Hate 41

"What happened to the storm?"

Annie sat on the edge and glanced back at Reiner, approaching the massive hole in the building they were camping in. The rotting building was damp from the heavy rain that had pummeled them. "Don't know. There was a change in the wind, and suddenly it went away."

Reiner looked up and frowned, seeing the clear sky in the far distance approach them as the clouds continued to blow away.. "That wind looks like it's blowing from Trost."

"What, think Eren found a way to control the weather now?" Annie asked with a frown.

Reiner grimaced. "With the way things have gone, I don't know if we can rule anything out, no matter how insane it sounds."

Annie hummed. "There's no way we're saving Bertholdt."

Reiner scowled. "You think they've already had him eaten?"

"If not by a Pure Titan, then Eren definitely. He either has or he will. If he has his way, all three of us will never leave this island alive," Annie said with a simple finality.

"I still have no idea what he is, what he's become," Reiner said with a frown.

"He's an island devil, right?" Annie remarked dryly.

Reiner gave her a dark look. "You have something to say, Annie?"

Annie just kept her gaze on the horizon. "Eren was always either going to die in his first battle or become a bane to us. You were just stupid enough to get close to him, even help him. What did you think would happen when he found out we're the reason this all happened?"

Reiner gritted his teeth, ready to snap.

And then, suddenly, the world disappeared around them.

The high view they had from Wall Maria was replaced by a sandy landscape under a starry sky dotted with dark clouds.

And in the distance, they could see a strange entity of pure light, shaped like a tree.

Annie bolted to her feet instantly. "The fuck....?" she whispered, a bead of sweat running down her head.

"What.....what is this? Where are we?" Reiner asked in alarm, the air feeling strange around him.

".....!"

"Did you hear that?" Annie asked with a furrowed brow.

"...Reiner!...Annie!..."

"That's Bertholdt!" Reiner realized, looking towards the Tree of Light. "It's coming from over there!"

"Wait, Reiner, don't!" Annie called after as the Armored Titan began to run towards the voice. "Dammit!"

They kept running, but no matter how far or fast they journeyed, it felt like they never got any closer.

"W-what?! No!"

And yet, Bertholdt's screams only seemed to get louder and clearer.

"Bertholdt! It's me! Where are you!" Reiner yelled out, looking across the sands for any sign of their friend and comrade.

"It sounds like he's right in front of us," Annie said to herself, unnerved by whatever this was.

"Eren! Eren, don't! Please, don't!" Bertholdt's cries began to turn shrill and hysterical.

"Bertholdt! We're here! Just show us where you-!" Reiner stopped as he came to the edge of a steep dune. There, at the base of the slope, was Bertholdt. He was half buried in the sand, weakly and desperately reaching out while facing away from them.

"There he is, but where's Eren?" Annie said in alarm.

"Worry about that later!" Reiner said as he ran down the dune.

Annie opened her mouth, but froze as she saw the sand shifting under her feet. "Reiner! Stop!"

But he didn't listen, running towards Bertholdt so fast that he might trip if he was unlucky.

He ignored the sand rolling down around him.

He ignored the rumble below his feet.

He ignored everything in the frantic hope he might reach Bertholdt in time.

But it was for naught.

Before Rener could get there, something burst out of the sand from under Bertholdt, knocking Reiner back.

And as he saw flashing of gold through the sands, he knew it was exactly who and what he expected.

"Eren...!" Reiner gasped out in horror and frustration as he stared up at the figure rising from the desert.

With Bertholdt held in one of his mouths.

"Shit," Annie whispered as she ran down the dune as well. Not to join Reiner, but to avoid Eren's other head rising from under the massive dune.

Through the dust and wind, they saw him looming over them in all his terrible might. Bertholdt painfully reached out from where he was held, between the teeth of the middle hand.

"Reiner....Annie....!" Bertholdt gasped out, his hand bloody and shaking.

