Chapter 34: Experiment
Metal clang against metal, grunts and heavy pants filled the air. This was surreal. This whole thing, this whole other world...was created by Obito himself. Kakashi was in the mind of Obito. It was vast, plain, and empty, and it suited him. Right now, Sasuke was fighting him, all reasoning lost. There was nothing else to do. Obito wasn't going to cooperate, and all Kakashi could do was stare at the two fight as he quickly and desperately tried to think of a way to convince Obito to stop all this nonsense.
'Clang'
The steel of Sasuke's sword clashed against Obito's and the two separated once more to gain distance.
"Where is this place?" Kakashi had taken the time to ask that question. Prior to landing here, the silver haired man didn't get to even talk since Sasuke had immediately started fighting as soon as his feet touched the ground. It was dead silent, and there was no wind, Kakashi was sure this must have been some sort of advanced genjutsu similar to Itachi's.
"This place?" Obito repeated in a mocking tone, smiling, making his wrinkles spread to the burned side of his face.
"Yeah...it feels like a genjutsu but...it somehow feels different." Kakashi muttered under his mask.
"It can be a bit of that and a bit of my own abilities, I built this place as my personal sanctuary...do you know why?" Obito's voice echoed throughout the timeless atmosphere as he spread his arms.
Sasuke had stopped his defensive posture and relaxed some, but didn't tear charcoal eyes away from the man before him.
"no..." Kakashi whispered with narrow eyes.
Not a moment longer, a girls voice was heard, a familiar tone that sent shivers down Kakashi's spine and his bones froze to the core. It couldn't be. It was impossible.
"Kakashi!"
It was Rin, the same small Rin from years ago, running towards him from seemingly out of nowhere. She hadn't changed a bit, at twelve years of age. The sound of her shoes slapping against the ground echoed loudly in his eyes, encouraging his mind that she was real. She stopped in front of him with a wide smile that made his heart churn, but did nothing to ease his confusion. Something was obviously wrong, there was no way Rin could still be twelve. She died years ago, this Rin...was just an illusion.
"Oh Obito..." The silvered haired man murmured in pity with shoulders slumped.
Obito laughed out loud, body shaking with the rhythm. "Don't look at me like that Kakashi, this isn't what you make it out to be, you see here Rin is real, my world is real, there is no pain or sadness or war or death, there is nothing here! No sound no time, its only you, its a place where I am able to bask in my own mortality, in my own existance, just me and Rin."
"Rin is dead." Kakashi snapped.
That stopped Obito's laughing altogether, and he sighed deeply. The illusion of the little girl before Kakashi disappeared, and there was silence again.
"I can't expect you to understand...someone who's had it all." Obito muttered with a sour face.
"I lost her too!" Kakashi shouted. "Listen to me, what is all this for? Revenge over a girl? For what? Is this war really going to change anything? You let your pain consume you...Obito what happened to you..."
"Why would I go this far indeed? Hmmm, well you see." Obito stated, rinnegan eye shining in delight. "This wasn't originally my intention, but before my death I was rescued by someone, and he became my teacher, something happened to me alright! Its like I had been asleep for a very long time, and I was just beginning to open my eyes to see the world for what it truly is! Nothing but a sad place full of death and misery..."
"That's not true, its not too late to turn back now." Kakashi pleaded. After all these years, he still believed there was a chance Obito would have a change of heart...but he couldn't make that possible. It was Naruto who possessed that gift. "Where did you take...my student."
It dawned on Kakashi then that the pink haired girl might be in the very same spot they were in. This was Obitos personal place so it would make sense that he would throw her in here for twisted reasons, so he looked around him, eyes scanning his surroundings. Nothing, she was nowhere to be found. She wasn't here. There was too much empty space for her to be hiding.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, I don't even know where she landed." Obito laughed again, this time as if it was really funny. "You see, the jutsu I have is like a portal opener, there are hundreds of places she could be...I might be able to trace her chakra if you had something of hers...but I can't guarantee it." He chuckled, earning a glare from Kakashi.
"Well, I guess I'll have to force you." Sasuke muttered nonchalantly.
Kakashi nodded. It was the only way. So setting aside all the past memories, Kakashi swore to himself that he wouldn't lose another person in his life again.
…
It was as bright as the sun by the time I awoke, and I lifted an arm to cover my eyes. The events from last night were still fresh in my memory, the kisses, his bare skin against mine, and I will admit that it took all the stress away for a while. I would come up with a solution to this dilema at whatever the cost.
Rising my arm away, I turned to my side to get a good view of Levi. He lay on his side of the bed, still sleeping, bare chest rising up and down gently as he breathed. This was my first time on his bed and I was a bit envious of how soft it was. It certainly beat my own back in Konoha.
I rested my head on his arm lightly to avoid waking him, and listened to the sound of birds chirping as I slowly scanned the contents of his room. It was just like before, plain and ordinary with not a single speck of dirt to be found. The same wooden wine holder I had seen long ago stood untouched next to a small clean table and some drawers.
"Do you like to drink?"
I sat up, startled to hear Levi speak, his eyes were half open as he eyed me.
"Eh?! Uh, how long have you been awake?" I muttered, holding up part of the sheets to cover my upper body. It was silly, considering the fact that, just hours ago, we had been all over each other without clothes, but that didn't mean it wasn't decent to conceal myself after the deed.
"About an hour." He mumbled, running a hand through straight locks. He didn't have any bed hair, unlike my pink mess of a head.
"And you were acting like you were asleep?" I pointed out accusingly.
"Not acting, just relaxing with my eyes shut." He sighed, eyes resting on my face.
