"Is that Annie?!" Sasha shrieked, shocked at the state her friend was in, tied to the back of Nick's horse with her hair stained red in some places with all of her limbs gone. "Is that steam?!" Sasha thought. "Nick... what happened?" She asked him.
"The short version is that Annie is the Female Titan." He told her.
"What?" She asked. "No way."
"She is Sasha." He told her. "She and Eren both transformed in Stohess this morning. It's... not good."
"But why?" Sasha asked. "Why would she do this, to us, to anyone."
"Sasha." He grabbed her shoulders as he spoke to her. "You need to calm down." He told her. "Panicking won't help in this situation, so just take a deep breath, and calm down."
"Right." She said, taking a deep breath like he told her to. She was beginning to calm down completely until she remembered the girl that was with her only a few minutes ago. "The girl!" She yelled at him. "Did you see the little girl?!"
"Yeah I did." He responded. "She said there was someone fighting a Titan so I came as fast as I could." He explained.
Before Sasha could respond there was the sound of galloping horses from the treeline next to them, then the man in front spoke up. "Is tha' Sasha?"
A few minutes later when Nick and Sasha were riding along with the men who had also picked up the girl that Sasha had saved from the Titan riding with one of the other men, when the man who had identified themselves as Sasha's father spoke up. "We've been doin' what we can, givin' the horses to folks that need 'em." He said. "That little girl told us there was two peope back behind her on the road. Said the first helped, saved her in fact, then the second was a soldier, said he'd kill the Titan." He looked over at Nick when he said this before turning back to Sasha. "Nicely done." He complemented. "Im proud of ya."
"Thanks dad." She whispered to herself.
"As touching as this family reunion is." Nick spoke up. "We have bigger problems to deal with, mainly the Titans currently prancing about the inside of Wall Rose." He told them. "And the other problem is her." He said, gesturing to Annie.
"You wanna explain to me why that girl has no limbs and is steamin' like a potato?" Sasha's father asked him.
"Not really." He replied. "But all you need to know is that she's dangerous, extremely dangerous." But before they could panic he explained the situation. "If she remains unconscious then she's harmless." He tried to ease their worries.
"That brings me to you Sasha." Nick then turned to face her.
"Me?" Sasha asked.
"What dya' need with her?" Her father asked him.
"I need you to take Annie to Commander Erwin or Section Commander Hange." He told her. "They most likely will be travelling to Ehrmich from Stohess in the next few hours. I know I have no right to ask this of you, but I can't keep her alive and fight the Titans inside Wall Rose at the same time, so please just-"
"I'll do it!" Sasha proclaimed. "If she really is the Female Titan then we need to keep her safe, right?" She asked.
"Yeah, something like that." He replied. "But seriously, thank you Sasha, I'll find a way to repay you for this."
"You don't have to do that." She insisted. "But I sure would love to have some meat inside of me at some point in the future."
"Of course." Nick scoffed. "I can deal with that. Now lets swap horses."
(Unspecified amount of time later)
The sun was beginning to set in the distance with the bright orange sunlight being the dead giveaway as Mike Zacharius launched himself up the arm of a Titan and running along it until he reached the nape and sliced it open, landing on the rooftop of a nearby building in a small settlement that had been destroyed by the Titans, breathing heavily and sweating slightly from the effort he had been putting in to kill the Titan horde.
"Only four of them left." Mike thought as he looked around at the Titans around him, one thirteen metre and two four metres, one with a giant head it seemed. "No, don't risk it. I've bought us more than enough time." He thought, sheathing his right blade so that he could whistle for his horse, the whistle echoing off into the distance.
"Still though, that abnormal worries me." He turned his head to look at the last Titan which was seventeen metres tall with fur on its body. "Look at the bastard, easily over seventeen metres tall, massive. And this is the first time I've seen one of them covered in what, fur?" He asked himself. "Its just lumbering around, why doesn't it just try to rush me? Definitely an abnormal but-"
His thoughts were cut off at the sound of his horse calling out to him in the distance as it tried to speed towards him. "Ah, there you are, looks like I won't need to hold out till' sundown after all."
As the horse tried to sprint past the abnormal, it reached down and grabbed the horse, lifting it up off the ground.
