"Eren, I can't believe you."
Eren sat back against the tree trunk, as Mikasa berated him, in her usual quiet way. He looked down the snow covered hill towards Ragako, the bustling little village seemingly overcrowded since the Dauper's had arrived two days before. Everyone had been busy, most of them helping to construct the simple lodgings for their new allies. Sasha's father himself had went out and returned with a trio of large deer, which were currently spinning on spits in the village center, the fires below them smoking intermittently as their juices dripped into the flames.
They'd finally been allowed some time off. Connie and Sasha had disappeared into the surrounding forest, hands intertwined, with a basket swinging in each of their arms.
At least they're happy… Eren thought, as Mikasa rounded on him, seeing that he was clearly daydreaming.
"Why did you do that Eren?" She said, her voice outwardly calm, "Why did you not speak out when the Commander pardoned that bitch."
Her voice was sharp as she said that last word, and her fist thumped into the tree next to his head. He looked up into those eyes, which he had grown up looking into.
He didn't recognize them, not anymore. They were the eyes of a beast, something to be feared.
"Mikasa," He said, trying to keep his face relaxed, even as she scowled down at him, "You didn't see what we're going to face. Though I hate to say it, we're going to need her, Mikasa! Why can't you see that?"
She turned away from him, her shoulders slumping, the simple dress she wore twirling about her ankles.
"Because I can't, Eren." She said quietly, turning back to him for a moment, tears streaming down her face, "Because I can't."
Then she was gone, trudging through the snow down towards the village.
"What did I say…?" Eren said quietly to himself, resting his head back against the tree trunk.
Eren. The thought pushed itself into his head of its own volition. We need to talk. Walk three hundred paces to your right.
He looked in the proscribed direction. The little stream that was the town's main water source, lead through a large thicket of trees.
So, we can talk through this?Eren thought.
I guess so. Another thought came back almost immediately.
Eren stood, brushing snow off of his trousers, and started to make his way down towards the thicket. The snow hindered his progress, but he finally made it, stepping into a small open area. Ragnar and Annie stood there, as did Krista, Armin and Jean. The latter two didn't seem very pleased to be here.
"What do you want to talk about?" Eren questioned as he found a large rock to sit on, facing Ragnar and Annie, "The Commander said that the mission won't go ahead until the day before Christmas."
"That's just it," Ragnar said, looking at each of the others in turn, "This has to do with that… mission. There is bad blood that must be solved."
I hope he doesn't mean too…
"I'd hoped to bring peace between you all and Annie," He said, his deep voice seeming to echo in the silence, "Though that goal may be out of reach."
"You really think that I'd want to make peace with that piece of scum?" Jean said, turning to walk away, "No way. I'm outta here…"
"Jean, wait."
The tall man stopped, looking at Eren as he raised his hand.
"I think it would be good to hear them out, Jean."
"No, absolutely not."
He stalked away, but the others remained, standing tensely in the bright daylight.
"Well," Eren said, "Get on with it."
Ragnar turned, his face softening as he looked at Annie, who stepped out from behind him.
"Eren," She began, her hand sweeping through her much longer hair, "I… owe you an apology. For everything. But… I can't give you one. My apology would be nothing, just empty words."
Eren's eyes widened, feeling the truth behind her words.
"Then, why did you call me here?" He said accusingly, waving his hand towards the others, "Why did you call us here?"
"To… I don't know," She said, looking at the ground, "Try to make you understand, though that's unlikely now. I'm a monster, and I know it." She looked at Armin, their blue eyes meeting, "I wish I could be a good person, but… I can't. I'm scum."
"Annie…" Armin said quietly.
Eren looked closely at Annie, and saw that tears were rolling down her cheeks slowly. Only he and Armin looked directly at Annie, the others staring off into the surrounding trees or the sky.
"We understand, I think," Armin finally said after several awkward moments of silence. Eren nodded, knowing exactly what Armin was thinking. "We understand… But we can't forgive you. Not yet. Maybe not ever. You hurt us, Annie."
Annie's face fell, felt the desolation in her heart.
"But that doesn't mean we won't try!" Eren yelled, eyes sweeping everyone. "You were once our ally, our friend. And I don't think any of us have forgotten."
My shin especially!
She nodded, as did Ragnar.
"I must ask," Ragnar spoke into the silence, "What has happened? We," He gestured to Annie, "Thought that the conditions in the Walls were… less chaotic…"
"Ah… well," Armin said, "Things got… complicated. The Wall Cult has taken over."
