When Eren woke up again everything was a little weird.
He couldn't remember where he was or what he was doing, but he felt a solid pressure against the back of his head and around his throat, stemming from his nape.
Wherever he was it was sweltering though. Something weighed down his eyelids, disallowing him from opening them as he continued to sit in the heat.
It reminded him of the time it'd rained during the summer months, the temperature never dropping enough for the rain to feel refreshing as it soaked his family's wood cabin, while inside the air would always feel sticky, hot and damp, with no way to escape.
He'd heard at some point the nobles had long since solved the problem of humidity during the rainy season, but for the longest time he'd thought it a myth. After all, how does one change the weather?
Although the air felt sticky and hot against his face, he had no trouble breathing, as he'd had during the warm rainy season, nor was he sweating. It actually felt...pleasant. As if he were floating and nothing could harm him.
Wishing to see what was creating such paradise he pushed against the weight on his tired eyelids and opened them a crack only to see...meat?
Sleep left his body as his eyes shot open, now noticing whatever was attached to his cheeks and the weird wall of tissue in front of him.
Eren's mind immediately assumed the worst as he screamed, his arms and legs rendered immobile as they were fused to this thing, this disgusting mash of flesh and blood that he could see faintly pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
He began to struggle, kicking and thrashing as he attempted to free his arms, his legs, Walls , anything to get him out of this fleshy hell.
He continued to thrash until he ripped his head back, and finally, finally there was a tearing sound as the flesh on his cheeks and arms began to pull away, and fuck it hurt, why did it hurt?
Now with his head outside of the cavity it had previously been placed in, he could see the skin of the large creature, pale and unwieldy, seeming to be some sort of back and shoulder muscle. He quickly wiggled his arms and legs out of their fleshy prison as he fell back onto his butt, muscular tendrils still attached to his cheek.
He stared in both awe and terror at the monstrosity before him, seeming to be an incomplete recreation of a human's upper torso, complete with two large hands wrapped around where the throat would be, as the previous events hit him.
He'd been dying.
He'd been dying . He felt it too. The energy leaving his body as it became colder and colder as he lost all ability to move. His eyes closing on their own, kinda like when you hit your head too hard and somebody tells you to stay awake, but you just can't, and fuck he should have been dead.
He should be dead.
Eren rubbed at his throat, feeling nothing, not even a raised mass of skin where the freshly healed should have been as the monstrosity started to hiss.
A large blast of steam smacked him in the face, rustling both his hair and clothes as the mass seemed to split apart in front of him, the two arms falling apart to the forest floor.
He simply stared for a second, watching as it seemed to melt to the ground, muscles and sinew falling off the bone like limp noodles as they shriveled up and disappeared. Thick vertebrae and ribs still stood proud in front of him, however they to were steaming away, leaving wisps of steam to float upwards, descending the treetops in a curling motion.
His heart beat in his ears as he tried to will himself to get up, to get away from this horrid scene. It was obviously a titan, a dead one at that, but why only part? And why was it around him? Why was he alive for that matter?
After watching his shaky breath form soft clouds as he continued to exhale for a minute, he shifted his arms to his front, using them to rock forward on his feet. He stood to his full height as he walked around the still disintegrating mass with wobbling legs, only to see the tarp.
The bloodstained tarp, with more than he'd ever seen. Even after he'd killed those two men in the cabin, he didn't remember seeing this much blood.
So that wasn't a dream then.
Although the evidence of his actions was clear as day on the forest floor, oddly enough the blood that had been there previously was gone from his torso and, thank Walls, his pants as well. From where he was standing he could see a glint from his blade and the mirror as well-they must've gotten dropped in his attempt to grab the towels- and while both were soaked in blood, they seemed no worse for wear.
Bringing a hand up to his neck, he couldn't feel any pitting or scarring from the wound, and the skin didn't feel sensitive either, but he had to check. If it was at all noticeable when he went back to the camp, it'd definitely raise some questions.
Questions he probably wouldn't be able to answer.
The mirror was filthy, having attracted numerous bugs and dirt in his absence, but he ignored it in favor of licking his thumb and rubbing it in a circle around the mirror to at least make something visible.
