Previously:

"!!" Eren gasped. "Mikasa!" He sat alone in the floor, watching his friends run to their doom. "H… How are you two… able to fight?"

"What else can we do?" Mikasa said, pausing to answer him. "The world… is a cruel place." She turned and continued running. Eren looked down. He bent over, clutching the wrist of his injured hand. Mikasa and Armin stopped at their exits. They waved at each other signal they were ready. Eren looked up. Mikasa spared one final glance back at him. Eren's brow furrowed and his eyes hardened.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed and bit his hand. This time the transformation was instantaneous.

His titan body burst up through the roof of the tunnel before Mikasa and Armin could endanger themselves, sending debris flying everywhere in a great explosion. Annie stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Eren just in time to get nailed in the face with a powerful uppercut. Annie's titan form was sent flying.


Chapter 27: Wall


FOOOOOOOOOM!

The sound of the explosion caused by the titan transformation could be heard all the way over on the street where the Military Police were currently escorting Eren's double.

"What was that?!" one the senior officers, Nile Dok, asked, staring up at the pillar of steam in the sky. "Escort team! We're fine here! Go check that out!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" a boy with a pudding bowl haircut shouted in reply, and they left to investigate.

"Nile… dispatch all your troops immediately," Erwin told him, also looking at the steam. "We must assume a titan has appeared."

"W… What're you saying?! This is Wall Sheena!!" Nile exclaimed. "There's no way a titan could be here!!" His eyes widened when he saw the look on Erwin's face. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. "… Erwin… what… in the hell… are you up to…?" Levi stared up at the disappearing steam. He clenched his fist.

—∞—

"Let us pray," a Wallist priest said. His flock stood in concentric circles with their arms linked together. It was business as usual for Minister Nick. "Maria. Rose. Sheena. We pray for the wellbeing of our three goddesses. And for our security. We shall not doubt the holy walls. The three walls, born of divine hands… are further strengthened by our faith and devotion. Our pure and faithful hearts…"

THOOM. THOOM.

"… protect us from the titans…"

THOOM. THOOM.

"… For the only power that drives titans from us—"

CRASH!

Annie's Female Titan form smashed violently into the church. He was knocked over, while his flock was flattened in one blow. Steam billowed from her healing jaw. Annie's eyes widened when she looked down and saw some of their crushed bodies smeared under her hand. There was no time to think about it. The Survey Corps was already hot on her trail.

"…?!" Nick gasped at the terrible and unexpected scene before him. "A titan…? Here…?" He stood back up again. "N… No! Keep it away from the wall..."

"It's trying to get over the wall!" a Survey Corps member in goggles yelled as he and his team followed in her booming footsteps.

"If it gets away now, Humanity's done for!!" another member shouted.

"Disable it! Aim for its feet!!" a member with a buzzcut said, dropping low to attack her ankles. Annie heard what they were doing and smashed the turret of a nearby building to send debris flying at them. They were forced to break up their attack in order to dodge. A terrified family of three that hadn't evacuated had to dive into an alley to get out of her way. But as Annie was knocking down a chimney to create more debris, one soldier came shooting forward from the back, arcing around another steeple to attack from the front. Before Annie could blink, her face was being sliced. She managed to avoid damage to her eyes, which widened slightly when they saw who the soldier was. Mikasa.

"Good work, Mikasa!" one of the veterans shouted at her. "Next, go in from outside her field of vision!"

"Okay!" Mikasa said. 'It was my mistake… that caused us to lose the Corps' best soldier. I need to take full responsibility… for my actions,' she thought, preparing to fight again. Her eyes widened when she saw the terrain. "!" The buildings ended. They had almost reached the edge of an oval track that surrounded flat green way.

"A clearing!!" someone else shouted.

"Oh no… There aren't any buildings to anchor onto there!" someone else said.

"We have to go around..." another corps member said.

"But if we do that, she'll get away!" said another. It was then that Eren came thundering up from behind.

"!" Mikasa gasped. "Eren..." Eren kept running, focused on his pursuit of Annie.

"He seems to be doing a good job of staying himself this time," Hange noted, coming to a stop beside Mikasa with Armin right behind her. "Let's trust him to buy us some time." Hange turned to face the rest of them with a raised voice. "Split into two groups! Do whatever it takes! Just secure the Female Titan!"

