Chapter 7: Interference
"Now, start from the beginning."
"Reiner, Bertholdt and I were sent to the walls 5 years ago to draw out and capture the founding titan that was believed to be possessed by the royal family, we destroyed the wall to get the founding to reveal themselves. We eventually found out that the royal family was fake, and we destroyed the wall at Trost to continue with our plan. Eren was revealed to be a shifter so our focus shifted to him and we tried to capture him which failed. My identity was revealed, and I crystallised myself." Annie decided to leave out the parts where her conscious linked with Eren's.
"This founding titan never revealed themselves did they?"
"Not that I know of."
"I heard that Eren controlled titans once."
"Then it's likely he has the founding titan."
"He isn't of the royal family though."
"He probably didn't know that he had it. It would explain why he hasn't done much with it. How long have I been in that crystal for?"
"About 2 months." Annie looked shocked at that, "Why? Did you think you were in there for longer?"
"I don't know, time felt so weird in there."
"Reiner and Bertholdt revealed themselves a few days after your scuffle in Stohess."
"A few days…"
"You do realise it's treason for me to help you?"
"Yes," Hitch sighed and rubbed her temples.
"I'm a traitor if I help, but if I don't help then I doom all mankind according to you."
"Correct."
"It's a lose-lose situation and it all rides on whether I believe you or not."
"It was a lose-lose for us too."
"I need time to think about this."
"Time isn't something we have, Hitch. How close are the scouts to Shiganshina?"
"About a day's ride out."
"I need to sleep for a while to recover before we set out."
"You seem confident that I'll help."
"I'm pretty sure I know what your decision is," Hitch grunted.
"How long do you need to rest for?"
"About half a day should suffice."
"Well, when you've finished eating. I'll find you a spot to sleep and we'll set out when the sun starts to rise. We should make it to Shiganshina not long after the scouts do if we ride full speed."
"No, we'll ride on horseback for a little but I'm faster in my titan form so that'll be the majority of the distance."
"I'm guessing I won't be invited?"
"Chances are, there'll be a big fight taking place by the time I get there, and I can't put you in that type of danger."
"Fine, I never was much of a fighter anyway."
"It's decided then," Annie finished her food and stood up. "Thanks for helping, Hitch. I won't forget this."
"Just don't make me regret this."
"Noted."
"You could probably sleep in my room, come on."
.
.
"Alright Hitch, this is far enough." The duo had reached the peak of a mountain that overlooked a large valley. Squinting hard, they could just see the shape of wall Maria spanning across the horizon. "This is where we part."
"Annie?" The blonde in question turned to face Hitch. "If you see Marlowe out there. Try not to kill him for me, yeah?" Annie nodded before dismounting.
"Thanks for everything, Hitch," she took off at a run down the mountainside, slicing her finger with a bolt of energy signalling the transformation of a shifter. For the first time in a while, the icky tissue of her titan began to wrap around her as the rest of her body formed. When the female titan emerged, she looked back at the top of the hill to see an empty space where Hitch had been. Already gone, huh. Never mind, time to get to work. She took off at a sprint towards Shiganshina; hoping that she wasn't too late. She'd only started running for about half a minute when a massive quake shot through the ground, causing her to stumble as she lost her balance and a rush of wind swept past her. In the distance, she could see a mushroom cloud rising above the wall. I only know of one shifter that can create a blast that big. Bertholdt just transformed, shit. She increased her pace, running at full sprint towards the wall. She still hadn't fully recovered so she couldn't maintain this pace for as long as she usually could, but she had to make it before the situation declined further.
.
.
The walls were getting closer, just a bit further. Her breathing was ragged, and her body ached, but she had to keep moving, because if she didn't… Reiner and Bertholdt would die, and she couldn't let that happen. She could make out tall titans, about 15m, as she crested a small hill. Her eyes widening in shock as she saw what was in the middle.
"YEAHH, GAME OVER! Ha, how'd you like that? I thought I'd change up the pitch a little! That's what I call a- huh?"The beast titan turned to face the sound of loud footsteps growing closer and surprise etched itself onto his features as the female titan approached him. The loud cry of the scouts changed his focus again as he saw them getting closer. Turning back to Annie, she arrived in front of him with a curt nod for orders. There was no time to waste, he stretched a long arm and pointed to the top of the wall. "Eren's up there; on top of the wall." She followed where he was pointing to see a collapsed titan on top of the wall. Interesting pose to fight in. The classic KO knockout style looks good on you Eren. "Be a dear and retrieve him, Annie. Try to get Bertholdt and Reiner out of there too. Pieck and I will join you when we finish up here. You know where to go, yes?" She nodded in confirmation. "Ah, they're getting closer. Go now and burn some gas, I'd hate to accidentally nail you in the back." She didn't waste a second and immediately took off, quickly passing the shit scared scouts that turned to watch as she passed. Glancing at the ground, she saw the mangled corpse of Marlowe with half of his head missing. She felt a small pang of sympathy for Hitch, but she quickly suppressed the feeling and focussed on her current objective, she had more pressing matters after all. She reached the base of the wall before hearing the scream of the beast titan and she turned her head to see the figure of Levi butchering the poor monkey's nape. Before she decided to assist him, she noticed the cart titan legging it to Zeke's location. Figuring they should be fine, she opted to continue with capturing Eren.
.
.
