Chapter Text
Levi was annoyed. Actually that’s an understatement; Levi was pissed. He was supposed to be waiting for a messenger to arrive, but they had been taking a long time. He wouldn’t have minded waiting at the temporary base they had set up, but Hanji insisted he go out to look for the missing person. By that time it was already dark, so he wouldn’t have to worry about people spotting him.
While he was out though he ended up having to save some stupid omega. He wouldn’t have even gone in that direction if he didn’t have this sudden pulling sensation in his chest that lead him that way. Now he kind of wished he had ignored it, if only to avoid the awkward incident of finding an intended. He should have recognized the sensation from the very beginning, but it had been a very long time since he had met an intended. He had forgotten what it felt like to be near one. Now was definitely not the time to be looking for an intended though, not that he had any intentions of ever looking for one anyway.
Still though, this just added to his already sour mood. On top of that he never found the missing messenger and after a few hours of searching he decided to just head back to base. And, to add insult to injury the sky had opened up and started to pour the last hour he was out, making it even harder to fly as his wings and clothes soaked up the water. He didn’t want to risk walking back, even if it was the early hours of the morning. The MP were always crawling around the place, no matter the time of day. This was the only thing they seemed to get right with how lazy the lot usually were.
By the time he arrived back Levi was certain that he had strained a few muscles along his wings and back and he really, really wanted to punch Hanji in the face. The feeling increased even more so when he walked back into the base from a roof entrance only to find her talking animatedly with the very person he was supposed to be looking for.
“What the fuck, Hanji?!” Hanji looked over to him without an ounce of guilt on her face and a wide smile.
“Ah, Levi, there you are!”
“I flew through rain to find that idiot,” Levi jabs a finger towards the aforementioned individual who at least looked a little guilty about the situation. “And you couldn’t bother to try and contact me? How long has he been here?” Levi all but growled the last part out.
“Ah, well, it’s not like there was any way to contact you and at night you’re really hard to find, you know, with your all black costume and black wings. No worries though, he’s only been here for about an hour anyway, not that long!” Levi really wished he could strangle her. Erwin would be upset if he did though, not to mention Mike as well.
Instead, Levi turned and headed towards his room, his heavy wings dragging along the ground behind him. He was going to dry his wings enough to retract them and then he was going to take a nice warm shower. He was done with the cold, and he was definitely done with Hanji at the moment.
“Ah! Levi, Erwin wants to see you later!” Levi chose not to respond, though she probably wasn’t even waiting for one. This thought was proven correct as not a second later he could hear her continue her previous conversation with the messenger. That didn’t matter anyway, he would go see Erwin after his shower as he wasn’t in any hurry and if Erwin was he would have met Levi at the door.
Levi’s wings took longer to dry then he wanted, as he had to be careful with how he bent them thanks to the strained muscles. Finally though they were dry enough that he could retract them. He watched disinterestedly as his wings phased into the next plane before stepping into the shower, which he had already turned on. His thoughts had, unfortunately, once again been consumed by the Omega he had met earlier. He was curious though. How had an Omega ended up within the human territory? Most Ängrisk didn’t stray out of the territory, except for small groups of Betas, who mostly did it for trading. On top of this the MP had laws in place banning any other class of Ängrisk besides Betas from coming into the city. So how was it that an Omega had made it in? This was certainly a topic that Levi needed to bring up with Erwin, as it could mean things far more concerning for their group. Their plans might have to move forward sooner then they wanted. It really depended on why and how there was an Omega here in the city.
Levi wrapped his shower up fairly quickly after that and dressed into a loose white button up and some tan slacks. He took a moment to slip on a pair of wore brown shoes so that he wouldn’t have to walk bare foot around base before heading out the door. With any luck Levi would fine Erwin in his office. With any lesser luck Levi would not have to interrupt anything he may be doing with his mateship. That was something he’d rather not see any time soon. It doesn’t help that Hanji is an exhibitionist, with her maniacal laughter and all.
