Chapter 17: Strange Dreams
"Everything is fine Eren." Reiner tried to calm Eren.
Eren practically busted down the door of his house when he learned that the Marleyan Shifters approached them. He looked ready for combat, his hand bleeding from a bite and prepared to transform to either fight or shield his family.
Eren's first instinct was that it was a trap, thinking that they wanted to lure him into an ambush so he would be focused on defending his family. It would be a smart move, especially with Reiner there who Eren still considered unreliable at the moment. He simply figured Reiner would either stay neutral or worse, betray him again.
However, no attack came.
"Why did they come here?" Eren asked.
"They wanted Reiner-San to join them papa." Ruby explained.
Eren glanced at Reiner, narrowing his eyes in an accusatory way. Clearly, Eren was questioning Reiner's loyalty.
"Eren, you have every right to be suspicious of me, you really do. But I promise you that I am not getting involved." Reiner said.
"It's true Eren, Braun-San protected us and said he wasn't interested." Ai confirmed.
Eren softened his eyes as he continued to stare at Reiner, trying to see if there is any hint of deception in Reiner's face. Despite how Reiner has acted, Eren couldn't help but feel a level of suspicion towards his old enemy. After all, Reiner was an amazing actor, so much so he even fooled himself.
"Thank you, Reiner." Eren said in a low voice.
"I didn't do it for you Eren, if I'm being completely honest." Reiner said.
"Just for my daughter. Eren's eyes narrowed.
"Papa!" Ruby yelled.
"Partially." Reiner shrugged.
"Reiner!" Ruby yelled again.
"I just don't want to be involved in another war." Reiner said, ignoring Ruby. "That being said, I won't let anyone hurt your family. But I don't want anything to do with this. What's between you and you enemies are your business."
"I prefer it that way." Eren said honestly.
Eren felt like there was a part of him that could trust Reiner, but there was still the issue of his past betrayals that Eren had trouble looking past. He understood why Reiner did what he did back then, but even if he sympathizes with Reiner, he can't take a gamble with his family's safety.
"It does strike me as odd that they chose now to approach Reiner." Aqua said out loud. "Why try to recruit him while we were here?"
"If I had to guess, they're laying a trap for Eren." Reiner said.
"No doubt." Eren agreed.
"A trap?" Ai asked.
"Finding them won't be easy." Reiner said. "If I had to guess, the attack at the mall was a target of opportunity. But now that Eren's guard is fully up, they know they can't try that again. I think they're trying to bait you."
"I know." Eren nodded. "They're trying to get me to be more proactive and aggressive. So, when I find them and strike, they'll have a trap prepared."
Eren was familiar with their tactics. They tried the exact same thing right before the second battle of Shiganshina. Even when Zeke cornered the Scouts when the retook wall Maria, they baited them into a corner, so they'd have the best possible chance for success.
"Though I also think they were trying to recruit you." Eren said.
"But why wait till now?" Aqua asked.
"Galliard as you can tell doesn't like me." Reiner said. "He always blamed me for his brother's death. I wonder if he intentionally avoided me until he felt like they were getting outnumbered since Armin intervened."
"Are they strong?" Ruby asked, her voice waivered slightly from the fear.
"In order to become a Warrior, you had to go through extreme training. Part of that training is advanced clandestine operations and advanced scouting."
"Which should be easy for me to predict, I was a Scout after all." Eren said confidently.
He also had the full weight of the Japanese Intelligence Service and the Chinese agents within Japan to leverage against them. Eren felt confident that he could easily find out where those Shifters are.
"I don't think so Eren." Reiner said.
"Why?" Eren asked.
"Despite the name, the Scouts only operated in Titan territory." Reiner explained. "Titans can sense humans so hiding or stealth is impossible. Your Military never fully learned stealth against people. The kind of advanced stealth we learned as Warriors was both how to blend in with nature and how to infiltrate a society."
"Even still, those two came from a World War One era world, I doubt they'll be able to deal with our digital cameras and other security systems." Aqua said.
"They've probably been preparing for sixteen years." Reiner said. "No doubt they've learned to adapt to this new technology."
"Preparing as infants?" Ai asked skeptically.
"Which is probably why they waited until they were sixteen to strike. By Marleyan standards, they are full grown adults." Reiner said.
