Annie swipes at Mikasa with an internal snarl, her frustration boiling over. She's so done with this island, with this bullshit mission, with the endless cycle of violence and bloodshed. Every muscle in her body screams with exhaustion, but there's no room for hesitation.

She hardens her neck just as Levi's blade whistles toward her, the sharp edge glancing off her Titan-hardened skin with a metallic scrape. She doesn't even flinch, her eyes locked on Eren. He charges forward, his titan form reckless, and wild, as he swings for her jaw, the power of the Founding Titan practically radiating from him.

Annie, driven by years of battle-hardened instincts, anticipates the move. She spins, the momentum adding power to her attack, and in one fluid motion, cleaves his head clean from his shoulders.

The sound is grotesque, a sickening thump as Eren's decapitated head crashes to the ground, rolling, bouncing before his titan form falters and stalls mid-step. His body crumbles, collapsing like a marionette with its strings cut, senses severed in an instant.

But Annie doesn't feel victorious.

There's no satisfaction in watching Eren's titan fall.

Just tired. So, so tired.

All she wants is her father.

The image of him waiting for her back in Marley flashes in her mind, his grizzled face, the hope in his eyes that she'd return a hero. She has to make him proud.

It's the only thing that drives her forward now.

Without hesitation, Annie unhinges her massive titan jaw and snaps the headless Founding Titan into her mouth. The temptation to bite down, to consume the power of the Founding Titan, surges in her. Her teeth hover on the edge of committing the act that could shift the entire balance of power.

Annie never wanted this. She never wanted power, never wanted to be a warrior. She didn't want to be a monster, and yet, here she was, devouring another, holding the most important titan on her tongue like some grotesque offering. She resolves herself, tightens her jaw but refuses to bite, simply cradling Eren's limp titan form in her mouth, letting it lie there, power inches away, but a decision already made.

"EREN!" Mikasa's voice rips through the battlefield, a raw, feral snarl that sends an unwilling jolt of fear skittering down Annie's spine. Even in her Titan form, the sheer emotion behind it, an agony laced with rage, violent and unstoppable.

Then there's Levi.

His eyes, cold and calculating, lock onto her, and Annie realizes with a start that he's already repositioning himself for another attack. Her hardened neck might hold up for now, but he's relentless, and patient, like a predator waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Annie grits her teeth. She has what they came for.

The mission is complete. All she needs to do now is get out of here.

Just as she prepares to lash out with her feet, to crush the surrounding trees and create the chaos needed to escape, something catches her attention. The two devils, Mikasa and Levi, stop their relentless assault.

For the briefest moment, they glance to the north, distracted. Confused, Annie follows their gaze and freezes. Her heart pounds wildly in her chest as her eyes fall on the boy standing at the edge of the battlefield.

Harry.

He's crouched next to the ginger-haired girl she crushed earlier. He stands slowly, rolling his shoulders back with a casual, terrifying ease. His eyes, a darkened, eerie shade of green, lock onto her with a look that sends primal terror coursing through her veins.

Annie's stomach tightens.

She has no idea what to expect from him, but the way Levi and Mikasa have backed off tells her enough.

They trust Harry to handle her.

That thought alone is enough to make her want to tremble.

Her eyes lock on Harry as he flicks his wrist, and a thin, strange stick appears in his hand. The power radiating off of it makes Annie's eyes widen, frantically she searches for a weapon, for anything that can counter whatever threat he poses.

Harry's voice cuts through the air, rough, laced with barely restrained fury, "I've tried to be sympathetic," he growls, his words echoing in her mind more than her ears, "But you're pushing it."

He begins walking toward her, each step deliberate, and measured. Levi and Mikasa stay back, like wolves letting their alpha take the lead, trusting him.

The realization chills her.

Annie acts on instinct.

She rips a tree from the ground with her left hand, roots and all, and hurls it at Harry, turning in the same movement to run. Her heart pounds in her chest, adrenaline surging as she takes massive, lumbering strides away from him.

Escape, she just needs to escape.

