Chapter 35: The Secret of the Walls
(Ragako Village)
"Connie, slow down!" Reiner yelled. "Get a hold of yourself. There could be Titans around every corner. Wait for us!"
The bald-headed recruit paid him no heed as he rode faster towards his village. Even from afar, he could see the damage. The houses were demolished, indicating that the Titans did in fact tear this place up. It was unthinkable to see this happen to his home town. Still, he clung onto whatever fleeting hope he had.
"Hello?" Connie called out once he reached the middle of the village. "Can anybody hear me?"
There was no answer.
He was unable to take this as he began screaming at the top of his lungs. "Somebody, please! It's Connie! I came home!"
His voice echoed in the empty village and yet, there was still no reply. Desperately, he began riding towards his house.
"Dad, Mom, Sunny, and Martin… please just be okay," he begged.
He wasn't paying attention so when he looked up, he pulled on the reins sharply to avoid crashing into the one thing he never wanted to see.
Lying on its back and looking right at him was a yellow-eyed Titan with blonde hair. What made things worse was the fact that this thing was lying right on top of Connie's home. It couldn't be true, but there was the proof right in front of him: the Titans killed his family.
Reiner rode up to him with Bertholdt right behind him and tried pulling him back by the collar. "Connie, get back!"
"It's my house," he whispered, his eyes not leaving the Titan. "I—" He couldn't even finish the words.
Reiner sighed sadly. "Connie…"
Gelgar quickly caught up, getting between them and the Titan, sword raised. "Cadets, fall back!"
"I'll scout out the area," Lynne, the other Scout who went with them, said.
Gelgar circled the Titan, shocked by the sight of its shriveled arms and legs. "What the hell? This is new. It can't move."
"Not with those legs," Lynne added.
"I don't understand," Gelgar said, confused. "How did it even get here?" He shook it off for the moment. "Everyone, dismount and check for survivors. We need to give our horses a rest."
The next twenty minutes was a blur to Connie. He didn't remember Gelgar handing him an unlit torch since it was going to get dark soon, and he barely remembered checking a few houses for any signs of his people. All that mattered was that everything and everyone was gone. He was still at his home, head facing the ground. He couldn't stand looking at the monster that killed his family.
Finally, Bertholdt and Reiner regrouped with him, the former carrying a torch as well.
"Connie, did you find any survivors?" Reiner asked.
"No," he answered as his eyes welled up with tears. "No. It's… it's in ruins. My hometown has been completely wiped out!"
Grieved by this, Reiner approached Connie and gripped his shoulder tightly. There was nothing he could say to make him feel better about this tragedy. All they could do was move past this.
"Hey, something's wrong," Gelgar announced once their search was complete. "You find any bodies?"
"No," Reiner answered.
"No, not yet," Bertholdt added.
"How is that even possible?" their Squad Leader wondered. "Titans ransack the place and there's not a speck of—"
"Maybe they fled," Lynne interrupted hopefully. "The villagers, I mean. They all escaped. Uh, your family, too!"
Connie's demeanor changed as hope filled his body. "You think so? You think they're alive?"
"Um, yeah, sure. It's the only logical explanation why'd there be no trace of, well, carnage." Even she didn't seem convinced of her own theory.
Gelgar stared at the place, confused more than anything. The buildings were demolished, yet the horses remained untouched. If the villagers escaped, why wouldn't they take the fastest way out of here? There were too many questions, and none of them were gonna get answered at this rate. "Anyone not have a torch?" When no one spoke up, he went on. "Okay, let's move! Our mission is to evaluate the breach."
"Sir,!" Bertholdt replied as he and the others followed Gelgar.
Connie saddled up as quickly as he could, trying to get his mind off the worst-case scenario. He told himself over and over that Lynne was right, that his people were safe somewhere. It had to be the explanation. He mounted his horse, ready to take off after the others.
"Wel… welcome home."
Time came to a complete stop. A voice familiar yet foreign at the same time from behind him. Slowly, Connie turned his head back to his house, back to the Titan. It was grunting in what appeared to be pain, yet he heard it talk in a distinctly female voice. He began to really take notice the Titan's appearance; specifically, its yellow eyes. They were the same color as his.
A wave of horror passed through him as a terrible, impossible thought crossed his mind. "Did… did I—"
Suddenly, Reiner grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hey, snap out of it! We're falling behind Gelgar and the others."
