Whoo! New chapter! And it didn't take me almost a year this time either!

This chapter has a lot of dialogue, so it's not as action packed as the first one. I hope you enjoy!

To clarify a few things, this fic uses the canon that came from the first season of the anime, so there will be inconsistencies with the manga. I've read the manga and seen the anime, but it's been a while, and I've only read up to about season 2 in the manga.

Also I am in no way a medical professional, so please excuse any mistakes made in this chapter.

When Eren wakes up, it's to a startling lack of noise. There's no screaming or thunderous crashing and for a moment it's uniquely disorienting. He tries to get up, but immediately regrets it, his whole body one giant sore spot. Groaning, he tries again, slower this time, and manages to get himself more or less upright. He's leaning heavily against the wall, but its better than being stuck on the floor.

He starts limping toward the door fame but freezes in his tracks when he sees what's outside. He's about two seconds away from panicking before his sluggish mind catches up to what he's seeing. Clean up crews. If they managed to take back Trost then there were probably corpses everywhere and they needed to be moved before they rotted too much. Humanity wouldn't survive and epidemic like that.

It's in his inattentiveness that he gets caught, one of the soldiers noticing him in the house.

"Hey!" He shouts, making Eren jump. "Why aren't you helpin-…" His voice trails off as he comes closer and notices Eren's state. Messy hair, ragged clothes, and glazed eyes all clue the soldier in that something's not right. "Are you alright?" He asks. Still groggy from waking a few minutes earlier, it takes a moment for Eren to form a response. He's too slow for the soldier's taste, and before Eren can say anything he's already back out the door and shouting.

"Medic! I need a medic over here! We've got a live one!" Yells the soldier. People startle at his words, their disbelief palpable in the air. A hush falls over the assembled soldiers before they start murmuring to each other. Gawkers are quickly pushed out of the way as a small team of medics hurry over, a pair of them holding a stretcher while a third leads them.

They arrive in a minor whirlwind. "What's going on here?" Asks the lead medic, an older, stern-faced woman with grey streaking her hair. Her two juniors stand behind her.

"I'm not sure ma'am." Says the soldier. "I was on cleaning detail around here when I saw this boy." He waves his hand toward where Eren is still leaning against the wall. "At first I thought he was just slacking off, but well…"

The medic looks at Eren, her eyes obviously assessing him. "That's not the case here." She says flatly. She waves the two younger medics forward. "Check him over, see if it's safe to transport him." Turning, she starts talking to the soldier.

The two medics, one a young woman with short cropped hair and glasses and the other a tall, skinny man with his hair tied back, approach him. The male medic doesn't say anything as he takes Eren's wrist, laying his fingers over the pulse point. At the same time the other medic comes over to stand in front of him.

"Hi!" She says brightly. "I'm Ari, can you tell me your name?"

"Eren Jäger." He says.

"Great! It's nice to meet you Eren." She says in that same bright tone. "Now can you tell me where you're hurt?"

"I'm not- hey!" He yells, flailing a little as she pulls his face to her, running her fingers along his nose.

"Hmm… Your nose isn't broken, though I wonder where all this blood came from." She says, more to herself than Eren, as she ignores his indignant squeak when she pulls his head further down. She moves her hands around his head, pressing gently. "No bumps on your head either…" She pulls him back to eye level. "And your pupils aren't different sizes."

"His pulse is a little unstable." The other medic says, his voice a soft, monotone drawl.

"He's safe to move. Let's get him on the stretcher!" Ari says, letting him go as she goes to get the stretcher. Her collegue joins her, each of them picking up one end and bringing it over to Eren. They rest it on the ground while still holding it. Ari smiles up at him. "Please lay down and we'll get you out of here!"

"I can walk." He grouses

"Standard procedure." The lead medic comes to stand next to Eren, her stern gaze on him. "Now, if you wouldn't mind getting on the stretcher, we can leave without a fuss."

Eren hunches his shoulders. "Yes ma'am." he mumbles. He does his best to walk normally over to the stretcher, it's a short distance so it shouldn't be a problem, but his legs still feel like jelly and he stumbles. He ignores the lead medic's soft scoff.

