"Just because you don't wanna believe the truth, doesn't make it any less real…some people can hide their true natures so well…it makes it hard to trust [you] again…"-Edith M. Brown Diary, 850
Spring 850
Underground Staircase Entrance, Stohess District
Eren stared up at the mouth of the stairs where Annie had stood only moments before, now it was encompassed by clouds of Titan steam and the fallen bodies of his comrades. Piles of dead Scouts were illuminated by the piercing jaundice light that struck the ground and reached for the heavens. It was undeniable now, Annie was the Female Titan.
Spring 850
Mess Hall, Trost HQ
"Sorry to keep you waiting" Erwin apologised to Eren (who stood as the door opened, but did not salute) and Levi who had occupied the table closest to the door. The Scouts had taken up refuge in the Trost HQ after returning from their failed mission and having been summoned to the Capital. Trost was to be their rest stop for the night before they moved on through the other districts; it also gave them time to plan out their next steps.
"Sir!" Eren responded before turning to the other occupants who had filed in after the Commander. "What the…? Why…why are you all here?" Eren's gaze wandered his fellow rookies that stood in line with Erwin. From left to right, they stood at attention with Ryan and Edith at the far end. Eren's eyes moved next to Jean, then Mikasa, Armin and finally the Commander who responded to Eren's queries.
"We believe we've uncovered the Female Titan's true identity, she won't slip away this time"
Taking a seat around the table, the group gathered around where a large map of the Stohess District now lay. Each person had a piece of paper containing notes from the pervious meeting between the five rookies and Erwin which discussed their theories and best course of action.
"The day after tomorrow we'll be passing through Stohess District en route to the Capital, that's when we'll strike" Erwin explained, "It'll be our first and only chance to do so; once we've set foot in the interior, the guards will assume custody of Eren and the Scouts authority to continue operations will be limited. Thus, unless we wish to conceive defeat we must flush out the enemy now" Erwin used the map in front of them to point out the path that had been circled in red.
"So here's what we do: while in Stohess we use Eren as bait luring the target into this underground passage, the deeper the better. Get her well beneath street level, that done she should be easily immobilised even in Titan form. If she transforms before reaching the tunnel, well at that point she'll be your responsibility, Eren"
"Uh, right" Eren agreed, "So we know she'll be in Stohess? There's no chance she'll bolt before we get there?"
"No, she won't risk going awol"
"Wait, you mean she's…?"
"Armin here, identified her. She's an MP, likely responsible for the death of Hanji's test subjects and a fellow trainee in the 104th cadet corps"
"Wha-? You can't be serious! I trained with her?!"
"I'm sorry, but yes, she's one of us. Her name is Annie Leonhart"
"Annie? Where's…where's your proof? Your evidence? Tell me" Eren stuttered, struggling to understand what he had just been told. No wonder none of his classmates had looked him in the eye since the moment they stepped into the room.
"Well obviously the Female Titan knew what you looked like before she attacked, plus she reacted to my use of your 'suicidal maniac' nickname, something only our classmates would know. But the biggest reason I suspect her is that I have strong reason to believe that she's the one who killed Sonny & Bean" Armin replied, presenting his evidence in an analytical fashion.
"You're kinda going out on a limb there"
"Killing two Titans at once requires a precision ODM strike, it only makes sense that the killer used the gear they were most familiar with"
"But there was that whole equipment inspection, Annie's totally checked out"
"Except the gear she presented, well it…it wasn't hers, it was Marco's"
"I don't understand, what's Marco got to do with all of this?"
"It's unclear"
"Maybe you need to get your eyes checked!"
"Eren…I know what I saw! And the fact-!"
"Okay!" Levi interjected before the two could go off topic, "We get it. Do you having anything else on her? Some sort of concrete evidence?"
"No sir" Armin muttered.
"There's the fact that she looks like the Female Titan, that's something, isn't it?" Mikasa piped up. Eren leapt to his feet, indignation written across his face as his temper got the best of him once again.
"Really? What the hell's wrong with you? What kind of evidence is that?" he cried.
"So basically we're going after her without proof" Levi summed up.
Edith's head snapped up at the query, her wide-eyed gaze locking on Ryan's matching one as a memory suddenly popped into mind. The duo hadn't been there for the entirety of the previous meeting, having joined during the last half due to higher priorities and so the revelation of the Female Titan had come as a shock to the both of them.
"Well, I suppose there's also…" Edith spoke up, but trailed off at the end.
"Holy shit, you don't think…?" Ryan breathed.
