"Eren Jaeger."

Bright lights flooded his vision, and he was hardly able to see the judge sitting high above the court.

"Jaeger, answer me."

"Your honor," Eren pleaded, pulling on the gold chains that held his arms tightly behind his back. They dug into his skin, pulling blood; they had to be enchanted. "Please, have mercy-"

"This is the last time I will repeat myself." The judge bellowed, and smacked his hammer against the gold table, sending sparks. "Did you, or did you not leave the gates of heaven without a permit."

Eren swallowed, and looked up at the heavenly jury that glared at him with intensity. He looked down at the ground, "I did..."

"Not only did you leave without a god's permission," the judge stroked his beard, "but you entered a restricted area."

"Please!" Eren jumped forwards, his chains pulling him back, "Those people were going to die! I couldn't watch-"

"People die every day, boy." A jury member spat angrily, "It's not your job to play god!"

"We are angels!" Eren screamed, "We're supposed to bless people- to protect them! That village did nothing wrong!"

"Only a god may decide when someone will or will not die." The judge hissed. "You are only half a century old. You have seen nothing of death and destruction. You have committed sins against heaven, and you will be punished as such."

"He was just trying to help!"

Eren swung his head back, to see his sister being held back by his best friend, Armin. Mikasa's eyes were angry and her wings beat desperately to get out of Armin's grasp.

"Do not speak out of turn, young woman."

"Please don't-"

"Guards." The judge called, and Eren screamed to his sister as she was pulled out of the courtroom with Armin.

"Mikasa!"

"Eren!"

"Jaeger, you will be extracted immediately."

The words stung his throat, and he swallowed back tears. He looked up to the judge, "Please have mercy…"

"I'm sorry, boy." The judge tapped his hammer against the table, making the decree official. "Rules are rules."

It was dark. Dark and musty... He could feel his arms being pulled above his head, and his legs were tied to the ground. There was a gag placed around his mouth. He didn't know where he was- he didn't know there was a dark place in heaven. The only brightness the room came from his own halo.

A door swung open, letting in a ray of light that landed across his eyes. He squinted as a man wearing a face mask entered pushing a cart with various tools. The door shut behind him, and he spoke with a deep voice, "I will begin the extraction now."

Eren tried begging no, but the gag around his mouth allowed only muffled sounds. There was a needle in his arm and suddenly he was screaming. He could feel the natural gold aura around him begin to shrink. It felt like someone was digging their cold hands into his body and pulling out his soul from the inside. Eren thrashed against the chains, but it was to no avail. He screamed against the gag, and he felt the energy of his halo dim; it slid off his head and landed on the metal floor with a clank noise. It was dead and lifeless now. He watched in horror as the halo turned to dust on the floor. He felt his skin turning pale white, and whipped his head back against the wall behind him.

Eren was crying now- he was feeling real pain- real mortality began to shake his body.

Suddenly there was a knife at his back, and he shrieked a silent scream as his wings fell to the ground.

"Is this one dead?"

"I don't know, how can we tell?"

"Hmm, maybe you should check if he's breathing you fucking moron."

"Wow, you don't have to be such an asshole…jeez."

"He's breathing all right. Should we bring him back?"

"Might as well, Erwin needs all the recruits he can get."

"He's actually kinda cute..."

Eren grumbled as he slowly became conscious again. There was a burning pain in his head, and an even more horrifying pain in his back. As soon as he opened his eyes he cried out in agony.

"Woah! Hey there, buddy." There was a short man with a bald head in his view. He held up his hands in defense, "Calm down-"

Eren cried out and tried to push away from all the unfamiliar faces standing behind him. "Wh- who-" He groaned, and he felt cold stickiness against his body. Was this blood? Oh gods, this was blood.

A woman's voice spoke, "We gotta go bandage him up, or he's not going to be alive for much longer."

There were hands grabbing towards him, and he shuffled back against the ground in panic, "Don't touch me!"

"Fuck, dude, were trying to help you!" A guy with a long face and undercut crossed his arms in anger. "Stop being so difficult."

"Where am I?!" Eren screamed. He couldn't stand, he could hardly feel his legs.

"Calm down, it's going to be okay-"

Eren's breathing became labored as he began to panic- wait breathing? Angels didn't breathe! Eren suddenly felt darkness creeping in his vision and he fell backwards. The last thing he heard was

"Damn he passed out."

"Well, well, well. Look who's awake!"

Eren felt déjà vu as he opened his eyes to a headache and a room full of strangers. He noticed that everyone was wearing black from head to toe.

"What…" Eren rubbed his face, "What happened-"

"You were extracted." The long faced man crossed his arms.

Eren was suddenly wide awake and shot up in bed, "What!" He cried out as pain swept through his body.

"Woah, woah, calm down." A woman with glasses pressed her hands against his chest. "Let me ask the questions. Don't scare him into shock, Jean."

The woman smiled warmly, "Hello! My name is Hanji! Can you remember your name?"

"…Eren." He looked around at the room full of people, feeling very dizzy. "Eren Jaeger."

"Wonderful!" She clasped her hands together. "Do you remember what happened?"