When he's secured on the stretcher the lead medic nods at her juniors. "Let's go." She takes off at a brisk walk, leading the way out of the house and to the street. There are still soldiers on clean up duty here, all of them with cloth tied around their faces, some were hauling debris while others were moving bodies.

Most of them ignore the medics, bodies being carted off on a stretcher wasn't exactly uncommon right now, until someone seems to realize that he's actually alive. It's a bizarre feeling, being stared at by so many people, a lot of them wearing wide-eyed looks of startlement. Some wearing a strange, fragile sort of hope, the kind with the power to break hearts.

Ari smiles at him again. "It looks like you're gonna be a bit of a celebrity!"

"I guess…" he says quietly.

When they reach the Inner Gate they're stopped briefly, but a few choice words from the lead medic has the two guards cowed, and the gate's opened. The lead medic has them resume the quick pace she'd set, heading to a set of hastily set up tents. As they get closer, Eren can see other medic scurrying around, attending to a depressingly small group of patients. Most of them are incoherent and delirious and nearly all of them missing at least one limb.

"Clear the way!" Barks the lead medic. "Incoming!"

The other medics move as they pass, working easily in the controlled chaos of their makeshift ward and seamlessly returning to their work after they go by. It's somewhat impressive, but Eren doesn't have long to watch them work as he's hauled into one of the smaller tents.

The lead medic goes to one side of the tent without saying a word, rummaging around in the crates that had been haphazardly stacked there. Ari and the other medic go to the other side, and the stretcher is quickly put on the ground. They each grab one of Eren's arms, pulling him up and leading him to the table that had situated in one corner of the tent. They help him onto it, leaving him seated with his back to the canvas wall of the tent and his feet hanging in the air.

The other medic turns to Ari. "I'm going to get the doctor, you stay with him." He waves his hand in Eren's direction before turning to leave, not waiting for Ari to reply. She nodds anyway, more to herself than anything else, jotting something down on a clipboard she'd picked up somewhere. The lead medic comes over to them, her hands full of various pieces of medical equipment, a few of which he recognizes and some that he doesn't, and lays them out on the table beside him.

It's not long before the other medic is back along with one of the doctors, an older man with short cropped blond hair and scruffy cheeks. He waves the other medic off as he comes to stand in front of Eren, the other medic leaving again behind him.

"You the one all this fuss is about?" He asks conversationally, grabbing the stethoscope and popping each of the earpieces in his ears.

Eren's brow furrows in confusion. "Uh… yes?"

The doctor chuckles and presses the flat part of the stethoscope to his chest. "Deep breaths." Eren complies and the doctor glances at the lead medic, who's been watching silently thus far. "What are his symptoms?"

"Unsteady pulse, fatigue, and weakness." She says curtly.

The doctor hums, moving the flat piece and listening. "I can hear the unsteady pulse." he takes the stethoscope off and sets it back on the table. "Any broken bones or internal injuries?"

"He was standing when we found him and pretty much coherent. I did a cursory check for a concussion and he seemed pretty much fine to me." Ari says.

He nods and looks at Eren. "Well, young man, are there any injuries you're trying to hide?" He sounds amused.

Eren shakes his head. "No sir, I feel fine."

"I'll take your word for it, since I really don't have the time to try and treat someone who's more or less healthy." The doctor grabs the clipboard from Ari, flipping the page and scribbling something on the new one. He tears it off and hands it to Eren. "You start feeling worse, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, you come straight back here, ya hear? For now just get some rest, goddess knows how the hell you got out of there without so much as a scratch."

The doctor drops the clipboard and stethoscope on the table beside Eren and leaves, the lead medic following behind. She didn't look happy. Whatever the case Eren decides to just be grateful that he's able to get out of here without much trouble.

Ari hands him a damp cloth before starts gathering the medical equipment that had been left out, quickly and easily putting them back where they came from. "You can go ahead and get yourself cleaned up now, but be sure to follow the doctor's orders okay?" she says.

