Notes: This is where things get interesting...
Ever since their successful mission to the Reiss Chapel Armin's mind had been working overtime, he had envisioned countless plans of how to deal with Annie. He had considered trying to lure her into a trap, ambushing her during a prolonged survival training exercise or trying to befriend her and waiting till she let her guard down.
Each had their own advantages and disadvantages. At present Armin believed their best chance of success was with the survival training 'accident', cadets had died before during such exercises either from exposure, wild animals or by falling off mountains or into canyons.
The issue would be the body or lack thereof. In all of the training accidents, bodies had been discovered; blooded, gnawed at, frozen or mangled and broken, there was always something to be found. That wouldn't be the case for Annie; a Titan rarely left any recognisable remains and, perhaps ironically, a lack of remains could raise more suspicion than an actual body.
He had been sitting in the mess hall, trying to solve that dilemma when Mikasa sat beside him, her eyes flicking over towards Eren and Jean as they started another heated argument over some inane topic.
"We need to talk, I have a plan." she murmured to him, making sure they weren't overheard in the busy mess hall. Armin quirked an eyebrow, Mikasa wasn't usually one to come up with plans, trusting in Armin to lead her right, but when she did, she showed she was just as capable of making plans as she is at following them.
With a nod he suggested they leave the mess hall and find somewhere quiet.
A few moments later they found themselves behind one of the outer storage huts, not the most private place but with most of the cadets currently stuffing their faces with breakfast they shouldn't be disturbed.
"Alright Mikasa, what's your plan?"
"Annie is going to sneak out of here tomorrow night to do some spying in the underground city. She's searching for information about the King."
"How do you know that?" Armin replied, surprise evident in his voice.
Mikasa suddenly looked strangely bashful, "I heard her leave the dorms last night, so I followed her. I found the three traitors talking about it in the woods, Reiner told her it was too dangerous, but she just told him she could handle herself."
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Armin nearly shouted, "Mikasa, are you crazy, do you know how dangerous that was? If they had found you, they would have killed you!"
"Calm down Armin. I was very careful."
"That's not the point Mikasa! This is dangerous; we can't just rush into this."
"Armin, this is an excellent opportunity. When are we going to get this kind of chance again? No one would find out."
Armin contemplates this, Mikasa is right, this is an excellent opportunity, but he's not happy with the timescale, they only had two days to get everything ready. It would be doable, but it would be tight.
"We'll need protection," Armin replies slowly "we can't risk something going wrong". They would have to keep Annie from transforming if they caught her, cutting off her limbs would achieve that.
Armin had prepared something that could knock Annie out, Hanji had created it after they retook Shiganshina in case Marley sent any more shifters. A potent, fast-acting sedative, made by mixing nearly a dozen commonly found herbs that could disable a shifter within seconds (Armin, being one of her two test subjects, could vouch for its effectiveness).
Mikasa gave a hum of approval, happy that Armin agreed to her plan.
Armin bit his lower lip, brows furrowed in concentration, considering the possible outcomes "Yes, this can work.".
"Alright. Let's do it." A note of determination filled his voice
And with that, Annie's fate is decided.
It's a cold, stormy night as Annie Leonhart trekked through the woods towards wall Sina. There's no moon tonight, hidden entirely by the dark grey storm clouds above.
Annie is not in a good mood. She doesn't want to be on this God-forsaken island, surrounded by the very people she had been taught to hate since birth. She didn't want to be wandering around in the dark, searching for some hidden monarch in the hope they know about the founding titan. She didn't want any of this; all she wanted was to go home. To fulfil her promise and to see her father again.
She had spent three years on this island now, and they were no closer to finding the founding titan than when they arrived. All they had done is broken wall Maria and killed thousands of these Island Devils… no, not devils, people. They had killed thousands of people.
She couldn't suppress the shame and disgust that burnt within her. These people had no idea about the outside world; they honestly believed they were the last of humanity. They couldn't understand why they had been attacked and they never would. Their orders had been clear if they couldn't find the founding titan, they were to destroy all three walls and let the regular titans finish off the survivors.
As she stepped over tree roots, she thought about her co-conspirators; it was clear that this mission was taking a severe toll on Reiner mental state. He seemed to drift between the warrior, sent to this island to destroy it, and a soldier who wants to fight for it.
Bertholdt was little better; he seemed to spend all his energy keep Reiner from blowing their cover and trying to distance himself from what they had done. Annie had accepted what she had helped do. She had accepted her crimes, she didn't pretend to be innocent like they did. She could never understand why Marley had given their strongest Titan to, who she considered to be, the weakest of the successful warrior candidates.
Without realising, she had wandered into a clearing, she had been walking for a while now and knew from experience it would likely be another hour until she reached wall Sina. Deciding to stop for a minute, Annie fished out her water canteen from her bag and gulped it down.
Suddenly a shiver went up her spine, something was wrong. She quickly leapt up, eye darting back and forth along the tree line, still not sure what had disturbed her.
She pulled a small knife out of her pocket, ready to slice her palm at a moment's notice, the feeling of wrongness was still there. She was being watched, she was sure of it, she looked deeper into the woods making out two unblinking yellow eyes staring straight at her.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she moved the knife to rest on her palm, as the bushes were pushed aside as whatever it was moved towards her. She was a split second away from cutting her palm when a flash of lightning lit up the night sky, in the sudden illumination of the clearing she could finally see what was watching her.
It was a deer.
