#Mr Leonhardt

[distortedclouds]

Mr Leonhart wasn't redeemed and I refuse to accept him as such

If you’ve been anywhere near my blog, you’ll know that I don’t tolerate that guy in any way, shape, or form, nor accept his apology to Annie

I have multiple reasons to believe his apology wasn’t sincere/well-intentioned.

He had the worst motivation out of all warrior parents

I think the reason I'm angry with Mr Leonhart the most compared to other Warrior Parents, even though they're all shit (I guess with the exception of Pieck’s father) is that the rest of them believed Marley's propaganda

They believed in the whole Eldian sin and Island Devil thing. Most parents of warriors, even kids training to become warriors, believed their kids were giving away their lives for a good and honorable cause. This is still abuse and it’s gross, but really, it’s not out of the “ordinary”

Parents place ridiculously harsh and harmful expectations on their kids all the time. Plus, I don’t think they would’ve straight up abandoned their kids if they didn’t make it as warriors

Mr Leonhart, however, never fell for Marley’s shit version of history nor did he care. He came from abroad and Annie once said he was in the same situation as her (mixed parents), when he took her in as a baby for a purely selfish reasoning

While it’s easy to put some distance since the situation of the warriors is nothing like in the real world, I’ll give you an example:

Someone adopts a puppy and then trains it for underground dog fighting to make money and better their financial situation. If the dog loses/isn’t good enough, he’s gonna throw it out. This also puts the dog at risk of injury, shortened lifespan, and overall reduced quality of life

I don’t feel hesitant using an animal in this example, because Annie was merely a tool, and like all tools, if it’s not doing its job, it gets thrown out

His apology wasn’t for Annie

Annie only miraculously became his daughter that he loves and cares about only after he’d gotten what he wanted: an irrevocable(?) Honorary Marleyan title. Doubt he would’ve had the same “revelation” had Annie failed her candidacy

Two aspects of his apology, in particular, piss me off: the timing and the rootcause/motivation

Timing

If Annie’s 13 years of titan shifting end when she’s 22, that means she got her titan powers when she was 9 years old. But the attack on Wall Maria happened in 845, when Annie was 11

Why the two year gap??

It’s not like military work as a titan shifter is a part-time job or a 9-to-5. She probably went away for days if not weeks at a time during Marley’s countless expansion and invasion efforts. She could’ve died or been captured during all of those and yet that still wasn’t enough for Mr Leonhart to realize his fatherly feelings towards her

I think it’s control

In the Lost Girls manga, Annie says her relationship with her father was “one of absolute obedience.”

And Annie was never a rebellious kid. She only went against him once (when she broke his leg) and never again

While in the military, Annie was being constantly monitored by her commanding officers. She had rules to follow and consequences for disobeying

But leaving for Paradis on a longer mission? She’s free

She’s free from him and from Marley and he knows she won’t care for her mission the same way Reiner, Bert, and Marcel cared, because she doesn’t believe in the Island Devils propaganda in the first place

I highly doubt the Paradis mission was announced to them the morning of their departure. They’ve known for a while, and yet he waited until the morning of her departure to say something

To be fair, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d gotten somewhat attached to her over the course of 11 years. The other warriors still had families to return to, but once Annie is let go, she’s gone. So that might’ve played a part

Motivation

Another part that pisses me off is that his regret never seemed like he was sorry for Annie, but for himself, for the type of person he'd become

After all, no one likes to believe that they’re evil/the bad guy

Considering that he still lives in the same rundown house as before, I don’t think(?) he’d taken advantage of any/many of the perks and privileges awarded to the parents of warriors during the 10 years Annie’s gone

But this all strikes me as self-flagellation, that he’s more concerned with feeling better about himself and his own past deeds, and not really the entire life he’d ruined and the child he’d mentally, emotionally, verbally, and physically abused since day one

It was always about him, and it's still just him

There’s this shot during the rumbling that MAPPA added, in which we see Annie’s old house right before it’s stomped:

Those are the same padded polls Annie used to train with. He hadn’t removed them

At first glance, this looks like a way for him to not sweep his past/guilt under the rug. To face what he’d done to Annie every time he’d step out of the house or even look out the window.

Shows his remorse, right?

Sure, but what about Annie? What if she had returned with Reiner 4 years ago?

She finally manages to get home to her father, her family, the only reason she kept going, only to find her open-air torture chamber still up, like it’s been waiting for her return all along

I’m not saying he was planning on getting back to his old ways as soon as she got back not at all!