Eren nods and hops down from the table, wiping his face off and stuffing the small scrap of paper in his pocket. "I will." He leaves the tent and makes his way out of the improvised hospital carefully, trying his best to stay out of the way of the other medics. He drops the damp, now pink cloth in a discarded pile of used bandages before he leaves. Hopefully he can find Mikasa and Armin soon.

The frantic energy in the air increases tenfold once he's away from the hospital, soldiers and civilians both scurrying around from tent to tent. There are hundreds of them, hastily put together and arranged with only the barest semblance of order. He wanders for a while, mostly ignored in the barely controlled chaos around him.

He eventually finds a sort of makeshift canteen, a rag tag mix of various chairs, benches, and even crates haphazardly strewn about with some people sitting at a few. Behind all that is a tent set up as a rudimentary kitchen. A line of soldiers and civilians stretches in front of it as they all wait for their food, shoulders in an exhausted slump.

He scans through the crowd, both those standing in the line and the few who were sitting down, hoping to find someone he recognizes. When he spotts Jean, sitting alone on a couple of stacked crates idly stirring the food in his bowl, he starts moving over to him.

Jean doesn't see him as he gets closer, his attention held by his food, and by the time Eren's close enough to talk Jean's still unaware of him. Eren pauses for a moment, uncharacteristically hesitant.

He shakes himself out of it and grabs Jean's shoulder. "Jean?"

Jean's head shoots up, his jaw dropping and his eyes wide. "E-eren?"

Eren's brow furrows and he nodds his head, letting go of Jean's shoulder. "Yeah. Do you know where Mikasa and Armin are?"

"We… we thought you were dead."

He shakes his head. "I'm not."

Jean stands abruptly, the watery soup in his bowl sloshing around. "Where the hell have you been?!"

He looks away, his hand on the back of his neck. "I haven't… I'm not sure…"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jean snarls, slamming his bowl down on the crate and spilling half its contents.

"Hey! I didn't do this on purpose!"

"Who gives a shit if you did or didn't! Do you have any idea what this did to Mikasa? To Armin?"

Eren lunges, grabbing Jean's arm tightly, "That's why I need to find them! Do you know where they are?"

Jean roughly shakes him off, "We just got off a clean up detail. They weren't hungry so I'd guess they headed back to the barracks."

"Where is that?"

Jean sighs, grabbing his bowl and sitting back down, "Back by the gate, near the old mill."

"Thanks Jean!" He shouts over his shoulder, taking off at a run back toward the gate and missing whatever Jean says in reply.

He's still fatigued from his time in a titan body, but he makes good time back. Soon Eren's at the gate and pushing himself to run past the hospital. He can see the old mill now. It's not long before he's in the barracks, which is more of the same hastily set up tents, doubled over and panting for breath.

His eyes dart around, frantically searching for his family. Mikasa and Armin aren't here, at least not in the area he's looking. Them not being anywhere near him makes his chest ache and his heart skip a beat, panic taking hold of him. What if one of them was hurt?

Eren forces himself to slow down and start again, Jean said they were fine and he didn't see them in the hospital. They have to be okay. Luckily there weren't many people paying attention to him so no one really noticed him storm into the camp like a bat out of hell.

He starts actually looking in the tents, taking care not to disturb anyone inside them, and it takes him several minutes to find the right one. The sight of Mikasa and Armin, safe and unharmed, is a huge relief. He slips inside as quietly as he can.

There are two bunks in the tent, pushed close together to make one large bed, and both Armin and Mikasa are sitting on it. Armin's on his side at the far edge of the bed, his back to Eren, he can't tell if he's awake or not. Mikasa sits facing him, but she's not paying attention to him, staring off to the side at something he can't see.

"Mikasa?" He asks softly.

Her eyes snap to him, widening with shock and disbelief. "Eren?"

Eren nodds and opens his mouth to speak, but whatever he was going to say gets lost in a wheeze when Mikasa barrels into him. Trembling, she hugs him tight to her.

"Mikasa? Hey I-" Her hold tightens impossibly around him, feeling more like a steel band than a set of arms. He squirms a bit, trying to wiggle his way out of her grasp, but it doesn't work and he gives up, resigned to staying put.

