𝚈/𝚗'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

I stared at the view outside of the window, watching people glance at the carriage that I am in.

"Commander Erwin. Lance Corporal Levi." I called out to the two of the men who were in the same carriage as me.

Lance Corporal Levi sat to my right while Commander Erwin sat on the seat in front of us.

Jean, who was dressing up and pretending to be Eren at the moment, was sitting in the carriage behind us.

Commander Erwin hummed in response, staring at me. Lance Corporal Levi didn't reply but I knew he was paying attention.

"Why must I wear this? Can't I just wear the uniform?" I questioned, staring at the outfit they chose for me. I don't really mind it, but I see no use of it.

"Oh, about that, we were in a hurry this morning so we just grabbed what we can." Commander Erwin chuckled.

"What? Are you saying I have bad taste in clothing, you brat?" Lance Corporal Levi glared daggers at me.

"O-Of course not. I just think that it's unnecessary." I mumbled.

"You're obviously in no shape to fight. Also, you have to rest. Fighting will only deepen your wounds. You must rest and allow your body to heal." Commander Erwin advised.

He seems to be used to handling this. Are there others like me who experience such things?

"Of course. Thank you for your consideration, Commander Erwin." I prepared to salute.

Because it had become an instinct to salute every single time and I have gotten used to it, I completely forgot that I was in a carriage.

I stood up and placed my fist where my heart should be. My head collided with the ceiling and I staggered backward.

I landed back on my seat and grabbed the top of my head, wincing a little due to the sudden impact.

"I'm not sure if you're an idiot or an idiot." Lance Corporal Levi scoffed while Commander Erwin laughed.

Soon, the carriage came to a halt, signaling to us that we have arrived at our destination.

Commander Erwin stepped out first, followed by Lance Corporal Levi who dusted his pants once he came out.

I stepped out of the carriage and my face was met with a hand. I looked up and noticed it was Lance Corporal's hand.

"Hurry it up. It'll be troublesome if you get hurt and cry like the brat you are." he impatiently said.

I grabbed his hand and jumped off the courage gracefully, like a butterfly landing on your finger.

"Thank you." I thanked him, retracting my hand back and taking a few steps away from him.

I scanned the area around me and noticed a few soldiers, who are part of the Military Police Brigade.

They all had shotguns instead of ODM gear. That's only natural since Titans don't usually come here.

"Nile. Dispatch all your soldiers at once. We should assume a Titan has appeared." Commander Erwin told someone with a thin mustache.

"What are you saying?! This is Wall Sina, you know! A Titan can't appear here!" the man yelled back.

"Wait! Don't move, Jaeger!" I heard from behind me. I turned around and saw the doppelgänger.

"I've had enough playing doppelgänger!" Jean snatched his own weave and threw it on the ground.

"Don't ever call me that again, retard!" Jean yelled, running up to us with his green cloak.

"Commander, let me go too!" Jean requested.

"Get your equipment from the 4th squad." Commander Erwin instructed.

"Yes, sir!" Jean put on his green cloak.

"It's good to be enthusiastic, but don't forget to guard your own life." Lance Corporal Levi remarked.

"Sir." Jean nodded and ran away to get his equipment for the plan. I wasn't really expecting him to come out of the carriage so soon.

"Erwin! What's going on-" the man with the thin mustache was interrupted.

"Commander, here!" a man came back with some kind of equipment for Commander Erwin.

Commander Erwin puts on all of his equipment, even his ODM gear, and prepares to go help the others, who are participating in this secret mission.

"Everyone that can move, follow me! We'll join the Female Titan capture squad!" Commander Erwin instructed as he began to march forward.

He was stopped when the man with the thin mustache points his shotgun at him. Everyone followed along, pointing their guns at him.

"What you're doing is outright treason against the monarchy!" the man with the mustache declared.

"Nile, is your brain as lacking as that thin mustache of yours? It seems you don't even understand what's going on." Lance Corporal Levi scoffed.

"Remove your equipment, Erwin!" he commanded. Who are these fools and what do they think they're doing?

Streaks of yellow lightning flashed before our very eyes. They lit up the fairly blue sky.

