Alright, glad to see a few reviews barely a day after I published. Now I won't stop writing my other story, but this will be the ereannie story I wish to see when we finally return to see the people of Paradise. The method they will try to use to awaken her is what I think will be the way they possibly recruit her. Some characters might seem a little ooc but I'll try my best to write them the way we all know. Let us begin.
Eren held the delicate vial of blood in his hands with uptmost care, to him it was a way to Annie herself. Someone he missed for so long, who he had so many questions to ask, questions that kept him up at night. Because he thought he would never get to ask them, or even talk to her ever again.
He brought it closer to his chest, and in the back of his mind he could feel that same tingle, like the lightning just before it struck him to create the Titan. Hopefully, it meant it was working.
Placing both of his hands and forehead against the crystal, and closing his eyes, he called out mentally with the most determined voice he could muster.
'Annie. Please I want to talk"
He was met by nothing but silence for a few moments, and was afraid that it was a bust. But he still felt that tingle, only now it felt...'colder, but somehow stronger?'. Did that mean he's connected with her mind? If he is, then why was she silent?
His answer was an image that faded into view, and he watched with anticipation as it became...Annie. But unlike the Annie he knew, this Annie was much younger, maybe 8 years old. She still wore her white hoodie that became iconic about her. Something else she wore as well, on her left arm stood a band with some sort of star on it.
He knew from the what Armin saw in Bertold, as well as what he could remember from his father's memories, that this was the symbol used to identify Eldians under Marley rule. He looked and noticed they sat in a darkened room, a window showing that they were in a cabin of some sort from the trees that stood outside.
She was apparently alone, sitting there on a bed repeating a few words under her breath. Eren stepped forward to try and hear them, and began to understand what she said.
"...Find the coordinate, kill the Marley, find the coordinate kill the Marley, find the coordinate kill the Marley, find the-"
His hopes began to rise as he heard them repeat themselves, 'She hated them too? Did she know the truth? Does that mean-'
"Annie!"
Eren heard a man's voice call out for her, and she stopped, looking frightened. It was almost unnerving to see such an expression on her face, he'd never seen her look afraid. Not when they faced the harsh training as cadets, and not even when they confronted her in Stohess after the 57th expedition. No he hadnt seen fear, nor much of any emotion on her human face, but he had seen it on her Titans face.
Twice he had seen it, in the forest when he roared at her face in anger when he pinned her down. The second time he barely remembered, was when he went berserk inside Stohess. Her face as he chased her down, and when she tried to rise when she fell for the last time. He didn't remember too much of it, but he does remember nearly killing her, but stopped when he saw her face.
It was then that he knew exactly what he had felt for the girl, even now as a traitor. He emerged from his titan after she sealed herself nearly with him, and seen her decapitated titan head where it had been thrown. It was a broken face, one of the most scared faces he'd ever seen, lined with all the damage he had done to it with his hands.
He was a little horrified by his actions, but he was too hurt by her betrayel that he didn't really think about it till much after. So to see that same amount of fear on her face now shook him, the only thing keeping him stable was the realization that this was probably a memory. Her memory.
The place changed, now he was no longer in the cabin. Now he stood in a classroom of some sorts, where he saw maybe 30 children all between 7 and 10 years old. He was startled to see Bertoldt near Annie, who seemed to be taking some sort of written test. Behind her however was a face that brought anger to his mind, anger that ebbed away as he saw the expression on it as well.
It was Reiner.
The blonde boy who would become the Armored Titan sat there looking absolutely terrified, 'but of what?' Eren asked himself. He got closer and could barely hear his frantic mumblings "...loyal to Marley, kill the island devils.." At this Eren's temper again rose, but once again the background changed. Now they all were outside in some sort of camp.
Annie was near Bertoldt and Reiner, who was on the floor looking ready to cry. They all looked a few years older, nearly the same age he was when the attack. Reiner had been saying something to Bert about loyalty, and they asked Annie about it.
She blew them off by merely stating she hadn't been listening, though he knew she had, and didn't want to state her loyalty. She started to jog away from them, urging them to follow.
'So was she never loyal to them even then? And that look, I've seen it before.'
