One Year of Service
Willow latches her grip onto the handle of the aircraft, eyes fixated out the window as she does before every mission. It has become a ritual for her at this point, and she fears that if she deviates from this, they will not return as they have each time before.
She glances back at Reiner as she does before every mission to see that he is in the same position. Willow wonders if he submits to the same ritual as she does for the sake of superstition, or if he is still questioning his role in this after all this time.
Regardless, he is seated, leaning forward as his elbows rest on his knees, lacing his fingers tightly as his brows press together into a prominent scowl.
They have been fighting alongside one another for a year now, and she still is unsure what goes on in his mind before a battle. Countless times she has contemplated asking him, but when she sees the prominent line building between his brows and his fingers lacing together tightly, she can see the reservation of it all and decides against asking about it. She wonders if he had the same reservations when he broke through Wall Maria all those years ago.
She turns from him and back to the city below as the hatch of the aircraft lowers and the scenery below them opens up as the whistling wind strikes them.
Reiner lifts himself from his seat and places his hand firmly on her shoulder as he does before every mission. She glances up at him as he hands her a knife. She is still not trusted to hold a weapon on her own around the other soldiers, so Reiner is the keeper of her knife and any other weapon she may need to use.
Willow finds the whole process silly seeing as how she could just turn into a fourteen-meter Titan midflight and annihilate everyone aboard.
She takes the knife in her hands and takes in a steady breath. Reiner is always the first to jump since she never really has the resolve to do so herself. She looks out the opening of the aircraft, watching the blonde plummet towards the quickly encroaching city before them when she takes in her breath and launches herself from the plane.
She keeps her eyes on Reiner, waiting for him to cut himself and assume his Titan form before she does. The people beneath them begin scrambling below as they look up at the two shifters that fly towards them, preparing themselves for a battle that they have to know they will lose.
The crackling of lightning brings Willow back to the present, and she instinctually cuts herself shortly after Reiner. She feels her body shifting and assumes the Female's form as her large tendons and muscles build around her own body. The sensors attach just below her eyes, and she has full control of the Titan's movements.
She crashes down to the ground with a deafening blow as she is immediately showered with artillery cannons and shells. She is blown back since her tender flesh cannot handle the new Anti-Titan rounds, and she's filled with holes in her abdomen and shoulders.
The Armored Titan springs in to act as a shield for her without hesitation, and he takes in all the rounds as his armor begins cracking at the force of the shots. The Female sees the faltering stance of the Armored as he staggers back from the shots and she lifts herself up, propping him upwards as she digs her shoulder into his lower back.
The Armored begins stepping forward with the help of the Female Titan holding him upward. With this strategy, the Armored will be unable to fight against the enemy forces, and Reiner will have to trust that Willow can handle them when he gets her close enough.
The wave of cannons and shells are unwavering as they empty all their resources into the two Titans, strategically shooting off waves of cannons so there is a constant string of shells shooting their way while they reload.
The Female Titan can feel the Armored trembling as the cannons crack away at his hardened exterior and she knows that he will not last much longer, so she will have to be quick about taking out these guns.
She knows the guns are difficult to move, and if she is able to lift herself above them, they will not be able to shoot her down from that vantage point. The Female Titan looks down as the Armored's legs begin quaking at the pressure of staying upright. She glances around him and knows that now is as good of a time as any.
The Female Titan releases a wail of a cry that startles the soldiers that shoot at them. Her intention of the cry is clear. Get on your knees, I have a plan.
The Armored understands her scream and without hesitation, falls to his knees and exposes her to their wall of bullets. She quickly jumps atop the Armored's back, kicking herself off of his shoulders and launching herself in the air. They manage to strike her before she is in the air, and as expected, they begin to panic as they crank their turrets to reach above them, but none of them are suited to assume that position.
