Hello again,
Congrats to for being the first to answer my question correctly. Many of you were on the same page, but the exact answer I was looking for was "future." Here's your cookie Etherious: (::)
Massive spoiler warning for Attack on Titan. If you're anime-only, skip the rest of these opening author notes. You've been warned!
Guest Reviewer: "There is just something I don't understand about your last chapter. I get that Annie copied the Attack titan's powers. But I don't get how she was able to gain her futur memories. If I'm not mistaken Eren was never able to send directly to himself his futur memories. He had to send them to his father so that through him he would be able to see them. There it just seemed like Annie could see her futur, which is not possible because you can only send memories to the previous users, not yourself. Anyway I think she would need someone between her futur self and her past self, like grisha was to Eren."
Answer: Yup, you're correct. Eren is only able to see his future because Grisha has seen Eren's future, which Eren saw once he inherited his father's memories. Took me a long time to process all that but yeah, Annie probably shouldn't have been able to see future memories of herself.
However, I think this following quote is my single saving grace:
"The influence of the Founder's powers has no past or future… They all exist at the same time. And that's why it was inevitable." - Eren, chapter 139
The Founding Titan's powers really muddles things up; some of its powers were in play during that whole Grisha, Zeke, and Eren scene in chapter 121. Plus, Eren has shown that he also has the ability to see and influence events in the past without going through Grisha or other titan users, such as in the case where he controls Diana to walk past Bertolt and towards Carla instead. This is totally overstepping the Attack Titan's 'unique' ability but if that quote from chapter 139 holds true, Eren should be able to do this with the future as well. But Eren isn't all-knowing and omnipotent, in the manga he admitted to Armin that he doesn't know how it would all go down. But I think Eren could be 'all knowing' if he wanted to, but instead he made the decision not to use the Founder to peak into the future so he doesn't become a slave to the future or something. Who knows?
So with Annie seeing the future, I'm going to play the same bullshit card Isayama uses and say it was "inevitable" for Annie to see those memories and that she saw them because of some weird mixture of the Founding Titan and the Attack Titan (but Annie doesn't have royal blood, so I guess she can't adopt the Founding Titan's powers either, oops). I guess one work around is if Ymir said "fuck it" in that moment and let Annie use her powers to see those things. If I really need to justify the logic of it all, maybe I'll implement something like that in a future chapter. We'll see…
All that broken logic aside, I like the added element of Annie seeing the future. It's going to make her more relevant as a character and better rationalize how 'the crew' is able to figure out Eren can see the future instead of someone coming up with that idea out of the blue.
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, HOO, or AOT and I'm not profiting off anything.
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Author's note
Narration
Thoughts and Internal Conversations
"Speaking, duh"
Last time
Hours before the Scouts arrive at Percy's cell, inquiring about Annie Leonhart, Annie herself was in the fight of her life. Only just managing to escape the clutches of a berserk Eren in titan form, Annie's hopes of freedom are dashed as Mikasa slices her down. In a last-ditch attempt to save herself from becoming Eren's next meal or being tortured for information, Annie seals herself away in a titan-hardened cocoon. And in the process of hardening, she sees something she shouldn't have.
After the fight, the Scouts come for Percy, transporting him from the Military Tribunal within Wall Sina to Erwin's office within Stohess District. There, Percy becomes aware of Annie's true identity. Striking a deal with the Scouts, the Scouts tell Percy what happened to Annie in exchange for everything Percy knows about Annie's personal life. After exchanging information, Erwin frees Percy from the chains around his ankles, promising Percy's full freedom if he does good. But not explaining what it means to "do good," Erwin sends Percy away, to be brought to some unknown location by the Scout called Nanaba. Introducing Percy to his 'eccentric' steed, the prisoner and the soldier of freedom begin their long journey.
Chapter 12: Duty
Stohess District
5 hours after the capture of the Female Titan
1 pm
Percy's POV:
"Huh? A criminal?"
"A dangerous one too, by the looks of it. See how they got him chained."
"But what's with the security detail?"
"The military must be low on men, scrambling around to clean up this damn mess they made."
Trotting through the cobbled streets of Stohess, Nanaba and I receive an abundance of odd looks and hushed whispers. Nanaba is undismayed by the attention we receive; forging forward down the street without a hitch. Meanwhile, I'm left laying bare in Sam's saddle with no other option than to follow my chaperone with burning ears.
"Mommy, what's with that man?" A small girl asks, with one small hand tugging the bottom of her mother's dress and the other pointing out at me as Sam and I pass the pair.
"That's what they do to you when you don't eat your greens, dear."
I don't think I could shrink further into Sam's saddle if I tried.
"I wonder if today will be written down in the New New Testament." Sam-the-horse neighs with glee.
"God's child; returned from the heavens; bound once again in chains; suffering the sins of man and horse kind; carried on the back of his loyal, courageous, and handsome steed as his tormentor parades him through town for all to witness."
At least one of us is having fun.
"I'm honored to be living in this moment."