"Took you long enough, you reckless idiot." I mumbled.

"Titans are fighting each other, you say?" the man named 'Nile' repeated. Putting his gun down.

"Yes. The damage to the town is unimaginable. A great number of civilian and military casualties have been confirmed." the man confirmed.

This man named, 'Nile', pointed his gun back at Commander Erwin. Lance Corporal Levi and I have been caught up in this situation as well.

"Erwin! Is all of this your doing?" mustache man questioned, aiming his gun at Commander Erwin's head.

"That's right. Everything was set in motion solely at my command. I do not intend to make any excuses." Commander Erwin surrendered.

"You should've been well aware of the consequences of carrying out such a plan here!" mustache man grabbed Commander Erwin's collar.

"How...how could you do such a thing?!" mustache man yelled.

"It's all for the sake of mankind's victory." Commander Erwin nonchalantly replied.

"Don't screw with me! You're a traitor! Even if I were to execute you now, I doubt the top brass would disapprove!" he let go of Commander Erwin and aimed his gun at him once more.

"I wouldn't mind. However...I'd be leaving everything in your hands. Don't let the Female Titan escape, no matter what." he said.

Oh my...using such a threat to escape this situation is perfect. How amusing...

If he executes Commander Erwin, then he'll have to bear the responsibility and carry out the mission.

If he doesn't execute Commander Erwin, then plenty of lives would be taken away and Wall Sina will have to suffer the damage.

"Paehl's in charge of troop deployment. Vyler's in charge of supplies. Cooperate with them and corner the Female Titan at the East Wall."  Commander Erwin rambled.

It's either you or them. I wonder...which one will mustache man choose?

"Wait, wait! You...do you...really...believe this is for mankind's sake?" mustache man questioned.

"I'm convinced it's a step in the right direction." Commander Erwin gave them his opinion.

"All of you, lower your guns. Handcuff him." mustache man lowered his gun.

In the end, the mustache man decides to just handcuff Erwin, while ordering to deploy all the men.

"Levi, you stay put. You dislike meaningless death, don't you?" Commander Erwin turned to Lance Corporal Levi.

"Yeah, that's right. Whether it's mine or others." he replied.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

𝟹𝚛𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝙾𝚅

A few soldiers of the Survey Corps and the Military Police Brigade watch in mixed emotional awe.

Annie fights off Eren and eventually attempts to escape by climbing up the Wall with her strength to lift herself.

Eren's last attempt to catch her ends in vain as she manages to fend him off by sacrificing her lower right leg.

Mikasa flies to her using the ODM gear and cuts off the fingers on both of her hands.

Annie falls to the ground and Eren pounces on her before she can even have the chance to get up.

He then decapitates her and removes her right arm while losing his other arm in the process.

Just as Eren claims that he will destroy the world, he bites out a chunk of meat from the Female Titan's neck, revealing Annie's real body.

This worried Hanji and others, thinking that Eren will eat Annie. However, upon seeing Annie crying, Eren stopped himself.

This gave Annie a chance to use her hardening ability, encasing herself in a crystal, which causes her Titan body to start merging with Eren as well.

Levi appeared, cutting Eren out of the Titan and scolding him for trying to eat their key evidence.

Later, Eren woke up just to ask Mikasa about Annie's whereabouts.

The three then witnessed Jean attempting to break through the crystal, not being happy with the outcome.

"What are you doing, Jean-Boy? It's pointless, stop wasting time." Y/n told him. Jean lowered his arm and groaned.

"I told you not to call me that." Jean grumbled before walking away from Y/n and the crystal.

Y/n approached the object that contained a friend of hers. She stared at Annie's figure. Her face held no emotion.

"In another life...let's be friends, Annie Leonhart." Y/n muttered before walking away, not knowing that a tear had run down Annie's cheek once she had heard that.

Y/n approached her three childhood friends and stood next to Armin. Mikasa was helping Eren out since he had just got out of his Titan form.

"Y/n, weren't you the closest to Annie back then?" Armin approached Y/n, who was standing with Erwin.

"Yeah. We were close. I mean, she slept on the bed next to me. It's only natural." Y/n replied.