'Could it be…? Has she really given up Eren and decided to escape…?' Armin wondered as they moved to follow Hange's orders. 'But now she's one-on-one with Eren…! This should be Annie's… last chance to capture him!" Annie must haven been thinking the same thing, because she turned and skidded to a halt, tearing up the facade of a few buildings when she grabbed onto them to slow down. Eren came thundering towards her.

"GRAAAAAAAGH!" he roared as he immediately brought himself to a halt to face her. 'Annie… you always… had this look on your face, like you thought everyone around you was stupid and hopeless… you always… seemed bored.' He watched her bend her knees and raise her fists, taking up that unique fighting stance of hers. 'But there were times when you came alive. ...When you got to show off, your hand-to-hand skills! You said they were pointless crap that your father forced on you, but… it never looked to me like you thought of them that way. I remember… thinking that… you were… a bad liar...' Eren clenched his fists and formed his own fighting stance. 'Hey… Annie?' He swung his fist at her, but she dodged and swept her leg in a powerful kick that cut completely through his shin. 'What… are you… fighting for?' Before he lost his balance Eren launched himself forward with his good leg. He pulled his arm back. 'What cause was so important...' He thrust his fist forward, delivering a mighty punch. '… You could kill for it?' Annie tried to block the attack by catching it with her hand, but both that hand and his smashed into her face, sending her sliding back away from him. Annie's eyes widened, and she furrowed her brow. Annie swung her leg at Eren's head with enough force to amputate part of the arm he put up to block her and knock him into the building next to him. Her leg got caught in Eren's mouth. He bit down. Annie began beating his head with her fist, trying to get him to let go.

"Now!" a Survey Corps member shouted. "Cut her off!" Annie beat Eren harder and wrenched her leg free before they could get her. She ran for the wall. She was desperate. She hardened her finger tips and toes and leaped up at the wall. She dug her fingers and toes into its hard surface and began to climb.

"Wha…?!" a veteran exclaimed, shocked. "She's… trying to scale the wall as a titan!" They tried to climb after her with their 3DMG, but she kept pulling ahead of them.

"She's fast… At this rate… she's going to get away…!" Armin said anxiously.

"We can't let her!" Mikasa said.

"!" Armin looked up when a large shadow fell over him. "Eren..." His mouth and arm were steaming. "…!" Looking back at the wall, he saw Annie was almost at the top. "Mikasa, wait! There's no way you can catch up to her!" Eren laid his good hand on the ground for Armin to hitch a ride.

"?!" Mikasa said.

'We have horses waiting on the other side, but a battle on level ground is practically impossible...' Hange thought, urgently pursuing the Female Titam. 'What can we...' Someone zoomed past the squad leader. "Huh?!" Mikasa flew up like an avenging angel. She fired a grappling hook to the left of Annie's right hand. She gritted her teeth and pulled herself across Annie's hand, slicing through all her fingers below the hardening. Annie's eyes widened as her hand swung away from the wall, unable to grip anything.

"She made it..." Armin said, amazed. While Annie was still staring at her injured hand in shock, Mikasa swung herself around and repeated the process with the remaining hand. Annie stared up at her with a frightened expression on her face.

"Annie," Mikasa said, landing one foot between Annie's eyebrows. "Fall." Mikasa hung in the air, watching as Annie fell away, heading straight for the ground.

Annie suddenly remembered the day her father said goodbye. How he said what he did was wrong… that he wasn't going to ask her to forgive him, that there was just one thing he wanted to ask of her.

Eren held Annie's titan form down to keep her from moving while the others worked to extract her real body from the nape. Hange directed the efforts, and they cut around the hardened skin on her nape then lifted it with pitchforks and pried at the flesh there until her real body was revealed to them. Eren reached down to pull her out.

Her father told her he didn't care if she made the entire world her enemy. Even if every other creature alive came to hate her… he would always be on her side. That's why he begged her and made her promise… to come back.

Tears spilled from Annie's eyes as she gritted her teeth and concentrated. There was a flash of light.

"?!" Hange gasped. "Wha…?!" Annie was in Eren's hand, but she was encased in some kind of crystal.

"… What was that…?" Mikasa wondered. She stared down at the scene below her and realized something was cracking. She looked back at the wall and saw that a fissure had formed in it. "Uh-oh..." She watched loose pieces fall to the ground. "… Rubble from the wall!" She looked back at the wall again and her eyes widened in shock. Inside the large hole that had formed in the wall, was a titan.

