Daughter Of The Revolution: That's right, I'm writing two stories at once, whataya gonna do 'bout it? Anyways, this is my "unofficial prequel" to my Oneshot/Longshot "What's Left." Unofficial means you can take this story as same universe or not. Up to you if you like it. My minds' always a-tickin' and this happened to fall on my lap, so I decided to write it. Will probably be in 2 parts. So, enjoy :D
"It's going to be a girl," Bertl said with a soft smile as he rubbed his rounded belly that was currently occupied with a soon-to-be family member.
Reiner looked at him quizzically, his sharp brow arched. "How do you know?"
Bertl simply rolled his shoulders and shook his head. "Perhaps it's a mother's intuition." That statement earned a chuckle from his mate.
"Yeah, right, sure it is," Reiner said with a chuckle as he continued his chores with replenishing their firewood.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Bertl asked, narrowing his eyes at his mate.
"Well, for starters, your mother said you were going to be a girl, but she was wrong," Reiner said while playfully sticking his tongue out in jest.
"Dammit, Reiner!" Bertl erupted and made sure that his mate got that dingy set of sheets and slept on the floor, He would feel the wrath of an expecting Titan-shifter.
Petty arguments, that's all they were. The two had known each other for too long to let those simple troubles separate them. Their status as mates should downplay any doubts, even against the equation of love it was logical for the two to be together.
Titan-shifters were one in ten million, too rare to take for granted. Bertl had never known his father but for his mother, he could not tell if she had any relatives. Reiner, however, knew both his father and mother but the parents vanished after Reiner hit his teens and so it was common sense to make a stay with Bertl whose mother had vanished as well.
It was a small cottage the two lived in, long since abandoned by the coming of Titans. The two had a lot to keep up but through flawless teamwork they finished the repairs in no time, just in time for their expected little one.
The days waiting for him, or her as Bertl began to say, was spent in easy peace. Titan-shifters lived outside the walls, away from humans but around the Titans, though those creatures paid no mind to them and thusly ensured an easy life for the small new race. Titan-shifters were no more human than they were Titan. It is true no Titan-shifter really knew the origin of their race but they considered themselves superior to both races; that of the Titans and humans. They were the ultimate predators set to dominate the world . . . in a given time of course. There were so few they were almost nonexistent to their own kind and on more than one occasion the two mates believed they to be the sole survivors of their kind. So, the idea of reproduction wasn't far from their minds in this understanding.
Not only had Titan-shifters evolved to become the dominating race through power and ability, but their creator, whether he be in the clouds or rotting somewhere in the rich soil, had assured their race would thrive, even if only one Titan-shifter remained on the whole earth.
If need be, a Titan-shifter can reproduce asexually. It would be a clone of some sort, but the gender would always be opposite for the need for breeding.
If a female solely remain then in time she could produce a male from her body and, when grown, mate with him to provide more Titan-shifters. If a male solely remain then even he could reproduce. Producing a female Titan-shifter to copulate with and replenish their race.
Since Bertl's father had never been around, he had a feeling his mother might have forced her body to create him, but as a mate? Bertl had his doubts, seeing how she had not so much as showed any kind of affection in that way toward him. No, after Reiner and he had become close, she vanished leaving Bertl to mate to Reiner.
Reiner's father, on the other hand, had been produced through two male shifters, as had an old acquaintance of Bertl's mother. Both men knew the necessities to produce a child out of their union and though they had the ability to do so, it was somewhat tricky.
Like a male and female, the qualities to make a child are common and sometimes the child is forced upon its mother by an impatient father, but that cannot be the case with male mates. In fact, some had mated just to combine DNA to create stronger shifters, but no child had ever been produced no matter how hard and long the Titan-shifters tried. Indeed it was in the unbeknownst mates like Reiner's grandfathers who had simply adored and loved and longed to be beside their other that a child was produced. A girl first, Reiner's favorite relative as Bertl recalled being told, and then a boy, Reiner's father, and then another boy who Reiner said vanished long before his own parents and aunt.
Bertl really had no intention of abandoning this child though it seemed quite common among their race. Time would tell, he supposed.
