"tch, disgusting," Levi said to himself as he ran his fingers under the bottom of the desk in the Sheena's captain's quarters. "You would think this scum could at least clean their big fancy shit ships," Levi thought to himself. Levi continued his search through the captain's quarters. Although the lack of cleanliness annoyed him it was not what he was searching for. Levi was looking for something in particular. "Why did they not kill Eren on contact?" Levi thought to himself. Omegas, no matter what the age, if found were hunted down and killed, never captured. Although Levi was happy for their apparent lack of protocol because it brought Eren and his friends to him alive and not dead, he still needed to know why. Being an omega was an instant death sentence. Never in current history did that ever falter.

"There has to be a reason," Levi thought to himself again. He began tearing again through the endless documents and clutter throughout the room. "These damn pieces of shit, they can't even keep their paperwork and important documents organized," Levi said to himself. Levi continued to look over the documents until he finally found what he was looking for. His eyes quickly read down the document that read, "To all captains of the RMP fleet. A specific boy of age 10 has escaped from Dr. Grisha Yeager. This boy is average height with green eyes and brown hair. Through the decree of your highness, despite the nature of his dynamic, you are not to hunt but to capture and return this boy to the capital. The boy is suspected to be traveling with two comrades who are also to be captured and returned for proper punishment in the aid of his escape." Levi looked at the date of the decree. It was dated for 6 years ago. "So, the brat and his friends have been on the run for 6 years," Levi said to himself out loud. He was again impressed with the determination of the trio. Outrunning the RMP was no small feet.

