Wings of Freedom. Part 11

      Squad Levi sat around the small table that had been placed out in the field. Each member shared the same look of despair. You sat next to Eren, finishing up the wrappings that covered his raw hands. You had your wings unbound, letting them stretch behind you resting on the ground. Auruo slouched over his drink to your left, with Gunther and Erd taking up the other side of the table. Eren flinched slightly as you tightened the wrappings, letting out a small hiss through his teeth. You grimaced in sympathy before securing the ends of the bandages, careful not to irritate his wounds further.


      “Not even the bite marks on your hands have gone away?” Levi asked, standing a few feet from the table.


      Eren rubbed his fingers over the fresh bandages, “No… Sir.”


      “If you can’t turn into a Titan, our big plans for sealing Wall Maria go up in smoke.” Levi continued in a lower tone, “Figure it out. That’s an order.”


      “Yes, Sir…” Eren said, barely above a whisper. It was obvious the whole ordeal was having a terrible effect on him.


      “Don’t lose heart, Eren.” Erd encouraged.


      “But…” Eren stared off into space, eyes unfocused on the people around him.


      “This just means you’re more human than we thought.” Auruo interjected from your left.


      “It’s a lot better than ending up dead because you were too hasty.” Erd continued, “It wasn’t a waste of time.”


      “Yeah. There’s no such thing as being too careful.” Gunther muttered darkly.


      “Besides, there’s so much about Titans we don’t know.” You stated, “We can’t expect that everything will go smoothly for us.”


      You placed a hand on Eren’s shoulder, “We’ll figure it out, you’ll see.”


      Eren gave a small smile before turning back to his drink. He reached for the small teaspoon, but flinched as his hand flared with pain. The spoon tumbled to the ground, bouncing once before resting on the grass. Eren held his hand in the air for a moment, grimacing as the pain slowly died down.


      “You okay?” You asked.


      “Yeah…” Eren muttered, slightly embarrassed at failing to do such a simple task.


      He leaned down from the table, reaching for the spoon. Just as he touched it though, a spark seemed to dance from his fingertips. You didn’t have any time to react before a loud explosion knocked you backwards several feet. Steam surrounded the group, burning your skin until it dissipated. You gasped as you saw Eren through the clearing clouds. Or rather, what was in front of him.


      He stood atop some monstrous mix of muscle and bone, his hand buried deep in the shoulder. It only had one arm, and lacked any sort of skin. Eren desperately pulled against the mass, half filled with panic. With a flap of your wings, you stood next to him, placing your feet on one of the exposed ribs to his left. You put your arm on the spine for support. It was unnaturally warm, and you quickly moved your arm to grip the back of Eren’s jacket for balance.


      “Eren! Are you okay?” You asked desperately.


      “Why now?!” He yelled to himself, ignoring you in his panic.


      “Calm down.” Levi commanded.


      “Captain Levi!” Eren twisted around to face him, “I don’t know what-!”


      “I said calm down…” Levi commanded again, only he wasn’t facing Eren, “…all of you.”


      You glanced back, following Eren’s gaze. The remaining four members of Squad Levi stood with their swords at the ready. They looked prepared to pounce on Eren, sporting the same terrifying looks on their faces from when they battled Titans. What were they doing? Eren wasn’t a threat.


      “WAAAAAAAH!” You spun back forward as Hanji came barreling into the clearing, leaping into the air excitedly as she spotted Eren.


      “Eren!” Eld barked, “What is the meaning of this!?”


      “Sir?!” Eren questioned.


      “Why did you do it without permission?! Answer me!” Your eyes widened, Eld was nothing like he usually was. Fear had taken the place of reason.


      “Wait, Eld.” Levi began to order, but was cut off.


      “Answer him, Eren!” Auruo yelled, “Explain yourself!”


      “No. That can come later!” Gunther began walking towards Eren, “First, you need to prove you aren’t hostile toward us- no, toward humanity!”


      “Gunther stop this!” You yelled, “Eren’s not a threat!”


      “Get away from him, (Y/n)!” Auruo ordered, “He might attack you!”


      Auruo turned back to Eren, “If you so much as twitch that arm of yours, your head’s comin’ right off!”


      “Auruo!” Levi interrupted, “I told you to calm down!”


      “Captain!” Petra called out, “Please get away from Eren! You’re too close!”


      “No, you’re the ones who need to get away.” He replied calmly, “Step back.”


      “What’s the deal, Eren?!” Eld interrogated, “Say something!”


      You gripped the back of Eren’s jacket tighter as your squad mates assaulted him from all sides. Eren turned to you, the panic obvious in his eyes. You returned the look, terrified at the sudden change in their attitude. Was this what they had felt like about you at first? Had they been ready to kill you at any moment? Eren seemed to notice your growing panic, and he quickly grew furious.


      “Will you guys please be quiet?!” Eren shouted, silencing the group.


      Of course, that was when Hanji reached you.


      “EEEEREEN!” She screamed with a maniacal grin on her face.


      She pushed past Gunther, knocking him over slightly, “Can I touch that arm?!”


      “Please? Can I? Pretty please?” You gaped at her with an expression of disbelief. Was she not able to read the mood at all? And was that drool spilling from her mouth? She slowly reached out to touch the newly constructed hand.


      “Wait, don’t-” Eren tried to stop her as she rested her palms against the exposed muscle.


      She jerked back as the contact scalded her skin, waving her hands in the air as she hissed in pain.


      “Damn, it’s hot when there’s no skin!” She screamed, “I’m talking crazy hot!”


      “Squad Leader!” Moblit called out, concerned.


      “Say, is it not hot for you, Eren?” Hanji called out to the brunet, “How is it connected to your right hand? I really want to see!”


