Leo Simon
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Counterattack Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2023-12-04 20:09:38 +0000 UTCEren was eating his lunch, which was of an even lower quality than that of the cadet corps- showcasing how poorly funded the Scouts really were-, and speaking a bit with his friends who'd decided to become Scouts.
Sasha sighed, lamenting her decisions. "If only I'd chosen the Military Police, I'd be enjoying the good life right now."
Everyone understood her sentiment, with Connie even comforting her. "Come on cheer up. Didn't we make a promise on the Wall when the Colossal hit? We said we'd take back Wall Maria and eat meat together, so it'll be worth it in the end."
The redhead girl still looked down though. But, that was short lived as an idea popped up in her head.
Sasha gave Eren a look reminiscent of 'puppy eyes'. "Hey Eren, I gave up three square meals a day for you. Can you give me some bread, pretty please?"
The other trainees, even Mikasa, looked amused at the spectacle.
Eren considered it a moment. As a shifter he didn't need as much food or water to sustain himself, a fact he'd learned from inheriting the memories of one of the Attack Titan's predecessor's, so skipping a meal or two on occasion wouldn't affect him that badly.
Then again, he didn't really feel like sharing. The food wasn't good, but he needed all the energy he could get.
Eren shook his head, making Sasha's puppy eyes drop, and be replaced by those of a wolf that lunged at his hand, trying to grab his bread with her teeth.
Sasha knocked him off his seat and onto the ground, trying to wrestle the food out of his hand.
The other officers didn't look concerned, just amused with some laughing at the comical scene.
Eren grabbed Sasha by the face, trying to pry her off him, and she responded by savagely biting his hand.
"Ahh- what the fuck Sasha, are you a wild animal now?!" Eren complained, not noticing the the short man walking closer to the scene, nor the sudden halt of laughter in the mess hall.
Eren finally ripped his food away from Sasha, letting himself relax, only to sense someone was behind him. It turned out someone was, and it just happened to be a certain scowling Captain
Yeager, Commander Erwin has asked for your presence. Come with me, he said it's urgent." Levi made every other soldier pipe down with just a few words, making it clear that he was ordering Eren to come. Not asking.
Having so many skilled soldiers eyes on him at once made Eren a bit nervous, but he ignored it and nodded. "Sure Captain, there a reason he wants me there?"
Levi narrowed his eyes, well narrowed them a bit more. "It's a classified matter that he wants to speak about with you in private."
When Eren noticed how tense the shorter man was, he figured that Erwin had already told Levi about him being a Titan. He knew not to press further, especially since Annie was probably watching them.
"Alright, let's not keep him waiting then." Eren met Mikasa's concerned gaze, seeing that she was about to get up and ask to follow him, but she ended up sitting back down. Probably figuring that it would just be suspicious if she went with him.
Levi led the way, with the two of them walking out of the mess hall and into the hallways, and an awkward silence weighed between both of them.
Well it weighed on him, he was pretty sure Levi didn't even care that much about that stuff.
Eren just vaguely asked. "So, did Erwin tell you about me? What I can do."
Levi didn't halt, dryly stating. "Yeah, he did. And he's willing to give you the benefit of a doubt for some reason. I personally don't trust you, but I'm okay with being proven wrong."
"That's fine. We'll be working together though, and I'm willing to put my trust in you. Plus I doubt they call you 'Humanities strongest soldier' if you couldn't handle me, so me trying to stab you in the back would be dumb move."
Levi showed clear distaste. "Don't call me that, I've never liked that shitty title. Way too flashy for my taste."
The two of them stopped in front of a door, with Levi placing a hand on the door as he stared intensely at Eren. "And, if you lie to us, or try to trick us, then I'll kill you. Simple as that."
Eren would by lying if he said that glare didn't make him want to back away, but he did his best not to falter, and Levi eventually dropped the hostility as they entered an office where Commander Erwin and several other officers he recognised were sitting and standing.
Eren didn't miss the way they were looking at him, but chose to willingly ignore it as the door closed behind him and left him alone with several veteran Scouts, all armed with their ODM gear. he was bitter about that last part, but didn't really blame them.
There were just five people total in the room, excluding him. Miche, Nanaba, Hange, Levi, and of course Erwin Smith.
Erwin was the first to break the ice. "So, Eren, would you care to share what you told me a few days ago with the people in this room? They all have my complete trust."
"Wait, you really haven't told them everything?" The other veterans perked up slightly, making the answer obvious.
"No. Obviously they know about your powers, but they know little else. I wanted to confirm your story before working with you properly, and they've done that. All the evidence they've gathered adds credibility to what you've said. Besides, you clearly know more about Marley and the Warriors than me. You'd be able to go into better detail than me."
