The cold wind brushed against Aila's skin, her cloak swayed in the breezes that cycled. As she and the rest of the scouts walked through the wooded glen, she stared at the ground where her light shone. Memories of her home began to flood her mind, everything became muffled, her surroundings were silenced by the drowning sound of memories. ".. Ai... Aila.. Aila!", Annie snapped Aila back to reality, she walked beside her, staring up at her with concerned eyes. Aila looked down, "I.. I'm alright" "Aila, it's ok. Just look at Mikasa, Armin and Eren, they all are saddened by their memories of the home that Rei-...", Annie stopped, her face gained a look of regret and sadness. "The home that... I took from them.. from you", Annie continued, Aila looked at her, but before she could say anything, Mikasa stepped in, "No, you knew what Marley had you do was wrong.. you turned against them and now, Para- Eldia has a chance at living again". Everyone wiped the sad looks off their faces, replacing them with determined ones, Mikasa was right, Annie wasn't to blame, it was Marley's hatred that festered for thousands of years. "TITAN! TO YOUR LEFT, SEVEN METER!", a scout shouted from up ahead, everyone pointed their lights towards the said direction, the titan was peacefully seated, seemingly in a kind of sleep. Erwin spoke up after examining it himself, "Leave it, it means no harm to any of us as long as the sun is down", hesitant, some scouts cautiously walked past it, Aila and the others' however, walked past it with remorse on their faces, knowing that this titan was once a person who was turned for wanting their freedom. Ymir backed from the front near Hange and Erwin, she stopped when she was next to her friends, "You know.. even though I chose to stay fighting on the front lines because I hold jaws... I'm still terrified of leaving the walls", Sasha raised an eyebrow. She cocked her head in confusion, "Why did you chose to stay? Even if you have jaws... you could've stayed with H- queen Historia", Ymir let out a chuckle with a sigh in it, "You're just as dumb as ever I see huh potato girl". Sasha's face turned red, Mikasa smirked at the adorable girlfriend next to her, Ymir looked up at the sky, "Don't you see... I'm still fighting because I want to be safe with Historia".
Aila continued on, but stopped when she passed a tree. She doubled back and saw a book laying open on the ground, decayed and covered in nature, she bent down and picked it up, she turned it around and gasped at the sight. Annie quickly noticed Aila wasn't present, she stopped, "Guys where's Aila?", Mikasa and Sasha halted and looked around for her, but were met with the realization that she wasn't with them. Annie abandoned her horse and ran back down the path they had followed, stopping when she saw her fiance on her knees staring at an old book with shock and tears in her eyes. She ran over to her, "Ail?! What's wrong are yo-" "This is it..", Aila said, Annie frowned in confusion, "What is?", footsteps crept from behind her, "This is... where we all used to hang out when we were kids...", Mikasa finished the sentence. Annie looked back at Aila, setting her light down and embracing her fiance who shed tears of sadness yet had a scent of anger and hatred lingering in them. Sasha held Mikasa by the side, rubbing her shoulder and back lovingly, knowing the harsh and sad memories that took place in these woods were flooding her mind. Aila raised the book up, "Th-This is where... where I last sat before..", Annie tightened her embrace, now realizing that the book she was holding, was the last thing that gave her peace within her home. Once Mikasa and Aila regained their composure, they continued on, Annie had found her horse she had left behind. The day began to break, and the walls of the abandoned city of Shiganshina were right before their eyes. Everyone was stopped by the commander once they had exited the woods, "Alright soldiers! Time to continue on horseback! Remember to keep your hoods on and to blend in, protect the titan shifters at all costs!", he shouted, the scouts saluted and shouted their understanding as they mounted onto their horses, putting their lights away before continuing on their route.
