Crystallized (Aruani)

Chapter 30: Bigger Threats

C h a p t e r  3 0 : B i g g e r  T h r e a t s

The battle was over...and humanity had won.

Well, honestly, humanity had done more than win. Not only had they defended the wall, but they had recruited all the shifters that had turned against them. They were practically unstoppable now!

Well, that was what all the humans thought.

Everyone from Nanitorakin Village knew better.

Now they'd have to fight him; the worst of them all. Even Reiner dreaded saying his name. They knew they'd have to tell the humans soon...

But first, came the questioning.

"I don't understand why Erwin can't just let them through," Annie grit her teeth as she paced back and forth. Everyone else from the village was currently being interrogated in the basement. They had gone willingly, much to Annie's relief. Still, she found it unnerving. They had just given up everything to help humanity, and the humans were still suspicious? Armin sighed.

"You have to remember that they were the reason Wall Shiganshina fell in the first place," Armin reminded gently, reaching over to grasp Annie's hand in his. Annie brought her eyes to where their hands conjoined. As he tried to pull away, feeling as if Annie didn't want to hold hands, Annie just latched back onto his hand.

"You're right. But it's just...They're good people," Annie sighed, her eyes focused on the ground below her. "They were just misled. I'm sure they're all worried that Erwin will turn on them, on us..."

"...For good reason," Armin noted. The last time he'd seen Kaira, she had been yelling at Erwin, presumably about what Annie had just said. "But everything will turn out well between all of us. I'm sure of it."

"I hope you're right," Annie glanced off into the distance, a forlorn look in her blue eyes. "My friends didn't just betray him for no reason."

"Him?" Armin asked, and Annie winced. She hadn't meant to reveal that. Armin crossed his arms, now concerned. "Who?"

"It doesn't matter," Annie tried to deflect, averting her eyes toward the ground. Armin wasn't going to let Annie get away with it, though.

"If humanity still has Titans to fear, we need to know!" Armin exclaimed sternly, placing a hand on Annie's shoulder. "We're all letting our guard down now. We can't afford to slack off!"

"Just drop it, Armin," Annie tried to plead, really not wanting to get into this. "It's for your own good. You don't want to know."

"Yes, I do!" Armin frowned. "You have to tell me. I thought you were on humanity's side! I thought that meant revealing everything you knew...And I thought you did that already."

"That's not fair," Annie swallowed the lump in her throat. "I shared what I had to. This...This can wait."

"Nothing can wait. You have to tell them!" Armin said frantically. Annie didn't look convinced. Armin sighed. "...You have to tell me."

She folded.

He knew she would.

"...He's more dangerous than all of us combined," Annie fiddled with her sweatshirt pocket, a nervous look on her face. "But he needs us to take down the walls. Even still..."

"How can he be more powerful?"

"He has the power to control any Titan," Annie hesitated. "...Including us. It's only while in our Titan form, but...it's...different for some of us."

"...Is it because he's your father?" Armin asked. He didn't want to bring it up, but...Annie was storytelling a little too slow for him. Annie gasped.

"No," Annie just scowled. "My dad is just...a player in his game. This man is...is the head of Nanitorakin. He was the founder of life outside the walls...because he created the titans themselves to kill the world."

"Why?"

"...So he could replace it with better versions of himself," Annie replied quietly. "He thought he could replicate himself, bigger and better. He succeeded at bigger...and nothing else. The titans look nothing like him, and they're idiotic. All he has to do is think something, and all the current Titans will do it."

"...We have to tell Erwin," Armin let go of Annie's hand as he prepared to jump off of the wall when suddenly Bertolt and Reiner swung upward.

"You don't have to," Reiner folded his arms, a stern look on his face. Annie knew better...She knew he was just as scared as she was. Even so, she never would have expected what came out of his mouth next.

"Erwin already knows."