Pretty Little Liar (Aruani Element Shifter AU) ✔️

Part Two: Forty

Levi and Hanji stared at the council building. 

"Well, there goes all our hard work," Levi muttered. The First Legion, who had split into four, were now emerging from the forest, rushing back after seeing the smoke from the city. 

"Holy-" Hanji started, turning to see the sleeping quarters go up in flames. 

Levi watched, emotionless. 

"We didn't see that coming. She's fast."

"Shut up," Levi spat, then turned around to face Petra and Gunther, who were on their horses moving towards him. 

"We move out as soon as the sun comes up. Dismissed."

Then, Erwin walked towards them. 

"Hanji, the bunker is safe, yes?"

"Yes, sir. The underground lab is also still in tact, but it'll be a while before we can enter it."

Erwin was angry. The council building contained everything they knew about the shifters. Years of research, technology designs, and hundreds of innocent lives had been lost tonight. He kept as calm as he could as he moved away from the blaze with the rest of the councilmen. 

"She's going to die. Her and all of her type."

Hanji didn't say anything, but stood next to Levi and staring at the flames until the firemen came.

* * *

(Armin) 

"You did what?!" Mike was on his feet, staring with his mouth wide open. Ymir was laughing hysterically behind him.  

Annie just blinked emotionlessly at Mike, who gawped at her incredulously.

"Surely you didn't do all of that alone?"

"You bet she did," Reiner smirked.

"Jesus. Who even are you?" 

Annie just smirked, not taking any compliments. "A fire shifter." 

Then, she turned to Eren as he walked over to sit next to me. She didn't catch my eye, even though I wanted her to. 

"What about these people who are now on our side?" 

"Oh, yeah, Sasha and Connie. From the Second Legion. They gave us lots of intel on how the council runs and what's in there, but seeing as the place has just been blown up..."

"They still have an underground lab, and the bunker at the bottom of the land," Ymir pointed out. "But that was for the scientists, and they haven't had anything to experiment on, and the scientists don't tell the military anything so there was nothing from them about that."

"Did they say anything about this weapon they have?" asked Reiner, taking a seat at the dining table. Annie still sat at the windowsill. I had a very strong urge to talk to her. She disappeared almost immediately after our conversation, and I haven't seen her properly in a few days. It still felt surreal that she was here.

"Weapon? No. We didn't get anything. If there's something in the bunker they wouldn't know. They say it's really secretive and only a handful of people know what's in there." 

"That's probably where that girl was being held," I said. "It must be where they keep and torture their case studies."

Annie just carried on looking at the floor. 

"They did tell us that they don't get told much. They were told that Armin was killed by shifters, like some motivation to get them to fight."

"That's so twisted," Reiner muttered.