"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Right now all of us were in a medium-sized room with Erwin, Levi, and Hanji, all seated at the large oak wood table as Armin and Erwin were explaining that we'd be going into Wall Sina tomorrow to apprehend Annie. Apparently, she was the Female Titan that killed a shitton of people during the 57th Expedition.

Jean, Connie, Sasha, Mikasa, Armin, and I were all gathered here to become part of the Levi Squad, but our short-lived excitement of that was curtly cut off when we learned that our old, dear friend Annie was the enemy.

"You've got to be shitting me right now. Annie? Annie's the Female Titan?!" I say as everyone looks at me with sympathetic gazes.

"I did think they looked alike," Mikasa mutters from next to me. I give her a side glance, which she only shrugs at and stares back at the table silently.

I lean back in my seat and go over Armin's plan once again on how we would capture her, but all I wanted to do right now was fucking punch a tree or something. How on earth could Annie be a titan; next thing we know fucking Reiner and Bertholdt would be ones too.

I immediately chided myself at the very thought. Don't be ridiculous, Y/n.

I feel a foot tap mine from under the table. I look to the side to see Jean giving me a concerned glance. "Are you okay?" his eyes seemed to say.

I gave him a nod with a tired smile and turned back to everyone else. They pulled out a few maps of Stohess District where everything would take place tomorrow.

"Wait," I said hesitantly while I looked at the map. I place my finger to where Armin and Erwin were motioning to. "This area's filled with a lot of citizens. There would be many casualties if we do the operation here."

Erwin's blue eyes meet mine. "Yes, we know, but sacrifices must be made in order for humanity to keep continuing on."

I don't take my eyes away from him, and I could feel the air around us go tense. I was all for giving up my life in the army, and I knew that's how everyone else here in the Scouts felt, but to bring innocent civilians into this was on another level, even for Erwin.

"Do we have a problem, kid?" Levi asked out in a dry tone. My head snapped to him as he only brought his teacup to his lips, his slender fingers holding it by the rim.

"No..." I grumble out, crossing my arms over my shoulder.

"No...?" Levi trails off, his eyes narrowed at me.

"No, sir," I ground out, my eyes twitching with restrained anger. This fucking short-ass, little gnome-

A large, warm hand on my own breaks me out of my thoughts.

From out of the corner of my eye I see Jean staring at the map in front of him while listening to the others talk with an attentive look about him. He doesn't meet my gaze as he squeezes my hand.

I grip his hand hard on my own as well and go back to paying attention to the brainstorming and planning going on in front of us.

.................

"Will you stop fidgeting! It doesn't even look that bad!" I say as I smack Jean's hands away from him adjusting the wig on his head for the thousandth time today.

"Why do I have to be the one to dress up as that bastard!" Jean grumbled out as he turned away from me and fixed the wig atop his head once again.

I rolled my eyes as he started to groan in frustration and paced in front of the carriage he was supposed to enter in the next few minutes. Apparently, Eren was supposed to be handed to the court or something, but us Scouts being difficult as always, wouldn't do as we were told. Instead, we would lure out the Female Titan all while Jean would "play dress-up", as he said, and trick them.

So right now, as everyone else was getting ready inside of HQ and the stables, I was out here to make sure Jean would stick to his part of the plan.

"Stop it! It looks fine," I say again, grabbing his hands and placing them back by his side.

"'It looks fine'?" Jean says, repeating my words with wide eyes, a baffled, yet betrayed look on his face.

"What-"

"So you like Eren more than me, huh?" Jean suddenly exclaims, turning away from me while crossing his arms over his chest.

My mouth opens wide at his accusation. "H-Hold on! I never even said-"

"But you just did!" Jean yells out, a pouting look on his face. I stare at him with wide eyes then my face softens. Is he being insecure right now?

"Stupid," I mutter out and reach out with my arm.

The boy's head whipped to me, his eyes looking ready to argue even more, but they widen when I took off his wig and placed a long kiss on his lips.

Our mouths part and Jean lets out a low grumble in the back of his throat as I tug on his ash-brown hair. I smirk into the kiss on my affect on him and we break apart.

Jean's blushing face met my coy one as I ruffled his hair and pulled him even closer by the collar with my other hand. "I like your hair much better, Jean," I say earnestly, hoping he would see the true meaning behind my words.

The boy blushes even more as he stares at me with wide eyes, the light brown hues gleaming with adoration. I place another kiss on the tip of his nose then fix the wig back on his head, turn him around, and give him a nice, big 'ol slap on the butt.

"Now, get inside the carriage and put on your best Eren Yeager impression!"

"Yeah, yeah," he says waving me off, but gets into the carriage regardless with a half-dazed smile still on his face. Cute.

"Oi, Y/n! Hurry your ass up! We're leaving in ten," Connie yells from the entrance of the large HQ doors.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I grumble out and stalk towards the rowdy baldy.

"Oh, I bet you were-"

I slap him on the back of the head with a blank face, not even phased by his sexual innuendo. "Shut it, Springer."

"Yes, ma'am."

.................

Right now Connie and I were staying hidden on the rooftops to the lavish homes inside of the Stohess District, waiting to see if we would be able to lure Annie into a trap or to see if we were even wrong about our suspicions that she was the Female Titan. I myself was still hoping that Armin and Erwin were wrong, but I think deep down I knew they were right. I trusted their judgment more than my own clouded thoughts anyways.

