Chapter Five
Pain.
Pain more excruciating than burning.
Pain like his soul had been skinned and rubbed in salt knives.
Armin was vaguely aware of someone talking around him; their voice sounded rather familiar. Eren?
Nausea descended and he vomited, or maybe he didn't. Nothing really made sense. Nothing felt real.
Eren…It hurt too much to talk. Everything hurt.
"You'll be okay," whispered the familiar voice. "You'll be okay."
He faded out again.
"So everything I've heard about Bertl's sleeping positions is true," Ymir stage-whispered.
Saskia cracked an eye open to see Historia, that rather childlike and innocent queen – innocent like she wished Annie could have been– snuggled against a grinning Ymir.
Across the cells, Bertolt had finally been caught by exhaustion. A dark haired girl with an otherworldly face guarded him just outside the cell door, eyeing his restless tossing and turning with a mixture of hatred and revulsion. Her ferocity reminded Saskia of Annie.
Most would think her revulsion due to her hatred, but in reality Mikasa was still sickened that their former friend could have killed Armin.
Saskia noted her emotions. "What is your name?"
"She's Mikasa," Ymir called out.
"You should be quiet," Historia said nervously. Let Bertolt sleep. Yes, she still cared for her traitor friends, and she didn't care if that made Mikasa angry. Well, she did, but still.
She also wasn't sure what to make of the titan woman, other than she wore the same sullen expression as Annie, but infinitely less scary.
"Mikasa graduated first in our class. She's the strongest, and her brother is Eren," Historia explained.
"Eren isn't my brother," Mikasa said automatically.
"Foster brother. It's complicated," Ymir said cheerfully. Far too cheerfully for the situation, but then Historia was with her, so everything was all right for the moment.
An idea popped into Saskia's head. She slid off her bed and approached the cell bars, nervously brushing back a strand of hair. "Do you care about him?"
"Are you threatening him?" Mikasa's eyes glimmered.
"No," Saskia said, gripping the bars. She rested her head against rusted iron and dared to look Mikasa in her eyes. "I care about my sister, too. Probably much like you care about Eren. Please take me to Annie."
Mikasa bit her lip. She knew the searing pain of losing a sibling, but who knew if she could trust this woman? "We're nowhere near her."
"Is she hurt?" Saskia inquired.
Mikasa recognized that urgent tone.
Armin, where is Eren?
My comrades have fulfilled their duty and died in battle – Thomas Wagner, Mina Carolina, Milius Zermuski, Eren Jaeger!
"No." Mikasa wondered if approaching Erwin over letting Saskia see Annie, frozen as Annie was, would be a kind act. Kind was Historia, Marco. Not her.
"Please."
So the proud girl was begging, even if her voice remained monotone. Mikasa stepped forward and dipped her head. "When my shift ends, I will see what I can do."
"This is fascinating," Hange bubbled from behind Grisha's notes.
"But is it useful?" Levi asked.
"That's why you came here?" Hange blinked. "I thought Erwin needed me for something." Or that you needed to talk.
"You didn't sleep at all, did you?"
"I'm surprised you did," Hange replied.
"I never said that."
She lowered the notes and gave him one of her I-know-things-for-I-am-a-scientist looks. "It wasn't your fault, Levi. None of us were prepared."
He nodded to the pile of notes, ignoring the lump in his throat. "Thought you might want someone to talk theories with or whatever you do. With Moblit gone."
Hange stared at the floor. "Oh. Yes. Yes, I would like that."
"Tell me what you have so far."
"No confession or explanation of the Warriors' goals," Hange began.
Levi scoffed. "Did you expect a diary?"
"Well, I would have liked one!" Hange shoved a book in his face. "But, look: here are the notes about making more regeneration serum. If we can find enough of these chemicals – peroxide is quite rare, but I'll bet Wall Sina has it – we could copy the recipe."
"And save the titans." Levi stared at the pages without reading. Save the beasts who'd killed Isabel and Farlan and Petra and Eld and Gunther and Auruo and so many other comrades. Save the beasts he'd lived to kill. "If anyone can do it, you can."
