Keith peered out the window, sipping loudly on his bourbon laced tea. Hanji, Mike and Erwin anxiously waited in the office for orders from their Commander. Storm clouds rolled above them, spouting arcs of lightning around the city with the highest concentration towards the fortification of Maria.
Mike inhaled sharply, "Something isn't right. I can smell a Titan."
"Adria shouldn't have taken this long; it's almost been a full day. Neal hasn't come back with a report either. . .we've received no Telegram from Sheena, should we suspect foul play?" Hanji scowled.
"Maybe it's Viktor, he could've found his way back to the city," Mike spread his arms. "This is the same sort of weather that would occur with a Shifter."
Erwin shook his head, interjecting, "We can't continue hoping for Mr Tybur's survival. . .especially if Adria couldn't save him. I propose two of us go to Sheena and the other survey the perimeter of Maria with the Garrison. Something is definitely off."
Keith grimaced as a Scout burst through the door of the office, panting in tow with a Garrison member. They gave a half-hearted solute and extended a letter to Keith. He drained the rest of his cup and read the rushed scrawl.
Commander,
Ms Jørgens and her guard were ambushed at the palace. A fight ensued and His Majesty is nowhere to be found. Military Police are in panic thinking that it was an assassination. Mr Yelts-Jørgens was captured and restrained in the square where a set of executions were scheduled. We cannot report on their status yet.
Garrison report a disturbance at Wall Maria, one of human origin. It is unconfirmed at this point, but witness say that Ms Jørgens is threatening a Titan transformation and your urgent assistance is required immediately. No soldier is able to get close to her without being knocked back by an invisible force.
For the glory of humanity.
Keith scrunched the parchment and threw his teacup at the wall, "We were baited!"
"Commander?" squeaked the envoy.
"Ready the horses, now."
Rather than splitting up as per Erwin's suggestion, Keith wanted the four to remain together, they were stronger that way. After Viktor's death, Keith began to doubt his own capabilities and strength—nobody could be trusted and there was only safety in numbers.
What Keith could assume as a once bustling crowd, were silent on either side of the iron gates to the aristocracy. Reinforcements of Military Police made a boundary for their horses, none of them dared to meet Keith's eyes. Though, Nile leaned against the ajar gate with a rifle slung over his shoulder and a damp piece of paper—no doubt the same letter Keith received.
"What the fuck is going on?" Keith pulled his horse to a stop.
"Shadis. . .I didn't order this," Nile shook his head. "These men took their orders directly from His Majesty, I had no part in it."
"In what?" Erwin reared his horse in agitation.
Nile couldn't form words, he simply stepped aside and motioned for them to enter.
Thunder roared above them and brought a cascade of rain. Hanji and Mike shared gasps whilst Erwin trot his horse a few metres away from the scene. Keith felt what was left of his heart bounce through the hollow of his ribcage—he'd made many promises to his predecessor and one of them was to watch over the welfare of his family. Keith failed once with Gregory's murder and now a second with Anastasia.
Keith dismounted and approached the wooden stage slowly. Anastasia Yelts lay on her back, limbs sprawled like a discarded rag doll. The bullet was a clean singular shot between her brows and had exited cleanly through the back of her head. Her expression was somewhat peaceful, but it was offset by the speckles of blood staining her clothing and porcelain skin. Keith knelt down and tucked a portion of brown hair behind her ear.
"I'm sorry Brant," he whispered.
Turning his attention to the other corpse, he gave a small solute to Harrison's body and smirked at the unrecognisable body of the unfortunate Military Police member beside him.
Nile shadowed him, sighing, "Burchard Rolf. . .one of the Thirty-Fifth. We're assuming that was Adria's work."
"How could you not have known about this?" Keith snarled. "You're the Commander of the Military Police. . .your men must have collected Anastasia Yelts and her partner from Civil District."
"I–I don't know," Nile averted his eyes. "I came when I saw the explosion but by then. . .it was too late."