"N…no." Eren closed his eyes. "Yes? Maybe? I remember them-" his eyes snapped open in shock, feeling emptiness and pain where his wings used to be. "Oh g-"

He found himself emptying his stomach into a trash bin that was shoved in front of him with amazing speed. A feeling of nausea kept sweeping over him as he thought about his white wings slumping to the ground and fading into dust.

"Wow, already throwing up. That's a new record."

"He's reacting better than you did, Connie."

"Shut up! At least I didn't piss my pants!"

"Why you-"

Eren looked up at the people in the room and suddenly realized where he was.

"Eren…" Hanji placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're in the underworld right now. You had your wings cut off, and you were banished from heaven. I'm sorry but…you're mortal now. Please be careful with your body. "

"The underworld…" Eren spoke aloud. His eyes were clouded with anger and he leaned away from Hanji's touch, "I want to leave right now! I don't want to be with- with demons!"

"Woah! How rude!"

"This is what we get for dragging his sorry ass all the way here?"

"Listen, dude." A tall woman with freckles spoke. "Erwin is going to come in here and he's going to give you two options- join us and fight, or battle all of hell alone. Your choice."

"Alright, alright." Hanji waved, "That's enough. Give him some space. You all remember how it felt."

Eren's head pounded, and hardly noticed as the room emptied.

Eren sat in the hospital like bed with his head in his hands. He felt like his whole world has been shattered. He missed his two best friends.

There was a knock at the door, and two men entered. They were both very attractive. The tall blonde one nodded, "I am commander Erwin, and this is my second in command, Levi. I understand you are the newest fallen angel, is that correct?"

"Um..y-yeah, I guess," Eren tried to sit up, but agony lit up his spine and his face contorted into pain.

"Don't." Erwin held up his hand. "We're just here to talk."

"Where did you guys find me?" Eren asked angrily.

"All fallen angels are left at the gates of hell."

"To be eaten up by the hell hounds." Levi snarled. "Fucking, Satan and his dog fetish."

"Wait so… you guys don't…work for the devil?" Eren's brain hurt.

Levi bristled and Erwin shook his head, "No. We're in the underworld, not hell. Only fallen angels and dead souls live here."

For the first time Eren noticed the large black wings sprouting from their backs. Fallen angels. Eren thought, I'm in the home of the ex-angels. I thought it was just a legend?

"Your back will be in pain for a couple weeks, but in a month or so your wings will grow back."

Eren covered his mouth with his hand in relief, "They will?"

"Yep. But you won't have those pretty white ones anymore. They're gonna be like ours." Levi crossed his arms. "I hope you like the color black."

Eren finally got a good look at the corporal, and noticed that he was noticeably shorter than the commander, but still held a strong presence. Like his existence demanded your loyalty.

In contrast, Erwin had this professional, yet friendly aura about him. "You're welcome to leave if you choose, but I'd like to offer you a place here, with us. Its much safer, I assure you. "

"That one girl said to join the fight…" Eren looked towards the door, "What fight?"

"It doesn't matter." Levi snapped, "But you have to decide now. Are you one of us or not?"

Eren was silent, and looked down at his bandages that wrapped around his entire chest. I guess I don't have a choice…I can't survive on my own. I really have no idea what's out there. He looked up at the authorities, and nodded his head slowly.

The commander smiled and reached out his hand, "Good, welcome to the team then."

A couple days later, Eren was still on edge. He felt empty, and hollow, and alone. He had no sense of where he was- no sense of who he was really, now that all his angelic powers were gone. He was no longer immortal, no longer had healing powers or magic.

As he wallowed in self-pity, a barrage of dark angels poured into the room, fumbling over each other and beating their wings.

"Hey newbie!"

"Out of my way!"

"Is he alive?"

"Of course he's alive, Hanji wouldn't let him die-"

They crowded around his bed, and Eren's breathing picked up in panic, "Um…"

There was a hand shoved in his face, and he blinked in shock. The bald boy grinned, "I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name's Connie!" Eren was hesitant, but slowly shook his hand.

A girl pushed in next to him, "And I'm Sasha! And that's Jean and Marco and Ymir and Christa and Reiner and Bertholt and-"

"Hey! Let us introduce ourselves, will ya?" Reiner laughed. He gripped Eren on the shoulder, "It's crazy here, but you'll adjust. I heard you told Erwin you'd join! Welcome to the team."

"Uh..thanks." Eren shook his hand. He looked at all the grinning faces, and asked slowly, "Um…why…why are you guys being so nice to me?"

The short blonde girl hopped up on the foot of his bed and smiled, "I know, I remember too. All the stories of how fallen angels are evil and bad. They make us out to seem like gross monsters of hell- but it's just not true! Nope, not at all." She laughed sweetly.

"I know it's all so overwhelming," Marco folded his hands behind his back, and pressed his dark wings flat, "But all we have is each other, you know?"

"I just…I feel so-" Eren clenched his fists, "so-"

"Empty?"

"Yeah." Eren grumbled. "Useless."

"Ill tell you a secret." Reiner grinned. "The angels are flawed. Their extraction serum doesn't get rid of your magic- it can't…it just kind of changes it into something different. You'll see, once you heal."