She crashes down on the line of weapons, smashing a group of soldiers that operate a cannon. She swipes her foot quickly, tearing through another round of artillery. The soldiers begin to panic as they frantically crank at their turrets to reach her. But she is far too quick for them, and begins charging at the soldiers with heavy stomps that destroy everything in her wake.
Within seconds, she's completely destroyed their weapons. She looks down at the carnage as blood and body parts are splattered on the streets below her. She is completely desensitized to the site at this point, having fought in so many battles and seen so many bodies unraveled in such a way, that it has become almost normal to her.
She hears distant cries from the south and her mind is pulled from the bodies below her to the cries of her comrades. She notices that the Armored is working on a train that appeared while she was taking out the gunners. His movements are sluggish and he is not nearly as good as he was before.
She turns towards him, knowing that she will need to help with the train before aiding the soldiers in the trenches. It is a smart strategy; distract the Titans with a full-frontal assault, while a train equipped with Anti-Titan rounds approaches from the east and ground soldiers attack the Eldian forces in the trenches from behind to the south.
She rushes to the Armored, preparing to help him before she can the soldiers, when a cannon is shot directly to her. Her eyes widen when she sees the round approaching her, noticing that the position of the round will hit her neck and subsequently her nape.
Willow immediately pulls herself out of the Female's form, running down her arm with a heart pounding speed as any wrong step will have her plummeting to her death. It's moments like these she wishes she still had her ODM gear.
She hears the impact of the round in the Female's hallow form, and she is splattered with the Titan's steaming blood.
Willow reaches the wrist of the Female's arm and jumps off of her with more than ten meters to fall down to. She quickly lifts her thumb to her lips, biting down harshly as a slight fear tugs on her chest at the idea of how she would undeniably die at this height if she doesn't assume her Titan form.
Pushing that fear out of her consciousness, Willow bites down harder and to her relief, she assumes the Female's form. She realizes that she is no match for the train and the Armored is on his own with this one. She decides instead to assist the Eldian Soldiers that are being slaughtered below her.
The Female approaches the scene, running towards the men in the trenches and launching herself into the sky. She crashes down on the Middle Eastern forces, crushing them under her feet.
"It's the Female Titan!" she hears one of the men cheering.
"Thank you, Ma'am!" another cries up to her.
She swipes down at the forces with her hand, launching the Middle Eastern soldiers into the sky where they will die as they strike the ground, if they did not die from the impact of her hit.
She lifts herself up, looking back at the Armored to see that he's destroyed the train. She looks around to see if there are any soldiers they missed, when she hears the cheering of the Eldian Soldiers. They've won another battle in the name of Marley. Another battle of bodies painting the ground below her.
Two Years of Service
"Reiner," the voice pulls him from his dreams as he groans into consciousness. His eyes take a moment to focus as he pulls into his surroundings. He lifts his head, noticing that he is in his quarters on the train. He looks onto the voice that draws him from his sleep to see that it is Officer Theo Magath.
"Sir?" he questions as he rubs his eyes from the lingering sleep.
"You should come see this," he tells him with a slight worry lacing his tone.
Reiner lifts himself from his small bed, tugging on a nearby shirt and pants before he follows the man through the cabin of the train and out towards the training ground.
It has been two years since their first mission back under the Marleyan's rule, and for those years, Reiner and Willow have fought in over forty battles together, each of them won for the Marleyan empire. With the strength of the Armored Titan, and the agility of the Female Titan, the two have worked alongside one another to become an unshakeable force for the Marleyans.
They work well together, and have learned how the other fights and how to protect one another. Reiner thinks about heading back to Paradis with Willow with their newfound tandem fighting style, and wonders if they could finally bring an end to Eren Jaeger and the threat that island possesses to the Marleyans.
Reiner follows Theo closely behind him as he leads the Warrior to the training grounds where he and the other Eldians practice their combat and shooting. He considers questioning the man as to why he disturbed his sleep and where he is leading him, however, before he can open his mouth for the inquiry, he hears the shouting of various men as they gather around in a circle.
