A/N: PART III continuing off the last chapter! Basically the finale. It get's pretty damn gritty in this chapter. SOMEBODY spills the tea. .

Fathers PT. III

VI

Krueger felt stiff, brittle. His joints were not made of cartilage or bone, but of rotted wood. He had walked willingly into the den of lions, unaware that there had been any lions. How stupid, how utterly fucking stupid.

And there he sat, at the decorated dining table, having tea with them, like the foolish fuck he was. Paralyzed like he'd been when he first saw her. He couldn't even look her way for too long, feelings of uneasiness would swallow him whole if he did. He'd go crazy, go mad, he'd end up spilling something to her he knew shouldn't.

Why… why was that the effect she had on him?

"How's Simon?" Goddesses. Her voice was enough alone. Yet he couldn't help but glance at her, for a fraction of second. "You know him?" He asked.

"Of course I know him, this is my house, and he's a tenant here." She didn't look his way as she spoke either, it didn't help that they sat right across from each other, with Mr. Leonhardt at Annie's side, one burly hand smoothing down her knuckles.

"He's knocked out," Oliver said. "Put him to work pretty hard today."

Annie nodded, she kept her eyes drawn to the biscuits on her plate. "I heard about you on the battlefield," Oliver muttered, not wanting the first meeting of his own daughter after four years to go to waste. "against the Mid-East Alliance, how you wrecked their artillery base single-handedly, you truly are a warrior. One of the best warriors the Marley could ask for."

Annie didn't appear as proud as her father, boasting of her success. She just stared blankly into her biscuits. A mask of apathy, of boredom. That's the Annie he knew, that's the Annie Eren remembered so vividly.

"And you know, Keith here was also on the frontlines!" Oliver gestured to Krueger, bringing him to light, "Bet You guys might've even crossed paths on the battlefield once."

It was only than that Annie raised her attention from the biscuits, then that she looked up, straight ahead, Krueger met her stone-faced expression. "Sort of." She said. His eyes widened, but that was the only indication he gave away of shock. Had she been watching him the whole time? Had she known the whole time? And yet spoke nothing of it to the Marley? Three years, three years of infiltration, of fighting, of acting as the eyes and ears of Paradi, and she knew it was him all along. For three years, and did nothing to apprehend him, or… had she?

He recalled the letter, the burning. A message. Krueger swallowed, deciding to purge his anxiety of being compromised by scalding his tongue with hot tea.

"Hm, a vet soldier and a warrior, my table had never been so blessed to have both," Oliver took Annie's small hand in his own, held it over his heart, "blessed as the Marley have been."

Eren had heard enough. The tea he drank did nothing to purify him of this negative energy, it only served to liquify his rage. Age old rage, the animosity of a fifteen-year-old boy he thought he had abandoned so long ago. That boy was not who he was now; but this Eren threatened Krueger into silence, he held back, but when he spoke, it was almost accusatory.

"You seem to praise the Marley a lot."

Oliver's grip loosened on his daughter's hand, Annie slipped it away from him to fold on her lap, he turned slowly to Krueger, his expression unreadable. "Oh, well, shouldn't I? They're the ones in control after all."

The fifteen-year-old within him snapped, the nineteen-year-old seethed, Krueger was no longer there to placid them both. Annie must've recognized that madness in eyes, hues of green, shades of grey, an oncoming storm nobody could escape, because she immediately turned to her father, touching his arm. "Dad, I think it's for you to head back to bed—"

"Control doesn't mean they have power, their military is weak," Eren emphasized, "In fact, they were so weak against the Mid-east, without the power they borrowed from the four titans, they would've lost the war."

"Four warriors, you mean." Oliver leaned back into his seat, arms folded, cold blue's boring into Eren. A very Leonhardt intimidation, Eren was unperturbed. "And I know of their military strength, I am a senior vet."

Eren scoffed. "Then you know, without the titan shifters, including that of your daughter's, the Marley Nation would've been Mid-East territory by now."

"They would've lost many wars." Oliver cocked his head, scrutinizing the young man, Annie as always, stayed quiet. "Are you getting at something here, Keith?"

