Meow (AOT Story)

Unlikely Alliance

It took roughly half a day before Armin and Matthew returned, and to everyone's surprise, they brought Annie back with them. Even though Armin had discussed his hunch with Islanders, no one truly believed that Annie would have been freed from her crystallized state. The Marleyan soldiers gawked at their comrade when she came into view, and Annie had to explain what happened to everyone while she was crystallized and how she was no longer trapped inside. The group listened in awe of her story, and the group of Islanders praised the little genius for remembering Annie's previous predicament. Hanji and Magath began to discuss infiltration plans while the other conversed among each other. 

"You know, when you're trapped inside of hardened titan skin, you really only have the time to think and listen to those round me. So, I wanted to thank you, Armin, for always coming down and talking to me." Annie barely smiled as she pulled her hair up into it's signature bun. 

"Well, I did it for mainly myself, but you're welcome." The boy's face flushed pink as he gave a small smile.

"But in all that time that I was stuck thinking, I thought of something. Tiffany, back in our training days, you know, before we ever joined our branches. You told me that you could smell a titan coming from me. How is it that you knew about me, but you didn't know about Bertholdt or Reiner?" The blonde female questioned as she watched the feline in Falco's lap. 

This caught everyone's attention as they all looked between the cat and the female titan shifter. A few tense seconds passed before Tiffany moved from her spot on the young boy's lap and shifted into her human form.

"I didn't want to believe it was them, because they were my friends. I could always smell the disgusting stench of titan on them, but I didn't say anything because I made a promise to protect myself. The day that you obliterated the right flank during the 57th Expedition,  I knew your plan because I had eavesdropped on your partners. Reiner wanted to kill me then, but Bertholdt vouched for me and so I was sparred." Tiffany explained briefly as she sat beside the children. 

"So you knew before that day?" Reiner's voice was shaky as he observed the female.

"Yes, Matthew and I both knew." The girl answered immediately.

"You both knew? But then why? Why did you allow us into your home? Why didn't you act like you hated us? You always acted like you were there for us, and you spoke as if you didn't know?" The larger male questioned as he put his face in his hands.

"With our heightened sense of smell, it was only inevitable that we would know. I kept my mouth shut because I trusted my sister, and I figured she'd know what she was doing. As for letting you into my home, I had the urge to kick you out but Tiffany needed this all to work out if she was going to be able to get past all of your defenses. Of course, she has doomed me to an early grave due to all the stress that this is causing." Matthew deadpanned as he glanced between his sister and the burly man. 

"Wait, so Tiffany had been planning on all of this happening since the beginning?" Connie spoke up with a perplexed facial expression.

"Not exactly, Connie, but I did plan to use my relationship with them to gain more information. I knew that I would continue being with friends with at Bertholdt and Reiner, because they didn't suspect me of anything. Annie had caught me transforming into a cat during our training exercise. So when she confronted my about it, I had to change my plans a little bit. Neither one of us really trusted the other, so I knew that I would need to keep my distance from at least her. I think I was more surprised that she didn't rat me out once she departed for the Military Police." Tiffany chuckled slightly at the beginning.

"You really played us back there. We had no idea what you were planning, but you always made it seem like you were on our side." Reiner sighed as he looked down at his feet.