Music:

1. Levi vs Female Titan Theme

Traitors Arc Part II: Humanity's Darkest Hour

Wall Rose

"Wait." The Titan spoke roughly. The 4-meter paused but didn't let go.

Miche looked up as the titan sat down, arms resting on it's knees. Then the 4-meter bit down on his leg hard, drawing up a spray of blood.

"Didn't I just say to wait?" The abnormal grabbed the face of the 4-meter and in gruesome fashion, squeezed it's eyeballs out, leaving it's face a ruined steaming mess. At last, it finally put Miche down.

"Tell me, what is that weapon called?" It asked, "The thing on your waist that enables you to fly?"

Miche sat frozen in fear, his mouth not forming any words, and only one thought ran through his head, 'Oh god...I'm going to die.'

"I'm fairly certain we speak the same language. Though perhaps you use an earlier variant." It shrugged, "Perhaps you're simply too frightened." It analyzed Miche's gear further, "Oh..you use swords as well. I suppose that means you know we reside in the nape of the neck." It sighed, "I'll just take it back with me then." It reached forward, and Miche yelped and curled up in a fetal position, but instead of grabbing him, it only grabbed his ODM's main housing.

As the Titan turned away, Miche remembered his words to Nanaba.

"Like hell." Miche snarled, "You only lose when you quit. If you don't quit, you don't lose."

Miche gave a fierce battle cry as he grabbed his blade "As long as we continue to fight...we aren't beaten!"

The Titan paused, and looked at the remaining three titans with one eye, "I almost forgot, you guys can move now."

Miche's face fell in horror as the Titans descended on him,

"No! God! Please I beg you no!" Miche screamed as the Titans pulled at him, one sunk his teeth into his arm with a squelching noise as it ripped it off, the flesh coming apart in long wet threads. The 4-meter bit right into his stomach, ripping out his stomach, all the while Miche continued screaming and begging until a Titan finally bit straight into his brain, killing him.

"Oh. You can speak."

Stohess District

"That was easier than I thought, that's the MPs for you. Very hard at work."

"Quit staring." Mikasa chided.

"I just hope Jean manages to buy us some more time. I mean, he looks nothing like me."

"You both have the same angry scowl, and look like thugs." Armin said half-jokingly,

"I don't have his horse face!" Eren hissed back,

"Hey." Annie interrupted, "If I hadn't helped you, how would you have gotten out of Stohess?"

"We would've broken through with maneuver gear."

"That's insane. Wouldn't it have been easier to escape yesterday? Before he reached Stohess?"

"I felt the complicated layout of the city would give us a better chance of swapping Eren with Jean, as well as the fact that pretending to go along with it for some time rather than outright opposition would deflect suspicion. At least for a time."

"I see. I get it now." Annie turns back towards the front.

They continued walking for several more meters before Eren said "There it is!"

"Here?" Annie's voice became colder as she looked down at a tunnel.

"Yeah, we go through here." Armin confirmed.

"Annie?" Eren paused and turned around halfway down the steps, "What's wrong? Don't tell me you're actually scared to go down here."

"Yes. I am." She admitted, "I'm sure that a brave, suicidal bastard like you would never understand how a weak girl like me feels."

"Oh come on. I've seen you flip a man before, you're anything but weak. Now stop wasting our time."

"No. I refuse."

Eren gasped as Annie continued, "I'll help you, but only above ground."

"Hey! Annie! Quit screwing around! This isn't funny!"

"Eren don't shout-"

"No, it's fine Mikasa. For some very odd reason, this place is mysteriously deserted." Her eyes fell, "I'm hurt Armin. When did you start looking at me that way?"

Armin hid a flare gun behind his back with a shaky hand. "Annie...why?" Armin asked, "Why did you have someone else's maneuver gear? I used to help you maintain yours, remember?"

"I see...well, I happened to find it." Annie said quietly

"Then you killed Sawney and Bean?"

Annie shrugged, "Who can say, but if you knew all this a month ago, then why? Why wait?"

"Because I really didn't want to believe it! I wanted to believe that you were one of us! And...then you didn't kill me back then! Why didn't you?! This wouldn't be happening if you had!"