      Her question seemed to jerk Eren back into focus, and he quickly turned his attention back to his right hand, tugging slightly. You caught on to what he was trying to do. Positioning yourself so you were right behind him, you pulled along with him, using your wings for extra force. With the sickening sound of tearing muscle, the two of you went flying back as his arm ripped free. You both bounced on the ground, ending up in a tangled heap with Eren splayed out across your back. The half-body began to steam and disintegrate as the two of you struggled to catch your breath, both from the effort and stress.


      “Hold on, Eren! That was too soon!” Hanji panicked, “I still wanted to study it!”


      You rolled your eyes, letting your head rest against the cool grass. No matter what, Hanji was always Hanji. Footsteps approached your position, coming to a stop near your head.


      “How are you feeling, Eren?” Levi asked.


      Eren took a while to respond, struggling to answer between breaths, “Not… very… good…”


      He sounded weak, and almost sickly to your ears. You shifted slightly, your hips were growing uncomfortable as they pressed into the hard ground. Eren seemed to notice, moving off of your back and collapsing to his knees on the ground. You slowly sat up, glaring at the four who were so quick to turn on him. They seemed almost in shock as they watched him. Were they regretful? Or were they just surprised he didn’t try to kill them?


      You moved up against Eren, rubbing his back slightly as his breaths continued to be labored. He didn’t say anything, but leaned slightly into your touch. Eventually his breathing calmed, and he gave you a small smile.


      “Thank-you.” He muttered low enough for only you to hear.


      “I think that’s enough for today.” Levi remarked, “Let’s return to HQ.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


      You sat up in the rafters of the dining hall, lying down on the smooth wood. After the incident from earlier, you needed time away from your squad mates. Of course, they had managed to find you rather quickly, your hiding habits had become quite familiar to them. They had begged you to come down, but you flatly refused. Eventually, they had given up, seating themselves around a table below as they waited for Hanji to return. The room was quiet, only the occasional movement below providing any sort of sound. Petra decided to break the silence.


      “(Y/n).” She called up.


      “I’m not coming down.” You droned.


      “Fine, then we’ll tell you from here.” Your ears perked up, “We’re sorry for our actions earlier.”


      “You should be apologizing to Eren, not me.” You snapped back.


      “But it wasn’t just Eren that we turned on.” Eld interjected.


      “You must have thought we were the monsters, eh (Y/n)?” Gunther remarked.


      You were silent.


      “We just wanted you to know-” Petra was interrupted as the door slammed open.


      Hanji strode into the room, carrying a small bundle of cloth with her.  She gave a small order to a nearby soldier, sending him scurrying out of the room. Almost on instinct, she glanced up, spotting your hiding spot immediately.


      “You can come down, (Y/n). I have something I need to discuss with all of you.” She called out.


      You let out a sigh jumping off the wood and gliding to the ground before tucking your wings neatly against your back. You stood against the wall at a distance from the others, unwilling to make eye contact. The door soon opened again, revealing Eren and Levi as they stepped into the room.


      “Were you taking a long crap?” Levi asked Hanji. Ah, the Lance Corporal had such an eloquent way with words.


      “Nope. A pleasant one.” Hanji responded, unfazed, “I got stuck explaining things to the top brass.”


      “But anyway,” She said, placing the small bundle on the table, “Take a look at this.”


      She unwrapped it to reveal the same spoon from earlier, “A tea spoon?” Eren asked, voicing everyone’s thoughts.


      “Yep. That arm you created was holding this between the index finger and thumb, like so,” She demonstrated, holding it in front of everyone, “It’s hard to imagine it was through sheer dumb luck. And somehow it hasn’t been warped by the heat or pressure. Any thoughts on this?”


      “As I recall, I went to pick it up. I transformed right after that.” Eren answered.


      “I see…” Something seemed to click in Hanji’s mind, “This might explain why you couldn’t turn into a Titan earlier. Killing Titans, blocking a cannonball, lifting a boulder. Each time, you had a clear goal prior to transforming. It’s possible self-inflicted harm isn’t the only trigger, you might need to have a goal of some sort as well.”


      “So, in other words, you didn’t break the rules on purpose?” Gunther asked.


      ‘I thought that was clear from the start, idiot.’


      Eren gave a nod of confirmation to the soldier, who in turn let out a sigh. The four of them exchanged glances before lifting their hands to their mouths, digging their teeth deeply into the skin. Your eyes widened at the action, Hanji sharing the same confusion as you.


      “Wait! What are you doing?” Eren asked the four.


      “Ow…This really hurts.” Eld remarked, “Eren, I’m impressed you can bite so deep like this.”


      “We made an error in judgment.” Gunther added, answering Eren’s earlier question, “This is our small way of paying for that. So it’s no big deal.”


      “Our job is to keep you in check.” Auruo spoke up, “And that isn’t in the wrong. So don’t get cocky, kid!”


      “I’m sorry, Eren.” Petra said, “We were so scared… You must be disappointed in our stupidity. But even so, we’ll be relying on you, so we’d like you to rely on us.”


      Eren was silent for a few moments before speaking, “I… I will.”


      They all let out small sighs of relief before moving to stand. One by one, everyone left the room, most likely heading to bed at the late hour. Hanji led Eren out, attempting to ask him a few questions before he had to return to his cell. He gave you a small smile before being tugged out of view by the overbearing scientist. Soon, only you and Levi were left.


      “Thank-you.” You said softly to him, “For not jumping to conclusions about him earlier. I’m pretty sure they would have killed him right then and there if you hadn’t intervened.”


      “You understand why they did it, don’t you?” He asked.


      You nodded in reply.


      “Good.” He said walking to the door, “Just make sure your emotions don’t cloud your judgment.”


      The door closed behind him, leaving you alone in the silence with your thoughts.