Aura was asked to stay at the chamber of the Doctor, while the higher-ups were to decide what to do about the situation. Pixis and Zacharly were seated in Erwin's office, discussing it over. Hange and Levi had joined too, as commanded by their superior.
"Hange," Erwin addressed her first, "I believe you interrogated Aura yesterday? Did you collect any valuable information?"
"Umm.." she hesitated, "I did. She told me that.."
"Tell us about her powers," the Commander-in-chief demanded.
"Umm.. so.. the hammer you saw, was actually made out of her own skin," the Section Commander informed, "according to her, she can form many such weapons from her hands, just like that - a hammer, a sword, bow and arrows, and whatever else. Also, she said something really interesting. She remembers her father, who was the previous holder of this power, talking about controlling the Titan without actually being inside it."
"Can she do that too?" Erwin's ears were suddenly attentive.
"She has never tried. In fact, yesterday was only the second time she transformed."
"What else?"
"Umm.. she wants to help in Shiganshina. So.. she's up for undergoing ODM gear training and practicing in her Titan form, alongside Eren."
"Do you recommend it," Levi asked, looking the Survey Corps Commander straight into the eyes, "Hange?"
"Umm.."
"Considering that she wouldn't put only herself in risk, but also the baby inside her?"
Erwin looked away. He did not expect his successor to come up with an answer. He couldn't come up with one either. He knew what Levi was trying to do, and it was only expected of him to want Aura to be careful.
"We should look into the possibility of her controlling the Titan from far away," Commander Pixis intervened, "let's see what's the furthest she can be while controlling the Titan, and how long that holds up. Erwin, use Eren's Titan and train them together. You know, you don't have much time before you have to go."
The meeting adjourned quickly. The old men left for Mitras again, and Erwin kept Hange and Levi for further planing. "Levi, I entrust you with the gear training," he commanded, "she's determined, she'll learn quickly. And, Hange, I want you to look after the Titan training. Train her like you did Eren, only.. not so hard, maybe. If, by the end of three weeks, she isn't ready, we'll take Eren alone. Let her know it's non-negotiable."
"Can you not tell her?" Levi demanded, his arms crossed at his chest.
"No," he answered, "and you should do as you're told, without questioning the line of command."
They were soon dismissed. As Hange was about to walk out of the door, Erwin stopped her. "I was wondering," he started awkwardly, "did she mention something like the Transformability being the reason for Arthur's death?"
Hange did not know what to say. She could finally realize why Aura decided to keep this a secret. "Umm.. maybe you guys should talk, you know."
Erwin sighed. "We will. But, could you fill me in on this please? You sound like you know something that I don't."
Urgency surged through Erwin's veins as he ran from his office to the doctor's chambers on the ground floor. All the grief that had piled up, ran out of his bloodshot eyes, impossible to wipe off his face. Standing in front of the door, he struggled to rub them off. Hange's words had come to him like a shock. His entire existence seemed to be shattering around him as the words rolled off her tongue, "she won't live beyond 12 more years." He deserved to know. He deserved to be told the truth.
He pushed the door open, in an attempt to make a dramatic entry. But his wish to surprise his wife remained as a wish. He only surprised Sherridan who sat at the table, catalouging the drugs they had designed for the soldiers who would be wounded in Shiganshina. "Good God," she shifted in her chair, to face him, "oh Commander! Umm.."
The tears had left visible traces on his face, and Sherridan did not know how to console a man she had never seen breaking down. Erwin's eyes slid away from her and to the bed, where Aura laid sleeping. Her slumber was completely unaffected by his entry, although her face seemed etched with worries, instead of peace.
"She seemed weak from all the traveling," Sherridan explained, "I gave her a glass of warm milk and then she slept."
"Has it started already?" he asked, "is the Titan eating her up from the inside already?"
"Umm.." Sherridan was at a loss of words, "I don't think that's what it is. She was just tired. I'm sure anyone would be, if they had to go through as much mental and physical exhaustion as she did yesterday. I'm sure you're tired too, Commander? Why don't I leave you here with her?"
Erwin nodded, in a way of dismissing her.
As she left, he took a seat on the floor beside the bed. Staring at his beloved wife, he couldn't help wondering what he would do without her. Surely the time when he would have to live without her was still 12 years away, but, from how Hange told him, it seemed inevitable.
