That was the first time. Over the next few weeks we did more experiments. Armin worked with Erwin to break the code. They came upon a discovery within the third week. Erwin hissed as he saw what he had done on the computer. Armin had been helping to wire me up again. Zeke hadn't made another appearance.
"What is it?" Armin called attaching a wire to my chest.
"Government documents. These are..." Erwin's voice trailed off. He smashed a few more keys.
"I'm inside a state computer. These are government files. Classified ones at that. But I see Yeager written all over them. It's about the only word I can recognize." He muttered.
"How come?" Armin walked toward the computer. He stopped about halfway.
"Eren come here." He commanded.
"You strapped me to this machine!" I whined knowing the wires wouldn't reach that far.
Armin spun around. He marched over to where a cart was set up. This had some sort of power source battery on it. He began to place the computer on the cart. Erwin helped him plug everything into the battery cart they wheeled it to me. Armin spun the screen around for me to see it.
It had been a long time since I saw that language. I had nearly forgotten it. Yet upon laying eyes on it once more, it all came back to me. I muttered to myself as I stumbled over some of the larger words. It took me a minute to realize no one was talking. I looked up. They were all starring at me.
I gazed at Eren as he hunched over the computer. He had been through so much. Yet we still couldn't figure out just what it was that allowed him to switch places.
The blood anomaly proved to be a scientific break through. The organ growing, wasn't so far fetched. Eren's blood was more universal than O. It literally could be used by anyone. He had no markers to claim it as his own. Hange expressed how weird this was. As for the information on the computer, Armin pressed Eren.
"Uh, what language is that?" He asked. Eren blinked.
Pulling back from the computer he looked up to Armin, almost as if he was surprised that he wasn't alone. He stared at Armin, looking like he was fighting to recall who the blond was.
"Um, German, I think." Eren muttered.
"I mean it's my dad's language." He shrugged.
This shocked me. I saw the same feelings reflected in Erwin's eyes. He hid them well, but when you've known someone more than half their lives... Erwin caught me looking at him. He frowned turning slightly away from me. This only told me he was even more perplexed by the situation.
"Can you explain to us, what this is?" Erwin asked.
"Oh, these are government contracts. It looks like dad has been doing some medical research for them." Eren explained.
"This here..." He flicked through to the folder that Erwin had first been trying to decipher.
"See these codes." Eren highlighted them. Armin nodded.
"Off shore bank accounts in dad and Zeke's names. This..." He clicked on yet another document in the same folder.
"I think these must be something to do with the military. It talks about creating the perfect humanoid weapon or something. Then there's these..." I hadn't realized he had scanned through so much in such a short amount of time.
"I think they may be planning to overthrow or at least cripple the government." Eren whispered.
"But, it doesn't seem like it's the German government they are looking into doing that too." He highlighted another name. I flinched when I recognized my own surname.
"They plan on over throwing our government but blaming it on the Ackerman's." Eren looked up at them.
"How did you see all of that?" Erwin asked verbalizing what was going on in my own head.
"What? You showed it to me!" Eren cried.
He clicked back to a screen that showed all the documents in small icon sizes. Gesturing toward the screen he looked up at them as if we were the crazed ones. We all looked back at him in various states of awe, wonderment and I must admit, a touch of fear. For me though, there was also that streak of pride. The pride I felt that he saw all of this.
"His brain, it works much more like a computer than ours does." Hange explained.
We turned to look at the freak. They leaned against the table the computer had originally been placed on. Only now did I see they were looking at another monitor. My eyes flashed back to Eren. He still wore the electrodes all over his head and chest. I frowned.
"What did you see?" I walked to Hange. They gestured to the screen.
"He couldn't have been more than seven when he heard German. I'm sure his father, maybe his elder brother, used it as a code like language. Something only they understood to keep those around them from figuring out what they talked about. They just didn't realize the sponge like brain Eren really has."
