AN: Story will take place pre-breach for a chapter or three, then go right after post-breach and pre-trainee days, then post-trainee days. As a note, a lot of what Grisha and Eren will be doing in the earlier chapters will be considered outdated medicine practice by our standards, but Eren will grow and learn. He'll also be a little less hot headed here than in canon, and a bit more competent as a result. Also, this story is canon compliant, so all the lore from canon is canon here as well!

As a very important note: I'm not a doctor nor am I a med student. A lot of medical procedures and herb mixtures will come directly from our good friend and overlord, Google, or left vague. So if you're a doctor/med student/just smarter than me, let me know if I get anything wrong!

(If you're wondering why I chose such a difficult subject to write about, it's because I love to torture myself 8D and because the premise is too interesting to pass up.)

Follow me on twitter at AristoMuse for art and fic updates!

Warning: This fic will contain explicit violence, explicit depictions of gore, medical examinations, malpractice, implied/referenced prostitution, torture, trauma, kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, and PTSD. This fic contains major spoilers.

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"What are the lungs and where are they located?"

"The organ that helps us breathe in oxygen and lets out carbon dioxide. Upper chest."

"And the liver?"

"Renews blood, detoxifies chemicals, and metabolizes drugs. One of the most important organs in the body. Right below the diaphragm and next to the stomach..."

"And the gallbladder?"

"Argh!" Eren flipped the medical textbook closed and crossed his arms over his tiny frame. "Dad, I'm so bored with this! Can't I go out and play?" He begged, his iridescent green eyes growing wider to hopefully convince his father. "Please?"

He was 7 years old, about 3ft 6 inches tall, and fed up with learning medical texts.

Grisha Jaeger frowned. He was a man approaching middle age, just passing 30 years. His brown hair was combed neatly passed his shoulders and parted in the middle of his forehead. He had the same green eyes as his son, but they didn't glow as brightly, partially because of the round spectacles he wore in front of them. "Eren..." He sighed for what was probably the tenth time in an hour. "You know I want you to be happy, but right now, you have to study. Just a little longer, okay?"

"But it's so boring!" Eren argued back, fiddling with the strings that tied up the collar of his cotton shirt. "All you do is make me read books and draw organs. I wanna go outside and play! At least to go pick herbs?" He could run around in the fields at least, maybe try catching some bugs.

"Eren," His father rubbed his temple, clearly trying to stave off the impending headache. "This is one of the rare times I'm home to teach you. I know you have been sneaking out once your mother goes to do laundry, and I know you come home bruised and scratched from picking fights with other children."

"Because they're mean and they try to pick a fight with me!" He corrected. "Mom always yells at me about the fights, but who else is gonna go teach those bullies a lesson?!"

Letting his hand fall back down to their kitchen table, Grisha withheld a pained expression. "I never said it's wrong, but I'm rarely home to patch you up. You already know how to sanitize and bandage cuts, but what if something worse happens? What if I'm out of the district and someone comes around with an emergency?" He reasoned, reaching out to cover his son's small hand with his own calloused one. "Your mother has to take care of the house and you, but you have to take care of people when I'm not around."

Eren pouted and looked to the side. "I guess...It would be cool if people thanked me for helping them."

Grisha's mouth smoothed out into a smile. "That's my son. Remember, Eren. Helping people is the right thing to do." His smile turned indulgent. "And if helping them means knocking some sense into them, then by all means."

The young boy grinned up at his father. "Yeah!"

"Now, tell me about the gallbladder."

When the lesson finally ended, Eren rushed out the door after giving his father a quick hug, already making his way toward Wall Maria. It was mid-afternoon now, which meant he didn't really have much time to explore before his mom would want him home for dinner.

He ran through one of the main thoroughfare of Shiganshina, not minding when people called out to him.

"Hey, slow down!"

"Watch it, brat!"

"Kids these days, no manners at all..."

Eren only grinned, not a single care in the world. He didn't have any friends since he was either too rough or hotheaded for the local kids, and those three bullies would always gang up on him, so he was on his own. Not that he minded much, but it made going to school really irritating. No one ever wanted to hang out with him or share their books, and while he wasn't the type to want to read, it didn't mean he couldn't!