Thankfully Erwin was in his office, though Mike was there too. Mike was standing off to the side though appearing as though he was perusing the book shelf, presumably for something to read. “Erwin,” Levi greeted as he stepped into the room. He gave a small nod to Mike when their eyes met before turning all of his focus onto Erwin. Erwin motioned him farther into the room, towards one of the chairs that he gladly sat in. His quick shower had done very little to relieve his sore muscles and he was just happen that he was able to fade his wings. He felt the weight of his wing’s less when they were retracted, as they no longer had a physically form in this world.
“I spoke to Gyon, the messenger I’m sure you saw Hanji speaking with.” Erwin paused a moment to glance down at some papers resting on the table before him. “It would seem the MP have either become suspicious of the increase of Ängrisk behind the wall or caught wind of what we’re doing here.” Another pause before he finally looked back up at Levi. “They’ve closed the gates.” Levi let some colorful words fall from his lips as he dragged a hand over his face.
“Alright. Did we manage to get 44th through before they did?” Levi asked as he pulled his hand away from his face so that he could look at Erwin. Erwin’s grim face gave him away before he even opened his mouth to answer.
“No.”
“Shit.”
“We were waiting for the shipment of supplies from the Beta caravan before sending them in.” Levi stared hard at Erwin, who looked calm and collected like usual.
“Wasn’t that supposed to have arrive?”
“It was delayed.”
“By what? A freaking storm?!” It wasn’t until he heard a loud sneeze from his left that he realized he had been leaking his scent into the air. He looked over to take in Mike who tried to look nonchalant as he absently rubbed his nose. His pinched face gave him away though and Levi tried to relax the muscles he hadn’t realized he’d tensed.
“Please try not to throw your Alpha pheromones everywhere, you know Mike’s nose is sensitive.” Erwin made a motion at Mike and Levi watched him walk out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Levi released a huff once he was out of sight and turned his gaze back to Erwin who was eyeing him carefully. “What’s gotten into you? You don’t get this worked up over setbacks normally.” No he didn’t, but Levi also didn’t much feel like sharing the reason why he was either. Unfortunately he had to tell him whether he liked it or not.
Levi broke eye contact, taking a moment to collect his thoughts and to figure out a way to word this without mentioning that he had run into an intended. “I saw something interesting today, while I was out looking for your messenger.” Levi took a moment to itch at an imaginary scratch on his arm before continuing. “I ran across an Ängrisk… an Omega Ängrisk.” A sharp intake of breath caused Levi to look back up at Erwin.
“An Omega?” Erwin’s tone had a sort of breathless quality to it that had Levi narrowing his eyes at him. The Omega was his intended, not Erwin’s. Levi scowled at himself immediately after thinking that, mentally shaking the thought away. He was not going to pursue this intended and that was that. “An Omega in the city? Why? Where? Did you speak to them?” Levi shook his head. Erwin frowned a moment, obviously confused. Levi couldn’t help but think: here it comes. “Why wouldn’t you approach the Omega?”
“I’m not just going to approach any stranger, and definitely not because they are an Omega.” Erwin narrowed his eyes in thought.
“Were they with anyone?” Erwin asked. Levi nodded his head.
“Yes, a half breed. They separated though, didn’t seem to get a long.” Levi leaned back in the chair, stretching out and relaxing his muscles.
“An Omega in Shiganshina, with a half-breed no less. Do you think the MP are aware of him?” Levi shook his head.
“No, they were in an area the MP don’t patrol and he didn’t have his wings out.”
“He? So it’s a male Omega, that’s even more strange.” Levi shrugged. He made sure the Omega was alright when he left anything more and it wasn’t his problem. Besides, the Omega had looked healthy enough, certainly tan enough. He must get a lot of time in the sun.
Erwin looked back to his desk and reached for a clean piece of paper and a pen to start writing. “Since we have been set back this will give us something to do, at least with the 44th scouting partly. They would have otherwise been stuck here either waiting for the gates to open or for another way in to appear.” Erwin quickly finished writing his short note on the paper and held it out to Levi. “Here, take this to Hanji. She should be heading out to the 44th soon to give them new orders. Those plans will be changing now.” Levi took the paper and tucked it into a pocket as he stood. “I’ll see you in the morning then?” Erwin waited until he say Levi nod before continuing. “Goodnight.”