"You think they'll be that hard to find?" Eren asked.
"If you remember, Annie, Berthold, and myself infiltrated your Military." Reiner said. "Plus, Pieck and Galliard infiltrated during your coup with no issues. They're extremely good at blending in. Plus, it's not the first time we've had to blend into a society with a different race of people."
"I remember, during the Mid East War." Eren said, thinking back to his time there.
He spent nearly a year with the Marleyan's, fighting in the Mid East and watching how devastating Titans were used in a modern war. At least modern for their time. Despite the advancements of Anti-Titan weapons, the Warrior Unit was still the most powerful unit in the war.
"Well, otosan is a king, so I'm sure he'll be fine." Kawachi said with a smile.
"King?" Eren asked.
"Wait... does that mean I'm a princess?" Mikasa shouted in excitement.
"What are they talking about?" Eren asked.
"When you launched the coup. Didn't you seize the throne?" Reiner asked.
"I was meaning to ask that too, you became a king?" Ai asked.
"Why would I overthrow Historia?" Eren asked.
Ai felt a small bit of jealousy in her chest. She remembered that name. Historia, the girl Eren impregnated and... wait...
"Historia was a queen!" Ai yelled in shock.
"Yes." Eren said.
"Who's historia?" Reiner asked.
"Krysta's real name." Eren said.
"She was a queen?" Reiner asked.
"That's right... you left before the first coup and had no knowledge of what happened." Eren said.
"First coup?" Ai asked.
"Krysta was the illegitimate daughter of the Riess family." Eren said.
"I think I remember them." Reiner said, thinking back to his initial information gathering at the time. "Weren't they a small-time noble family?"
"It turned out they were the true royal family that used a puppet king. We killed the true king of the walls and put Krysta, now Historia, on the throne." Eren explained.
"And you had a child with her..." Ai said out loud, remembering why she never liked talking about her.
"You what?" Riener asked, surprised.
"The Military wanted to turn Historia into the Beast Titan so a royal could have a Shifter power, then pass that down to her descendants. I didn't want them to be bread for slaughter, so we made sure Historia was in a position where she couldn't take the Beast Titan immediately." Eren explained.
Reiner felt kind of bad about that. Reiner always had a crush on Krysta, she was kind, sweet, and cute. He was surprised she became a queen. Information from within the walls was mostly speculation after Reiner was discovered and had to flee. He guessed that explains why Krysta wasn't at Shiganshina.
Still, it made him sad that she ended up having a child with Eren. He felt a bit of jealousy, but it went away after remembering that they were literally worlds apart.
Ruby narrowed her eyes as she looked at Reiner's disappointment.
"This Krysta girl... did she have blonde hair?" Ruby asked as she crossed her arms.
"Yea, how did you know?" Reiner asked.
So... Reiner did have a thing for blondes. It made Ruby kind of upset that Reiner was thinking about this other girl. Apparently, he cared a lot about her.
Ai had to cover her mouth with her hand as she giggled. It seems Ruby was a bit jealous that Reiner thought about another girl. She looked so upset and couldn't blame Ruby. She felt the same way anytime Eren mentioned Mikasa or Historia...
Ai and her sixteen-year-old daughter were jealous of the same woman over a man they both like... This rebirth stuff is so confusing.
"Just a hunch." Ruby said, looking away from Reiner.
"What?" Reiner asked, not sure why Ruby was upset.
Reiner seriously did not know why Ruby was upset. She seemed like she was mad about something he did, and he didn't know why.
"So... papa is a king?" Mikasa asked, barely following.
"I launched the coup against the Military, not against Historia. So, I wasn't a king." Eren explained, glad at the change of topic.
"I see." Mikasa nodded. "What's a cuew?"
Eren rubbed his temples.
"So that makes me a queen by marriage." Ai smirked to herself.
"I wasn't a king." Eren said, only to be ignored.
"Yea, and I'm a princess too." Ruby smiled.
"Should I go speak to the Japanese royal family and become a delegate?" Ai joked.
"Does that mean I'm a crowned prince?" Kawachi asked.
"Wouldn't that be Aqua?" Ruby asked.
Aqua just crossed his arms and ignored the family, like Eren. Aqua didn't want to be involved in this joking around.