The commotion they caused gets Armin's attention and, sometime when Eren wasn't paying attention, he'd come to stand behind Mikasa. His eyes are wide and brimming with tears and he looks scared, devastated, and hopeful all at once. He's just out of arm's reach, like he's scared to come any closer.

Eren works one of his arms out of Mikasa's hold and reaches for his brother. Armin chokes out a sob as tears slide down his cheeks, his hands shaking as he grabs Eren's tight. "Eren." He says softly, voice full of heartbreak.

They stand there like that for a long moment, Armin's tears falling down his face and Mikasa's wetting Eren's shirt.

When both of their tears have dried and they're just holding tight to each other, Eren gently pushes out of Mikasa's arms and grabs her hand. He pulls them both to the bed and sits down, tugging on the other two to get them to join him. They sit in a rough triangle, knees touching and Eren's hands still clasped tightly in Mikasa's and Armin's, both of them staring at Eren like they can't believe he's there.

He looks away from them, feeling his face heat up under the scrutiny. "I'm fine guys."

Mikasa doesn't say anything, just squeezing his hand tighter, but Armin's breath hitches as he looks at Eren. "We thought you were dead Eren. I saw-" Armin's jaw clicks closed as his voice cracks, taking a moment to try and regain his composure. "I saw you get eaten."

Eren meets Armin's eyes, his own wide as he remembers, in vivid detail, the devastated look on his friend's face just before an over large jaw snaps shut. His gaze drops. "I'm so sorry." He whispers.

"How are you alive?"

Eren shakes his head. "I'm not sure."

"It doesn't matter." Mikasa's voice makes the two boys look at her. She stares at Eren intently. "You're here now and that's what's important."

Armin and Eren nod and the three of them sit in silence for a moment. Eren looks down at his hands, still clasped in Mikasa's and Armin's, and lets himself just be. The three of them are safe and they still have each other.

Eventually Eren takes a deep breath and looks at both of them. "There's something I should probably tell you. It's a little hard to believe, but I need you to trust me."

Neither of them say anything but their resolute stares give him the strength to continue.

"I don't know how, but I can turn into a titan." His admission is met with dead silence.

"Eren," Mikasa says, through grit teeth. "This is not the time for jokes."

He shakes his head. "I'm not joking. After…" His throat clicks as he swallows. "After I was eaten, I think… I think I died for a moment." Mikasa's grip on his hand becomes painful for a moment and Armin sucks in a shaky breath. "It's hazy, but I remember talking to someone, a woman I think, and then I'm suddenly a titan." He looks at Mikasa intently. "I saved you. You were suck on the ground up against a fifteen meter and I remember socking it in the face."

Mikasa stares back, eyes wide. "You did…?"

"You were the titan that cleared the supply depot that day?" Armin asks, his brow furrowed in thought.

Eren nods.

Armin looks down at their hands, his thumb tracing faint circles on the back of Eren's. He vaguely remembers that being the arm that had been severed when he'd been eaten. "They're calling you the Berserker titan." Armin says faintly. Eren doesn't say anything, just letting his friend think. Armin meets his gaze. "Can you control it?"

He shrugs. "I'm not sure. That's something I wanted to talk to you two about." He looks at Mikasa and then again at Armin. "If this is something I can learn to control, I don't think we can risk me learning behind the wall." Armin nods, both of them aware of the government's paranoia. "That's why I need you to come up with a plan."

Surprise flashes across Armin's face before he starts to shake his head, looking away from the other two. "You want me to come up with a plan? What could I do to help you? I couldn't even… I couldn't even save you when you needed it!" Armin looks back at them, eyes full of self-loathing and doubt.

"You're stronger than you think Armin." Mikasa says as she reaches out to touch Armin's other arm.

Eren squeezes his hand. "That big brain of yours has saved us more times than I can remember."

"We trust you Armin." Mikasa adds.

Armin stares back at them, stunned by their complete faith in him. For years he'd believed himself to be the weak link in their group, and being faced with so much proof contrary is incredibly humbling. He nods, back straight and eyes sparking with determination. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Knew you'd come round." Eren's teeth flash in a fierce grin. Mikasa watches them in approval.