Hange smiled sympathetically. She could read him easier than Grisha's notes. "Don't let anyone tell you you're not a hero."
"I tell myself I'm not every day."
"Darius will want you to answer. The people want revenge for their lost hope," Historia admitted. This meeting between queen and Survey Corp Commander could only last ten minutes before their plan collapsed.
"They should have it," Erwin said. "But. Only me. I fear cutting down the Survey Corp again would be disastrous."
"No one's saying we turn you over," Ymir said, stretching in the free air. Finally, unshackled and freed; Historia insisting she stay by her side. "The last thing we need is a more politics in the way. Plus, they'll want your head, and I rather like it attached."
Historia's hand reached over and squeezed Ymir's. "Ymir has a plan. I think it's a good one."
"Squad Levi – minus Historia – should be tasked with Bertolt. We'll get him to talk. He's a child, after all, more so than me by sixty years," Ymir said wryly. "Mikasa said they played Reiner and Bertolt off each other to extract information."
"We don't have Reiner," Erwin said slowly. "But we do have –"
"Exactly. You have Annie. And you have Saskia, who's far more reasonable than she pretends. She sees her sister, maybe helps us free her from whatever that crystal is. Or maybe Hange finds that information. Either way, you get information from Annie and Bertolt and stay ahead of the Military Police."
"Leave them to us," Historia said with uncanny confidence, smirking at Ymir.
"You have a plan?"
Ymir leaned forward. "Yes. But this time it is best if you do not know. Just take Squad Levi and make for the tunnels with Annie. Leave Bertolt here for now – I'll keep him and everyone around him safe."
Erwin wasn't sure trusting a seventy-year-old teenager and a traumatized child queen made any sense. But then, did anything in their entire world?
"Commander Erwin, I know we're a bunch of crazy kids. But the only way we all get out alive is my plan. We all need to know the War Chief's objective, and knowing him, he'll have told different bits to each Warrior. So you have to break through to Annie, while we give the Police the Colossal Titan as a treat to buy you time, while Hange recreates the cure. You bring back Annie, we get more information, we take the cure and save everyone in the world." Ymir raised an eyebrow. "Unless that's not your objective?"
Erwin stared at her.
"Commander Dok will be here within the hour. You have to leave." Historia waved the message she had received that morning.
Erwin half-smiled. "Is that a command, queen?"
"You put me in charge. You gave me power when I never had any. Now trust me," she said, with a slight tremble to her voice.
"I do," Erwin replied, rising to his feet.
I'm scared. Historia smiled and saluted him. He saluted back, with his left hand as always.
"He's a broken man," Ymir said quietly as the commander left. "My favorite sort of human."
"Sir?" Mikasa held her breath. She'd helped Ymir devise their plan, but the waiting was torturous.
"We ride out in ten minutes."
Mikasa's entire body melted. "Yes, sir."
"Mikasa. You're the strongest. You will be in charge of Saskia. We'll be leaving Bertolt here for now."
"What of Levi?"
Erwin hesitated. Historia may not have envisioned this. "I think it best if he stay with the Colossal Titan."
Mikasa frowned as he walked off. She couldn't be sure, but she suspected he just didn't want to face his old friend.
A sharp rap on the door startled Levi. "What?"
He glared at Hange. "I fell asleep!"
"Yes, you did," said the scientist, not taking her eyes off the page. "There's a first time for everything. Not even you are invincible."
"Erwin must have a plan –" Levi opened the door and promptly stiffened. "Commander Dok."
"Captain Ackerman. Squad Leader Zoe." Nile's dark eyes scanned the room. "I understand your commander fled already?"
"What?" Levi crossed his arms. "Don't mistake me for a fool."
"I don't," Nile said wearily.
"We've been in here for hours," Hange interrupted. "When did you arrive?"
"Just now."
"Looking for Erwin's head, no doubt. Again." Levi tapped his foot.
Nile growled. "Commander-in-Chief Zackly is the one requesting the inquiry, not me."