Ackilles Leonhardt was an unhappy man.
The mask that he had been forcing himself to wear was growing more irritating by the minute as he stood at attention before the throne of the King of Men.
He is a weakling, and will one day be crushed beneath my heel...
Ackilles pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, as the King turned his attention to him. They were within the Palace, in his private audience chamber, with only the King's most important nobles and advisors. Including a pair of Priests from the Church, one wearing the vestments of a Senior Priest and the other wearing pure white vestments that he had never seen before.
Must be from the Special Operations Group.
"Commander Gottschalk," The King began, his voice carrying throughout the crowded room, "I must ask you, where are my enemies?"
"That I do not know, Sire," He responded, doing his best to keep his voice even. "I know only that they have scattered. None have been captured."
"And why is that?"
"Because my forces are unfortunately not ready, Sire. The most experienced portion of my new force was lost during the Legion's attack on Utopia, and it will take time to train their replacements."
The King frowned, turning to one of his personal advisors.
"How long until the next group of trainees is ready?"
"The, um, 105th Trainee Squad will be graduating in another six months with one hundred and fifty soldiers."
"So few? Increase the pace of their training, I want them graduated by the end of January. Move up the 106th to graduate by March."
No one attempted to dispute the King's demands, for he had been quite clear what he'd do to anyone who disobeyed him.
In truth, he's likely gone mad. Ackilles thought to himself. But, having more warm bodies to train will be quite a good thing. Especially with the fruits that are being borne in Mount Tartarus.
"Yes, sire." Said his advisor, who stepped back behind the throne, writing furiously.
"Now to my other guests," Ackilles stood firm as the King spoke to the two priests, "What have you come to report? I was told that is was of some import."
They both bowed, before the Senior Priest came forward, his intricate necklace jangling slightly as he maneuvered his girth.
"Yes, My King," He said, his voice high and reedy, piggy little eyes, "The Walls have blessed us with a magnificent gift! It has sent us the strength with which to defend it!"
Ackilles hated the priests, always so pompous, proclaiming the Walls were built by 'God'. To Ackilles, there was no god, no man in the sky who looked down upon the earth. There was only weakness and strength. And he would be strong.
Even if it means I have to kill every member of my family and every friend I've ever had, I will become a God.
"What are you doing?"
"What must be done to protect the honor of our family."
Annie scowled at her grandfather, as he sat, sharpening his sword. He wore tight fitting clothing, and he had shorn his hair down. She'd spotted him pilfering a map from a supply cabinet, as the sun sank low.
"You really think you can take on Ackilles," She asked, blocking the doorway as he stood, putting his sharpening stone away in a pocket and sheathing his sword, "You're going to die."
"Of course I'm going to die. One day." He said quietly, "Maybe even tomorrow. But I won't let what he's likely doing, and what he's done scar our families honor anymore. Consider it my gift to you."
Dumb old man…
"Fine. I won't stop you."
He brushed past her, the final link to the memories of her youth.
"Annie," She turned, looking at him. He had stopped, looking down at something in his hand. "I wish you to know that I am proud of you. You've turned in to a fine young woman. And you've find yourself a mostly good man. And this is yours, I've kept it for you since your mother passed away."
She held out a hand, seeing the glinting of a necklace.
Another necklace… Though I lost both of the ones that Ragnar gifted to me.
It was the symbol of a Myrmidon, intricately woven with cords of gold, and with rubies studding it. The necklace tugged at her memories, the same ones that appeared whenever she was around Tobias.
"It was your mothers. And now it is yours." Tobias said, a small smile touching his lips, "Wear it with honor. Goodbye, Annie."
And with that he left her there.
Damn you, old man.
Ragnar looked up at the Wall as they stood below it.
Such a massive feat of construction, even if they did use Jotunn to form its main pillars.
"It's strange being on the outside of it looking in, isn't it?"
He turned as Eren approached, seeing that for the first time he was actually alone.
The Commander had called another meeting, something he seemed to enjoy, and laid out the plan. Squad Levi, accompanied by that strange bespectacled woman, would lead the mission. Erwin had then given Ragnar a choice of who to bring along.
He'd chosen, Annie, Eleanor, and Eric, electing against Suttungr's advice to leave behind most of the Jotunn. And Eric had only decided to come because he was tired of dealing with Sigmund.
Or so he said.
