Annie didn't know what happened, but she could guess: Eren figured it out, he could tell who...what they were. It didn't matter how he could, just that he did.
And that he was fighting Reiner. And Reiner wasn't faring too well.
She was very aware of the soldiers around her. If she transformed now, she could take them out. But if she didn't, if she made a break for it, she might get a surprise attack on Eren. But Eren was in such a frenzy, he might not notice her transforming before she actually attacked.
Her mind made up, she readied to draw the hidden blade on her ring-
*click*
Her eyes went wide as she heard the tell-tale sound of a gun ready to fire.
Pivoting on her heel and arching her head low, she kicked at her would-be killer, cracking the jaw with a sickening crack. Without thinking, she jumped off the rooftop, taking off with a burst of gas
"You damn bitch!" another cried out before opening fire. As did others.
Annie hissed as she felt the bullet run through her chest.
In the haze between activating the transformations and her Titan forming, she vaguely registered what this meant. Their cover had already been blown; Eren hadn't been the only one to figure it out.
It didn't matter, not right now. Lightning touched her, flesh formed around her, and her Titan landed on her feet.
Turning to the clash of Eren and Reiner, she saw the Armored Titan fall with a great crash.
She didn't have much time before the soldiers reacted and took the chance she had. She rushed to her golden foe in a dead sprint.
Einz and Zwei were still keeping the struggling Reiner off his feet. Drei was about to make a bite towards the neck. He didn't hear or feel the ground-shaking steps, but his eyes snapped toward the rushing mass in the corner of his vision.
A Titan, an enemy.
Nothing else registered, his tails swinging to strike her. But the Female Titan was too close now, sidestepping before leaping to give a strike to Drei's head.
Annie's only regret was not hardening her knuckles. If not for the tails, she would have.
The leftmost head growled in pain and fury before turning towards the new foe-
[[[[Annie.]]]]
If he hadn't known beforehand, he never would have guessed, might have never noticed the similarities. The blond hair, the sharp blue eyes. But that fighting stance? Who else could it be, but Annie?
The wound of betrayal refreshed itself as he turned and, with a great heave, he threw one traitor at another.
Annie expertly dodged Reiner's armored body as Eren glowered down hatefully at her. She could see it in his eyes, wrath that would literally tear her apart, limb from limb.
There was only an instance of pause before his mouths opened.
Trying not to give him a chance to act, Annie struck forth-
-And Eren roared.
[[[[I'll wipe you out!]]]]
He roared loud and hard, right in her face. Annie found herself abandoning her attack, as pure agony suddenly coursed through her head.
[[[[Every Last One!]]]]
She fell to her knees as blood rushed from her ears, both her human and Titan form. She clutched them, trying to block out that terrible sound, Eren's hateful roar.
{[{[FROM THIS WORLD!]}]}
She forced herself to look up, teeth gritted as she met his gaze.
Meanwhile
"Thank god he stopped," Ymir said with a groan leaning against the wall, clutching her head as she looked to Krista-
She froze as she saw Krista clutching her skull.
"H-hey, are you okay?" she asked in concern and bewilderment.
"I can hear him," Krista answered with a pained grimace. "I can hear everything he's yelling at them."
"That bad?" Ymir asked as they stood in the alley.
"It's like it's right in my ear still," Krista answered as she pulled her hands down. "What do we do?"
Their eyes met.
"I'm not going to try and run away," Ymir promised, holding up their still-cuffed hands. "But shrimpy didn't have enough time to get our cuffs off. And I can't transform with you this close."
"So, we need to find a way to get this off," Krista summarized.
"Well, that or something to..." she paused uncomfortably. "Cut my hand off."
"Wha-?!" Krista looked at her in shock. "Why would-!? Are you-!?"
"Look, it'll hurt like a bitch, but I can regrow a hand, okay?" Ymir explained with a sigh.
"O-oh," Krista said in stunned understanding, trying to ignore the sounds and vibrations of the battle. "Well, if we have to-"
"I think I can save ya some pain and blood there."
Krista started at the voice while Ymir turned, protectively placing the smaller cadet behind her.
A man was walking down the alley, with ODM gear. But there was something weird about it to Krista. There weren't any blades, just metal cylinders where they should be stored.
He tipped his hat up and smirked at Ymir. "Still on edge, eh, Frecks?"
