A/n: Hi. This is an SNK AU story. Main pairing is Ereri.

There are also hints of Farlan/Eren and Isabel/Eren - weird I know but necessary to the plot I swear ;A;

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yes, Mama, I am."

"…you don't want Mikasa to come with you?" The skin around her eyes crinkle in worry.

"No, Mama, I am old enough to do this myself." His tone is petulant, resentful of the fact that he is still treated as a child despite nearing sixteen years. His immaturity comes from being just a little spoiled by Mikasa and his mother.

"Promise me, you won't take short cuts to see Grandmother?"

"Yes, Mama, I promise."

"Then be quick dear, and come back before nightfall."

"Of course, Mama."

With a basket filled with warm bread, a plate of softly steamed vegetables and a covered ceramic pot of piping hot minestrone, Eren leaves the little wooden cabin near the edge of the forest. It is early in the afternoon and he should have no trouble at all arriving at his grandma's on time, providing he follows the path, which he has no intention to do so. Careful to follow it under his mother's watchful gaze, he steps forward, ensuring his basket is steady. A small hand pulls his olive green hood over his head, covering dark brown locks.

He usually makes this trip with Mikasa and Armin, however the two are out in the markets on errands and so his mother has no choice but to send Eren off by himself. She had already delayed the schedule by several weeks and did not want to worry her mother-in-law.

Once safely out of sight, Eren hums in delight before taking his feet to the edge and very deliberately stepping off the path. He feels a surge of rebellious pride, the same that a young child feels when they touch paint they were told to leave alone, and so he heads off, making sure to follow the path while being very much off it.

All is fine until vegetation starts to crop up here and there and he has to walk further and further away from the path and by the time he realises he should backtrack, his destination is already far, far away. The orange sunlight that shines weakly through the foliage above his head suggests that he may as well find a shortcut straight to his Grandmother's cabin. Picking his way carefully through the overgrowth, he attempts to go in the direction he predicts the cabin to be in. The sun droops ever lower on the horizon, the light fading from orange to vermillion to crimson to black. He suppresses a quelling worry, thinks to himself I'll be fine, it's only a little while away…

It isn't long before he realises that he isn't the only one in the forest.

At first he thinks it's just him hearing things, or perhaps it's an owl, or a deer settling down for sleep. Anything, surely not a… the footsteps match his with practised ease. Eren whips his head around and the leaves in an unknown bush rustles. There is no one behind him. Whatever it is, it's fast. Swallowing drily, Eren turns back to continue, regretting his little act of rebellion.

He isn't sure whether he imagines the figures in his peripheral or not, but he doesn't want to find out.

He starts running, and he can hear them running after him, footsteps lighter and faster and more graceful. He doesn't care about the now-cold soup, nor the bread – bread! Perhaps it was just animals attracted to the scent of food, after all!

Eren stumbles upon a clearing. There is a stone circle in the middle for fires and canopies of leaves towards the sides.

A deceptively sweet tenor voice rings out from the darkness. "Well, well, looks like the little lamb stumbled across our hideout."

Eren tries to suppress his terror. Turning around, he cannot help but tremble.

"Heh, he's a cute one!" the voice continues.

A higher, girlish voice replies. "Wah, let me see, let me see!"

"Oi, move." Another? Three? Eren silently prays that there were no others.

"S-sorry!"

Eren cannot see anything in the darkness – even the moonlight is obscured by the denser foliage here. Something brushes against him.

"Oh, he looks delicious."

Eren shudders. His hood is pulled back roughly and something warm and wet brushes against his neck. He can feel the slender and muscled form of the person against him – and he jerks away when he realises what has happened.

"How does he taste?"

"As delicious as he looks."

"Oooh, I wanna try too!"

Eren doesn't want to stick around to be violated by a trio of unknowns, probably bandits, so he tries to shake them off and run. Only, he forgets about the quiet third person who he stumbles headfirst into.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing."

