Reina: Here's my first AoT story. It's hilarious, depressing, and confusing. And 50% cliffhangers... Now that I think about it, 50% of my chapters in my stories are cliffhangers.
Whoops.
Also, none of this stuff is actually scientific or medically correct.
Chapter 1: Yet Another Lost
Hanji
I sighed as I looked at the pale male before us on the operating table. "I couldn't save him quick enough. He's dead."
My assistant Sasha nodded solemnly and picked the male up. "Where shall I take him?"
"Take him to the coroner on the fifth floor. The door that leads to his office is black."
Sasha nodded briskly and left, freaking out a little about the dead boy in her arms. I turned around and walked towards the back of the room, where my lab was. I shut the door behind me and smiled for the first time in 24 hours, excited that I was going to do research on the Titans.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Exhaling, I went over to my table and turned the lights on. I sighed unhappily. No one had brought some Titans for me to examine. Unhappily I turned my computer on and was patiently waiting for it to boot up when I heard my friend Levi ask, "Done with work early?"
"The boy was stung earlier than he told us. If we had known he was stung earlier, we could have guessed where the parasite was. Or rather, we could have attempted to. Why did you skip out Levi? And why are you here?"
"Cleaning," he muttered darkly as he sat down on the other chair. "Sasha left the lounge messy with the leftover of her snacks. And I guessed that you would be here. You practically live in the filthy room." Levi swept his feather duster on the cabinet, probably convinced that it was covered in dust.
"She's a growing girl," I giggled as I playfully punched his shoulder. "Besides, she was eating crackers. Of course a mess would be made with all the crumbs and whatnot."
"I thought that brat preferred potatoes over everything else."
"She prefers her potatoes hot, and we didn't have any potatoes ready. If that boy hadn't come in, then she would have been eating a potato right now."
"Something wrong Hanji? You normally are more hyper than this. Not that I mind," he added quietly.
I sighed. "I don't know. I thought I would know more about the Titan parasites, but we haven't discovered anything new. And we can't really know more until I get new specimens."
"How long have the parasites been around again?" Levi was busy cleaning the nearby countertop due to a tiny smudge I had left 4 hours earlier.
"Two months. And over 100 victims," I replied.
Levi began to speak. "One would think-"
Petra burst into the lab suddenly, panting really hard. "T-there's a-a boy in the front o-of the h-hospital w-who collapsed. He-he has the Titan d-disease."
I jumped out of my chair and shut my computer down. I was hoping to do research today, but I don't have any specimens, nor would I have the time to research them if I had them. "Bring him in," I murmured.
Petra nodded and dashed out. Levi went to the Titan operating room, where all of the patients who had the disease have died. I looked at the floor with pain, knowing that I may not be able to save the boy who will soon be brought into my care.
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A partial clipping from a news article that is attached to Hanji's wall of Titan photographs and human x-rays:
The Titan disease has appeared out of nowhere. No one knows where it came from, or how it only affects humans. The bug has the body of a fly with a grotesque human head on top. It flies to its victim and bites them, inserting itself into the human's system. It enters the blood stream and begins to attack the red blood cells and the white blood cells, destroying them quickly. After 2 hours of entering the system, it attacks the liver. After 3 hours, the kidneys are targeted. Then when 4 hours have passed since it entered the body, it damages the stomach, slowly destroying it. After another 30 minutes, it attacks the heart or the brain, effectively killing the victim. No one can stop the Titans from biting people. On some occasions, the humans have killed the Titans by swatting them with books and other objects when spotted. Once the parasite is killed, it cannot affect humans. But there is no data over how they reproduce or for how long they have been around. All data that we have collected has come from the research of Dr. Hanji Zoe and Dr. Levi Ackerman.