He knew his dad meant well, that being a doctor was tough and tiring, but it was boring to read so much about the human body. It was dry with no story, just diagrams and paragraphs about the muscles, organs, and bones. He had only been allowed to help bandage small cuts, especially when they had more than one patient waiting, but no one ever trusted a kid like him to do a good job. Even if he was the son of Grisha Jaeger, the doctor who saved Shiganshina from a deadly plague.

His mom was tough, too. He loved her but man, she yelled all the time and he yelled back. Clearly he took after his mom more than his dad, what with their thick eyebrows, large eyes, small upturned noses, and heart shaped faces, even though his was still pretty round with childhood fat. But while her hair was black, his was brown, and while her eyes were gold, his eyes were green.

Even though his dad traveled a lot for house calls, they had more than enough money to live comfortably, at least in Shiganshina. He had heard from school that Wall Rose and Wall Sina were much nicer, but it was also more cramped. Either way, they were always surrounded by the large looming walls that kept out humanity's greatest enemies.

The Titans.

His teacher had said they were mindless, slobbering beasts that looked like deformed humans. Usually their limbs were too long or too short, always kind of pudgy, and their faces never changed. They could be as small as 3 meters or as tall as 15 meters, and there was one thing they all had in common. Their lust for human flesh.

He hated them. For eating people, for making them scared enough to hide behind the walls. For caging them in like cattle. The only people who were brave enough to fight for their freedom were the Survey Corps. Men and women who would go outside the walls and risk their lives to fight titans and to reclaim back their land from a hundred years ago.

They were so cool...

Snapping out of his thoughts, Eren brightened when he realized he was nearing the gates that led into Wall Maria territory. Shiganshina was on the very edge of the wall, one of four districts that jutted out from the walls, and the territory inside was a lot of farmland, green plains, giant forests, and he heard there was even a desert somewhere. One day he'll see all of the world-

"G-Give it back!"

Stopping near the gate, Eren looked to his right where in an alley between two buildings was a small blond boy, surrounded by three very familiar, and very unwelcome faces.

The bullies.

One of the bullies, Frid, smirked smugly down at the much smaller boy, holding up a book in his hands. "No way, nerd! I heard from some people that this here book is forbidden. What's a loser like you gotta do to get somethin' like this?"

"M-My grandpa gave it to me..." The blond boy whimpered, tears brimming in his large blue eyes. "Please, give it back..!"

Another of the bullies, Riba, snickered. "You hear that, Frid? He said 'please' like a lil girl!" They all laughed obnoxiously around their victim, making him shed tears.

Eren had enough.

"Hey!" He yelled out, stomping in their direction. They stopped laughing and turned to look at him with irritated frowns, the blond whimpering at another person who was bigger than him. "Give his book back!"

"Jaeger, not hidin' in your mom's skirts for once?" The last boy, Arkim, taunted him with a familiar sneer. "What, you know this loser?" He pointed his thumb at the blond boy. "Losers gotta stay with losers, huh?"

Eren scowled up at them. They were older than him by three years and taller too, so he was at a disadvantage. Still, he couldn't just stand back and let them pick on someone..! "You're the losers here!" He retorted strongly. "All you do is pick on people! Why don't you actually go read a book for once? Oh wait," His tone turned mocking. "You probably don't even know how to. That's why we're in the same class even though you guys are older!"

Immediately, the bullies' smirks turned into frowns, their faces red with embarrassment and anger. "Why you..!" Frid began, throwing the book to the ground and with one step forward, threw a punch at the green eyed boy.

Ducking under, Eren immediately brought his own fist up right into his diaphragm with a thwack, exactly where it would induce emesis. Frid covered his mouth and ran backwards to throw up what was probably his lunch, and Arkim stepped up with a scowl. "Damn you, Jaeger..!" He threw a punch as well, and lifted his left leg to kick him.

He didn't have enough hands to block both, and Eren let out a cry as a solid knee rammed into his ribs. He fell to the dusty ground but scrambled back up, ignoring the twinge he felt in his side, and jabbed his fingers into his throat. Arkim choked, saliva coughing out, and massaged his throat. Two down, one to-

Eren choked when someone came up behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck, tightening their grip. "You little shit!" Riba growled behind him, flexing his bicep to try to crush his throat. "Don't think you'll get outta this! I'm stronger than Frid and Arkim!"

Scratching at the arm and leaving bleeding red marks on the skin, Eren struggled to breathe. "Hgg...Nghh..!" His feet kicked up into the air while he thrashed around, trying to escape, when an idea came to him. It was super underhanded but he was going to die if he didn't do it..!

