A/N: So it begins! This was probably one of my favorite arcs of all time! Hope you like the chapter and let me know what you think!
Chapter 32
Four Months Later – The Night Before the Retaking of Shiganshina
Levi absentmindedly brushes his lips with his thumb as his eyes fixate on the stone ground, taking in the grooves of the stone and cement that created the structure. His mind races wildly as he is pulled in so many different directions of thought. He takes in a breath as the sound fills the silent room. He has so many things he wants to say, but he has no idea where to even begin.
He looks up at the crystalized structure that houses the blonde girl that continues to keep her eyes off of him. She has not moved an inch since her initial imprisonment. Levi sighs when his eyes fall onto her closed lids, wishing to see her blue eyes once more.
"I am curious if they told you Titans were humans before you entrapped yourself in there," Levi finally speaks up, looking at her foolishly for a response, still not used to seeing her this cold. "If you did, did it make killing my squad easier?" he asks her with a flat tone, unwilling to show her how affected he was by their deaths. "Maybe justifying with yourself that you've been killing Titans that were evidently human this whole time makes killing humans as a Titan much easier to swallow."
He watches her and she remains still. "Titans were humans this whole time," he scoffs to himself. "Imagine all the people we have killed together. I never kept score, that's what Oruo was for. He would know…" Levi lingers on the thought, feeling a heaviness in his chest as he says his name for the first time since his death.
"I remember looking down at the nape of the Titan's neck and saw…" The memory plays in his skull, echoing inside and he is reminded of her words once to him. He pulls his hand to the back of his neck, touching his own nape as she once did. "I saw a smaller nape."
Levi chuckles at the memory, bringing his hand back down to his lap, "Who knew you were looking down on a human, trapped unwillingly inside a Titan," he says taking a sip of his tea. "I wonder how things would have been different," his eyes linger away from hers, "Or if they would have been different."
Levi groans as he leans back in his seat, thinking of something to pass the time. "What else is there?" he asks her, thinking of all that has unfolded over the last few months. "Historia has been crowned the rightful heir to the throne, and usurped the fraud that acted as a puppet to the upper class. I think she will do well there. She's already given a place for all the orphans in the underground to live and thrive above ground."
His eyes land on hers and she continues to keep her eyes closed, with the deep marks of her Titan slashing at her cheeks. "Eren's the Founding Titan. Turns out his father ate the last one, and he ate his father," Levi huffs, "Imagine if I didn't stop him from eating you, he would have all your memories," Levi says shaking his head at the idea.
"He reminds me so much of you," Levi says with a prominent frown on his face, shaking his head at the thought of what will happen to him if they fail as much as they did with her. How many Scouts will he kill?
He hears someone enter and he straightens himself up, appearing to be less comfortable than he was before.
"I think I've got it!" he hears the familiar excitement of Hange's voice come bellowing in. She runs in with Moblit following behind. "Oh, you're here," she breathes as she looks down at Levi. "I should have known, you're always here."
"I like to remind her that she is always welcome to come out and kill me if she's so inclined." Levi states in a dry tone, nodding at Moblit who salutes him on entry.
"Ah so even the promise of killing you won't bring our frozen beauty out to play," Hange says turning to Willow with a glint in her eyes. "Well maybe this will!" she shouts as she holds the makeshift hatchet over her head.
"Section Commander, wait!" Moblit wails in worry, "Shouldn't you wear proper safety gear?"
"I have glasses!" she yells with a cackle as she launches her arms towards the encasement.
Levi stiffens in his seat watching with wide eyes as Hange smashes the hatchet with as much force as she can towards the cocoon. Levi gasps when he sees a crack form in the crystal encasement.
"It worked!" Hange screeches in a deafening roar of triumph.
"It hardly did any damage," Levi retorts with a flat tone.
"But it did damage," Hange rebuttals. "With a couple more swings, our pretty little blonde will be talking in no time!" she says frantically smashing the small hatchet against the large encasement.
"Section Commander, you'll pull a muscle if you keep doing that!" Moblit cries with worry that has Levi hiding a smile.
"Hange," Levi begins, "I appreciate your resolve in this, but maybe we can discover something a bit more effective."
Hange visibly pouts as she looks up at the crystalized prison. "You really knew what you were doing when you put yourself in there," she says looking onto the blonde's face.
She turns to Levi with wide excitement. "Oh, maybe we can have Eren assume his Titan form and throw her into the wall!" she says with animated gestures. "The crystal is of the same material, and with enough force, it will shatter on impact!" she says cupping her chin as she works out the logistics in her head. "There is, of course, the possibility that she will be obliterated on impact, but I am sure we can soften the blow somehow…" Hange mutters to herself plotting out how she will bring this plan to fruition.
