AN: Before we get started, I need to apologize to every single one of you. Anyone can look at my previous Author's Notes and see when I said I'd do something, yet what you get is something else. Here's the thing: when I write those things, I actually do mean them at the time. But the problem is I get hit with a wave of inspiration or I realize that at this point, reality needs to ensue as I'm writing the chapter. Because this has happened AGAIN, I have decided that I'm not going to give any statements regarding future chapters from here on out. That also means I'm not going to have a steady upload schedule anymore. If I keep breaking my word, you guys are going to get rightfully sick of it. If you choose not to support this story because of my wrongdoings, I understand. To those who stick around, thank you for giving me another chance.

Now, on a more positive note… I HAVE A TV TROPES PAGE! Special thanks to my artist friend, Book-Nose, for offering to create it. If any of you feel so inclined, I would love for you guys to add to the page. Just look up Attack on Titan: A Blacksmith's Tale TV Tropes on Google. You'll find it. With that out of the way, let's dive in.


Chapter 64: In the End

The unsettling unknown of the future kept all the Scouts awake at night. With two of the commanding officers imprisoned and the rest of the Scouts cut off, the mission was brought to a complete standstill. It didn't help matters that the cadets were being watched by the hunters of Dauper just in case they tried a bone-headed move like a prison break. For now, they resigned themselves to remain outside until Eld or Moblit came to them with a plan of action.

"It's funny how one idiotic move can screw up everything," Connie mumbled with a shake of his head.

"Do we have ta talk about this now?" Sasha asked, annoyed at her head hurting more than anything else. "Ah really don't wanna think about Dillon fer a while."

Jean let out a snort. "What else are we gonna talk about? The weather? It's like Connie said: he screwed us over."

"He was trying to help," Mikasa said quietly as she kept her back to the group. "You saw what was happening. They were going too far."

"None of that would've happened if he just kept his mouth shut," Connie shot back. "How can you even defend him? He may have prevented you from seeing Eren again."

The Asian's fingers curled into a fist. "Don't go there. Not now."

Jean watched her for a moment, perplexed by her reaction. Anybody who knew Mikasa for even ten seconds knew she was always overprotective of Eren. For once, she was hesitating. Why would she act differently? Unless… "Oh, no." Jean was more exasperated than shocked. "You've gotta be kidding me. You have a thing for Dillon!"

That caused Mikasa to turn around sharply. Even in the dark, they could see a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks from the embarrassment. "What? Are you crazy?"

"I could ask you the same question," the brown-haired teen shot back. "When the hell did this happen?"

"It doesn't matter," Mikasa spat, her anger rising and falling quickly. "It… not anymore, it doesn't." Instinctively, she tightened the scarf around herself.

"Ya know, the one time you should be goin' for Eren with everythin' you've got, here you are mopin' around with the rest of us," Sasha commented with a snort. "Guess love really does make people stupid."

Mikasa threw the hunter a withering glare. "I'd punch you in the face, but I don't waste my energy on the mentally handicapped."

Sasha shot up to her feet, ignoring the adrenaline rush trying to cave her skull in. "The fuck you say ta me, Incest Lover!?"

The Asian joined her at standing up while preparing to beat her to a bloody pulp. "Get closer, bitch! Breaking your jaw might be able to cure your dialect!"

"STOP FIGHTING!"

The two girls halted at the high-pitched shriek, turning their heads to face Armin. The blond was panting heavily, fear coursing through his veins.

"We can't do this to each other!" he pleaded. "The situation is already bad enough without us trying to kill each other over pointless drama. I know we're all angry for one reason or another, but we have to figure out our next move."

Sasha groaned suddenly and and nearly lost her balance. Connie rushed to her side in an instant, catching her before she collapsed.

"I'm going to get you to your dad," Connie assured.

"No," Sasha protested, her eyes only half-open. "Armin's right. We gotta... figure this shit out."

