Within the walls

59

Nyx's pov

"Hanji, you should rinse that kid's mouth out with water, some of the wine got into it." Niccolo said once Gabi was gone.

I looked at the man in horror before stumbling over to him, slightly light headed from using my titan powers to heal. I grabbed him by the collar and glared at him.

"What the hell were you thinking!? Why did you bring that shit here!?" I yelled as I shook him slightly.

Hanji grabbed my arms and pulled me back without much effort at all.

"Calm down Nyx, it's just wine." Hanji said.

"Just wine. Just wine!? It wasn't just wine! What were the letters on the bottle?" I asked but he didn't answer. "What we're the letters on the bottle!?"

"ZJ, I think..." Niccolo replied.

"What does that mean?" Hanji asked.

"Zeke Jäeger." I said. "Every bottle has the initials of whoever's spinal fluid is inside. It's supposed to be a more humane way of transforming people rather than forcefully injecting it. It stops them from being afraid."

"So that other bottle next door, NxB, thats yours?" Jean asked and I nodded.

"Every ship had Zeke's spinal fluid as standard issue supplies. If a Marleyan drank it then it wouldn't effect them and if an Eldian drank it then it wouldn't transform them until Zeke said so. Reiner and I's spinal fluid was kept in smaller quantities on the ships incase of emergencies, it would cause any Eldians that drank it to transform immediately. It was to be used if they needed titans for any reason and Zeke wasn't there. It was something I came up with around two years ago, I was the one that ordered it be put on all of the ships. I figured no one would suspect the wine." I said looking down and clenching my fists. "This is all my fault. Please tell me you didn't serve that shit to anyone else."

I glanced up at Niccolo only to see him looking at the ground. He had served the wine.

"Damn it!" Jean yelled as he grabbed Niccolo by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

"Nyx I need you to do something for me." Hanji said. "I need you to go and warn Levi and his squad and report back to Armin with your titan powers. They took Wine with them."

"Take my horse." Connie said.

Hanji then pulled a paper from her jacket and handed it to me.

"That'll take you to them. Be careful, I'm trusting you." Hanji said.

"Take care of Gabi and Falco for me." I said. "I'll check in as soon as I get there. Take anyone who's had the wine and get them somewhere away from the rest of the population."

With that I hurried out of the restaurant and untied the horse that Connie had rode here on. I climbed up onto a ledge and jumped up onto the horse. I didn't have enough strength to pull myself up without the ledge. I took off on the horse, not yet checking the map. As I rode away I glanced back and saw people in scout uniforms crowding the place. Something was wrong.

Time skip

It was almost dark by the time I reached where Zeke was supposed to be being held. The whole place was deserted, tents had collapsed and anything that might belong to someone was just lying around in the ground.

"Zeke..." I muttered looking around the camp.

Despite my warning they had still fallen victim to Zeke's power. This camp site looked almost exactly like ragakko.

I spotted a pair of glasses lying on the ground and recognised them as Zeke's. I hopped down to pick them up before struggling back up onto my horse, slipping a bit because he was wet.

Suddenly the ground shook and a bright light flashed into my view for a brief moment. The sound almost knocked me off my horse but I had to follow it. That's where I'd find whatever or whoever was involved in the blast.

I rode as fast as I could. Whoever was over there might need help. My hair which was wet from the rain was flung around in all directions, my clothes sticking to me and freezing my skin. The cold air blasting me from the speed at which I rode caused me to shiver.

My horse skidded to a halt when we reached the site of the explosion. The ground was charred and the smell of smoke and burning flesh overpowered the smell of wet grass. I spotted something unusual in the grass and slipped down from my horse to investigate.

I was almost right on top of it before I could tell what it was. Zeke was hard to recognise without his glasses or maybe it was his lack of arms and legs. He looked to be dead already but the rising steam told me otherwise.

"Zeke, are you alive?" I asked, poking his face with my pointer finger as I crouched down beside him.

I didn't get an answer so I decided to try the link.

'Zeke, are you there?' I though.

'Yeah' Zeke thought back.

'Thank god, what do I need to do?' I asked.

'Get out of the rain, you're too sick to be here.' Zeke replied.

'Says the man missing his arms, legs and ability to speak.' I shot back.

'I still have a living titan that I can call upon. I need you strong enough to fight for later. Erin will need you.' Zeke explained and I nodded.

'Before I forget, I brought you these.' I thought back before placing the glasses on his face.

A smile etched itself on his corpse like face before the connection was cut. I quickly turned away from him as blood began spewing from my lips. It wasn't coughing this time, it all came at once.

I heard the loud sound of footsteps and knew Zeke's backup was coming. Deciding I didn't want eaten I struggled back up onto my horse and took off. My vision had blurred too much to tell where I was going so I'd just have to trust in my horse.