Levi turns to Willow, watching her soft expression as he is drawn closer and closer to her. He watches her carefully, waiting for her to laugh or blink or anything. "Do you think she can hear us in there?" Levi asks aloud, causing Hange to stop her frantic mumbling.
"Don't you believe she does?" Hange asks with a shrug, "I mean why else would you come here every day?"
"I suppose it's wishful thinking," Levi says pulling his eyes from her and to his hands on his lap. "But do you believe she can hear us?"
Hange's demeanor stiffens as she exhales at his question. She turns to the girl, pressing her hand on the crystal while she watches her carefully. "It's hard to say," she begins. "She could hear everything in there and be laughing at us. Or she could be frozen and come out not knowing anything that has happened over the past few months." Hange shifts her weight as she cups her chin once more.
"The real question is, can she come out on her own?" she asks and Levi looks up at her with hopeful eyes that she will have the answer. "Her true target is Erwin, though Reiner and Bertolt had her retrieve Eren. Maybe she is biding her time until she has all of us down here?" she shrugs, "I don't know with her. I always thought she was so easy to read, but she has changed so much."
Hange turns to Levi, seeing the disappointment in his eyes to her lack of an answer. "Whatever the case, we will get her out of here, and she will be able to explain why she did all of this," Hange says with a soft smile, placing her hand on Levi's shoulder. Levi takes hold of her hand, looking down on the ground between his feet as he gives her a soft squeeze. "Come upstairs, Levi," Hange says smiling down at him. "They are celebrating up there before we retake Shiganshina. They need to see you celebrate with them."
Levi lets go of her hand, looking up at her with a soft gaze. "Yeah," he agrees, lifting himself to his feet with a low grunt. "Let the brats eat until they pass out," he says with a sideways smile as he leaves the cell, keeping his eyes on Hange as he passes the crystalized cocoon.
Hours pass and the night continues with loud laughter and boisterous calls of celebration. The Scouts laugh and smile and sing with a lightheartedness they have not felt in years. With the promise of success around the corner, there is no Scout frowning in this moment.
Hours after the commotion dies down, Willow stands in her cocoon, frozen behind the crystalized position she has created. Two MP guards watch her from the hallway unenthusiastically as their attention is more focused on the bottle of wine they snatched before the celebration. They sit on the cold stone ground, drinking and complaining about how they were not chosen to join in the retaking of Wall Maria as the other MPs were.
A slight rumbling is heard, and the two MPs look up wondering what it could possibly be. The caravan of Cadets has long departed with the Scout Regiment, so it is not from the party upstairs.
Another rumbling is heard, this time closer and with more concerning force. They step towards the rumbling when they hear a distant deep roar from above. They look at one another, wondering what type of animal could possibly make a noise like that. They stand there quietly, waiting for another sound to break through, when they hear the sound of shattering glass behind them. With strange noises coming from all around them, they decide they cannot ignore them any longer, groaning at the idea that their wine will have to wait.
The blonde MP moves forward, investigating the rumbling noise. He approaches the small hallway that provides the only exit and entrance into the cell. He holds his swords tightly in his grip as his hands shake at the heaviness in the air.
He hears another rumbling and turns to his left, however, before he can manage another breath, a monster crashes from the wall. He staggers back with wide eyes as he looks onto the quadrupedal Titan that crashes through the structure.
Before he can call out to his brunette comrade, the Titan snatches him in its mouth, crunching down on his legs and snapping him in half. The Titan spits him out and continues down the hall to the cell.
The quadrupedal Titan turns the corner to see the shattered crystal fragments strewn across the floor. Its grey eyes follow the path of liquid to a shaking brunette MP with a sword pressed to his neck by a shorter soaking blonde.
The blonde looks onto the quadrupedal Titan with narrowed eyes, keeping the MP as a barrier between her and the creature.
"Willow?" the quadrupedal Titan asks. She steps back at the sound of her name coming from the creature. "Zeke has sent me. Come with me and I will take you to him."
Willow swallows hard, looking around the room and knowing that she has no other choice but to follow it. She nods once, cutting the brunette's throat as he falls to his knees, grabbing for his throat while he bleeds out.
Willow bends down to the dying MP, unlacing his ODM gear and strapping it onto herself. She laces his bloodied cape on her and lifts the hood to hide her wet golden hair. She looks up at the quadrupedal Titan and nods once. She moves towards the Titan, climbing aboard as it rides out of the cell.
Once they are back on the surface, they notice that the Scouts are nowhere in sight. Willow's eyes shoot up to the stars to see that it is still hours before sunrise and they still should be out and about. She figures they are going to make their move earlier than their enemies intend, and they are headed towards Wall Maria as they stand here.
