God & Demon - XVIII (Patreon)

A Cruel World

As he was dragged by Mikasa, Eren rushed down the stairs to escape his fourteen meters tall female predator, however he stopped for a moment to watch the transformation take place, and widened his eyes in horror. The bodies of the scouts who had tried to capture Annie were scattered on the ground and steps. Actually, they weren't bodies anymore, just shapeless piles of flesh and bones, with faces frozen in horror and terror. . Jaeger looked up to see the body of the Female Titan forming around Annie, the blonde giantess who had slaughtered all those soldiers in the Forest was now back. And something in Eren's gut told him that this time would be even worse than the last.

“Oh, my God.” He whispered in terror.

His eyes widened as the Female Titan's hand plunged into the broken corridor, missing him by inches. Mikasa pulled him out of her reach while Armin was already on their heels. Fortunately for them, Annie's arm was not long enough to catch them. Quickly, the limb was retracted to disappear from the field of vision of the three young soldiers.

"Damn it!" Armin cursed as he ran. "This ring! She must have known I was lying to her from the very beginning. She knew we were leading her into a trap. I could have… I should have tried a different approach!"

“Keep your regrets until we're outside,” Mikasa ordered, still a little confused by her friend's statement and Annie's mockery. "We must decide what we do now!"

Armin nodded as he gritted his teeth.

"All right. First of all, we’ll rendezvous with squad 3. Then, we go back up to fight her in the open."

He looked at his best friend.

"That means we're moving on to plan B, She's all yours, Eren. Understood?"

“Yeah.” He replied, still in shock.

"This way!" A member of Squad 3 shouted, waving his hand.

"What happened? Is Plan A a failure?"

“I’m afraid so,” Armin replied. "We need to move on to plan B immediately!"

A giant foot pierced the ceiling, and crushed squad 3. The impact was so violent that it caused a dust storm that briefly covered the trio. Armin wiped away a coughing fit before opening his eyes to see the Female Titan’s limb slowly rise back into the light, leaving crushed bodies behind.

“She smashed into the ceiling.” The little blond said, horrified. "Why?"

Eren mechanically advanced towards the victims.

“We need to get them out of here,” he declared before Mikasa grabbed his hoodie and pulled him back.

“Eren, don’t!” She scolded.

"What? No, wait!"

The shapeshifter tried to free himself, but the oriental's grip was firm.

"What is she doing?" Mikasa growled furiously, barely controlling her rage. "She’d go as far as to kill Eren?"

Armin's expression was grave, his mind spinning at full speed despite the storm of emotions that possessed him.

“She took a risk.” he realized inevitably. "It was very risky, but she bet on Eren's ability to survive. She's desperate, which makes her all the more dangerous!"

They turned back as quickly as they could, but they soon realized that the reverse route was taking them straight back to Annie. Knowing her, she would continue to work her way through the tunnel until she got what she wanted, what she needed.

(-)(-)(-)

Perched on his roof, Amos observed Annie's foolish attempt and grimaced in annoyance.

“She must be in a very unstable emotional state to have tried something like that, Armin's confession put us in a delicate situation, but it could nevertheless be useful to me. " He shook his head. “For now I need to get her away before she accidentally kills Eren. "

(-)(-)(-)

Buried in the back of her titan's neck, Annie gritted her teeth in frustration as she discovered corpses buried under the rubble of her haphazard attack. She let out a small sigh of relief when she discovered unfamiliar faces.

" Where are you ?! " She raged, raising her leg a second time to pierce the ground. " Where are-… "

A gunshot suddenly rang through her ears, and a volley of ultrahard steel bullets pierced her titan’s neck and her human body.

Annie choked on her own blood and spat out a long spray of it as the Female Titan let out a shrill howl of pain.

"Little sow! Little sow!" Amos crooned at the top of his lungs. "Come play with Momo!"

Leonhart widened her eyes when she recognized this voice, she turned around to see Hannibal reloading his firearm, giving her a smile as contemptuous as it was mocking.

“He’s uninjured…” she thought with her mouth open and dripping with blood. “He doesn’t have a scratch…he’s ready to fight…How…? "

Her silvery-blue irises suddenly widened as the only possible explanation sprouted in her mind. He was there, she had found him, no doubt about it.

“Why is she looking at me like that? " The tall blond asked aloud, raising an eyebrow.

Without warning, the Female Titan threw herself at the noble at full speed, desperately reaching out to grab him. Amos was so surprised by this that he only owed his salvation to his improved ODM equipment. He flew into the air and away from the area, but to his surprise, Annie gave chase at full speed.

“What the fuck is this madness?! " Amos growled, accelerating with a burst of gas. “Why is she abandoning Eren for me?! "

He was forced to perform an evasive maneuver to escape the Female's hand and fluttered over a large post office.

He then took the opportunity to meet her gaze, and discovered giant eyes filled with hope and determination.

" What is going on?! "

(-)(-)(-)

Armin, Eren and Mikasa had heard the detonation and Amos' taunts, and to their great surprise, the Female Titan's footsteps became more distant.

"She... is walking away." The little blond realized in an incredulous voice. "What is…?"

"Now is our chance!" The oriental woman said, grabbing her two friends by the arms and pulling them outside.

The trio came out onto a street devastated by the transformation and the passage of the Female Titan, the echoes of collapsing buildings and screams of civilians reaching their ears. But the enemy was nowhere in sight.

"Where is she?" Armin wondered before flying to a nearby roof.

It was on the highest roof in the area that the small group of Shiganshina natives could see Leonhart, who was jumping over a block of buildings to try to catch Amos. The tall blonde dodged all her attempts with dexterity, but she seemed more determined than ever.

"W-What’s going on?" Eren questioned with eyes as wide as those of his friends. "Why is she going after Amos?"

"She's not trying to kill him." Armin noted just as incredulously. "She wants to catch him... Why…?"

"It doesn't matter!" Mikasa snapped them out of their trance after her instincts took over. "We have to go help him!"

Eren immediately shook his head, she was right, his friend was in danger.

“Get away from me.” He warned. “I’m going to transform."

His friends nodded before changing roofs, Jaeger bit his hand, slashing his flesh and bones. Judging by his muffled screams, it hurt like hell.

Armin and Mikasa covered their faces with their forearms in anticipation of the explosion, but it did not happen.

"Oh... no…!" Eren blurted out, realizing with horror what was happening to him. "Not again! Why now?" He collapsed onto the tiles, groaning in pain.

"It's the worst time ever!" He roared, biting himself again. "Fuck!"

Realizing that there was a problem, his friends returned to his side to determine what was happening to him.

“Don’t try to force it.” Armin advised. "You need to have a clear goal in mind like Hanji said, focus and start again."

“I’m trying.” Jaeger raged, sinking his teeth deeper into his hand.

But he only succeeds in cracking his bones.

Mikasa huffed through her nose, kneeling down to his height, disappointment and anger gleaming in her eyes like two evil orbs.

"Really?" She hissed dangerously, like a viper ready to strike. "You’re not hesitating to fight Annie again, by any chance?"

He didn't answer, but shame showed in his irises, as if he was confirming what she was accusing him of.

"Eren…" Armin said softly, wondering what was going through his friend’s head at the moment.

“She is the Female Titan.” Mikasa stated coldly. "No matter how much you don't want to believe it, this…"

“I fucking know it’s her!” Eren shouted at Mikasa's face, catching her off guard. "I am not blind!"

" So what?" the oriental woman asked. "What is stopping you from doing your duty as a soldier, from taking revenge on her for everything she has done? Why won't you fight?"

