Libertas ↠ AOT

I

The sunset painted the city of Stohess in an amber glow, but many of the people that lived there were too busy cowering from the recent Titan invasion—or dead—to admire the beauty of the sky. Antheia was standing with Hanji and Moblit close to the Wall, watching as Annie Leonhardt, the Female Titan, was covered with an ebony sheet of cloth and carted away to be hidden underground. Despite the destruction surrounding them, everyone was calm.

The quiet was broken when the Survey Corps soldiers let out collective gasps, staring frightfully at something behind the trio. Everyone began to gather their comrades, pointing at whatever it was that had caused a ripple of nervousness to spread among them.

"What's going on?" Hanji asked curiously before turning around.

She took off in the direction of the pointing at full speed, Antheia and Moblit at her heels with their own curiosity sparking up. They froze when they saw what had caused the commotion, Antheia reaching out to grasp onto Hanji's sleeve as a form of comfort as she stared up at the face of a Titan. It was roughly the same size as the Colossal Titan but the strangest part was that it was inside the Wall, only half of its face visible.

"Section Commander, your orders?" Moblit asked, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Uh... well, I'm not sure," she replied, her voice trembling as fear made its way into her heart. This was nothing like anything the Survey Corps had ever seen before.

Hanji and Antheia flinched when a hand suddenly clasped Hanji's shoulder, the hand belonged to one of the Wall Cultists who was panting from running to them so hastily.

"Pastor Nick?" Hanji questioned warily.

"Listen to me, whatever else you do, don't let sunlight touch it!"

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A messenger was sent immediately to inform Commander Erwin about what was revealed to them while the Survey Corps worked on covering the enormous Titan with a large patched sheet that blocked out the sunlight. Antheia, Hanji and the rest of her squad, and Pastor Nick repositioned themselves at the top of the Wall in order to question the only person around that seemed to know anything about what was happening. Hanji asked him for answers but he refused to comply and she resorted to grasping the front of his robe and holding him at the edge of the wall, his feet teetering on the edge while she threatened to drop him to his death.

Antheia hadn't seen Hanji angry very often but she knew that it scared her far more than Levi's glare ever could, she also knew that this was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to how Hanji acted when she was truly vengeful. Pastor Nick wasn't swayed at all by her intimidation and stuck to his vow of silence. When she realised that her anger would get them nowhere, she flung Nick back onto the Wall where he was no longer at risk of falling fifty metres to the ground. She claimed that she was joking the entire time but Antheia didn't believe it for one second, she thought that Hanji genuinely did intend to throw him off then acted against herself and decided to keep him alive in the hopes of getting more information in a more conventional manner.

Hanji sat herself down on the Wall, wondering out loud and questioning whether all the Walls were made out of Titans. The conversation was cut short when a bell rang throughout the city, signalling that a Survey Corps member had come through the gate with important news. As if the fight with the Female Titan and revelation that there were Titans in the Walls wasn't enough for one day, they were told that Wall Rose had been breached.

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After helping Hanji prepare the horses, she followed her to the nearest available research room. Hanji immediately rushed towards the microscope with two samples, one was the Female Titan's hardened crystal and the other was a fragment of the Wall that had chipped off. Meanwhile, Moblit was running back and forth gathering the necessary documents for them to head out.