"What else do you know about it Eren?" Armin asks.

Eren's lips twist downward as he thinks. "I'm not sure… I don't know what triggered it, but I think it had to do with what I saw in between being human and then being titan. I don't remember feeling all that different, I still knew who you two were and that the titans were the enemy, there was no urge to try and… eat anything." He feels nauseous at the thought before he pushes it away and continues.

"I could regenerate injuries, which I think you saw." A glance at each of them gets him a nod in return. "Other titans didn't really care about me if I wasn't injured or fighting them. I guess if they couldn't smell me they couldn't tell I was any different from one of them."

"You were stronger than they were." Mikasa adds quietly. "Even against other 15 meters, you tore through them like they were made of paper."

Armin hums softly, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "As a titan you could pick up that boulder, which is something no one's managed before, but it looked like it pushed your limits. How did you become human again?"

"I was exhausted." Says Eren. "So I don't think I did it intentionally, but I remember falling down flat on my face. There was a sharp pain in the back of my neck," He pulls his hand away, reaching for his nape at the memory. "And suddenly I was a lot smaller. I had to pull myself out of my titan body and climb down. After that I found shelter and passed out."

"Was that the only physical effect?" Armin asks.

Eren's hesitation is enough of an answer and both Mikasa and Armin look at him sharply. He sighs, shoulders slumped and his hand dropping to his lap. "No, my nose bled and the medics said I had an unsteady heartbeat."

"Eren!" Mikasa says sharply.

"Medics?"

"I was found by a soldier on clean up duty. He called for a team of medics and I was taken to the hospital behind the wall. The doctor said I was fine!" Eren explains, eyeing Mikasa.

She stares back, worried and angry. "This is dangerous Eren!"

"I said I was fine Mikasa!" Eren bites out.

Armin interrupts them before their argument gets anymore heated. "Mikasa's right Eren, It is dangerous." Mikasa relaxes at his words while Eren glares at him indignantly, gearing himself up to argue. "Which is why we need to test it and find out how much strain you can take safely."

Eren deflates, letting his irritation go. "What do you think we should do?"

"I think we should join the scouts."

Mikasa rounds on him. "What!?"

"Think about it Mikasa! Eren needs to figure out his limits and there's no way he can do that safely behind the wall!" Armin jabs his hand toward the tent flap. "You know someone will find out and probably report it to the military, and that's the last thing we need."

Mikasa looks away, jaw set in a stubborn line. Eren tugs on her hand. "You know he's right Mikasa." She doesn't look at him.

"Besides, he'll have us with him." Mikasa and Eren both look at him. "You didn't think we were gonna let you go alone did you Eren?"

He laughs helplessly. "No, I guess not."

Mikasa smiles in spite of herself, looking at Armin. "What was your plan?"

Armin smiles back. "We all join the scouts, and on the next mission outside the walls we slip away. That way we'll be presumed dead and avoid suspicion."

Eren nods. "It's a good plan. How long do you think it'll be til there's another scouting mission?"

"Not long, maybe a month or two."

"That'll give us time to prepare and gather supplies." Mikasa says thoughtfully.

"Along with some extra training. We all need to be in top form if we're gonna survive behind wall Maria." Mikasa and Eren agree, and they all lapse into a comfortable silence.

Eren breaks it when he yawns, both of the other two looking at him.

"Are you tired?" Asks Mikasa.

"No…" The unimpressed look she shoots him makes him sigh. "Yes. I'm still exhausted."

She moves, pulling him and Armin across the bed, ending with him lying in the middle and one of them on each side. Armin settles down while Mikasa pulls away, he hears two soft thumps before she lays down and one of her hands lands on his upper arm.

When he sits up her hand tightens a bit, but she lets him go when she sees him reaching for his boot. He peels it off him and tosses it off the bed, laying down again. As he settles and gets himself comfortable he feels Mikasa and Armin each rest one of their hands on each of his arms.

He falls asleep like that, safe and surrounded by his family.

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