"What the?" He spoke out loud. "It went for the horse." He was in disbelief now, he didn't know what to think. "Oh come on!" He said, drawing his second blade out ince again, ready to fight the abnormal.
The abnormal turned it's head, it's yellow eyes staring directly at Mike as it crushed the horse in it's hand, killing it instantly as it cocked it's arm backwards and threw the horse at Mike as hard as it could. Mike had almost no time to react as he barely moved out of the way of the horse, this came at a cost however as he tumbled down the roof and onto the ground below where the four metre with the large head caught him, biting down on Mike's leg, causing him to shout out in pain.
"Wait!" A voice commanded, from where Mike had no idea, but the abnormal had crouched down in front of him and the four metre, staring directly at him, only for the Titan to bite down on his leg again, only managing to cut the surface if the skin, thankfully not breaking anything, which earned another scream in pain from Mike.
"You must not have heard me." Mike heard the abnormal speak, shocking him to his core. "I told you to wait." It said, grabbing the Titan's head and squeezing it in it's hand, causing it's eye to pop out and Mike to fall to the floor, free from it's mouth.
"Ahh." The abnormal spoke, flexing the hand it used to squash the head of the Titan. "May I ask what you call that strange weapon of yours?" It asked with a smile on it's face. Seeing that Mike hadn't answered it continued on. "That thing attached to your waist that allows you to fly." It probed on with.
Mike on the other hand had never heard of a Titan talking before, so he was too terrified to talk back, all he could to was look at it and stutter in his head.
"Huh?" The Titan reached across it's face to scratch behind his ear. "I'm fairly certain we speak the same language, perhaps you're too frightened to formulate a response?" It guessed correctly. "I also noticed you use swords, fascinating, must mean you know we reside in the nape." It deduced. "Ah well, suppose I'll just take it with me."
The abnormal began to reach over towards Mike who had hunched over in fear of being crushed by the Titan, only for a hook to embed itself into the wrist of the Titan as it was reaching over. "What?" It asked, only to see a blur fly by and the hand on its arm drop to the floor, cleanly cut off, before it could look over it was blinded by a flash of metal, causing it to roar out in pain.
"Section Commander, get up!" Nick tried to pull Mike to his feet after blinding the Beast Titan, the strongest of Marley's Titans rather easily.
"What?" Mike weakly asked, looking out of his hands to see that he wasn't being eaten by a Titan.
"Get up!" Nick shouted at him.
"Kill them!" The beast Titan ordered, the three Titans beginning to move closer to Nick and Mike.
"GET UP!" Nick screamed at Mike, snapping him out of his shock just in time as they both managed to grapple up to the roof of the building before they were grabbed by the Titans that were seemingly under the control of the Beast Titan.
Before Mike could get a word out Nick had already flown at the thirteen metre, avoiding the outstretched hand and circling around to the nape and slicing it off, before flying straight at the nape of the normal looking four metre as it bashed itself into the wall of the building, killing it instantly and getting back up to the roof.
"We're leaving." Nick told him. "Get on the horse." He said as he mounted the horse at the other side of the building, riding away from the Beast Titan and the other four metre that was left there.
"What the hell was that?" Mike asked as they rode further away from the settlement.
"That was the Beast Titan, he's like Eren, if you hadn't guessed that already, except he's the enemy." Nick told him.
"And you know this how?" Mike questioned him.
"I'll answer all of your questions later, first we need to get out of his range." Nick replied to him.
"His range?"
Nick didn't have time to reply as a huge chunk of rock went sailing over their heads, landing a few metres in front of them, causing the horse to rear with them barely hanging on.
"He threw your horse at you, he clearly has the ability to throw rocks with extreme accuracy." Nick pointed out, not revealing how he knew of the Beast Titans deadly pitching ability or hardening ability. "Once we reach the treeline to the south we should be fine. Its only about two hundred metres away from us. That's only about five more throws." Nick tried to joke in their current dire situation.
"If we get outta here, you're telling me everything." Mike stated.
"That's a very big if." Nick stated as the whistling of another chunk of rocks could be heard from behind them. "Shit! Hold on tight!" Nick yelled as he yanked on the reigns of the horse.
(Ragako Village)
"Connie, slow down!" Reiner yelled. "Get a hold of yourself! There could be Titans around every corner! Wait for us!"