A small knock on the door brought Levi's attention back and he looked up as his first mate Erwin and crazy scientist Hanji walked inside. "Marco told us you wanted to see us," Erwin began. Levi looked at them. He could feel the curiosity burning out of Hanji and the suspicion dripping off Erwin about the new "guests" of the ship. "Damn shitty glasses, calm down. I can smell your curiosity," Levi began as he watched as Hanji was almost at her bursting point with questions about who Levi had found on the ship. "Leeevvvvviiiii, please I can't wait anymore. Tell me pleeaaassee was it what I think it is? Pleassseee you have to tell me," Hanji began to whine. Her curiosity obviously outweighing her regard for him as her captain. "Yes Levi we are all quite interested in the new "guests" on the ship," Erwin began. Levi reached up and squeezed the bridge of his nose. This was bound to be a long conversation but where to start? "Listen up. I am only going over this once with you and the information is not to leave this room," Levi began.

~~~~~~~~~Time-Skip-Levi tells Hanji and Erwin about his meeting with the brat.~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, you're telling me that you and Eren are TRUE MATES?!" Hanji finally burst out as he finished telling them the details. "Yes, shitty glasses, how else would you explain this marking on my wrist?" Levi said back. "This is indeed an interesting development," Erwin stated in a matter of fact way. Levi could see the gears in Erwin's head already beginning to churn. "But Levi," Erwin began. "As miraculous as the event of finding your True mate is, why would the RMP have captured Eren and his friends instead of hunting him?" Levi looked at Erwin again handing him the orders he found in the desk draw. Levi watched as Erwin's eyes began scanning down the paper and Hanji looked over his shoulder also reading the orders.

As they both looked back up Hanji spoke first. "But what relation does Eren have with Dr. Yeager?" Levi looked back at Hanji again and spoke. "You have heard of this Grisha Yeager?" "Oh, yeah definitely," Hanji began. "He is one of the leading doctors and scientists in pheromone research for the king himself," Haji continued. Levi thought to himself momentarily before speaking again. "What would a scientist in the royal court want with an omega? Omegas are supposed to be killed immediately. Why would he have been keeping Eren prisoner? Why is he so keen on getting him back?" The three pirates looked from one to another all thinking silently but could not come up with a sound reason for it.

"Captain!" The voice filled the room. All three of their heads snapped back to the door where a crewmate was banging on the door. Levi turned once more back to Hanji and Erwin and spoke once more to them in a quieter voice. "We will talk about this again privately although we probably will not understand the connection without the help of Eren and his friends. I doubt they trust us enough just yet to tell us. Not even me, true mate or not." Hanji and Erwin nodded and Levi proceeded to the door.

Levi pulled the door open and was greeted by the tall muscular body of his crewman Reiner. "What is it, Reiner? This better be important. I told you guys to not interrupt unless it was important," Levi said. "Yes captain! It is, captain. The crew and I found the armory of the ship and I think you should see this," Reiner replied. "Alright lead the way, Hanji! Erwin!" Levi said looking back again. "Manage the ransack of the captain quarters. I found what I was looking for. Feel free to ransack the rest of it for anything else of use to us." "Yes captain!" Hanji and Erwin replied in sync. Levi turned again and followed Reiner down the staircase into the ship.

As Levi followed Reiner down to the ship armory Levi started becoming more and more disgusted with the state of the ship. "Tch, Disgusting." Levi spat again looking at the dust and cobwebs incasing every surface of the interior of the ship. "Do they only keep the outsides of these ships nice?" Levi spat sarcastically. "It would appear they only cared for outside appearances, captain," Reiner replied. "Well, they were a shit crew. Maybe if they cared more for their ship it would not have failed them so badly against us," Levi stated. Levi continued to follow Reiner down into the ship towards the armory as he heard footsteps running towards him. "Captain!" he heard someone shout from behind him. He turned to see Sasha, his crew's chef running towards him. "What do you want, Sasha?" Levi said curtly. "I have something important I am going to see," Sasha had her hand on her knees trying to catch her breath. "I don't have all day, Sasha. What do you need?" Levi said again in a more intense voice. "Yes… captain..."

Sasha began through breaths. "The…kitchen on this…ship has food…supplies that could last us… for months at sea, sir!" As Sasha spoke Levi could see the excitement oozing out of her. Levi became very happy upon hearing this news. With the addition of three new mouths to feed for the next few weeks the extra food would be a very good asset. "Sasha," Levi began sternly, "You are to keep that food out of your mouth. Grab Connie, Jean and Marco to help you bring it back to our ship and begin on dinner. There are three guests on our ship that I am sure have not eaten a good meal in a long time so make sure to prepare an adequate amount of food." "Yes Captain!" Sasha replied and turned to run back towards the kitchen.

Levi and Reiner finally made their way to the door leading to the armory and as Reiner opened the door, Levi was met with the faces of his crewmen: Petra, Oluo, Gunther and more gunpowder, guns and swords in one spot than Levi has ever seen in his entire life. "They had all this firepower on their ship and they didn't use it on us?" Levi said thinking aloud to himself. If the RMP officers had all of this, if they had used all their assets against them they could have done so much more damage to Levi and his crew. "Captain, I noticed that the men on this crew were exceptionally strong in the battle but they seemed to not entirely be using their heads that well."