"Bertholdt!" Reiner yelled as he bit his hand, and Annie scratched herself on her ring.

....Only for them to both freeze as absolutely nothing happened.

"What?" Reiner said numbly.

The great golden giant stared down at them with some vile and twisted form of amusement in the face of their helplessness.

Without warning or mercy, Eren tossed Bertholdt up into the air, who screamed in terror.

"Wait, don't!" Reiner screamed out. "Eren! Kill me! Spare Bertholdt, take me instead!"

But Eren paid him no heed as Bertholdt fell back towards his awaiting jaw.

"Someone save-!" Bertholdt cried out hysterically, only for the mouth to clamp around him again, the shifter fully within the maw now.

Annie and Reiner could only stare in helpless horror as light glowed in the neck of the middle head.

Bertholdt let out one last scream of agony as lightning flashed within Eren's mouth.

With that one, all three heads looked down at the two remaining traitors.

Frozen with fear, knowing there was nothing they could do, Reiner and Annie could only watch in horror as Eren's eyes flashed from the intense emerald to hellish orange. And never once did his hateful visage waver.

They could feel and smell his breath on them. Truly, it was as if death itself was clawing at their very bones.

And then...it was gone.

They now stood at the top of the wall, frozen in dread and incomprehension.

"What the fuck just happened....?" Annie whispered as she looked down at her trembling hand. She cut a finger on her blade, just to check, just to know. She calmed as she saw the small wound heal. "How did we...get up here?

Reiner said nothing, putting his hands on his knees as he struggled to remain standing and not hurl over the edge. Was that real? Was Bertholdt really gone now? He didn't know, but every instinct told him....yes.

"There you two are."

Numbly, slowly, they turned to see Peick, who was sitting on the wall with her head cocked.

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost," Peick remarked in concern.

"More like a devil," Reiner murmured as he clutched his head, tears forming out of the corner of his eyes. "Bertholdt....."

Pieck frowned. "What happened?"

"We don't know," Annie whispered, a hint of horror in her tone.. "We....we don't know."

Pieck looked between them. If it were one, she'd say they had a nightmare. But it was both, so it was more than that. "Should I tell the War Chief you need to speak to him?"

"Yeah...yeah, that might be best," Reiner said numbly. "Just....take the long route to him?"

"I can manage that," Pieck assured as she began to crawl off.

Meanwhile

Eren arose mere hours after he slept, without fanfare or much attention. He sat up and noticed that Trost was once more a scene of much activity. Wounded to be treated, corpses to deal with, and more. Many noticed him awaking and moving, but it was a testament to how little attention that warranted in itself.

"You're awake."

Eren looked to the side at Grice, who was dragging the corpse of a bat around with his tail.

[Sorry.]Eren

"Eren, if any deserves to take a rest after that, it was you," Grice said without judgment, his own tone even and tired. "You mind helping with these bat corpses? We're taking all of them outside, except for a few that Hange is keeping to study."

That sounded about right to Eren, nodding his three heads as he stood, finding his balance again. It was going to take time to adjust to having these wings that doubled as...legs? Arms? He could walk with them was the point.

[Allie?]Eren

Grice sighed at Eren's concerned tone, glancing at the breach. "She's still with Boris. Some are talking about giving him a funeral pyre. Others...."

Eren didn't need him to explain. He was sure even Hange was tempted to do some research on the dead corpse.

[Dare I ask how Hange marked the ones she's keeping?]Eren

Grice snorted. "She's got one of her helpers at each. Their only order is to tell you to not pick those corpses up."

Eren cocked his heads at that. He could only imagine how bored those souls were getting.

"Yeager is awake," Rico mused absently, spotting the heads rising from where she stood in Trost.

"Good. He should have an easier time dealing with these corpses than us," Miche said with a slightly disgusted look.