"And how the hell are we supposed to do that?" Jean demanded as he listed everything wrong with their situation using his fingers. "We don't know where Eren and Historia are, we're cut off from the Scouts, our superiors are imprisoned, and this village is on lockdown. What kind of plan is going to get us out of this mess?"

"I… I don't know." Armin deflated as he tried to figure their situation out. "It won't be long before the MPs realize their soldiers haven't returned. Dauper can fight back, but I doubt they'll last long."

Jean threw his hands up in frustration. "Great. So we're up the creek without a paddle. That's just wonderful."

Armin thought about their situation carefully. On the surface, Jean's metaphor was accurate. It was easy to depend on leadership to give them orders they could follow. Without that dependency, they had to take an initiative. His mind drifted to the one good thing that was accomplished tonight as a plan formulated in his head. "It's not completely hopeless."

Mikasa gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Taking a deep breath to call on the courage he had during the Battle of Trost, the blond began to speak. "We still have the MPs as prisoners. If we can get the right information from them, we might be able to figure out the next move."

Sasha managed a shrug despite her weakened state. "Ah guess we're pickin' up where they left off."

Jean let out an exasperated sigh. It was possible this would lead to torturing the MPs for information. Ideally, he wanted no part in that, and he was lucky that he prevented Dillon from going through with it. His mind went back to that conversation that threw them into his mess, and he remembered a way out. "Dillon was right about one thing: torturing them isn't going to give us accurate information."

"You're right," Armin agreed with a nod. "We'll have to go at them a different way." Ideas were already taking root while he considered his options. It was clear that their absolute loyalty to the King would be a difficult barrier to break down. That being said, it wasn't impossible. Every human had their weaknesses, and Armin would do whatever it took to find theirs.


To say that Moblit didn't take kindly to Hanji and Levi being locked up was like saying the Titans were an annoyance: gross understatements. He wanted nothing more than to strangle Dillon for his idiotic stunt, but that could wait. Right now, he settled for tearing Eld a new one outside the prison.

"Why haven't you done anything!?" he demanded. "We have to get them out of there now! The fate of the Scout Regiment depends on it!"

"Moblit, stop shouting," Eld responded with a groan, holding his head. "I can't take loud noises right now." With that slight detour out of the way, he focused on what was important. "What was I supposed to do? Limp and flail? There was nothing we could have done except get locked up, too."

Moblit sighed as he fell into a sitting position. "How did things get so bad this quick?"

A dark chuckle escaped Eld. "We're Scouts. It's in the job description for things to go south."

That failed to cheer up Hanji's assistant. "You and I both know the only way we're going to survive this coup is with Levi and Hanji. We have to get them out of there."

"I couldn't agree with you more, but we're not on good terms with Dauper. If we tried breaking them out, we'll become their pincushions without a second thought." Eld shook his head at the dour situation. "The only thing you can do right now is take charge. The cadets need leadership now more than ever."

Moblit glanced at him with surprise. "Me? What about you?"

The injured soldier shook his head. "I've been in and out of the loop ever since I got shot. Even if I wanted to, I'd only slow you down. Sorry, Moblit. You're gonna have to take the reins on this one."

It was always so easy to defer to Hanji's leadership when things were going wrong. She always had a plan. Now with her temporarily out of the picture, he had to call the shots. It unsettled him to be in this position, but there was nothing else he could do. "Our first priority is to get the damn lockdown removed," he said with a grunt, getting off the ground. "We can't continue our mission if we're stuck in this village."

"Agreed. Good luck trying to convince the chieftain, though," Eld added sympathetically.

Moblit snorted as he moved in the direction of Markus's office. He was stopped when he took notice of two cadets coming his way. Bracing himself for the worst, he addressed them. "Mikasa, Armin, what are you two doing here?"

Armin took a deep breath to steel himself for what was to come. "I need your help, sir."


Prison wasn't a new experience for Levi. Being raised in the Underground, he ended up getting incarcerated on occasion whenever he got caught stealing something. The experiences never did any good for him or anyone who was unlucky enough to end up there. They just ended up going back to the streets after a few days to make room for the next batch of inmates.