"Maybe, but could she have…?" she replied, following along the same line of thinking despite their half-finished sentences.
"The signs…"
"Oh Sina!"
"Oi!" Levi whistled interrupting the odd conversation, "You brats mind filling us in?"
Edith turned to the others who sat around the table, now aware that they had gathered the attention of all present, including Captain Levi and Commander Erwin. She shared a glance with Ryan, searching his face for some kind of support as she worried her lower lip between her teeth. He gave her a small nod in reply.
"Back during Trost, before the Wall was plugged, I had to bandage Annie's hands. It was nothing huge, just minor cuts along her palms from the ODM wires; more like rope burns really. The thing was, I also noticed that she had all these scars that covered her hands and her wrists.
They were old ones too, if I had to hazard a guess, the most recent one looked to be at least a week old. Which y'know wasn't any cause for alarm, 'cause everyone was cut up in some form or the other by that point, plus y'know, training injuries and all that. But then she started asking these questions that set me on edge. I told Ryan about it afterwards, 'cause I needed a second opinion"
"Ed said they were the kind of questions that revolved around death and self-harm" Ryan continued, picking up where Edith had left off, "They were things like 'How deep can you cut without killing someone?' or 'What's the cleanest way to slice?' Y'know, those kinda questions"
"We thought she was thinking suicide, so we reported it and had her put on suicide watch. But nothing really came of it" Edith continued. "I suppose in hindsight, all the signs were there, though"
"Maria's tits! How did we miss that?" Ryan muttered running a hand over his face. Erwin hummed, digesting the new piece of information as Eren continued in his tirade, this time turning on the medics.
"You're kidding me, right? This is insane!" he breathed "What if it's not her? What if she's not the monster you all say she is?"
"If it's not her then she'll be cleared, end of story" Mikasa piped up before either of the medics could respond.
"No one wants to condemn her prematurely, least of all me. But either we make a move on circumstantial evidence or sit back and let the central Government do what they like with you" Armin reasoned as well.
"Do you even hear yourselves? You're talking about Annie…" Eren protested.
"Look Eren, you need to stop thinking with your heart and think with your head for once" Edith interjected folding her hands on the table and leaning forward slightly, "You've sparred with Annie more frequently than the rest of us. Think: were there any similarities between her and the Female Titan? Their fighting styles? The way they moved?" Eren grew silent and his eyes blew wide as images raced through his mind of Annie & the Female Titan overlapping in their movements. "It's Annie, you know it is"
Spring 850
Underground Staircase, Stohess District
The trio came to a halt some metres from the entrance and turned to face the damage that Annie had caused. Bodies lay piled around them, buried under the rubbles where they had been standing only moments before. "God…" Armin breathed surveying the damage as Mikasa hauled the two boys to their feet. Just in time too, as Annie slapped her Titan hand down on the tunnel, creating an opening so she could reached after them.
"Dammit!" Armin cursed as they ran, "That ring! She must've known I was lying to her from the very beginning! She knew we were leading her into a trap! I could've…I should've taken a different approach!"
"Save the 'what ifs' for after we're out of this" Mikasa reprimanded him. "The question now, is what do we do next?"
"…Okay, first we rendezvous with Squad three and get the hell above ground. We fight her out in the open, that means we're switching to Plan B. She's all yours, Eren. Got it?"
"Yeah" Eren didn't sound particularly confident though.
"OVER HERE!" called a Scout from Squad three, waving down the trio who were making their way through the tunnels.
"Squad three!" Armin exclaimed.
"Hey what happened? Is Plan A a no go?"
"Afraid so, yes. As of now we're going with the backup option" Armin replied coming to a halt along with the others, not too far from Squad three. Which was just in their luck (Armin and co's not Squad three) as the foot of the Female Titan stomped down on the tunnel crushing everything beneath it.
"She caved in the ceiling!" Armin breathed once the dust had cleared enough for them to see the damage. It was through the hole in the roof that they could see Annie peering down at them.
"We've gotta pull them outta there!" Eren cried, overrun with emotions.
"Eren, get back!" Mikasa grabbed a hold of Eren by the hood of his cloak and yanked him backwards, back the way they had came.
"What? No!" Eren protested.
"What was that? Does she not care if she kills you too?"