Reiner's brows furrow as he pushes through the encirclement, only to find the most jarring and retching sight. He looks down to see Willow seated on the ground with a cloth shoved in her mouth. The line between her brows grows prominent as her body rocks back and forth. His eyes move from her hard sweat glistening face to her moving arms. But it is when his eyes reach her legs that the horror of recognition overcomes his face.
Reiner gasps at the sight as he and the others encircling her watch in absolute horror as Willow sits on the ground sawing off her legs with determined bloody force. Some of the Eldian soldiers that have taken a liking to her since she's saved them countless times in battle cry out to her with shouts of worry and confusion. Her grunts of pain are muffled behind the cloth shoved in her mouth as her hands shake to continue the task of self-mutilation.
"What the hell are you doing?" Reiner cries as his eyes widen at the events unfolding at his feet.
"Sir," the blonde soldier named Elias* begins with panic in his eyes, "She's been doing this all morning."
"We've tried stopping her," the red-haired Felix* responds. "But she won't listen to us!"
She looks up at Reiner with a hard-pressed glare as her chest lifts and falls with each labored breath. Her bloodied trembling hand lifts to the gag in her mouth as she pulls the cloth from her lips. "I'm training," she tells him with a flat tone as if he were an idiot for even asking.
"Training what?" Reiner shakes at her as his hands lift to try to help her, but are too weak to even react to the gruesome sight.
She turns away from him, continuing to saw at her left leg while keeping the gag out of her mouth. "Over a year ago, Eren was able to harden his entire body and turn two times, even after excessive damage to his body," she tells him as she grunts in pain, gritting her teeth with each stroke of the saw.
"Okay," Reiner blinks as he is still unable to follow how that leads to what she is doing to her body.
"Assuming he has continued his training, I suspect that he can at least turn three times by now before he overexerts himself," she continues. "I'm unsure how much damage his body can take before he is unable to assume his Titan form, but I'm assuming he will be able to even after losing his limbs," she tells him as her head turns upwards to look at him. "So, I am training my body to do the same."
Reiner blinks down at her with slightly parted lips, unable to concoct a response to her dramatic retort in this. He looks at the three soldiers that have taken a liking to her and they all shake their heads with the same baffled look in their eyes at her behavior. "You can't turn into a Titan when your body is this damaged. It's too focused on healing itself," he informs her.
She turns away from him, disappointed in his response and continues to saw at her leg. "That's the limitations that you've placed on yourself," she tells him. "Since inheriting the Female Titan, I have built myself up to be able to turn two times, that's more than you," she says knowing that the Armored requires more strength to hold his hardened skin. "But that can't be the max that we can change."
"Well, the Cart can change more than that," he tells her.
"So, what makes us so different from the Cart?"
"Pieck can assume the form for months on end. The Cart is built for endurance, the Female and Armored are not."
"Again, that is the limitations you've placed on yourselves." Reiner rolls his eyes at her, but she does not see as she continues to hack off her leg. "I am training my body and lifting my endurance to be able to change when my body is severely damaged. I am also working on changing more than two times at once; I think I'm close."
"You're unnecessarily mutilating your body. You can't assume a Titan form under this amount of damage to your body," he tells her again.
Willow sighs at Reiner's unsupportiveness, "Reiner," she begins, "I wasn't helpful back at Paradis. If I had better stamina and a grasp on my Titan, I would have been able to fight and Bertolt…" she hesitates for a moment, allowing her shaking hands a rest.
Reiner shuts his eyes at the memory of his fallen friend. She swallows hard as she continues, "I am not going to be a liability again," she promises him sternly as she takes hold of the saw with gripping force.
The blonde Warrior glances back at Officer Magath who shrugs at him, understanding that there is nothing either of them can say to sway her decision in this. He releases a building sigh and kneels down to her, placing his hand firmly on her shoulder. She stops sawing for a moment and looks up at his soft golden eyes that stare down at her with an expression that she has not seen from the man before: compassion.