Connie however paid no attention to Reiner's yelling as he rushed through his home village to find his house, even though most, if not all the buildings were damaged, indicating that Titans had indeed been through the village of Ragako.
"Hello!" Connie called out as he reached the centre of the village. "Can anybody hear me!"
He was unable to take the eerie silence for an answer as he yelled out in frustration. "Somebody, please! It's Connie! I CAME HOME!"
He still got no answer however, giving him even less hope than before, but he could still hope for his family's safety. "Dad, Mom, Sunny, and Martin…please just… be okay." he begged.
He wasn't paying any attention to where he was going however, which caused him to pull on the reigns of his horse to prevent him from crashing into his house, which had a Titan lying upside down inside of it, just waiting there for something to remove it since it's limbs were too small to support it's own body.
"Connie get back!" Reiner tried to pull him away when him and Bertholdt had caught up to him.
"It's... my house." He whispered, his eyes not leaving the Titan. "I..."
"Connie..." Reiner sighed sadly.
Gelgar quickly caught up, getting between them and the Titan, sword raised. "Cadets, fall back!"
Lynne, the other Scout with them also spoke up. "I'll scout out the area!" She assured them.
Gelgar and Lynne both circled around the Titan to get a better look at what they were dealing with. "What the hell? This is new. It can't move." Gelgar stated as he saw the Titan's limbs.
"Not with those legs." Lynne agreed with him.
"But then... I don't understand." Gelgar replied, quite confused. "How did it get here?" He asked, but then shook it off for a moment. "Everyone dismount and look for survivors." He ordered. "We need to give our horses a rest."
In the time it took for Lynne and Gelgar to scout out the rest of the village had to be the worst few minutes in Connie's life, his entire village was destroyed by the time he had arrived, and what's worse is that there was a Titan on top of his house. He vaguely remembered Gelgar handing him an unlit torch since dusk was approaching, but that was about it.
"Connie!" Reiner called out as he approached with Bertholdt in tow. "Have you found any survivors?" He asked.
"No." He muttered just loud enough for them to hear. "No... no, it's... it's in ruins." Connie said, tears escaping his eyes. "My hometown has been completely wiped out."
"Hey, something's wrong." Gelgar stated as he and Lynne regrouped with them. "You find any bodies?" He asked.
"No." Reiner responded, both him and Connie shaking their heads.
"How's that even possible?" Gelgar responded. "Titans ransacked this place and there's not a spec of blood-"
"Then they must have fled!" Lynne interrupted him. "The villagers I mean, they all escaped, uh, your family too." She tried to convince them, as well as herself.
"You think so?" Connie asked, his demeanour changing entirely. "You think they're alive?" Hope filling his voice.
"Um, yeah sure, it's the only logical explanation for why there'd be no trace of well, carnage." She said, trying her best to stay positive.
"I don't know if I agree with that." Gelgar thought to himself. "Suppose the entire village was evacuated, how do you explain the devastation? Why would Titan's rip apart empty houses? And that doesn't bother me half as much as the stables being full. Without horses, the villagers odds of survival are slim to none." He thought.
"Anyone not have a torch?" Gelgar asked after a moment. "Okay, lets move!" He said after nobody responded. "Our mission is to evaluate the breach."
"Welcome home..." Connie swore he heard the Titan say from behind him, not to mention it reminded him of his mither at the time as well, but this was just crazy.
"Did... did I?" He questioned, only to have Reiner come talk to him.
"Snap out of it!" He said as he grabbed onto his shoulder. "We're falling behind Gelgar and the others."
"Did you hear that?" Connie asked him. "You had to! I swear that Titan-"
"It was only your imagination." Reiner told him. "I didn't hear a damn thing." He assured him. "Focus on the mission!"
"But I, it sounded, i don't know how but it sounded... like my mom-" Connie tried to protest against Reiner, but to no avail.
"Damnit Connie do you even know how serious our situation is right now?!" Reiner yelled at him. "If we don't see this through people will die in the hundreds of thousands." He told him. "Just cause your family escaped doesn't mean they're out of the woods yet! Now you wanna be a soldier or don't you!" Reiner yelled, riding out of the village on his horse as he left Connie there.
