A Warning for everyone, this chapter is over three times as long as my regular chapters. So make sure that you have plenty of time and are nice and comfortable, because you are in for a ride.
They approached the Wall, it's once flawless self not cracked and dirty from lack of upkeep, but even in its ruins, it was magnificent. Every last part of it was beautiful because it was home; not her home, not yet; but she hoped that it one day would be.
"Get on your horses we are riding in, prepare for a full out assault. Get Eren to the outer gate no matter the cost." Levi yelled over the hushed whispers of the Scouts.
Immediately everyone followed his command, quickly climbing up onto their horses and then charging, Levi in the lead. They charged down from the hills of Maria to the city that stood just outside the gate, everyone had a hand on their sword ready for the attack.
Levi, Hanji, and their squads rode through the first gate of Shinganshina, everyone else stopped outside the gate. Both groups entered the city that the Colossal Titan had attacked five years ago; there wasn't a single Titan in sight. They rode quickly through the city and soon approached the outer gate.
Levi jumped onto his feet still standing on his horse and drew both of his blades before he jumped off his horse and hooked onto the Wall right before his horse went under it. Immediately he began shooting his 3DMGear over and over scaling the Wall; the rest of Levi's Squad and Hanji's Squad doing the same and following him moments later.
Everyone stopped at the top of the Wall, except for a single Scout who was covered by their cloak, like everyone was, they flew through the air before bursting into their Titan form, Eren's Titan came flying down from the sky slamming into the earth hardening his body in the hole that was made by the Colossal Titan long ago.
The smoke settled and the outer gate was plugged, Eren's Titan form was frozen into the hole closing it entirely; no more Titan's would ever enter the Walls ever again. Hari stared at it in awe, it was amazing to see the hole finally closed, to see all the work and training that she and everyone else had done had finally come and made its worth known.
"Don't celebrate yet, we still have another hole to seal; and keep your eyes open too, the enemy could be anywhere." Levi said glaring at them all.
"Let's move!" Hanji yelled getting everyone to start running across the top of the Wall back towards the gate that leads to Maria.
They ran quickly wanting to seal the inner gate as quickly as possible so that they could get to the basement and get back to Wall Rose, but a foreboding feeling sat in Hari as they ran, seemingly telling her that that was not going to happen.
A red signal suddenly shot up from over the broken gate, telling them to stop. Hari followed the smoke with her eye wondering why it was fired.
"Don't spend your energy; we will slow down till the signal to restart the mission is fired." Levi said slowing his run down it a fast walk; everyone else quickly followed his example.
They slowly walked across the Wall waiting for the signal to restart the mission, but it didn't come, they were almost their when Levi suddenly stopped them.
"Wait here, there could be a problem; I'll check it out." Levi said before he began running again leaving them behind to wait on the Wall for his return.
They watched him run till he was only a small speck on the Wall that would be impossible to differentiate if they had not been following him with their eyes as he ran over there.
"Something feels wrong; I know most of the Titans are inside the Walls surrounding Rose but there should at least be a few Titans coming through still or some just sitting inside here, but there is nothing." Hari said looking down into the city of Shinganshina.
"If Reiner and Bertolt are here they could have cleared the area so that they wouldn't be attacked, and if they left the Titans could still be following them." Eren said trying to reassure her.
"No, the Titans are being kept away, he's here, I know it." Annie said sounding fearful.
"Who's here-
Orange light burst near the inner gate, filling the sky with crackling electricity; everyone watched in agonizing anticipation to see who had just transformed. As the sky cleared of light the Armored Titan was visible laying on and slowly getting up. A massive wave of orange light suddenly burst from Maria filling the sky with the foreboding orange color of a Titans transformation.
"Get to everyone else!" Hanji yelled and they began running straight to Erwin and Levi.
A glimpse of red light appeared in the corner of Hari's eye, and her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.
"Get down!" Hari yelled right as the floor in front of them exploded in an inferno of red light.
Hari's mind caught up with her instincts and she froze, absolute terror, filled every fiber of her being. How, how had they followed her, she had gotten away from her world, how had a Spell been fired, no one here had the same magic as people did.
"What was that?" Hanji yelled at Hari trying to get her out of her mind, which was replaying all the horrors that she had faced in the Wizarding World over and over again; like when she was back in Azkaban.
"I don't want to go back!" Hari yelled tears falling down her face as she gripped her hair and screamed in agony and horror.
A sharp pain hit the side of her face, breaking Hari from her stupor, someone had slapped her. Looking up she saw Hanji, with her hand raised ready to slap her again if need be.
"What was that?" Hanji asked again.
"Something from, where I am from; something extremely dangerous." Hari said her voice hollow.
"How would Reiner and Bertolt get something like that?" Hanji asked again, very serious.
"It can't be something they got; someone else is here, helping them." Hari said clenching her fist in anger; she thought that she was finally free of the wizards and all their horrors.
"We can fight them." Eren said glaring down into Shinganshina only to jump back as another blast of red light smashed into the Wall.
"No you can't, you see these scars; every last one of them was made by them." Hari said ripping off her eye patch for better emphasis.
"I am a Titan Shifter, and I am injured permanently because of those blasts of light; you cannot fight whoever is down there and win. Because if you think that they can only blast light you are dead wrong. They can kill you in the blink of an eye if they wanted to." Hari said glaring at all of them, ignoring the pain that she felt from her destroyed eye when she did so.
"How do we fight them then?" Hanji asked.
"You don't, avoid the lights at all cost, if you see green light coming to you, avoid it no matter what; if you are on top of the Wall and your 3DMGear is broken, jump off the Wall to avoid it." Hari said dead serious.
"We can't let them continue firing at us; we won't be able to avoid all the attacks." Hanji said right as another spell smashed into the Wall.
"I'll draw their fire; it's me they want anyway." Hari said.
"No Hari, you can't go at them alone, if what you said was true, then you stand no chance against them!" Annie yelled.
"It's not about winning against them, it's about winning back Wall Maria, Shinganshina, and finding what is in that basement. We took an oath to see that through; I'm fulfilling it." Hari said standing up from where they were taking cover.
Red light exploded beneath Hari as another spell was shot at the Wall, lighting up behind her silhouetting her. Hari looked down to see where the spells were coming from and froze.
"Get off the Wall now!" Hari yelled right as another spell slammed into the Wall.
Cracks began forming all over the Wall as they jumped off of it, the Wizard was taking down a whole section of the Wall.
"They're freeing a Colossal Titan!" Eren yelled as part of the Wall crumbled away, revealing one of the Colossal Titans that had formed the Wall.
Everyone watched it in baited horror, and then; its eyes opened.
As the sun soaked into its skin it began to move, shaking off all the debris from the fallen section of the Wall, giving it even more sunlight to absorb. Its leg began rising up and then planted itself outside the ditch that it was in. With a massive push, it lifted itself out of the hole and into Shinganshina; all sixty meters of it stood tall and strong.
"Hari stop whoever did this by any means possible if they release more Colossal Titans, Humanity is doomed." Hanji said.
"Eren fight Reiner, we can't have him attacking Erwin, he needs his full attention on whatever happened in Wall Maria." Hanji said.
"Everyone else, keep the Colossal busy; do not kill it though we need to put it back into the Wall." Hanji said and everyone nodded before going off to do their assigned tasks.
Hari flew down to the roofs of Shinganshina near where she thought she had seen the spells being fired from. Landing on a roof Hari drew one of her swords and began quietly moving from rooftop to rooftop.
As she landed from jumping from one building to another the wood she landed on gave out and her food went through; Hari froze the sound was loud and she did not know where the Wizard was.
"Stupefy!" A deeply familiar voice suddenly yelled from behind her.