So, Titans themselves are a set number and therefore have no means of reproducing their kind; humans are a lower race and so still birth their young through only the women. It has even been heard that human mothers can be killed upon birth, but Titan-shifters have superior regenerative abilities, so as the child rips out of them they heal the damage as soon as it's done.
Bertl had no fear for his health as his firstborn tore itself out of him.
"You were right, Bertie, it's a girl," Reiner declared with a smile as he watched the female Titan-shifter, in form of a Titan—as their kind are all born like—climb out of her "mother's" belly before promptly falling down, her form melting away to reveal ivory soft skin, golden hair, and the bluest eyes her parents had ever seen.
"She's beautiful," Bertl said as he was given the girl to hold. "Even her Titan form is a thing of beauty."
"I have to agree," Reiner said as he pet her head softly. "My Aunt can't even compare."
"Oh, look, she has my nose," Bertl said with a smile as he gently poked the girl's nose, noticing the familiarity of the shape compared to his own. "Oh, and your sharp brow. She's a good mix between the both of us."
"She's among the better bred. I know she's one of the best," Reiner said, touching her fingers and feeling her grasp his own finger tightly.
"She just proves we make good mates," Bertl said with a sigh as he leaned his head against his mate.
"Her existence proves how much I love you," Reiner whispered as he leaned down to kiss the mother and child.
Bertl smiled and closed his eyes to rest and let his healing finish its task at hand.
Their daughter really was a special breed. Within nine months she learned to walk on her own. At ten months she had mastered her transformation. Now she was able to shift into a Titan at will.
"Good job, Annabelle," Bertl praised as he watched his daughter pull out of her form alongside her father. As their forms vaporized away, Reiner took the girl up and set her on his shoulders.
"Now she needs to say her first words," Reiner said as he came to stand next to his mate who reached up and pinched their daughter's thigh. That made her squirm.
"Whenever she's ready," Bertl said with a gentle smile. "She doesn't have to prove herself anymore."
"Still, she should be speaking now," Reiner said with a sigh. "Is it too much to ask just to hear her say, 'papa'?"
"Maybe she'll start speaking when she's a big sister," Bertl suggested.
Reiner froze and looked at his mate with wide eyes. The recognition of what the taller male had said suddenly began to turn the gears within his mind.
"You're . . .?"
Bertl smiled and nodded.
"For how long?" Reiner asked as he dropped his daughter into his arms.
"A while," Bertl confessed as he rubbed his interestingly hidden swell. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I wasn't sure at first, but just today I felt a kick."
Reiner grinned so big and pulled his mate close. "Did you hear that, Annie? You're going to be a big sister. What do you say to that?"
The two shifters looked at their daughter but she remained quiet and unsmiling. Simultaneously the males let out a sigh. They hoped that the news would coerce her into speaking her mind, but no such luck. Instead, she expressed herself in other ways.
Lately little Annie would cuddle closer to her mother and when the baby was active, she would always be there to feel the movement, never keeping her eyes away from the round. She seemed fascinated and quite anxious for the little one to show itself. Even on her first birthday she spent her time cuddling her mother and pressing herself against the round belly of Bertl.
"Annie, this is your day," Bertl said as he stroked his little girl's locks affectionately when she continued to press close against his belly. "Why don't you go open the presents your father and I made for you?"
But she did not respond to him. Instead she clung closer and would not move.
"It's because of this that I hardly get a chance to feel them." Bertl smiled as he felt his mate snake his arm around him from behind and gently press against the top of his swell. "They're quite active today," Reiner noted.
"Yes, they are. Now, if you would take Annie out with you today, I could use some rest. I don't know why, but this child takes my energy," Bertl said with a weary shrug.
"You should be healing from that," Reiner mentioned, looking concerned as his mate wavered on his feet.
Bertl rolled his shoulders again. "Like I said, I don't know why."
"You take it easy, you hear? If there's anything you want, let me know," Reiner said after he detached Annie from her mother's side and left the cottage to let his mate catch up on much needed rest.