"Yeah, stay focused." Connie assured himself, snapping the reigns of his horse to spur it onward. "I'm a soldier!" He told himself as he followed Reiner after Gelgar, Lynne and Bertholdt to assess the breach.
(Western Team : Seven hours after Titan spotting)
"The closer we get to the wall, the less populated the area will be." Henning told Ymir and Krista as he rode alongside Nanaba.
"That's good." Nanaba stated. "It didn't take us very long." She commented. "Alright, let's head to the south." She told them.
"What's the point?" Ymir asked her. "Last I heard there aren't any villages to the south of here." She pointed out.
"We've raised the alarm for everyone in the region." Nanaba replied. "Now we pinpoint the breach, the idea is to ride along the wall from the west until we do." She told her.
"Seriously? You know Krista and me don't have our battle gear right?" She asked sarcastically. "What are we supposed to do about Titans? The south will be crawling with them." She stated. "If we can't defend ourselves you might as well serve us up on a platter. Why not let the two of us withdraw from the front." She suggested.
"Ymir!" Krista spoke up, almost sounding disgusted by the mere suggestion of leaving their fellow soldiers to do the work by themselves.
"Negative, when we find where they're coming in I'll need someone to relay it to HQ." Nanaba replied. "I know you're scared, but like it or not that's part of the job."
"Ymir." Krista spoke up after a few seconds of silence as they rode towards the south. "Look, I'm aware if what I've gotten myself into." She told the taller girl. "Hey, come on, no one made me join the Scouts and you know it. I chose it for myself, I know it's a different story in your case."
"What? You think I signed up for all this crap because of you!" Ymir practically yelled at Krista in reply to her statement.
"What other reason do you have for being here?" Krista asked her. "You tried talking me into joining the Military Police till' you were blue in the face." She responded. "You bowed out so I'd be eligible!" She exclaimed. "Don't try to deny it, I wasn't good enough to make top ten on my own, ask anybody. When it comes to skill you're the better soldier by far, not to mention Nick. I have no idea how you did it. Why?" She asked. "I know why Nick did it, but why did you do that for me?" She asked again.
Ymir refused to respond to her to Krista decided to try her luck with her. "Nick did it because he likes me, or I think so anyway." She said. "But you... is it my family?" She guessed. "That's it, isn't it?"
"Sure." Ymir responded. "Why not? I'm sure your family and Nick's would love to mingle together when you get together." Seeing Krista cringe at the mention of her family she spoke up again. "Relax, don't worry about it so much." She told her. "Take my word for it sweetie, I'm only looking out for number one."
"Really?" Krista asked, getting Ymir to look over at her as if she had hurt her with her words. "That's such a relief." Krista smiled as Ymir looked on in horror at what she just said.
"I better not have set them up!" She thought. "I'll eat alive him if he touches her!"
(Nicholas Meier and Mike Zacharius : Ten hours after Titan sighting)
"If you don't slow down you're gonna crash!" Mike told Nick as the horse they both rode galloped through Wall Rose territory in the night, barely able to see ten feet in front of him.
"I know what I'm doing." Nick responded, not happy with Mike's complaints on how he was directing the horse. "We should be getting there soon anyway."
"You never explained where we're going!" Mike stated in his ear. "And you haven't answered any questions yet, I'm running out of patience. Maybe a court martial will loosen your jaw."
"Please." Nick replied. "You'll get your answers when we arrive." He assured. "And for the record, any court martial against me would be thrown out before it got to the court room."
"Still haven't told me where we're going." Mike sighed.
"There's an abandoned castle just to the south of here. Utgard Castle." He explained. "We need shelter from any Titans that are still roaming about in the area."
"I agree with the shelter part, but Titan's aren't active at night." Mike pointed out.
Nick sighed to himself, a few hours ago he had been talking extensively to Frieda while he and Mike had just gotten away from the beast Titan while Mike was still shaken up about what had just happened between him and the Beast Titan.
(15 minutes after escaping the Beast Titan)
"What the fuck was that Frieda?" Nick asked her, not believing that the Beast Titan was successfully able to control the Titan's with his own commands.
"I... I don't know." She admitted. "The Beast Titan has never had that ability." She said. "Only the Founding Titan has that ability, but even then it can't be used without the user needing royal blood."