Only she hears a deafening explosion. The shockwave nearly knocks her off balance, and she stumbles, turning her head just in time to see the tree she threw at Harry, shattered into pieces. Tiny splinters rain down around them, the trunk obliterated by some unseen force.

Harry stands there, unmoved, pointing his strange stick toward her. A faint glow hums at its tip, the same unnatural power radiating from it, and for the first time since setting foot on this forsaken island, Annie feels true fear.

Her mouth opens in a scream, but it's cut short when Harry utters two soft, chilling words, "Petrificus Totalus."

A beam of light streaks from the end of his wand, hitting Annie square in the chest. Her entire body seizes up, her massive form freezing in place as if turned to stone. Her muscles lock, her lungs refuse to draw breath, and her heart hammers wildly as she topples forward, face-first, into the dirt.

Annie's world narrows to the earth in front of her, her immobile form stuck in place. She tries to scream, to move, to fight back, but her body refuses to obey. Her mind, however, is alive with panic, every instinct screaming at her to get up, to run.

To survive.

From the corner of her vision, she sees Harry walking toward her. His expression is unreadable, his darkened green eyes cold and detached. He stops inches from her immobilized face, crouching down until their gazes lock.

"There's only so much leniency I'm willing to give you three," Harry says, his voice barely more than a whisper, but it carries with the weight of a final verdict. "I'm not the golden boy I was before."

The words send a chill through Annie's immobilized body. She tries to flinch, to move, but nothing happens. Her heart pounds harder, anxiety clawing at her insides. She watches helplessly as Harry raises his wand again, pointing it directly at her.

"Let's see exactly what is going on here." His voice is calm and curious, but it carries a terrifying promise.

And then, to Annie's horror, he whispers another word, "Legilimens."

The world around her fractures as Harry dives into her mind, breaking through her walls, and dragging her into the depths of her memories.


Harry's mind pushes through Annie's defenses like a battering ram, her memories spilling into his consciousness as though he's flipping through the pages of a tragic novel.

At first, everything is a blur, the fractured images of her childhood mix with her present emotions, a whirlwind of pain, guilt, and regret.

Then as the turmoil settles, he finds himself in a dimly lit room, the bare walls echoing with the sound of footsteps. A much younger Annie stands rigid, fists clenched, as her father towers over her, face hard and unyielding. "You're not like them," he says, his voice sharp, devoid of warmth.

"You have to be strong. If you want to survive, if you want to make me proud, you have to do whatever it takes." Annie, no more than a child, nods without speaking.

She doesn't cry, she never does.

The memory twists and distorts, and suddenly Harry is in a more developed city, a place called Marley. He can feel the weight of Annie's resentment, her hatred for the world she's been forced into.

The air is thick with tension as the Eldians are herded like cattle, their armbands stark reminders of their status. Soldiers bark orders and treat them as less than human.

'Monsters. That's what we are,' Harry hears Annie think, her voice in his mind like a whisper. 'No matter what we do, we're always monsters.'

The scene shifts again, this time to the training grounds.

Harry watches as Annie, older now, fights other Warrior candidates with cold, mechanical precision. She never falters, never hesitates. But inside, she's screaming. Every punch, every kick, every blow is a desperate attempt to live up to her father's impossible expectations.

To be the weapon Marley needs.

To make him proud.

Harry feels her exhaustion, her bitterness.

She never wanted any of this.

All she wanted was her father's love, she knows that love is conditional, based on success, on becoming the ultimate warrior.

Another shift, this time, Annie stands before Reiner, Bertholdt, and Marcel, the weight of their mission pressing down on her like a vice.

"We're here to save Marley," Reiner says, but Harry can feel Annie's doubt, her disgust at the lie.

They aren't heroes. They're invaders.

And the people of Paradise, people like Eren, Mikasa, Christa, and Sasha, are simply obstacles in their path.

Harry pulls back, the memories swirling around him like a storm.

He sees it all now, the indoctrination, the cruelty, the unbearable weight placed on Annie's shoulders.

He also sees beneath it all, the raw, unfiltered truth, Annie never wanted to be a monster. She never wanted to destroy.

She just wants to survive.

To have a home.

