Chapter 25

Jean finds Armin sitting on his knees trying to lift a boulder from the ground. He lands near the Cadet, hearing him cry out, "Eren! Talk to me!"

"What the hell is going on?" Jean asks as he approaches Armin.

"Help me!" Armin cries as he looks back at Jean, "He's stuck in here."

"Why didn't he just change into a Titan?" Jean asks with worry taking over his body. The plan does not work at this stage if Eren is not in Titan form.

"He couldn't transform. I think something is holding him back from being able to face Willow again." Jean presses him and Armin turns from him. "We will worry about that when we know he's safe. Help me get him out."

Jean falls to his knees at the realization that Eren could not turn into a Titan as a wave of hate fills him. "That's it!" he growls, "Enough of your bullshit, Eren! Did I or did I not tell you that this day would come? Look at yourself! Our fate is in your hands! We're out there putting out lives on the line and this is all we can expect from our last best hope? Is this what Marco…what he…damnit," his face falls into his hands as he thinks of the young freckled boy who was taken away from him so violently.

A piece of debris comes flying towards them and Armin and Jean jump at the last moment as the bricks come crashing next to them. Armin breathes heavily as he looks over to see the Female Titan fighting the support squads in the distance. They are losing their lives and more will continue to die if Eren does not change.

"Leave him," Jean grumbles at the sight of the broken kid. "We can't do anything until we take care of her!" He jumps up into action, pulling out his sword and running towards the Female Titan.

Armin looks down at his bleeding friend, "Listen, I said something to Jean recently," he begins behind gritted teeth, "To rise above monsters, we have to abandon our humanity. What we fight, we become. Fire with Fire." He watches as Eren's eyes weakly open to look into his own, "Look at her. Willow can do it. I don't know why, but there it is. Simple. She killed her entire Squad. You have to match her heartlessness to win!" he cries out, running towards the Female Titan as she takes down the Scouts one by one.

Armin watches with wide eyes as she grabs hold of their grapples, swinging them as she flings the Scout to the ground effortlessly. She is ruthless as she throws their bodies around like rag dolls. Armin's heart races as he calls out, "Willow!" she turns to him and looks at him with curious eyes. "It was me who informed the Commander of your identity! I was the one who found you out! If you want to get to the Commander, you will have to get through me!"

She watches him curiously as he says this, hearing a battle cry coming from behind her. She turns her head around, hardening her hand as she covers the nape of her neck. Jean comes flying in for the hit as his swords shatter on impact. "Armin, follow my lead!" Jean yells out as he backs away from the Female Titan before she can retaliate.

The two of them fly off, as the Titan turns towards them, following them through the city of Stohess. She charges after them with a quick speed, wanting nothing more than to kill these two and finish what she started in the fields outside of the walls. She may have left them alive per Reiner and Bertolt's request, but she will not give them the same luxury this time around. She is sick of their friends and wants to end this fight once and for all.

She turns a corner and the two of them fly upwards. She looks up and instantly her heart drops, realizing they have done it again. She turns to her right and her eyes meet the enlarged globes of Hange's eyes as she holds the trigger to the traps that they have set up for her.

The Female Titan quickly grabs her nape as the deafening sounds of shots ring out. Within seconds, she is trapped in metal wires that hold her down from moving any further towards the two boys that lured her here. She moves forward to grab them, but they zip away from her in the knick of time. She quickly loses her balance and falls to the ground with a loud thud. The soldiers throw down a net with metal spikes attached to it that dig into her skin and further pin her down to the ground.

"Nice!" Hange cries out triumphantly, "and here I was convinced having a Plan C was nothing short of paranoid. Oh, Commander Erwin, you genius!" she calls out happily as she swings the trigger from the traps in her hands. She smiles down looking at the Titan, finally seeing the look in her eyes and clearly seeing the fierce look she once knew. She shakes her head, should've seen Willow in those eyes.