He was reminded of his plans for the future. In the moment he got the good news at the wedding, all his plans had changed. He could not let himself go into war anymore. True that his one dream of knowing the truth about humanity was greater than himself. But the happiness that Aura had bestowed upon him was even greater than that. He could not give up on her. He could not give up on his desire to have a family with her.
He had pictured it all. On the nights that Aura spent in the lab, he laid in bed, dreaming of the future. He could see himself waking her up, with a flurry of kisses, whispering that breakfast was kept on the table, before he left for school. He would teach history and coach the children's sport's team, he had decided.
Their children would go to the same school, so he could monitor their performances closely. He could see himself walking back to the house, with groceries in his renewed arm, passing by Aura's clinic, trying to get a glimpse of her with her patients.
By the time she'd come back home, he'd be drowned in work, marking his students' assignments. She would give him a kiss, before quickly putting the eggs and potatoes to boil for dinner. Their children would only know of unconditional love in the family.
Erwin smiled through his tears as he sat and pictured all of that in front of his eyes again. He could not help reaching out for her face and caressing her soft cheeks. He sighed. He took his hand and put it on her belly. In the last two days, he had not had the chance to do this. All the blessings he had received all his life,was now personifying into a small human being, and he would do everything in his power to protect them.
"Hi..?" he heard a soft whisper and turned to face Aura's raised eyebrows and curious eyes. "Hi," he whispered back, his voice breaking under the weight of his grief. Aura quickly joined him on the floor and took a crying Erwin into her arms.
She had witnessed him shedding tears over the years, a lot of time. But this time felt so different. He clung to her with his arm and let her dress absorb his tears.
"What would I do without you?" he howled into her neck, shaking with all the misery that was brought onto him.
"Why?" He took her face in his palm and questioned her, "why did you need to take this up? We would have had one more enemy, so what? At least I'd have had you for the rest of my life. Aura.."
"It's still a long time away," she replied, trying to not cry, "we have so much time before.. it's okay, honey. We'll figure it out. It'll be fine. We have a bigger problem at hand now. You have to plan the mission in a different.."
"Fuck the mission, Aura. I don't think I care anymore. What do I have to look forward to now?"
"Erwin!" She begged him to look up at her, "there's so much to look forward to. The victory of humanity within the walls over those that reside outside. And, our life afterwards.."
"What did you say? About.. the people residing.. outside?" He looked at her with inquisitive eyes. "People from outside?"
"Umm.." Aura stammered, trying to remember where she gathered that information from, "I.. don't know why I said that. I think I was talking about Reiner and his friends."
"Oh.."
The next morning saw the commencement of a new, very interesting chapter in Aura's everyday life. After having spent 10 years in such close proximity with the Survey Corps, she finally got to train with the ODM gear. She was put in the Levi Squad, along with the 104th Cadet Corps, who all helped her with her first lesson of maintaining the right posture for balance. "Tsk.. you need to exercise," Levi scoffed at her, "God, look at that shitty excuse of a balance."
"Hey," she snapped back, "that's no way to talk to a lady."
"You're no lady. Now, get back on the dais and you better not fall on your face this time. I have to send you and Eren over to Hange soon. You're ready for that, right?"
"Yeah, I am," she replied, putting up a fake smile. Levi smiled back at her, and jovially ruffled her hair up, before sending her back to training.
"I'm afraid you're right, Eren," Aura spoke to the 15-year old as they walked from Levi's squad to Hange's. He seemed to have finally figured out what happened to his father on the night that Wall Maria broke.
He was shocked when Dr. Tubrey's Titan showed up, getting all ready to transform and fight early in the morning. He was soon relieved of his fighting spree, when Aura raised her hands, surrendering to the Scouts. His enthusiasm had been renewed, now that he had one more strong ally to help him during the Battle of Shiganshina.
Erwin stood with Hange as they approached them.
"Tch.." the Commander looked at the little scar on her forehead and touched it slightly, "I specifically told Levi to be careful with your training."
"It's not his fault that I can't maintain my balance on my first day, duh!" She smiled at him, and concentrated on regenerating that one scar just to freak him out. "Go on, show me what you can do," he smiled back.