But even with his bad leg, over the course of 10 WHOLE YEARS, he could’ve dug them out. He could’ve asked it as a favor of Reiner and I know Reiner would’ve absolutely done it had they the smallest doubt Annie might come back and see them

But he didn’t because it’s about him feeling like he’s not escaping from his past mistakes, facing them head on like an honorable man

Annie? she doesn’t matter

Her return as his daughter is also another way for him to feel better about himself and that he’s actually making it up for his actions; atoning for his sins

Also, note the difference between how Annie remembers the apology:

vs how Mr Leonhart remembers the apology:

(those two shots are from the same chapter)

It really feels like his perception of that day is completely different from Annie's. She looks at him directly and smiles, while Annie mostly remembers herself still being in shock even as she promises him to come back

Final thoughts

I’m not saying his apology was entirely a manipulation technique. But Annie was and still is a tool to him, this time with the fancy title of “daughter”

If her previous purpose in life was to become a warrior and complete her mission, then her current purpose is to become a good daughter so he could feel like a good father

Post-canon, this would likely take most (if not all) of the verbal and physical abuse out of their relationship, but I can’t say the same for more covert types of mistreatment: mental and emotional

I think it’s important to respect/try to understand Annie’s point of view as well, for still loving him, since he was the reason she survived and come to think of her life as one worth living, even if only to return to him and be his daughter

Still, I wouldn’t really say that Annie has forgiven him. Not really

I doubt she even realizes she was hurt in a way that matters. Simply disassociating from that whole aspect of her life—blocking it out. Especially considering how she was able to tell her story to Hitch

The chance of simply “having a father” and be something more than a tool, was enough for young Annie to not even think about all the harm he’d done to her

It was always about him, and it's still just him

[imarielo]

Learning to be good parents

[tsukidrama]

what do you think the name of annie's father is? calling him Papa is really cute. but i imagine he has a strong name

i always pictured that he just doesn't really use it that much because it's unpronouncable in the language they speak.

no idea what it could possibly be though... imagine if it just says [REDACTED] on his birth certificate lmao

[bunnythieved]

i believe in pansexual mr wolf supremacy (happy pride!!)

[austerulous]

I can’t believe I forgot Annie’s birthday.

[mimiwrites2000]

Red Eyes See Grey World

CHAPTER ONE / Two

AO3 ~~

Pairings: Armin x Annie

Words count: 3048

*contains Manga spoilers

Summary:

He realized that he knew the ocean long ago. 

When he first looked into her eyes. She held the ocean and the sky in them, colliding and harmonizing to the waves.

If only he knew, he would’ve held the ocean in his hands, never letting it go.

But she was slipping away from him, away she drifted, far from him. 

Wars never held happy endings.

Grey Sky and Black Earth

The sky was grey.

Not the kind of grey before it rained, not the grey that was followed by a colorful charade.

It was a different kind of grey.

A grey dusted with an angry red, an ominous orange smoothing the dusty clouds above. Sparks crackling between their folds, adding a mesmerizing feat into the cauldron.

But Armin didn’t see it.

His eyes were fixated on the vast, stretching, horizon; an endless, far off stripe, where the sky met a flat earth, obliterated of life.

He dragged one foot in front of the other, his knees trembling with every step, and his hands slumped, useless against his body.

The world was dizzy around him, his vision askew, swaying with every step he took. Lines and shapes were crashing and blurring before focusing again, and it incited a queasy ball in his stomach, and suddenly he tasted bile in his mouth, mixed with an iron-flavored taste.

He wished it would rain.

Maybe the rain would sooth the burning fire lit in his legs, a fire that rose to his abdomen, and then abruptly faded from his waist and up, a stinging pain taking over, reaching his lungs, a needle poking right over his heart with every failed attempt to inhale, leaving him with shallow breaths and an aching throat.

It exacerbated with every passing moment.

But he didn’t stop moving.

He couldn’t stop himself.

The stinging in his throat aggravated, he could hear his own respiratory breathing, pathetic, wheezing whistles.

His body protested, screamed and begged him to stop, that it was over, all was gone and all was lost. His body pleaded with him to lay down, and count his last breaths until life departed his body.

But a nagging, baffling motivation gnawed at him, pushing him forward, giving a million unrealistic reasons why he shouldn’t stop, making him choke each time air penetrated his lungs, keeping his legs on the move.

He feared that if he stopped for a second, he would never get up again.

I want to see her one more time, please, just one more time…

Armin didn’t know where he was going, and he couldn’t figure out where he was. Time collided with place in an intangible lump of confusion, his sight muddled and the sky blended with the earth, and he was walking through a grey world.

