A Sinner With A Smile // An AOT Time Travel AU

The Expedition

Hanji watched as another member of her squad cut through a titan advancing towards them, weeping about the fact that she could have run experiments on it if it had been detained alive. While she did not yet have permission to research titans more thoroughly, she had sent a letter to the higher-ups informing them of her line of interest and intention, and she had no doubt she would get what she wanted soon.

Humanity didn't know much about titans, so every little bit of knowledge was vital. And while that was the case, so many were absolutely terrified by these weird human-eating creatures that new information was scarcely discovered in the past few years.

Hanji was determined to be the person who held the torch towards this seemingly endless darkness.

Suddenly, she spotted a black flare signal from the side, and Moblit, riding next to her, swore loudly.

"Shit! Incoming abnormal from the right flank!"

The other two let out their own string of curses at the information, but Hanji felt her heart fluttering in excitement.

An abnormal titan! These were much more interesting from normal titans, seeming to have actual intelligence, and frustrating unpredictability, causing many soldiers to die. Hanji had heard that one had even selected people to kill and ignored others entirely.

She could feel her mouth salivating at the thought of catching one, tying it up, then experimenting on it. How would its insides be? What about its stomach? How fast would it regenerate in the day compared to the night?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sight of a twelve-meter tall titan running towards them, a peaceful smile on its face, lips tainted with crimson and eyes looking exactly like a person high on drugs'.

One of her squad members rushed towards it, blades set in his hands, and Hanji knew right then and there that he was going to die. His face didn't have any confidence, only instability and fear, and his irrational behaviour pointed out that he was clearly frightened insane. There was no hope for him.

Her prediction came true a few seconds later when the man flew up using his vertical manoeuvring equipment, straight into the waiting hands of the titan, who squeezed him, the pressure crushing the man's body from the head down and causing an agonized scream to escape his lips. It then opened its hand, giving the soldiers a chance to see the man's mangled body with blood covering everywhere, guts visible under his squeezed internal organs, then raised him and took a bite, beheading him with his teeth.

As if that wasn't enough, it then turned to the squad members and smiled even more widely and innocently, as if it was doing nothing wrong, with his lips and cheeks stained with the sticky crimson blood of the beheaded and crushed human whose body still was held in his hand, blood exiting the place where the neck was supposed to be like a stream. It looked like a child eating candy, just a much more morbid version, seeing as humans had morals. Morals that indicated seeing a fellow human getting eaten was not a good thing.

With another war cry, the third squad member, tears falling down her face, also marched towards the titan, her face filled with an incredible amount of sadness and hatred. Hanji was sure that indicated she was quite close to their now dead squadmates, but as she didn't know either of their names nor was she interested in either of them, she could only imagine that they were either close friends or involved with each other.

She didn't give their relation much thought as she shuffled through her pouch, finding her signal flare and raising it to the air, ready to fire it into the air. Just as she was about to, though, she was distracted by the sound of Moblit's voice. It was filled with a solemn air, and Hanji was surprised, yet at the same time she wasn't, to find that he didn't sound afraid at all. The man had always been able to keep his calm in the right situations, yet be remarkably anxious at others.