"Aura, honey," Hange spoke to her, "let's go over this one more time. You transform, and then you come out of the back, but you keep controlling the Titan with your mind. Eren transforms too, and we'll see how long your Titan can train with him without you being inside it. Okay?" "All the best, Doctor," Eren smiled at her, as the three of them backed up a few steps to give her some space.
A surge of determination coursed through her veins as she composed herself for the act. Looking around, she saw a huge yard with a little over a 100 soldiers training. If she listened carefully, she could hear the sound of the gas coming out of the ODM gears, the blades being drawn out of their compartments, the whizzing of the halyard ropes over the chatter and laughter of the Scouts.
"What are they so happy about?" she heard a voice inside her head, "they're all gonna die anyway." The pocket-knife she had taken out in her hand felt so light, it was almost as if it wasn't there. The voice spoke again, "you don't know what to do. How are you, of all people, gonna help them?" Aura looked around again, attempting to pinpoint the source of the voice, but in vain. It was not her father's voice, but the words were definitely his.
"Are you sure?" she heard again, as she raised the knife to her palm. "Shut up," she spoke back in a whisper, and dug the blade into her flesh. Expecting a flash of thunder, she shut her eyes and waited to be lifted off the ground by an inflaming body of flesh and skin.
But when she looked around, she was still at the same level as everyone else.
"Aura? Aura?" She heard muffled calls of her name as she looked at her bleeding hand. Blood gushed out of her wound and started soaking into her shirt. In a vain attempt, she slashed through her flesh again. And again. And again.
"Doctor," she heard Eren's voice, "stop hurting yourself. This happens sometimes. Stop hurting yourself."
"Aura," Erwin's voice finally brought her back from the trance, "stop doing this. Repetitive wounds won't gain anything. Aura, stop." She had looked up at him, but her right hand had gone on involuntarily hurting her left palm.
He stood, brooding over her, like a stone figurine. His huge palm rested on her shoulder, as he tried to calm her down. "You don't have to force this," he said to her gently, "we'll make do with what we have."
"You must," she told him, clutching at his shirt with her bleeding hand, "you see, she will never amount to shit. You guys are so stupid to trust her." Her voice did not sound like hers anymore. The words surprised Erwin. "Why are you talking about yourself in third person?" he asked, pinching the skin on her shoulder in between two fingers. "What?" she looked up and asked, pretty aggressively.
"Aura," he spoke to her again, calmly, "maybe you should rest today."
"Why, Erwin?" Aura looked up at him, her expressions changing from aggressive to jovial, and her voice sounding like nothing happened, "I'm just getting started." She raised her palm to the level of her eye, and her expressions changed again. "Hey, why am I wounded alre.."
She could not even finish her sentence, as a lightning previously expected, struck the ground near her. And, in the blink of an eye, she found herself being lifted away from the ground. As she grew to her full potential, she could not remember Erwin moving away. When she finally opened her eyes, she realized that she wasn't the War Hammer Titan at the moment. She was herself, being held in the palm of the Titan, several feet above the ground. She looked up to the other side, and Erwin was held in the other palm.
She urged her eyes to look at the face of the Titan and her breath got caught at the base of her throat. The gigantic figure looked nothing different from her. Thick black hair whipped in the air, just above her shoulders. Dark eyes brooded at her with curiosity, and stared back. "Put us down," Aura's voice was a mere whisper, testing what kind of command worked with her monster.
"Your wish is my command, doctor." The words came out of the mouth of the giant, as she bent to put the newlyweds down on the grass. Erwin rushed to Aura's aid, but was slowed down by her. "I'm fine," she said, looking up to meet the eyes of Hange and Eren. Levi, alongwith the other soldiers, were soon to gather around them.
"Your Titan can speak?" the Captain demanded and was replied with only a shrug.
"Excuse me, please," the War Hammer Titan spoke to the soldiers gathered around her, minuscule in comparison to her. As they dispersed, she spoke to Aura, "I can tell you all that you want to know. Just ask me."
The voice was a lot like the human being whose consciousness she shared, only muffled as it came through the line of thread that held her lips static. Aura looked back at her husband and friends for advice. "Hange," the Commander took charge, "can you be with Aura while she converses with the Titan?"
"I wish I could," the Section Commander replied, "I mean, clearly, this is way more interesting than what I am supposed to be doing - no offence, Eren. But, I really must supervise him while he trains his hardening ability. He acquired it recently, so.."
