Counterattack Chapter 8

Eren jumped off his horse, feeling achy due to having ridden the animal for a few hours, and petted his new friend with a slight smile. "That's right, you're a good girl apples."

The horse neighed, as though beaming under the praise, and he heard a rare giggle coming from behind him that captured his attention.

Mikasa commented behind him, holding her horse by the reins, a slight smile gracing her lips. "Apples, really?"

"Well yeah, she loves apples, so I named her Apples. Pretty genius of me, right?"

The rhetorical question earned him another giggle, and he couldn't help but notice how beautiful it sounded. She looked really pretty when had a smile on her face, more so than usual.

Eren smiled at her lovingly and his mouth moved without thinking. "You look really good when you smile."

Mikasa looked a bit surprised at sudden compliment, but then her smile grew slightly as she looked at the ground, her cheeks the prettiest shade of pink. "Thank you."

Ymir overheard the two, rolling her eyes, but didn't say anything.

After a moment, Mikasa suddenly gave Eren a peck on the cheek before looking away.

Eren touched his cheek, the area where Mikasa kissed him feeling warm, and smiled at her timidness when it came to acts as simple as kissing. Even if she was a fierce was warrior, at the end of the day, she was also a young girl in love. It was nice knowing she reserved her sweet side just for him.

Unfortunately, their moment was broken up when Captain Levi ordered. "Yeager, you're coming with me, so try not to flirt with your girlfriend too much."

Mikasa's shyness was immediately shed as she threw a glare Levi's way, and Eren shot her an apologetic look.

Mounting his horse, Eren apologised to his girlfriend. "Sorry Mikasa, I've gotta go remember. See you later."

Mikasa wanted to protest and go with him, but held herself back. Instead, she glanced away and told him. "Please be careful."

"I will, besides, I've got nothing to worry about." Not making Levi wait any further, he gave the side of his horse a light kick, urging her to move forward.

Mikasa's eyes traced Eren's figure as he rode away, with her frowning as he disappeared from view.

Sasha noticed her stare as she walked by, stopping next to the other girl. "Something wrong, Mik?"

Mikasa's daze broke when she heard those words, with her answering the other girl vaguely. "It's nothing, just thinking about Eren. He's always been running into danger, never away from it, and I've always had to follow him to keep him safe."

Mikasa looked away slightly. "I was always the stronger one back then, and maybe I still am now, but... he's not the same boy who didn't know how to fight. He's strong enough to protect himself, and if I'm not his protector... then what am I?"

"Well, I'd say you're his future wife."

Mikasa fumbles a wordless response, her face falling down as black hair curtained most of her face, but she still stammered out. "W-what are you talking about?"

Sasha slyly grinned, placing her arm over Mikasa's shoulder in a casual manner. "Come on, Eren is as crazy about you as you are about him! I mean, which one of you was it that made the first move?!"

Mikasa swallowed, her blush burning brighter. "Well- he did, but-"

"Exactly, he's loved you for a long time, he was just waiting to see if you made the first move on him! Hell, you've gotta make me the maid of honour when you two get married!"

"Wait that's..." Mikasa trailed off, unsure of what to say as the usually stoic girl's voice was drained of it's strength and reduced to a quiet whisper.

Sasha didn't stop teasing her. "No, I'm serious! We might be Scouts, but that's not gonna stop me from living to the day you two seal the deal!"

Mikasa tried to calm herself, and felt like if her face got any hotter she'd simply combust. "Listen, if you stop talking I'll- I'll give you my bread at dinner!"

Sasha recoiled back, looking as though she were considering it, then nodded. "Fine, you know food is my weakness. You really don't fight fair, do you Mik?"

Hearing that intimate nickname felt good for some reason, not as much as when she heard it from Eren, but knowing she was close enough with Sasha to be able to interact with her so casually was a breath of fresh air.

Mikasa felt the heat leave her face, and she thought her friend was done, only for Sasha to randomly ask one final embarrassing question.

"Hey, can I be the godmother of your kids?"

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"Alright, Eren! We're ready when you are!" Hange shouted from the top of a massive tree, Moblit stood at her side with a cautious look in his eyes.

Eren stared around for a moment, feeling afraid to budge in a way the soldiers above didn't like. Whilst he'd earned the benefit of a doubt, it looked like the Scouts were being cautious with him, and when they asked him to test transforming they'd assembled the troops to watch over him.

Eren recognised a lot of the soldiers above. There was, obviously Commander Erwin, Captain Levi, and Section Commander Hange, but there were a number of other elite soldiers too. Levi's squad was watching me like hawks, with Petra, Oluo, Gunther, and Eld all having their blades drawn with visible sweat drops trailing down their faces. There were also several members of Squads Miche and Hange, though Miche himself was remaining absent.

