HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT: Be on the lookout for a completely new story I'll be uploading tomorrow on my profile called The True Queen, and it'll be centered around Frieda Reiss. It's gonna be quite different from the ones I'm used to writing. I hope you all will enjoy it.
Chapter 37: A Bitter Reunion
There were many things that Ymir didn't expect to happen today. She didn't expect to find Titans within Wall Rose with no breach. She didn't expect to be trapped in a tower surrounded by Titans that could move at night. Most of all, she didn't expect to reveal herself as a Titan Shifter like this.
When Krista fell off the tower, it was like she was watching a beautiful, wonderful dream shatter before her eyes. After everything the two had been through, after forcing Krista to face the truth of her reasons for enlisting, she was going to die by a giant ape? Her heart nearly stopped when she heard Krista screaming for her, begging for help when she was about to be eaten. Ymir knew what had to be done, damn the consequences. It was so easy to take Connie's knife, but it was harder to jump off the tower and go through with it. Now, her nature had been revealed.
"Y-Ymir?" Krista asked fearfully.
Slowly, the Titan nodded, trying to look as non-threatening as possible, which was hard considering her appearance.
"How is this possible?"
Before Ymir could answer, she noticed the Titans start to converge on her. Holding Krista tightly to her chest, Ymir started dashing away from them.
"Keep them off her back!" Mike ordered, once he got over the shock.
"Sir, she's a Titan," one of the Scouts protested.
"And she's not attacking us," he shot back, grappling towards the nearest Titan.
On top of the tower, the group stared down at Ymir, flabbergasted by what just happened.
"Talk to me," Connie pleaded. "Someone tell me this is all a dream."
Reiner's eyes were wide with horror. "It… it was her that day."
"She's the one," Bertholdt whispered, equally mortified.
The tower began shaking a bit, throwing everyone off-balance.
"Get away from the edge!" Nanaba exclaimed, pulling Reiner back. "This tower could give any second."
"Yeah, especially if that Titan tries to throw another…" Connie's voice trailed off when he looked at the Wall. "Wait, where'd he go?"
Several pairs of eyes looked in his direction and saw no sign of the Beast Titan.
"How did that thing just vanish?" Gelgar demanded.
"One problem at a time," Nanaba said. "We still have Titans below us, and the tower's going to fall soon. There's no gas in our tanks, so we're up the creek on this one unless someone gets us down from here."
The sun started to peak over the horizon, shedding light upon the ruins of Castle Utgard. They could see things far more clearly now. There were about a dozen Titans left, all of which started to converge onto Ymir, who was making sure that Krista stayed out of harm's way. Unfortunately, with Krista in hand, she wasn't able to really attack, leaving her vulnerable to whatever surprise attacks these Titans could launch.
"Cadet!" Mike shouted, catching up to her. "We need your full strength to win this battle. We can get her to safety if you would—"
Ymir let out a snarl, her way of warning him to back off.
"Ymir, d-don't," Krista pleaded, though her stuttering indicated she was still nervous. "It's gonna be okay."
The Titan's response was to jump away from a seven-meter that almost grabbed her. It was quickly taken down by one of the surviving Scouts.
"Don't be stubborn," Krista demanded, getting a little harsher. "They need you more than I do."
The tower continued to shake during the commotion, revealing that time was ready out fast for the people on top.
"We have to get them down from there before it's too late," Mike said, killing a three-meter easily.
"The tower won't be able to support us," another Scout pointed out, getting to a higher point. "If we try scaling it, the whole thing could come crashing down."
Krista stared at her worried friends that were on top. The minute it fell, all of them would be killed. She looked back and saw the Titans still chasing after Ymir, jaws wide with anticipation. An idea started to take hold as she began putting things together. It was a very reckless plan with a large chance of something going wrong, but it was all they had. "Bring the tower down."
Ymir gave her a look of confusion, or at least, she tried to. Making facial expressions in her Titan form was hard when the default one was, "I'm going to eat you."
"Ymir, you can save them," she explained. "The Titans are chasing after you, and they'll follow you to the tower if you lead them there. It's perfect!"
"Too dangerous," Ymir growled.
"So what? So what if it's too dangerous? I know you're not the self-sacrificing type, Ymir. You're stubborn, confrontational, and a bitch to everyone around you, but you'll do whatever it takes to keep us both alive. You risked everything to save me! What better way to ensure we live than to take out the Titans that are trying to kill us all?"