When the parade of dark angels left, Eren found himself in a better mood.

Weeks had passed and Eren was feeling restless. His back was healing, but showed no signs of sprouting any new wings. He missed the feeling- the softness of feathers. He was jealous of the others who flew in and out of his room. After countless days in the damn hospital bed, he decided it was time to find out what the underworld really looked like. Hanji left an hour ago, so Eren decided it was now or never.

He pushed his feet out of the bed, and as he stood he slumped against the wall. His balance was shit now that his wings no longer existed. He used the wall for support and tumbled through the doors. He found himself walking down a long hallway. It was tedious; trying to stay upright. He wobbled forwards and backwards like a human baby. He reached the end of the hallway and stumbled through another pair of doors. When he pushed them open, he found himself staring at what could only be described as some kind of underground bunker. There were layers, with rooms upon hundreds of rooms that wrapped up the cylinder shaped building. Dark winged angels flew around the enormous building laughing and hustling busily. Eren was reminded of an ant colony.

"What are you doing out?"

Eren jumped, and was met with a face he hadn't seen since the first day he landed here. "I uh-"

"You're the new kid, right?" The dark haired man crossed his arms with a scowl, "I could see you hobbling from a mile away."

"Sorry, sir." Eren grumbled, "But I just couldn't handle that hospital room anymore."

Levi slumped a little bit, and leaned against the railing and looked down. The bunker extended up and down miles, lit up by torches. "Yeah, it's torturous. Wait until the new bones start growing, you won't want to leave Hanjis side. Human painkillers are fucking great. "

"Where..." Eren thought out loud, "Where are all the souls?"

"Outside." The second in command nodded towards the walls that surrounded them, "We built this bunker just so we didn't have to hear all the souls and their damn crying. Its fucking horrible."

"I didn't know any of this existed." Eren muttered, looking at the enormous underground kingdom.

"You're not supposed to." Levi said strictly. "As far as heaven knows, every ex-angel is left at the gates of hell as food to the Cerberus."

"Why is this kept a secret?" Eren watched as someone leaped over the railing and soared down to one of the bottom levels.

"Because both heaven and hell wants us dead." The corporal's tone was deep, and attractive. "We're a threat to both."

A threat? Eren blinked. He wanted to ask so many questions. As far as he knew…these were all good people. Why would heaven want them dead? Wouldn't they be happy with the fact that they cast them from heaven? Eren looked to the man next to him- he looked annoyed, so Eren kept his mouth shut. The more he looked though…the more Eren's heartbeat quickened. It surprised him, considering he wasn't used to having one.

But angels were naturally attracted to beauty, and as he looked he noticed that the corporal was the pinnacle of beauty. He had long eyelashes and perfect skin. His undercut was precise, and his eyes were cold but stunning.

"Did you hear me?"

"Huh?" Eren blinked.

Levi rolled his eyes, "I don't have time for your stupid ass- I asked how you got into this mess in the first place?"

"Oh…" Eren scratched his head. "I um… I left the gates without a permit."

Levi raised an eyebrow, "That's it?"

"I…also tried to save a village. Some small group in Africa or something. They were going to die for no reason and I-"

"Ah." Levi put his hands into his pockets. "You're a heroic bastard. Interesting."

"What?"

"Nothing." Levi hopped up on the rail and spread his wings- they were larger than any Eren had ever seen. "Get back in the hospital, newbie, before Hanji sees and throws a goddamn fit."

He then leapt off the rail, and sailed up and away.

Eren was left wondering how anyone that beautiful could be cast out of heaven.

"And this is our room!" Connie spread out his hands in glee. "Your bed is right there, and I sleep here, and Marco has the bed in the left corner, and Jean has the one on the right! If they make weird noises at night just ignore them they're probably banging-"

"Connie!" Marco shrieked in horror and Jean threw a pillow across the room. Connie laughed and shielded his face.

"It's true though!"

Eren let out a laugh- probably his first since arriving, and sat down on his bed. He noticed some fresh pairs of black clothing on his bed. As he examined them, he noticed some were casual, like jeans and t-shirts; and some looked like uniforms. It had padding and the material was tough. He noticed there was also an assortment of toiletries given to him. Eren suddenly realized that he never had to take care of a body before. He'd watched humans, of course. But the thought of having to actually brush his teeth made him miss his immortality.

"Hey, Eren," Marco smiled sweetly. "Can I see your wings?"

"Oh um." His face turned red, "Yeah…but they're not really...grown yet. It's actually kinda gross." He turned around and Marco examined the small bones jutting out of his back. They were covered in leathery black, and were beginning to develop feathers.

"They look good so far though!" Marco grinned. "I can tell they're going to be big and beautiful!"

Eren smiled, "Thanks Marco." He looked down at his hands. "My old wings were…"

"We know." Jean crossed his arms. "We know."

It was silent again, and so Connie piped up to break it. "So! How about I give you a formal tour? We still haven't seen the training arena or the cafeteria!

Eren nodded, with a small smile, "Let's go then."

So this first chapter was mostly setup, but i'm excited about this

ive had the plot in my head for about a year, so i'm finally doing something about it, hue