As the days progressed Bertl grew more tired. His daughter though was not helping as she'd crawl into bed with her parents and press herself close to Bertl's already sensitive swell. He became so tired to the point his abilities weren't working. So, Reiner had him do a few exercises to see the extent of the problem.
A week after Annie's birthday Bertl seemed at his worst. Dark circles layered under his once vibrant green eyes. He couldn't stand up straight, he couldn't even stand for long at that, and small cuts he had received while making dinner still shown on his skin. So, Reiner had him shift, but as Bertl tried he found he couldn't. No matter how many times he'd cut himself, nothing happened. So, Bertl and Reiner went to bed that night equally concerned and equally frustrated.
In the middle of the night, Bertl was woken up by Annie climbing into bed and settling herself against his belly. He wasn't one to lash out at a little child, but he was coming close if she didn't stop interrupting his much longed for rest.
When he settled his head into his pillow he closed his eyes and made to get some sleep, but a sudden pain broke his attempt to sleep.
He hurt. He had never been in so much pain in his life. When Annie was born, even as she ripped out of him with her hands, he didn't hurt. Because he healed rapidly.
His cries woke Reiner. His mate jumped up and quickly threw the covers off to examine the shifter. He was going to pull Annie away as well, but Bertl's condition worsened and all thoughts to keep her away was lost in his fright.
"Bertl! Bertl, what's wrong? !" Reiner asked as he placed his hands on his mate.
"It hurts, it hurts so bad!" Bertl cried out, tears falling down his face from the immense pain he's never felt before.
Reiner had never felt so helpless as he did now. He was afraid because he had never seen Bertl like this. He was afraid because Bertl was afraid.
Just as Bertl's hand flew to Reiner's arm, blood shot past his lips and sprayed Reiner's neck and torso. Reiner had seen Bertl bleed before but not like this. There was too much blood coming from his mouth and nose.
"The strain from the pregnancy's affecting his healing ability," Reiner muttered to himself at the realization and shock. But what could he do?
Annie, even after seeing her mother parent cry out in so much pain, showed no signs of worry. Instead she laid her head upon her mother's enlarged swell and remained still. The pain might have taken Bertl's attention away from his daughter, but not Reiner.
"Annie, get away, right now!" Reiner nor Bertl had ever raised their voice in front of their daughter but the situation was demanding and Reiner needed to tend to his mate. His daughter could not continue to stay near him in a time like this, but still the little girl would not move and so Reiner took a hold of her arm and pulled her away. "What did I just say?" Reiner growled but he was taken aback as the little blonde pulled her arm away and growled back at him.
Before Reiner could even reprimand his disobedient child, Bertl spat out more blood and threw his head back. Reiner froze in the fear of the unknown, but Annie once again threw herself against her mother's belly and this time she did something both parents never thought they'd see her do.
Both males watched with wide eyes as their one-year-old daughter took her fingers, hardened them into a crystal-like substance and ripped open Bertl's abdomen. When she pulled the skin apart she reached down and there something took hold of her wrist and bit deeply. Reiner had thought her whole wrist would come off but that little protégé of his had hardened her entire forearm. Then, out she pulled a Titan youngling that had attached itself to her wrist, not letting go.
Bertl had cried out at the sight of it. Reiner could feel the man trembling. Even worse, as Reiner examined Bertl's opened belly he gasped at what he saw inside. Their youngest child, the monster Titan, had eaten most of the tissue encasing it in its makeshift womb. Then it moved onto Bertl's organs and then to his bones. Reiner could see Bertl was missing a few ribs, the edges shown bite marks that no doubt matched their youngest's teeth.
"Hang in there, Bertl. I'll get you fixed up," Reiner said, ignoring their newborn child who was still trying to bite off his big sister's arm with no success, and rushing to get wrap and ointment for his mate.
As he began wrapping Bertl up, the brunette began to cry. His throat was so dry and so his voice ragged. "I-It was eating me, Reiner. Eating me; its own mother," Bertl cried out, closing his eyes and crying from the pain and horror.
Reiner didn't know what to think of it. Titan-shifting children tear their way out of their mothers, not eat their way out. It was no wonder Bertl wasn't healing like he was supposed to. Reiner hoped his abilities would start up soon. God knows he needed it right now.