"Did you hear that?" Connie asked frantically. "You had to! I swear that Titan—"
"It was only your imagination," he interrupted angrily. "I didn't hear a damn thing. Focus on the mission!"
Connie was a stammering mess. "But I… it sounded… I don't know how, but it sounded like my Mo—"
"Damn it, Connie." Reiner lost his patience. "Do you even know how serious our situation is right now? If we don't see this through, people will die in the hundreds of thousands! Just because your family escaped doesn't mean they're out of the woods yet. Now, do you wanna be a soldier or don't you?" He didn't even wait for a reply, taking off.
"Yeah, stay focused," Connie told himself, cracking the whip. "I'm a soldier!"
After that declaration, he chased after them, leaving behind his home for good and putting the Titan's voice out of his mind. It was just his imagination.
(Western Team; Seven Hours after Titan Spotting)
"The closer we get to the Wall, the less populated the area will be," Henning, the Scout paired with Nanaba, said.
"That's good," Nanaba replied. "It didn't take us very long." She glanced over at Krista and Ymir. "All right. Let's head to the south."
"What's the point?" Ymir asked. "Last I heard, there aren't any villagers south of here."
"We've raised the alarm for everyone in the region," she explained. "Now we pinpoint the breach. The idea is to ride along the Wall from the west until we do."
Ymir couldn't believe this. "Seriously? You know Krista and I don't have our battle gear, right? What are we supposed to do about Titans? The south will be crawling with them. If we can't defend ourselves, you might as well serve us on a platter. Why not let the two of us withdraw from the front?"
Krista looked over to her, surprised she would suggest such a thing. "Ymir!"
"Negative," Nanaba stated. "When we find where they're coming in, I'll need someone to relay it to HQ. I know you're scared, but like it or not, that's part of the job."
She let out a soft growl, but she didn't argue the point further.
Krista, however, decided to confront her. "Ymir, look, I'm aware of what I've gotten myself into."
Ymir glanced over her shoulder, giving her a look of disbelief.
"Hey, no one made me join the Scouts and you know it. I… I chose it for myself. I know you chose it for a different case."
"What? You think I signed up for all this crap because of you?" she asked with a glare.
"What other reason could you have for being here? Before the results were released, you tried talking me into joining the Military Police until you were blue in the face. You bowed outout, so I would be eligible. Don't try to deny it! I know I wasn't good enough to be that close to getting to the Top 10 on my own. Ask anybody. When it comes to skill, you're the better soldier by far. I have no idea how you did it, but why? Why do that for me?"
Ymir didn't answer her, avoiding her gaze.
"My family?" she guessed quietly. "That's it, isn't it?
"Sure, why not?" Ymir replied with a smirk. "Relax. Don't worry about it so much. Take my word for it, sweetie. I'm only looking out for number one."
"Really?"
For a moment, Ymir thought her tone indicated that she was hurt by her remarks, but when she looked back, Krista had a wonderful smile on her face.
"That's such a relief," she said joyfully.
Ymir had no idea how to respond to that. The girl was nuts.
(Southern Team; Eleven hours after the Titan Spotting)
Dusk had fallen upon Wall Rose, but the clouds made the environment pitch black. Only with the help of their torches were the Southern Team able to see. Unfortunately, the range was very minimal, and they were unable to see past a 20-foot radius.
Needless to say, they were all freaking out on the inside. None of them had seen the breach so far, so they believed that they were getting close to it. That meant that the chances of running into Titans was extremely high at the moment. Though Titans were inactive during the night, the presence of the flames might be enough to stir them into attacking. The heavy breathing they could hear from each other, though mostly from Gelgar, wasn't helping.
Suddenly, they spotted flames in the distance and soon enough, their group was joined by the Western Team, who bore the same fearful expressions as they did.
"So, you followed the Wall here, I take it?" Gelgar asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence between them.
"That's right," Nanaba confirmed. "I assume you found the breach, then?"
His eyes widened. "Huh?"
"We didn't see any irregularities along the western route." She began having a sinking feeling. "Surely you must've seen something in the east."
"No. The Wall's perfectly intact."
Both groups stared at each other as that statement sunk in. The fact that the Titans were inside Wall Rose yet they didn't breach the Wall was staggering.
"Well, maybe we just overlooked it," Lynne suggested nervously.
