The Path Back to You | Levi x OC

Chapter 75 - The Lost Queen

Anastasya

Anya staggered back, eyes wide as Sannes' words sank into her soul and yet, try as she might to deny them, her soul embraced them.
"That's ridiculous."
Sannes shook his head, seemingly resigned to revealing everything.
"It's the truth. When the First King gathered his subjects to bring to the island, he also took the Queen of Marley's precious only daughter with the hope that she would serve as a bargaining chip so powerful that it would negate the need to ever use the Titans in the walls. The condition was that she would be allowed to live safely on Paradis, but the moment Marley tried to attack the Eldians, the King would kill the princess and any children she might have. The Queen of Marley was unable to have any more heirs, so the entire bloodline relied upon her daughter's survival."
Anya's heart thundered in her chest as the logic of what Sannes was saying battled against her roaring disbelief.
"Our King tried to erase the princess' memory so that she wouldn't reveal the truth of our world to the citizens, but he was unable to do so. As a consequence, she was held captive in the palace for many years. At first, the princess was furious and refused to accept her fate of existing alongside Eldian devils. However, over time, she realised that we Subjects of Ymir are not all that different to the Marleyans. She fell in love with an Eldian and started a family, at last free from the palace and living peacefully among us. When she died, the King was able to successfully erase her son's memories. It seems that only the females of the family are immune to the Founding Titan's power."
Anya barely had time to think of the implications when Sannes continued.
"We ensured that the last traces of their royal identity were eradicated, but the family was closely followed. Each birth and death was recorded, and the location of the next heir was always known just in case they were needed to ward off an attack. Your great-grandmother was the stolen princess of Marley. Her son was your grandfather, and his daughter was your mother."
Anya jumped when Levi's urgent voice sounded behind her.
"Anya, give me the key!"
She ignored him, casting her gaze to the floor.
"It...it can't be true," she murmured. "I..."
"The one thing that has been successfully passed down has been the family name," Sannes said. "Morozov, or Morozova for a woman."
Anya remembered how her mother had always insisted that she and her sister keep their surname, even in marriage. At first, she'd thought it was because her mother had wanted to honour their late father, but...maybe Morozova had been her name.
"But then... Why did you let that bastard kill my mother?" she whispered. "Why was she tortured?"
"She had already produced two heirs; ultimately, she was expendable," Sannes explained, without a hint of sympathy. "We were worried that she had discovered her true identity following your father's investigative work. When we determined that she was clueless, we let her be. When your step-father killed her and your sister, that was admittedly a failure on our part."
Anya covered her mouth as she swallowed back the bile suddenly surging up her throat.
"So you...you let the last living queen of Marley live a life of danger and poverty in the shit-ridden depths of the Underground?"
Sannes shifted uncomfortably, averting his eyes.
"We lost you," he confessed. "We sent many, many people to try and recover you over the years, but there was no trace of you. Not until you joined the Scouts."
"So you let me join the Scouts, knowing that I could have been devoured by a Titan each time I went beyond the walls on an Expedition?" she scoffed.
"It was better than the alternative. Had we tried to stop you, the truth would inevitably have come out. That, or too much distance would have grown between you and Erwin Smith."
She frowned, trying, and failing, to determine Erwin's involvement.
"What...what does Erwin have to do with any of this?"
"The King knew of your deep relationship with him and hoped that you would have a child together, thus securing the Marleyan line and allowing us Eldians to keep our bargaining chip. He also hoped that if Marley discovered their queen had joined the Scouts, they wouldn't dare send any more Titans to the island, as it would be putting you in direct danger."
Anya sank down to the floor, her back against the bars. Levi placed a firm hand on her shoulder, but she kept her focus on Sannes.
"That clearly didn't happen, though," she said quietly.
"No," Sannes agreed. "Anyway, eventually it became apparent that the King was bluffing all along."
"What?"
"When Wall Maria was breached five years ago, we don't doubt that Marley's intention was to see whether or not the King followed through with his threats. When he didn't, they began their mission to take back the Founding Titan and...well, you."
"But none of them ever tried," she said. "In fact, one of those bastards almost killed me."
"That was most likely an accident."
She scrubbed at her face with her hands, trying to clear the confusion clouding her mind.
"Why the assassination attempt, then?"
"The nobles thought that while you'd been stranded beyond the walls, you might've run into Marleyans. After all, how else do you explain being able to survive that long alone out in Titan country? They were afraid that you might've been made aware of your true identity and that you would use your already considerable influence to turn the Scouts against us and take Eren and the Founding Titan to Marley. The King didn't want your blood on his hands any more than he wanted the walls brought down but the nobles convinced him, and so they sent one of Kenny Ackerman's squad to despatch you. The Marleyans, by now, will be aware that you are their lost queen, and they will seek to take you back almost as much as they desire the Founding Titan."
"Who else knows about all of this?"
"Most of the nobles that are currently imprisoned. That's it."
Anya shook her head. She reached into her cloak and produced the key that Zachary had given her, tossing it behind her. Levi caught it and pulled her up and out of the cell immediately. He took her face between his hands, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"Anya, let's go."
She turned back to glare at Sannes.
"If this is all just some elaborate lie you've concocted to cause us more problems, I will kill you."
He barked a bitter laugh.
"Spoken like a true queen."
Anya lunged for him, but Levi was faster. He grabbed hold and pulled her away.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Let's go!"
She relaxed, ever so slightly, and was rewarded with release. She spat through the bars to Sannes' cell before storming up the stairs and out into the dark courtyard. It wasn't long before she and Levi were racing back to HQ in a dreadful, oppressive silence that grew heavier with every heartbeat. Unable to take it any longer, Anya pulled her horse to a stop in the middle of the countryside.
"Levi?"