"Well, he's technically not otosan's son, at least by blood, so that makes me the future king." Kawachi argued.
"What about me?" Mikasa asked. "I want to be the future queen."
"But you're a girl." Kawachi said. "It always goes to the boy." He argued.
Technically, the title goes to whoever is chosen to have the founder, sex didn't matter. But Eren didn't voice those thoughts in case he added fuel to the argument.
"Enough." Eren said. "I'm not a king so drop it."
"We're just having fun darin." Ai giggled.
"I wasn't." Kawachi said.
"Even if I was, my so-called kingdom is a world away. So, it doesn't matter. I was an insurrectionist at best." Eren explained.
"Yea, apparently the world was scared of a rumbling or something." Ai giggled.
Eren's eye's widened when she said those words.
"What did you say?" He asked, hoping he misheard her.
"Apparently they said they're worried about a rumbling or something." Ai shrugged. "It sounds like a weird way of saying you'll attack with an army or something."
Eren glared at Reiner.
"They mentioned it, they're worried you have the power to-"
"Quiet!" Eren yelled before he could say more.
"Papa, what's a rum-" Ruby began.
"Nothing, forget you heard that." Eren said aggressively.
"Why?" Ruby asked. "What is this rumbling thing?"
"It's nothing." Eren said.
"It sounds like it's worrying you darin." Ai said, noticing her husband's fear.
"Let's just go to bed." Eren said.
"But-" Ruby tried to say.
"We're dropping this conversation." Eren said. "Now all of you, to bed."
Kawachi and Mikasa could see that their papa was raising his voice, and the two young children knew that meant he was serious. They never pushed their luck when he had that tone, so they instantly went to bed.
"I guess I'll leave for now." Reiner said.
"We'll see you tomorrow for training." Ai said. "At the studio early."
"Of course." Reiner nodded as he left the house.
Aqua and Ruby went to their own rooms, but Ai glanced over at Eren, who seemed tired and worried about something.
"This rumbling, whatever it is-"
"Ai, drop it." Eren said.
Ai stayed quiet. She knew that there were powers and apparent abilities that these Titan people had, her husband included. Whatever worried Eren was clearly affecting him. For whatever reason, it brought back painful memories, memories he was terrified of revealing to her or anyone else.
Ai noticed that he got like this when that was mentioned. This same kind of quiet fear that he showed when he first came to Japan. Whatever this was about, Ai knew that it was the thing that happened right before he arrived in Japan.
"Ok darin." She said as she wrapped her arms around him. "Why don't you come to bed with me." She smiled.
"Not now." Eren declined. "I need to get some things done."
"Ok..." Ai said sadly as she let go of him and went upstairs to sleep.
With his family upstairs, Eren went to his bag of some gear her stole from work. It was extremely illegal to use Government assets for personal use, but Eren never really cared about the law.
He took out a bunch of infrared cameras, motion detectors, and other surveillance equipment. He began placing them strategically around the inside and outside of the house, making sure to keep them hidden and also avoiding anywhere that would violate his family's privacy while they changed or bathed.
Outside he even made sure they were on the street as well, so he could look through his phone and at any time check to see if anyone was watching his home. It was also illegal to make personal cameras that showed public property or other people's private areas, but again, Eren didn't care.
Once that was done, he prepared multiple handguns in different hidden areas inside and outside of the house. Hidden to ensure his family will never find them. Although he had his Titan powers, he was concerned about the Yakuza that could attack and would rather not destroy his house or potentially crush his family in rubble. Besides, he wasn't worried about getting shot.
Eren spent the next few hours planning any kind of escape routes, areas to fight, and a general home defense plan. There was no way he was letting those Marleyan bastards get the jump on him again.
When he went back upstairs to his room, he saw Ai peacefully asleep, holding a sleepy Mikasa in her arms. Mikasa's face looked peaceful and Eren knew that she was scared to be alone again.
Once they reached a certain age, Ai made sure all of the children slept alone so they could gain some independence. She never let the kids sleep with them, only in certain situations. It seems that Mikasa would be sleeping with them for a little while until she got better.
Eren gently got into the bed but didn't laydown. He stayed awake; his senses attuned to everything around him. He couldn't sleep very well lately, mostly on edge and ready for an attack at any moment. But he knew he needed to sleep or else he'd be too weak to fight.