Eren looked away, his usually powerful voice dropping to a low whisper.

"I… Why…? How did we get here…?"

A veil of sadness passed over Armin's face, Mikasa did not react.

“I don’t want to face her.” Jaeger finally admitted, sheepishly.

“Me neither.” The little blond admitted. “That’s why I didn’t do anything for a month."

Eren raised his head to look at his best friend. The latter then displayed a resigned, determined and saddened expression.

"That’s also why I gave her one last chance earlier, but she made her choice. She is not on our side and never will be. So, I too made my choice. I'm going to do everything I can... to stop her... even if it means killing her."

Armin looked like he was about to collapse as he said these words, Eren felt like he was discovering a completely different person.

"Annie is not evil." the little blond said, his voice full of regrets. "But she is capable of casting her Humanity away to accomplish her mission, like Amos. We must be able to do this too if we want to survive and succeed. Otherwise we will fail."

"Armin…? How…?"

This was more than Mikasa could tolerate, she grabbed Eren by the collar and hoisted him up to her level.

The shapeshifter's eyes widened in horror.

"Annie has no excuses, so don’t make her any! All the actions she has taken are unforgivable! She has killed, she kills and will continue to kill until she gets what she wants! She's a murderer and a traitor! Eren! Wake up ! It was you who always taught me that you had to fight if you want to survive! How can you feel sorry for yourself now?!"

She looked him straight in the eyes and narrowed hers.

"Unless there is a deeper feeling…"

Eren didn't answer her, he was completely confused. It was so hard for him to accept that Annie and that monster were the same person. After everything she had done for him, how could it all be a lie?

A deafening explosion interrupted the discussion, and they saw the Female Titan sprawled against a building which partially collapsed. Mikasa couldn't hold it any longer, she unsheathed her blades and started running. Armin followed her.

"Wait!" Eren shouted, holding out his bloody hand towards them. "How… How do you manage to do that?! Armin!"

Mikasa stopped and turned around briefly.

"What choice do we have?" She asked in a cold voice, remembering the very reason why she was forced to continue fighting constantly. "The world is cruel."

With this last sentence, she flew towards the fight, leaving Eren alone, abandoned on his roof.

It was then that a good-sized shadow hid the Sun from him, he raised his head, and saw a piece of a tower arcing in the sky to hit him directly in the face. Panicked, he jumped just in time to avoid the impact, but was swept away by falling debris and ended up being crushed to the ground. His legs and left collarbone were broken by the impact.

Eren clenched his right fist despite his pain, he cursed his own helplessness.

"Why?" He gasped in rage as he hit the paved street with his fist. "Why am I so pathetic?"

(Two minutes earlier)

"Holy shit!" Amos yelled, moving around Annie's giant hand to scissor her knuckles.

“Why did she suddenly change her target? She wasn't interested in me at all in the forest! "

He threw a smoke grenade in her face and sped south where Plan C must have been set up. But he couldn't afford to move too quickly so as not to arouse Annie's suspicions.

“Think, Hannibal.” He growled to himself, swallowing his anger. “What’s changed between the forest and now…?”

He widened his eyes and glanced at his back, the Female was still on his heels but he ignored her, it was his back itself he was looking at.

“The goop... I healed from a serious injury too quickly... Damn... She thinks I'm a shapeshifter like her and Eren. "

He frowned as he turned west to avoid another attempt at capture. Many civilians were running through the streets screaming as Annie trampled them. But Amos ignored them.

“But even if I was one, why would I be more valuable than Eren in her eyes? What is the parameter that makes me so special? "

He shook his head and let the predation do its work.

“I will ask myself these questions later, for now I have to get rid of her. "

He fired another smoke grenade to disappear in its smoke. Annie waved it away, but the nobleman was nowhere to be seen.

Leonhart gritted her teeth, she began to glance frantically to her right and left in search of her prey. She scanned every inch of the street before seeing three scouts rushing towards her.

They attempted a maneuver consisting of throwing one of them towards the enemy, but there was a fatal flaw in their plan: their cables were within her reach.

She bent one with a flick of her cuff, sending its owner crashing against a roof, right next to the chimney behind which Amos was hiding, who noticed the corpse embedded in the tiles with a raised eyebrow.

He prepared his next offensive while the Female took down another soldier, then he suddenly appeared less than half a dozen meters from the blonde's face, much to the latter's surprise. The nobleman shot her in the left eye, and began to fly away with a rush of gas. Annie desperately tried to catch he, but she had not noticed the grenade thrown "from above" by the Advisor a few seconds before his appearance.

The blast from the explosion hit the Female's temple like a punch, sending her sprawling against a partially collapsing building. Hannibal was also sent away by the same breath, but he stabilized himself using his ODM equipment and came to rest on the roof facing his giant adversary.

"Stop Annie!" He mocked her, reloading his left handle, despite all your efforts you have never managed to beat me."

The Titan let out a groan of annoyance as she remembered her defeat against Amos, after the latter discovered that she had orchestrated the first fight between Mikasa and him. She perfectly remembered the demented smile of the tall blond man, his face stained with the blood that flowed from the wound she had opened on his forehead, while he violently squeezed her throat. She tore out the remains of her left eye socket to get rid of the bullets and glared at him with her one eye.

“Eren didn’t transform.” He noted without getting upset. “It was predictable now that I think about it, this is the first time his view of the World is really being tested. I should have helped him prepare like I did with Armin... I'm going to have to continue working on his mind after all this. I regret not having done it enough during our classes... Yeah... Eren has been my biggest failure so far... without his power, he would have died despite my teachings. I really messed up with him… but it doesn’t matter, he has so much willpower that he is perfectly capable of reaching the top on his own.”

Annie didn't wait for her eye to regenerate, she turned around to sweep the roof where the nobleman was standing with a roundhouse kick, destroying a tower which its top crashed further away. Amos jumped to dodge the attack, before seeing the hand of the giantess approach to grab him in flight, he raised an eyebrow and slashed the limb.

"Who do you think I am?" He taunted as he flew away.

Annie tried to follow him, but her attention was drawn to the sound of another ODM gear coming from behind her. She tried to get rid of the scout with a simple wave of her hand, before seeing the same hand being sliced into pieces. Mikasa dodged a kick from her opponent and shredded her calf.

"Annie!" She roared with conviction. "I won't let you take Eren!"

The Female Titan began to stagger awkwardly, and leaned on a building to stabilize herself. The oriental woman landed on a roof in order to prepare her next attack, but Amos stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.

“Calm down.” He scolded her before leaning forward to whisper in her ear, “we can’t capture her with just the two of us. We have to lure her towards plan C. Let's just weaken her emotionally to force her to make mistakes."

Mikasa growled in frustration, but eventually nodded, glaring at the Female Titan.

She growled in turn, the violent emotions coursing through her body accelerated her regeneration. Amos' mocking emerald eyes and Mikasa's scornful jet-black gaze infuriated her. She healed her eye, her hands and her calf in a matter of dozens of seconds. She was about to resume her assault when a familiar voice interrupted her in her tracks.

"Annie!" Armin called from the groud. "If you don't kill me now, all the sacrifices you've made so far will be FOR NOTHING!"

The Female widened her eyes and opened her mouth blissfully, giving Jean the perfect opportunity to attack the back of her neck.

Unfortunately for him she ended up seeing the blow coming, and protected her weak spot with a layer of crystal against which Kirstein's blades shattered.