Ymir let out another growl as she took those words into consideration. She knew what Krista was trying to do. She was trying to save her friends. Ymir's original plan was to keep running until the Titans were in the dust. Then again, there could be more of them out there and the last thing she wanted to do was get jumped on by one of those beasts. Seeing a Scout nearby, she ran over and deposited Krista right in front of him, causing him to recoil in shock. "Keep her safe, or I will bite your head off," she threatened before taking off for the tower.
Now that Krista was released, she could move on all fours, a much faster way to travel. As expected, many of the Titans began pursuing her, especially after she slaughtered one of them quickly.
"What the hell is she doing?" the Scout asked with wide eyes.
"She's going to bring the tower down," Krista answered, making sure that Mike heard her.
"What? That's insane," the Scout replied, taken aback.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Mike said. "Scouts, fall back from the tower!"
Confused, but obedient, the remaining three did as ordered.
Once the Titans were nearly upon her, Ymir leapt into the air and landed next to the broken part of the tower. She began circling it, removing bricks in the process and lobbing them at the monsters.
Needless to say, the people on top were awestruck that this was happening as the tower slowly began to tilt.
"Brace yourselves!" Nanaba ordered. "We're going down hard."
"Yeah, Atta girl," Krista cheered from afar.
Quickly, Ymir climbed to the top of the tower. "Wanna lift? Grab on tight."
Seeing that face up close made Connie consider taking his chances, but he swallowed his fear and approached her like the others. Carefully, but rapidly, she stuck all five of them in her hair. Once the tower was closer to the ground, she climbed onto the side, holding on as it crashed onto the horde of Titans, kicking up dirt and smoke all around them. As expected, the tower buried the Titans alive, leaving them immobilized for the moment. Seeing that the coast was clear for the moment, Ymir dropped her passengers abruptly.
"What the hell just happened?" Gelgar asked with a cough.
"We just got saved by a Titan," Nanaba answered, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"Now I really wish I had that drink," he muttered, shaking his head.
She rolled her eyes and chose not to comment on that.
The victory was short-lived as the Titans slowly began to rise out of the debris.
"Oh, come on," Connie complained before turning to Ymir. "Hey, ugly, job's not finished!"
Making a mental note to get Connie back for that insult, Ymir charged into the fray. Jumping onto the back of the Titan, she pulled out the nape with a single bite, killing it instantly. Unfortunately, she was pulled off of the corpse and pinned the ground by a nearby Titan. Within seconds, the rest of them began going after her and, to everyone's horror, began to eat her Titan form. Ymir thrashed in their grip, trying to escape, but it was futile.
"Oh, my God," Nanaba whispered.
"Ymir, no!" Krista screamed, trying to run for her before getting restrained by the Scout that was tasked to keep her safe. "Let me go!"
"There's nothing you can do," he pointed out harshly. "You're going to get yourself killed."
"Ymir, you can't leave me," she cried out, tears falling down. "I still haven't told you my real name. We had a deal!"
The others were confused at those statements, but figuring that out was low on the priority list at the moment.
"Stay here," Mike ordered the two, mounting his horse. "The rest of you, defend that Titan!"
With a final war cry, he led two of the remaining Scouts on horseback towards the Titan horde, ready to die to make sure Ymir would survive.
Gelgar's determination returned as he drew his sword. "What do you say, Nanaba? Think you can kill more than me?"
She chuckled, drawing her sword as well. "You're already behind from earlier." She turned to the others. "Run as fast as you can. We'll hold them off."
"That's suicide," Bertholdt protested. "You won't survive."
"Probably not," Gelgar admitted, "but we can't let her die either."
Nodding to each other, the duo began running straight for the Titan horde when a Titan suddenly appeared from behind a large piece of debris. They froze as it started going for them only for a green blur to pass right by the nape, slicing it open. As the lifeless Titan slumped over, the Scout turned around to reveal herself as being Mikasa.
"Nice work, Ackerman," Nanaba complemented. "Are the others here?"
"Reinforcements have arrived," she assured with traces of a smirk on her face.
Within seconds, the ruins were swarmed by Scouts who were taking down the Titans in quick succession. The mindless monsters stood no chance against them as, one by one, they began to fall.
