I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin
"You have a bump on your head," Krista started when they sat at the reception room.
Sasha touched her left temple and flinched. "...ow."
"I'll get you an ice pack," she said. She got up and headed for the small kitchen area. In the freezer were a stack of a dozen ice packs she took one and returned promptly. Sasha graciously took the pack to place it against her head.
"Thanks," Sasha said while leaning against the armrest. "...my truck's totaled, we landed against a tree."
"Sorry about that...you know, Ymir's truck is still parked at your grocery store, maybe you could use that one."
"After the years of whoever I had to put up with, I don't see anything wrong with taking it. We're short on cash so repairing anything isn't a priority for a while." She sighed and closed her eyes. "You should have seen the size of that thing. It had to tear through the door to get out..."
Immediately, Krista tuned her out. She was fixated on the outside world to where the moonlight shined upon the streets. This was the only part that Moblit didn't secure, and for whatever reason there was, she was slightly grateful that he didn't. What drew her attention was a figure clad in white, a white sweater; she squinted to make out the form, the hood was pulled over.
The figure was running down the street, she followed her until she fell out of view.
Instinct told her that it was Annie. She was running with ease as though her injured arm had never held her back.
"...-rista?" Sasha's voice came back to her.
Without responding to her, Krista stood up and headed for the door. Quietly, she opened it and saw the hooded figure head for the diner; she was heading for the front. Apparently, Franz and Hannah worked late into the night, the lights were still on and the front door was open. No one in their right mind would be there late, let alone come for coffee.
Something wasn't right about this.
"Someone just went into the diner," Krista finally told her.
"Did you see who?"
She had to tell her. "I...I think it was Annie."
Sasha grimaced. "I feel sick right now..."
Krista heard a button snap and she turned to see Sasha offering her a handgun. "Wha-?"
"It's loaded halfway," she informed her. Krista took it and felt a dizzying feeling wash over her. "Don't show it, just go in there and see how things are."
"Earlier you said-"
"I know what I said, but...it doesn't hurt to be suspicious nowadays. Hannah's my friend and...I don't want to lose another person."
Krista nodded and took the gun, she placed it in her back pocket and covered her back with her jacket. "I'll...do my best."
"Remember, aim to kill. Don't be scared. I'll tell Hanji and Mikasa, they stopped yelling..."
Krisa exited the clinic.
The darkness outside was pierced by the light of the moon, it gave her comfort that she could see where she was going. A cool breeze signalling Fall's eventual arrival assured her that change was to come eventually; she pulled the jacket closed and made her way over the gravel to the restaurant. Inside, she could see a blond figure sitting at the booth with a few books and a cup of coffee.
He smiled at her when she entered.
She glanced left and right, the figure she saw earlier was, indeed, Annie. She was sitting at the bar and waiting for coffee from Hannah.
Krista distanced herself from her and sat at Armin's booth.
"You're Armin, right?" Krista asked pleasantly. It was unnerving to be here, obviously she was scared for her life. Something about Annie irked her more than anything, being here now, after hearing what had just happened to Eren and Mikasa, left her with a sense of danger, dread. She tried to hide her fear as she stiffly sat across from him.
"You forgot about me already? Oh, it's alright, I'm not good with names either."
"Eren's told me about you. You guys are friends?"
Armin gently chuckled and placed his book down. "We've known one another since...I dunno, a really long time. I miss him though but ever since Grandfather died, I had to run the shop," he sighed longingly. "That's just part of being an adult I guess, having this responsibility and all...without me, those two aren't going to find the biggest buck this year for the festival."
"Oh, Eren mentioned that, this whole contest..."
Their conversation flowed smoothly but every so often she would glance at Annie. The woman was quietly keeping to herself but without a doubt she was possibly listening to them. Silence meant everything.
She had to provoke her somehow and so she dragged the discussion elsewhere.
"You said your Grandfather died...what happened?"
