Work Text:
850
Survey Corps Barracks, Trost District
Flinging open the door with a forceful bang, Hange barged into the office.
“Sorry I’m late! Had to make sure the Garrison guys weren’t abusing our titan friends— oh, but nevermind that!” She straightened her glasses that had gone askew on her nose. “Is it true, Erwin? Can that boy transform into a titan?” she queried, bursting with excitement at the very thought.
Erwin closed the file and slid it across his desk to Miche. “The Garrison report says so. And Levi saw him come out of a titan’s nape.”
Leaning against the window frame, arms crossed, Levi clicked his tongue. “Don’t encourage Four-Eyes to interrogate me.”
“Too late,” Miche noted absently, flipping open the file to read the report as Hange pranced over to Levi.
“Was he conscious?” She leaned against the wall beside the Captain, crossing her arms in an imitation of his posture. “Did he say anything? How did he look?”
Levi side-eyed her with irritation. “He looked like any regular brat to me,” he replied dismissively, “except for the disgusting marks around his eyes.”
Hange perked up. “What, like bad acne, or—”
“This says there’s supposed to be something important in the basement of his old home in Shiganshina District,” Miche said, scanning the report. “But he doesn’t remember what it is, only that his father told him to go there. And the father himself has been missing for five years, since the day Wall Maria fell.”
Erwin gave a curt nod. “Yes. This could be exactly what the Survey Corps has been searching for all this time.” The truth. The proof that his father had been right, that the ruling nobility was conspiring to keep the population ignorant. All in that basement. He was sure of it. “We must obtain custody of Eren Yeager and reach that basement. Which means we must also reclaim Wall Maria. Hence, the overall goal remains the same — with a few complications.”
“Complications?” Levi echoed, his tight posture slackening with disbelief. “Erwin, he could be lying. There could be nothing in his basement. Or he could be hiding something. The freaky brat can turn into a titan, are you really willing to include him in your gambles?”
“I am.” Erwin’s unhesitating assertion gave the other three a pause. He continued: “There is no reason for the boy to lie. From what we’ve gathered of his personality and background assessment, he’s always wanted to join the Survey Corps.” And oh how familiar that sounded. “Even if that wasn’t the case, we cannot pass up the opportunity. This is the first breakthrough we’ve had since you and Hange discovered Ilse Langnar’s notebook.”
The conversation lulled briefly, before Hange broke the silence with a thoughtful hum.
“I wonder if he’d be able to communicate with Sawney and Bean…” she muttered, rubbing her hands together. Her glasses caught the sunlight at an odd angle, making her look sinister for an instant. She alone was fully on board. “Will I be allowed to run tests on him? Do a few experiments?”
“Don’t answer that,” Levi warned.
“If we can pry him from the Military Police, you’ll be in charge of designing and running experiments,” Erwin assured her.
Levi glowered at the ceiling as Hange initiated a celebratory dance around the office, cackling and whooping in turns. With two Pure titans captured for her to study, and the appearance of an adolescent boy capable of creating and manipulating a titan body, she was quite possibly the happiest person in Trost.
Miche was frowning. He paid no mind to Hange’s cavorting, his eyes fixed on the Commander. “Erwin, I know that look. You’re planning something risky. And you need this Yeager kid for that plan.”
“Correct.” Erwin rapped his fingers on the desk. “If we don’t get Eren Yeager, we won’t be able to achieve much anymore. Our efforts of the last five years are annulled. With the gate plugged up, the supply line we’ve established from Trost to Shiganshina has been rendered useless. But with a titan fighting for us, we could make immense progress.”
Levi wasn’t convinced. “And who will be responsible for containing the brat? Who’ll make sure he won’t go berserk on us during an expedition?” Erwin looked at him. The Captain contrived to appear more annoyed than usual. “I don’t babysit titans, I kill them.”
“You also occasionally help me capture them!” Hange reminded him. Having regained some composure, she joined Miche and peered around him at the report.
“You’re the only one I would entrust him to, Levi. The Special Operations Squad was formed precisely for these types of incalculable circumstances. But I will let you decide for yourself.” Erwin held up a hand, impeding a preemptive response. “Please withhold your answer until we meet him.”
“Tch, fine,” Levi relented, not bothering to conceal his scepticism.
“Wait, you’re taking Levi to meet him? He’ll scare the boy away!” Hange objected.
“He’ll be safe from Levi behind those steel bars,” Miche put in, turning over a page, the crease still present in his brow. He had misgivings as well, but did not voice them as readily as the Captain did.
Hange groaned. “But if we want to make a good first impression—”
“We should introduce him to a maniac who’s openly fantasizing about vivisecting him,” Levi completed the sentence in deadpan. “That’ll test the brat’s mettle. Agreed.”
As Hange sputtered protestations, Erwin gazed out the window, not acknowledging the searching look Miche was giving him. Whatever it took, they would obtain Eren Yeager and this titan transformation power. Reaching the basement in Shiganshina was paramount. It was what he’d worked towards for all these years. The answers would be there — about the titans, about the world, about the lies they’d been told.
This newly uncovered path would be more onerous than anything he’d ever undertaken. The obstacles he could already foresee were inordinate. The sacrifices required would be staggering. But he was not going to balk. He finally had a clear destination.
To reach it, no price could be too high.