It was the same one she wore when they had first talked to each other. The same look when she told him the harsh truth of their combat training being worthless, that those with the best rank would be farther away from the Titans. He hadn't realized till a few minutes after that she was right.
They'd all been honing their skills to run, not to fight back. It was an eye opener for him, and was one of the first things that got his interest in her. That and the move she used to not only flip himself but Reiner as well, which he would later impress her with when he used it on Jean.
He remembered her later talking to him on using it before she actually smiled, and offered to teach him how to do it properly. He had denied at first, but over time he accepted her offer. Their training got more and more intense as they began to grow closer as comrades, even more as friends. But at times their spars got a little close, and others noticed, like when Mikasa threw Reiner at them. He knew she never liked Annie to begin with, but it got worse when Eren began to prefer training with her than with his own sister.
It was her training that helped him last against her in the forest and in Stohess, and against Reiner, but he had a feeling there was something else. He knew how deadly she could be in hand to hand, but he now saw that she never actually attacked him first. Sure she had always preferred to be on the defensive when she taught him, but now it almost seemed like she held back on him both times. In the forest he was too enraged at the Female Titan to notice, but in the city she had fled first instead of snatching him when she had the chance.
He remembered her bashing his skull in when he had locked jaws on her leg, how she screamed in pain as she tried to pull it away. And finally the blow that got it free, how she looked at him afterwards. She had the perfect chance to take him, he had nothing left, his body was missing half it's limbs, and she was still whole. She chose not to capture him, instead just trying to leave as she had before. Now it prompted the question of whether or not she was committed in her mission at all.
The area changed yet again, and he now was watching the sky grow farther away. 'Shes falling' he realizes, and sees flashes of a man holding her, her father, crying with her. Glimpses of her memories, from both their last fight, and most likely the day she left Marley to retrieve the coordinate.
"I'm so sorry, I don't expect you to forgive me..but please. Please just-"
He feels her smack against the ground, and hears himself screeching as he pounces and bites her shoulder.
He still hears her father's words as well, loud and clear as she feels her head and arm get severed.
"Stand your ground. Stand your ground even if the whole world stands against you!"
He could hear his own voice too, realizing he had channeled his thoughts into her head when he attacked. He was actually frightened at what he didn't remember saying, and knew she was feeling the same.
"I'LL DESTROY THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD!!!!"
He hears her father again, "They'll despise you, they won't understand. But I will, your dad always will! Promise me you'll return, that's all I ask."
Eren sees himself ripping away her nape, growling "THIS IS FREEDOM!!!" and stop as he sees her crying face. But before he sees what happens next it fades quickly, much to his confusion. He looks around and sees only darkness, which unnerves him.
'Is this what she sees now, inside her "prison"?' His thought are interrupted by a voice, cold but familiar that calls out to him from behind his back.
"Why are you here?"
He whirls around to see Annie standing there, looking just like the last time he saw her. The white hoodie and Military police uniform still in place, and her face looking just as bored as it ever did. The only difference was her eyes, they looked at him in surprise, perhaps she never expected to see him in here. He knew the feeling as well and yet here he stood, in her consciousness.
He struggles to find words, it had been so long since he'd actually heard her voice, or seen her face. She got annoyed at his silence.
"Why are you here? How did you even get in here?" Her tone strikes his temper, and he does his best to collect himself before he speaks to her.
"I came to talk to you. I finally thought of a way to do so, and I wanted to try."
She smirks at his answer and replies "Oh really? You came up with it all by yourself, or you have Armin do it for you?"
He narrows his eyes at her, and fires back with a bit of bite. "Yeah he helped, but I was the one who thought of it, as well as the only one capable of trying. You know I'm not an idiot"
She gives another smirk "No, I guess you weren't in that sense. But you were rash and suicidal in what you wanted that you didn't always think straight."
She had him there, but that was the way he was before he learned and experienced all he had in the past few months. He'd matured quite a bit, learning to keep his anger and rage in check.
"True but things have changed quite a lot. Including me."
"Really? How can I be so sure of that?" she asks, not trusting him. He persists.
"How about we talk and find out?"
She considers it, before replying in her usual monotone "Fine, but no lies. Agreed?"
He chuckles a little, "Fine. But that goes for us both."