"But it doesn't hurt. Her betrayal doesn't hurt. Because I didn't get that attached, it doesn't hurt as much as it did back then." Y/n said.

Although the two young ladies were close, and Y/n was the only person that Annie would talk to, Y/n made sure to never get attached.

The only thing that she felt in her heart was it hardening as if it was turning ice cold.

"But I wonder...if she really thought of me as a friend or as a person she could use." Y/n muttered.

"I wonder...maybe she was trying to convince herself. Maybe...no, there are always two sides of a story." Y/n whispered.

She stared at the crystal that was being carried by Hanji's squad. She glared at it.

"But on our side of the story, you're the bad guy, Annie Leonhart." Y/n mumbled.

Afterward, they are held by gunpoint by a couple of soldiers from the Military Police Brigade.

Sometime later, Eren woke up in his bed, having recovered from his injuries.

He is aware of Annie being frozen, with Jean confirming that they got nothing from the operation.

Unexpectedly, Armin stated that Eren is the one who let that happen. After a short hesitation, Eren confirmed that upon seeing Annie, he could not move.

"Armin Arlert. Jean Kirstein. Y/n Voland, I'm here to question you." a man canes up to them, holding a clipboard.

"Okay." Armin replied.

"Us first, huh?" Jean mumbled.

"Why do I have to go as well?" Y/n sighed, following Jean. Armin followed after.

"We'll give you two some privacy." Y/n gave Mikasa a wink. Mikasa blushed in embarrassment, giving in to her friend's teasing.

"Personally, I can't understand. If it's to overcome monsters, one must toss aside their humanity. Otherwise, you can't win, huh?" Jean said.

"It's one possible way for mankind to defeat the Titans, something Eren can do." Armin affirmed.

"Say, does exterminating them by turning into a monster really make it our victory?" Jean questioned.

Armin pondered about it for a while. Y/n just remained silent as she stared at the sky, watching the pigeons fly.

A small, white feather caught Armin's attention as he watches it fall to the ground, landing gracefully.

"It's not as easy as it sounds, though." Armin argued.

The Survey Corps and Eren Jaeger's summons to the capital were put on hold, and custody of Annie Leonhart, who is being held deep underground, was given to the Survey Corps.

However, for mankind to realize what they're being caged by, more time and sacrifices were still needed.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

𝚈/𝚗'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

I stared at the view outside of the window. Just staring as if I was waiting for something amusing to pop out of it.

I come here to Stohess District with an outfit that Lance Corporal Levi had chosen for me.

I could've just went with the Survey Corps uniform. With that, I'll be able to fight when needed.

But for some reason, Commander Erwin won't allow me due to the things that have been happening to me.

Lately, I've been getting tired. I don't usually get tired that easily but if I do something, even if it's killing one Titan, my energy's gone.

Is it just me getting older? No, don't joke with me. I'm 15-years-old for goodness's sake.

Grabbing a book from a bookshelf, I opened it up and stared at the words on the first page of the storybook.

Since I'm gonna be here for the entire night, I might as well do something to kill time.

Lada used to love reading books. She loved to read books to others, especially to me.

I can recall the time an old man wanted to read a book that was gifted to him by his daughter.

Lada offered to read it to him while we were in the middle of grocery shopping for food that will last for a month or so.

Without noticing, I flipped the page a bit too quickly than what was necessary, earning a papercut.

"Crap..." I cursed. The door flipped open to reveal Armin who shut the door behind him.

He gave me a little wave. I weakly waved back with the hand that didn't receive a papercut.

"What's wrong?" he asked, taking a seat in the chair in front of me.

Right now, we're in a small library. We decided to roam around after we were done being questioned.

"Just a papercut." I replied.

"Eh? That's dangerous. If we don't clean it, there's a chance that you might get infected. With your current condition, that'll be problematic." he argued.

He stood up from his seat and after a few seconds, he came back with a first aid kit. That's really unnecessary.

"Armin, it's fine, really. I'll just wash it off." I told him, standing up and placing the book down.

"But...I want to." he mumbled. I sighed and sat back down. He stared at me, confused by my actions.

"Here." I raised my hand towards him. He took it in one hand and scavenged through the first aid kit with his free hand.