Hari swung her whole body to the side, snapping her ankle as she did so; without waiting for a moment she lunged to the nearest cover right as another Stupefy flew by her head.
"Hari, come on out." The voice said.
Hari knew that voice, it was so familiar, but it was older, more mature; it hurt to know that the people she knew back in the Wizarding World had grown up without her. She wished that she could have been part of that.
No!
She was locked in Azkaban for five years because of them! She did not want any part of them; she wanted them gone. To leave forever!
"I know your voice." Hari said still hiding behind the cover of the roof.
"Hari, I'm sorry for what happened to you, please come out." The voice asked again.
Sorry? Sorry!
"You think I hide from you just because of Azkaban, just because I was tortured for five years! I was tortured for much longer than that, since the day my parents died I have only ever felt pain, I have never been loved!" Hari yelled as she watched her ankle steam as it mended itself.
"You are loved Hari, Azkaban hurt you more than I think even you realize if you really believe that you have never been loved." The Voice said, they sounded a lot more patronizing as an adult then they did when Hari had last seen them almost a decade ago.
"You Lie!" Hari yelled jumping from her hiding spot slashing her sword at them, anger burning through her from long-dead memories.
Her sword stopped dead in its swing from a protection spell, jolting Hari's whole body, Hari gritted her teeth and glared at the woman who made that shield.
"Ginny." Hari glared.
Hari was thrown back by another spell; she flew through the air and crashed into the roof of the building neighboring the one that Ginny stood on.
Hari glared at Ginny assessing her; she was older by over a decade since Hari had last seen her, she was in her prime. Ginny must have taken to professional Quidditch or another very physical job because she was fit as well; her muscles visible on the tighter parts of her under robes.
"Hari I don't want to fight you, I just need to take you back." Ginny said her voice more mature like she was talking down to Hari.
"Well, I want to fight you." Hari said shooting her 3DMGear into the nearest building and swinging herself quickly to the left, avoiding a spell Ginny had shot at her.
Drawing her other blade Hari shot towards Ginny at high speeds, Ginny only just getting out of the way with a mixture of dodging and Apparating out of the way. The miss of a target threw Hari off causing her to crash into the building Ginny was standing before she Apparated.
A spell fired at Hari followed by the sound of Apparation, Hari quickly dodged the stunner spell just barely preventing it from hitting herself. A spell shot from a different direction suddenly, and Hari dodged it, the red light hitting the ground millimeters from her.
Hari shot her 3DMGear and flew right into a window, trying to get away from the bombardment of spells coming from all directions. Taking a deep breath Hari swung to the right, right as Ginny popped into the room, though Ginny was able to dodge her surprise attack, the blade sliced the ends of her long hair.
Ginny shot a spell blasting Hari backward into the opposite wall of the room they were in, cracking the ruined wood.
"Hari I cannot heal like you and the other Shifters please don't do that, you will kill me!" Ginny yelled the last part, her eyes slightly wild.
Hari ignored her and jumped off the wall blades outstretched to get Ginny. Ginny shot a stunner, thinking quickly Hari shot her 3DMGear and pulled her away from the spell crashing into another wall in the room.
Fighting magic without magic was much harder than Hari realized.
Wait.
Hari bit into her hand, and as she exploded outward she saw Ginny Apparate away. The second her transformation was complete her world went black.
/Annie/
They flew around the Colossal Titan from the Wall trying to distract it from Erwin and the Scouts fighting the Beast Titan.
"This is bad; if Zeke is willing to release a Colossal Titan from the Wall then either he has even less care for everyone than I thought; or is he trying to control it?" Annie froze at the thought; if Zeke managed to take control of the Colossal Titans then the war was already over.
But he shouldn't be able to, he needs the Coordinate to do that; and even then the curse would prevent him from taking action. Why release it then? What could a Colossal Titan be used for if it was just wandering around because with even just the small squad they were able to distract it. While it did spread out the Scouts a little it wasn't anything too overwhelming; it would be almost impossible for the Colossal Titan to even catch anyone.
Annie was ripped from her thoughts as an explosion came from below them, Hari was in her Titan form, and she wasn't moving just standing still.
"I'm going to help Hari!" Annie yelled to Hanji from across the Colossal Titan.
"Hari is giving us a chance; we need to let her fight whoever released the Colossal Titan. She said that they are after her so we shouldn't waste our opportunity to provide additional support when the threat can be dealt with alone." Hanji yelled shooting off as the Colossal Titan lazily swung at her.
"She will die, or be taken again!" Annie yelled, Hari's many scars flashing across her mind as she thought of Hari being taken.
"She said she was willing to let that happen." Hanji yelled as she quickly descended down to the Colossal Titan's feet making it look down as it followed her.
"Well, I'm not!" Annie yelled as she shot off towards Hari.
Hanji will be fine; Annie though as she rapidly approached Hari.
Hooking onto a building and using her momentum, Annie threw herself onto Hari's Titan's face.
"What's happened, where is the person you are fighting, why aren't you doing anything!" Annie yelled pulling on strands of Hari's hair trying to get a reaction.
Only when shaking around on Hari's face did Annie finally notice something; a red glint in Hari's eye when the light hit it just right. That red only ever appeared on a Titan being controlled by a Shifter; how could Hari be under that effect?
A crack sounded behind Annie, she turned around with her sword drawn; unsure of what the sound was. Standing on a half-destroyed building was a woman in her later twenties with long red hair and a dark robe and cloak.
"You're Hari's friend." The woman said it was a statement, not a question.
Annie stared at her in surprise unsure of how to actually answer the question; but how she said it didn't really make it a question to be answered either.
"What is she like; it has been over a decade since I last saw her." The woman asked.
It clicked, she unleashed the Colossal Titan; she was the one Hari went to fight; she was responsible for what happened to Hari!
Annie lunged at the woman who suddenly popped out of existence, and reappeared several meters away after Annie had landed her attack, meant for the woman but against the building.
"What the?" Annie exclaimed in surprise, not understanding what had just happened.
"Hari never told you about magic?" The woman asked looking at Hari's Titan form that still stood still, seemingly completely unaware of the world around her.
"Magic?" Annie said, unsure of what the woman meant.
"I traveled from one location to another instantaneously, is that not magic? Hari has the same abilities, though without a wand she would never be able to perform anything very advanced." The woman said showing off an innately carved stick.
"A wand is a conductor of magic; it focuses it and allows it to have a path instead of it being bursts of power that explode outward in all directions with random effects and consequences. It is a powerful tool, and a deadly weapon if need be." The woman said quickly blasting a jet of purple light from her stick at Annie, which she quickly avoided.
Tightening her grip on both her swords Annie lunged again at the woman; she popped away only to appear a few meters to the left. She was ready for that though and swung both her blades at the woman, only for them to both shatter as they got within centimeters of the woman's body.
"Magic can also protect people; keep them from both magical and physical harm. It can also heal those who have been harmed. Some magic though, cannot be healed well." The woman once again looked at Hari; Annie was getting annoyed.
"Is this a lesson or are we fighting!" Annie yelled unlatching her broken blades and drawing new ones.
"We are not adversaries; I am only here to take Hart back to where she belongs, where she can be who she is. I will even help you win this battle; Reiner, Bertolt, and Zeke are not my allies, they were simply a means to get Hari." The woman said.
"I will not give Hari to you." Annie growled, tightening her grip on her blades.
"Is that your choice to make?" The woman asked.
"It's Hari's, and I doubt she wants to return to her torturers." Annie said before lunging again.
/Eren/
Eren's fist collided with Reiner's face crushing the last of the armor on it, making him look more like the Colossal in facial appearance.
Reiner glared at him as he got up; his jaw slowly mending itself back together, he was outmatched. Eren grinned, tightening his fists as he did so before he lunged at Reiner again, they slammed into each other, crashing through a house as they did so.