"If this is what you need, just tell me how I can help."
She nods at him, finishing the final slices as her leg disconnects from the final slivers of tendons that hold onto her. Reiner staggers back from her when he sees her detach her leg, while a few lingering soldiers vomit at the gruesome sight.
He surveys her with tangling brows as she breathes in heavily, working on calling upon the Female Titan. To his utter shock, the stub remaining of her leg begins crackling with yellow electricity dancing against her skin.
Reiner takes a step back and orders the men to do so as well. The soldiers panic as she begins assuming her Titan form. Willow focuses her labored breaths on the intentions of turning into a Titan. She can feel the sting of her severed limb and she concentrates on the pain and the desire to shift. She takes in three heaving pants as her body is engulfed with electricity.
Reiner's shoulders fall when he notices that she's not going to turn. Her body is too wrecked and despite how close she is to turning; her stamina is still too low, and she needs to heal before she can turn. He sighs, exhaling the pent-up excitement of this change of events, knowing that she's failed turning in these conditions.
"You're close," he encourages her with surety in his voice. He knows that she is capable of doing this, but unlike assuming the Female Titan on her first try, she will not be able to achieve this in one go, and will need to work harder for this outcome.
She exhales as her leg begins steaming and the healing process commences. She cracks her neck and places the saw down with bloodied hands. "I will not let him surpass me," she says to herself but Reiner hears her words. He sighs, feeling the same.
Of all the people to inherit the Founding Titan, Eren is by far the worst-case scenario. It is only a matter of time until that Suicidal Maniac makes his move on the two of them, and he cannot fault her for wanting to be better prepared.
Reiner kneels back down to her, and she tells him that she is hungry of all things, and he chuckles, figuring that hacking off one's leg does build up the appetite. He leans into her, taking her into his arms and pulling her into a standing position. She teeters in his arms against her one leg, and he snakes his arm around the small of her back as he acts as her crutch to the dining cabin of the train.
He plops her down on the chair and looks down at her wound to see that she is already healing at a quickening pace, so he won't have to bother with a tourniquet. He heads down the cabin to request their rations at the table and returns to sit next to her.
Once he is seated next to her, he begins speaking, "Magath says that we have only a few more fights until we are to head to the western front," she looks at him with a bored stare and he realizes that she doesn't know much about the geography of the Middle Eastern forces. "The western front is a port city," he tells her and she looks up at him with building recognition. "We're going to the Sea," he informs her and she presses a smile to her lips.
"Will we have time to see it?" she asks him in an almost childlike tone.
Reiner doesn't want to promise her anything that he can't keep, but he knows from the stronghold they will be fighting at, they will be able to see the port. "Yeah," he responds simply and her smile enlarges.
Their food is delivered to them, and they are having beef stew. Reiner spoons at the contents, while Willow wastes no time to dig into the food. He watches as she shovels the food into her mouth, clearly starving this morning.
"Magath wanted me to ask you how your readings are going?" he asks her. He knows that Willow is one to speak her mind, and with the continuous flow of books on the Marleyan empire and the Eldian devils, he has not heard a single thing from her on what she thinks of it all. He finds himself curious to know what she thinks of their history, and how she's interpreted Marley's response to the Eldian's aggression.
She swallows the contents of her food harshly as she looks up at him. "I've finished the second wave of books if he has anymore for me," she returns simply.
"And?" he asks her, pressing for a response. "What'd you think?"
She watches him, reading his own expressions to see what he expects of her. It's all bullshit is what Willow would like to tell the blonde that sits across from her, but she is unsure how indoctrinated Reiner is with the Marleyans so she holds her tongue for the time being until she can evaluate his loyalties.