I lean my head back on my propped-up hand as I watch Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and Annie stroll down the secluded streets. "Do you really think she's the Female Titan?" I whisper out to Connie.

His eyes were pinpointed on Annie, watching for any suspicious movements of sorts. He shrugs. "I don't know. If Armin thinks she is then I guess she is," he says, but his eyes showed he wished that wasn't true.

I sighed out. "I see Annies hot as always," I murmured under my breath as I watched the blonde girl walk down the empty street.

Connie looks at me with a disapproving look but smirks after. "I'll make sure to tell Jean you said that once we get back."

I tilt my head to him with an unfazed look. "Then I'll make sure to tell him I saw you practicing your twerking the other day in your room," I sniped back. He pales at my words, his eyes widening a bit.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh," I bring my gaze back to the four down in front of us, "but I would." I give Connie a devilish smirk as if testing him to even go on and doubt my bluff.

He's about to argue even further with me but another soldier from nearby shushes us and points to where Annie was refusing to go down the stairs. That definitely was not a good sign. I look at Connie with concerned eyes, which he mirrors darkly as he brought his head down to stare at the rusty brown shingles to the roof we were on.

"Guess it's go time," I say and stand up once I see multiple Scouts come from out of nowhere and launch all of their bodies at Annie, trying to restrain the girl from transforming. But I guess Annie was prepared for things like this as she raised her hand and nicked her finger with a hidden blade on her ring.

She transformed right in front of us, a huge bolt of lighting appearing from her body that shook the world around us.

Annie, now fully transformed into her titan form immediately started to stop her foot to the tunnels underground where the trio should try to be escaping as of right now. I grabbed onto Connie's shoulder to stabilize him from the lighting's rumble and turn him towards me.

"Go alert Hanji that Annie transformed, I'll try to keep her contained for as long as I can," I say to him with urgency and he nods as this was the plan we agreed to last night.

"You sure you'll be good?" he asks, his feet already near the edge of the roof. I turn back to him with a grin.

"Who do you think I am?" I ask with a cheeky smile.

"A cocky little b-"

"Alright! Go and alert Hanji!" I say and cut him off. He does as told and goes off into the streets, all while I turn around to see Annie with a whole lot of charred soldiers by her feet as she stomped on the underground corridors Eren and the others were taking cover in, though their "cover" did not help when Annie smashed her foot through them like she was stomping in snow.

"Oi! Annie, turn around over here, you traitor," I yell out, my hand cupping around my mouth to amplify my words. Recognizing my voice, Annie turns around in her titan form, and I suddenly match up the resemblance Mikasa said she saw. The Female Titan stared back at me with its blue eyes and short blonde hair that covered a portion of her red and white muscled face.

"Oh, Annie," I say with a sad smile. Her eyes locked with mine and I swear she hesitated right before her long arm snaked around to the side and swiped itself at me. I quickly jump off the roof and go to stand on the cobblestone ground by her side.

"Why would you do this, Annie? Why would you kill so many people for no reason?" I say aloud and softly, but I know she heard every word. Her body turns towards me again and tries to kick out at me, but she misses again. This was the second time she missed.

Is she even trying right now? Does she even want to do this?

I dance around her swift movements and swing up to rest on her head, and she stills for a moment.

"You know you don't have to do this Annie," I say softly. She doesn't make any sudden movements. "You can stop this bloodshed right now. You don't have to fight and do this anymore."

Annie's body shudders in her form from beneath me, but her calm exterior was quickly broken when a voice rang out in the deserted street.

"Y/n! Get away!" I turn around from atop Annie's head to see Mikasa flying at the speed of light towards us. I flip off Annie's head and take cover on a nearby roof of a townhouse as Mikasa unleashes herself at Annie. I didn't try to reason with Annie anymore as I knew Mikasa would have my head if I even attempted to again.

I was about to let Mikasa take charge of this, as she was clearly going through it with her loud screaming, but when Annie smashed her hand into a nearby roof I quickly lept in the air and caught Mikasa's body mid-swing.

A boulder hit my back as I shield my friend from the impact and we hit the ground seconds later. I groaned to myself and I already knew my back would bruise from the hit.

"Damn it, Mikasa, you gotta watch out for that," I say, referring to her bloodlust that clearly clouded her mind from seeing Annie's predictable move.

"I'm sorry," she says and stands up, no scratch on her body, and hoists me up right after, or she tries to as I fall down right as my feet touch the ground. Through my grimace of pain, I quickly wave off the black-haired girl, letting her know I was alright. Mikasa hesitantly nods at this and takes off after Annie who was sprinting towards where Armin and Eren were.

I rolled around once, then twice, and slowly got on hands and knees. I could already feel part of my shoulder start to drip with blood, and then it was like a switch was pulled.

I forced air in my lungs as I stood up to my full height and took out my blades by my side. I was all for negotiating and talking with Annie before, but when she attempted to hurt Mikasa, something inside of me snapped. No one would hurt my friends and get away with it.

Memories of Eren's tear-stricken face after the 57th Expedition came back into mind. This was the girl who massacred nearly half of the Survey Corps' Army. She was a danger to humanity: so she would have to be put down.

And she was...

But she was stuck in an impenetrable crystal cage, with no way for us to get any answers out of her.

Annie, our old comrade, a traitor to her friends and humanity, was nothing more than an unconscious body in a fucking rock.

𝐚/𝐧

𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧... 🙂