So, I've finished with chapter 7. I mean, obviously I have, if there's a page on this fic that reads "CH7" or whatever, but... Yeah... Anyways, if you don't yet know how Marco dies, spoiler alert. There's smut in this chapter, so if you want to read it go ahead, if not I marked it very clearly in the beginning and the end so you could avoid it if you wanted. It is my first time writing smut, so I have no idea how I did. It may be awkward, but some advice on writing better smut would be appreciated.
The tone shift is really weird because like Marco dies and then Annie and Eren get their freaky-freaky on. So yeah. A lil weird.
Also, I'm completely irresponsible for any tears you may shed during this chapter, especially during Marco's death. without further ado, here it is.
Chapter 7:
Gunfire rang though the cool air of the supply depot. Muzzle flashes illuminated the room like a strobe light. The titans in the room pawed at their eyes, shrieking like the wounded beasts they were.
Annie jumped down and swung her blades in wide slash, hacking deep into her targets neck and cutting out a chunk of flesh. She bent her knees as she hit the floor, cushioning the impact, and looked up. Most of the other cadets had managed to kill their own target titans too. The titans collapsed and began to smolder.
All except for two. Connie and Sasha had missed their marks, and their titans were turning around to face them.
"Sasha and Connie missed!" Marco screamed.
Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it was her way of dealing with the loss of Eren. Whatever it was, Annie leaped up, disregarding her own safety as well as the mission, and brought her sword up, tearing away at the flesh of Connie's target titan. When she hit the ground again, Annie saw that Mikasa had helped Sasha with the other titan. Annie stood up and brushed the dust off herself and walked towards the resupply station.
"That was dangerous..." A gruff voice said behind her. Annie turned. Reiner. He gave her a quizzical look, probably wondering why Annie took a risk like that to save Connie, who had never done anything that Annie would owe him for. "...I'm glad you weren't hurt..."
Annie shot a look at Reiner. Not right now. She thought. Reiner shrugged and turned to refuel.
The cadets were besides themselves with joy. "We're going to live!" They were shouting. Annie slid a set of fresh blades into the slits of her gear, and replaced her depleted canisters with new ones. She remembered the rogue titan outside HQ, the one that was keeping the standard titans from assaulting headquarters, and gave them their opening to make it out of here alive.
It had to be a shifter. That was the only logical explanation. But who was it? Could it be...
No, Annie thought, Don't get your hopes up. Armin said Eren was killed. Realization punched Annie in the gut again and she nearly doubled over. God dammit... Why did he allow himself to be killed? He knew that he was the only person Annie cared about. He knew that he was the only person who cared about her.
Excluding Mina, because she was dead too. Plus, Mina never made Annie a promise. Eren did. And he broke it.
Annie felt a hollow cavity opening up in her chest again as cold spread throughout her and into the tips of her fingers. The could feel tears welling up, and fought the urge to cry with all her heart. It took a while, but she managed to calm down and return to rational thought.
So who was in the titan? Somebody Annie knew? Whoever it was, they potentially jeopardized the mission... Did they? Zeke didn't say anything about another shifter, but Annie wouldn't have put it past him to send a reinforcement without informing the original trio.
Annie decided to go back to the roof and see for herself. She jogged up the stairs, and realized that she could no longer hear the hostile war cries of the rogue titan. Annie was worried he had succumbed to the onslaught.
She made it to the roof, and it was as she feared. The rogue titan was pinned against the remains of a building, silently, defeated. A few other titans were tearing off hunks of its muscly flesh, sapping its strength. The rogue titan's head hung low, as if it was sleeping. She and the other cadets who went to the roof could only look n in horror.
"Cannibalism?" Armin said, "Can he not regenerate like the other titans?"
"I was hoping that if we could figure out why that titan acts the way it does, we would be able to break the circle, give us a chance." Mikasa stated.
"I agree." Reiner said. Annie registered that he and Bertholdt were standing next to her. "If we allow it to be killed, we don't gain anything. I think our priority should be keeping that titan alive." Annie knew the real reason, though. He wanted to capture the shifter inside, and figure out how they fit into the plan, how they could fit into it. Or eliminate them, whichever worked best for the mission.
Jean piped up. "Reiner, are you fucking nuts? We have a way out of Trost, and you want to stay?"
"He's right. What if it could help us? A titan as an ally would be a huge advantage." Annie made up on the spot.
"Can you even hear yourselves?" Jean asked.
Heavy footsteps broke the argument. A blonde, lanky titan stepped into the road from behind a building.
"Oh no," Armin whispered, "It's the abnormal that ate Thomas..."
