Crystallized (Aruani)

Chapter 8: Nanitorakin Village

C h a p t e r 8 : N a n i t o r a k i n
V i l l a g e

"This is it. This is where all the Titan shifters are coming from.." Armin looked in awe.

"I can't wait! Let's go!" Hange squealed, and ran towards it.

"Hange-" Levi was about to warn her to be careful, but then figured that there was no point. "Tch... Never mind."

"Are you sure he's waiting for me?" Annie bit her lip nervously.

"Yeah, but we got to make this quick. I'm predicting that your group will find the village in about ten minutes." Bertolt said.

"What are they doing right now?" Annie asked, curiously.

"They tried to head out of the forest, but we made sure that Titans blocked the path." Bertolt responded. "Anyway..try to hurry."

Annie nodded before heading into her old house.

It all looked exactly the same. She walked into the kitchen, where she saw him.
Suddenly, a loud crash erupted- her father dropped the plates.

"Annie?"

He ran over to her and gave her a hug. "You're.. You're back..!"

"Yeah, I'm back..." She whispered, but did not return the hug.

"I've missed you... You've been gone for so long...!" Her father let a single tear fall down his cheek.

"...I'm not staying." Annie said. Her father retracted his arms around her.

"You're not staying!? What do you mean!?"

"I mean I'm not staying. I have a mission." Annie responded blatantly.

"Annie, you can't leave.. I've waited so long!" Her father wailed, but Annie just stared at him.

"I'm going now." She announced, before starting to walk away. Her fathers hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Stay alive... Please, don't die. Find a way back to me." Her father said. "If you can only promise me one thing, I want it to be that."

Annie nodded her head. "Okay... Bye, father."

"Bye, Annie." He whispered as she walked out the door.

"So, how are we going to make them find you and leave this village?" Bertolt questioned.

"I don't know. You were supposed to figure that out." Annie retorted.

"okay... Well, you can just stand here...?" Annie raised her eyebrows at Bertolt. "I'm sorry, I didn't really think this through.."

"Yeah, no kidding." Annie scoffed.

"I've got an idea." Bertolt said. "We can have someone pretend to be me... Well, there's no use in explaining it. I'll just show you."

With that, a man came out. Annie didn't know who it was, nor did she want to, but the man had blonde hair, and a creepy smile.

"And with that, I take my leave... Bye Annie." Bertolt waved, and took off.

"So," he whispered in her ear. "Ready?"
He shoved her down to the floor, before tying her ankles together. He quickly binded her hands together with the rope he pulled out of his pocket. Her hands were tied behind her back, and he grabbed the rope between her wrists and began to drag her out of the village.
Annie began to fight back. It's not like she could do much, though, because she was tied up.
"Scream." He muttered.
When the sound of running feet began to approach them, he covered her mouth. "Keep making noises..." He ordered.
Annie followed his order, and kept trying to escape. She was hoping that her old group would buy the plan.

"That's Annie!" Armin shouted as the group caught sight of the two.

"Let's go get her!" Eren responded as the group ran towards her.
The man looked towards the ground, before pulling out a knife and holding it to Annie's throat.

"Come any closer, and I'll kill her." He warned. The group screeched to a stop. Annie kept trying to free her mouth from the mans grip.

"She's one of you. You'll only be hurting yourself." Levi said calmly. The man hesitated.

"But she's also a valuable asset to your team." The man pointed out. "Even if it means we're losing her, you're losing someone you need... A lot. So scram!"

Armin wished Annie could just turn into a Titan, but there was no possible way for her to draw blood. He was holding her mouth closed, and her limbs were tied together.

Then, the man let his eyes fall to something behind him. There was nothing there, of course. But he shrieked in terror, dropped Annie, and sprinted away. The group turned around, confused.

"What just happened!?" Eren demanded.

"He must've seen a Titan! Then the Titan turned into a human to get away." Hange predicted.

"Maybe. But wouldn't we have been able to hear the Titan...?" Armin interjected.

"Then... He saw something. And it scared him, a lot." Scarlet bit her lip. "Uh, we should probably untie Titan Girl over there."

Annie was sitting on the ground, still bound. She was silent, like always. She was just glad that their plan- however stupid it was- worked.

"Right."

Armin cut off her bonds, freeing her without a word.

Eren offered his hand to help her up, but Annie pushed him away and got up herself.

"Well, what are we waiting for!!! Let's go explore!" Hange cried.

"Hange, we have to be careful." Scarlet chided. "We can't just rush in-"

"Let's go!" Hange squealed.

"No." Levi interrupted. "It's not our mission. Now that we've found the village, we can come back any time. We'll come back with more troops, and be better prepared."

"Okay." Hange frowned.

"Don't fret, we'll come here eventually. Just not now." Scarlet declared, and the group turned around.

"How are we getting back? We don't have any more gas in our tanks." Eren asked.

A few moments later, the group was riding on a particular 14 meter titan.

"I can't believe... We're relying on a titan." Levi muttered, as he stood on Annie's shoulder.

"It's not that bad." Scarlet said next to him.

"Yeah, it could be worse." Eren added, holding onto a strand of Annie's hair for balance.

"I can't believe that I'm on a Titan's head!" Hange squealed. She chose to sit on Annie's head, holding onto her hair so she didn't fall off.

"Hange, you're crazy..." Levi said.

Armin stood alone on her other shoulder, contemplating as Annie ran through the forest.

"Annie, I'm so glad you're on our side." Armin said quietly. "When you were stuck in that Crystal... I still couldn't believe you had betrayed us.. But I'm glad you're good now."

It hurt Annie to hear him say this, as she knew...
She wasn't really on their side.