...
Silence.
Shocked, scared silence.
That was all Kain was met with upon revealing his true form to the 4 Titan shifters. Their bulging eyes staring at him in horror, mouths hung agape and shivers running down their spines. The dark, unholy image causing every nerve in their bodies to scream with primitive fear.
In this form, Kain Croix was the epitome of evil. His crimson orbs, blood-like in colour, piercing psychotically into those of the terrified onlookers.
Their emotions only fueling the halfbreed with smug satisfaction as the devilish smirk on his lips grew wider. Chest puffing and arms open wide to completely display himself in all his sinful glory.
Across his skin appeared tiger-like stripes that were as pitch black as his eyes. A pleased shudder ran down his spine. "Finally." He breathed out like it was ecstasy, "It's good to let it all out, be me. You have no idea how freeing it feels."
Still frozen in their state of horror, none of the humans could say a word. Any attempt they made died on their tongue. Their minds consumed with nothing but fear.
It stayed like that for a few more seconds, Kain waiting expectantly. But nothing happened.
"Seriously?!" He shouted, a look of pure disgust crossing his features as he slouched. His once mighty posture turning sunken. "I do all of this, make it all dramatic so it's a big reveal! And you have. Nothing. To. Say." Kain watched them all, still expectant of some sort of reaction. But they were all frozen in place.
Finally, he sighed and shook his head. Pinching the bridge of his nose as he turned his back on the shifters. "Why do I bother? Why, do I bother? You do a whole show and don't even get appreciation for it. Fucking rude fuckers. Fucking stupid shifting Titan assholes. Fucking--"
"What are you?..." came Reiner's quiet and cracked voice. His attempts at sounding confident proving futile.
Immediately Kain spun on his heels, noticing how Bertholdt and Eren had visibly flinched at his inhumane speed. "Ah-ha! You talk! Great! So how would you rate my performance?" He beamed brightly, flashing his pearly white canines with a nightmarish smile.
Ymir, breathtaken from the shock of this sudden reveal, couldn't tear her eyes from the sight. Kain Croix. One of the famed soldiers of the Garrisons Elite Squad. The psychotic little brother of Arden Croix. And now, an unknown monster of deadly capacity. "...So you're definitely not a Titan?" She found herself asking, eyes fixated on the countless black tiger stripes etched over his skin.
"Titan- What? Are you all stupid? I mean- duh. Obviously." Kain groaned in frustration, lazily dropping himself to a seated position on the branch, legs swinging impatiently back and forth. With an agitated groan, he puffed out his cheeks before placing his elbows on his knees, and then dug his fists into the sides of his face. "Seriously, how many times do I have to go over this with you? I'm a demon! Well, technically halfbreed, but we dont need to get into the specifics." Finished talking, he laughed heartily before slapping a hand across his knee.
Stunned, Eren shook his head. His eyes bulging even more than before, if that were even possible. Fright written across his very being as he inched backwards. Bertholdt's knees had given up on him, sending him plummeting to the branch as he scurried away, back now pressed against the tree. Even Reiner seemed about ready to book it and run with every inch of desperation he had.
Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Kain attempted what he would call a 'super duper friendly smile'. Which in reality, was far more menacing than he meant it. "Look, guys. I might be a demon but I'm not going to kill ya. I'm not even going to hurt ya! See! I'm a decent demon." He admitted proudly, sticking his nose up and pursing his lips.
"Decent? Decent?! Is that supposed to make us feel better?!" Exasperated, Eren shouted over to him, fumbling to keep a steady balance and not topple off the side of the branch.
The comment being followed by a hysterical whisper from Reiner as he stared terrified ahead, "Demons are real. Why not?"
"Ofcourse it's meant to make you feel better!" Kain responded, grinning widely as he answered Eren's question. "I'm not a particularly bad demon but I'm not gonna lie and say I'm a good one either. All demons are mostly bad!... Hmm." Contemplating his statement, Kain stopped to think whether that was really true. After all, his sister was definitely leaning more towards the 'good demon' side. It was just the things out of her control that could be interpreted as bad. "Scratch that, Arden's mostly good- But yeah!"
"Arden's a demon too?" Reiner gasped out in shock, momentarily gaining enough confidence to take a step closer to the Croix. But once the man snapped his glowing crimson eyes in his direction, a shiver ran down Reiner's spine and forced him to step back.