Eren twisted to the side, only to be stopped suddenly with the jerk of his hair; Reiner was holding him by his hair.
He was thrown into a building; the hair in Reiner's hands either slipped out or was torn out because of the force of the attack. While it was an attack that he would only be able to do once, it still hurt.
Eren roared before charging again, only for Reiner to dodge under him, tripping him. Reiner grabbed both of his feet before lifting him into the air and then slamming him into the overgrown road, bending his Titan's neck and himself in an uncomfortable angle.
A lone Scout darted from the corner of his vision before he was promptly slammed into the ground once again, moments later an explosion sounded and Eren felt the grip of his feet loosen. Twisting out of Reiner's lose grip Eren pulled far away from him, so he could recover without having to worry about being attacked again
Two Scouts landed next to him, he quickly realized that it was Mikasa and Jean. He looked at both of them before turning to Reiner, who was limping from the Thunderspear attack.
Thunderspears, a genius invention made specifically to fight the Armored Titan and any other variant of it. They seemed to work perfectly.
"Don't fight him head-on, he was right behind you in combat training, and he seems to have gotten better." Jean said urgently as the steam from Reiner's leg slowed.
"I have one Thunderspear left, Mikasa has both of hers, we will blow out his legs and you will rip off his arms, then with Mikasa's final Thunderspear we will tear him out of that Titan." Jean said quickly, as the steam stopped flowing from Reiner's knee.
Eren nodded once, before lunging forward; Reiner got into a crouched position ready to intercept the blow when Eren slammed his foot out in front of himself slowing himself down considerably, before lunging again.
Reiner was prepared to intercept Eren's initial attack, but since it was delayed he was out of balance from his preemptive dodge. Eren used that to his advantage; he grabbed one of Reiner's outstretched arms and pulled it back harshly.
Jean flew down and blew out one of Reiner's knees with his last Thunderspear; Reiner lost his balance and Eren was able to twist his arm further back, breaking the armor and bone at the shoulder.
With a deafening scream, he ripped off Reiner's arm and sent it flying, before punching Reiner in the face again slamming him into the ground. Eren grabbed Reiner's face and lifted him up before once again punching him, causing him to stumble back onto a building.
Mikasa shot towards Reiner quickly before shooting her Thunderspear into Reiner's kneecap blowing out his other leg causing him to fall face down onto the floor.
Eren watched him as he lay on the floor groans on pain escaping from his lips. It was not a pleasant battle, especially since he was fighting someone he considered a friend.
He pushed the thought away, this was the Armored Titan, he broke Wall Maria and has been the torment of mankind for five years, and he could not be allowed to exist anymore.
Turning his attention back to Reiner, Eren realized he still had one arm left, right as he finished turning so he faced upward.
Hardening his foot Eren stomped down onto Reiner's shoulder going straight through it tearing off his final limb.
Reiner's jaw unhinged before a massive scream came out of him.
Everyone froze.
A barrel flew over the Wall.
The Wall Titan turned to look at Reiner.
The hole left by the Wall Titan had Titan's working their way across it.
Reiner had just summoned all the Titans.
/Levi/
Levi gritted his teeth; this battle had gone wrong in every way possible. It had gone well at first Eren had sealed the outer Wall and they were making good headway to seal the inner Wall as well when Erwin had shot a signal to stop the mission.
Now he stood on a roof, staring down the horde of Titans controlled by the Beast Titan, watching as the veteran Scouts killed off the smaller Titans that were invading their position.
A stone flew by his head.
Levi turned before jumping off the roof, uncaring of his 3DMGear. A barrage of rocks flew over him, slamming into the buildings around him; screams of Scouts could be heard as they were ripped to shreds by the stone.
Levi was panting, that was probably the closest he had ever come to death in a long time, and like that last time his skills would not save him, he was at the mercy of the world around him.
Another barrage of rocks smashed into the buildings, more screams of pain and fear filled the air as the rocks tore through the abandoned outer city. Levi cringed internally as he heard so many soldiers' final screams before he turned and ran back to the temporary base that had been set up outside the Wall the Shinganshina.
A roar came from within the Walls as he jumped to the side to avoid the next barrage of stones that flew through the town that was quickly falling apart. He turned and watched as many Titans began running to the gap in the Wall created by the Wall Titan's escape.
Eren would be overwhelmed and eaten, and then the Beast would take over the other Titans and allow Reiner to escape with the Coordinate power. It was the perfect play and was next to impossible to beat. Erwin would have the answer.
Levi sprinted back to the base arriving right as Erwin landed on the ground after using his 3DMGear to get down from the top of the Wall.
"The Colossal Titan has arrived." Erwin said calmly.
"The one from the Wall?" Levi said.
A massive explosion filled came from the other side of the Wall, the hot wind blasting from the half-covered hole that the Armored Titan had made five years ago.
"No." Erwin said calmly, his hair and empty sleeve blowing in the wind from the Colossal's transformation.
"How are they supposed to fight off two Colossal Titan's, the Armored Titan, and a legion of regular Titans? That's not taking into consideration that no one has died; they are outmatched and we will lose them, Eren will be taken and then we lose." Levi said pointing over to the hordes of Titans pouring into the Wall.
"We kill the Beast Titan and the Titans are out of the control of the enemy." Erwin said.
"They will still be a liability." Levi said.
"They came here knowing that they might die, and they are all prepared to do so; if they die, we cannot let it be in vain." Erwin said calmly as he turned to watch rocks fly overhead before crashing against the backside of the Wall.
"Don't give me that crap." Levi growled grabbing Erwin by the collar and pulling him down to his level.
"We must all be willing to give our lives if we want to save humanity; and we all will, eventually. Some of us are just doing it now." Erwin said looking straight into Levi's eyes.
"How… how do we stop the Beast Titan, he hurls rocks at us to regularly for anyone to get close; Eren is most likely fighting Reiner; Hari is either helping or dealing with the hordes of Titans that are now pouring in; Annie is staying hidden for a surprise attack. Ymir is under house arrest by order of the Queen, so she can't do anything either." Levi said shutting down all options of using Titan Shifters to fight Titan Shifters.
"We can only hope that Hanji, her squad, and yours will be enough within Shinganshina; out here we will all be needed if we have any hope in taking down the Beast Titan." Erwin said calmly, turning to look at the newest members of the Survey Corp.
"You're going to send them to their deaths." Levi said irritated.
"They would not go; the Beast Titan has made them afraid." Levi said turning back to face Erwin.
"Not without someone to follow." Erwin said without a hint of emotion.
"Wait, Com- Erwin! Humanity needs you, you bring hope to the people within the Walls, and you make them believe that there will be a tomorrow. Every year you make a speech and inspire new Cadets to join the Scouts; you even got street rats from the underground and made them into solider. We follow you, because you inspire us, without you, the Survey Corp will die." Levi said, finally letting his emotions out from the tight cage he had kept them.
A hand was placed on his shoulder, large and gentle; Levi looked up and saw Erwin looking right into his eyes. His face was kind, so very different from the first time he had met Erwin.
"The Scouts will die no matter how this operation ends; something new will take its place. Old leaders do not belong in new places, because then nothing will ever grow, and nothing will ever change. The Scouts and I will charge the Beast Titan, give you enough time to get to it, and kill it; then you will be free." Erwin said kindly.
Levi squeezed his eyes shut and pulled away from Erwin, turning so when he opened his eyes again he would not see him.
"Lead the recruits straight into hell, and die. I will kill the Beast Titan." Levi said walking towards the nearest of the taller Titans that the Beast Titan still kept as a barrier.