Annie wanted to smack herself. She had nearly revealed herself all because she got spooked by some dumb animal. Letting out a shaky laugh, she shook her head, placing the blade back in her pocket, lambasting herself for being so stupid.
Then unexpectedly, something small and hard impacted against her neck, her hand flew up grabbing at whatever it was and pulling it out. She looked down at it in disbelief, it was a dart and it was leaking some fluid from the tip.
A wave of nausea hit her, she tried to reach for her knife realising she was under attack, but her arms felt like lead. Her legs gave up underneath her, and she collapsed, smacking her head hard against the ground.
"Get up Annie, you won't become a warrior if you don't train hard. Now wake up, we have training."
Hearing her father's voice Annie's eyes shot open, her heart pounding. She had been propped up against a tree, a haze of steam had surrounded her, pouring from her four newly amputated limbs. She stared in disbelief at the stumps, the sense of dread was almost overwhelming. Someone, somehow, had discovered the truth about her.
"Hello, Annie." Armin Arlert stood before her, his face completely devoid of emotion as he looked down upon her. A bolt of lightning lit up the night sky behind him, making him look more like a towering giant than the 5'3" cadet that he was. In that singular moment Annie had never feared a person more in her life.
"I wanted to talk to you, face to face. I never got the chance before."
"Before?! What is he talking about? How the hell did he find out about me?"
"I don't blame you, Annie. I don't blame you for what you helped do to Shiganshina and Wall Maria. I don't hate you for what you did to Levi Squad or Stohess. I still don't think you're a bad person."
"I know what Marley told you. They told you we were devils, guilty of crimes committed centuries ago. They promised you and your family would be absolved of your 'crimes' and could become honourary Marleyans if you became one of their 'warriors'."
Annie's head was reeling, she had no idea how Armin knew any of this, even if he had discovered her titan abilities, how could he know about Marley and the warrior program? It was impossible.
And what was he talking about with Stohess and Levi Squad? She had, of course, heard about Captain Levi through stories and cadet gossip; 'humanity's strongest soldier', a legendary figure in the survey corps, rumoured to have personally killed hundreds of titans. She had never met the man, yet Armin had accused her of doing something to his squad.
"I want you to know Annie, that this isn't personal. In another world, maybe things could have been different, maybe you could have fought alongside us, but this world is cruel, and we must be too if we are going to survive. Goodbye, Annie." The blond boy finished quietly before he turned and walked away from her gradually healing body.
Coming back to her senses, Annie called out after him, trying to keep him talking, buying her time until she had healed and could transform. But Armin ignored her, giving no reaction that he had even heard her speak.
Annie looked down at her limbs, they were healing rapidly, only another minute or two and she could transform. She would have to act fast; she would have to kill Armin, then make her way back to Reiner and Bertholdt and tell them they were compromised.
Her desperate planning was interrupted by a movement to her left. Her heart dropped as Mikasa Ackerman stepped into view. She had rarely spoken to the half Asian girl, the two of them had never gotten along and were even considered rivals by other cadets due to their hand to hand combat prowess. Mikasa silently stared at her, just like Armin her face was completely emotionless.
She said nothing as she pulled out a large syringe filled with a familiar blueish fluid and pressed the needle into her arm, thumb on the plunger. Annie's eyes nearly bulged out of her head; they weren't just going to kill her, they were going to take her power.
"Wait!" she cried out, composure starting to break, "Please don't, I don't know what you've been told, but if you use that you'll die. The curse…"
"I know." Mikasa interrupted coldly as she pushed down the plunger.
A yellow lightning bolt smashed into the clearing, as Mikasa body was broken apart and forcefully transformed. Where the half Asian girl had once been standing, now a 12m titan stood in her place; its arms were short and skinny, and its torso was elongated and narrow, it looked like a nightmarish stick figure. Its face was broad and stretched, its mouth open in a goofy grin with saliva dribbling down its pointed chin.
The titan reached down to where the helpless Annie sat, large hands gripping the terrified girl tightly, cracking ribs as it lifted her towards its open maw. Through the pain and fear Annie screamed "NO, NOOO!" as Annie was placed in the titan's mouth, "PLEASE FATHER, SAVE MEEEEE!" were Annie Leonhart last words before the titan's teeth came crashing down onto her.
Armin watched, silently, as Mikasa tore Annie apart, feasting on the body. He had wanted to look away, to block out Annie's screams for mercy, but he didn't. He had signed Annie's death warrant, so he forced himself to watch the consequences of his actions. He owed her that much at least.
As the titan consumed the last remnants of the body, it turned and look towards Armin, naturally seeking the next human to feast upon. Armin instinctively took a step back, the primal fight or flight response kicking in as he prepared to flee. Fortunately, before the titan could move towards him, it collapsed, slamming into the ground with a deafening crash.
He ran towards the steaming body, clambering up to reach the nape seeing Mikasa's human body still half-submerged in the titan's flesh. He plunged his arms into the steaming meat, wrapping them around his friend and pulled her out of the fleshly prison.
Mikasa was only semi-conscious when she was pulled out, the shifter marks under her eyes were long and red, reaching down to her checks. They fell to the ground as the titan body dissolved beneath them. She vaguely felt his arms around her and leaned further into his comforting embrace as her head lolled around. Eventually, she focused on his face, seeing his look of relief and the tears falling from his eyes.
"Armin" she whispered, "please… please don't leave me."
Armin knew she wasn't just talking about here and now, "I'll never abandon you." He choked out. "We'll do this together, I promise."
"Thank you, Armin." She slurred out, a single tear slipping down her face before she finally passed out.