"Explosion?" Keith removed his coat despite the fresh sheet of rain beating against them. He gently lifted Anastasia's body and draped it around her body.
"My men believe it was Ms Jørgens," Nile shrugged. "Neal won't tell us anything, we have him in custody for his own good, he's a raving lunatic."
"Deliver him to Trost, I will deal with him later," Keith stood, giving one final glance to Anastasia. "Oh, and Nile? I'd watch my back if I were you. . .Adria will be out for blood for whoever sanctioned this assassination, and my guess is that you'll be her first target. Farewell."
"W–w–what? But I told you I had nothing to do with this! Shadis? Wait!"
Keith remounted his horse and nudged it towards the gate without another word.
"None of this makes sense. Did His Majesty bring Adria here to witness her mother's execution? There were no charges," Hanji queried. "And look, the storm's worsening."
"We better get to her quick before she destroys all of us," Mike charged ahead.
* * *
Clouds circled overhead in an anti-clockwise motion above Adria. Her wires lost their hold against the wall and her blades hung loosely at her sides. Her head was thrown back and the animalistic scream seemed to have no end. She was suspended in mid-air above the wall surrounded by flashes of multicoloured lightening.
Mike got to her first and propelled himself to the ground below. Beneath Adria, muscular Titan legs reinforced by bone-like spikes and armour had appeared. With each lightning strike or rumble of thunder, particles of muscle and tissue manifested and coiled themselves around the pre-existing limbs to grow the calves—if they didn't stop it, they'd have a new Titan to deal with.
He braced himself against the raging storm and struck his wires into the ground by the Titan's ankles. Biting hard into the leather covering his shoulder to maintain his focus, Mike swung his blades back and struck. However, before they could properly make contact with the steaming flesh, an invisible force seemed to be pushing back against his swords causing the steel to splinter before breaking the blade entirely. Mike quickly dove out of the way to avoid impalement and signalled with a black flare that they weren't dealing with a normal Titan.
Hanji adjusted their goggles and made a B-line to Adria. They didn't bother arming themselves, Hanji wanted to incapacitate Adria with the hilt of the mechanism. But again, as soon as Hanji got within reach of Adria, she was thrown back towards the wall.
Mike shot back up, panting, "What the fuck are we supposed to do?"
"She's snapped completely, her mother's death has pushed her over the edge. This is the power of Brant Yelts," Keith shielded his eyes from another pulse of lightning, extending the Titan's form further. "Fighting with force clearly won't work, so we'll have to change our approach."
It was a gamble to Keith, but he couldn't risk trying to kill Adria—he knew her motives better than that. Even in an inhibited state, there was only one emotion Adria ran on which fuelled her secondary feelings like anger or sadness; love. He knew Adria was an emotional creature and wanted to exploit that, her emotions could be used to send her off the deep end of have her tranquil. His Majesty knew that Viktor's death put her in a vulnerable position and decided to put the final nail in the coffin. While Keith was at a loss of what to do without Viktor as he had been Adria's trump card for a while, his eyes shifted to Erwin.
His blonde undercut flailed wildly around his eyes as he stared up at Adria, his expression unreadable.
Keith had kept his subordinate on a tight leash but wondered if he let Erwin ingrain his way into Adria like a parasite, Viktor's loss could be controlled. He'd stopped Erwin on numerous occasions jumping to Adria's side, intercepting small tokens of affection and reminding Erwin of his place—though, in hindsight, he should have cultivated the obvious attraction as a back-up in case Viktor were gone.
From the moment she'd shown worth as an adolescent, Erwin was fascinated. Keith knew there were other motives behind Erwin's devotion, but he facilitated the behaviour. He allowed Mike and Erwin to watch over Adria and Viktor during their training for the precise reason to manipulate Adria. Her lustful glances had not gone unnoticed, nor did the rumour-mill of the Survey Corps. Keith had heard countless trivia of Erwin and Adria's assumed intimacy, while there was no substance to back up their claims, Keith could understand their perception—whenever they were in a room together, perhaps without even knowing, Adria and Erwin gravitated together much to Viktor's displeasure. Whenever Viktor was unavailable, Erwin was there in his place.