While it wasn't the clearest reflection, he couldn't see any discoloration around his throat, meaning that any issues could easily be explained away.
Good, that was good.
No visible issues meant no questions, and no questions meant nobody had to find out.
He continued to angle the mirror around, in order to see more of the side of his neck, until something caught his eye.
Something was on the lower part of his cheek, leading upwards towards his eye.
He moved the mirror upwards, until he could see the full extent of whatever was there, only to see the marks stop slightly below his eye.
They seemed to start on the bottom of his eyelid, following the curve of his cheekbones downward, and when he brought his fingers up to wipe them off, he'd found they weren't marks at all, but rather indents.
Ok, that was more than a little odd.
He kept running his fingers over them, marveling in how natural they felt, as if they had always been there, yet as he stared at the mirror they looked alien. Totally wrong.
They seemed to be slowly shrinking, the pointed end moving further and further up his cheek as the skin pulled itself together. It looked similar to way cuts healed on him, just without the exposed tissue and blood, so it was obvious that's not what they were.
But what could they be?
Nothing he could think of made indents like that-not even when he fell asleep on a pile of vines that one time-they were far too perfect, each running parallel to each other, and nothing had really been on his cheek in recent memory.
Except for-
Eren turned back to look at the steaming mass, now no taller than the sole of his boots as he thought about what had happened.
He hadn't just been in the titan. He hadn't opened his eyes to a large cavity. He hadn't been able to move once he woke up.
He had been fused with the titan, his hands and feet fully enveloped, with thick meaty tendrils connecting to his face. He'd had to rip them to shreds just to escape, and when he did...
When he did the titan carcass had started to disintegrate.
Not before. It couldn't have been before, as right after he fell it steamed like a dam had burst.
It had steamed the way veterans said titans did after the nape was cut.
The more Eren thought about it, the less and less the situation made sense. How the fuck did a whole ass titan get in here, inside the walls? How did he not notice it before? How did no one notice it before? And why, why would it have saved him?
Walls, that was really the only explanation for how he would have lived, as he would've been more than half dead by the time something stumbled upon him. An easy picking for a titan.
Yet it simply made no sense! Titans were thoughtless killing machines! For one to appear out of nowhere and just...envelop him, would be fucking weird at best, and impossible at worst.
And yet, something like that must have happened! There was no explanation otherwise!
Any titans attempting to get over the walls would be dead within seconds due to the garrison stationed there and there was no way it could've slipped anywhere near the training camps without being eviscerated by the military police nearby.
But it had, and there had been something connecting to his arms, legs, face and nape, weighing down on him, hot and heavy and unmistakably flesh and-
Wait.
His nape.
Eren angled his head downwards as he brought a hand to hover over the back of his neck.
The nape was the weak spot in titans right? The sort of control center?
And that had been pretty heavily connected to the titan hadn't it?
That had been the source hadn't it?
He dropped his hand as he simply continued to stand at the ground. The titan coming from him made sense, fuck it was the only scenario that made sense.
He'd thought about it before-the possibility that he truly was a titan. Somehow a ten meter tall beast stuck in a fucked up fourteen year old's body, but he'd thought it preposterous at the time.
Sure his abilities were odd and titan-like, but throwing them on a human somehow made more sense than a person who could suddenly become ten times bigger.
Or vice versa.
Walls , what if it was the opposite?
What if he truly was one of those mindless beasts, having caused thousands to die, forcing humanity back into this fucking prison they were forced to call a sanctuary for no reason other than unending hunger?
Would that mean that everything he knew up until now was fake? All those memories of Mikasa and Armin when they were kids, all that he remembered about his mom...
Eren stayed like that, frozen for a minute as he ran over all the possibilities in his head before finally deciding, no.
No, that couldn't be it.
If he was a titan turned man, he'd have to assume that humans would have been the ones to do it-seeing as no accounts of titans randomly turning into people existed-and
if that was the case, why the hell wasn't it being used everywhere? Technology like that would absolutely decimate the titan population, so it'd be used non-stop.
His shoulders dropped with a tension he hadn't realized was there when he realized this.
He may be a freak that might be able to turn into a titan, but at least he was at his very core, human.