"Not likely," Henning countered. "A hole big enough for Titans to get through? No way."
"I suggest we have another pass, then," Gelgar said, wanting this whole thing to be done with already.
"That's goes without saying," Nanaba replied. "Trouble is our horses are on the verge of collapse and so are we. If only we had more light."
As if her prayer had been answered, the clouds parted to reveal a full moon shining down on them, lighting the way around them.
Gelgar was about to comment on the timely miracle when he noticed something in the distance. "Hey, what's that?"
In the distance was a ruined castle with its prominent features, two towers that were connected by a small bridge, the only thing that indicated that this structure used to be a castle. The walls were missing, but at least it was a place they could take shelter at for the night.
Slowly, the combined groups traveled towards the ruins, finally done with this long day.
(Stohess)
While the civilians were fast asleep, the Scouting Regiment was not. The moment the news reached them regarding Wall Rose's invasion, they began their preparations. Supplies needed to be gathered and they needed more soldiers for the upcoming fight. The plan was for them to ride to Ehrmich District, gather any information regarding the invasion, then ride out to destroy all the Titans within the Walls and deal with the Armored and Colossal Titans.
While she didn't show it, Annie was a little anxious about the whole thing. There were so many ways things could go wrong. If what happened when the Scouts tried to capture her proved anything, it was that the second Reiner and Bertholdt get suspicious, they would transform and fight it out like she did. Not to mention how highly likely it was for the Beast Titan to show up during all this, especially once he figured out she betrayed them. Hopefully, if and when things got dicey, they would be able to handle it.
Trying to distract herself, she glanced at her cloak. The Military Police emblem had long since been removed. The same went for her uniform, but there were no emblems to replace them. She was a blank slate, easier to spot among the other Wings of Freedom. Annie was not one of them, nor would she be.
"Hey, are you okay?" Dillon asked once he arrived at the area.
Eyes widening, she whirled around to face him. "What the hell are you doing out here?"
He raised his hands in defense. "Easy, Annie. Orders from Erwin. He wants me to aide in capturing the other Shifters."
In a perfect world, Annie would tear the commander a new one. "Unbelievable. Does he even comprehend the fact you almost died?"
"I can handle this," he assured. "Trust me."
"Dillon, I trust that you believe what you're saying, but you just…" Killed his father? Aren't mentally stable for this mission? "Went through hell."
"I know," Dillon admitted, "but I can't wallow in my own misery this time. I have to do this."
Annie let out an annoyed sigh, not in the mood to argue with her stubborn boyfriend. "Don't take any unnecessary risks, okay?"
"I won't."
A frown creased her features. "God, I'm starting to sound like Mikasa."
"Well, at least you don't have a boyfriend who talks nonstop about 'ridding the world of Titans.'" Dillon managed to pull off Eren when he was edgy pretty well.
"And yet I've had to pull your ass out of the fire on a consistent basis," she countered. "Tell me again which one the suicidal bastard is?"
"Well, I've got something Eren doesn't have."
"And what would that be?"
"You."
Annie felt her face redden. "I should've known you'd say that."
He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I've got your back."
She smiled at him. "And I've got yours." Annie looked over his shoulder and saw Eren and Mikasa climbing into a large wagon with Armin speaking to them about something. "Looks like we're about to get a move on."
The two walked over to the wagon where the trio took notice of them.
"Hey, how'd clean-up go?" Armin asked.
"Wasn't a whole lot to fix," Annie replied. "Scared the hell out of the District more than anything."
"I bet," Eren muttered. "So, we have Titans in the Walls now. Wanna shed some light on that?"
"I'll explain once the others arrive," Annie said. "I'd prefer to say it once."
Wisely, Dillon and Annie waited for Armin to get in before taking their seats next to them, Annie sitting on the end. The five of them sat in an awkward silence as they waited for the Scouts to finish up. There was still unresolved tension between them and Annie, and for good reason.
"Really wish we had our own wagon right now," Dillon thought.
"Can't do anything about that now," Annie responded.
Fortunately, it was nearly time for the Scouts to depart as Erwin rode in front of the group, a determined look on his face. Since it would be pitch black, many of the soldiers held torches to light the way and the wagons contained lanterns. As Mikasa tightened the Scout cloak around Eren, claiming that he was going to get cold, Hanji finally arrived with Pastor Nick and Levi in tow.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," she said sheepishly. "Took longer to prepare than I thought."
