Nest & Wings (Annie Leonhardt x Male Reader)

Chapter 40: Meaning of Sacrifice

Two days later,

You arrive at the forest of giant trees and set up your stations. The plan was to separate Reiner, Bertolt, and Zeke so they can't work together and take them on individually in small units. After finishing the preparations, you wait for their arrival.

"They're heading this way!" says Jean, who was on lookout. Everyone gets into position and awaits their arrival.

As they approached the forest, you keep your presence hidden among the gigantic trees and slowly surround them. As Commander Erwin gives the signal, everyone dives in at once to successfully ambush them. You get into your formations and lead each of your targets away from one another and separate them as planned.

Putting together the incident at Connie's village and the fact that Zeke had royal blood, Commander Erwin theorized that he must've had the ability to create titans. Jean led the team of Petra, Rico, and Moblit to take out any titans Zeke created in order to let Commander Erwin, Levi and Marlowe fight Zeke without being distracted by the pure titans.

As they confronted Zeke, he turns about twenty Eldians into titans using just his voice. While you expected it, you weren't fully aware exactly how he did it, so everyone was surprised seeing that.

The titans Zeke summoned were all fifteen meter class abnormals. Jean and his unit immediately went after them, while Commander Erwin's unit follows Zeke. Jean was really good at using ODM gear and was nearly on par with you.

He manages to take out five titans by himself. Petra and Rico were also able to keep up with him as you had trained them and they proceed to take out eleven titans with ease. Moblit takes down three titans, but was caught off guard by the last one and it manages to bite him in his torso.

Jean immediately goes from behind to kill it while Rico and Petra tend to Moblit. They try their best to stop the bleeding, but the wound was too deep and there was nothing they could do to save his life.

It was a good idea to leave Nifa behind as she would've broken down seeing Moblit die. They were really close; having been in Hange's squad together since graduating. With that, they manage to take out all the titans and complete their assignment. But they couldn't avoid suffering one casualty.

Even though it was nothing compared to the number of people who've died in previous missions, it was still devastating as Moblit was very kind to everyone and especially helpful to Hange. She would certainly be devastated when she hears about it, but for the time being, she was occupied elsewhere.

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As Jean's unit took out the pure titans, Commander Erwin, Levi and Marlowe went after the Beast Titan. They use the forest for cover as the Beast Titan throws boulders at them. They manage to avoid being hit for a while, but they realize it wouldn't last long as the continuous barrage of rocks took out several meters' worth of trees with each throw.

Commander Erwin explains, "We can't do anything when he's got us cornered like this. I'll distract him while Levi goes around the forest and takes him out from behind."

Levi retaliates, "Hey Erwin, you don't think you can dodge those boulders without ODM gear, do you?"

The Commander answers, "No, I'm taking a gamble by going on horseback. But we can't produce results without taking risks, you know that better than anyone Levi!"

"What about me? What should I do, Sir?" Marlowe asks.

"Both approaches are far too risky— especially for a promising young recruit like you. Fall back and join the others!" The Commander says.

Marlowe comments, "But Sir, you just mentioned how you can't produce results without taking risks, didn't you? Correct me if I'm mistaken but, after the Stohess incident, I've been under the impression that you'd sacrifice anything to succeed. It's something I respect and... it isn't like you to be concerned for my safety."

Commander Erwin explains, "I used to have over two dozen squads at my command. But as of now, the Survey Corps has reduced to just four squads. We can barely call ourselves a Regiment at this point. Miche, Ness, Dirk, Marlene, Klaus... we wouldn't have made it this far without making those sacrifices... at least I convinced myself we wouldn't."

"What are you getting at Erwin?" Levi asks.

"I used to tell my friends that I'd join the Survey Corps and prove my father's theory. But after I joined, I stopped talking about it for some reason— no... that's not it. The reason wasn't a mystery. I realized that I was fighting for myself; I was only trying to make my own dreams come true." The Commander elaborates.

Marlowe in turn questions, "But, isn't that normal sir? There's nothing wrong in having our own dreams, right?"

"It's alright to have your own dreams, but not when you're responsible for the lives of those you command— not when you're in my position. At some point I found myself giving the orders and inspiring young soldiers like you to dedicate their hearts for humanity. That's how I fooled them all... even myself." Commander Erwin reflects on everything he's done till that point.

He continues, "I genuinely believed that those sacrifices were necessary... that's how I managed to keep my sanity after having so many subordinates lay down their lives at my command. But after those two reclaimed Shiganshina without a single casualty, I've started to doubt my decisions. I don't want to repeat the same mistake at the end, so I'm giving you the choice recruit, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes Sir! I want to help you succeed and... I'm doing it for all my friends' sake as well. There's still so much they can learn from you, so if there's at least a small chance it'll help you survive, I believe it's worth it!" Marlowe states his conviction.

The Commander revises his strategy to accommodate Marlowe and commences the counterattack. Marlowe dives in from above using his ODM gear to distract Zeke while the Commander went on horseback.

As Zeke prepares to fire the first wave of rocks at Marlowe, Commander Erwin fires a red flare into Zeke's eyes. One of the ingredients used to give the flare it's color was a mild chili power. It obstructs the Beast Titan's vision momentarily and throws off his aim which allows Marlow to dodge the attack.

Zeke wipes his eyes and immediately follows up with a second attack. This time, one of the boulders struck Marlowe on his head; killing him instantly. The Beast Titan wastes no time and quickly turns his attention to Commander Erwin before throwing a third wave of rocks at him. It hits the Commander's horse, making him fall down.

As Commander Erwin crawls back to his feet, the Beast Titans follows up with a fourth attack. A fraction of a second before the boulders hit him, the Commander once again fires a red flare into his eyes.

As the last round of boulders struck the Commander, Levi appears from behind in a fury of rage and slices up the blinded Beast Titan in a flash. He cuts Zeke out of the Beast Titan's nape and drags him towards Commander Erwin who was now lying in a pool of his own blood; barely clinging onto life.

Levi quickly pulls out the titan serum and tries to save him by turning him into a titan and having him eat Zeke. Before he could do that however, another seemingly intelligent Titan appears out of nowhere and attacks Levi from behind, causing him to drop the syringe and break it. Levi was too exhausted and couldn't keep up with them as it grabs Zeke and runs away.