"Armin! Jean!" Amos barked. "Fall back to the next crossroads! We will face her on the terrain more suitable for omni-dimensionality!

"Understood!" replied his two comrades as they headed south.

"Mikasa, with me!"

With these words, he took off in pursuit of his friends with the oriental at his heels.

"Why do you think she will follow us?" She shouted after him. "She could go back for Eren!"

"No, her priorities have changed, Eren has become a secondary objective at best."

The half-blood raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Why? What is happening?!"

"I don't know." Amos replied, as furious as he was upset. "I'm missing a piece of the puzzle! For some reason she now considers me a better target!"

Mikasa couldn't believe her ears, it was as if everyone had decided to disappoint her today.

"Get your damn brains working!" She roared, noticing that Annie had resumed her chase behind them. "You're the detective!"

Amos would have answered her, if their destination was not in sight. So he chose to postpone this argument and accelerated with the Mikasa behind him.

"We are preparing to counterattack!" He bluffed. "Take her right side! The center is mine! We will…"

Annie only realized the deception when she passed the buildings targeted by the four scouts, her eyes widening when she realized the trap she had gotten herself into. She found herself bombarded and pierced on all sides by the multiple cannons hidden behind the small towers and chimneys. Despite her bonds, she pulled as hard as she could in a vain attempt to free herself, but she ended up losing her balance and falling to the ground with a thud that shook the entire District. Once she was forced to lie down, the scouts covered her with a spiked net to hold her there, but Amos noticed with annoyance that she had managed to protect her nape despite everything.

“Nice work.” Hanji congratulated from the roof. "And I thought that having a plan C was paranoid. Oh, Commander Erwin, you genius."

“You don’t have to be a genius to come up with a plan C.” Amos grumbled in his corner as he landed on a nearby roof, “there’s not even a D, but that doesn’t really matter… For now. "

He took advantage of this short pause to return to his thoughts from earlier, namely why Annie had targeted him instead of Jaeger.

“So... She thinks I'm a shapeshifter... okay, but how could I be more valuable than Eren if I really was one? What do I have that Eren doesn't? Think about it...what are traitors interested in? "

For the next two seconds, he explored his memory like a miner exploring a mountain in search of a vein. And against all expectations, it was Ymir who had given him the answer to his questions; just a few days after joining the scouts. One evening when they were all having dinner together in the Scouts refectory.

" You know ? " the freckled girl had said, putting her arm around the tall blond's shoulders. “Reiner is so fascinated by the fact that you’re the King’s cousin that he’s probably hoping for a promotion soon. "

“That I am the cousin of the King… that I am of Royal blood! " the tall blond realized. “A shapeshifter of Royal blood! That’s what Annie thinks I am! "

The realizations followed one another in his mind like a series of explosions, a shower of conclusions watered his brain.

" That's why! " he almost screamed at the top of his lungs. “That’s why Grandfather exterminated the Reiss! That's why he kept Historia despite her bastardization! That’s why… I was born from…”

While Amos was thinking, Hanji came down to Annie's level and approached her without showing the slightest sign of fear.

“Do us a favor, will you? Stay down."

The Female's pupil shrank as the tip of the scientist's sword grazed her eye.

“Go ahead, call your cohorts to dinner.” The latter taunted with a demented look and a sinister voice. "They will have absolutely nothing to eat, unlike me. Me, who will devour each of your insides to gather the slightest information."

Driven by her survival instinct, Annie straightened her leg with an inhuman effort and swept the cannons, tore out the cables and pushed the net aside. Amos was too caught up in his thoughts to notice the attack before it was too late. Luckily for him, Mikasa grabbed him by the collar and dragged him onto the rooftops. The scouts were forced to retreat to avoid ending up as collateral damage.

“She ran away.” Growled the furious oriental woman.

"Damn it!" Hanji swore. "We didn't have time to set enough traps! Don't let her escape!"

Annie scampered far enough away that the environment limited the number of scouts pursuing her. They threw themselves almost headlong on their enemy who swept them aside with circular kicks, cuffs and fists.

Mikasa was itching to join the battle, but first she hit the back of the head of the boy she had saved.

"What’s happening to you?!" She bellowed. "You almost got yourself killed!"

“Calm down.” Amos urged, flicking her forehead and rubbing his head. "I was just thinking about the question you asked me and I trusted your reflexes. Now that I have the answer we can go back to fighting."

The oriental rubbed her forehead and was tempted to reply, but she noticed the seriousness and satisfaction on her rival's face. So she chose to let it go this time, as long as he didn't start again.

“Let’s go butcher this sow.” She decided, drawing new blades.

“I’ll season her fat before you serve it.” Amos smiled, cracking the back of his neck. "I’ll take care of the feet."

“I’ll take the neck.” The oriental woman added in a determined, icy voice before they set off together towards the Female Titan.

Annie swept the surrounding buildings to shower the attacking scouts with a rain of debris, which neutralized more than one of them. But she took another smoke grenade from Amos in the face, which disoriented her enough for the noble to have time to hook his grappling hook on one of the walls, up which he ran horizontally at full speed. Before calculating his trajectory to project himself onto the two Achilles heels of the giant blonde, slashing them both.

Mikasa reacted immediately, and threw herself at the Female's throat.

Possessed by a destructive madness coupled with a delirious desire to murder, the oriental rushed straight for Annie's throat and tore it to pieces at full speed. She used her blades like sharp picks to dig as deep as possible into this mass of burning flesh and boiling blood. Cutting away the slightest fatty tissue in the hope of achieving her goal: the body of the sow who had tried to capture Eren, who had broken Armin's heart, and who had almost killed Amos.

Nestled in the back of her Titan's neck, Annie Leonhart's eyes widened in horror. The little blonde was taken for a moment by such a fit of hysteria that she tried to escape by struggling with her human body, forgetting her fourteen meter tall body. It was only when Mikasa was about to completely decapitate her, that she managed to control her terror to push her away. The Female Titan formed a layer of crystal between the oriental and her human body. A thin layer, certainly, but enough to break the blades that attacked it. The enraged jet gaze pierced the frightened silver-blue gaze, until the latter almost automatically turned back on to throw her hands at her own throat. Forcing the half-blood to step back to avoid being crushed. Annie didn't waste a single second, she got out of her titan and transformed a second time.

“Too far.” Amos commented, as he had toyed with the idea of shooting her. “At this distance I might shoot her in the head. "

The newly formed Female Titan lunged at him to catch him, but the noble turned left and circled around the giantess. Mikasa threw herself on the enemy who put herself in a defensive position, the oriental charred every part of the immense body which was not protected. But she was forced to retreat when she realized she was unable to inflict serious damage on her opponent.

She came to stand next to Amos who was also starting to get annoyed.

"What a pain." He grumbled. "She still has a lot of juice and she is taking advantage of the fact that we want her alive to take measured risks."

A team of scouts engaged the Female Titan who sent one flying by grabbing him by the cable, Mikasa was tempted to join them but she waited to see if her rival had a plan.

"At this point we can only continue to attack to weaken her until Eren finally transforms."

An impassive veil fell over the eyes of the oriental woman.

"He doesn't want to fight Annie."

"He will" Amos countered, drawing new blades. "I trust him. Let's just hope he doesn't take too long."

Mikasa was quite impressed and touched by the trust the noble placed in the shapeshifter. She wished she could do the same in this situation.

" Put on your hood," The tall blond ordered, doing it himself. "It would be better if she doesn't know which of us she wants alive."

Mikasa complied without a word.

