Blood and Blades | Bertholdt x OC

#14. innocent

Year 850

—Day 12—

The rookies have been transported into Wall Rose with the supervision of Mike Zacharias, they settled in a building not too far away from the walls and stayed there on standby. The senior soldiers were in full set of gear while the rookies were in civilian clothes, Reiner and the others couldn't help but to feel suspicious about it. Hoshino on the other hand decided to distance herself from Bertholdt for the mean time, this took the attention of their friends but Bertholdt merely stopped them from doing anything about it, Hoshino needed time to sort her mind out and he understood that considering that he just told her a vital information that she couldn't even understand.

———

At Stohess District, the mission to capture the female titan has commenced. Shallie who didn't have an idea of the true mission has gotten into her position with Eren, Mikasa, Armin and Annie. She's been sensing something off about Eren and Armin and she had no idea on what was their true intention and chose to just follow their lead. As they were walking, one thing that Shallie found suspicious was the absence of civilians in the area, this is Wall Sina so she thought there would be more people here instead of just empty streets and buildings, this definitely threw her off. After wandering around the town, Shallie followed them to a staircase to the remains of an underground city entrance, she stared at the dark pitch black area and hesitated to walk in. She trusted her friends more than anything, but the fact that they've been acting off lately didn't reassure her. She looked at Annie beside her and she wasn't planning on entering that place either, she stepped closer to her, slightly touching her arm with her hand. It wasn't long before she realized what was happening.

"What's wrong you two? Don't tell me you're scared? Don't worry, nothing can hurt us down here." Eren then said, looking up at the two blonde girls from the bottom of the stairs.

Shiyo on the other hand was watching from the top of the house silently, she could hear and see what was happening down there as the two suspects hesitated to enter the dark underground area. This gave them a hard time on determining which was the true suspect. She watched as Eren persuaded the two to just step inside the staircase but still, they didn't move an inch.

Annie stared at Armin's nervous yet courageous look, taking notice of the smoke round on his hand. She then transferred her look at Shallie beside her who had a stoic look on her face, that was the moment where she understood what was happening. And so, she swiftly swung her foot at her face, kicking her to the ground. Annie was sure that Shallie saw that kick coming but she chose to not dodge the attack, it confused her but she just brushed it off and continued to restrain her to the ground "You should just surrender, female titan."

The three on the stairs watched the scene in shock before they went running towards the two blonde girls "Annie..." Eren called on her as he stared at her while she pushed Shallie's head on the floor, making her unconscious in the process.

"Help me before she gets aggressive!" Annie then told them but the two just watched her with a blank look on their faces. Mikasa on the other hand had took her hood off and prepared for combat, as she was about to take care of Shallie, Armin stopped her making the two girls confused "What are you doing, Armin? She's been captured, do something!"

Armin stared at Annie in terror "Annie, we never told you about the female titan..." He told her before quickly firing the smoke round.

As Shiyo saw this play out, she immediately flew towards them and took Shallie out of the scene while the other soldiers went and held Annie. She landed on a house as she watched the soldiers restrain the girl, she thought they've got her but then suddenly a lightning struck at the area where Annie was, Shiyo clicked her tongue "That didn't work..." She whispered to herself before jumping down from the roof, carrying Shallie over her shoulder as she flew at full speed towards where Erwin was.

She swung upwards with her gear and landed on the floor in front the Survey Corps commander, the Military Police commander getting startled in the process. Erwin looked at the blonde girl on her shoulder before transferring his look at her, he was just simply impressed on how she managed to carry the girl considering her small height.

"Commander, the first plan failed. It was Annie Leonhart, Shallie Elz turns out to be innocent, but that doesn't clear her suspicious behaviours. What do I do with her?" Shiyo reported to the commander before Jean disguising as Eren suddenly came out of the carriage and revealing his true identity that shocked the Military Police, he then came running towards the commander.

"Commander! Please let me go and see what's happening! I need to see Shallie!" He requested desperately, not noticing the blonde girl in Shiyo's shoulder.

Erwin took a look at him "Perfect timing, you don't have anything to worry about, she's right here." He told the boy, making him look at Shiyo in front of him "I'll leave her to you. Shiyo, join the fight and lure the titan into Hange's trap. You take charge for the meantime." He ordered the soldiers making them immediately obey. And so, Shiyo gave Shallie to Jean before she flew away using her Vertical Maneuver.

Jean had equipped his full gear before he carried the unconscious girl in his arms as he ran towards a safe place in an alleyway, he sat her down on the floor, kneeling in front of her and examined her body and face which led him to see blood dripping down from her lips, she had a busted lip, her cheek had a bruise that looked like someone had hit her, she had blood on her head also which alarmed Jean. He stared at her with a worried look "Shit... Please be alright..." He whispered, looking down at the ground. He was so relieved to see that she didn't turn out to be a titan, it could only mean that she was innocent and their suspicions were just a bluff.

After a series of ground shakes due to the titans fighting in the district, Shallie finally woke up from being unconscious for minutes. Jean took notice of this, making him widen his eyes in both surprise and relief, and so he immediately took her in his arms, hugging her tightly as he buried his face into her neck. This shocked the blonde girl but still she slowly hugged him back "Jean..?"

"I'm just so happy to see you not turn into a titan..."