A/N: This is the third-last chapter in the Annie's Return arc, and after that I will start part two of To Hyrule and Back Again.
Link's Point of View
Second Day
-63 hours remain-
The Ocarina of Time certainly does work differently here.
Instead of the Song of Time resetting to the Dawn of the First day, it resets to the dawn of whatever day it currently is.
Instead of the Song of Double Time fast forwarding to a certain time it shows events that take place in the future.
Instead of the Song of Inverted Time slowing down time itself, it simply turns back time to a certain event the same day.
Due to these differences, Connie is now dead, and there's no way to save him.
It's been a bumpy ride, I think. But we're pulling through.
I look around the carriage I'm in. People I have known for merely a week surround me, yet it feels like they've been by my side for a long time. Something tells me they really will be by my side for a long time.
I take a look at Mikasa. She's sitting next to Eren, and while I don't know much about their relationship I can tell they care deeply about each other; Mikasa seems to be very protective of Eren, as well. They're strong in their own ways, both physically and mentally.
Then there's Armin. He's definitely an interesting person. Armin is smart and intelligent, but doesn't seem to give himself enough credit for all he does. He creates plans, strategizes, and is a good leader. He's sitting next to Sasha. Sasha is a usually happy and talkative person, but easily excited and frightened. Right now, though, she's completely devoid of emotion since, y'know...
Jean. He's currently driving the carriage because he has the least beef with FR. I don't really know much about him except he tries to protect our group before saving anyone else. I respect that. Some people will think it's selfish but I think it's smart. He thinks about us before them, and tries to keep us out of danger. Of course, that's the impression I'm getting. Haven't known the guy that long.
Ymir and Krista. They seem to really like each other. Ymir's a very mysterious person, and is even a titan. Another Titan Girl. Krista doesn't really seem mysterious, but I feel like no one really knows her except for Ymir. Maybe Ymir doesn't know everything. But Ymir does call her Historia for some reason. Weird.
I like these people, I really do.
. . .
Second Day
-62 hours remain-
"This is the place," Eren says, as a shadow is suddenly cast upon the carriage. I poke my head out to see a giant wall looming over a similarly giant field. The field is cut in half by a river we're riding next to.
"This is where we fought Reiner."
"We?" asks Mikasa.
"Ymir helped," replies Eren.
"'Helped'? If it wasn't for me you'd be dead, Eren."
"That's a lie and you know it, I was doing fine! By the time you came I was already beaten."
"Oh, shut your mouth. Who knows what they would've done with you if I wasn't there?"
Krista says, "Ymir, you seem to forget how he saved you the day after. If it wasn't for him you'd still be locked up. And don't say you would've found a way out."
"But I totally would have found a way out!" Ymir exclaims.
"Guys, shut the hell up, don't bring attention to us. Nobody cares who saved who, we're all alive," Jean complains.
Ymir yells back, "Shut up, horseface!"
Sasha, still looking depressed and teary-eyed, says, "...Connie isn't alive."
The entire carriage goes quiet.
"Now that's more like it," Jean says under his breath.
I hop out to check if the coast is clear; seeing as not a soul is in sight, I investigate why nobody's here, and remember Eren had fought that Armored Titan in this area. There's a noticeable chunk of wall taken out and a couple of the bridges that go over the river are destroyed.
"It's clear, guys."
The sun is setting in the west, and the atmosphere is getting darker by the minute. The rest of the group, with the exception of Bertholdt and Krista, exit along with me. We head out.
"What, exactly, are we supposed to be doing here?" I ask Armin.
"I was hoping we could maybe find Reiner here and if not we could question Bertholdt. Maybe spend the night here, too. We're more than safe."
"We should probably cut Bertholdt's hands off so he can't transform while he's questioned, alright?" Ymir points out.
"Wait, shifters can't transform if their hands are cut off?" Mikasa asks, half-confused.
"I'm pretty sure."
"That would've been nice to know…" she says under her breath.