Armin's eyes widened when he saw the pastor sit between Hanji and Levi. "He's a… he's a priest from the Order of the Walls."
"I know!" Hanji wrapped her arm around Nick as if they were good buddies. "Ol' Nick and I are thick as thieves." She let out a laugh at the situation. "It's fine. Makes about as much sense for him being here as the rest of us, don't you think? We're random."
Dillon gave her a confused look, shaking his head as he tried to wrap his head around that statement. "I… I don't-"
"On the contrary," Levi interrupted. "Erwin's thrown us together for a reason. Leonhart, sit next to Hanji. You look like you're about to suffocate."
Nodding, the blonde did as he said, though she didn't make eye contact with the mad scientist.
"Open the gate," Erwin ordered. Once that was accomplished, he addressed his troops. "The status of Wall Rose is unclear, but everything up to Ehrmich is safe. That's the route we'll be taking. Let's move out!"
"Yes, sir!" the Scouts responded.
"You heard him," Levi said.
"Sir," the driver replied.
The Scouts followed Erwin down the path toward Ehrmich, making sure to keep a firm grip on their torches.
Dillon stared at the gate of Stohess once they passed through, more than relieved to be away from that District. He truly hoped there would be no reason for him to go back.
Armin stared in the same direction he did, but he had different things on his mind. "This whole time, Titans have been protecting us from other Titans."
"Ironic, isn't it?" Annie replied, glancing at Nick. "What's got me curious is how this Wall Worshipper knew about them and why he's so desperate to keep it under wraps?"
"Wait, wait, back up," Eren interrupted, this being news to him. "You're joking, right? He knew, and he kept quiet?"
"Uh-huh," Hanji confirmed. "Afraid so. Just about sums up where we are with him. Cat's out of the bag now, of course. He's not willing to talk yet, but we have a couple of ways to get him to talk. First, we're going to see how he feels about a harsh dose of reality. Faith keeps him quiet. Firsthand experience, though—"
"To hell with that!" Eren got right into Nick's face. "No, we're doing this backwards. If this son of a bitch knows something, then he needs to come out with it. Humanity's on the brink of extinction and all you care about is keeping your oath?"
"Hey, take it easy," Mikasa warned, pulling him back before glancing at Annie. "Honestly, I don't see the point. We already have someone who can explain all this."
"Like Annie said, the fact that he knows about any of this is off," Dillon said grimly. "I wouldn't be surprised if he knew what the Titans that attacked Shiganshina were and kept quiet."
"Perhaps you can get him to open up in your own, special way?" Hanji suggested with an unsettling smile.
"Not gonna happen, Four-Eyes," Levi cut in. "We need him more for the Shifters than we do with this priest. No use wasting his limited strength on him. Besides, there's more than one way to get at the truth." He pulled out his flintlock and jamming it into the side of the priest. "There's more than one way to get at the truth. Granted, I may not be in top form at the moment, but it doesn't take my strength to squeeze a trigger. That said, I'm genuinely hoping I won't have to blow a hole in you to settle this. How about you?"
"Threatening him doesn't work, Levi," the Section Commander told him. "Trust me on that." Sighing, she looked at Annie. "So, what's the deal with the Titans in the Walls?"
Nick noticeably stiffened, but there was nothing he could do.
"A contingency plan," she explained. "100 years ago, when the capital of Eldia was relocated here, Karl Fritz, the King at the time, used the powers of the Coordinate to order many Colossal Titans to harden themselves into those Walls. It wasn't just for defensive purposes, but as a warning to Marley. He sent out a message to them that if they tried to attack, he would use the Colossal Titans to, and I quote, 'flatten the Earth.'"
"How many are in these Walls?" Armin wondered.
"According to the King, tens of millions."
Everyone gaped at her, flabbergasted by the high number. Well, Levi's version of gaping was staring with wide eyes and a closed mouth. The pastor was the exception, still keeping silent and looking down at the floor.
"Tens of millions?" Eren repeated.
Annie nodded. "It could've been hyperbole, but there are a lot of Colossal Titans in these Walls."
"That would explain why you and your former comrades took out the gates. Didn't want to unleash those Titans." His eyes narrowed dangerously as the hand holding the flintlock twitched. "Now why don't you explain why you failed to mention this sooner? Are you working an angle?"
