Soldier Child (Attack On Titan/Shingeki No Kyojin Fanfiction)

Chapter 2

Later that evening as everyone gathered for dinner, Petra waved back to a smiling Hange sitting across from Captain Levi at a table. Her captain seemed to a little be put off by Hange's cheerfulness and he glared at her in suspicion as she waved to his subordinate. Even her squad mates, including Eren, gave her curious glances. They did not know Hange and Petra were close.

Petra's squad sat with Eren at a table near Squad Leader Hange and Captain Levi. Usually Captain Levi sat with his team as well but he wanted to talk to Hange about Eren and what she had learned from her experiments with the teen so far.

Petra ignored the glances from her friends and said her greetings before sitting down and digging into her meal of beef stew and bread. The stew was more vegetables than beef but meat was expensive and they could not afford anything better. She was fairly hungry thanks to the hard work they had done that day and had been looking forward to dinner for hours. The young woman let the conversation of her squadmates wash over her as she ate. Auruo compared Eren to one of his annoying and overly curious little brothers as Eren vehemently denied the comparison, Eld mentioned that he was going to see his fiancee in a week and Gunther asked their opinion on what would be a good gift for his grandfather. Eld's suggestion of great-grandkids was met with a stern glare. Petra laughed and almost choked on her food at Eld's suggestion.

Eren, bless that boy, quickly handed her a cup to drink from. She downed half of it before noticing the odd taste. Salty and sweet, a bit like rotten fruit someone tried to season with salt. The aftertaste was worse than the initial taste. Very metallic.

"Ugh! Eren where did you get this?" Petra grimaced and almost gagged. She held a hand to her mouth and stared at the glass. Had the glass not been cleaned or something?

"I'm sorry Miss Petra! Squad Leader Hange told me to give you that. She said it was some medicine she made for you so that's probably why it tastes bad. I hope you'll feel better now. Hange was very insistent that you got it." So Hange had used Eren's naivety to get her to drink? Petra felt a wave of anger towards the brunette for using Eren to get her to drink her serum. But now what would happen to her?

Petra could feel a wave of dizziness and nausea affecting her not even twenty seconds after she had ingested Hange's concoction. She dropped the glass with a loud clatter, spilling the rest of the liquid on the ground, and clutched her head as it began to throb. Her friends stopped to stare at her, as well as a few people around them who heard the noise, including her captain. The ginger haired woman began to breathe deeply until she felt a little better before she tried to say anything.

"It's not your fault but I don't think that was medicine Eren." Petra grit out over her sickness to the worried youth. She glanced at the concerned faces of her friends before looking away. She thought she saw Captain Levi stand up from his seat near Hange and Moblit but her vision had begun to blur so she was not sure if he really had.

"Then what was it?" Eren stared and her in confusion. Petra didn't answer as the nausea was getting worse. She tried to stand up from her seat but slumped back down when her legs would not support her. The young woman tried again and forced her body to stand on shaky legs. The urge to retch was powerful and if she was going to throw up, she wanted to do it in private without everyone looking at her.

"Petra, you alright?" Oluo asked as he stood up from his own seat. He could tell she wasn't. Eld and Gunther also rose, nearing their friend.

"N-no, I-I don't feel very good." Petra groaned and collapsed backwards before she could say any more. Her last clear thoughts were that she would find a way to get her revenge on Hange. Her friends cried her name and Oluo was able to catch her before she hit the ground. She felt him lower her gently until her back met the floor. She faintly heard Eld calling for a nurse and Captain Levi ordering someone to move out of his way. As Petra lay on the floor, she cursed herself for not telling Commander Erwin and Captain Levi about Hange. Her current condition was thanks to that mistake. Slowly, all sounds and feelings around her faded as she began to lose consciousness.

**********

"Petra?" Captain Levi called his subordinate's name but received no reply but a pained groan. Blood began to leak from the young woman's ears and nose. Other people in the room stood up and walked over to to see what was happening.

"What the hell's wrong with her?" Levi questioned the males of his team.

"I don't know! Squad leader Hange told me to give her a drink and then this happened after she drank it. She told me it was Petra's medicine!" Eren admitted in a panicked voice. He was near tears as he looked at the prone woman on the floor.

"Shitty-Glasses!" Levi bellowed angrily and turned to find the self proclaimed scientist with a pen and notebook in her hands. She stood with Moblit, who was looking somewhat guilty, realizing part of this was his fault for bringing Petra to Hange.

"Just what the fuck did you do to my subordinate?"

"Uh, it's nothing serious! She should be fine in a little while! I think?"

"You. Think." He repeated menacingly, advancing on her in anger.

"Hey, calm down now. She'll be fine. That rats I tested it on are all okay!" Hange replied a little sheepishly while raising her hands in front of her. Of course, the rats didn't display any of the symptoms Petra was showing right now but the scientist decided she wouldn't mention that just yet. She was sure the serum was not lethal and the Petra would be fine in a little bit. Hopefully with some of the desired effects of the serum.

Levi opened his mouth to say more but there was yelling and then a scream from the crowd surrounding Petra. He turned back to push past the crowd that had formed around his subordinate. He stopped when he saw a large pool of blood on ground. Levi's eyes traveled to the source of the blood and he took a few moments to just stare in disbelief at what he saw.

"What the hell?" He breathed as he took in the sight before him.

In the center of the pool of crimson liquid was Petra, or what he thought was Petra. Unless he was seeing things, Petra had shrunk. The blood covered uniform was much larger than the body that now wore it. The miniature form of his subordinate was laying on the ground with her teammates staring at her in a slack-jawed stupor. The small form was breathing so she was alive, which came as a relief to Levi and everyone else in the room. Levi felt Hange move beside him after a few moments. She took a second to take in what had happened before speaking.

"Oops?"