I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin
A/N: I noticed the sudden demand for a continuation of "Change of Gait", a oneshot I've written as a Fill for the SnK Kink forum. I'm contemplating on it but at the same time, I'm focusing on this story. If I feel up to it, I'll try to write another chapter for it due to its demands~
Leave a review here~
Ymir waited for their steps to fade away, then she continued down the spiraling staircase. Her bare feet padded against the stone flooring as she clung to the shadows. Her clothes, still unchanged, began to reek of sweat and blood yet she paid no mind; it was only her front that got stained, the grayness of her shirt made it hard to see the crimson liquid. Hands holding the wall, she stopped short of a couple steps to be out of the cellar's torchlight. That was when voices came about.
"...oh god," Bertolt rasped. He sounded like he just fell to his knees, probably in front of Annie.
A feint moan resonated from their hostage as Reiner's feet stepped around. Cloth ripping, Annie took the moment to gasp and breathe with a labored breath.
Ymir had checked on her earlier this morning, made sure that she was missing a limb, and returned in time for breakfast so that the others wouldn't take notice of her absence. Hanji had instructed Ymir to 'take care' of Annie last night before departing, why she would task her with such a gruesome chore bewildered her as she expected the scientist to take the responsibility; Christa was distracted with Mikasa and Armin, thus leaving Ymir to herself.
Hanji must have been caring for Mikasa so she couldn't have time to dismember Annie.
It wasn't like Ymir had never harmed anyone. She had done so before, and that was out of the necessity to satiate her hunger. The fact that Sasha forced Annie's true power out was enough to attempt to figure out who she was. Before being called for bed, Ymir undid the gag and asked Annie of where she came from, why a Titan like her resided behind the Walls, and anything related to the calamity that had befallen the Recon Corps.
Of course, Annie never uttered anything. Only when asked if she felt pain that she told Ymir to '"fuck off". With every curse she uttered, Ymir set to work in forcing Annie to emanate steam from her body. For the first few hours, she regenerated rather quickly, but soon her rate dropped. Hanji popped by just after dinner, hypothesized that Annie would take longer to regenerate the more she endured the dismemberment.
It had been three hours.
Annie's right leg, the one Ymir had often went for, was still a heap of vapor. Over their voices, Ymir heard the incessant steam reverberated from flesh.
Why isn't Hanji here to see this? I heard she gets off on this kind of shit...
"...they plan on using you as a distraction," Reniner's voice came about.
"Not surprised," Annie spoke, hoarse from lack of water and screaming into the cloth. A bottle from one of the shelves was uncorked, her throat feverishly drank from it. Ymir bent low, stooping enough to see just their legs underneath the overhanging wall. From her view, she could see one of Annie's legs, Reiner's, and then the kneeling form of Bertolt; his hands were at the stub of a leg, inspecting the damage. "If Ymir keeps this up, I won't be able to transform at all."
"Ymir's the one doing this?" Bertolt asked, astonished.
"Yeah...payback, she said she'll kill me once, seems like her time is now. Besides, Hanji told her to, she wouldn't pass up on an offer like this," Annie huffed indignantly as Reiner stepped away; a few drops of vine splattered to the ground.
"Considering how many times you kept walking in on her and Christa, I wouldn't blame her," Reiner said,"told you to stop doing it."
Annie gave a 'humph!' as her flesh began to mend. Within seconds, her right leg materialized and became whole once more. Bertolt let out a sigh and stood up, taking the butcher's knife Ymir left earlier and storing it by the handle in his back pocket. When the steam had ceased and the hissing of vapors abated, Reiner strode to the shelf to place the bottle back. "Some Marquis killed the Commander for the Recon Corps, at least, that was what Zacharias told us."
During the middle of tactical planning, Mike recounted the events of last night. It elicited a great wave of despair among them all until Rivaille snapped at them to focus on the task at hand, which was leaving the Karanese. His sudden behavior explained the senior officers' reason for drinking last night, Ymir choked down a laugh as she squatted on the step, they all heard the Corporal fucking the crazy researcher on the other side of their wall.
"They were planning something with Eren, unleashing him in the Karanese. Now's the chance to get him."
