fell forward as if they'd had harnesses attached to their back that had suddenly, simultaneously been cut. Eren had to weave between stretching limbs to reach Corporal. He dropped straight to his knees.
"Hey," Eren said but it was clear that Corporal couldn't greet him back just yet. He was only partly awake, his long body shifting restlessly against the carpet, abrasively rubbing the fibers against gashes between his scales. Eren let out a growl similar to Corporal's own when he found that many of those gashes were still bleeding.
"You could have helped him!" He cried to no one in particular, although it was probably directed mostly at himself. Why had he stayed hidden so long? Why had he wasted time on Annie? The carpet felt wet beneath his knees and Eren gagged at the realization that this entire section of rug wasn't meant to be red. Heedless of the girls behind him he threw off his shirt and tried to tear it into strips. A pair of larger, stronger hands closed over his own.
"We couldn't move," Gunther reminded him. He knelt, taking the shirt and making bandages. Silently he began wrapping them about Corporal's body. The pink coloring deepened instantly.
Feeling useless Eren looked up and found Eld, Oluo, and Mike also fawning over Corporal—providing unacknowledged comfort if not physical healing. Everyone knelt but Petra. She alone stared at Annie, her expression shifting between wariness and hope.
"You're out," Eren heard her say.
"Obviously."
"We…" Petra swallowed. "We tried to help you."
"I know. I could hear in there." Her shoulders hunched, minutely. "I could feel too."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"It is," Petra said. "Partly at least. We had a job to do and we failed. I'm so sorry but, for what it's worth, I'm also really glad to be meeting you now. Formally."
She held out her hand and Annie slowly grasped it, her body language screaming fear that Petra would pull away even as her face remained blank. Petra was sturdy though and within seconds the two were able to hold hands like sisters, those who steadied one another amidst a storm. Eren was the lighting that struck between them.
"Hey," he growled. "Hey! Annie, you need to heal him okay? Heal Corporal and then we can…"
He trailed off. They could what? Annie was free and the team was free and those two things surely meant something, but right then Eren simply didn't care. Heal Corporal. Everything else could come after, even the consequences of freedom.
"Please," he said.
Stepping gently Annie came to join their circle. However, the ease of her walk, the lack of haste in her bend to the floor, all of it told Eren the answer well before she spoke.
"I can't." Annie said and Eren's stomach still dropped despite the lack of surprise.
"What do you mean you can't? You're a sorceress aren't you? Powerful enough that Irwin's been sucking you dry for years!" It was Oluo who spoke, his voice still clogged up with tears. He waved his arms at his friends, demanding that his words be confirmed. Petra stepped forward.
"You're powerful," she insisted. Pleaded. "Of course you are. Surely you can do something."
"And you healed me." Eren added. He tilted his head for all of them to see. The unblemished skin acting as proof. Nodding in acknowledgement to this Annie placed one hand atop Corporal's head… and the cuts faded away. Gunther pulled back as the magic rushed in a wave over the body, making his bandages obsolete. There was a collective, celebratory breath before Annie broke it with a twisting of her lips.
"I can't," she said again. "Those gashes were superficial; they're not what's killing him. Irwin took a lot of my magic today but even if he hadn't, I still wouldn't know how to fix this spirit. He's beyond my skill." Annie silenced Oluo's protest with a look. "I am powerful… and you'd do well to remember that. I've spent decades locked up in there, watching the likes of you come and go and I assure you, Oluo, the only reason I haven't swatted you aside is because I owe a debt to this boy." Annie's violent aura faded away, leaving her looking younger than she probably was. "I'm powerful, yes, but I'm not perfect. Only fools like Irwin believe that power equals invulnerability. I was reckless enough to get captured, I wasn't strong enough to escape… I can't sever your ties to him, not completely."
Oluo and the others looked down; Erd raised a hand instinctually to his heart. Eren felt it too: the constant pull that Irwin had on them all. Annie could give them movement and their voices back but not much else it seemed. Not enough.