Correcting his mistake, Kain added, "Halfbreed. Like me! Only much, much, much, stronger." He smiled. Though slightly annoyed that the humans weren't instantly understanding everything he said and that he had to explain things to them. But it couldn't be helped. Up until 5 minutes ago, they didn't even know about the existence of demons.
"Tch. Ofcourse she is. Her skills are incomparable to any human." Ymir scoffed, though couldn't help the spark of admiration in her eyes. Unlike the other 3, Ymir was much calmer and had already accepted the existence of demons. She didn't see the point in freaking out over it because it wouldn't change anything or make you feel better.
"So... You're not gonna kill us?" Reiner asked, cautious yet curious as to what drove the halfbreed to do what he did.
Huffing, Kain flopped backwards so he was lying down, his messy raven locks cascading around him. "Nope."
Ymir continued the interrogation for the other shifter, "Then why did you follow us? It clearly wasn't to save Eren, since you haven't put in the effort to do so."
"Nah, you can take him if ya want." The Croix waved a lazy hand of dismissal in the air before it dropped to his side.
Eren, now extremely conflicted, didn't know if he should feel disheartened that Kain hadn't come to save him. Or glad that he could avoid the demon. It was all very confusing.
Suddenly jolting up right, Kain smirked as he heard the increased pounding of Bertholdt and Eren's frightened hearts. "I'm here out of boredom mostly. The 4 of you are shifters, and you 2," He pointed at Reiner and Bertholdt, "clearly know some things that you aren't sharing with the rest of the class." Then he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Both the shifters looked away in apprehension, avoiding eye contact with the halfbreed, which only made him more suspicious.
Standing up, Kain passively approached Reiner, keeping his hands where they could see them. He blinked and his eyes suddenly returned to normal, the claws on his fingers retracted to regular human finger nails, the canines dissapeared and the thick, black stripes over his body dissipated to nothingness.
In his human form, it made the shifters feel more inclined to trust his words. Besides, it was clear that he possessed far greater power and agility than the Titans. If he really wanted to, he could've killed them all. Yet here they were, alive and untouched. And the crazy Kain Croix and was even trying his hardest to be his version of nice. "Look, whatever it is you guys are planning. I want in. You'd benefit alot from having a demon like me on your side." He smugly spoke, folding his arms over his chest.
"Why would you want to help us? We're Titans. And you're good at killing Titans." Reiner rebutted, suspicious of the man. Yet also intrigued by what having a halfbreed demon to work with would look like.
Shrugging, Kain stated blankly, "I'm good at killing lots of things. Perks of being a natural born predator. But I'm not exactly fan favourite with the humans either. If they learn what I am, boy is it gonna be a bad day." He chuckled, before leaning closer to the man and placing a firm hand on his shoulder, smirking when he felt Reiner's heart jump a beat. His tactic of sharing similar experiences seeming to tug at something in Reiner. "Besides, you tell me a little somethin' somethin' about Titans and shifters, and I'll tell you anything you want to know about demons. A trade, if you will."
Enticed by the proposal, Reiner couldn't deny that he was intrigued. A chance to learn about an enemy more powerful than himself wasn't something he would happily reject.
"Come onnn. Wha'dya'say? From one monster to another." Kain smirked pridefully, already extending his hand to Reiner. Who stared curiously at it.
Then, taking Kain's hand in his, Reiner shook firmly. "Fine. You got a deal."
~•~
Hi.
....
Yeah I have no words.
And I'm not even going to try to defend myself for not uploading in like 8 months. I don't deserve to.
Urm, I've started up my Wattpad again and started writing some things.
I want to continue this and actually finish it, along with other books I've started and then never opened again.
Updates will be slow but I will try and look through my notes on Tasteful and re-energise my mind so we can get back on track.
The first part of Season 2 Part 2 is already finished in my chapter section, I just need to finish Season 2 Part 1 and then I can publish that for you.
Yep.
I have no words apart from I'm very sorry. You all deserve alot better than me for an author.
But I will try and do better.
I hope you like this chapter for now. I will definitely be continuing, it will just be slow.
I'm trying to juggle this, a bunch of other books I've wrote, work, life. And I don't do well under pressure, I tend to shut down. Which is what I think happened these last 8 months.
But we're back!
And hopefully not going anywhere for a while.
This has been long. So thankyou, I'm sorry, you're all fantastic.