"Here they come!" somebody in the crowd screamed followed by another shout, "the Scouting legion's main force is here."
I turned my head to the common citizens, who came to see out expedition just before we went through the gate on the other side. Everybody cheered and was happy, encouraged us, had a hope in us. The fact, that many of us wouldn't make it back, wasn't really on their mind.
I led my horse with the frozen look dumbly focused forward, watching blond shaved scruff o my commander. The screams continued.
"Chief Erwin!"
"Please kick some titan ass for us!"
I noticed a group of some children, who came to see us. I even heard a piece of a conversation of the trio of friends short way off, who observed us with an unhidden excitement. One of them pointed in my direction but after a short moment of scrutinizing him I realized that he didn't point on me but on a black-haired captain beside.
"Hey look! This is humanity's most powerful soldier! Lance Corporal Rivaille!" that boy, on whom I looked at, shouted, "as strong by himself as an entire brigade!"
His voice couldn't have been misheard. Rivaille sat on his horse obviously annoyed by the creaming of the crowd, because his eyes were lidded in boredom. As he heard boy's cry, tired he gave a sigh and I didn't miss how he rolled his eyes up in displeasure.
"Somebody please shut up these god damned brats..." he murmured rather for himself, while his horse slowly walked beside mine.
"Good thing, those wide-eyed kids don't know what a cleanliness freak you are... They'd be in for a rude awakening," I stated with a grin. He didn't answer.
In that moment the whole Scouting Legion stopped in front of the gate, which slowly started lifting.
"Beyond this wall, the titans await!" I rejoiced out loud, because I had been looking forward for this exploration for a whole week already, "what types will I get to meet this time? I hope I can see an abnormal. That would be so awesome!"
I giggled while I imagined all the various types and the sizes of the titans. Most of people around looked at me in horror.
"If you want an abnormal, I've found one." It sounded annoyed somewhere near me.
Rivaille had a really sceptical expression on his face, even though his information interested me.
"Huh? Where?" I asked immediately and I looked around enthusiastically.
All of my hair stood up on my cruff, when I felt somebody's fingers in my brown mane. When the hand in my hair turned my head on the other side, I saw Rivaille, how he gazed at me from the immediate proximity.
With still annoyed face he uttered silently: "Right here..."
Goggle-eyed I remained silent and I felt, how my cheeks started to burn in an embarrassment and a surprise. Luckily for me, in that moment the humanity's strongest soldier stood already quite far away of me and the gate fully opened finally, so our whole expedition set out.
Traditionally, I sat by my table buried in papers about the research. However, this time I didn't mind at all. Finally I had two living exemplars, on which I could do some experiments. I didn't actually need sleep how I was excited. I spent too much time with my research, so I lost my consciousness about the reality.
Absorbed with my work I jumped into the air a bit, when somebody knocked on my door.
"Come in," I rapped out with accelerated breath, how I was startled.
I turned from my table to the comer. Mike stood in the doorframe and scrutinized the room covered with all kinds of papers. He shook his head and then looked at me.
"Are you going to the meeting?" he asked like it was the matter of course.
"What meeting?" I didn't understand and I couldn't prevent myself from yawning.
Just now I noticed that I had my glasses badly placed on my nose and while I was waiting for Mike's answer, I straightened them.
"Erwin called all of captains due to something important to discuss," he explained, "come on, let's go, it starts in a minute."
"Eh... yeah," I nodded in agreement, finished my cold tea and stood up to accompany him.
Everybody sat at the conference table waiting for us in our superior's office. Rivaille stood by the window and he observed the scenery beyond. Erwin walked between him and the other officers.
"We're all here, finally," Nanaba stated, sitting in the middle of table.
"Let's start, shall we?" Erwin delivered almost grandiosely and he approached the table.
I with Mike kept standing and Rivaille didn't show any slightest attention to Erwin.
"As you know, the humanity has found the new hope and that happens to be a 15-year-old boy called Eren Jaeger, the human, who is able to shift into a titan," he introduced us into the problem.
Everybody silently nodded in agreement.
"I decided to use his unordinary abilities," he continued and I giggled silently, and in the process Mike's corners of his mouth started twitching as he took a notice of me. However, Erwin kept talking, "nevertheless the Military police would like to execute him right away."
The small unhappy sigh escaped my mouth.
"To make long story short because the details are not that important, Rivaille and his special opps squad would regain whole control of Eren. Alternatively they would kill him, if necessary. In any case we haven't won yet, though," commander kept going and Rivaille finally turned his sight to him, as he mentioned him.
"Could I do some experiments on him?" I couldn't help myself but ask, and wide greedy smile spread on my face.
"Only with his permission," Erwin answered.
"Don't worry, I will have it. Sooner or later," I laughed.
"That is probably all, you can go on your own," their superior closed the debate and sat to an upholstered armchair, just to have some rest and to pour himself a tea with milk.
As I left with Mike, we had already arranged the export of Eren to the trial, at least. I would have liked to get to know the boy, his physiology was really fascinating to me. Even Mike stated, that would like to sniff him.
After dreadful scene to which I stood idly by the court side by side to Erwin and Mike, we went to the one of many rooms inside the tribunal with a devastated boy covered in his own blood and with a bluish bruise under his right eye.
I sat on my knee by the brown-haired and I examined his wounds. I took a cotton-wool swab with tweezers from a first-aid kit I took with myself from the headquarters, with ethanol and I started disinfecting his injuries.
"That was really terrible," I murmured while I was watching 15-year-old boy, how destroyed he kept looked at me as I was treating him.
He clenched his teeth a bit, as I touched his snapped lip with the swab.