"There's simply nothing I can do for this spirit." Annie looked to Eren. "I'm sorry."
Acknowledging the apology wasn't an option. That was paramount to acknowledging her belief that nothing could be done.
No.
Eren hadn't realized he'd said that out loud until every head swiveled his way. There was expectation there and Eren hid from it. He folded his bare chest over Corporal's body, the scales cool against his ribs. Eren could smell salt as he buried his nose in the green mane and demanded, "What are we going to do?"
Silence greeted him.
"Fucking do something!" He screamed and promptly choked on a sob.
"Ah… Is this my cue then?"
Eren's head cracked up with the speed of a whip—as did everyone else's. He knew that voice, even if it was only partly familiar. It was the voice that had gotten him through the doors and down the endless halls, except Eren wasn't the only one hearing it now.
In the instant he'd looked away his friends had gone from being curled cat-like around their friend to defensive positions worthy of any army. Oluo and Mike were nearest to Corporal's head and thus took to shielding him in his vulnerable position. Gunther and Erd moved to cover Eren. Petra snatched the nearest weapon—a wicked looking letter opener on Irwin's desk—while Annie rose silently to her feet. Only one palm twitched and then it was filled with fire. Eren flinched away from the heat.
"Wait…" he started to say because did he really want them attacking someone who might be an ally? Then it was too late. They were all were able to locate the intruder as a movement, not a sound, came from behind Irwin's desk. At first Eren thought that a breeze had scattered some of the papers… but a quick look confirmed that no windows were open. Instead, from a pile of leaflets came a rippling and then one sheet rose up above the rest. It shook itself like a wet dog and bits of the paper fell away—corners, a large section from the bottom middle, thin strips that curled to the floor—until something far more complex than a rectangle hung in the air before them.
It was a titan. Or rather, the cut-out version of one.
Eren immediately recognized this as one of the things that had attacked Corporal. Previous hesitancy forgotten he rose to his feet beside Annie, slipping into the approximation of a fighting stance. It had landed him more than one punch in the past and it would have to do for now. As far as Eren was concerned, that thing wasn't so much as laying another paper cut on Corporal.
"What are you?" Petra barked. She slid the letter opener between two of her fingers, aiming as if she meant to throw it. Mike cautiously slid up behind her.
"I recommend that you answer her," he said. "I can attest to her accuracy. More pressingly you're on private property. This bathhouse and these chambers belong solely to Sorcerer Irwin. He will—"
"Really now." The paper cutout fluttered to the rug and took two waddling steps forward. "I know he's got his hooks in you but please, don't parrot his lies back to me. We both know Irwin doesn't own this bathhouse anymore than I do, don't we, Mike?"
Mike's face scrunched in confusion and he wasn't the only one. Oluo mouthed the words back to himself, tasting their cadence, as if he too recognized something he couldn't place.
"Who are you?" He growled.
"Well 'who' is better than 'what' I suppose. If you'd only give me a moment, this isn't the easiest spell to break."
At the word 'spell' everyone stiffened, Eren most of all. But before he could pounce or run or simply throw himself on top of Corporal in the hopes of protecting him, the paper was already changing. It grew first, rising upwards like dough. The already distorted parts of its body became even more grotesque as the paper gained depth as well as height, filling out until it actually resembled a creature with substance. Slowly though those deformities smoothed away, leaving only the hint of head, arms, and legs, a blank template from which to build. The skin, if Eren were to call it skin, morphed from snow-white to the pink of a human's complexion. Hair grew atop the head—blonde—the bulbous ends of the arms grew fingers, stretching after they'd formed, as if they already ached in their new existence. Clothes appeared, eyelashes, veins and a mole down by the base of the neck. Before long a man was standing before them.
A man all of them recognized.
Irwin.
"Annie, wait!"