Each one of them was very capable, and Eren knew that taking them all on was suicide even if he did possess Titan hardening. And, if he didn't know any better, he'd think they were about to cut him down like any other ordinary Pure Titan.

Eren pulled out a knife, toying with it for a moment in hesitation, before slitting his hand down the middle and triggered his Titan transformation. The veteran Scouts in the area covered their eyes as a blinding explosion of thunder rung throughout the area, and after a few moments it fell to reveal Eren's Titan form in all it's imposing glory.

Petra clutched her blades tightly, whispering to Eld. "Hey, he'd not going to attack us righ-"

Hange squealed in delight, jumping off her branch and landing on the Attack Titan's shoulder. "You glorious beast, how did you produce so much lightning like that?!"

The rest of the soldiers were momentarily surprised by Hange's actions, though quickly snapped out of it when Eren raised his massive hand to... point at his mouth?

Hange noticed the shape of his jaw, and stated. "You can't speak because you don't have lips?" The Titan nodded to her, and in response she squealed at the fact she'd just communicated with a Titan.

The tension in the air lessened, but the soldiers were all still on guard. They might have been battle-hardened Titan killers, but the fifteen meter class in front of them looked to be far more threatening than any normal Titan.

"Alright, well can you please show us what Titan hardening can do? You shouldn't harden your whole body, but having a sample of that material would be a big help."

Eren easily accepted the request as he held both his fists up, making the jumpy soldiers raise their swords.

Oluo mumbled from Petra's right. "That woman's gone insane, there's no way that thing is gonna-" Petra responded with an elbow to the ribs, making him gasp out in pain before biting his tongue.

"'That thing' is called Eren, no need to alienate him." Petra chided. She might have been clutching her blades a little too close, but that was mostly because of her healthy fear of Titans she'd developed during her time as a Scout. She'd seen the boy- Eren- herself, and wouldn't reduce him to an it.

Hange made a delighted noise as steam rose from the Attack Titan's knuckles and in a moment they were clouded by white, which turned a brilliant blue as sturdy looking plates formed along his fists like knuckledusters. They looked deadly, and she'd heard that a punch from those was enough to turn Titans into paste.

Petra watched in fascination as her Captain dived down at insane speeds and slashed at Eren's hands, only for his blades to shatter like glass and not even leave a dent on the crystalline material.

Hange examined the fists. "Not even a scratch on here, impressive. Think this could let you fight the Armoured Titan head on?"

"Isn't it weird that they're just kinda... talking? He could attack her at any moment." Gelgar whispered to Nanaba, though his eyes didn't leave Eren for a second.

Nanaba huffed. "Maybe, but he did save Trost. Who knows, if it weren't for him then humanity might have died already. He's earned the benefit of a doubt. At least for now."

Levi landed next to Erwin, broken blades in hand, and dryly noted. "Well blades can do jack shit to that stuff, and I'm guessing the same applies to the Armoured Titan. You got any ideas on how to deal with him, Erwin?"

"Well, Eren can obviously defeat Reiner using this Titan hardening, but that's assuming he'd just fighting one shifter. Our enemy won't play fair, they'll overwhelm him if left alone, so we'll have to find a solution to these crystals. The only problem is that cannon fire supposedly does nothing, so we'll have to make an entirely new weapon if we want to fight him ourselves."

Levi threw the broken blades away, replacing them with new ones, and narrowed his eyes at Eren. "How are we gonna approach Leonhart, I doubt the bitch will come quietly."

"We'll need to be careful with her capture. We need to bring her in no matter what, but I realise how much you hate needless lose of life."

Levi sneered. "You're right, I hate it. Nothing more pointless."

"So, we'll opt to try and knock her out as a human, not giving her the chance to transform at all. We can prepare dart guns, each one with a tranquiliser in them, and if we catch her by surprise then we can shoot Leonhart and render her unconscious. No fight would need to break out that way."

Levi nodded in agreement, viciously noting. "Good, let's not even give the little whore a chance to fight back."

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When he caught sight of his friends, after returning from the brief experiments using his Titan, they all looked a bit down or anxious... also Annie was walking around an empty corner.

He noted that she lacked ODM gear, which was perfect, at least for him. Hopefully, when they made a move on her, it would stay that way.

He felt a twitch of guilt knowing the girl would die soon, but ruthlessly pushed it down by reminding himself of all the innocent people who'd died because of her, because of Marley.

Ignoring the Marleyan shifter, he quickly greeted his friends. "Samuel, Mina, Thomas. I haven't talked to you guys at all this week, how's it going?"