"Oh, it's you, Geezer," Ymir said with a sigh, just a bit relieved.
"Ymir, you know him?" Krista asked, stepping out beside her.
The man smirked. "Good, you're still alive. Frieda've had my hide if something happened to your blond head."
Krista blinked. "Me? Wait..." she stopped and squinted "...Kenny?!"
"Still kicking, farm girl?" Kenny asked with a smirk.
Now it was Ymir's turn to be surprised. "Wait, you two know each other?"
"We met once," he remarked with a shrug.
"That's...one way of putting it," Krista agreed tentatively, giving him a suspicious look. "What happened to me keeping a quiet life?"
"Change in plans. Your girlfriend here and I had a little talk about why she should work for us," Kenny explained, nodding to Ymir.
"When did-" Krista stopped and sighed. "We don't have time for this. Can you...do something about this?" she asked, holding up their shackled wrists.
"That I can," he answered, holding up one of his weapons. "Just pull'em apart, no need for either of ya to be losing a limb over this."
Both girls did as he said, eyeing the barrel cautiously as he aimed it at the chain between them.
With a pull of the trigger, both of their ears were ringing.
"Walls, that is loud!" Ymir exclaimed, reaching up to rub her left ear. With a scowl, she looked at Kenny as he reloaded his gun. "What now?"
"You should probably join the fight, or keep an eye out for a good chance. Make ya look good to everyone else," Kenny suggested. "I got to make sure our little princess makes it out of this alive."
Ymir glanced skeptically between the two before Krista spoke up. "Ymir, go. I'll be fine," Krista assured firmly.
"...Right," Ymir accepted begrudgingly.
"Just watch yourself, Frecks," Kenny advised, glancing up at the darkening skies. "Storm's a brewin."
Meanwhile
Erwin observed the battle stoically. The Armored titan was still down. He had been getting up until Eren's stunning roar was let loose. Now he was collapsed again, either out cold or just unable to move.
"Finish it, Trips!"
"Kill her already!"
"You got her right where you want her!"
Eren had the Female Titan pinned; face down with his foot talons digging into her back.
However, despite several attempts, he hadn't been able to bite through her nape.
"Erwin!"
He glanced to the side as Levi approached. "Ymir and Krista?"
"Almost got squashed, but alive," Levi answered pointedly.
Erwin picked up the extra meaning. They weren't in their custody.
"What should we do?" Levi inquired, looking out as the Armor Titan got back to its feet.
Eren wasn't blind to this either, Eins snarling before reaching down to snap his jaw onto the back of Annie's neck, trying to either bite through or crush his foe within.
Reiner, seeing his comrade in danger, made into a sloppy charge, leaping and tackling at the golden reptile. With Annie pushing from underneath him, Eren found himself knocked onto his side.
The hardened nape of the Female's neck was ripped away though, torn from her unhardened flesh and crumbling in the fanged maw. Briefly, Annie's human form was exposed before her Titan's hands concealed her while her Titan healed. Reiner was guarding Annie, in case any of the soldiers tried to attack in her moment of weakness.
Erwin summarized that The Female Titan had the ability to make her skin stronger, like the Armor Titan's, but it seems to be temporary. Otherwise, why not use it all the time?
"There's still a third enemy in hiding," Erwin reminded warily.
Levi frowned. "Ymir said it was Bertholdt."
"Hoover, the tall one," Erwin recalled. "Eren can handle either of these. Maybe both of them."
"But the third is the Colossal," Levi stated in understanding.
Eren snarled as he tried to roll back onto his feet, slowed slightly by his lack of arms. Seeking to return the favor from earlier, Reiner ran forward to grab Eren's left leg, keeping it off the ground. Eren growled dangerously. His other leg was too short and at a bad angle to swipe at Reiner. His left tail was too close. Was the right one though?
Annie didn't give him the chance to try. Or, at least, that was her intent as raced forward.
Until someone tried to cut the tendons behind her ankles. Jumping just in time, Annie found herself being swarmed by ODM-equipped soldiers.
While the Female Titan cursed her luck, Armin landed just in front of Eren's form. "Eren! Focus on Reiner! Let them worry about Annie!" Armin advised.
The golden beast looked back at the fight between humans and Titans. Annie wasn't armored. She was vulnerable to their blades.
