Hey its been almost a month since I updated but this chapter took me aaggeess, so I hope you like it.

But I have an announcement to make, I have recently been watching a lot of fairy tail and I just love Gray and Juvia so I am writing the first chapter of a story dedicated to them so if you like that sort of thing then watch out for a new story.

So in this chapter we learn a lot more about Annie's past so please please give me a review or a PM about what you thought of this chapter, it would mean the world again. And one more thing...9000 views...9000 let the countdown to 10000 begin so thank you each and everyone of you. That's right I'm talking to you. *points* So enjoy and see you next time!

''Tell me about Annie's past.'' Bertolt was caught by complete surprise by Eren's question.

''What?'' Eren was forced to suppress a malefic laugh as he saw the dumbstruck expression on Bertolt's face. ''Annie's past…'' As the request sunk in Bertolt's hazy memories of his and his friend's pasts began to clear.

''Tell me.'' Eren growled as he slowly and rather dramatically raised his hand to his mouth.

''I will, if you tell me why you want to know.'' Bertolt retorted.

For a painfully long moment no one moved, even the air around them seemed to still as teal green met smokey grey in a gaze that lasted for what felt like hours.

''I think I have a right to know about the people who stole my life from me.'' The ferocity in Eren's tone caused a chill to dance up Bertolt's spine.

''...There aren't any Titans around, let's gather blankets and other supplies and I'll tell what I know.'' He suggested, Eren looked away momentarily to ponder the compromise. He quickly turned to face Bertolt and simply nodded.

Annie stalked her prey through the abandoned streets just like the wolves her father had once told about many years ago, during her scavenging trip Annie had found a hunter's shack stocked full of supplies to hunt and trap the various game animals that inhabited the land in and beyond the Walls. As she began prowling the streets of Eren's home she quickly thought back to how thankful she was of her ability to persuade Reiner to give her some time alone.

*Flashback*

Once Bertolt and Eren had left Annie had stormed up to Reiner with only one uncompromisable demand. ''I go alone.''

Reiner saw this coming and quickly replied. ''No, we need someone to watch her.''

''There's no way she can run away. I'll work better on my own and if you or anyone else wants feeding then you'll look after her yourself.'' Annie had calculated that Reiner and the others were all famished, she certainly was, and therefore he would be more willing to let her go alone if it meant she brought back more food.

After a frustratingly long moment Reiner sighed and ran his fingers through his thick blond hair. ''Fine, Historia you stay here and make camp.'' Historia was in no place to argue with the shifter that could at any moment snap and end her life, she just simply nodded with a plain and emotionless expression before turning away.

Ymir however was not happy at the thought of Historia being left alone and she didn't particularly care if Reiner disagreed. ''I never expected you to submit to a blond midget.'' A tiny bit of the tanned girl was thankful that Annie was already out of earshot.

''I could say the same for you.'' He smirked. ''Look the top of the wall is the safest place for her now.'' This seemed to put her at ease slightly as she followed Reiner to the edge of the wall.

*End flashback*

In the run down and ownerless hut she had found a quiver full of arrows and even more surprisingly a still functional hunting bow. Sasha would kill to get her hands on one of those. Grief cackled, to Annie though, hearing the sound of her previous ally's name made Annie flinch slightly.

''Don't talk about them'' Annie had hissed as she slung her new weapon over her shoulder. After that single comment the snakes went absolutely silent as the blond girl became the cold, precise and most of all deadly predator that she had spent years refining in the harsh and hostile mountains of her home.

Ten minutes of dull and monotonous tracking later and Annie's ocean blue eyes had focused on a lone and oblivious rabbit.

Looks tasty, good thing you don't mind killing the innocent. This time it was Desire that broke the perfect silence but Annie didn't pay even the slightest ounce of attention to the detestable serpent. All her focus was on the prey before her and nothing else at all.

Annie was watching the peaceful herbivore from a shattered window, her keen eyes and ears always scanning her surroundings for any sign of danger, this was her environment, her and her prey no other distractions.

Once she was certain that the rabbit was in striking range Annie silently and elegantly pulled a single arrow from the many she found and clipped it against the taut string of her deadly and accurate weapon.