Mikasa, the only person left with ODM gear (other than those scouts waiting outside the district), starts to unsheathe her blades and walks towards Bertholdt to slice off his hands.. While the rest of the group handles that, I pull Armin aside to have a little chat.
"We have until a little after sunrise until we can't reset. If something bad happens tonight, we must reset before then, got it?"
Before Armin can respond, Bertholdt looks over to us with a strange look and says, "Reset?"
"Shut your mouth, colossal," Ymir angrily tells him, and then she slaps him in the face. Mikasa appears right behind Bertholdt, and seems like she's about to do it.
"Y'know…" Bertholdt starts, "I still think of you guys as my fellow comrades."
Ymir turns towards Bert and almost goes off on him when Krista appears behind her and grabs her arm, lightly shaking her head. Mikasa doesn't do anything.
"I didn't ask… to be hated by all of you. I never wanted to drift apart in such a way."
"Now, on that day five or so years ago, I had a completely different mindset. I was convinced humanity was pure evil and that what I was doing what right. After I met you guys, that… changed. We did so many things together. Trained together. Studied together."
He lightly chuckles. "Made stupid jokes about Jean's horseface and Eren's fails together."
"Now… you have me tied up and my hands about to be cut off."
"I want to… I need… I'm…"
He starts tearing up a bit.
"I DIDN'T WANT IT TO BE LIKE THIS!" he screams, bursting into tears.
"I DIDN'T WANT TO BE MANKIND'S GREATEST ENEMY! I DIDN'T WANT TO BE SEEN AS A CREATURE OF HATRED! I… I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
"I'm… I'm sorry… I know I killed so many, but… I'M SORRY!"
"Does sorry bring back my mother?" Eren asks him.
"DOES SORRY ERASE ALL OF THE PAIN AND SUFFERING YOU CAUSED FOR SO MANY PEOPLE?" he continues yelling at Bertholdt.
Mikasa grabs his hand, saying, "Eren, calm down." Eren pushes her away.
"I know I caused a lot of pain… and I know that will stick with me for the rest of my life. I just want another chance. Kill Reiner, kill annie, they're the true evil…"
He doesn't say anything else, and neither does anybody else as well. There's a long period of silence.
That was… interesting. I actually feel bad for him.
"Wow…" he says.
"That actually bought me time."
Not a second after he utters the word "time" a lightning bolt strikes from behind us and upon turning around I see a giant, bulky titan with gray hair, and one name comes to mind.
"Armored Titan," Armin says under his breath.
I sprint towards the carriage to retrieve my masks, but before I can enter the carriage a giant chunk of earth is hurled at it, and the vehicle is completely destroyed in a matter of seconds. I search through the rubble for any of my masks as screams from the surrounding area erupt, but to no avail; assuming my two bags are underneath the giant boulder, I turn back around to the fight about to take place.
Two more lightning bolts strike in the area, and suddenly I see two more titans. One, who I'm pretty sure is Eren, seems to be as tall as the Armored but less bulkier and longer, black hair. The other, who I think is Ymir, is much, much smaller, but has legs the look like they're twice the length of her entire body. The two simultaneously jump forward as Mikasa springs up into action as well.
Can't sit around and do nothing, I think. I grab my golden hookshot out of my pocket and aim it at the Armored Titan. A few seconds after it clinks I get thrust into the air and land perfectly onto the titan's shoulder.
"MIKASA! YOU DIDN'T CUT BERTHOLDT'S HANDS OFF!" Jean shrieks from the ground. Mikasa, just now landing on the Armored Titan's head, looks down at him, and throws one of her blades. It zooms down to the ground until the edge digs a few inches into the dirt.
I unsheathe my sword and pull my hookshot out of the Armored Titan's skin. The titan starts running forwards, causing me to hookshot his nape, and when he stops sprinting forward I crash into his neck. My sword didn't do anything to damage him. The titan, who must know of my presence, turns around and slashes at the golden chain from my hookshot and launches me onto the ground next to Armin. A thought comes to mind.
"The scouts… where are they?"
"I never gave them a specific time to arrive, I just told them to wait for one of our signals."