As Armin cleared the area, Eren grinned three savage grins as his right tail slammed into Reiner, mashing the Armored Titan between his scales and the weapon upon his tail. And again, and again.
"Dammit, Eren!" Reiner cursed to himself. He had tried to break the leg, or even just dislocate it, but his Titan wasn't strong enough. It took everything he had just to keep Eren from jerking the leg free.
Snarling in frustration, Eren tilted his body, rolling in the opposite direction. Caught in surprise, Reiner was nearly pulled over before he released Eren, who partially slammed into a building as a result of his body roll. With a dissatisfied tsk, Reiner made a quick retreat to help his ally against her enemies.
Eren shook the debris off his back as he stood back up, eyes instantly finding his foes once more.
He froze as he saw Reiner crush a soldier in his hands, Annie breaking someone's spine as she yanked them by their wires. They were slaughtering the soldiers, crushing them like bugs.
[{[{Maggots.}]}]
His rage renewed with an icy fuel to it, he snarled and readied to attack them once more. Reiner's armor was becoming more of a spider-web of damage. Just a bit more, and he could put him down, and then Annie.
And then Bertholdt, and whoever else he had to kill!
He charged the pair, the soldiers dispersing to dodge. The shifters, knowing they had little other option, charged him as well. Reiner tried to strike the rightmost head dead on, but Eins moved to the side, his horn scrapping and sparking against Reiner's arm as he pushed past to bite his foe in the side.
Annie, however, leaped to Eren's left and brought a hardened heel kick into his eye. Drei screamed as blood burst from the optical organ, destroyed but already starting to regenerate.
Or it would have been if Annie hadn't used the momentum of her own spin to quickly strike with an open fist, her hardened fingers going right into Drei's destroyed eye.
Drei screamed as Annie's digits stabbed into his brain. Eins bit harder into Reiner, more out of pain than rage while Drei let out what sounded like a dying groan, his head falling limp. Annie attempted to free herself but found her hand actually stuck in the skull itself, as if it somehow had her in a death grip. Zwei hissed murderously while biting into the offending arm.
Desperate, Annie hardened her other hand, hoping to take two heads out.
"You bitch!"
"Get away from him!"
That was the only warning Annie got as Mikasa sliced her ankle tendons, and Hange cut through the fingers, below where the digits had hardened. Both women had equally dark looks on their faces as Annie fell to her knees.
Eren's head awkwardly, painfully ripped the arm out of his other head's eye. Everything felt strange. Partially, painfully numb. Three heads or not, a stab to the brain was painful.
With deep breaths, Zwei lurched over and grabbed the struggling Reiner by the shoulder. With his two remaining heads, he slammed the Armor Titan into the Female, laying them on top of each other. Quickly, he placed a foot on Reiner's back, trying to keep him pinned.
He was only half aware of his surroundings now, trying to acclimate to the pain of a dead brain. He couldn't keep them pinned long. And in his absent haze, he had pinned them with Annie on her back. Getting to her nap wouldn't be easy. And Reiner wouldn't stop squirming.
He froze as thunder once more rang through the air, the bolt coming down just meters away from them. To his surprise, it was not the enormous Colossal that appeared before him.
It was the Jaw Titan. It was Ymir's titan.
The smaller shifter was coming towards them.
"Hey."
Zwei was suddenly aware that Levi was on his head. When he got there, he wasn't sure.
"Don't get bite-happy. She's supposed to be on our side now, remember?" Levi reminded cautiously.
Suppose to be, Eren was acutely aware of.
Still, he heeded the captain's words, letting the Titan approach.
"Hold him," Ymir growled out, snapping her jaws. "Bite him out."
Could she do that? Zwei wanted to know, moving his mouths to latch onto Reiner's arms and keep in pinned. Annie started to struggle again and must have tried something, because Levi swooped by, faster than the eye could catch, and sliced out the Female Titan's eyes.
Ymir climbed up on the two bodies, and Eren was suddenly very much aware that Ymir was once more in biting distance of both his necks. Not a sentiment he enjoyed, but he was rewarded with the almost metallic sound of Ymir biting into the nape of the Armored Titan. It was already fractured, allowing her to take it apart in three full bites. Reiner struggled more and Eren could feel Annie kicking uselessly while attempting to get free.
Before Ymir could go for the finishing bite, Annie let loose a loud, feral wail. It was more desperate than rage, the echo of her screams reverberating out as violent winds.