The rogue titan had spotted it too. It was invigorated, and let out a bloodcurdling roar. As it charged from the wall, the other titans, who had not relinquished their grasp on it, sheared off its arms, enabling the titan to move again as it pleased. The titan clamped down on the abnormal's neck and hefted it up. It turned to a couple of titans that were approaching from behind and swung the limp body, crushing them. Then it turned and released its jaws from the titan's neck, flinging the limp carcass into another titan, crashing them both against a building which collapsed from the impact.
It's lifting that entire titan, killed two others with its body, and then threw it against a building, all without its arms... Annie thought, whoever it is, they're strong.
The rogue titan let out a triumphant cry. And then, as if its job was done, it buckled and fell to its knees, and then fell forward, face down.
"It ran out of energy." Jean muttered. "About time. We would have been next in its sights... Hey, come on, guys! We're going."
Annie and the other cadets stood looking at the collapsed titan. If it's a shifter, Annie thought, the person inside will come out in a bit...
It was hard to tell from the steam, but Annie could make out the harness of 3DM gear. The figure slowly broke away from the flesh giant, and sat up, facing the sky.
Chocolate hair... Elfish features... A face that Annie was so familiar with.
Oh my god... Annie thought, the shock preventing her from moving, How?
Mikasa had made her way to Eren and put her ear against his chest. She pulled him in tight and started to weep.
Under normal circumstances, Annie would have been annoyed, even jealous. The other emotions wrapping themselves around her mind, however, pushed those feelings far away... Relief, confusion, joy, and something else. Something that Annie had never felt before. Like something that had been forcibly ripped out of her had been given back, a hole sealing itself up.
It dawned on Annie. He wasn't killed... He was swallowed whole...
Eren... Eren was alive!
Not being able to see the boyfriend she was reunited with upset Annie, but she forced the thought away for now. She, Bertholdt, and Reiner were talking amongst themselves back in Trost, wondering what this meant for the operation.
"I think we can all agree that even by shifter standards, Eren isn't normal." Reiner said. "He's incredibly powerful. My titan is proportionally the strongest out of the three of us, and I don't think I could have done half of what he did if it weren't for my armor."
Annie nodded. She felt a swell of pride in Eren, knowing that he was potentially stronger than Reiner. "Yes." She agreed. "And there's something else, too. His titan went completely insane. Like it was some sort of savage beast."
"None of us could control our titans when we first tried, though," Bertholdt said, "it's only natural that Eren should be a little animalistic. His gear and jacket were gone, I don't think he's familiar with his ability. I'd even go as far as to say this is his first time using it."
"That wasn't a lack of control," Annie argued, "it was pure savagery."
Two titans off to her left grabbed her attention, separated by a row of buildings. "They've noticed us. I'll deal with them."
Annie fired her cables and sped away into the direction of the two titans. One large, and one very small, she noted. probably eleven- and five-meter class.
I'll kill the small one first. She thought. She swooped low and reared her blades back. She slowed and reversed right in front of the titan, retracting her hooks back into their sockets. She landed and shot the hooks out again, embedding them in the titan's eyes. It clawed at them in pain, and Annie seized the opportunity to launch herself upwards in an arc above and around the titan. She flipped and reeled in as she did so, giving Annie a clear target of the Titan's nape. She sliced through it with one strike and released her hooks, bringing them back and finishing her flip. She landed squarely on her feet, and stood up. The titan fell forward behind her.
Annie grabbed the side of the building with her left hook and swung around it. She landed on the rooftop and peered into the road below to see the other titan staring up at her, startling her.
Annie ran to her left and jumped into the road, avoiding a swing of the titan's hand. She jumped and turned around. The titan had stooped low and was reaching out with its hand. Annie grappled onto the buildings on either of its side and shot forward, ducking low and avoiding its hand once again, and passing between its legs. As she passed the Titan, she slashed at the backs of the titan's ankles, severing its Achilles' tendons. She slowed to a halt and turned around again.
The titan, incapacitated, was kneeling on the ground now. Annie leaped onto its back and ran up the length of its spine. She reached the nape and slashed downward in an x-pattern, and the titan went limp, crashing into the ground.
That takes care of that, Annie thought. She turned and hooked onto the walls, propelling her back in Reiner and Bertholdt's direction.
An unexpected scene awaited her. Reiner had pinned Marco to the roof of a building. Marco was scream-mumbling through Reiner's hand, which had clamped down on his mouth. Bertholdt stood off to the side, not helping Reiner but not stopping him either. Annie landed on the roof, overwhelmed by bewilderment.