I stumble back to my feet and dust my clothes off. "Think we'll have to reset?"
"Possibly. If we capture Reiner before tomorrow morning we'll have a pretty good advantage, though."
Mikasa comes crashing down next to Armin and I. Her blade-carrier is completely empty.
"Agh… Armin, I'm outta blades. They're useless against Reiner."
The only people fighting this "Reiner" are Eren and Ymir in their titan forms. Eren's punches are doing virtually nothing and Ymir, who's clutching onto the Armored's back, isn't helping much either. After Ymir is thrown off until she can't get back up and Eren is hurled across the field for the upteenth time, I begin to wonder if we really do need to reset.
But I decide not to.
That decision comes to benefit us when Krista comes running toward our position on the field, claiming she might know how to beat Reiner: thunder spears.
"It's a weapon they used to defeat Eren when he fought Reiner earlier. In a matter of seconds the guards had him restrained. Should we give it a shot?"
I turn to Armin. He nods his head, and I nod back. Krista, Armin, and Mikasa decide to head out and find them. Sasha follows along as well.
"Hey! Guys - uh, before you go… Is there any way to get Eren's attention so he can move that boulder?"
Mikasa gives me a strange look.
"Uh - no… Probably not."
. . .
Second Day
-57 hours remain-
Fighting this guy is wearing down my sword more than it is him.
I crash down onto the ground once more. I'm bruised, have pretty deep cuts, and slightly dizzy.
I notice Ymir climbing out of the nape of her now-rotting titan body.
"Hey!" I shout. "Y-Ymir!" I hopefully run towards the tall girl.
"What do you want, kid?" she asks back aloud.
"When you turn back into a titan, can you move that boulder?"
She lies down on the ground, clearly exhausted.
"Whew, I… I don't know. Maybe. Why?"
"My stuff is under there."
"Yeah, fine, just gimme a minute."
Five hours later and I'm finally getting that damn boulder moved off of my items…
Man… hopefully none of my stuff is broken…
I walk the boulder with my limping body. Upon turning around to see what Ymir's doing, she comes out of nowhere, leaps over me, and crashes into the boulder in her titan form.
The boulder doesn't move.
Her titan stumbles to its feet, stares at me for a second, and then heads back into the fight. Speaking of the fight, Eren's getting completely demolished. His face is bashed in, he's been thrown into the wall a million times, and Reiner's armor is nearly impenetrable, so Eren's punches do nothing. He's a distraction, though, and a good one, which is what we need right now since apparently that blonde girl knows of a way to beat the Armored.
"Link!" someone calls out. I turn my head to see Jean holding some kind of spear.
"What's that?" I ask.
"I don't know, but I bet we can use it somehow."
"Are there any more?"
"I'll go see. Here, take it," he says, throwing it to me. I catch it and observe it.
It has a lot of technological gadgets on it, and is pretty heavy. I decide to test it out by throwing the spear at the boulder trapping all of my items. Once I hurl it into the air and it strikes the boulder, it immediately explodes into a thousand pieces of rock. I'm hit by one of those pieces and sent flying backwards, next to Jean. I look up at him.
"It… It works. These must be the thunder spears Krista was talking about."
"The what now?"
"Thunder spear," I say as I stumble to my feet.
I run over to the rubble in front of me for my bags, and once I find them I take out my Fierce Deity Mask. Just when I'm about to place it on my face it flies out of my grasp and lands on the ground a few meters in front of me. I unsheathe my sword and look around. Eren and Ymir are still getting pounded by the Armored Titan, Armin, Mikasa, Sasha and Krista are still out and about looking for the thunder spears, and Jean has disappeared.
One thought comes to mind.
Titan Girl.
Her figure appears on a rooftop over to the right of me. She picks up the Fierce Deity Mask off of the ground using her telekinesis powers. Her glowing eyes scan the entirety of the powerful mask, studying its distinct features. Then, she looks back down at me.
"Drawing your power from external forces can have disastrous consequences," she says, leaping off of the rooftop. The mask is still in her hand.