Annie knew she needed to salvage this situation before the captain decided to shoot her or be handed off to Hanji. She warded Dillon off with subtle shake of the head and answered, "Useful information keeps me alive. I didn't trust you at the time, so I held back enough in case you all decided to kill me. So, yes, I have more information, and you'll get it. Just not right now."
"You do not get to determine when we receive information," Levi growled. "When this mission is over, you're gonna spill your guts. If you hold out on us again, I'm going shove this gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. Is that clear?"
"Crystal, sir," the blonde answered, sounding on edge.
Hanji decided to cut in with, "So are the Titans in the Walls the reason Marley wants the Coordinate?"
Annie nodded. "It hasn't been confirmed, but it's the most logical theory. If Marley ever got their hands on the Coordinate, everyone here would be screwed. It took careful planning to make sure the four of us wouldn't unleash hell on Marley when we began our mission."
Dillon raised an eyebrow. "Wait, four? There's another Titan Shifter here?"
"No," she answered quietly. "Not anymore. We were accompanied by another Shifter named Marcel. He was the appointed leader of our team, and he was someone I respected a great deal of, but he was eaten by a Titan so that… someone else wasn't."
"I'm sorry you lost him," Dillon replied sincerely.
Hanji narrowed her eyes in suspicion. While she didn't doubt the validity of Annie's story, she knew the girl was holding something back. There was a missing piece of the puzzle, and Hanji needed to figure out just what that piece was.
"You're still keeping quiet about their identities," Eren growled. "Who are they, Annie?"
Annie looked at Levi and once she got a nod, she told him. "Reiner and Bertholdt."
Eren's green eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets. "No, it can't be."
Annie suspected that Eren had the same reaction when she was outed as the Female Titan. She didn't blame him for that. "Deny it all you want, Eren, but it's the truth."
"Annie's memories confirmed it," Dillon added, clearly grieved that it was them as well. "They were in on it since the beginning."
Mikasa was the first to get over her shock as a dark look crossed her features. "They're dead. I don't care how long it takes. They're dead."
Armin was quiet, staring down at the floor of the cart.
Annie had long accepted that when Reiner and Bertholdt's identities were compromised, their days were numbered. Still, it was a grim reminder that Mikasa was still that beast of a human. Yet again, she couldn't blame her or Eren when he would eventually settle into that murderous mindset. Shiganshina was their home, and they took it away from them in the worst, possible way.
"I should have figured it out sooner," Dillon admitted. "Bertholdt targeted me in Trost after he took out the cannons."
"That part of your plan, too?" Mikasa spat.
"No," Annie answered with a glare. "You want to know why it took him a while to show up to formation? Because I broke his pelvis. It's a bitch to heal."
"Like that makes everything better," Eren shot back, his green eyes flaring with barely-contained rage. "It must have been so funny to you three watching us train. Hopeless, helpless humans trying to cling onto survival. Little ants lining up to crushed, right?"
"Now is not the time, Eren," Dillon intervened, glaring at him.
Eren was undeterred. "Oh, really? It's not convenient for your girlfriend right now? I can only imagine how inconvenient it must've been for Oluo when you broke his damn neck!"
"Stand down, Eren," Levi ordered before things could escalate. "You want to tear her limb from limb? Wait until this is all over."
It was not going to get easier hearing those things from her fellow cadets. While Annie knew that she had to move past these moments and focus, the dreaded memories of her actions scurried through her mind. She needed a distraction, something to take her mind off it. She found the solution in Hanji, who was fiddling with that crystal fragment of hers. "That your good luck charm now?"
"You're not that far from the mark," the scientist told her before showing it to the others. "This is a hardened piece of skin left behind by the Female Titan."
Armin raised his head in surprise. "It didn't vanish?"
"No," Hanji answered. "This piece broke off during the battle between you two. It didn't evaporate. It didn't simply go poof. So, that got me thinking, and when I compared it to a sliver of the Wall thanks to Elise's efforts, its texture and composition were, for all intents and purposes, virtually identical. If what Annie told us is true, we're protected by barriers of consolidated Titan skin."
Annie began to realize where she was going with this and she couldn't help but chuckle, shaking her head. "Of course."
Armin seemed to have reached the same conclusion. "So, then that means—"
Hanji slammed her hand on top of his mouth, preventing him from speaking. "Easy! It's rude to steal someone else's thunder."