Eren breathed evenly, there was no use in putting on a scene, but he had to drill a point in this man's head. "No sir… I just, I don't like being given the illusion of freedom from another group of people who condemn us to cages like animals."

There, Oliver understood, his face was as blank as Annie's, but his eyes went somber. "You don't like being controlled, you mean."

"I don't think anyone likes being controlled." Eren's attention went to Annie, ever-silent Annie. Annie fists unfurled themselves from her lap, and she got up from the table, pushing her seat back. She turned to her father, her body taut as a wire, "I think it's really time for you to go to bed, dad."

Oliver stared at his daughter, then to Keith. Then to his forgotten tea that had grown warm, he sighed. "Yeah… yeah, I hear you. I'll go." Slowly he raised himself from the seat, brought Annie into another heartwarming embrace, he soothed down the frayed tangles of her hair, whispered something in her ear, then he straightened his back, "Have a good night, my sweet girl. And Keith," Eren locked eyes with the older man, there was something odd there. "I hope you have pleasant dreams of freedom."

"Likewise." Asshole.

Annie helped her father up the staircase, she guided him to his bedroom, and bid him a kiss goodnight. All the while Eren waited for her to return downstairs; and when she finally did, he prepared himself for the blunt fury he expected.

"What the fuck." She spat, stopping short of distance between where he sat and the end of the table. "What the fuck is your problem?"

He blinked, "Excuse me?"

She inhaled, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth then exhaled as she spoke, it came as a whisper. "Don't play games with me, Eren."

She finally said it. His name, his real name. It's been so long since he had heard his real name. It made him warm, elated, yes, that's his fucking name. He was Eren Jaeger, holder of the attack, and founding titan, son of the rebel Grisha Jaeger, a Survey Corp member, and the hope of humanity. Annie made a sound in her throat, sauntered closer to him, Eren turned so that his body was facing her.

"Yeah, I know, I've always known, but I wasn't so sure." She ran finger on the table cloth as she approached him, a lioness stalking her prey. "You look more yourself now, with that crazed passion in your eyes."

She knocked the crutch he had placed near his side to the ground with a swipe of her foot, stepping over it. Eren stared at the fallen crutch, then her. Given nothing of his inner turmoil away. She stopped, towering above him where he sat, "Y'know for a moment, I thought you had changed, I thought… after four years. Four grueling years, you wouldn't be that loud-mouthed boy I'd grown fond of, the one who spoke his mind of liberation and bullshit, I thought that boy was dead."

He saw from the corner of his eye; Annie's hand had tightened around something silver. "But no, you're still the same as ever. You still see the world in black and white."

Eren smiled, a genuine smile. A daredevil's smile. One he hoped could win her over. "There's no other way to see it."

She gazed down at him longingly, and it was too intimate for it be considered judging thy enemy. Eren wanted to reach for her hand like her father did, wanted to place it against his heart, and tell her that that boy would never die, could never die, he just grew to be quiet as war wrung him out. He learned, and he discovered, and he conquered, and he wasn't as reckless as he'd always been. He wanted to tell her many things. But then she snatched the silver thing she had held onto the table, and shoved it against his jugular, so forcibly, it took by him by surprise.

With a knife pressed against Eren's neck, and her knee between legs, she demanded through clenched teeth. "Why are you here?"

Eren wondered why she would bother to threaten him this way, it's not as if he were human. He shrugged, or much as he could with her weight on him, and the knife nipping at his skin. "Your father allowed me too—"

"Don't fuck with me." Annie narrowed her eyes, she brought the blade to the side of his neck, pressed the flat steel against skin. Eren froze as she straddled his good leg, one hand held the back of his seat while the other held the knife, it's sharpened edge pointed at his nape. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Annie asked again, "Why are you here?"

"I can't tell you that."

Blue eyes flared dangerously, and he felt the tip of the knife, a needle-like prick at the back of his neck. He hissed softly, felt her draw blood, tiny wisps of steam drifted from the puncture. He held his tongue. She wouldn't kill him. She had all the time in the world to kill him, to kidnap him, to hand him over to his brother. But she did not. Eren was too important, she wouldn't be so stupid as to waste him, not here at least.