We take a turn, exiting the cramped narrow streets of the city and entering a spacious piazza/park; with empty open pavement for foot travel and sections of grass and trees. The contrast is nice, but the moment to enjoy the new open environment is ruined. In the center of the piazza, is a damaged and smoldering tower.
"What happened?"
"Collateral damage," Nanaba answers without much of an explanation.
The 25-meter marble tower towers over the surrounding buildings, standing grand in the middle of the piazza. The lower section of the tower uses a Gothic style of rounded arches while its upper section is decorated with Romanesque pointed arches.
"You have it backwards." Annabelle corrects me. "Gothic style has the pointed arches, Romanesque is rounded."
Close enough.
"Come on, don't make me take Annabeth's job. How many times has she corrected you for this?"
The roof of the tower is a pyramidal dome; with a slow-sloping outer dome that turns into an inner pyramidal design that adds a few extra meters to the tower's total height. Both the outer dome and inner pyramidal parts of the roof are tiled with those same red shingles that the rest of the buildings in the city use. The building is a work of art; a structure that looks as if it was constructed during the Italian Renaissance or something.
Annabeth would have loved to see it.
But rising from behind the tower's beautiful dome roof is a billowing cloud of smoke. Cracked marble foundations and smoke following out of the tower's broken windows tells us the giant black plumes are coming from the building itself, but it's not until we pass the corner of the tower that we see the actual damage done to the building.
And the bodies.
Rows and rows of bodies—all covered with bloody sheets to protect the dignity of the deceased.
"The Church was conducting mass when Annie was confronted. Over a hundred of its members were inside the building when the Female Titan crashed into it," Nanaba explains, as crews of workers continue to move between the tower and the bodies.
"As much as I despise the Church of the Walls…"
Nanaba pauses, nodding in the direction of another crew of workers with a stretcher over their shoulders, carrying another draped body from inside the collapsed side of the church.
"... not even I would wish that upon them."
The crew stumbles as they forge through the rubble, but they eventually hit flat ground, proceeding to carry the stretcher over to where they've placed Annie's other victims.
"Wait, did you say she crashed into it?"
"The Scout Regiment confronted Leonhart and asked her to submit herself peacefully. She didn't." Nanaba explains, keeping her attention on the destruction, slowly pronouncing each syllable as if deliberately choosing each word with care.
"Leonhart assumed her titan form. It was during Eren Jaeger's pursuit of the Female Titan that she crashed into this here church and killed those people."
"Was… Was Annie pushed into the church?"
Keeping her head turned towards the tower, instead of answering, Nanaba only spares me a wary sideways glance.
"She was, wasn't she?"
But her previous explanation was enough; I don't need her to answer my question.
"... thank the gods."
And I do. Although I'm worlds away, I send them a prayer. Thanking them that Annie wasn't solely responsible for this horrible scene.
I thank them that I still have a chance to save her.
"Perseus," Nanaba calls, turning her shoulders to directly face me.
"What is Annie Leonhart to you?"
"She's… uhh…"
Shit, Annabelle what do I say?!
"..."
"I… I don't know."
"Well, you better find out what she is, soon," Nanaba says.
There's some underlying tone in her message; like whatever I say might make or break my relation with the military and people of this world. Is that why Erwin sent me out with this lady? For Nanaba to be the judge of my character and motivations? I could take the easy route; reply to Nanaba saying Annie was my tormentor in prison.
But…
"Annie's a friend. That's what she is."
But Athena was right; personal loyalty really must be my fatal flaw.
"Hmph." Nanaba sounds with half acknowledgement and half displeasure.
Our horses trot forward a few more steps, gradually leaving the scene of the church behind.
"You should be careful with who you surround yourself with. That 'friend' of yours is a traitor to the military and an enemy of mankind."
We exit the plaza, putting the smoldering, ruined church building behind us, and continue our journey to gods-know-where.
"Holy shit!"
"What?!" Nanaba jumps at my expression. "What is it?"
"T-The Wall! It's huge!"
I'm not blind; the Wall was impossible to miss. It's an encasing horizon, visible from every street and every direction. Everywhere you look, you see the wall peeking over the city's buildings and hills. But I didn't pay much mind to how tall it truly was, until now. As we ride down the streets towards it.
"How else is it supposed to keep titans out?" Nanaba rhetorically replies. "Did you not know about its height?
"I did—but I thought it was an exaggeration! Is it really 50 meters high, all the way around?"
The muscles in my neck and my spine cry in protest as I crane my neck to see the top of Wall Sina. For a second, I have to shield my eyes from the sun, but as we move forward a few paces, the Sun too becomes blocked out by the immense structure.
While the Wall is nowhere near as tall as New York City's skyline, the fact that it's just a continuous, 50 meter, block of stone with no openings that stretches around the entire city…
It's absurd.
"Yes, it's 50 meters tall," Nanaba answers as she continues to lead Sam and me towards the barrier.
"And you really have three sets of them that are all like—hundreds of miles long?"
"Yes, we do."
"Wow…"
I lower my head, rubbing the back of my sore neck as I return my gaze to ground level.
"How could people build such a thing? In my world, we have the Great Pyramids and the Great Wall of China, but to build a structure like this?"