The Titan is careful to avoid the attention of civilians and quickly crawls atop the rooftops. Moving carefully, the two are able to evade any notice and head towards the wall.
After a few moments of keeping to herself, Willow finally speaks up for the first time since her imprisonment. "How did you find me?" she rasps, having not used her voice in so long.
"A friend of Reiner and Bertolt told Zeke of an underground prison vicious criminals of the Walls would be stored," it says speaking of Ymir, "With her help, they located the most likely area you would be placed," the deep voice of the quadrupedal Titan returns.
"How did you break the crystal? I wasn't able to get out myself."
"Zeke sat atop the wall and used his Scream to command you to break free. He wasn't sure it was going to work, but it seems it did."
"And the Scouts already deployed, so they didn't hear a thing," Willow says with a satisfied smile on her face at Zeke's plan. She looks down at the quadrupedal Titan. "You're a shifter then? A Warrior like Reiner and Bertolt?"
"Yes," the quadrupedal Titan returns. "I hold the Cart Titan."
They move quickly and Willow leans her head back against the Cart's body. She is exhausted, despite being in the cocoon for god only knows how long. She swallows hard as her hair begins to dry and flow in the wind. She figures the Scouts are finally moving to retake Wall Maria, but wonders what their plan is to plug up the wall to stop any further Titans from entering.
She figures that Zeke sent for her to help him with the counterattack, assuming he has plans for her. She decides that she will get some rest and prepare herself to fight Eren and Levi once again.
When Willow opens her eyes, it is daylight and she is located somewhere within Wall Maria. She looks around with groggy lidded eyes as she tries to adjust to the early morning sunrise. She sees that she is no longer placed atop the Cart Titan, and instead sleeps atop a blanket at the base of a small tree. She groans as she lifts herself from the ground, heading towards the Cart Titan that she sees being outfitted with barrels and supplies.
She looks around when she sees Zeke approach her from a decaying home. She looks up at him with a flat look in her eyes as his glasses glint down at her. "Ah you're awake, welcome back," his low foreboding voice calls down to her.
"Zeke," she breathes, looking at him as he prepares for the battle. "The Scouts are on their way," she begins to explain, wondering what they are doing within the confines of Wall Maria, however, he stops her before she can continue.
"Pieck informed me of everything," he replies and she assumes that is the name of the human within the Cart Titan. She looks down at the four-footed Titan, not expecting a woman to be inside there.
"Willow?" she hears her name being called out in shock. She turns to see Bertolt's wide eyes staring at her. She smiles at him, and he moves towards her, entrapping her in a hug that shocks her, causing her to remain still and frozen. He pulls from her and looks down at her as he towers over her, "You're here," he says hopefully as his eyes glisten with happiness. He turns to Zeke, "But I thought you said—"
"I always have a plan, Bertolt," Zeke nods to the man and he nods back at him with a pleased smile on his face now that they have her back.
"Where is Reiner?" Willow asks looking around for the tall blonde, but finding him nowhere.
"He is hiding within the Walls," Bertolt tells her. "He is waiting above the hole I broke through in Shiganshina. He is going to perform a stealth attack on Eren's nape when he attempts to plug the hole. He will carve him out, place him in his mouth as you once did, and then rendezvous with us over the wall. Best to get him when he is in Titan form rather than attempting to locate him as a Scout," he says repeating Zeke's plan and getting a nod from her at the logic.
"And what is our role?" she asks looking around at everyone.
"Bertolt will act as a last resort offense. In the case that Reiner cannot remove the Coordinate stealthily, he has been advised to attack the Coordinate. If the fight goes south and Reiner is unable to fight back, he will provide a signal to Bertolt who will come in as last-minute offense. I am here to keep the rest of the Scouts busy," he says with a smile.
"What about me?" she asks him, eager how she can help.
Zeke scratches the back of his ear as she has found him to do on occasion, "I doubt your ability to turn into the Female Titan. You have been incapacitated for far too long," he informs her. "For now, you will act as a last resort." He looks down at her to see that she outfitted herself with ODM gear, "You can use that if needed. Go back to your roots," he says with a smile and she tightens at her chest. "Only on my signal of course."
"Of course," Willow returns with a slight condescending tone.
All three of them jump when they hear the close roar of lightening crashing within the wall. Willow's eyes widen as she looks towards the opposite edge of Wall Maria.
They are here.
"Bertolt, take position," Zeke commands the tall brunette. She watches as he fastens himself inside a barrel with skeptical eyes, but keeps her words to herself.