Where the hell did Marco come from?
Marco saw Annie and managed to shake off Reiner's hand. "Annie!" He screamed, "Help me!"
"What's going on?" Annie asked.
"Something's wrong with Reiner!" Marco tried to explain.
Reiner spoke much more calmly. "He overheard us talking about our titans. We can't let him live."
Annie paused for a second. "Fuck you! You piece of shit!" She screamed, although she wasn't sure who it was directed at. Marco, for sticking his freckled nose in where it didn't belong, Reiner for tackling their comrade, somebody who trusted them with his life, or Bertholdt, for just standing there, not doing anything.
Marco looked at her, sad, confused, terrified. She could see the realization in his eyes. Yes, she could see him figure out that she was working with Reiner and Bertholdt.
"Reiner!" Bertholdt had finally found his voice, "A titan is coming this way!"
A big one, it seemed. Fourteen-meters, at least. As tall as Annie's titan.
"Annie!" Reiner said, beginning to panic, "Take of Marco's maneuver gear!"
Annie's eyes went wide as shock left her speechless.
"Wh- What?" Marco exclaimed.
"Do it!" Reiner commanded. "Now!"
"Why me?" Annie demanded, "You guys are the ones who got us into this shitstorm, so you should do it! Why should it be me?"
"You risked your life to save Connie, didn't you?" Reiner screamed. It was more of a statement than a fact. Annie remembered the dissatisfaction in Reiner's eyes when he addressed her about it. "Why would you endanger yourself in such a way? Don't tell me you've become attached to these people! If you're still one of us, prove it right now! If you and your father are really separate from the corruption of humankind, then show us, god dammit!"
"Reiner," Bertholdt said, panic dripping from his voice, "the titan's going to be here any second!"
"Annie! DO IT NOW!"
Annie took one look at the freckled boy, the only person she had ever met who wanted to serve in the Military Police for just and noble reasons. Marco, who had urged the others to leave Eren alone when they were pestering him about what happened in Shiganshina, who was kind and helpful to everyone he ever met.
And then she stooped down to undo the straps on his gear.
"ANNIE!" Marco begged, "STOP IT! PLEASE, ANNIE, STOP!"
Annie did her best to ignore Marco's pleas, working her hands around and undoing the buckles. She fought the tears welling up in her eyes.
"ANNIE, NO! STOP, PLEASE! WHY? GOD DAMMIT, ANNIE, JUST TELL ME WHY! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? ANNIE!"
Annie, after what seemed like an eternity, removed the gear from Marco's waist. First came the left leg apparatus, then the right leg, then the cable launcher. She threw it all into the building that they were standing on through a window. She, Reiner, and Bertholdt leapt from the building, launching their cables.
Annie's vision was blurry. She wasn't crying yet, but if something good didn't happen soon, she would be.
The three landed on a building thirty meters away and looked back. The titan had already picked up Marco's screaming figure. Unarmed and completely defenseless, Marco tried in vain to push himself away from the titan's mouth. It backfired though, as his hand slipped and his right side, from the side of his face to his waist, was suddenly in the titan's mouth.
It bit down.
The red blood flowed down Marco. Marco... Annie thought, Oh, God, what have I done?
She gave in. Tears started streaming down her face as she wept silently.
"Hey..." Reiner said, as if he had juts arrived, "Marco's being eaten..."
Marco's words earlier that day echoed through Annie's mind again. "My death is going to be completely meaningless, isn't it?"
The day after the trial that followed the sealing of Trost's outer gate, Eren found himself sitting down the room he was assigned to. He found himself wondering about Annie. He hadn't been able to see her since before they deployed in Trost, since he told her that he loved her.
She hadn't replied. Which was to be expected, considering how unfamiliar she was with most of her emotions. Eren didn't necessarily want her to say it back. He just wanted her to know. If she didn't love him back, that was fine. He would
He sighed and looked out the window. It was a beautiful day in the Stohess district. Light, wispy clouds and a beautiful golden sun.
A knock on Eren's door made him turn his head. He stood up and walked over to the entrance of the room and swung open the door.
It was Annie, just as beautiful as he remembered her. She tackled Eren and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him so tightly it knocked the wind out of him.
And he hugged her back, pulling her close to him, resting his head against hers. Her smell wafted its way into his nose, the familiar smell of mint that he had associated with her.
"I missed you." Annie said simply, head still buried in Eren's shoulder.
"I missed you too, Annie." Eren whispered into her ear. "I promised I'd make my way back to you, didn't I?"