Petra's cry came too late though. Eren hardly heard her himself. Hope was hard to sustain when you couldn't think of any answers, when all you could feel was helplessness… but still, whatever remained of Eren's hope spluttered and died at seeing Irwin appear before them. This was it then. If he'd returned so soon then he'd probably killed Armin… he'd kill them all now too. Eren stumbled backwards until he tread over Corporal's claw. His friend didn't even flinch.
Was he even still breathing?
Breath came hard for Eren too. He didn't know if it was the panic or the heat that had infused the room. In the second it had taken for all this to flash through his mind Annie had grown her fireball until it resembled a small sun. In just the short amount of time that he'd known her she'd seemed so composed, cold even, but now Annie burned hot and she let loose a scream of rage that sounded as if it had torn itself from her throat. The fire roared towards Irwin… only to splutter out upon meeting his hand, like a candle being extinguished with a bit of spit. Irwin looked down at his palm, barely scorched, and stepped forward before Annie could raise her hand for another blow. Touching the crown of her head so gently (gently?) he plucked a strand and blew. With a look of pure fear crossing her face Annie shrunk before their eyes… and a tiny mouse appeared in her place.
Irwin caught her delicately as she fell.
"There," he breathed, relieved (relieved?). "I can see now why he kept such a hold on you, Annie. That fire would have done some serious damage if I had truly been its intended—ouch!"
Annie dropped to the floor. Irwin held up a finger, dotted with blood.
"Really. You didn't have to bite me."
She let out a hiss. Eren had never heard a mouse hiss before. Instinctually he crouched and held out a hand to her. Annie scrambled up as Eren pulled her protectively to her chest, stroking the soft fur of her back.
"You keep away from her, you fuck." Annie wasn't the only one hissing. Eren backed up as far as he could go, until he felt Corporal's body under his heels. He dropped again, trying to keep Annie safe in one arm and all of Corporal safe with the other. His fingers found scales and stiffened as they rose and fell beneath his skin: still breathing.
Irwin inched forward. "If you would just hear me out a moment."
"I said keep away!"
"Eren, please."
"I SAID—"
Eren's breath caught then, completely, truly—it stopped short and sputtered into a gasp at hearing it.
His name.
Petra took advantage of the opening and rushed forward. She dropped next to Eren while the others took up stations behind them and Eren couldn't help but notice their relaxed stances now; how Oluo was nodding as if anything actually made sense here.
"What's going on?" Eren whispered.
"That's not Irwin." Petra took hold of his hands, nearly squashing Annie in the process. She squeezed tight though, hard and soft and determined all at once. "E.. Eren? Was that it? Your name?" Her head swung towards the Irwin look-alike who nodded. "Eren, Eren." She repeated it a few more times, like she was trying to make it stick. "Listen to me. He's not Irwin. Annie," Petra leaned forward to get on eye level with the tiny mouse. Annie still had her own beady eyes locked on the spirit in front of her, her curly tail twitching like a tiger's. "You too. Listen to me. Irwin kept you prisoner a long time, yes?" Those eyes shot up to meet Petra's. "I know he did. But even after all this time, how much do you actually know about him? Really?"
Petra shrugged. The gesture looked both relieved and weepy, like she might have been as close to breaking as Eren felt. When she gave another full body twitch he knew, instantly, that she wanted to reach around them both to Corporal. Instead she asked,
"Did you know, for example, that he has a brother?"
The high-pitched squeak Annie gave confirmed that as a 'no.'
"Brother." Eren said dumbly.
"Yes. Loath as I am to admit the relation." Not-Irwin came a little closer, just inching forward on tip-toe. He swept his hands down his chest. "Identical twins, in case you missed it."
Eren swallowed. His throat felt raw and raspy. "You're not identical," he said. "You're… you're something else, okay. You're exactly the same. Exactly! You even sound alike!"
"You've a good eye. And ear," he said. He was nearly side by side with Petra now. Eren could feel himself shaking as the spirit crouched, tilted his head, then held out his hand— as if such a gesture were the most natural thing in the world.