"And on top of that anyone that holds the power of the Founding Titan that possesses Royal blood falls under the influence of the will of Karl Fritz." He finished off for her.
"Sorry." She apologised.
"It wasn't your fault Frieda." Nick tried to assure her. "You thought you were doing the right thing at the time, so please, don't apologise for that." He insisted.
"Right, sorry love." She replied.
"Haven't heard that in a while." He teased.
"Oh shut up." She replied. "So... where does that leave us, y'know, the whole controlling Titans thing."
"Well, for starters, the process for creating a mindless Titan is instantaneous, right?" He asked her.
"It was for me." She confirmed.
"So they must gave a way to get a mass infection or something like that, otherwise there would be havoc after one Titan was created." He summarised. "So there must be a way to either slow down the transformation process. Or the wall was breached at an exact point where the sunlight cannot hit any of the Colossal Titans in the wall."
Actually." Frieda interrupted his thoughts. "The Founding Titan was able to create mindless Titans with their spinal fluid back when the Titans were used in wars." She told him. "Maybe it's an ability of the Founding Titan."
"But unless the Beast Titan ate Eren in Stohess right after I left, escaped the Scouts there and decided to waste his time creating Titan's within the wall instead of using the Colossal Titans to wipe us all out. Not to mention the will of Karl Fritz, it wouldn't work, even if he had Royal blood." Nick sighed, they weren't getting anywhere with these theories at the moment.
"What if he does have Royal Blood?" Frieda asked.
"You mean the Beast Titan, that Zeke guy?" Nick asked. "Even if he did, that wouldn't explain how he was able to control those Titans."
Maybe it's not an ability of the Founding Titan, maybe it's a Royal blood ability." Froeda suggested. "What if he used his own spinal fluid to create the Titans, he could have poisoned the water supply of a village and then kept it waiting until he gave the order to transform!" She told him, getting quite worked up in the process.
"That would explain the sudden appearance of a horde of Titans." He admitted. "But not the control he had over them."
"I think it could be related to the fact they could have been created with his own spinal fluid." Frieda told him. "That whole creation listens to master thing... like in that book I read to you when you were nine." She explained.
"That does make sense." Nick admitted. "Actually now that I think about it, it's quite incredible you came up with that Frieda." He told her. "Even I hadn't thought of it yet." He admitted.
"It was nothing." Frieda stated. "I was just trying to help, it could be wrong after all." She admitted, trying to be humble about it.
"It could be, but even then it's a damn good theory Frieda, you're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for. You're one of the smartest people I've ever met." He told her.
"Thank you." She quietly replied, if her heart was still beating then it would be racing at his compliments. She always had a soft spot for him when they were kids, and his crush on her was quite obvious for anyone to see at the time, but when she died and his powers awakened from inside him, he became cold to a lot of people to protect himself from any more emotional hurt on his part, going through ut once was bad enough, it took her months to get him to be more open and to break the walls he built to protect himself.
"So to avoid any further confusion, we both think the Beast Titan is part of the Royal Family?" Nick asked her.
"Yes, there was parts of the family that stayed behind on the mainland when Karl Fritz relocated the majority of Eldians to Paradis Island." Frieda confirmed. "So it's entirely possible he is a descendant of Ymir Fritz."
"Explaining this to anyone is gonna be a complete headache." He conceded. "But I think with what's happening here Rod will try something soon to save his own skin. We'll need every advantage we can get."
My father would most likely try to convince Historia to devour Eren." Frieda admitted. "He will probably use that whole saving the world mumbo jumbo to get inside her head. If he hurts her!"
"He won't Frieda." Nick assured her. "Once the secret is out, the Scouts will put her under their protection. Not to mention I'll be there as well as Levi and Mikasa."
And what about Kenny and the Anti-Personnel Control Squad. They were created to oppose the Scouts." Frieda interjected. "Kenny is not someone to go up against, you of all people should know that."
"He may be strong, but he won't be able to stop me and Levi at the same time. Even with their specialised ODM gear they have to reload after two shots, and even then they can't attack enemies approaching from behind." Nick explained. "The only problem is that they use buckshot instead of the standard metal balls muskets use. Those type of rounds could blast open a human skull like a watermelon."
That's not encouraging in the slightest." Frieda deadpanned. "Try not to become a watermelon when you fight against Kenny and his squad."