Petra began seeming to understand the blank stare Levi was giving all the weapons in the room. Levi's brain clicked again with understanding. Yes, the RMP soldiers were strong physically in the battle but Levi realized that the addition or Eren's omega pheromones must have made them unable to think clearly. Seeing as how most RMP soldiers especially on big fancy ships like this were mostly Alphas, Eren's scent was driving them mad. Levi's crew had not been affected due to the masks Hanji created.

"Captain, how would you like to proceed?" Oluo asked. Levi snapped back again to his crew and started barking his orders to them. "Petra, Oluo and Gunther begin taking inventory of what is here so we can add it to our supply! Reiner! Go up to the deck, grab any available crew and begin emptying the armory's supply into ours, and make sure to clean it off first! It's all filthy." "Yes Captain!" they all replied in return and started work immediately.

"Captain, we're loaded and ready!" Hanji said making her way back to Levi who was overseeing the last of the supplies and crew making their way back on to the ship. "How did we do?" Levi replied after finding the massive deposit of guns and ammo in the RMP ship. He had been helping with the cleaning, sorting and storing of the new supplies. "Wellllll sir, other than the massive amount of food and weapons on board their ship, everything else was rather mediocre. We found a small treasury room with a few chests of gold and other treasure but it was nowhere near what we usually find on these ships." Hanji states. "Tch, figures" Levi said not entirely surprised by the news. "They must have spent most of it on their extremely well stocked kitchens and armory," Levi said. "Tell the crew to break for dinner and then we are sailing forward. I want to start putting distance between us and this ship. The pigs who were expecting this ship will no doubt start to notice its disappearance sooner than later." "Yes Captain!" Hanji responded.

"Hanji…" Levi started. He was torn between his desire to deliver food to the trio by himself or sending a crewmember to do so. He didn't know if he was ready to see Eren again just yet. His face began to flush again thinking back to Eren's smile. He wanted to see him again but…dammit this was all messing with his head in ways he didn't know was possible. Levi looked again up at Hanji who was awaiting orders. She had not missed the slight flush to his face and was watching him intently with a crazy smile plastered on her face. "Dammit…you stupid shitty glasses, stop looking at me like that and make sure to tell Connie to bring our guests dinner. They met him when we rescued them so they will probably accept food from him."

Hanji grinned again at him "arrrre yooou suurrre you don't wannna bring it to them yourself, captain?" she jeered playfully at Levi. "Dammit Hanji no, just do it," Levi bit back at her. "Aye aye captain!" Hanji replied with a slight laugh. Levi grabbed the bridge of his nose again. IAt was going to be a long night. After dinner he would have to meet with Hanji and Erwin again to discuss their next plan and set sail.

POV – Eren

Eren closed his eyes and sunk his head under the shower again. The water was somehow heated and Eren was sure he had never felt a moment as good as the clean water hitting his skin. He looked down at the stream of water. It was hitting his skin clear but hitting the shower floor dark and muddy. Eren felt filthy. He began to scrub himself using the variety of soaps and scrubs Levi had in his shower. He scrubbed and scrubbed until his skin began to feel raw. He still felt dirty. Eren reached over his shoulder scrubbing his back the best he could but Eren could feel the impressions of the bite marks that littered his shoulders and back. He began to rub at them bitterly and watched as some of the water became tinted red.

Eren spent the last of his shower sitting under the warm stream feeling the small droplets slightly sting his now raw skin. It felt both slightly painful yet soothing at the same time. After a few minutes under the water, Eren reached forward and turned off the water. He stepped out after drying off and gazed into the foggy mirror above the sink. Slowly wiping the fog away, he hardly recognized himself looking back. Eren had lost quite a bit of weight. He still had a small amount of his muscle mass from his years of training left. Most of his skin was covered in all different stages of bruises, some a light yellow while others a vibrant purple or blue. His hair had grown quite long and was unruly than he had seen it in a long time. His face was a bit swollen from his last encounter with the RMP officers that were not pleased with Eren's mouthing off to them.

Eren's most redeeming feature was the only thing that looked familiar to him: his eyes. They were his mother's eyes. Eren could sometimes swear he saw her looking at him through his own eyes. They had helped him through so many of the terrible ordeals he had experienced in his life. Losing his mother all those years ago had become the beginning of Eren's nightmare of a life. Grisha had found them. He destroyed their peaceful life they had been living. Eren shook his head pushing the thoughts of Grisha out of his mind. He didn't want another breakdown.

Eren looked back at himself in the mirror and gazed back into his eyes seeing his mother again. He let the warm memories he had of her flow through him. Eren started letting the promise he had made to her pulse through his mind, body and soul. He had to keep fighting. It was not over yet. Eren poked his head out of the washroom door and scanned his eyes over Levi's room checking for any sign of his return. The room was empty. Eren very momentarily felt a slight pang of disappointment flash through him before making his way back to his room. He was sharing the room with Armin and Mikasa. They had a lot to discuss and Eren saw no reason to delay the conversation any more.