It was only when the last soldier of the reinforcement unit was trampled that the two best cadets of the 104th returned to the fight. They chained together a series of precise and coordinated attacks on the Female's body, cutting every muscle and tendon available to them. Mikasa pushed further, slashing the giant blonde's chest. The latter let out a roar of rage and pain, before using her footwork with a roundhouse kick that the oriental dodged, but which caught Amos' grappling hook.

"Oh fuck!" The latter shouted before as he was thrown away by the power of the blow.

The noble flew through the air like a rag doll and hit Mikasa head-on.

The two teenagers drew half a circle in the air that brought them very dangerously close to the ground, before the oriental managed to slow their fall by releasing a surge of gas.

They swirled a few meters above the ground until Amos came to his senses and used his greater reserves of gas to stabilize them before one of them broke something. They ended up rolling down the paved road before finally stopping with their face down. Luckily, they were both unharmed.

“Fuck… my back…” Amos groaned, ignoring the spinning in his head to inject himself with a small dose of methadone.

He looked up to check on his comrade's condition and noticed her unconsciousness.

“Bloody Hell…” the noble squeaked.

It was then that he met Annie's triumphant gaze, the Female advanced towards them with a determined step.

"Shit…"

(-)(-)(-)

Weak, useless, pathetic.

Three words that perfectly described Eren's situation. Flattened like a pancake in an alley in Stohess, alone, buried under rubble with a dozen broken bones. Slamming his fist on the cobblestone ground until his hand shattered.

"Fuck!" He roared at the top of his lungs as if someone was going to answer him. "Why?! Why am I so pathetic?! Why…?"

Armin's words came back to him, shocking him once again.

“Annie is not evil, but she is capable of throwing her Humanity away to accomplish her mission, like Amos. We must be able to do this too if we want to survive and succeed. Otherwise we will fail. "

“To throw my Humanity away? " Eren thought as he looked at his broken hand. "Amos told me something similar...how can I do that?' "

This time it was the nobleman's words that came back to his mind.

“That’s enough, I’m going to ask you the same thing I asked Mikasa: will you drown in self-pity, or will you fight to the end to honor all those who died and all those who will die? I include your mother in this, do you intend to make her passing insignificant by lamenting over it for the rest of your life? Or are you going to stand up and fight body and soul to give meaning to all those who died so that Humanity can continue to move forward? "

Eren's eyes snapped open, a new wave of energy was coursing through him.

" Remember! " He ordered himself, forcing himself to remember all of Annie's crimes.

They flashed through his mind in a series of flashes.

The deaths of Levi Squad, the injury she inflicted on Amos, Armin's broken heart... and finally... the death of his mother.

A storm of rage welled up in his chest, he bit his already broken hand to the point of severing his index finger.

“What the hell am I doing?! " he roared, ignoring the monumental pain that radiated through his entire body. “How dare I feel sorry for myself while my friends are risking their lives?! I who had sworn to protect them! Fuck! I'm going to tear this dirty whore in half! No! I'm going to rip her head off! I don’t care if what I do is “right” or “wrong”! I don't have time for his bullshit! If the World is so cruel, if it does not let me be human, then I will sacrifice my Humanity to free myself from its cruelty! "

Eren Jaeger let out the most powerful and intense roar of rage he had ever managed to let out in his fifteen years of existence. A bolt of lightning came down from the sky to strike him and illuminate him with its power.

(-)(-)(-)

"Amos!" Armin shouted as he saw the Female running towards him. "Get out of there!"

The noble gritted his teeth and picked up Mikasa, but he was aware of the fact that he would not be able to escape Annie if he had to carry the oriental. But she who would end up trampled if he left without her.

"Damn, I have to…"

He did not have time to finish his thought, lightning interrupted him by striking a few hundred meters behind him. The thunderclap widened the noble's emerald eyes from which predation sprang, a smile of sadistic satisfaction appeared on his face.

"Theeeeeeere you go…" He exulted in a low voice before taking advantage of the fact that Annie was distracted to disappear with Mikasa by using a smoke grenade.

The ground began to shake frantically as giant footsteps approached the Female Titan.

The latter reacted too slowly, and took a fierce punch which sent her crashing into a church. Completely destroying the building and killing the majority of people inside.

“I’ll never get tired of seeing that.” Amos smiled from the roof where he had taken refuge.

Eren let out a furious roar and rushed towards Annie who immediately escaped with her former apprentice in hot pursuit. The noble gritted his teeth as Mikasa emerged from the dreamland.

"Eren…" She whispered, hearing him roar.

"Calm down." Amos replied, placing her on the tiles. "You've got knocked on the head, it will be better in a few minutes."

Confused, the oriental woman immediately tried to get up, but she became dizzy and almost smashed her face against the roof.

“Calm down, I told you.” Amos reprimanded, flicking her on the forehead. “If you go now you’ll only get yourself killed. Give yourself a few moments of rest."

“He needs help,” the young girl protested weakly.

"I know, I'll go. Join us in two minutes."

"No…"

But Hannibal didn't listen to her and started to walk away, Mikasa widened her eyes and grabbed him by the sleeve.

"Amos... Don't die... please…" She almost begged, meeting his gaze.

The latter softened considerably in the space of a second, the tall blond raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“She canceled the predation again… Fuck…”

“I won’t die.” he reassured, gently removing his hand, “I promise."

With these words, he set off in pursuit of the shapeshifters, without noticing that Mikasa was holding her head in her hands and fighting against a sudden and violent migraine.

(-)(-)(-)

Eren roared in anger as he chased after Annie. She was taking him to flat ground, an unpopulated place where ODm equipment would be useless. She finally turned around, grabbing onto a building to slow down. The two titans looked at each other, ready to end it.

“Annie, always so cynical! " Eren growled inwardly. “As if nothing in the World was worthy of your interest! "

As if she could hear him, Annie got into a fighting stance, ready for battle.

“But there are times when you are full of life, when you show off your fighting skills. You said these abilities were useless, but an idiot would have known you were lying. You're not a very good liar, that's what I thought. So tell me, Annie, what exactly are you fighting for? What could possibly be worth all this death and destruction?! "

Enraged, Eren channeled all his anger into his fists, before adopting a fighting posture that automatically made the Female Titan shudder.

From the nape of her Titan's neck, Annie's eyes widened as she recognized this style.

Left leg and left arm extended forward, right knee bent backwards and right fist already cocked. This was Amos' favorite posture. She could see his crazy smile from her Titan’s nape.

Eren charged while roaring, Annie immediately stiffened her elbow which she used to parry the fist. But unlike last time Jaeger's hand remained intact. He had become stronger, his choice reinforced by his iron determination had hardened him considerably.

The Rogue did not stop there, he took advantage of his sudden proximity to the Female to propel himself forward, grabbing her forearms, and pulling her forward to embed his knee in the chest of his enemy. She let out a heartbreaking cry of pain, before escaping from his grip by rolling backwards. She expected Eren to lunge at her jaw first, like an animal, but it was with her heel that the Rogue reached for. Annie barely moved her knee away to prevent it from being crushed, before realizing that Jaeger had taken the opportunity to get dangerously close. She then punched him in the left eye to push him away... except that he was not pushed away. He stood still for a second, glaring fiercely at the Female with his right eye.

“Oi…” Jaeger murmured, displaying a sinister expression from the nape of his titan’s neck. "Is that all you have in your arms? Do you think Amos made me eat my own teeth for a month by hitting me so gently? No wonder your techniques are based on how to counter your opponent's strength…"

For the first time in her entire life, Annie was afraid of Eren. The gleam of murderous madness that shone in his visible eye gave her chills. Was he always this crazy? Or was that Hannibal's influence?