This time, however, was completely different. The only reason he and Hanji were stuck in a cell together was because Dillon double-crossed him. That idiot didn't deserve to wear the uniform, and he didn't deserve to breathe the same air as them. Hell, Annie was more dependable than he was. How did that even happen? It didn't matter. Dillon needed to suffer the consequences and if Annie had to die as well, so be it. Until then, he had to suffer the most grating annoyance of his life: smug MPs in a cell next to them.

"How the mighty have fallen, Levi," Ralph crowed with delight. "Humanity's Strongest Soldier finally brought down to earth like the rest of us."

"I'm glad you are enjoying this," Hanji responded, her smile hiding the fury within. "It'll make our future chats well worth the wait."

"Give up your delusions already," Sannes muttered, exhausted by the whole ordeal. "There are more people against you than they are for you. Your Regiment is tearing itself apart, and you can't stop it. Your only hope is to plead for mercy when you are brought before the King. Perhaps he will listen."

"There's this little thing we have called dignity, Sannes," the prisoner in the third cell, Carolyn Amsdale, shot back. "You're willing to crawl on the ground like the serpent you are as long as you can continue to please your precious ruler. If we die, we at least die with our heads held high."

'"We?"' Levi repeated with a scoff. "Don't pretend you're one of us, Carolyn. You're a scientist and a lawyer, not a soldier."

"True, but I also make the same hard decisions when I have to," she pointed out. "When I was in Marley, I chose to be a part of a project that could change so much, bring good to our country. If people had to die in that pursuit, as long as we were successful, so be it. It was a good cause. Eliminating corruption so that people can live freely within these Walls? Another good cause." She sighed somberly, thinking back to those times. "But I got careless and made a mistake."

"And what would that be?" Hanji wondered, genuinely curious about the mindset of this woman.

"I allowed my son to join the military," Carolyn answered simply, briefly touching the bruise on her cheek. "He was never ready for that life, unprepared for the demons he never saw coming. It was my mistake to give him that freedom, thinking that it would do me and him some good. Now, it's destroyed who was, and any hope of him doing the right thing is gone. It's no wonder he's hated and no wonder he's broken."

There was a distance in her tone that Levi found… unsettling. This was a far cry from the confident, cheerful lawyer he knew. "If you and Matthew came clean to the brat sooner, maybe none of us would have had to deal with this bullshit."

She shrugged. "Maybe. It doesn't really matter anymore, does it?"

Sannes scoffed at all this, resting against the sturdy wall. "People like you are the reason we exist. Dangerous fanatics trying to twist other lives to serve their own benefit."

"The difference between the both of us, Corporal?" She gave the MP a glare. "I fight for freedom from your oppressive government. You just want to control us all in a pathetic belief that you're actually doing some good. Anyone with a decent sense of intelligence would choose me over you anytime."

"How arrogant can you possibly be?" Ralph questioned, bewildered by her stance. "What you see as freedom is actually anarchy. We are the only thing standing between peace and a civil war. Who do you think has prevented uprisings from occurring during the famine? We have every single time. The populace has to be controlled for the sake of this country's security. If that makes us tyrants in your eyes, then we'll wear that title with pride."

Levi would've started tuning them out were it not for one thing nagging at the back of his mind. It was something he shouldn't have cared about, yet he still spoke of it. "You haven't begged once for your son's life, Carolyn."

An uncomfortable silence settled in the room. Four of the five prisoners waited for her response, almost with bated breath. Carolyn heaved a heavy sigh before explaining herself. "My husband is dead and my son has rejected me. He wanted to hand me over to you so you could exact his revenge." Even from the large distance between them, Levi could see a spark of life in those eyes. "Executing him saves my life. It gives me a chance to work with you on destroying this corrupt government once and for all."