It's as if their creation was the work of divine intervention.
"I wouldn't believe they existed if I didn't see them myself," I admit to Nanaba. "I can see why they made a religion out of this."
"Hmm." Nanaba hums with intrigue. It's like she wants to say something, but instead, she turns her head, averting her gaze to the road ahead.
"Excuse me, my lord?" Sam neighs.
"Yeah, please don't call me that," I whisper back to him.
"But I am your servant, and you are my lord," Sam replies with a frightening level of sincere honesty. "Why shouldn't I call you that?"
"Because it's weird and makes me uncomfortable."
"Oh, alright then… Should I use "your majesty" instead?"
"No."
"Your highness?"
"Nope."
"My excellency?"
"That one is even worse."
"Boss?"
Hearing Sam call me that is like a stab in the heart. He didn't come up with it on his first attempt, but somehow he reached the same name Blackjack used to use.
"Yeah… that works… But don't use it like I'm your master, lord, or king."
"What do you mean?"
"Where I come from, that word means family. Got it?"
"Sure thing Boss!" Sam neighs with glee.
"... so what did you want to say?"
"Oh right! Have you truly, umm… never seen the Walls before?"
"... no, I haven't… Not until now…"
"Are you really from another world?"
"Where did you hear that?"
"Horse gossip."
"... Yeah. I mean, I think so. It's just, nothing I'm seeing is familiar."
If these Walls existed in my world, I would've known about them.
"I—erh, know humans get attached to places… Do you miss your home?"
"Yeah… I do…"
"You know…" Sam trails off. "You're always welcome in my stable. It's not much, but they hand out apples every Sunday."
I can't help but let out a laugh.
"Thanks, Sam."
"We're here," Nanaba announces as we come to a stop near the base of Wall Sina.
Nanaba slides off her horse's saddle and motions me to follow.
"Papers?" A military man standing at the base of the wall asks, lazily opening out his hand.
On his jacket breast pocket is a Rose Inginia; the telltale sign that this man is a part of the Garrison Regiment. But why did Nanaba lead me here—to a gateless, barren spot along the edge of Wall Sina?
The clinking of machinery brings my attention up. And that's when I noticed it; the mechanical lift contraption at top of the wall, slowly lowering down a fenced-in platform large enough for a couple of horses and men to ride on.
"We're going to climb the Wall?!"
"Orders from Commander Erwin of the Survey Corps," Nanaba replies, ignoring my outburst.
She pulls a letter from a pocket in her jacket and hands it to the man. The Garrison member takes the letter, opens it, and holds it up to his face. In the middle of reading, he subtly lowers the letter, peering over the paper and scanning me with his eyes. He briefly raises the paper back up to finish reading it, before handing it back to Nanaba.
"Right this way."
The man opens the fence gate to the lift. Nanaba first leads her horse onto the platform, then Sam. Nanaba steps on the platform next. I take a step towards the platform, but find myself hesitating to commit to jumping on.
"Come on." Nanaba eggs on.
I fully step on the lift.
The Garrison Regiment member closes the gate behind us. He takes a step back then waves up to his comrades at the top. Then the lift begins moving; metal gears creaking as we slowly ascend the wall.
I swallow a gulp of spit seeing the building below shrink in size and people gradually turn into the size of ants.
"Scared of heights?" Nanaba asks.
"Let's just say… my uncle didn't like me getting close to the sky."
I try to detect any signs of ozone we climb; that particular scent Thalia and Jason would give off right before they'd blast me with lightning. But I don't. The clouds above don't blacken, my hair never becomes frizzy, and the sky never rumbles in annoyance. Even though deep down I know Zeus isn't around anymore, it's still unnerving to be this high.
This isn't my element.
The winds precariously push at our lift, becoming rougher the further we climb, but the lift's system stays sturdy, reliably pulling us along until we reach the top.
When we hit the top, Nanaba and I are greeted with more members from the Garrison—a squad of 5. They move over to us when the lift slows to a halt, opening the gate and helping us step off.
The first thing I do when I step off is walk over to the other edge to see what's on the other side.
Hills. Rolling hills of forests. A road, leading from the gate of the city to some other settlement further in the interior. And a river, snaking through the landscape, flowing under Wall Sina, through the city of Stohess, and out the other side.
"We're not going that way," Nanaba tells me, getting Sam and her horse in order.
"We're not?"
"No, we're going to ride West a top Wall Sina until we pass Ehrimich District. At Ehrimich, we'll take another lift." Nanaba explains, motioning for me to hop back onto Sam.
"Into the city?"
"No. Into the lands of Wall Rose."
Nanaba swings herself onto her horse's saddle. Noticing I haven't moved, she motions her head again.
"Let's ride."
"Let's go, boss."
(I Wanna Be In The Cavalry by Corb Lund)
(An upbeat song with drums and acoustic that has American civil war-ish vibes)
Well I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war.
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before.
I wanna good mount when the bugle sounds and I hear the cannons' roar.
