The transition from cadet to the Scouts was a painless one for Nico. He kept his eyes down, spoke only when spoken to, and the trip to the isolated castle where they were currently quartered passed smoothly. The new scouts were boisterous with excitement from their new position, cheering and drinking and toasting.

But all Nico could think about was the short man he'd passed in the halls, with neat black hair and cynical eyes. Death dripped from his hands, foul and glaring. Nico couldn't help but stare as he walked away, and he knew the man could feel his gaze. He was Levi, the man Jason had taken him for after the trial.

"Hey Nico, come on, at least try to have some fun," Jason said gently, easing into the chair next to Nico.

"I'll pass, I'm tired anyway," he remarked drily. He felt Jason's disappoint like heat from a fire. "I'm going to bed. Good night."

"Alright I guess. Get some sleep," Jason sighed as Nico left. A part of him longed to be included in the few carefree hours the night offered, maybe down a bottle or two just to see what it was like, but he knew he could only kill such a party. And so he left the main building and made his way to the barracks, the golden light pouring from the windows the only light while clouds shielded the moon and stars. He could hear whooping and hollering from the building, and wondered vaguely if anyone had noticed his leaving. Jason might mention it to them, or maybe Krista and Ymir would come looking for him again.

"Tch," Nico scoffed at himself. He kicked the grass under his feet sullenly. As if.

The swishing of grass under another pair of feet snapped Nico to attention. He whirled to look behind him, where a woman in a Scout uniform with muddy red hair tied back was strolling casually up to him.

"Hey recruit!" She smiled brightly. "Newbies are usually always either drunk and happy or depressed on their first night. I take it you're the latter?"
"Not exactly," Nico relaxed. "I just don't like parties."
"Man, me neither," she laughed and held out her hand. "I'm Hange."

Nico's breath caught for a second. "Uh, Nico."

"Well Nico," Hange shook his hand with vigor. "It is nice to meet you!"

"And you," Nico said, for manners' sake.

"Were you on the Trost recovery mission?" She inquired. The two had fallen into a steady walk alongside each other.

"Yeah, my gear broke while I was fighting though," Nico frowned at the memory, tensing as he remembered titan's fingers around him, how very delicate his bones felt under the massive pressure. The nausea that floored him as the onslaught of death continued, his nervous breakdown to Jason.

"Really? How did you survive?" Hange's eyes lit with fascination.

"Lots of luck-" a branch crunched to Nico's left. He halted and squinted into the darkness, his fingers already poised on the hilt of his sword. A cold breeze brushed them.

"Who's there?" Nico barked. HIs gut was heavy with a dreadful sinking.

Slowly, the grass rustled and the darkness began to give way to shape. A woman, who couldn't have been older than twenty, with short black hair tangled around her face and bruises littering her skin. Her hands trembled, the nails ripped off and raw, oozing blood, and her dress was shredded near the ends and worn against her form.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Hange's voice took more authority and edge to it, and her stance tensed.

The woman before them swayed uneasily on her feet.

"Are you alright?" Hange asked. "Do you need medical attention?"
No response. The woman made staggering, labored steps toward them, her uncoordinated feet crossing and tripping over each other.

"Can you hear me? Where did you come from?"
The words had scarcely left Hange's mouth when the woman snapped her head up to meet Nico's eyes. A cold spike pierced his chest. Those were not human eyes.

Hange didn't even have time to step back before the empousa lunged at him, her teeth sharpening to a point and claws shooting from her fingertips.

Nico sidestepped just in time to avoid the gnarled claws. The empousa snarled, her eyes redder than Ares. She stalked carefully, her individual bronze and goat leg clopping unevenly.

"What, what is," Hange's eyes swelled, but not from fear. Terrible curiosity bloomed in her gaze.

"Stay back Hange," Nico warned. He held his sword level with the empousa's chest, never letting his eyes leave her face.

"You foolish half-blood," she cackled, her laugh rough as nails on a chalkboard. "Don't you realize what is happening? What you have started?"
Nico sprung forward to slice at the monster, but she dodged easily, despite her injuries and mismatched legs. "I haven't tasted a young man's flesh in so long," she hissed, unable to keep a maniacal grin from stretching on her face. "Come to me, let your troubles fade away."
"Go back to Tartarus," Nico scowled. He sprung forward again, summoning a wall of bones to keep the empousa in place. His sword cut through her shoulder, and she howled a scream of torture. Her head reared and her nails ripped at Nico's arms, but to no avail.

"You don't know what you've done," she was frothing at the mouth, eyes blazing like an awful sun. "I will crawl right back out of that pit and I will rip you half-bloods limb from limb."

