Dangerous Territory

His Own Kind

"Freedom," he whispered, recalling Yelena screaming in protest, 'Mort au Fascisme. Liberté au Peuple.' Death to Fascism. Freedom to the People.

Was he really fighting for freedom? Whose?

Reiner pouted at the troubled look in Eren's face. "I heard you have a concussion. Maybe that's why you're not thinking straight." He playfully flicked Eren's forehead. "Your brains got rattled up."

He rubbed his brow in annoyance, but part of him wanted to laugh. "Do you remember Old Man Gustav down near the train station?"

Reiner laughed at the childhood memories. "Yes! He was really messed up in the brain, wearing flower pots on his head because he said the ravens were going to drop poop-bombs."

Eren cried out like an old man while covering his head. "Die Raben! Die Raben haben Bomben." The ravens! The ravens have bombs.

Reiner joined in, covering his head and yelling, "Rabenkackebomben!" Raven poop bombs!

Eren laughed so hard he could hardly breathe. Both of them doubled over in laughter until they were red in the face.

* * *

Off to the side, Kitz and Ian glared at the two laughing raucously.

Kitz grumbled, "So noisy!"

Ian frowned in disapproval of their lighthearted play but said, "At least Jäger seems to be on the mend. We need at least one able-bodied officer in the company." He looked back over to the captain. "Do you really think you'll be sent home?"

Kitz glared down at his leg. "It's not getting better. Maybe it's my age. At this point, it's not my call. It's up to the doctors. And you?"

"At least it was my left arm. I can still shoot with my right, and I can lead whoever they give me."

"A shame your entire platoon was wiped out while under Jäger's command."

"I don't blame Jäger. He handled the whole company on his own, and from what the survivors say, he did so admirably."

Kitz glared at Eren. "Surprising."

Ian's stone-cold face tightened slightly. "Why do you say that? He's a decorated officer, and I admit, he has more combat experience than me."

"Any rat can perform well with enough experience."

"Rat?" Ian said in displeasure. "That's harsh. He's young, but some men have a natural talent."

"You have natural talent," Kitz said to Ian. "You have the family heritage, a strong and noble bloodline going back to the knights of old. What has he got? A mischling mother!"

"I don't know anything about his father's side, but I'm sure they were called Jäger for a reason. Perhaps the strength of the Hunter overcame any weakness in his mother's blood. After all, he stood and fought where lesser men would run away in terror. That is the sign of a true Übermensch."

Kitz scowled, and the grip on his cane tightened as he glared across the hotel foyer at Eren.

* * *

Eren laughed until his head hurt and he felt like he just might black out. Still, it was a wonderful feeling, a rosy tint of familiarity from childhood. He looked at Reiner, and suddenly he felt it again.

This was his people!

Maybe not Nazis, but the Germans he grew up with, the friends back home, the neighbors he used to help, even the crazy old veteran left insane after the First World War.