"That's one of the things he told me after he gave me these powers."
"Who?" I ask.
"Someone who wants you dead, evidently…"
She thrusts her hands forwards and I'm sent flying backwards in the air, and I crash onto the ground next to Titan Eren. Annie nonchalantly walks towards me as I get back on my aching feet.
The small blonde forms a green ball in one of her hands, and stares deeply into it.
"Being completely honest, I'm pretty sure I'm not even close to using this power's full potential. I'm inexperienced with it. Yet it's already given me so much strength. I can feel its energy surging through me, like it's an eternal part of my soul… You've felt the same way, haven't you… Link, is it?"
"H-how… do you know my name?"
She pushes the green orb forward and positions it an inch from my face.
"Answer the question."
Felt the same way about… the power?
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"That's disappointing."
"Anyway," she continues, "it looks like you can't even beat him without your all-powerful masks, let alone me, so I guess we can call it a day. OH! I forgot - I wanted to show you this cool trick I taught myself."
She directs her gaze to Eren's torn-up titan form. She calls out his name, and Eren looks at her for a brief moment and pauses combat with the Armored Titan and lets Ymir take over.
Suddenly, Eren's body starts glowing green, and his titan form is forced down into the earth. Annie's hands direct him with this weird downward motion until only his upper torso and head is visible, and the rest of his body is below surface. He struggles for a bit, and then gives up. She continues messing with the titan when I realize she's vulnerable.
I rush towards the unsuspecting Titan Girl and grab my Fierce Deity Mask off of her side, and I'm almost immediately forced onto the ground. I roll over and see Annie using one hand drawing me in and one hand pushing Eren back down into the ground.
Her powers work on me now… She's getting stronger.
"You see," she says loudly as she deals with two threats at once, "it's harder to control you than it is everybody else. When we first met I wasn't able to at all. This evens things out."
I don't join in on the smalltalk and instead place the Fierce Deity Mask on my face, and once I begin to transform I embrace the pain that comes along with my transformation masks, and just a few seconds later I'm looking down on titan girl when she suddenly loses her grip on my body. I slash at her with my FD sword, and she ducks under it with ease. Her teeth sink down into her finger, and lightning strikes from above and down onto Annie. I'm pushes backwards to the ground, and once I arise a giant, pink, blonde titan stands before me.
Eren's now steaming titan starts to rot, and the Armored Titan's armor is starting to look worn-down. Ymir's titan appears deformed and exhausted as well. Annie's titan, on the other hand, looms above me with her ever-threatening glare and "green powers," ready for battle #2.
I beat her last time, I think. I can do it again.
Armin's Point of View
Second Day
-60 hours remain-
Krista, Sasha, Mikasa and I have been searching for these "thunder-spears" for about two hours. Krista's 100% sure of their location, and the only reason it's been two hours and we haven't found them is because we've ran into some people.
We ran into Levi. And Erwin. And Hanji. Out of all random encounters we've had, I would have never expected them. They're now tagging along with us. Oh, and not to mention, they brought along this one guy named Victor for some reason.
This day is going very well so far… I hope the rest of it is the same. I don't want to have to do all of this over again.
"Most of the other scouts should be waiting at the entrance to this district. They were told to stay put until told otherwise," I say to Erwin. He appears much different than normal; his clothes are torn, dirty, and his blond hair is messy. Same with everybody else.
"That's good, Armin," Hanji says. "From what I've heard Annie is much more of a threat and we need all the help we can get…"
"I forgot to mention… There's this kid named Link. He appears weak but is actually very powerful. He's our secret weapon. He-he's beaten Annie before."
After walking for about thirty more minutes Krista leads us to this two-story brick building. She tells us that it's probably filled with FR people, but thinks we'll be able to take them out easily. Levi then says he'll kill all of them himself. He pulls out a small knife and studies it.
"I've grown to like this knife and grown to hate these people. I'll be back shortly."
He enters through the double doors. Before the doors close back I grab it and crack it open just a bit to watch him.