At least he could control himself.
Well, mostly.
Eren stretched his hands upwards, blocking some of the dying light that came through the tops of the trees as he flexed them.
If he could figure out the exact trigger, he'd be able to create these fleshy carcasses on command, basically making a biological shield. He could do something other than throw himself in the way to protect people.
And the offensive possibilities, oh all the ways he could attack! If he could move the arms he'd be able to easily take out their legs! If he could throw things with that force, it'd be sure to cripple a ton of titans for at least a little while!
And if he could become a full titan...
A smile pulled across his face as his eyes widened.
If he could become a full titan, killing them all would be child's play.
After all, what would a lumbering beast have against something it's size, but with intelligence?
-
As much as Eren believed that nobody had taken notice of, or at least cared about his disappearance, many definitely had, and while some were concerned for his well being, three in particular were much less concerned than they were suspicious.
So, they decided to gather on their free day, taking their normal seats toward the back of the dining hall, as they discussed the current enigma that was Eren Jaeger.
"To be honest, I really don't think there's that much up with him." Reiner stated as Annie squinted at him. "Yeah his behavior has been suspicious, but like, you gotta give a guy his private time y'know?"
Bertholdt put his head in his hands as Annie continued to stare at him, finally sighing and asking, "So you think there's nothing odd with the fact that he disappears for hours on end, never telling anybody what he's doing? With the fact that he always comes back exhausted? With the fact that for a while he was keeping a random knife in his boot? With the fact that he always came back absolutely reeking of blood?"
Reiner flinched as he scooted back under her intense stare. "Well, no, I think it's weird but-"
"But what?" Annie interrupted, "What makes you think there's nothing wrong?"
"I just...well, he's not exactly the pinnacle of mental health, y'know. I think he might be, well....uhm."
"You think he's hurting himself?"
He cringed at the blunt way she had worded it but responded, "Yeah.."
Annine sighed as she relaxed back into her seat. "That's what I thought for a while to, but there's something wrong with that theory."
She paused for a second to blow strands of hair away from her forehead before continuing with, "He always rolls up his sleeves to eat, and his arms are always clean, so that's out of the picture, and over the past week whenever I fight with him, I've been looking, god, searching for anything that would lead onto that, and yet nothing."
"Well, he could just be really good at hiding it?" Bertholdt added, "I mean, he uh, probably would have to be with Mikasa, and uh Armin hovering around."
"Have you seen that boy though? He's about as good at hiding things as the merchants here are at hiding their corruption." She turned to Reiner as she added, "Plus, you remember the wrist incident, don't you?"
Reiner exhaled sharply through his teeth. Yeah, he remembered it, but he'd been attempting to give Eren as much benefit of the doubt as he dared. Though he didn't want to admit it, Eren's determination and the way he interacted with the other cadets was...endearing, in it's own sort of fucked up way. Kinda like when a child says they're gonna beat you up because you won't buy any pears for them.
"Well maybe it really was bruised and not sprained."
"Even if that was the case, where was the bruise? Last I checked normal people don't heal from bruises in a matter of hours."
"Fuck, ok, I don't know?" Reiner spat "We don't really have any proof that Eren is what we're looking for, and I just don't want to grab the wrong person."
The trio sat in silence as they mulled over Reiner's words. Unfortunately, he was right. If they grabbed Eren and bolted now, there was still a large chance that they wouldn't be getting the coordinate, and even if they did, they still had no idea about how much Eren could know about his possible abilities.
If he was the coordinate he could either know literally nothing, or be able to bring them all to their knees in seconds.
"I, um, still think it's uh, kinda odd that Mikasa is so strong." Bertholdt said, breaking the silence.
Annie shook her head as she responded, "But we've seen her get injured, and it looks like she gets fixed up in a normal amount of time."
"She might be able to control her healing like you?" Reiner suggested, "I mean, it's not impossible."
"I don't know." She responded, hands coming up to fidget with her hair again. "I just can't shake the feeling there's something wrong with that boy."
"Maybe it's none of the people here! Maybe it's some random person that's, uhmm, hiding underground!"
The other two turned to look at Bertholdt, each wearing an expression of confusion.