"Disperse and canvass the area," Hanji ordered with her group as they rode towards them. "The rest of you follow me to where the Titans are gathering and cut them down."
Suddenly, one of the Scouts leapt of his horse and went straight for a Titan.
"Wait, you're not part of the offensive!" Hanji scolded.
Said Scout was Eren who, with a yell of "Die!" sliced open the nape of an eleven-meter Titan. "Ha hah! My very first ODM kill," he exclaimed with a huge grin. His triumphant moment was short-lived as the cables were crossed. He landed harshly on the ground, stumbling onto his back.
"Real smooth, Eren," Dillon teased as he took down a nine-meter.
"Shut up, Dillon," he shot back, embarrassed.
Steeling himself for the task at hand, Dillon spotted Connie, Reiner, and Bertholdt running towards Eren's position. Letting out a deep breath, he landed directly in front of them, making a far better landing than the Shifter did.
"Hey, guys," he greeted, looking up at them. "Did you miss me?"
Reiner and Bertholdt would've responded to that, but they noticed something in his tone was off.
"Hey, you're back," Connie greeted happily given the last time he saw him, he was practically in a catatonic state.
Dillon didn't respond, focused on doing what he had to. With a flash of his eyes, four bricks levitated into the air and smashed directly into the back of Reiner and Bertholdt's heads, knocking them out instantly. "That was too close."
Connie whirled around in shock, staring at the unconscious bodies of his friends. "What the… what just happened?"
"I'll explain later," he assured, pulling out some rope to tie them up.
"Hey, what are you doing?" he demanded angrily.
"Connie, stand down," Nanaba ordered as she and Gelgar approached them quickly. "It's all part of the plan."
He stared at them all with wide eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"Look!" Carelessly, Dillon ripped off the sling, revealing the wounds.
Connie's eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he saw steam emit from the bite marks as they slowly began to heal. "What? He's…?"
"Everything will be explained later," Dillon repeated as he began binding Reiner's hands. Gelgar did the same to Bertholdt, silently praying that they wouldn't wake up. The blacksmith paused what he was doing and pulled two sedatives out of his jacket, handing one of them to Gelgar. They were quickly injected into the Shifters to guarantee that they wouldn't be waking up soon.
Amidst all this, Annie joined in the fray, slashing away at the Titans. It seemed like she was competing against Mikasa for most Titan kills, which became more apparent by the smirk she gave Mikasa as she stole her kill. These two women of destruction made short work of the remaining Titans as the last of them were killed.
Once they were taken down, Annie landed next to Dillon, eying them carefully. "If they try anything—"
"Calm down, Annie," Dillon urged, tightening the bonds. "We got them."
"Check them for weapons," she advised. "They could have a hidden knife like I did."
Nodding, he gave Reiner the pat down, searching for anything that could be a sharp object. Finding nothing, he did the same to Bertholdt and came up empty. "They're clean."
She let out a sigh of relief. "Good."
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Connie all but begged.
Seeing that the last of the Titans had been taken care off, Dillon nodded, motioning Sasha to join them. "We'll make this brief."
"Wait, where's Ymir and Krista?" Annie wondered.
Connie gestured over to the middle of the ruins. "Over there, but you guys won't believe what happened."
"Try me," Dillon dared.
Annie, however, began walking towards the area where the two girls were, and her eyes widened at the sight.
Krista was on her knees next to an unconscious Ymir, but surrounding them were pieces of a Titan's body. What caused her wide-eyed expression was the fact that Ymir was missing a leg, an arm, and a chunk of her stomach yet bits of steam were coming out of the injuries, indicating that she was a Titan Shifter.
It's her. Annie realized, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight.
Dillon soon joined her, jaw dropping out of shock. "Oh, my God. Is Ymir…?"
"She's a Titan Shifter," Annie finished for him quietly before adding mentally. "The one who ate Marcel."
Soon enough, many of the Scouts, including Ymir's friends gathered around, staring in shock. It was unbelievable that not only Ymir was a Titan Shifter, but that there were five Titan Shifters that were part of their ranks. The odds of that were astronomical, and yet, here they were. Not to mention the fact that Ymir's loyalties were currently unknown, so she was a wild card at the moment.
Suddenly, there was a slight, almost unnoticeable groan coming from the girl.
