Partners in Crime Fighting

13. The Bargaining

EREN: My head was pounding, and the person shaking me and ordering me to "Get up" wasn't helping.

I sat up groggily, blinking the sleep from my eyes. The only light in the room came from a window with the blinds half-drawn.

"Wha...Armin? Mikasa?" I groaned, but I realized that they weren't with me right now.

My stupid plan, it actually worked? I doubted it would since Mikasa is practically attached to me at the hip and would refuse to leave me. Part of me felt a little heartbroken she had given up so quickly.

"You left those guys last night, you little bastard," a somewhat feminine voice reminded me pointedly.

As my eyes came into focus, I saw a girl wearing a grungy old leather jacket and just-as grungy jeans over a band t-shirt.

"Who're you...?" I croaked.

"A new Titan," she said.

Once my eyes were completely focused in the barely-lit room, I could make out her freckle-flecked face and short brown ponytail. She smoked a cigarette, which made me gag.

"I don't remember seeing you last night," I admitted.

"I've been a Titan forever, but I guess I just started attending the club," she shrugged. She took out her cigarette and dropped it on the floor, stomping it out with her boot. "Reiner and Bert want to see you. Come on."

I threw the covers off and found that I hadn't changed clothes since yesterday. That wasn't a big deal, but Mikasa would've flipped shit on me and told me to change like my fucking mother would've.

My mother...guys like these killed my mother....

I followed Ymir out of the room and down the dingy hallways.

"So...why did you just decide to join the group and quit your solitude?" I asked.

"I didn't have anything to bargain for. These guys want to make deals with you; they won't harm you as long as they get your freedom." Ymir said. "It's not like I had anything to bargain for, so I lived in solitude."

"What do you have now?"

"You'll find out. Since I joined a day ago, I haven't told them what I want in exchange for my Titanhood."

At the end of the hallway was the door that led to the main room where the Titans were lazing around a table on the floor. None of the Titans were wearing their masks, except for one sitting at the table next to Reiner and Bertoldt.

His mask looked like one of the generic Titan masks, but the way he sat and the way Reiner and Bert fidgeted around him made me think he was far more important than he seemed.

"Sit down, Eren." Reiner demanded. "Ymir, you too."

We crossed our legs and sat down at the table.

"The Master Titan wishes to know what you want in exchange for your service." Bertoldt said.

"We got that," Ymir snapped.

A bead of sweat formed on Bert's forehead. "Be careful what you say around the Master."

We turned to the man in the mask. "Ymir, I want to hear your bargain first."

Ymir dug into the pocket of her jacket and slapped a piece of paper on the table: a strip of photographs like the kind from photo booths. In the photos was, of course, Ymir, and another girl I recognized from my school: Krista Lenz.

"I want her safety at all costs. I know who and how publicly important she is, and if your goons do so much as lay a finger on her I'll--"

"Her safety is guaranteed." The Master waved his hand dismissively. "And you, Eren?"

Although I couldn't see his eyes, I knew they were piercing into me. I clenched my fist on the table.

"The kids I came with yesterday, Mikasa and Armin, I want them safe. They're the only family I have left. My damn father left us shortly after you killed my mother." I decided.

"It is a shame we can't induct them into the Titans," he mused, "Mikasa's strength would be useful to us, as well as Armin's intelligence."

"How did you know...?" I mumbled.

"And Carla Jäeger...it was a shame she had to die."

My mind flashed back to the night she died, and I remember the tears streaming down her face.

"Grisha...how could you...? Damn you!" She had cried before the bullet pierced her.

I slammed my hand on the table. "Who the hell are you?!"

Reiner fidgeted again. "Careful, Eren..."

"Silence, Amored One," the Master said, "it is time he learned the truth."

The Master picked at the mask from behind and peeled it away, and the anger inside me boiled.

Behind the mask was Grisha Jäeger, my father.