Ethan didn't really know what to do with his time. He didn't have a phone to play on, no tv, no internet. There wasn't even a clock for him to watch the minutes slowly tick by. Ethan had to find some way to make the days go by faster.
One of the things he started doing was snapping. He still remembered the group of humans who rode to the outer city. Hopefully they were able to make it back to the main walls without losing too many soldiers to Titans. Just thinking about the group had him remembering the man who thought Ethan was going to eat him.
During their confrontation the man snapped, and Ethan had continued snapping ever since. He's been doing it so often he'd find himself snapping without even realizing it. It's become a habit by now. Ethan didn't particularly mind this habit. It was much better than biting his nails.
Other ways to pass the time was spent wandering the fields and killing Titans that came too close for comfort. Ethan left them alone for the most part, but he would kill one when the urge hit. In a way it was a good stress reliever, and one less Titan to eat the humans. Thinking of it like that had Ethan realizing he didn't think of himself as a human being anymore. He dearly hoped he was still a human that was just controlling a Titans body.
Ethan wasn't sure how long he would have to wait until the story line of Attack on Titan started back up. There was nothing going on that would point to the Colossal Titan making his big reappearance. For now Ethan had to content himself with wandering around the farmlands.
It turned out to be much more interesting than he first thought. He still hasn't explored the entire inside of the walls, which was why Ethan felt surprised when he saw another town out in the distance. The only signs of humans once living here were the occasional houses scattered around, so Ethan had to check this new place out.
It turns out Ethan wasn't the only one checking out the town. A couple dozen Titans could be seen lumbering between the houses. There was something else Ethan kept thinking he saw, but it only ever flashed in the corner of his eyes.
He knew something was wrong when a Titan in the distance suddenly collapsed out of sight. Ethan stared at the area where the Titan had just been standing. Steam begin rising where the Titan had just been, and Ethan didn't know what to make of it. It's possible the Titan just tripped, but with a Titans ability to regenerate so quickly it should have been standing up by now.
With wary curiosity Ethan began maneuvering around the houses towards where the Titan steam was coming from. When he finally made it to where the Titan had disappeared on Ethan found a blackening corpse laying in the middle of the road. It was the same size as a Titan, and steam was curling up from its body.
It died? Ethan slowly approached the dead Titan. How?
Something dark flashed in the corner of Ethan's eye. He turned to see what it was, and found a small figure standing on the roof next to him.
Ethan and the man stared at each other for several long moments. The dark haired man held his swords in a death grip as he stared down the new threat. Ethan, on the other hand, recognized this man. It was the same one that tried to kill him.
Ethan raised his hand to wave, but that turned out to be a bad idea. The dark haired man though he was going to reach for him, so he shot his cables out to attach to another building and swing around for a better angle. Ethan did his best to keep the man in his sights, but it was extremely hard.
After having lost sight of the man for several unnerving moments Ethan reached his arm back and placed a protective hand over the nape of his neck. The dark haired man obviously didn't recognize Ethan, and while that was okay he would have much rather had the dark haired man not try to kill him.
His thoughts stuttered to a stop when he felt a searing pain in his fingers. Ethan roared in pain and brought his hand in front of his face to see the pointer and middle fingers had been sliced off.
Ethan followed the appealing scent of the man and found him staring at him from the top of another roof. He was eyeing Ethan oddly. No doubt he's never seen a Titan protect its nape before.
Ethan didn't know what to do to make the man recognize him, and his good hand began snapping his fingers together in agitation. The dark haired man witnessed the odd behavior and the air got caught in his throat. He remembered what happened the week before very clearly. When a brown haired, brown eyed Titan had him in its hand and copied his snapping movements.
Now that he had the time the soldier examined the Titan. It was fit, muscles giving it a runners build. Just like the other Titans it had half-lidded eyes and a content smile, but it's teeth were what really set it apart from the others. They were sharp and tapered off to a point. Unlike the other Titans who had flat teeth like a humans.
"Hey!" Ethan took a small step towards the man. "Stop!" His movements immediately stopped, and the man felt hope at the sight. "Are you the same Titan from a few days ago?!" Steam emerged from between Ethan's teeth as he nodded.
With Ethan having responded intelligently to the mans question it solidified the soldiers belief that this was the same Titan that protected his group during their supply run. He couldn't believe he found the Titan on his first venture out of the walls. The soldier figured it would have been another few weeks until they found it.
Loud footsteps interrupted their reunion, and both man and Titan turned to see another 10-meter class coming towards them.
