IMPORANT A/N: This chapter is rated M for the lime scene, but I put in a warning so you can skip it if you wish...but most of you probably won't, you perverted bastards. Blame Arkevil for convincing me to move such a scene from the later chapters into this one.

Not so important A/N: Follow me on tumblr if you want to see some updates I'll be posting during the progress of the next chapter (link is on my page). And thank you for so many reviews and favs last chapter! Every review made my day ^_^

Let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Inside the Red Zone

The number of words in this Eren x Annie story is too damn high by: Euregatto

It's been almost a full month now.

Annie treads carefully as she crosses the suspended beam located in the backgrounds, a stretch of field meant for Trainees to work out on during their free days. She always chooses to test her balance on this piece of wood because the desire not to fall effectively distracts her thoughts. Her boots scuff as she turns a full 180 at the end of the oak bar, casting her gaze up to the handful of trainees scattered around – Jean sparring with Mikasa, Reiner and Ymir locked in a push-up contest to see who can impress Christa the most, Sasha demonstrating tracking techniques to Marco, Armin skimming through a book as Eren runs laps.

It's been almost a full month now, and I still haven't told him I love him back.

Graduation was right around the corner and suddenly, almost overnight, Annie's mind had begun to wander. Her pondering kept her up into late hours of the night, forced her to space out during lectures in class… She thought about her predicament, about what Eren said, about Eren wanting to join the Scouting Legion and herself the Military Police; wondered if they would manage to keep this relationship alive, or if Eren would die out in the battlefield while she sat complacently behind the walls. Fuck, had she even given any thought into their future together? Her destiny? His fate?

That bastard brought her down to earth so hard she had spent the past four months thinking only about the here and now, not the when or why.

Eren didn't care about the future, really. He's focused on the task at hand, moving step-by-step one boundary at a time. His attention is fixed on the path he has laid out for himself and he plans on sticking through till the very end: he's going to eradicate all Titans, whether it takes him the rest of his life or if it costs him a leg. Was there any room in his future for her? Or was she just a present tense memory, not meant to last, just a prize to be tossed aside?

Annie turns her immaculate cobalt gaze to the boy as he pauses his lap, hands on his knees and chest heaving.

Come to think of it, was there any room in her future for him? She's perfectly okay with being locked up in a cage – a flightless bird, beady eyes set on living an uneventful life within Wall Sina – but he desires to be free, by taking to the skies with the wind beneath his wings. They live in two completely separate worlds. She hadn't even given a blink towards the thought of a family. Marriage? Own house? Kids?

She wants kids. Which is weird for someone like her. But would she have them with him or someone else? Why the hell was she thinking about this now of all times?

"Annie!" Mina remarks, slapping her hand against the beam and startling her friend awake. "Why'd you stop? Are you tired?"

Very tired – of this, that, the other thing, Eren's lovey-dovey bullshit actually fucking affecting me – "I can't do this right now!" She snaps. She immediately hops down, shoving her fists into her pockets and tromping briskly for the forest.

"Wait, Annie! Hey! What's wrong?! Come back!"

Eren and Armin watch the girls part, taller one headed for the thicket, probably intent on finding some solitude by the river as Mina calls out to her. "What's wrong with Annie?" Eren asks, gliding his fingers through his matted hair.

"I don't know."

"Should I go talk to her?"

Armin shrugs passively, slamming the book closed and tucking it under the crook of his arm. "Annie likes to be alone. Maybe you should give her some space until she cools off and try comforting her later."

"I don't think she likes being alone, she's just used to it by now." Eren pats the back of his neck with the towel Armin hands him. His emerald gaze never leaves Annie's figure, even as she disappears into the underbrush. "…I'm going to talk to her. I'll catch up with you later."

He waves the blond boy off and treks after the girl into the woods, weaving skillfully under fallen trunks and around branches as he makes his way down the slope to the river. Annie is perched at the edge of the distilled surface, staring into the crystal water as the despondent face glares back up. Wordlessly he kneels down beside her, dipping his cupped palms into the frigid liquids and splashing them up across his face. He repeats the process several times, soaking his hair, cleaning his neck, dabbing his skin dry.

"I've been thinking," she says after ten minutes of silence between them, "about graduation, about us."

He leans his head against the crook of her shoulder. "You're just nervous, Ann."

"I am. Very nervous." She weaves her fingers into the tight locks of his bangs. "I never gave a thought to us – where we'll be after this is over; what we'll have left between us… I'm going to be inside the Walls, you're going to your death."

Eren gradually turns his gaze up to the entwined canopy of branches overhead. His crystallized eyes see something that is beyond her understanding, but she is aware it is there; it has no name, no solid form or sense, but it is hope, it is freedom, it is a foolish, beautiful dream like none she has witnessed before.

