Suprising Intelligence

1

Loud screams. The noise shattered the quiet dark forest, rippling from somewhere close by.

I groggily opened my eyes to witness the slight glow of the once dark sky through the leaves of the tree I was resting my back on. I sat up slowly, Turning my head left and right until whatever made that terrible noise was in view. The nights have been getting longer and the warmth of the days getting less and less, making me want to just close my eyes again and wait until later today to try and move around.

Then I saw it. A brown horse was laying on top of something as it screamed. Past the horse was a relatively small titan, crawling painfully slow towards them. That makes the trapped creature a human. I just let my head fall back into a comfortable position. I honestly don't want to get involved with any humans. I've seen how they've killed my kind, and I don't ever want to be their next target.

Another loud scream sounded out. Turning again, my eyes locked onto the small human. They were looking at me now, deep and bright blue eyes slightly covered by short golden hair. They had water falling out of them. I felt a pang of guilt and pity. Stupid human, being cute and defenceless.

...

With a groan, I fought against my fatigue and pushed myself up using the tree behind me. Every step I took made me upset with how much effort it was taking just to move. If it wasn't for the small and faint rays poking through the canopy, I probably would have passed out by now. I was making much more progress than the smaller titan was, but the sun was also speeding them up slightly.

When the human saw me approaching, they let out more blood curdling noise and thrashed about. This better not come to bite me later, or I'm going to start actually hunting humans.

I reached down and lightly pulled on the cloth that it had on, pulling them out and away from under the steed. They tried to yell again, but all that came out was a dry cough and some wheezing. I held my other hand out and set them down on it. Now that we were face to face, I could see that it was a boy, and he was shaking violently. his eyes were practically glowing as they were locked onto mine.

I don't know why, but his fear for me was making me feel really bad for him. I started thinking about what I should do with him when I felt something pulling itself up using my leg.

With a sigh, I kicked the titan off as best as I could and started walking away. It was hard, but I didn't feel nearly as tired as before. Soon the sun would be up fully and just walking with a human wasn't going to outpace anything wanting to take a bite out of him. After a pause, I remembered a place I liked to hang out a lot. I turned my heel and quickened my walking there. A glance at the human to see they had fallen unconscious. With a shrug, I just gripped him as soft as I could manage and made the track to my favorite thinking spot.

The walk was quiet and peaceful. Only the thuds of my feet and the occasional snore from the sleeping creature in my hand. It only took 50 or 60 steps to get there, but I strode to cover ground faster. I halted when entering the clearing, taking time to close my eyes and just listen to this slice of peace. It was a decent sized field with a river running into a pond near one of the natural walls that the trees and rocks made. There were two gaps that I could squeeze through. One was the same space the stream used to enter the pond, and the second was what seemed to be two warped trees that leaned away from one another.

I was brought back by something stirring in my hand. I had almost forgotten why I was here in the first place. I quickly walked to the water and placed the human on the grass. He fluttered his eyes open shortly after, giving a big stretch towards the sky. It was when he turned to his left to get up did he freeze, finally spotting me.

We just stared at each other for what felt like hours. He was obviously scared, but I was definitely afraid of him too. I saw those little silver things that they use to fly around and cut stuff on his sides. I know that if I'm not careful, they might try to attack me. So we just sat there, waiting for the other to make a move. That is, until a gurgling sound stuttered out of him.

He blushed and quickly grabbed his stomach, seemingly in a bit of discomfort. Oh, I think I remember what that means. I've seen a lot of humans while I've been alive, and all of them have stuffed things into their mouths after that noise comes out of them. I go to stand up, but my quick actions make the little one jump. I put my hands up and slowly step away, trying not to aggravate him.

He didn't draw anything from his side though. Instead looking surprised and holding his mouth ajar. He looks away for a second, then steps forward.

"Hey, do you understand me?"

I nod.

"I see… May I ask if you wish harm on me? I know that I'm still alive, and I'm very thankful, but I just want to make sure.

His voice is a little shaky and has an occasional stutter, but it is filled with genuine curiosity and kindness. He also words things weirdly, but I don't mind.

I shake my head, the hair on top swishing back and forth. 

"Oh, thank goodness. Here I thought this was some sort of trick or something. Well, if you truly don't want to hurt me then, may I ask some things of you?"

Another nod.

The next bit of time was me and him chatting. I couldn't answer with words, but we learned a lot from each other. His name was Armin, and he had a few people he knew like Mikasa and Erin. He had just joined something called the scouts, and was tasked with killing titans and helping humanity. I guess not all humans hunt titans, just selected groups. He seems shy, but he loosened up when he was talking about something he genuinely enjoyed.

My side of the conversation wasn't very eventful. I didn't have anything he asked about. I don't have any friends, I don't hate or love my kin, and I've never seen "the ocean". He was really saddened by the last one, but overall it was really fun to talk to him.

 I'm just glad he isn't as afraid as when I first found him. I'm not exactly the easiest to look at. I don't know what my face looks like, but I know my limbs are weirdly shaped compared to his. They're relatively thin and lengthy. I also have these weird lines of muscle clumps all over, like my skin is too tight on my body. I've been self conscious about it, but not to the extent as when trying to converse with a human.

We both left the clearing to find food for him. He said to look for animals, so that's what I kept an eye out for with him on my shoulder.