"Right..." I muttered slyly, swinging my legs around to rest the balls of my bare feet on the floor. I bent to retrieve discarded clothes from the night before. Blindly consumed by the moment, I hadn't even realized they were on the floor to begin with.
I slid on my undergarments first, thankful at not having to walk around naked around here, and I combed my messy locks as best I could with my fingertips.
"You didn't answer my question." Levi's low voice rang in my ears and I looked back to glance at him, only to get an eyeful of his bare butt as he stood up to walk to the lone closet sitting by a door.
Cheeks blazing hot, I turned around and continued to slide on my red vest, and shorts with slim fingers. "What was it?" I asked casually, hearing the rustling of clothing on his side.
"Do you like to drink?" He repeated.
I frowned. "I don't know...I wasn't really the type for drink." I smiled, thinking about Tsunade. "But my mentor is, she drinks her stress away."
"Shame." Levi muttered. I finished zipping up my skirt and glanced at him meekly to see if he was dressed. He was fixing his collar in front of the large mirror that sat in the corner of the room. It was a mystery how Levi could look so fresh, although he just got out of bed.
"Uh...do you have any spare toothbrushes?" I asked. I didn't have one, and god knew what happened to my old one.
"Yes, under the cabinet in the bathroom." He murmured, voice toned low.
"Thanks!" I beamed, feet lightly tapping the floor as I walked into the bathroom. Sure enough, there was an unopened pack of unused dental brushes underneath the sink, and I snagged it, tearing it open with my teeth.
Grabbing a red one, I tucked the rest back in and shut the cabinet door, rising to apply toothpaste on the soft brush hairs.
"You ought to at least try." Levi murmured behind me, making me jump as his voice was really close to my ear.
I spun around, popping the brush in my mouth and eyeing him wearily. He was fully clothed now, and moved past me to grab his own brush.
"Try what?" I asked, words slurred as I brushed.
"A drink." Levi murmured. He didn't like to take his time brushing like me, his movements were swift as he brushed, spitting only to pop the brush back in his mouth.
"Oh...I suppose." I replied. I let him rinse first before I did. Once I finished, I made sure to rinse the sink and dried my hands before following Levi back out.
I had to zip my boots back on if I was going to head outside, so I did just that while Levi opened his cabinet of drunken treasure to snag a red bottle.
I watched wearily as he poured himself the crimson liquid on a glass cup. He brought it to his lips and sipped.
"Wine this early in the morning?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hm?" He shot me a glance as I worked to slide my feet into my footwear "Any time is wine time."
I burst out laughing and stood up. "Right right, just don't...get drunk like that again." I murmured softly, placing a hand on his back.
He said nothing, and set the cup down on a wooden table. "Don't worry about that." He finally sighed.
"You owe Hanji an apology." I pointed out with a frown.
"Yeah, I suppose I do...I need to go run an errand, you can stay here and sleep more if you want." Levi offered, turning the knob to his door and opening it with a soft creak.
"No thanks, I don't like sleeping during daylight hours." I murmured.
"Suit yourself, lock the door before leaving." He said before heading out, leaving the door slightly ajar. I could hear his footsteps going faint and I sighed.
It felt like nothing had changed, and nothing had, in fact, changed. Making love wasn't going to erase the fact that I still had to choose, but at least I still had time to think about it. I was reluctant to summon katsuyu for exactly that reason. How long was I going to continue sticking my head in the sand though?
Sighing again, I eyed the wine that Levi had left and grabbed it, pouring some in the same glass he had drank from. Bringing it up to my lips, I sipped, and made a face. It was bitter and strong, I failed to understand how this drink could be liked by many. But I swallowed it nonetheless, putting the half finished glass down.
"I definitely do not like to drink." I murmured to myself with a pout.
Looking at the clock, my eyes stared at the hand pointing to eleven. It was pretty late, we had overselpt, but who could help it? I made my way outside the door and calmly shut the door behind me, looking around because I was a bit worried of being seen coming out of Levi's room. It wasn't like we were coming out together, but I didn't want anyone to get ideas.
High heels tapped against the floor as I descended the stairs in a lazy manner, not failing to miss that it was bright as hell outside from the windows.
Once I stepped to the bottom of the stairs, the smell of food wafted through the air, making my mouth water. My stomach felt empty and I was hungry, so I followed the scent to the same kitchen from the night before. Everyone was already up and working. Eren and Connie were peeling potatoes and radishes while Mikasa and Christa washed dishes.
"Ah, you're finally awake, I checked in to your room last night but you weren't there." Eren stated once he spotted me.
"Oh, uhh, I took a walk, needed some fresh air." I lied while averting my eyes. I could feel my stomach growling just smelling the food. It looked like Christa was frying french fries.
"You totally skipped dinner." Eren muttered. "So you must be hungry now."
"Hungry? I'm starving." I sighed, grabbing a radish and biting into it, honestly not caring about the bitter taste. Food was food at the moment.
"Ah! Those aren't washed yet!" Connie whined.
I shrugged. "Couldn't care less right now."
"You can help us so we can finish faster, we're hungry too." Christa spoke out with a smile, sliding long blonde bangs behind her ear.
I nodded. "Sure."
I grabbed a potato and began peeling, scraping at the dry skin with my fingernail.
"So I guess the only thing you guys can do for now is to go through with the experiments." Connie uttered with a sideways glance.
Eren nodded. "It should be safe, considering not many people know about this place."
"Yeah but...you know I still have no idea what that conversation was about last night..." Connie pouted, obviously not pleased about being in the dark due to not understanding.
"It was...well...just tell Armin to explain in to you." Eren snapped impatiently.
