Nest & Wings (Annie Leonhardt x Male Reader)

Chapter 22: The Female Titan

The scouts watch in awe seeing the titan restrained in front of them. At first glance, it had a feminine-looking figure unlike the other titans. It made sense as to why they called it the 'Female Titan' as even when they had female looking faces, titans always had masculine bodies.

You start sweating as you move in to take a closer look. Your eyes widen and you feel chills running along your spine as you look at its face. Unlike the Colossal Titan, the Female Titan was a spitting image of Annie.

No one else seemed to notice the resemblance as they were focused on keeping it restrained. You on the other hand, were more deliberate on discerning it as you already knew Annie was likely a titan. That and the fact that besides you and Eren, everyone from the 104th who might have been able to recognize her were stationed outside the forest.

At this point, it was clear that the true purpose of the expedition had always been to lure out the titan shifter and capture it. The Commander must have assumed as much after finding out about Eren. It finally made sense why he gave away all those details during the introduction a month ago.

Captains Levi and Miche dive in, presumably to try and cut Annie out of the nape. However, her hands that were covering the nape form a crystal like substance around them to protect her. It was so strong that their blades shattered upon making contact.

Your head starts aching and your mind goes blank as you once again find yourself torn between your closest friend and the scouts who placed their trust in you and welcomed you into their ranks.

In that do or die moment, you convince yourself to help the scouts, reminding yourself that it was for the sake of all humanity. You knew that you couldn't muster up the resolve to fight Annie, but you figure you could at least help them out in other ways. How exactly? You weren't sure yet, but you knew you could put your ODM skills to use in some way.

Realizing that blades won't cut it, Commander Erwin asks a scout to prepare the explosives to blow off her hands. Before they could do that however, Annie realizes her situation and pulls off a desperation move.

Trapped and unable to move, she lets out a loud scream which attracts titans from all directions. They swarm in and start eating her alive. Everyone tries their best to take them out and keep the Female Titan alive, but there was no end to them. Commander Erwin orders everyone to retreat and you watch as the Female Titan gets completely devoured.

It was a complete and utter failure no matter how you looked at it. On one hand, the Scouts lost their only lead to discover the truth about the titans' intentions. On the other, you felt devastated, as you had just witnessed your closest friend get eaten alive. It was easily the worst you've felt since losing your grandpa and Shiganshina.

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As everyone begins to fall back looking weighed down from the loss, the Commander says, "Wait Levi, restock your gas and blades."

"We don't have time Erwin. Besides, what I have should be enough for now." Captain Levi replies.

"It's an order! Trust me." says the Commander.

As soon as Captain Levi goes off to restock, Commander Erwin comes over to you and says, "I want you to go and provide back-up to the Levi squad."

"Of course, Sir! But may I ask why?" You ask him for clarification.

"We saw the Female Titan get eaten, but nobody confirmed the same about the person inside. Assuming they were wearing our uniform, they could've easily slipped out and could be hiding in plain sight." He explains.

As guilty as you were, hearing that made you feel somewhat relieved that Annie might be alive. But you instantly dread realizing the prospect of having to fight her. As the thought crossed your mind however, the Commander almost coincidentally says something that eases your tension.

"I read about you in Rico's report on the Trost incident. I'm sending you to minimize casualties, so focus on rescue and let Levi do the fighting, alright?" He says.

"Yes Sir!" you say with a salute and go ahead as Captain Levi had to take time to restock.

You see a green flare in the distance. It was unusual as the others were preparing to head back and would've used blue flares instead to signal retreat. You figure it had to be a trap and rush towards it as fast as you could. As you approached it however, you realize you might be too late as you find Gunther's dead body hanging from his ODM gear still latched onto a tree.

You take a closer look and find a deep cut in his torso. It was from a blade, which meant that Annie hadn't transformed yet. Without wasting any time, you continue at full speed to get to Eren and the others before she could transform, but just as you were about to catch up, you see a bright flash of light as Annie transforms for the second time.

Just as you reach them, you see the Female Titan bite Eld off and kill him. As Petra tries to fall back, Annie runs after her. You think to yourself how you were sent to reduce casualties, yet two of Captain Levi's comrades were already dead. You couldn't lose focus however, as Annie catches up to Petra and stomps her.

Just a split second before she got completely crushed under the titan's foot, you sweep in low and grab Petra with a quick burst of speed. You crank the lever on your controller with no regard for saving gas and you barely evade being crushed.

You manage to get Petra out of there, but her head hits hard against Annie's foot as you slip away leaving her unconscious and barely clinging onto life. Annie wastes no time and immediately follows up with a fist. You were sure it was the end for you as you were completely defenseless. Much to your disbelief however, her attack misses you which was very uncharacteristic of her to do.

Seizing the opportunity, Oluo goes after Annie's nape. You didn't have time to warn him as his blades break on Annie's hardening and she crushed him against a tree. You couldn't do anything to save him as you were carrying an injured Petra.

Suddenly you see another flash of light as Eren transforms and comes after Annie. As the two titans traded blows in the forest, Captain Levi arrives. You could see the grief on his face seeing his entire squad brutally killed. He comes over to you and checks up on Petra, who was still alive, but barely as her head was bleeding.

"Go! Take her to the emergency unit." He orders you to fall back.

As much as you wanted to check up on Annie and Eren, you decide to head back, as Petra desperately needed treatment. You reach where the others were and lay her down on one of the supply wagons where the seniors treated her injuries.

You fall down in tears as you apologize to Commander Erwin for failing your mission. But he commends you and points at Petra who's still alive, as proof of your success. Unlike you, he didn't have any naïve expectations and was beyond satisfied to have one less casualty.

A while later,

Mikasa and Captain Levi return with an unconscious Eren. As you help the others load the recovered bodies onto the wagons, you notice Captain Levi cutting off the scout badges from the dead bodies of his squad.

You check in with everyone and are relieved to see Jean and the others alive. However, after that experience, no one was the same. The recruits that set out on the expedition may as well be dead as what's left were a group of soldiers who have experienced the harsh reality of life.