Nico only skewered her further, until her shriek died and body sank to ash. The wall of bone crumbled and he dropped to his knees, exhaustion suddenly a lazy beast on his shoulders.

"Nico," Hange showed none of her early friendliness. Even after just defeating an undead demon single handedly, her expression frightened him. She snagged his shirt in his fist, and he met her piercing eyes through the glasses.

"You will tell me what just happened. Right now."

~:~

Percy was reminiscing and twirling water from his glass around his finger when Armin knocked on the door.

"Come on in," he invited, and let the water fall back into his cup.

Armin's round eyes peeked through the doorway. "I, uh, I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm good at talking," Percy grinned. "What can I do for 'ya?"

"I was going to ask Frank this, but I don't want to interrupt him. He looks like he's having fun, and you're the only one not celebrating with everyone else besides Nico, and I don't know where he is," Armin rambled off his sentence.

"Shoot," Percy said good naturedly.

"Do you really think Frank can turn into a titan?" Armin questioned warily. "Because if he can, he might just be the biggest asset we have in this fight and we have got to tell someone."
Percy felt his smile sink. He didn't know the limits of Frank's abilities, could he really give Armin a straight answer?

After a moment's consideration, Percy answered. "I think he can. We know he can turn into other fantastical, unnatural creatures. What makes titans off limits?" He leaned forward in his chair. "But I don't know about telling people. Even if he can transform, what's to say he'll end up like Eren? If we tell them about Frank, we tell them about all of us. And that just might get us killed."
"I'm sorry, but I just can't see you being killed," Armin protested. "You've fought off immortals, right? Surely you could handle anything these people could throw at you. I mean, you started an earthquake the other day!"

"I suppose," Percy sighed. "But that's not the route we want to take. We want to work with the people here, not fight them. The only win-win outcome in all of this is eliminating the titans. Then we get to go back home, and you guys will be free of your walls." He laughed at himself a little. "Listen to me, I don't know jack about strategy. You should be talking to Annabeth or Jason or someone with a mind for this."
Armin hesitated, biting his lip for a second. "Don't take this the wrong way Percy, but you're wrong. I've watched you in battle, and you're much smarter than you give yourself credit for."
"Right back at you."

They sat in an easy silence for a second. Armin's nervous fidgets and frantic glances reminded him of a younger Grover, before he'd received Pan's blessing. His heart ached bittersweetly. How much time had passed since he'd seen his old friend? Was time even the same back home?

"The officers are planning the next reconnaissance mission tomorrow," Armin said. "We're all supposed to clean the grounds and tend to the horses. If we're going to test Frank, it has to be then. We don't know what our next opportunity will be."

Percy regarded the blonde boy. "That sounds fine by me. Run it by Frank and we'll be good to go."

"Okay," Armin nodded. "If he's up for it, we'll meet to test it out in that wooded area east of the barracks during our lunch break. I'll tell Mikasa."

"I'll see you then."
"Bye. Thanks, Percy," Armin smiled gently before he left, softly closing the door behind him.

Would Frank agree? The gentle tempered boy didn't object to much, he'd probably be fine with it. And then what? Even if Frank couldn't turn into a titan, would Armin still press them to come forward about their abilities?

Percy grimaced sourly. He couldn't deny the strategic appeal of it. If people knew what they could do, plans could be formed for the purpose of giving them the advantage in fights. Fewer lives could be lost, the Scouts, humanity, would triumph.

But there was a reason mortals were kept separate from the world of the gods. If they could see such power, ripe for the taking, who was to say they wouldn't steal it for themselves? Or destroy what the feared and could not understand? Corruption happened in people, and if it put his friends in danger...Percy simply couldn't imagine. They could be kidnapped and used as tools, not as soldiers and certainly not as people.

He grit his teeth in frustration and threw his glass at the wall. It shattered with a resounding crash that seemed to bring Percy back to earth. He kept the water aloft in the air.

Tomorrow would change everything.

A/N

Nope, I am not dead.

As you can probably guess, I lost a ton of motivation for this story. I forgot it existed up until I'd get a new review (I know, I'm a reliable writer aren't I?) But I got a streak of inspiration and pounded this chapter out. I know it's not good enough for the amount of time I've been on what I guess you can call a hiatus, and I hope just as much as you that I can start uploading this more regularly again. I forgot how much fun it was to write this, and how excited I am about the upcoming scenes. So I hope you aren't too mad and can forgive me for such an awful break between updates, and I can only hope you continue to read and enjoy my story.

Again, I am so sorry, and thank you so much for reading!