The Rogue delivered a devastating uppercut to the chin of the Female, who rose into the air and fell a block away. Eren crossed a building without batting an eyelash when it collapsed. Panicked, Annie fled a little further with the Eren on her heels, then she turned around abruptly to throw a punch at him which he blocked. The two titans then exchanged a hail of blows, resulting in a violent wind that forced the spectators to cover their eyes.

(-)(-)(-)

“Wow.” Hanji said from a nearby roof, “He’s doing pretty well.”

Although on the surface the squad leader remained serious, she was jubilant on the inside. A martial arts duel between titans was something she never thought she would see in her entire life, she was all excited.

"Yes." Armin confirmed, sincerely impressed. " But can Eren beat the Female Titan without help? He never managed to beat Annie."

"If he has transformed into a Titan then he must be prepared for the worst." Jean wanted to reassure himself before the others. "It won’t be easy to knock him out, even for Annie.

“I have no doubt.” The little blond replied. “But determination alone is not enough to win a fight. It will take more to beat Annie. Much more."

“You think a lot about useless parameters, little head.” Amos said, coming up from behind to gently pat the top of his head. "We don't care if Eren manages to beat her by himself or not, we're here to help him if needed, plus…"

He pointed at Wall Sina.

"...Annie has already transformed twice, her fight against Eren, if not decisive, will weaken her considerably. Even if she manages to escape, she will be too tired to lose us across Wall Rose territory. What matters is to find a way to neutralize her, as quickly as possible while preserving our human resources as much as possible."

Hanji, Armin and Jean looked at him with wide eyes, before realizing that he was right. The chances that Annie would manage to escape from them in these conditions were almost zero, but that didn't mean that the fight wouldn't be fierce. The Female Titan was prepared to fight to the death if necessary.

(-)(-)(-)

Eren ducked to dodge Annie's roundhouse kick, before landing a jumping punch to her jaw that sent her crashing into a building. The Rogue didn't waste a second, he used his heel to crush the Female's knee, pulverizing bones and tendons. Then he grabbed her by the neck and unleashed an avalanche of punches on her face, crushing her after each attack.

“Fuck…” Leonhart muttered with a glazed look in her eyes. “Since when has Jaeger been this strong? I…I can’t manage to…”

Eren's final assault split her skull, bringing her to the brink of unconsciousness.

“I… I can’t… I…”

“Annie! "

The little blonde girl widened her eyes.

“Annie! I was wrong! I was so wrong! It's too late to ask for forgiveness... But there is one thing I want you to know: even if the whole world becomes your enemy, I... I promise to always be your ally! So...please...make me promise...to come home. "

Leonhart raised her head, her cheeks covered with tears.

" Dad… "

The Rogue raised his fist once more, determined to crush her brains. But the Female reacted instantly, she grabbed his wrist with her left hand to pull him towards her, and stiffened the fingers of her right had to pierce his throat. Eren spat an ocean of blood in her face, but she didn't care, she took advantage of his moment of weakness to turn the Rogue around as well as the situation. In rage, she stiffened the edge of her right forearm and brought it down on Jaeger's skull, uttering furious screams.

(-)(-)(-)

"Ouch." Amos squeaked, observing her. "We have to get her away before she knocks Eren out of action."

He looked at Armin with a look that might have seemed compassionate if he wasn't possessed by predation.

“I'm sorry for not being sorry about what I'm going to do.” he admitted before taking off.

The little blond frowned while Hanji and Jean exchanged a questioning look.

(-)(-)(-)

Annie expelled all the violent emotions she felt by unleashing herself more forcefully on Eren's skull. She didn't care anymore, she didn't care if Jaeger was her target or if it was Amos. She was going back home no matter what!

It was then that her human body was riddled with bullets once again, she cried out in frustration, anger and pain, before turning around to locate her tormentor.

"I hope you appreciated Armin’s confession, Annie!" Amos said, detaching his last cartridge from his hood. "It took me two minutes to write it!"

Those words stunned Leonhart on the spot, in an instant, she absolutely forgot everything around her and everything that was at stake. There was only her and the noble who tore her heart out without the slightest pity.

For his part, Armin's eyes widened in horror. A series of words as unintelligible as they were uncontrollable escaped his lips.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Hanji to make the connection.

“As cruel as he is intelligent…” She commented soberly. “It’s the perfect way to disrupt her, weaken her, and keep her away from Eren at the same time. On the other hand, he’s really putting himself in danger.”

"You’re so fucking stupid!" Amos yelled, sneering with contempt. "Did you honestly believe that someone like Armin would love a murderous bitch like you?! Have you looked in the mirror recently?! How could someone so intelligent even like a monster in human form?!"

" Shut up! "

"You literally raped him! He must be incredibly grateful to me for giving you birth control! Who would want to have a child with you?!"

" Shut up! "

"Better yet! What child would want to come out of the cunt of an evil bitch like you?!"

" SHUT UP! "

Annie let out a howl of rage worthy of a rabid banshee and smashed the roof on which Hannibal had been standing. The noble barely dodged, and fled at full speed pursued by the Female who continued to scream and cry.

“Good.” He thought, glancing over his shoulder to admire the pain on the giant face. “Now come and throw yourself into my clutches. "

Armin felt like Amos had ripped out his heart and crushed it before his eyes, he fell to his knees, breathing heavily and his face horrified as never before.

"No…" He whispered. "No... not like this…"

Jean observed his friend with compassion, he nodded to Hanji to let her know that he was taking care of him. The squad leader nodded and set off again in pursuit of the Female.

Kirstein put one knee on the ground and one hand on the little blond's shoulder. He was too shocked to react.

"The people who change things are those who are capable of throwing away their Humanity, it was you who told me that."

Arlet turned his head slightly, he understood perfectly what his friend was getting at.

"Now we know that Amos is capable of it, and we also know how horrible it is."

Armin let out a sinister chuckle, he remembered all the chess games he had lost against the Advisor.

"Clearly, I'm no match for him."

“That’s why he calls himself an asshole.” he realized sadly.

“Maybe that’s why he doesn’t want you or Eren to admire him.” Jean theorized correctly.

Armin wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve, then stood up.

“Yet… I have never admired him as much as I do today.” He admitted to Kirstein’s surprise.

He looked in the direction Annie had fled, clenched his fists, and took off after them.

“Becoming a monster to survive in this cruel World... without losing sight of the seriousness of our actions. I don't know how you do something like that without going crazy, Amos, I still have a lot of tricks to learn. But I will manage to share the burden that you and the Commander carry, I have no other solutions..."

(-)(-)(-)

The Stohess District was falling into ruins under the horrified gaze of scouts and MPs. Dozens of corpses, the vast majority of them civilians, littered the streets. The fight had started less than half an hour ago, and already the toll was abominable, the buildings that had not collapsed during the battle of the titans were prey to the flames. Was this really the only solution? Was there not a way to avoid this carnage?

It was a question that Amos did not ask himself, as he sped through the streets pursued by an enraged Annie.

“Here we are.” He smiled as he headed straight for the famous Stohess Grand Hotel. “The perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. "

With these thoughts, he stopped releasing gas for a short moment, and performed a somersault to send his last smoke grenade into Annie's face. Without slowing down, she swept away the smoke with a quick wave of her hand, before widening her eyes in horror when she realized that a real explosive grenade was now less than two meters away from her face. The explosion hit the Female like a punch from Eren, carried away by her momentum, she performed a forced backflip before crashing face first onto the ground while tracing a long furrow in the cobbled street. Amos didn't wait for her to stop twenty meters from the hotel to react, he suddenly slowed down for her to pass him, and went straight for the back of her knees to slice her joints.