During her childhood Annie had been taken hunting only twice, once with her father in the dense conifer trees of the woods around her small home and once again during her military training with the 104th.

Both had gone very well, with her father they had quite easily brought down a magnificent stag, he had told the girl that it is very important to kill the target in a single strike so not to make the creature suffer. So as Annie pulled back the string of her stolen bow she took in a deep breath and aimed the head of her arrow just above one of the eyes of the mammal.

'So...I'm waiting.'' Eren huffed as he stacked up another pile of bone dry wood to take back to camp.

''Fine, Annie is a member of the Leonhart family. A respected family of warriors in our village.'' Bertolt sighed.

''That makes sense for Annie.'' Eren scoffed as he thought back to their many sparring sessions. ''She used to go one about how her father taught her and how pointless all the fighting was.'' He wasn't sure weather to feel sad, or ashamed that these were some of his happiest memories.

''What she didn't tell you is that her mother also taught her.'' Bertolt made sure to hide the hint of smugness that came with the thought of knowing Annie better.

Eren scowled at the taller boy and turned his attention back to collecting firewood. ''No, she, never even mentioned her mother once.''

''Her name was Ilya, she was actually a better fighter than her father.'' The hazel haired boy couldn't hold in a slight chuckle as he drifted in and out of a daydream. ''She was known as the most beautiful and most dangerous woman in the village, anyone who went after was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.'' For the first time in five years there was a spark of happiness in Bertolt's sunken grey eyes.

Eren's gaze narrowed and he stood to face the teenager. ''What happened to her?'' It was the question Bertolt wished he didn't know the answer to.

''She died.''

It was a good kill, Annie had let her arrow fly with startling accuracy. She had waited with her arrow ready and her bow drawn until just the right moment, until the air was still, until the blinding light of sun was obscured by a lone cloud, until her heart had calmed.

At that very moment she had let her arrow fly. With only a whistle in the wind as its only warning the rabbit had a fraction of a second to react to the sound of the arrow hurtling through the air.

The very tip of her arrow had hit just where Annie had aimed, it went straight through one of its soft brown eyes, before it even had a chance to register what had happened the arrow had already made a clean exit out of the others side of its head.

Annie could almost imagine her father standing over her shoulder with an expression of approval. Good job Ann. Her almost happy daydream was interrupted by the painful hiss of Grief. You just killed yet another innocent being.

''Shut up.'' Now that her prey had fallen Annie could scold the snakes without scarring her dinner. She quickly exited her temporary hide to collect her prize, it would only take a few minutes for the crows to gather around the carcase.

It filled Annie with a foreign sense of pride to know that she brought down this rabbit in such a clean and deadly shot, the only sign of any injury was a thin streak of scarlet blood staining the worn down brick work of the street.

''Sorry about this.'' Annie hummed as she looped a length of rope around its neck and strung it up with the other two rabbits she had killed.

''After the death of her mother Annie and her sisters cha-'' Bertolt was quickly interrupted by Eren's startled gasp.

''Sisters!'' He gawked.

''Yeah, she had two sisters. They looked a lot like her actually, she was the oldest of the three as well.'' He explained.

''Do you have any family waiting for you?'' Eren asked, he thought it wise to gather information.

''Yeah, my father, a brother and a sister.'' Bertolt couldn't meet Eren's eyes as tears began filling his own at the thought of his family.

''No mother?'' Eren questioned.

''No...she died, that's how it works in our village.''

''What do you mean that's how it works?'' Eren was struggling to take in the cryptic information.

''That's beside the point, you wanted to know about Annie's past not our...traditions.'' There was a startling amount of authority in Bertolt's tone.

''...Fine, I'll find out soon enough anyway. So...what about that scar on her neck?'' For reasons he didn't understand Eren found himself asking about the spot on Annie's neck that seemingly offered no end of pleasure whenever he delicately kissed the patch of pink tissue.

''Oh, she got that before she ki-became a shifter. Her father believed in a...very practical teaching method.'' Bertolt explained as he folded up a patchwork blanket.

''Ann never really talked about her home, what's it like out there?'' Despite the fact that Bertolt was Eren's target for all his hatred the emerald eyed boy couldn't resist the thought of learning about the world.

