THIRTEEN • Eren Jaeger

CHAPTER 4: Loop Two, II

Commander Erwin pulled you aside as the Scouts settled in for the night. He held up a vial of liquid and a dart, much like the ones that had been used to take out Eren and Historia when they were kidnapped.

"This liquid is from the Military Police," he said. "Thankfully, they let us use it."

"For what, sir?"

Erwin pocketed the vials. "I am sure you understand what I mean, Miss [Surname]."

You imagined Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie locked away in a cell far underground, where they couldn't transform. Where they couldn't harm anybody.

Commander Erwin had captured them in their slumber.

You nodded. "I understand, sir."

Certainly now that the Warriors were out of the way, you had saved him from so much heartache. Things would be easier with them out of the way. There would be no deaths, no fight, and now all the Scouts had to do was go to Shiganshina and find the basement.

But on the nights when you all prepared for the expedition to Shiganshina, there was an empty space in your heart. Jean was not there. You had to remind yourself that this was for the best.

From a window of the castle, you watched as Eren commenced with Hange's experiments in the distance. So far, they all seemed to be failing drastically. He clambered out of his Titan's nape with the help of Squad Levi. Hange said something to them, and they began to return to the castle with hard expressions on their faces.

You walked down to meet Eren at the entrance.

His Titan-marked face looked dejected, but when he saw you wiggling your fingers at him in greeting, some of the tiredness seemed to leave his eyes. You stepped forward to take his temples in your hands and trace down the Titan lines under his eyes with your thumb.

"You look awesome," you said, because you knew from your past life that it made teenage Eren happy to hear that someone didn't think he looked like a monster.

The tips of his ears burned red. "I look like a freak."

"You are not a freak," you said gently, knowing that it was a sensitive topic for him. "Cheer up. These lines are proof that you're working hard."

You wanted to tell Eren, this teenage Eren that you've missed so much, everything that he wanted to hear but never heard in your past life. That you missed him, that you wished he could see himself the way you admired him so. Everything you regretted not telling him sooner.

Eren's brows furrowed together as he fought back a noticeable blush. "Sh-shut up," he said. "I appreciate it, [Name], I really do, but today's experiment was a failure. Like all of them were. I can't pretend like it's a good thing."

He turned his head away, but he didn't shake off your fingers as they rested on the lines of his face.

You knew he was pretending not to like it. Like he wasn't starved for someone to tell him that he was doing the right thing. That was just such an Eren thing to do.

"It's okay to fail," you said. "Otherwise you can't learn."

"I know," mumbled Eren. "It's just that—can't I learn faster?"

You thought of the Female Titan fight in Stohess, where Eren won against Annie. You were about to say, "You will," when you realized that since Annie was out of the picture, that was not going to happen.

An uncomfortable emotion gnawed at your insides. If Eren didn't learn how to control his Titan in this timeline, that would put the Survey Corps in a vulnerable spot because they needed him to be an able fighter.