"Does it hurt much?" I asked attentively pulling out my head with the swab and I held him a cold compress.
"A bit," he uttered dejectedly but he gratefully accepted the wet fabric and applied it to his swollen cheek.
"And how does it hurt?" I couldn't help myself, because I finally got to see him, the one, who could shift into a titan, from immediate proximity.
He got probably scared by my overexcited scientific interest, because he wide-opened his green eyes in the wave of consternation. In that moment Erwin came to him, waiting till I finished my job, so I receded a bit with the first-aid kit to leaf my commander some space for talking to the boy.
As I put all of the things I used to the kit, in the meantime I recognized Rivaille leaned against the wall in a gloom because the muffled light of setting sun radiated through the window to the other side of the room. He looked disgusted as he observed his own hands. When he noticed my scrutiny how I looked up to him from the ground and my first-aid kit, he quickly crossed his arms on his chest and put his typical annoyed grimace on.
When Erwin's speech came to an end he held his hand with Eren, the black-haired captain walked along the room and without warning he fell on the sofa beside the boy who jumped up a little. Rivaille nestled on the divan with sight fixed at the new member of Scouting legion.
"Nah, Eren," he talked with an arrogant rough voice.
"Y-yes, sir?" the boy answered hastily, with the unbearable respect but also unhidden horror reflecting in his eyes.
"Do you hate me?" the short captain asked him and looked at him inquisitively.
"N-no," Eren gave a shriek and looked for a split of second to me, "I understand, it was inevitable."
Rivaille turned his head away and closed the eyes: "That's good," he uttered and a relief was perceptible in his face. It was weird to see him expressing some emotions even though for a split of second. Eren gazed at him at first and then he slid with his eyes across the room to me so I got to see his bloody bruise under his eye again.
"You have overdone it a bit," I couldn't stay silent about it as I contemplated boy's wounds again. Rivaille refused to open his eyes.
"He even lost his tooth," I added in direction to Eren and I took a white handkerchief out of a pocket of my uniform jacket, in which I deposited his tooth, "see?"
In that moment black-haired opened his eyes again and even though I hadn't talked to him, he stared as slightly bloodied tooth in the tissue.
"Don't pick it up. That's creepy," Rivaille murmured with his mysterious silent voice and faced grossed out, but not as much as when he observed his own palms.
"Even this is an important exemplar," I objected, refusing to look at him.
Eren still stared at me wide-eyed and injured.
"Eren, it is still better to lose your tooth than be anatomized by the people like her, huh?" he pronounced sarcastically.
"I am not like them," I retorted immediately, this time meeting with his gaze, "I wouldn't kill him," I frowned as I found out, that he kept looking at me with those heartless, annoyed eyes and I turned my head to the victim of Rivaille's kicks, "can I look from where did it fall out?"
Eren got a little surprised but then he silently and obediently opened his mouth as much as he could just for me to watch. I couldn't prevent myself from amazement, when I found out, that the place, from which the premolar fell out was already filled with the new one. I gave a shriek a bit, so everybody in the room looked at me.
"The tooth...," I breathed, "it has already grown back."
"Do you think, he haven't seen the gunshot?" I asked in a confusion after five minutes of waiting not so far of a dried well, awaiting Eren's transformation.
"Of course he has," the black-haired man by my left murmured and annoyed walked to the well.
He trod slowly and unexcitedly, with hands buried deep in his trousers' pockets. I caught up with him quickly and together we tilted across the edge of the well. I saw Jaegera, how he had been sitting on the bottom, entirely in blood, how he repeatedly bit the skin on his hands. He seemed like a victim of an animal attack. I didn't miss, that the rest of his tears caused by pain kept shining on his cheeks. I bit my lip in empathy.
"I can't transform," the brown-haired boy shouted and his words kept repeating several times due to the echo in the well.
"Great," I heard Rivaille curse beside myself.
I shaked my head, when I watched his shaved scruff and tilted across the edge again.
"So come up, I'll treat your arms," I screamed my offer as loud as possible and then I straightened up, "that slightly kills our plans," I pronounced much more quietly.
"Hmm," was the only thing I heard from Rivaille, because he turned around in no time and left to his squad.
After I bandaged Eren's arms properly, I went to the edge of the forest nearby. I sat on the tree stump and wrote down some notes to my journal, while Special ops squad, what was in charge of Eren, sit peacefully by the cottage, which well we used. Already from the distance I saw Petra with Rivaille all alone not so far of the table talking excitedly together about something. I grinned a bit although I felt weird strange heaviness on my chest and my smile got bitter.
I continued writing my findings about Eren once more to take my mind off it, but a flash of light and a scream disturbed me. Next to the cottage, where I stared just a couple minutes ago, a huge titan arm was found. I wide-opened my eyes in surprise and I quickly ran to them across the meadow. Finally I had an opportunity to touch at least a part of titan without any bigger danger.
As I joined them, all of the members of Rivaille's squad had had their swords drew. They stood ready around Eren and his arm and their leader tried to calm them down in vain. I imaginary waved my hand above them and ran right to Eren.
"Can I touch it? I couldn't bear it, so without proper permission I touched his muscles uncovered by an epidermis.
I had a feeling like I would have put my hands into the boiling water. I screamed.
"God, it's so hot! Do you feel that heat too, Eren?"
The boy ignored me unfortunately. He managed to pull out his limb out of the titan hand. It started to evaporate immediately.
"Nooo, what have you done, I didn't manage to do either some tests or the experiments," I lamented and in that moment I noticed the small spoon between the titan index finger and thumb.
I opened my mouth in astonishment and I saw Rivaille in front of me peripherally, who just sighed as he watched my reaction.