A/N: Does "I forgot what day it was" count as an excuse for posting a day late...?
In the letter, the writer has informed us that Eren Jaeger is supposedly pregnant.
The sentence seemed to echo around the room. Eren's vision blurred momentarily and he had to force his hands to stay still and not cover his stomach protectively. Levi immediately went to grab for his blades but luckily, Erwin was faster when his own hand shot out to grab Levi's under the table.
All of them jerked as they heard some soldiers come up behind them. A second later Eren felt a cool metal on his throat and he froze in terror. Both Levi and Hanji stood up, furious. Eren looked at his alpha with wide eyes, assured when he saw the other was more than ready to save him, yet praying no one else noticed the fierce glow promising a painful death to anyone who tried to touch his omega.
"What is the meaning of this?" asked Erwin, his voice as calm as ever even with the icy, angry undertones.
Nile smiled humorlessly, shaking his head. "Just a precaution, nothing to worry about. Now, let me ask you some questions."
Nile shuffled around with his papers and the four watched him carefully. Hanji slowly sat down, leaning her elbows on the table and folding her hands in front of her face. Levi didn't follow her, still standing on high alert, however careful to cover his eyes with his longer hair.
"I'll ask you straight," the Commander looked up with his question. "Is it true?"
Eren opened his mouth but no sound came out. Thankfully, Hanji spoke up for him bitterly, unintentionally covering for his mistake. "As if you'd believe him, whatever his answer may be."
"I didn't ask you, Squad leader."
Hanji scowled but said nothing more. The attention turned back to Eren, who prayed his voice wouldn't waver. "It's not, Sir," he said clearly.
Nile nodded, taking a note. "Well, we can't take your word for it."
Hanji snorted in sarcastic, humorless amusement. No one else said anything.
Nile picked up a stack of papers that looked like medical records, looking through them quickly. "Squad leader Zoe, these are your reports on Eren Jaeger's health over the past two months. Can you guarantee these are correct?"
"Yes," Hanji bit out without hesitation. Eren admired her ability to lie so easily.
"Can you tell me what these say?"
Hanji sighed but complied nonetheless. "Last two months? Let's see, that would be everything within norm besides the slight cold from last month, and two weeks back he passed out from exhaustion caused by too many experiments. My bad."
"Suspicious she remembers so well," one of the nobles said, not even bothering to keep himself quiet.
Even Nile Dawk shook his head, knowing first hand Erwin's researcher tended to get a bit obsessed. Hanji raised an eyebrow and stated in a challenging voice, "I can tell you about every single test I ran on Eren since we got custody of him. Actually, I could probably tell you about every experiment I ran on the titans since the beginning as well and in detail. Complete with the dates and exact numbers."
The noble looked like he wanted to test her but Erwin, knowing full well how out of hand Hanji could get with these topics, intervened, "If you wish to test Squad leader Zoe's memory, I have nothing against it but please, leave it for after this issue has been resolved."
"I agree," Nile jumped at the opportunity to avert a catastrophe, having fallen victim to Hanji's titan rants once. "So Squad leader," Hanji slowly turned back towards him, looking slightly disappointed, "you are saying you agree with Eren Jaeger's statement of not being pregnant."
"Yes."
"Can you tell me when his last heat was?"
Hanji cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Four months ago. What does that have to do with this?"
Eren couldn't help but frown, fully agreeing with Hanji. Not to mention that was a pretty intrusive and highly personal question.
"He's an omega," some noble said as if it explained everything. Eren blinked, not comprehending.
"You don't say," growled Levi, which got him a warning look from Erwin.
"We are aware of that but I don't understand your implications, sir," Hanji rephrased Levi's biting remark with suppressed venom. She had a feeling where this was heading and she didn't like it; Levi and Eren would like it even less.
The noble gave them a condescending look as the other nobles snickered. Levi wanted to slaughter them already. "He was in heat four months ago and we all know that's the time omegas get pregnant. It isn't far-fetched to say he seduced some innocent soldier to satisfy his... needs and ended up with a spawn as a result. Omegas get very forceful during heats," he said with a disgusting, lecherous smirk.
Eren couldn't even say anything. He only gaped at the guy with his mouth hanging open. Never in his life has he ever heard something as ridiculous as this. He felt Levi jerk as he stood next to him, a wave of anger accompanying the motion. Eren badly wanted to grab his hand to calm him down.
Hanji snorted, the sound evolving into full-blown laughter. All present looked at her as if she went crazy, but she only continued to laugh. "Putting..." she gasped. "Putting aside the fact that most omegan pregnancies happen out of their heats... Never in my life have I seen an omega in heat throwing themselves on some random guy just because they are in heat. This is hilarious."
She continued laughing until Levi added his opinion since her distraction calmed him down considerably. "Has this disgusting idea come to you because the prostitutes in the underground throw themselves at you when you pigs go there? Because news flash, they live from pretend-" his voice grew more and more disgusted with every word until Erwin stopped him.
