My Hero

Chapter 17

That day Erwin Smith was called to speak with Zachary Dhalis, the head of all three divisions of the army. Apparently, the Military Police was getting impatient with the Survey Corps and their hold on Eren.

"Erwin, when I made the decision to authorize you and the Survey Corps with Eren Yaeger, I expected to see results. I trust you have them for me; otherwise I will have to take the Military Police's point of view into consideration."

"I hope it won't come to that. And I actually do have something to report. Squad Leader Hanji Zoe has been working with Eren Yaeger and they are making progress. He is regaining his memories little by little, and once he is ready, I plan to set my idea in motion. Since it was proven that for some unknown to us reason he can turn into a titan, we think he can be very useful. I never thought we would actually have a titan on our side, but we can't close our eyes to such an opportunity."

"I do agree with you, Erwin, but are you certain he won't become troublesome and uncontrollable once he becomes a titan again? What if he is trying to fool us and is actually our enemy?"

"I can't guarantee everything will go smoothly, but I have faith in him, and I do believe he is an ally. Besides, if anything goes wrong and Eren becomes a threat to humanity, Levi will take care of him immediately."

"You already have everything planned, don't you, Erwin?"

"I'm simply doing my job."

"Alright. Since we've settled this question, you can go. Keep me up to date every step of the way. As long as I see good results, I will keep the Military Police out of your hair. Don't disappoint me, Erwin."

"I won't. Thank you for the support."

---

"Erwin, are you sure it was a good idea to keep the reason why Eren became a titan a secret from the Old Man?"

"I think it was necessary. First of all, we are not 100 percent sure this is the real reason. Eren's memories are pretty vague. Second of all, if his father really did manage to turn his son into a titan, that means he knew something way beyond our current knowledge on titans. Up until now, we didn't even acknowledge the idea that a human can become one of those creatures. Until we have more information on our hands, I would rather keep all of this a secret."

"Alright, it's your call." Levi proceeded to leave Erwin's office, but stopped and turned around. "Oi, Erwin, you seem to be back to your old self."

"Hm? Do you think so?"

"She's also doing well; in case you are interested."

"Ah, alright, that's good."

"It's better this way."

Those were Levi's last words before he left Erwin alone. What Levi didn't know, or he was pretending not to notice, was the fact it was taking Erwin a lot of effort to act like being away from her wasn't affecting him at all. All he wanted was to hold her in his arms once again and tell her how important she is to him. How important she had always been, even if he didn't realize it at first.

"Better this way, huh? I wonder..."

---

"Everyone, today is a very important day. Thanks to Eren Yaeger we have a chance to secure the broken gate in Trost District and stop the titans from making their way in. Once he turns into a titan, he will carry a huge boulder for that exact purpose. I will now assign a team, which will be responsible for keeping an eye on Eren's actions. There is a possibility he might not be able to control his Titan form, or be attacked by other titans, therefore he can't be left unsupervised. Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, Jean Kirstein and Desi, you will watch Eren every step of the way, and make sure things go according to plan. You will answer to Captain Levi. Everyone else will scatter around and kill all titans on sight. If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate to use the signal flares and ask for assistance. Our success today depends on everyone working together, and giving their best. I trust in your abilities! Shinzou wo Sasageyo!"

After the Commander's speech, we all made it down the wall to Trost District, and positioned ourselves. The place seemed quiet for now, even a bit too quiet. But we can never be too careful. Captain Levi gave us a few last instructions and left us to join the titan scouting group. Armin was the one who spoke up.

"Alright, Eren, let's do this."

"Yes!"

I was very proud of Armin; he looked livelier than before and confident in his actions. Same could be said for Eren. Unlike his first shock when he was faced with his ability, he seemed much better now. Even Mikasa wasn't her usual gloomy self. I had a good feeling about today.

Eren bit his hand and his body was immediately engulfed in a combination between green and yellow lights. It was almost blinding and, at the same time, amazing to watch his transformation this close. It felt scary and exciting at the same time. Damn, his roar was loud. I covered my ears. Right when I thought everything just might have gone smoothly, it went totally wrong in a matter of seconds. The Eren titan didn't move at all towards the boulder. Instead, he turned to Mikasa. Crap, this was bad, very bad. I immediately hurried to her. She managed to avoid being crushed by his fist, but was captured instead.

"Damn it, Eren, let go!" I shouted and went for his fingers. I managed to sever them and catch Mikasa, taking us both away. Eren chased after us. I landed on one of the houses and let Mikasa go. "Let's split up." I tell her and with a nod we both headed in different directions. When I looked back, I could see Jean and Armin follow close after the Eren Titan, which chose to chase me. Damn, this wasn't supposed to happen!