The Path Back to You | Levi x OC

Chapter 18 - Scorched

Anastasya

Anya, Hange and the others reached Wall Rose just as the first few drops of rain splattered onto its dull, grey surface. The glorious dawn sky had been steadily devoured by thick, ominous clouds on their way back from Utgard Castle, and it had done nothing to improve Anya's mood. She dismounted and made her way to the top of the wall with the others wearing ODM gear. Once she arrived, she organised the soldiers and issued the order to start operating the makeshift pullies, which they would use to lift the injured, and those without gear, to the top. The horses would come last. She oversaw the tasks, her arms folded and her entire body full of tension, to the extent that she felt cramp threatening to start crushing and twisting the muscles in her neck and shoulders. She rolled her head in slow circles to try and dispel it, and overheard as a distressed Christa pleaded with Hange to spare Ymir as the still-unconscious Titan shifter was brought up on a stretcher. She and Hange had quietly agreed to give the freckled recruit the benefit of the doubt, at least for the time being, but Hange wasn't giving much away to Christa. Ymir may hold valuable information, and they simply had to be open to an alliance with her. However, for all they knew, Ymir was in league with the Armoured and Colossal Titans. They were going to have to proceed with extreme caution. The sheer amount of secrets and turmoil that had swamped Anya in just a few days was making her brain ache, and she found herself longing to be back in her room with Levi. She wondered what he was doing and if he'd managed to get any rest or not. She knew how frustrated he'd been about staying behind. She stopped her stretching and watched Christa closely as she took Ymir's hand in hers. The girl had hidden her real identity, 'Historia Reiss', from absolutely everyone, and there was a lot of investigative work to be done, namely concerning the reason as to why the Order of the Walls seemed to value her so much. Anya made a mental note to set up a thorough vetting service for the Scout Regiment in the future. Never before had there been so many infiltrations, and it had knocked them all for six. She tsked and went to peer over the edge of the wall just as Conny was pulled up.
"Is that everyone?" she asked.
"Yes," Keiji, a member of Hange's squad, replied.
"Good."
"Conny; we're going to send someone to investigate your village as soon as possible, but for now I want you to focus on the task at hand. We have to seal the wall. Got it?" asked Hange.
"Got it."
"We'll deal with Ymir once she's recovered," Anya added.
"I expected this place to be swarming with Titans," said Hange, more to herself than the others, as she looked down the wall. She inhaled sharply when she saw several members from the Garrison Regiment fast approaching. "They've come to tell us where the hole is!"
They helped the team up. Hannes, the blonde-haired captain, looked especially worried. He spoke before he'd even finished clambering onto the top of the wall.
"There's no hole."
"Huh?" asked Eren, crouching to help him.
"We spent all night looking for it, but at least between Trost and Krolva, there's nothing wrong with the wall."
"What did you say?!" Hange exclaimed.
"We bumped into soldiers from Krolva and retraced our steps. We haven't seen any Titans the whole way here."
"But...we know for sure there's Titans on this side of the wall," said Armin, eyes wide.
"Did you actually look? Are you sure you're not drunk?" Eren asked Hannes.
"I didn't drink!" he insisted. "Wait, why are all of you here, anyway?"
Hange turned, scratching her face.
"If there's no hole in the wall, so be it. For now, we'll fall back to Trost District!" She, Anya and Moblit began to walk away from the others. "Oh no...what if a Titan really did manage to dig a hole under the wall?"
"The hole will be hard to find, in that case," said Moblit.
"It's impossible," Anya grumbled, deeply disconcerted. "What we need to do now is focus on getting back in one piece. Even with our horses, it's probably going to be tough, depending on how many Titans are left roaming around out there. Let's just hope nothing else happens to make life harder in the meantime."
A fierce, howling wind buffeted them from out of nowhere. It was so strong that a flagpole was wrenched from the wall, and they all froze, startled, as it clattered to the ground. The atmosphere was suddenly so thick that it could be cut with a blade, and Anya narrowed her eyes. Something was about to happen. They heard shouting from further back along the wall, and Anya turned to watch just as Mikasa launched herself at Reiner and Bertholdt, slashing at their throats. However, she wasn't fast enough, and she simply sliced Reiner's hand off instead. The tall, muscled recruit stood there glaring at them all. Seconds later, orange-green lightning sparked around him, and before anyone could react, both he and Bertholdt transformed. The sheer force of their transition knocked everyone to their hands and knees, threatening to shove them from the wall entirely. Anya always kept two curved blades concealed in wrist sheathes, and she immediately used them to anchor herself to the rail tracks used for transporting goods along the top of the wall. She watched as their worst fears materialised before their eyes. They were not simply Titans. They were indeed the Armoured Titan and the Colossal Titan. Anya had never seen either of them before, and she gaped, horrified, as she took in the grotesque, skinless, muscled form of Bertholdt's Colossal Titan and the hulking, reinforced body of Reiner's  Armoured Titan.
"Fuck!" she yelled.
Eren toppled from the wall, only to be snatched up by Reiner, and Anya got to her feet just as he took a thundering step towards her. And another. And another.
"Anya!" Hange cried.
She stared into the molten eyes of the enormous brute and slowly withdrew her weapons, any lingering sense of fear she may have had instantly melting away, replaced by a deadly, steadily burning calm.
"Come and get me," she snarled.
