Anastasya
Anya and Hange rode side by side at the front of their makeshift team, leading the way to Utgard Castle as the magnificent full moon made its leisurely descent to the horizon. The surrounding landscape was bathed in a brilliant silver, but Anya was so lost in her thoughts that she hardly registered the beauty of the scenery as they raced across the rolling green fields within Wall Rose.
"Hey, Anya. Are you okay?"
She flinched as Hange's voice snapped her back to the present.
"Uh... Yeah," she replied. She caught the knowing look in her friend's bright, maroon eyes and frowned. "Why d'you ask?"
"It's your first time out beyond the safety of the walls since you got back, now that Wall Rose has been breached."
She realised that Hange was right, though it somehow seemed irrelevant in the wake of all that had happened earlier on in Stohess. She scoffed and shook her head.
"After what I've witnessed and discovered in the last twelve or so hours, the safety of the walls hardly means jack shit to me now. How can it, when there are who knows how many Titan shifters living among us, able to transform at a moment's notice and wreck an entire city in the blink of an eye? That goes without mentioning what happened to Wall Maria."
The surreal image of Eren's and Annie's Titans devastating Stohess flashed through her mind, swiftly followed by the image of little Victoria clutching her teddy and wailing goodbye to her mother. She frowned as she felt a dull anger pulse deep within her.
"Yeah, you've got a point," said Hange darkly.
"Our entire civilisation is protected by nothing more than a house of cards," she remarked, well aware of the bitter edge to her voice. "The slightest rumble and the whole thing will come tumbling down. Hardly anyone seems to realise that, though. They're quite content to just sit there in their false peace, waiting for death to find them, while persecuting those who try to protect them." She paused and released a heavy sigh. "Sorry. I'm being depressing."
"No," said Hange, her expression grim, "unfortunately, you're being realistic."
"It's one of the rare times I wish I wasn't right. I wonder if Levi will get anything out of Pastor Nick while we're gone."
"I doubt it. At least we have a name to go on. Maybe even two."
"Two?"
"Ah, you were reading Erwin's report at the time. Eren and the others said that Historia Reiss is always hanging around a girl called Ymir."
She instantly recognised the name, and she narrowed her eyes.
"The same name that Ilse mentioned in her notebook."
"Yeah. There's probably no connection but... it's an unusual name."
"Hopefully one of them, at least, can give us some answers. Something's bothering me, though."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"The two previous breaches happened in cities, more specifically, at the gates. This time, there've been no reports whatsoever of Titans attacking Trost, Karanes, or Krolva, and as they come from the South, there's no point even considering Utopia. Now that we know there's likely more than one Titan in the walls, it really does seem as though the only way they can get in is if something like the Armoured Titan rams through the gates of a city and directs them through. So where the hell have this latest lot come from?"
"Maybe we're wrong and the Armoured Titan can ram through the wall, too," said Hange, not very convincingly.
"Maybe, but then why would he do it if there was no-one nearby to send the Pure Titans after? Besides, it's all but confirmed that both the Armoured Titan and the Colossal Titan are in the 104th. They wouldn't have been able to sneak away from Miche and Nanaba, breach the wall, then come back as though nothing had happened. No, something else is going on here."
"Maybe they've learned how to dig!"
She arched an eyebrow.
"Don't you remember the story of the miner who dug and dug and never found the bottom of the wall?"
"Not this again... Anya, all walls have an end to them! Your research is more outlandish than mine, sometimes."
Years ago, Anya had taken to investigating all of the oddities within the walls in the hope that one of them would shine some light upon the truth that she so desperately sought, though barely anyone, save for Erwin, had given any credence to what she'd found. It frustrated her to no end, but she was determined to continue with her investigations.
"Yeah, yeah," she said, too tired to argue. "My point is, we really have no idea what we're going to find this time."
"I agree. Will you be okay?" Hange asked quietly.
"Yeah. I... I just wish there was more time. It all feels so unprepared."
"You know how it can be."
"Mm. To be honest... there's a part of me that's missed all of this. The action, the camaraderie... It was lonely out there."
"I thought you might say that. I missed having you around, Anya. Especially in situations like this."
She returned Hange's smile, and they fell into silence as they continued to ride throughout what was left of the night. The air itself seemed charged with tension, and just as the first rays of the sun began to tint everything a pleasant, rosy pink, an enormous boom echoed all around them, shaking the birds from the trees. Seconds later, a great cloud of dust and debris shot up into the sky in the distance from beyond the hill the Scouts were ascending.
"That didn't sound good," said Anya.
She glanced at Hange and increased her speed. As she crested the grassy knoll, she stopped abruptly, gawping down at the recently-destroyed Utgard Castle. Its main tower had crumbled and toppled over, as though it had been snapped from its very foundations, and as she watched, around thirty or so Titans began to shove their grotesque heads out from beneath the rubble. It wasn't long before they burst forth and threw themselves on top of something, tearing it apart with their drooling maws and spraying copious amounts of blood into the air.