They held each other like that for a long while, maybe a bit too long, but neither of them cared. They had each other back, and that's all that mattered. And when they did pull away, their eyes met, and some sort of wordless promise passed between them. Eren placed his left hand on the back of Annie's head and his right on her waist, and brought her close. He kissed her slowly and passionately, channeling all of his emotions into the kiss.
SMUT AHEAD
She seemed to register, and began kissing him more fiercely. She coaxed his lips apart, and Eren could feel her tongue rolling around in his mouth, and pushed his own tongue out to meet them. They danced, running over each other and swirling in rhythm as Eren felt a stiffness begin to grow in his pants.
Eren lowered his hands, grabbing onto Annie's ass and squeezing it playfully. Annie broke away from the kiss to start removing Eren's shirt while he did so, revealing Eren's toned, defined muscles, accentuating his arms, chest, abs, waist. When she was finished, Eren followed suit. He reached for the hem of Annie's shirt and lifted it up over her head.
Annie's chest was something Eren never got tired of seeing. Her boobs were supple and firm, shaped perfectly to fit into his hands. Only one hand went to them, though, as Eren instead moved his right hand down to rub her between her legs.
Annie started to moan, and Eren felt her hand undoing the buttons on his pants. He wasn't surprised, Annie was always very direct when it came to this stuff. She finished and reached into Eren's pants, grabbing his shaft and stroking it while he rubbed her. Eren brought his mouth to Annie's neck and started sucking and biting.
Eren wanted more. He grabbed the underside of her legs and carried her over to his bed. He layed her down, and the girl looked up at him, biting her lip to say What are you waiting for?
Eren inched Annie's pants off of her and discarded them into the corner of the room, along with the rest of their removed clothes. He traced circles around her clit through her underwear and kissed the inside of her thigh. Annie's moans got a little bit louder as she wriggled her hips against Eren's hand.
"More..." She whispered.
Eren smiled as he brought her legs together and peeled off her underwear, casting them aside. He looked back down at her, pink and soft and exposed and wet.
"Do you want me to eat you out?" Eren asked coyly, already knowing the answer. Annie nodded, spreading her legs. Eren moved his lips down in between Annie's legs and sucked on her clit. Annie resumed her moaning, voice quivering from the pleasure, as Eren worked his tongue and lips around Annie's familiar folds. After months of dating, he figured out exactly how she liked to be eaten out, and how to make her cum. He slid his index and middle fingers inside of her and stroked at her g-spot while she bucked her hips, moans escalating into something resembling more of a scream.
"Eren," Annie said.
Eren looked up. "Yeah?"
Annie feigned an innocent stare as she whispered, "Fuck me."
Eren did his best to suppress a grin as he moved his hips against hers. He pressed against her and kissed her hard as he pushed in. Annie moaned into his mouth and bit down slightly on his upper lip. Eren started moving his hips, rhythmically, softly. Annie arched her back as Eren glided in and out of her, hitting her g-spot just right. She loved having sex with him, she loved how close it made them, how fucking amazing it felt to have him inside her. Eren's grunts were a music to her ears.
Eren's broke away from Annie, leaving her free to moan as loudly as she wanted. Which was, by the way, very loud. A small part of Eren was afraid someone would hear, but a much bigger part didn't care at all. He was here, having sex with Annie. Screw what anyone else thought. Annie clawed at his back, and Eren continued to move against her. Back, forth, back, forth.
Eren could feel the scratches along his back. They turned him on, and he quickened his pace. Backforthbackforth. Annie wasn't expecting the change of pace, and couldn't contain herself.
"Fuck," Annie whispered in between gasps. Her eyes rolled back into her head from the pleasure and her mouth hung agape. The orgasm came slowly and softly, washing over her like a wave on a beach. Eren pulled out of her, ready to reach orgasm herself. Annie got up and quickly put her lips around the tip, moving up and down the length of his shaft. Eren moaned, and Annie tasted his cum as it shot into her mouth, mixing with the taste of her own juices. She knew most other girls would find it a little revolting, but she liked the taste of their love.
SMUT FINISHED
Eren collapsed and Annie crawled over to him, pressing her body against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed contentedly.
"You know I could beat you up, right?" Annie muttered.
Eren smiled. He knew she was just saying this so he wouldn't think differently of her for liking to snuggle, but he played along. "Yeah, I know." He affirmed.
"Eren," Annie asked. She had completely forgotten the reason she came to visit him up until that point. "Before we deployed, you said you loved me."
Eren looked at her, prepared for anything she might say. "You're an idiot," "I don't feel the same," and "why?" were all answers he was expecting to hear. The answer he received, however, surprised him much more.
"I love you too."