~~~~~~~~~Time-Skip-Eren tells Armin and Mikasa about his meeting with Levi.~~~~~~~~~~~

"Eren? Can I see your wrist?" Armin began after a long moment of silence. Eren had told them of their unusual meeting in the cell. He told them how almost as soon as they made eye contact the mark had begun to form on his wrist. "Eren, I have only read of the legends of True Mate markings in the books we have ever found on Omegas or mates. It is probably knowledge that has been lost throughout the ages." Eren looked back up at Armin from his wrist slightly disappointed with the lack of information. Armin was one of the smartest people Eren knew. He was hoping that maybe he had at least a small amount of info on the whole "true mates" markings thing.

"Is that the reason you where willing to get on to this ship with him so easily?" Mikasa said staring intently between Eren and his mark. "Mikasa…" Eren began. Eren knew she would be more suspicious about the whole thing than curious. Eren began speaking again. "I'm not going to lie and say that wasn't part of my consideration of going with them but you know just as much as I do that I have always looked up to Levi as hero. When he had offered me and you two as well a chance to be part of his crew I just…" Eren stopped. He knew she was right in her suspicion but he wanted this chance so badly. To be a part of Captain Levi's crew, part of the infamous Survey Core crew. Finally, being able to fight the RMP, not just run from them. He wanted to stay but he didn't want to split up from the only people he had left that he called family. He looked up at them again and continued "but I don't…I don't want to lose you guys." Eren's eyes dropped down and his shoulders began shaking slightly.

"Eren…why would you lose us...?" Armin began. Eren looked up again with his eyes slightly damp. "You two have had to sacrifice so much of your lives to protect me, running village to village, braving harsh mountains and rough seas when I had to venture to almost inhabitable places during my heats." Eren felt his voice shaking slightly but continued on before they could say anything. "You guys have the perfect opportunity to finally be free of me and all the sacrifices of a normal life I've robbed from you. I feel so selfish that I want to stay here so bad, become part of Captain Levi's crew and be able to fight back, but I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you to stay with me. If you don't want to be with me anymore after everything you had to endure on that RMP ship just because of what I am… I understand."

Eren felt a small sob escape his throat as he finished talking. Armin and Mikasa immediately pulled him into a gentle hug and Mikasa started talking. "Eren, you are never going to lose us. We love you. Your bravery and passion to live and fight inspire us and we would never consider you being a burden to us. I wouldn't want to live my life any other way if I didn't get to be with you." Eren felt his shoulders shake again slightly as tears ran gently down his cheeks. "Eren..." Armin began. "When we lived together in Shiganshina and all those bullies would push me into a corner because I was so much smaller than them and I cared more for books and learning than most kids, you didn't even waste a breath to push them off of me. Despite being at an obvious disadvantage you would do anything to protect the people you love no matter the consequences. You are such an amazing person, Eren. I love you like my brother and cant imagine spending my life without you or Mikasa with me."

Armin and Mikasa glanced at each other nodding with a silent agreement. "Eren," Mikasa began. Eren looked up again at his two closest friends. "If you are willing to try to stay and trust that midge…I mean Captain Levi… then we will stay here right next to you as we always have. We may not trust Levi and his crew just yet but Eren, we trust you." Eren smiled slightly with relief flooding his body. The fears of Mikasa and Armin wanting to leave him finally leaving his body.