Annie shifted around in her chair, the ropes were still bound to her save for her right leg. "Reiner, I just told you, I'm weak. I can't do it right now. By the time you get up there, Ymir or Hanji will be back shortly to cut me up like the butchers they are."
"Everyone's busy with packing," Bertolt explained,"we were actually sent here to fetch some barrels. Thought we'd stop by to check on you."
"Well, it's appreciated. When are you leaving?"
"Three days."
"...what are you going to do about Eren?"
"Your Titan is more nimble than ours; you hold Eren down when we see him, one of us takes him out of the body, Reiner transforms, he smashes through the Outer Gate, we leave after him, then we return home when Titans from the outside distract the soldiers."
"You make it sound easy," Annie murmured, her voice rose,"what about the Gears? My gas tanks are full, I think Sasha stored it in the stable." A pause. "Judging by you, you don't even have Gears to begin with."
Bertolt let out a cough, then he sniffled. Ymir leaned against the wall, a startling crash came from the first floor above, thus drowning a part of their conversation. Only after the ruckus did Ymir catch Reiner saying,"We will stay behind when the Gates close behind our convoy. "
"Since when did you care about them?" Annie bitterly asked.
"Since he had a thing for Christa," Bertolt said with a half-laugh.
"Ymir! Where are you!?" Came the girl's voice from above.
Ymir held back just enough to hear Reiner to continue to tell them,"...once the gates close, we strike out at Eren. Sure, we'll take damage, but it won't matter by that point," from there, she quietly got up and walked back up the stairs.
When she emerged to the surface, she found Christa running by with a bucket and mop at hand. The young girl was frantically trying to clean some spilled vine. Apparently, the crate Ymir left on the counter had fallen; perhaps someone knocked it over, Christa trying to clean it up. Sighing, Ymir went to her, took the mop, and instructed her to take care of the other provisions.
Christa didn't move, her eyes were trained on Ymir's feet. "Doesn't it hurt?"
"Hm?" She looked down to find she was stepping on broken glass. The more pressure she placed on one leg, the more blood began to seep and mix with the vine.
-...-
"Eren," Mikasa murmured.
Hanji rushed through the door to find Armin, once again, sitting at Mikasa's bedside. She stumbled over a pillow but caught herself on the bed post. Her hands habitually try to push up the glasses for readjustment, once more, she had forgotten she had lost the use of them. Brushing that fact away, Sasha expectantly stood by, watching.
"Is she moving?" Hanji inquired, voice gentle.
"No, but she keeps saying Eren's name," Armin replied, a sleeve wiping his eyes.
"She must be dreaming then," she surmised, hand going to Mikasa's eye. She stretched on lid open to find the girl's eye rolling up languidly. She checked her vitals and, once confirming there was nothing out of the ordinary, she went for the door but paused to say over her shoulder,"When she starts moving, come get me."
Sasha gave a nod as she breezed by.
Hanji stepped into the hallway to find Rivaille carrying the closed crate of weapons and ammunition. He had stopped short as she blocked his way, she turned to look at him. "Are you going to arm everyone?"
"Naturally, by now, our Gears are useless," he curtly told her,"Hanji, move, I need to pack this to the wagon-"
"Listen, about last night," she cut in jokingly, but she was silenced with a glare. Instead of reacting poorly, out of shame, she gave a half-smile, a small laugh escaping her breath. His frown went deeper, his glare became harder. "Oh, Rivaille, you're such a mood-killer."
She faced the stairs and went down them, the thud of his boots falling closely behind as they descended. "Says the one who wanted to fuck after hearing the Commander is dead. You have no shame, do you?"
"I do, you should as well, you're the one who slept with me," she shot back at him playfully. There was no joke in any of this. In the reality, it was their way of coping, especially after hearing such a news. They tried to hold no love towards one another, but at times, when they needed a reality check, to know if they were still alive, physical contact came into play.
He had his share. She had her own. Yet the attachment in which you'd refer to as 'love' was seemingly absent. Though, for Rivaille, things had taken a different course as of late. Ever since he was asked to kill Hanji, he had taken to valuing her more than he did before. Even as he pinned her down, blades at hand, he couldn't bring himself to kill her.