Keith grinned darkly, "Erwin, you need to woo her."
He took a step back in confusion, "Commander? I don't believe this is the appropriate time to discuss feelings!"
Adria's Titan obtained a lower half as her animalistic scream continued; they were running out of time.
"I don't want to repeat myself, Smith," Keith folded his arms. "Do it."
Keith was hedging his bet that the outburst would affect Adria in some way, like how Viktor's first transformation erased that portion of memory. He theorised that through the sheer amount of power emanating from her body and how lines of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and nose proposed a physical toll—if she were to lose a portion of her memory, Keith was going to exploit that and use Erwin as her new catalyst.
He understood Erwin's hesitation, every obvious advancement he made in the past had been reprimanded harshly. But Keith gave a warm smile and nodded amidst the chaos.
Erwin disarmed himself and went down on both knees, appearing subservient as possible. Keith noticed in silent delight that the storm clouds had stopped their movements and the rain had dulled to a light shower.
"Adria!" he called up to her. "I know you have lost so much and your distrust in others is warranted, but do not lose your light! You're not alone in this. . .remember I lost everyone I cared about too, until I found you. Your passion and determination inspired me to push through even on my worst days, I admire you for that."
For a brief moment Keith thought Adria opened her eyes, but she remained suspended in the air.
"Your loss does not define you, what you make of it does. I promised you once before that I will follow you everywhere and that you deserve more than anyone to succeed me. I just need you to realise how beautiful you are, mind, body and soul. . ."
To everyone's shock, Erwin propelled up to Adria and captured her in his arms. As quickly as her rampage came, the thunder and lightning vanished immediately and in a gust of wind, the protective barrier shattered revealing shards of reflective glass. He whispered something in Adria's ear and for the first time in years, Keith could see how vulnerable she looked.
Tears streamed down her face as Erwin held her before her subconscious claimed her.
* * *
Erwin watched the funeral pier from her secluded quarters. His lips turned down; he knew what was to come next. He and Keith had been close with the Yelts family for years and Anastasia's death spelt the end of that legacy, Erwin knew that Keith was going to officially pass the title of Commander down to him. He didn't want to be responsible to clean up for the mess his project made so he was going to give the burden to Erwin.
In the brief moments of consciousness, Erwin knew that Adria had many holes in her memory from the partial transformation—the extent of which remained uncertain. He knew it would be detrimental to them if she'd lost all ability to remember, but Keith seemed to be confident in whatever was to unfold.
The door opened and Keith came in holding a candle, tie-free and tired, "Anything?"
Erwin shrugged, "She asked for Viktor at one point, the rest has been mindless dribble. . ."
He chuckled, "Fabulous news, we can use that to our advantage. Besides, the Thirteenth Commander is only as good as the woman beside him, why do you think I'm fucking hopeless?"
Erwin shifted in the chair and lowered the towelette from Adria's forehead, "What're you implying?"
"This was strategic. Despite Adria's advantages, Viktor's death was the catalyst for disaster. This is our opportunity for a clean slate and to rewire her. . .it also provides an opportunity for new leadership. Congratulations, Thirteenth Commander!" Keith burst into a fit of laughter.
Erwin's jaw hung open in disbelief.
"Don't look at me like that, Smith. Adria's time to rule will come, but not right now. We need to figure out the Marlian infiltration and more about the Titans. I've organised your coronation a week from now and a suite in Sheena for you and Adria to share until we can figure out how badly she's been incapacitated."
He shook his head slightly, "I–I don't understand. . .you want me to lie to her?"
"No, I want you to be in a relationship. It's the type of stability you both need. I'm not stupid Erwin I've seen the way you look at her and the sick delight of knowing Viktor is out of the way didn't go unnoticed. You've wanted her for a while, you just didn't know how to go about it."