He double checked his phone to make sure his new security system was working. When he confirmed that it was, he put the phone down.
He looked at Ai and Mikasa one more time. Reaching down to deliver a small kiss on both his daughter and his wife. Then he laid down and closed his eyes, forcing himself to sleep but making sure he was still ready to fight.
"Itai... why does me bed feel so hard..." Ruby groaned as she stood up from her...
She's not on her bed. In fact, she's not even in her house. She looked around and noticed that she's in a weird forest. Ruby was never an outdoors kind of girl, but she could tell she's not in any familiar forests near Tokyo.
"Where am I?" She asked.
Ruby looked down at herself and saw that she was wearing her normal pajamas. They were slightly dirty from laying on the ground, but she didn't know where she was. She was starting to get a little scared.
Ruby heard the sound of horses galloping and looked over to see a group of... weirdly dressed men coming towards her. The men had weird hairstyles and long wooden spears. They were dressed in what Ruby would call a stereotypical western barbarian outfits.
"H-hello?" She asked but the men did not notice her.
They stopped on their horses as they turned back to the place they rode from. Their faces were etched in fear and they looked like they were terrified of something. Ruby had no idea why, but she felt scared because these massive men were scared.
"What's the meaning of your delay?" Ruby turned around and saw another group of men on horseback.
In the center was a man who was clearly in charge. He had a dominating presence and spoke with authority. His long unwashed beard still had what looked like stains from a recent meal.
"W-war Chief... a beast..." One of the frightened men began.
Wait... Ruby understood them. They were clearly speaking a different language, neither English or Japanese. But somehow, Ruby understood them. She didn't know how, it made no sense.
"Speak, why is the pig thief not with you? She should be slain and prepared for display." The War Chief said.
"War Chief Fritz, the girl is long since departed. But there is a beast in those woods. A beast of immeasurable size." The man said.
"Do you mean when the world shook?" Fritz asked.
"It was a monster, a Titan." the man said.
"Titans are too busy to wage wars with the gods to care about some tongueless slave. I will go and if I find the slave still breathing, I will have another freed person to chase." Fritz threatened as he rode towards where the men fled.
As he rode forward, Ruby saw he was about to trample her with the horse. She tried to get up but was too slow, only to feel nothing as the horse phased through her as if she wasn't there. Ruby checked her body to make sure she was still alive. Since she felt no pain, she realized what was going on.
"Mama was right, ice cream before bed does give you weird dreams." Ruby said to herself.
Ruby looked in the direction the men road and decided that there was no reason not to follow. At least until she woke up. She was curious to see how this dream played out before she woke up. It was like something out of a historical movie from Hollywood.
Ruby jogged to try and catch up. Luckily, their horses only walked so it wasn't hard to keep up since it was basically a walking pace. She weirdly didn't feel any pain in her bare feet, despite the fact that she was walking in the woods, so she assumed that was because of the weird dream.
As Fritz and the men stopped, the looked up in horror at what they saw.
Ruby recognized it, a strange Titan, similar to the one her papa transformed into. It was collapsed on the ground, laying down as if it was exhausted. The body steamed like how her papa's body slowly evaporated over time.
On the neck, right around the nape, was a young girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, who pulled herself from the flesh of the Titan. Her body steamed, and her clothes were in rags, barely held together and had dried blood in certain areas.
Ruby looked over at the men, who looked on in horror and prepared to run at any moment. Even the horses were terrified, twitching and ready to bolt at any moment. They said prayers that Ruby didn't recognize to some gods she didn't know.
However, the War Chief, Fritz, didn't seem scared at all. He looked at the scene with curiosity and confusion. He patted his startled horse on the neck, calming it down, as he stared at the strange creature before him.
Fritz dismounted his horse and prepared to walk towards the girl.
"War Chief, don't." One of the men said.
"Are you frightened?" Fritz asked the man.
"It... it could attack again." He said.
Fritz let out a small laugh, as if he believed himself to be stronger than the monstrous Titan before him.
"If the slave was capable of such things she wouldn't have allowed us to burn her village or remove her tongue." He laughed.
Ruby felt sick when she heard that. He did what? Ruby guessed she shouldn't be surprised. After all, if this dream was like a historical movie, everyone did that in the past. Still, her dream was weird.