Turning around, Reiner came up to the Titan child. It greatly differed from the form of Annabelle and even he and Bertl. This one had skin, steam coming off of it everywhere. There were dark tufts of hair upon its scalp, suggesting the color was taken from Bertl. But the one thing Reiner noticed the most was its glowing green eyes. They were so beastly that Reiner wondered if this was just a regular Titan instead of a Titan-shifter. Still, Titans do not eat shifters, so this child was nothing but a mystery full of unending questions.
"Annabelle, back away," Reiner commanded and this time she listened. As she wiggled her crystalized wrist out of its jaws and moved away, Reiner came up to it and pressed it down against the floor. From the moment he touched it, the child emitted off large quantities of steam, concealing the whole room in it.
When it faded, Reiner felt the touch of soft baby skin underneath the palm of his hand. Lifting his hand he looked down and beheld the being of his son.
"Bertl, look, it's a boy," Reiner said as a soft smile crept upon his lips. Suddenly a father's love washed over him and over the anger of what the child had done to their mother.
When Reiner presented the child to Bertl, the taller male had flinched away from him, but slowly, as Bertl beheld the child's human form he gently reached out to take him into his arms and once he had, all the offenses the child had done against Bertl were forgotten.
"You scared me so much, little one," Bertl said as he examined the boy. Reaching up the child took ahold of his fingers and so Bertl fell in love with him more.
"This one takes after you more. His eyes, the color of his hair, his tanned skin, even his brow; so much like you, Bertl," Reiner said with a smile as he examined the little boy.
"Not quite," Bertl said with a smile. Although Reiner was right; their son looked a lot like his mother. There was still some traits that were all his father. "Right there," Bertl said as he poked the newborn's nose. "That's yours," he said to his mate who smiled lovingly.
"Well, since it's a boy, Eren it is," Reiner said with a nod. Bertl nodded in agreement before staring back at his newborn.
While the parents were busy cooing at their newborn son, they had not noticed how their daughter struggled to see her new sibling and so the only way she could hope to gain attention was . . .
"Eren."
Both shifters froze. They turned toward their daughter who was standing at the foot of the bed. Bertl reached out for her with his free arm, signaling Reiner to take her to him. Reiner did and as the little blonde settled next to her mother, her eyes were continuously on the child. Then, both shifters watched as she said once again, "Eren," and then leaned down and kissed the child upon his small lips.
Bertl gasped. When he looked at his mate he noticed Reiner thinking the same thoughts as him.
"Did Annie . . .?" Bertl questioned even though he already knew the answer.
Reiner nodded, both parents looking at their daughter. "She bonded with her brother."
To bond to someone was something special. Titan-shifters usually don't become mates unless a bond is felt and when it is, there can be no undoing it. It wasn't uncommon for siblings to become mates since there are so few shifters, but Bertl and Reiner had never known any mated siblings. But the thought that their son and daughter would become mates made them happy. Both were healthy and very strong. They would produce very strong shifters and further evolve their race, of that Reiner and Bertl were sure.
And so, after the ordeal of Eren's birth, all was preaceful. Reiner and Bertl were living in peace and their children ever-growing. Annie began talking more, though it was more to her brother than her parents, but as long as she was speaking, neither mate minded.
It was a nice life as Reiner worked on their firewood and Bertl tended the garden with Annie and Eren playing in the soil.
It was a pleasant summer that year and Annie had already turned 4 while Eren was the tender age of 3. More children had been thought of for the future, but right now, with Eren being the handful he was, Reiner and Bertl decided to wait until he was more mature for the sake of him being called a big brother.
Annie was the ideal child and big sister. She watched over Eren day and night, where he went she followed and made sure he stayed out of trouble. Bertl didn't know what he'd do if Annie hadn't been in his life and so many times he thanked her existence.
Eren was wild. He hadn't shifted back yet, but he was energetic. Reiner nor Bertl minded about his lack of transformation. They would handle that another day.