"Lazy ass." Connie muttered.
I smiled, staring at the potato in hand but listening to their conversation easily. It really was like old times.
"Anyway Ymir said that the monkey titan was what caused the people in your village to transform right?" Eren asked.
"Yeah." Connie breathed with a frown. " I would have loved to come face to face with it..."
"Not a good idea...look what it did to Mike." I whispered with a hard stare. "It's intelligent and it can control the rest of the titans, you wouldn't stand a chance."
"Yeah but...I guess." Connie muttered in a defeated tone, tossing a peeled potato in a basket. I followed his example and tossed one in myself. "That dumb woman..." Connie continued with a glare. "She was with us all this time...even though she knew all this important stuff...and not once did she inform us of anything, she really was awful-
"You're wrong."
The three of us turned back to meet Christa's gaze as she had interrupted Connie. The girl pursed her lips and shook the pan. "Ymir kept you in the dark about everything because she knew you would get hurt if you knew the truth about your village, that's why she deceived you."
"What? There is no way that's true...a woman like that..." Connie snorted.
"I believe it." Christa insisted with a calm demeanor. Eren glanced at me for my opinion but I just shrugged. I didn't know Ymir well enough to give my thoughts about her intentions.
"Christa has been all quiet lately...ever since Ymir left, she hardly ever talks..." Eren whispered to me, keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard. His face was so close to mine out hair almost touched.
I nodded. "Yeah...well I don't blame her, Ymir was special to her, how so is what I'll never understand."
"Tell me about it." Eren muttered.
We continued peeling potatoes in silence.
…
"That was just what I needed." I breathed with a satisfied smile on my lips, hand over my belly.
"That work really paid off." Jean nodded. His bowl had been empty the minute it was barely first set on the table. The guy ate like a horse.
"Huh? What the hell are you talking about, you didn't lift one finger to help put this together." Connie accused with a snort.
"Shut the hell up! I'm trying to pretend!" Jean shot back angrily.
I sighed. "You guys are like children...by the way, Eren didn't even finish his food." I said as I stared at his half empty plate of potato and chicken soup. His seat was empty. He had left with Hanji and didn't come back for over thirty minutes already.
"Well its been a long time, if he ain't gonna have it then might as well help myself." Jean grinned, reaching across the table to grab the plate.
"You swine..." Connie muttered, eyebrow twitching.
"What? It was Hanji who said throwing food away was bad, so in my belly this goes." Jean retorted with a smile as he shoved a spoonful of the soup into his mouth.
"Okay, I can understand that, but since you didn't help make it, then it's only fair that you wash our dishes." Connie stated with a grin.
Jean nearly choked on his soup.
"I agree." I chirped, sliding my empty plate towards him. "Chop chop Jean." I rose from my seat to clap at my choice of words.
"Whatever..." He grumbled, earning a small laugh from Sasha.
Stretching, I glanced at Connie. "Where did Eren go anyway?"
The boy shrugged. "Beats me, probably by the edge of the mountains, Hanji must be starting her experiments."
"Already? I wasn't informed." I pondered to myself with a frown. "Well, I have nothing else to do, so I'm going to go see, have fun with those dishes Jean." I teased before heading out.
I could faintly hear his growl from the outside and the corner of my lip curled up into a smile. After everything that had happened, all the chaos that had fallen over us last week, everything had gone back to normal. It was like the old times again. It somehow didn't even feel real. I felt like I was going to wake up and return to flying titans and an angry armored traitor.
"Shouldn't you be with Hanji?"
I slightly jumped at the sound of Erwins voice, and spun around to see him standing at the edge of the building, back leaning against the wall as he held a drink in his hand. Liquor?
"Uh, you startled me, I don't know, I was helping the others make food..." I mumbled, blinking in the bright colors of today. It was winter, but it felt a lot like summer.
"Sorry about that, it was unintentional." He replied evenly with a serious face.
I smiled. "No worries."
"What were you smiling about?" He added.
I blinked. "Huh?"
"Earlier, you were smiling to yourself, it was very serene."
I could feel my cheeks going red. He was watching me grinning like a donkey?
"Nothing really, I was just thinking about how peaceful everything has become...you know after everything we have been through."
He nodded. "Not quite."
"Oh?"
"There are riots over wall Maria, but its nothing you have to concern yourself with, we let the governor handle political matters." He explained dryly.
"I see..." I mumbled. So that's what those men in my hospital room were talking about. Not everything was back to the way it was. "By the way do you know where Eren is? I mean I know hes at the edge of the mountain but I don't know where that even is." I added quickly. It was better to ask than end up lost.
"It's north of here, just take a straight path and you'll see it, its by a small forest." Erwin advised.
"Thanks! Well...I'm going now, I'll see you later." I waved and walked past him slowly, almost sluggishly. My boots dug into the soft earth, but didn't stick since it was dry. The rain had all but disappeared from the ground then. Sighing, I swiped my pink locks away from my face and gazed ahead. I could spot a small yellow trail leading to a bushy area full of trees. That must have been it. I walked at a casual pace, keeping my eyes down to the trail. I thought about what everyone back at home was doing, what were they up to? Was the war already over? I was so stressed out over not knowing much of anything except what Katsuyu told me.
"Why can't I just go back to the time when homework and training was the only thing I had to worry about..." I grumbled.
There wasn't much I could do now...my options were strictly limited, plus I had to deal with things here. But did I really? Yes...this wasn't my real home but I had already compromised myself with the task of helping. And I was helping, I was finally coming to terms with that.