"Ymir?" Krista asked softly.
Slowly, Ymir opened her eyes to see the blonde staring down at her, smiling with utter relief.
"Just as promised," she said. "My real name is Historia."
Dillon stared at her for the longest time and only one question went through his mind. Is there anyone in our squad that isn't hiding a life-altering secret?
With Reiner and Bertholdt in custody, things were looking up for the Scouts. Not only were they able to take out the remaining Titans in the area, but now the Armored and Colossal Titans were taken care of. They would be transported to an underground cell where they wouldn't be able to transform, and they would be interrogated which would most likely be followed up by execution. Annie had long accepted their fates the moment she gave up their identities, but it didn't make it easier.
As for Ymir, she was treated with far more dignity. Her wounds, though healing, were bandaged up to help speed up the regeneration process. They even put her on a stretcher so she could be safely transported to Trost to get proper medical care. All in all, she was going to be okay.
While the surviving Scouts were replenishing their equipment and getting treated for their wounds, the remaining cadets of the 104th were heavily engrossed with Dillon and Annie filling them in on everything that occurred while they were stuck at the Scout Outpost for a week.
"You're a what?" Connie asked with wide eyes.
"A psychic, though the official term is Psion," Dillon explained, levitating a few rocks as a demonstration.
Sasha waved her hand above the rocks, expecting to find strings pulling them around. Of course, she found none, confirming Dillon's statements. "That's why you took more risks than others," she said. "You had the power to back it up."
"He used them to save my life," the newly-revealed Historia added. "That day I was kidnapped."
"Congratulations. You got to know before his girlfriend did," Annie deadpanned.
Dillon rolled his eyes. "We weren't a couple back then, Annie."
"Is that how you knew who Rei-they were?" Connie couldn't stomach the fact that his friends were monsters. He couldn't even say their names without feeling sick.
Dillon shook his head. "No. I was told the information."
"I told him." Annie took that as her cue to take over. "I knew who they were from the start."
Historia was baffled at that declaration. "What? But how could you-?"
"I'm the Female Titan."
The trio were stunned to silence. Sasha and Historia were mortified, but Connie was a different story.
He was chuckling. "That's a good one, Annie. You, the Female Titan? That's crazy." No one could miss the heightened anxiety in his tone.
"I knew you would be in denial, Connie," Annie said, her eyes moving over to his. "You always had a hard time facing reality. Then again, most people do, even when the evidence is right in front of them. Dillon was no different. Eren was no different. Why should you be?" She whipped out the blade on her ring to cut herself with, but then a hand fastened around her wrist along with a second hand covering the blade.
"Don't," Sasha warned in a low tone. She had a surprising amount of strength in her grip. Once again, Annie underestimated the prowess of the hunter.
Connie and Historia stood by, trying to comprehend the scene before them. Dillon crossed his arms, though he was ready in case Sasha tried to hurt her.
"I'm not going to shift," Annie swore. "You know I need to do this, Sasha."
Sasha glared down at the Shifter as if trying to detect a lie in her face. Finding none, she released the girl. Her palm was bleeding from grabbing the blade, but the scratches weren't deep.
Annie took the time to slice open her palm and show the injury to them. Connie and Historia winced at the sight, but their expressions became that of horror when the wound started to pour out steam.
"I am the Titan the invaded Shiganshina and led other Titans to the slaughter," Annie intoned as skin covered up the injury neatly. "I am the Titan who slaughtered many Scouts so I could complete my mission no matter the cost. I am the the Titan… that murdered Marco."
The silence was so deafening, it was possible a pin drop could be heard. Sasha clenched her bleeding fist as she continued to glare at her. Connie looked like he was shaking from barely-contained rave. Historia was the worst of the three, looking like she was just slapped by her own mother.
"You bitch!" Connie suddenly lunged at her only for Dillon to throw him down to the ground while locking his arm behind his back.
"Connie, knock it off," Dillon ordered, gritting his teeth as he pinned him down. "This isn't helping anyone."
"Get off me," he growled, struggling to get up. He only succeeded in hurting himself.
"Let him go, Dillon," Annie said, unfazed by the spectacle. "I can deal with this."
With a shake of his head, Dillon released the bald cadet, though he kept an eye on him.