Annie looked to the side "Yeah...why didn't I?" She mused "Could it be that I...oh well. Doesn't matter now."

"Hey! Annie! Tell us this is all just a dumb prank and prove it by coming down here!"

"I can't."

"Annie this isn't funny!-"

"Enough!" Mikasa hissed, "It's time to kill this bitch once and for all!"

Annie looked down, and her shoulders began to shake as she began to laugh, a red blush spread all over her face like she was drunk. "Armin, I'm glad I could be a good person for you. You won, but now...it's my turn to make a bet!" She whipped out her hand and prepared to bite,

Instantly Armin pulled out the flare gun and fired, prompting Scouts to pour out of side streets and seemingly empty houses and dogpile Annie. They quickly gagged her, but with one free hand, she pulled out the ring she'd put on minutes earlier, no one else noticed it.

But Mikasa did, she grabbed both Armin and Eren and pulled them down into the tunnel.

"M-Mikasa?!"

"We're too late!" She says quickly as the area above them bursts in golden light.

Trost District

"Commander Pyxis!" A Garrison soldier bursts into his office, "Wall Rose...has been breached!"

He growls lowly, "Mobilize all 30,000 members of the Garrison, form a defensive line around the area where the breach is suspected to be!"

Sasha rode with Ambros to warn two of the final villages, "Alright! We split up here, I'll go to my village, but you keep riding straight north! Go warn Dauper!" He ordered

"Uh, Right sir!"

'How long has it been…' Sasha thinks back to the last conversation she had with her father, her reason she decided to join the Military 'Three years? I'm sure he would've left by now-' Suddenly, her body went cold as she noticed giant footprints lining the ground

'No way...all the way out here?' She began to panic, but continued riding before beaking into an open road and approaching a rather modern town compared to the huts and meager dwellings she was used to. It even had a partially-drawn bridge over the river,

'When did...all this get built?' She wondered, she lead her horse to jump over the partially drawn bridge,

"Hello?!" She called, "Anyone here?!"

Then she heard the disgusting sound of squelching.

Stohess District

"A-Annie…" Eren said in shock, disbelieving that Annie was really the Female Titan.

He was snapped out of his daze by Mikasa when she pulled him down the tunnel to avoid Annie's reaching hand.

"Damn it! That ring!" Armin realized "She knew we were just leading her on! I could've - should've - taken a different approach-"

"Save the regrets for after we're out of this! Right now, we're relying on you for a plan." Mikasa said to him,

"Right now, we need to rendezvous with Squad 3, then we get the hell above ground. Meaning we're fighting her out in the open." He turned to look at Eren, "We're switching to Plan B, you know that right?"

"Yeah!"

"Hey over here!" Several scouts emerged from a side tunnel, "What happened?! Is Plan A a bust?!"

"Afraid so. Right now we are going with Plan B!"

The Scouts didn't even get to respond as they were crushed by the Female Titan's foot.

"My god…" Eren rushed forward, "We need to pull them out of there!" He screamed,

"Eren no!" Mikasa pulled him back "Damn it! Does she not care if you die too?!"

"She...took a chance." Armin deduced, "It was risky, but she betted on Eren's survival." He tch'ed, "We're dealing with someone backed into a corner." He turned to run

"Damn it!" Armin pounded the floor, "We've been completely trapped. We try to get airborne, she'll swat us like flies, and if we stay here, it's only a matter of time before we're crushed."

"Then I'll change!" Eren proclaimed, "And shield you guys like last time! So come close!" He raised his finger, bit down,

And nothing happened.

"What the- Was that?!" "An explosion!" "Did that Jaeger kid go wild?!" "Is it the Armored?!" "What's going on?!"

Alto rushed up to his squad, "About time!" Hitch groaned, "Do you know where Annie is?"

"Haven't seen her, why?"

"Because we have no idea what the hell to do, that's why!" Hitch deadpanned, "We have a 15-meter Titan rampaging through Stohess and we have no orders!"

"You want orders? Here are some, alright. Listen up!" Alto barked to the recruits, "We need to spread out amongst the city, focus on evacuating civilians! Do not engage unless engaged! We are not equipped to handle this!"

