Pretty Little Liar (Aruani Element Shifter AU) ✔️

Part Two: Thirty

Everything was silent. Nothing could keep me from staring straight into her red, lifeless eyes. I must have blinked a thousand times as I took in the impossible.

She narrowed her eyes, and still didn't say anything. Her face was covered in scars, she was thin and pale.

That couldn't be her. Annie Leonhardt died four years ago. When we were fifteen. She slipped, and hit her head. It took me so long to come to terms with that. There was no way that she could be alive.

However, the more I stared, the more I saw her. My Annie. My best friend. Alive.

"A-Annie?" I muttered, shaking my head. She smirked, and raised an eyebrow, disappointingly, at me.

Reiner distracted us both by cackling loudly. Eren stared at me, then at Annie, completely confused, and silent. Bertholdt was smirking at Annie, creeping behind Reiner, and leaning against a tree.

"So that's your name, is it?" Reiner said loudly, laughing at her.

Her nose flared angrily, furiously lit up her body in angry red flames, and it only took a second before her foot kicked my head, and the unconsciousness to take over.

(THIRD PERSON P.O.V)

Annie hadn't heard her name in so long. It sent a strange shiver down her spine. That life was far into the past by now, and that weak, hurt boy in front of her was the only bridge between then and the present. And that was certainly something she never thought she'd have to worry about.

"So this son-of-a-bitch took Ymir's place? Damn waste," she muttered. She looked up, away from Armin, to the three boys in front of her. The green-eyed boy, who looked as battered and bruised as Armin, stared in awe at her. She smirked.

Reiner grinned evily. She ignored him, and took out a cigarette, lighting it, and holding it between her teeth.

"You're the fire shifter?!" The green-eyed boy finally broke the silence.

"No shit."

"Annie? Can I call you that?"

He shouldn't have said that. Annie shot him a dirty, angry look, and Bertholdt sniggered while Reiner continued to grin, taking pleasure in everything.

"That's not my name, kid. Don't you dare call me that." Blunt and simple.

Eren shied away. "Yes, sorry."

Reiner took advantage, and walked towards her. "So, how did you find us?" He grinned.

She scowled. "I was signalled."

Eren looked up. "It was a long shot. I can't believe it worked," he muttered to himself.

Bertholdt, who had been listening quietly since then, said:

"What did you do?"

"The soldiers cut Armin's arm, where his emblem is. He was bleeding heavily, and when I saw his emblem, it was almost glowing in orange. That's how you summon a fire shifter. With blood."

Everyone was silent for a minute or so. Annie smirked. "Congratulations," she muttered sarcastically, continuing to smoke.

Eren returned to his shell.

* * *
Meanwhile, Levi and his squad returned to the Council building. The injured soldiers and the other legions sat outside in the garden, letting concerned nurses and council members come to their aid.

Levi, on the other hand, didn't even stop. He walked quickly through the corridor, ignoring anybody who he hit into, followed by an angry Nanaba.

The pair barged straight into a council meeting.

"Levi?" Erwin was on his feet, and everybody saw his burning shoulder and Nanaba's bleeding face. "What the hell happened?"

Everybody watched him carefully as he walked straight up to Erwin, facing everybody in the half-circle.

"There's a fire shifter."

Silence. Too surprised and lost for words.

Levi looked around at all of the stsres and the smirks. "Yeah, that's right. It's killed seven."

"It's true. I saw it with my own eyes," Nanaba added.

"Interesting," one voice said in the corner, braking the silence. Levi looked straight at the unwanted visitor.

"What the hell is she doing here?" He stared angrily at Hanji.

Hanji stood up from her seat in the corner of the room. "Hello Levi. It's been a while."

A smirk was all she received as an answer.

"I'm here to talk to Erwin about my little experiment rat," she continued. "The girl. The water wielder. But you seem to have something a lot more important to say. Carry on." She sat back, genuinely intrigued, just like the rest, to hear about the fire shifter.

"Please, Levi, continue," Erwin said.

Levi turned his head up and looked at the council members.

"Covered in flames. Deadly hot fire. It's probably safe to assume that it's an eight."

The members started muttering and comotion insued.

"Are you sure?" Erwin muttered.

Levi nodded.

"Impossible!" Somebody yelled.

"Never has there ever been a fire shifter in all of history!"

"I know what I saw!" Levi yelled back at the crowd. "Why do you think we've come back in such a rush? It's nothing I've ever seen before."

"Alright, calm down," Erwin told the crowd in front of them.

Levi stared. "The devil must be caught."

"And caught it will. All in good time. Until then, we make the training more strict, re-arrange the legions, and fight harder to bring them down. Any questions?"

People were panicking, naturally. Anybody would had they just heard the news that there was a fire shifter. There was a lot of questions to be answered, mostly ones based on safety. Ones that nobody could answer, as nobody had any knowledge of the kind.

Hanji watched, listened, and took everything in, all the while keeping secret the fact that the water shifter she had been experimenting on, had escaped.