Connie, once he was on his feet, didn't try to attack her again. He seemed content to glare at her while rubbing his sore arm.
Historia was a different matter. She was on the verge of tears. "After everything we've been through? All that time, and we meant nothing?"
"I wasn't supposed to get close to anyone," Annie admitted softly. "I wasn't supposed to make friends. I wasn't supposed to care, but I did all of that."
Having enough, Sasha gave Annie a look of disgust before stalking off in a random direction.
"I'm sure Marco appreciated your sentiment," Connie responded icily.
Annie did her best to not look away. She needed to face them head-on. "I won't make excuses. I know I killed an innocent man and many more like him. If you want to hate me, go ahead. I won't stop you. You'll have to deal with the fact that a monster like me is on your side now."
Connie immediately turned on Dillon. "And you. You're actually sticking by her side after everything she's done to us, to you?"
"I tried to kill Annie three times since she revealed herself as the Female Titan," Dillon told them. "During the Expedition, when I gave her identity up to the Scout Regiment to use as they pleased, and when I lost it a couple of days okay. Long story. I know exactly what she did to me, to all of us, but the situation has changed. It's because of Annie we are in a much better situation than ever before. We have information that has changed everything we thought we knew about the world. None of this is ideal, but that's the hand we've been dealt. If you can't trust her, then please trust me."
"Go to hell." Connie didn't wait for a response as he, too, stalked away.
Historia was the only one brave enough to slowly approach Annie. While her eyes glistened with barely-contained tears, she kept them at bay. Her mouth seemed to debate on whether to scream at her or not, so she decided on an alternative. As hard as she could, she punched Annie in the face.
"Krista!" Dillon moved to intervene, but Annie grabbed him by the back of the collar to keep him at bay.
"That's not my name," Historia said as she left the two alone to go check on Ymir on top of the Wall.
Letting him go, Annie rubbed her nose and found some blood pouring from it. "Not bad."
"I knew it was going to end badly," Dillon mumbled with a sigh.
"Can you really blame them?" she asked, steam pouring out of her nose as it quickly healed.
"All things considered, I can't," he confessed, "but I wish you wouldn't make me stand by like that."
"I'm a killer, Dillon," Annie reminded him. "One way or another, I had a part in their suffering. I'm not going to let them kill me, but I can at least give them a chance for some form of justice. If it helps them, they can beat me to a pulp or shout until their faces turn blue. I can take it."
Dillon shook his head. "God, this is all so messed up."
"That's what you get for sticking around a messed-up psychopath like me." Annie sighed. "I need some time alone, okay? I won't wander off."
He nodded, kissing her on the forehead. "I love you, Annie."
"Love you, too." It felt weird to say things like that, but Annie appreciated the warm feelings it gave her.
Now alone, or as alone as a girl who had half the Scout Regiment waiting for an excuse to cut her down, Annie prowled the grassy fields. She overheard Nanaba and Gelgar talking about their encounter with the Beast Titan. Already, that had her on edge. Her instincts told her that the Shifter was somewhere nearby. Perhaps it was paranoia, but experience taught her never to underestimate him if she wanted to survive.
She was so deep in her musings that Annie didn't notice the potato girl until she was next to her, staring out over the green sea before them from their position. Sasha was far stealthier than Annie gave her credit for.
"I always knew there was something off about you, about your friends, but this?" Sasha shook her head. "This is something else."
"Yes, I suppose it is," Annie muttered, turning to look at her.
She didn't stare back. "It's why you tried to distance yourself from us, tried eating alone. At least you can kill things you don't know."
"It's easier. But I can still kill people I know. That's just more difficult." Annie's voice was emotionless.
"Like Marco?" Sasha asked.
Her mask fractured a bit. "Yes, like Marco."
"It must've been hard for him. People he knew for three years sentencing him to death. No one being around to save him when you fed him to a Titan."
"It was horrifying for him. The way he screamed it—" Annie shook her head. "They have you swear to sacrifice yourself. Maybe you really do promise to do so, but when death comes, they all... he shouldn't have had to die like that."
"Like the 250,000 people you sentenced to death," Sasha added with venom in her tone. "250,000 Marcos all lined up for the slaughter."
Annie nodded. "That's exactly right."
"Take off your mask, Annie."
She stared at Sasha in surprise.