Well I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
The winds tousle our hair and blow in our faces as we gallop across the top of the Wall. At times, the breeze will kick up and make it almost impossible to see straight or breathe if our heads are turned forward. Other than that, we had no problems. The ride itself is actually quite enjoyable. The air is pleasantly chill, you never get bored of the scenery, and we make a good pace.
I can see why Nanaba chose to ride atop the Wall rather than having us take the roads. No obstacles, no people—just a straight flat path to our destination.
Well I wanna horse in the volunteer force that's riding forth at dawn.
Please save for me some gallantry that will echo when I'm gone.
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn.
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long.
I say 'straight', but the Wall has a slight rightward bend to it. You wouldn't notice it unless you looked leagues ahead, where you begin to see the interior sides of the Wall gradually bending inward to form and complete its colossal circle. Even though Wall Sina is the "smallest wall," you can't see the other side, and tracing the structure ahead, it too eventually fades away into the horizon.
Ahead, Wall Sina stretches across the landscape, cutting through forests and rising and falling with hills. It really does look like the Great Wall of China—if, you know, the Great Wall of China was 50 meters tall.
Well I'd not a good foot soldier make, I'd be sour and slow at march.
And I'd be sick on a navy ship, and the sea would leave me parched.
But I'll be first in line if they'll let me ride, by god, you'll see my starch.
Lope back o'er the heath with the laurel wreath underneath that vict'ry arch
"Uhh… wonderful weather we're having, isn't it?"
"... Sure," Nanaba replies.
"..."
"..."
"So, uhhh… How does your ODM gear work?"
"Why are you asking?"
Well I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war.
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before.
I wanna good mount when the bugle sounds and I hear the cannons' roar.
Well I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
"I'm just trying to start a conversation. I mean—doesn't the silence bother you?"
"No, it doesn't."
Well there goes that.
"..."
"..."
"For starters, we use these to control our wires," Nanaba speaks up, raising this hand-held device from her hip that looks like a VR game controller.
"The top trigger fires the anchor, the bottom trigger fires the gas." She continues, pointing out each part on the device. "Pulling this lever here reels the wire back in, letting go makes it stop. The hammer switch in the back lets us angle the anchor mechanism. Our Controller Grips also serve as hilts for our blades. The auxiliary switch over here will lock the blades in place and release them."
"But how do you aim the wires?"
"With our hips."
"Seriously!? Isn't that hard?"
"Very." Nanaba grins.
Let me earn my spurs in the battle's blur where the day is lost or won.
I'll wield my lance as the ponies dance and the blackguards fire their guns.
A sabre keen, and a saddle carbine and an army Remington.
Where the hot lead screams with the cold, cold steel let me be a cav'lryman.
"So why join the Scouts?"
"To make a difference."
"I heard it can be… Well… that the expeditions are…"
"Hell?"
I nod.
"You didn't hear wrong."
Well I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war.
An' I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before.
I wanna good mount when the bugle sounds and I hear the cannons' roar.
Well I wanna be in the cavalry if I must go off to war
"Our casualty rates are abysmal," Nanaba explains, her grin becoming grim. "Leadership positions in the Scout Regiment reflect seniority rather than capability. There's not enough time to figure out who's a good leader. There's only those with experience in the field and those without it."
"... how long have you served?"
"6 years. I'm a squad leader myself now."
"6 years? She's been fighting for as long as you have." Annabelle comments.
Do you think she's… tired of it?
"Why don't you ask?"
I scratch the back of Sam's ears, trying to prepare my next question.
"Oh yeah, right there. That's nice." Sam nickers.
"Have you considered dedicating your heart?"
"Huh?"
"Have you considered joining the Scout's cause?"
The Scouts? Their cause?
They aren't bad people and fighting for humanity is something we have in common. But…
"... no. I'm done fighting."
I don't need to explain to her. One look at my face and Nanaba is stricken with recognition. She can tell I'm tired.
"I'm sorry."
Nanaba nods with understanding.
Let 'em play their flutes and stirrup my boots and place them back to front
For I won't be back on the rider-less black (jack) and I'm finished in my hunt
"Aren't you tired of it? Of all that fighting?" I ask her. "Why are you still in it?"
Nanaba averts her gaze, keeping her eyes on the landscape outside the Wall opposite from me.
"I remain for those who've died before me. For the ones who perished and gave me their position. To continue their legacy. I can't quit now, not while I'm standing on the piles of my fallen comrades. Not while I still need to prove their deaths weren't meaningless."
"As long as there's a fight to be fought, I'll be here." Nanaba continues, turning her head back around to face me. "It's the job of us veterans to lead the young and inexperienced, to secure the fate of future generations, and to uphold the ideals of our fallen comrades. And if we fall in battle, we trust our comrades will do the same for us."
I wanna be in the cavalry if I must go off to war
I wanna be in the cavalry, but I won't ride home no more
"If we don't secure our freedom, then who will?"
Nanaba turns her head forward, facing the brutal winds straight on.
"That's what it means to fly with the Wings of Freedom."
The wind picks up, tousling our hair and clothes. Nanaba winces from the gust but stays facing forward, toughing out flurries of air.
