Flashback
Outside in the mist, Annie was kicking a dummy, practicing her kick with her father present" That's good, Annie" he praised" I expect the best from my daughter." He said, she was starting to get tired, and was huffing and puffing"Move! Who told you it was time to rest?" She immediately went back to kicking the dummy
Flashback end
Annie wakes up to find hers in the room she was sharing with someone, to find herself completely alone
" hold on. You mean you haven't heard? The titan kid and those big shot handlers of his have been summoned to the capital, which means they'll be passing through here today, and their bringing one of those power freaks with them, the girl" One of the citizens say to the other one, The other citizen looks at him, "Is that so? Well. Then maybe this time they'll just dissect him along with a girl and get it over with." The other citizen shifts in his spot, " I just hope They don't stir up trouble, I say let them pass through and seal the gate shut behind them!."At this, another citizen drops his bag on the ground as a wall-shipper rushes over, "Infidel! To even suggest ceiling the gates!" The one who dropped his bag turns to his left to see the wall-shipper grabbing his shoulders, "the hands of heretics must never taint the sanctity of our wall!" The three citizens look down at the wall-shippers necklace
as he starts to shriek at them, "Maria, Rose, Sina to even think of defiling the three goddesses! We tempt the specter of damnation!" The wall-shipper let's go and begins to yell out to everybody.A citizen, who was behind him, places his hand on the other guy's shoulder, whispering, "These lunatics all worship the walls as if they're some kind of gods, it creeps me out" Behind those two soldiers, another one mutters, walking away, " damn cult. Can't believe they're still around."
"lets go."And the three walk off as the wall-shipper continues to preach,
Stohess District, Military Police Brigade Branch Office...
Annie walks down the wooden stairs as a girl turns and smirks, "Look Finally awake, you look so terrifying when you're asleep I didn't dare disturb you. Prob'ly should've. sorry." A boy with a bowl-cut hair glances at Annie and looks ahead of himself, "You've been pretty lax in your duties, recently."Annie doesn't say anything but stares down at the ground, making the girl from before cock her head,
"Look, Marlo. You've upset her..." hitch said in an upset voice, or mockingly
" she's antisocial, not upset"
"Knock it off, you guys. She thought in the battle of trust before coming here"The girl and boy turn to see another boy looking at Annie and back at them, "Which makes her the only one of us has ever seen any real action. She's just been through hell. Probably takes time to readjust."The girl smirks once more as Annie leans against the wall like all the other soldiers,
"Ah! So. You have a crush on the new girl, hah? She chuckles, " what could you possibly see in her?" The boy replies, "I dunno know Hitch, Maybe it's that she got into the MP is based on skill, unlike some I could mention."Hitch raises a brow, still plastering the smirk on her face, "Oh, I don't know what you're implying. Why don't you clarify?." The bowl-cut haired boy shushes the two as he hears footsteps approaching, "Thats enough, you two "
The soldiers salute as one of the captains approaches Hitch, muttering, "great. thanks guys," He pulls out a piece of paper and announces to the Military soldiers, "I called you all here because I've got actual work for you today. Not just the same old crap. It's got something to do with the scouts being summoned to the capital.Sometime today, they'll be passing through town along the main street, HQ has already provided a security details. So where only being asked to assist under the convoys clear. ODM use in the city Ltd has been authorities. Your follow beside the convoy, as additional security. There is a barge waiting to take you to the starting point. Dismissed" The soldiers place their hands behind their backs as the bowl-cut haired guy questioned, "sir! A question, if I may?" The captain raises a brow, "Hm? Go ahead"
"What exactly are we supposed to be protecting this convoy from, Sir?"The captain cocks his head a bit, making him restate, "It's just that I've never heard of anyone defying the government. They're just glad to be safe. There are petty criminals, sure. But I find it hard to imagine any actual organisation existing within the walls that would attempt to strike. I mean, what possible motive would they have?"The captain lowers the paper in his hands and approaches him."Man! Aren't you serious? You can be in charge of this." He shoves the notes to his chest, " Everything you need to know it's right in here." The captain walks off, leaving him confused and flabbergasted. He looks up to see the captain about to leave, "We officers are busy enough as it is. Prove that you can handle this when yourselfs" The captain opens the door, "oh, And you better not screw it up, got it?" He enters the room and closes it behind him, "Sorry, bout that. Back to business, whose turn was it?" The captain questions his comrades, as they were playing poker and drinking booze
Outside
Annie and the three were near a fountain as the bowl-cut boy groans, "Damn, This stinks!." Hitch sighs, " got that right. The amount of slacking that goes on in this outfit is even more than I imagined. I mean, that is why I chose to join, but still. I might of thought twice if I'd known That meant the Rookies got stuck doing all the work all the time. Seriously, wish someone would've warned me." "Bastards. All irresponsible, self absorbed in Brussels! All of them!..."
