Hate 42

"So, what do we do with the bats? Just burn them too, like Boris?" Connie asked curiously as they stood in the field just outside of Trost.

It was kind of surreal, so many of them standing outside Wall Rose like it was perfectly safe, despite the breach in Maria, which was still very much an issue.  But with Eren and the others around, a few titans just didn't seem that threatening. Especially since they would see any of them coming from miles away.

"We are not even sure if Boris's body will be easy to burn," Hange remarked, stroking her chin while staring at a few dead bats, all piled on each other thanks to Eren. "These at least have fur and everything. But Boris has a house under him to set fire to, so that should help."

"This is somehow more morbid than when we were collecting the bodies to burn in Trost," Marco said softly. "At least then we didn't have to talk about the best way to burn them."

Connie blinked. "I...Okay, it's kind of fucked up, but I have an idea."

"Yes?" Hange asked, wondering what idea was rattling in this soldier's head.

"Well, Eren's lightning breath should probably get rid of most of it? I mean, I've seen how that rips through stuff. We had to cover up spots in the wall so the Wall Titans wouldn't wake up," Connie reminded.

Marco rubbed his head. "I haven't seen those, and I don't really want to. Everything else, fine, but I really don't want to think about how the Walls are made of Colossal Titans."

Hange hummed. "But Connie might be on to something. We'll try burning before asking......" she trailed off with a frown.

"What? What’d I do now?" Connie asked expectantly.

"You don't feel that?"  Hange asked, her voice tense.

Both soldiers blinked. "What, you mean Eren and Grice moving around?" Marco asked uncertainly.

Hange narrowed her eyes.

There was a sudden roar from Eren that caught everyone's attention.

They looked over and saw him and Grice moving out rapidly.

"Everyone, on the walls, now! Ellie! Guard the breach!" Grice yelled out.

"Oh, hell, what now!" Connie cursed as they made it up the wall quickly.

Among others, Hange stopped midway up and looked out to see what had their Giants spooked.

There was a small pack of wartdogs, the same creatures as Ellie's form. They were gathered to eat at the furthest corpses of the bats.

"You all heard Grice! Up top, don't hang where they can jump and snatch you!" Hange called out as she realized the danger, heading up to the top as well. She took a breath as she landed. "I knew those weren't Eren and Grice's footsteps!"

Marco looked at her strangely. "You memorized what their footsteps sound like?"

"And what they feel like, yes," Hange answered casually as she looked out. Eren and Grice hadn't confronted the pack yet. The creatures were still eating, but they were eyeing the pair cautiously. She glanced around and realized Erwin wasn't here at the moment. "Everyone! Keep your eyes out, more of them might be in the area!"

"Well, this might be one way to deal with the corpses," Ymir murmured to herself.

Sasha looked at her curiously.

".....What is it, Potato girl?" Ymir asked with a frown.

"Can you taste things in your Titan form?" Sasha asked bluntly.

Ymir blinked. "You're asking that NOW of all times?" she asked in disbelief.

"What? You took a bite out of the bats, and now those giant wolves are eating them, so I was curious!" Sasha defended.

"Curious about what, how they taste? News flash, idiot, it'd be like eating a rat with wings!" Ymir answered. "And trust me, I know, I've eaten rats before!"

"Everyone has eaten rats at least once since Maria fell," Sasha said with an eyeroll.

"Speak for yourself," Jean muttered from a distance, not believing the conversation.

[What do you think? Should we drive them off?]Eren  

Grice watched warily as they stayed at a distance. They could deal with them pretty easily, but the question was, did they want to? "Hard to say. If they were just dogs, I'd say she shouldn't let them get too comfortable. But after what you did with those bats?"

Eren's heads all growled and shared a few glances amongst himself. They had been thinking about it too, the swarm of bats bowing to him as their new leader. Could he make these ones listen to him, too?

{{{{Easilly.}}}}

Eren growled warrily. He supposed he should be happy for the confirmation.

[We should at least speak to them.]Zwei

[We'll get rid of them if we need to.]Eins

[You going to be alright with this, Grice? I mean, they were your comrades?]Drei

Grice lowered his head slightly at the reminder. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

He doubted that Eren believed that. He wasn't sure he did himself.

Without another word to each other, they began to approach the pack. The wartdogs soon abandoned their meal, spreading out in tense positions. Close enough to help each other, separated enough to avoid all of them getting hit by one attack.

One of the dogs stepped forth, slightly bigger than the rest. ["We eat. We leave. No fight. Food plenty."]

Well, that was a good start. And Eren was very aware that this one was speaking directly to him now.

[You can stay and eat your fill, for now] Eren granted, eyeing the creature and hoping it understood him. [But you cannot hurt any People of the Walls.]

The canine's head tilted. ["People? Walls?"]

Eren grimaced. Right, they wouldn't get that. He looked back towards Wall Rose. [You see those tiny beings up there?]

The wartdog did. ["Ahh. Humans. Tiny apes. Strange. One Who Is Many never protects."]

{{{{.....}}}}

The wartdog suddenly packed away in fear, as did the rest of the pack.

Eren glared back at the Storm before looking at the wartdogs.