"Annie, no more kisses. Eren doesn't like it, remember?" Bertl reminded as he sat on the cottage porch overlooking his two children play when Annie decided to give Eren his 14th kiss of the day. The boy would whine and shake his head when his sister kissed him. It was cute to the extent that Annie wasn't crying over the rejection from her younger sibling. They were still both young; no doubt Eren would bond to his sister in time, seeing how they were the only two shifters in the known area.
After his daughter had settled herself and simply sat next to her brother, Bertl had seen something from afar. Standing up he narrowed his eyes for better vision. In the distance he saw a group of people coming toward them.
"Reiner," Bertl called out, catching his mate's attention and pointing toward the oncoming party. Reiner nodded and laid his axe down as Bertl ran up to the children and placed a hand on each to stay them. Reiner made his way to his family's side just as the group stopped before them.
They were the past seers and the future tellers. Elders of their kind. The only ones who knew where their race came from, they being the ones who guided their kind to these lands across the sea.
"It's an honor to be present at your visit," Reiner said with a welcoming smile. "But I must ask the reason for such a journey to my humble home."
"All is not well for the future of our race," an elderly male shifter said, his eyes, skin, and hair were pure white, his vision only seeing that of the future no doubt.
"What do you mean, great seer?" Bertl asked, looking concerned. "Are we not thriving?"
"We are," a woman then said, her vision still beheld the images of this world and so she was able to look Bertl and Reiner in the eyes. "But a destroyer has been seen in vision and future."
"Is it a human?" Reiner asked with a snarl. "Tell me who it is and I shall devour them whole so they never get a chance to become a threat to us."
In the past, visions of strong men who had the possibility to ruin the race of Titan-shifters were seen and so shifters were sent to avoid extinction by execution. This has become a necessity to survive in time of vision.
"There is a human we spied in our vision, but he can be made a threat no longer if the main destroyer is not eradicated," the old man continued.
"Then who is it? Tell us," Bertl persisted they inform them.
"One of your children," Another elder informed.
A cold sweat swept past both shifters. They looked down at their little ones who looked up at them with such an innocence that Reiner and Bertl knew the elders had been mistaken.
"It can't be," Bertl assured, shaking his head as he gripped his children tighter. "How can a shifter betray their own race? !"
"Bertl, calm down. Let them see the children," Reiner said, obviously the more composed of the two.
Bertl gapped at him. His eyes wide and lips quivering. "How could you say that, Reiner? Do you believe one of our children will destroy us?"
"I don't know. Only the seers do," Reiner reasoned. "This is likely all a misunderstanding. Just do what they want."
Bertl slumped his shoulders and bowed his head. "Alright, please, come inside," He said to the elders as he took his children's hands and led them back toward the cottage.
Inside, Annie and Eren were sat down in the center of the living quarters. Bertl was kneeling next to them. He pulled both into his embrace and held them close. He was afraid because he knew that if one was indeed this destroyer the elders envisioned then he and Reiner would have to watch their own baby get killed for the future of their race. Reiner had to place his hand upon his mate's shoulder to coax Bertl into letting go of the children. By the feel of the tight grip, Bertl knew even Reiner was struggling to allow this to happen just as much as he.
When Bertl stood and backed away from the children, an elder stepped forward. He placed his hands upon Annie and Eren's heads and stared into the distance. Slowly, his hands traveled down toward the back of the children's heads and then his fingers touched their necks.
Bertl started, he thought the shifter meant to strangle his children, but he steadied himself after realizing the elder wasn't gripping too tightly.
"The one who bites the hand of their own race is the destroyer. For it shall be they who will crave for the flesh of their mother and the bones of their father and the eyes of their sister," the elder placed his hands over the children's eyes. Both still. "And the heart of their brother," the elder finished thus pressing the palms of his hands against Annie and Eren's tiny chests to feel the beating of their growing hearts.
Bertl and Reiner's eyes widened simultaneously in horror as they watched their young son suddenly change persona. His eyes glew a bright green and his teeth were bared as he turned and bit the elder on his forearm.
"Eren!" Bertl cried out in horror as he watched his quiet child turn and attack the elder, thus signaling his role in the future, but his fate as of the present.