"Wake up, Eren!" Armin drove a blade into Eren's clavicle; hopefully impaling him through the shoulder like a good friend does! Eren groaned as his eyes opened to hear a strange pounding and Armin's gasp. He willed movement into his aching body as he sat up and turned to Armin who was staring at something, completely slack jawed. Following his gaze… Oh, fuck me. The female titan was pulling herself up onto the wall. Those cold, ice blue eyes focussing on the duo that was trying really hard not to piss their pants. She spotted Bertholdt (quite a hard task) walking towards the wall and watched as his jaw dropped 60 metres to the ground. Was her showing up really that big of a surprise? When the colossal shithead processed the situation, he closed in as fast as those big feet could carry him which was indeed, not too fast. "You're not going to let Eren escape, by any chance?" She looked towards Armin and shook her head. "Ah, I see… Shit. Well, Eren. I had a master plan that involved you mashing your head on the ground, a diversion, and a hint of suicide involved but Annie being here changes things." Eren looked at the blonde on his shoulder before looking to Annie with a glare. "Don't you dare think you can fight her; I can still see Bertholdt's toes imprinted on your chest." Annie tilted her head in question, "Ah, Eren tried to tackle Bertholdt's leg and got punted on top of the wall." The large slapping sound of Annie's titan form facepalming could be heard as Eren shrugged. "Onto more serious matters, I can't really see a way around this. Guess this is the end for humanity." Eren snorted, he refused to go down without a fight but the sound of Annie partially exiting her titan form interrupted them as she stayed in the nape.
"Armin, we have no issue with the people within the walls. Plug them up after we take Eren or something."
"We would but he kind of is our method of plugging up the walls."
"I can't see too well from here but isn't the outer gate already plugged?"
"Maybe."
"Then good job, you're done. You don't need him anymore."
"I can't let you take him like tha-" Annie sighed and rolled her eyes before gesturing Bertholdt to take over the situation. The tall, lanky male exited his titan form and used his ODM gear to land next to Eren and Armin on top of the wall. Eren reached out to quickly squash him but was blocked by Annie as she'd already re-entered her titan. "Bertholdt, can't you make your titan vanish instantly?"
"Yeah, why?" Bertholdt asked as the body of the colossal titan fell backwards, crushing an entire district of houses with a deep boom.
"Yes."
"Sorry."
"Why? Why, do this?" Armin asked weakly.
"The houses or-"
"Why destroy the walls in the first place. What was your whole goal in coming here? I tried asking her that," he pointed at Annie.
"I don't think she could ta-"
"No SHIT she couldn't talk, answer the question!"
"We came here to find the founding titan. A titan shifter capable of turning the tides of the battle our homeland is fighting."
"Homeland? Outside the walls?"
"Armin, we don't have much time. Our people are fighting an enemy, a really powerful one and they're very close to being able to wipe us all out. We need Eren for this, we came to the walls to find every shifter we could. We already convinced Ymir to join us, but we need Eren to survive. We destroyed the walls acting on vague intel that the founding titan was in possession of the royal family. So, we tried to lure them out and negotiate but they never showed themselves. We were just 11 year old children, following orders. Then, Eren appears out of nowhere and he has the very thing we're looking for. I'm sorry for what we did to you, I truly am. But, we can't leave without Eren." Armin looked at his feet, processing the information while Eren fumed in the background. So, you're people were suffering so you decided to make ours suffer instead? Come up with all the excuses you want, you fuckers took my mother away. I bet you all have family at home, why should I help you when you have no fucking clue how it feels to have the person you love most ripped away from you!With a roar, Eren attempted to crush Bertholdt, blocking the kick Annie threw at him before aiming a punch right at the tall boy.
"Eren, no!" Armin shouted but he was ignored as Eren's fist closed in on Bertholdt who gulped and closed his eyes, preparing for the end. Eren's knuckles were a mere metre away from Bertholdt when a severe roundhouse kick caught him on the side of his head. Annie and the others watched as Eren's limp body fell to the ground with a large thud. His head on the ground and ass in the air. Great, now we have to grab him. She heard the cart titan joining them on the wall with Zeke catching a ride. "Levi should be out of resources by now, he won't be a problem. Where's Eren?" Annie pointed to where Eren was knocked out on the ground. Zeke clapped his hands together "Lovely, mission success. You four… Wait, who are you?" He looked at Armin.
Armin raised his hands in surrender, "As much as I wish I were strong enough to stop you, I can't. Bertholdt told me everything, and I guess I'll just have to have faith in what he told me. If you're going to take Eren… I won't stop you," he collapsed to his knees. Zeke nodded.
"I see, good decision. Bertholdt, go and grab Eren out of his titan there will you? Oh wait, where's Reiner." Bertholdt pointed to where he last saw Reiner and they spotted the armoured titan just as Reiner was blown out of the nape; Zeke sighed.
"I'll go get him. Bert, grab Eren and come back to Annie on top of the wall. You know where to go from there so, you'll have to do a bit of running Annie," she nodded.
"Don't wait up for us, we'll catch up," the cart titan began making its way down the wall as Bertholdt cut Eren from his titan and carried him back up to Annie, securing him in her clavicle as she began running along the top of the wall towards the outer gate where they could hop down and escape. Armin could only watch them leave with his best friend as tears threatened to drop the corners of his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Eren. I couldn't be the hero you needed me to be. If our position were swapped, you would have fought tooth and nail to stop them, but I just let them go like a coward. Please, forgive me…" He rested his arms on the ground and wept.
The real fight begins now
There we have it, the turning point where the story takes its own course. I know, there's been a lack of Eren/Annie interaction but bear with me. There'll be pleeeenty of that in the next chapter now that the action's over for a bit and they have some time together. I tried to pull this off in the most realistic way possible but with a bit of light humour to keep it away from being 'serious and boring'. That's just not my style, hope it's ok. Next chapter will be coming soon, Adios.