Run.
Run.
Run.
RUN!
Annie sprinted through the woods, her golden locks being whipped along with the wind as she forced her legs to go as fast as they possibly could.
Only for a few moments did she stop herself to quickly catch her breath and immediately start her run again afterwards.
She could hear the soldiers hot on her heals, she could nearly feel them breathing down her neck as she swiftly flew across the forest.
She had to get out of here.
Now.
She didn't have the energy to shift since she barely had anything to eat.
The forest literally had nothing edible to consume without poisoning her.
Only a couple of fish but eating it raw would be horrendous and starting a fire would catch too much attention.
She couldn't exactly hunt down a deer without running into a couple of titans and she didn't exactly have the necessary tools to kill an animal, let alone a damn man-eating monster.
And now, with no energy, no food, no shelter, and no weapon, Annie was running for her life.
She slammed her heels into the forest floor and flung herself behind the trunk of a wide tree, using that as her shield and momentarily hideout.
Her chest heaved up and down, swallowing whatever saliva she had left.
Her azure eyes reflected the rays of the sun as she very, very carefully peeked around the trunk, trying to catch maybe even a small glimpse of the team that were set out to find her and possibly maybe even kill her.
She didn't blame them.
After all, she did murder many people all for the sake of her mission.
It wouldn't be strange to call her a killer, a monster even.
She deserved it.
She was evil, heartless, cold, uncaring…
She was nothing more than a monster.
And then a strange question overcame her mind, pushing away her fear of being caught, pushing away all these dark thoughts.
Did Eren come out to search for her too?
She frowned, shaking her head.
No way.
It's possible that he would have wanted to go and look for her himself but the authorities would never allow it. He did let her walk off without putting up much of a fight so it was reasonable for someone like Levi to make him stay behind those walls.
That was sort of a relief.
Eren's brash, aggressive, straightforward, and unpredictable personality tended to exhaust her sometimes.
But it was also something that most of his comrades admired and respected.
Needless to say, Annie felt the same way.
With a sigh, she tucked a lock of golden hair behind her ear and quickly continued her run from her pursuers.
But something caught her eye.
Smoke.
Not just any smoke, Annie seen that type of smoke hundreds and hundreds of time throughout her life.
With a frustrated sigh, she sprinted towards the swirling cloud of gray, only stopping to make sure that no one was following her.
It took about ten minutes for her to reach her destination, and just as she suspected, what she found was a decaying titan, sprawled out in front of her.
Its skin was evaporating away, smoke spiraling up from its corpse.
She frowned and crossed her arms before kicking the arm of its rotting body.
"Hey, stop playing dead." She said coldly. "Hurry up and get out of there."
A few more seconds before a soft hiss gently erupted from its sliced up neck, and slowly, very slowly, a young girl with pitch black hair emerged from the wound. She looked exhausted but her eyes were still burning with renewed energy.
"Long time no see," she smiled sweetly. "Was it comfy? Being stuck in some crystal for a few months?"
Annie raised an eyebrow, clearly not amused with her taunts.
"What happened here?" she said icily, her pale blue eyes scanning the remaining parts of her titan corpse. "You took some damage."
"Yeah? No shit." She smiled, her eyes glinting with malice. "Before that, guess who I found before some chick sliced me up?"
Annie didn't say anything, she kept her stoic expression, waiting for more.
"That brat named Eren."
Silence.
"What?" Annie's eyes widened, her arms falling to her side. "Eren? Here?"
"Surprised?" the girl said, her tone light and soft. "Since you failed to capture him, I decided to take on the job myself. I found him, alone, and chased him like mad. You should've seen his face." She grinned. "It was hilarious. He was so scared, could've pissed his pants."
Annie didn't seem to be listening, too many thoughts blotted out the girl's annoying voice.
Eren was here?!
Why did he have to come looking for her…
Why did those damn higher ups let him?
Were they stupid?
Eren was definitely stupid.
He was on titan territory and multiple shifters could have so many chances of capturing him.
What did he expect?
For her to come running to him with open arms?
No way in hell.
She was more concerned of making it home alive.
"Hey, Vadil," she said. Can you carry me back home? I don't have enough energy to shift."
"And why should I do that?"
Annie's eye twitched in annoyance.
This girl…
Annie sighed, shaking her head.
"I'm going to take a guess." She suddenly said, tucking another strand of a golden hair behind her ear. "It was a girl who managed to take you down. Black hair, black eyes, red scarf, and strange features, right?"
The girl flinched at Annie's words, avoiding eye contact with her.
"She's Asian and her name is Mikasa." She continued, her cold irises piercing into the girl. "If you want Eren then you have to get through her first. I learned that the hard way, but you would know, yes? I mean after all, you know everything." Annie whispered with a deadly tone. "I have more information on her but I guess I shouldn't waste my time, right?"
Vadil glared at her and so did Annie.
"Hm, not bad." She smiled, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Fine, I'll carry your sick ass home, but in return you give me the data. Deal?"
Annie peered at her through her bangs, her expression still unreadable.
"I'll consider it."
Vadil snorted at her strange reply before smirking.
"Stand back. I'm going to shift." She warned.
Annie heeded her command and took a couple of steps back.
Vadil stared at Annie's emotionless mask for another moment before raising her hand.
"You never change." She grinned, biting down hard enough to draw blood.
Then, a flash of lightning struck down from the heavens causing a huge gust of wind to spread throughout the land.