"Captain Levi?" Erwin asked, "can your cadets take a break today while you stay with them?" "Are you kidding me, Erwin?" Levi shrugged, "they can't afford to take an entire day off."
As Erwin's expressions became solemn, wondering whether he should abandon the heap of paperwork he had, the soldiers heard the Titan speak again. "How about Dr. Sherridan?" she spoke, "the nurses can look after the two soldiers, I'm sure."
"How do you know all that?" Aura looked up with disbelief.
"Well," she seemed to smile, but it could be only imagined, "you and I share a consciousness, I know everything that you know."
Sherridan was soon to arrive at the frontyard, where Aura and her Titan waited for her. "Hi," she started to greet her friend, "ugh.. sorry, I really was not expecting this. I guess I would have to get used to this, huh?"
"I'm afraid so," both of them replied, at the same time.
"Interesting," Sherridan raised an eyebrow to that, gesturing to her friend to start with her questions. She had come with a notebook and a determination to contribute as much as she could to the cause.
"So.." Aura started, "you said that we share a consciousness, so you know everything that I know."
"Yes," the War Hammer Titan replied politely. She picked the two girls up and sat them down on her shoulder. They took a moment to grasp the action before continuing.
"So is your knowledge limited to mine only? Do you not know anything about your abilities, skills, or how I'm supposed to control you or.. umm.. Titans in general? Just because I don't know?"
"Well.. I may have memories from the people who were in possession of me, before you. But, I can't think of any right now. Maybe if you ask me, I will be able to retrieve the information you desire to know."
"Like a database?"
"Like a what now?" Sherridan asked Aura, hearing a new word coming out of her mouth.
"You know.." she started to describe what she said, but stopped mid-sentence and shrugged, "it's nothing. Let's continue. So.. umm.. tell me how I summon you. Like.. instead of transforming into you. I mean, the way we are right now."
"Actually, you can come up with what you'd want to do," the reply came, "your father, for example, kept calling my name as the cue. And, let's be honest, that turned out to be a disaster during the end, didn't it? You had to move to your farmhouse to keep the sudden transformations unnoticed, and what a hassle that was, no?"
"Your name was Peony, huh?"
"Well, that's what he decided to call me. You can come up with a different name, or a completely different cue."
"What do you suggest?" Sherridan asked, "like from your past experiences?"
"Your great-great-grandfather used to do this thing," she replied, "you know how you bite into your wrist when you want to transform, right? He used to take a knife and make a cut on his forehead, instead of his wrist. You could do that."
"Interesting."
"Okay, so," Sherridan asked again, "you said earlier that you two share a consciousness, but you surely know a lot more about all this than she does. Doesn't that mean that you have your own consciousness and can make decisions for yourself, and may rebel against her?"
"I understand why you would feel so, but no, that is not possible. My physical form is only feasible as long as I'm close to the one who bears my consciousness. I can not be far away from her. I'm not sure what the threshold is before I stop functioning, I'm sure Hange would look into it. But.. oh, look who's here! Hello, Commander Erwin."
"You don't have paperwork?" Aura asked him as the War Hammer Titan picked him up and sat him down with the two women. "I did some," he replied, regarding the Titan's mouth rather peculiarly, "I just could not contain my curiosity. I may have a few questions. Are you two done with yours?"
"Why don't you go ahead," Sherridan urged him, "while I think of some more questions."
He took a glance at her notebook and continued, "I think it's time we talk about your abilities, especially the ones without Aura guiding you from inside."
"Just about everything that I can do with her underneath my nape," she said. It seemed as if she was smiling, almost mocking him with her raspy, muffled voice, "as long as I'm near her, I can perform all of my usual abilities. All that Aura has to do is imagine the steps she needs me to follow. It is not particularly necessary for her to say them out loud to me for me to follow her. But, maybe in training, we could practise that way for me to get accustomed to her commands and fighting techniques."
"And.. what about your normal abilities?" Sherridan asked, "how will you be useful in our battle?"
"Eren's new-found hardening ability is originally mine. My entire body is made out of those hardening crystals, that glow in the dark. And, when facing an enemy, I can reshape my hands into weapons. My preferred weapon is the war hammer, but I can also make swords, spears, arrows, and even cannonballs."
