Chapter Text
It had been several years since you joined the Survey Corps. Well, you may disagree with the word “joined”, you preferred to say that it was the ultimate punishment for all of your past transgressions.
~
Eren watched as Armin looked over at the table the squad leaders ate at. It had been a few weeks since Armin, Mikasa, and the rest of the cadets joined the Survey Corps. Eren nudged the blond boy with his elbow,
“What are you thinking about, Armin?” The brunet questioned.
“It’s not really anything… It’s just that…'' Armin's explanation trailed off as he glanced at the table with the battle hardened veterans sitting and discussing over their food. The only two not participating in the conversation were Levi and- in Eren’s opinion- the craziest person he had ever had the (dis)pleasure of being introduced to. As Eren chewed his bread, his mind wandered back to the day he went on trial for being a titan-shifter, or more accurately an interaction between Hange and Levi afterward.
~
“Hange, you do realize what this means?”
“We have an amazing new lead on how titans work!” The excitable and morally questionable scientist responded, not exactly paying a lot of attention to the black haired man sitting beside Eren on the couch.
“No… It means we are going to have to introduce The Hound to Eren.” Hange paused their examination of the newly regrown tooth in Eren’s mouth. They slowly pulled their fingers out of his mouth and Eren looked between the Captain and the Squad Leader. Hange did not look at Levi, but the silence communicated what could not be put into words. Eren tried to reassure the pair.
“Uhm, Captain Levi? I don’t think you have to be too concerned, I’m good with dogs.” At this comment, Levi frowned; however, his frown seemed more like an expression of trying to hold back what the warrior really wanted to say rather than genuine anger or unhappiness. After hearing Eren’s hesitant reassurance Hange burst into laughter. They cackled and Levi shifted to look better at Eren.
“The Hound isn-” The black-haired soldier began, but Hange’s hand slapped over his mouth, to which Levi shoved them off but he did not try to continue whatever he was trying to tell Eren before. Eren was very confused at this point but he was too wary of the captain to try asking any further questions, his body was still sore from the beating he received in the courtroom. “Get off of me, glasses!”
“Levi,” Hange begged, “don’t spoil it! It will be so interesting to see his reactions to them.” Levi turned away from Hange, scowl deepening.
“I won’t, but we still don’t know if Erwin will allow us to introduce them to Eren. You know how they are with new people, especially people they perceive as powerful. Now just imagine that, but intensify it by a thousand. You know the moment The Hound finds out the brat can turn into a titan…” He left the sentence where it stood like the corpse of a titan, neck freshly sliced. Armin and Mikasa, who were in the room, seemed in varying stages of contemplation of the veteran soldiers’ words. Armin tried to puzzle through what, or as his theories began solidifying, who this “Hound” thing was. Mikasa was trying to gauge it’s threat level off of what extremely limited information this interaction had provided. Eren was confused, but figured if this dog tried to attack him, he could defeat it easily, he would not let this get in the way of his mission to kill all titans.