It had been a long time since the captain of the Scout Regiment was rendered speechless. Seeing Carolyn in this light made him realize why he was finding her so disturbing: she was like Erwin except with a sinister edge. For the first time in his life, he could see this woman being the same one that was attached to Project Psion all those years ago.

From Hanji's perspective, it was like looking at a very distorted mirror. Here was a woman who was willing to cross over so many lines of morality to achieve her goals just like the Scouts would do. But Carolyn wasn't just standing on the graves of people she sacrificed or was willing to sacrifice; she was pissing on them, too! Realizing this filled Hanji with righteous sense of fury. How dare that bitch try to compare herself to the Regiment? How dare she throw away lives as if they were nothing but trash, treating them like… like…

Like their lives mean absolutely nothing.

A surge of guilt gripped her soul, something she thought was lost a long time ago. Eld's words were coming back to haunt her when her mind fixated on the cadets. Pushing them to exceed their limitations was supposed to happen. Soldiers did that all the time. But… the Scouts went on expeditions once a month. In about two months, the 57th Expedition happened, they fought the Female Titan who happened to be the cadets' former comrade, took on a couple of deranged Psions, liberated Wall Rose, fought the Armored and Colossal Titans were also former friends, suffered a betrayal by Ymir, had to rescue Eren from the Shifters' clutches, start running and hiding from the government, and now, they were expected to kill humans. That was too much for any normal person.

Hanji couldn't pretend anymore: they were all starting to crack under the pressure. If something wasn't done to remedy this, they would collapse.

"Hanji?"

"GAH!" the Section Commander yelped as she whirled around to face the cell door. A familiar face was standing on the other side, recoiling from her loud exclamation. "Moblit! When did you get here?"

"I walked in a minute ago," Moblit explained, his heart trying to calm down. "Are you okay? I had to call your name several times."

Ignoring how deep in thought she was, she glowered at her cellmate. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Levi just shrugged. "I would have by the fifth time. You responded in four tries."

"Well, next time, don't make him wait so long." Shaking it off, she addressed her right-hand man with a grin. "What's up, Moby?"

To her left, the door to the MPs' cell was unlocked. Sannes and Ralph were led away in shackles by the guards, though the two threw the Scouts dirty looks as they passed by.

Paying them no heed, Moblit responded with, "We're going to be interrogating the MPs. I wanted to know what information you want us striving for?"

"We?" Hanji finally registered that Moblit wasn't the only one there. Mikasa, Armin, and even Eld were present for this. She hadn't been this distracted since her experiments. Damn conscience.

Levi decided to take the lead on this. "Find out the truth regarding the Reiss family. If you have to break his bones to get it done, do it."

He nodded. "Understood, sir. Whatever it takes."

The captain gave them one final warning. "You only get one chance at this. Don't screw it up."

"We won't, Captain," Armin swore with determination in his eyes. "We'll get the job done."

The three of them followed guards up the stairs where the interrogation rooms were probably at. That left Eld, who had stayed quiet until this moment. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Little late to ask for that, Eld," Levi responded. "If you're going to try and lecture us, save your breath. We need sleep, and so do you."

He shook his head, melancholy creeping into his voice. "I can't. Not until we work this out."

Hanji couldn't bring herself to say anything. Her own demons were starting to taunt her, distract her from all this.

Eld paused to make sure he phrased his words carefully. "The thing is that... you two don't seem to give a damn about how much this whole thing is wearing down on the cadets, on us."

"Limitations can be overcome," Levi pointed out. "When the chips are down, soldiers can achieve things they never thought possible."

"Maybe, but that's not what you have under your command. You have kids struggling to make it to the next day without losing their sanity. Sure, some of them are able to adapt quickly, but others haven't. That's why... " Eld did not want to say what was on his mind, but it had to be done. "That's why the Stohess Operation was a complete disaster."

The captain's eyes narrowed at that accusation. "What the hell are you saying?"

