"FUCK NO!"
The words sent echoes bouncing off the surrounding rock walls. Eren winced a bit, but didn't break eye contact with Ymir.
"It has to be you." Eren calmly replied.
"I don't even want you talking to me in my head and you think I'm gonna merge minds with this cock sucker?!" Ymir snarled, raising an open palm toward Reiner, who wore an entertained expression.
"This is one-way, it doesn't allow him into your mind, only you into his."
"If it's so harmless then why don't either of you do it?" Ymir's eyes darted from Eren to Annie and back several times in an instant.
"Because you'll look the hardest while you're in there." Annie added. "You're the one who doubts his loyalties the most, so you'll do the most thorough job digging through his memories."
"Beside's, Annie and I have both recently done it, it's your turn to take the hit for the team." Eren replied with a smirk.
"Oh, got jokes huh?" Ymir growled, storming a few steps away from the group, staring vaguely to the distance. A breeze ran over her, waving her hair and clothes lazily as she took a deep breath. Slowly, she inhaled and exhaled a few times before turning around. It was the closest thing to a calming exercise she could come up with.
"Listen, Ymir…"
"Shut up before I change my mind, Yeager." Ymir hissed as she walked right past the other shifters toward the awaiting shell.
The young woman leapt onto the Armored Titan's shoulder and ascended to the neck. She stood at the nape and looked down at the opening in front of her. The exposed soft tissue gave off flurries of steam against the cold air.
"I swear I'll kill you if you lied about any of this." She muttered under her breath as she stepped into the breached flesh.
Ymir felt her legs sink into the disgusting matter below, or was it pulling her? Her balance faltered as her knees were enveloped, prompting her to fall forward. Reaching out to catch herself, her hands were pulled into place as well, leaving her face to crash into position. In an instant, the opening closed around the girl inside.
"You know, this is the closest I've been to getting laid in a long time... How embarrassing." Reiner spoke to the hand he'd placed over his face in apparent shame.
Eren and Annie both winced at the comment but kept their eyes on the titan in front of them as they backed away.
"Where are you going, is she gonna go nuts in there or something?" The broad shifter asked.
As if to answer, the Armored Titan convulsed in outward pain. In the same moment, Reiner dropped to his knees and began to scream. Eren and Annie rushed to his aid, each hoisting a shoulder up as they drug the agonized shifter out of harm's way. Around ten meters from the titan, they lowered Reiner back down, his hands and knees shakily supporting his weight. Eren kneeled down next to him and spoke into his ear.
"Thanks for doing this, I hope you don't hate me for it."
"Wha- whatever it takes" Reiner managed to spit the words between the enormous pangs in his skull.
"Is this what you went through?" Annie asked as Reiner began to vomit.
Eren nodded as dispassionately as he could as he realized the full extent of the answer would bring her guilt. By that point, the Armored Titan had settled into a kneeling position, eyes shut tight as if in deep thought. Reiner, however, continued to shake under the unyielding pain.
"How long will this last?" Asked Annie.
"Until she's done."
Annie's eyes grew wide as she panned over to Eren, her face teemed with sincere contrition. How long did she stay in Eren's titan that day? She thought for a moment, estimating that it must have been around three hours before she left his shell. The boy met her gaze as he reached out, taking her hand into his own.
"I don't regret it at all, for what it's worth." Said Eren, none to pleased with Annie's reaction.
Annie looked down at their interlocked fingers and sighed.
"I had no idea... I won't put you in that position again."
Eren was having none of it; to him, all he did was what a person should do. He never liked being praised for something you just… do. He felt lousy that she would feel guilty at all over what he chose to do for her of his own free will.
Eren brought Annie's had to his lips before he lowered and released it. The two of them returned their attention to Reiner, who had collapsed into a fetal position. Eren grabbed his arm and pulled him away from his splattered vomit on the ground. The larger shifter seemed none the wiser that he had been moved at all amidst the pain.
"Can you ask Ymir how much longer she plans on taking?" Annie asked, her tone borderlined on sarcasm. The agony of her comrade was beginning to bother her.
"Look" Said Eren, nodding to the titan ahead.
Steam had begun to billow from the neck as it slowly split open. As if to confirm the situation, Reiner's pained grunts and cries had ceased as well. He shakily managed to get up onto all four limbs, his heavy breathing gradually waning.
"Stay with him." Eren insisted softly as he walked toward Ymir's emerging figure.
She pulled one arm free, then the other, finally opening her eyes as she exhaled. Eren watched as she freed both feet and carefully climbed down. Ymir made her way to Eren, who had stopped a few meters away. The freckled shifter whirled around as she collapsed into a seated position, bringing a knee up for her head to rest on.
"What's the verdict?" Eren asked faintly as he plopped down next to the girl.
"Verdict?" Ymir chuckled the word, looking over at him, revealing the tears in her eyes. "It feels so insignificant now." She dug her forehead back into her knee with a whimper.
"How so?" Eren asked, his inner brows furrowed a bit.
"This is too much, Eren. People aren't meant to understand one another at this level. To truly learn to love someone through complete understanding of who they are… I've suddenly been him; through every experience, every good or bad memory, I've lived in his shoes. Probably the one person I have the least common ground with - and now I can see everything how he would see it. Was this not a total mind fuck for you or am I the only person here who sees the gravity of this shit?" Ymir's sobs were muted but showed as her body shook.
"I know it's overwhelming," Eren began. "But it's been something I've always wished for. It's exactly how I used to imagine; that we don't understand a damn thing about one another. All I've ever wanted was to understand people for who they are and for them to understand me. Maybe it's a stone best left unturned for some people, I honestly don't know."
Ymir wiped her eyes and looked back up toward the Armored Titan.
"The thing is… I don't regret this. I have so many mixed feelings about what just happened but somehow I think this was a good thing."
"Did I just here her dumb ass say she loved me?" Reiner called over as he and Annie joined them.
"Fuck off." Ymir fired back, flipping him off.
"So, where are we with all this?" Annie asked Ymir.
"I think she still needs a moment to take it all in." Eren offered, patting Ymir on the back sportingly.
"Somebody took over his titan and used it." Ymir answered, drying the last of her tears with her sleeve.
"How can you know that if he doesn't?" Asked Annie.
"I connected the dots." Ymir began. "I learned how to ghost a titan through his memories and he wasn't able to reach his titan's mind until you showed him how. Therefore, he had no way of noticing someone screwing with his head, or a means of defending against it. The only plausible explanation is someone else gaining access to his titan somehow remotely."
"But then that would imply that you can summon a titan to a different location than yourself." Eren speculated.
"It would also make you the prime suspect, Eren." Reiner added gravely.
"That's assuming that the folklore about the coordinate holds up." Eren retorted. "But in the meantime I'll let any of you look through my mind if it clears my name.
Reiner and Ymir both raised their hands up, gesturing non-interest in the idea. Eren then looked to Annie for her thoughts.
"I'm not doing that shit to you again on a hunch, we'll figure something else out."
"That's not good enough, we're gonna fall apart if you guys go on thinking I had something to do with this. This is the next logical step."
"Before we resort to this hellish ritual again, let's try to find out if you need to be the Coordinate to link minds with someone." Ymir suggested.
Author's note:
Taking a break for a few days, I'll write again whenever I get the time. Hope you guys enjoy.