"Do you always hide behind another's responsibility? I wonder how you ever became a commander," Hange said, still scanning Grisha's notes. He must have spilled coffee or something on them, for the page was stained and blurred.
"Since when is saving that fool my responsibility?"
"Since serving mankind is," Levi retorted.
"You won't find him," piped up Historia's sweet voice from behind.
Nile spun around. "Leave that to me. Your Highness."
"I'd sooner trust a fish," replied her tall friend.
"I've sent him on," Historia said simply. "You will not question this."
"Darius will," Nile said in frustration.
"We recovered the basement documents; I hardly see his problem," Hange replied.
"Are you blind to how many people died?!" Nile erupted.
Levi stepped between the volcanic commander and scientist. "If only we could be."
"Tell the people for now, we captured the Colossal Titan," offered Ymir.
Nile gasped. "In the basement dungeons?"
"I'd lie and say no, but not even you would believe me," replied Ymir. "But you won't get your hands on him. On Queen Historia's orders, only Levi, Hange, and myself may see him."
Nile glanced at Historia, who nodded quickly.
She's so weak.
"That won't settle Zackly," Nile protested. "Why would Erwin run, then?"
"He's on a time-sensitive mission, more time sensitive than our bureaucracy allows," said Historia calmly. On the inside, she was Krista Lenz and she was shaking. Dead inside, be dead inside if you have to.
"That's not how the government works!"
"Now it is," Levi remarked, with an approving look towards Historia. Erwin didn't really leave us, did he? He'd saved his life, and he couldn't at least trust him with his plan?
"What's Erwin scheming?" Nile hissed.
"Nothing. It's we who are scheming." Ymir grinned at Historia.
"That's it. Enough sass from you, soldier," snarled Nile. "Step aside."
"Hmmm. Nah." Ymir placed her hands on her hips. "Did I mention I'm also a titan shifter?"
"What?!" Nile's screech echoed down to the dungeons, where Bertolt jerked awake.
Armin's eyes flickered open, and for a moment he felt nauseated again. He wasn't in their trainee barracks; they had already graduated and fought and Eren…
Bertolt! Armin bolted upright.
Where am I? Is everyone alive? Did they find the basement? Armin scanned what appeared to be a windowless log cabin. We're still outside the walls.
He glanced at his hands. No burns. If he couldn't remember – had they used the serum on him? Armin gagged once again; he couldn't be a titan. He couldn't have eaten someone!
"You're awake." A bulky figure moved out of the corner into the candlelight.
"R-Reiner!"
Stohess District. Saskia read the sign on the towering gate with interest.
"I hope he's right about this," Eren muttered.
"Shh." Mikasa elbowed him, much to his annoyance.
"If someone sees us, we could have a mob like yesterday," Sasha said, glancing behind them. "I don't think these hats disguise much."
Erwin felt very conscious of his missing arm. No, they were instantly recognizable to anyone paying attention. Maybe, in this case, citizens' apathy was an advantage. The thought depressed him.
"What is taking so long," grumbled Connie.
"Your impatience," Erwin replied curtly, much to Connie's chagrin.
"There he is." Sasha pointed to Jean's lanky figure. He was followed closely by a girl with honey-blonde curls and a Military Police uniform.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," complained the girl as she met them. "You didn't even retake the wall."
Saskia noticed tears in her eyes.
"You're doing this for Marlowe," Jean said quietly. Like I joined the Survey Corp for Marco.
She sniffled.
"And because our mission has not yet ended. We are still undergoing the mission to retake Maria, but we need help from within the walls," Erwin said. "We need Annie, and we need access underground."
"I'm aware," snapped the girl. She didn't give a fig if he was Commander or not. She was friendless and Marlowe-less, and she blamed him for both.
"This is Hitch," Jean said.
"I remember," said Mikasa.
"Pleasure," Saskia said with a hint of sarcasm.
Erwin choked back a chuckle and simply nodded.
Hitch couldn't help but notice the girl's civilian dress, her light hair and eyes shaped exactly like Annie's. Although Annie's were blue, while this girl's had faded to gray. "We need to hurry. I'll get in trouble if I'm gone for too long."