Armin's expression fell. "He was in the shop and I was at home. I found him dead in the back with his...his stomach torn open, like he was attacked by an animal."
"Did you...think Ymir did it?"
"Who else would? I saw her driving by in her truck as though she were getting away. Unfortunately, there was nothing to press charges against her for it; maybe it was by chance but...the way he died, it wasn't normal." He clenched his fist. "At least she was sent away for proper judgement, hopefully then they can finish her. If it were my way, I would have killed her myself. Grandfather was a good man, he was all I had left after my parents passed away."
Krista frowned at hearing his emotions, his anger that was coursing through him. It wasn't Ymir, it was Ilse, but telling him the truth wouldn't do him good now.
"It started with him, he was the first death. A month later, Mina died, then Thomas, and so on, every month someone died. A third of the class we graduated back in high school is gone."
"I'm sorry for your loses."
"It'll get better now that Ymir is gone," Armin said, his voice was filled with hope. "No more deaths..."
"But Marco," she reminded him.
"It was the last death, I just know it. Again, Ymir's gone."
Krista shook her head.
"What?"
"Armin...what do you think killed your Grandfather? It can't be human if you saw him in that state."
Armin shifted uncomfortably. "I know where you're going with this."
"You do?"
"There's an old story to this town, a very old one. My Grandfather told me about it and there were times where I believed it, not that many know about it since it's so, well, old."
Krista craned her head to the side in curiosity. "A story?"
"About a century ago, Deliverance was founded by settlers who were cast out from society, they were hunted down for being...werewolves. Unfortunately, they were cursed with being that, and that's another story he never told me. They were innocent people and they did their best to keep their affliction hushed; they were Christian after all."
"Wait, why come to this place though?"
"For one, they wanted to avoid killing others, an island is perfect for isolation. For another, they were told by a wandering traveler that the cure for the curse could be found here in this area. Hence they named this place Deliverance, they believed there was salvation here. However, they couldn't find the supposed cure. The only clue that they were given by the traveler came in the form of a book called the Grimoire of the Moon, an ancient text from the Balkans that had everything to know about lycanthropes, werewolves.
"It wasn't so much as a help since it was written in a foreign language, the book ended up being passed down generations until it was lost. From the records, it surfaced here and there until Ymir came down to town to sell some of her collections. It happened before my Grandfather died, maybe a day or two; I had a look at it myself but I stored it away among his stuff, I couldn't bear to read it. Hanji managed to find out about it, I gave it to her.
"Anyway, the people of Deliverance lived in chaos. Every full moon they, as by Hollywood's portrayal, would change for a period of time and then, at the end of the cycle, they would revert back to humanity. After a few weeks of living through this, a leader by the name of Reiss-"
Krista perked up at the name.
"-took over, he was the origin of the curse among the settlers; meaning he was the first to be bitten, incidentally he spread it among them when they used to live on the mainland. Regardless, they accepted him as their leader and lived under his rule as he was the strongest out of all of them. He ordered for three tall walls to be built deep in the forest to act as a containment facility called the Tartarus.
"There, the townspeople could retreat there before night time and safely transform without tearing up the place. Eventually, the gold rush in the Yukon territory came about and those walls were utilized even more for the sake of safety. Lycanthropes and humans managed to live in peace, interbreed and all. Apparently, when lycanthropes and humans have a child, that child is free of the curse, it gave hope for the cursed townspeople for future generations to be free of their hell.
"Over time, a faction of werewolves rose, those who saw their curse as more of a blessing. Some left to head for the mainland, others stayed to keep the blood alive. They were referred to as Titans for the namesake as Reiss entrapped them within the deepest wall of Tartarus, like the Greek legend with Zeus fighting those Titans then. Eventually they died of starvation but a few managed to escape imprisonment.
"Those ones, the free Titans, kept their curse alive and supposedly live among us to this day but they took to settling deep within the woods. No one's seen them in years, however, because Reiss sanctioned for guardians to protect the town from the Titans as he learned of their freedom; it was his own family that was subjected to this burden. They protected the town for generations until the whole thing about werewolves became stuff of legend.