"Did you say your skin glows in the dark?" Aura asked
"It does. Didn't you figure that out in the Reiss castle?"
She looked over to Sherridan and she shook her head.
"Tell me something," he referred to Peony again, "when you, say.. make an arrow and launch, you lose part of your body, right?"
"Yeah, but I regenerate quickly. I regenerate the fastest, among all the Titans."
"Can you tell us about the other Titans?" Sherridan asked promptly.
"Umm.." she hesitated, "well, I haven't had the chance of knowing any of them in recent years. You see, after almost losing their family legacy once, the Tubrey family only concentrated on maintaining the heritage."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You see, Aura, you're not the first woman to have borne my power. When your great-great-someone took me on from his father, and the word went out, a sort of a war broke out between the Tubrey and Braun families. They wanted to have two of the most powerful Titans in their family. The.."
"You mean, Reiner Braun's family?"
"Who?"
"Never mind, carry on."
"So, from Arnold Tubrey, it was snatched away and, for a brief period of time, it was with Reiko Braun, until your ancestors abducted her in the middle of the night, and one of them devoured her to take back what was rightfully theirs. And, after that, your entire bloodline shifted to Ehrmich, far away from the Brauns."
"Where did they live before?" Erwin asked.
"Outside," Peony answered, in a matter-of-fact manner.
"Outside..?" Erwin's excitement was showing, as he sat up straight at the mention of the not so unusual word. "Outside the walls?" he demanded to know.
At this, the titan kept quiet for a really long time. It was hard to tell whether she was thinking, or just avoiding the question. "I demand an answer," Erwin said, standing up on her shoulder.
"I don't remember where," Peony answered , bending her head towards the grass, "that word came instinctively to my mind, but now that I think about it, I can't seem.."
"You're lying," he was on the verge of attacking her, "you know everything. You're obviously trying to hide some truth behind all this, aren't you?"
"That is not true, Commander." Peony said, in a voice as low as it could get.
"Can you tell me something?" Erwin asked Aura later that night, as the two of them lay naked next to each other. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest, lending him heat as currency, that she had planned to take back from his mouth later. "Yes, baby," she said, cooing softly against his muscles.
"I really want to understand why the topic of your family being a titan family never came up in over ten years," he said, sounding demanding.
"It was not my secret to tell, Erwin," Aura refrained herself from him and plopped herself on her elbow.
"I can't believe you're using that as an excuse, Aura. You have been so close to the Scouting Legion for such a long period of time, and you've seen us struggle. You've seen me struggle for information. Until the day Eren showed up, we had almost no hope against what we were fighting. If we knew about your father, so many lives could have been saved. So many years would not have been lost. So, do not give me that excuse that it wasn't your secret to tell. I'm sorry I'm coming off as aggressive to you right now. But, I really need a closure on this topic. It has been eating me up ever since I got to know."
Erwin left the bed, and stood beside it. His eyes burned with inquiry, sweat forming on his forehead.
"I..."
"And, don't even bother telling me again that you were worried how I would react to knowing that your life is shortened due to this, and that is the reason. We had known each other for three years before your brother died and you knew it would be you to take it up. Why didn't you tell me anything in those three years?"
"I didn't know about it myself then. Aaron told me only when our father started pressurizing him."
"And, after that? When you were leaving for Ehrmich, it was because your father's conditions worsened, wasn't it? Because of the Titan? Couldn't you tell me then? And.. and.. when the wall breached? You knew of all of our struggles, yet you chose to remain silent. I want to understand why."
"I couldn't.."
"You know what, never mind. You'll probably say something that would be hard for me to believe. I'd like to go for a walk. Please don't wait for me."
"Are you not going to listen to what I have to say?" Aura jumped out of the bed, put on her negligee and followed him to his office. He sighed as he struggled to put on his shirt with one hand. Aura stepped in and attempted to pull it over his shoulder, but he protested.
"Don't do this Erwin," she urged him, "listen to me. Let's talk, okay? I know it's hard for you to understand, but I had my reason. It may not align with your reason to save humanity, but it was important to me."
"Listen," Erwin gripped her hand as she held the front open, "I probably shouldn't have picked an argument right now. I'm sorry. But I do need to clear my head. Let me take a walk and we'll talk about this tomorrow. I don't think I have the mental space to register what you're about to say right now. I'm sorry I put up a fight, but that's all for today."
