She pours some hot water in a coffee mug with a tea packet, humming softly as she looks outside to the sea. With a soft blow on the water, she turns around and heads into the patio out back.
Reiner looks up briefly from his book before nodding. Bertholdt scoots over on the sofa and she sits down with a soft sigh, setting her tea down.
The three sits quietly, relaxed as they listen to the ocean. Closing her eyes, she leans back. "I understand now why Eren loves this place so."
Reiner makes a noise of agreement. "How much did he talk about this place?"
She laughs softly and shrugs, opening her eyes to look up. "Every Monday after he'd come back from the weekend he'd tell me about the newest thing he and 'Levi' had discovered or done. One time he told me he pulled Levi into the sea and man…" She covers her mouth to hide her smile. "I could almost feel the death glares Levi sent him."
Bertholdt shakes his head. "Eren sounds like quite a wild man."
Annie smirks. "You should've seen him at work. All starry-eyed and blushing, gushing over how great his husband is. How loving and caring he is. The only time I ever saw Rivaille being loving or caring was when he'd torture someone slowly."
Reiner snorts. "Sounds like another person entirely. I guess we'll just have to see what he's like when he finds us. That last clue of yours is so obvious it makes me want to cry from how stupid they are. I guess Eren really dumbed him up."
The three laugh and Bertholdt excuses himself, grabbing some more water. Annie relaxes back on the sofa and breathes in the salty air.
Her phone buzzes and a sharp smile slits her emotionless face.
"It's show time, Reiner. He's found us."
9:30 PM
Trost Police Station
2 and a half hours left
"Levi…Rivaille. Whatever you want to be called." Erwin rests his head on his hands, staring deeply at the shorter man across the table. "You are willingly confessing to over 400 murders in exchange for immunity and the freedom to see Eren in the hospital. Do you agree to this?"
"And you'll be in jail without bail after Eren is rescued." Mike interjects, clipping his stack of papers together. The papers that were Levi's full confession, over 100 papers, covering over 5 years of terror.
Levi nods, and Hanji sits quietly next to him, typing away furiously at her phone, muttering incoherently under her breath once in a while.
"Let's go over the list of victims again to make sure it's right, alright?"
Levi tenses slightly but nods, knowing he couldn't avoid it.
"Thomas Wager, first victim, Sept. 15th, 2006." A nod.
After running down the list, Erwin slides a folder across the table, and Levi inspects it with furrowed brows, paling when he reads further.
"Hanji. It's Mobilt."
Her head snaps up. "No. Fuck no."
He grimaces and pushes the folder over to her with a nod, burying his face in his hands.
"What's wrong, Levi? Didn't you kill him?" Erwin asks.
At that, Levi glares for the first time since he came here. "Why the hell would I kill one of my informants? He was Hanji's fiancé. He was a valued member of our group. He went missing months ago and none of us could track him down. I guess you guys found him first…"
Hanji wipes a tear from her eye but says nothing more on her fiancé, going back to work. It's what they had always done and she wasn't going to throw years of training under the bus when Rivaille's husband was still missing.
"So who killed him?" Mike questions.
"Isn't it obvious, fucktard?" Levi hisses. "It's Ani. It always was Ani. She just killed them with my signature move to frame me."
"She was always breaking you." Erwin murmurs, and Mike nods, taking out another sheet of paper. "When you didn't even know it."
His phone buzzes and four pairs of eyes stare at the dark phone on the table. Levi slightly raises his cuffed hands up, shrugging. He obviously couldn't answer it.
Mike answers it, and a soft voice comes through, a well known sound heard from the back.
"Hello, Rivaille and Co.." The ocean crashes in the background and he tenses, fighting his restraints. "You probably have already figured this out, but this little message is a recording. So, why don't I introduce myself." A laugh.
"My name is Ani Leonhart. A-n-i or A-n-n-i-e if you're Eren. Ahhh…it's always about Eren in the end isn't it? My given name, my birth name is a lovely little thing. The Female Titan.
"I am the one who stole the precious little Eren and damaged his innocence. Which I'm surprised hasn't already been destroyed by you, Rivaille. You must've had a lot of self-restraint.
"Let's start from the beginning, hmm? A little background noise for you as you head out to find me from the police station. You know where I am. Your beautiful beach house by the ocean because Eren always dreamed of living by the ocean. You sicken me, Rivaille."
Mike releases his wrists from the cuffs and Levi almost runs from the room, Hanji, Erwin and Mike hot on his heels as he listens to Ani as they cramp into Mike's car quickly. Mike turns the sirens on and stomps on the gas as Hanji barks instructions to the Ackerman's beach house, Erwin and Levi listening closely.
"We did basic torture for a while, but that got dull quite quickly. Although, he did react nicely to a mixture of some new drugs I got my hands on." She laughs and Levi almost snaps his phone in half.
"His eyes were so fun to play with too. I think you're really going to like my surprise for you. If you make it in time of course."
"How long will it take to get there?" Levi looks at the clock.
Quarter to ten.
"Two hours." Fuck.
"We're cutting it fucking close. This better be the right place." Mike veers past a driver, the rest of his team following behind him.
"Is it okay to feel like I was to vomit?" Levi questions softly and Erwin sighs.
"No Levi…it's completely fine."
Bertholdt fixes the last candle, the dulled spotlight shining in just the right space. Annie stands in the back, stepping out of Reiner's way when he moves the petals slightly to the right.
Eren lies motionlessly on the white bed, skin as pale as the sheets. Bertholdt offers the young doctor some water and when he gets no response, sets the glass on the nightstand with a sigh.
Annie smiles when she hears the sirens and the tire screeches. Flipping the safety off her gun, she motions for the other two to go to the designated spots as she slides onto the bed, curling up close to Eren.
"It's the big finale boys."
11:55 PM
5 minutes left.
Levi…do you think Eren wants you to save him, or do you think he wants to be put out of his misery after this day of hell, all thanks to you?
Hurry Levi.
Run.
A/N: Alrighty! There'll only be about 4 or 5 chapters left! *sobs*
Enjoy!