Eren understood as he turned towards the others in the room, meeting the veterans eyes he spoke in total seriousness. "What I'm about to tell you will ruin your view of the world, and you won't be able to go back to being ignorant like before. So, I'll ask. Do you still want to hear the truth about the world, the Titans, and what's really going on?"
Hearing that, Levi scoffed. "Don't dance around the subject. We can handle the truth, even if it isn't pretty, it's better than being an idiot who buries their head in the sands. So, out with it will ya?"
Levi's opinion looked to be shared with the others, so Eren opened his mouth and started to explain.
"Alright. But, to tell properly explain this I'll need a while. There were a few things I forgot to mention to Commander Erwin, so, is there a chalkboard around here somewhere?"
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"Hey, Armin, why do you think Eren is taking so long?" Mikasa asked as they walked through the hallways of HQ, with her clearly being anxious of the fact she hadn't seen Eren for a nearly three whole hours.
Armin placated her worries. "He's not exactly mentioning a simple topic, Mikasa. Besides, considering who they're talking about, it makes sense for them to be discussing what course of action they'll take next."
Mikasa knew he had a point, but that still didn't stop her from worrying about him.
Armin continued by stating. "Look, I know you're worried about Eren. I am too, but we can't always be there with him. Earning the trust of the Scouts is just something he needs to do himself."
Mikasa looked down for a moment, but a familiar voice caused her to whip her head backwards. A pool of dread in her guts.
"What are you talking about?" Annie spoke from behind them, with Armin and Mikasa both tensing up slightly when they realised the stoic girl was right in front of them.
Mikasa's first instinct was to run with Armin, but that thought was instantly cast aside. Annie was a quiet girl, but she was also analytical, so if they went off running they'd lose that element of surprise and she'd retreat out of their grasp. And that was assuming she didn't just outright murder the both of them because, strong as she was, Mikasa lacked her ODM gear at the moment. She couldn't beat any Titan without it, let alone a shifter.
She was in a conundrum. When it came to fighting a Titan, she had no fear at the idea, but right now they were in a situation where her and Armin needed to be quick witted. Which, whilst she thought herself plenty bright, she'd never had to rely on her mouth to resolve her problems.
Luckily for her, Armin quickly explained. "We were just talking about Eren, he's trying to get the Scouts to help him with recruitment. The Commander got any eye on him, since so many of our classmates joined because of him, and Erwin thinks he'd be able to help get more soldiers for the Survey Corps."
Mikasa had to stop herself from showing how impressed she was, Armin's skills of speaking were very impressive, and she herself wouldn't have thought twice at the lie.
Annie, however, merely raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's quite strange. Even if that maniac has a knack for speeches, I doubt anyone will be recruited by a fifteen year old boy. Is the Commander really that foolish?"
Armin only needed a moment to retort her. "I doubt that. Commander Erwin is known for his keen eye, so maybe he just sees potential in Eren. He was the second best in our class afterall, and for the fight to come we'll need as many people as possible if we want to beat the Titans."
Annie snorted, as though she found the thought funny. "In that case he should save his breath. Humans can't beat Titans, even if we can kill them they'll just come back. At this point, the Walls are practically destined for slaughter. The Scouts are fools, since all hope does in this world is fail people."
Mikasa had to resist her own urge to glare at Annie, knowing the real meaning behind her words. "And, what about you? Why did you decide to join the Scouts if you really think that?"
Annie lip gave the tiniest of twitches as her eyes almost held a sadness to them, Mikasa wasn't even sure it was there since it disappeared a second later, and she spoke with a tone that was almost wistful.
"Because I'm a fool too. I've never been able to work up the strength to be brave, or go against the flow. All I every wanted was to be normal, but the world never let me. People like us just aren't born normal. We die young, and the time we do get is torment."
Annie finished by staring forward, her icy blue eyes surprisingly intent. "I just want to live. That's why I became a Scout."
Annie proceeded to walk past them, going in the same direction as them, and once she was gone Mikasa allowed herself to put her guard down.
"You think she knows about Eren?" Mikasa whispered lowly.
Armin shook his head and affirmed. "I don't think so, but her suspecting something is pretty likely. Next time we talk to Eren, we should mention this."
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Eren set the chalk down, having finished his explanation of the Walls, Marley, and Titans. This information left all the Scouts in a daze. Even Hange.
Nanaba slowly questioned. "So, for the past hundred years, we've been... killing humans. We haven't even been doing anything to the real enemy, we've just been killing our own."