"What? It's not like it's impossible!" He squeaked, shrinking back and attempting to make himself smaller under the force of their stares, which wasn't all that effective considering he was over six feet tall.
"Y'know what, this is stupid." Reiner stated, "If we wanna find something out, we're gonna have to basically stalk Eren, or Mikasa, or whoever for a while."
"So why not start now?"
" What !?" Exclaimed Bertholdt and Reiner in usion.
"You saw him earlier today." Annie said, flicking her head back towards the front doors of the mess hall, "He left for the forest right after breakfast and he's still not back yet."
"So we're just gonna...walk around the forest or something until we find him?"
"Basically."
Reiner stared at her in disbelief before finally conceding. "Fine, it's not like I have anything better to do today anyway."
"Then let's head out."
-
"This was a terrible fucking idea, Annie."
"Ok, Reiner if you've got a better idea, I'd like to hear it!"
The trio had been stomping through dead leaves and twigs for the better part of an hour, leaving breaks on the highest branches they could to mark their way so that they didn't get lost.
That didn't stop them from walking back into their own path though.
"I think we should uh, just accept that we're, um, not going to find him, and head back." Bertholdt offered as he anxiously looked back at the pseudo path the branches had created.
"Yeah, and maybe he's already headed back." Reiner added. "We should just give up and go back ourselves."
"Shut up, we'll just be out here for a little longer." Annie spat, as she rounded a tree walking straight ahead into-
Into Eren, sitting slack-jawed in front of a river, running a large sheet through it.
He also didn't have a shirt on. Or shoes.
They four stared at each other for a moment, none willing to make the first move until Eren flushed and quickly stammered "I can explain!"
"Y'know what?" Annie stated as she spun on her heel, "I really don't want to know to be honest."
"Nonononono, it's not anything bad I promise!" Eren cried as he quickly yanked the sheet out of the water, "I just got dirt and mud and stuff on my clothes and this sheet and had to wash them off y'see?"
Annie still refused to turn around, instead electing to start the trek back to the main camp before Reiner stopped her.
"Got them dirty doing what? And why did you need a sheet for it?"
"Well, umm," Eren floundered. Fuck he hadn't thought of an excuse in advance, he hadn't thought that anyone would find him at all! Quick, think fast, think fast! "I was looking for herbs and stuff and collecting them with the sheet."
Great Eren, they're totally gonna believe that.
Reiner's face scrunched up in confusion, "Herbs? Why would you want to grab some plants, man?"
"Well, my dad was a doctor, and he uh taught me how to use em' for a lot of stuff."
While it technically wasn't a lie, it would imply that Eren had actually listened when his dad started talking, rather than immediately shoving anything he had said was edible into his mouth.
Good times.
"Stuff?" Annie asked, crossing her arms, "What do you mean by stuff? "
"Well, um mint and sage are good for making stuff, uh not be infected? And thyme just kinda tastes good so..." Eren responded, trailing off as he realized, that yeah, that was the full extent of what he remembered his dad telling him before he disappeared.
Where had he gone anyway?
He'd traveled into the inner walls just hours before the fall of Wall Maria, so there was no why he'd died there, but then why hadn't he tried to make contact? Why hadn't he heard anything about his dad since the fall?
Walls, Eren hadn't even thought about him.
"-en, hey Eren! "
He was pulled out of his thoughts as Reiner shook his shoulder roughly.
"Dude, are you ok?" Reiner asked, a concerned look briefly passing though his face, before it was replaced with confusion, "You've been spacing out a lot recently. Something on your mind?"
"Oh, ah, no. I've just been thinking a lot."
"Eren? Thinking? Sounds fake, but ok."
"Oh shut up." Eren responded rolling his eyes.
Truthfully he was glad that Reiner was so quick to make a joke out of the situation, as he really didn't have the knowledge to hold up under further questioning.
An idea popped into Eren's head as he jolted straight and whipped around to meet the trio, asking "So why are you guys out here?"
Bertholdt started to sweat as he opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by Annie quickly saying, "Well, technically we're here on Mikasa's behalf."
"Why didn't she just come out here herself?" Eren asked, "It's really odd that she'd send you guys, or really anyone rather than just going herself."