Well, there was no turning back now. "Annie was a close friend of Eren's, remember? How much did he protest the very notion that she was the Female Titan? Trying to use him to take her down was a mistake, and we all nearly paid the price for it."

"Eren was going to be handed over to the Military Police," he retorted. "We had no choice but to do it that way. It was our best shot."

"Was it, or was that the more convenient solution?" Eld questioned harshly. "I mean, Eren is a Titan Shifter, and Annie is a Titan. If using her comrades to lure her underground failed, then he could fight her on her level. Problem solved."

Levi was getting sick of this conversation. "It was his duty as a soldier to do what is required of him. If you haven't grasped that concept by now, you shouldn't be here."

Eld wanted to punch something out of frustration, but he didn't want to break his good hand. That didn't stop him from raising his voice. "Damn it, Levi! None of them signed up for this! They enlisted to kill Titans! TITANS! Monsters that seek to eat us all! They were the enemy! The Female Titan changed everything. In their eyes, at the time, there were now humans working with cannibalistic monsters. And not just any humans: their close friends! Maybe some of them can quickly detach from them and get the job done like you can, but you are not the standard, Levi. All of them are under the worst kind of strain, and you two keep pushing them further and further. You want control and total obedience? The situation has drastically changed. Now, you have to earn that from them."

'"...Earn it?"' Levi's voice dropped dangerously low as a cold wave of fury took over. "We are fighting for survival. Humans, Titans, it's all the same. If we don't fight, we die. You think the cadets need more motivation? That the most pathetic thing I've heard tonight, and I had to deal with fucking Amsdale."

"Is that so?" Eld asked, moving closer to the bars. "Answer me this, Levi: why do you want to live?"

He scoffed. "What the hell kind of question is that?"

"A legitimate one. If you think it's a stupid question, then you should be able to answer it."

"...I wanted answers." At long last, Hanji entered the conversation. "There were so many mysteries surrounding the Titans. I wanted to know them, understand them, uncover the truth."

"And now that you have?" Eld pressed. "What happens next? When the fight is over, what is there to live for?"

Hanji looked away. "Now I have to live with knowing the truth." Guilt and sadness filled her tone.

"The fight is never going to be over, Eld," Levi stated in a monotone. He sounded so… resigned. "People will fight and kill for the rest of our lives. That's the way it was in the Underground, it's the way up here. Survive or die. Those are your only options."

Eld's mouth closed into a grim line. "Sorry to hear that, Captain."

"Even if the fight does end someday, what's left for us? That's all we've known for years. Peace is nothing more than a myth," Hanji commented bitterly. "The Titans have been a threat for generations, and they aren't leaving. We're nothing more than leaves in a changing season."

Levi's thoughts briefly drifted to a certain ginger-haired woman that he knew. He had been thinking about her a lot since her death. How he would never see her cheerful demeanor again. How he wouldn't be able to confide in her on things he could never voice. How he… cared about her.

Was that love? He doubted it. Maybe in a different world he would have considered it. Pursued her. But here? There was no such thing as peace. And her life was gone too quickly. It was better not to dwell on such things, even if the thought, for a time, made his own miserable life slightly more bearable. It was just a fantasy of a make-believe world, nothing more.


Getting stitches the first time was bad enough, but having them replaced on the same night was even worse. Dillon would've passed out from the operation were it not for the stress he was under. So much had happened in such a short time, it was like a dream. Unfortunately, he was wide awake for the madness he caused. It would've been easy to blame Levi and Hanji for what had happened, but the reality wasn't that merciful. What the hell was he supposed to do now that he was a traitor to the Scout Regiment?

As if this night couldn't get any worse, Annie entered the room right after the surgery was complete. She looked down at him as if pitying the state he was in. "Dillon… we need to talk."

He swallowed the dryness in his throat. "Yeah, we do," he agreed. Already, he had a bad feeling about this.