"She took a chance. It was risky, but she gambled on Eren being able to survive. We're dealing with someone whose been backed into a corner" Armin analysed before taking off back up the stairs with the others following on his heels. "She's desperate, that makes her all the more dangerous"
The trio huddled together off to the side of the path as they tried to rethink their plan. If they stayed any longer in here, they would be no more than rats trapped in a sinking ship. "Dammit! We're cut off!" Armin swore, "If we try to get airborne with our ODM gear she swat us like flies and if we…"
He was soon cut off by a second hole being punctured in the tunnel roof a few meters to the left of them. "If we stay here, it's only a matter of time before we're crushed"
"I know what I have to do!" Eren stood up, "I'll change, I'll shield you guys just like that time with the canon fire!" Pulling his sudo siblings in close to him, he wrapped an arm around them whilst he bit down on the other. "Get in close! Alright brace yourselves!"
Blood flew but no Titan steam erupted from the tunnels. His eyes blew wide as he reapplied what was going on, "Oh no! Not again! Why now? We don't have time for this! Dammit!" Eren dropped to his knees, failure and shame weighing on him as he bit down again on his bloody hand. It was like he was back in that bloody well again.
"Don't try to force it, you need to have a clear objective in mind, like Hanji said" Armin instructed over Eren's grunts and groans. He sounded more like a wild animal at this point. "C'me on, you can do this, we know you can!"
"Believe me, I'm trying!" Eren cried as he bit down harder on his hands, by this point he may as well just eat the offending hand; it's not like it was going to make much difference.
"Really? Are you sure you're not having second thoughts? Doubts about Annie? " Mikasa stated as she knelt next to her brother and stared him in the eye. Eren couldn't meet her glare, instead staring down at his bloody hands, "It's her, the Female Titan. No matter how much you don't wanna believe it, that won't stop it from being true. What did we see? Back there, just now, she's a murderer, period. This isn't complicated"
"Get off my back dammit!" Eren cried in frustration, "I'm not stalling for time!"
"Dig deep, it's Annie, you know it is and you know you have to fight. Unless…unless there's something deeper, keeping you from it"
Eren stared at the ground as a memory popped into mind, it was simple thing, something that wouldn't really stand out from the others. But maybe that was why it came to him in that moment with Mikasa hovering over him
Summer 848
Bed Four, Bootcamp Med Bay
"So what's going on between you two?" Edith smirked tending to Eren's injuries for the umpteenth time that week. Annie had been kind enough to drop him off after the day's hand-to-hand combat training.
"Going on? With who? What do you mean?" Eren questioned confused.
"Y'know, you and Annie" She finished tying the bandage and turned to put her tools away.
"What are you talking about? You're not making any sense!"
"Annie and Eren sitting in a tree!" Edith childishly sang with a smirk, spinning around to see Eren's reaction. The boy in question looked like a tomato, his cheeks were bright red, his jaw had dropped and his eyes had blown wide.
"Wha-!"
"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"Edith!"
"First comes love, then comes marriage!" She laughed, dodging his attempt to tackle her, spinning on her heel as she continued to tease the boy.
"Then comes the baby in the baby's carriage!"
Armin drew his blades, snapping Eren from his thoughts and catching the attention of Mikasa. "I know what we have to do. Mikasa will head for that opening at the same time, I'll make a run for the exit. I'm sure Annie will go for one of us. When she does, run in the other direction for all your worth" Armin ordered pulling his hood on.
"Are you outta your mind?! What fucking good is it going to do if one of you gets killed?" Eren demanded.
"If we stay here, all three of us will!" Armin snapped as Mikasa adorned her cloak once more, "Mikasa, you ready?"
"Yeah, good luck!" She called before they both went their separate ways.
"MIKASA! ARMIN! Don't do this! I'M NOT WORHT IT! YOU HEAR ME! YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO!" Eren cried, only Mikasa stopped to reply.
"What choice do we have? The world is a cruel place; fight or die"
Eren grit his teeth as he clutched to his bleeding arm in frustration. Emotions and thoughts ran rampant through him, making him feel like his whole world was shaking. It was only when the roof above him crumbled that he realised it was. The roof caved in with a stomp of Annie's foot, flattening everything beneath it.
Armin could only hope that Eren had survived. In the mean time, he and Mikasa emerged from their respective ends of the tunnel, launching themselves high in the sky so they could grab Annie's attention. Mikasa came in hot, preparing to slice through her neck. Instead she was snatched from the sky but was lucky enough to slice through Annie's hand before she could be squished.
"I won't let you take him! Not this time!" she declared, squaring off against the Titan. She launched herself forward with a war cry, intent on reaching the nape and slicing the beast open. Instead she had to pull up, but still cutting deep along the right arm as she was thrown back down the street. Mikasa rolled and bounced a few times, coming to a stop where she lay in a groaning mess. There would be bruises for sure.