"Come back soon, okay? I'll be waiting."
He sighed again as he quietly shut the door behind him on his way out.
"You shouldn't have let her be with him."
A voice inside her head startled her. She looked around, trying to convince herself that it was not in her head. "Who's there?" she asked, quietly, scared of actually seeing someone.
"Stupid girl," she heard another voice, "stupid you, Arthur. Just allowing the mingling of your family with the chief of the Survey Corps. You know how his father was killed because of his dumb curiosity. And now look at what he did, taking down the King and all that. Put a Reiss in power again. Bullshit!"
"Arthur, what do you have to say about this?" A different voice. All men.
"Do not cloud her judgement," she heard her father's voice.
Before she could ask, one of the other voices spoke, "this is a disgrace. First, a woman taking over. And now, they're going to use our Titan against our comrades. What are Mr. Braun and Mr. Galliard going to think of our house now? Shame!"
Aura kept staring at the carpet on the floor, carefully registering the conversation happening in her head. These couldn't have been simple imagination inside her head. There were people speaking there.
"Will you stop?" Her father spoke again, "you know she can hear us, right? And the fact that we can't hear if she is telling us anything, or even her thoughts, makes this all the more dangerous."
"But we have to at least attempt in diverting her intentions in our favor, don't we?"
"She's not like me, she won't give in to your ploys. She's stronger than I could have ever been."
"Aura?" She heard another voice, but immediately knew who it was. Turning to the door, she saw Captain Levi's head peering inside the room. "Levi," she called out, as the voices in her head seemed to disappear.
"What were you doing? You were just standing there, looking at the ceiling. What's up?"
"Would you come sit here, Levi? There's this weird thing going on inside my head. I'd like to tell you."
Levi came in and took a spot on the couch. Aura sat next to him. She threw her head back on the sofa and sighed. "Relax," he put his palm over hers, that rested on her lap, "where did he go?"
"He went to take a walk. We had a fight. He asked me why I never told him about this, and I didn't have an answer that would be convincing for him."
"Hmm.. you understand where he's coming from, right? I understand it hurts to hear him say all that, but.. he's hurt too. And most of us, not you but most of us seem to overlook his feelings. Hange would probably pat his shoulder, Moblit would freeze, Sherry wouldn't know what to do and I'd just grunt at him. But you understand him better. He didn't expect this, and how he's behaving is a way of expressing his emotions, and he can only do that with you. Use that to your advantage, take it slow and, in a while, you guys will be just fine."
He squeezed her hand to make her look at him. "Come here," he opened up his arms to invite her into a hug. Aura smiled and snuggled against her best friend. "Now tell me what you were doing staring at the ceiling."
Aura went on to describe the conversation that had taken place inside her head. She remembered the incidents that had happened during training and narrated all of that to him. "And.." she continued, "I've said some weird shit since yesterday. I told Erwin about people residing outside, and said something about a.. a.. databa..? I don't even know what that is."
"Maybe it's a communal toilet, where people shit together!"
"Are you even serious, Levi?"
"I am. I am. I was just trying to lighten up the mood. However, on a serious note, what do you think of these 'conversations'?"
Aura fell short of words. She hadn't had the time to think about it. Who were these people? Other than her father, she couldn't recognise any of them. "Maybe.. they're the previous holders of this Titan. Has Eren ever had these conversations?"
"Not to my knowledge. But I know for sure that if he did, he'd have told Hange."
"And those random phrases I said. Maybe they're somebody else's memories? Maybe it's a baggage that comes with being a Shifter?"
"Wouldn't that mean that there are people living outside the walls, and that Erwin's theories are correct? And these databas are some advanced invention that they have and we don't?"
Before Aura could muster an answer, the door creaked open. Erwin walked in with a scent of concentrated nicotine about him. "Hello, Levi," he greeted the Captain who sat there in his pajamas.
"I guess I'll be going then," Levi turned to Aura and hugged her once before walking away.
"What's McShorty mad about now?" Erwin asked, taking his shirt off and putting it on a hanger.
"Nothing, I hope. Something happened and I was telling him about it."
"Our fight?"
"Something else happened after you left.