Levi bitterly clicked his tongue, speaking his thoughts aloud. "What a fucking joke. The royal government has known the truth all along, and they've done fuck all with it. It's like the punchline on the end some awful farce."
Eren chose to keep quiet, since the looks on the Scouts' faces told him all he needed to know. They were angry, and rightfully so. The government had essentially been trying to stop them from saving humanity, they'd been fed lies their whole lives, and the world wanted the Walls to die because of something their ancestors did. Something that might be overexaggerated, or just a blatant lie, by Marley to paint Eldians as evil devils that needed to be exterminated.
Hange asked, sceptical. "I'm sorry, but is the entire world really against us? You're making it sound like everyone everywhere wants us to be eaten alive by Titans, but I find that a little hard to believe."
Eren thought for a moment, about how to answer that, and responded carefully. "Look, history is told by the winners, and Marley has been winning for the past century. They've made us out to be devils using propaganda, and they aren't spitting just hot air, the Eldian Empire had total control over the world for over a millennia. That's a long time to dominate the world, and Eldia personally invaded a lot of countries back then. To answer your question Hange, whilst Marley might be the ones spreading propaganda, they use Eldians as soldiers and weapon due to their ability to Titanize. The rest of the world doesn't have any of that, they only keep us alive because of Marley."
Eren stared down at his hand. "I'm not kidding that in nearly every country on the globe, Eldians are treated even more horrifically than Marley. We truly have little to no allies, let alone ones that'll help us fight a war."
They widened their eyes at the idea.
Eren told them bluntly. "Ideally we'd want to sit down and talk, to negotiate peace, but that's just not a realistic option. If we want to win, then we need to beat them militarily, not diplomatically."
Erwin nodded. "I agree, and if we wanted to beat them, then taking the nine Titan powers from them would be the most optimal move. You said that Marley has relied on them to expand their Empire, so losing them all would cripple our enemy greatly. You also said that the Founding Titan has omnipotence over the Titans and Eldians, so if we managed to obtain it's power then we'd be able to return the Titans to their human states?"
Eren nodded. "I believe so. I can't claim to know everything about it, but I know that it's power over Eldians is meant to be absolute. Besides, considering what else it can do, returning a Titan into a human is nothing."
Levi sharpened his eyes on Eren. "So, your dad stole this power and handed it off to you. Why didn't he just keep it and use it himself? Or better yet, why haven't you used it?"
"It's not that simple. When someone gains the Power of the Titans they- they die thirteen years after they get their powers. My father was about to die, so he needed to pass the Attack and Founding Titans onto someone else. Unfortunately, that happened to be me."
Eren didn't miss the widened eyes sent his way, but still allected to ignore them as he continued. "As for why I haven't used it, the answer is simple. Only royal blood can use the Founder at will, else they won't get it's full power. But, because Karl Fritz placed a vow renouncing war on the Founding titan, any royal who gets this power will just fall prey to what he would have wanted. That being the destruction of the Walls."
Miche huffed coolly, though a few drops of sweat were building up on his brow. "So, our only hope for survival is completely blocked off because some asshole decided he wanted us all to die years ago. Sounds about right."
Eren smiled in response, as he shook his head. "Not quite. Whilst that coward might have made a vow, that vow only applies to his descendants, and as luck would have it there's a way to get around the royal blood requirement. A regular Eldian, who has the Founding Titan, needs to touch a Titan of royal blood. It doesn't matter if they're a Shifter or a Pure Titan. Either will do the job."
Erwin's eye gleamed, a rare smile budding at his lip. "I see. So, if we were to capture a member of the royal family and transform them, then you'd have the means to save every person trapped as a Titan and be able to put Marley in check."
Eren nodded, before he mentioned. "My father was a revolutionist in Marley, but he didn't accomplish much because they had low numbers and nearly no power. They were captured because of this, and everyone except him was turned into a mindless Titan. Including his first wife, Dina Fritz. She was of royal blood, if we can locate her then I can use the Founder's power."
Hange frowned. "But, if she was turned into a Titan so long ago there's a chance she was killed by a Scout, wouldn't it be smart not to devote our time into tracking down a single Titan?"
Eren's eyes darkened for a moment as he explained his reasoning. "Look, whilst the possibility is there, the odds she's alive are really high. The Survey Corps won't have even scratched the surface when it comes to killing all the Titans on this island. There are just too many of them."
"How many have been turned then?" Levi asked, looking invested in how many humans were subject to Marley's terror.