"DON'T LET HER GET AWAY! WE HAVE TO CONTAIN HER WHATEVER IT TAKES!" a Scout cried as he and his squad moved to intercept the beast before she got too far. She seemed to be making her way towards the Wall, for whatever reason they couldn't fathom, but then again when has a Titan ever made sense?
"RIGHT, DON'T KILL HER! ORDERS SAY WE ONLY HAVE TO STOP HER!" came the call as the Scouts jetted towards the towering Female Titan. Even with all their little slingshot tricks and fancy manoeuvres, they were no match for the beast. She would simply swat them down or snatch them from the sky, their bodies collapsing lifelessly on buildings nearby.
"Dammit! It's like she knows every move we're gonna make in advance!" The squad captain cursed, yanking himself out of reach as another comrade was killed. Mikasa had pulled herself together by this point, coming in low and hot with eyes full of murder.
"TRY THAT WITH ME, I DARE YA!" Mikasa cried, slicing through the tendons across the back of each foot, sending Annie stumbling.
Across town, the convoy squad had finally taken notice of the destruction left behind by the Female Titan. "What the hell is going on?" Nile Doak breathed looking up at the smoke trail that towered over the buildings. "Escort squad, have a look! I'll hold this position"
"Sir, yes sir!" replied Marlo as the squad jetted off to see what was going on.
"This is bad. What the fuck could be going on, this far in?" Doak muttered to himself, well aware of what shit storm this cold turn out to be.
"Nile! Deploy all troops immediately" Erwin ordered stepping out from his carriage with Levi (dress in civies) at his side. "We should assume that Titan is already appeared"
"Are you out of your mind?! This is Wall Sina! There's no way a Titan would just suddenly show up here!" Nile protested.
The tension was suddenly cut by the sound of the other carriage door slamming open to reveal Jean, Eren's body double. "Who told you, you could move, Jeager?" one of the MPs demanded trying to bar him from reaching his two commanding officers.
"How about this damn wig said I could, moron!" Jean cried yanking the wig from his head and tossing it aside, much to the surprise of the MPs around him. "Call me Jeager again and it's your ass, got that?" He ran over to the Commander & Levi, standing at attention, ready to receive his next orders. "Commander, what's the plan?"
"Ask Squad four for equipment" Erwin commanded as Jean donned his cloak.
"Sir!"
"Like the brass balls, but try not to swing them so hard they get you killed" Levi sassed.
"Sir!"
"Hold on! What. The. Hell?" Doak demanded.
"Commander! Here!" called the Squad four captain, alighting down by Jean so that he could retrieve and don the ODM gear.
"Well done" Erwin praised also donning the ODM gear.
"Thank you, sir"
"Wait just a damn minute!" Doak cried trying to regain control of the situation.
"Alright, all of you are with me" Erwin ordered, ignoring Doak as he did so. "We're rendezvousing with the capture squad"
"No! The hell you will!" Doak barred Erwin's exit, he and his men training rifles on the Scouts who remained in the street. "This is outright treason! I am well within my rights to shoot you where you stand"
"Think Nile, I find it hard to believe you're actually as thickheaded as you look. You're a hair trigger away from making the biggest mistake of your life" Levi threatened, annoyance seeping into his tone.
"Take off the gear before I shoot you!"
Jean wove through the streets, dodging crowds of panicked citizens left, right and centre as he made his way towards the others. He glanced up to the roofs where the MPs stood listlessly watching the horror unfold before them. Useless MP bastards! He thought dodging a weeping mother, Can't believe there was a time I would've given my left arm to even be one of them! I don't what the hell I was ever thinking!
While Mikasa and the other Scouts were keeping Annie busy, Armin returned to the fallen tunnel, searching for Eren. "Eren! Hold on, I'm coming!" he called when he spotted Eren impaled on a wooden beam and hidden beneath a slab of concrete. "C'me on, stay with me!" He cursed himself as he tried to shift the rubble separating him from Eren, but was only able to tip over the smaller pieces due to his short stature.
"Eren! Talk to me! Wake up!" Armin begged.
"What the fuck's going on?" Jean demanded landing next to Armin.
"Help me! He's stuck in here!"
"W-why didn't he just change into a Titan?"
"He couldn't transform. I-I think there's something holding him back from being able to take on Annie!"
"What?"
"We'll worry about that when he's safe. Help me…get him…out" Armin heaved pulling on the large piece of rubble laying on top of Eren.