Annie leaned in close, so close, the tip of her nosetouched his own. Blonde tresses fell to his forehead like feathers, he could feel every pant, every breath she took, she smelled like black tea, and cinnamon. Not the scent of the girl he once knew long ago. "Of course," She lowered the blade, and the small pain faded away, his regeneration healing the wound she'd inflicted on him. There was a clash as she tossed the knife onto an empty plate full of crumbs. Annie detached herself from him, moving to lean against the table. Her provocative, yet lethal actions left him with a dirty feeling. One he wasn't so sure he liked.

"You're spying on us, and the Marley, blending in with pure Eldians to send information back to your vile people," She explained to him like she'd figured everything out. "I get it now, what I don't get is why the Survey Corp would send their most valuable weapon against the Marley… to the Marley. Your people must be fools, always betting on gambles. Unless, the plan goes deeper than just spying…" Annie trailed off when she heard him snort. She fixed a glare on him, "What's so funny?"

Eren couldn't help it. She didn't understand, she was just like her father. So, he laughed. Annie became puzzled, and clearly agitated. "What?"

"My people…" He wheezed, brought a hand up to smooth his hair out of his face, Annie should be able to see him better. "My people, Oh, Annie, you're so fucking blind."

She was confused now, glaring down at him all wide eyed, like he was a heretic, a mad man. He grinned, all teeth, just like he used to when he would eviscerate titans in his own monster, when bloodshed was all that he wanted. "Look at me," He gestured with both hands to himself, "I mean, really look at me, what do I look like?"

"A Suicidal bastard."

He chuckled dryly. "Really good observation, but look deeper." Eren leaned forward. "What makes us so different, Annie? I mean, besides our ideologies, our beliefs. What makes you, different from me? We're both subjects of Ymir… we both have eyes, we both have ears, arms, legs, well," He looked down, shrugged, "For the most part."

"What the hell are you implying?"

"What I'm saying is," He paused, long enough for her to listen to him intently, to really hear him, "I am your people."

It was not the answer Annie wanted. She shook her head vehemently, bolted from the leaning against the table to turn her back to him, she swiveled around to face Eren again, the mask she wore was crumbling to the floor, for her face was flustered, and when she spoke again, it wasn't the steel tone of Annie Leonhardt.

"N-no. Your people were condemned the moment the first king chose to flee like the coward he was, instead of giving in to compromise."

"And the Eldians here aren't?" Eren wished he had his right leg, so he could really knock some sense into her. "Living within these walls?"

"They're not walls, they're internment camps—"

"Same fucking difference!" Eren guffawed, "So the walls are shorter, so the Eldians here live more lavishly, so you've got advanced machinery, it doesn't matter. None of it does, in the end, all of you are still slaves to the Marley."

He watched her those dainty hands ball into fists, her gracious chest heave, and her chillingly blue eyes become more frigid. The light of the candles made her gold hair glow silver, she was more beautiful when she was furious. "A foolish man like you wouldn't know what a slave is."

"Don't I?" He challenged her. "I'm burdened with the sins of my father, I have to live the remainder of my life with what he's done." Eren remembered the distraught face of his dear friend, the queen Historia, the tears that streamed down her cheeks in that forbidden cave. How badly he wanted her to end him right then. "But, my view of the world now, is not so different from his, he wanted restoration, I want revolution."

Eren held his arms out to Annie, "How 'bout you, hm?" He beckoned to her, "Have your views changed at all, Annie? Huh? Or, are you still daddy's little angel?"

Stroking her rage led him to be pounced on by the lioness herself, she kicked him in the chest, the chair tilted back, and he fell over, but she attacked him before he could even hit the polished floors. His skull collided heavily with the wood, and her hands squeezed tight around his throat in the blink of an eye. He felt wetness hit his cheek, then his forehead. He sight was of full of her, full of a girl made of ivory, so easily that she could break into pieces, so easily that she could put her pieces back together, and start all over.