The brunette turned to her with a glare. "I've always known you were hiding who you really were. The mask comes off when you fought, when you were with Dillon. So, take it off and let me see the real Annie Leonhart."
"Guess you have your own mask," Annie whispered. "You'll be disappointed. There's not much to see. Just a weak person who decided to be a monster because she wasn't strong enough to go against the flow." A tear slid down Annie's face. "I think the others had conviction. I never did. I killed all those people to save my own skin and to go home. I'm every bit the evil, awful thing you think I am." Annie wiped away the tear. "I would appreciate it though if you'd hate me as a person instead of some mindless thing or object. Hate me as an evil person. At least then I'd still be considered a person."
"Why do you think I told you to show yourself? If I'm going to despise you, it has to be the real you."
Annie's shoulders shook, and she caught a sob of surprise. It just snuck out of her. "Thank you. I don't know why I'm grateful for that."
Sasha sighed, looking down. "When the Titans invaded, everything changed for the worst. Not just for the Wall Maria refugees, but the ones in Wall Rose. In my hometown, we got hit where it hurts." Her voice slowly began to change to a different accent. "You probably know by now, but Dauper prides itself in producing great hunters. Kinda like how Utopia prides itself in being too cold."
Annie nodded, trying to find her composure again.
"Best of the best, we were. Boars, deer, fish, lizards, birds, you name it, we eat it. You think folks from Sina ate good? We were kings and queens in our own right."
"Guessing it didn't stay that way."
"Because of you, everything changed. The government forced us to start growing crops, something we weren't accustomed to doin'. We had to start feeding people we didn't know, and then they forced us to abandon our way of life. In one fell swoop, our culture collapsed, and people ending up starving. I went a whole week without being able to eat anything but the bugs that crawled in our house!" Sasha glared daggers at her. "You wanna know why Ah ate that potato that day? Ah was fuckin' starvin'!"
Annie's lip quivered ever so slightly. It wasn't more stories of death and destruction, but it felt just as personal. Maybe more so. Maybe after causing so much death Annie was getting used to it, but these details ate at her. "I'm sorry," she found herself gasping. "I'm so—" She stopped. "I don't deserve to say that."
"Say what you wanna say. Don't give a damn whether you deserve it or not."
"It doesn't matter. I made my choice. I knew the consequences. I know what I am. Sorry's such a pathetic word to handle it."
"You ain't gonna find a better word, so don't bother censorin' yourself. You wanna say sorry despite how pathetic that word is? Suck it up and say it."
"It doesn't change anything. No word does." The Shifter was visibly shaking. "I am sorry. I'm so sorry. I've been sorry for years but that didn't stop me. And when I crushed those Scouts, your comrades—" She made a fist. "I almost felt powerful enough to be okay with that. I'm fucked up," she whispered. Tears continued to roll down her face. "But I am so sorry."
Sasha stared at her for the longest time, almost as if she was observing her. Then, she pulled Annie close and hugged her.
Annie stiffened. "What are you doing? I mean, why? I..."
"You grew up weak, didn't ya?" Sasha refused to let her go. "Weak as the day you were born."
Annie didn't know how to respond to that. She just sagged in the girl's arms. She saw several Scouts look their way. Maybe they thought Sasha was going to try and kill her, who knows. If they did, they were going to let the potato girl try. One looked shocked at the action though, then disgusted.
"And whenever you shift, that power at your fingertips, why not cut loose? Revel in it. Anyone who gets in your way? Take it out on them."
Annie found her tears were no longer silent. She sobbed into Sasha's shoulder.
Sasha held her tighter, a couple of tears streaming down her face. "You're a broken monster, Annie. Pure and simple. And Ah can't bring myself to hate you."
"That doesn't—that doesn't—why? That doesn't make sense," Annie said between sobs.
"You deserve the hatred of the world. You deserve to be strung up and burned so that your screams can silence the ones you caused." She pulled her away, gripping her shoulders tightly and looking her dead in her tear-gushing eyes. "But that's not what you need."
"I'm just trying to survive. I don't know what else to do."
"No, you're not, Annie. No more lies. Not from you. You're not just trying to survive. You're trying to protect Dillon Amsdale. You're trying to break away from Marley. You're trying to seek something that you don't believe you can ever get: redemption."
"That's just impossible bullshit." Annie pulled away. "I'm not that kind of person. I don't deserve that."