''It's beautiful.''

''Sun's starting to get a little low…'' Annie sighed. Maybe you should head back to the Wall. Desire suggested. Annie was a tad worried when she agreed with the most vile snake among the nest in her head.

Why don't you use this opportunity to take a look around Eren's home? Grief cackled.

''Why would I want to do that?'' Annie huffed, she was tired from the hunt and just wanted something warm and fulfilling to eat. Yet despite her desire for food and warmth Annie found that she couldn't resist this offer. ''I won't be long…'' The icy eyed girl shrugged much to Grief's sadistic happiness.

Now that Annie was paying attention to the devastated town around her Annie could see the sheer amount of destruction and misery that she and her allies had unleashed upon the innocent people that she would later befriend.

''Why am I here?'' Annie sighed as she passed yet another destroyed home and livelihood that she had helped ruin.

Don't you want to know about the lives you took? Grief hissed loudly.

''Not really…'' She retorted.

Then why are you here? Grief asked as she looked to her right to see several patches of dried blood that stained the debris covered street. Look at that house there. The snake ordered.

What Grief called a house was infact just a messy collection of debris that vaguely resembled someone's home, there was a huge boulder about the size of a market stall lying in the very center of the shattered wooden beams and cracked stone tiles. It didn't take very long for Annie to figure out how it had got there.

Annie...Do you remember what happened to Eren's mother? All at once the air in Annie's lungs seemingly vanished as her normally calm eyes widened with shock.

''N-no that can't be his house...there must have been loads of houses that were hit by the debris.'' Annie stuttered.

It might not be...or it might be. Grief shrugged. Surely not knowing makes it worse.

''Let's go, it's time I got back to the others.'' Annie said weakly as she walked away from what could have been Eren's home, knowing she and her comrades caused him this suffering.

''It's nothing like the land in the Walls.'' Bertolt said with faint stars in his eyes. ''There are no walls at all, you can go anywhere really.''

''Have you seen the...ocean?'' Eren made sure to not look in Bertolt's direction so he couldn't see the happiness in the taller boy's eyes.

''Not personally, but I've known people who have...apparently.'' Bertolt shrugged as he hauled a large splint of wood over his shoulder. ''I've always been one to stay at home rather than going out so see the world.''

''Except when you're killing innocent people.'' Eren mumbled. ''Don't think for a second that I have forgiven you for what you did to my home and family.'' Just then a powerful thought burst forth from his mind. The basement…

''I know that, I can never atone for what I did. We never wanted to do all those things.'' The tall boy sighed before raising a quizzical eyebrow. ''What?''

''My basement...how could I forget!?'' Eren shouted. ''I need to go to my house now!''

''Eren don't shout there could be Titans around here.'' Bertolt went to hush the boy before he attracted one or more of the beats, but it was too late.

There were two Titans that had heard Eren's roaring order.

At first there was a single tremor, then another and another. Annie was well versed in distinguishing the distinct pattern of Titan footsteps.

One...no two of them. Grief hummed. Better get moving soon.

Once again Annie found that she was agreeing with snakes that she would on almost any other occasion scold and hate. Annie knew that she couldn't be wasteful with her supplies of gas, there would be no other opportunities to refill her canisters after leaving the town so she wanted to make sure that whenever she used her precious gear it was only for vital purposes.

Using her impressive climbing abilities Annie quickly and silently scaled the side of a damaged house making use of the protruding wooden beams and supports to aid her climb. It wasn't a very tall house but from its rooftop Annie could easily judge the distance from her current location to the base of Wall Maria. That'll take a few minutes to walk there. Grief pointed out.

''Yeah I knew that already.'' Annie huffed as she brushed a wispy bang of her golden hair behind her ear. She spent barely a minute weighing up her options, Annie had killed three rabbits, just enough to feed them all judging by their size. But Annie wondered if she could have gotten more to make sure they all had a vaguely filling meal before the exhaustingly long journey to their village.

If there are Titans around then surely what matters is getting back to the others. Annie wasn't quite sure which serpent suggested this but yet again she came to the same conclusion. ''Okay, let's go.'' And with that she was off, the only evidence that she had been there was a single drop of rabbit's blood on the cracked tiles of the rooftop.