Levi drew his blades as he continued to walk towards the edge of the ruins of the city; a murderous expression adorning his face. He reached the first Titan, a ten-meter will shoulder-length dark hair; he wondered who the person had been in life before he purged the thought entirely. Whoever they used to be did not matter anymore, they were just an enemy now.
He heard the Scouts mount up, he sighed knowing that that was his cue to move as well. He shot his 3DMGear hook onto a building, pulling himself up he lunged at the Titan cutting its nape before moving to the next.
He watched as the Scouts began running, Erwin up front leading them. He wished that he could speed ahead and take out the Beast Titan before he had another chance to throw another barrage of stone, but he needed to be distracted if Levi had any hope of getting near him.
Levi cut another Titan's nape, barely paying attention as he did so. He watched as the Beast Titan grabbed a massive boulder and crushed it into many smaller rocks with his hands; and then breaks it to dust.
The Beast Titan seemed surprised by what he had done before he dusted off his hands and grabbed another bolder and broke it into rocks. He twisted his body getting into the proper position to throw it at high speeds.
Right then Erwin and all the Scouts fired their smoke signals at the Beast Titan, blocking off part of his vision, but he still threw the many rocks. Levi turned his attention back to Erwin, only to freeze as he saw Erwin was staring right back at him; a calm, but slightly sad face looking back into his own.
The rocks crashed around the Scouts hiding them in the dust when they reemerged, Erwin was gone.
/Eren/
Eren was running around Shinganshina, Reiner following right behind, both of them trying to avoid the horde of Titans that now infested the Wall. He assumed that Reiner had a plan when he had summoned the Titans, but either the plan had failed or he didn't have one, because Reiner seemed to be trying to avoid the Titans as much as he was.
That didn't stop them from fighting though.
Eren slammed his foot into the ground and twisted around before punching Reiner straight in the face, using the momentum of his arm as well as Reiner's running momentum to cause a devastating blow. The hit knocked Reiner off of his feet and onto his back; Eren took the opportunity to run; hoping that the Titans would take care of Reiner.
His foot was pulled out from under him; Reiner had twisted around while on the floor and grabbed his foot, before pulling it back; sending Eren to the ground, several of his teeth breaking from the hard fall onto his chin.
Their fighting was dirty; they were trying to get the other into a situation that they could not escape, or at least one that would keep them busy for a while.
Reiner crushed Eren's ankle before he stood up; smashing one of Eren's hands as well, as he tried to grab his leg and pull him back down.
Reiner then turned to him looking down at him, and then he turned to look behind Eren; his eyes widening before he ran away. Eren twisted seeing a barrel flying through the air; before it exploded, the heat coming off it burning his skin; and he was far away from it; anyone near would be dead.
Steam filled the inside of the Wall before the Colossal Titans head peaked out of it, its skinless face, just as horrifying as it was when Eren first saw it five years ago. The Colossal Titan looked around for a while, it stopped on Eren before it moved onward following Reiner as he continued to run and then he continued to turn his head to find the rest of the people who were inside the Wall.
Eren turned to look ahead again and realized that Reiner had stopped running now that Bertolt had transformed, but Reiner did not approach him.
Eren tried to stand up, but something grabbed his foot; he twisted around, his eyes widening in horror the Titans had caught up to him. He pulled his foot away from the three-meter that had grabbed it and tried to stand up only for a much larger Titan to jump onto his back, pushing him to the ground.
He threw his hand over his nape, hoping to protect it as long as possible; though luckily Titans did not know where to rip at to get to him.
He felt the Titans bit into his legs and back, and he was thankful that the Titan body he was enveloped in did not have as many or as strong pain receptors as his human form did.
The sound of 3DMGear came from overhead; he looked up and saw Mikasa and Jean flying towards him, their blades were drawn, both of them ready to start picking off the Titans on top of him.
As blood poured down his body; the weight of the Titans lightened. But for every Titan that was killed on him, another took its place; and while Titans came from behind him other started to trickle into the road he and Reiner were on from other entrances, surrounding both of them.
A Titan stepped into the road, and Eren froze; he followed its legs up; it felt like his nightmares come to life; everything so familiar but just not there yet and then.
He looked right at the Titan's face; it's horrific, smiling face looking down at him in return. Memories flashed through his mind; fear, terror, mom…
Eren screamed in rage, as he pulled himself to his feet, his body ripped to shreds by the Titans, but he did not care; he clinched his one remaining fist and charged at the Titan that had caused so much pain in his life.
"This is for you mom, Hannes, I'll avenge you." With those thoughts Eren collided with the Smiling Titan, bringing it to the ground roaring the whole way.
He slammed his fist into the Titans face, smashing it partly in; Eren wanted this Titan to pay for all it had done. Pulling his partly destroyed hand out of the Titans face he brought it down again, blood flying as he smashed its face further in.
Reiner slammed into him, throwing him and the Smiling Titan through a building and crashing into a courtyard. He had lost focus on his objective. Eren tried to stand up to get to Reiner, but his body had suffered so much damage from the Titan onslaught that his legs were not responding properly.
Reiner let steam out of his mouth, hardening his fingers into crystal claws as well. Turning he saw Mikasa and Jean getting overrun with Titans, their blades were broken and there 3DMGear was sputtering, almost out of gas.
Eren clinched his broken hand, steam pouring out of his mouth as he breathed heavily. He turned the other way, Bertolt was approaching the Wall, two people who he could not make out were trying to get close to him, but he would push them back with his steam attack.
The Wall Titan was being distracted by another Scout, smashing houses as it tried to catch the person flying around it. Explosions of color came from the other end of Shinganshina, Hari's enemy doing who knows what. Rocks flew in from the hole to Wall Maria, all of them covered in blood that did not evaporate.
Eren's breath was heavy, his anger burning through his veins; everything was going out of control. Everyone was split apart; the enemy had played them perfectly, divided, and conquered them.
"You, will not, win." Eren growled out, speaking through his Titan for the first time ever.
Reiner momentarily paused, surprised by Eren's sudden ability to speak, no matter how poorly it came out for not having lips to articulate. But Reiner again began walking towards him.
"Die!" Eren screamed, his Titans voice filling all of Shinganshina, and beyond.
"Die!" The Smiling Titan repeated, its eyes glowing the same green that Eren's did when in his Titan form.
The Wall Titan froze; the hoard of Titans froze; their eyes taking on the same green.
"We will, retake our home!" Eren and the Smile Titan said as one, both their voices in perfect sync.
The Titans charged, running right past Eren and the Smile Titan, The Colossal Wall Titan turned its head sharply, faster than it had ever moved, and then began walking towards Reiner as well. Fearing that it would break the Wall Eren took direct control of it with the Smiling Titan and sent it back to its hole in the wall The Colossal Wall Titan turned its head again before it began moving back to where it came.
Eren turned his attention back down to the Smiling Titan, its face slowly healing from the pounding he had done to it. He clenched his fist again, he hated this Titan so much, but there seemed to be a connection between him and it.
"Help, Me…" Eren was pushed out of his thoughts when he heard the strange voice, looking down at the Smiling Titan he saw that his hand was around its neck.
He released his hand and got off her. How did he know it was a her?
The Smiling Titan slowly stood, before she began walking away, Eren watching as she slowly made her way through the hole in the Wall that was slowly being mended by the Colossal Wall Titan's return. When she was gone and the Wall finally sealed Eren turned his attention back to Reiner.
Reiner was fighting a hoard of Titans, the only reason he was probably still alive was because of his armor. Eren turned his attention away, seeing that Reiner was not the main threat of the moment; his attention brought him to Bertolt.
Standing up, Eren ran to the Colossal Titan.
/Annie/
Annie jumped over a string of pink light, before barreling to the side to avoid a wall of blue. Her muscles were burning, and sweat covered her body, but she could not afford to get hit, who knew what any one of these "spells" would do to her.
