Attack On Titan: Wings Of Freedom

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I woke to the smell of cooking meat. I felt a little drool on the side of my face as I sat up. I was laying on my desk, a little saliva on my arm which I quickly wiped away. There wasn't any on my drawings so all was good.

"Wait... who's cooking? And what?" I suddenly thought in a panic. I jumped up, grabbing the modified version of the sword Mikage had brought me. The handle was much lighter and doubled as a trigger for the grappling hook and gas when connected.

I went down the stairs. By the time I got to the bottom my hands were hurting I held the handle so tight. I slipped quietly into the bottom floor. First thing I noticed was Leo wasn't in bed. The next thing I noticed was that he was the one cooking.

"Leo?" I asked hesitantly. He jumped and looked at me.

"Good morning, sis." He replied brightly. I lowered the sword and looked around.

"How are you...?" I trailed off.

"Up? The physical therapy Oz has me do is really helping." Leo said. "I wanted to make you breakfast to say thanks."

The table was covered in food. "Where did you get all of this?" I asked. Last time I had checked, our cupboards were almost empty.

"Mikage dropped it off early this morning. He said to tell you it was a gift from Nezo and to also let you know he couldn't come with you testing today. Whatever that means." Leo added.

"Good, I was hoping he wouldn't come today." I said as I sat down and dug in. The food tasted so good I had to remind myself not to eat it all.

Leo set down the pan of meat (which was in strips) and joined me. I saw him flinch slightly as he sat down. "You sure you're up for walking? You only started physical therapy a few weeks ago." I said.

"It's okay. The medicine helps so don't worry about me." Leo said brightly. I nodded, but it would be bugging me all day now.

"Don't overdo it, alright?" I said as I pointed a fork at him.

"Sure, sure." Leo agreed. I stood.

"Thanks for breakfast, it's time for me to scoot." I said.

"Be careful." He said. I heard upstairs, grabbed a shoulder bag with all my gear in it, and slipped out the door downstairs. It took me six minutes to get to the warehouse.

After closing and locking every door and window I pulled off my pants, changing into my tight mini shorts from my time working for Gold. I started putting on the harness.

The belts went all the way down my legs, even around the middle of my feet. It came up to the bottom of my ribs as well. I hooked on the barrel machine, pressure canisters, and grapple hooks.

Without hesitation I fired the hooks into the walls and the barrel pulled me into the air with no trouble. I turned and found balancing was much easier to do with the new harness. I could turn on a dime, even spend time in the air without being attached to anything. The sensation was amazing.

I spent several hours there, progressively getting faster as I flew around the warehouse. I landed with no trouble and nodded to myself. "Time for a more extensive practice ground." I thought.

I took off the barrel and canisters then set to work taking off the harness. The part around my waist and stomach came off easily, but as I got further down my legs it started to stick. When I finally got the harness all the way off I flinched. The belts had left burns on my skin.

I pulled on my pants slowly and cringed. Every step hurt where my pants brushed the burns. I took a breath and cleaned up quickly before I headed for home. It took me close to fifteen minutes.

I shut the door behind me and paused for a moment. "You're home early." Leo said.

"Testing didn't take long." I replied. I gingerly lowered myself into a chair and sighed. "Ow." I whimpered.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked.

"Oh, um, wrong fabric... to much weight... burns..." I muttered vaguely.

"Let me see." Leo ordered.

"I'm fine." I shook my head as Leo crouched in front of me. He pulled my pants off before I could argue and I nearly cried out from the pain.

"That's not fine. I'm getting Mikage." Leo said firmly as he stood. I reached out a hand to stop him only he was already gone.

"Shoot." I muttered. I closed my eyes and let my body relax. It felt really warm.

I was soaring through the air in the woods again but now I wore my new machine. The speed was incredible and the feeling of flying was indescribable. When I hit the end of the trees my machine changed shape to form to wings, the right one blue and the left one white. I was high above the ground when suddenly there was a bang. The wings shimmered, returning to my machine but there was nothing to fire into as I fell into black. It was a titan's mouth, the same one I was always eaten by.

"Eren!" I jumped at the sudden voice that yanked me back to reality.

"What?" I asked. Mikage was standing in front of me with Leo.

"What did you do?" Mikage asked.

"Testing the new harness..." I muttered. He let out a slow breath and then looked at me.

"You need a doctor." He said.

"I'm fine." I stood up and yelped. My legs gave out and I feared hitting the floor. Mikage caught me before that happened and set me in the chair.

"You're not fine." Mikage said as he crouched so he was looking up at me. "You need a doctor." He said.

"Mikage, I don't know where doctor Oz lives so I can't go get him." Leo said.

"You go lay down." Mikage ordered Leo. Leo hesitated before moving over to the bed. His hands were tightly clenched, telling me he was in pain. I hadn't even noticed and a wave of guilt crashed through me.

Mikage stared at me pointedly before moving over to Kamilo's stand. He muttered something as he stroked the bird then gave him something. Kamilo screeched and took off into the air. "Where's your medicine, Leo?" Mikage asked.

"Second shelf on the right." Leo replied. Now that I was paying attention, I could even hear it in his voice. Mikage quickly got the medicine and tossed it to Leo.

"The doctor shouldn't take to long, but I don't know what to do about your legs... Eren? Eren, hey! Eren!" Mikage's voice faded out as I felt myself starting to sink. It was hot as a fire and I lost myself in the black.

.

.

.

When I opened my eyes it was dark. I moved my fingers and toes before sitting up with a moan. "You're awake!" I jumped at Mikage's sudden voice.

"Yes, but don't shout. It hurts my ears." I muttered. Mikage was standing next to my bed and I could see a fallen chair behind him. "How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"A while. The sun went down a couple hours ago." Mikage picked the chair back up and sat back down.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked.

"First degree burns on your legs, but you've been burning with a fever since early afternoon." He said.

"Oh." I said softly. "Tell me something: how long until I can try again?" I asked.

"Try what again?" Mikage asked.

"The harness." I said like it should be obvious. Mikage coughed nervously.

"About that... Nezo feels responsible for this and is pulling you out. You did enough, he has engineers who can finish your invention." Mikage said.

For a moment I couldn't believe what I was hearing but when I looked around the room (which I could now see was my work shop), anything I had about the invention was gone. Even the modified swords. It started in my toes and I felt my body go numb. "No way." Was all I dared to say.