Attack On Titan: Wings Of Freedom

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"You're lucky it wasn't more serious." The doctor in front of me said.

"You've told me that a dozen times now." I mumbled as he looked at my head. My tumble off the horse had taken a few days to recover from, since I had hit my head on a rock. There was no brain damage or anything, but ever since I had woken up I hadn't left the room.

"Well, you're ready to go out I'd say, but that's up to Sonny and Bean I suppose." He said as he sat back. I touched the bandage wrapped around my head and saw the chain dangling on my wrist.

The handcuff was still attached to me and Sonny had informed me that they couldn't get mine off, but they did have a blacksmith that would at least break off the other one so it wouldn't be in my way. The way he talked I could almost tell he had dealt with this several times before.

"When am I going to meet Bean anyway?" I asked. The doctor didn't pause in his work, but it took him a second to opened his mouth to answer. But someone else answered him first.

"How about now?" I jumped and turned to see Sonny standing in the doorway with another man. Sonny was shorter than the unknown man, with wild, vibrate yellow hair and gray eyes. The other man had brown hair slicked back and brown eyes. He seemed more stoic, a sharp contrast to Sonny's usual bright smile.

"Hi." I said after a moment. I felt a little stupid, but I had nothing better to say and I felt I should say something.

"She's an idiot, why did you rescue her?" The brown haired man said without a moments hesitation. I huffed in annoyance.

"Because she's not an idiot. She was handcuffed to the captain and he refused to undo the cuff even when I threatened to kill him, so she's got to be something special." Sonny said. "Oh, by the way Eren, this is Bean." He added.

"A pleasure, I think." I said hesitantly. He snorted, scanning me from head to toe, and turned to Sonny.

"I don't care how special you think she is, she's another mouth to feed and idiots can't pull their own weight. We'd be better off kicking her out." Bean said.

"Now, now we can't do that, remember?" Sonny was hinting at something, but I didn't know what. "Besides, even idiots can be good for something, since you seem so sure she is an idiot." Sonny added.

"I don't know if that was an insult or a compliment." I said. Sonny smiled.

"Compliment, of course. Besides, our last shopper got himself killed and a girl like her is certainly going to be less suspicious. Besides, she's a fresh face the authorities won't recognize." Sonny added.

"True enough. Doc, is she ready to go out?" Bean asked.

"I'd say so. She should take it easy for a few days more, but she's ready to get out of here. I think she'd go even if I told her she wasn't ready." Doc said.

"Good. Sonny, take her to the blacksmith and get that handcuff taken care of. I'm leaving you to watch after her." Bean added, in a frighteningly serious way.

"And my name is Eren." I mumbled as he left. I was tired of him calling me "she".

"Such a cold hearted guy." Sonny muttered before turning to me. "Anyway, let's go get that done now. Bean will get furious if we leave it be after he told us to do it." Sonny offered a hand.

I stood up without taking it and he lowered it. "Lead the way." I said. Sonny and I left Doc in the room and for a while we walked though a stone hallway with no windows. I could see a couple of other hallways, some with stairs, but no windows and no people. "Where are we?" I asked him finally.

"The underground city. There's not much to see down here and no windows gives added privacy so this place is great." Sonny said casually as he led me along. We reached a large room were I could see a dozen or more men relaxing in chairs.

"Sonny!" One guy said brightly when he noticed the blond. The others all nodded or said "hello" and Sonny received it all with a smile.

"And hello to you all." He replied once they quieted down.

"Is that the prize from the last raid?" A guy asked as he eyed me. Sonny nodded and the guy leapt over the couch. He caught my chin and looked closely at my face before I knocked him away. "She's not very cute." He said like that was important.

"Oh, Brantley, haven't I told you not to insult a lady?" Sonny said as he put an arm around my shoulder. I shoved him off and he pouted.

"She's no lady." Brantley mumbled.

"Of course she is. She just doesn't know it." Sonny said. Just then another man ran up.

"Bean needs you." He said, panting.

Sonny suddenly got a devious smile. "Alright, Brantley, you take her to the blacksmith." He said before walking away with the other man.

"Huh!?" The two of us said together, but he was already long gone. Brantley looked furious but took a breath. Actually he had to take several before he grabbed the handcuff and started dragging me behind him.

"Let's go." He said as he pulled me along even though I was already half running just to keep up with him.

"Can you slow down?" I asked through gritted teeth. He slowed enough I didn't have to run and I huffed through my nose, pulling the handcuff away from him. "So, can I ask you something?"

"Why not." He replied almost sarcastically.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"What did I do?" He looked at me, confused.

"I mean, everyone here is considered a criminal of some kind or another right? So why are you considered a criminal?" I elaborated. Now that I had asked I earnestly wanted to know. Before it had just been to get him talking.

"Oh. I was a thief, a good one. I never killed anyone personally but the group I ran with did and so I got accused of being a killer." He explained. I nodded and we walked in silence for a minute. "What about you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm a "traitor"." I said, making quotation marks in the air around traitor.

"How so? Abandon your post or something dumb like that?" He asked.

"No, for inventing." I corrected.

"You're an inventor? So you're not an idiot like Bean says?" Brantley asked skeptically.

I snorted. "Of course I'm not an idiot." We reached a door and he grabbed two cloaks off hooks next to us. "Although Mikage might disagree... No, he knows I'm smart, he just thinks I'm crazy." I thought with a smile.

"Put it on and keep your head down." He warned after handing one of the cloaks to me. I pulled it on and he reached for the door. He was about to pull it open then paused and added, "oh, and don't let anyone see that handcuff. It'll cause more trouble that you'll want to deal with."

He opened the door without waiting for a reply and led me out into the town. I finally got my first good look at the underground city.