Does she not know the definition of personal space? Dillon observed as he scooted towards the edge.
Refusing to remove her hand in case Armin spilled the beans, she went on. "As it stands, we'd be hard-pressed to find a big enough rock to plug up Wall Rose. It'd have to be just the right shape and size and we don't have specifics yet. But on the other hand, where there's a will there's a way. Picture Annie utilizing her hardening ability while in Titan form."
All eyes went to the Shifter in question who gave Hanji a blank look. "You want me to fix all the holes in the Walls with my hardening ability. And you know this will work how?"
"Your hardened skin is composed of the same material with a more sparkling addition to it," she said, finally releasing Armin. "If you transform back once the hardening is complete, it shouldn't dissolve. Think of it like sealing a wound or two."
"Hanji, what you're asking me to do is crystalize my entire Titan form and then some," Annie pointed out, sounding unsure of herself. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but that's going to require a lot of power and concentration."
"Then it will require a lot of power and concentration," Levi replied, giving her a stern look. "It's not a matter of if you can do it. You either will or you won't. That's the reality. Our comrades are breaking their backs, but without you, it's nothing. Failure isn't an option." The unspoken threat was very clear.
"Then I'll seal the Walls," Annie promised, a look of determination on her face.
Dillon, however, knew something was troubling her, but he didn't ask about it. He already knew what she was thinking about: would she survive the process?
"Anyone else have any thoughts on this?" Hanji asked.
"Well, anything worthwhile takes a little risk," Armin admitted. "If we can manage to shore up Wall Rose, Wall Maria starts to look very promising. Vital as it is, the outpost's infrastructure slows us to a crawl. The time and resources needed to transport materials are immense, but if supply wagons don't have to be accommodated, we can make our way towards Shiganshina much faster. And what if we decided to carry out our plan in the dead of night? When the Titans are effectively motionless."
Hanji's grin grew wider, liking where this was going. "That's not bad. In fact, it's genius particularly if the group is small enough to slip by undetected."
"We need to deal with the other Shifters first," Annie pointed out. "It wouldn't do good for the Wall to get sealed just for them to break it down once more."
"Agreed," Dillon added. "With them out of the way, we'll have a far better chance of sealing the hole in Shiganshina."
"We're here," Hanji announced. "Ehrmich."
Once they were inside the District, they were greeted by the sounds of refugees who fled the Districts that were invaded by Titans. Levi guided Nick towards them so he could see exactly what the monsters had done. The pastor froze when he saw the abundance of ragged, exhausted people only to be kicked forward by the irritated captain.
"No one said stop," Levi said. "A rolling stone gathers no moss."
"This… this is—" Nick was at a loss for words.
"Maybe you expected to see something quaint?" Levi questioned with a sneer. "This is what happens when the Walls give."
The hordes of people continued to file through, and there was even a child that was crying for his parents.
Horrified, Nick seemed to move in their direction, but Levi grabbed him by the shoulder and held him back.
"No. Take it in, Holy Man. These are the faces of human beings who have lost everything they ever had. Human beings you and your kind abandon incidentally. Hard to look at, I imagine, but if the Church had its way, this would be all of us. Titans would pour in and make a feast of what's left, shoveling man, woman, and child down their putrescent gullets. All humanity digested as one."
Nick wasn't the only one who couldn't tear his eyes away from this. From a vantage point, Annie watched the endless droves of people. The exhausted people, the broken families, and the orphaned children tore at her soul. It reminded her all too well of what happened five years ago.
"Uh, hey Annie." She knew that awkward voice all too well.
She felt her jaw tense and she ground her teeth together for a moment. "Armin."
"I was, um, wondering if we could, you know, talk." As always, his stuttering was worse when he was anxious and unfocused.
Annie tore her eyes away from the sight and looked at Armin. In her mind, she could still see the refugees. She'd created so many of them in her years here, and these were the lucky ones. "Now?" Her voice sounded hoarse, even to her.
And just like that, Armin started to back off. "I just wanted to... never mind." He turned to leave.
"Just spit it out," Annie snapped, sounding harsher than she intended.
"I'm sorry!" His voice jumped up an octave as if he expected her to shift right then and there.
She sighed. Her eyes looked as cold as ever. "Come over to the carts." She slumped past him.
Nodding, Armin followed her there.
She leaned against one. The wooden construct dwarfed her small frame. "Now tell me, what do you want?" She tried to sound kinder this time, which for her meant monotone.