"Levi! That's enough. You either shut up or leave. Now."
That silenced him immediately. The small alpha folded his arms in front of him and took a deep breath.
Erwin continued, trying to fix the situation to the best of his ability. "I assure you, Captain Levi will be punished accordingly for his insolence later. You have my word," that seemed to calm the red-faced, angry nobles down somewhat, though not completely. "However, I have to agree with Squad leader Zoe. Omega heats aren't usually strong enough to make them lose reason and they never change their behavior because of it. Honestly, I personally have never noticed Cadet Jaeger being in heat."
By then Hanji stopped laughing, only wiping her tears, adding to Erwin's speech. "Yeah, if I wasn't asking Eren about any changes constantly and seeing his hormones in action in his blood first hand, I wouldn't have any idea either. Really, the only difference it makes is that more alphas turn to look after him when he passes. And he might be a bit horny but nothing to be concerned about."
Silence followed Hanji's and Erwin's statements until Nile Dawk cleared his throat, addressing Eren directly, "Eren Jaeger, can you tell us exactly how your heat affects you?"
Eren immediately turned bright red. What exactly did these people think they were asking him about? He didn't ask them about their masturbation habits, why did they have to? "Uhm, well..." his head dropped in embarrassment but immediately shot up again as he came face to face with the bright steel of a blade. He cleared his throat, looking anywhere but the people present. "Well, it comes every six months and lasts about two weeks. As Squad leader Zoe said, during that time my... sex drive might be a little more... active... but... Honestly, I try to ignore it when that happens because, as a soldier on active duty, it's really more annoying and inconvenient than anything and I hate the times. It distracts me from focusing on training and the Squad leader's experiments."
Hanji leaned over, practically lying across Erwin's lap to pat him on the arm sympathetically with a cheeky grin while Erwin tried to shove her off of him.
"There you have it. No seduction. The brat is a perfect fucking soldier, focused only on his mission. No way has he enough space in his shitty little brain to think about sex," Levi said bluntly and Eren would feel offended were he not currently dying of mortification.
"If omegas, or alphas for that matter, couldn't control themselves for any given periods of time, they wouldn't even be let in the military," reasoned Erwin further.
"Well," concluded Nile, glancing at the clock. "Be is as it may, we have to consider the possibility. I have notified Supreme Commander Zackley and there will be a hearing tomorrow. In the meantime, Eren Jaeger will be sent back to his cell and sometime in the afternoon one of our doctors will arrive to make our own tests to see who is telling the truth. Now this meeting is dismissed."
The soldiers standing behind Eren grabbed him by his elbows, forcing him to stand up and starting to drag him out. Eren immediately started struggling in panic. "Hey, let go of me!"
Levi immediately stood in the doorway with a furious expression. "He is not a fucking prisoner. He is still a soldier of the Survey Corps and you will let him go right fucking now."
The soldiers hesitated, looking at their Commander for instructions, as Eren gave Levi a grateful look.
Erwin quickly spoke up, "We agree to have Eren stay in the basement but Captain Levi is still in charge of him and I believe he is right; I have never heard anything about him being arrested. So we are very much against this treatment."
Nile and Erwin stared each other down for a moment before Nile sighed, nodding. "Let him go," he told his guards who immediately complied. Eren quickly took two steps away from them as soon as their grip loosened enough.
Levi turned around, opening the door out. "Come with me, Eren."
"Yes, sir!" Eren said, saluting to the people still in the room before quickly running after his Captain, Hanji and Erwin following after him.
"If he isn't present later, we will conclude him running away and you all guilty of aiding his escape!" Nile called after them.
The Survey Corps ignored him, heading straight for the basement.
"What are we going to do?" Eren asked, gripping Levi's hand where they sat next to each other on Eren's bed, while Erwin was sitting on the chair outside the cell, obviously deep in thought, and Hanji paced around the cell in agitation.
"I don't know, Eren; I don't know!" Hanji said, sounding on the verge of hysterics.
Levi squeezed Eren's hand tighter.
It was hours later, in the early evening when the doctor arrived in Eren's cell. He was obviously scared to even touch the shifter, much less proceed with any examinations, and Erwin was talking to him, seeing if they could somehow work around the problem without raising any suspicion. Levi was leaning against the wall next to Eren's bed now, where Eren himself was sitting nervously.
Suddenly, the light of salvation appeared in the form of a loud commotion upstairs.
Mikasa was on her way to lunch, worried maybe even more than she had been yesterday. Why weren't they back yet? Did something happen? Did everything go wrong? She was fiddling with her scarf, tugging and rearranging it restlessly. She was jumpy all day, moreover sick of the pitying looks she was getting from the other squad members. Sasha even tried to feed her to help calm down. Their concerns were appreciated but misguided and only made her feel more nervous.