Thomas answered with surprising seriousness. "It's been a pretty tough week, these Scouts are even tougher than Shadis was."

Mina agreed wholeheartedly. "Yeah, they've been driving us through the gutter, but that's fine. We still haven't heard anything about when our first expedition is gonna take place. Honestly, it's making me anxious"

Samuel huffed, crossing his arms. "Well, the longer we take to actually go out there, the more prepared we are for when we do. Us three need it the most, we weren't exactly in the top ten."

Eren reassured them. "We are prepared Samuel, just what exactly have we been doing for these three years? We've been training. The blood we lost, the tears we shed, and the bones we broke were all for this. With a bit of work, and maybe luck, we'll all be fine. I know it."

The trio were reassured by his words, though Thomas did groan slightly. "Damn you and your fucking speeches. If you were less convincing then I might have been fine with joining the Garrison."

Mina grinned at him. "Well, look at it this way, now you're part of the most badass regiment!"

All of them laughed together, and soon enough the tension in the air began to die down.

Eren looked over Thomas' shoulder, noting that Annie had disappeared from his line of sight and the sun was beginning to go down. They needed to capture Annie, but the time wasn't right.

"Listen, I've gotta go. See you later."

Not paying attention to their answer Eren walked down where Annie just went, wanting to brief Armin and Mikasa on what their plan was for taking her down.

Peering down the long and empty halls of HQ, Eren idly wondered when they could afford to strike at her. The Commander said dart guns were their best bet, but the Scouts didn't have any just lying around. So, until they got some, trying to attack her was-

"Looking for someone?"

Eren halted when he heard that familiar monotone voice, a tone someone would take if they were cursed with eternal boredom.

Annie Leonhart.

Trailing his eyes backwards, Eren clicked his tongue as he met the blonde girl's eyes, attempting not to show a reaction when he found that her hand was slit with that damned ring of hers being stained in blood.

But, judging by the way her eyes were narrowed, he'd failed miserably in that department. Annie was usually cold, but even the coldest of people can't hide the light from their eyes. Not entirely anyway.

And Annie's eyes, though remaining a freezing cold icy blue, betrayed a flicker. She knew he'd figured it out too.

Taking in a deep breath, subtly nicking his hand with a nail, Eren met her gaze without flinching. "Annie, just the person I was looking for... your hand is bleeding. Want to get that checked out?"

Annie narrowed her eyes, the ice in her gaze cold enough to freeze most men solid.

"Cut the bullshit Eren. You really think I wouldn't notice something so obvious? The way you've avoided me could be written off, but the way Mikasa and Armin looked at me couldn't. How long have you known?"

From the way she spoke, it was almost like she was afraid of the answer. Good, she should fear him.

"Honestly? From the moment I laid eyes on you, Reiner, and Bertolt I could smell the shit coming off you three. I just didn't know what that was... until I heard you three wanted to destroy Trost. Was taking Maria not enough for you bastards, you needed to finish us off didn't you?"

Annie grit her teeth, glaring at me with malice. "Didn't you hear me?! I said, cut the bullshit! How much do you know?!"

"I know enough. Enough to know you need to die, and once you're gone Marley's next." Eren added that final part darkly, causing Annie to freeze and look at him with wide eyes.

For a moment, everything was still. Some Scouts spotted them in the distance, they all lacked their ODM gear, but Petra and Levi were watching from above with gritted teeth. Eren noted their lack of dart guns, meaning that the plan was off.

Annie followed his eyes and sweated when she spotted the Scouts above, weapons drawn and ready for action, whilst she didn't have any gear of her own. She was cornered, trapped, and helpless to stop them.

Eren gave her a smirk. "You're helpless Annie. Bertolt and Reiner aren't gonna saved you. What will you do now? No help is comin-"

Eren's grin faded and morphed into confusion when he heard the strangest sound. It was unhinged, free, and bitter. It was Annie's laughter. She was laughing out loud.

Annie's stoicism had faded, leaving behind a girl with a mad grin and sweat leaking off her face like a dog. Her usually calm face had changed into something much more deranged and psychotic, it was like looking at a cornered wolf.

Finished, Annie smiled widely. "Bold of you to assume I'll need any help. You're really playing with fire here Eren... but then again, you're not the only willing to risk it all!"

Sparks flew in the air, giving Annie a terrifying image, and Eren felt goosebumps litter his skin as ozone began to litter the air.

Holding his own bleeding hand up, Eren growled. "You three really do enjoy hell, don't you?"

Without further ado, both of them exploded in a burst of yellow lightning.