I stopped, sure that I had felt something. The ground was slightly shaking. An earthquake? Panic set in for an instant. I had experienced an earthquake in Konoha before. I was in Ino's flower shop, not there to buy but to chat about the latest gossip, because honest to god there was no one in the village better at It than her. Well the whole store started shaking, I had panicked and ran to the door while Ino just wobbled, a vase had landed right on her head and shattered. If I wasn't so startled out of my mind I would have laughed. It definitely was not funny at the time but it was now. My foolish grin was proof enough. I mean she spent a whole week complaining about the bump on her head and how much it hurt. Served her right for the past insults.
Shaking my head at the memory, I bent to place a hand on the ground. It was warm and dry under my skin, but it had stopped shaking. Whatever had caused it must have been a big thing falling. Then it hit me. If Eren had started his training already then it could have been him. Eager to know, I sprinted forward and rushed towards the trees. I was engulfed by the shadows the tall trees gave, and could smell smoke not far away. There was also screaming. That was Hanji. Running faster, I halted to a slow jog at the sight of the woman's brown messy hair. Hanji was yelling. And I sneaked up to Levi, who stood beside her. Hand rising to his shoulder, I tapped it lightly to get his attention. He looked back and glanced at me with a bored expression.
"Whats going on?" I mumbled with a raised eyebrow. Mikasa and other people were there, standing at the edge of the cliff and gazing down at Eren's titan form, which was sprawled out on the floor with smoke rising from his body.
"Hanji is upset that the brat can't go on." Levi muttered.
"Are you really finished already? Humanity is depending on you! Cmon Eren get up!" Hanji screamed with both hands cupped around her mouth.
"Four eyes..." Levi whispered. I could tell from his tone that he was not comfortable with her rambling.
"What?!" She snapped, looking back at Levi with a glare. I shrank back. Hanji was scary when she was upset...
"Eren's body looks different doesn't it? He's not even five meters tall...and he's missing flesh here and there, plus his ass is sticking out." Levi commented calmly. I looked down to examine carefully to see what he was talking about. He was right. Eren's titan form was all messed up, and his human lower body was sticking out of his titan neck...giving me a good view of his rear end. I thanked my lucky stars he was wearing jeans.
"I know that!" Hanji hissed before turning her attention back to Eren. "Look here Eren can you move?! If you can just make a signal! If you can't then i'll head down there and get you out!"
Eren said and did nothing below the cliff. He almost looked dead. Just what was it that Hanji made him do?
"Mikasa!" I heard someone shout and spotted the raven haired girl speed away on her horse, upset with having to watch Eren go through this, It was easy to tell what was on that girls mind.
"That gloomy brat is acting on her own again..." Levi sighed, watching the girl retreat.
"Just let her go...we're done here." Hanji said dryly, jumping down from the cliff with swords raised. The gear was holding her in place to allow her to land with no injury. "Sakura help me!"
I blinked and hopped down after her, not needing gear to guarantee my landing. "Ah! Right!"
Hanji was the first to approach him, grabbing Eren by the shoulders and pulling with all her might as she stood on top of the titans back neck.
"Here! Grab the other arm, dammit its hot! He's burning like crazy!" Hanji yelled.
I obeyed and snagged Eren's other arm to tug. She was right about the heat, just being near him made my skin nearly melt. It was like being in a sauna. We both pulled, aware that he was heavy.
"He wont separate." I breathed.
"Yeah its like hes fusing with the titan to become one again, hurry, lift his head out!" Hanji ordered quickly.
I complied and lifted Eren's chin to peek at his face, and screamed. It was deformed, there were ugly wrinkled and pieces of malformed flesh sticking to his eyes.
"Ah! His face! Is his face fusing too? Quick! Sketch it out! Do it quick before he goes back to normal!" Hanji barked at Levi with wild eyes as he himself hopped down to help. Levi stared at Hanji in confusion.
"Four eyes...are you even human?" He muttered, not moving a finger to do what she was requesting. Her eyes were almost coming out of their sockets, she looked totally crazed.
"Hey! Help me pull him out!" I complained, he was getting heavy.
My prayers were answered however, because in one swift motion, Levi had unsheathed his sword and cut through the hot titan flesh that was sticking to his human body, separating him completely. I fell back with Eren in my arms, landing on my butt.
"I'm not going that far Hanji." Levi spoke out sternly, sheathing his sword. His green cape floated gracefully in the wind, he looked like a damn hero.
"I-im sorry...I guess I got carried away again." Hanji whispered, blinking several times. Her face was normal again. "All units fall back! The experiment is over!"
Everyone on top of the cliff had scattered, and I lifted Eren behand my back, his arms dangling over my chest. "I can bring him back up." I offered.
"Thanks." Hanji nodded as both she and Levi used the gear to climb back up. I held on to Eren's arms and jumped, easily gliding up to land on the grassy cliff.
"Put Eren in the carriage! Everyone scale the area! Make sure there were no witnesses!" Hanji shouted. I nodded and jogged over to the lone carriage that waited by the trail. Levi and Christa were there. The girl sported a bright yellow rain coat that hid her appearance well. But I knew it was her judging from her big round eyes and height.
"Just lay him in the middle." Christa advised once I got to her.
"Alright..." I mumbled, hopping on the cart and letting Eren fall on his back. I cringed at the sight of his malformed face as I tried to adjust his body to be straight. His upper torso was shirtless, so I draped a lone towel over him in an attempt to keep him warm. But did he even need it? He was still kind of hot.
I looked back to see Christa board the carriage to sit by Eren.
"You aren't coming back?" I asked Levi, noticing he wasn't getting on. He was instead, watching Henji bark orders as everyone else rode around the forest.