He went back into the air to do the same with the inside of his left arm. Leaving him with only one valid limb before gaining height on the sixth floor of the hotel, he landed on the railing of a balcony, without paying attention to the young couple who went to lock themselves in the bathroom in their room.

“Out of smoke.” He thought as he replaced his swords. “Out of bullets, just two blades left, and one last grenade. My throw must be perfect.”

Time suddenly slowed down, a sadistic smile lit up his face.

“Come on, you dirty whore.” He thought, placing a hand on his last explosive. “Raise your fucking head so I can blow your throat out. You’ve pushed this deadline long enough, now it’s time to pay, Ann…”

It was then that a heartbreaking pain radiated through his brain, he uttered a cry of surprise and fell backwards onto the balcony.

A voice as guttural as it was evil echoed in his skull, making his eyes widen in horror and canceling his predation.

“I’m going to slaughter the titans. "

Amos couldn't believe his brains.

“Slaughter them all… until the last one. "

Immediately the pain stopped, and Hannibal removed his hands from his head.

"What was that…?" He whispered in terror. “That voice…it was Eren’s…what does that mean…?”

He was abruptly torn from his questions when Annie extricated herself from the nape of her titan to transform herself a third time. Driven by his survival instinct, he jumped from the balcony before the Female Titan brought her heel down on the hotel, reducing it to a pile of rubble.

Leonhart saw him slip away, however, and tried to tear him to pieces with his claws. Out of panic, he released a powerful burst of gas to propel himself out of reach. But he had not calculated his move, and ended up crashing on a nearby roof. His shoulder made a sinister crack and he groaned in pain.

" Shit! " he cursed as he saw the giant blonde raise her heel once more. “I’m so fucked! "

It was then that the most terrible roar that the two fighters had ever heard echoed throughout the District.

They turned their heads to see the Rogue Titan coming bounding like a wild beast, his body covered in flames.

Annie was so horrified that she abandoned Amos to try to escape, but Eren slammed into her with all his weight, sending them both crashing a few dozen meters from the Wall’s gate.

The nobleman widened his eyes in incomprehension, before letting out a groan of exasperation.

"Fuck… I hate my life…"

He got up with difficulty, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, and set off after them.

(-)(-)(-)

After several minutes of fighting against her migraine, Mikasa managed to regain control of her head. Exhausted but determined, she had taken flight again the moment Amos had unleashed Annie's fury.

As she approached the scene of the fight she forced herself to ignore the destruction around her to focus on Eren. The Rogue Titan had managed to pin Annie to the ground, he brought his gaping mouth closer to the back of the Female's neck.

"Eren!" She called, landing alongside the scouts who were observing the scene.

"Stop!" Hanji held her back. "We don't know if he will be able to recognize you in his state."

Mikasa widened her eyes and turned her worried gaze towards her adopted little brother.

Amos landed a few roofs away from them, and observed the scene warily.

(-)(-)(-)

Eren was about to tear off Annie's skin with his teeth, but she stood up to make him lose his balance. She tried to run away, but the Rogue grabbed her face with both hands and squeezed it like a lemon. It wasn't long before the figure exploded, spraying the surroundings with titan blood, Amos grabbed a scout standing next to him with his good arm, and used it as an umbrella despite her protests.

Annie then let out a shrill howl of pain which made the majority of those present flinch, her suffering was such that her cry turned into a hurricane of sound which raised a certain quantity of dust.

She ended up administering a back headbutt to Eren to free herself from his grip, then she turned around to push him away with a kick to the plexus. Jaeger went to embed himself in a building behind him.

Amos looked with amusement at the crushed and desperate face of the Female Titan, she stiffened her fingers into claws, and ran to the Wall to cling to it and climb it.

Hannibal just raised an eyebrow as he kept on smiling.

“There’s nothing more you can do, Annie. You are exhausted, and even if you got to the other side you would not be able to lose us in Wall Rose territory. You're just wasting our time and energy by delaying the inevitable. "

Even if she had been able to hear him, the Female Titan would not have loosen her will to fight, she continued to climb desperately as if her salvation was at the top of the Wall.

Unfortunately for her, this meager hope was crushed by a furious Mikasa who severed the fingers of her right hand without the slightest mercy. The oriental did not stop there and did it again on those of the left hand.

Then, as Leonhart fell inexorably towards her end, the half-blood came to rest on her forehead, and looked at her.

“Annie.” She said without the slightest regret or pity. “Fall."

And she fell, straight into Eren's clutches.

The Rogue Titan did not hesitate for a single second, he greeted her with a devastating punch which sent her crashing against the Wall. Then he tore her arms off without the slightest restraint, one went crashing in front of Erwin who didn't blink, the other went straight towards the scout that Amos had used as an umbrella, the latter grabbed her by the collar once more and pushed her out of the way. The lost limb tore off a large portion of the roof, but caused no casualties.

Eren then grabbed Annie by the throat, pulled her towards him to imprison her in his arms and inserted his fingers between her teeth to spread her jaw as far as possible.

The Rogue Titan then began to scan the ranks of the scouts, before finally spotting Amos to scream at him at the top of his lungs.

The nobleman did not need further instruction, predation shone again in his emerald eyes. He planted his grappling hook on the Wall to run there, before grappling onto the Female's forehead and flying straight into her mouth. He landed on her tongue, planted his blade there, then passed his left hand behind his back to take out his last grenade which he pulled the pin off with his teeth.

"Anniiiiie." He cackled as he released the spoon. "Game over!"

With that, he threw his explosive down the Female Titan's throat and jumped out of her maw.

A deafening explosion ejected the tearful shapeshifter from her stiffened neck, she passed over Eren's shoulder and was caught midair by Mikasa. The oriental severed each of her limbs in a flash and ignored her cry of pain and distress. Amos emerged like a demon from Hell, passed his prey, landed on the ground, tracing a short furrow in the dust, and held out his sword towards the traitor who skewered it with her momentum, screaming in horror.

A cathedral-like silence fell on the theater of this final scene, Hannibal, despite his rasping breathing and his burning muscles, brought the face of the little dismembered blonde girl close to his, and met her devastated and terrified gaze.

It was there that, against all expectations, the Rogue Titan turned around and approached the noble and his prey with his gaping mouth. Jaeger's voice stormed Hannibal's brain and he let Annie fall to grab his head with his one good hand.

“I will destroy the entire World! " the voice of the native of Shiganshina roared in the Advisor's skull. “Because… I’m FREE! FREE TO SAVE MY BLOOD! "

"Shit!" Hanji shouted from her roof. "He’s going to devour them!"

"Eren! Stop!" Jean barked.

Mikasa reacted quickly, she rushed towards the Rogue’s nape before he had time to close his fangs around the nobleman and the blonde, and pulled him out of his Titan.

Amos woke up just before the gigantic limp body fell on them, and pulled Annie out of harm's way.

After which, he simply collapsed, overcome by the pain that radiated through his body and the psychological fatigue caused by Eren's voice as well as the infernal reflections of his brain.

"Damn…" He blurted out, sprawling in the dust. "What a fucking day…"

Mikasa landed next to him with Jaeger in her arms, she glared at Annie before returning her attention to the noble.