As the connection between them starts to weaken, Harry looks down at Annie, frozen and helpless on the ground. His anger and rage shimmered as he experienced her hardships and understood just how much of a lack of choice these kids had.

Her eyes are wide with fear.

Harry takes a breath, his hand still gripping his wand. He's still upset, but he understands being corralled into being a weapon for one's use. Annie has killed, maimed, and torn his world apart, but now he understands the pain behind her actions, the chains that bound her to a life she never chose.

Slowly with a sigh, he steps back and uses his wand to open her mouth and uses the levitation charm to drag a slimy unconscious Eren out of her mouth before allowing it to shut. He slumps down onto the grass with a tired grunt.

"You're not the monster you think you are," Harry says quietly, his voice carrying across the field. "But if you keep following this path, you will be." Her glistening eyes peer at him in terror and he has to withhold the urge to soothe the poor girl, after living her life he's unwittingly grown attached to the fierce survivalist.

"The man who raised you, if someone makes you destroy yourself for their love, then their love isn't worth it."

"I'm not saying you can't appreciate what he did and has given you, but I know how it is to feel indebted to someone who is only using you for a gain." She gives him a glare of anger and she stops himself knowing her love for the man is true, he just hopes the father she chooses loves her back.

"If you surrender without any more problems, I promise you'll be protected from the repercussions."

He can see her wanting to speak, and he simply raises his hand, "Marley and the scouts will have to go through me if they want a piece of you."

"No one will touch you unless you give them permission, but the more you are willing to cooperate, the less they'll be inclined to want to pull drastic measures."

He looks to the left as he senses them coming.

"If I release you will you come out, it's easier to keep communicating if we are all the same size." He says his tone casual like he doesn't have one of the fiercest titan shifters lying down in submission.

She blinks at him, saying okay.

He claps his hands, "Good," and proceeds to release the spell. A few seconds later after a tense stare down, steam rises as reluctantly Annie pulls herself out of her Titan form.

Feeling merciful and not wanting her to hear all the scouts call her vile names as their anger and hate are fresh and true, she slumps forward and falls unconscious as he spells her asleep, just as an irritated Levi and Erwin appear with a salivating Hange, who is devouring the slump form of Annie like a starving rat.

"You okay?" Harry asks as Levi appears before him with a slight stumble.

Levi scoffs but his expression is different as he watches Harry, "I twisted my ankle getting Mikasa's out of the female titan's grip," he looks over towards the girl, "so she's the one who killed my team,"

"Good work," Erwin says with a proud smile that doesn't cause his stomach to flip, even as Levi scoffs, "should've just killed her, too much of a liability."

Harry rolls his eyes, and turns to watch Mikasa helping Eren onto the cart that had arrived, "how is Petra?" He asks softly looking over to Levi, seeing him staring at her unconscious form next to Eren.

He glances over to him his gaze heavy, "She'll live, thanks to you."

"Good," Harry says awkwardly, wanting to squirm under his intense gaze.

Seeing Levi shift uncomfortably on his leg, "Let me see your ankle," he says after a moment and crouches down in front of Levi much to the other mortification as Harry's head leans dangerously close to his crotch as he tugs on the injured leg.

"Get off of me, your hands are probably disgusting," Levi snarks, but makes no move to pull away as Harry sends a pulse of healing magic.

He pats Levi's thigh and stands up, "there good as new," Harry turns back to Erwin, "By the way she is under my protection."

Hange, who is holding a scalpel hovering over Annie pauses, "So that means no cutting?" It's disturbing how disappointed they look at that prospect.


A/n:

Sorry if the showdown wasn't as climatic as you expected, I just don't think Harry wouldn't be the type to be vicious to a child, especially one who is in over her head.

I love Annie as a character.

Don't read the rest of you don't want potential spoilers….nothing drastic.

And don't worry the only difference so far is Reiner and Bertold's identity will be revealed but they won't know that they know, because Erwin isn't going to reveal it to the rest of the scouts until the time is right.

Would yall want an Erwin threesome? Would yall want him to live?

Any ideas? Thoughts and comments are always appreciated, every bit of love only inspires me more