[You may eat the bats.]Drei

[But you listen to me while here.] Zwei.

[Or we'll tear you apart.] Eins

[Got it!?]Eren

He punctuated his warning with a snap of his tails.

["Yes, yes. We listen. We leave your humans be. Thank you,"] the wartdog leader said quickly.

Eren nodded as he turned away, one of his heads keeping an eye on them at all times, but the hounds returned to eating rather quickly.

It was only after a moment that he realized that Grice wasn't moving, watching the creatures eat. They returned his looks sometimes, one even growled at him, but they were otherwise uninterested in him.

[Grice? You coming?]Eren

"Yeah," Grice said slowly as he turned to leave.

Eren watched him with concern as they approached the wall.

[You alright?]Eren

Grice nodded. "I am, I just... didn't know they could be thankful," he said with a sigh. "It's weird. My friends were in those bodies, now they're gone somehow. I wanted to hate these damn things, but I'm not even sure they have any idea what's going on."

Eren wasn't sure what to say to that. 

Luckily, he was saved from having to as a familiar figure landed on his center head. "So, my handsome giants, how'd the diplomacy go?" Hange asked with a smile.

"We told them they could eat the corpses, and not to go after any people. But if the commander wants us to chase them off, though, we can," Grice explained.

"I'll pass that along," Hange remarked as she glanced at the pack. "You think we can trust them?"

"I think Eren scared them enough that we won't have to worry about that, but don't get too comfortable," Grice answered warily.

Einz and Drei nodded in agreement.

Hange chuckled. "Very well, we'll keep an eye out. But I'm going to assume the Commander will want Trost closed up tonight. I don't think they could breach the other gate, but still."

Better safe than sorry, it went unstated. Eren couldn't agree more.

Meanwhile

As dusk began to settle on the horizon, Zeke found himself smoking a cigarette as he thought about what Annie and Reiner had told him.

Bertholt's death was not surprising in the grand scheme of things. The islanders would no doubt want that power for themselves, or that was his original conclusion. 

But what Annie and Reiner reported was alarming and baffling. The Paths, that was what it had to be. But that would imply that Eren Yeager, his apparent half-brother, had the Founder. Which was strange. If he had Zeke's own titan as well, the Beast Titan, he might just shrug it off as a strange Titan form.

Even disregarding that, everything they had ever told him about this golden, three-headed monster sounded nothing like a Titan. Black blood, slower regeneration, an inability to change back, and even lightning breath?  

Still, all evidence pointed to Eren having the founder. If so, the need for royal blood was the only thing keeping the world from knowing the fury of the Rumbling. From the fiery temperament Annie and Reiner had spoken of, Zeke had no doubt that Grisha had indoctrinated this new son to some extent. Did Eren know of the outside world already? Or had it been more subtle?

Still, he felt like there was something more to this that he was ignorant of. Eren's draconic figure wasn't the only anomaly.

He glanced off the balcony he stood on, seeing the distant "hill" of charred corpses of the massive hounds and the bipedal lizards who could imitate speech to trick them. They had been attacked by packs of these strange creatures, and they did not vanish when slain like a titan. More than that, Eren had been accompanied not only by the crawler that had aided the People of the Wall against the Warriors, but also by a large serpentine flyer.

Was it possible that Eren had a power similar to his own, to control these creatures? If so, how? Did Grisha somehow find another woman of Royal Blood to breed with? He had expected that to be common within the Walls.

But if he assumed that this golden form and these new monsters were truly not Titans, it was still definitely connected to them in some manner. It would make no sense for it not to be, given its ability to bring Annie and Reiner into the paths. 

"What did you do, Father? What have you unleashed on this already hellish world of ours?" Zeke wondered to himself softly.

He hadn't told any of the Marlayean officers about Reiner and Annie's experience. He doubted they would understand or trust something like "Visions" from Eldians. After all, they were his "handlers" in all but name. He was in charge, but they would report all his actions upon returning to the mainland. Which was fine; he expected and planned for that. He had the trust of the higher-ups, if for his competence, if nothing else. They didn't want to cut his service any shorter than it was. Especially given his ability to transform and somewhat control titans made with his own spinal fluid. And after he proved his "loyalty" by turning in his parents and the rest of the restorationists. Even if some of his own had called him names for that "betrayal," like- 

Dog of Marley.

Zeke inhaled sharply, his cigarette falling from his mouth. "Dammit," he muttered to him as he idly put the embers out with his shoe. He hadn't thought about those times in a long while. He tried not to. 

"Dogs of Marley" had been a common insult used by the Restorationists to call Eldians who became or strived to be Honorary Marleyans. He had wondered why that had stuck out to him when Annie and Reiner mentioned the sapient crawler at Trost. Beyond the obvious, of course.

He looked back at the corpses of the dead Wartdogs and Crawlers, and suddenly felt something accusing in their dead visages. "I see my past has come to haunt me in more than one way," he muttered to himself.