"Are you okay? She asked, apparently very worried.

"I’m fine.” Amos smiled despite his heavy breathing. “I’ll survive.”

The oriental let out a smile of relief, before putting Eren down and heading towards Leonhart.

"Mikasa!" Amos called, who knew very well what she had in mind. "Leave her be, she can no longer transform in her state."

The half-blood gritted her teeth angrily, but nevertheless threw a good punch into the little blonde's face. The latter did not flinch despite her nasal fracture, she suffered much more from her other injuries, in particular from the blade still stuck in her guts.

Hannibal sighed, before standing up to meet Annie's devastated gaze, the latter was crying with anger and despair.

“I lied.” he admitted in a whisper. “Armin’s feelings and statement were true. I just wanted to disturb you to get you away from Eren and force you to make a mistake, that's all."

Annie widened her eyes, and let out a long, deep sigh of relief that served to evacuate all the excruciating emotions that had tortured her since hearing this lie.

"W-why are you telling me this?" She asked confused.

Mikasa frowned, equally confused.

Amos snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Make no mistake, Annie." His voice was cold as death. "It’s Armin I’m pitying, not you."

She closed her eyes and wept. The scouts quickly came down the roofs to circle her and capture her.

Leonhart then met Armin's gaze, and smiled sadly.

“You deserve a better person than me.” She said simply. “That’s all I want you to know."

The little blond didn't answer, it was very hard for him to hear Annie say such a thing.

Hanji interrupted them by speaking:

"Annie Leonhart, you are under arrest for crimes against humanity. I advise you not to try anything stupid, it will only get you into more trouble."

The prisoner maintained a neutral expression, but grimaced in pain when Mikasa cruelly removed Amos' blade from her guts.

It didn't take long for the traitor to be dragged by scouts to an underground bunker to be locked up there. Hanji was about to follow the movement, but the Advisor stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"If members of the Hannibal Brigade come to take her from us, tell them that I am denying their request. If they insist... tell them that I will carry out all the threats put in place by my grandfather, if they do not convey to him that he must come and speak to me in person if he wants to take away my prisoner."

The scientist frowned, then she nodded and went on her way, leaving behind the few former cadets of the 104th.

"Damn, Amos, you all right?" Jean asked, trying not to watch Mikasa carrying Eren.

“I'll be fine.” The noble replied with a short breath. “Apart from my dislocated shoulder, I'm intact, just very tired.

"A dislocated shoulder you say?" Came a voice as dull as it was threatening.

Hannibal's weak smile crumbled like a house of cards, and he had naively thought his day was over.

"We can't leave it like this." Levi said, grabbing his right wrist and putting his left hand on his shoulder. "Don’t move."

Without the slightest mercy, the captain of the scouts properly replaced the noble's limb with a sinister crack. Amos let out a groan of suffering through his teeth under the desolate looks of Armin and Jean, Mikasa glared at Levi.

Hannibal stretched his shoulder to alleviate the pain, his emerald eyes rested on his superior.

“Thank… you.” He said in a tone that was not at all grateful.

The little man kept a perfectly impassive expression.

"Everyone, go and rest at the military barracks in the East of the District." He ordered the group. "It's the only one that probably hasn't been destroyed. Wait for the next instructions there. Great work everyone."

The young recruits nodded, Armin and Jean came to put Amos' arms around their respective necks and led him towards a cart. The noble took a cigarette from his pocket once he was seated in the cart and lit it while Kirstein took the reins.

A moment of heavy silence passed, the streets strewn with corpses, the destroyed buildings and the furious looks of the population when they saw the crest on their capes made it worse. Armin lowered his head regretfully, Mikasa focused on Eren to avoid raising hers. Hannibal puffed on his cigarette as if nothing had happened.

“Fuck.” He said suddenly, releasing a cloud of smoke. “We’re really doing a stupid job."

Jean almost choked as he contained his burst of laughter, Armin placed a hand over his mouth and Mikasa lifted her scarf.

" Don't make us laugh, you bastard!" Kirstein chided.

Amos just smiled at them and took another drag on his cigarette.

(-)(-)(-)

When Eren finally regained consciousness, it was in one of the beds in the Military barracks. He looked around the room to find Mikasa sitting next to him, Armin standing behind her, Jean leaning against the wall and Amos lying in the bed next to his.

“Please.” He began in a tone as tired as it was worried. “Tell me she didn’t escape… again.”

"We caught her." Kirstein reassured. "Now it remains to be seen whether we will succeed in getting anything out of her."

“She better spill the beans quickly.” Amos rasped, straightening up. “Otherwise the nobles will use her silence as a pretext to obtain custody of her."

Hearing this, Jean and Eren grimaced in disgust.

“You gotta be shitting me.” The taller of the two said. “We sacrificed so many lives in this damn operation, and now these assholes want to take away our first real victory."

Armin nodded slowly.

"If this drags on... we may have to resort to…"

“That’s enough.” Amos cut in, he didn’t want Arlet to think about torture, it wasn’t his place to even consider it. “There’s no point in ruminating like you’re doing. Our superiors will take the necessary decisions, and Grandfather is fooling himself if he thinks I'm going to let him take Annie on board without batting an eyelid."

A little silence followed his statement, then a question sprouted in Armin's head.

" Hey Amos, do you know why Annie tried to capture you instead of Eren?"

All eyes turned to the noble.

"I think so, yes." He finally admitted, blowing through his nose. "Unfortunately, to tell you about it, I would have to reveal information to you that you don't yet have. Except Armin. I will talk about it when we report to the Commander."

Eren, Mikasa and Jean looked disappointed, but accepted his decision, Arlet's eyes shone with curiosity.

"By the way, Armin... about what I said to Annie…"

“I understand.” The little blond cut in. “And I thank you for telling her the truth."

Amos grimaced, he was about to say something more when an MP entered the room.

"Armin Arlet, Jean Kirstein, you will be heard."

The two scouts nodded, said their goodbyes to their friends and followed the messenger. The taller one nevertheless glanced back at Eren and Mikasa. They did not notice it, but Amos saw it.

“Poor Jean, you have no chance. "

As if he had heard it, Kirstein gritted his teeth slightly and lowered his head before walking out.

The noble suddenly realized that he was alone with two people who probably needed a moment of privacy. He got up and put on his boots.

"What are you doing?" Eren asked when he noticed him.

"I'm just going to stretch my legs."

“You should stay in bed.” Mikasa advised, keeping an impassive face. “You’ve done a lot today."

" Don't worry, I'm fine." He smiled. "And if I sleep too much during the day I won't sleep tonight."

With these words he headed towards the exit, before a Herculean force grabbed him by the back of his shirt to bring him back to his bed and shove him there unceremoniously.

“You stay in bed.” Mikasa ordered in an uncompromising tone.

Amos couldn't believe his ears, Eren struggled not to burst out laughing.

"What is wrong with you?" The noble growled as he tried to get up.

But the oriental woman grabbed his shoulder and pined him to the bed.

“If you try to get up again, I’ll knock you out.” She warned with all the seriousness in the world.

He raised an outraged eyebrow.

“You are a terrible nurse.” He commented before taking a slap on the head.

Eren was forced to stifle his laughter in his hand.

"Gah! What the hell!" Hannibal roared. "The hell is wrong with you?! My head has suffered enough today!"

It was Mikasa's turn to raise an eyebrow, she lowered her gaze to the noble's crotch. The latter saw her coming and placed his hands on his genitals.