"Like hell!" Boris yelled, "You want us to put ourselves in the path of that? That sure as hell isn't my problem."

"Then what IS your problem?" Alto asked him, "First, you ignore the blatant corruption in the MPs. You think 'Not my problem'. Then, you ignore a crime in progress, again: 'Not my problem'. Now you want to turn tail and run? Tell me, when is it going to be your problem? When the Titans finally breach Trost? Or perhaps it will be when Mitras is the only bastion of humanity left?!" He barked, "If it isn't your problem now, then it never will be your problem! There are hundreds of civilians whose lives depend on what not just you, but all of us choose to do!" He raised his voice to be heard by all the MPs in the vicinity, "One way or another, I won't force you to follow me. I will admit, this will be a bloody battle, and some of you will die in the crossfire. But this is your chance to prove your own worth. Prove you are worthy of living, and not just a waste of oxygen! This is your chance to prove you deserve to bear that unicorn on your back! If you win, you live! If you lose, you die! But if you want to win, you need to fight!" He roared,

Boris retreated, and looked down. "Damn it…" He raised his sword up in the air, and yelled. "For Humanity! For the Unicorn!"

"For Humanity!" Many other MPs joined in the call,

"So, what do you want us to do?" All the MPs' eyes fell on Alto.

"Split up, evacuate the vicinity surrounding the combat area and spread out from there. Don't try to be a hero, I doubt whoever's in that thing would've transformed without reason. I'm betting the Scouts had something to do with this, we'll leave it to them."

"Hold on, you want us to leave it to the Scouts?" One of the MPs asked incredulously

"Only two of us here have the experience of Trost." Alto nodded to Marco, "We are in no condition to fight the Female Titan. I'm taking the gamble that the Scouts know what they're doing, or at least can organize fast enough to respond to this. Meanwhile I want three men to tell HC what's going on!"

They gulp, and nod before saluting Alto, "Yes Sir!"

Wall Rose

Kaya sat as her crippled mother was slowly eaten legs up by a 3-meter titan. It focused only on it's current breathing meal, eating her like meat off a chicken bone. It only gave Kaya the occasional glance, making sure she hadn't left.

Kaya was frozen in a mix of shock, trauma, and fear. She sat on the floor, legs huddled, and eyes looking straight forward.

Sasha followed the disgusting squelching noises to a house towards the back of the village. She saw the backside of the Titan and grabbed a wood-cutting axe nearby. Stealthily approaching it, she entered the house.

She raised the wood-axe, and with a loud battle cry brought it down on the Titan's nape. She continually hacked and slashed at it's nape with the axe, but it's blade wasn't sharp enough, and the nape simply kept healing as the Titan continued to eat.

'Damn! If I don't cut it off...it'll just keep healing!' Suddenly, on one of her blows she hit it's nape so hard that the reaction force sent the axe flying backwards out of her hands, and jammed into a post in the ceiling.

Giving a small squeal of terror, she realized that there was no way she could kill this thing without her gear or at least a sword. So she decided to silently skirt around it as it ignored her for it's current meal.

"Sorry." Sasha whispered as she grabbed Kaya and ran out of the house. "Don't worry!" She said to Kaya, "It'll be okay!"

"What will?" Kaya asked,

"Well, Erm-" She was interrupted when the horse suddenly took off running. "Are you serious?!" She screamed "Hey! Please wait for us!" She whistled, hoping for a response, "Hey, there's nothing to worry about. It's just that the horse is a little scared that's all."

"Why do you talk so nicely?" Kaya asked,

"What?" Sasha was momentarily stumped by the question, but her attention was quickly diverted when the Titan had finally had enough and stepped outside the house and turned it's focus on Kaya and Sasha.

"We need to run!" Sasha grabbed a bow and some arrows that were lying nearby and grabbed Kaya by the hand, "It'll be okay! We just need to get out of here!"

"No. It won't." She said coldly, "The whole village knew mother's legs were bad, but when the Titans came, no one stopped to help, and all I could do was watch."

Sasha looked down at her but said nothing and pushed her over the partially drawn bridge before tossing her bow and arrows and going over herself.

