Pretty Little Liar (Aruani Element Shifter AU) ✔️

Part Two: Forty Four

(Eren's POV)

When the flames stopped, neither Annie nor Armin were there anymore. I looked at Mike and he frowned. 

"What did she just do?" 

"I don't know." 

A voice cut the confused silence as horses were heard running towards us. 

"Don't worry! It's us," was the voice of Mr and Mrs Black, followed by Ymir, Sasha and Connie. 

Ymir jumped off her horse and looked at the bodies around her. "Jesus," she muttered, then turned to Sasha and Connie. "You guys better not look," she said. 

Mr Black walked over to Mike and asked if anyone was alive. They went around checking for pulses, then Connie handed them a bag full of handcuffs. 

Erwin and Levi were still alive. When Levi woke up, he was forced onto his feet by Mr Black and looked around in complete fear. This was the first time I had ever seen him like that. He kicked and yelled and tried to free himself, but Mike and Mr Black just held him tighter. 

"The battle is over. You've lost," said Mike. 

Ymir looked at me. "Where's Armin? And the fire shifter?" 

I sighed, but winced at a cut on my leg. "We'll explain everything."

* * * 

(Two weeks later)

The ones who were still alive were arrested and taken by Sasha and Connie to be thrown into the council's prison a few miles away. They would be put on trial once a council had been created that would give a voice to the shifters. As it stands the council consists of Mike, Mr and Mrs Black, Bertholdt's parents, Ymir and her dad, and a place had been reserved for Annie but nobody had seen her since she cast the spell on Armin. The same goes for Armin. Every night I stayed up worrying about him. Nobody knew if he was still alive or not. I couldn't go to his parents and tell them that their son was alive, and the thought of not being able to do that broke me.

All of the soldiers who survived were told the truth, just like Christa, Sasha and Connie had been told. They slowly started to trust us, even though at first they weren't so convinced after finding out about how many of them had been killed in the battle and in the council fire. But they agreed to bring an end to the fight against the shifters. 

Mikasa's family, a rich water shifting family from the countryside, came looking for her after hearing about the defeat of the council. After getting them on our side, the scientists who had worked with Hanji agreed to help undo her brainwashing and get rid of her three shifting. With their help, she should be back to normal soon. 

More and more shifters, like Bertholdt's parents, were coming out of hiding. Mike wasn't afraid anymore, and neither was anybody else.  A few members of the council who had survived the fire turned to our side and agreed to rebuild the council and change the laws on shifters. It would take a while before our identity would be revealed to the public, but until then we were allowed to live in peace and safety, without any threat from the military. The dream my parents had always wanted was happening. 

While Mike was at a council meeting, I took a long walk around the city. While I was there, I stopped off at a cafe and sat down drinking a coffee for a long time, looking out at the view of the burned down council house on the hill. Once I finished I decided to visit my parent's graves in a small cemetery a while away. It was next to a hospital that I had never visited before. 

I used some earth shifting to grow some flowers on the graves and to clear the moss from the headstones, then sat in front of them, telling them all about what had happened.

I jumped when I heard a voice behind me. 

"Hi, Eren."

"Annie?" I smiled at her and jumped up to talk to her. "You're okay."

Annie nodded, then took out a pack of cigarettes, offering me one. I shook my head, and instead of lighting one she just frowned and put them away. 

"Probably shouldn't smoke in a cemetery."

"Are you alright? Where's-"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I had to go away for a while, get out of this place," she frowned. She looked upset, weak, like her angriness had disappeared. Then she nodded at the hospital. 

"He's in there," she said. 

I raised my eyebrow. 

"He's okay. I got him out just in time. I just saw his parents come this morning. The council must have told them that he's alive."

I was about to walk over to the hospital, until I remembered what it said in the book about the Reverse Spell. 

"He doesn't remember who I am, does he?" I said, turning back to look at Annie. 

She looked up at me and shook her head. "He can't remember anything about us. Any shifter he met he won't remember them. I'm sorry, it was the only thing I could do that would save his life."

I stared at the floor, and we were silent for a while. 

I looked up at her again. "But, when the public starts to learn about us, when we're accepted as people-"

"Then I know he'll be the first person who'll want to be friends with you."

I smiled, and Annie smiled back at me. 

"It's gonna be a long time, but it'll happen," she said, looking at my parents' graves. 

"Are you gonna stay? Are you gonna join the council?" I started. 

She just bit her lip, rubbing her necklace in her fingers. 

"I haven't decided yet. I want to see my parents again." 

"And Armin? He thinks you're dead, doesn't he?"

She nodded. "Yeah. When the spell is casted, the memory of the person goes back to what it was before he discovered shifting. So he doesn't know I'm alive."

I could tell it was upsetting her, so I dropped the subject. "Do you wanna go see everyone? Your aunt and uncle are worried about you, and Bertholdt and Reiner too."

I thought she'd scowl at me, but she didn't. Instead, she reached out her hand and I took it, then we teleported together to the council, where Annie was greeted with excitement, by both shifter and non-shifter.