"I don't know how much this would mean to you, if anything, but I'm so sorry, Annie." Despite his anxiety, Armin was genuine with that apology.
Annie stared at him for a moment. "You do realize you're apologizing to the person who did all this. Here, of all places?"
"I'm not talking about this." He lowered his head in shame. "I know I have terrible timing. I know I'm not... you were a good person to me, Annie."
"I don't understand."
"We could've talked things through if I was just honest with you from the start," Armin said.
Stohess. Seemed to follow everyone like the plague. "No, we couldn't have," she replied automatically.
His head popped up. "What?"
Annie rubbed her forehead. "Never mind. What were you going to say?"
"I told myself that I did what I had to to stop you, but that wasn't true. We were friends, and I threw that away. I know how much you wanted to kill me that day, especially after I used Dillon against you. I don't blame you. And after all things you told us about why you did the things you did... I'd probably have done the same thing in your position." He took a deep breath and let it out. "You don't have to forgive me or anything like that. I just wanted you to know." Yet again, he looked like he was about to leave.
"Just gonna talk and walk off?" Annie's voice carried a hint of a challenge.
Armin froze. "I figured you'd want nothing to do with me."
"Did I say that?"
"No," he admitted.
She glowered at him a moment. "I'll admit it did hurt that you of all people would lie to me. I'll also admit that's hypocritical of me to say."
"I respected you so much, Annie," Armin confessed, turning back around and taking a step towards her. "I wanted to be wrong, that you weren't the Female Titan."
"You weren't," Annie said in barely above a whisper. "And you respected a lie. I'm sorry for that. I always wanted to be a good person to you. That meant a lot to me."
"Is that why you let me live?" he asked.
"Don't look at it as much of a kindness. I left you without a horse in Titan territory with no backup, knowing you were the weakest of us." She leaned her head up against the wood. "I left you to die, too."
"Well, I didn't ask for a lift, so that's my fault, I guess," he joked weakly.
Annie's face remained blank.
"Sorry." Armin looked so sad as he continued. "I know things can't go back to the way they were. Too much has happened."
"They can't." She sighed. "But you bear no blame for that. You were right to sell me out."
"Maybe. We can't know for sure." He slumped against the cart next to her. "The more I look back on things, the more of how much of an idiot I was."
"Yes, you were. Still are." Annie's cool eyes fixed on him. "You're smart, but you're stupid, Armin, and at this rate, you're going to die badly."
"Or other people will," he muttered to himself.
"The two are not mutually exclusive."
"I know." For the first time, there was anger in Armin's tone. "If I was actually smart, really smart, I wouldn't have told Reiner—" He stopped midsentence, clenching his fist.
She tilted her head. "Where Eren was?"
"We all had different locations," Armin said. "The signs were there. I didn't pay enough attention. Reiner asked me where I thought Eren was, so I told him. I told him. All those people..."
"And if you hadn't told him, I would have rampaged through every single group to find him, and the center would have been the last place because of the danger." Annie let out a sound not unlike a mangled, mirthless giggle. "You actually saved their lives in a fucked-up way."
Armin gasped, eyes landing directly on her hand. Clearly, her breakdown in Stohess left a few scars on him. Fortunately, no ring.
She tried to contain the laughter that again almost bubbled up inside her. It still caused her shoulders to shake even as she crossed her arms over her chest to conceal it. She managed to calm herself after a few moments. "Everyone trusted him the most. You included. I think he wanted to believe the lie, and part of him did. Don't feel too bad."
"Were you tempted to kill him that day?" he wondered.
"I haven't been tempted to since the day we killed Marco."
Armin let out another sigh. "It may sound messed up, but I understand."
"No, you don't. You don't have it in you Armin." She shook her head. "I don't want you to, either. You're a good person to me. One of the best I've ever known."
"And you're still my friend, Annie, if you'll let me."
Annie wiped her face quickly, hoping Armin noticed nothing. "You are going to die badly if you don't have someone looking after you. Considering how little people have their shit together in the Scouts, guess that's got to be me."
"In that case..." He closed the distance and hugged her.
She went rigid as he pinned her crossed arms to her chest, and she sat there, taking it in silence.
Realizing what he was doing, he pulled away, stammering like an idiot. "Crap. I'm sorry, Annie. I was relieved. This doesn't mean I have feelings for you. I swear. I know you and Dillon are together. I would never do anything to-."