On her journey Annie stayed silent, her mind however was buzzing with possibilities and question, it had been doing so since Grief pointed out the obliterated remains of what could have been Eren's home. It might or might not have been. Grief repeated. Either way someone was probably in that house when BOOM! It all came crashing down. This time both snakes cackled to Annie's disgust.

But deep down she knew that they were right, it didn't matter if it was Eren's home, her assault on the Walls had killed over a quarter of a million people. All of those lost to the relentless hunger of the Titans had loved ones, Eren's case was no different but what did make him different was the fact that he now had the power to take his awful and righteous revenge. I doubt your relationship with him will hold up against his anger towards you. This time it was Desire that arouse from the black pit of her mind.

I doubt anything could hold against his rage towards you guys...especially you. The fact that Grief was now agreeing with Desire made Annie feel physically sick to her core, whenever the opinions of the snakes coincided Annie could feel her stomach flip. Wall Maria was looming ever closer as Annie sped towards it, being around others was usually a deterrent to the serpents.

After landing at the base of the monolithic structure Annie wasted no time in firing her hooked cables into the side of the wall. With the click of a trigger the blond girl was gone in a cloud of snow white gas, normally she would slow down to admire the view but under the circumstances Annie wanted nothing more than to be as far away from the wrecked town as possible.

It took only seconds for Annie to ascend the fifty meter wall, when she did eventually come to a stop Annie scanned the top of the bastion for any sign of Reiner, Ymir and Historia. In the not too far distance Annie could make out the shape of three figures scuttling around what looked like to be a series of makeshift tents.

''There they are.'' Annie hummed as she began the short stroll over to her colleagues but as she got closer she realised that two people were missing.

Where are Bertolt and Eren? Grief chuckled.

''We need to get to my house now!'' Eren had completely ignored Bertolt's dire warning, all that mattered to him now was finding out what his father had hidden in their family basement for all those years.

''Look we can't do that now, let's just head back to the others and figure out what to do.'' Pleaded the calmer boy.

''NO! I have waited five years to find out what he hide from me, I don't want to wait any longer.'' He roared with his signature fire in his eyes.

''I know but we don't ha-'' The first of many footsteps resonated through the otherwise still air around them. ''Oh no…'' Bertolt swore quietly.

''...Titans.'' Eren grinned, the colour in Bertolt's face drained away as Eren began pulling his hand to his open and waiting jaws.

''No!'' Bertolt hissed. ''If you shift now then every Titan in the city will be coming for you and judging by what happened in Trost that won't end well for any of us.''

This seemed to get the usually impulsive and hotheaded soldier to think, he brought his hand to an abrupt stop as he pondered the weight of Bertolt's explanation.

''How are you going to kill all the Titans if you end up getting killed by them?'' He added. ''Let's go back and figure out what we need to do.''

Eren knew that he didn't have a lot of time before the prowling Titans closed in on their location yet despite his severely limited time he couldn't help but lose himself in his thoughts.

''I could do it…'' He muttered under his breath.

''Eren just think this through.'' Bertolt had raised his voice in an attempt to snap his deluded companion out of his trance.

''I could kill them all now...starting with you.'' For the first time since Eren found out about Bertolt's role in destroying his home and his family Eren looked at him. He really looked at him, there was no bravery or righteous anger in his emerald green irises. There was no rage or brutal fury in his expression.

What Bertolt saw as Eren really looked at him was the incomprehensible sadness that he forced this young boy to tackle head on.

This is bad… Bertolt thought, he needed a way to focus Eren on the here and now, he needed something that would bring him out of his trance even if it was just for a moment and in his desperation he chose something that would replace his sorrow with what he hoped to be petty jealousy.

''Don't you want to know what happened between me and Annie?'' As the words left his lips Bertolt screwed his eyes shut and prepared for Eren's immediate retaliation, but to his utter surprise it never came.

''Wait...what do you mean what happened between you and Annie?'' He gawked, his hand dropped back to his side and his eyes widened slowly as he began piecing together the meaning of Bertolt's words.

