Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan.

...

[Recording]

There are certain things I can't stand in life. The most infuriating is filth. It doesn't matter what it is, but I need it to be clean, efficient, and spotless. That's part of why I got this job in the first place. I don't like messy. Messy slows down the process, and the process needs to be quick and painless.

I guess that didn't stop you though.

Eren, I know you probably won't forgive me. I don't expect that. I never did. And I really tried to makes things work out. I really, truly did. I wanted that more than I've ever wanted anything. But it didn't. And this is how things have to be. I tried to minimize the casualties – I like things clean after all. But I couldn't save everything. I couldn't save you for certain. I couldn't save us. I couldn't even save myself. And now, you're in that room, and you're probably terrified.

I just want you to know that I'm sorry. For what little time you might have left, I want you to know what actually happened. It won't make anything better. There's...nothing at this point that I can tell you to put you at ease and fix everything. It's too late for that. But maybe you can at least understand why it all came to this, Eren. That has to count for something, right?

...

[Recording]

Eren, you're smart, so by now you've asked yourself when I even had time to record this stupid video and set it up to play for you in the maybe last hour or so of your life. You'll learn the main answer in a moment, but there's also the fact that this is something that I knew this might happen. For the most part, I expected it. I tried to prevent it, but I wanted to be prepared in case I couldn't. What you're hearing now is from just a few hours before everything will begin to end. The night before. I'll finish this up, head down to the lab, program this stupid thing to play for you, and pull out my last-ditch effort to stop things. I don't really think I can do much at this point, but I want you to make it out of there, so I'll do it anyway. No matter what happens, whether you make it out or not (and I'm afraid it might be more likely that you won't) I'll be dead. Either way I die tomorrow.

The rest of this, well, they're from those days. A journal, I suppose. From here on out, it's a history lesson. A history that you were part of.

And...just one more thing...I-I never said it. I never wanted to because then...it would just be too real and I'd know for certain that this...this thing was going to break me. And nothing has ever broken me before. I've always been clean and contained. But you fucking did it, Eren. You broke me like nothing else ever has. And I wish I never met you. I fucking hate you for doing this.

I wish I never met you...because I love you.

...

[Recording]

Fuck. How do people even use these things? The lighting is shit. Whatever. The agency wants me to put down a video report, so here it is. Operative code: 25884. Levi. I've been assigned to infiltrate Titan Labs and investigate a run of experiments they're conducting. Not for the law, of course. The Scout Agency is about profit. We collect a bunch of hush-hush intel and sell it off to the highest bidder. New drugs, weaponry, biotic weapons...you name it. And of course, the only reason I even have to bother explaining this shit is because Erwin told me they might use this this crap to teach the new diaper wetters that get recruited. Whatever. Anyway, the latter is what I'm here for. Rumor is that they've got someone down there they're testing on to make a human weapon, and man does Hanji love the gossip wheel.

Tch...Fuck, Erwin. Look at this shit. Undercover infiltration? Reconnaissance? Hacking? How is it you gave me the most stereotypical recon mission in the world? Brilliant. Starting the babies with the reinforced stereotypes. You're going to owe me a beer after this one.

Moving on. I'll be falsifying I.D. as a new technician to get in, and I'll just stick around and watch for a couple of months. Take notes. That kind of thing. If things escalate, well... I'm more than capable of removing the source of conflict. And, kids, make sure to write this down along with any reminder of what little self-esteem you have: when I say that, it's code speak for: I can and will kill shit. Brutally. Got that?

Fuck. This is going to be boring.

...

[Recording]

I've been in the labs for about three weeks now, and today I finally got into their underground facility. There's some fucked up shit going on down there. My "boss" took me on a tour, led me through a pretty elaborate tunnel system. It's nearly a mile underground, and there was some sort of human rights violation around every corner. They've got all kinds of experiments running down there. Messing with genes, chemical enhancements, mechanization...for fuck's sake I saw a goddamn cyborg.

The kid – and yes, it was a kid – lost his arm somehow. He was announced dead after his accident, so Titans Labs saw no reason to waste a perfectly decent test subject when no one would go looking for him. So half of his face and his whole right arm is robotic. They rebuilt some of his brain as well, which is why he doesn't remember anything outside the lab. Only his name. I think his last name is Bodt or Bott or something. And if that's not cruel irony then I don't know what the fuck is.

Newbies, you gotta learn to laugh a little at shit like that in this profession. Otherwise, your panties get all bunched up in your uncomfortables, and that makes it really hard to get your pathetic life over with.

I didn't speak with him, but apparently he's free to roam as long as he stays on his floor or lower. I have a feeling I'll be seeing more of him. Who knows?

Anyway, then we went down two more floors, and after about half a dozen different security checkpoints, I got my first glimpse of what I was looking for.

Project Jaeger.