“Mhm. Night.” Levi didn’t bother to look back as he made his way out of the room. He was mildly surprised to find that Mike wasn’t waiting outside the door. He thought he would have wanted to spend more time with his bondmate. Levi didn’t really understand bondmates though and was content to just ignore it. He wasn’t planning on bonding to anyone any time soon.
Levi only had to make a small detour to the top floor to catch Hanji before she left before he could go to bed. She didn’t say much when he handed her the note, apparently in a hurry as she was late, or so she claimed. She probably was though with how long she spent talking with Gyon, who looking quite relieved to see her go.
Finally he was back in his room and he dropped onto his bed, not bothering to change his clothes or even pull the blank over himself. He had not even eaten dinner, but he didn’t care. He would just eat more in the morning, for now he just wanted to sleep.
~~~POV SWITCH + FAST FORWARD TO PRESENT TIME~~~
The Beta Ängrisk led Eren and Armin into a back room within the building that held no windows. It looked sort of like a meeting with the large table that was sat in the middle of the room. The table oddly enough was set low to the ground, too low to fit any chairs under it. The whole right side of the room was filled with boxes of all shapes and sizes stacked on top of one another. They were unlabeled so Eren had no idea what could be in them. The left side of the room had more space with a large closed cabinet and two open storage containers stacked full with blankets and pillows.
“This room doubles as a sleeping room, when we have more people staying here than usual.” The female Beta spoke up as she closed the door behind them. One other Beta had come into the room with them and had moved over to one of the open contains to pull out pillows. He placed them all around one end of the table before taking a seat on the pale green pillow. The female took a seat on the purple pillow beside him and motioned to the other two. “Have a seat.”
Eren and Armin were quick to sit down, Eren grimacing as his back twinge with the movement. Armin had lent him a jacket before they left so that Eren had something to cover the rashes with. He knew the rashes were still there but their intensity had decreased enough that he could ignore them. That might be somewhere to start with their questioning, Eren didn’t want to have to stand this rash longer then he already has. Particularly because the rash had spread so quickly and he doesn’t know what’s causing it.
“My name is Rico, this beside me is Dieter.” She motioned to the man beside her who was staring at Eren in a way that made him a little nervous. He was quite tired of people staring at him. “I stay here year round and help the caravans that come through as well as any Ängrisk that may come through.” Eren and Armin just nodded, not yet ready to start talking. Rico didn’t seem to mind as she continued to speak. “We can start with your questions if you like, I have a feeling yours will be much easier to answer. Unless, you would prefer to answer ours?” Eren shook his head this time. “Alright, where would you like to start?”
“I’m an Omega, right?” Eren said a little hesitantly.
“Yes, your scent fluctuates, but there is no doubt.”
“How is that possible?” Armin broke in, his curiosity getting the best of him.
“He was born that way, just like any other rank of Ängrisk. There’s no reason for him to be any different.” Eren frowned at this response while Rico seem to keep her face carefully blank.
“But I’m a half breed.” Rico hummed as she seemed to look even more closely at him, her gray eyes narrowing in thought.
“So you are.” Eren waited a moment, but she said nothing else.
“That’s it? No explanation? No comment? You’re just going to agree with me?” Eren was even more confused now. Didn’t Armin say that something like this wasn’t possible? Or did he get his information wrong?
Rico shrugged. “I cannot explain it. You are certainly unusual, but if you exist then it must certainly be possible. Who are you parents? I was certain we knew every half breed in Shiganshina.”
“Uhm, my mother’s name was Carla, my dad’s name is Grisha Yeager.” Both Ängrisk whipped their heads towards him so fast it made him jump.
“Grisha you said?” Rico asked carefully. “As in Dr. Grisha Yeager?” They both traded looks when Eren nodded his head. “That answers some things then.” Eren’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked between Rico and Dieter.