"The Marleyans have truly built an empire to be revered," she feeds him. "Though I would like to read more of Marley's history prior to the Eldian's aggression," she tells him. "So, if Theo could recover that reading for me, that would be very significant to my learning."
Reiner doesn't like the way she's speaking to him. He has spent every waking moment with Willow, and in the two years that they have fought alongside each other—and even their time before she moved against Levi Squad—Reiner has learned how to read her tells.
He knows when she is bullshitting him with words that he wants to hear. He knows when she is lying for the sake of a desirable answer. He has seen her do it countless times with Zeke, and he will not allow her to do it to him. But for the time being, while they are being surveyed and monitored, he will not press her.
"I'll let him know," he says with arms lazily crossed over his chest.
Three Years of Service
Willow's eyes fixate out the window of the aircraft as she grips onto the handlebar above her. She blinks down at the small structures of the town below them, preparing herself to level the city and move onto the next.
Reiner sits behind her, elbows on his knees as his eyes are shut tightly and he is lost in his mind. She wonders how many years will need to pass before Reiner is able to come to terms with his role in these battles. She has never liked being a weapon for a vision that she does not share, but as the years go by, her resolve to fight back has seemed to dwindle as well.
She feels a warmth on her neck and before she can process it, Reiner is behind her, leaning into her and staring out the window. Willow stiffens at the proximity of the blonde as he glances out the window over her shoulder. She can feel the heat of his body in this proximity, but more jarringly is that this is not part of their routine.
He lifts his arm to point past her head and out the window, "Look," he says roughly as his breath brushes against her ear. "It's the Sea," he tells her and she leans in closer to the window. She places both of her hands on each side of the small window as she squints her eyes to see. Before her is the town that they will be fighting against, but to the west is a port where ships are docked and an endless blue as far as her eyes can see cuts into the sky.
She gasps at the sight of it, seeing a warped version of the Sea since the windows of the aircraft are frosted over, but she can still see the endless blue waters that touch the sky.
"When we jump out, you should look," he tells her softly. "But after this fight, I'll take you there. Like I promised."
She smiles, eyes still fixated on the view before her. The back of the aircraft opens up and Reiner turns away from her, giving her a last moment to look onto the magnificent sight. After a brief pause, she turns to him and he smiles at her for the first time before a mission. He hands her the knife and she takes it, wondering how many years of service she will have to submit to for the Marleyans to trust her with a simple blade.
"Better make it quick," he tells her. "The Sea is more magical when the sun is setting."
She nods at him and he jumps from the aircraft without a moment of hesitation. She is quick to follow him, and like he instructed her, she looks over at the Sea with widening eyes as it's much more magnificent from an unobscured view.
Her eyes fixate on the sight of the endless blue waters mixing with the boundless blue sky, and she wonders how far they go for. She feels tears building in her goggles as the fog obscures her vision of the magnificent sight, but she cannot help but feel overwhelmed at the beauty of this all, completely forgetting the world around her.
A blast is heard and Willow's eyes widen when she is forcefully pulled from the image of the Sea. She looks around, trying to locate the cannon when they shoot at Reiner, puncturing his parachute and sending him spiraling downwards at a sickening pace.
Reiner is quick to respond, as he cuts himself and assumes his Armored form, launching himself down to the city below him. However, he cuts himself too far up into the sky, and he comes crashing heavily to the ground, crushing and splintering his legs.
Another blast is heard and Willow instantly feels the stinging pain of something. She looks down, noticing that there is a large hole in her stomach as she begins bleeding profusely from her abdomen. She coughs as more blood spills to her lips and she grows hot with rage.
She will not allow anyone to stop her from reaching the Sea; not after all these years she's dedicated. She takes in a deep breath as the Armored looks up at her, panicking at the realization that she will not be able to turn with a wound that devastating.
Willow takes in another breath, focusing on the pain, focusing on the hate, and focusing on Reiner's promise to take her to the Sea.