Reiner took one more hesitant step, then seemed to think better of it, and instead turned to jump from the wall. Hange ran over to her and grabbed her arm.
"Anya, are you all right?!"
"We just had to get the most difficult ones, didn't we?"
"What was that about? Why did he hone in on you?"
"Who knows?" she asked, her head pounding with adrenaline.
Hange was about to reply when the Colossal Titan drew back his massive, gangly arm.
"Everyone! Jump!" she yelled.
All but one soldier managed to escape the Titan's attack. They watched from the side of the wall as he tossed the unknown Scout and Ymir into his mouth as though they were nothing more than birdseed. Anya realised that he had only half-formed, attaching just his head and torso to the wall.
"He's slow," she remarked. "Maybe we can attack."
Hange nodded, her expression fierce.
"All soldiers! Prepare to attack! We're taking down the Colossal Titan! It's a threat to all humanity! Swarm the huge bastard!"
The Scouts launched themselves at him, but just as they were about to reach his neck, the enormous monster released an impossible amount of scalding-hot steam. Vision was completely compromised, and the temperatures were far too intense to withstand.
"FALL BACK!" Anya yelled.
The soldiers returned to the wall, landing a safe distance away from the dissipating steam. Several had been scalded on their hands and faces, but none had obtained any serious injuries.
"Is he trying to disappear again?" Hange asked.
"No, something's different this time," Armin said. "Last time, he vanished instantly, but now he's maintaining his form and emitting heat like a furnace. If he keeps protecting himself with steam..."
Armin tried to fire ODM gear at the Titan, but the steam simply pushed it away.
"We're unable to attack with ODM gear! Wh-what do we do?"
"We wait," Anya said. "There's nothing else we can do."
Hange agreed and addressed everyone.
"Squads Three and Four; take position behind the target. Rashad has command. Squad Two will wait here; Lauda has command. It's yet to be seen how long he can keep his body burning, but eventually, he has to come out. We wait for that moment to attack. Forget about capturing them. Kill 'em, and don't hesitate!" she shouted. "Squad One; with Anya and me! You too, Armin. We have a date with the Armoured Titan!"
Anya twirled her blades in anticipation, though they realised that Eren had finally transformed, putting their plans on hold. For the time being all they could do was watch as he got his arse handed to him by Reiner. She flinched as Reiner's fist impacted with Eren's Titan so hard that he went flying fifty metres.
"We should start charging to watch this stuff," she muttered. "HEY! SHIT-FOR-BRAINS! REMEMBER WHAT I TAUGHT YOU!"
Armin gasped.
"That's right! If he uses your techniques for martial arts, he might be able to grapple him!"
"Let's hope so," she replied, watching intently.
As Reiner swung again, Eren finally dodged and initiated close combat. He grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground with an almighty shudder. Reiner tried to free himself, but Eren flipped him and grabbed him with his powerful legs. He began squeezing, and parts of Reiner's tough armour finally started to crack. Eren suddenly ripped one of his arms off, and Armin raced down to him. Anya couldn't work out if the kid was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.
"EREN! You need to get as close as you can to the wall! Reiner wants to kidnap you and take you away! We need to escape and make sure that doesn't happen!"
Mikasa was down there too, and Anya watched with Hange as Keiji went to retrieve them. To their surprise, Eren did as he was told, and he stopped next to them by the wall, prompting Hange to go and perch on his shoulder, where she told him to try and break Reiner's legs, giving them a chance to escape. Eren nodded, and she returned to the wall with a fierce, excited blush on her face. Anya rolled her eyes.
"He listened to me!" she gasped.
"Yeah. Now let's see if he can do it," Anya replied.
They watched as Eren made his move but to their dismay, Reiner soon had him on the ground again. Armin and Mikasa yelled at him to get up, but Reiner was simply too quick when tackling.
"He can't move that fast if his entire body is rock solid," Hange realised.
"His knees wouldn't bend quickly enough," Anya agreed. She sought out the most capable soldier to assist her. "WE HAVE TO CUT BEHIND THE KNEES! Mikasa! Take right while I go for the left!"
Before anyone could react, they raced towards Reiner, whom Eren now had on the ground again. He was squeezing the Armoured Titan's neck with his powerful legs, holding him tightly in place for them.
"Perfect," said Anya.
She dived down and made two massive, deep slices behind his left knee, before doubling back and doing it again, coordinating perfectly with Mikasa, who she had to admit was impressive. She landed to perch in a nearby tree and watched with satisfaction as both of Reiner's legs collapsed from under him. However he soon began to use his kneecaps to shove himself and Eren forward, pulling them both along with his hardened fingers as they dug deep into the earth. Mikasa returned to the wall, but Anya stayed where she was, watching closely. Eren was making steady progress cracking the hardened skin around the Armoured Titan's neck, which was conveniently bent forward to expose his nape. If she was fast, maybe, just maybe, she could slice it open. Reiner ground to a halt and, without warning, emitted a bone-shaking roar. Anya would be out of time if more Titans showed up, and so she attached fresh blades to her gear in anticipation. As Eren increased the pressure, blood began spurting from the back of Reiner's neck. It would be so easy to slice... Anya decided to make her move. She barrelled towards the pair, blades out, just as an almighty crack sounded from above. She heard panicked yells from the others, but it was far too late. The scorching-hot entirety of the Colossal Titan's top half hurtled from the wall to land directly on top of Eren and Reiner.
The last thing Anya remembered was blinding, burning pain.