Rico nodded to the Section Commander. The scouts and the garrison had tried their hand at disposing of the oversized rodents, but most wagons could not support the weight. The only viable option had been a rather lengthy time chopping up one body and then making several trips outside the wall. It was a rather gruesome affair. "That was the one good thing about Titans, they never left much mess."

Miche chuckled. "You sound like Levi. He's made that remark more than once."

Rico glanced up at him. "Where is the famous captain? I haven't seen him since Yeager passed out."

"The commander sent him back to Krolva. Partially to bring his team back, partially to see if anything else happened there," Miche explained.

That made sense to Rico. Just because they were attacked here doesn't mean they weren't attacked elsewhere. "Flying monsters. Such a simple way to make the Walls useless," she remarked with a hint of dread.

Miche hummed to himself. "We knew that was a possibility since Boris showed up," he said, glancing at the small woman. "Is there something you wanted to say?"

Rico was silent for a moment. She didn't expect him to read her so well. "My old captain was killed during the first battle of Trost, back before we knew that Yeager was one of us."

Miche tilted his head. "You blame Eren for it?"

"No, not at all," Rico said with a headshake. "He didn't die to a Titan. His leg was cut off by a blade."

Miche blinked at that. "Did he do that to himself?" he asked. It wasn't uncommon for soldiers trying to cut off a limb to escape a titan only to bleed out.

"Perhaps, but I have my doubts," Rico said with a headshake. "His ODM gear was missing, too. I suspect it was the traitors. Maybe he overheard them or something. I don't know. And maybe I'll never know," Rico said with a sigh. "He wasn't the best captain or man, far from it. Still, it's a rather bitter pill to swallow that I might never be sure if he was killed by them or maybe he really just cut his own leg off and died while trying to stop the bleeding."

Miche sympathized with her. It was hard, the what-ifs and maybes that came with being the one who survived.

Rico huffed in hollow amusement. "It's funny. He was always paranoid, some might even say a coward. But he did ultimately make a gamble and believe that Yeager was trying to help us, back when he first showed up as this giant. I wonder what he would have thought of all this, all these creatures fighting for and against us. He would have thought the whole thing insane."

"Yeah, well. At least you can say your Captain wasn't wrong," Miche said in consolidation.

Rico almost smiled. "I suppose you're right," she said before turning away. "My apologies. Thank you for indulging me."

"It's no problem," Miche assured.

The day continued on with only minor excitement after that. It quickly became clear that Eren could no longer exit through the breach. Thankfully, his wings made such an issue redundant. What came after was the morbidly amusing moment where Eren tried an alternative method to moving the bats outside.

The obvious method was, of course, just to grab them with his mouths and feet to carry them as he flew outside. But Eren had another idea.

"Holy shit!" Connie yelled as he saw a blood-covered bat flying past the corner of his eyes.

"Hmm?" Armin looked back as he heard Connie's yell, along with more commotion. People were watching as the bodies of the bats went soaring over the wall. "Is Eren..."

The golden giant was throwing the corpses over the wall.

"Damn," Hannes said as he stood on the wall. He had blocked off part of the wall with the help of Jean, Historia, Ymir, and Marco. "When little Historia told me Eren's plan, I honestly thought we'd just be giving the walls a bad paint job."

"I just thought you were drunk, old man," Jean said under his breath.

Hannes laughed loudly. "Yeah, this definitely seems like the kind of idea you get while down the bottle!" he said, even as another bat was tossed over the wall.

"Jean? Captain Hannes?" Armin addressed as he ventured over. A great deal of the soldiers in Trosts had paused in their activity to watch the spectacle. "What is...?

"Hey, Armin," Hannes greeted in a wave. "Enjoying the show?"

"I was just wondering.....why?" Armin asked bluntly.

"The golden blockhead down there thought this might be better than him flying back and forth," Jean explained bluntly, jabbing a thumb down at Eren. "And he's...not wrong? I mean, we're not bracing every few minutes as he flies back and forth."