—∞—

When Eren woke up, he had been removed from his titan form. He was slumped on the grass and for some reason, Armin was holding him.

"… Armin," Eren said. "Annie… What happened?"

"Eren..." Armin said, looking down at him. "I doubt... anyone knows yet..." Eren looked in front of him and saw the evaporating remains of his titan and Annie's towering above them. They were already down to the skeleton.

CLANG! CLANG!

The Survey Corps member with the buzzcut was stabbing at the crystal Annie was in with one of his blades. It splintered into little pieces.

"Damn it!" he cursed. "Not even… a scratch!"

CLANG! CLANG!

He started banging what was left of the broken blade on the crystal. "You damned coward!!" he shouted in frustration.

"Hey!" the guy standing next to them said.

CLANG! CLANG!

"Take what you got coming!!" the buzzcut soldier yelled. "Get out here!"

CLANG! CLANG!

"Get out here and pay for what you've done!"

"Stop it, Keiji!!" Hange said urgently, grabbing his wrist. "We don't have time for that!"

"!?" Keiji said.

"Make a wire net and tie her up!" Hange ordered. "Hurry! We don't know when she's going to wake up… so just focus on getting her underground!" Hange handed him the wire.

"Yes, sir..." Keiji said, still frustrated. But he followed the orders he was given. Others came forward to help him. Hange stared at the odd scene.

'Just as we thought we finally had Annie… she surrounded herself with this crystalline substance… It's harder than steel, at the very least… We don't even know if she's alive. If… If things stay this way… and we can't get information out of her… We've sacrificed so many lives… but we have nothing but mysteries to show for them… So what will we do…?' Hange wondered. Sweat dripped down Hange's face. Hange ruminated over these thoughts with a furrowed brow. "Still no horses?! Hurry!!" Hange called, wanting to get Annie underground as soon as possible. Some rubble fell by Hange. "?" Hange looked up. Part of the wall was obscured by steam from the evaporating titans. "All that rubble looks dangerous… Hm? Mikasa?" She was hanging there on the wall, staring at something. "Why is she still up..." The wind blew and the steam moved out of the way to reveal something unbelievable—there was a titan inside the wall.

Mikasa was sweating bullets, staying as still as possible while she assessed the situation. Was it safe to move? Should she try to kill it? Was it just her imagination, or did the exposed eye seem more open than before? She raised her blades. Its eye moved to look at her.

'It's alive—!!' she thought, trembling slightly.

Down below, everyone was in shock.

"What th—?!" someone said, stunned.

"U-Up there..." another member of the corps said shakily, pointing at the titan. Hange stared with wide eyes.

"Wha…?" Armin said as he and Eren stared up at it too. "A titan…?! How? Inside the wall?!"

"I… Is it moving?" someone asked, alarmed.

"Squad Leader!! Your orders?!" Moblit asked anxiously.

'Huh… What…?' Hange thought, disturbed. 'Did that just happen to be in that spot…? And if not, is the whole wall packed full of titans? Titans all through… the inside of the wall…?' Someone grabbed the squad leader's shoulder. "Minister Nick?" Hange said, surprised. He was breathing hard, having run all the way there.

"...ver it!" he said between breaths. "That titan… don't let… sunlight hit it…! It doesn't matter what. Something that will block the light..."

"What…?" Hange said. Why was it… that he didn't seem shocked to see it there?

"Cover it! Hurry!!" Nick urged Hange.

—∞—

"Please answer me! What happened to those two titans?" the Military Police recruit with the pudding bowl haircut that Nile sent asked the goggle-wearing Survey Corps member urgently.

"There's no time to explain right now! Just get back," he told Pudding Bowl and the girl and boy with him.

"We have civilian casualties! Even some deaths!" Pudding Bowl said anxiously. "Why were those titans here, and why were they fighting?! Who will take responsibility for this?!"

"I can't talk to you," Goggles told him. "Go get your superior officer. If he's not drunk, that is..."

"Damn it..." Pudding Bowl, an MP named Marlowe, cursed.

"I can't believe Annie. Playing hooky at a time like this..." the girl, Hitch, said.

"Yeah, you said it. Where the hell did she go?" the other boy, Boris, wondered.

—∞—

The sun was setting as Hange stood on top of the wall, staring down at the makeshift covering they had made for the titan in the wall.

