Unbroken | Annie Leonhart

Shinganshina

It had been two days since Cori and Annie's night under the stars. The scouts had finished their preparations for Shinganshina.

Cori fitted herself with her gear, Mikasa by her side. They were going to leave under the cover of night in order to avoid titans. Annie walked in and started putting on her gear. Annie was to stay by Cori unless Hange, Erwin or Levi told her otherwise.

While she was definitely allowed more freedom they still really didn't trust her. If necessary she would transform, but they were going to let Eren handle them first.

"We gotta go!" Sasha called. "Okay," Mikasa said. The girls left the room and got onto their horses. The scouts lined up in their squads and took off, following Erwin who had insisted on being present for the mission, despite Levi's concerns.

The scouts had made it to a forest not
to far from Shinganshina. It was dark and hard to see more than a couple feet in front of you. They planned to arrive at Shinganshina before the titans woke up.

Armin and Eren were talking but Cori wasn't really paying attention. She was looking around, trying to see in the dark. There were a couple of close run ins with titans.

As they got closer to Shinganshina Cori was instructed to chains Annie's hands. The reason for this being, if Reiner and Bertholdt were there they would be under the impression Annie was being held against her will, when in reality she was the scouts back up.

The sun began to rise and they could see the looming wall. It felt nostalgic being back there. It had been 5 years since Cori was last here. She, Mikasa, Eren and Armin walked by each other as they approached.

They got onto the wall and Eren got ready to use his hardening to close the hole in the wall.

Annie positioned herself next to Erwin. She was the only one that wasn't covering herself with the scout regiment hood. Erwin wanted to see how Reiner and Bertholdt would react to her being there.

Cori, Mikasa, Eren and Armin were running along the wall when Armin suddenly stopped. Cori turned to see that Armin was inspecting a cup. Erwin and Hange joined him.

Armin was certain they were hiding nearby and couldn't be far. Hange called some soldiers over, ordering them to follow Armin's order and find them. Eren, Mikasa and Cori continued along. Eren was able to successfully use his hardening to block the holes in the walls.

Armin's squad was still searching, though so far they had come up empty.

Cori watched along with Mikasa and Eren as Armin commanded his squad to look in the walls. Sure enough a soldier found a crack in the wall, only to be met with a sword. Reiner revealed himself and Levi dove in quick, slashing Reiner through his neck. Reiner fell and transformed and Cori immediately reached for the Thunder Spears. Everyone else followed suit and Eren transformed going to attack Reiner.

Annie remained by Erwin. She was eyeing Reiner carefully. Reiner and Eren began fighting. The squad was waiting for Eren to get Reiner in a position where his nape was shown.

The plan was for the squad to use their Thunder Spears to blow Reiner up, effectively killing him. While they were waiting for Eren to do his job Cori looked around for Bertholdt, who had yet to make an appearance.

Eren got Reiner into the position they needed him to and they jumped into action. Cori, Jean, Sasha and Connie all made their way to Reiner, aiming their Thunder Spears at him. The spears latched onto Reiner and everyone got to a safe distance before pulling the hook. They all exploded and steam emerged from Reiner's titan.

Everyone stared. Sasha and Connie felt slightly guilty and Jean went to smack some sense into them. Cori just looked on. Was it that easy? It couldn't have been that easy.

What they didn't know is at the same time they were busy dealing with Reiner a titan appeared, the same monkey that was spotted in Wall Rose. With the titan came a bunch of pure titans that appeared to be under his control.

When he transformed Annie just stared. The two made eye contact and without saying anything she knew that he was going to try to rescue her, despite Annie not needing or wanting rescuing.

Suddenly, Reiner let out a roar. Cori's eyes went wide, as did everyone else. On cue a barrel came hurtling in the air and Bertholdt emerged. He landed near Reiner. His eyes shocked to see the state he was in.

Everyone retreated to Eren. Armin said he wanted to talk to Bertholdt and so he did, but it seemed that whatever Armin was hoping for wasn't there. Cori felt rage. Mikasa moved attacking Bertholdt. He ducked but Mikasa managed to nip his ear. With him distracted Cori moved, eyes blazing with anger. She slashed at him, but he was ready, moving out of the way, causing Cori to tumble. Mikasa and her stared Bertholdt down.

"Where's Annie," he asked. Cori was taken aback by the question. "Under our custody," she answered simply. "Release her," Bertholdt demanded. Part of Cori wanted to tell him that Annie had switched but she didn't want to spoil the surprise and so she shook her head. Bertholdt looked determined.

He got ready to bite his hand. Mikasa and Cori jumped, making their way as fast as the could to Eren. Annie watched from her position on top the wall. The moment she registered what was happening she moved to
jump from the wall but Erwin held her back, giving her a look.

Annie watched as Bertholdt bit his hand and then there was an explosion.