"Y/n, where is it?" Armin asked. I was about to open the book once more but I paused.

"What do you mean? It's pretty visible. It's over h-" I stared at my hand, not a single cut on it.

"What the? I'm sure it was here last time. Maybe I'm hallucinating." I muttered, taking my hand back.

Exhaustion, bruises, and now hallucinations? What the heck is happening to me? Am I sick? Well, yeah, but actually ill?

"Once we get back, you should rest. It's been a long day and a lot has happened." Armin suggested.

"It's weird, though. I barely did anything today and yet, I feel like I had ran from Wall Maria all the way to Wall Sina." I exaggerated.

"It's probably all of the events that had taken place. The training, the fall of Wall Maria, Eren's transformation, taking back Trost District, our first expedition, the Female Titan, capturing the Female Titan, and many more." he enumerated.

"I hope that's the case." I sighed. Was joining the Survey Corps really right for me?

"Did you hear about the latest news? About the Titan inside the wall?" Armin questioned, sitting in front of me.

"I have. It's quite interesting. To think that we're being protected by Titans who are protecting us from Titans." I ironically said.

"This whole time...we've been protected by Titans from Titans." Armin repeated but in a simpler way.

"Would Titans want to destroy Walls with other Titans in them?" Armin mumbled, rubbing his temples.

"Didn't they already do that when they broke the Wall to destroy our home?" I reminded.

"Yeah, but they only broke the gate." he recalled. Now that I think about it, they always destroyed the gate and nothing else.

"What are you implying here, Armin?" I inquired, closing the book I was holding.

"It's just that the Walls...the stones they're made of is seamless, with no joints or signs of being cut. And we have no idea how they were created." Armin stated.

"That is true. It would be unbelievable if our ancestors made the wall with materials while they were getting chased by Titans. It sounds like some made-up fairytale." I replied.

"What if the Walls were created with the Titans' abilities?" Armin exclaimed, staring at me.

"If Annie could encase herself in crystal, creating a Wall doesn't seem any different." I muttered.

"Oh, what are you reading?" Armin asked, referring to the book on the table.

"I don't know. I haven't read that much of it to tell you anything useful." I answered.

Silence. After I had answered his question, everything went silent. It was awkward, though.

It was more like we were enjoying each other's company, not wanting to say a word.

"Armin, I'm confused." I admitted, resting my head on the wooden table and allowing my head to make contact with the wood.

"About what? Is it about a topic? I could help you with it if you don't understand." he offered, but I only shook my head.

"With my life, I mean. I wonder...what am I really fighting for? All of you have goals you want to achieve." I sighed.

"You want to explore the outside world and see the ocean. Eren wants to exterminate every Titan. Mikasa just wants to protect Eren." I continued.

"Didn't you have the same goal as Eren? You know, to eradicate all Titans." Armin pointed out.

"I thought I did. I don't know how to explain it. Like, why are there bruises on my back? My family doesn't have any hereditary illnesses and I know I didn't get injured as well." I pondered.

"No, wait...Lada...she died, right? Yet, why did that Titan eat her? Don't they just hunt for humans? Do they eat corpses?" I slowly stood up.

"Y/n?" Armin stared at me in worry. I could only stare at the ground as my thoughts began to connect.

"Why didn't that Titan devour me? Why did it eat a corpse? Why didn't it devour me while I was vulnerable?" I mumbled.

"Did Lada even get eaten in front of me? Did I actually see her get eaten or was that all in my head? Armin!" I called out.

"Y-Yes?" Armin shrieked when I suddenly called out to him.

"Did you see Lada's body lying around when you came to get me 5 years ago? Was there...blood at all?" I questioned.

Armin was about to answer until Mikasa and Eren barged into the library. Eren was panting like crazy.

"Eren? Mikasa? What is it?" Armin slowly stood up from his chair and grabbed the book I was reading.

He handed it to me and that was enough to drag me back to reality. I thanked him and placed the book back.

"Titans have breached Wall Rose!" Eren finally managed to shout in between his pants.

"Eh? That's impossible." Armin argued.

"Well, it happened. Get your equipment. Y/n, under Commander Erwin's