Hange swings down to the Female Titan, looking into her large blue eyes. "Right, so do us a favor; behave yourself," she taunts her as she brings her sword to the Titan's blue eyes. "Oh, and calling your cohorts to dinner isn't an option. So, let's not waste that lovely singing voice," the hard blue eyes of Female Titan watches Hange who looks up at her with wild excitement at her new lab experiment. "In fact, let's not waste anything. No, no… I am going to read you like bull entrails. Every part of you has its own precious story to tell."

She looks at Hange with narrowed eyes, knowing fair well what she is capable of with her Titan experiments and wanting no part of it. She feels a weakness in the trap they have ensnared her in and knows that she can escape easily, but to do so will put Hange in danger. She swallows hard, reminding herself that it was Hange who failed to bring the final rounds of artillery, and signed their defeat with it.

She swipes the entrapment with her foot, kicking herself free. Hange and the others narrowly escape and Willow frowns at the idea as she lifts herself from her entrapment. She begins running from them, knowing that as much as she would like to kill everyone from Hange Squad, including the captain herself, her fight is more intertwined with Levi and the Commander, and she will not allow them to escape.

She pulls off the lingering metal wires as she runs from them, seeing someone signaling her in her peripheral. She looks over to see it is Reiner and Bertolt. Reiner uses his swords to shine the reflection of the sun in her eyes. He is pointing her towards the edge of the wall where no doubt Erwin or Levi are waiting for her. She turns from them and changes her direction there, as the two boys make a show of following her.

The Female Titan swings back at a few of the Scouts that get far too close to her, sending a few of them flying back. Reiner makes a show of it by getting fairly close to her and she pushes him convincingly away from her.

Mikasa gets far too close to her and she is too damn annoyed with the thorn this girl has become, so she kicks her from her path. The girl fumbles with her ODM gear as she tries to redirect herself, but she ends up crashing into the ground with brutal force. The girl does not get up, and Willow figures she is finally dead.

The Female Titan jumps when she hears the familiar crashing of lightning behind her. She turns around to see the yellow bolt shooting down in the direction she was originally ambushed. A smile crosses her face to see that Eren has finally gained the resolve to join the party and she will be able to finish what she started with him.

She hears his wild footsteps approaching her as he comes charging towards her. Her eyes widen when he roars, running into her and punching her with a wild force that sends her flying to a cathedral of people, crushing them all to death.

Eren's Titan roars with vicious hate as he begins charging towards her. Willow gets up, running from him as she makes her way to the wall to the Commander. He quickly chases after her, following quickly behind her. She sends Eren on a wild chase around the city, heading towards the level ground near the Wall where the Scouts will not be able to provide ample support to Eren's cause.

She turns to him as he growls at her, waiting for him to attack her so she can lose him and find the Commander, knowing that she will need to get him off of her tail if she wants to get close to the Commander.

Eren watches her, wondering how she could so easily lose her humanity and kill all the people she once called her friends. He understands her frustration with the Commander, and the unrealistic expectations that he may have placed on her, but to turn that into such deep irreversible hate seems like she lost more than her humanity.

He surveys her as she lifts fists to her face, preparing herself for a hand-to-hand combat against him. She knows that she can beat him, as she is the stronger fighter here, but Eren knows her weakness. She has broken into a million inaccessible pieces that she will not be able to pick up again. He will need to exploit that out of her, but first, he will make her pay for all the death and destruction she has caused.

Eren launches at her with a deafening roar, moving to punch her when she hardens her elbow, and he breaks his fist on her hardened skin. He moves to punch her again, but she kicks him away. He is quick to recover and grabs hold of her shin, launching her across the rooftops and slamming her into the adjacent buildings. He launches through the buildings and crashes into her, crumbling the building they are fighting nearby.

Reiner and Bertolt watch with the others with wide incredulous eyes as the city falls to their destruction. They hear Moblit call out to Hange, expressing his concerns for the city and its citizens as the fight continues to destroy the buildings around them. "I hate to say it, but the city will be debris and corpses before long, even if we manage to catch her."