As they got closer to the wall, Annie started to become highly suspicious of the non-existent titan's anywhere near the wall. She looked down at the ground and scanned the grass, skimming the tinniest of details with her eyes, she gasped when she saw a certain clue. She turned to Aila, trying to stay calm, "Ail... we've got company", Annie said, Aila looked up and saw what had alarmed Annie, it was the foot and hand prints of a titan. This wouldn't be a big deal if they hadn't known about the truth of Marley and the nine titans, but since they do, Annie quickly recognized the prints from when she was still new to using her titan alongside the other warriors, including a woman named Pieck Finger, the holder of the cart titan, was present. "Cart is definitely here, the prints are a give away", Annie whispered to Aila, Aila realized that whatever the warriors of Marley had done, was now set for everyone. "Ok, I'll have the soldiers send the message up to Erwin and Hange, warning them", Aila replied, Annie cautiously looked around for the four legged titan, having a feeling that Pieck had been watching them this entire time. "Mika", Aila whispered to the black haired soldier in front of her, "Yeah?", she replied, Aila swallowed her fear, "Cart is here, Annie saw it's footprints back there". Mikasa stayed as calm as possible, Sasha however had heard what was said, visible fear and panic spread across her face. Mikasa bit her lip in anxiety, "Shit.. this isn't good, Marley brought backup" "What the hell are we gonna do if cart drops in on us?!", Sasha whispered loudly. Annie frowned and looked ahead, "No, Pieck- I mean, CART wouldn't do that, she's not reckless", Mikasa passed the message down to Marco, Eren, Armin, Ymir, Connie, Nanaba and Gelgar, who then passed it to the chain of command. After a moment or three of waiting, Erwin sent a message back, "Remain calm, don't act as if you know cart is there, or else it might just kill us all now", Aila and the others swallowed their pride and fear of death, acting as if they didn't see a thing. They stayed like so, riding in fear, but they were given a feeling of relief when Erwin raised his hand signalling for the horses to go faster, and to proceed with closing the inner wall of maria first.
As they approached the wall, the veteran soldiers were to scale the wall and watch for enemy as Aila closes the hole, the rookies from the emergency recruitment were to stay on the ground with the horses. Aila and Annie looked at each other, they stood on their horses and kissed before shooting off on their ODM gear to the top of the wall. Once they landed, Levi was next to them, Eren and Ymir, along with the rest of Levi squad was present as well, acting as the guards for the titan shifters. Levi looked over at Aila, and nodded, Aila took in a deep breath and jumped off of the wall, using the ring she had personally made for her's and Annie's wedding, she flicked it open and revealed a sharpened piece of metal, similar to Annie's. She sliced her finger, a flash of yellow lightning struck her, BOOM! Her titan landed, she looked up and walked towards the wall, making sure no soldiers were in the vicinity, she roared, "RAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!", and slammed her fists onto the ground. She focused all her hardening in that moment towards the wall, a thick and tall crystal wall was formed, sealing Shiganshina off from central wall maria. Aila's titan collapsed, she emerged and immediately shot back up onto the wall, "Ail! Are you ok?", Annie asked her fiance. Aila checked her body, she was alright, Hange bent down to her, "And your ODM gear?", she asked. Aila check the gear she wore, "Still good and functional", she replied. Hange let a smile loose, she was happy that all the experiments had payed off, and not a single abrasion was on Aila. As she stood, Annie flipped the hood that slid off of Aila's head back on, concealing their identities to protect them. Despite their achievement, Aila couldn't help but feel uneasy, she turned to Mikasa and Annie, "Hey guys, I don't know if I'm just being paranoid but.." "No, you're right, something is off", Mikasa finished for her. Sasha joined them, "It's like I told Mikasa when we first got here, it feels as if we've walked into a trap", everyone stood in silence, staring at one another trying to discretely solve the problem. BOOM! CRASH! Aila and the the other's snapped their heads towards the inner wall maria, seeing the beast titan emerge from steam, suddenly, he roared, and tens of flashes of lightning struck the ground surrounding the exit, titans emerged from each spot, the beast had accepted their challenge.
Annie frowned at the beast in the distance, sweat trickled down her brow, "Zeke.. wait, is that-", she squinted her eyes and focused on the titan next to him. It was the cart, "Shit! Pieck is here too", Annie shouted through her teeth, she looked at the cart and what it had on it's back, she sighed a bit of relief. She turned to Aila and the others, "The cart is here, though it doesn't have it's armory on which is good. But, we still don't know where Reiner and Bertholdt are, if I had to guess, Bertholdt is most likely in one of the barrels on the cart's back", Aila looked at the cart titan, analyzing it, she saw what Annie spoke of, the problem was which barrel he was in. "Alright, we can't let him transform or the entirety of Shiganshina will be on the line", Aila told Mikasa and the others, Annie nodded confirming her statement, although they were curious as to how Annie concluded Bertholdt was in the barrel, they remembered that the two were once comrades, it was probably a trick done before. Armin spoke up, "Well at least we know where three of them are, but what about Reiner?", he asked, everyone sat thinking for a moment. Then Armin came to a realization, he lifted the smoke flare gun in his hand and shot off a green round, "Armin what's wrong?", Eren asked, "I think I figured out where Reiner may be.. and it's not good". Everyone began to sweat, Armin was almost never wrong, Erwin and the other scouts scaling the wall had rushed over, "Arlert, what's the matter?", Erwin asked. Armin stepped in front before the commander, "Reiner, I think I know where he might be, we need to check the wall for a hollow cavity, somewhere he can watch us in secret". Erwin and the others stood confused for a moment, a scout spoke up, "But we already check the area by the wall, there's no sign of him" "Check IN the wall", Armin cut in, everyone gasped, including the commander. The scouts began to argue among themselves, they weren't sure Armin was right, but the commander raised his arm and shot off a red signal flare, gathering everyone's attention. "Do as Arlert says, there's a high possibility he's correct, scale the wall and check for any hollow areas. I'm passing the chain of command onto him for a time, you are to follow his every order", the scouts hesitantly listened, but all in all saluted their understanding. Armin gave off the order to scale the wall and check for cavities, Annie, Aila, and Ymir stayed with Eren by Levi and Mikasa, waiting for their last opponents to appear.
