Unbroken | Annie Leonhart

Basement

After letting Sasha and Armin rest, as well as telling him what happened Eren, Mikasa, Levi and Hange headed for the basement. Cori was going to go too but Annie stopped her. She knew what was in that basement, or had a vague idea and she knew all hell was about to break loose.

Cori and Annie admired the sunset from their position atop the wall. It really was beautiful.

After about 30 minutes Eren and the others came back looking rather depressed. Annie gripped onto Cori's arm tightly as Levi commanding them all to sit in a circle.

They did what they were told and braced themselves for the worse. Eren and Mikasa were looking at Cori and Armin while Levi and Hange were looking at Annie. Sasha, Jean and Connie just darted back and forth, feeling the tension rising. Floch hanged back a little outside the circle.

"Before we say anything, Annie would you like to say something?" Hange asked. Everyone turned to Annie and she shook her head. "I'd rather hear what you guys have already learned."

"Very well. Apparently Eren's father wasn't from here. He was born in a place called Marley. The people of Marley hate Eldians and treated those on their land horribly. Apparently everyone on this island, did we mention this is an island? Is Eldian. We got our memories erased by the founder a 100 years ago and left to die," Levi said.

Everyone stayed quiet. How were they supposed to respond to that? "Now then Annie wanna say anything?" Hange asked. Annie bit her lip.

"2,000 years ago Eldians were given the power of the titans and used them to oppress others, specifically Marley. The first person to have the power of the titans was Ymir Fritz. Her death gave birth to the nine titans I was talking about. A little bit more than 100 years ago 7 out of those 9 titans defected to Marley and helped Marley fight back. The King at that time retreated to this island, called Paradise. He created a bunch of colossal titans and used them to form the walls. However, in the process a bunch of Eldians were left in Marley's hands. We live in a different place than Marleyans. Marley started using us to their advantage, giving chances to Eldians to become a titan shifter so that we would be given more respect." Annie swallowed hard as she was approaching the part she was dreading.

"That's what my father raised me to be. But there's a catch. Ymir Fritz died 13 years after becoming a titan, as a result no titan shifter can live longer than that. We call this the curse of Ymir." Cori sat up as did Mikasa. "Oh so that means Eren has eight years left and I 13," Armin said casually.

Cori marveled at how easy he was able to say that. She turned to face Annie. "How many years do you have left?!" She hated how desperate she sounded. "6," Annie said barely above a whisper.

Cori slumped and fiddle with her fingers in her lap. Annie took hold
of them and squeezed her hand slightly. Cori wasn't sure how to proceed with the conversation, thankfully Levi did for her. "Is there anything else we should know?"

Annie thought for a second. "The rumbling. Its one of the reasons Marley wants the founder so much. Basically when King Fritz retreated he warned Marley that if they tried to attack the island he would set the colossal titans loose and let them crush the world."

They stared. "That's genocide!" Jean exclaimed. Annie nodded. Levi sighed. "We should get going," he said.

***

Cori was standing outside of Mikasa and Eren's cells with Armin. Annie was going through a lot of questioning by just about every government and military official.

Suddenly there was a scream and everyone awoke abruptly. Armin jolted and hit his head against hers. Cori winced and he apologize. She looked and shook her head. "Your fine."

"What?!" Mikasa said hands on the bars of her cell. Her bedhead was evident. "Nothing just another one of my father's memories proving Annie right," Eren said grimly. Cori slid against the wall. After venturing the basement Eren had been getting his father's memories from Marley and they agreed with every aspect of Annie's story. Something Cori wasn't sure she was happy about.

Then Levi and Hange came in with Annie and freed the two. They were serving for having gone against Levi to save Armin. Because all Cori did was cry and yell at Floch she didn't have to serve, something Cori had mixed feelings about.

The group made their way to a place inside Wall Rose. They were discussing releasing this news to the public. After heavy debate they did. Cori sighed as she watched people's reactions. Things were only going to get worse from here.

She looked at Annie who was also looking outside. Cori's heart ached at the thought of losing her in just six years. She walked over and wrapped her arms around her lover. Annie was shocked at first but melted into. Everyone in the room stared but no one dared break them apart.

"I love you," Cori said. Annie blushed. "I love you too."