Chapter 20- Titan's Inner Demon

"A kid? Guess they really are desperate for soldiers," Tenko whimpered at those people's words, covering himself with the blanket.
'Let me at them! We'll rip their throats out and hang them on sticks!' The voice snarled, but you just shook your head.

"Others may look down on him, but look," You turn your head to see a boy around Tenko's age and a girl a little younger.
"See?! That kid is part of the team, and he's all tough! I can't wait to be part of that!" The boy beamed, and that made Tenko lift his head up, and smiled softly.

"Others will see him and believe they could be like him too. Either an inspiring or foolish thought, let them dream," You mumbled, as you petted your horse gently.
"It may have been a failed expedition, but with surviving imps can prove that you could make it in this shitty world," You looked down as people yelled curses.

"After all, that's how I lived after that monster killed my mother,"

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'You really believe that Tenko will be safe?' The second voice pondered with slight worry. You gave a low hum, taking a step and causing a puddle to ripple through. Pulling your hood over your head, you calmly walked with Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and Annie.

'Who knows? This escape route could be a trap!' The voice said dramatically.
"We have to move as quickly as possible, considering no one could disguise themselves as (Y/N)," Armin whispered to you four.
"You might as well cut Titan crazy's hair and call it a day," You shrugged, referring to Hanji as your replacement.

"There it is!" Armin whispered yelled and shuffled his way to a small tunnel.
"It what remains of a underground city they wanted to build years ago, and it should lead us to the outer gate," Giving Annie one last glance, you took your way down the steps.

"So what? So what if I am? I wouldn't expect a suicidal maniac like you to understand,"
"You don't know what it is to be an ordinary girl, crippled with fear," Annie claimed, and you watched her fingers twitch, and you eyed the ring on her finger.

"A girl who can flip a full-grown man upside down has nothing to fear from the dark. Cut the crap and let's move!" Eren argued with her.
"No, I refuse," She took a step back, and you simply shoved your hands onto your pockets.
"I'm too afraid. Above ground, I'll help. Otherwise the deal's off," Annie explained with a slight huff.

"Quit being stubborn, dammit! Just get the hell down here, move! We're running out of time, alright?" Eren shouted.
"Stop shouting, someone will hear you," Mikasa hushed the Titan boy.

"I'm sure it's fine, Mikasa. It seems that, for whatever reason... This place has been completely deserted," Annie looked back to see the entire part of town deserted.
'Okay, can we break off this pretending shit and eat her already? I'm starving!' The voice demanded.

'Not yet,' The second voice hushed her.
"That hurts me. It really does, the way you're looking at me now," Annie told you four.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't trust me," Your hood shuffled behind you, and you gently pushed it down.

Armin then pointed out that Annie had someone else's ODM gear, and how she could have killed him before, but didn't.
"Annie, please! You've taken this joke far enough, just tell us this is some kinda horrible prank!" Eren suddenly shouted at her.

"Come on! We'll understand! You can prove to us that we're mistaken by walking down these stairs, prove we're wrong to accuse you!" He pleaded with the girl.

"We both know I can't. Like I told you, I don't have the constitution for it," Annie simply said and looked down.
"We're talking about a matter of life and death!" Armin nodded at Eren's words frantically.
"Work with us, Annie! We can reason this out like human beings," You got tired of their yelling, so you took a deep breathe and hummed loudly.

"Betrayal is a horrible experience. Especially coming from good friends," You spoke up, placing your arms behind your head, before humming again.

"Fortunately," You pulled your hood down and stared at her, blank eyes watching another pair of blank eyes.

"You're nothing but a Titan shifter to me,"

No one said anything, nothing, that was until Annie gave out a small giggle, then started laughing, and a full on hysterical laughter.
'Hey, that's like your laugh!' The voice teased.
"My laughs are more maniacal than that," You muttered, still having your hands behind you head as the three cautiously stared at Annie.

"You know, Armin, it's nice that I could be a "good person" for you. For now, at least, it looks like you won your bet," Annie calmed down her laughter and had pink Titan's on her cheeks.
"But-" She then gave a crazy look, that was not that close to the crazy looks you give to your victims.

"I'm going to gamble too, and here's my wager!"

As she tried to bit into her hand, Armin quickly held up his flare gun and shot into the air, which made a crowd of villagers come out of hiding and charged at Annie. In a quick motion, you let your backpack shoot out the metal arms and grabbed the three kids.

"What are you-?!"

BOOM

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"So you fucked up your leg, doesn't explain why I'm here," You leaned against the wall as Tenko slept in his bed in his chambers.
"Waiting, now shut up before we muzzle you again," Levi grumbled, in which you just crossed your arms.

"Really wouldn't mind getting muzzled," You muttered, touching your scar as the voices groaned.
'You don't even realize you're being kinky!'
'Are you even aware on sexual preferences?' You didn't answer as your silence gave it all away.

"(Y/N)," You looked over to Eren, who gulped at your stare and looked away while blushing a little.
"I heard what happened during our way home... did you really made those Titan's explode?" He asked with curiosity.
"More or less," You shrugged, and Levi just drank his tea, replaying that moment over and over again.

'My prey is more awesome than I thought! I bet they were scared and shaking to their core!' Eren thought with clenched fists, but was interrupted by the door opening.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Hearing Erwin's voice and multiple footsteps, you looked up to see the training corps.

"Why are you all here?" Eren asked as he saw his classmates.
"We believe we've uncovered the Female Titan's true identity. She won't slip away this time," This made you interested, wanting to know this information.

They all moved to the table as Marco and Sasha stood on both sides of you, which made you hum at their interests in you.
'Great, now you got people in loooove~' The voice snickered.
'Wait, they're 15, we're 27-' You growled at their talking, and looked down at the wall maps.

"The day after tomorrow, we'll be passing through Stohess District en route to the capital," Erwin placed a finger on the map.
"That's when we'll strike, it'll be our first
and only chance to do so. Once we've set foot in the interior, the government will assume custody of Eren, and the Scouts' authority to continue operations, will be limited," He explained.

"Thus, unless we wish to concede defeat, we must flush out the enemy now," Your backpack beeped, and you agreed with its Morse code, saying about how this plan will be shit if the culprit doesn't follow.
"So here's what we do, while in Stohess, we use Eren as bait, luring the target into this underground passage," Erwin traced his finger on a red circle.

"The deeper, the better. Get her well beneath street level. That done, she should be easily immobilized, even in Titan form," Through Morse code, you did your own planning on this mission, just in case these imps are incapable.
"If she transforms before reaching the tunnel, well, at that point she'll be your responsibility, Eren," The commander Imp looked up at the Titan boy, who nodded slowly.

"Right. So we know she'll be in Stohess? There's no chance she'll bolt before we get there?" Eren asked a little concern.
"No, she won't risk going AWOL," Erwin shook his head.
"Wait, you mean she's-" Eren trailed off.
"Armin here, identified her. She's an MP, likely responsible for the deaths of Hanji's test subjects," Erwin confessed.

"You mean... I trained with her?" Eren's words barely made it into a whisper.

"Her name is Annie Leonhart,"

'Who the fuck-?'