“What do you mean?” Rico looked very hesitant to say anything at all.
“Your father use to work for a research company run by your government. The company’s research work was never made public, but since we were the subject of study it shouldn’t surprise you too much that we knew about it. They took subjects that ‘volunteered’ for study. Some of them never came back, even with it suddenly being shut down about a decade ago.” Rico paused a moment before saying. “Your father use to be the head doctor for them.”
Eren gaped at them. He had no idea how to respond to something like that. What did his father do there? By the expression on Dieter face it wasn’t anything good. Rico at least kept her face blessedly blank, giving no hints away. Either way, he wasn’t sure how this knew piece of information had anything to do with him or how he turned out to be an Omega.
“But, what does this have to do with me?” Eren said after a moment. Rico stared hard into his face, her gray eyes seeming unusually bright.
“For all his faults, your father was the one who had the building closed. For that I am thankful. He did it for an Ängrisk there that he had fallen in love with, your mother I assume.”
“My mother? She was the Ängrisk then?” Rico nodded.
“Yes, it’s certainly not your father.” Of course not, Eren realized as soon as she said that. He probably couldn’t get through the wall so often if he was, even if they hadn’t given him this sort of information. This was probably why he gave him those shots so often, Eren realized. To keep him human, to keep normal. But that only really explains it in a way as his father wanting to keep his Ängrisk history a secret, especially with the way that half breeds tend to be treated. An image of Reiner flashed through his mind causing him to grimace. The point anyway was that he was still no closer to figuring out why he was an Omega in the first place.
“Thank you for the information, but this still doesn’t get us any closer to one of our questions, though you have answered one of them.” Armin had been quiet the entire time, letting Eren take the lead when talking until now. “You have given us information to explain how Eren can be an Ängrisk, but we want to know how he can be an Omega. You have pointed out yourself that he can’t be anything other than a half breed.” Rico frowned as she turned her eyes towards Armin.
“That question, I’m afraid I cannot answer. A situation like his has never been seen before, not once in our entire history. I believe the only person who can answer this question is your father.” Rico said turning her eyes back towards Eren.
Eren was mildly disappointed that they had nothing on this, to explain it away for him. Things would be much simpler if they could. He couldn’t even get into contact with his father at the moment and he wasn’t even sure his father would call again any time soon. He would have to wait for him to come back from the other side of the wall, but with the gates closed he had no idea how long it will take for him to get back. For now he would just have to be content with what he has.
“What about all the Ängrisk around then? Can you answer that?” Dieter was back to glaring at Armin when he asked this, Rico also staring at him in a much milder manner.
“What do you mean?”
“There are more Ängrisk about, even more then usually with the gathering that happened the other evening. Even this place is unusually crowded, and you have lots of boxes everywhere, large ones that are unlabeled. They must be going somewhere, if you’re not using them here. Your people rarely take much back with you into the wilds, nothing that requires the amount of boxes about. Also,” Armin paused a moment to glance at Eren before looking back towards Rico. “Eren met an Alpha last night.”
Rico’s eyes widened a fraction as she drew in a sharp breath. “An Alpha?” She turned slightly to look at Dieter and made a small motion with her head that had him standing up and making his way towards the door. “What did he look like? Did he see you? Did you talk to him?” Her questions were directed towards Eren, pushing Armin once again from the conversation.
“He, uh, saved me. From a half breed who wouldn’t leave me alone. Forced him to leave. Told me to go home after that before he flew off.” She nodded in an impatient manner her eyes temporarily distracted by Dieter leaving the room, the door clicking closed quietly behind him.
“Yes, yes, but what did he look like? Did he give you a name?” Eren shook his head.
“No, no name. I didn’t even think to ask for one. I got a look at him though, he’s black in all but his skin color which was pale and it contrasted a lot with the rest of him. Hair, eyes, clothes, wings; all of it was black. He was short too, and his wings looked unusually large, scowled a lot too.” Eren couldn’t help but flush a little at the look Armin gave him. That was a lot to remember about someone he had met and known for less than a minute and at night time too.