"Die" a voice echoed through Shinganshina, followed by an echo of the same word.
Annie and the woman named Ginny froze, a cold dread filling their veins.
Hari took a step.
Both of them turned as she did, surprised since she had not moved since she had transformed and seemingly been taken over by the Beast Titan. Annie ran to her, while Ginny teleported.
Annie shot onto her face, trying to see if the red of Zeke's control had faded. It had but in its place was a sickly green, it was not Hari's eye, Hari's eye was a soothing emerald, not this sickly pale green that glowed; it was another Titans control.
"Hari, wake up!" Annie yelled pulling on loose strands of Hari's hair.
From her right Annie heard someone speaking in a strange language, it was like Ginny's spells, turning she saw that it was Ginny and that her wand was glowing as it pointed at Hari. Thinking fast she lunged at Ginny, knocking her off her feet, and interrupting the "spell".
Annie crashed into the woman, knocking her off of her feet and sending both of them falling off the roof that Ginny had stood on before. Ginny hit the ground first, taking the majority of both their impacts. Pushing off the woman Annie looked around where they were.
The city had been abandoned for years, and it showed its age, buildings were torn apart with plant matter growing on them as the weather beat down on the houses. There were many bones scattered around, human bones, picked off their flesh till no flesh remained.
Guilt flooded Annie, she had drawn the hordes that had first entered Shinganshina five years ago; it was her fault that so many people had been killed initially. Eren lost his mother hear, how had he forgiven her?
A groan came from behind her, turning Annie watched as Ginny pushed herself back to her feet, the back of her robes had been dirtied by the floor when she had fallen.
"Thank you, Quidditch for getting me used to falling from high up." Ginny murmured to herself as she popped her back after she had gotten up.
Annie tensed as Ginny continued to stretch out the kinks on her body from falling. Drawing her blades quietly Annie positioned herself in a way for her to quickly get out of the way if Ginny fired a "spell" suddenly.
But the older woman continued to just stretch out her body; then when she had popped her joints went to dusting off her robes, wiping the dirt from her back and onto the ground again.
"You're lucky I didn't get far enough into that spell for something to happen. A misfired spell is never pleasant, and can often be fatal." Ginny said in a scolding manner.
"Don't gripe at me woman." Annie growled hoping to get a reaction out of her, but Ginny merely raised an eyebrow.
"Where was Hari off too? I figured that Zeke had some control over her, but now she's run off, her eyes were glowing a different color." Ginny questioned completely ignoring Annie.
"Zeke shouldn't be able to control Hari, she's a Titan Shifter." Annie said breaking the woman out of her thoughts.
"Is she though? There are only nine you know." Ginny said pointedly.
"I've had a theory about Hari, and her being controlled by Zeke furthers the proof of it. Hari is not a Titan Shifter; she is just a regular Titan like the hordes of Titans in and around the Walls." Ginny began.
"The spell to send her here was botched, her mind was transported, not her body. Luckily for her magic is both in the spirit and blood, because if it was only in the blood she would be wandering around mindlessly all this time." Ginny said pacing back and forth as she continued.
"Her magic has kept her mind and the taken body intact, so she can power through the mindlessness of the Titan curse. It explains why she does not attract any Titans when transformed or out of transformation because a Shifter like that would not be able to be passed on in any controlled manner anyways. There would be no Titan to eat that Shifter." Ginny said as she continued to pace, Annie wearily watching her.
"The reason for her scars staying is because of the horrid magic placed on the weapons used to inflict them; magical damage imprints scars onto the soul, which is why when a body is possessed or replaced the new body resembles the old one. That's not to say that magical damage cannot be repaired, but it almost always required magical assistance, some more magic than others." Ginny said smiling as she turned to Annie.
"My theory is solid, 'Mione will be so proud of me." Ginny said smiling to herself.
"Cool, I don't care. I just want to keep Hari out of your hands." Annie said ready to lung at any moment.
"Your opinion matters little to me. I will be bringing Hari home though." Ginny said.
"You will not!" Annie yelled firing her 3DMGear, shooting at Ginny at high speeds.
She popped out of existence, and reappeared on top of a nearby building; Annie corrected her course to intercept her, uncaring of her fuel reserves. She lunged at Ginny who popped to the next building, and the next and the next; she was on her tail every time.
Annie watched Ginny trying to figure out if there was any pattern to the teleportation, or if it truly was madness. Ginny turned to face her and popped away right as she was inches from the woman's face. Another pop sounded behind her signaling where Ginny had gone.
It clicked; Ginny only teleported where she was facing. Twisting around Annie saw that Ginny was facing to the right.
Annie shot her hook at Ginny hoping to get her to teleport; and she did. Ginny popped away Annie flying straight to where she should be.
Ginny popped into existence, and Annie brought her blades down; her blades hit Ginny's right shoulder cutting through it like warm butter. Ginny's scream of pain filling the air, and then another pop.
Ginny did not reappear anywhere nearby, she had scared her away. Looking down at her blades she saw that they were drenched in blood; she had cut deep. The blood did not evaporate; it was sickening to watch as it slowly oozed off the blades and drip into a puddle on the roof. Annie detached the blades, not wanting to keep them any longer.
Turning away from the bloody pool on the roof Annie scanned Shinganshina looking for Hari.
/Levi/
He had beaten the Beast Titan, the man had been at his mercy, he was able to avenge Erwin. Levi wanted to scream, everything, all this sacrifice for one man; and he got away.
"Dammit, dammit, why? I told Erwin that I would get him, that he would be beaten. Why did I fail?" Levi yelled to the dead field.
The remaining Titans were coming after him, sent by the Beast Titan so he could escape, so Levi could not get to him. But Levi did nothing as the Titans approached, he just watched the field of the dead, they had all given their lives so he could beat the Beast Titan, and he had failed; how had Erwin managed to live like this, knowing that so many of the dead stared at him in accusation. He had failed them, they were angry with him, the Titans approached.
A roar filled the air, a voice of pure rage that filled every ear with either vigor or dread.
The Titans stopped, meters away from Levi, before they turned and ran to the Wall, through it into Shinganshina. It clicked, Eren called them, he had somehow gotten control of the Coordinate power.
He needed to get to Eren, with him under control of the ability again the battle could be won, if he took control of the Titans, the Beast Titan, the Armored Titan, and even the Colossal Titan could be beaten. Activating his 3DMGear he shot to the Wall intent on finding Eren and stopping the Beast Titan.
/Eren/
Eren was in his Titan form; holding what remained of Armin in one hand, and a limbless Bertolt in the other.
Eren was making his way back from the Colossal Titan when he noticed a Titan standing on four limbs; it had a saddle, and a limbless man riding on it. The stumps of the man's limbs steamed as he moaned softly in pain; he was a Titan Shifter, and not an ally.
Eren approached, catching the attention of the man and Titan, the Titan tried to back away but the man stopped it; he was outmatched, even he knew that, but he still let Eren approach. This interested Eren greatly; he had not met anyone who would let their advisory approach while they were defenseless themselves.
Eren walked over to them the Titan climbed onto a building as he did; so they were closer to being equals in height when they reached each other.
Eren reached the building, now since he was closer he was able to see the man better and notice more details about him. He had blond hair, a thick beard, and a muscular body showing that he was very fit, and probably very dangerous as a Titan Shifter as well; when in Titan form and outside of it.
"You're Eren Jaeger." The man said with slight awe in his voice.
Eren tried to speak again, but the ability seemed to have once again escaped him while in his Titan form. Wearily he pushed at the flesh against his back and broke out from his Titan's nape so he could talk to the man.