The elder smiled and pulled Eren close who was still ripping out the tendons in his arm. "My vision was right. This male-child is our race's doom," he declared and then grabbed a hold of Eren's unruly hair and shoved him against the floor.
"NO!" Bertl cried and tossed himself over his child before the rest of the elders could come and rip his son apart, limb by limb.
The elders looked at Bertl and scoffed. "You would really defend that monster at the cost of our entire race? !"
"There has to be a mistake. Eren would never . . ." In Bertl's attempt to defend his son, the colossal Titan growled and an anger like nothing he's felt before enveloped him. "You! You must have done something!"
"We have done nothing, but if you do not let us do away with that child then our race, being in its newest form but highest evolutionary stage, will be doomed and it shall be you who hindered its salvation!"
It couldn't be, it just couldn't. Not the child that Bertl bore himself. No, not Eren. But, in reality the elders were never wrong. Bertl should have known Eren was different from the way he entered this world to the way he never shifted again. Perhaps when he did come to shift into his Titan form, he would attack their kind.
No, it was wrong. The elders were looking for another shifter child.
"He's not the right one," Bertl once again defended. "You've got the wrong child because my daughter has formed a bond with him. They are destined to become mates and procreate, not destroy." Bertl had never sounded so desperate in his life, but he didn't care. As his hold tightened around his son he found himself denying the elder's accuracy in the reading of the future.
The elder, who had been bitten by Eren, looked down at the little girl who remained seated. He let out a sigh and said, "Then I pity your family." Reiner stiffened and his fists clenched at everything that was said against them. "The both of you, for bearing that ruination of our kind and that of your daughter who has created a bond to a being who will never bond in return."
"What do you know, old man? !" Bertl bit out, his eyes full of the fires of anger. "Your visions have never been proven! You come and tell us that this will be our downfall or this land is not good to settle and so we listen and prevent any disaster to prolong our kind but how do we even know if it would come to pass? The future is ever-changing!"
"A lie to comfort the doomed," the elder said. "It will not come to pass? The monster which you begat will not journey to the humans and make his alligience with them? Your monster will not forget the people who have borne him into this world?"
With every condemning question of the unraveling future Bertl closed his eyes, trying not to listen. "No . . . no!" he said, shaking his head in unacceptance.
"Your monster will not call a human mother and father?"
"No!"
"Your monster will not hate the Titans of his own blood?"
"No!"
"Your monster will not devote himself to the destruction of our kind from the hate the humans have taught to him?
"No!"
"Your monster will not learn the humans' way of killing our kind and fight as if he were human?"
"No!"
"Your monster will not bond himself to a wretched human and share his blood and all its secrets in their joining?"
"NO! ! !"
Not that, never that. Humans were disgusting pitiful worms. They didn't deserve any secret of their genetic make-up and Eren would bond only to Annie.
Bertl had decided that and no brainwashed elder was going to tell him otherwise. So, to staunch out these rambling lies, Bertl simply lunged at the elder and pressed the tips of his thumbs into those unseeing eyes of his that they popped. They were useless anyways.
"AHHHH! ! !"
As Bertl pressed in deeper he could see it. Everything the elders had said to him.
He saw Eren with a human mother and human father. He saw Eren crying out in rage over the Titans. He saw Eren training as humans do to kill their kind. He saw Eren with that fucking human, next to him, under him, giving his loyalty, his attention, his soul to him.
No, no and no! That future was fake and Bertl would make sure to never let it happen. But first, the elder was too loud.
Not only was the damn elder too blind but too noisy as well. With that kind of shriek he was sure to upset the little ones and Bertl hated when his children were upset. So, just as the elder went to transform, Bertl leaned down and ripped his throat out with his teeth. The liar's blood sprayed hot in his face but Bertl didn't care. The man could heal from that and so Bertl took his visible spine and pulled it with his own hands. Now he wouldn't shout anymore.
"What have you done? !" the rest of the elders cried out in outrage as they watched Bertl decapitate the elder and hold his head by the vertebrae of his neck. "Are you mad? You would have our race ruined by a monster? !"
"You are mistaken. There is no monster in this household. My child's name is Eren and he is my son," Bertl said as he gazed at the elders.