"The thing is, she didn't actually send us. She's been whining all day-"
"She's just concerned, no need to be rude."
"-and Armin kept holding her back, but we got so sick of it, we decided to head out and look if only to shut her up."
Eren continued to stare at the three, brows furrowed. Yes, he was sure Mikasa would be worrying, but he'd already told her exactly how long he planned to be out 'practicing with 3DMG', so it should be fine unless..
"Hey um, do you guys happen to know what time it is?"
Both Annie and Reiner shook their heads, but Bertholdt put a hand on his chin and said, "I know it was, um, around 16:30 when we left, but we uh, kinda got a little lost, so it's maybe a bit past 17:00?"
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
He'd planned to be back at fifteen hundred hours, and should have had more than enough time to do so.
Walls, how long had he spent passed out, trapped within that fleshy carcass?
"Damn, I really gotta get back then." Eren responded, hoping that his panic wasn't as apparent as it felt.
"Hm, yeah, probably." Annie responded, "You want us to lead you back, or should we just head back on our own?"
"I think I'll be good on my own."
"Y'sure? You can even be the one to lead the group if you want."
"You guys have no idea how to get back, do you?"
"Um, maybe."
-
After the trek back to camp, which was thankfully much shorter due to Eren's guidance, they were greeted by Mikasa and Armin, who both looked like they were about to head out themselves.
"Oh thank walls, Eren where the hell have you been?" Armin questioned.
"Exactly where I told you. I was out in the woods practicing with my gear and grabbing some herbs."
"Ok, first off, no you didn't say the second part about grabbing herbs, and second, why are you back so late! You had both me and Mikasa worried."
Eren shrunk back a bit as Armin continued to call him out. It wasn't as if he meant to worry them. He should have had more than enough time to test what he needed and get back, but of course today had to be the day to learn something new about himself.
Eren sighed as he responded, "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time Eren." Mikasa responded, glaring at him. "What the fuck were you doing?"
"I told you, I was just training and grabbing some thyme and stuff!"
"For six hours!? I'm sorry but I'm not gonna believe that."
"Well, it's the truth regardless of if you want to believe it or not."
"Really? Then how did you carry them? Why don't you have any with you right now?"
Eren blanked. Fuck, he really had no way to prove it did he? Fuck, he should have at least picked up a plant or two along the walk back.
"Uh, well I don't wanna interrupt you guys, but to be fair we did find Eren washing dirt and something out of a big sheet." Reiner piped up, and Eren was so relieved he could kiss him.
"Yeah!" Eren exclaimed, "I used a spare sheet like a bag and collected some!"
This time it was Armin who stared at him skeptically. "So you collected enough that you something to carry your herbs in, but now you don't have any?"
"Well, I set it down for a second and some fatass squirrel or something took everything that I had, so I just decided to give up."
"Squirrels don't eat thyme."
"Walls, Armin I don't know if it was a squirrel, but I set it down for a second, turned around, and then poof! They were gone." Eren retorted, waving his hands around for emphasis.
Both Armin and Mikasa just continued to stare at him in disbelief, looking him over to find a way to disprove him.
The three stood in awkward silence for a minute as Eren began to sweat under the careful scrutiny, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie, having chosen moments prior to make their escape.
It was Armin who decided to be the first to break the silence with a sigh. "Eren, I will admit I don't have anything to disprove that you're telling the truth, however that doesn't mean-"
"Is that blood on your pants?"
Eren looked down to a spot just below the cuff of his boots, and shit, yeah that was a rather large blood stain. He hadn't noticed it as it was mostly hidden by his boots, but if he shifted just right it was visible.
"Uhhhhhh."
"Eren you better tell the fucking truth right now." Mikasa stated, glaring at him. He could tell she was absolutely done with him at the moment.
"I am!" He cried, "That was there before I left!"
"It definitely was not, Eren." Armin replied coldly. "I know I said I wouldn't question you anymore, but this is too much. You've been sneaking off doing walls knows what, and always come back late."
"Woah, hold up. What do you mean 'I know I said I wouldn't question you anymore?" Mikasa asked, her anger beginning to shift from Eren to Armin.
