EREN
Sweat ran down my back as I heaved the last of the saddles onto its stand before picking up a broom and sweeping the stable floor. Who knew that the scouts, the sword of Humanity, would be so messy? I must have been cleaning this sty for hours and hadn't even made a dent on the dirt, not that I was complaining.
It wasn't the most dignifying job, but at least it got me out of my cell in the basement and in the somewhat fresh air, even if I did have to be guarded. One perk was that I got to see the comings and goings of all the soldiers that were slowly arriving from Trost after securing the city. I had even seen Aurora stomping her way to the command tower, hair as wild as it had been when we were kids and Rian not ten minutes later dragging his long legs, with a sleepy expression on his angular face heading in the same direction.
In fact, all morning, Section Commanders and officers had been coming backwards and forwards from the command tower, which must mean that the plans for the expedition were finally being distributed.
Finally, some action!
Smiling to myself, I continued on with my sweeping when the sound of footsteps drew my attention. Moving into the courtyard, a large group of cadets milled into the square as they looked around them in apprehension and happiness soared through my veins as I recognised many of the faces from the 104th class, even more so when I spotted Armin and Mikasa trailing at the back of the pack.
"I don't believe it!" I whispered before rushing to the front of the stables to where my jailor was seated.
"Oluo, may I be excused to talk to my friends for a minute," I asked as sweetly as I could manage with my best 'I'm not a threat' look.
"Fine just don't take too long." Oluo relented as he squinted off into the distance, no doubt looking for his shift swap which was Aurora and not waiting for him to change his mind, I tossed my broom into the stables and ran towards my friends.
"Hey, Mikasa! Armin!" I called out excitedly and turning at the mention of their names, Armin and Mikasa's faces both broke out into broad smiles before they ran towards me.
"Man, am I glad to see you guys," I said relieved to finally have them by my side again. It would be nice to be around people who either A didn't want to kill me or B didn't think I was a monster.
Rian and Aurora will be happy to see them too.
"Have they mistreated you or subjected you to any cruel experiments?!" Mikasa cried in anguish as she dove forward and clasped my hands with hers.
"No, not at all," I reassured as I gently pried my hands from her. What had she thought was happening here?
"That pipsqueak took things way too far." Mikasa snarled darkly, "I will make him pay for it one day."
Yeah, Aurora may have something to say about that.
"If you mean Captain Levi then Aurora sort handled that already, in more ways than one." I tried to hint out as my face flushed with heat. Armin's eyebrows shot into his hairline as his mouth dropped open in shock, Mikasa, on the other hand, remained as expressionless as usual. It's weird how much she reminded me of the Captain she so wanted to pummel.
Please don't make me spell it out.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Mikasa asked, and I groaned, she really had missed my hint.
"I saw them er well..." I trailed off awkwardly before I sighed and made a kissing gesture with my lips and gasping in horror Mikasa clasped her hand over her mouth before she collected herself.
"Does Rian know?" she whispered as she looked around nervously. Yeah, I wouldn't want people to overhear this conversation either. If Aurora didn't kill us for talking about it, then Rian or worse Captain Levi would.
"Hell, if I know! I ain't gonna be the one to tell him that, he already has trouble being around me to start with!" I spluttered and then internally groaned as I realised what I had just said.
Sorry, Rian.
"What do you mean?" Armin inquired; his face drawn in confusion but before I could answer a loud cry of joy rang through the air and we all turned around just in time to see a mass of vivid red hair before it slammed into Armin and Mikasa.
"Armin! Mikasa! I'm so happy to see you both!" Aurora squealed as she crushed both of them towards her at once. Watching them, I felt my eyes prick with tears, we were all together again.
"We missed you too Aurora" Mikasa smiled softly as she pried herself from Aurora's grip. Releasing them, Aurora smiled brightly before her eyes widened in surprise as large arms engulfed her, pulling her from her feet.
"If it isn't my guardian angel!" Reiner whooped as he spun a very startled looking Aurora around in the air.
"Put me down now!" Aurora commanded as she whacked Reiner across the back of his head and dropping her instantly, Reiner stepped back smiling as he rubbed his head utterly unfazed by the redheaded woman.
"Is it true you have this freaky ability to know where the Titans are hiding? How does that even work, like can both you and your brother do that?" Reiner rambled excitedly, eager for the information.