"Eren…couldn't do it?" Jean breathed before a look of anger and determination flashed across his face. He knelt down next to Armin as he tried to encourage the boy the only way he knew how; in his own special Jean way. "THAT'S IT! ENOUGH WITH YOUR BULLSHIT EREN! DID I OR DID I NOT TELL YOU, THIS DAY WOULD EVENTUALLY COME? Look at yourself…OUR FATE'S IN YOUR HANDS! WE'RE OUT THERE PUTTING OUR LIVES ON THE LINE AND THIS IS ALL WE CAN EXPECT FROM OUT LAST BEST HOPE?! IS THIS WHAT MARCO…what he…dammit!"
Their attempt at trying to rouse the boy didn't seem to work, especially when they had to jump out of the way of the flying concrete slabs headed in their direction. Both Armin and Jean rolled to a stop out on the street, but Eren remained once again trapped underneath rubble.
"Eren…" Armin breathed looking down at his broken brother.
"Leave him, we can't do anything unless we take care of her!" Jean reprimanded shooting off to deal with the Female Titan. Armin could only watch as Jean took off; taking a deep breath he turned back to Eren, hoping against hope that his next words would get through to him.
"Listen, I said something to Jean recently" He watched Eren's eyes crack open as he spoke, "To rise above monsters, we have to abandon our humanity. What we fight, we become; fight fire with fire. Look at her, Annie can do it, I don't know why but there it is. YOU HAVE TO MATCH HER HEARTLESSNESS TO WIN!"
Armin then took off down the street towards where the Scouts were keeping the Female Titan busy. "ANNIE! ARE YOU GOING TO KILL ME OR NOT? I SEEM TO REMEMBER YOU MAKING A WAGER, WELL HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO MAKE GOOD ON THAT!" While Armin distracted Annie, a second Scout came down on her neck, however was blocked by not only her hand covering her nape, but also the crystallisation encasing it.
"ARMIN! FOLLOW MY LEAD!" Jean called as Armin finally took to the skies.
"GOT IT!"
The duo zipped down the streets, over broken structures and passed bloody buildings with Annie right on their tails. Just as they passed through a narrow bend in the street, wires (much like the ones from the Titan Forest) shot out from all directions, latching themselves onto any surface of the beast that they could find. When Annie eventually fell, a weaponised netting was even thrown overtop to ensure that there was no way she could escape again.
"Nice! And here I was thinking that having a Plan C was nothing short of paranoid!" Hanji chirped from up on one of the roofs, playing with the canon triggers. Hanji couldn't help but taunt the Female Titan when she alighted down next to the beast, threatening her with a short blade held within a centimetre or two from her large blue eye. "Do us a favour and behave yourself. Oh and calling your cohorts to dinner isn't an option, so let's not waste that lovely singing voice. In fact, let's not waste anything! No, no, I'm gonna read you like hunting trails. Every part of you has its own special story to tell"
Throughout this entire exchange, Edith sat perched on an outcropping that stuck out from the roof she was situated on. Her hands gripped tight to the hilts of her blades as she continued to watch through narrowed eyes, it couldn't really have been that easy, could it? It really wasn't. As soon as Hanji threatened to slice open Annie, her flailing limbs shot out, taking out all the wire canons that stood nearby. It was a wonder that so many people were able to get themselves out of harm's way just in time.
"She broke free?!" Edith cried pitching forward slightly as the others joined her on the roofs.
"Dammit! We didn't have time to set enough traps! DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!" Hanji cried as Annie bolted; still entangled in some of the canons. The squads were not too far behind.
Armin's words ran through Eren's mind on repeat like a broken record. Abandon your humanity and become the monster. Yeah, I…know Eren thought, That's why…that's why my comrades died…because I couldn't let go! Eld, Petra, Oluo, Gunther…Mum! I swore to kill them all! EVERY LAST ONE! RIGHT OR WRONG, IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE! JUST KILL! CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED! BECAUSE IT IS A CRUEL WORLD!
The squads advancing on the Female Titan all came to a halt when the familiar Titan beam lit up the afternoon sky. Steam filled the narrow streets and windows were blown inwards as Eren's Titan form stood tall. Threats of murder swum in his glowing green eyes as a roar ripped through the district, promising pain as Eren sprinted over to where Annie lay in a collapsed house.
Edith pulled up next to Armin who watched the proceedings through wide eyes. "Eren…" he breathed at the sudden appearance of his brother. Edith, on the other hand, was not so polite in her words as she watched the two Titans duke it out.
"Fucking finally!"