Soon after the lightening, Willow looks up to see two streams of green smoke signals being set off in the distance. They successfully plugged up the wall and Willow feels a constriction in her chest that resembles excitement.
She holds her chest, looking down confused at how her body is reacting to the sight. She feels…happy that they plugged up the wall. A glimmer of hope. She shakes the feeling out of her head and fists her hands at her sides. Now is not the time to think of her home. As she stands in the decaying city within Wall Maria, she reminds herself that it is not her home anymore.
She watches with Zeke and the others from atop a decaying home, waiting to hear the rumbling of steps of his Titan moving within the Shiganshina District, but they do not hear anything. She figures he must have moved from his Titan form to his human one so they cannot track his movements as easily. She waits patiently to hear the next round of lightening, but it does not come.
They hear an acoustic round go off and Willow watches from the rooftop that she has situated herself atop, trying to get a better view over the wall. Her brows press together at the use of the round, however, shortly after the round is shot, a red smoke signal is seen streaming in the air.
"They're halting the mission," Willow gasps as her blue eyes widen at the sight. "They must have found Reiner."
"No," Zeke speaks up, "They would not halt the mission with his presence. They expect him to be there. Rather, they are strategizing," he begins and she looks down at him from her vantage point. "Reiner and Bertolt are nowhere to be found. They must have an idea of where they are located, and they are plotting their next move."
"So, they will find him in any moment. You should send me in," she presses.
"No," he says sternly and she gasps at his tone. "Reiner is prepared for any outcome. That includes them locating him within the wall. We will not falter the plan unless the signal is given."
Willow huffs in defiance, looking out towards the wall, heart racing at what will happen.
Hours begin passing and Willow questions what could possibly be taking this long. She looks over at Zeke from the rooftop that she stands atop. "Something is not right," she calls out to him. "We have not heard Eren or Reiner turn and it's been over an hour."
"We will take our position now," he says and she looks down at him with confused eyes, believing they were already in position. She watches as he jumps atop the Cart Titan, and allowing her to move him to the center of the reservoir that was used to transfer goods from Shiganshina to the districts within Wall Maria. She jumps from her home, following behind them as they take their position in the clear field.
"This doesn't make sense," Willow begins, looking up at the wall as they have a clear view of them. "They will know we are here—they can clearly see us. This ruins our element of surprise."
"What is the greatest defense the Scouts have on their side that is a disadvantage to us?" Zeke asks, looking up at the wall that separates them from their targets.
She shrugs, "Eren's Titan?"
He shakes his head at her answer, "We have five of our own."
She exhales, "I don't know," she grunts looking up at the wall. "Erwin's willingness to throw bodies at any issue?" she deadpans and he shakes his head. She chews on her lip for a moment when her shoulders lift at the idea. "Levi…" she breathes, "And Mikasa. Their ODM gear!" she calls out excitedly and Zeke nods at her response.
"The two of them have proven time and time against you and Reiner to be formidable foes that we should not underestimate," he begins. "So, look around," he says extending out his arms to the horizon. "What does this position provide us?"
"There's no trees," she gasps, "No buildings… it's a clearing. You can't use ODM gear out here."
"Astute observation, Willow," he points at her with a sideways smile on his face. "From here, they will not be able to send their best, and in return, we will best them."
She smiles to herself at the plan, knowing it to be the perfect attack against Levi and Mikasa, who will remain atop the wall, powerless against them.
She jumps when she hears the cracking of lightning in the distance, feeling the hairs on her body stand up at the electricity that dances just before them. Her eyes widen at the sight as the sky turns yellow and the deafening crashing of thunder pierces her ears.
She hears a roar in the distance and sees Zeke puff his chest with air in her peripheral. She turns to him to see him crunch in a charging position as he releases a deafening roar himself. She quickly covers her ears as all around her, a cloud of crackling thunder erupts.
She turns around with wide fearful eyes to see Zeke and dozens of Titans standing behind her from a mist of steam. She staggers away from Zeke, standing next to the Cart Titan as she watches the hairy Beast Titan grab for a boulder next to him.
Willow uses her ODM gear to shoot herself onto the back of the Cart Titan as he launches the boulder towards the wall. Her eyes land on the rock as it crashes at the entrance of the gate between the inner districts of Wall Maria and Shiganshina.
Her heart races as she realizes his plan all along. The initial plan was an ideal scenario that Zeke and the others knew would fail; Reiner would be unable to retrieve Eren so easily. Zeke and the others were not placed out here to wait for Reiner and defend him when he crossed the threshold with Eren. They are here to block their escape routes and slaughter every last one of the Scouts that stands in their way, and only then will they retrieve Eren.