"That makes sense, even if it is...strange to watch," Armin mused, the entire event feeling surreal.

"That's the furthest one yet! Getting close to thirty meters!"

"Ymir, I really don't think we should be taking bets on this!"

Armin leaned over and squinted. "Was that Ymir and Marco?"

"Yeaaaah," Jean said warily. "I think they're running some kind of betting ring on how far Eren can throw the bodies."

Armin blinked. "I'm....going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Probably for the best," Hannes said with a chuckle. "So, where's Mikasa?"

"She's supposed to be resting and eating. Commander Erwin wanted her and some other fresh and ready if some of the bats returned," Armin remarked.

"Suppose to be," Jean repeated, glancing down below.

"Too late, Jean," Hannes said with a grin. "Eren already used Historia to tell her to go off and rest."

"Is it at all weird, him being the responsible one between the two?" Jean asked mildly.

"It's actually kind of normal," Armin said with a weak smile. "Eren and Mikasa always worried more about each other than themselves."

"Don't sell yourself short, Armin. They worried about you, too," Hannes assured, patting the young man on the shoulder.

Meanwhile

"So, you want to explain what that was about?" Levi asked, letting his horse rest and graze near a tree.

"Not sure what you mean, runt," Kenny said with a chuckle.

"You're the one who found me," Levi reminded evenly. "We thought you took Bertholdt back to the capital, but you were keeping him nearby. To feed to Eren Yeager."

"Sounds like you don't need me to explain anything," Kenny mused, hands in his pockets as he walked around.

"The Golden Brat and the other giants spilled the beans," Levi said with narrowed eyes. "These forms, these giant bodies of theirs? They come with not just memories, but the minds of these creatures."

"Crazy, ain't it? Like undead gods clawing their way back to life through us mere mortals, right?" Kenny asked rhetorically.

"You and the queen knew all about this, but never said a damn thing. Why?" Levi asked with narrowed eyes.

Kenny was silent for a moment. "It's not you lot we're trying to be secretive about. It's him."

"You mean Eren?" Levi guessed.

"No," Keeny said before turning around. "And yes."

Levi knew exactly what he meant. "What is that thing?"

Kenny sighed. "Trust me, squirt. I still have a hard time grasping everything. But.....that thing, in the kid's head? That’s bad news. The kind of bad news that people long ago were afraid to even mention, long after he died."

Levi furrowed his brow. "Then you have some plan to kill the brat and this thing with him. Is that it?"

Kenny barked a laugh. "No, no. Just the opposite, I'm afraid," he said with a bitter smirk. 

"What are you getting at?" Levi asked, his patience running thin.

Kenny was for a moment. "That thing abandoned Grisha Yeager for Eren. What makes you think killing him will kill this beastie for good?"

Levi blinked. "You don't want to kill Eren. You want to use him like a living cage."

Kenny smirked. "Got it in one. According to Frieda, this beast should be able to abandon Eren at any time. But he hasn't. Maybe out of pride, maybe he’s just too invested this time to want to start over again. But if Eren dies, he'll just start over. But these shits are old, ancient. They're patient, which gives us time to figure something out."

"....He," Levi repeated, getting a curious look. "You keep calling this thing, this "One Who Is Many" as a "he" instead of an "it.""

Kenny smiled ruefully. "Let's just say that after you've talked to one of these things enough, you have a hard time thinking of them as just things and beasts."

Levi hummed but didn't press for more. 

"We'll be in touch, and your commander will be brought more into the loop, along with some of your other scout friends," Kenny informed. "Just be careful, runt. These beasts may bleed and die, but they'll still make you relish the days when Titans were the worst you had to fight."

Levi grunted as he watched Kenny mounting up his own horse. "You know, you could have just told Erwin yourself, instead of coming to me after I've already made it half a day after leaving Trost."

Kenny grinned. "I could have, but where's the fun in that?"

With that, he rode off, leaving a mildly annoyed Levi.