"Since when did the Military Police care about slacking off?" Eren queried as they followed Hitch.
"Since you overthrew the government," Hitch shot back.
"Yes, we're to blame," Eren growled.
"Can you be civil for one moment?" Jean sneered.
"We're all upset," Sasha said, a tremor in her voice. "We all miss Armin and Marlowe and Moblit and everyone. But, Eren, please let's not alienate our friends."
"I'm not your friend," Hitch mumbled, turning sharply down an alley. "This way, if your location was correct."
"It is," Erwin said.
"You could be our friend," Sasha suggested.
Hitch laughed as she halted beside an innocuous building, but her heart ached. You let Marlowe die. She felt guilty for the first time in her life – no, second. She'd felt guilty for Annie's disappearance, too.
Her hands opened a side door to reveal a set of stairs.
"Down here, I presume." Erwin stepped forward.
"Yes." Hitch hesitated. She should go back.
"Did you know Annie?" The civilian girl was eyeing her.
"She was my roommate. I didn't know who she was!" Hitch said quickly. Shoot, if this girl was her relative, she might be offended.
Unexpectedly, the girl relaxed. "Did she still talk in her sleep?"
"What?" Hitch frowned. "You're asking me that?"
"We don't have time." Erwin descended into the tunnels, and Mikasa's hands led Saskia below.
"Wait! You'll need a light – it's dark in there," protested Hitch.
Sasha glanced at the lantern hanging across the street. "Leave it to me." In a matter of seconds, the lantern had been cut from its chain and burned her hands. "Too bad we're out of that serum."
Connie's mouth was still open. "You amaze me, woman."
"Thieving is a skill," Erwin remarked dryly from a few meters below. "Even, apparently, in the Survey Corp."
Sasha flushed. "I'm sorry, but we need it."
"Indeed we do," Erwin told her.
"Come on, Hitch. You're better than the police," Jean said as soon as everyone else had left.
She teared up again. "Maybe next time."
"Next time?"
Hitch backed away, a slight smile blooming behind her tears. "You'll need my help again, I'm sure."
"She's here." Erwin stepped back in the torchlight to reveal a shimmering, colossal crystal.
Saskia wanted to shake her head, to say no, not this, but she felt incapable of any action. Because action would render this reality.
"She's your sister; don't you care?" Eren said from behind.
Saskia's eyes hardened. She looked even more like Annie now, Eren thought.
"Do you know how we could get her out?" Erwin asked.
She did it. She made the world her enemy. Saskia's insides felt like rubble. But I never was your enemy, Annie.
"I just wanted to help you," Saskia whispered suddenly. She took a step forward and placed a hand atop the chrysalis.
With her ordered yet brittle expression, Erwin wasn't sure which sister was more crystalled. Still, he had to ask again. "How can we help her?"
"You don't want to help her," Saskia replied, not taking her eyes off Annie's sleeping face. You look so peaceful, so separate.
"We want her out of that crystal, and so do you. For the moment, we are on your side."
"Yes," Saskia said quietly. "It's from her titan abilities."
"The conditional hardening," Eren said.
"Yes," she repeated, then hesitated. "To protect herself, and to cut herself off from the world." She shifted her gaze to Eren. "If a titan could take her away, a titan has to bring her back. It's science."
"Is it?" Erwin asked sharply. Then again, the basement… "I'm here because of that science."
"Yes," she said again.
Eren swallowed. "What – what do I do?"
What if I accidentally kill her? Had everyone forgotten how he'd tried to eat her before? How at first he couldn't fight her? Panic welled up within him.
"You can do it," Mikasa said, grabbing his hand.
"What do I do?"
"I wish we had serum," Saskia replied sadly. "But – serum isn't the only regenerative agent we have. Your blood. Titan's blood runs through your veins."
Titan's blood and human blood. Which was he? Or was Titan's blood human's blood? Erwin watched Eren carefully.
Eren held out his hand. "Someone cut me."
