Coming for your soul

Chapter 41

Eren POV

Zeke's words washed over him in his poor attempt to distract him. After Levi's departure, Zeke had come back only mere minutes later. Whatever he had seen on Eren's face, it told him enough about the chaos in his brother's head – more so, in his heart.

He didn't ask questions but started to randomly tell Eren about the events that had transpired when everyone had thought him dead.

"I never saw the leader of the whole operation.", he said and threw his brother a concerned glance, obviously not sure if his words were heard or ignored by the younger one. "They never let me in on the crucial secrets. I was to do as they said, hunt down who threatened them and never distinguish between the innocent and guilty."

"What else?", Eren murmured. He still felt his mouth prickle from Levi's plush lips and the memory of the older man's hands in his hair drove him crazy. Not as crazy as the memory of him leaving him. Or the hurt look on his face.

Zeke sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. The sunlight of the early morning hours reflected in his glasses as he pushed them up his nose. "Not much. All of us had to stay covered beneath veils or some kind of mask so no one would ever see our faces."

Eren scrunched up his nose. "I can't remember ever seeing any on them. Not even on those who hunted us down at Hanji's cottage."

"More than six months have passed and I left even earlier – not an easy task, if I might add. They don't take betrayal lightly and in many aspects they remind me of a sect more than of an army."

"How did you escape then?"

"I lied to one of the men I had to answer to. Told him I needed men for a mission because our enemy had found one of what they called 'outposts'. I have never seen one of those myself but that prick didn't know that."

"He just let you go with his men?"

"I earned their trust."

"By doing what?"

Zeke shot him a flat look. He almost heard him think "Don't ask questions you don't want answered."

"So you left with those men, defeated them and came here?"

His brother nodded. "But when I left, I heard some of the men whisper about something strange. They didn't have a name for it but the way I understood, they were talking about some kind of experiment."

Eren frowned. His gaze wandered to the sky behind the windows, red and orange in color. "And you never saw-"

"I don't know anything about the experiments or what their goal was.", Zeke interrupted him. "But I know one thing – nothing good can come from them. The third party is cruel and its leader most certainly heartless."

"How can you tell?"

"It was the way the soldiers acted. The way they talked. Everything about their attitude. They never once seemed to act out of utter devotion or even free will."

"Why would they stay there then? It doesn't make sense to follow a leader you don't believe in."

"Fear kept them quiet and small, Eren. I could feel it in every wall, saw it in all those eyes. They were terrified of something I have yet to name."

"Where was the hideout? We could attack it, throw them off or take someone captive to tell us-"

"They won't stay alive long enough.", Zeke said resolutely. "They would kill themselves before either one of us ever got a hand on them. And attacking the hideout would change nothing. It isn't their only and not even the main one. If we attack, we have to strike at the heart."