Erwin ordered everyone to cease their operations while the scouts scaling the walls checked for Reiner's possible position, they tapped the walls with their swords, checking every inch of the open area that would be easy to spy from. Aila turned to the commander, "Commander, Annie also has information about the colossal and the cart", Annie stepped up, "Yes, look towards the beast, there should be a titan on all fours, it's the cart. However, we got lucky as it's not wearing its armory, but, the barrels on it's back, Bertholdt is highly likely to be in one of them". Erwin observed, he frowned, suspecting Annie was right, "Alright, good work Leonhart, Brandt. Signal for me if you find anything else out" "Sir!", they saluted and returned to Levi and Mikasa's side. They stood watching, waiting for any lead on Reiner, when a soldier stopped, he shot off a flare, "Here! There's a hollow spot here!", he shouted. They all turned their attention to him, Aila saw the wall begin to move, Reiner was coming out, "LOOK OUT!", she yelled trying to save him, but it was too late. Reiner jumped out and stabbed him with his sword, Levi quickly jumped to action and flew down the wall, he pierced Reiner's neck with his blade, then sent another through his side. However, Reiner remained conscious, Levi jumped back up on the wall, the rest of the scouts on the wall did so too. Reiner hit the ground, "Ghhhh.. AHHHHHHHHHH!", he screamed, yellow lightning struck him, everyone watched as the armored titan appeared before them, knowing the real battle has now begun. "Levi squad gather!", Erwin ordered, everyone grouped around Erwin, "Finally ready to say something Erwin? I've waited so long I could've made breakfast", Levi smartly remarked. Erwin turned to the scouts before him, "I have a plan, Eren, you and Leonhart will battle the armored, do not let him get to the wall, lure him away. Brandt, you are to stay here with her majesty and be backup in case anything starts to go south, Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Marco will play as backup waiting near Jaeger and Leonhart", Hange came forth, "Yes, and you will each be equipped with four of these new babies, ta-duh!", she motioned her hands to the scouts holding the new weapon known as thunder spears behind her. Mikasa and the others started to equip the new weapon, "If anything goes wrong, Jean, you are to shoot off a green flare, Aila will then come with her majesty and provide backup, is that understood?", Erwin said. They all saluted, "Yes sir!", and with that, they all shot off and got into position.
Before Annie leapt off the wall after the others, she was pulled into a kiss by Aila, "Come back in one piece.. I can't marry a corpse after all", Annie smiled and caressed her lover's face, "I will my love, I promise". Annie planted one more kiss on Aila, then leapt off with the rest, Aila looked down at the immobile armored titan below. She glared at it, knowing Reiner was in there alive, she was so puzzled as to how he survived being stabbed through the neck and back in the forest when Annie called the titans to prey on him and Bertholdt. But it didn't matter now, she had to focus on the task beforehand, Reiner began to stand, he turned his attention to the wall they were on and began to climb, Erwin sent the order for everyone but him to scatter on the wall, they knew that Marley was trying to capture all four shifters. Aila watched from a distance on the wall as Reiner reached the top, she looked down at Annie and the others and watched as Eren jumped off a roof and transformed, using himself as bait to lure Reiner away from the walls to fight. Reiner sat pondering whether to go after Eren like the scouts want or for him to break down the seal Aila had just made. Ultimately, he took the bait and jumped back down the wall, running after Eren, everything was going as planned. Eren used his training and hardened his fists, shielding his hands from injury, preparing to fight Reiner once again, Mikasa and the others waited patiently for the right time to take Reiner down with their thunder spears. Reiner stopped just in front of Eren, he got into a fighting stance, but just as he began to charge at Eren, Annie leapt from her position and transformed. Eren took the advantage of Reiner's distraction and pulled him into a joint hold, cracking his armor. Reiner let out a roar, "RRROAAAAAAGGGGH!", he turned the tables and pulled Eren's leg, flipping him on his back, he got up and threw Eren onto a house. But just as he did so, Annie came in and began to beat him, kicking and punching him, dodging his slow attacks with ease. His armor had been weakened, Mikasa and the others jumped from hiding, and shot their thunder spears into the backs of Reiner's legs, bringing him down, Annie jumped back to avoid cross fire. Mikasa and Jean shot spears into Reiner's eyes to blind him, Marco, Connie, and Sasha flew behind him and shot their spears into his nape, blowing it to bits. Mikasa and Jean then came around and shot another round into his nape, blowing it up once more, the armored had successfully been taken down.