The girl walked away from the steaming corpse in a daze, barely able to tell where she was. Ruby noticed that the girl didn't recognize her surroundings and seemed to be confused, as if she lost her recent memory and was unable to tell what happened to her.
Suddenly, the girl coughed and gagged. She reached into her mouth, as if to dislodge a foreign object that was choking her. She pulled out her own tongue and looked as if she was trying to remove it from her mouth.
"So, your tongue has returned to you." Fritz said.
The girl let go of her tongue and looked up at Fritz in fear and horror. She immediately dropped to her knees, still trying not to gag from her own tongue. She looked at Fritz's sandaled feet, a clear sign of submission.
"You don't even know what you did." He said as he looked at the massive body, now only a skeleton left.
The girl followed his gaze, looking at the body and seemed just as confused as him.
"War Chief... we must kill it before it turns again." One man said as he readied a spear.
The girl looked at the spear in fear, moving back a bit, clearly terrified of dying.
Ruby felt her heart go out to the poor girl. From what she understood, this monster in front of her stole her from her village, cut out her tongue, and apparently hunted her for sport. It made Ruby physically ill to even look at the terrifying bearded man.
"Kill a slave who has shown she can grow back a lost tongue?" Fritz asked. "Tell me then, will you be the one to provoke the beast?"
The man stepped back, eyeing the girl with fear.
Fritz reached down and grabbed the girl by her hair, forcing the girl to stand. The men step back again, fearing for their lives. Fritz let go of the girl's hair and backhanded her hard, causing her to fall back to the ground. Despite the treatment, the girl barely made a sound.
"So, you have no will of your own." He said to the girl who curled up on the ground. "No future, no desire, no will."
Fritz kneeled down and lightly grabbed her chin, forcing the girl to look at him. She had tears in her eyes as she stared at the man who apparently abused her.
"A slave who has no will must serve a master." Fritz said.
"War Chief, don't provoke it." The man said.
"Do you think I care if the beast lashes out?" He said. "No, not a beast, a gift. A gift from the gods. A slave with the power to shake the world."
He cupped the girl's cheek and gently rubbed it, trying to sooth the red area that was agitated from his backhand.
"What did they call you... Ymir if I remember. Those other slaves who accused you, the one who named you." He spoke, mostly to himself. "Slave Ymir, truly you are a unique thing. Truly blessed by either the titans or the gods. Either way, it makes no difference."
He stood up and gently helped Ymir to stand. Ymir looked up at him, in fear, confusion, and even a bit of hope. Ruby could tell she was hoping that the evil War Chief would spare her life.
"Take my slave to my hut and have her bathed in warm water. Ensure she is given scented oils and a comfortable dress." Fritz said to his men.
"You're planning to bring her-"
"Yes." Fritz nodded. "She's had a hard journey, and I believe the slave should feel some comfort after what happened."
Ruby felt herself get angry.
"Listen you jerk, she was hurt and abused by you! After all the things I heard, you're lucky if she doesn't... Calm down Ruby, this is a dumb dream." Ruby calmed herself.
Ruby had to remind herself that this isn't real and is just a dumb dream that she'll wake up from. She probably watched an old Greek or Roman movie from America and was just dreaming about it.
The young girl was led away by the men, her face showed fear, confusion, and once again a small glimmer of hope.
Then Ruby woke up.
"Man... what a weird dream." Ruby said as she got up.
She sat up and thought about the dream. Weirdly enough, she could remember it clearly. Unlike other dreams, where you quickly forget about it or don't even remember, Ruby remembered it as if it was something that actually happened.
It also felt so lucid, like it was actually happening. She remembered the feel of the wind and even the smell of the forest. Although she felt no pain when she ran barefoot, she felt every other sensation.
Either way, Ruby ignored those thoughts and went to the bathroom to shower and get ready for practice at the studio.
"Mama! Kawachi's taking forever!" Mikasa yelled, dressed in her pajama's and had a change of clothes ready and a towel.
"I'm not! I just got in!" Kawachi yelled, his voice muffled from inside.
"I need to get ready too." Ruby said.
"Well, I was here first!" Mikasa yelled, running to block the door so she could rush in the moment Kawachi was done.