As she battles with the elements, I can't help but eye that winged emblem on her shoulder; wavering in the breeze, its green woven stitchings giving off an ethereal glow as they bask in the Sun's rays.
Some unknown location within Wall Rose
5 pm
We reach Ehrmich in no time.
Besides the occasional small talk, nothing much else happened between Nanaba, Sam, and I. Although Nanaba did eventually begin to warm up to me during our brief journey, her vibe keeps confusing me. At times, she feels like a guide. Or an advisor. Like when Nanaba was talking about why she was a Scout, it sounded eerily similar to those recruiting pitches you'd hear from US army recruits standing outside school cafeterias. But at other times, she feels like a jailer. Hostile, tense, ready to spring into action the moment I jump off Sam and try to make my escape.
Or maybe I'm only feeling that way because of my chains?
Passing Ehrmich District, we make a pit stop on the other outer side of the city to take an elevator ride down the wall, just like Nanaba said we would. And after traveling further west for a few hours, away from Wall Sina and further into the countryside, that leaves us here:
Inside some isolated military compound, leagues away from the nearest village, smack in the middle of nowhere.
"Here," Nanaba says, opening a door and motioning me to enter it. "I need to bring some people up to speed."
Stepping into the room, I'm greeted with 20 sets of eyes. The room is a cafeteria, with rows of long wooden bench tables, each with three or four seats filled in with people. The room is silent; everyone stopped talking the moment I entered.
"What should I do while you—"
I turned back to Nanaba, looking for her help, only to find she had closed the door behind me.
I slowly itch back around to face the room full of eyes.
"Erhh... Hi?" I greet the crowd with a weak wave.
The worst thing happens: No one greets me back.
Everyone returns to what they were doing; reading, sleeping, playing card games, or continuing their conversations where they left off. They all retreat to the worlds of their established friend groups, excluding the new kid.
Gods, it's like the first day of 1st grade all over again.
I discreetly inch my way towards the nearest empty table in the corner of the cafeteria. Practically the entire room watches me sit down. Nonchalantly, I twiddle fingers, trying my best to act casual under the lingering stares.
The inner child within me has already concocted a scheme to get mom to pick me up early. But even if this compound does happen to have a nurse's office, I doubt they'll phone home if I pretend to be sick.
"Monsters."
Every follicle of hair on my arms pricks up, stiffening with alertness. The danger signals jolt my senses, numbing the unnecessary chatter of the room.
I scan the room.
A pair of young men playing cards, a young lady reading a book, a table of men in a heated discussion, a taller girl teasing a smaller girl, a bald kid staring at the ceiling in boredom, another young man in the corner of the room with his head down on the table, sleeping—nothing. No one stands out.
Where is it hiding?
"No. Monsters. Plural. There's more than one."
Shit, are we surrounded?
"I don't know."
Where are they?
"I don't—"
"Hello there!" A cheerful voice, directly to my right, greets me.
"Fuck!"
"Gah! She came out of nowhere!"
I practically jump in my seat at the surprise greeting. Whipping around, I find someone has sat down next to me without me knowing.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." The blonde girl apologizes in a sweet and genuine tone.
"It's fine. I was—erhh. Sorry, I was lost in thought."
"What were you thinking about?" She carefreely asks.
I glance back at the room of people.
There's a monster somewhere in here. I don't know whether they are in disguise or under the floorboards, but they're here—in this room.
Where are they hiding?
"Well…" The girl trails off, seeing she's not getting an answer.
"I'm Christa! Christa Lenz!" The small girl cheerfully greets, holding out her hand. "It's very nice to meet you!"
The girl is short, the smallest in the room, not even reaching 5 feet in height. She has long blonde hair tied in a low ponytail, a heart-shaped face, and big vibrant light-blue eyes. She isn't dressed in a military uniform, no one in the room is, instead she wears a white collared shirt with a long pink skirt.
She is… dare I say, cute. She's cute.
"My name's Percy."
Realizing she's still holding her hand out to greet me, I clamber to shake it. But with my shackled wrists, it's impossible to give her a proper greeting. So instead I use both arms, grabbing her hand with both of mine to give her hand a collective shake.
The moment I make contact with Christa, my senses are stabbed by a sense of imminent danger.
"One of the monsters—it's about to strike!"
"Ymir, stop being so rude! Come over here and greet yourself!"
Slowly turning my head, I find a young lady a few tables down standing out of her seat, staring me down with murderous intent.
Hearing Christa's berating call, the tall slender young woman leaves her tables and makes her way towards us. The bangs of her short, shaggy brown hair fall in front of her face, touching her freckled cheeks, but she doesn't bother moving it. Underneath her bangs, a pair of deep intimidating gray eyes peers at Christa and I, scanning our bodies, seemingly focusing on our conjoined hands.
When she walks over to us, I can practically feel waves of hostility rolling off of her, intensifying as her focus shifts from Christa and I's hand and up to my face.
I immediately rip my hands away from Christa, nervously brushing them against my shirt.
"I'm sorry about my friends. I don't know why they're being so rude." Christa apologizes. "Everyone should have come over and said hello." She speaks a little louder, emphasizing her point to others in the room.