Eren pulled himself out of his Titan; his 3DMGear held tightly in his hand as he landed on the roof; Bertolt held under one arm, and Armin the other. He set them both down and readjusted the swords in his hands better.
Based on Hanji's studies he had no Shifts left anymore, his Shift to carry Bertolt, and Armin was his last; but even though he could not transform again the other man couldn't either since he was still healing from his wounds.
"I am Eren Jaeger, who are you?" Eren asked after a moment, as he pointing his blade at the man.
"I'm Zeke… just Zeke. Reiner and Bertolt told me much about you, but they never told me how much you don't look like your father." Zeke said smiling, knowing that he had just shocked Eren deeply.
/Reiner/
Reiner was in a bit of a predicament; mainly from the horde of Titans intent on eating him, as well as several Scout's trying to kill him since the Titans had no interest in them. He had greatly thinned the horde, but it was so massive that every time he killed a Titan another took its place gnawing at some part of his armored body.
The Scouts had killed a few Titans that had made them nervous, which was good for him, but it also meant that he was going to have to fight them sooner. With his fight with Eren, and the horde of Titans he was getting exhausted, and sluggish; he would not be able to beat the Scouts, especially since he spotted Mikasa among them.
He almost wanted to lose, give up and let the Titans consume his body; he had done such horrible things, and now he would be forced to face the people he had done them to, and for what? What did he have at home that was so special, Annie had been faltering for a long time, if she escaped the Scouts, Reiner doubted that she would return; hell she may have already struck some deal to have her freedom back.
Bertolt would deny all these thoughts about Annie that went through his mind, but the more he thought about them the truer they seemed. Why would she want to return, she had made friends, and had almost had to kill them off, had seen them suffer because they broke down the Wall. Marco's leg and Hari's false death stuck out among their crimes.
It was too late for him though, he could not return to the Walls, he was what gave children nightmares; he was what gave grown men and women nightmares, he was the Armored Titan. Perhaps if he just died he could be forgiven…
No!
He would fight to the last breath, he will not die buried under Titans as he is slowly eaten away; if he is to die today he will die while fighting.
Reiner burst from the pile of Titans, a scream tearing through him as he stood above them all. He slammed his foot down crushing the nape of a Titan, and he crushed another nape, and another, as the Titans started to get back onto their feet.
Adrenaline coursed through Reiner as he tore apart the Titans, his armor was slowly being torn off but he did not care, he couldn't even feel the pain; he was dead anyway.
Reiner grabbed a six-meter Titan by the neck and pulled; ripping its head off, and taking its spine with it. He swung the head, whipping the Titans around him with the spinal cord of the six-meter Titan before crushing the nape in his hand.
Reiner tore through the Titans relentlessly, his body being ripped apart by them as he did so; out of the corner of his eye he saw…
He froze.
In the horde of Titans war Hari, her eyes holding the same empty green glow as the rest of the Titans around him, she was just like them, but that was not right he knew her, knew she was a human. He didn't know what to do if his mindless slaughter had continued he would have killed her, he didn't want to do that.
Ginny wanted her, she was Annie's friend, she would make a good bargaining tool, and she was his friend. When they trained he considered Hari a friend, so much had happened since them though. She had fought him on many occasions, they were enemies now.
What had happened to him? He was a warrior; he had broken the Walls and destroyed these demons relentlessly. He was a soldier; he defended the Walls with all his heart to push the Titans back to the hole in which they came. Which one was he?
The Titans piled onto him again, Hari among them this time, mindlessly biting into him like the rest. He couldn't go into his rage again it would kill her; he needed to get her away.
He grabbed Hari by the neck, and pushed back the rest of the Titans with his free hand; before he began running away from them, holding onto Hari firmly, so to not accidentally crush her. But with his fading adrenaline, he began to feel his injured Titan body, the pain slowing him down, though the Titans seemed to be becoming less interested in him and more mindless wanderers again; the effect of Eren's control wearing off. Though he assumed that they would still be more interested in him then others if given the chance, based on his last interaction with Titans controlled by Eren.
But they were of no matter to him now; Hari was the top priority.
Reiner ran through Shinganshina holding Hari by the neck as he maneuvered between the buildings. His knee suddenly exploded, throwing him off balance and into a building. Hari flying out of his grasp as well.
He groaned as he pulled himself out of the building, looking to see what had happened Reiner saw that his left leg had been blown off from the knee down; turning away he saw several Scouts surrounding him; possibly all the remaining ones. Since the Wall Titan had been returned and Bertolt was down; there was no one left for the Scouts to go to except him and Zeke, assuming Zeke was even in the battle anymore.
They lost, he had lost so much because of Zeke, he shouldn't have revealed himself; if he had stayed hidden as Reiner, he could have been happy. He would have died before he really loved the Walls, so he would have lived with regrets, but he wouldn't kill himself.
He could have spent his last years here, playing the part of a soldier, and when he died he would not care if the Armored Titan was reborn in the Walls or outside them. But he squandered that life, and it was too late to change it.
Reiner did not resist as more of the Scout's new weapons blasted at him, ripping open his jaw, and then finally blowing him out of his Titan. He flew through the air, acceptance settled in him; he was going to die.
His body violently crashed onto the unkempt streets of Shinganshina, breaking several bones in his body as he skidded to a stop.
Reiner tried to pull himself to his feet, but his body was too weak, the fight had left him, the fight he thought had burned with him moments ago was gone like it never existed. What had happened to him dying while fighting?
He heard a thud, followed by another soon after; turning Reiner saw a Titans foot, and another as it landed closer to him. He was going to be eaten. He wanted to see who was going to eat him, even though he would not recognize the face he wanted to see it.
What greeted him was a face he did recognize; Hari, still lost in the mindless body of Zeke and Eren's control. Would she be the one who ate him? He tried to push to himself to his feet again, to no avail.
She would eat him.
Reiner closed his eyes as he felt Hari's hand wrap around his body, he braced himself as he was lifted up. Pain shot through his body, before darkness forever engulfed him.
/Annie/
Annie looked for Hari, trying desperately to find her; because apparently Titans were really good at disappearing when you don't want them too, similarly to how they seem to appear wherever you don't want them.
Her wandering did not bring many results, there was a disbanding horde of Titans, but she did not see Hari among them, nor did she want to risk getting too close to the horde without proper backup. To her luck, though half the city was flattened, so it was much easier to see without buildings in the way of where she was trying to look.
As she wandered through the wastes of Bertolt's transformation site she stumbled across many tragedies. Mangled, burned, and mutilated corpses of Scouts could be found throughout the wastes. From the looks of it, anyone who was in the blast had been killed, and their bodies were so devastated that it would be impossible to distinguish them without a thorough examination of the bodies.
Annie did not want to leave them to be picked at by animals, instead choosing to pick them up and hold them in her left hand; it was not the most respectful to carry them in such a way, but it was better than leaving them.
She eventually left the ruins of the area Bertolt transformed in and back into the slightly less destroyed lands of Shinganshina.
It was more dangerous in this area, enemies could more easily hide, and she was at a disadvantage since she had her hand occupied with holding the dead Scouts that she had found. She passed an intersection of roads, and another and another, her paranoia growing that someone would attack her. Eventually, the paranoia grew to the point where Annie just decided to put down the bodies in a safe, and easy to remember place.
She was glad that she decided to do that because at the next intersection she saw Zeke and the Quad Titan standing on a roof, Eren's half degraded Titan form leaning on the side of the same building.
Annie crouched down and snuck closer to the building if she could get the jump on Zeke it would be a major victory, and could quite possibly be worth all the losses of the day. As she got closer she heard Eren talking to the man, he was trying to manipulate Eren; she knew how good Zeke was at manipulation.