"Again, maybe they moved out to the mainland, maybe they're still alive. But ever since then, the town's been quiet. The only proof of this was the Grimoire, the book Ymir gave me. It took a while...but sometimes I think Ymir was one of those Titans from the story..."
Krista took it all in.
It couldn't have been coincidence.
She carried the name and, possibly, the blood of the man Reiss. There was no way that she was brought here by chance. She thought hard about this. Ymir's words, the need of blood for a cure, echoed through to her. It may be a long shot, but a wild thought coursed through her. She could be the cure. As she could be a possible descendant, it could account for the proper requirement to break the curse.
It was her turn to shift about uncomfortably.
"Um...I had a peek at the Grimoire a while back, I managed to, uh, find pieces of translations back at Ymir's place."
Armin raised a brow in interest. "What did it say?"
"The cure to this is drinking the blood of the werewolf who bit the victim. The origin. Maybe it's possible that descendants carrying the blood could be included."
"Oh, maybe. Technically, it's a bloodline."
"I don't think Ymir was a werewolf, I don't think she was one herself."
Armin gave her an unreadable expression, his silence beckoned her to continue.
"What if it was those Titans that killed all those people? They could be searching for a cure, a descendant, so they keep killing people. I mean...just because they held the belief that they didn't want to be human again, it doesn't mean that they don't know how to undo the curse. What if one of them did know how to read the book?"
"It wouldn't make sense to me...but maybe."
She glanced at Annie, the woman hadn't moved.
"Armin...this is weird, but...my last name, it's Reiss-"
The screech of a steel stool caught their ears. Annie was approaching them. Krista sat upon the gun but, when needed, she was ready to draw it should the need come. As she drew close, Krista's heart slammed in her throat. She questioned herself as to what she had done, if she made the right move. She was scared now, so scared that she was trembling. Armin didn't look back, he was staring at Krista, watching her.
But Annie didn't stop at their table. She went on to the restroom.
Krista let out a sigh.
"Are you alright?" Armin asked her.
"...I'm fine," she shakily said.
"Ok, good. So your last name is Reiss. Are you a werewolf?"
Krista pinched her skin and shook her head. "I can touch silver without burning, nope."
Armin weakly laughed. "That's comforting. If legends be true, you could be the solution to everything. But with Ymir gone, there's no use for blood."
He reached below the table and pulled out a handgun. It startled her and she was thrown into a panic.
"It used to be dangerous to be outside at this time of the month. I always carry a gun on me just in case, y'know."
"Do you know about Eren?"
"Eren's thing? Yeah, I'm normally the one who drives them to the Tartarus."
"You know where it is then."
"I own a book shop after all, it's not just books but journals, maps. I think I was around sixteen when I suggested that Mikasa put him in there, they've been using it ever since. No one but us know where it is, it's real quiet too. Since it's that time of the month, I'm waiting for them to come by so that we could head over there-"
A roar came from the restroom.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!? GET AWAY FROM ME! GET-"
Following that came a bloodcurdling scream; it was Franz. Armin and Krista immediately hoped out of their seats, he drew his gun and aimed towards the restroom's hallway.
"Franz!?" Hannah's drawn out cry came from the kitchen. "Franz!? What's wrong!?"
The waitress came running out from a door, she went around the counter and sprinted down the diner's way.
Armin shouted to her,"Stay away from there!" He lowered his voice for Krista to hear. "Jesus, I didn't suspect this...I thought this was over."
"It never occurred to you there could be others?" Krista cried, she reached for her gun as well and undid the safety. Hannah was just about ready to turn the corner but then a bloody mass came hurtling right by her to be thrown at the window. Hannah screeched and went to investigate the mass.
As she disappeared behind the booth, they waited for the assailant. Tension rose and she could feel her heat racing faster than when Annie came walking by. She gripped the gun tightly, she didn't know if it was enough to fight. Silently they waited, and then a creature, a monster, emerged.