"Well then, that's how it's going to be," she brushes it off harshly and Reiner lifts his brows at her severe response. "We're sticking to Commander Erwin's plan, got it? So, stop babbling and ready the nets."

Reiner looks away from them with eyes shut at the plan. He is starting to understand Willow's perspective in all of this. At first, he figured she was just a crazy vengeful girl, blindly looking for revenge at the people who pissed her off, but as he sees it all unravel for his own, he realizes that Commander Erwin is not as sound as he may seem, and his methods put too many lives at risk.

She is proving a point doing this in Stohess and making a show of the destruction. Erwin did not tell Levi Squad the plan for her in the woods, and that blindness led to their deaths. He did not tell any of them of his plan to entrap her in Stohess, and that has led to so many people's death. His blind devotion to entrapping her and keeping his teams in the dark is only harming those under him. And as long as he has bodies to sacrifice, he will continue to do so.

Meanwhile before Commander Erwin can make his move from Commander Nile and the Military Police, two soldiers block their path as they run to their Commander with the news of Willow and Eren's fight within the city. "The city is collapsing like a house of cards," the soldier informs his Commander. "It's horrifying, we can only guess how many casualties."

Commander Nile turns the gun back to Commander Erwin before he can leave the scene, "Erwin, your arrogance has brought Hell right to our door!"

"I know," the Commander returns with no defining inflection in his voice. "I acted entirely on my own authority. And I offer no excuses."

Nile puts the gun down and grabs the Commander by the collar of his shirt. "You knew what this would do to us you son of a bitch! You knew and our lives be damned! Why? Damn you, why?"

"For humanity," Erwin releases, "For victory."

"Don't give me that! You're nothing but a traitor! I ought to kill you right here and now! None of the higher ups would fault me!" he says with wild conviction.

"Do as your conscience dictates," Erwin commands him as Levi watches him carefully. "My post is yours." He tells him and Nile lifts his eyes, "The Female Titan must not escape. Deployment is through Peer, and Beirer is in command of Provisions. Work with them closely. Do whatever is required to ensure she doesn't—"

"Stop it! Shut up!" Nile calls out, stopping the Commander from continuing, "Do you really… believe…this is for the good of us all?" he asks him as the destruction of the city cries out around them.

"I have faith it's a step forward," the Commander tells him with strong conviction in his tone.

Nile shuts his eyes tightly, sighing as he gives his Command, "Everyone, lower your rifles. Place this man under arrest." The men move to Erwin as he continues, "Deploy all troops immediately. As of now, focus on evacuation." The Soldiers move out and Nile turns to the Commander, "Erwin, I hereby wash my hands of you and leave you to the high court."

"I'll accept their judgement, thank you, Nile," he states as they begin to take him into custody.

Erwin looks up at the burning sky as he hears Willow and Eren roar as they fight one another. They are encroaching on them quickly.

Willow watches as Eren charges at her, hardening her skin as she kicks him in the shin and shatters his bones. He punches her in the face and knocks her around. She blinks a few times, feeling the whiplash of the vicious hit.

She shakes her head and lifts herself to her feet, roundhouse kicking Eren into a building. Eren in return bites down on her shin, locking her leg in place. She attempts to pull her leg out of his grip, but he holds her down too tightly.

She hardens her fist as she slams it into his face, punching him over and over again, yelling out as the images of her fallen comrades' faces penetrates her skull. She sees Derrek's lifeless eyes as his mind comes to terms with the betrayal his body did to him. She sees Malik crushed into a million pieces as his blood showers her. She sees the pained look in Hal's eyes before he told her that he loved her and kissed her for the first and final time. She sees the shock and confusion in Gunther's eyes when she struck him down, the fierceness in Eld's eyes before he could even comprehend her attack. She sees the same dead eyes in Petra's amber gaze as she watched her from the tree, and Oruo's panic as he realized his end was here. All their faces scratch at the little remaining sanity she has left as she continues to crush Eren's skull.

Finally, his jaw unhinges, and she releases her leg from his grip. She pulls her leg out of his mouth and begins running away from him, suddenly feeling the overwhelming guilt wash over her as she questions what this has all brought her.