But I'm not worried about being the odd-one-out anymore.
This girl Christa called over; she's one of the monsters.
"Sweetie, I love you but you are too damn trusting." The girl speaks with a rougher, tomboyish voice in stark contrast to Christa's cherubic higher-pitched cords.
"There's a reason why someone put him in cuffs, you know."
The girl has no outstanding weird quirks, physically or mentally. She isn't pushing us to eat cheese puffs or insisting we take a photo, she doesn't have any horns growing out of her head and she doesn't have abnormally large reptilian feet.
She looks and seems human.
"Like Annie."
"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Ymir!" Christa fights back. "If we never have faith in the good of people, how else could we ever improve our lives?"
The monster girl, Ymir, begins to laugh.
"Sweet, sweet Christa," Ymir says, shaking her head then humming a nuh-uh-uh. "That's exactly how you get taken advantage of. Turn a blind eye to the evil a person is capable of, and the moment you let your guard down, they'll stab you right in the back."
Ymir turns her attention away from Christa, sizing me up with those intimidating dark gray eyes of hers.
"Umm, hello?"
"Yeah, hi." She rudely greets back.
"Ymir!" Christa gasps at her friend's rudeness, oblivious to the tension in the air between us.
She has no idea what her friend truly is…
"A human that can transform into a titan."
"Alright, what's this guy's deal?" A short kid with a shaved head asks. He strolls up to our table and throws a foot up on the sitting bench. He narrows his eyes, leaning uncomfortably close to me.
"Why are you all chained up like that?"
"Uhhh, they found me outside the wall."
"Outside the wall!?" He gasps, pulling away. "Are you stupid or something?"
"What?"
"And what's with the belt?"
"Huh?"
Following the kid's fingers, I look down at the chains around my waist. Riptide's metal box container is oddly attached to the front of the belt, like an oversized cowboy belt buckle.
"Hey, Ymir!" He grins, completely bypassing his last question.
He jabs his elbow into the taller girl's side in a jokingly manner.
"I bet they locked him up because he's more of a danger to himself than he—Owww!"
Ymir jabs her elbow into the kid's side as retaliation, albeit rougher than he did.
"Come on over guys, come introduce yourselves!" Christa ushers to the table that the bald kid came from.
"I don't wanna." A girl, with her head resting on the table, whines back. "I'm too hungry to move."
"Sasha!" Christa scolds.
The girl lets out a dramatic sigh then heaves herself out of her seat. The other two boys at her table, two taller older looking boys who were in the middle of a game of chess, let out their own disgruntled grunts, getting up before Christa scolds them as well.
"Hey, I'm Sasha." The reddish-brown-haired girl weakly waves. She wears an ankle-length light-brown skirt and a black sleeveless vest over a white long-sleeved blouse. Her light brown eyes remain hazy as she greets me, still in her sleep-like trance.
"Percy." I nod back.
Immediately after my greeting, Sasha collapses into the seat opposite from Christa, resting her head on the table like what she was doing before.
"Percy? As in Perseus Jackson?" Someone speaks up.
The person who asked was one of the young men playing chess; the taller, lankier one with the pale green eyes, short black hair, and elongated face.
"Uh, yeah… How do you know my name?"
The boy turns to his chess companion with a knowingly look.
The other boy reminds me of Jason. He's an inch taller than me, has short blond hair, broad shoulders, and a defined facial structure. His serious expression gives him an intimidating presence, or one that of a leader. The biggest difference between Jason and him is that his eyes are hazel gold, rather than Jason's sky-blue.
"From Annie Leonhart." The Jason-look-alike answers. "She's from the same town as us. We've stayed in touch ever since she joined the MPs."
"Oh yeah, I think she mentioned you guys once," I reply, recalling the time Annie told me about her hometown. "She didn't give me your names though."
"I'm Reiner." The blonde-haired one greets, before jabbing his thumbs towards his taller, black-haired friend. "And this is Bertolt."
As Reiner reveals his and his chess companion's names, my demigod senses are hit with new waves of recognition.
"Reiner, Bertolt… They're like Annie too."
"Percy, what's wrong?" Christa asks, putting her hand on my shoulder.
Her actions only provoke hostility to reblossom from Ymir.
"I don't know…" I gulp, trying to keep my composure as my senses are attacked from all angles.
"I ju-just felt uneasy all of sudden."
Reiner, Bertolt—they're working with Annie. There's no doubt about it. They practically confessed it.
"But the girl…"
Ymir.
"Where do her loyalties lie?"
Is she with them as well?
"We need to find out."
Whether Ymir is with them or not, what do we do about this?
"We could use their help to break Annie out."
But they've committed horrible crimes. They broke through the Walls and killed tens of thousands of people. It's possible they were coerced into fighting like Annie, but if they aren't…
"If they aren't like Annie, it wouldn't be right to work with them. At that point, it may be better to turn them in to the Scouts."
But would we gain anything from that?
"Their trust."
But would Annie hate us if we did that? Aren't these her friends?
"Does Annie even have friends?"