There's a wooden counter with a bunch of bottle behind it… This is a bar. Levi smashes a guy's head down onto the counter and then sinks his small blade in the guy sitting next to him. He then throws himself over the counter and pins the FR bartender to a wall. The FR rapidly shakes his head and begins to scream, but Levi quickly puts his hand over his mouth to muffle the screams. A few seconds later the life's escaped from the man's eyes and Levi pushes him to the ground.
Levi looks back at me.
"It's clear," he says, nonchalantly.
Our group splits into two. Erwin, Sasha, and I head for the entrance to Utopia to gather all of the scouts, and the rest stay at the brick building, which has an ample supply of these "thunder spears" - enough for the entire regiment. It was originally only going to be me and Erwin, but Sasha, who still isn't talking that much, insisted she goes.
"Armin…" she softly says whilst walking beside me.
"Yes?"
"I… I still haven't accepted it. I can't… He… He was my best friend."
"I know… I understand, Sasha. You're not alone."
"He always laughed at my stupid jokes… Tolerated me when I stole his food… Was there when I was at my worst… Cheered me on when I was at my best… I don't know what I'm going to do, Armin, I… I've never had someone like that in my life and I don't know if there'll ever be someone like that again."
She's never opened up to anyone like this other than Connie… Why me?
"Everyone experiences something like this in their life at least once, some much more than others. Take a look at Eren. His mom was eaten right in front of him… But he keeps moving. You need to keep moving as well. Find someone else that could laugh at your jokes, cheer you on, care for you… Your personality is definitely one-of-a-kind, Sasha, I'm sure you'll be fine."
I look back up at her. There's tears running down her face. She looks back at me and smiles.
"Thanks, Armin. Sorry for bugging you."
. . .
"According to Armin, this will be the greatest challenge all of you will ever face. All three of mankind's greatest enemies currently reside in this district. It is our job to cleanse the world of these beasts and restore peace among the people of this forsaken world."
"There will be three titans we will face, two if everything goes perfectly. The Armored Titan, the Female Titan, and most likely even the Colossal Titan - the one that broke through Wall Maria."
"Do not attack the Female Titan unless told to. She is much more powerful this time around than last time in Stohess."
"We however can attack the other two using the thunder spears you were given a few moments ago. These explode on impact and can penetrate through the Armored Titan's armor. Once we take care of the Armored we can secure the Colossal. As of now, the Colossal's arms are cut off, meaning he cannot transform. We have to make sure it stays that way. The battle will end in two days if everything goes according to Armin's plan."
"Are you all ready, soldiers?"
All of the scouts say "yes sir" simultaneously.
"Then let the Battle of Utopia commence."
Link's Point of View
Second Day
-57 hours remain-
As I run across a rooftop, dodging chunks of earth being hurled at me by the second, I spot a group I've been waiting for down below. I hop down to greet them.
"Where are the scouts?" I ask in my distorted, FD voice.
"They're going to flank Reiner from both sides. Where's Bertholdt?" Armin replies.
"I think Jean has him."
The rooftop of the building I was previously running on gets thrown at me via Annie's powers, and I slice it out of midair before it hits any of us.
"Gotta bounce," I say, hookshotting my way back into battle. I zoom towards the Female Titan and land a strike on her eye. I'm quickly thrown off of her. Upon landing the ground below me starts shaking, and suddenly it's torn from the ground and risen into the air by Annie. I dig my sword into the rising chunk of concrete & dirt before I'm shaken around in the air. I clutch my sword as tight as possible.
About a minute later she goes ahead and throws the entire piece back onto the northern field, the original battleground. The ground lands right in front of a crowd of people in green garbs. The Scouts. I recognize someone in particular in the crowd of people here. He's short, has black hair, and has these narrow eyes… Narrow eyes! Levi!
I wave my hand at him.
"Hey! Narrow eyes! Levi! It's me! The kid!" I shout at him. I'm pretty sure he doesn't recognize me, though.
I look to my left and see an entire house coming down from above and I jump over into the crowd of scouts to dodge. I tumble over by Narrow Eyes.