Ai stepped out of her room, her damp hair wrapped up and dressed in her more professional business casual clothes. She gave a warm smile to her children but had to slightly suppress the desire to yell at them for fighting.
"Ruby-Chan, you can use my bath to get ready." She said, pointing towards the bath in the main bedroom.
"Thank's mama." Ruby said as she walked over to the main bedroom. "Where's papa?" Ruby asked.
"He left early for work, said he needed to get things ready." Ai said.
"Right... because we're all being hunted by literal monsters." Ruby said.
"Yup." Ai giggled. "Don't worry, Braun-San got here early and is downstairs."
"Eek!" Ruby yelled out, throwing a towel over her head to hide her face. "He's here!? Why didn't you tell me!?"
"Because you have yet to ask." Ai shrugged but giggled.
"I'm not nearly ready to be seen!" Ruby yelled out, trying to smooth her messy hair under her towel.
"Why would you care about a boy you don't intend to date, eh?" Ai said slyly.
"Because I'm an idol now and I can't ever be seen without looking my best." Ruby said as she walked towards the main room.
Bonk!
"Itai!" Ruby yelled.
"You should take the towel off of your head so you can see Ruby-Chan." Ai giggled.
Ruby rushed into the main bedroom, trying to get in there before Reiner had any ideas of coming upstairs to see her. Ai giggled, clearly her daughter had a crush on the young German boy... who was also technically over thirty... but was too scared for her career to say anything about it.
"She's lively today." Aqua said.
"Well, she has a little crush." Ai giggled. "It's adorable."
"Despite the fact that Reiner is technically twice her age?" Aqua asked.
Granted, Aqua knew that Reiner and Ruby were technically closer in age since Ruby was also reborn, but Ai didn't know that about Ruby. So, he was surprised that she was ok with them being close despite the technical age gap.
"I don't think it bothers me too much." Ai shrugged. "Technically he died around the same age she is now, maybe a bit older. So, I guess he mentally is still young."
"Interesting way to put it." Aqua said.
"Besides, even if I did have a problem, I doubt I could call the authorities. I don't think the law covers technicalities due to rebirth." Ai said.
"True." Aqua said as he went to his room to finish getting ready.
Ai went downstairs, where Reiner was sitting on the couch and watching the news.
"According to a statement from the Prime Minister, the Diet have released that they plan to investigate this strange monster attack as well as attempt to assist anyone who has been impacted by the attack on the mall. They are also sending additional funding to the school that was damaged when the military jet crashed into it. At this time, they have not released any information or speculation as to the origins of the monsters and said that when they have an understanding the situation, they will have a press conference."
"However, some independent journalists have learned that Eren Yeager, the Akuma no Ko, is one of the ones leading the investigations. Some conspiracy theists are linking Eren Yeager to these monster attacks due to his unique skills during his time as the Akuma no Ko and his attack on the Yakuza ship a decade ago. They are saying that he possibly has some kind of powers or advanced technology that allows him to do these crazy stunts with those weird grappling gear."
"There have also been theories that Eren Yeager is part of some kind of top-secret government plan or experiment that somehow involves these giant monsters. Conspiracy theorists believe that the Government is hiding information and that this could potentially be linked to illegal weapons and genetics research."
"Unfortunately, until we have more information, all we can do is speculate. Social media in the west is claiming how ironic it is that giant monsters are found in Asia considering popularity of Kaiju and Sentai shows."
Ai walked over and turned the TV off.
"I hate the news sometimes." Ai said.
"Sorry." Reiner said.
"It's alright." Ai said. "It honestly just brings up fear that I'd rather not think about."
"I imagine it can't be easy." Reiner said.
"The hardest part is trying to keep my children from thinking about it and living in fear. Mikasa is especially hard right now because of what she experienced." Ai said sadly.
"I understand how that can feel sometimes." Reiner said, thinking back to his time as the Vice War Chief.
"I'm actually thinking of doing a beach trip soon. The kids love the water and Eren especially loves the ocean." Ai said.
"I remember, he'd never shut up about his dream of getting to the sea when we were Cadets." Reiner chuckled.
Suddenly, Ai realized something.
"Wait... you knew Eren when you were younger, right?" Ai asked, her voice getting hopeful.
"Y-yea?" Reiner confirmed questioningly.
"This is great!" Ai said in excitement. "What was he like, how old was he when you two met!?"