Fuck. Did he actually expect Eren to shake it?
"It's lovely to meet you, Eren. I'm Erwin."
Eren's cringed backward. "You just said…"
"Ewin," he annunciated, stressing the first syllable only slightly. "Not Irwin, Eren. Erwin. It's quite the nuisance I'll admit. You're right that in many ways we're more similar than even human twins… but not in morals. Of that I assure you." His hand was still hanging in the air.
Eren looked to Petra who nodded without hesitation. Behind him Erd, Gunther, Mike, and Oluo were huddled together in a supportive ball, but they too smiled encouragingly.
"I can vouch for him," Mike murmured. He tapped his nose. "Smells better. Cleaner," to which Erwin gave an amused snort. The muscles in Annie's back had also begun to loosen, though she still refused to take her eyes off her prey.
"Come now," Erwin said. "Remember who the real enemy is here."
Slowly, Eren reached out to take his hand.
It was dry, warm—so much like his father's. Erwin smiled and if that didn't seal the deal Eren didn't know what would. Irwin could never smile like that. Never.
"Excellent. I look forward to working with you, Eren." He said. "You've done marvelously so far, I must say."
"I have?" Eren croaked.
"Indeed." Erwin bounded to his feet, suddenly brimming with energy. "Yes! I'd even go so far as to say that 'marvelous' isn't quite a strong enough word. You're a marvel yourself, Eren. Truly." To his horror Eren felt heat beginning to spread through his cheeks. "I worried when I heard that you and your family had stumbled through here. How could I not? So imagine my surprise when word travels that you managed to get a job out of my brother, of all things. Perhaps I should have sent in a human from the start, hmm?"
Petra flinched but Erwin quickly put a hand solidly down on her shoulder.
"Ah. That was cruel." He murmured. "My apologies."
"Oh fuck. You're really not him." Eren boggled at the way Petra relaxed under his hands.
"No, I'm not. Though I fear if we don't hurry you'll have us both to deal with soon enough."
As one eight heads turned towards the door. Erwin nodded.
"He's heading back even as we speak. I'd hoped that… but no. He's looking for you."
"Me?" Eren squeaked.
"Of course. The last few days haven't been easy on you, have they, Eren? I fear they won't get any easier just yet." Erwin strode up even as Eren eased back, a part of him still wary. Erwin only touched a finger to Annie's head though. She rose calmly into the air and a second later she was blonde, muscled, and familiar again, staring Erwin down with a glower that would fell any man, sorcerer or no.
"If you ever again…" Then she paused, pursed her lips. "You're really against him then? Your own brother?" She asked.
"As much as I can be,"came the cryptic response. Eren opened his mouth—maybe to ask more questions, maybe just to cry—but Erwin brushed past him with a fearful energy that didn't allow for any of it. He began running his hands along the rug, in between Corporal's limbs, sometimes pounding gently at the floorboards beneath, all the while speaking with an authority that made Eren sit up and listen. There was no time for anything else.
"There's no more time," Erwin echoed. "You really have done fabulously, Eren, but I need you to keep pushing, just for a while longer." With a soft cry of success he turned away from the floor. When Eren didn't cringe away this time Erwin settled three fingers on the cap of his knee, feather-like.
"You can keep pushing," he said. "You have that strength. I've already watched you surmount the insurmountable these last few days and by god, if I had any doubts they were blown away along with Annie's prison. Do you have any idea the kind of determination—the love—it takes to break a set of magical bonds like that? And you didn't even know Annie!" Erwin smiled, blindingly. "All that love for a stranger. I tremble at the thought of what you could accomplish for a friend. You're quite the soldier, Eren."
"I'm not a soldier," came the immediate denial. Eren shook his head. Soldiers were strong, wise, and above all courageous; not a puny boy confused and half terrified out of his mind. A memory of shielding arms wielding double blades flew through Eren's mind. Corporal was a soldier—someone who helped. Now who was supposed to help him?