Erwin grimaced slightly, "I–I don't know. . .I don't want to take advantage of her, she's vulnerable."
"Think of it this way, if she didn't care about you, she could've easily summoned her Titan form and killed you, but she didn't. You saved her, and ironically she saved you," Keith grinned. "I will be in contact with the information we'll disclose to her once she's conscious. . .and once again, congratulations Thirteenth Commander."
* * *
Erwin's coronation proved to be Adria's biggest test. Her arrival came as a surprise to the majority of the Survey Corps and was regarded with harsh whispers. Manly thought her relocation to Sheena meant that she had been promoted to Military Police. She stood in Erwin's shadow wearing a white button-up blouse and form fitting black leather pants. Her glossy knee-high boots accentuated the curvature of her legs which had a few of the men start whispers of their own. Brant's pendant hung loosely above the cleft of her breaths, visible beneath the almost transparent shirt.
Erwin remained stoic on the stage dressed in his usual attire but with the addition of a Lapis Lazuli inlaid pin around his neck. Keith saluted him with a chuckle, one which Erwin mimicked with less intensity. Unlike Keith, Erwin had popularity on his side—whether it be his regal looks or his determined attitude, his coronation renewed the spark which the Survey Corps had lacked since Viktor's death.
Garrison members along the walls tossed down flower petals in celebration, picked from the gardens in Sheena while the MP huffed and gave small applause.
Adria cheered and fisted her hand over her heart, her smile seemed to add another dimension of colour to the area. The rose petals seemed more vibrant; the scent of flowers far stronger. There were no bags beneath her eyes, no look of distrust. . .Erwin wondered if the memory loss was her saving grace.
He inclined his head to her, and Adria went on her tiptoes to place a braided crown of flowers and olive leaves. It dropped slightly over his brows, but he adjusted it with a flick of his chin towards his troops tacking up his battle cry, "Offer your hearts!"
Instead of taking the carriage to the surrounding districts and parading Erwin, he made the decision to cut the celebrations short. Hanji and Mike tried to convince him that a round of ale and cards would be welcomed, but he declined. Instead, he and Adria walked around Sheena.
Her arms were wrapped around his bicep like an anchor, but her touch alone couldn't alleviate the tension between his shoulders.
"W–what's wrong?" Adria blew a flossy strand from her face.
Erwin looked everywhere but her, still wearing his laurel and shiny pin signifying his rank. He didn't answer her for a long while, they walked past coffee shops which had women pressed against the windows squealing congratulations and complementing his handsomeness. Children danced around the street cheering, saying that they couldn't wait to be like him one day.
Adria looked between the gawking women that they passed and then down at herself. Their gowns and smocks were vibrant in colour and from the finest materials, their hair and faces made up to perfection. And what did she have to offer? Skin-tight pants and a vapid sex-appeal. Her face was free of makeup and her floss coloured hair fell in a wave just below her breasts—perhaps she didn't fit his idea of perfection.
"Is. . .is it me?" Adria stopped walking, tears prickling at her eyes. "D–d–did I embarrass you at the ceremony?"
Erwin frowned at her, "What? By the Walls of course not, I wouldn't have gone if it weren't for you."
"Really?" she averted her eyes.
Without breaking his mask of impassivity, Erwin dropped to one knee to diminish his height. One hand cupped her face whilst the other parted the collar of her blouse to expose Brant's pendant. Her cheeks flared red at the thought of her white lace bra being on display, but it was nothing he hadn't seen before since living together.
His index finger pressed the cold turquoise into her breastbone, "My mind will never change. . .you are born to lead the Survey Corps and I will follow you anywhere. If I could give my title up I would, but I have a tenure. . .and the expectation of success."
"You've never failed before and you won't start now," Adria leaned into his hand. "But I mean it, if I embarrassed you, I'm sorry, I suppose the flower crown was a juvenile idea. . .I know how much public perception means to you."
He shook his head, "Youmatter more."