"You know nothing!" She wept, hair spilling around her shoulders, tickling every part of his face. A disheveled mess. He couldn't speak, she pressed down hard on his trachea. "Nothing at all! You stupid, suicidal bastard," Annie trembled above him, "You—you don't know what I've done to get here, the amount of blood I've spilled, the sweat, t-the tears… "

She kept shaking her head, as if she could free herself from the sins she had committed. "I did it all for him. For my father." Eren's eyes started to water, the tan of face began to purple, Annie loosened her hold on him, just so. He hacked until he felt he'd cough his lungs out. "Do you think I give a single shit about those fat-nosed fools? About the Eldians? About the war? I am numb to most things, Eren. I… I'm just trying to live, until I can die." Her hands left his throat, she slid off his chest, "I'll continue to be a tool for the Marley, I don't care, I don't care about anything."

Eren waited for his voice to come back; she very nearly squeezed the life out of him, but he couldn't say he didn't deserve it. Annie huddled to put her back against the wall, knees drawn to her chest, a scared little girl trapped in the body of a woman warrior.

"You… care for your father." He coughed, crawling his way to her, so he could sit by her side. "You love him so much, you'd suffer for him. I know I'm the same, but it's not my father who I suffer for. I didn't have a choice, but you do."

She mumbled. "No, I don't."

Eren reached for her hand, the same hand Oliver had touched, he was going to go beyond the boundary. They had already gone this far, he was going to take it further. Just a little more.

"You can help me—"

"Eren—"

"—We can put an end to the Marley, you, me, the soldiers back at Paradi, with Armin on our side, we're bound to win," He broke into her personal space, clutched the hand she had almost suffocated him with to his heart, "We could be free, Annie. Free to explore the world, don't you want that?"

"Eren, the world isn't," Annie sighed, "The Marley aren't our only enemies."

"Doesn't matter," He laughed, though it hurt, "Whatever, whatever comes our way, we'll stop them. We have that power. They don't."

He still held her hand to his heart, Annie unfurled her fingers to press her palm flat over his dress shirt, every beat that pulsed through her was the rhythm of distant war drums. Pledging the song of freedom. What he was offering her, her. She let the tears flow, but made no sound. "Hey," Eren huddled close to her, he let go of her hand, but she kept it there, right above his heart. Kept him away, but near, all at once. "Join me." He pleaded.

"I can't." The blue of her eyes was surrounded in pinks, her cheeks were damp, and red, blonde hair all over her face, she looked a wreck. Eren couldn't get any closer to her, for she held him at a distance.

"You still don't see that there is good and evil in everyone, Eren. There is no right, and no wrong. Eldian's are truly vile, just as the Marley, we're no different." She sniffled. "Like you said."

He grabbed her wrist, lightly, pulled her arm away, so he could break the barrier between them. Eren caressed her cheek, the same way he saw her father did, wiped the tear that ran freely with his thumb. "You're not vile." He rumbled, low. "You're not the least bit like any of em'. Not Reiner, not Zeke, none of em'. You're special."

She scoffed, wrinkled her brows like he'd said the most the most ridiculous thing. "Is that why you believe you could still change me, that I'd follow you so willingly?"

Yes. He needed her trust, he needed her intellect, most of all, he needed an ally. It could be no one else.

"I'm not the only one who infiltrated Liberio." He spilled the truth to her, Annie sniffed again, she looked at him through wet lashes, made his heart skip. "They will find me soon, I got a message just yesterday, I was told before I left Paradi that I'll receive a signal from someone in the years to come, but… I don't know whether to trust them. I don't know who they are. Do you? "

Annie shook her head.

"So, I need you," Eren's voice was tender, but firm. He put his hand to her other cheek, forced her to meet his desirous emerald gaze. "I need you, when that day comes, and it will come soon, I need you by my side. If they're an ally, you could prove your trust to them, if they're an enemy, you could help me silence them. Please."

He was begging her. Eren hadn't begged for anything, or anyone since he had escaped that ritualistic cave with Historia. Since he had dropped to his hands and knees, in front of Dinah, cannibalizing Hannes, wishing for the strength his late mother knew he had to protect Mikasa.

And, he did want to protect Annie. Goddesses, did he want to shield her from this disgusting world, and show to her true freedom. They weren't naïve kids anymore, but adults with solid purposes, though hers wavered.