"I won't, you know that." He responded.
"Oh! Before I forget, there's something you should know." She said, seeing him nod she continued. "When Titans were created from the Founding Titan's spinal fluid, they didn't require sunlight to function."
"You're fucking with me, right?" He asked.
"Unfortunately not, I'd suggest not running about when it's dark out in the open." She suggested.
"Right, hopefully there won't be any Titans when we get to Utgard Castle." He prayed.
"It's your fault if you jinx yourself." Frieda told him. "But seriously, be careful, I want to see my little sister become Queen."
"One step at a time Frieda, one step at a time."
(Present)
"I wouldn't be so sure about that Section Commander." Nick replied. "You saw the Beast Titan control those Titans, who's to say they aren't active at night as well."
"As soon as we arrive. I want answers!" Mike basically commanded him.
"Look." Nick pointed at the faint outline of two towers that were connected by a stone bridge. "I'll explain everything when we get inside."
"About damn time." Mike muttered.
(Southern Team : Eleven hours after Titan sighting)
Gelgar was at the front of the group of soldiers as they rode their horses in the pitch black night, their torches only allowing them to see about twenty feet infront of them at most, without any moonlight a Titan could pounce on them without any time to react, with any luck it would miss and allow Gelgar and Lynne time to kill it before it attacked again. Or at least that was what Gelgar was thinking about given his heavy breathing and the nervous sweat pouring down his forehead.
"Please." He thought. "Just get it over with." He pleaded. "I can't take this. Any second now they'll lunge at us from the shadows. Damnit. The closer we get to the entry point, the more it feels like we're marching into the jaws of death." He grimaced at the thought of any nearby Titans. "This is driving me out of my mind!" He thought as he gripped his torch tightly as they continued forward in silence.
His eyes widened as he saw another torch appear in the darkness about thirty feet infront of them. Fearing the worst as they hadn't spottet a breach in Wall Rose yet the other team had to have seen something.
"...So you followed the wall here too I take it?" Gelgar broke the very uncomfortable silence between him and Nanaba.
"That's right." Nanaba confirmed. "I assume you found the breach then?" She asked since they hadn't spotted anything either.
"Huh?" Gelgar replied with, the only thing he was able to say since they hadn't found the breach.
"We didn't see any irregularities along the western route." Nanaba explained to him. "Surely you must have seen something in the east!" Her tone was getting more desperate now.
"No... the wall's perfectly intact." He replied, causing the ensuing silence between the two groups to be even more uncomfortable for them than it already was.
"Well, maybe we just overlooked it." Lynne tried to suggest, not very convincingly though.
"Not likely." Henning interjected. "A hole big enough for Titans to get through, no way." He told them.
"I suggest we have another pass then." Gelgar suggested.
"That goes without saying." Nanaba agreed. "Trouble is the horses are on the verge of collapse and so are we. If only we had more light."
Right as she said that her prayers were answered, the clouds moving away with allowed the moonlight to shine though onto the ground which illuminated the area for them to see properly.
"What's that?" Gelgar asked after a moment, directing Nanaba's attention to the ruins of what looked like an old castle with two stone towers connected by a bridge still standing. "An old castle." He guessed.
"Not an ideal place to sleep." Gelgar commented once they arrived at the castle. "But I guess we can make due with it for one night."
"Stop!" Nanaba commanded. "Look." She said, pointing to a horse that was drinking from the trough in the stable. "Somebody's here."
"Could it be the Section Commander?" Lynne asked, getting her hopes up for a moment.
"No, his horse was a different colour." Henning stated.
"Everyone be on guard." Nanaba told them. "We'll clear the tower, you rookies tie the horses up." She said, gettting off her horse and drawing her blades, the other Officers following her example. "Gelgar, you're up." She whispered.
Gelgar hated this part of the job, having to investigate this creepy old castle, never mind having to take point to flush out any enemies that could be lurking in the shadows. "It's pitch back up here!" He hissed down at Nanaba after he reached the first door of the tower.
"Use your torch then!" She whispered back at him, encouraging him to open the door.
"Here goes nothing." Gelgar said to himself, opening the door as slowly as possible, which turned out to be a mistake as it creaked open every inch of the way.