"Maybe one day there won't be any need for these walls… and you can come be free with me." He gently takes her hands in his and stretches them up so their bodies press together, hers soft beneath her hoodie and his radiating with warmth and life. "Haven't you always wanted to reach the sky? Or wondered what the mountains looked like?" His lips brush hers when he settles down to connect their stares. "Or, perhaps, you could see the ocean with me?"

"But it's dangerous," she counters, "you'll be killed as soon as you step foot outside the gate."

"That's a chance I'm willing to take."

"Why would you take a chance?" She seethes bitterly, jerking away from him. "Why would you risk your life for some stupid walls? Humanity isn't worth saving! Don't be a stupid bastard like my father."

Eren watches her quizzically, with his lips pressed into a thin line and gleaming eyes scanning her features for her expression. "I never said I wanted to save humanity," he amends finally, moving his hand up along her side, "I only want to give those who matter most a life outside this prison… and I want to protect my friends, and Armin, and Mikasa… but most of all"—he cups her cheek, guiding her face closer to his—"I want to protect you."

"No."

His clasp on her tightens. "Annie…"

"I said no. I don't want you to die for someone like me." She makes a move to pull away from him but he falls back into her, forcing her beneath him against the thick layer of verdant grass. "No, Eren, please don't. I'm not worth it."

"You are to me," he ushers. "You're the only choice I don't regret making, and nothing you say or do will ever change my mind. Alright?"

She nods against him. "I don't want you to die on me, Eren. Not now, not ever."

"I won't." He tucks his head into the crevice of her neck. "I promise I won't."

His fingers gradually flex under the waistline of her jeans, carefully exploring the expanse of her skin, massaging the hem of her shorts. He's so strong, so gentle, so warm and intoxicating. "I'll hold you to it then," she mutters sheepishly, eyelids fluttering shut to amplify the divine feel of his skin brushing wildfires across hers. "If you're lying I'll bring you back to life and kill you myself."

He laughs in his throat, his usual, light-hearted chuckle that answers her questions with something a little more genuine than a promise.

(Lime Scene Start – if uncomfortable please skip down to the end. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…This was bound to happen sooner or later. Don't look at me like that.)

She spreads her legs when familiar digits trace the contours of her womanhood and cants her hips upwards, sucking in a sharp breath, sliding her hand up into the tangled mess of his damp hair. His thermal lips skim the pulse point of her neck and he finds the heat of her torso below. His middle finger skitters over and up to her sensitive bundle of nerves; he rocks his knuckle down and up, rolling her clit around playfully.

Her resounding moan vibrates every bone in his chest and he glides up to the pad of his finger, running circles and gradually working at the hem of her shorts. He dips under the fabric and to her warmth, his skin igniting fires against the tendrils of her sensitive flesh.

"Fuck," she utters, unclipping the button of her jeans and sliding her zipper down to give him space.

That's her grant to continue. It's all he needs.

He strokes her labia with slender fingers, parting her folds and pressing against her warmth. She's already dripping, just for him, and he relishes in the fact that no other man has ever produced such a feeling in her like this – that she can lose control with him so easily, and that he's the one who made her such a mess, not the damned thought of anyone else.

She nods into his shoulder and he slides into her familiar opening, right down to the base of his knuckle, enticing her legs to open wider with the gentle stroke of his free hand along her inner thigh. "Eren," she ushers and he kisses the curve of her chin, moving inside of her, positioning his calloused thumb against her nerves.

He strokes her clit and pumps his single digit in and out of her, her walls collapsing around his intruding finger, muscles in her torso clenching and unwinding with every wave of fire that rockets through her body. Her blush darkens the fair pigment of her cheeks. She tosses her head back, groaning into the pleasure, letting him nip at the pallid canvas of her neck.

Taking that as his permission, he moves faster. Her nails alternate between digging into the flesh of his neck and grasping the ends of his cocoa hair. A sudden jerk of her body sends a rigid jolt through her spine; she's hit her climax – her body is tightening along her thighs and hips, waist rolling down on its own accord to match his movements, harsh pants ebbing into gasps of his name.

"Eren – don't stop – I'm close – I'm so close-!" She comes with a gasp and warmth leaks across his hand. The intense, all-consuming ecstasy slams through the nerves of her body, shattering through her veins and up into her brain; her mouth is parted in a silent cry, back arched up into a perfect curve, hips pressing down onto his hand as he eases her orgasm out with the careful strokes of his thumb.

(END LIME)

As she comes down from her high he tucks his head into the crook of her neck, breathing in her faint lemon and sugar scent, withdrawing his hand from her jeans. "I love you, Annie," he whispers into her.

She merely brings her arms up around his shoulders. "Yeah," she says blithely, "I know you do."

Annie Leonhardt would never properly tell him how she felt in return, but by the time she would ever receive the courage to, it would be too late.

At one point during their graduation night Annie had told Eren that she believed the world revolved against her.

She had every reason to, of course. Her father was more of her military commander than her real parent; she had the impotent fear of the dark like she was some damn five year old; she broke every vow she every made by deciding to let Eren take her heart like he had torn it out of her chest with his bare hands… yes, nothing had gone according to plan in the end, but she also never suspected for things to get as bad as they did.

