Dedicated Chapter Song: Ghosts - PVRIS
I swear that I'll be fine, I 'll be fine in the daylight. If I change and I start to fade, and all the green in my eyes desaturate, it's my head not my hear that's strayed. I'm sorry I keep pushing you away.
(Anna)
"...they only have thirteen years to live after they Turn. Rose was at the end of her timeline. That's why she... that's why I ate her." Ruby explained just as Anna and Levi returned from the outside. "We need ODM gear." Anna stated coldly. "If we have any hope of getting out of here alive we'll need gear and weapons. Problem is: it's damn near impossible for us to obtain now. The Scouting Legion is being watched so we can't hope to go back to HQ and resupply—"
"I can get us some gear." Ruby exhaled. "Huh— you're too injured to go out!" Eren argued. "I can try to heal her." Anna spoke up quickly. "I mean... if I have that ability, I may as well use that to my advantage, right?"
"I still find that strange," Armin butted in. "No other Titan has the ability to heal, so how do you?"
Anna simply shrugged her shoulders. "I'm Abnormal." she carelessly stated. "Believe me, I don't even know anything about my real self anymore." she slammed her back against a wooden pillar. "My thoughts vary from moment to moment as I think that this is all pointless. Some days I think we should just let the Titans overrule us. That maybe...the world would be better that way. But... That's just not how it works, right?" she kept her eyes on the ground. "We have to keep fighting. It's in our blood. It doesn't matter who we are or who we believe in. Whether we believe in faith or a God, at the end of day we just need to believe in each other."
"Where are you going with this?" Levi asked.
Anna sucked in a breathe. "Yep. I knew you'd find my inspirational speech suspicious. I'm not good at them." she shook her head. "I'm saying that I think we need to hand ourselves over to my mother and the Ripper. Eren, Historia and I."
"What?!"
"Are you insane?!"
"That's a suicide mission!"
"We barely made it out alive!"
"There's no way!"
Anna stomped her foot on the ground. "Let me finish!" she barked, silencing them all. "I'm not saying we go in blind. I'm saying we come up with a plan that allows them to think they captured us again. We need to exploit their secrets and find out the truth behind the royal family and the Titans. I have a hunch that there's more to this my mother knows than she's leading on. As well," her eyes glanced at Historia. "We may be closer than you or I think."
"Armin and I can devise a plan as to how to safely let you all get kidnapped." Ruby spoke up.
"Brilliant. We have connections in Trost that can allow us some resources and intel. My guess is that Hanji is waiting there for us. We should rendezvous with her first. Damn...if only we had inside eyes in the Military Police."
"I've got some friends in the MP." Ruby informed, steam slowly beginning to rise from her pale skin. "Hitch Dreyse and Marlowe Freudenberg. They're good soldiers— well...Hitch is a little questionable— but I'm sure they'll be willing to help us out."
"You are just the best, Ruby." Anna exhaled.
"What about Hysteria?" Mikasa asked.
"What about her?" Anna shrugged her shoulders.
"Shouldn't we take precautions in case she appears?"
"Good point, Mika." Anna clicked her tongue. It was rare for Anna to ever be nice to Mikasa but lately she'd found that being related to her might have affected how she sees Mikasa. "Hmm... I suppose we could have a sedative at the ready just in case things get too messy."
"We also have to worry about turning into Titans." Eren spoke up.
"That's not AS big of a concern." Anna dismissively waved her hand. "They'd have to injure us and we'd have to want to turn. Though...it might be to our advantage."
"We need to be cautious about this." Levi advised. "Yeah...but if there's one thing I do know about all of this..." her eyes glared at Eren. "It's that you've got a lot more blood on your hands than any of us."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Eren blinked at her. "If my hunch is right... and I hate whenever it is... then the reason Reiner, Bertolt and Annie were after you is the same reason why Kenny and my mother are after you. I think...I think I'm going to unleash Hysteria... Maybe she can... Persuade them to tell me something valuable."
"Do you really think she'll tell any of us what she learned?" Jean asked.
"No. And I'm entirely unconscious while she's in control. No... I'll need somebody close by to be hiding and listening." her eyes slowly trailed over to Ruby.
"Me?!" the redhead gasped.
"I agree," Levi nodded. "There's no one else in our squad with the same silent skills as you, Lariviere. We'll have you go in undercover and listen to the conversation when these three are captured. Can you do that?"
"Of course, but—"
"Then it's settled." Anna crossed her arms. "Oh, and everyone," she raised her voice for everyone to hear her. "Should you run into that Cayden boy, don't hesitate to put a blade through his chest. That goes for all of you." her eyes locked on Armin's small frame.
"How long do we have until then?" Sasha asked.
"We'll leave tonight for Trost and resupply with Hanji— if she's still okay. Tomorrow we'll compile all our combined knowledge and go from there." she glanced over at her redhead of a friend. "You were saying something when we walked in. About Rose?"
Ruby blinked her tears away. "Yeah... um...Rose told me about this... she said that there's something with Titan Shifters. That...after they've finally Shifted into a human again from their Titan form... They've only got thirteen years left to live."
"What? Unlucky number thirteen? That's dumb." Anna scoffed.
"There's more." Ruby rubbed her arms. "The rule doesn't apply to just Rose. It applies to every Shifter." and just like that, the whole room went silent. "You...me...Eren..." Ruby clenched her teeth. "Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Ymir— the lot of us! It doesn't matter if we try to fight against it, as long as we're one of them we're dying soon anyways."
"N-No, we won't die..." Anna was suddenly nervously. "W-W-We took the century se—"
"The Century Serum is cancelled out by the Titan fluid." Ruby rebuked. "Face it, Anna, you're going to begin looking your age in a few years."
"Am I the only one worried about this?" Anna scoffed. Mikasa seemed to be worried for Eren's sake. "There has to be another way."
"We have thirteen years. There might be a cure somewhere." Ruby kicked her feet. "For now, we just need to figure out our current plan. To Trost."
Anna slowly exhaled. "To Trost." she agreed, her eyes quickly glancing at her husband, then down at her hands.
'Stupid bitch,' a voice echoed in the back of her head. 'You won't last long enough to even be a proper wife to him. You should just give up and die now.'
"Nngh... WHO SAID THAT?!" Anna aggressively spun on her heel to glare at her subordinates, all of them staring at her in shock.
"N-No one said anything..." Sasha spoke up.
"Anna, are you feeling okay?" Eren asked.
"Huh...? But...I thought..." she blinked. "I could've sworn..."
"You're just tired. You should sleep once we get to Trost." Armin suggested.
Anna dropped her head with a deep sigh. "Yeah...okay..."