-So come with me, this world is doomed, the Walls hold nothing. Your friends have won today, but this is only the beginning, if you continue you will all die." Zeke said to Eren in a desperate voice; like he actually cared.
"I won't give up on my people, my friends." Eren said, thankfully not falling for Zeke's manipulation.
"You will doom them if you stay; give up. The Sorcerer will take who she came from and that will be done with. But Marley will march on these lands soon; so much life will be lost if you stay it will be a war unlike any your people have ever experienced." Zeke said, Annie froze.
Was Ginny at Hari now?
Annie jumped up from her hiding spot, before smashing both her hands into the Quad Titans back, crushing its spine.
"Where, is, Hari?" Annie growled pushing her hands further down into the Quad Titan.
"Annie there you are. So you have betrayed us then." Zeke stated completely unworried about her.
"Where, is, Hari!" Annie growled out louder, raising one of her hands up in a threatening manner.
"The girl that the Sorcerer is after? I stopped feeling her presence just moments ago." Zeke said smirking.
"Where?" Annie growled, her breath speeding up in sudden worry.
He pointed far down the Wall, "About a hundred houses down, I would hurry, nothing good ever happens to a Titan when I can no longer feel its presence." Zeke said, Annie, missing the latter half of his sentence as she had started running the moment Zeke pointed and said the distance.
"Oi, Ginny, the girl is there!" Zeke yelled into the air, making Annie pick up speed.
She saw Ginny pop into existence about thirty buildings ahead of her, her injuries were still affecting her since she was using her other hand to hold her wand.
The wand glowed green, as it was slowly spun around in an intricate pattern.
All thought left Annie's mind as she charged, she had to stop Ginny.
Annie lunged forward, right at Ginny, who was unable to stop her "spell" and teleport away.
One moment Annie was flying at Ginny, the next she crashed into the ground, blood and a dead woman in her mouth.
She sighed, pushing the corpse of Ginny out of her mouth with the exhalation of breath. She looked down at Ginny, as she swallowed the bile and blood in her mouth. Ginny's body was partly contorted; she had bitten into her torso, tearing it badly; which is probably what killed her. Annie had also bitten off her wand arm and did not see it, so it was probably still intact next to Hari.
Annie pushed herself to her feet, and grabbed Ginny before walking back to Hari; whatever happened to Ginny's body should be for Hari to decide. She turned the corner and stopped in surprise, Hari's Titan laid against a building, the nape steaming as Hari lay inside it unconscious, looking around further she froze; her body going ridged.
Remains of a person were in Hari's hand; they had been ripped apart by Hari and had probably been eaten by her as well. Annie crouched down and grabbed the disintegrating hand and pulled it up to get a better look to see who Hari had eaten.
She recognized the build of the body to be Reiner, at least what remained of Reiner. Annie lowered her head, feeling guilt over not being able to stop Hari from eating him, both in Reiner having to suffer that fate, and Hari having to know that she was the one to do it.
Annie sighed and lowered Hari's hand before moving over to her nape; Hari was still unconscious inside the nape, though more of the flesh had boiled away so getting Hari out would be easier. Not wanting to wait around she pulled Hari out of the nape and began heading back to the Wall.
/Hari/
She felt strange like something had finally clicked into place that had been gone for so long that she had forgotten it. She did not remember this feeling, was it something new? Hari twisted and felt a blanket rub against her, it was ruff, but it felt better than any blanket she had used in a long time.
Wait, she wasn't in pain. Blankets no matter how soft had pulled at her wounds and made them hurt, whenever she moved her body a scab would be pulled at, those sensations were missing. Had she forgotten what it was like to not be in pain?
When was the last time she had not been hurt, not in the Walls, nor in Azkaban, even in The seventh-year she had been on the run, hurting constantly. The sixth-year Sirius's death had left her mentally in pain, and Voldemort had tormented her constantly. Fifth-year Umbridge's quill had hurt her and left her in pain constantly.
Was the last time she had not felt pain really been The fourth-year? That was nearly fifteen years ago!
What made it so she did not feel pain anymore though?
Hari shot up, memories of Ginny coming to the surface of her conscience.
"Hari, calm down!" Annie's voice said from Hari's left, followed by two hands grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back so she was lying down again.
"You should be resting right now, the fight is over." Annie said making Hari sigh with relief.
"So since I'm talking to you and not to some crazed Med-Witch I assume that we won?" Hari asked enjoying Annie's momentary confusion at what she had said.
"We won." Annie confirmed.
"What did it cost?" Hari asked as she tried to sit up again, only to be pushed back down.
"There are only ten of us left. You and me, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, Sasha, Levi, and Hanji; everyone else was either killed by the Beast Titan, or by the Colossal's transformation. And both Sasha and Hanji were injured permanently." Annie said solemnly.
"What happened?" Hari asked softly.
"Hanji lost an eye when the Colossal transformed; you may need to help her deal with that. Sasha got it worse thou, she was in the blast radius of the transformation, and is just barely stable, she won't see active combat for a long time, if ever again." Annie said quietly, the words haunting.
"Any good news, something to make this battle, not just a graveyard?" Hari asked.
"Bertolt and Reiner are dead." Annie said, not elaborating.
"How?" Hari asked, knowing there was a reason for Annie's lack of an answer.
"Armin was critically injured, the Titan serum was used to turn him into a Titan and he ate Bertolt." Annie said, a haunted look in her eyes, she must have seen Armin eat him.
"What about Reiner, how did he die? We only had one serum; did a random Titan eat him?" Hari asked.
"Eren used the Coordinate ability, which pulled all the Titans that had entered Shinganshina, plus all of the Beast Titan's Titans to attack Reiner; you were affected by the Coordinate ability." Annie said, not elaborating further; she didn't need to.
Hari cupped a hand over her mouth, before she pushed herself out of bed, escaping Annie's attempts to push her back into bed; she ran to the edge and threw up over the side of the Wall, emptying her stomach till she was dry heaving, tears stinging at her eyes.
"Hari." Annie said from behind her.
Hari dry heaved again, bile dripping from her chin before she turned back to Annie.
In Annie's hand was a cloth wrapping up something, Hari moved closer, unsure what Annie was presenting. When she got close Annie passed it into her hands, she opened the cloth and froze.
A wand, Ginny's wand sat in the center of the cloth, dry blood staining it.
"She's dead then?" Hari said, not letting her voice betray any emotion.
"Yes." Annie said.
Hari wrapped the wand back up; she would morn Ginny later, because even if they were no longer on the same side, the amount of time they spent together could not be forgotten.
/
Hari walked down to the dungeon to speak to Annie; who had apparently fought Levi to get Armin healed over Erwin, Mikasa and Eren were also down here as well for the same reason as Annie. She was sure that if she was awake when the event took place that she would have also protested Erwin being revived.
She had promised long ago to keep Armin safe, she guessed that she didn't need to worry about that now, he had grown and now had the most fearsome of all Titans as a part of him.
She had a similar one; the Armored Titan, while not as memorable as the Colossal Titan had a reputation of its own. It was not the Titan you thought about when you thought of the Walls being broken, though it was the one that had caused more damage overall, its contribution was not the slaughter of Shinganshina or Trost, but the famine after the attack, and the many dead who had tried to reclaim Maria before.
Hari did not want to think about what Reiner had done, and how it now extended to what she had done; all she wanted to do was talk to Annie.
She walked down the holding cells, not even glancing at the empty ones. It was normal to keep those imprisoned as far away from the door as possible, but it annoyed Hari that she had to walk down these cells just to go and talk to Annie, who was only going to be here for a little bit.
It was more than a nuisance though, the cells scared her, reminded her too much of Azkaban, though where Azkaban was freezing here was pleasantly cool since it was underground. The evils of Azkaban were not present in how the prison was made, but just the bars themselves scared her.