"No, there are matters I need to tend to." Levi responded.
"I see, um, I was thinking, didn't Hanji want me to be a lab rat too?" I asked, shuddering at the thought of ending up like Eren. I wasn't so sure I wanted to go through with it anymore.
"Yes but I think she's done for today, shes too disappointed at the moment." Levi muttered.
My back stiffened at the sight of Hanji making her way towards us and I prayed she wouldn't change her mind and attempt round two with me. She didn't.
"Sorry you guys had to see that, we will be leaving now...erm, Sakura we can start with you another time if you wish."
I gulped.
"Right now I need you to heal Eren though, he's uhh, pretty beaten up, can't believe he would take it this hard." Hanji finished.
"Sure thing." I nodded, gathering up chakra in my hands to begin healing his face.
Hanji hopped on the cart and turned back to Levi. "I'll leave the rest to you then."
Levi nodded. "You can count on it.
"Alright...You can start now!" Hanji shouted to the driver of the carriage. The sound of horses hooves slamming against the hard ground filled the air as I worked to heal Eren.
"Hang in there Eren..." Christa muttered in worry.
"It's fine! He'll be good as new...probably, he'll be as handsome as he once was...probably." Hanji muttered. She sounded like she was brushing it off as nothing, but I could tell that she was worried too. "By the way Sakura, how did you get here that fast."
"I ran, it's not that hard to be fast if you can use chakra." I exclaimed lowly, concentrating on the green aura on Eren's face. His burns were starting to heal.
"That I have seen." Hanji nodded solemnly. She turned away from us and peeked out of the carriage. "It's no good...whenever Eren transforms he emits smoke that can be seen from anywhere...we can assume they can be watching us from somewhere higher up at the mountains."
"Who are they exactly?" I asked, curious. They kept on going on and on about secrecy.
"Outsiders, the military, the governor, the elite and anyone thats not us, can't trust them all." Hanji said with a frown.
"The elite?" My eyebrow rose. "Those are the rich people right?"
"The rich are the ones who are in power behind the scenes, there's a lot of scary stuff going on that even I don't know about, who knows what will happen if you and Eren were discovered? As well as I..." Christa muttered.
"Yeah..." I spoke out lowly. I remembered what Christa had said to me and Eren, well, everyone for that matter, about her past. About her estranged mother and her father. She was born into a rich family but didn't have any real position. She was a complete mystery.
"Well there's not much we can do to cover our tracks or keep this any more secret, you titan shifters are too big to exactly do anything indoors." Hanji sighed.
"Sorry..." I mumbled. "Ah, its working." I rose my hands out of Erens face to get a good look. He really did look good as new, save for a massive coating of sweat and grime. I used the towel covering his body to dab at his face softly.
"What a relief, now Mikasa won't have me for breakfast!" Hanji laughed. I smiled. Mikasa could really be scary.
"So what now?" Christa asked.
"Now we wait for him to wake up, I don't know, there's so much to do I don't even know where to start, god I'm so stressed out." Hanji whined, running her hand over her hair.
"I feel you." I said with a smile. I really did, even if our reasons were different. It was all we could talk about as we rode back home.
…
"You have to be kidding...I slept a whole day?!" Eren shouted, clearly pissed that we hadn't bothered to wake him sooner. He wouldn't wake up yesterday when we brought him in, so we let him sleep until morning. Mikasa, Armin, and I took turns watching him, I was the last since I had fallen asleep on the seat next to him, not that I was guilty for it. He didn't need any real protection and he slept soundly.
"You needed to rest." Mikasa stated with a blank face. Hanji, Christa, and Levi sat beside Eren calmly, having been roused by the blonde petite the moment Eren woke up.
"Whatever..." Eren grumbled, eyes averted to stare at his plain white sheets.
"More importantly, do you remember the experiment we tried yesterday?" Hanji probed hopefully. She was still trying to keep the matter on track.
Eren's eyes widened and his head snapped up to stare at Hanji. "N-no...I don't have any memories on it...what happened to the hardening?"
Levi sighed. "Unfortunately brat, no such thing happened." I glanced at him. Clad in a white button dress shirt and black jeans, he looked amazing. Memories of his naked body from two days ago were making me blush, but I couldn't be thinking about that now, there were far more important things to think about.
Eren looked down at his sheets again, defeated. "There really was nothing at all?"
Hanji shook her head. "Nope, my troops checked the remains of your titan body after the experiment but nothing was found."
"But how was it exactly?" Eren added, eager to get the full story.
Hanji stood up to explain. "The experiment went like this, you took to your titan form, and we had you go inside a cave as a stand in for wall Maria, while you could try to harden, when that failed, we took to endurance and intelligence tests."
"Yes I remember the plans for the experiment but nothing of the results." Eren cut in, looking frustrated.
"The first titan to know about was of the 15 meter class, same as the ones you have made appear in the past." Hanji went on. "First I had you try simple commands, standing on one foot, waving your hand and whatnot, you responded to anyone's commands, since your consciousness was clearly still there, next I tried having you talk, which didn't go so well, perhaps your mouth structure isn't built for speech." Hanji mused.
I raised my eyebrow. This was it? Then why was Eren so beat up?
Hanji continued. "Then I had you construct things using rope and log, you were quite skilled at that, if you were in titan form you could easily build a castle, but then things started to change..."
"Well? What happened?" Eren snapped impatiently.
"It was after I had you try to write with a stick on the ground, you couldn't speak but you could write, at the time you wrote 'I don't know what I can do to harden', and then all of a sudden with no logical connection, you wrote 'father had me', after that you were writing a bunch of garbled nonsense it couldn't even be read...you seemed so pained, do you remember that?" Hanji asked.