The trio chatted for a few minutes quietly as a small knock was heard at the door. Eren's heart skipped a silent beat thinking Levi was coming to check on them but felt that slight ping of disappointment again as the boy's voice he recognized as Connie said he was leaving them some dinner outside of the room. Eren's disappointment soon disappeared though as he opened the door to be greeted with 2 trays filled with food. The food was steaming hot and smelled heavenly. There was everything from broth soups and baked potatoes, hearty looking stews, fresh baked rolls and even fresh grilled fish. Eren, Mikasa and Armin wanted nothing more than to dive head first into the food but Armin stopped them suddenly. "Listen guys, I want you to know I am right with you with wanting to dive into this food but…we all haven't really eaten a proper meal in a while. So, as much as this pains me, we better take this slow or we will probably just throw it all back up. Eren and Mikasa groaned slightly knowing of course that Armin was right as always. They slowly began picking at the lighter foods on the plate working their way up to the heavier food until they all felt full and content. With their stomachs now full for the first time in what seemed like ages the trio began to feel their eyes begin to droop and they crawled into their beds and finally fell asleep.

~~TRIGGER WARNING! The next part is a nightmare sequence that will have descriptions of things that happened to Eren while he was imprisoned. There will be descriptions of violence and rape. If these things make you uncomfortable please skip forward to Armin's POV~~

(*I just wanted to make a small author's note about this part. A lot of what happened to Eren while he was in his cell will be mentioned in this nightmare but do keep in mind that the reality is a bit altered because well, it is all in Eren's mind*)

Eren watched in horror as Mikasa and Armin were tossed to the ground and handcuffed. He clawed and bucked trying to escape the cold grasp on his wrist. The last thing he saw was his friends being knocked out and everything went dark.

Eren woke up. His hands were chained above him. He was naked except for a leather strap around his neck. He was surrounded by men but they were not men. Their eyes were large, red and distorted. Their teeth sharp and ragged soaked in blood all in crooked smiles. Eren screamed as he felt one of them sink their teeth into his back and he passed out again.

He woke up to screams in the cages next to him. Mikasa and Armin were being beaten with whips covered in blood. "Eren why!" Armin screamed "Why would you let us be captured, Eren?!" Armin yelled again. Eren looked at them. Their bodies were bloody and broken. "It's your fault, Eren!" Mikasa screamed. "If only you weren't born." She screamed again as another lash came down on her back. Eren watched in horror as the whips crashed down on them over and over. He was powerless to help them, he couldn't move.

Guilt flooded his mind. Suddenly a cold voice echoed behind him. "So, you little whore. You like what you see? Because I know I sure do." Eren screamed as the man thrust his entire penis into him. Agony…, that was all Eren could feel…, all he could hear… all he could see. The man behind him continued to thrust over and over to the sounds of the whips coming down on Mikasa and Armin. As the man shuddered, Eren felt a hot sticky fluid fill him and run down his thighs. The man pulled out and Eren fell slack in his bonds being held up only by the chains restraining his hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm Sorry I'm so sorry" Eren started sobbing. "Awwww poor little omega thought we were done already?" Another cold voice said from behind him. Eren begged, "please no more please" and he screamed as the next man thrust into him and began biting up and down his back. "Oh don't you worry yourself poooor little omega, your father said we could do what we wanted with you as long as we don't mate or kill you. We will be having plenty of fun before you get reunited with your dear old dad. I know just how much he has been missing his little experiment."

Eren began screaming "no! no please! Don't bring me back! Noo! Stop please! Nooo!

POV-Armin

Mikasa and I jumped out from our beds to the sounds of Eren screaming in his sleep. "Eren! Eren! Wake up, Eren!" Mikasa started shaking him slightly. Eren's eyes flashed open but they seemed glossed over. He continued to shake and sob but not moving. "Eren, please Eren. It's ok, Eren. Just breath." Eren's breath was shallow. He seemed stuck in a half dream state not able to fully wake up from the nightmare. "Armin! He's not waking up. We have to figure out how to calm him down," Mikasa said with her voice shaking a little. She turned back to Eren who started to cry out in pain. Seemingly Erin was stuck halfway in his dream unable to escape into reality. Armin was struck suddenly with something he had read once in the rare books. He had come across a section about Omega physiology. "Mikasa, you might not like this but I read it once that Mates can produce a calming pheromone to help soothe a distressed mate." Mikasa shot her eyes up in a slight glare at Armin knowing what he was suggesting but Armin watched as she seemed to swallow a lump in her throat. "Armin, go get Levi."