"Hmm. So what's that make you, marlo? You chose to join the military police. You're a slag just like the rest of us." Marlowe turns and looks down at the soldier from before and retorts, " your wrong boris! I'm Nothing like the rest of you to degenerates! I joined up because the military police is in dire need of repair!" Annie gives Marlowe a side look as Hitch claps, "Wow. That was great,marlo! Never paid you for the Crusader type!" She stops and places her hands on her hips as the boy questions him, "just how would you fix it?"
Marlowe sighs, "working my way to the top, of course." Marlowe looks down at his hand and forms it into a fist, "and Then once I'm in charge. I can install a new system to make sure all those who are dishonest pay for their transgressions. It's as simple as that, The MPs just need a little discipline, and nothing more. Oh shape them back into the people they're supposed to be, And I will become just like my idol! Legendary officer victor romanoff!"
There was a pause until Hitch started to laugh hysterically. She falls to her knees and starts to slap her hand against the concrete, still laughing, "wow. That's is something! And I thought you were a total buzzkill before!"
Soldiers look at her from afar for a moment as the boy stands, He says, "Well, that's a rather lofty ideal. So y'know, good luck with that, but you do realise that man died."
" that man was practically a legend, the mp needed more people like him, he knew how to act like a proper mp" marlo glared
" what's the point..." Soldiers turn to Annie as they finally see her speak, "I think if I do-gooder like you Was actually put in charge of this regiment you'd quickly find yourself working alone." Marlowe furrows his brows, "really? That's the first thing you open your mouth to say?" Annie just shrugs, " don't get me wrong, I don't doubt your sincerity. I know conviction when I see it. You're not the first person I've met who thought they could take on the world change things for the better. It takes a lot of courage to go against the flow." She referee to they speech latina gave at the graduation ceremony, but they didn't know about it or her " I respect that. Of course, it could be that you're all just a bunch of fools ."
"They might be, but don't go lancing me in with them! Is that understood?." Marlowe hisses as Annie only stares at him. He crosses his arms and states, "bah! Enough chitchat. Let's go!" With that, they head to their duties.
Somewhere
"The escort wagons are scheduled to pass through the outer gate in 45 minutes. Once we arrive, everyone take your positions. Got it?" Marlowe states as Hitch waves him off, "Yeah, yeah." She lets out a yawn and stretches until she bumps into Marlowe, who stops. She yells at him, "Hey! Watch it bud!" Her small anger disappears when she notices a wagon and crates in front of the two, "What's going on? That's all the gear." She questions as the boy from earlier approaches the two, ". Shipping it to the interior?" boris says
"Isn't it a bit strange having the merchants guild conduct the transport? What are they up to?..." Marlowe watches as a man pulls out a bag of coins. A soldier digs in the bag and pulls one out, inspecting it as Marlowe gasps, "are those bastards Illegally selling government property?!" He stomps himself over as the boy exclaims, "hey, this isn't our assignment!" Hitch's smirk crawls back to her face, "look at him! Crusading man is the genuine article!"
"Well, I suppose we have the time to spare. I bet this will be entertaining."As the boat sails away with the equipment, one of the superior soldiers turns to his fellow comrade and questions, "and say we've earned a drink! Hmm?" As they grin, they notice a figure approaching, making the two turn and raise a brow when seeing Marlowe, "what do you think you're lookin' at? Huh, rookie?"Marlowe stutters, "You— You can't sell government equipment, it's against the law!." They just continue to stare at him with their raised brows, "is that so?" Marlowe looks taken aback from this, "Supplies all the properties of the hard-working citizens who pay for them with their taxes. And that means—"One of the soldiers cuts him off by laughing loudly, "Believe this business? A rocky blackmailing his superior officers!." He digs into his money pouch " i'm thinking you got a bright future ahead of you, kid" The soldier walks over to him and places a coin in his pocket, "You spend it on a girl, alright? Shall help you unwind." As they begin to walk off, Marlowe glares at them and starts to go after them, "Wait! Hey!" He grabs one of the soldier's shoulders and yells, "what you did was against the law!--"The other soldier grabs his gun and uses the end of it to push Marlowe back. He steps back as he gets swung by the gun in the face this time. The gun drops to the floor along with him. They glare down at him as one of them kicks him in the stomach
They continuously beat him up as the other's watch with worry. Annie, though, was unfazed by this and started to make her way over to them.