The dark haired man readied himself for the confrontation but Ethan grabbed him before he could move. He ignored the mans protests as he held him in his now fully healed hand. Ethan didn't want the man going after the Titan in case he ended up getting eaten. He quite liked this mans company.
Bringing up his hand Ethan uncurled his fingers to let the man stand on his shoulder. This way Ethan could use both hands to fight the Titan off.
The 10-meter was still blankly walking towards them and Ethan moved to confront it. His right hand balled into a fist, and once the other Titan was within reach he swung up his arm to hit the it right in the jaw.
The force had the 10-meter falling into the building next to it. Ethan pulled the Titan away from the wreckage by its ankles. With its head in out in the open Ethan could bring his foot down on its nape.
"Kanji?!"
Ethan's head whipped around to see a blonde man staring at Ethan with a sense of familiarity and disbelief.
The blonde soldier looked from Ethan, the now dead 10-meter class, to the dark haired man–who was apparently named "Kanji". "Kanji…is that the Titan?"
From where Kanji was standing Ethan was unable to see his aggressive nodding, "It's him!" The blonde man looked at Ethan in astonishment.
A small smile started growing on the new mans face. Ethan didn't know what to make of the situation. Apparently the dark haired man, Kanji, had talked about Ethan. That or the blonde one was on the squad from last week.
The still moment was broken when a hand suddenly shot out and hit the blonde man. Kanji yelled in shock while Ethan let out his own loud wail.
They followed the arm up to another Titan who was now holding the blonde man in his hand. Ethan and Kanji watched as the Titan placed the blonde mans legs into its mouth. It didn't even bite down in an attempt to eat it, he just gnawed on the man.
For a few moments they could to nothing but watch. Kanji was the one to act first. With a yell of rage he jumped off of Ethan's shoulder and attached his cables to the monsters body. Ethan would have done something, but with the amount of force he uses he could end up hurting the man more than he already was.
He had to watch as Kanji zipped around the Titan to cut the nap of its neck. It immediately began falling forward from the killing shot, and Ethan stepped forward to stop it from hitting the ground. The steam coming off of the now dead Titan was getting hotter by the second, but Ethan had to maneuver the Titan around so he could reach for its mouth and pull the blonde man free.
When the bleeding man was safely secured in the palm of Ethan's hand he allowed the Titan to fall to the ground. Kanji landed next to his friend and gasped at the damage. The blonde man had a split lip and a head wound, most likely from the initial impact of the Titan grabbing him. His lower half didn't look too affected, but when Kanji touched one of his legs he shouted in pain. Both were obviously broken from the pressure applied to them.
The most worrying injury was on the mans torso. It was bleeding fairly heavily, and Kanji tried to stop the bleeding with his hands, but it wasn't working.
"Kanji," the blonde mans voice was hushed. "Have I made a difference? Was I…helpful?"
"Of course," Kanji's voice was thick with emotion, "and you will continue to be."
The blonde man lifted a hand, and Kanji grasped it with no hesitation, "I know…my wounds Kanij. I can…feel them. I won't…make it."
We watched as the blonde mans breathing slowed until it was completely gone. Ethan's hands were shaking from the fact a man just died in his hands, and he quickly bent down to place him and a Kanji on the ground.
Right after Ethan bent down a cable shot into a brick wall that was nearby. A short man immediately followed after it. Had Ethan stayed standing he would have been killed by the strangers wicked blades.
Roaring in shock Ethan pitched forward into a summersault. The movement would make it harder for the stranger to get a shot at killing him.
Ethan didn't bother looking behind him before shooting up to his feet and running off. He was afraid of sticking around to find out what the stranger looked like because that could lead to his death.
He ran for several minutes before slowing to a stop. Ethan looked around to make sure he was alone, and when he didn't find anybody he relaxed.
Now that he thought about his reaction he wanted to be embarrassed. He completely freaked out at the new presence, but in hindsight it was probably the smartest thing for him to do. That person didn't know he wasn't a normal Titan.
With a deep breath Ethan began walking back the way he came. He got a little lost since he didn't know the exact way, but eventually he found himself walking down the right road. He knew it was the right one because there was a group of humans standing near the body of the blonde man. Four of the them were on horses and the other four were standing around their fallen comrade.
One of the men on the horses shouted to his teammates and pointed up at Ethan. Everybody looked at him in surprise. Apparently Ethan hadn't been loud enough for them to hear when he approached.
