A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

104th Squad New Recruits

Someone had murdered Hanji's babies. 

"WAAAAAAH ISAAAAAA!"

"There, there," Isanna consoled as she patted the wailing brunette by the head who was clinging on to her smaller frame, "Sawney and Bean are in a better place, now."

"B—BUT—!" Hanji blubbered, words incoherent as she tightened her hug around Isanna, "WH—WHO COULD HAVE DONE SUCH A CRUEL THING?!" 

Isanna frowned as she continued to weep, mournful cries drowned in a gurgle piercing the air as thick tears poured from Hanji's eyes and down her cheeks; she was in genuine pain. 

They were currently at a street in Trost, where the two captured titans for Hanji's experimenting projects were being held. Earlier sometime around the crack of dawn, someone had secretly equipped their maneuvering gear and killed the two titans without being seen by the guards; messengers immediately rode towards the officers and they rushed to the scene, but by the time they had arrived, only piles of disintegrating bones with titan steam permeating upwards greeted them. 

"ISAAAAAAA!"

The surrounding soldiers flinched at the brunette's loud shriek, some bringing a hand to press over their ears. 

Isanna swore her eardrums were going to burst, but she endured it. "We'll hold a funeral for them, don't worry."

Hanji paused, sniffing back the snot as she looked up at the girl. She had been kneeling while hugging her friend around the waist. "R—really?"

Isanna sympathetically smiled down at her and affectionately patted her (greasy) hair. "Yes, let's wish for both of them to rest in peace."

Hanji sniffed back the tears as her eyes began to glisten, before she buried her face into Isanna's uniform, her cries muffling out. 

As Isanna continued to rub circles around Hanji's back while her free hand patted her head, she inwardly sighed at how she successfully managed to calm her down. 

She returned her attention to the steaming titan carcass and knitted her brows together, an unpleasant suspicion bubbling inside her chest. Erwin's speculation about there being more than one titan shifter was slowly beginning to become more believable. Right when the image of the blond flashed in her mind, she subconsciously clenched her jaw and willed herself to forget their recent.. conversation. Damn it—their 57th expedition was scheduled in a little over the next month, so this was not the time to get sidetracked by other distractions. 

Meanwhile, behind her and amidst the crowd of onlookers, Eren mildly flinched when he felt a firm grip on his shoulders accompanied by a solid presence hanging over behind him. 

"Who do you think is the enemy?"

"S—sir?"

From his peripheral, he could see the Commander keeping a steady gaze at the steaming titan corpses, a calculated look washing over his blue eyes and lips pulled into a straight, thin line that made him look more serious than usual. 

There was a pause, before Erwin briefly closed his eyes and let go of his hold on Eren. "Sorry, that was a strange thing to ask."

Erwin had inferred his suspicions ever since he had caught wind of the existence of Eren Jaeger's titan powers, but he didn't have any solid evidence that could back him up until now. He knew this was no simple kill, that it wasn't just a random soldier taking out their emotional revenge on the captured titans. No; he knew it was more than that. 

With this, his suspicions were correct. Most likely, whoever was behind the murder of their precious titan subjects would show themselves in the upcoming 57th expedition beyond the walls.