The Grey Angel (Attack on Titan x OC)

Chapter 47

-Nora POV-

"Nora" said Armin and I looked into his eyes.
I was sitting in front of Annie, she was still in her crystal.
I don't know why I started going down to her. Maybe it was because I wanted to understand why they did what they did. Maybe it was because I didn't want her to be lonely.

Armin sat down next to me and he was fiddling with his shell from the sea.
"You know" I began. "I was thinking when everything began to change, the moment everything slowly went to hell"
"Does it help? Talking to Annie?" asked Armin.

"I don't know" I sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter, since I don't know if she can hear me or not"
"I think she can" he said.
"You think or you know?" I asked and he knew what I meant.

"I know, I guess. I haven't seen many memories of Berthold" he said and I nodded. "I remembered the moment he last talked to you. He really wanted to take you with him to Marley"
"Well, apparently that's a reoccurring theme with them" I said and he chuckled.

"You are amazing" he said and I smiled.
"It's getting annoying" I said. "I just wished we could turn back sometimes. 3 years ago, everything was still normal..."

-3 years ago-

We were at the sea, hiding. A few ships were coming from Marley...
We had been building a little camp for new discoveries.
We caught the advance party and Eren transformed and stopped the main boat. He threw the boat onto solid ground and Hanji 'welcomed' them...

"Hello! Ladies and gentlemen of Marley!" she shouted. "Welcome to Paradis Island! Nice to meet you! I'm Hanji and it's an honour to welcome guests who have sailed from oh so far across the sea to come here. The trip must've left you exhausted, so why not join us for some tea?"
Dad was holding one of the people from the advance party.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" said Hanji. "If you were curious of this guest of ours, he arrived just before you and we're already getting along splendidly" she hugged Niccolo, the one we caught earlier. "Isn't that right? Tell them, Niccolo"

"Please, Captain!" shouted Niccolo. "Forget about me and cut these devils down while you can!"
"Heh? What are you saying? Niccolo" said Hanji.
"He's saying he doesn't want to be part of your shitty skit" said dad.

"Know this, you wretched devils!" shouted the Captain from Marley. "Marley doesn't negotiate with filth bloods like you! And we're certainly not going to sit down and drink the pig piss you call tea!"

"Heh?!" shouted Hanji. "You sure about that? Maybe you should be more polite! Unless you want to piss off the Titan looming behind you!"
"Marley will never bent to the power of devils!" shouted the Captain and took aim at Hanji. "This is all she has to say to you!"

A fire was shot, but it was on the ship itself...
A soldier shot the Captain in the head.
'What the...'

"Put your hands up, Yelena!" shouted a soldier and pointed the gun at the woman.
"Lay down your weapons" she said and several of the soldiers pointed their guns at their own men... "Hanji, I'd like to accept your invitation. Let's have some tea"

~

"That big lady shot and killed her Captain without a second thought..." said Connie. "What do you think she's hoping to do?"
"Can't say, but even if she's on our side, we obviously can't trust her" said Jean.

Sasha was falling asleep and I shook her awake.
"No napping, Sasha" I said.
"Yeah, but this is still an incredible chance for us to gather information" said Armin. "We're really lucky we found them"

"You're right" it was Eren, he had come back from out of his Titan form. "We've been lucky. We managed to intercept that ship by pure chance. If Marley comes to this Island in full force, we're finished. We've got to do something"

Dad and Hanji were talking to two of the people from Marley.
'I wonder what's going on...'
Armin touched my shoulder and he smiled.

"Sorry" I said.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
"I guess I'm just wondering why they're willing to talk. I wonder what they want" I said.

~

We sat in the military room where Hanji told us all what she had learned from Yelena.
'So, they were sent by Zeke. The anti-Marleyan volunteers... who want the same thing as we do, heh? Sounds almost too good to be true'

"So, that concludes Zeke Yeager's requests" said Hanji. "He claims that he can save the Eldian people, who's existence is currently..."
"Absurd!" shouted an officer from the Garrison Regiment. "We shouldn't even be listening to this"

"We're talking about the Beast Titan here" said an officer from the Military Police. "He turned the people of Ragako into Titans and let them lose inside the walls! He hunted the Scouts into near extinction! Now he has the goal to come to us for requests?"

"Zeke Yeager's one and only goal is to steal the Founding Titan from this island. He failed to by force" said Zachery. "So now he's trying to obtain it through diplomatic means"
"Yes, he should have known that we'll assume that" said grandpa. "Regardless, I would still like to hear what else he has to say"

And Hanji continued. "Zeke Yeager claims to have an actable plan that can solve all of our people's problems at once. And to carry this plan out we would need 2 key assets. The Founding Titan and a Titan possessing royal blood. He says that with both, the world could be saved. However, he will only reveal the details of his plan after his conditions have been met" said Hanji.

I noticed Armin looking at Eren, who was looking quite shocked.
"He's full of shit" said someone from the Garrison Regiment.
Eren stood up...
"Eren?" said Armin.

"Zeke is telling the truth" said Eren. "I remember... the Founder's power has always been completely impossible for me to use. The only exception was when I touched a Titan with royal blood... I recognised that Titan from a picture. It had to be my dad's first wife, Dina Fritz. Zeke is Dina's son. He must've figured it out too. How to get around the King's vow renouncing war. How to activate the only hope that still remains to us Eldians. He knows how to wake the millions of Titans sleeping inside the Walls. How to start the Rumbling... and crush the world..."

"Hey" said dad. "Why did you keep quiet about this for so long?"
"Because I was concerned for Historia's safety" said Eren. "At the time I wasn't sure. And I couldn't let her get turned into a Titan based on some hunch of mine. It wasn't a well thought out decision. I can see that"

"We'll talk about it later" said dad.
"However" said Hanji. "If everything that you're saying is true. Then Zeke's secret plan holds up"
"You trust them?" said Nile Dock. "Have you lost your mind, Hanji?"

"The fact is, we can't risk letting these Marleyan soldiers roam the island freely" said some MP.
"If we were smart, we'd hang them" said another MP.
"No, that's not an option" said Hanji. "If we want to protect Paradis from Marley's survey ships, we need the volunteers help. They have something, called a radio"