" hey wait!" Boris tried to stop her
They finally stop as one yawns, "Your under arrest For a treasonable offence against an officer." Marlowe pushes himself from the ground and sits, "Blatant this regard for the rule of law-" He grunts, " is standard procedure! So is this!" The soldier goes to hit him again, Annie stops his arm from doing so. "he's had enough, don't you think, sir?" She states nonchalantly
as the soldier looks over at her. No emotion was shown other than the blank face she always wore. Hitch comes running in and confesses, "so sorry about that Fellas! I hope our idiot hasn't caused you too much trouble, will be sure to drive the lesson home don't you worry. Less of course" She eyes to the crowd a few feet away" you'd rather have... I'm much bigger problem on your hands" soldier's sweat a bit before looking at her, "just this once." " sir!" They then walk off, telling each other, " so,about that drink"."Yeah, I worked up quite the first!" Hitch sighs as Marlowe stare down at his lap, 'till noticing the gun that was left behind. His shaking hand goes to grab it, wanting to shoot those soldiers, but he stops when he hears Annie, "go ahead" He looks over to see her staring at the soldiers, continuing her question, "aren't you going to make the dishonest pay for the transgressions? I'm not entirely opposed to helping you out with that"
"Is it me, or do those serving girls get prettier with every sip??" One of the guys said as they walked away
His pupils grow smaller as he reaches out for the gun again, but he instead, slams his hand against the pavement and screams, "Dammit!"A citizen looks over at Hitch and says, " hey, little lady! You working hard? Or hardly working?." She turns to them and shakes her head, "are you boys are all the same!." As her and the citizen continue to talk, Annie looks down at the ground as Marlowe mumbles to her, "those people you know. The other "fools" you mentioned. Would they have done it?"
" they might've."By now, everyone was gone except for the two as Marlowe gasps lightly and sighs, "I wanted to be brave. To go against the flow. But when it comes down to it, I'm just another piece of scum being swept away by the current" She shrugs, "Not sure what to say about that. maybe.dot dot that's just a part of what it means to be ordinary" marlo looks up at her " Simply going with the flow is that so bad? To some people it makes you weak, but an ordinary person is all I want to be0 simply going with the flow is that so bad? To some people it makes you weak, but an ordinary person is all I want to be"
Latina pov
Me and armin hid in an ally, where they figured they'd see Annie from " you ready Latina?" He asked me
" I'm not sure...but let's just get this over with" I answered, I still didn't want to believe Annie was the female titan, I noticed he was staring back at me still
" what's wrong?" I asked " how are your injuries?" He asked " it's fine, I'm slowly healing" I smiled sheepishly " I still can't believe you used so much of your power, and are still standing, you shouldn't have stayed behind to fight" he said In a sad tone
" hey, I'm still alive aren't I?" I said nudging him " barely, commander Donna said you almost killed yourself....just...don't do that again...we don't want to loose you..." his bands covering his eyes, i then realised' I messed up...big time...' I took his hand, confusing him " what are you doing?..." he asked, then placed it over my heart " w-what are you doing?!" He exclaimed, his face becoming flushed " can you feel it?" I asked " huh?"
" my heart beat, can you feel it?" I repeated " y-yeah" he stuttered " as long as it still beats, I'm still here fighting" I smiled " so don't worry" I said letting go of his hand
" also, how are you feeling about...the situation earlier..." he asked, I frowned " those guys are idiots... hanji and grayson confirmed I was with them, drake and eren the night the titans were killed, I didn't even know where they were keeping the Titans until they were found dead...I didn't even know my gear wasn't my own..."
' another reason why I didn't want to join the mp's' I gripped my forearm, and flinched when I felt him place a hand on my shoulder " don't worry, nothings gonna happen to you, I promise" I smiled and he smiled back
Just then we heard Footsteps approach us, and Annie rounds the corner and gasps. "Hey, Annie," I say with a small smile."So, you're a full-fledged member of the Military Police now?" Armin asks with a frown."Armin... Latina..." she whispers in shock, and we nod to her. She looks over us before narrowing her eyes a fraction
. "So, uh... what's with the outfits?"
"Why we're in the rain gear, you mean? It's a makeshift disguise, needed to conceal our ODM gear," Armin responds, and we both open our jackets to show her our gear. "See?"Annie frowns while Armin and I remove our hoods
. "What's this about?" she inquires monotonously.Armin and I exchange a glance before I look at the blonde woman. "Annie, we need your help. We have a plan for Eren and Latina to escape, and we're hoping you'll help us," Armin explain, and she narrows her eyes at me.