Lightning encloses her and without another thought the crackling of the electricity overtakes her body and she is incased in the tendons and muscles of the Female Titan.
She lands harshly onto the ground and without a wasted moment, she begins charging at the cannons. The Armored watches frozen in awe as the Female expertly dodges the cannons with quick agile steps, encroaching on the artillery guns with every swift step until she arrives and swipes the machines into oblivion with one quick roundhouse kick. The Armored joins her as she continues to punch and kick at any remaining turrets.
She backs up to the Armored, her back against his as they are quickly surrounded by hundreds of guns pointed at them. Willow takes in a deep breath, knowing that he has her back as she has his. They have been fighting alongside one another for three years now, and there is no one that she trusts with her life more than she trusts Reiner.
They begin fighting in tandem, punching while the other is pulling back and kicking while the other is stepping. Together they work as a continuous assault against the Middle Eastern forces, and giving the enemy no time to recuperate their losses.
The Female hears something coming from above, and when she and the Armored shoot their heads up in unison they see an enemy aircraft flying above with massive explosives ready to drop on them. The Female's eyes widen at the sight, seeing that they are willing to level their own city if it means destroying Marley's warriors.
Willow devises a plan quickly and as she's pressed to the back of the Armored, she pulls herself out of her Titan form. "Reiner," she calls out to him as she walks the shoulder of the Female Titan's corpse. The Armored turns his head, reaching for her as she climbs atop his palm. She looks up at his golden eyes, knowing that Reiner is in there and able to hear her. "Throw me in the sky," she commands him sternly.
The dead gaze of the Armored Titan shows her no emotional reaction to her command, but she figures Reiner is unconvinced with her plan. The Armored looks up to the sky for a moment as the airship gets into position to level the city, then back to her, noticing the steam lifting from her stomach as she continues to heal from the round to her abdomen.
"It's the best plan we've got," she tells him sternly as she sees the hesitation in his movements. "I'll take out the ship. You focus on the cannons."
The Armored looks to the sky once more, and Reiner knows that he doesn't have much of a choice in this matter. There are approximately eighty Eldian soldiers on the ground, including himself and Willow. If they do not take out the airship before that bomb is dropped, they will all be vaporized in an instant.
He looks back down at her, nodding at her once as she grabs hold of his thumb. He turns towards the airship, pulling his arm back and with a deep breath, the Armored heaves her into the air.
Willow lets out an involuntary cry as she's thrown viciously into the air. She quickly regains her wits and watches as she encroaches on the aircraft. She can see the soldiers inside the ship begin to panic as she approaches them and before any of them can react, she bites down on her hand, assuming the Female Titan and crashing into the aircraft.
The impact rattles the entire ground and the Armored watches from below as the blimp detonates and incinerates in the air. Flaming debris ignites in the sky and rains down on the city below them as the Armored rushes to the trenches where the Eldian forces await. He shields the forces, kneeling down above the trenches and taking cover while the soldiers below him cry out at the sight of the city engulfing in flames before them.
Reiner grits his teeth, as he sees the mangled body of the Female Titan crash to the ground beyond the walls of the city they are taking over. He will have to abandon the soldiers and fight any remaining cannons to get to her, and that's assuming that she somehow managed to survive that explosion, since it was far more detrimental than either had expected. It would have been smarter to send him up there with his hardened skin.
He watches with baited breath, and when the flaming debris no longer rains from the sky, the Armored Titan lifts himself up and steps towards the center of the city.
He is returned by a ray of cannons, penetrating his hardened exterior. He stumbles back into a kneeling position as he grunts to himself, wondering how he will get to Willow.
The Armored lifts himself back to his feet, but before another round of artillery can fly his way, the Female Titan charges at the cannons and slides into them with her feet, wiping them all into the ground. Reiner's eyes widen at the sight of a new Female Titan, smiling to himself that she finally managed to expand how many times she can turn, and he's in complete awe of her fortitude.