"You are a fool!" the female elder shouted. "Our visions are never wrong. If you will not allow us to terminate the threat then there are others willing to take up the responsibility."
When they turned to leave they stopped. Reiner stood before the doorway, blocking them. His fists were clenched against his sides, shaking.
"You would stop us too?" another elder asked. "You have not yet lost your mind like your mate so reason with us."
"Bertl is right; Eren is our son. He would never do what you said he will," Reiner swore, slowly sinking into the same mental state as his mate in hopes of preserving his precious family.
"We can see that you knew he was different from us." They took notice of Reiner's hesitation and read it. "Perhaps since his birth?" When Reiner looked at the elders slightly agape they continued, "What, did he eat his way out of his mother? That's it, isn't it? You knew and yet you did nothing! Now's your chance to right your wrong. You don't have to be the one to end it, just step aside and we will inform the others. Don't worry, it won't take long for them to come and take him off your hands."
Reiner remained silent though and so the elders grew tired of waiting. They transformed into Titans, all 5 meter forms.
"Out of our way!" They demanded. But Reiner looked back toward his mate whose blood-soaked frame turned to him. Their eyes met. Something sparkled in Reiner's eyes and just as quickly as the elders, transformed into his Titan form, though his 15 meter form easily dwarfed their 5 meter husks.
"I cannot allow anyone to know and if that means exterminating the elders then so be it," Reiner said, looking down at the helpless elders.
"We are sacred. Without our guidance our race is doomed!" they swore.
Reiner didn't care. He stomped them into the ruin of his cottage. One, missing their abdomen attempted to escape. They crawled under some ruble, hoping to hide and to be miscounted in the slaughter, but when they found themselves in the presence of Annie they cried out as the little 4-year-old transformed and sank her teeth into its skull, breaking the head in half and disconnecting the body inside.
"No," Bertl said, the head in his hand had long since evaporated but the ruin of the cottage remained still around him. "No, no, no." Looking down he realized he had taken Eren's hand in his. See, Eren was behaving as long as his mother was there by his side. Looking up he watched his mate kneel his form down before them, pulling himself free. "Reiner," Bertl said as he reached out with his free hand and touched the dissolving face of the armored Titan. "They are right; Eren marks the end of our race because he will mate with Annie and their offspring will be stronger, faster, live longer. We will pass away but they will remain."
When Bertl touched the face of his mate he noticed how moist it was. "Reiner?" There it was, the tears. His mate was trembling. So Bertl wrapped his arms around him and tried once again to tell him it was alright. "You did nothing wrong, Reiner. You defended your family and I love you for it, as do your children."
Reiner felt Annie touch him and then Eren. He looked down at his children before his gaze lingered on the boy. Kneeling down he examined the boy who looked the ever docile. When Reiner pulled him close his son even hugged him. Eren had always been more emotional than Annie and so it was no surprise that Eren would hug his father close. His actions always spoke louder than words and any gesture was better than a thousand words.
"Did I do the right thing, Eren?" Reiner asked, holding his son close and wetting the boy's shirt with his tears. "Tell me I did."
Eren mumbled out a moan and pressed himself closer to his father. Reiner smiled before picking the boy up. "They were wrong, Eren. I know it." When he turned he looked at the debris of the cottage and said, "I'm not going to bother rebuilding because we're moving."
Bertl took Reiner's hand in one and Annie's hand in the other. With an encouraging smile Bertl leaned close and pressed a kiss to his mate's lips.
"As long as we're together, the future is ours alone," Bertl said.
Reiner nodded. Bertl was right. The future was theirs. They had nothing to fear.
Daughter Of The Revolution: Or do they? Mwahaha. That's all in Part 2, kiddies. So, yep, I've got no ideas if there is a Titan-shifter society or whatnot. This is purely Fanfiction for the sake of branching out a "what if" from my Oneshot. So, this could stand on its own or tie in, it's up to you guys. If it does tie in it may answer some questions presented in my Oneshot "What's Left" if you guys think about it. Well, hope you liked, will post Part 2 when I get the chance.