Taking in as much air as he could, he lifted his leg, arched his back, and kicked backwards right into Riba's crotch. The older boy squeaked in pain and immediately let go to cup his balls, collapsing into a pile of whimpering meat.

Dropping to the ground, Eren coughed as he tried to breathe, feeling his now very much bruised throat. Shit, hopefully his throat didn't collapse!

Swallowing some saliva to soothe his dry throat, he looked up to see the blond boy still trembling in his spot, his book carefully held but tightly against his chest. Coughing a bit more, he got up on his feet and grabbed him by his arm, ignoring his squeak. "C'mon, let's go..!" He spoke raspy-like, pulling him toward the gate. The blond hadn't gotten a word in before he was being dragged toward the gate that led out to the grass plains.

None of the Garrison soldiers cared, with some of them sitting around playing poker and drinking alcohol, so they had no problem leaving the district. After a few more minutes of running, Eren stopped near a small river and collapsed on the grass to take a few gulps. "Haaa...Damn those bullies..." He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his brown sweater and looked down at his reflection, more specifically at his bruise, and winced at the violent red that curved around his neck. His dad did say he should patch himself up instead of making his mom worry. Was there any arnica around here? He could faintly remember picking some...

"U-Um..."

Oh yeah, he had someone else with him. Eren turned around to see the blond boy he had rescued scuttle up to him. "...-you." He mumbled with his head down, his fringe covering his eyes.

"Huh?" Eren cupped a hand near his ear. "Sorry, could you repeat that? I couldn't hear."

Taking a deep breath, the other boy lifted his head and gave him a shy smile. "...Th-Thank you for...saving me from those bullies." He spoke gently with a stutter. "No one's ever s-stood up for me before..."

Eren perked up and grinned. Someone was thanking him for helping them! "You're welcome! Those guys are always jerks, in fact this is the first time I've ever been able to beat 'em!" He rubbed the back of his head with a proud smirk. "I'd always take the chance to take 'em down a notch! Are you okay though, uh..." Wow, he didn't even know his name.

"I-I'm Armin Arlert." The blond boy introduced himself with a slight bow. "It's nice to meet you."

"Hi Armin, my name's Eren Jaeger!" Eren reached out and shook his hand eagerly. "Hey, wanna be friends?! Since we're both targets for those guys, we should stick together!" He wasn't going to admit it was because he was lonely. Armin seemed like a nice guy, if a little too quiet and shy. He should stand up for himself, and if they were friends, he could teach Armin to hit the weak spots.

Armin's baby blues widened, taking up almost half of his face. "Friends..?" A small but happy smile spread on his face and he nodded. "O-Okay! Let's be fr-friends, Eren!" He hugged his book to himself. "Do...Do you like books?"

Eren scratched his head. "Eh...Depends. I think medical texts are super dry, but I like stories!" He looked down at the book that his new friend hugged. "Didn't one of them say that this book is forbidden?"

Armin nodded and looked around for any eavesdroppers before leaning in closer. "My grandpa gave it to me. He said it's from a time when knowledge like this wasn't banned a-and he knows I like learning." He held it up so Eren could look at the cover. "It's about the outside world!"

Eren's eyes widened. "The outside world..?" He breathed excitedly. "What does it say?!"

Smiling at his enthusiasm, Armin opened the book to show drawings and large texts. "It says that there are mountains covered in fire, fields of ice, and huge deserts!" He iterated enthusiastically. "And get this! Apparently there's this huge expanse of water called the ocean! It stretches for longer and wider than the eye can see, and the water is salty!"

"Whoa..." Eren could only imagine what that could be like. Was it like a lake, but really big? Was the water dark, or clear? What kind of fish lived in it? Did fish even live in it if it's supposed to be salty? "The world is pretty big, huh..."

"Mm!" Armin nodded quickly. "One day...One day I want to see it all."

Hearing his words, Eren couldn't help but want that too. To live in a world where they didn't have to fear the titans. To live in a cage where they were just waiting to die. He wanted to see these fire mountains, ice fields, and huge deserts. Most of all...

"Let's go see the ocean together." Eren announced firmly, eyes glowing with determination. "One day, we'll explore the world and see everything!" He raised a fist in the air.

Armin blinked but beamed, raising his tiny fist as well. "Yeah!"

And then there were two.