 A world with no features.

An ancient world that was new to him.

Drip drip

Red dots emerged in his sight, spreading across his vision, and something warm trickled down his face. He wished it was rain, but rain wasn’t supposed to be warm, rain wasn’t supposed to be red.

But it was, in fact, a red rain, maybe the sky cried bloody tears and the thunder raged with roaring, blinding orange spears, maybe the world outraged and stomped its feet as it embraced the end of itself. 

Falling

Piece by piece

Armin staggered, his body swayed.

It was quiet, unfairly quiet.

Nngh

Counterintuitive tranquility for a world that was on the verge of collapsing.

Nnngghh

Silence.

Armin fell on his knees.

aaahhh

Was that his own voice?

Or was he imagining sounds?

Ngh…

Armin tried to clear the fog away from his mind, to concentrate on these small sounds that he was almost certain wasn’t his own; his lips were sealed.

Someone else is here.

Armin smeared away the thick, rose-red moisture from his eyes, he raised both of his hands behind his ears, shaping them like a plate to collect all the sound he could. He attempted to calm down his heart, but he was scared and shivering but maybe he won’t die alone.

He fell on his knees, closed his eyes, directing all the stamina he had left to his hearing, trying to spot whoever made these noises.

That someone who breached the serenity with pathetic, hopeful moans, and for a fleeting moment, Armin wondered if these moans were of pain or sorrow.

Then he found them.

In the distance, a hump on the desaturated ground, twisting and rolling on itself.

Stamina rushed through Armin’s veins, and for a second, he was hopeful.

He was hopeful that someone else survived, that even through disastrous human-made earthquakes, fire rain, and steamy wind, someone still had life circulating in their blood.

Or at least, he won’t die alone.

He tried to get on his feet, but his knees betrayed him, and he plummeted on his chest. The air was knocked out of his lungs, and his vision went dark for a second. His chest inflatable painfully with air, before he rolled on the ground, pushed himself up on his elbows, his lungs ignited fire and he exhaled flames.

He looked at the horizon, just to make sure that someone was still there, that his mind didn’t feel so pathetic for him that it created this illusion.

The comforting illusion of another human being.

He took a deep breath, and after steading himself, he stood on his feet. The world swayed and he almost fell again, but he stabilized his footing, and limped again, dragging each step with all the power he had.

He was getting closer and closer, and the moaning got louder.

Then he saw a petite figure, and a mat of blonde hair fanned on the black-dusted dirt.

 Annie…?

The figure turned around, and he couldn’t diverge a foot from a hand because the figure was agonizingly curled on itself, quivering. 

Annie Annie Annie…

He found himself mouthing Annie’s name, no sound came out, he tried to swallow, but the dryness of his mouth only scratched his throat.

“A…nnie…” He tried to say, he barely recognized his own voice, “Ann…ie…” he kept on walking, until he was a foot away from her, then he dropped to his knees.

“Annie…” he called, bending down. All of her face was scrunched, scratches covered every inch of it, a spot on her hair was matted with red, dimming the golden spark from her hair. Armin looked down at her body, then immediately averted his eyes back to her face.

He didn’t want to look any more at her wounds, he didn’t want to know what limbs she lost, he didn’t want to evaluate her wounds.

He didn't want to know how much time she had left.

He whispered her name one more time and brushed the hair off her face, cupping her cheeks.

Annie’s eyelids fluttered open and shut multiple times, before she looked at him through half lidded lashes.

She saw the sun.

A blonde boy with shiny ocean eyes, and he was grinning, that kind of grin when someone is so happy, and she could swear golden sparkles danced around him.

She blinked.

And he was gone.

In his place was a man… a man she never saw before, or maybe he was familiar…

“Ar…min…?” she asked.

“Annie,” he nodded his head, and she liked the way he said her name.

“Armin…” She called his name one more time, and he sat beside her, hovering over her, and she wanted to touch him, to feel him, to make sure he really was there, that her mind wasn’t making her last moments more agonizing with feigning delusions.

“My wounds are too deep,” Annie said, lifting her head up.

“It’s fine, you’ll make it,” Armin retorted, his voice cracked.

He was lying.

“I’m not gonna make it.”

“You will, we will.”

“I’m not regenerating,” She pivoted, his hope made her queasy.

“Nor am I…” he admitted, his head tilted down until it rested on his chest. That was when she was sure that he lost hope long ago, that this man in front of her was already one foot into the afterlife, and that she was following him too.