"I don't." Eren murmured with a frown.
"Well afterwards after struggling for thirty minutes, you exited the titan of your own violation, it was clear that you weren't conscious anymore." Hanji muttered. "We had to take you out, after resting for half an hour you went at it again, failed to harden, and couldn't follow any commands at all, you seemed extremely hungry and ate the house you built out of sticks, then you lost energy and just fell, we had to take you out again."
"Various times." Levi commented.
Hanji nodded. "Indeed, after resting again for thirty minutes, you tried to transform again, this time it was a titan that was not even ten meters tall, it was weak and couldn't support itself, it had melded with you too much and taking you out was quite a task."
Eren gripped the sheets and grit his teeth, slightly trembling. "So that means...that the plan to take back wall Maria...is not gonna be possible huh...and all because I couldn't harden..."
I was torn, seeing his eyes go watery, so I smiled and was going to say everything would be alright to cheer him up, until Levi spoke.
"Yup, we were greatly disappointed, and because of you the atmosphere is as shitty as a gutter."
Everyone fell silent at that, and I stood up, fuming. "Don't tell him that! What is wrong with you?! You can be a real hardass sometimes you know that?!" I shouted angrily, raising a hand to grab Levi by the collar, but he grabbed my risk before I could do it.
"Don't be so loud, I can hear you just fine." He breathed darkly, then, leaning towards my face, he whispered in my ear. "Save your energy for the bed."
My cheeks grew hot, and my mouth hung open, completely speechless.
Smiling in victory, he let go of my wrist and sat back down at the edge of the bed. I looked around, worried out of my mind at the thought of him being overheard, but everyone was fixated on Eren, who looked like his favorite hero crushed his hopes and dreams. The only person in the room with a devious-all-knowing smile was Hanji, and I shuddered. Did she overhear?! Maybe she didn't...Hanji was just being a creep like usual...that's right. I sighed and sat back down on my chair, flustered.
"Okay uum...so uh, It's fine there is still time to figure things out." I grumbled in an attempt to change the subject quickly.
I could feel that smug bastard Levi grin darkly, I didn't even have to look at him to know.
"But at this rate, time is passing by without a single good thing happening, what is going to happen next? Titans will fall from the sky? Or come up from the ground? Meanwhile humans will be like toothless prey, its a shitty situation no matter how you look at it." Levi muttered, making me frown. Did he always have to contradict me? Negativity was going to get us nowhere.
"Eren tried his best..." Mikasa muttered.
"I know, so what of it? What does it matter if he tried? He can't plug up the whole right now." Levi snapped.
"Well if you keep blaming Eren for it..."Mikasa accused defiantly.
"I'm not blaming him I just have a nasty mouth." Levi stated. I rolled my eyes. So stubborn...
"You don't have to have a nasty mouth." I shot at him.
"Of course I do brat, force is the only thing that will get anything done here." Levi defended. "Listen, the stink of the gutters is always within the walls, it fills the air, its been like that for one hundred years, its always shit inside the walls, that's the present situation, after all I only noticed that these past several years, hell I have been breathing this shit since I was born, but the air I breathed outside the walls was different, its a world like hell but...freedom outside these walls is out there, it was then that I realized for the first time just what I didn't know."
Everyone stood silent for a moment. Levi actually sounded pretty deep...until Hanji killed it.
"What Levi is trying to say is this, Yesterday we found out that Eren can't harden his titan body."
Levi glared at her, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.
"So, that leaves only one other option, Sakura." Hanji went on.
My heart stopped. Suddenly it wasn't so funny anymore. Everyone was watching me for a response but I had none. After all, they were all depending on me now, the pressure was real. I didn't want to end up like a crying heap next to Eren, mulling over my fail.
"We also found out about Eren's limitations, and we can use this to our advantage! Thats what Levi is saying!" Hanji continued with a smile.
Levi's eyebrow twitched. "Yeah...thanks." He mumbled sarcastically.
"So its up to you Sakura." Christa whispered, and I stiffened, not happy that the attention was back to me.
"I guess so, I'll try my best." I promised with a smile of uncertainty.
"I want to try experimenting on you after supper if that's too much to ask?" Hanji asked hopefully.
My stomach churned. So soon? Well it wasn't like I could decline. "Sure, no problem."
"Excellent, then I'll see you then, I'll come to pick you up after you eat okay?" She said with a smile.
I nodded.
"You better not mess up brat." Levi warned, making me stare at him blankly. Then his expression softened. "I'm joking, don't be so hard on yourself, just do what you can." He said softly before rising up and heading out the door. I blinked. I had never heard Levi use that tone before, it was almost like being kissed lightly.
"Huh? Why is he so easy on you?! That's not fair!" Eren said hysterically with wide eyes.
I shrugged. "Maybe he has a soft spot for women?" I said jokingly.
"I doubt it..." Mikasa muttered with leery eyes.
I gulped.
"Anyway, you should hurry up and get something to eat, I think the others have already started cooking." Hanji announced as she too, got up.
"Yeah, are you guys coming?" I asked Christa, Eren, and Mikasa.
"In a bit, we'll meet you there." Mikasa stated.
"Alright...see you guys later then." I shouted with a wave before heading out myself. Closing the door slowly behind me, I walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. Now to think of it I was pretty hungry. I had almost nothing to eat last night if it wasn't for Mikasa bringing me bread with butter and cheese, which was gulped down with a glass of orange juice. This place, needless to say, was making me lose weight...but maybe that was a good thing. I could already smell the scent of freshly baked potatoes and meat seasoning. My mouth watered as I entered the kitchen. Sure enough, everyone was there, already setting the table.