"Do you know this works?" Mikasa demanded as Jean raised his blade.
"The books I've read used serum, not blood."
"I have to, Mikasa." Eren glared at Jean. "Cut me."
"Nah, why add to your feud?" Connie slashed Eren's arm open.
"Hey!" he yelped in surprise.
"You're not supposed to startle him, Springer," Erwin reminded.
"Er, sorry Commander." Could blood save his mother? Could anything be strong enough?
Eren pressed his bleeding forearm against the chrysalis. "Come on, Annie."
"Will it be potent enough?" Erwin asked.
"I'd need to know his titan type to calculate the specific quantities in a shifter's bloodstream." Saskia didn't take her hand off Annie's crystal.
"Let's see." Eren yanked his arm away. Vapor wisped towards the ceiling. "There's an indent! Look, it's working! Holy walls!"
He sounded overjoyed for someone so bent on killing titans, Jean noted. Perhaps there was hope for this hothead after all.
"Cut me more!"
"We should wait and see how much this cut can do," Mikasa insisted. Eren shouldn't want to hurt himself for Annie. Or anyone.
"I concur," said Erwin, to her relief.
Slowly at first, the vapor became more noticeable. Small swirls graduated to thick steam. Sweat dripped from the faces of all seven below. In the hazy candlelight, they sparkled as if coated in crystals themselves.
With a whooshing, a noise not unlike the whistling air whenever Annie had practiced her kicks in titan form, the crystal collapsed into steaming shards.
"Annie. Annie Leonhardt."
Slumped on the floor, Annie dimly became aware of someone crouched in front of her, touching her shoulders, staring hard into her eyes.
"Annie Leonhardt, I was never your enemy." Saskia held her breath. Would she remember? Would she recognize her? Would she blame her?
Annie frowned. "Saskia…"
She looked up to see not Dad, not an angry Zeke, not even Bertolt and Reiner, but her fellow trainees.
"Dad…" Not Dad.
"You're our prisoner," said Erwin firmly. "But we're glad you are here, Annie."
Both Leonhardts minded how his eyes were mysterious, but not unkind.
"Uh, please calm down." Reiner could not have been more uncomfortable.
"Where am I – where is Eren?" Armin fought tears. "What did you do?"
"They're alive that we know. They left you because they thought you were dead." Reiner's eyes hardened. If he had been with them, they wouldn't have left Armin.
Armin swallowed. "Did – did Eren – did he get Bertolt?" Please tell me I didn't eat Bertolt.
"Bertolt is your prisoner. Providing he hasn't been executed yet." Reiner curled his hand into a fist.
Armin gasped with relief before noticing Reiner's fury. "I – I'm sorry."
"For what?" Reiner asked in surprise.
"You're worried about your friend." Armin wrapped his arms around his knees. "How am I alive?"
Reiner smiled, a smile Armin didn't know quite how to interpret. "Our War Chief saved you."
Armin's heart sank. So I am the weak one who got captured. "He wants to use me against the Survey Corp. To get Bertolt back."
"No," replied Reiner honestly. He stared at the splintery floor. "He knows you are Eren's best friend."
"I won't let him hurt Eren! I'll kill myself before I let him use me," Armin said furiously.
Reiner smiled at Armin's atypical savagery. "Don't worry about Eren's safety. He only wants Eren to join us, and bring the second captive back."
"My wife," supplied a voice from the door.
Reiner jumped. Armin surmised that he was not supposed to have told him any of this.
In glided a blonde, bearded man with an easygoing smile. "So, you're Armin Arlert."
Armin blinked. Grisha?
"Reiner, you may go."
"Yes, sir." Reiner scurried out, giving Armin a worried glance over his shoulder.
The man perched on the edge of his bed. "You should thank me for saving you."
Armin hesitated.
The man raised an eyebrow.
"Thank you," he said sullenly.
"Now, that sounds quite the opposite of gratitude. I've heard you're a genius. We should talk," the man said, not unkindly. "Call me Zeke. I'm eager to learn about life inside those cages, and you're going to tell me as a thank you, aren't you?"