The shortest of the group looked ready to attack, but Kanji stopped him. Ethan was close enough to hear what he said, "Wait, don't kill him!"
The others looked at Kanji like he was crazy. An familiar woman with red hair and glasses asked, "Why not?"
"That's the Titan I told you about."
The red haired woman gasped excitedly, and her head whipped towards me, "This is him?!" Her cables suddenly shot out, attaching themselves to Ethan's cheeks.
He roared in shocked pain, and reflexively reached up to pull the cables out of his face. The woman was left standing on his fist since Ethan hadn't let go of the cables. "Look at you!" she laughed excitedly, "Your facial structure is so unique!"
"Oi, Shitty-glasses!" The woman looked down at the man shouting at her, "Get down before it eats you."
All she did was laugh, "He won't eat me!" she turned back around to look at Ethan, "Will you big guy?"
Ethan took a deep breath, savoring the humans mouth watering scent, before shaking his head negatively. He would never let himself eat them.
The woman gasped so hard it startled Ethan, "You responded!" Ethan grunted and nodded again. "Levi, he's responding!"
There was an irritated sigh before Ethan felt two more cables attach onto his hand. This time he didn't roar in pain, but he did wince.
Ethan looked at the short man now standing on his fist and it finally hit him on who he was looking at. It was Hange Zoe and Levi Ackerman. Two main characters that Ethan had wondered about meeting.
Levi was piercing him with a sharp look, "Tch, he looks scared shitless."
Ethan's brown eyes narrowed at the insult. He knew Levi's character could be an ass, but it still bothered him.
"Levi," Hange pushed him lightly, "don't be mean."
Ethan snickered. It was funny seeing the shorter man get reprimanded for being mean.
"Ah!" Hange's yell startled both Ethan and Levi, "He's laughing!"
Levi was used to such odd behavior, but Ethan was staring at her with both eyebrows raised.
"Levi. Hange." The two on my hand looked down at the blonde man sitting on a horse. His presence was very commanding. "We need to get back to the walls. Now."
Ethan breathed out a puff of steam. To help out Ethan kneeled closer the the group of humans. They tensed at his close proximity, but Ethan only held his arm close to the ground so Levi could hop down. Once he was on the ground Ethan opened his hand to let go of Hange's cables.
When Hange got down she patted Ethan's finger, "You're an amazing specimen."
Being called a "specimen" had Ethan pulling his arm out of Hange's reach. He was worried the action would offend her, but she just laughed.
"C–Commander," Ethan looked at the man who shakily spoke up. When he saw that the Titan was looking at him he broke into a cold sweat, "We need to get back."
The blonde man, Commander Erwin Smith, nodded in acknowledgment, "Do you have enough gas?"
Kanji, Levi, Hange, and another strawberry blonde woman checked their tanks. All but the girl nodded. Levi snorted derisively, "You should manage your materials better."
Ethan looked between the group of humans before coming to a decision. He snapped his fingers to get the woman's attention. It was a very loud noise that gained looks from everybody.
"What the hell was that?"
To answer Levi's question Ethan snapped his fingers a second time. Kanji was familiar with the action, but none of the others had seen a Titan snap before. It was such a human thing to do. It made Hange salivate.
"He got our attention by snapping!"
Kanji nodded at Hange's statement, but he continued to look at Ethan, "What do you want?" Ethan pointed at the woman with one hand then moved it to his other hand. "You want her on your hand?" He nodded.
Everybody looked at the strawberry blonde to see what she would do. She herself didn't seem to know what to do, so Ethan reached forward to pinch her torso between his fingers. There were shouts of warning, and the woman gave her own yell of panic.
Ethan ignored all of this and calmly brought her up to set her on his shoulder. He stood up to his full height and looked down at all of the other humans. When they didn't move he waved his hand in a "let's get moving" type of gesture.
"Sir," Kanji spoke up, "I think he wants to carry her back to the wall."
Hange squealed, "Really?"
They all looked up at Ethan to see if he would respond, and he didn't disappoint. He nodded in agreement, and it sent Hange into a demanded laughing fit that had Levi hitting her upside the head. "We need to get moving."
He shot up to a nearby roof with Hange and Kanji following after him. Ethan followed the four horsemen through the streets. Any Titans that came ear were taken care of by Levi and Hange. The only problem with that was that it required the use of more gas. This worry meant the next time a Titan came close Ethan ran ahead and dispatched it efficiently. The action made Hange scream excitedly.
With his heightened sense of hearing Ethan was able to catch Levi comment, "At least he's useful."