"Another storm." Reiner said looking out the window as the heavy rain poured down from the sky.

"Really? What gave it away?" Annie said annoyed, she hadn't done anything all day.

"We will leave tomorrow, with or without rain. We can't afford to stay here any longer."

Eren, Christa and Berthold were already sleeping, moving slightly every time a thunder roared outside.

A lightning illuminated the sky and the inside of the room; the fire they had made was almost out, giving only heat on the cold night.

There was a noise outside, a noise too familiar to forget, it made Vera, Reiner and Annie get up in jump. Looking outside they saw four horses; two soldiers were standing besides them, keeping them calm the other two used their gear to get to the rooftops and check the area.

"Do you think they know we are here?" Reiner whispered.

"Doesn't matter." They heard from behind. "I'll take care of them." Vera said seriously, putting on a Scouting Legion cloak.

"Wait here. It won't take long."

With that she slowly opened the door, looking back at the two of them behind her, noticing their troubled expressions.

She gave them a soft smile. "Everything is going to be fine."

Then next morning eventually came, the rain had calmed down a bit, and Annie found herself rationing the supplies while everyone else worked on other stuff, she wasn't really paying attention.

She stepped out, the rain felt good on her face.

"Ready?" Reiner said tapping her on the shoulder.

She just shrugged.

"We'll be heading south, we wont' stop until nightfall."

She shrugged again. "Great another whole day shifted." She though

Without any objection Annie shifted, the all too familiar smell of flesh and vapor covering the area they were in, she knelt placing her hand on the ground, allowing them to climb. Once everyone was ready she started running, heading south, to the Shiganshina district and Eren's basement.

…

Night fell upon them, with no titan encounters; they could say it was a good day. Annie started to slow down, looking for a good place to spend the night. She was tired, so tired, her face did not showed it, though, and she would never admit it. Unlike last time there were on open field, no settlements in sight, there was however a small group of trees.

She let them out, before slipping out of her titan form, pulling her arms out of the steamy body of meat, and sliding of the back.

"We made good time." Reiner said smiling. " We should be there by noon tomorrow if we leave at first light."

"Won't there be titans there?" Eren asked.

Reiner gave the comment some though, he was right, they couldn't just march in there like nothing. He was about to say something when Annie beat him to it.

"There won't be a lot of them. They most likely moved to another place, why would they stay there? There's no one left." She said coldly.

Eren nodded slowly.

"Yeah well, let's eat something, and get some sleep. We have to be ready for tomorrow." Reiner said after a while.

"Sir, you need to see this." A soldier said.

"What is it?" the short captain said getting to where the soldier was standing.

In front of them laid four dead soldiers, with their eyes closed and their hands on placed on their chests.

"Guess we know why they didn't returned." He said sighting.

"And that titans did not killed them." Irvin Smith said stepping inside, the soldier around saluting him. "At ease."

He knelt examining the soldiers. "Precise cuts. Whoever did this, knew what he was doing. No doubt and no remorse. What do you make of this, Levi?"

"We are heading on the right direction." He said crossing his arms on his chest and leaning on the wall. "We need to be careful."

Smith nodded. "Take the bodies and send a party back to the city. The rest will continue. We need to find them."

"Eren did help them out." Levi said grimly.

Silence filled the room. "All the more reason to find him. Tell the men to get ready, we will move out soon."

Without any problems they reached the Shiganshina district, it did seemed the titans had completely left that area, luckily for them. All of them got to the ground, while Annie got out of her titan form.

The city was deserted, they moved carefully and in silence, everyone was keeping their eyes opened, making sure there were no titans nearby.

Annie stayed back, keeping the rear covered, ignoring the smell of old blood, and the bodies that lied half rotten across the streets. Somehow it made her feel as if they were looking at her.

She chuckled softly; she was starting to loose her mind. Ignoring the thoughts she focused on walking.

"Well, Eren. You're the guide now. Where to?" Reiner said leaning on a wall.

"I'm not sure, things look different. Now"

Annie rolled her eyes while Reiner and Berthold let out a sigh, clearly not too happy to hear that.

"Come on man, do you at least know where we are?" he asked.

Eren looked around for a while, as if looking for something.

"Well, if we turn right here we should arrive to the blacksmith shop." He said signaling the end of the street.

"Lead the way."

They started walking again following Eren's directions, and sure enough he did seem to know where he was going.

With the occasional blocked road or dead end they made their way though the destroyed city.

"Didn't knew the titans cause so much damage here." Vera said, trying to break the silence enveloping them.

"You guys should know." Eren said sharply.

"I wasn't here when it happened." Vera replied sitting down on a piece of rubble. "Can't we take a break? We've been walking for quite a while now."

There was not much to talk about; everyone seemed rather tense. The silence fell over them again.

"So...this training of yours. What's it about?" Eren said finally.

"Well, if our theories are correct and you're a complete shifter, you should be able to use all the abilities that are dispersed though our race. But we can't really be sure. You did hardened you skin when we fought several days ago. But that doesn't mean that you'll be able to crystalize like Annie. So it's really about seeing how you evolve."

"That doesn't explain much."

In the meantime Annie climbed a half demolish building to get a better look of the place. The rooftop was cracked, it seemed that it would collapse any second. On the distance she could see the smashed gate that allowed the titans to enter the district.

"Annie?" a voice said from behind. Startling her.

Turning around, she saw Christa standing behind her.