She turned the corner, stopping in her tracks and cocking her head to the side. There were two older soldiers a bit ahead of her, walking slowly and very close to each other, muttering quietly and overall looking extremely suspicious. She didn't let it bother her for long. She was used to the fact Survey corps were full of weird people.
She mentally shrugged, stepping forward again. She neared the two rapidly with the sluggish pace they were maintaining, soon being close enough to overhear.
"So you really did it?" one asked.
"Yeah!" the other whispered proudly.
"Do you think it's going to work? It's easy to prove you were lying..." this one seemed nervous and Mikasa's interest was picked. This didn't seem like a conversation they should be having out in the corridor.
"I doubt they will bother checking. Every single person within these walls is just waiting for the opportunity to have the monster executed."
Mikasa's blood froze. There was only one "monster" they could be talking about.
She saw red. And it wasn't even a metaphor. As soon as the implication of the words sunk in, she was punching the guy so hard she knocked out his teeth. He was taken by surprise, not noticing her behind them, and lost his balance, stumbling to the floor. The alpha girl was on him instantly, grabbing his collar and shaking him so hard his head was hitting the floor. "What did you do?" she growled menacingly, a bit of hysteria coming through. She barely noticed the other guy running away. "What," a punch. "Did," a slam to the floor. "You," another punch. "Do!" a scream. Mikasa actually screamed the last word and the guy covered with blood on the floor was terrified.
"Mikasa!" came a shout from the end of the hallway and Armin came running around the corner a moment later, summoned by her scream. "What happened? What's going on?" He questioned with wide, concerned eyes, trying to understand the situation he was facing.
Mikasa's head snapped in his direction and the beta took a step back at the sight. Her eyes were glowing, an alpha's fury more than evident. On a closer inspection, however, he noticed there was so much fear in there as well and he immediately came closer to drop to his knees beside his friend, ignoring his instincts. He grabbed her torn and bloody hand with his, staring into her eyes unwaveringly. "Mikasa, what happened?"
Finally, a few seconds later, she opened her mouth. "Horses," she said in a hoarse voice. Suddenly, she grabbed both his shoulders, speaking loudly and on the verge of panic. "Armin, horses, now! We have to go to the capital!"
Armin didn't question her. Soon the whole squad, plus one broken, barely conscious soldier, was on their way to the capital, leaving behind a stressed and mostly confused Mike.
There were shouts and murmurs and people running. Everyone down in the cell looked up towards the entrance in confusion and anticipation. The door opened long minutes later, and in walked a bemused Nile, who, to everyone's surprise, was followed by Armin and Mikasa, who was dragging a beaten Survey Corps soldier behind her.
Everyone stared at them without a word and Nile looked embarrassed and unwilling to say what he had to say. "Looks like," the Commander finally sighed, "the examination won't be necessary after all."
The doctor looked beyond relieved and immediately gathered his things again, running as far away from Eren as he could.
"I sent a message to the Supreme Commander. You are free to leave whenever you see fit," Nile turned around and left, eager to be gone and forget about this whole affair.
The Military police soldiers who were present to oversee the examination shrugged and left as well. Leaving four confused, two beaming and one whimpering soldier behind.
"What...?" Hanji asked, voicing their collective thought and Armin grinned wider.
"You see, this guy here," he said, not-so-gently poking the guy on the floor with his shoe, "thought it would be a genius idea to write a made-up letter to the Military police about how Eren was pregnant. Because obviously Eren has no right to be in the Survey corps and omegas have no business in the military anyway," the beta explained with a disgusted expression, giving the guy another painful poke. "Luckily, he was stupid enough to run his mouth about it in the hallway and Mikasa over-heard him. And even more luckily, I found them before she managed to kill him," he didn't sound like would have regretted it much if Mikasa did kill him.
There was a long silence following his explanation. Eren felt the wave of killing intent spread through him and he wasn't very sure whether it was Levi's or his. It didn't really matter to him either.
However, surprisingly, it was Erwin who snapped first. He strode over to where Mikasa was holding the guy up in a half sitting position effortlessly, gently taking him from her hand and standing him on his legs. Mikasa took a few hurried steps back, sensing she shouldn't be anywhere near just a split second before Erwin's fist collided with the soldier's jaw.
He immediately lost consciousness, falling to the floor gracelessly, no one bothering to catch him.
Erwin sounded just as calm as he always did when he spoke, "This is all the punishment he's getting." Everyone else was about to protest, either verbally or physically, when Erwin continued resolutely. "For now. As soon as we're back, he's all yours, Levi."
"Yes, sir," Levi growled, sounding positively murderous and sending shivers down everyone's spine. They almost felt sorry for the unconscious soldier. Almost.
A/N: Anticlimatic conclusion is anticlimatic.
Anyone have any tips on what to do when you hit the part of the story where you are sure everything is shit and you're just ruining it even more with every word? Because I'm definitely not in that stage now.