Both Armin and Eren’s eyes were drawn back towards the blonde as she let loose some colorful words. Rico took a moment to calm herself before she spoke. “Alright, thank you for telling me. Since it would appear you know nothing about Ängriskian culture you might want to hang around for a bit, we can certainly help you with somethings. Am I correct in assuming this was the kind of help you wanted? After your questions?” She waited until she saw Eren nod before continuing. “Alright, will you answer a few questions now?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now the question pertaining to your heritage has obviously been answered, what I’m curious about most is how your heritage was kept from you? Didn’t your mother ever tell you anything?” Eren shook his head.
“No, she died when I was young and my father never said anything to me. In fact, until very recently I never presented as anything other than human. I’ve learned that the shots my father was giving me were keeping from showing any traits.”
“So he didn’t stop his research then. Why are they showing now?” Her eyes shifted over Eren as she attempted to look for anything unusual.
“I missed a shot, just one, on my birthday and then all these weird things started to happen, I think the most annoying is the rash.”
“Rash? Where?” Her eyes widened as she shot up from her chair. Eren hesitated a moment before pulling off his borrowed jacket. The rash still covered parts of his arms, but now obviously coated heavily on the areas around his shoulders before disappearing behind the shirt.
“It started up this morning and has just been spreading since. It use to itch like crazy too, though not as much anymore, not on my arms anyway.” Eren commented as he looked at his arms, pulling up his sleeve on one side a little to see his shoulder. The rash had definitely spread across his back from the little bit he could see.
Rico made her way towards the door just as Dieter was coming back in. “Dieter, get the doctor if you please.” Dieter paused a moment, confused until his eyes landed on Eren who had turned slightly to look at him and Rico by the door. With a quick turn he was back out the door without ever having said a word.
Rico made a small hand motion at Eren saying, “Come on Eren, you’re going to need to be look at by a doctor, an Ängrisk doctor.” Eren shared a confused look with Armin before standing up. He paused to grab his jacket before heading for the door, Armin following along behind him silently.
Rico led them back down the hall, taking the first left into another and a couple doors down. She opened the door and motioned them in first. Eren stepped in first with Armin right behind him. The room looked like an expected doctor’s office with a seat for the patience, some extra chairs and a table filled with random things. The walls were bare except for one window along the back wall that had the shutters closed over it blocking out any light. It had the added bonus of blocking the outside view from them so they couldn’t see where in the building they were exactly.
Armin took a seat in one of the spare chairs next to the door leaving Eren to make his way towards the seat in the center of the room. Once he was seated with the jacket draped next to him Eren looked towards Rico who stood in the doorway. “Dieter has to go out to get the doctor as she doesn’t spend her time here usually. Until then will you allow someone else to check up on you? Just to make sure there isn’t anything more concerning going on with your body.” With Eren nodding his consent Rico turned and closed the door, leaving them alone in the room.
Armin immediately started speaking. “I wonder what’s wrong, that was a strong reaction to just mentioning a rash. Do you think that is unusually for Ängrisk? They tend not to get the same sicknesses as humans, they have their own versions that affect them differently. No surprise considering all that they can do.” Eren shrugged.
“You would know more than me. Before this all that I had learned about Ängrisk came from you. Not even my father.” Eren was still sore about that, the wound still fresh. He couldn’t believe that his father would keep something like this from him, that he would go out of his way to hide it even. Why did he do it? What was he thinking? He had so many questions that he just wanted answered and his father wasn’t even here to answer them. Hopefully by the time he comes back he would have calmed down some; his father never responds well when he starts yelling in his face.
Rico was quick to come back with another unfamiliar Ängrisk trailing behind her. The new stranger was a brunette, hair cropped short and just barely long enough to reach her ears and parted to the right with eyes that were amber in color. She was dressed oddly in a suit and looked like she had been pulled from something important. “This is Ilse, she’ll look you over until the doctor gets here.” Eren nodded, silent still and a little apprehensive. There was no going back though and these people were his best shot on figuring out what was going on with him.