Annie gestured with her head, acknowledging her presence before continuing looking at the city.

"So, you're a shifter." Christa mumbled awkwardly, Annie just barely made out the words.

"Yes I am."

"Reiner said that my family used to live in your home village."

"That's right, they left after they were given the formula, or so they told us."

Annie said softly.

"I was wondering… could you teach how to do it?" she said placing her hands on her chest, taking a small step forward.

"Do what? Shift?" Annie asked, surprised of the request. Receiving a nod from the small blonde.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Annie said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What? Why?"

"The first shift is always comes by itself." She said picking her words.

Christa stared at her with a puzzled expression.

"I don't really remember much of my first shift, it…just happened. I do remember Reiner's shift though. It took my father and three others to stop him from demolishing the village." She said with a chuckle. "My point is; if haven't had your first shift, there is not much I can do. Do you even know if the formula was used?

"Not really."

"Then we will have to wait." Annie said, gently tapping her on the shoulder.

"But how does it happens? I mean. Something has to trigger it." They way she said it, gave Annie a peculiar feeling, as if she knew more than she was telling them.

"That's right. Shifting is a defense mechanism. That's why we have to hurt ourselves to change. Of course it would be problematic if every time you get a scratch you shifted. That's were the "goal" enters." She emphasized the point by making quotes with her fingers. "With a clear goal in mind, our body responds to the injury by changing.

"I see."

"Sorry I can't be of help." She said tapping her on the head with a soft smile.

"I admire your spirit though. Not much people would want to be like us."

There was a slight tremor, Annie and Christa both looked at each other in silence. Again the tremor, it was getting stronger. Christa signaled Annie to turn around.

Annie gritted her teeth at the view. A bunch of titans were making their way towards them from the gate. Without wasting any time she informed the guys on the street, moving quickly inside the demolished building. She jumped down a hole on the roof, followed by Christa, and knelt beside a window, looking outside, careful not to be seen by the titans.

The tremors got stronger until the titans started to pass by the buildings. Slowly, stopping occasionally, to look on the alleys for possible preys.

"They are not so dumb after all." Annie though.

She could see Reiner, signaling her to stay put from the building in front of them. With a quick move of her hand, she signaled Christa to move to the other room. She knew what they needed to do.

Both of them moved careful not to make any sudden moves that might attract the titan's attention, or to do any kind of noise. Leaning on the wall under the window.

"What do we do now?" the small blonde asked in a worried whisper.

"We wait until nightfall. It will be safer to move. I guess we're stuck here until then." Annie said with a sigh.

Time passed slowly, the titans moving around the buildings with slow and clumsy steps.

Reiner and the rest were hiding on the back of what appeared to be some kind of bar. While on the other building, Chista was surprised that Annie somehow managed to fell asleep. But it was to be expected, she had been shifted for some time the last few days; her head fell son Christa's shoulder.

Tapping her gently on the leg, Annie opened her eyes, straitening up while rubbing her eyes.

"Sorry. Must have fallen asleep." She mumbled lazily.

"Yes you did." Christa chuckled softy.

Annie got up, looking outside, to where the others were. She could not see them, but the sun was almost behind the wall, a few more hours. That was all.

She jerked back as a titan suddenly popped from under the building.

"Fuck. There are still titans outside? Why haven't they moved along like they always do?"

A large loud took noise got her attention, looking outside she noticed the titans following Reiner and the other. Clenching her fist she alerted Christa, they were moving out.

Using their gear they popped out of the building, maneuvering through the street, in a swift movement, Annie cut a titan's neck, making it fall over a building.

Another group of titans noticed them and headed their way, stumbling on each other as they tried to make their way on the narrow street,

Without too much though Annie headed to the large group, spinning around, killing the titan's without effort.

Christa was doing the same, as they tried to keep the titans at bay.

Looking back, Berthold noticed the titans were no longer following them.

"Guys, they are no longer after us."

"Looks like Annie and Christa are keeping them at bay." Vera said getting on top of a building. "Come on, we can't let them take all the credit."

She fired her hooks, heading to the direction of the titans.

"Come on guys!" Reiner yelled doing the same.

"Were are they coming from?" Annie though, slicing the neck of another titan. "There's just no end to them."

Changing her blades, she jumped back to action, maneuvering around the titans.

Christa was heading to a 15-meter, ready to take it out, when her cable jammed, sending her crashing to a wall.

As she recovered, a smaller titan grabbed her, picking her up. She struggled to break free, but she couldn't move her arms. As the titan slowly moved her to its mouth, Christa started to panic, as her eyes started to tear.

"Not like this. I will not die." Struggling harder to break free from the titan's firm grip. Getting slowly closer to the dark abyss. "No."

The titan closed its jaw, taking her legs, but at the same moment a large explosion roared, getting the attention of everyone.

As the smoke of the explosion faded a large figure started to take form.

A/N:

Dun Dun DUUUUUUUUUN!

You probably know where this is headed.

Serious question now...how would you feel of a yuri pairing? You know since there is nothing planned and I can basically do whatever I want with the story xD Think about it.

So, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Oh yeah... so, it might take a while to keep updating my The Fox and The Snake story... it's hard coming up with idead, cause, I know where a want to go with the story, but not how to get there. I'll work on it.

So, yeah that's all. Please leave a review if you feel like it, or if you want to point something out.

Take care.

-XY