Once he was inside the room, armed with a torch in his left hand and a blade in his right, he stepped forward only to be grabbed by someone and tossed over their shoulder, dropping both the blade and the torch. "Shit!" He yelled out as he hit the floor, alerting Nanaba and Lynne who were running up the stairs as Henning kept an eye out for any more unsavoury individuals.
"Gelgar!" She yelled, bursting through the door, only to have the cold hard steel of a blade pressed against her throat, unable to see the assailant due to the lack of light.
"Nanaba?" The presumed assailant asked, his voice sounding familiar to the woman, but she couldn't place it just yet.
"Nanaba!" Lynne yelled, as she attacked with her swords at the assailant, having her legs sweeped from beneath her as she swung at him.
"Stop!" A voice yelled from the upper levels as footsteps could be heard racing down, a torch in hand revealed Mike Zacharius to Nanaba, Gelgar and Lynne. "Stand down you four." He told them.
"Mike, it's so good to see you!" Nanaba exclaimed. "I thought you would've retreated after killing those Titans."
"It's good to see you three as well." He responded. "Although I ran into some... complications along the way." He glared at Nick when he said this.
"Sorry about that." Nick said as he helped Lynne to her feet, almost throwing her into the air as he was surprised at how light she was.
"Dont sweat it." She replied. "That's some skill you have there." She commented. "I didn't have a chance to react at all."
"Been trained since I was six." He replied. "My mom thought it was best to be able to defend myself, being from Mitras and all. Lot of people might try something."
"We can chat later." Mike said, cutting them off. "For now get everyone inside, we have canned food upstairs. Meier said it was herring, but not a word of anything to the cadets, understand." He firmly told them.
"Sir!" Nanaba and Lynne responded.
"What's herring?" Gelgar asked, still on the floor.
(Somewhere between Stohess and Ehrmich: Wall Rose Territory)
"Hey, four eyes." Levi spoke up as he, Pastor Nick, Hange, Eren, Mikasa and Armin rode on a wagon from Stohess to Ehrmich. "Since when are you a geologist?" He asked, seeing that Hange was staring at a rock. "Or are rocks just that fascinating? Looks like you're about to drool." He commented.
"This? It's not a rock." Hange replied. "Not an ordinary one anyway. It's a hardened piece of skin left behind by the Female Titan." She revealed.
"It didn't vanish?" Armin asked, shocked by this revelation.
"No. This random fragment broke off when Annie was cut out of her Titan form." She told him. "It didn't evaporate, didn't simply go poof." She said. "So that got me thinking, and when I compared it to a sliver of the wall, it's texture and composition were, for all intents and purposes, virtually identical." She explained. "In lehmans terms, were hemmed in by a barricade of enormous Titans. If my hypothesis is correct, the surface was constructed using consolidated Titan skin." She told them, looking in Pastor Nick's direction as she finished.
"You're kidding me?" Mikasa asked. "That's what Armin was trying to say."
"Huh... so then-" Armin started but was cut off as Hange slapped her hand on his mouth, stopping him from speaking anymore.
"Easy! It's rude to steal someone else's thunder." She told him. "As it stands, we'd be hard pressed to find a rock big enough to plug Wall Rose. It'd have to be the right shape and size and we don't have specifics yet." She said, her hand still preventing Armin from speaking. "But on the other hand, where there's a will there's a way. Picture Eren utilising his hardening ability while in Titan form. All eyes turned to Eren now.
"I could... patch the hole!" He realised.
"The sealing should be composed of the same material. And the hardened bit shouldn't dissolve once you've transformed back, this might be less of a long shot than it sounds. Thoughts?" She asked them all.
"Well, anything worthwhile incurs a little risk." Armin commented. "If we can manage to shore up Wall Rose... Wall Maria starts to look fairly promising, vital as it is, the outpost infrastructure slows us down to a crawl. The time and resources needed to transport materials are immense." He explained. "But, if supply wagons don't have to be accommodated, we can make our way to Shiganshina much faster. And what if we decided to carry out our plan in the dead of night!"
"Night." Hange repeated, liking where he was going with this.
"Yes." Armin confirmed. "When the Titans are effectively motionless!"
"That's not bad." Hange admitted. "In fact it's genius, particularly if the group is small enough to slip by undetected. The straights we're in are as dire as they come. But there might just be the teeniest bit of slack." She explained, looking at the piece of crystal left behind by Annie.