Hange clicked at a few screens. I saw the playback. At first his brain activity looked pretty normal, but then came the spike where he first saw the language. The sensors in a different area of his brain lit up as he read the papers.
Still another turned on as the first flickered dull when Armin caught his attention again. On and on it went. He was cycling through using different parts of his brain for different activities.
"This part, I was worried about how underdeveloped it looked at first. But it isn't. It's just where he houses his life with his father." Hange traced a dull area with their finger.
"Curious. What part lights up when he switches?" Armin asked.
"I never had him try to switch while having this program running." Hange admitted.
"Eren?" I asked.
I saw the current lighted area dim. Another picked up. It flashed as if he was excited as his eyes swung to look at me.
"Care to try it?" I asked. He smirked.
We sat down facing each other. Eren gripped the arms of his chair. His eyes closed. His breathing evened out, there was a distressed beep from the heart monitor I glanced toward the others. Hange waved my concern away. Then there was a loud bang. My eyes flew back to Eren, but it wasn't Eren any longer.
"WHAT IS THIS PLACE? HOW DARE YOU EXPERIMENT ON HIM!" I had never heard Eren's voice so filled with rage.
My first thought was of Armin. Eren was adamant that Zeke or Grisha not see the blond. I moved into their line of sight. They appeared to only have eyes for me anyway. From the corner of my eye, I saw Erwin push the blond under a table. He stepped up blocking the small teen.
"Zeke, I presume." I said.
Those eyes. They were nothing like Eren's. They were dull, unfeeling filled with a hate I never would see on Eren's face.
"Perceptive, Ackerman." The spite dripped from the lips I had come to enjoy kissing. I folded my arms over my chest.
"You're not getting him back." I informed him. That was when Zeke said something that chilled my blood.
"Too late, we already have him."
He sat down. His hands rested lightly on the chairs arms. I gaped. No! This was a mistake! How could we have allowed this. I was frozen in place as I looked a the carefree way Zeke sat there in Eren's body. He crossed his legs tapping a foot.
I was trying to think of a way to get inside to call for Eren. When I noticed something. Zeke's eyes were flashing. I gasped. One second they were Zeke's, then Eren's. Eren was in their fighting! Come on! I cried.
"Is there anything we can do to help him?" I screamed at Hange.
"Well, there's one thing, but I don't know if it will help, or kill them both." They shrugged.
"It doesn't matter. Right now they win if they get his consciousness back!" Erwin yelled.
"No!" the desk cried.
"Eren's brain operates on a different frequency than ours. Maybe..." Hange was twisting dials on the machine that was hooked to Eren's electrodes.
Their hand hovered over the switch. They looked at me. I looked back.
"Eren or Zeke, who dose it need to be on?" I asked.
"Preferably, Zeke." They muttered.
I turned back to the flickering eyes. Eren was getting tired. His body slumped. It wouldn't be able to hold up with this battle much longer. I saw Eren's eyes flick.
"Eren..." Zeke took over. I waited.
"allow him..." they switched.
" to have control." I said when I saw Eren come back.
"We have..." ugh this was frustrating! I wanted to just shake him.
" a plan." I hoped he understood.
Zeke smirked at me. I grinned back.
"Hit it shitty glasses!" I called.
There was no hesitating. Hange's hand smashed the button. Eren's body jerked. Zeke screamed as his eyes went wide. I watched as they rolled back into Eren's head. His body continued to seize for another five seconds. Then, the slight buzzing ended. Hange rushed to Eren.
"Can you hear me, Eren?" they cried.
"Fucking brat wake the hell up!" I hollered. Nothing.
No indication that Eren came back. There wasn't any sign that he had any brain activity. Even the monitor was flat lining. We just stood there staring at the shell of his body. I couldn't breathe.
Then a soft almost unheard beep sounded. Then another, and another.... My heart began to mimic that beating sound as I watched the man I had grown to care far too much for. The body still seemed lifeless though.