Willow turns around when she hears the wild steps of Eren's Titan, charging at her with vicious and ferocious speed. She looks at him with wide fearful eyes as he tackles her into the main square just in front of the Wall. He launches her into the ground, pressing her face into the city streets as they fall down together.

Willow holds onto her nape, unwilling to leave it exposed to Eren, unsure of how this unstable boy is, and how he's going to react to her. She lifts herself up into a seated position, attempting to move away from him, when Eren violently grabs her face and begins squeezing it with wild force. She cries out as he presses her face in his grip, unable to escape as he crushes her face in his fist.

She begins to panic and lets out a woeful cry as if she were a dying animal. Reiner and Bertolt watch with crazed eyes as they feel helpless to stopping them, remembering her words of caution to them to remain human. They watch as she continues to cry and Eren moves to her, wondering how she plans to get out of this predicament.

The Female Titan turns and elbows Eren's Titan in the face with her hardened skin, falling to her side and kicking him away from her as she panics, knowing that she needs to get away. She cannot win this fight, and her best bet is escape and having Zeke help her. She hardens her nails, running towards the Wall as she begins scaling it. Reiner and Bertolt watch with fearful eyes, knowing this is not part of her plan and she is clearly acting on the instinct to escape the situation.

Eren runs after her, grabbing onto her leg in an attempt to pull her down. She kicks him in the face, tearing him off of her, along with her leg. He crashes down on the ground with a heavy force, and she continues to scale the wall to her escape.

The Female Titan looks over to see Mikasa approaching her with her swords and Willow groans, kicking herself at the idea that she should have killed the damn girl when she first had the chance. Mikasa cries out as she cuts the Titan's hands effortlessly, sending her free falling towards the ground.

Mikasa places her foot in-between the Female's eyes looking down at her wide fearful blue eyes. "It's over, Willow," she says seeing the sadness in her eyes. "Now fall," she says kicking herself from the Titan as she plumets to the ground looking up at the same cloudy sky she once saw when the Armored wrapped her around the tree.

Eren quickly jumps on the Female Titan, tearing off her limbs so she cannot fight back or shield her nape. With the wild thought of killing her here and now for all the death and destruction she caused, Eren moves to her nape with his mouth as the sounds of his friends call warning him against it. Reiner and Bertolt move their hands to their mouths as tears fall down their faces at the realization that it is all over.

"So how do you go to the Scouts from there?"

"I was given the choice to hang or join the Survey Corps. Both were a death sentence, but I figured I might as well go out knowing what it feels like to fly."

"That damn Survey Corps, full of degenerates and criminals trying to avoid persecution."

Willow cries at the memory, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably as she thinks of her last beautiful moment with Hal, smiling at the idea that she will be joining him soon.

Eren hesitates for a moment, looking down at the crying girl under the strands of tendons to her face. His heart drops looking down at her, empathizing with her pain and her loss. In the moment of hesitation, Willow's eyes open to see Levi twisting down towards them, slashing Eren out of his Titan form. "It is not a good idea to eat our key evidence, you idiot," he calls down to him.

Her eyes water as she thinks of Levi and how the grief weighs heavily on her for what she did to him and his squad. Her heart breaks as she begins hardening herself into a cocoon, unable to face him and explain to him that she's tearing at the seams.

Levi's lidded eyes widen when he sees Willow encasing herself in a cocoon of crystal. He jumps from the back of Eren's Titan and falls down to her. "Willow! No!" he shouts out to her with a desolate tone.

He goes to grab for her, but her body is covered in the cocoon. She encases herself within the crystal and hiding away like the coward that she is. The last thing she sees before closing her eyes is Levi falling to his knees as he bangs on the prison that she's trapped herself in.

I'm so sorry… for everything.

End of Part 3

A/N: Thank you all for taking the time to read this story. Don't worry, Willow will not be in the crystal as long as Annie is, so the story will diverge there. Let me know what you think so far and hope you all enjoy!