Aila looked at Ymir, the two smirked at each other, relieved that the spears worked and that Marley underestimated them. Reiner lay K.O.d on the ground, everyone cheered from the success, Hange especially, though Marco, Connie, and Sasha sat in tears, hurt that they had to hurt their once friend, killing him even. "Well, that takes care of that", Levi said, "Yeah, guess we weren't needed to save their asses", Ymir retorted, but just as they got confident, CRCK! BOOM! Aila and the others snapped their heads, the hole where the horses were standing had been collapsed, Aila looked up at the beast, he had thrown the rocks to block our escape. Levi grit his teeth, "Shit, that monkey knows exactly what he's doing", Aila stood up from her crouched position, she glared at the Marleyan warriors ahead. She used her power and connected to Levi and Hange squad below, "Zeke collapsed the exit, the horses can't get through, he's trying to trap us", Annie emerged from her titan and stood next to Mikasa and the others, she gained a concerned look, whatever Zeke was putting in motion wasn't good at all. Suddenly, Zeke threw something else, but it wasn't a handful of boulders, it was one of the barrels, the realization hit her. Aila jumped off the wall and headed to Annie and the others, "Aila what are you-" "Zeke threw Bertholdt! Look!", she shouted pointing to the sky, the flying barrel was a bomb in hiding. But just as Aila was about to transform, Bertholdt emerged from the barrel and used ODM gear, he flew down to Reiner. "Get back!", Aila shouted, everyone sped off on their ODM gear, trying to get as far away from Bertholdt as possible, but Armin caught up with Hange. "Wait! This is our only chance to try talk to him!", he shouted, Aila frowned and looked at the others in confusion, they were just as confused. She couldn't believe Armin still wanted to just talk, but they stopped, "Alright, if you really think so then go ahead. But Mikasa and the others will be close by to make sure it doesn't go south", Hange stated. Armin nodded in understanding, he then turned and motioned for the others to stay at a distance. Bertholdt approached, Armin stood on a house and shouted, "Bertholdt! Please wait! We can talk this out!", Bertholdt halted, he stopped on top of a tower nearby. "If I do, will you all lay down and die?!", Bertholdt replied, everyone was shocked by his reply, "YOU ALL HAVE TO DIE!", he shouted again. Mikasa growled, she began to take her sword out, but Aila stopped her, "And who decided that?!", Armin asked, Bertholdt said something quietly, "What?!", Armin asked. "I DID OKAY! I DECIDED YOU ALL HAVE TO DIE!", Bertholdt shouted, he shot off and stood on the building by Armin, they began to talk. But as they did, Mikasa shot off and secretly snuck up behind Bertholdt, when he gave her an opening, she sliced his ear off, they battled with their swords but he ran off, knowing he was no match.
Armin wanted to go after him, but Mikasa stopped him, "What is he.. is he going up?", Connie asked. Aila looked and noticed that as well, "SHIT! HANGE! ARMIN! MIKASA! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!", Aila jumped to action, she sliced her finger on her ring and transformed, just as she finished transforming, a flash of lightning struck from overhead, it was Bertholdt. Aila ran to Hange's squad, stopping them from going any further. Just as the light began to spread, Aila let out a roar, "ROOOAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHAAAHHH!", BOOM! She slammed her fists on the ground, she used all her power and formed a crystal cocoon around Hange and her squad, protecting them, but she was unable to protect herself as a price, Annie screamed and Mikasa and Jean held her back, Eren protected them, "AILAAAA!".