This was very bad for him. He couldn't breathe a word. If he was right and these creatures were the Restorationists, then it would not take long for someone to think that getting captured and sent to this island had been a plan of the Restorationists from the start, and throw accusations of him being part of that plan. It wouldn't matter that he had been a child; logic meant little to most when it came to their hatred of Eldians and blaming them for anything wrong in the world, more so than rightfully deserved. 

But where had this power come from, these monstrous new forms? He needed more information. 

Zeke narrowed his eyes as he heard a strange flow to the wind. He looked to the horizon, towards the setting sun, as the last rays of the day began to vanish. As they did, he saw something in the sky.

"Are those... bats?"

Meanwhile

Burning Brois's body took more effort than expected, even with his increased size, but they eventually managed it. The Resienwache had all gathered near the large flame, along with several others that included Hange, Miche, and Erwin. 

They had only known Boris a short time, but losing him had been a bitter pill. If Hange had to put it into words, she would say that Boris was the most relatable of the Giants. Eren and Grice were often caught in thoughts of their rage towards their enemies, and Ellie was incredibly shy. But Boris, despite the language barrier, had been the most approachable in some ways. Protective, casual, friendly.

She looked over, seeing Historia sniff softly as she quietly cried, Ymir putting a hand on her shoulder. Poor girl. Serving as the translator between them and the giants, she knew them just as people in giant, animalistic bodies. And despite the studious nature of the real Historia compared to the persona of Krista, it still hit her hard.

Ellie and Grice stood close to the funeral pyre, watching their friend's body as it was burnt to ashes and a charred skeleton. Eren stood nearby as well, giving them the closest spaces as Brois's old comrades.

"Grice," Erwin spoke up suddenly, never looking away from the fires. "Did you wish to say a few words?"

Ellie looked to the Crawler, who looked down in thought. "I wouldn't even know where to start,"

Mkasa was the one to break the silence next. "What did Boris want to be, when he was human?"

Grice paused, raising his head to the sky. "He wanted to work with animals," he recalled with an empty laugh. "Nothing special, I know. He was never sure, really. Saving lives as a vet seemed nice, but he'd have to put some down, too, put them out of their misery. Run a pet shop? He liked the idea, but he knew some would always end up with bad owners. I told him he should just work at a zoo."

"What's a zoo....?" Connie asked in confusion.

"Shush!" Sasha said with a frown.

"He asked me that too," Grice said with a scuff. "He didn't know what a zoo was either. We had never seen one. I had only heard about them from the nicer Marlayans who'd bother to tell us stuff. The idea sounded amazing to him, caring for animals from all over the world. And despite everything, Boris was one of the kindest souls I ever met. But he was also strong. Strong enough to fight for his friends and people, even if it hurts. Even if it was hard."

Grice paused for a moment, his tail shifting about.

"I feel like I should pour a drink or something now, but I obviously can't," he continued with a hint of humor. "I will never forget Boris, and I hope someday I'll see that this world has a place for us all, where someone like Boris is free just to be a kind, good friend."

He looked up at the smoke rising into the sky and smiled.

"Rest easy, old friend, and fly wherever you please. You've earned it."

A peaceful yet sorrowful silence came over them all as they silently paid their farewells to Boris.

Eren dipped his heads, trying to crush down the guilt he felt. Boris died trying to give him time. If he had been a bit faster, a bit stronger, maybe he'd still be here.

The golden dragon was pulled from his thoughts as something in the night caught his eye.

Eren growled warningly, getting everyone's attention as they saw where he was looking.

At the edge of the flame's illumination was a wartdog that was cautiously trekking forward.

"Sir?" Hange asked tensely.

"Hold. Everyone," Erwin commanded, narrowing his eyes at the creature.

Grice coiled his limbs as the hound approached.

Ellie swallowed and whined before speaking up. ["What....what do you want?!"] She demanded, stepping towards the creature with all her courage.

The wartdog stopped and stared at her before turning to the flames. ["Your packmate?"]

Ellie blinked, not expecting the question. She briefly glanced at Grice, but he had no advice for her. ["Yes, he was."]

The wartdog growled contemplatively, the flames flashing in the beast's eyes as if...

["Do you....remember him?"] Ellie asked, almost scared of the answer in either case.

The wartdog whined, placing a paw on its head. ["Small voice remembers. Small voice sad your packmate gone."]

The giants all shared a stunned look while Historia put a hand over her mouth to hide her gasp.

The wartdog looked to Elli again. ["We sorry your lost packmate."]

["....We?"] Ellie asked cautiously.

The wartdog almost seemed to smile before raising his snout to the air and howling.

"Shit, shit, did he just call in the others....?" Hannes muttered uneasily.

But the owl was not a howl of hunting or intimidation. It was a howl of mourning. A howl that was shared as more distant members of this one's pack joined in, their calls echoing through the night.

The howl ended, and the wartdog looked up at Eren meaningfully. ["We leave your land now. We leave your humans be."]

And just like that, he treaded off into the darkness before running to join back up with his own pack.

".....What the fuck just happened?" Jean asked eloquently.

"Historia, you mind explaining it?" Grice requested numbly as he sat down and shook his head. "I ....I think I need a moment."

Historia couldn't blame him, but as she looked up at the commander, she wasn't sure herself what to say.