"You guys better get going," I say.
And they do just that. While I continue to fight Annie, the group throws thunder spear after thunder spear at the Armored Titan, and he's unable to counter in any way. They start by blowing off his titan eyes, rendering him temporarily blind, then going for his feet. After that, Levi climbs on top of the limp titan and rips Reiner out of the nape. Annie quickly throws Levi off from a distance using her powers and draws Reiner in, along with Bertholdt. She places them on a rooftop behind her.
She turns back to me and tries to grab me with her crystallized hand, and pushes me down into the building before I can react. I try to escape her grasp, but to no avail. She picks me back up. Instead of throwing me somewhere, she retains that position and begins to form a green ball in her other hand.
My face starts feeling tingly, and my vision starts to get tinted green. I realize she's trying to rip the mask off of my face, and so I struggle some more; it only slows her down. Once she finally rips the mask off of my face, she exits her titan and grabs the mask with her human hands.
We walk towards each other on that rooftop. She holds the mask out in front of her, making it turn green.
"As I said earlier: drawing your power from external forces can have disastrous consequences."
The mask breaks, and she throws its pieces onto the ground. I scream at her. My sword now unsheathed, I blindly charge at her, and when I try to strike her in the neck she stops it using the same power. I still hold onto my trusty Gilded Sword, pushing it towards Annie's neck. Nothing happens. A look of confusion appears on her face. She pushes on the sword more, but it doesn't move.
Somehow, the sword starts moving in my favor. It starts reaching her neck. I feel power surging through me as this happens; I also notice my Triforce resonating on my left hand. My first thought is Shadow Link, but this… This feels different. It feels like a power that's been hidden inside of me is finally waking up. It's a power that comes from within, like Titan Girl's powers.
You idiot… I am the Hero of Time, did you really expect to beat me?
I slice her head off with ease, and once I do so a green flame engulfs my sword. Like some of her power is transferring to my sword.
Before I finish Annie off by going for her nape I turn back around and see a crowd of mostly green-wearing people looking up at me. They're all cheering. A few seconds later, though, they stop. I turn back around to see Reiner.
He punches me in the face and I fall down, and then he kicks me until I black out.
I don't wake back up until it's the Dawn of the Third Day: 48 hours remain
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Review Response for Chapter 19: Time Hopping
Radenshire: Oh, shit. Man. That... I don't know what to say. I'm not going to spoil anything for people reading the reviews, but... WHY'D YOU KILL HIM OFF? Why is Annie such a dick? She seemed like she had at least a bit of a morale in the manga like when she killed Marco, but she just straight up beat the living crap out of you-know-who before killing him. Rough chapter.
At least the gang's back together. Looking forward to the next chapter.
Annie's been given enough motivation towhere she'll kill if necessary. That's all I'll say.
Gussy Phantom: This chapter was so good! I'm glad that everyone is together now! But, Connie! No! Sasha was SO sad! Who is she going to do crazy stuff with now? Hopefully everything will get better. They just have to get Reiner now, but that's going to be a difficult task. And then they have to fight Annie. Dang, they're going to be in for a tough fight. Hopefully Levi will come back soon! He would definitely be a big help. I can't wait to see what happens next! Keep up the great work!
Yeah, sucks for Sasha. But she'll pull through, she's one of my favorite characters. And yes, Levi will come back (he already has by the time you're reading this). Thanks for the review!
Guest "fan of snk": (it's fan of zelda) - just finished chapter 50 of the snk manga and now I'm getting a lot of the references in this story. really liking it, too.
this was harsh, man. interesting, though. maybe if shadow link came along itd be more interesting.
also where is Alex and why hasn't he been back yet. i know he lost an arm and all but he's one of my fave OCs and I'd really like to see him back
Chapter 50 of Attack on Titan was freaking awesome. Hope you catch up all the way on the manga, it's great. And I agree, this was a harsh chapter. Alex is still in the initial hideout Armin had. He's not dead, if you're wondering.