The Titan was slow to catch up, and was momentarily stuck when the bridge collapsed underneath it, but it managed to grab on to the ledge of the bridge and pull itself up.

"You know, you're really starting to tick me off." Ymir approached Sasha as she was grabbing some water,

"Sorry, what?" She asked

"That stupidly polite way you talk to everyone. Why can't you just talk normally?"

"Well...you see-"

"Hold on! Lemme guess, you're embarrassed at the way people from your village talk!" Ymir said to her, and when Sasha hesitated to respond, she knew she'd won. "Bullseye right? I'm surprised a moron like you even cares. You can't do anything but hunt, and you're afraid of people to top it off. Seriously, do you have one good reason to be a soldier?! I bet your parents are probably-"

"Stop it Ymir!" Historia chided her, Ymir simply leaned in on Historia.

"Sasha! Are you just going to just be someone you're not your entire life?! I say that's crock of shit! You're fine as is! So talk in your own words!"

"R-right..thank you…"

"Cut it out Ymir!" Historia butted her head into her back, "There's nothing wrong with how she talks! Sasha is who she wants to be. Her words will always be her own, it's called reinventing yourself!"

"Have it your way, doesn't change the fact she's annoying as hell."

"You know, not everyone is as insensitive as you!"

"Excuse me?! You little-" Ymir was cut off by Sasha's laughter, "Hey! What are you laughing about?!"

'Why am I thinking about that now...of all times?' Sasha smiled softly, "Hey, listen up alright? You run as far and fast as you can from this place. Follow this path! If you go down it long enough, I'm sure there'll be someone willing to help! It may take some time to find them...but they'll be there!" She pushed Kaya forward, "Now go!" She nocked an arrow, and drew it back, "Run!"

When Kaya didn't move, she bellowed "Get runnin'!"

In that moment, light returned to Kaya's dull eyes as she turned and ran, Sasha glanced back making sure she was truly gone, then she took a breath, drew the first arrow back, and fired.

Stohess District

"I don't get it! What's wrong?! Why can't I transform!" Eren bit his hand again

"You need to have a specific concrete reason to transform! Clear your mind! Try again!"

Eren bit his hand again, but still, nothing happened. "I'm trying!"

"Could it be…" Mikasa kneeled down, "That you're really just hesitant to fight Annie? Don't tell me you still don't believe she's the Female Titan? You saw her transform, you saw her crush those men."

"Shut up! You're not helping Mikasa!" He bit again,

"So why aren't you fighting then? Are other feelings holding you back?"

Armin broke in at the right time, "I've got a plan. Mikasa and I will exit through the hole and the entrance, she can only follow one of us, and when she does, you follow in the direction she doesn't attack."

"That means one of you will die!"

"If we stay here it'll mean all three of us! Mikasa, on my mark!"

"Right! I'll go this way!"

"How...How do you fight?!"

Mikasa only looked back at him with sad eyes, and said: "It's a cruel world out there," and jumped up.

Right as the tunnel caved in on Eren.

1. "Eren!" Armin screamed as the tunnel collapsed, he jumped out of what remained and activated his ODM gear, at the same time Mikasa launched into the air with hers.

Seeing the bigger threat, Annie went after Mikasa, grabbing her in mid-air, but in a spray of blood she cut her way out and took all of the Female Titan's right hand fingers in the process.

"Annie! I won't let you take Eren!" Mikasa landed on the floor before shooting for Annie's leg.

"Eren!" Armin began to try to pull rubble off him, "Eren, wake up!"

Annie turned to them, and began to walk towards them,

"No you don't!" Mikasa shouted, grappling beside her, as the line reeled in she dug her blade into Annie's arm, drawing a deep cut across her arm. Annie tried to swat her, but only hit a row of buildings, sending a spray of rocks flying in the air, several of them hitting Mikasa and causing her to lose control and fall.

As Mikasa lay still, Annie turned away from her and continued approaching Eren.

"Don't let her get away! We need to finish her off here!" A trio of Scouts dived on a regenerating Annie, she looked at them before beginning her approach.

Nile panicked, "What's going on?!" He wondered,

"Sir!" Three MP cadets came up to him, "We've confirmed what's going on! There's a Titan battle!"