We got down to this big, circular, white room with monitors running all up the walls. In the center, of course, is this pod chamber. And the glass was a little foggy, but I could still make out what was inside. It was another damn kid. I swear that all these scientists are pedos or some shit. But yeah, the kid. Brown hair, scrawny, and probably a couple inches taller than me. And this is the human weapon everyone in the underground's been so hyped up about. Fuck, I almost laughed.

But then my 'boss' started talking about what a marvel he was going to be. I mean, she got really excited about it. Not as excited as Hanji gets of course, but she's a lunatic, so it's not a fair comparison. And this ass crack just starts going off and running her mouth. She's not telling me anything really useful, of course. I haven't earned my place yet. But she at least gives me the background.

The kid in the pod? His father put him there. That's what she told me. Dr. Grisha Jaeger. He used to work in the genetics and bio-enhancement department of Titan Labs. She said that the brat's name is Eren Jaeger, and that Grisha had been working on an enhancement formula. Obviously to make a weapon of some sort. No specification there.

But this formula he made, it would only work on certain types of genetics. There had to be a specific gene in one of the chromosomes for the solution to latch onto and activate once injected. Some sequence of alleles. Eren was a match. One of the only matches they could find that was readily accessible.

At this point, Eren was five years old. And, Dr. Grisha had apparently become unstable since the death of his wife, and decided to go ahead use his own son in testing. They moved him into the labs and began with small doses of the formula everyday that gradually increased. But, shocker, something went wrong.

He was too old for the formula to make it's adaptations without destroying the genetic material underneath. He fell ill, and he was going to die. Grisha seemed to come to his senses at this point, because she told me that he applied to postpone testing until Eren got better. The way she said it though, shit, made it sound like now he was going crazy.

He was denied by his supervisors and the board, so he tried to smuggle his son out of the lab. Big mistake. Security shot him down dead, and Eren was about to kick the bucket. So their scientist took him and extracted his DNA, and they tried to preserve him for as long as possible, but it was too late.

Eren Jaeger died four years ago.

The boy in the pod? He's a clone. And he's stable because they immediately integrated the formula with his DNA before he could develop beyond the compatibility range. The Eren I was looking at was four years old, though he has the body of someone closer to eighteen.

Miss Science Bitch explained that they accelerated the development process so he would be ready sooner. She said I'm lucky to be joining the Labs now because they're going to wake him up in a week.

This place is disgusting.

...

[Recording]

I've been reassigned to work under a woman named Annie Leonhart. She's the head of the Jaeger Project, and I fucking despise her already. She keeps getting in the way, pulling some dipshit assignment for me out of her ass somehow managing to interrupt every time I get close to new information.

But no matter. Today was important. They woke up Eren Jaeger.

I got pulled in to watch for some reason – part of my initiation, I suppose. Of course, they threatened me with certain death if I leak information, but, in my line of work, I get that a lot. Haven't faced certain death yet. They also keep telling me that I have potential to make it big in this organization, which seems as laughable to me as their threats.

Everyone circled around the pod with their lab coats and notepads (so what if I was wearing one too?)and the stasis liquid was drained out through the grate under his feet. The breathing mask popped off and they removed the electrodes before the chamber finally opened.

I'll be honest here. Seeing him take his first breath of real air...it was surreal. His eyes opened and some people jumped a little. They were bright green. I was standing near the front, and he looked right at me just before he collapsed. They built him with some muscle mass, but he doesn't know how to use it yet.

He had that clichéd deer-in-the-headlights expression as they pulled him up on a gurney and took him to the medical wing. Annie told me to follow her into the infirmary, and when we arrived he had fully come to.

They had hooked him up to monitors and his heartbeat was crazy fast on that machine. He was strapped down, though I doubt he could have made it anywhere if he tried. He was squirming on the bed. Annie moved to stand over him and said, "Imitari," which I learned is Latin for "copy." It seems to be a controlling device or code, because he shut down after she said it. It was like she hypnotized him, so I'm betting there's a microchip or something implanted in his brain.

She addressed him by his name, and told him to nod if he understood her. He did. That means they found some way to educate him while he was growing in the pod. Have to look into that. She asked him to speak. He couldn't.

She recorded some data on his vitals. Kid has a ridiculous temperature, but she assured me that one hundred and one degrees was to be expected from him. We left him in there with the other doctors, and I'm supposed to start working with Leonhart on him as an assistant. This is a little problematic. I need to get close enough to this to get the information I need, but getting too close, this close, is dangerous. I'll have to be extremely careful from here on out.

...

[Recording]

Sorry, I'm interrupting the story for a second. In the slight chance that Eren makes it out of all this alive, I've sent this recording to Hanji and Erwin. And Eren, you'll see this anyway. Actually, as you're watching this...I'm probably on my way to the control center right now. Now, whether you get to walk out of that room or not is something I don't know.