"Annie?"

"I—"

A thump against the wall behind them, made both shifters jolt. Annie shoved Eren off her, wiping her face thoroughly. She stood on her feet, he tried to reach for her calf as she stepped over him, he called her name but she ignored him, she trekked quietly around the table. Eren struggled to heft himself onto another chair, to see what she had spotted. Once seated, his eyes flew to the young soldier who was frozen in fear in front of the lioness.

"Simon…" Oh no.

"How much did you hear?" Gone was the whimpering girl Eren witnessed a moment ago, replaced by the warrior.

"I—I, oh, I didn't hear anything, I just… I just woke up, I came downstairs for some water." Simon gulped. He still had his sleeping clothes on, his curls stuck out. But his eyes were wide awake, round, and frightened.

Ribbons of steam curled from where Eren tied off his pants on his right leg, he quickly undid it. Annie's expression wasn't one of remorse, wasn't one of mercy. She snatched the knife, the one had clattered onto the plate earlier, the one she pierced Eren with. Simon gasped, stumbling back into the lounge room as she hounded him.

"Annie!" Eren cried out, willing his regenerative power to heal him faster. "Don't do this!"

"Don't lie to me." Annie pursued the trembling boy, "Tell me what you know, what you heard." He turned to run, but Simon was too slow for the warrior, she jumped onto his back, held his arm at an awkward angle, and the knife to his throat. He squealed underneath her.

"Tell me."

Eren couldn't witness this, he fell to the floor, dragging himself with one leg and a half to the threshold of the lounge room. Cursing himself, and her, and Simon. By the time he reached the inside of the lounge room, his leg had healed to his ankle, and Annie, stood over the body. Simon's life was spilled onto the expensive carpet, the flames danced, crackled in the atmosphere, shadows flickered menacingly across her face. Her hands were stained.

Eren shuddered, trying to bring himself to stand, but he fell flat onto the ground, crawling his way to Simon. "Fuck…" He turned the boy over, the clean slice she made against his throat spurted blood, thick, onto his clothes, and the carpet, and his skin. "Oh fuck, Oh, fuck, Simon—Simon, I'm so sorry."

"He would've ratted you out to the Marley authorities." Annie's voice was ice. He turned to her, there had to be a reason. She took a boy's fucking life. "He was innocent!" He growled, his tone reminiscing that of his titans.

"I didn't want to kill him!" She screamed, snapped and flung the bloodied knife into the fireplace, "I didn't want to kill him! I did it for you! He heard, he heard every damn thing, that you were a spy, that were after the Marley. Fear drives people to do what they believe is right. Simon was neither good, or bad. Would you have taken that chance? Let him live, knowing what you are? What you could do to disturb the life he made here?"

Eren thought begrudgingly, as Simon's body grew cold. No. No, he wouldn't have.

"You said you wanted me to help you silence your enemies. Well, this is a start."

His heart sank as he watched the carpet darkened further; He needed Annie. He did. She was crucial. I'm sorry, Simon.

There was a creak of wood upstairs, someone slinking in the dark. "… Your father."

Annie sighed, wiped the red from her palms onto her skirt, "I'll deal with my father, he too, follows those with power because he is afraid. It wouldn't be too difficult to make him see that both sides are equally shitty, one side just gives us the decency of being treated like human beings. I prefer that side, I prefer freedom."

Eren had gained the trust of one warrior; but it took the life of a fellow soldier to make her see, to provoke her, to have her act out on her own, and protect him. It could've gone any other way, he supposed. They could've met with another spy, and she could've backstabbed him the way she had done years ago, back in Wall Sina, back in Stohess.

It didn't, though. Now he had to live with the consequences.

He grumbled, so very fucking tired, it must've been close to four in the morning. "What do we do with Simon?"

"Don't worry about it," Annie tucked strands of blonde behind one ear, "I'll deal with that too."

Eren watched her leave the lounge, descending up the steps of the staircase, he finally stood on his own two feet as she disappeared. They were both lunatics, in their own way, perhaps… that was also why he loved her.