"Well, I just... I made a deal with him ok?"
"A deal to what? Lie to my face! ?"
Armin shrunk back. He'd already felt horrible for even the smallest of fibs he'd had to tell to her, but to hear it said in plain words...
"I-well-yes and no-"
"This isn't an in between answer situation Armin. You either made a deal that both of you would lie to me, or you didn't."
"I did but-"
"So for how long. For how long did you two try to act like I can't help you!" Cried Mikasa as tears began to pool in her eyes.
The two boys looked down at the ground, ashamed at what they'd done.
"It's not that I don't think you can, but I just needed Eren to do something, and I thought that would solve everything, but it didn't and I didn't want to hurt you, or lie, but I was just so sure and I thought I was right but I wasn't." Armin rambled as tears came to his eyes as well.
Walls, he was just so, so, frustrated !
He was almost never wrong, and it's not like he'd made that bet without thinking of the consequences, but he'd been sure he wouldn't have to face them.
Now that his actions were coming back to hit him, he regretted everything.
And it was Eren's fault.
He'd been lying, doing something behind their backs that he didn't want them to know about.
Something that he felt entitled to keep a secret for whatever reason, and that was the issue.
As Armin's rage continued to boil, he lifted his head and hissed "So Eren, are you going to tell us what you think is so important to keep secret that you'd rather lie and blackmail me into playing along with you as well-"
While Mikasa was still next to him, Eren was gone, nowhere to be found.
"Ah." he said, his anger deflating, leaving him with nothing but the feeling of emptiness. He looked over at Mikasa, only to see her looking at the ground as well, her scarf pulled up the the bottoms of her eyes.
He had an awful suspicion that she was crying.
"Hey.." He asked her softly, nudging her shoulder with his fist. She only shrunk further away from him and into her scarf, now almost the same height as him from how much she was hunched over.
"Y'know I didn't mean to upset you right?" He asked. "I just wanted Eren to go to the medic tent and get checked out, and that was the only way to get him to go.
She just shook her head.
"Ok, I know I was wrong. I took the easy way out rather than trusting you to help me. I'm sorry."
Mikasa turned away from him as she made a wiping motion at her face. "You guys just...You never tell me anything. And I'm worried."
"I know."
"I'm worried that one day something's gonna happen that I could've been there to help with, but you guys left me out of. I'm worried that you guys are gonna get hurt."
"I'm sorry."
"I just..." She trailed off, as she began to lower her scarf. "Just... don't lie to me again ok? If something's going on tell me . Don't act like I'm not here."
Armin looked to the side. That was really what'd he done, wasn't it? He'd sacrificed actual help for the quick results he'd so desperately wanted.
Fuck, he'd really been an asshole, hadn't he?
"I won't, or we won't for that matter. I'll make Eren agree even if I have to take the place of the nonexistent person subtly tightening his gear's straps."
Although it didn't totally lighten the mood, he could hear her soft chuckle hidden beneath the thick fabric of the scarf, so he counted it as a win.
-
Meanwhile, Eren's mood was not lightened.
"Fucking Armin, he fucking promised that piece of shit!"
While he knew deep down that he wasn't actually mad at Armin at all, he was certainly upset and ashamed after seeing Mikasa's reaction, and well Eren wasn't all that great at dealing with any touchy-feely emotions he felt.
So he defaulted to the one thing he knew best.
Anger.
"Fucking hell, why the fuck would he-what the fuck-" Eren screamed as he drove his fists into the surrounding trees. He could feel his knuckles splitting open as blood splattered across his fingers and onto the surrounding trees, but couldn't bring himself to care.
He needed to blow off some steam, both metaphorically and literally.
Eren continued to slam into any tree he could find, escalating as he threw his forearm into the bark of a particularly loud tree, relishing in the soft crunch it made as it connected.
Whether the sound was from his arm or the bark, he didn't care. Fuck it would heal anyway, so who gave a shit.
He lifted up his left leg, pulling it up past his waist as he angrily kicked the same tree, finally falling back on his ass and gripping his foot, because yeah that had probably broken something.