"Yeah," Ragnar responded, continuing to look up the Wall, where the final elevator was being hoisted down with their horses, "These walls are truly quite imposing. But… I'm glad that I didn't have to live behind them. And what happened to your shadow?"
"You mean Mikasa?" Eren said, as Ragnar turned to gaze back towards the little cluster of horses and people, "She and I… Had a falling out, I guess. She's been taking what my mother said to her way too fucking seriously. We aren't kids anymore."
Ragnar agreed, and the two returned to the group, who were quickly mounting their horses and moving into their positions.
He felt as if someone was gazing upon him, a slight prickling sensation on the back of his neck. He turned in the direction of the feeling, to the west. Eren stirred also, looking in the same direction.
"Did you feel that?"
"Yeah," Ragnar responded slowly, kicking his horse into a trot, "But I have a feeling that someone else is going to be joining us when we get to Shinganshina. I hope finding my sister, and whatever is in your basement is worth it…"
Igigi moved swiftly, his True Forms legs carrying him onward.
Oh, how I wish master would have allowed me to become an Utukku, their True Forms are much better for this kind of long distance running! He thought to himself sadly, remembering that day all those years ago, when Ishtar, daughter of Marduk himself, chose him to be her bondservant. Why must I remember that now? Master told me that I need to remember to concentrate on my objective…
He plunged forward into the brush, using his overly long arms to propel his fourteen meter tall body along, like the gorillas of his homeland. He had to catch up to them before they made it to the cursed town. He hadn't expected them to make their move before their holiday, but he'd luckily been watching their little village when they moved towards the Wall.
Igigi could only hope that nothing went wrong in the Wall's why he was gone, or Master would be angry.
"What have the holy Wall's gifted us with, Father Chris?"
Ackilles did not let his eyes waver as a side door was opened, and a trio of men entered. They wore military style clothes, but without the short coats and the complicated leather strapping for controlling 3DMG.
He smiled when he noticed one of them was familiar, though it took him a moment to place the man's face, since he, like the other two was now bald.
"These are the first of our… experiments," The Priest went on, "They now have abilities that match those of Eren Jaeger."
There was a collective intake of breath throughout the room. Men who were too near the trio moved away, though they remained passive.
Pastor Chris pointed to Ackilles.
"Commander Gottschalk, if you would be so kind to assist me with this portion of my presentation…" He turned back towards the trio, gesturing to the one in the lead, who Ackilles didn't know, "Subject One, please hold out your arm."
The man known as Subject One held out his right arm.
"Now, Commander, take off his arm at the elbow."
Ackilles snaked one of his blades free, cutting in from below instead of from above. Subject One's arm fell to the ground, and the arc of Ackilles blade coated a number of the King's advisors in a spray of blood.
Even as they protested, he was watching the bloody stump. Steam began to trickle out, as one would expect from a Shifter. The crowd watched in shocked silence as Subject One's arm began to form new bone, and muscle began to weave itself back into form.
It'll take him about three quarters of an hour to heal from that… So slow. I could do the same in a handful of minutes.
But the King seemed overjoyed.
"Excellent! Oh Excellent, my friend," The King said, "How many more can you make?"
Chris bowed his head, seeming to relish the King's words.
"For now, these are all we have, my King, though we have more in the works. The Church requires increased funding, and a few other… things, to continue producing our own Titans."
"Then you will have it!"
Ackilles began to zone out the drivel that was now coming from the man's mouth.
The day shall come when I am stronger… soon enough.
"Man, this place has really gotten overgrown…"
Connie led the party through the destroyed gates of Shiganshina, as the darkness began to lift.
"Be quiet," Levi hissed at him, "We don't know the situation yet, or where the two traitors are. Keep on the lookout…"
Something loud sounded from within the Walls, as if someone had thrown a rock from the top of the Wall. Then the ground shook, and a billowing cloud of steam appeared near the outer gates. The group spurred their horses into a galloping run, directly towards the outer gate.
"Maintain formation!" Levi called, "Prepare to split into two teams! Basement team, when the order is given, move perpendicular to us until you are around the enemy. Titan's go!"
Massive footfalls were fast approaching, punctuated by the twin explosions of that man and woman who had come along, Connie couldn't remember their names for the life of him.
They charged overhead, even as Connie peeled off with the basement team. Jean, Krista, Mikasa, Ragnar, Armin and Annie peeled off with him also. The rest continued their headlong charge.
I hope whatever is in the basement is worth it…