Sasha's gaze lost some of its sternness as she stood up, her accent beginning to disappear. "It's a lie that you believe, Annie. The truth is right in front of you. All you have to do is look at yourself. I won't force you to face it. It's something only you can do."
It pained Dillon to no end to feel Annie's sorrow through their link. The fact he couldn't do anything more for her just made it worse. At least, from what he could see, Sasha seemed to be helping her. It also gave him time to do something that was long overdue: talk to Eren. He found the Shifter staring angrily at the unconscious forms of the Shifters as they were loaded onto the lifts.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" Dillon asked once he got close enough.
"My friends are traitors," Eren growled. "How do you think I'm holding up?"
Dillon winced, but he knew he had that one coming. "Sorry. Stupid question."
Eren still didn't look at him. "Who else, Dillon? Jean? Sasha? Connie?"
"I asked myself the same question when I found out about Annie and my parents," the Psion admitted. "For what it's worth, you're taking it better than I did."
He snorted. '"Take it.' I can't believe anyone is supposed to take this. Reiner he… he was the guy people could depend on. I looked up to him."
Dillon was at a loss on what to say at a time like this. His own coping skills were dismal at best and harmful at worst. "What do you want to do, Eren?"
"Kill them." He didn't even hesitate. "They're the reason we're even in this situation. Unless some idiot wants to try and reason with them."
Dillon let out a sigh. "Honestly, I'm too exhausted to even consider our options. I just wanna get back and lie down for a few days."
"Do you think I'm a monster like them?"
That question caught him by surprise. "What?"
"Before the Expedition, Jean asked if you could depend on me, and you said nothing." There was quite an edge to Eren's tone. "After everything we've been through, you just stood there silently when I needed you to say something."
The blacksmith looked away, ashamed of himself. "You're right. I choked and proved Jean's point for him. I'm sorry, Eren."
"But maybe you're right that you can't depend on me," he rambled. "After all, I lost to Annie twice and all you did was talk to her. You gave this side of humanity the edge it needed. Me? All I have to show for anything is blood on my hands."
This was not a spur of the moment conversation. This was something had been building up for a while. "I don't know what to say."
"Just stop beating around the bush and answer me, damn it!" Eren snapped, losing patience. "Do you think I'm a monster? Yes or no?"
Dillon didn't respond for a moment, trying to find the right words to say. When he was done, he looked Eren dead in the eyes and said, "Yes."
He stared back silently before he scoffed, disappointed. "Of course you'd—"
"I'm not done," Dillon interrupted. "You lost control in Stohess and hundreds of people died. Annie bears the brunt of the incident, but you have their blood on your hands just like Erwin, and just like me. You scare me, Eren. You have this power that could overcome you every time you transform." He gripped the Shifter's shoulder. "But not once have I doubted your commitment to humanity, and you're still my friend."
Eren was taken aback. "Wait, what?"
"What, did you think I would terminate our friendship?" he asked. "Considering who my girlfriend is, I think that'd be stupid for an assortment of reasons. Hell, Annie would tear me a new one if I—" He stopped midsentence as his ears picked up a whooshing sound. "What the hell is that?"
Eren looked up and quickly tackled Dillon to the ground. "Watch out!"
A large rock soared overhead and smashed an isolated Scout into bloody pieces, causing a small crater to form in the process.
"That ape bastard is back," Gelgar snarled as the Scouts scrambled.
Another rock came towards them, the target being the lifts that were currently carrying Reiner and Bertholdt to the top. However, Dillon psychically pushed the boulder just enough for it to impact the Wall instead of the intended target. While the Wall shook violently, jostling the people on top, no one was hurt this time.
"Too close," Dillon muttered, wiping blood from his nose.
Hanji immediately took control of the situation before everyone could panic. "Our priority is the Armored and Colossal Titans. Under no circumstances do we let this Beast Titan get in the way of that. Annie—"
No sooner did she speak her name when lightning engulfed Annie. "I'll keep his attention," she said once fully formed into her Titan form.
On instinct, the Scouts pulled out their blades, but Hanji waved them off with a bark of, "Focus!"
Dillon wanted to go with her, but he knew he'd be more of a liability than an asset in his current condition. "Be careful, Annie."
"I will," the Female Titan promised before dashing in the direction of her quarry.