…
"Let's save all that for later. First, find out if Ymir is working with them. That's the first step—"
"Percy!" Christa cries, shaking my shoulder.
"Ahhh! What?!"
"Dude, you completely spaced out. For like a whole minute." The bald kid explains.
I realize I still don't know his name.
"Are you ok?" Christa asks.
"I'm not sure." I move my eyes, face to face, subtly trying to gauge the titan-people's expressions. But everyone, from Christa to Ymir and the bald kid to Reiner and Bertolt only have looks of genuine confusion.
I didn't blow it. Thank the Gods. They have no idea I caught on to their 'monstrous' nature.
"Something else is wrong. The air…"
The atmosphere feels wrong. It doesn't make sense—there's a growing sense of danger rising from below the three monsters in front of me. But I'm 99% sure I've outed all the titan-shifters in the room, it doesn't make sense why the pressure is increasing. The pair of three aren't giving off new signs of hostility, or jealousy. In fact, they feel almost complacent now. Yet, the air…
"AHHH!" Sasha screams, whipping her head up from the table and straightening her back.
"Ahhh!" The bald kid screams in unison while the rest of us jump from sudden yells.
"Why did you scream like—" the kid starts before noticing the fearful expression on her face.
"Uhhh, guys! I t-think I'm hearing footsteps!"
"What?!"
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
104th Hideout
Somewhere within Wall Rose
Just a few minutes earlier
No one's POV:
After dumping Percy off with the 104th recruits, Nanaba makes her way to the compound's watchtower. Climbing up the tower's spiral staircase, she meets her comrades on the roof.
"Mike." Nanaba greets her superior officer who stands among other trusted members of the Scout Regiment, watching over the compound's surrounding landscape.
"Nanaba." He greets back.
"Have you noticed anything… peculiar?" Nanaba asks.
"Nothing as of yet."
"Do… Do you really think that among these children… is a traitor?" Nanaba asks, her voice full of skepticism. "An accomplice of Annie Leonhart?"
"I don't know. It's unlikely any of them are traitors, and there's even a slimmer chance that any of the 104th are titans, but…"
"But what?" Nanaba pushes as Mike trails off.
"But I do know that this is not a possibility we can afford to ignore." He finishes.
"Hmm." Nanaba hums in agreement, stepping beside Mike and joining him as they look out at the watchtower's view.
"I see you brought someone back with you." Mike comments.
"It's Perseus Jackson."
"Yes, I know. He's got the scent of a man that sweats pure salt, I can smell it from here." Mike wrinkles his nose.
"Why'd you bring him?" Mike asks, steering back to the topic at hand.
"The commander's orders."
"What did he say?"
"Erwin said Perseus might be able to "sniff them out"…"
"Hmm."
"What did the Commander mean by that?" Mike thinks to himself. "Does Erwin believe Annie's accomplices would reveal themselves to the boy? That they'd come to him due to the pair's connection?
"… No—if we haven't caught them yet, they wouldn't be stupid enough to out themselves that easily."
"So when Erwin says "sniff them out," does he mean it literally? Is it possible that this boy has a super nose like I? But I sniffed all the 104th—I'm sure of it. My nose has tasted every last one of them. None of them smelt vaguely close to that of a titan's scent. Hell, I even double-checked!"
"So why, Commander? Why jeopardize the integrity of the regiment by sending this boy here?"
"What can Perseus Jackson 'smell' that I can not?"
Unconsciously, Mike opens his nostrils and sniffs the air, as if needing to reconfirm to himself that his sniffer is still in working condition. But the breeze from the South unexpectedly delivers something foul to Mike's nostrils. Something akin to the scent of a chicken thigh being boiled in a pot of sulfur.
The scent of a titan.
"Mike?" Nanaba asks, noticing Mike's expression suddenly stiffen.
"Tomas!" Mike calls, keeping his gaze turned at the horizon.
"Yes?" Tomas replies, confused by his superior's sudden outburst.
"Take three couriers and the fastest horses and report this to three districts!" Mike orders, keeping his composure.
"Huh?"
"A vast number of titans are invading from the South! Wall Rose has been breached!"
"What?!" The Scouts on the watchtower all cry out.
"Go!"
Making haste, Tomas scrambles down the tower's stairs.
"Nanaba, inform the recruits." Mike orders. "We must warn the people of this region. We need to leave, now!"
With no hesitation, Nanaba jumps off the tower, activating her ODM gear and down to the second story of the barracks. Landing at one of the windows of the barrack's mess hall, she opens it to address the 104th.
"The rest of you, saddle up! Organize your teams and prepare for engagement!"
"Right!"
The rest of the Scouts jump off the tower, zooming down to their horses.
"HURRY IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!" Mike yells down to his soldiers, the last one left standing on the observation tower.
But Mike himself doesn't start preparing. Instead, he stays put, keeping an eye on the approaching threat. At first, all he can see is the vast cloud of dust the titans kick up. But as Mike squints his eyes and the titans walk ever closer, he begins to vaguely make out their deformed humanoid forms slogging away.
"One… two… four… seven…" Mike counts in his head.