He realized that he needed her in life. Throughout the years, she had become his way of checking reality. So long as she lived, so long as she was in existence, he knew he was alive. The horrors of war had changed them both, he would have looked back and say he wouldn't remember the man before he entered the military. The same went for her.
They lived on with one another.
Now that he no longer shouldered burdens of the military (a death sentence and years of service wasted away would make one drop its value), he unconsciously decided to open a door that he had mentally looked passed. Last night, despite their drunken throe of passion, it felt different...
His eyes drifted away towards Ymir as she stood motionless behind the bar. Christa was at the end, watching in astonishment. Hanji spoke up,"What're you doing here?"
Ymir suddenly took a step forth. The sickening crushing of glass upon skin reached their ears. The broken bottle and spilled vine near Christa explained the clattering sounds he heard earlier. Rivaille placed the crate of weapons near Petra; her sleeping form was still unmoving. Both he and Hanji approached, trying to see the mess that had happened. Upon turning at the corner, they found white vapor rising from the bottom of Ymir's feet.
"...Ymir, get to the cellar," Hanji instructed, taking the mop for herself and shoving away most of the glass under the counter to clear the way. When she reached Ymir, Bertolt and Reiner emerged from the darkness of the cellar, barrels in hand; they paused at the sight.
The steam was small, very similar to that of a smoker's pipe, but it was alarming enough for them to see. Ymir stepped out of their way, they hesitantly moved by, each standing by Christa.
"I know what this looks like," Ymir began, but Hanji used the pole of the mop to herd her, forcing her to walk backwards until she chose to face forwards for the stairs. Rivaille, trying to process what he had seen, walked over the spilled wine to follow Hanji into the cellar. He glanced over his shoulder to see the three teens watching him movements.
"Both of you, pack those barrels to the cart. Christa, come," he ordered, she immediately came to his heels as Reiner and Bertolt reluctantly complied. Once he made it to the cellar, he found Ymir on the floor with Hanji sitting by; the other woman's foot was in Hanji's face, she were watching in awe of the Regenerative powers working before her eyes. Ignoring the irking scene, he looked to Christa, asking,"Did you know of this?"
She shook her head, saying,"I've known her for three years, she never told me."
After half a minute, the hissing from Ymir's flesh ceased and Hanji released her foot, letting it fall dead to the floor. The raven haired woman scooted away from Hanji as the researcher tried to go closer, Ymir shot at her,"What the fuck, woman, you already seen it come back together-"
"How did you live outside the Walls?" Rivaille assertively asked, his tone was enough to make Hanji cease her pursuit. Annie was sitting in her chair, as she was left untouched, though her eyes held wonder at the discovery of her captor displayed the physical trait of a Titan-shifter.
Ymir trained her eyes wearily at Hanji, though she openly admitted,"I stayed in the form of a Titan. Look, I'm not involved in anything other than the Recon Corps. Hell, I thought I was the only Titan behind the Walls, I didn't know about Eren nor did I have any intent to destroy your organization."
"Then what are you here for?" Hanji questioned, getting up and heading to Annie. She saw that the cleaver had vanished, she brought her attention back to Ymir.
"I said it earlier, I'm only here for Christa," she declared,"her well-being is my concern."
Christa stood by Rivaille, quietly uttering,"Ymir..."
Then Ymir looked directly at her, as if expecting for her to say something else, but Rivaille prevented her from saying whatever it was, he said,"Your motives are entirely different, and since you brought Annie, I don't see a problem in having you roam around freely among us." He placed a hand on Christa's shoulder. "But if you go sideways on us, you damn well know what will happen."
Ymi's face contorted with a sudden rage yet she said nothing, only give a stiff nod as she got up.
"Get out."
Rivaille gently nudged Christa towards her as Hanji approached him. "You really love to have leverage over people, don't you?"
They watched as she gave an embrace to Christa, then ushered her out of the cellar.
"It comforts me, besides, this one isn't like Eren. She doesn't require discipline if there's already an incentive to behave," he replied as Christa's boot disappeared into the stairwell.
-...-
Hanji hid herself behind the corner, keeping from view of the uninvited guests that stood at Rivaille's door.
"Oh, surely, Rivaille, you understand what's going on," that horrible, dreadful voice drawled out,"it's an insurrection, you see...not all Kings can stay too long in their thrones, especially one such as yours. So shifty and easily swayed..."