Eren mentally thought aloud. "Let's see. Karl Fritz turned tens of thousands of his people into Titans when he created the Walls, to keep his lies believable, and there was a point shortly after Marley took over the continent. They'd mercilessly kill Eldians, to make their population more manageable, and a lot more were turned into Titans on the island. Then there's the other Eldians that were routinely turned into Titans to set loose outside the Walls... probably around four hundred thousand, but that's a rough estimate."
"FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND?!!" Hange screamed, her voice containing nothing but horror, and the rest of the Scout were displaying more controlled reactions, but they were still filled with disgust at the thought of so many people being turned into man-eating monsters against their will.
Even Eren, who'd had years to think about this and accept reality, couldn't stop himself from grimacing at the idea. Marley truly was a monstrous state.
Erwin was still showing displeasure, but decided to spur the conversation along. "Regardless, bringing so many people back from the dead will increase our population rapidly. There are many factors to consider, but the boost in people will be a massive help in defeating Marley. A lot of them might feel indebt to us and join our military, which would be a big help considering Marley's own military might is..."
"About a million soldiers."
Erwin blinked, with the rest of the Scouts showing a variety of other reactions, though he did continue. "Yes. If we could control the Founder then so many options would be open to us. However, we're getting off track, first we need to act against the Warriors and take their powers from them. How exactly would you take a Titan power, Eren?"
Eren breathed in heavily, then exhaled. "You need to inject them with Titan Serum. This will turn the person who took it into a Pure Titan, and then they need to eat a Titan Shifter. Doing so will not only save them, but they'll gain the powers of the person they ate. It's the reason Titans eat everyone indiscriminately, they're looking for one of the nine to devour."
The veteran Scouts all gave him startled looks, with Levi even saying. "Shit, that's fucked up."
Erwin pushed further. "And how exactly would we make this 'Titan Serum'?"
Eren opened his mouth, trying to look at his past memories for an answer, only to come up dry. "I don't know. Titan spinal fluid is part of it, might even be the only thing you need, but I can't say for certain if there are other ingredients. If we managed to track down the base of the royal family then we could possibly find some."
Hange chimed in. "If we had the Founder then we wouldn't need any this serum, and even if we can't find any, there are plenty of Titans lying outside the Walls. We could feed a Warrior to them."
Levi admitted. "This new shifter would probably be less volatile, but there are still risks to doing that. For a starter, I doubt Marley was merciful enough to spare children from being turned into Titans, so we could be giving a ten year old this power for all we know. Plus, this propaganda they've put Eldians on is definitely strong stuff. They might still be loyal to Marley, even after being turned into a mindless monster."
Eren agreed. "He's right. Besides, even if a lot of them are innocent, there will be some very dangerous criminals out there. Risking the power of a Titan falling into the powers of some bloodthirsty freak is a horrible idea."
Erwin nodded his head. "Those are factors to take into account, so it'll be smart only to feed them to a random Titan if there truly is no other choice. Speaking of Marley's Warriors, we'll need to be careful about their capture. They don't suspect you, do they Eren?"
Eren shook his head. "No, whilst they know about the Attack Titan now, my identity is probably still a secret. However, Annie is a clever girl, if we give her enough time she'll probably figure it out on her own. We need to take her down before then."
Miche gave his two cents. "That would be our best course of action, but what about her friends? Is she truly alone?"
"Yes. Reiner and Bertolt joined the Military Police, but Annie chose to join the Scouts. Annie always said she was looking out for herself during training, so my guess is that saving Trost made the three of them reconsider their next moves more carefully, and I'm guessing that they'll want to get the rest of Marley's Titans here to help retrieve the Founder and go home."
Levi almost looked amused. "Guess your little act in Trost scared them, so they want to rally their friends to kill everyone in the Walls. Sounds about right."
Erwin finished the summary for Eren. "Then I suppose Reiner and Bertolt have gone to the Military Police to try and locate the Founding Titan. Getting to the both of them will be difficult, but Annie will be simple. Hopefully we can isolate her and capture her powers."
The other Scout momentarily looked at him, probably expecting him to raise a defence against Annie, but he didn't do a thing. He never let himself get especially attached to the Warrior trio, so them dying wouldn't hurt him personally. Much,
He could feel sorry for them, for their circumstances, but he had reasons for them to die. they had something the island needed, and they were desperate to finish their mission. When neither side backed down, people died.
He couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, Paradis wouldn't need the Rumbling if he managed to make them strong enough. If they had all nine Titans, and they played their cards right, then perhaps he can secure the island's future before his time was up.
The Warriors needed to die for him to move forward, so he wouldn't hesitate.
He couldn't hesitate.
