Ymir's Legacy

Ch. 16; Betrayal

Hange's hands began to shake, "I-It has to be true if ALL of you are saying such... b-but why hasn't anyone aside from in the walls tried to connect with our society if you all come from a different place? They obviously know we're here", Annie turned and faced Hange. She frowned in frustration, "Because... they ALL think that.. we're devils and should die", the area went silent for a moment. No one replied to the comment, Hange and Moblit sat in pure shock. Hange put her notes away and swallowed her curiosity, becoming serious, "Alright, if this is really true, could you answer all of our questions.. including the solution to saving us in the walls?", Aila looked up at Annie before answering. Annie looked at her and nodded, knowing that it was too late to keep anything else a secret any longer. Aila took in a deep breath, she sat up and focused her healing into her legs, making them grow back instantly along with the chunk of stomach that was missing. She coughed from the exertion she's experiencing, "Yes commander, we could", Hange smiled and nearly jumped from joy. However, she composed herself, "Alright, but how do we know that we can trust you?" "Because, me, Annie, Ymir, and Eren hold four of the ten titan shifting powers in the world, and we want to take back our freedom from the very nations beyond that threaten to take it away", Aila stated as she threw the cloak over herself, warming her body up as much as she could. Hange's smile returned as she looked into each and every one of the eyes of the soldiers that sat before her, knowing that there wasn't a hint of lie in anything they just said. "Alrighty then! We'll make it known to the rest of humanity in the walls about this news as soon as-" "Wait, there's something urgent you must know", Annie said coldly. Hange looked up at her, "Oh, alright what is it?" "We can't announce any of this to anyone that isn't in this group now, commander Erwin, Eren, Armin, and captain Levi, or our plans will fail instantly, setting the stage for those in the walls' demise", Annie stated as quietly as possible. Hange frowned in confusion, "Why?" "Because we have two traitors in our ranks as we speak, the armored and the colossal hide within our military", Hange gasped and shot up from kneeling in fear and surprise, "What?! Who and how do you know this?!" "Because we were sent here to kill all of you, however I was the only one who betrayed their plans from the start and became a spy for you all", Hange knelt back down to Annie and whispered, "I believe and trust you, who are they?". Annie closed her eyes and inhaled, "Reiner Braun... and Bertholdt Hoover are the colossal and armored titans that attacked you five years ago.

Hange and Moblit's sweat increased tenfold, frozen in shock and fear of the knowledge that the two culprits behind the terrorist attack five years prior were caused by two kids hidden among them this entire time. Hange snapped her head back to Annie and the others, "Why didn't you say anything before?! We could've saved the soldiers lost in Trost if you'd told your superiors prior!", Hange shouted through her teeth as she grabbed onto Annie's clothes, bringing her closer. Aila stood from her rest and rested her hand on Hange's shoulder, squeezing it slightly, "Commander, with all due respect... I don't think this is how you should be treating the people trying to help you", Aila said staring Hange down with a death glare in her eyes. Hange let go of Annie, in fear of the tall monster towering over her. She cleared her throat and fixed her glasses, "Ahim! Y-Yes you're uh completely right! I apologize for the mistreatment Annie, but you must understand my aggregation, please explain why you didn't warn us of such an attack" "Because they didn't tell me, they suspect me of being traitorous, I didn't even know they were going to attack us on the 57th expedition, but we all feared that something of the sort may happen, but it was too late for us to stop them", Annie stated looking at the ground with regret in her face. Hange relaxed a bit and sighed, "I see.. I'm sorry I became so aggressive towards you, that was unfair especially since you're only trying to help", Ymir stepped forward, "No need, we understand the reason why you snapped like that, but now that you know the basics, we should probably also clear the fact that Reiner and Bertholdt AREN'T the cause of this attack however" "Yes you're right Ymir, it was an outsider nation, Marley, the people who sent us three to this island", Annie said with slight anger in her voice. Hange and Moblit began to walk with them towards the wall to get to higher ground, "What? But why and how?", Hange asked, "Because us three 'warriors' didn't do our jobs fast enough, and now they're going to try and kill us all", everyone stopped talking for a moment to take in the news. They all got into a lift and rose up to the top of the wall, "Understood, but for now we need to be cautious and take care of Bertholdt and Reiner before they attack again", Hange said as she helped Aila onto the wall. As they all began to walk on the wall to return to the temporary HQ in the interior of wall rose, Mikasa noticed that Eren wasn't with Armin. "Wait, where's Eren?", she asked looking around, everyone stopped walking and looked for Eren. Aila turned around to look behind her, and gasped, "EREN! RUN!", everyone's heads snapped and saw their worst fear. Reiner had pulled his arm out of the sling Christa had made for him, and revealed the wound healing as steam emit from it. Mikasa sprinted towards him and tried to cut them down, but it was too late. Lightning began to strike, Bertholdt and Reiner.. had begun their betrayal.