"I think we were, twelve or thirteen at the time." Reiner recalled. "We were in the Cadets together and were in the Survey Corp... at least until I betrayed-"
"I know, betrayed." Ai waved off. "That's in the past, what I want to know is what my husband was like as a kid."
"He never told you?" Reiner asked.
"Have you seen him sometimes? It's impossible to get him to open up sometimes." Ai said with an annoyed tone.
"That's not the Eren I knew." Reiner chuckled.
"Really?" Ai asked.
"Eren was very outspoken. Especially about his dreams of slaughtering all the Titans and going to the sea." Reiner said. "He was hotheaded, quick to anger, and as Jean put it, a suicidal maniac."
"Wow... that's nothing like how he is now... though he is a bit suicidal in how he fights sometimes..." Ai said.
"I blame myself for that honestly." Reiner said.
"How come?" Ai asked.
"Eren looked up to me a lot. He always looked to me for advice. In a lot of ways, I was seen as the leader of the class and the one everyone looked to for strength." Reiner said.
"Until they learned that you were an enemy." Ai said, knowing where this was going.
"Yea..." Reiner looked down in shame. "In some ways, I never forgave myself for that."
"I see..." Ai said sadly.
"Either way, that doesn't matter." Reiner waved off. "Eren's temper often times nearly got him killed. Especially when the walls of Trost were breached."
"I remember him talking about that, your guys first battle with these monsters." Ai said. "Though I always thought it was a battle against Russians since he lied about his origin back then."
"Yea, Eren nearly died multiple times. If it wasn't for Armin or Mikasa, he probably would have." Reiner said.
"What were Armin and Mikasa to him exactly?" Ai asked. "He never talked much about them, and I didn't get the chance to talk with Armin yet."
"Armin was a genius. If I remember from our intel before the final battle, he was second in command of the Survey Corp. He was also Eren's oldest childhood friend. Mikasa was his adopted sister."
"I remember him saying he saved her from slavers." Ai said.
"Probably, I never really talked with Mikasa much." Reiner shrugged. "Those two followed Eren anywhere he went. Eren had a fire in him that just compelled people to follow him."
"Really?" Ai asked.
"His goal to eradicate the Titans and see the outside world was infectious. I think that was many reasons why so many of our class joined the Survey Corp." Reiner said.
"So many? Do they normally not get people to join?" Ai asked.
"The Survey Corp were the only ones to really fight Titans. The Garrison hadn't done anything in one hundred years and the MPs were only ever used for policing. Only the Scouts actually fought. No one wanted to face a Titan. Joining the Military was just a way for most people to avoid working the fields or to not be poor." Reiner explained.
"I see..." Ai said in thought.
"It was common for around thirty to sixty percent of Scouts to die every mission." Reiner said.
"Eren mentioned something like that." Ai said sadly.
"Though that fire in him never left. At least, not until we saw each other again the day he attacked Liberio." Reiner said.
"What happened there?" Ai asked.
"Eren attacked Liberio right when Marley declared war on Eldia. There's really not much to say there." Reiner said vaguely.
There was a small silence that followed. Ai was surprised about what she learned about Eren. He was always so vague about who he was in his past, so to finally hear about him from someone who knew him back then was an amazing feeling.
"I wish I would have had the chance to meet a younger Eren." She said.
"Eren probably would have been too busy to notice you." Reiner chuckled. "I don't think anything occupied his mind outside of eradicating the Titans and exploring the world beyond the walls."
"Still, Eren is always so stoic and serious. I wish I could have had the chance to meet him when he had that fire in his eyes." She said. "I love who he is now, but I do wish he could find more peace. I only ever see a different side of him when we go to the beach."
That stupid beach... not once has he ever looked at her with that look of innocence and wonder. How much she wished she could bring out that side of him. But, she'll have to settle with just going to the beach.
"Ok, I'm ready!" Ruby yelled as she came downstairs.
"I'll get Kawachi and Mikasa, can you start my car Ruby-Chan?" Ai asked.
"Sure mama." Ruby said as she grabbed the keys and walked outside.
Ai went upstairs to check on the kids.
Another one down.
This was an interesting one. As you can see, weird things keep happening to Ruby lol. Though any further information is spoilers lol.
Hope you guys enjoyed.