"Yeah, just bear in mind though... the whole plan hinges on whether or not Eren can seal the hole again." He stated.
"It's uh, probably unfair of me to even ask... but do you think you can?" Hange asked him.
Before Eren could answer, Levi spoke up after the silence between them all. "What he thinks really isn't the issue." He told them. "You either will or you won't. That's the reality. Our comrades are breaking their backs, but without you... its nothing. Failure isn't an option."
"Sir!" Eren responded. "I know, I'm prepared to do whatever it takes!" He firmly told him. "That's a promise." He whispered. "My fathers cellar, that's where the answers are." He said looking at the key given to him by his father, when he didn't know. "If there's a grain if truth in what he told me... everything depends on us making it there."
"Here's Ehrmich." Hange stated as they came closer and closer to the Southern District of Wall Sina.
Once they entered the district the only thing they could see and hear was the refugees that had abandoned their homes in Wall Rose in return for safety against the threat of the Titans that had appeared so suddenly inside of Wall Rose. Pastor Nick froze at the sight of all the tired and ragged refugees that were filing through the streets if the District, getting a kick in the back from Captain Levi in the process.
"No one said stop." He told him. "A rolling stone gathers no moss."
"This... This is..." Pastor Nick was at a loss for words at what he was currently seeing.
"Maybe you expected to see something quaint." Levi spoke up from behind him. "This is what happens when the walls give." He explained as the Pastor looked on to see a child crying out for their parents.
Pastor Nick moved towards the crowd, only for Levi to stop him. "No, take it in holy man. These are the faces of human beings who've lost everything they've ever had. Human beings you and your kind abandoned incidentally." Levi taunted him. "Hard to look at I'd imagine, but if the church had it's way this'd be all of us... Titans would pour in and make a feast of what's left, shovelling man, woman and child down their putrescent gullets. All humanity digested as one."
Meanwhile Hange was currently talking to Eren while Levi was entertaining their guest with the sight of the refugees.
"Once we leave Ehrmich, we'll be in Titan territory proper." Hange told Eren.
"Eren, you well enough to ride a horse yet?" Hange's assistant Moblit asked.
"Yeah, should be able to manage one without much of a hassle." He replied.
"Saddle up then soldier, there's a mount waiting for you on the left lift." Moblit instructed him.
"Right." Eren replied, moving towards the lift with Moblit until Hange caught sight of Levi arriving with Pastor Nick.
"Section Commander we're pressed for time." Moblit tried to speed up his superior.
"Oh, thanks Moblit, give me a sec." Hange said, making her way over to Pastor Nick and Levi.
"So, seem to like it by any chance?" She hissed at him. "Oh god damnit!" Hange shouted after the Pastor refused to speak. "Make up your mind! This isn't some spiritual test, lives are on the line!"
"Alas I have no choice." The Pastor spoke. "Neither myself nor the others who believe are at liberty to divulge the truth."
"Fat lot of help you are!" Hange yelled at him in response. "Thanks for keeping us company! It's been fun!" She turned away at that, seemingly one with him.
"I'd offer my help if I could, but a duty as great as this one is beyond me." Pastor Nick spoke up, getting Hange to stop for a moment. "The Order of the Walls abides by the sacred will our faith commands us to obey." He explained.
"Who's sacred will?" Hange asked. "You mean like God or something?"
"I can't answer that." Nick revealed, not surprising Hange or Levi in the slightest. "But what I can do is provide you with a name, an individual the sacred will in it's divine wisdom instructed us to monitor."
"Monitor?" Hange repeated, not sure whether to be intrigued or not at what the Pastor was sharing.
"It's a person you know." He revealed. "Someone who enlisted with the Scout Regiment as of this year." He said, getting gasps from Eren and Armin alike, with them all wondering who it could be.
"A child by the name of Krista Lenz."
A/N - Well then, seems like Nick has sone explaining to do with Mike and the senior officers in the tower while the rest are kept in the dark, enjoying their canned herring while they rest. As for him saving Mike, I liked Mike, he definitely deserved a better death, maybe later on? Who knows, but Sasha is about to appear in the next chapter after being sent away with Annie to find Commander Erwin or Hange. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!