Nest & Wings (Annie Leonhardt x Male Reader)

Chapter 47: The Council's Verdict

You arrive at the Capital and Primer Zacchary assembles the council to discuss the matter. As expected, it causes a major setback to your plan as some members of the council suggest going with Zeke's plan instead of yours.

This debate split the council in two as they argued between 'The Liberation Plan' and 'The Rumbling Plan' discussing their pros and cons. Commander Nile and the Military Police, along with several other important figures, supported the Rumbling plan.

Their main argument was that it would cost the government next to nothing compared to the astronomical expenses required by your plan. Besides financial factors, there was a clash of ideologies as well.

Some suggested that the Rumbling plan would secure Paradis long term, whereas the Liberation plan would only do so until Marley improved their technology to compensate for the loss of titans. It was indeed a convincing theory.

You dispute it however, stating how Marley wasn't the only nation outside the world. Based on what Onyankopon— one of the volunteer soldiers said, most countries share the same hostilities towards Marley as they have towards Paradis because they've used the power of titans to conquer and colonize their neighboring lands.

You explain that your plan was to exploit that doubt and turn them against Marley by antagonizing them. If you could convince them to cooperate with Paradis, Marley would no longer have enough military strength to overcome such an alliance.

The opposition questions if you could actually convince them to side with Paradis. They point out how using the Rumbling to instill fear in them would be a far more reliable option as it was guaranteed to work unlike your approach which had many uncertain variables.

You then remind them of the contrasting actions of Commander Pyxis and Captain Kitz during the battle of Trost. You compare the latter to the Rumbling plan where you would threaten the rest of the world with violence by using the power of titans— which was what brought them to resent Eldians in the first place.

You explain how using the titans to instill fear in the rest of the world wouldn't be a long-term solution; explaining how human innovation and technology would eventually overcome the power of titans and possibly even the Rumbling at some point.

Hange corroborates by explaining how the threat posed by the seemingly invincible Armored Titan was instantly turned around by the invention of Thunder Spears. Seeing how advanced the weapons Yelena demonstrated were compared to what you had, she speculates that it wouldn't take long for Marley or another nation to develop an Anti-Rumbling technology.

You follow up by reminding them of how Commander Pyxis' approach worked back in Trost and the likelihood of its success here as well. It would prevent needless bloodshed and further tainting of the Eldians' legacy.

Primer Zacchary then supports you by adding how Zeke could not be trusted and how he could have a hidden agenda behind his plan. Levi too voices his concern regarding Zeke, reminding them how he was the one who killed Commander Erwin.

The conclusive argument was from Eren who blatantly refused having to turn Historia into a titan to preserve the power of the Rumbling after Zeke's term ends. He exclaims, "Zeke Jager can take his damn plan and shove it!"

After the continuous back and forth, the council comes to a conclusion to go ahead with your 'Liberation Plan' instead. Having the support of Primer Zacchary, Queen Historia, Commander Hange, Captain Levi and especially Eren, who possessed the Founding Titan, greatly helped. Commander Pyxis, who was previously neutral also supported you after your explanation.

Yelena's suggestion was turned down and the Volunteer Soldiers who were determined to go along with Zeke's plan were imprisoned with the exception of a few including Onyankopon who agreed with your ideals and decided to support your plan to make peace with the rest of the world. You promise them that once all was said and done, you'd get the alliance to liberate their countries from Marley's regime.