''If you come with me now, I'll tell you all you want to know.'' It certainly wasn't the reaction he had expected but it was the one he had hoped for.

This time it took barely a second for Eren to furiously shake his head and lead the way towards the unbroken ridge of Wall Maria.

''What do you mean they haven't come back yet?'' Annie huffed as she hauled air into her exhausted lungs, after coming to the daunting conclusion that Eren and Bertolt had not made it back on time Annie had sprinted towards the camp that Historia had hastily prepared with the supplies that Reiner and Ymir had collected.

''I mean just that, they haven't come back yet.'' Reiner tried to eliminate the worry in his tone but to Annie it was all too clear. ''We heard some Titan footsteps so we came back here as fast as we could.''

Annie turned to Ymir for confirmation of this statement, she simply shrugged her shoulders before answering. ''He's right, the moment we felt the ground shake we ran.''

''Well where are they then?''

''They said they were going to get water, so they'll probably be near the river or something. All we can do now is wait and trust in their abilities.'' Reiner went to rest a hand on Annie's shoulder but she quickly batted it away.

''Fine, I'll help with the camp. You take these.'' With that she flung the string of rabbit carcases at her ally, he fumbled with the thread momentarily in an attempt to make sure that the disgusting ooze that was leaking from the fatal wounds didn't stain his clothes.

''I'll give them ten minutes and then I go look for them.'' Annie didn't care if Reiner had heard her, it was more of an order to herself to make sure that Bertolt and Eren didn't die like Marcel had.

Why do you care so much? They can take care of themselves. Grief hissed.

''I don't want to lose anyone else, we can finally go home and if we lose him then it's all over.'' What she wasn't aware of was the fact that Ymir had over heard her little 'conversation' with the utmost of interest and curiosity.

Ymir narrowed her eyes as she pieced together the meaning of Annie's talk, making sure that the shifter didn't notice her Ymir abandoned her half pitched tent and made her way towards the one person she really did trust.

''Hey how are you doing?'' The shorter girl was slightly shocked by the casual nature of the question.

''Fine, I guess. Where are Bertolt and Eren?''

''They haven't come back yet, I doubt that hot headed moron would just come back knowing that there are Titans around.'' She jested.

It was Bertolt who saw the grisly face of the first of many Titans, he estimated that it was an eight meter class as its head poked around the corner of what Eren had pointed out to be a storehouse.

''Eren! Come on!'' Eren could barely hear him though, his mind was making the impossibly different choice of to either turn and fight every Titan that he laid his eyes on, or to run and follow Bertolt in hope of learning what exactly happened between the two of them. ''Look, if you come now you can always fight another day.'' Another Titan attracted by the dulcet tones of human voices rounded the same corner with the signature bloodlust in its otherwise lifeless and merciless eyes.

You can always fight another day. Sounds like something Annie would say… Eren said to himself as he came to his all important decision. ''Fine, let's hurry.''

Relief flooded through Bertolt's giant frame, he quickly turned on his heels and began sprinting towards Wall Maria and the others. Eren went to follow him but a moment later he hesitated, his home was only a matter of minutes away, the secrets his father had hidden were only a few streets away, the answers that had cost so many lives were so close now. Yet among the voices that were ordering him to go and kick down the door to his basement Eren found something that while he never wanted to believe he was absolutely certain of. He needed their help.

Eren found his energy once again as he chased after Bertolt who was now quite far ahead of him, the Titans had locked onto their prey and had began the hunt for their next meal. Faster, faster, FASTER. Eren ordered his legs to pick up the pace and thanks to the three years of punishing military training he went through they did just that, his outstanding resilience and stamina allowed him to quickly catch up to Bertolt and once in earshot he asked a very simple question with a not so simple answer.

''What now?''

''We get to the base of Wall Maria as fast as possible and then climb...hopefully.'' There was little confidence in his plan but Eren agreed none the less.

''I know the fastest way there, follow me.'' Bertolt was shocked by the fact that Eren was taking charge and leading them to safety, that or he was taking them to a dead end where he would turn and kill him. Bertolt decided to trust with the former.

Eren did in fact lead them to the base of the wall following a route that like he said was much faster than the one that Bertolt had planned out, along the way they had lost sight of the pursuing Titans and for a while they were both worried that they might come crashing through the houses that lined the streets but to their surprise they never came.