“Don’t even think about it.” He growled, scandalized by his rival’s behavior.

Eren couldn't hold it any longer, he burst out into thunderous laughter. Amos grimaced in frustration as he realized how ridiculous he must have looked.

However, he took advantage of the fact that Jaeger was distracted to signal the half-blood to approach her ear, which she did.

“I was just going to go away for five minutes to leave you alone with Eren,” he grumbled lowly.

Mikasa widened her eyes slightly, and pulled her scarf up over her nose.

“That’s very nice of you.” She admitted shyly. “thank you, but…"

Once again, she grabbed his shoulder and pinned him down on his mattress.

"You stay in bed, and that’s it."

Amos raised his eyebrows in surprise while Eren laughed harder. The tall blond had sincerely believed that admitting the reason why he had wanted to slip away would have been enough to make the oriental woman bend, but she had remained firm. With a sigh of exasperation, he surrendered.

“There aren’t girls like you anymore,” he said with a touch of affection that made the young girl smile.

Satisfied, she returned to her seat.

"Holy cow." Jaeger said, placing a hand on his chest to calm himself. "I have to admit that it’s hilarious when it happens to someone other than me."

Amos groaned and scowled at himself, Mikasa covered her nose with her scarf to hide her amusement and blush.

Eren smiled while looking at his friends, before taking on a slightly more serious expression, a rather abrupt change in behavior that didn't escape anyone.

"You know…" He began hesitantly. "At that moment... when I lost control... I felt so good."

Hannibal tensed ever so slightly as he remembered the guttural voice that had echoed in his brain. His instinct suddenly screamed something at him that he repelled immediately. Another inexplicable phenomenon, but one that particularly worried him.

"It relieved me to feel my body breaking…" Jaeger continued, his gaze in a trance. "I even thought that dying wouldn't have bothered me…"

"Eren!" Mikasa exclaimed, terrified by his words.

“I don’t think so anymore.” he reassured.

The oriental woman let out a sigh of relief, before taking his hand.

“I'm glad you're back.” She said, lowering her head as if to free herself from the weight on her shoulders.

“That’s why I wanted to go out.” Hannibal sighed in his head, focusing on the ceiling. “This moment should be just between them. "

Eren smiled at Mikasa to thank her for her affection, before looking at his friend.

"Hey Amos? What I felt... do you know what it is?"

The tall blond let out a sigh, he stood up.

“Yes.” He said in a distant voice. “It’s madness."

The oriental girl widened her eyes in horror upon hearing it, while her little adopted brother lowered his head. He had already more or less understood.

The nobleman continued:

"The thing about power, in whatever form it takes, is that it can be so exhilarating that it's quite capable of making you lose your mind. Your power is no different, the feelings of elation and power you felt blinded you, and for a moment you became detached from reality. Nothing mattered after that, not even your own life, the only thing that mattered to you at that moment was the pleasure and urges you got from this exhilarating feeling of power."

Eren's eyes widened, that was exactly what he had felt.

"Be very careful." Hannibal warned, meeting his gaze. "If you ever let power corrupt you, you will always seek refuge in these emotions, to blind yourself to free yourself from the responsibilities imposed by reality. And then you will fall into an abyss from which you will not be able to emerge alone. It only takes one moment to descend into madness, a moment that generally ends up costing you very, very dearly."

He rested his emerald eyes on Mikasa for a moment, before returning to Eren.

"This feeling gives you… an artificial freedom, which breaks all the bonds that you have created during your life. But by succumbing to it, you become nothing more than the slave of this illusory sensation, and sooner or later you end up filled with regret."

Jaeger was panting, he looked at his friend as if he had just discovered a new side of his personality.

Ackerman looked horrified, he knew too much about it not to have experienced it.

Amos lowered his head, he had expected them to look at him like that, but it was still painful. He sighed deeply, grabbed his jacket and headed towards the exit.

Fortunately, this time Mikasa did not try to stop him.

The two natives of Shiganshina remained alone in a slightly heavy silence, staring at the door through which the nobleman had left. Finally, the oriental woman lowered her head and blew her nose regretfully.

"Are you OK?" Eren asked worriedly.

He had rarely seen the girl with a look as sad as the one she wore.

"I don't know…" She whispered quietly. "I don't know how to help him... the other day we talked about him... And I thought I was starting to understand him, but... I don't know how…"

Jaeger was quite surprised to hear her say that, he hadn't realized that Mikasa and Amos were so close, they had spent almost all their time during their classes fighting and measuring their talents, and only very little to discuss.

"You know." Eren said. "I think you're racking your brains a little too much."

The oriental frowned slightly.

"I mean…" He hesitated a little. Maybe you don't need to do as much as you think. I think your presence helps him feel better, and I don't think you need to do more. Amos is... well it's Amos... there's too much going on in his head for anyone to understand anything. But if he ever trusts you enough to talk to you about himself... well, just be there and wait for him to come and talk to you. If there's one person who can rattle his cage, it's you."

Mikasa widened her eyes slightly, and considered this option. Was it really that simple?

“Sorry.” Jaeger said, grimacing. “I don’t know if what I’m saying makes sense or if I’m just talking nonsense."

"No, no." She tried to reassure him. "I'll think about it. Thanks Eren."

“Whenever you want, Mik.” He replied, a little relieved not to have looked like an idiot.

Ackerman raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“It’s been years since you called me “Mik”" She remarked, smiling.

It was the Rogue's turn to be surprised.

"That much? I never realized it."

He turned his head to look at the Sun through his window and thought mechanically of his younger years.

“So much has happened in just five years, this time... this peace... will we ever find them again? "

(-)(-)(-)

“I’m going to slaughter the titans! "

“Slaughter them all to the last one! "

“I will destroy the entire World! "

“Because… I am FREE! FREE TO SAVE MY BLOOD! "

Standing on the roof of the barracks with a cigarette in his mouth, Amos shivered as he remembered Eren's voice echoing in his head. This event was by far the one that had worried him the most today, the simple fact of having someone else inside his head terrified him.

“Somehow this confirms my theory.” He thought bitterly, whistling a long wisp of smoke. “The ancient royal lineage is linked to the titans, linked to shapeshifters like Eren and Annie. But the mystery only thickens with each time I get a new clue. I wonder if…"

He shook his head.

"Grandfather and I need to talk, I can't believe for a second that he didn't know about the Reiss blood abilities. That explains why he kept Historia instead of making her disappear like all the bastards Father had sired, and it also explains why he wanted to keep the other bitch instead of letting me kill her. "

He clenched his fists and bit his cigarette, he had to take a very long drag to calm himself, and stared blankly at the ruins of Stohess.

But he couldn't forget what he felt when he looked at Eren and remembered those words.

Predation had almost taken over, his instincts had practically screamed at him to kill the native of Shiganshina while there was still time. And his instinct had rarely deceived him.

It was then that a piece of Wall Sina came loose and crashed to the ground. Amos' first thought was the symbolism of the cracks left in the wall after their fight with Annie, perhaps it was a sign that he was moving in the right direction, but the mystery was as thick as the walls themselves.

Then he noticed a strange scarlet shape embedded in the rampart and frowned. Since he was too far away to determine what this strange material was, he took his spyglass out of his jacket and took a closer look.

What he saw made him widen his eyes, open his mouth blissfully, and let go of his spyglass.

A titan, a little smaller than the Colossal itself, was embedded in the rampart.

Amos suddenly felt fatigue coming over him, he fell to his knees in exhaustion and let out a frustrated groan of anger.

"What a fucking mess…"