"I'm not," Eren whispered.
"You are," Erwin fired right back. "You're a fighter, in the most important sense of the word. You understand what many, including my brother, have always failed to learn: a soldier never fights alone. Petra?" Erwin's voice melted seamlessly into a command.
"Sir?"
"You'll go with him?" His gaze was sharp. "I can't free you from my brother but I can loosen the hold just a bit, enough for you to leave the grounds of the bathhouse. I daresay, unless I've gone entirely blind you've grown rather fond of this boy, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir." Petra answered with a smile.
"Excellent. You'll need that fondness more than your skills with a knife. Annie?"
Coolly she lifted her head. "I'm not leaving his side."
"I never expected you to, my dear."
"I'm not your 'dear.'"
Felling numb, Eren reached out to grasp at the cuff of Annie's pant leg. After the initial tension ran out of her body she looked down as Eren offered, "I don't like being called 'kid.'"
Her eyebrows drew in at the odd gesture of solidarity.
"I'll steer clear of both terms then." Erwin was at his brother's desk now, passing hands over papers, baubles, things that whirled, and things that sparked when he got too close. He settled over a ceramic spider and made another soft sound of triumph. "You inspire trust, Eren." He continued. "And you trust in turn. You trusted me, a mere disembodied voice, and for that I owe you another thanks. I've been trying to sneak into my brother's quarters for decades." It was with a sibling's glee that Erwin tipped a precariously balanced instrument until it tumbled, shattering against the floor. "Oops. How clumsy of me."
"You thank people a lot," Eren murmured.
"Yes. I'm not my brother. You four," Erwin raised his hand to Erd, Mike, Gunther, and Oluo. "I'll need to knock you out. As far as you're aware something took you by surprise. You don't know what happened to Corporal, or Petra; you haven't even entered the room where Annie was kept. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Mike replied. The three came forward to take Petra into a group hug. Oluo got a kiss on the cheek.
"Moving quickly now," Erwin muttered and around him they drifted gently to the floor, unconscious. His finger, still glowing with magic, turned to point at Eren.
"The forest. You've seen it I presume? I live there, deep inside where my brother can't follow. If you make it to the tree-line by nightfall I'll be able to guide you the rest of the way; protect you. You hear me, Eren? You need to get there, not matter what it takes. We need you to finish this."
Eren's head nodded towards his knees. If felt too heavy, filled with too many questions; not enough answers. "You sound like that spirit," he found himself muttering. "That crazy one. Dot."
"Ah. Can't say I'm terribly surprised. Dot and I go way back. I suppose it was only a matter of time before rubbed off on me…"
"But how," Eren growled. "How! All of you keep telling me to do things but you don't tell me how! Why don't you give me something concrete for once in your fucking lives—like telling me HOW THE FUCK I'M SUPPOSED TO SAVE MY FRIEND."
Behind him Petra had moved to grip his shoulders while Annie stood by his feet. Eren had his arms twisted awkwardly behind his back, refusing to let go of Corporal. The two of them were shaking.
Erwin just blinked at them. For once, he was the one who appeared confused.
"You… you've been doing it, Eren." He said simply. "All along. Loving these people, helping them… I'm just asking you to continue. As for Corporal, he was never in any real danger, not with you around. If you want to save him…" Erwin's eyes twinkled. "You'd do well to rein in that temper of yours. It might help you remember that nifty little bottle you've got tucked in your pants."
Eren gasped and his hands tried to reach back around him, to capture what he'd forgotten. But at that moment Erwin twisted the spider on his brother's desk, opening a trapdoor beneath them.
"Find me in the forest," he said.
Eren felt the floor fly out beneath him, the four of them slipping through endless air, tumbling back to front. The last thing he saw was Erwin producing another paper titan and tearing it in two. With a smile and a nod of encouragement, he disappeared.
Eren fell.