'Dammit, she's probably wondering why I'd ask for help when I'm aware of who she is'
"wait, Escape to where? Stuck behind these walls, where could you possibly hide that they won't find you?" Annie asks us."We'll only need to hide him for a short while. This isn't a mutiny; we have every intention of returning. View this as a few loyal Scouts staging a small act of protest. It's a stall tactic; we need time to gather enough evidence to overrun the Councils ruling about Eren. That's all we want," Armin tells her."You two are serious about this? How can you be sure the evidence exists? And what is it?"
"I-I can't say... I'm sorry."
'This isn't gonna go well' I frown slightly while Annie stares at us.
She lets out a sigh and looks down. "Sorry, Armin, Latina, I'm going to have to decline. My lips are sealed though. Best of luck."Annie turns around and starts walking away, making me sigh. "Annie, please, help us. If Eren and Latina are handed over to the authorities, they'll kill them. We can't have that. The government doesn't understand how useful they are for saving humanity. Plus... do you want them to die?" He ask, and she stops but keeps her back to us.
"I'm sorry. The last thing we want is to cause you grief, but, well, the only way to sneak him through the Wall Sina checkpoints is with the help of someone in the Military Police. It's... our only hope," I says, and she looks over her shoulder at us."But why me? Do I really look like that good of a person to you two?" she asks us."A good person? I don't know. Actually, I've never placed much value on those sorts of labels. The way I see it- good is merely a word applied to people who are convenient to our needs in some way. It's purely subjective."
"Every villain is a hero in their own eyes, right? Labels just dehumanize people, but if you still choose to say no to our request- then I think Armin and I can both agree that you'd be a bad person in our eyes," I state with a frown.Annie stares at me for a few seconds before removing the rifle that was on her back and leaning it against the wall beside her. "All right," she says, and Armin's eyes widen before he averts his gaze with a guilty frown.She turns around and slips something out of her pocket, my eyes narrowing when I see the glint of metal. 'Is that a ring? What the hell is she planning?' I frown before walking past her."Let's find Eren and Mikasa," I mutter, raising my hood up again before leading Annie and Armin to where the other two are waiting
Time skip still violets pov
"We made it. I can't believe it was so easy." Eren breathed, disregarding Mikasa's short word of warning. "The military police hard at work - I'm almost surprised they bothered to show up at all."
"Let's just keep moving." Mikasa said, trying to get Eren to shut up, however to no avail."Hopefully they haven't noticed my stand in yet either. It's not gonna hold up under close scrutiny. After all, Jean and I look nothing alike."
"It's close enough!" Armin reasoned tiredly.
"You both have that same angry scowl and the same bolder sized chip on your shoulder."
"And you both have the same angry faces, end the same attitude." I teased."Yeah well I don't have his horse face!" Eren bit back quietly
."Hey," Annie interrupted dryly. "So if I had refused to help you guys out, then what was your plan B for getting over the wall?"
"We would've used our ODM gear to barge right through the check point." Armin whispered."That's stupid, why didn't you just avoid all this trouble in the first place? You could've escaped before reaching Stohess, right? I mean, why wait till now?"
"I felt that this towns complex layout would allow us to squeeze a bit more time out of our body double ploy." Armin explained. "Of course, a head on assault is ill advised, so as long as the convoy acts like it's following orders, then everyone keeps their defences down."
"I see. It's a very good plan." Annie said shortly."There it is!" I exclaimed quietly with a smile, relived to finally reach our destination. ran over to a set of stairs that led down into a stingy looking tunnel" clear" I called out, Mikasa, Eren, Armin and Annie hurried to meet me."Here?" Annie asked."Yeah. We'll pass through here." Armin started down the stairs, and Mikasa, Eren and I followed. "It's what remains of an underground city they were planning to build way back when. And, if I'm right, it should lead us to the vicinity of the outer gate."
"Nice work Armin, that's amazing." Eren praised. He suddenly turned and stopped. Annie was still standing at the top of the stairs. Her usually empty expression held a little fear. The anxiety in my stomach turned to dread."Annie? What's the matter? You aren't afraid of dark, cramped spaces or anything, are you?" Eren asked harshly
."So what? So what if I am?" Her voice seemed harder then usual, in a broken way. "I wouldn't expect a suicidal maniac like you to understand. You don't know what it is to be an ordinary girl, crippled with fear!" Her voice was now fake, filled with what was intended to be fear, but now sounded like she was performing in a dramatic play
."A girl who can flip a full grown man upside down has nothing to fear from the dark. Cut the crap and let's move." Eren insisted roughly
I half winced at the harshness of his words, but moved along side him, only to be drawn to a stop by Annie's next words."No. I refuse. I'm too afraid. Above ground, I'll help. Otherwise, the deal's off."Our small group was stuck in tension filled silence.