Breathing deeply Hari continued on, ignoring the cells as best she could. When she finally reached Annie, Eren, and Mikasa she breathed a deep relieved sigh, the company was very different from Azkaban's emptiness.
"How's prison life treating you?" Hari asked jokingly to the three of them, though she was more interested in talking to Annie than the other two.
None of them responded. Hari peered into their cells curiously, wanting to see what they were doing since they were not responding.
Mikasa was laying on her bed, she perked up when Hari neared her, her hair was a mess and stuck out in every direction, it was very amusing to see the perfect Mikasa with her hair a mess. She nodded to Mikasa before turning to look into Eren's cell.
He was asleep, having a fitful dream, of what she could not possibly guess. She did not want to disturb him even though his dream was not pleasant, not for any vengeful reason, she just knew that he hadn't slept in a long time.
Hari moved on from his cell, before peering into Annie's; she was laying on her bed, her shirt unbuttoned, her six-pack barely peeking out from the loose cloth. Annie jumped up when she noticed Hari standing outside her door, the sudden movement opening her shirt further, revealing her entire chest and stomach.
Annie quickly pulled the shirt so it covered her body, her face red from embarrassment, the fire from every candle dimming to further hide her body. Hari twisted in surprise, and went over to the candle nearest Annie's cell and examined it.
The flame burned like normal, and the heat coming off of it didn't feel lesser than before, but the light did not come from it as strongly as it had before.
"How did you kill Ginny?" Hari mumbled to herself.
"She was going to fire… a spell at you, when you were knocked out after you got Reiner. I didn't have time to think so I just lunged and bit down." Annie said hesitating at several moments during her confession.
"You spat the body out. We buried it outside of Shinganshina, but she had to have bled a lot, what did you do with the blood?" Hari asked.
"I swallowed it, it was my Titan so it didn't feel as gross as swallowing as I would if I was in human form." Annie said.
"Titans are very absorbent…" Hari mumbled to herself.
"What are you trying to figure out Hari?" Annie asked worriedly.
"Blood purity, it was a major point of discussion where Ginny and I come from; magic flows through the blood, Titans get the Shifter power through the spinal fluid of Shifters. Could you have absorbed Ginny's magic?" Hari said scanning Annie over.
"If you did, which could explain the candles; then you are an untrained witch that tends to have explosive consequences if you are not trained." Hari said seriously.
"We'll work on training, and see if you did absorb Ginny's magic after you are let out. Till then try to remain calm, strong emotions bring out magic." Hari said immediately, hoping not to distress Annie, as that would not help the problem.
They stayed silent for a while; Hari watching as the fire slowly returned to its normal light, as Annie slowly buttoned her shirt up again, hoping that Hari wouldn't notice and would forget the incident.
"I came down here to talk to you by the way." Hari said suddenly catching Annie off guard.
"What?" Annie asked, unprepared for Hari to suddenly start talking again.
"I came down here to talk with you." Hari repeated.
"My scars, there different, ever since I ate… him; they've been different." Hari said.
"How are they different, they didn't look as fresh as they used to before you ate him, but other than that they look the same." Annie said.
"For the first time in over a decade, I'm not in pain. The scars caused me constant pain, whenever I moved one would tear, they hurt when they rubbed against my clothes, they were in sensitive areas of my body and no matter what I did they hurt when I sweated they burned. For the first time, they don't hurt, not like they did before; they almost feel healed, like true scars and not wounds like they were." Hari said emotions heavy in her voice.
"You've been in pain all this time?" Annie asked sounding shocked.
"Yes, my eye was the most notable part that acted up, but my whole body was like my eye, I got used to it. Only sometimes would the pain sharpen and get to me by surprise, that's when I reacted." Hari said softly; she did not like talking about this kind of stuff, she had always needed to be strong, but Annie was someone that she could say these things to.
Hari was suddenly wrapped up in a hug, though the bars of the cell made the hug uncomfortable; even so, she was not going to stop Annie.
They stayed there, hugging each other, bars in-between them but they did not care about them.
"Why are we hugging?" Hari asked, completely ruining the mood.
"That's a horrible life to live, and for a decade; how old were you? How old are you?" Annie asked, suddenly very confused.
"When we began training you deemed yourself thirteen, surely you didn't get those when you were seven; if not earlier!" Annie continued pulling away to look at Hari better.
"I lied about my age, mainly because I looked the part since my body seemed to regress when I came here from where Ginny and I come from." Hari said.
"Where the hell did you come from?" Annie asked.
"In terms of where we are now, I'm not actually sure." Hari said thoughtfully.
"I'm going to have to look further into that." Hari said.
"I'll meet up with you when we're finally let out of these cells, or if you come down again." Annie said as Hari slowly walked away.
Hari waved farewell to Annie before she made it to Mikasa's cell; Eren was still asleep and she didn't want to bother him.
"Forget about everything we said." Hari said to Mikasa.
"I didn't hear you guys talk at all." Mikasa said honestly.
Hari hummed at that before she began walking out of the prison.
Why couldn't Mikasa hear them, they weren't in anyways quiet, and even if Mikasa wasn't listening she would have heard them talking. She could tell that Mikasa was actually being honest too, so it wasn't like she was lying about hearing them.
Could Annie have done that as well, accidentally made a shield of some sort so no one could hear them? It wasn't impossible, but it meant that she would need to start training Annie soon, so she didn't accidentally blow anyone up; Hari would not be able to get them back if she did.
/
As Hari walked through the compound on the way back to her room, her mind busy to the point that she did not see Levi trying to intercept her till he was almost on top of her.
"Peverell, Potter, Hari!" Levi shouted, drawing Hari's attention from her thoughts.
"What do you need Captain?" Hari asked.
"We found these in Shinganshina." Levi said revealing two books and Ginny's wand.
"We checked them for anything valuable for the Survey Corp, but it only seemed like stuff the Sorcerer needed. Since you are in some way related to her we're giving these to you." Levi said passing over the books and wand.
"Thank you sir." Hari said taking the books and wand.
"Also when Leonhart is let out Hanji had you two's resignation forms whenever you want them." Levi said folding his hands behind his back.
"Resignation forms?" Hari asked confused as to why Levi said anything about resignation.
"We made a deal when the Walls were taken back you and Annie were free to go and live as you please. Though I would like you two to still help us it is not my decision." Levi said before walking away.
Hari stood in the hallway, her mind processing what Levi had just told her. She had almost forgotten about the deal, but now that it was brought up it gave her a lot of opportunities. But she also did not want to leave, she had done so much in the time she had been in the Survey Corp; much more than she did in the Garrison, though that was only a week.
She had nothing to do outside of the Survey Corp either though.
Hari began walking to her courters again, looking at everything around her in a new light. This place had become home to her, she had friends here. If she still lived in the cells in the basement she might have been much more inclined to leave, but as of now, she was completely unsure.
She would see what Annie said before making a final decision; they had stuck together for a lot of this, and Hari had promised to help her as well.
She reached her room, opening the door Hari realized how empty it felt. Nearly the entire Scout regiment had died during the retaking of Maria. It had cleared up enough space so everyone now had their own room; but the rooms were still being cleared, all the beds still remained inside, and half the bed still had the personal items of those who had died.
Hari ignored the emptiness and sat down on her bed, setting one of the books, and Ginny's wand to her side she opened the second book.
Interdimensional Travel: For Those Who Seek Escape, By Anderson Crane.
This would be interesting.
Lots of insanity, but don't worry there are still a few chapters left to help fully wrap things up (and to fix the relationship I ruined for all of you)
The new Attack on Titan trailer for season four dropped. It's awesome! i'm not including anything from season four into this story.