"I guess that's good enough for now..." Hange said wiping away sweat and pushing Hange's goggles up. "We'll start on actual repairs once the sun sets," the squad leader told Nick. "For now, we'll use a thin layer of quick-drying joint filler… and work on the fragile sections surrounding the damage at the same time."

"Okay… That seems fine," Nick said. He looked up at the squad leader. "Did the citizens see it?"

"From the time the battle ended to now, we've kept civilians away from the area… but I can't guarantee that it stayed completely hidden," Hange replied.

"… I see..." Nick said, looking back down. Hange scratched Hange's head.

"I think… it's time for you to start talking," Hange told him.

"… About what?" Nick asked, still looking down. Hange looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.

"What is this titan? Why are there titans inside the wall?" Hange asked. "And why… did you people… keep quiet about it?" Nick stopped leaning over the edge of the wall. "… You will answer me," Hange told him. Nick stood up and brushed himself off.

"That's not going to be possible. I'm a busy man," he said. "My church and my followers are in shambles. This is all your fault. I'll be sending you a bill for damages. Now… get me down from here." Hange stared at him for a moment with a jaded expression.

"All right," Hange said.

"!!" Nick gasped in alarm when the squad leader grabbed him by the front of his cassock and swung him around so that he was hanging over the edge with his feet barely touching the wall. "Gah!!"

"Squad Leader!!" Moblit cried.

"Stay back," Hange ordered. Hange glared at Nick.

"This is ridiculous…" Nick said, swearing nervously, holding onto Hange's arm to make sure he wouldn't fall. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"What do you think you're doing?" Hange countered. "This is a grave crime. A serious offense, affecting the lives… of all humanity. Is this why your little religious group was so fervently opposed to strengthening the wall and building underground passages? Wasn't it the monarchy that gave you the right to butt into any decisions involving the walls…? In other words… there's no way that you're the only ones who know about this secret… There's no telling how many do, though." Nick gritted his teeth. "Do you know… what exactly we in the Survey Corps have spilled our blood for? To take back the freedom the titans stole from us. For that cause… our lives were a small price to pay. Even if all we accomplished were small steps forward… We continued to give our lives if it meant that one day… humanity would be free from this terror… And yet, we didn't learn this vital information until now..." Hange said earnestly, furious and appalled. "Are you still going to play dumb? You're going to say that you had no idea how many of my comrades… were being tossed out just to become titan food? The truth is that you were keeping quiet… You people… could afford to stay quiet. … Do you understand? I'm not asking you. I'm ordering you. Talk. And if you won't, I'll move to the next guy. I'll ask him the same thing: what's more important, staying silent? Or staying alive?" Hange glared at him with narrowed eyes. "Your one measly life wouldn't be nearly enough, anyway. Or is it a donation you want? How much?"

"… Let go... of me..." Nick said, trembling. Hange frowned.

"Let go of you now?" Hange asked.

"Now…! Now…" Nick said, removing his hands from Hange's arm, spreading his own arms wide. "Take your hand off me!!" Hange stared darkly at the man. Even though he was quivering like gelatin, he was fully prepared to die.

"Ngh… Nngh… You… have every right to be angry," Nick said. "But… we did not stay silent out of malice! I do not cling to my own life as if it is something precious! I will prove that to you!! After all, I'm an alcoholic who lost his family… I'm nothing but a vile wretch… The only way I can go on living is by clinging to God… if this wretch before you refuses to say a single word… no matter what torment you visit upon my believers, all greater men and women than I, you'll never get anything out of them! You would do well to kill me and learn for yourself! We will carry out our mission to the end!!"

"All right. You're dead," Hange told him.

"Squad Leader!!" Moblit cried anxiously. Nick opened his eyes wide when he heard the cold judgement.

"Ah..." he gasped and closed his eyes. Tears streamed down his face. "My… God..." He really was fully prepared to meet his maker. Hange glared at him. If looks could kill, he'd be dead already. Hange yanked Nick by the front of his cassock again, throwing him harshly back onto the top of the wall.

"Haha… Just kidding. A little joke..." Hange said, sitting down on the edge, pulling the goggles down again. Moblit checked on Nick, who was shaking, curled up in a ball.

"Unh… Uunnh..." Nick cried with his hands folded in prayer, thanking God that he was still alive. Moblit decided he would be fine once he had a chance to calm down. He walked over to stand next to Hange. He noticed the squad leader was trembling.