"What the...?" said Hange.
"Here we go," Anya muttered. "All soldiers; prepare to engage in combat! Squad Four; disperse and cover the area when we get closer! Everyone else; attack and kill those ugly bastards, and no heroics! I want everyone alive at the end!"
"Understood!" the soldiers chorused.
She nodded to Hange and they led the assault, spurring their horses closer and closer to the horde of Titans. At the last moment, she swallowed her fear and zipped from the saddle as though it were as easy as breathing. She zoomed into the air before twirling down into the neck of the nearest Titan, cleanly slicing it apart with her blades. The adrenaline that pulsed through her after her kill only fuelled her frenzy, and she left a trail of death in her wake, laughing as she went. For the first time in over six months, she had sharp blades, full tanks of gas, and a more than capable team behind her. It was practically a luxury, and if anything, all of the horrors and difficulties she had dealt with in Titan country had served to increase her prowess. She felt truly unstoppable.
"Poor Levi will never catch up to my kill count at this rate!" she called, as Hange zipped past and despatched a fat, blonde-haired Titan.
After ten minutes of intensive fighting, it was over. Every single monster had been reduced to nothing more than a pile of steaming, disintegrating bones, and no-one had sustained any serious injuries. Anya took a moment to catch her breath and survey the area, cleaning and sheathing her blades as she stood amongst a couple of corpses. Her heart pounded in her head, and the odd tremor ran along her arms as her muscles got used to combat again. It was an unwelcome reminder that her body still had a way to go before it returned to how it had been before, but she stubbornly chose to ignore it. Instead, her eyes followed the direction of the others and saw Hange and Christa Lenz crouched amongst the wreckage next to an unconscious Ymir. She did a double take when she realised that the young, brown-haired woman was missing an arm, a leg, and half of her insides, and yet somehow, she lived. She deployed her ODM gear and landed next to the trio, scowling. The steam rising from Ymir's wounds confirmed her suspicions, and she huffed.
"Another shifter," she said. "Just what we needed."
Hange nodded, frowning as she checked her over. Anya eyed a tearful Christa and decided to let Hange deal with her and Ymir for now. She turned and approached Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and the recruits that had left HQ to go with Miche. Among them were Reiner and Bertholdt, and neither Miche, nor any of the other veterans, were anywhere to be seen. She already felt sorrow's icy grip wrapping itself around her bones, and she did her best to steel herself.
"Everyone okay?" she asked.
"Yes, Captain," Conny replied, looking considerably shaken.
"Am I to assume that you're the only ones left?"
"Y-yes," he replied, hanging his head.
She flinched. Miche, Nanaba, Gelgar... All of them gone, just like that. She hadn't even had a proper chance to spend any time with them since she'd returned home. She'd known them for years, and Miche had been a close friend of Erwin's. They'd lost valuable soldiers and even more valuable friends.
"Oh..." she said softly, before hardening her heart. "I need a report on what happened. Now."
Reiner, of all people, filled her in on everything that had happened from the moment they'd realised that the wall had been breached. He informed her that Conny's village had been wrecked by Titans and yet there'd been no human bodies, that Ymir was definitely a Titan shifter, and that they had been attacked by an enormous, furred Titan with long, gangly arms that had thrown horses at them, which had ultimately led to the devastation at the castle. As he spoke, it seemed as though the stocky, blonde soldier was watching her closely, but she put it down to her imagination. Once Reiner had finished, she nibbled on the tip of her thumb, more confused than she'd been before the report. She turned and walked off to stare out at the cloudy horizon, hands on hips. Hange soon joined her, and she recounted everything that Reiner had relayed.
"So Miche and the others are dead," said Hange, grief tinting her words.
"Yeah," she sighed, scrubbing at her face. "Shit."
"Where did all the people in Ragako go, I wonder."
"We'll have to investigate, especially if the immobile Titan is still there."
"Yeah, it could prove a valuable test subject. For now, though, we should get back to the wall."
"Agreed." She whirled round. "Soldiers! Mount up! We return to the wall."
Everyone scrambled to their horses, some taking their friends with them, while Moblit and a few others saw to it that Ymir could be safely transported. Once they were ready, they retraced their path to the wall. A dark, heavy cloud settled over Anya when she realised that she was going to have to break the news of Miche and the others' deaths to Levi and Erwin, and she tried not to think about how many more they would lose in the meantime.
YOU ARE READING
The Path Back to You | Levi x OC
Fiksi Penggemar"Reveal yourself," Erwin ordered, though Mikasa detected uncertainty in the commander's voice. It was almost as though he were afraid of who lay beneath the cloak. The entire regiment held its breath as the rider reached up with pale hands and lowe...