It stood about a foot below the ceiling. Just as Sasha described, it was tall and fearsome. Covered in golden fur, it shared the appearance of a wolf that was able to walk upright; its hulking body walked over to them, free of clothes and everything that suggested it was ever human. Elongated slender fingers and toes ended with curled nails that were sharper than a kitchen knife; teeth lined its mouth, she feared to be inside the maw should that time ever come.
Eyes glowered in a dark rich blue that put the waters of the town to shame. Between the legs, Krista could make out a bushy tail, it was almost laughable but there was no humor as it walked over to them, threatening them.
In its right shoulder was traces of a bullet hole, it was steaming madly, hissing, its sound was muffled by the growls emanating from the base of its than that, its mouth dripped in blood, its paws were covered in blood, her front was drenched in blood. There was blood everywhere.
It was ignoring Hannah's uncontrollable sobs.
"Annie, why?" Armin muttered.
Krista stepped back as Armin fired the first shot. The deafening crack missed but it was enough to anger her. Annie dropped to all fours and rushed over to them, Armin began to shoot once more but he sadly missed. Annie's arm flailed out when she drew too close, she sent him flying to the bar; she was aiming for Krista.
It was her turn to start shooting. She nearly pulled the trigger but Annie was quicker, she pounced and landed atop of her, pinning her to the wood floor. The back of her head hit the wooden floor, sending her mind spinning into a whirlwind of confusion. She could feel one hand pushing against her shoulder, restraining her. But the gun was still at hand.
"Annie, please!" Armin called to her, but he was incapacitated against the wall under the bar.
As fear shook her, as she gazed into Annie's mouth, she brought the gun up to her belly and opened fire once, twice. Annie let out a piercing howl of agony as she immediately released her and rushed for the outside. She smashed through the door, howling once more, and then the diner settled into a broken peace filled with sobbing.
Krista rolled to her front, trembling. She crawled over to Armin.
"Are you hurt?" She shakily asked.
"Just...ah, just help me up," he managed to say. She got to her feet, the dizziness was still there but it was fading. Her hand dropped to him and he was brought to his feet, he used his hand to hold himself against the bar; he was breathing heavily. "...the death never stops..."
He rubbed his mouth.
"She overheard you," he concluded,"you're in danger now if she ever comes back."
"It's for the best, at least we know who to look for now," Krista breathed, the adrenaline was still coursing through her.
"Yeah...now we know."
Armin staggered to the other end of the bar to where Hannah was. "Hannah..."
"A-Armin! Help me!" She urged him. She was trying to resuscitate Franz, Krista didn't follow, she didn't want to see the mess.
"...Hannah...Franz is..."
A wave of guilt overcame her. If she hadn't uttered her name, this wouldn't have happened. She fell to her knees, realizing that this was her doing, it was her fault, blood was on her hands. This was different than when she killed her mother, very different; she no longer felt detached to this world. As she watched Hannah and Armin, she realized she let an innocent man lose his life.
He was innocent. She did it. It was her fault.
Tears swelled in her eyes, she felt sick. Violently she burst into broken sobs herself, wishing that she didn't do as she did.
"I'm...sorry," she squeaked. "I'm...sorry."
She fell to her knees and Sasha's gun clattered to her right. She brought her hands to her hair to ruffle those golden locks, she convulsed as she tried to process that it was her doing.
A pair of hands grasped her and brought her into a tight embrace, she could hear Sasha's voice as she was thrown into hysteria.
"Krista! Krista, it's alright! It's over! You're safe now! I'm here, I'm here!"
Hanji's voice came about as well. "Christ, what happened!? Mikasa, phone in Rico, hurry it up!"
As the diner came to life with people trying to sort out the events, Krista couldn't bring herself to run from this, no longer in her dreams and life can she run.
It wasn't just Sasha was holding her back now.
The more she tried to pull away from this world, the further she found herself entrapped.