COME!
Eren blinked. He could understand that scream, Annie's scream. How, he wasn't sure, but what was Annie calling out to?
"EREN!"
Oh. Right. Between the pain and rage, he had forgotten.
With much effort, Zwei managed to see him off to the side. There stood Bertholdt, on a rooftop.
Holding a sword to Armin's throat.
"Let them go, right now, or I slit his throat!" Bertholdt screamed out desperately.
"Eren, don't do it-!" Armin tried to plead before Bertholdt roughly covered his mouth.
"Do you really want his blood on your hands, Eren!?" Bertholdt threatened, pulling the blade just enough to draw blood.
"Armin!" Eren faintly heard Mikasa call out in alarm.
Ymir, seeing the stand-off, hesitated. With how Eren could be, she knew he might just attack her if she endangered Armin's life.
Eren growled into his bites. He wouldn't give up Armin so easily, but he could at least buy everyone time.
Bertholdt was about to yell again when he saw the injured, downed head of Eren raise up with unsteady and wobbly motions. He stared on with an uneasy expression as he looked into the one eye that remained on it. The bright green was now dull, empty, and lifeless. The head twitched and seized before...
The eye blinked.
Bertholdt, and many others, were slightly disgusted as the orange goop that came with Eren's regenerations was suddenly vomited forth from the head, covering the ground. Drei shook himself stiffly, flexing his jaw as his gaze came in and out of focus before he stared directly at Bertholdt.
With both eyes, the other now healed. Obviously along with his brain.
"Okay. Okay," Bertholdt muttered uneasily before calling out again. "Now let them go! Both of them!"
Armin was still trying to shake his head, silently begging Eren not to let their enemies slip away.
Drei looked pained, and not physically, as he stared at his endangered friend.
"Eren! Ymir!"
He blinked in surprise at the call, his middle head lurching around to stare at...
Frieda?
She was still sitting on her box, as if it were a front-row seat to a show. She smiled at him mysteriously, cupping her hand to her mouth. "It's fine! Make the trade!"
[[[[...What?]]]]
"Lady, are you crazy!?" someone yelled, possibly Jean.
Still, she just smiled. Eren suddenly wasn't sure whose side she was on, but...
Was there a plan here? Something he didn't know about? While some of the soldiers were voicing their disapproval, he didn't notice any of the Commanders among them.
If Bertholdt lying, and he killed Armin no matter what...then Eren would then he'd just go back to killing them. And he'd know not to trust them next time they tried taking hostages.
With hostile uncertainty, Eren released Reiner and stepped back. Ymir leaped to Eren's side, both of them eyeing the Titans as Reiner quickly got to his feet, raising his fists into a defensive stance as Annie rolled into a crouch. One of her eyes was healed and her ankles just finished as she slowly got to her feet.
While the other heads watched them, Drei looked to Bertholdt, as if daring him to break their agreement. The tall teen frowned, realizing the dangerous position he found himself in. It's not like if he let Armin go they were just going to all walk away. Kill Armin and Eren would attack...which might be what he needed to do, bait Eren into getting too close.
Or, should he transform now? It was slim, but Bertholdt knew there was a chance that Eren could kill him before he had a chance to transform. Not to mention the soldiers he was sure were creeping closer to his location. If he transformed now, he could still just attack Eren as the Colossal. No matter how strange a creature the three-headed beast was, it couldn't handle something as overpowering as a sixty-meter titan.
"Don't suppose you're any more willing to talk about this?" Armin asked with a bitter smile.
Bertholdt brought the blade away, just a bit, because his hand trembled. "I'm sorry, Armin, but...there's nothing to say," Bertholdt apologized.
"So, all this time was...?" Armin trailed off sadly.
"We had to. We had no choice," Bertholdt said, more to himself than his hostage. "That's...that's just the way this world is."
"Does it have to be?" Armin asked, disappointed.
"Yes," Bertholdt responded, closing his eyes for an instance to steady himself.
"How can you be sure, if you won't even tell us why you're doing this?" Armin challenged. "If you won't even try?"
Bertholdt went still. "I..."
Whatever he might have said was silenced by the sounds of cannon fire.
Eren let out a growl of alarm as he looked to the walls, heads jolting away from potential cannonballs. Reiner moved in front of Annie as a shield while Ymir stayed crouched in Eren's shadow.