What happened? She had no idea. What will happen? She tried to shake her head; she doesn’t want to think about that.

“Eren…” Armin muttered, “the rumbling… Mikasa…” He shook his head.

“All I wanted… was to go back to my father…”

“I’m sorry I failed you…”

He failed me? Annie wondered, what is he talking about?

“Do you think… he made it?” she knew the answer already.

“Yes,” Armin answered promptly, and for some reason, she believed him.

Yeah, her father was alive, he surely was alive, and he will keep on living, he must.

“Can you… take a message for my father?”

“No, you will tell it to him yourself.”

“Armin…"

“No,” he scooted closer to her, looking her in the eyes, his eyebrows hugging in the middle, and his breath was ragged.

His eyes fluttered around her face, and Annie thought he was going to say something to her, that he changed his mind and would take her message to her father.

But Armin didn’t.

Instead, he leaned forward until his forehead touched hers.

Annie was met with blue, blue so vibrant it made her shiver, as if she walked into the ocean, but it was comforting, and she could live with that feeling forever.

But he closed his eyes and said, “We’re gonna make it out of here, me and you, and we’ll find your father.”

Annie meekly nodded, her bangs brushing against his, and she wished she could run her finger through his hair, she had always wanted to do that.

She felt his breath on her face. Something about being under him made her warm, not because his body was on fire, but because of the incomprehensible warmth that ran through her veins, making her safe, cared for, and loved.

He leaned more onto her.

Annie was cold, so cold, her whole body trembled, but her forehead was on fire. He caressed her cheeks, touched her hair, and kissed her.

She didn’t kiss back until later, when she met his kisses with her own mild ones, and Armin tasted iron and salt. His idling fingers caressed her wet cheeks and he didn’t know if these were her tears or his own, but then he sobbed into her mouth, and she pressed her lips harder into his.

Soon, weeps were leaving both of them, and they couldn’t hold it in any longer, they were crying into each other, Armin leaving trails of kisses on Annie’s face.

On her eyebrows, on her eyelids, on the side of her mouth, on her cheeks, and she did the same, she wished she could wrap her arms around him, she wished she could feel him closer, and then he claimed her lips once again.

He was soft, his lips like a feather and his hands light like a cloud, Annie thought, and for a second, the pain seemed to depart her body, and a foreign, light sensation swathed over her.

She could no longer feel the ragged ground underneath her, the small pebbles no longer poked at her back, and everything was so soft and warm. For a fleeting second, Annie thought she was in her bed, she wished she was in her bed.

Armin pulled back, and Annie smiled.

That smile suited her so much, her eyes were so soft, and her hair scattered around her face, and if it wasn’t for the smeared red on her face, he would’ve thought she was on a balcony by the beach.

A place where he always wanted to take her to.

He kissed that smile one more time, before his arms gave out and he flopped on the ground next to her.

“I’ve always wanted to take you to the ocean,” he said, dropping beside her, barely propping himself up on one elbow. She looked up at him. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” he repeated, caressing her cheek. 

The skin on his fingers calloused, and he barely sensed anything at all, leaving a trace of scratches in their path on her cheeks. But she didn’t mind it. She could no longer feel her face anyway.

A shuddery sigh escaped her lips, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, opened them. Armin noticed Annie trying to lift up her hand, he got closer to her, held her hand, and put it on his cheek.

“I heard you,” she muttered. Her eyelids fluttered, fighting to stay open, “I heard you,” she muttered again, her voice a whisper lost in the wind. 

Armin closed his eyes, focused on the hand on his cheek. His throat tightened, and his eyes scorched behind his eyelids. His chest tightened.

He tried to say something, but if he opened his mouth, he knew words wouldn’t be easy to fathom. 

But really, why would he even care? He was living his last breaths, and only moments ago he was grateful that he wouldn't die alone. Why would he care?

And so he parted his lips, only for an airy sob to leave him, shaking his whole body, and another, and another. 

Annie witnessed him crumbling by her side, her own sobs suffocated her lungs, but she couldn’t let them out. She merely watched, trying to speak, but instead crying more and more. His tears ran down her hands, she saw them, but couldn’t feel them. Her body numb.

He calmed down his breathing, and tried to talk once again, “We could’ve talked,” but Annie started shaking her head, ”we could’ve talked Annie,” he muttered again, "if only you broke out of your crystal..." 

He would've talked his squad into taking her in, making her one with them. He would've apologized, kissed her cheek and asked her to start anew. He would've taken her in, in his arms, told her that all was fine, that they'd go through it all together.