Some days later Trost's gate is breached, and a few hours before the trainee regimen holds the briefing they are split into groups. Annie isn't surprised to wind up with Reiner and three other loses from the middle ranks of their class (again, because the world has always turned against her), and she's certain the universe is out to bring her to ruin when she finds out from Bertholdt that Eren's group had already departed for Trost.

She didn't get a chance to say good-bye. She didn't get a chance to say good-bye.

She's never been one for worrying about the well-being of other people… but, unfortunately, accident-prone Eren Jaeger isn't like other people. The thrill of danger clouds his vision like a storm above the horizon, ascending gradually through the brim of his body until it shrouds the veil of his consciousness. She worries about him, sure, and she definitely fears for Hannah, Franz, and Mina's safety all at the same time. If that reckless bastard gets Mina killed I'll feed him to an Aberrant.

As a result of her perfectly rational fear (rational to her, anyway) Annie immediately knew there was something wrong when Armin returned to the gathering point team-less, dragging behind him Hannah, who is still stained with blood (Franz's blood) and gaze locked on the tier beneath her. Annie doesn't want to admit it – doesn't like to admit it – doesn't think she can admit it – but the realization that Franz is gone unnerves her. There is a sunken pang of guilt in her stomach, like her gut is filling up with lead.

She occasionally casts Armin a glance as he sits against a wall with his legs tucked into his chest, but the more she looks the heavier her gut feels within the enclosed cavern of her torso. There's a forlorn sense of dread poisoning the back of her mind.

Something isn't right.

"Annie!"

The blonde girl recognizes the voice and cranes her head around to Eren's sister. For some reason, Armin buries his head into his knees and starts to pule against his jeans, still soaked through with the sweat and blood of the day. "Oh, Mikasa, you're back."

"Have you seen Eren?"

"No"—she tilts her head in the boy's direction—"but Armin's over there if you want to talk to him. Good luck, he hasn't said a word since he found us."

Mikasa nods her thanks and jogs over to him. "Armin!"

Annie brushes them off and turns her attention to the city up in flames around them. The Titans haven't made it this far yet – or perhaps they did, and they moved on because everyone else in this area was devoured already. "Reiner," she starts and he peers down at her from the corner of his eye, "if we don't have any other way out, should we-?"

"No. But if we're doing it, we're doing it as a team."

Without warning Armin screams. They whip around to face him as he falls to his hands and knees at Mikasa's legs, wailing all of his pent up rage, bereavement, guilt and anguish into the shingles of the roof. "I couldn't save him! I'm so fucking weak; I let a Titan eat my best friend! All because I was too weak to save him!"

She fumbles for words, the hilts in her grip trembling in uneasy disbelief. "Ar-Armin…"

"He's dead, Mikasa! They're all dead!"

Silence rocks the trainees and they fall silent on cue. Off in the breadth of the horizon the Titans demolish Trost, here the soldiers stand in collective awe, and the lost hope of the future is somewhere in between.

Armin shrieks against the tier again. "Mina Carolina, Millius Zermusky, Nack Tias, Thomas Wagner, and Eren Jaeger all died valiantly in the front lines of battle!" He tucks his chin against his chest, heavy tears splattering against the structure beneath him, voice lowering into a barely audible whisper. "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry, Mikasa… I couldn't save them, I couldn't save him-!"

Annie has long since tuned out the voices around her. Her mind buzzes with white noise, her hands noticeably shake and her blades emit metallic clicks as they quake in her grasp. Eren… and Mina… are… dead? How can… That's not… An explosion of fury shatters its way through her nervous system, rocketing up along her spine and igniting every sensor in her brain. That bastard fucking promised me he'd come back!

An acute stab of pain, like a hole has blown wide open in the center of her chest, sends her body haywire and she hits the roof on her knees, supporting herself with one arm, wrapping the other around her torso. She gags on air that has long since expelled from her lungs.

"Annie!"

Darkness is creeping into her vision like skeletal fingers. He promised he promised he promised that bastard made a fucking promise-! Her memories are stitched together with the scent of the fire side, the bitterness of charcoal on her tongue, the translucent afterglow of laughter. It smells like the flowers of Mina's jacket when they hugged, sounds like the drawled sigh in Franz's throat, tastes like the piquant stew Hannah had delicately crafted, feels like the calloused pads of Eren's digits as he strokes his fingers through her hair and runs them carefully over the scar defining her side.

Her mind is crumbling in her hands. Her consciousness is fading. Her body is steadily falling into the abyssal silence awaiting her somewhere below her reality; a place that is quiet in Hannah's arms. The overwhelming nothingness is devoid of Reiner's muted shouting, barely allows her to notice Hannah's tears plashing her brow.

The world still turns against her, and now Annie Leonhardt has been swept up in its flow.

And I still never told you I loved you, selfish bastard...