It's not a question. Eren goes to turn the other way but the other two behind him grab him.

"Woah, got a feisty one, have we now?"

"Haha, thought ya could run? Hey, Levi, what do you think of him?"

Silence.

"Uninterested."

"Woah, come on, look at this kid! I bet his flesh would be pretty tender, right? Nothing like that old lady in the cabin –"

For a second, despite the darkness, all Eren can see and hear is a crimson rush and he throws himself at the male.

"What – what did you do?" he shrieks. "What did you do? Y-you killed her, didn't you, I'll kill you all, you fucking shits –" A hand is clamped over his mouth.

"Wow, you need to wash your mouth out with soap," says the tenor, unaffected, if not a little amused.

Eren bites the hand.

The tenor swears violently. "This little runt… let's just eat him and be done with it!"

Like hell he'll just stand here and wait for that to happen. Eren thrashes as a pair of slim hands restrains him, while the tenor keeps a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Farlan. Wait."

"Wait? What for?" A brief silence ensues before the tenor, Farlan, agrees half-heartedly. "Fine, what are we doing with him?"

Another hand comes to grasp Eren's chin. Eren's eyes have adjusted slightly to the darkness such that he can see the silhouette of the male in front of him and the two people at his sides.

"Hm, he's not ripe enough."

The girl gasps. "Surely… surely not, you're not going to wait for… you want to do that?"

"Not now. Let him go."

"He won't come back though," protests Farlan.

"He will."

A hand grasps Eren's wrist, a slightly calloused thumb brushing against the vein. Eren's breath hitches. Something bubbles and burns inside him, a foreign sensation.

"People are coming. What is your name, boy?" asks what he presumes to be Levi.

"Eren," he blurts out, wondering why he even responds.

"Head towards your right, Eren, and continue walking."

A rustle of leaves, and Eren is alone.

As much as he hates being ordered around, Eren decides to listen to Levi, so he heads to his right and continues walking. After a few minutes he indeed sees a lantern, so he takes off towards it before bumping into whoever is there.

The figure swears. Oh. "What the fuck?"

"Nice greeting, horseface," snarls Eren.

"Goddamnit, why is it always me?" mutters Jean, the huntsman's son. "Where were you, you idiot? Mikasa was worried sick about you."

"Of course," says Eren, a little smugly.

Jean twitches in anger. Pulling out a gun, he shoots upwards, the sound echoing in Eren's ears. A trail of green light follows the bullet.

"You're gonna get a real lecture when you get back, Jaeger," and this time it's Jean's turn to be smug. Eren swears in response. He didn't want to hear it, he really didn't.

"Jean! Did you find him?!"

"Eren!"

Eren is relieved to hear Marco and Mikasa running towards him. Mikasa pulls Eren in a tight hug, before pausing.

"You have… you encountered…" Mikasa's eyes narrow. "No, Eren, tell me it didn't happen."

Eren blinks. "What?"

"Smell him, Kirschtein," orders Mikasa, and Jean reluctantly complies.

"Mother Sina, why didn't I notice that before?"

"What is it?" Eren asks, aggravated.

"Oh Eren," says Marco, sounding all for the world like a heartbroken angel. "I'm so, so sorry…"

"What?"

"The same things that attacked our grandma came for you, didn't they?" asks Mikasa.

"Yeah." Fury pulses through Eren's veins. "They did."

Jean mutters angrily. "Idiot wants to be a Hunter and he can't even smell a predator…"

"I don't get it!" yells Eren. "I bumped in those killers, so what? I'll get them someday. What's going on, just tell me!"

"You've been marked, Jaeger," mutters Jean.

Eren wishes he paid just a little extra attention in classes now. His pride in becoming his namesake had blinded him to the signs. He thought he was just going to become food for a bunch of cannibal bandits, what with the tasting and touching; he should have realised when Levi had touched his wrist and he had reacted…

"Oh," he says dumbly. It's all he can say before the others escort him out of the forest, silent with worry.