"Reiner," Bertholt warned as he came beside his best friend and smiled to Aurora in greeting, though what he was warning Reiner about was lost on me.
"It's okay Bertholt, but in answer to your questions, yes I can feel when a Titan is approaching, and my brother can do the same. It's awfully useful out in the field, and I don't know how it works. I guess I'm just more evolved than you" Aurora sassed with a smirk on her face and both Reiner and Bertholt chuckled.
"I'll say!" Connie smirked as stepped forward to greet Aurora, she must have left a lasting impression on them from their time fighting together in Trost.
"Good to see you too Connie, and is that Jean I see, come here you!" Aurora smiled broadly as she met Jean halfway and pulled him into a tight embrace and flushing red, Jean wrapped his arms around Aurora's small frame before stepping back and speaking so quietly that only she could hear.
Well, I don't like that at all.
"It's her, it's really her!" Sasha gushed excitedly to Ymir and Krista who both looked to her with varying levels of embarrassment.
"You do know she can hear you, right?" Ymir drawled, and it was only then that it finally clicked that everyone bar Annie and Marco from our group was present.
"Woah if your all here does that mean you've joined the scouts? Are Annie and Marco the only ones that joined the MPs" I asked incredulously. Even after Trost, they had still joined to take the fight to the Titans.
"Marcos dead" Jean sighed as he stepped away from Aurora with a forlorn look on his face and I reeled back in shock.
He couldn't mean what he said, Marco couldn't be dead...could he?
"What?... what are you saying?" I stammered "Marco's not dead, you're just kidding around, right?"
Moving towards me, Aurora reached out her hand to place on my shoulder as the sorrow of Marco's passing sank in.
"I wish I could tell you that he died nobly or heroically, but the truth is no one knows how he went out, he died alone. There was no one there to see it happen." Jean said mournfully as he looked to the floor, tears filling his eyes.
"I'm sorry Eren" Aurora consoled as she placed her bare hand in mine and a jolt of electricity ran through me.
******
"So, the big bastard found a way to the surface and got himself a wife. Didn't think he had those kinds of feelings in him, wasn't the sentimental type if I recall. Good with a knife though, and a gun." the tall man with the white banned bowler hat drawled as he shrugged out of his long coat and fell into the empty seat at the occupied table. Pulling a blade from his boot, the tall man nodded at the pale man dressed in white and the nervous-looking dark-haired man.
"Sentimental or not he now has a grown son who in turn has also found himself a wife and is expecting a child. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is! That line should have been eradicated in the underground, and now it has moved to the surface and is growing like a weed." the dark-haired man spat as he threw a stack of papers showing an extensive family tree on the table for the tall man to see.
"You worry too much, Rod." the tall man grinned as he picked his nails with his blade and rocked on his chair legs, entirely unfazed.
"I wouldn't expect a ripper like you to understand the severity of the situation." Rod sneered before turning to the pale man with solemn eyes, "Rowan, his son and grandchild must be taken care of, they are too much of a risk to be left unchecked. Think of the ramifications, Uri! Three of those abominations loose in the walls!"
"Maybe Rowan and his son have to die, but the babe will be that a babe," Uri emphasised as he met Rod's desperate gaze with disgusted eyes.
"A babe that will grow and be a benefactor of its bloodline, it will threaten the peace within the entire walls. Everything we have worked for will be for nought if we allow this to go unchecked." Rod warned.
"Then you take care of it, Rod, I will not have the blood of an unborn child on my hands," Uri growled as he pushed up from the table and began to pace the room back and forth.
"If you don't want to dirty your hands then I will sort it out, nothing I haven't already done before. Don't see the difference really killin is killin, don't matter if your man, woman or runt. Death comes for us all." the tall man shrugged before he began to flip his knife between his fingers.
"So, we're agreed then" Rod queried "The Sparhawkes will be eradicated once and for all."
"Yes." Uri lamented before turning his back on the two men in shame.
"Well, this is a first for me" the tall man grinned as he jumped up to his feet and stretched, "Never been to Shiganshina before."
******
Pain burst behind my eyelids as my eyesight returned to normal and blinking rapidly to clear the tears from my eyes I looked down upon Aurora to see her scrunching her face in a pained expression as blood welled inside her nostril.
What the hell is happening to us?
ARMIN
"Aurora...?" Eren asked with an anxious expression as his hand came up to touch Aurora's pale face. Stepping back, Aurora drew the back of her hand under her nose, and my gaze zeroed in on the spattering of bright red that now stained her freckled knuckles.