I looked up at my friend from the past few years, and I felt my eyes started to water."Annie, c'mon." I said lightly, although my voice shook with desperation. "You're tough as nails, there's nothing that can stop you. C'mon. You've got us here, right? You've got me."
"No."
"Quit being stubborn, damnit!" Eren burst out, his expression frantic. "Just get the hell down here, move! We're running out of time, alright!"
"Stop shouting, someone will hear you!" Mikasa scolded."I'm sure it's fine, Mikasa." Annie's voice was back to it's normal dullness, the fake emotion she was exerting earlier gone. "It seems that for whatever reason, this place, has been completely deserted."My heart fell out of my mouth. We'd been discovered. I had to stop my eyes from darting around behind her, from going over the places I knew a number of people were hiding.
"That hurts me. It really does." She said softly. "The way you're looking at me now. If I didn't know better I'd say you didn't trust me, hey Armin?"
"Annie, tell me." Armin started. "What were you doing with Latina' old ODM gear?"I let out a soft gasp along side Eren and Mikasa.
'No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.....' "It had all the same dents and scrapes. See, I helped her with maintenance with Marco, so I know you used it."
"Yes. I found it. Found it and took it." She said softly after a short pause. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
'But I thought I was wearing my gear, but really this was hers? Then who's gear is she wearing now?!'
"Then.. the two titans we had in custody, it was you that killed them!" Armin's voice was disbelieving
."No one knows. But if you suspected all of this a month ago, why did you wait this long to say anything?"
"Because even now it's difficult. I just didn't want... I didn't want to believe that I was right... so I stayed quiet...but framing Latina was the last thing I'd expected you to do..." Armin's voice was shaking harshly now, but it was still clear and determined, however laced with grief
. "But then, out in the field, the fact that you didn't kill me then and there, that's the fact that set us on the path to our current situation..."Silence wrapped around us."Yes," Annie at last said quietly
"We're here because my body control came back for a moment,... let you live. But of course, I never dreamed that you'd end up cornering me like this....my memories....Why... why didn't I do anything then?" I caught a look of confusion and regret on her face, what was she talking about?
although behind her eyes, she was lost
."Annie, please!" Eren yelled desperately. "You've taken this too far enough! Just tell us that this is some horrible prank, it's not too late! C'mon, we'll understand! Come down, let's talk! You can prove to us that we're mistaken by walking down these stairs! Prove we're wrong to accuse you!"
"We both know I can't. Like I told you, I don't have the constitution for it."
"Annie stop, we're talking about a matter of life and death!" Eren burst out."Work with us Annie! We can work this out like human beings!" Armin yelled as well
."Annie, please! I wanna help you" I begged also. "Please just come down, we can fix this!"
"Enough." Mikasa's voice was cold as she threw off her rain gear and drew her blade
. "I'm not listening to another word of this. No point. I'm going to carve you up again, do you understand me, titan?!"It was silent, before Annie started laughing. A genuine smile spread across her face, as her girlish cackles filled the air.
Her laughs finally ceased and she let out a gentle hum
I never. Ever. Heard her laugh. Like that.
Ever.
"You know Armin, it's nice that I could be a good person for you and Latina. For now at least, it looks like you won your bet. But I'm going to gamble too, and here's my wager!" Annie drew her finger to her lips.Armin have a startle and hurriedly lifted his hand which was holding a flare gun and he fired it in to the sky.
Upon receiving the signal, about ten people, charged at Annie off rooftops and behind crates, tackling the blond shifter mere meters away from me.
They gagged her, and as Eren tried to walk towards Annie, Mikasa pushed him back.
Annie's eyes flashed as she flicked her finger, and the glow of the sun bounced off of the sharp spike sticking out of her ring. Mikasa immediately grabbed the back of Eren and Armin's cloaked ."Annie no!" I cried out
."What are you-?!" Armin shrieked at Mikasa only to be cut off. His wide blue eyes were filled with panic."It's too late!" Mikasa argued back. I got knocked back before I could charge forward and stop her. Annie took a breath before slicing her thumb, and the air around her began to explode as bolt of lightening stuck where she stood.Yells erupted around me as I was thrown in to the tunnel below, and I didn't see as the people who were trying to hold Annie down were thrown up in the air, screaming. Tears fell from my eyes as my ears continued to ring
' anine...what have you done...'