"Yo, how is Eren?" Connie was the first to speak upon sighting me.
I made my way to the cabinets and opened a drawer to snag a plate. "He's fine, he's actually doing a lot better." I replied, helping myself to the broth and rice patties with loaves of fresh soft bread.
"That's a relief, his condition was horrid." Sasha shuddered from her perch on the table. She already had an empty plate on the table, meaning she was done eating.
"Tell me about it." I muttered between a mouthful of bread as I stuffed it in my mouth and chewed. I sat down across from the brunette and began chowing down.
Connie pulled up a chair next to me and sat down to gaze at me. "So I heard about Eren failing the hardening thing, guess its all up to you now."
"I can't help it if I can't figure it out." I said quickly with a frown. I hated that everyone was putting all of this on me. "What if only certain titans can do it..."
"Well that is true, I haven't seen the colossal titan do such a thing..." Connie muttered while looking down at the table. I cringed. I knew how he felt about the betrayal. Was I too harsh on him? Maybe talking about them was hard.
I smiled brightly in an attempt to brighten the sour mood. "But there's always a chance it can work, maybe Hanji will help me figure it out, if there's one thing I have that Eren doesn't its patience." I stated with a reassuring smile.
Jean laughed from the doorway. "Ain't that the truth."
"Don't be nervous, I know it will turn out alright." Sasha whispered with a clueless smile of her own from across me. I glanced at her and nodded.
"Thanks Sasha." I said. "I needed that."
It was good to come here before leaving to the edge of those cliffs. Having these people...my friends, around helped give me confidence and put me at ease. I couldn't fail them.
...
"This time will be different, I'll help you coach her and make sure you don't go 'too far' again."
Levi was extremely protective and making a big deal out of this whole situation. As flattering as it should be, I couldn't help but feel slightly pissed off. We were in the experiment grounds again, with me, Hanji, and Levi standing down the valley while the others watched on horses from the cliff. I felt like I was a huge spotlight...and I didn't like it. Naruto would have.
"I don't need you to babysit me." I snapped, irked.
Levi shot me a sideways glance. "You would rather trust four eyes?"
I pouted, too stubborn to see his point. So Hanji was a bit crazy...but that didn't mean Levi had to act like I was a fragile glass cup about to tip over the counter. "I trust in you to trust me."
He sighed. "Why do you have to be difficult."
Hanji grinned "So that's that! Lets get started! You can transform when you're ready Sakura take your time, I'll be down here to give you instructions." The brunette coached.
I nodded, conscious that Levi didn't leave, but not caring at this point. I had to do this no matter what. I didn't want to fail. So, ignoring everyone else, I took a deep breath and concentrated on my thumb. By this point in time I was no longer worried about accidentally summoning, because I had grown rather used to the process of turning like Eren. So with that in mind, I brought my thumb to my mouth and bit down, succumbing to the euphoric feeling that came with the change.
It wasn't as bad this time, since I was ready and determined, I felt the familiar tug of adrenalin course through my whole body, and the intoxicating heat engulfed my entire being. The explosion sounded a mile away, as if it came through a very deep tunnel, but I knew that it came from my very own self. Euphoria gave way to numbness and soon I no longer felt my real body. I was too heavy and too big. Once the smoke cleared away I could see Hanji and Levi through different eyes, and they looked like ants.
"Woo hooo! Nice, okay we can start with the hardening just in case you can do it right away!" Hanji shouted to me with her hands cupped around her mouth. I could sense her excitement. "You see that cave over there?" She pointed towards a spot behind me and I followed her finger to see a very big hollow hole within the cliffs. "I want you to crawl in there and pretend its the hole in wall Maria, just try to harden your body and spread it over!"
I blinked, the only thing I could do to show I understood, and turned to walk towards it. This is what she wanted me to do first? That was hard! I didn't have one clue on how to copy Annie's abilities. But I had to try at least...
I was able to crouch and slide in the cave awkwardly, it felt like I was inside a cushion fort made by children. How was I going to harden my skin here? Thinking, I moved to spread my arms and press the big palms of my hands to the sides of the cave. I waited, trying to imagine armor or ice coming out of my hands to spread through the walls.
A minute passed.
5 minutes.
10 minutes.
I was growing agitated. This wasn't working. I gave up and stared at my hands. How...how was the blasted thing done?!
"Hey! You can come out now!"
I looked out to see Hanji and Levi waiting outside. They had been quiet and considerate enough to let me concentrate, but I had failed. With an inner sigh, I crawled out of the cave and stood up to face Hanji again.
"Twenty minutes have passed an no cigar hahaha!" Hanji laughed, the bright sun illuminating her face. "That's okay, I wasn't expecting you to do it right away, next I'm going to repeat Eren's instructions to you alright? I need to know your mental and physical capabilities."
I wrinkled my nose, remembering the things she had said during Eren's awakening. I was going to go through that?
As if sensing my displeasure, Levi spoke up. "Just take it easy brat, they aren't hard tasks."
"Right! Sakura lets do a simple task, can you try standing on one foot?"
I complied and lifted one leg while holding my arms to the sides for balance. It was difficult since I was unusually tall, so I was very wobbly, but the task was still doable.
"Alright, you can put it back down, next, try to say my name, or anything, can you talk?"
I opened my mouth and moved my tongue in an attempt to speak, but all that came out was a groan. I couldn't. It was like I forgot to. I shook my head to demonstrate I couldn't.
"Alright I understand...hmm, then how can Ymir talk?" She muttered.
"Perhaps because shes smaller and more imp-like." Levi suggested.