"Squad Leader?" Moblit said.

"Ah… somewhere along the line I forgot… this feeling… I haven't felt it since my first time outside the walls..." Hange said quietly. "It's terrifying..."

—∞—

Eren was unconscious, lying in a bed in an underground room. Armin sat at the foot of the bed, hugging his knees, while Mikasa sat in a chair near the bed. Jean leaned against the wardrobe with his arms crossed. The walls of the room were unpainted stone, but it had the basic amount of furniture required to be comfortable.

"At least this means… that Eren won't be summoned to the royal capital..." Jean said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah..." Armin agreed quietly.

"God… This isn't the time to be worried about that… Annie really was the Female Titan, and she wrecked the city..." Jean said, a bead of sweat sliding down his face. "Then she turned into Sleeping Beauty… And on top of that… they're saying that there were actually Colossus Titans inside the wall all this time?"

"… Yeah," Armin replied. "They've just been standing there for at least a century, so… It might be about time they decide to go for a walk… all at once."

"… Hah," Jean laughed awkwardly. "Hahaha! Was that a joke right there, Armin?" he asked, ruffling his hair. "Man, you're lame! That was great!"

"Jean. Quiet," Mikasa said, holding a finger to her lips.

"All right! S… Sorry..." he said, lowering his voice, blushing a little.

"The walls don't have any joints between the stones or signs of any kind of peeling, so I could never figure out how they were built," Armin said. "But maybe they were made using the titans' hardening abilities… like we saw with Annie, those abilities can be used in a lot of ways. So… all this time, we were being protected from titans by titans." Mikasa looked at him.

"Is that a joke, too?" Jean asked. "Because it's not funny." Another Survey Corps member opened the door to the room.

"Armin, come with me," he said. "The commander wants you to sit in on the assembly."

"O… Okay," Armin said, scooting around Eren's feet to get off the bed and put his shoes on.

"I… In that case," Jean said, stretching his arms, "I guess… I'll go upstairs, too. Staying in this damp cellar… is going to make us depressed. I think… we should get out of here." He and Armin headed for the door.

"Mikasa, I think they'd let you attend too," the other corps member said. "Do you want to come?"

"I'll… stay here," Mikasa said.

"Okay," he said.

"Armin smiled a little knowingly as he waved goodbye to Mikasa. Mikasa blushed a little.

—∞—

The day of the incident, an assembly was held at the Stohess Military Police branch to recap the day's events. Though the summons of the Survey Corps leaders was put on hold… their decision to execute their mission unilaterally was questioned.

"Erwin. We have a number of concerns regarding this mission," the district mayor said. He and Erwin were seated at a table with other local government officials and a few Wallist priests. Hange stood beside Erwin. "If you had already marked your target… why didn't you ask for the Military Police Brigade's assistance?"

"District Mayor… It was because we didn't know where the Female Titan's comrades could be hiding. This mission was of utmost importance, and in order to execute it… it had to be carried out by only those whose innocence could be proved," Erwin explained.

"I commend you for identifying the 'Female Titan' who had hid inside our walls… Annie Leonhart," the district mayor said. "However… what do you have to say about the damage done to the district as a result of your actions?"

"While we endeavored to avoid causing any damage, in the end, property was lost, as well as precious civilian lives. Our own deficiencies caused this to happen. I deeply and sincerely apologize," Erwin said. "However… had we allowed the titan to escape and the wall be destroyed, the damage would have been far worse… and we acted while taking this into account."

"Do you have any proof that you did prevent humanity's demise?" the district mayor asked. "You've been able to get nothing out of Annie Leonhart, is that correct?"

"She is currently being detained deep underground," Erwin replied. Levi was seeing to that. "As her body is now surrounded by a hard, crystalline substance… it is impossible to extract any information from her."

"Your efforts were in vain?" the district mayor asked.

"I believe that there is value in simply having captured one of the titans," Erwin said. "Yes… I know there are more. We must hunt down every last one of them. Every enemy… hiding… inside our walls." A bead of sweat slid down the side of Minister Nick's face.

BAM.

"Commander Erwin!!" a Survey Corps member yelled as he burst into the room. "It's terrible!"

"Thomas?!" Hange said, surprised to see him there.

"Wall Rose has—!" Thomas said, desperately urgent.

This story began twelve hours earlier.