Annie seemed hesitant, something he hadn't seen since the first time they made love to each other. Despite this, she began to speak. "You saved my life even when I didn't think I could be saved. I will always be grateful for that, but.." She heaved a sigh to steel herself. "Dillon, we can't do this anymore."

The blacksmith's eyes widened in shock. He knew exactly what she was saying, yet he couldn't help but ask, "What?" softly.

"I thought things were going to get better between us after that little display of removing another block beforehand," she explained, unable to keep the sadness out of her tone. "You were so confident about it that I actually believed you. And yet, you're exactly where I left you."

If Dillon had the energy to do so, he would have started panicking, but he was so drained physically and mentally, it took all of his effort to respond. "Annie… I'm trying." Such a weak protest.

"I know, but it's not good enough anymore." Annie couldn't bear to look at his face and see the hurt in his eyes, so she turned around. "I thought you'd be able to finally adapt to this world and cope with your shitty circumstances. Instead, you're destroying yourself because you don't have what it takes to make it. Maybe if you didn't have your powers, it would have been different. I don't know."

Dillon couldn't speak, unable to muster any sort of defense against this. He was trying to think of something, anything, he could say, but he was coming up empty. Above all else, this was his worst fear coming to life. She was leaving him, abandoning him.

Annie was inwardly grateful that he was silent. It made it slightly easier to say these things. Still, she wrapped her arms around herself to provide a small amount of security. "I once thought that what I felt for you was love, and that's why we kissed that night. But, the more I think about it, I realize that I wanted to know what it felt like to be with someone that cared about me without the baggage of my crimes. It was… nice." She pursed her lips to prevent herself from allowing her voice to break. "But it was nothing more than a fantasy. We had to wake up, no matter how horrible the truth was, and we have to wake up now." She still had her back to him so she wouldn't lose her nerve. "I can't trust you anymore, Dillon."

It was like a sword was slowly piercing his chest and it finally reached his heart. He was mortified, silently praying that this whole thing was just a nightmare and he would be able to awaken. No, don't do this to me. Not now!

She still kept going even when there was more emotion creeping into her voice. "You're unstable, you can't adapt, you can't cope, you let your emotions guide your every move even when they send you and the rest of us to Hell, and you're losing more and more of yourself. I… I can't keep picking up the pieces when you crumble, not when this keeps happening over and over again. It's draining the life out of me, plunging me into a darkness that never seems to end. I stayed with you this long because I owe you so much. Like I said, I'll always be thankful and I'll always care about you… but you're a sinking ship, Dillon. I have to get out before it's too late." It was a miracle that she hasn't started sobbing from breaking her ties with him. There was no way in hell she could let him see how much this was hurting her. Now, it was time to walk away.

"...Don't go."

Annie froze, those simple words gripping her very soul. She could feel his agony through the mind link, and it made her feel nauseated. She was tempted to go to him, assure him that she would not leave him. That would defeat the purpose of what she needed to do. She had to see this through to the bitter end, no matter how much it hurts.

She focused on the link between them, doing her damndest to keep her composure. It seemed that he was too shocked, too grieved, to fight back. The advantage had to be seized before it was too late. She imagined a knife in her hands, and with all of her might, she severed it.

Dillon recoiled with a sharp gasp. It was like a part of himself was carved out of his head and stomped into the ground in front of him. It was gone. She…

"I'll make sure the Scouts won't kill you," Annie promised quickly. "Goodbye, Dillon." She darted from the room as fast as she could.

All for nothing. Every moment they shared together, the good and the bad, was meaningless in the end. What was the point of it all if she was to just up and leave him. Dillon had no strength to weep, though tears streamed down his face against his will, and no strength to rage against this. He felt… empty. It was all gone, and he had no one to blame but himself.


AN: Remember I brought up how Reality Ensues? Yeah, this is one of those times. Actions have consequences, and when a relationship is strained, it's highly possible that something is going to give. Many of you will rant at Annie, many of you will support/understand her decision. I'm okay with that.

This is arguably the most depressing chapter I've ever written… but the story is not over yet.