It was a cold morning. The sun had raised a few hours ago, but the air was still cold. The weather on the island sure seemed different than in Liberio, but Dina had been prepared for that. She knew practically everything that the Marleyan military knew and that included the climate. She crouched down to pick some of her stuff up.
Suddenly a ground started shaking behind her. She was curious to see what was causing this phenomenon and turned around.
A titan had arisen from below the ground. In front of the titan, stood Reiner. He seemed to be brooding and wasn't aware of the beast behind him.
"Reiner!" Marcel yelled as he ran towards him.
In this moment, everything became clear to Dina. She knew what she was supposed to do right now. During these few seconds, she felt completely in control.
Dina brought her small hand to her mouth and bit down.
A wave of energy burst from her spot. Instantaneously titan flesh formed around her. She concentrated all of her power to produce this strong body as fast as she could.
Fortunately for Reiner, she managed to do it quicker than usual.
Dina stomped the titan down, right as it was about to close its mouth around the boy.
"Are you okay?" Marcel asked him.
"I wasn't even supposed to come…" Reiner responded with a dull voice "…I wasn't supposed to become a warrior…"
"Snap out of it!" Marcel shouted out.
This seemed to have some reaction, as the light-haired boy looked towards him.
"Right now," their leader started again "none of it matters! We're here and nothing can change that. Do you understand?!"
"…Just how am I supposed to fight if I…"
"Shut up!" Marcel cried out "just forget what I said yesterday!"
"Easy for you to say…" Reiner started, looking at him with eyes wide open "…you just saved your brother from a cruel fate…"
"And your fate will be even worse if you don't start acting like a true warrior!"
Reiner seemed more confused than threatened.
"If you want to prove" Marcel began "that you had always been a better candidate, now's your chance. You're the armoured! The shield of Marley. You need to pull yourself together, Reiner."
His words had a good effect on the light-haired boy's morale.
"Yeah" Reiner slowly said "you're right. I'll prove it all…"
Marcel nodded at him. He looked towards Dina.
"Annie!" He asked her "don't turn back. I know it's a stetch, but you'll need to carry us to the wall alone!"
Dina knew he was right. She was supposed to bring all the pure titans up to the wall and she already used a lot of energy forming her body too quickly. If she exited it right now and transformed later again, she would be way too exhausted when it finally came to summon the titans.
She nodded at their leader.
"The horses ran away!" Marcel exclaimed "Reiner, Bertholdt, hop on Annie. We need to reach the wall before the sun sets!"
She was running at top speed. As she roared again, she looked back. The horde she gathered was still following her. This was good. They were right in front of the wall.
"Annie!" Marcel yelled at her "Switch!"
Dina was exhausted from the long run. She gladly exited her titan form, nearly falling down. Fortunately, she was caught by her comrades.
"Thank you, Annie" their leader said as he cut his hand "Reiner, take care of her. Bertholdt, you have a gate to destroy."
From there she couldn't make out anything that was happening. When colossal titan destroyed the wall, the jaw was trying to fend off any of the titans that got too close to them. Suddenly she saw something weird. One abnormal seemed to go past Marcel unnoticed. Reiner was looking at Bertholdt trying to exit his titan, so she was the only one aware of it.
It was getting closer each passing second. Their leader was still occupied with keeping the horde off, and Reiner was still turned back to the titan. Did he not hear its footsteps?
It's gotten close enough for it to reach her. If Reiner was going to act, now was his chance.
"Hey Annie" he asked, "how many medals do you think we'll get for this?"
'Help me' she thought as the titan reached out for her 'please'.
Suddenly Reiner turned around. The fear was visible on his face when he saw that the titan was trying to devour his comrade.
"Retreat!" They could hear Marcel as he ran towards the wall with his head out of his titan body "Reiner! What are you waiting for?!"
That seemed to get through as the light-haired boy finally brought a hand to his mouth. But it was already too late. The horde ran past the abnormal, towards Reiner. He bit on his hand and a bright light erupted from his spot. Now transformed, the armoured titan tried to snatch Dina out of the abnormal's hand, but the horde stopped him effectively.
"Do you have her?!" Their leader asked "Reiner! Retreat!"
'Don't leave me here' Dina thought.
She could finally see the face of the beast. Its wide smile was the last thing she remembered, ever.
"Hey!"
Dina opened her eyes. Her head was hurting, and she was still exhausted from all the events that took place a few days ago. She looked towards the source of the voice.
"How are you doing?" Hange asked, looking at her through the bars.
When they got back, the scouts finally enacted the arrest the research division captain issued. It wasn't her first choice of accommodation, but she did act against orders, so an arrest was understandable.
When they got back, she told them everything. The world outside the walls, the truth about titans, her life and mission. She also told them about her relations with Grisha.
To say everyone was shocked by the revelation was an understatement. Especially Eren. For some reason he seemed really lost these days. The only person who somehow seemed happy about all that information, was Erwin.
"I'm holding up" Dina finally replied.
"Alright" Hange said as she pulled out a key.
Dina watched as the woman opened the doors to her cell.
"Is my arrest over?" She asked.
"Officially, no" Hange responded "the royal government demanded for you to be handed to the military police. Of course, given all the information you possess, we can't really do that. The only thing that keeps you within the survey corps is this arrest."
"Then why are you releasing me?" Dina asked.
"Eren needs you" the female officer explained "we're trying to make him learn the hardening, but so far we've had no success. Your experience may prove valuable."
Dina was happy that she was going to see Eren. They kept her here for way too long.
"Also" Hange suddenly said "we have some bad news…"