POV –Levi-

"As I was saying" Levi continued. He had been going over the new route the ship would be taking with Erwin before retiring for the night. "I believe the best course of action would…" all of a sudden Levi felt as though he was punched in the gut. It felt as if all the air left his lungs. "Levi, are you alright?! What's wrong?" Erwin jumped out of his chair. He seemed to feel distress filling the room as well. Levi looked up panicked. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Eren. Almost as soon as he had come to this realization he heard shouting throughout the ship. "Captain! Captain Levi, please we need your help!" Levi flew to the door and wrenched it open. He looked down onto the deck of the ship to see and extremely distressed Armin. Most of his crew had popped their heads out feeling the same distressed feeling pumping through the air. Levi leaped down to the deck. "Armin, what happened?" Armin looked ready to cry. "Captain Levi, please just come. Eren... he had a nightmare. He's stuck in some sort of in-between world. He opened his eyes when we tried to wake him but it's like he's not quite awake. He's stuck in-between his nightmare and reality." Levi followed quickly behind Armin as they approached the door to the captain's quarters.

Levi's gut clenched at the sight of Eren. He seemed paralyzed in fear. Eren was shaking as sobs and screams were leaving his lips but he seemed unable to wake up completely from whatever nightmare was keeping him hostage. Levi knelt at his side immediately starting to whisper soothing words of compassion and calmness to him. Levi slowly started seeping out a soothing pheromone. The only other time he had done this was on the ship when Eren was having a panic attack but it felt like he had known how to do it his entire life. Levi continued to pump his calming pheromones into the air while whispering soothing words to Eren. Slowly Eren's muscles started to relax and his eyes began to come back into focus. Eren started to blink. His shaking started to settle. "Eren…" Levi began. "Eren, you're okay. You're on my ship. Armin and Mikasa are sitting right behind me. You're safe, Eren. Everyone's safe." Eren nodded slightly as sat up from the bed.

Armin and Mikasa returned to Eren's side. Eren grabbed each of their hands. "Thank goodness you guys are safe," he said softly. Armin and Mikasa leaned in for a group hug and the three of them sat silently for just a few seconds. "Are you okay, Eren?" Armin asked first breaking the silence. "Yea…Yeah..." Eren replied his voice cracking a little. "I just had such a terrible nightmare but I think I will be okay. I am sorry about waking you up," Eren finished. "Eren, please don't worry about it. We are just happy you're okay," Armin said quietly. "Levi…?" Eren began. He looked down at him trying to show compassion in his face knowing he was probably failing terribly. "Thank you… you know for waking me up… and you know for helping me out back there." "Don't worry about it, brat," Levi replied. Eren smiled slightly back up at Levi. Mikasa and Armin stood up. "Thank you, Levi," Armin stated followed by Mikasa, "Thank you, captain Levi."

Levi nodded to them both and they all walked back to their bunks. "Will you be okay, Eren?" Levi asked quietly to him before getting ready to leave. "Yeah I think so," Eren replied. "Okay, well I'll let you get back to sleep. If you want, Hanji has a tea that helps give a dreamless sleep," Levi started. "That actually sounds really nice," Eren replied. "I'll go get some…" Levi started to say as he turned. Before Levi could take two steps Eren grabbed his hand. Levi felt his heart jump into his throat at the feeling of Eren's hand graced his own. "Do you think I can go out to the deck and… you know get some fresh air?" Eren asked but stopped. "Actually, with the other people on the ship I don't know if I can sit out there on my own so on second thought I'll just take it in here," Eren finished off. Levi stared a moment before tugging a bit on Eren's hand. "Come on, brat, I'll sit with you so you can get some air." Levi watched as Eren had a slight flush pass over his cheeks. "Thanks again, Levi," Eren said with a small smile. Levi felt his heart flutter in his chest once again. It was going to be a long night.