"Don't worry. Just a nosebleed." Aurora reassured both Eren and me as she saw my concerned gaze but casting my eyes back to Eren, I noticed his anxious expression turned to one of a deep worry as Aurora turned towards Reiner and the group, wiping the blood away on her pants.
This has happened before.
"While your all here I may as well get this over with" Aurora sniffed, "In a month you will all be participating in the expedition into the lands of Wall Maria. Assuming you survive, you will be divided and posted into two new vanguard teams, one of which will be led by my brother Rian and the other will be led by me."
Hushed whispers ran amongst the group as the information was divulged, some more excited than others. In a way, I was thankful that I would be under either Aurora's or Rian's command, I knew what to expect from them, or well at least I think I do.
"Mikasa, Jean, Bertholt, and Reiner you unfortunates will be assigned to my squad under the command of Section Commander Miche Zacharias," Aurora said through slightly gritted teeth as she ran her hand through her wild hair.
Wait, if she not happy about this?
"Armin, Connie, Ymir, Krista and Sasha you will be assigned to Rian also under the command of Section Commander Miche" Aurora continued. "If you have any issues at all, and I mean anything, even if it's just to vent you come and see us without hesitation".
"You gonna teach us all those moves you pulled in Trost Ma'am?" Reiner beamed as he stepped towards Aurora eagerly and turning towards him, Aurora smiled though it did not reach her eyes.
"If you survive, then yes. I will be teaching you everything I know. First things first though, we have the welcome feast tonight, then preparations for the expedition begin tomorrow so can all the female recruits collect your uniforms and follow me for a medical with Section commander Hange." Aurora directed to the main hall before she shoved Reiner away from her playfully.
"Don't we need medicals too?" Connie asked uncertainly, and Aurora chuckled.
It's one of those medicals.
"Not for the contraceptive you don't, can't have pregnant women fighting the Titans. Kind of counterproductive to our mandate of saving Humanity if we send unborn children out into the field don't you think?" Aurora quipped, and I couldn't help but scoff. Counterproductive indeed.
"Err..." Connie trailed off awkwardly making everyone but Jean, who was glaring at Eren, laugh.
"I heard that while you were in your Titan form you intentionally tried to crush Mikasa, mind telling us what that's all about" Jean blurted out, and all laughing instantly ceased.
Here we go.
"Your wrong he thought he was just swatting a fly nothing more" Mikasa defended, and I internally groaned. Had anyone else but Mikasa had said that then maybe Jean would have accepted it, but he knows as well as I do how much she loves Eren, she would never stand against him.
"I wasn't asking you." Jean quipped, before stepping forward and pointing to Mikasa's cheek, "Oh, by the way, that cut on your cheek looks pretty deep, just how did you get that again?"
Mikasa flushed red as she hastily tried to cover her scarred cheek but stopped suddenly and following her gaze, I saw Aurora shaking her head at Mikasa and gesturing for her to tuck her hair behind her ear, a kind smile on her face. Looking between the two, I could almost hear the unspoken conversation passing between them.
Don't hide it.
"Apparently, it's all true. When I was a Titan, I tried to kill Mikasa." Eren admitted as he cast his eyes towards Mikasa in remorse only to have them widen in shock when Mikasa squared her shoulders and glared at Jean. Looking back to my cousin, I saw Aurora nod her head in approval with a small smile in her face.
"Apparently?" Jean scoffed in disbelief, "As in you don't remember whether you did or not? So basically, you can transform into a fourteen-meter-tall monster at will, but when you do, you don't actually have full control over it."
"Guys this isn't the time for infighting" I tried to reason, but it fell on deaf ears, well mostly deaf ears. I caught Aurora's mismatched eyes, looking at me in understanding as she began to silently manoeuvre her way closer to Jean and Eren.
"Your right" Eren sighed dejectedly, "I don't have control yet, but we are working on it."
"Do you hear that everyone?" Jean sneered, "What a fine situation this is, our lives and the fate of all mankind rest on his shoulders. I'm guessing we will all probably end up like Marco, dead before Eren even knows it."
"And you would be dead if I hadn't come along with no one but your teammates to remember how you died." Aurora said, her voice loaded with implication "If they survived long enough after you that is"
"What's your point?" Jean snapped, and Aurora's eyes narrowed at his tone.