Behind him, Nanaba uses her ODM gear to land on the watchtower's roof, returning from informing the recruits about the ongoing threat.
"Mike..." She announces, running up to him. "How close have they gotten?"
"Within 400 meters now. There are nine in that swarm up ahead." Mike points out.
"They've broken through Wall Rose…" Nanaba speaks, still trying to process the severity of the situation.
"If they'd broken through Trost or Klorva district, we could have had some warning," Nanaba thinks to herself. "But if the wall itself was broken… the scale of the damage is unknown. Even if the hole was no bigger than a gate and even if we had Eren here with us, there are no boulders in the area big enough to seal the breach."
Nanaba collapses to one knee, putting a hand up to her mouth to contain her grief.
"We've never managed to uncover the titan's secrets or figure out what they are." She almost sobs. "And now that day has come."
"Humanity… has lost…"
"No. Not yet." Mike firmly refutes.
He turns around and walks over to the edge of the tower facing the compound. Below, he watches the 104th rush out of the barracks and to the stables.
"Only when a person stops fighting, do they lose. As long as we continue to fight, we are not beaten!"
With Mike's encouraging words, Nanaba finds the strength to stand. She turns around and joins Mike. Together, the pair observe the 104th. Even though they are in civilian clothing with no ODM gear, they prepare for battle with unshaken determination.
"We can't apologize enough to the 104th squads," Mike comments at the scene. "Because of our doubts, they're defenseless. We failed to predict things could turn out the way they did."
"We can't let them see how pathetic we are, can't we?" Nanaba adds, finally regaining her confidence.
"What about him?" Nanaba asks as Percy bursts out the barrack's doors late, scrambling to find his assigned steed.
"Use your own discretion," Mike replies. "If he runs, don't give chase. Our foremost priority is informing the populace of the titan threat."
Nanaba nods, watching Percy struggle to throw his saddle over his horse's back with his chained wrists.
"Well then…" Mike turns to Nananba, giving her a grim grin.
"Let's fight."
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Back with Percy and Crew
A minute prior
Percy's Pov:
"Uhhh, guys! I t-think I'm hearing footsteps!"
"What?!"
"Knock it off Sasha. So what, you're trying to tell us titans are here?" Reiner counters. "Come on, that would only be possible if Wall Rose had fallen!"
A noticeable bead of sweat drips down his face.
"Look! I'm not pulling your leg!" Sasha yells, panicking and throwing her hands up in the air. "I hear something!"
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
We all whip our heads to the nearest window, finding a Scout opening it from the outside.
It's Nanaba.
But we're on the second story, how is she up—
"Is everyone here?" Nanaba asks, sticking her head inside.
"What is it, Nanaba?" Christa asks, rising out of her seat.
"We've got company, approximately 500 meters to the South and closing. Titans heading this way."
"No way…" Ymir whispers in shock.
"Has the wall really been breached?" Reiner whispers, turning to his friend Bertolt.
"There's no time to suit up with your ODM gear." Nanaba continues. "I want everyone on a horse, stat! Take your horses and evacuate every home and settlement in the area. Understood?"
"The south…" The bald kid whispers to himself with wide eyes and shaking pupils. "But that's… that's where my village is."
His home…
"M-my hometown is close by too…" Sasha gasps, mirroring the boy's expression.
Their homes…
Images of a ruined Camp Halfblood fill my head. The Big House in ruins, the Dining Pavilion in flames, every cabin trampled, Hestia's Hearth blown out… campers strewn across strawberry fields with lifeless eyes, covered in their sibling's blood. The horrific scene is a familiar one—one which Gaia, Kronos, and other gods have sent me numerous times to plant seeds of doubt in my mind and instill fear in my soul.
Will their homes look like this too, if the titans reach them?
"Will you let it happen?"
I… I don't want this.
"What do you want?"
…. I wanted to leave this life behind.
"Did you ever have a choice?"
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Duty: (n.) "a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility"
The timetable of this chapter is really fucked up. Percy and Nanaba shouldn't have gotten to the 104th hideout that fast, but let's all try to pretend it all makes sense, ok? Most of you probably didn't even notice but I wanted to express that I was aware of it.
I know some of you don't like the song lyric inserts, but I'm gonna keep jamming them in your ear canals. Today's song was ' I Wanna Be In The Cavalry' by Corb Lund. Perhaps an instrumental version of the song would be better to play while reading, but I encourage you to check it out if you have the time. It fits nicely with the Scouts and Percy 'going off to war.' I promise the next song won't be some random ass song, I'm going to start incorporating official AOT songs now.
Chapter 13 will be called "Reluctant Hero." Perhaps one of you can guess which song I'm going to include in the next chapter…
Till next time,
-Unbred
Chapter length: 7.2k words
Stats for nerds: 47,250 views, 732 follows, 596 favorites, 355 reviews
Originally Published on 1/22/2022
Join the Emerald Library discord server for insider information and frequent status updates about my story. You can find my personal channel, 'unbredeel0', under the 'Dormitory' category. Drop by and give me a "howdy!"
discord . gg/cNc8Tvc7Gm