"What?! In Wall Sina?! There are no Titans here!"

"It's a shifter sir. Like Jaeger." At the same time, the carriage door opened, revealing 'Eren'

"Stop it! Don't move Jaeger!" An MP stood in front of him

"Really dumbass?! We've been fooling you this whole time! I'm not that suicidal maniac!" He tore off his wig and ran up to Erwin, "Commander, I'll go as well."

"Get your gear from Team 4."

"Yes sir!"

"Spirit is all well and good, but don't forget to stay alive."

"Commander!" A scout rolled down from the roof, "Here. Your gear."

Erwin quickly assembled it, "All who can move, mobilize! We need to assist the other Squads in the capture of the Female Titan!"

"Erwin! Halt!" Nile stepped in front of him with a musket, and a group of MPs all leveled their guns at him, "This is clearly a rebellion against the King!"

"Is your head as hollow as that gun barrel you're pointing at at Erwin?" Levi said with cold mocking. "You obviously have no idea what's going on."

Nile ignored him, "Dismantle your gear Erwin!"

"Quickly! Move to the outer areas of Stohess, as far away from the Titan as possible!" MPs guided the panicked civilians of Stohess.

"Surprise...the MPs are actually doing their job." Jean said, his eyes fell on an MP recruit...giving orders to other recruits?

"Huh. Goes to show that not all MPs are dumbasses after all."

"How are the evacuations coming along?" Alto asked,

"We've cleared out most of the civilians from Central Stohess." One of the Cadets says to him, "But if things continue like this...there's going to be immense property damage."

"Not much we can do in that regard." Alto sighed,

'Damn it Eren...where are you?'

"What the- Why hasn't he transformed?!" Jean asked as he ran up to the area Eren was trapped under

"I think it's because the Female Titan was actually Annie!" Armin replied,

"Damn it! Eren, didn't you promise us you could do this?! Well here it is! So wake up damn it! What about all our classmates who died?! Was trusting you a mistake?!" He began to cry, suddenly debris came and forced them to retreat, and only buried Eren further.

"Damn it! We need to take her out first!" Jean drew his blades,

"Eren, listen. I said something to Jean recently. To rise above monsters...we need to abandon our humanity. We become what we fight. Look at Annie. I don't know why, but she can do it!" He inhaled, "In order to win, you need to match her heartlessness!"

A Scout soldier charged at Annie's leg, only to be caught up in her spin-kick and crushed.

"Annie!" Armin yelled with drawn blades. "Are you going to kill me or not?! You made a wager right?! Well here I am! Make good on it!"

While she was distracted, Jean dived down on Annie's nape, only to be stopped at the last second by Annie covering it with a hardened hand. He quickly jetted aside before he could be attacked.

"Armin! Follow me!"

"Right!" Armin jumped after Jean

Hanji giggled, "She's coming~"

"Commander...you got that look in your eye…" Moblit said nervously

"Commander! All cannons are ready!" Ilse shouted

Mere seconds later, Jean and Armin passed, and close behind them, Annie.

"Now!" Hanji shouted as dozens of harpoon cannons fired from rooftops and street corners and alleyways.

She desperately tried to grab for the Scouts, but only ended up falling down. And the scouts rolled a bed of spikes over her, fully pinning her down.

"And here I thought having a Plan C was nothing short of paranoid." Hanji giggled, She jumped down to the Female Titan's eyes, "Oh and your Titan friends can't help you now. So why don't you behave yourself?"

Without further warning she swept her leg against the right side of the harpoons.

"She broke free?!" Mikasa said in shock,

"Damn! We didn't have enough time to set up enough traps!" She said before jumping out of the way. 1x

"In order to win...you need to match her heartlessness!" Armin's words rang through Eren's half-conscious mind.

"Was it a Mistake trusting you Eren?!" A phantom Jean yelled at him.

'That's right….I have friends...fighting right now...I can not fail them.' Suddenly, rage coursed all throughout his body, 'To hell with being friends with Annie! I'll crush her to bits!' He slowly began to move as lightning coursed all around him. Rage filled his every being as he gave out a loud warcry,

And the area around him became engulfed in golden light.