But to Hanji, you need this information. I want you to do me a favor and try to reverse engineer the formula for an antidote. There are other labs under Titan jurisdiction with other experiments similar to Eren. He was the prototype, and they expanded to at least three known subjects by the names of Reiner, Bertholdt, and Ymir. Find them and help them and Eren if he makes it out. Shut down Titan Industries. I want them wiped off the face of the fucking planet. This is outside the agency. This is personal. Fuck them in the ass with anything you've got that'll hurt.

I've attached the chemical formula I managed to swipe.

Eren, if by some miracle you live, find Hanji. Find Erwin. They'll help you. I promise that. And, try to put all of this behind you. Live your life and all that philosophical shit... Not all of the world wants to inject you with needles and stick you in a pod. Just the part you came from.

...Fuck...

...I'm so sorry...

...

[Recording]

He's mute. That's the final verdict. Apparently mixing up his genes had some side effects, but this seems to be the only major one.

It's been two weeks since they woke him up, and I still haven't learned much about what this mystery formula was supposed to do to make him so dangerous. He's actually very tame. Not just because he can't speak, but it's just in his demeanor. He's...delicate. The only thing that gives away his unique biotic structure is that his eyes seem to almost glow. They're green and bright, and his gaze has a mystic feeling about it. Aside from that, no one would ever suspect that he's anything more than a normal, skinny teenager.

He does get frustrated sometimes though. That whole not being able to speak thing gets to him sometimes, and he'll throw a hissy fit until I tell him to knock it off before I punch him.

Today, Annie left me alone with him for nearly two hours. This leads me to believe that they're not worried about him going berserk, which means there has to be some kind of trigger. I'm wondering if it's another code word.

But anyway, for two hours I just babysat this kid. They've given him a special room to stay in. Reinforced white walls, a bed with white sheets, attached bathroom, and he has to wear a white uniform. I like things to be clean, but the heavy sterile nature of the room is too much for even me to be comfortable with.

Eren Jaeger, I found out, is still human. I mean, on an emotional level. Somewhere else in the facility, a weapons test went wrong and there was a small explosion. He became frightened, and grabbed me. He can perform basic motor functions now.

I told him to get off of me, but he wouldn't. And he's actually really fucking strong, so I eventually gave up on trying to pry him off. I finally started to rub his back – comfort him or whatever. At least get him to relax enough to get off. Instead, the brat literally crawls into my lap and decides to nod off.

But, I've learned to make the best of an issue, so I tried to look for anything else unusual while he was so close. Nothing. He's mute. His eyes glow. His regular temperature is around 101. He's a brat. That's all I know so far. I only have another two and a half months before I have to pull out of here, so I need to make more progress and fast.

...

[Recording]

That day...that was the first hint, Eren. I didn't say it in there, but after I couldn't find anything else, I just let you sleep. I could have pushed you off. But there was something incredible about the way you just trusted me so easily...about the way you just breathed. I don't know what it was.

And I know this whole thing is out of character for me, Hanji. But fuck you. It's my legacy. It's the last thing I get to say. I'll do what I want, and what I want is to tell the truth.

...For a guy that's had to lie about one thing or another almost his whole life, I don't think it's too much to ask that I get to speak honestly for once.

...

[Recording]

This is...getting out of hand. Two days ago... shit. Two days ago Leonhart put me on primary supervision. In other words: head babysitter. She said good results came out of him spending time with me, so she wants to keep that up. It's fucking insane. I'm supposed to hang out with this kid and spend a decent four hours a day with him when I should be distancing myself. And this is taking away time I could be using to snoop and get this over with already.

So now I've got the Jaeger Project, the human weapon of supposed mass destruction, trying to hug me any chance he gets. It's fucking ridiculous.

And...I don't know... The problem is really that, as much as I'm complaining, I really don't mind that much. Hell, it's been three days and I'm starting to like the brat. That's not supposed to happen. That gets messy. That's not clean.

Shit. I'll have to cut that out before I submit it to Erwin. Never mind.

Basically, my job entails watching him and trying to teach him how to communicate. We've given him a white board to write on to talk to us, but spelling is a work in progress. He draws a lot. Mostly the things he sees, since he hasn't been in contact with the rest of the world. I mean, he doesn't know what a cat is. He'll draw the bed or desk or his hand. He, uh, draws me a lot. Actually, I'm most of what he does. It's bizarre.

He's getting better at it though. I'll give him that much.

It's only a matter of time before they start really testing him. He's able to move around well now, and he can say a few things. Well, write them anyway. Point is, things are going to change soon, so maybe I'll be able to get more work done.

I'm going to really find out what he's capable of.

...

Author's Notes: Okay, this is a thing. It's a very odd thing I just started writing and it came to life on its own. Weird how that happens sometimes. Anyway, let me know if you like it! As always, your support is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

ValorTheory