"What's your point, Ma'am." Aurora reprimanded as she came to stand in front of him, and Jean instantly straightened his spine as his superior officer addressed him.
"Armin is right, this isn't the time for division. I could have left you to die in Trost, but instead, I chose to risk my life for a soldier I didn't know, why do you think that is?" Aurora queried but was met with only a confused expression.
I know what she is asking, but they need to hear it from her.
"Anyone?" she asked incredulously as her eyes searched for any sign of understanding, finding none she sighed and shook her head, somewhat disappointed. Closing her eyes, Aurora took a deep breath before opening them again and levelling us with a determined stare.
"We need each other to survive what is coming." Aurora insisted as all eyes fixed on her, "The Titans don't care who we are or where we hail from, they don't care if we are man or woman, elder or child, they will devour us all the same. For a century they have hunted us to the brink of extinction, and we have survived purely because of one resonating fact, united we stand, divided we fall." Aurora paused as she let her words sink in and not a word was muttered as the wind gently blew across Aurora's wild red hair, making it dance in the wind.
"The unthinkable happened when Wall Maria fell, we were shown that the walls were not our salvation as we once thought." Aurora continued mournfully, and the memories of Shiganshina flitted through my mind. "Our people fled for their lives and retreated behind Wall Rose to suffer hardship and starvation for five years only for Trost to be breached, and the screams of our people once again reminded us of their reign of terror. However, unlike five years ago we did something that we never thought would be possible, we pushed back!"
A strange tingling feeling ran down my spine and goosebumps rose across my skin as I watched Aurora become alive as she spoke. Standing with her mass of red hair unbound and her mismatched eyes burning with the wings of freedom adorned on her uniform, Aurora looked every inch the war hero she was, and we were all riveted.
"We find ourselves on the precipice of change, for the first time in a hundred years, we have a weapon that can change the tide of this war." Aurora declared as she pointed straight at a blushing Eren, "A weapon that could potentially drive the Titans back once and for all but If we don't stand together now, as one, then we will fail. It is as simple as that, none of us can make it alone in the coming fight, and we can't make it without Eren."
"I know that is asking you to put a lot of blind faith in Eren. No doubt you're looking for proof that Eren is everything we have prayed for, that he is worth dying for. I can't give you the answer to that, only you can judge what your life is worth, but if there is one thing that I feel with every part of me is that what Eren can do brings us more than just a game-changer. It brings something that every man woman and child inside these godforsaken walls haven't felt in over a hundred years. Hope that one day we will be free from the Titans." Aurora emphasised, and I could see in her eyes she truly believed what she was saying, that she believed in the opportunity that Eren has opened for Humanity. Jean, however, remained unconvinced.
"Forgive me if I don't buy into that bullshit ma'am." Jean snarked though his eyes were fixed on the redhead before him.
He wants to believe her.
"I wouldn't expect you to, after all, you're a soldier, you have seen what the Titans can do, and it isn't pretty." Aurora smiled sadly as she reached up and placed her hand on Jean's arm. "That being said hope is like the sun, if you don't believe in it until you see it, then you will never make it through the long night, and right now, we are in that long night."
Stepping away from Jean, Aurora moved to stand by Eren and the eyes of every soldier, mine included, followed her in silent awe. Listening to Aurora speak with such conviction it was easy to picture the world she was fighting for, a world without fear of the Titans.
A world free.
"Eren will do his best to earn our sacrifice, but we are going to have to take some of what's to come on faith." Aurora pressed, "Be that in Eren, yourselves or each other. I don't care as long as it gets you to where you need to be to see this through to the bitter end because if another Wall falls that is it for Humanity. We will disappear from the face of this world without a single soul to remember that we once existed at all."
A world without Humanity. A world without possibility.
"If there are any lingering doubts among you as to what is at stake you say them now because of this very moment, there are unborn children counting on all of us to win them their future!" Aurora demanded from us and judging by the looks on everyone's faces, they felt the same way as I did. We were in this, as Aurora said, until the bitter end.
"No Ma'am!" we all answered in unison and saluted and baulking at the sudden display of respect, Aurora stepped back, her eyes wide in surprise.
She doesn't realise the influence she has on others.
"Uh...Good..." Aurora stammered before collecting herself, "Now ladies, collect your uniforms and follow me to medical on the double, I don't have all day."