But all grew confused and tense as they realized the cannonballs weren't being shot into Trost but beyond the wall. There was screaming too from up there, faint as it was with the explosions. Eren glanced at all three of his enemies and found them all confused. As was Ymir, and everyone else he could see.
Except for Frieda, her smile more amused than anything now.
Zwei eyed her suspiciously before all three heads growled low in his throats. Eren realized what was happening: Their mystery guest was making a move.
The cannons stopped and soldiers could be seen fleeing from the walls as something emerged and climbed over the top of the wall.
It was ten meters high, give or take, but the strangest thing about it was its limbs. It had only two limbs that were more like arms than legs, its elbows each forming into a large spike. From its back was a long tail, and from the neck a long-snouted head. Like a reptile's, but the texture almost made the head look like it was just a skull without skin or flesh. Its body was dark grey, and scaly, with a crimson line going down its head, spine, and tail
No one dared to move, watching the new party as it looked over the battle, its gaze settling on the three-headed beast.
Eren eyed it warily, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what he was even looking at.
Then the creature opened its wide mouth and bellowed one word over Trost. One name, clear as crystal.
"YEAGER!"
Stunned silence washed over Trost, not even the wind daring to make a sound. Until the two-legged monster leaped off of the wall, its three-clawed feet digging into the massive structure, slowing its descent.
"Shit, it can climb," Levi muttered, both blades at the ready as he watched the unknown party.
Halfway down, it pushed off the wall, crashing down onto the roof of the nearest building.
"The hell is that now!?" Connie screamed, having dodged from its landing point. He watched it as it shrugged off the force of the fall, and was already running across the rooftops at frightening speeds, with an almost serpentine movement to it.
Everyone watched in dread and anticipation as it raced towards the square, Eren tensing and preparing to face whatever had just crawled up to seek him out.
Reaching the last house, it gave a mighty leap across the opening.
And barreled towards the pair of Titans.
Reiner cursed his luck as the strange thing jumped at him. He raised his fists to block it, but its fingers grasped onto his limps and effortlessly swung itself around to his back. His hands quickly reached up to cover his nap.
Annie struck at the skull and, to her shock, found herself breaking her Titan's hand.
It turned to her, looking right at her with sunken eyes as its mouth opened and spoke.
"Dogs of Marley!"
Annie and Reiner froze in shock, and it cost them. A very long tongue lunged out, grabbing the offending arm and dragging it into the mouth!
She tried to pull herself free, but the creature allowed itself to be brought along, its tail wrapping around the Armored Titan's neck and dragging him to the ground as a result.
Eren watched the fight, his shock turning to fascination. Then something darkly satisfying settled in him. Now it was three on three.
His six eyes drifted to the one issue: Bertholdt.
"What the hell? Another one? Just how many monsters do you devils have?" Bertholdt whispered in disbelief.
Seizing the moment, Armin took the chance to elbow Bertholdt, striking him right between the legs. The shifter let out a silent scream of surprise and pain as Armin was able to pull himself free without further injury. He seethed in frustration as he saw the small blonde escape on his ODM gear.
Eren, seeing the opening, made a dead sprint toward Bertholdt.
Feeling the tremors before he even looked, the tall teen grimaced as he took off on his ODM gear. But not to flee.
He flew right towards his foe.
Time slowed for Bertholdt as he stared into those three maws of deadly teeth, all ready to devour him. To destroy him.
If Bertholdt didn't destroy him first.
He closed his eyes and focused on the scratch he had made on his hand, waiting until he could feel the breaths, the jaws instances away from ending his life.
Lighting struck down from the heavens once more, and a bright light enveloped them all.
The last thing Bertholdt could see was those emeralds of ever-flowing hate.
And from her spot, Frieda sighed in resignation.
End of Chapter
That's right folks, its a Skull-Crawler! If you're wondering how it can talk, that's actually canon- Skull Crawlers can imitate human voices, usually to lure humans towards them. Creepy, I know.
But other than that, big fight happens, Kenny showed up but things are defnitely not canon, and Frieda is being Frieda. And as literally everyone knew, Bertholt's explosion was the big curveball in this fight.
And to everyone saying that Erendorah is "weak" he's basically a toddler version of Ghidorah. That's why he doesn't have wings or gravity beams yet.
Early viewing of chapters 20-21 avaliable on my pat-reon:
p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64