***

Levi

Levi came to a sharp stop as soon as he heard Anya's panicked voice. He was barely in control of his own emotions himself. He simply couldn't believe it. Just how much more shit was the world going to throw at them?
"What if it's true?" she whispered. "It all makes such awful sense."
"I don't know," he said quietly. "Kenny knew something though. When we found him, just before he died, he made that remark about you being a queen... I thought he was just spewing bullshit about me being a slave to you, but maybe he was trying to tell us something."
"I remember. How could it... How could I...?"
Levi reached out to cup her face.
"We'll get through it," he said. "Just like always."
"We have to tell the others. What if they don't trust me anymore? What if they think I knew, all along, about my true identity?"
"They won't be like that. It wouldn't make any sense, apart from anything else."
She squeezed her eyes shut, tears escaping down her cheeks in silver rivulets.
"I don't even want to be a section commander, let alone the queen of a nation we're at war with. If what Sannes said is true, I'm just as much Marleyan as I am Eldian. I'm a Subject of Ymir, too."
"Let's get back to Trost," he said. "We'll talk to Hange and figure out what to do next."
She opened her eyes and nodded.
"Yes. That's... That's what we should do."
Upon their return, they went straight to Erwin's... no, Hange's office, having seen that the light was on through the window outside. They didn't bother to knock, instead simply barging in to find Hange sitting on one of the sofas beside Eren. From their grave expressions, it appeared as though they had been in the middle of a pretty serious conversation.
"Oh, Anya! Levi..." said Hange, jumping up from her seat.
Eren's eyes widened upon seeing Anya. Levi realised he knew. Somehow, the brat knew about her. He narrowed his eyes and stalked further into the room.
"We need to talk."
"I agree," said Hange. "Eren has just told me something that I think you both need to hear."
Anya glanced at Levi, and they went and took a seat on the unoccupied sofa.
"Hey, Anya, do you know that you've got blood on you?" Hange asked, pointing to her neck.
"It's not mine."
"O-Oh... Did something happen?"
Somehow Anya had managed to compose herself, though Levi didn't know if it was because of Eren's presence or whether the ride back had given her a chance to think things through.
"I went to see Djel Sannes tonight. If you remember, a few days after I returned from Titan country, someone tried to kill me. With everything else that happened after that, investigating further was hardly at the top of my to-do list. However after the funeral service and our awards ceremony, Dhalis Zachary invited me to partake in a spot of torture should I ever need to blow off some steam. You know how he is about messing with the nobles. At first I declined. Not really my thing, believe it or not. But then I realised that I still had questions for Sannes, one being, 'who tried to assassinate me?' I went there tonight to get it out of him. The answer was...very interesting."
Eren glanced between her and Hange, and Levi arched an eyebrow.
"Eren. Spit it out."
"Going to the basement...awakened something in me. While I was in the stocks, my dad's memories about everything flooded my mind. I knew all about the Restorationists, and the Marleyans, all without reading his journals," he said. "There's also something that...that he never put in his journals. I think he was afraid. The man that brought him to Paradis was called Eren Kruger. He told my dad that when the King moved his people here, he took the Marleyan princess as a hostage. The King said that as long as the Marleyans didn't attack him or his people on the island, she would be safe and free to continue the bloodline. Kruger specifically told my dad to stay away from the Marleyan royals. To stay away from...the Morozov family."
"Then your information lines up with ours," Anya said quietly. "Apparently, I'm the last Marleyan royal."
She filled them in on everything Sannes had revealed. As she finished, she went very still, realisation dawning upon her face.
"Ah. That's why Reiner always acted strange around me. Remember that time I stared down the Armoured Titan atop Wall Rose? He must've known who I was by then."
"I remember," Hange remarked darkly.
"He knew you, too," Eren murmured.
"Who?"
"The Beast Titan. My...half-brother."
"What do you mean, he knew Anya?" Levi demanded, mere mention of the shithead monkey bastard making his skin prickle with hostility. His grip tightened on the arm of the sofa.
"In Shiganshina, back on the rooftops, when he stopped to talk to me. He said that he'd rescue me. That I'd been brainwashed. When he saw you, he froze. Captain Anya... He wanted to take you."