''We lost them.'' Bertolt sighed as he rested against the very wall that he destroyed. ''Now come on, we have to get up the wall before that catch onto our scent.''

Eren just nodded in reply, he to was exhausted from sprinting through the streets. They rested for only a minute, waiting any longer would be a death wish. Now rested Bertolt and Eren ascended the fifty meters to the top of Wall Maria and once there they realised just how perilous their situation had been. Five Titans of all different sizes had gathered at the base of the wall where the two of them had been catching their breath only moments after they had begun the climb.

''That was a little too close, at least we still have our supplies.'' Bertolt was lying down across the vast surface of Wall Maria, his chest rising and falling as he lungs feasted upon the cool evening air.

Bertolt expected some response from Eren like a sarcastic comment about wishing that the Titans did in fact get him but there was just silence. ''Eren are you okay?''

By the time Bertolt had caught his breath Eren was already on his feet and heading off in the direction that he thought was the way back to their temporary camp. ''Don't you want to know what happened?'' To be honest he was more than a little bit relieved to be free from the bombardment of question that he had been subjected to earlier.

''I want to hear it from Annie not you.'' Eren hissed as he stormed off towards a thin, wispy pillar murky black smoke coming from the fire that the others had started.

''Look! Here they come.'' Reiner shouted, the others stopped what they were doing to welcome back the late members. ''What took you guys so long?'' Eren didn't even acknowledge Reiner's question, he instead just walked straight up to Annie and asked a very simple question.

''What happened between you and Bertolt?'' Annie immediately knew what he meant and sighed as the memories came flooding back.

I knew this would come back to bite you. Desire scoffed.

''It's none of your business, now go help Ym-.'' Eren didn't give her a chance to finish.

''None of my business! Do you know what it felt like to have you tear out my heart?'' Eren couldn't even look her in the eye. ''I guess you never cared for my heart though, not with your precious mission...or Bertolt to keep you happy.'' It was this last remark that stabbed the deepest.

''Oh I'm not going to miss this.'' Ymir had a smirk like no other spanning from cheek to cheek.

Annie shot a glance of pure venom to the taller girl who took the hint before throwing her arm in the air and walking away. ''If you knew what happened to me then you would know that I'm far from happy.'' Annie spat with a voice filled with ice.

''Oh yes stupid Eren always jumping to conclusions.'' Eren shouted sarcastically. ''Well now I do know what happened. Yes your mum died but does that make you so special?''

Annie narrowed her gaze at the mention of her mother, she lunged forward and placed a foot behind Eren's using his own weight against him she sent Eren tumbling to the ground. ''No it doesn't make me special at all and that's the worst bit, the fact that my mother died means nothing at all.''

''Did you hate her then.'' Eren had no idea the gravity of this question.

Annie's icy blood instantly began to boil in her veins, she placed a foot on Eren's chest and steadily increased the pressure. ''I loved my mother more than anyone else, you of people know how it feels to watch them die. But do you know the pain of having to kill them?''

''What are you talking about?'' Eren simply couldn't what Annie meant.

''I was forced to kill my own mother! You're too stupid to understand why but what you can understand is that those feelings of rage and sorrow make you do stupid things.'' Annie paused only to take a long deep breath. ''And in my case I did several stupid things, one of them being that I kissed Bertolt in Stohess.'' This time the heat and anger in Annie's tone faded as she understood the stupidity of her actions. She eased off the weight of her foot on Eren's chest. ''We never wanted to do what we did and the fact that I...failed to become a warrior is a testament to my punishment.'' With that Annie walked off but before she did Eren swore he saw the sheen of tears beginning to form in the corners of her azure eyes.

The construction of the camp had come to a complete stand still during Eren and Annie's heated discussion. Reiner came up behind Eren as he brushed the dirt from his shirt.

''What does your king do to produce monsters like you?'' Eren was slowly beginning to understand that his enemies were willing to do anything to achieve their goals.

''You'll see soon enough…'' They were the only words the Armoured Titan could find to fit the morbid and dire circumstance these teenagers found themselves in.