She reached out with a single finger and tapped his forehead. "Quiet," she whispered.
He shut up instantly.
Then, Annie took him into a hug. It wasn't her first instinct, but she gave it a go and tried not to think about the fact that she still felt small even with Armin hugging her. Being short sucked. In her mind, though, she could feel Dillon smirking nearby. "Shut up, short stuff," she thought to her boyfriend.
In the courtyard, Dillon looked for Jean but found out that he was deployed to Trost. He could only imagine how disappointed he was that he wouldn't be able to help bring down the Shifters, but orders were orders. Besides, it would give Jean a chance to recover from the head injury he sported, so there was that. He couldn't talk to Eren since he was deep in conversation with Hanji, leaving only Mikasa again. He spotted the super soldier of a cadet loading bags of food into the carts.
"You know, the concept of an alliance doesn't usually involve instigating another fight," Dillon told her once he was close enough.
Mikasa finished with her load before turning to the Psion. "If you're telling me to apologize—"
"I'm not. That'd be stupid. What I am asking of you is to not treat her like the enemy, at least for this mission."
Her eyes narrowed. "We're about to take down Reiner and Bertholdt. This would be the perfect opportunity for her to stab us in the back."
"As opposed to all the other perfect opportunities she had this week alone," he pointed out, crossing his arms.
Mikasa stalked up to him until they were nose to nose. "I'm not about to lower my guard for one, damn second," she hissed. "You want to call it paranoia? Go right ahead. I don't care, but if it keeps us all alive, then I've done my job."
"Fine," Dillon replied in a clipped tone, knowing better than to argue with her. "I can't make you think one way or the other, and I'm not about to try. But until Annie actually does something between now and the future, she's on our side."
She let out a snort and got back to work.
"Relationship problems, Dillon?"
Said blacksmith rolled his eyes. Of course she was watching. "Just making sure Mikasa won't let her anger get the better of her."
"And how well did that work out?" Annie asked.
He sighed. "Not as well as I hoped." He spotted Hanji and Eren walking into the courtyard as the former gave the Shifter what seemed to be a final briefing.
"Once we leave Ehrmich, we'll be in Titan territory proper," she stated as they approached the stables.
"Eren, there's a mount waiting for you in the left lift," Moblit announced. "Time to saddle up, soldier."
"Right," Eren replied, heading inside.
Before Hanji could follow them, she spotted Nick walking into the courtyard with Levi right behind him.
"Section Commander, we're pressed for time," Moblit protested.
"Uh, thanks, Moblit. Give me a second," she said, walking over to them. "So, seen the light by any chance?"
The pastor remained silent, looking downcast.
Finally, Hanji lost her patience as she got right into face and started yelling at him. "Oh, you sanctimonious prick, make up your mind! This isn't some spiritual test. Lives are on the line!"
"Alas, I cannot," Nick confessed. "Neither myself nor the people that believe are at liberty to divulge the truth."
"Fat lot of help you are," Hanji shouted furiously, pulling away. "Thanks for keeping us company. It's been fun!"
Dillon was ready to punch the priest in the face when he continued speaking.
"I'd offer my help if I could, but a duty as great as this one is beyond me. The Order of the Walls abides by the sacred will that commands us to obey."
"Who's sacred will?" Hanji questioned. "You mean like God or something?"
"I can't answer that."
"Surprise, surprise," Dillon muttered in annoyance.
"But what I can do is provide you with a name. An individual that the sacred will of Divine Providence ordered us to monitor," Nick said.
That got her interest even more. "Monitor?"
By now, Annie and Armin had joined the conversation, fully invested.
The pastor nodded, finally facing them. "It's a person you know. Someone who enlisted with the Scout Regiment as of this year."
The cadets in the 104th stared at him in shock. That one statement narrowed down the possibilities tremendously.
"A child by name of Krista Lenz."
Remastered Edits: Not much, but the minor changes are a bit more prevalent. Naturally, the Scouts are gonna be on edge with Annie keeping vital secrets to herself, and I decided to add the revelation of Reiner and Bertholdt's identities to the Shiganshina trio. The biggest change, however, is the Annie and Armin conversation. Personally, I can see the two forming a good friendship even after everything.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I look forward to your reviews and I'll see you sll in the next one.