He sat there for a second, allowing his heavy breaths to return to normal as the wisps of steam from his knuckles moved upwards and continued to fade into the cool night air.
From where he sat, the image was almost peaceful.
"Are you finished yet, or do I have to watch you that poor tree a few more times?" Came a cool voice from behind him.
Eren whipped around to see who had been watching him, they must have been watching him, but the question was how much did they see? Fuck, how much did they see?
His eyes landed on a small form, just between two average sized trees. Although the lighting wasn't great he caught a flash of blonde hair as the figure shifted, so he gave a tentative "Krista?"
As the figure stepped forward, Eren could see that their hair was tied up into a signature bun, one that he knew from only one person in the camp.
"Not quite." Annie chuckled as she crossed her arms. "So, are you done?"
"I, um, yeah." Eren stammered. "I think so."
"Great, because I don't think I could've kept my cool if I had to see you throw another honestly horrific punch at one of those trees."
Eren scrunched his nose as he responded, "They weren't that bad."
"Eren, if those tree hadn't been inanimate, you would've never landed a hit on any of em'"
"That's not true! I may not have had the best stance, but they were pretty fast."
"Maybe from your point of view, but definitely not to me."
"Ok, well that's because you're some kind of weird superhuman fighting machine, and I'm not."
"That's what you think." Annie murmured under her breath, just quiet enough she was sure Eren couldn't hear.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." She responded, taking her weight off of her left foot and leaning upon the tree next to her. "You don't have to hide your hands y'know."
"Huh?" Eren asked startled. He'd been purposefully keeping his back to her as well as shoving his hands into his lap in order to stifle the last bits of steam that was escaping as the scraps healed. "I'm not hiding them. Why would you think I'm hiding them?"
Annie simply sighed as she brought up her left hand stating. "Because I, Eren Jaeger-"
She swiped her thumb across the ring she always wore on her pointer finger, and oh Eren hadn't realized there was a hidden blade there. Not that it would do much good, it was way too small to cause any real damage, and who would want a blade on the inside of their palm that just seemed like a way to-
And then swiped her thumb across the blade.
"-Am just like you."
He watched transfixed as within seconds of making the cut, steam erupted from the area around it, pulling and knitting the skin back together.
His jaw dropped as he kept staring at Annie's open hand, because holy shit there were others like him.
There were other people who could heal. There were others like him, this weird titan hybrid that wasn't quite human, but certainly wasn't a fifteen meter man eating beast either.
"If you leave your mouth open you start catching mosquitoes." Annie said, breaking the silence.
Eren clamped his mouth shut, responding, "Sorry I just-I didn't think-I mean-"
"Don't tell me you've never seen this healing before, because I wouldn't believe you."
"No,no,no, I have!" Eren quickly stated, "I just...didn't think there'd be more people like me."
Annie's face softened as she replied, "Yeah, me neither to be honest."
"So, what exactly are we?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we're not exactly human right? But we're not titans, or at least I'm assuming that's what these abilities come from, because what happened earlier wouldn't really make sense otherwise..."
And in that moment Annie realized that she'd stumble upon both the best, and worst possible scenario.
Eren was definitely the coordinate, because there was no other titan that was missing on Paradis, but he knew literally nothing. He probably didn't even know how to shift, much less how to use the unique abilities the coordinate gifted him.
They could take him right now. Snatch him away, across the ocean and be hailed as heroes, and he wouldn't be able to resist them no matter how hard he tried.
They'd be hailed as heroes back in their homeland, known as the people who stopped the island devils, the Eldians who proved that they weren't the same people as their ancestors. That they wanted to help.
But at what cost?
She stared at Eren, his eyes full of hope and wonder, and imagined tears streaming down his face as he spit curses while she, in her titan form, carried him, Bertholdt, and Reiner back to the ocean.
She thought of Sasha, and Ymir, and Marco, and Krista, and god, everybody she'd met who weren't devils.
Those living on this island weren't devils at all. They were just people. People who were terrified of the world around them, only knowing what was within these walls.
And she couldn't do it.
Annie pushed herself off of the tree she'd been leaning on as she strode over to Eren, putting herself into a crouch to become level with his face and responded. "Titan shifters. We're called titan shifters."