"Perhaps...Sakura can you play tic tac toe?" Hanji shouted.
I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
"I need to test how far your intelligence goes, here grab that big branch over there and draw the table."
I obeyed and moved to reach for the lone branch that lay a few feet away from me. I didn't have any difficulty in using it as a sort of pencil to draw put a tic-tac-toe gragh on the dirt.
"Alrighty, I'll play with you, errrm, want to go first?" She offered playfully. Hanji was very enthusiastic about this...and it seemed so pointless! Didn't the fact that I wasn't trying to eat them prove my intelligence? I wasn't an animal. I was growing frustrated, but I followed through with it anyway and drew an x in the middle.
"I chose an O on this top right corner." Hanji stated while pointing to the desired spot. I drew it in for her and followed through with an x next to it.
We went through the game for the next five minutes until we eventually tied.
"Well would you look at that, she has good cognitive intelligence!" Hanji exclaimed, earning an eye roll from Levi.
"You enjoy yourself way too much." He muttered.
I took the distraction as an opportunity to write a message quickly on the ground before Hanji instructed me to do another task. I sat with my legs crossed and my but firmly on the ground as I wrote.
'How can I harden? I have no clue sorry'
Hanji and Levi stared at the message in silence.
"Well, it's not something you can just suddenly figure out." Hanji sighed. "But we are making some progress, we know you are fully conscious in your titan form and seem to be a little more open than Eren, who gets confused easily."
"She is already like that in her human form genius." Levi shot at her.
"Hey! You're not the one coaching!" Hanji hissed.
My lips curled up in a smile. They fought like Naruto and Sasuke did back in my genin days. Looking up at the sky, I let the sun shine through my big green eyes for a moment, and basked in my own silent thoughts. When Annie was hardening...what was she doing? Fighting...she was fighting. Fighting to save her life and escape the walls. But how? Did that even play a role in the hardening process? That last moment when she surrounded herself in the crystal, thats what it really was anyway, not ice. But that crystal, it had engulfed her in that last moment...against her will or was it intentional? She was fighting for her life, she was desperate, and panicked. She was...in danger. That's it!
I sprang up to my feet in an instant, eyes wide with excitement. Just like we had to think about a goal to transform, maybe we needed a reason to harden! If I could mimic Annies emotions somehow, I could harden against my will! If I were in real danger, so much that my life was at stake, then just maybe...but how would I achieve that?
Without warning, I roared and bit hard into my arm, tearing at it until the flesh ripped. It didn't hurt, but I did my best in putting on a self destructing mood.
"Eh? Hey what are you doing?!" Hanji shouted. Eyes wide with shock. I continued to devour myself in a frenzy, spitting out chunks of flesh here and there.
"She's lost it." Levi exclaimed. "I'm getting her out!" He was in the air in an instant, not even even bothering to wait for Hanji's response. His eyes were wide and full of worry. I almost felt bad about this. Spitting out another chunk of flesh, I moved to the side quickly, and grabbed Levi in midair, only to feel my hand being sliced open. He was stopping at nothing to get to the back of my neck. I tried to shout for him to stop, but only a loud moan came out. I couldn't talk and it was pissing me off. Well eating myself wasn't working, it was obvious that eating myself wasn't felt as a threat by this body.
Shutting my eyes, I ran around the valley, ignoring Hanji's screams and Levi's chases to grab the branch I was writing with. I had to think fast. If I didn't try this now then Levi would cut me out and I would have to transform all over again. Who knew if I would end up like Eren transforming more than once?
So squeezing my eyes shut, I rose the branch high behind me, earning confused looks from the people watching from the cliff and Levi himself. Clutching the branch tightly, I brought it down hard to the back of my neck, hoping with all my might it would work. If it didn't I was as good as dead.
"Sakura!"
An enormous splitting sound broke through out the air, drowning out Levi's final scream. Darkness gave way to light as I slowly opened my eyes again to see Hanji and Levi stare up at me with open mouths.
I lowered my hand slowly to gaze down at the broken branch. It had split like a twig, and it was huge...meaning...it worked? Hand rising slowly to the back of my neck, I felt around and gasped silently. I could feel a smooth surface. It was very small, maybe oval shaped but it was there. Just enough to protect my human body from harms way.
In an instant, both Levi and Hanji had rose with the gear to stand on my shoulders.
"No way, she did it!" Hanji exclaimed with shock.
"That was risky as hell idiot." Levi barked in anger. I cringed inwardly. I was going to get hell for this.
"But she did it! Can you spread it?! Try to spread it throughout your body!" Hanji said so fast she was almost incoherent.
I shut my eyes and concentrated...but gave up. This was it. It was the best I could do. I shook my head in defeat.
"It's alright! This is a huge step forward! All squads scan the area for invaders! Someone get me a pick! We need samples of this!" The woman barked, she looked almost insane. She turned her attention to me again as everyone scattered. "You did great, that was a risky thing to do but it turned out in our favor, can you get out?"
I shook my head again. There was no way I was going to force myself out with that slab of armor covering me, I didn't know how to make it go away.
"That's fine, I can cut her out through the top of her neck." Levi volunteered.
"Careful, don't get her head." Hanji warned.
"You don't have to tell me that." Levi grunted as he slashed a deep line above the slab. I cringed and waited to feel hands grasp around my real head. The excitement and pride I was feeling was slowly leaving as I slipped into unconsciousness.
...
Authors note: Sorry this took so long! I tried to make this chapter extra long ^.^ Thank you for wishing the best for my nephew, I appreciate it! And thank you for the reviews! You guys are awesome!
~blessed be