"All subjects could be persuaded," Rivaille reasoned.
"Yes, yes, with money and fear, but when you have power, it's a different story."
A torch had flew through a window, landing right by her feet and setting the ornate rug alight. At the sight of this, she fled, knowing too well of the danger that had followed her here. She sprinted out of her hiding spot to cross the intersecting hall, thus, revealing herself. The drawling owner of the voice took notice of her, he shoved Rivaille to the side as he tried to run after her, but Rivaille took a hold of his ankle and violently wrenched it back, forcing him to fall.
Rivaille managed to get to his feet, he sprinted over to her, leaping over the growing fire. He grabbed her arm and ran as more torches were tossed about the entrance way, the gold-hungry men set alight his curtains and various finery. Horses from the outside told that they were surrounding his property.
He led her into the courtyard through another entrance. From there, they began to run for the outer gates of his home. She barely dodged a torch as it whirled by her head, it ended up into a bale of straw stored out in the open. His barn was already aflame, his horses had fled and any servant he had were gone or killed on sight. Hanji let out a yelp at the sight of it as she swerved passed a butchered maid.
They ran into the merchant district, the sound of shots behind fired rang through their ears. They pressed on through the streets, around corners, down allies trying to lose them as they pursued on foot.
"Are those guns!?" She exclaimed. She had seen his collection the night before but she never heard them in action; it startled her.
It was his turn to lead them. "Yeah, for now at least. It gets dangerous with rifles."
Eventually they reached the entrance to the Underground Mall. She froze in place, unmoving, and then she backed away. "I...I'm not going back there..."
He tried to reason her but he didn't understand why her anxiety had decided to kick up. He knew she had problems, but he didn't know what."You have to, it's the only way we can lose them-"
"No!" She snapped, it was the first time she yelled at him. She slapped him away and took off running, he tore after her and, much to his regret, threw a hard punch to the back of the head, rendering her unconscious. He lifted her to his shoulders and took her underground, taking her through the tunnels, looking back every so often to check if they were followed.
They were left alone.
-...-
Why was he remembering that just now?
He saw Hanji remove the gag in Annie's mouth, at the moment, he thought back to the nobleman that stood at his door. He used to be a trusted subordinate that had risen through the ranks of the criminal underworld while keeping political issues out of Rivaille's way. He was climbing the ladder too high, too fast, and before Rivaille could count anything suspicious, he overthrew him.
The bastard, with his political standing, developed a spoils system where men under the influence of his offering; positions in the government, power, they were freely promised and given when Rivaille had been usurped from his own domain.
"Are you willing to talk now?" Hanji said, though her voice sounded distant to him.
"If you keep fucking butchering my body every hour, I won't have the energy to transform into a Titan," she answered flatly.
"...can you tell me more?"
Annie glowered and said no more.
"Rivaille," Hanji said, drawing it out to get his attention. He looked over to her.
"What?"
"Please kick her for me."
He didn't hesitate. He quickly strode to her and brought several, well placed kicks to her face. Somewhere along the way, he knocked a tooth out. With every kick, her skin grew from red to purple, blood soon to flowed from her nose and mouth as he broke the cartilage. His thoughts drew back to the individual who disobeyed; even when he thought of the name, he kicked harder to vent out his anger.
That lazy face of a deviant man was something Rivaille could barely get out of his mind.
He raised his foot again to Annie, the sickening sound of a jaw popping issued a pained cry from Hanji as she winced sympathetically. Only a three kicks later did he stop, his rage gone and his composure collected once more. Hanji's hand went to his shoulder, she clicked her tongue, telling him,"You overdone it, now she's got a loose jaw."
"Hm, could've gone worse," he scoffed, shrugging her hand away,"you told me to kick."
She didn't say anything else as she left his side to tie the gag, not around Annie's mouth, but at her jaw to keep it in place. Annie was reduced to a whimpering, bloody mess, though her eyes screamed death at Rivaille. He locked gazes with her, trying to see what she wanted to shriek but it grew quiet.
"Pain is the most effective way of getting someone to bow," he reasoned to Hanji, but more towards Annie.
She wasn't going to crack any time soon. It would be just like the backstabbing subordinate he had before.
...Isidor.