"I'll go with her," Eren offered, raising his hand to his mouth.
"No," Hanji interjected as another boulder crashed behind her. "We need you here in case your former buddies wake up."
Eren scowled at her, but he lowered his hand.
With that out of the way, the Section Commander approached Dillon. "Do what you can to keep those rocks from reaching Reiner and Bertholdt," she ordered. "They escape, and we're screwed."
"Not gonna let that happen," Dillon promised, propelling himself to the top of the Wall.
There was a rumble, causing the soldiers to flinch, but they breathed a collective sigh of relief when rain began to fall. Too much time around the Shifters made them wary of explosions or sounds like them.
"Eyes on the skies, people!" Hanji shouted. "We've lost enough soldiers already."
On top of the Wall, Dillon focused harder than he ever had in his entire life. Every rock thrown, he diverted its path just enough to avoid casualties. However, he knew that he wouldn't last long. Already, his head started to swim, the bleeding was getting worse, and the world around him started to blur.
"Dillon!" He felt a pair of hands grab him before he could collapse.
"I thought I'd last longer than this," Dillon lamented, trying to stay conscious.
"You're bleeding," Historia said as she and Connie dragged him away from the edge.
There was another smash and a chorus of screams erupted. A trio of Scouts attempted to climb up and met a gruesome fate instead.
"Damn it," Dillon swore.
Fortunately, Reiner and Bertholdt's bodies finally reached the top, prompting Hanji and the other members of the 104th to show up.
"Load them into the carriages and inject them," the Section Commander ordered. "We're getting out of here."
"Section Commander, isn't this dosage too much?" a Scout asked, holding one of the syringes.
She whipped her stern look towards the soldier. "They're Titan Shifters. We're not taking any chances. Inject them now."
Rain was always welcome for a Titan Shifter. The liquid cooled the body they were in, making it more manageable. Annie could remember a few occasions where she sat in a lake in Titan form for an hour, letting the heat and the cold balance each other out. It was oddly relaxing. Of course, the steam erupting from these moments would be massive, but it was a small price to pay.
Getting a soothing experience, however, was not on the agenda. She could still see the rock flying at the Scouts. The War Chief of the Shifters always had incredible accuracy. She only saw him in combat once many years ago. There was a reason he was picked to lead the Warriors.
Sure enough, a mile of running later, Annie skidded to a stop as the Beast Titan lumbered out of the forest. He was still ugly as she remembered. At least he stopped throwing rocks.
"Six years it's been since I've seen you, little Annie," he spoke in that deep voice of his. "Amazing how much has changed in so little time."
Annie bristled, letting out a growl. She always hated that moniker he bestowed upon her.
The Beast Titan scratched his head. "I see you have yet to learn how to speak properly in that form. Odd. I'd think you would've figured how sooner than the rest of us."
Always talking. Always planning. The Female Titan kept up her guard. It was better for her opponent to make the first move. Maybe then, her nerves would calm a bit.
"I'll admit that I didn't see your betrayal coming. That's my burden to bear." He seemed so disappointed. "I only hope you are prepared for the consequences, Annie. You and your psychic lover."
Annie's eyes widened as she recoiled. Not once did she make mention of Dillon in her letter to him, much less his abilities.
Before she could wrap her mind around how he could've known, a pair of lightning bolts descended from the sky. No! She thought, mortified.
"You've only delayed the inevitable, Annie," the Beast Titan told her, ever the calm one. "One way or the other, they will all die."
Murder in her blue eyes, Annie whirled around and charged, crystallizing her fist.
Remastered Edits: Quite a few this time. Let me address the simple one first. In the original, I had Annie take Dillon with her to fight the Beast Titan, but she sent him back when Reiner and Bertholdt shifted. Considering what Dillon has been through, she would not put him in harm's way like that if she could help it. A lot of good it did her.
Now let's talk about the 104th. In the original, I glossed over the revelation itself and focused on their underwhelming reactions. Here? It was high time to flesh it out with all the angst that came with it. Annie stabbed them in the back, and she has to face the consequences.
And then, there's Sasha. She was a surprising character to get more fleshed out. I didn't expect where I ended up going with her, but it was a lot of fun writing her in that moment. There's a lot of potential with Potato Girl.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I look forward to your reviews, and I'll see you all in the next one.