“No, no, no, no…” she repeated, over and over again, shaking her head, “I heard you talking,” she repeated, and Armin didn’t understand, he couldn’t decipher her words. Until he looked into her eyes, and she muttered again, “I heard you talking.”

It dawned him, everything she meant, the code deciphering in front of his eyes, letters clearer, simpler.

She tried to cover up her guilt, that she listened to him while she was in the crystal, that she didn’t let all these four years of her life go to waste. He didn’t talk to a heap of see-through rocks, he talked to a lively caged girl.

She heard him begging her to talk, to say anything.

But he didn’t mean to make her guilty, if anything, the reason why she crystallized herself was because of him.

And so he kissed the inside of her palm, apologizing in another kiss on her knuckles. 

Her eyelids drooped lower on her eyes, and a stone dropped in his stomach. 

There was no escape. 

He leaned closer to her, resting his forehead against her own.

He smiled, he realized that he saw the ocean long ago, when he first looked into her eyes. She held the ocean and the sky in them, colliding and harmonizing to the waves.

If only he knew, he would’ve held the ocean in his hands, never letting it go.

“In another life,” he whispers, but she didn’t smile, and he knew it was close.

He closed his eyes, and he decided that the last thing he wanted to think of were her eyes.

“In another life,” he said again, more to himself. He still held her hand against his cheek, “in another life, Annie, in another life.”

The hand against his cheek softened, getting heavier, and he held onto it. Tears escaped his closed eyelids, and he called her name, once, twice, but no response.

She got there faster than him. 

“In another life,” he said again, and he knew he was only talking to himself.

He slumped next to her, intertwining their fingers, making sure their grip was as solid as steel.

He kept his eyes closed, as he slowly lost senses of his body,

In another life, Annie, in another life.

Was the last thing on his mind.

~~~

“He’s lost his mind,” he heard them say.

“He’s mad,”

“What does he think he’s doing?”

But he threw all of it behind his back as he took a step after a step on the black-sand ground. A gas mask with intangible tubes hugged his face, he barely breathed in it, but one huff of the intoxicated air might be the end of him. So, Mr. Leonhart took small inhales as he limped forward, fighting against the fire in his thighs. 

“There’s no way his daughter is alive,” he heard one of the party with him say. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and walked forward. 

The horizon flattened in a mere line, a grey sky meeting with a black earth. Not a simple form of life made itself present, nor a human. 

One of the men with him stroded to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, “Mr. Leonhart, she’s most likely dead-”

“Annie!” He called, shaking off the man’s hand, his feet almost tripping on itself as he leapt forward, shaking his head, calling her name again and again. 

His own voice echoed back to his ears. Others with him fell into a deafening silence, listening to a father crying out for his only daughter. 

Until he saw a figure on the ground. 

He walked, his injured leg barely keeping up with him, inching closer and closer. 

His feet froze when he recognized blonde hair. 

It was her.

The black dust covered her pale skin, her head crowned with a brown smears, as well as her clothes. 

He fell to his knees beside her, and even though it was written on her face that life departed her body, he still checked for a pulse. 

All he got was silence. 

He didn’t cry. Maybe he was too stoned to react, or he simply didn’t believe it. 

He watched. 

In silence.

The party with him stepped away, leaving him alone. No words or hugs would comfort him. 

He noticed her hand holding another. Tracing it with his eyes, until they landed on another figure beside her, a man with an almost identical blond hair. 

He looked back at their hands, intertwined.

She didn’t die alone. 

He told himself, trying to ease the guilt of his chest. 

She didn’t die alone. 

He took off the gas mask, looked up to the sky, warm tears cascading down his cheeks. .

.

.

.

author note

if you made it this far, sorry lmao 

[mamasbakeria]

hey, what's your major again?

summary: my credible expert opinion on what the aot characters would study in university. what are my qualifications? the dozens of hours i’ve spent staring at my school’s program bulletin trying to figure out what i’m majoring in

genre | includes: headcanons, sfw, minor language, uninformed percy jackson reference (pls don't hate me if im wrong)

characters: eren jaeger, mikasa ackerman, armin arlert, sasha braus, jean kirschtein, connie springer, historia reiss, ymir, reiner braun, annie leonhardt

author’s note: had this in my drafts for months now. i just need to post it so it stops haunting me. might do the rest of the marleyans and vets in the future! lmk your thoughts, my only tumblr notifications are from p*rn bots, so i'd love to hear from real people lol. enjoy <3

eren: sociology and public policy, 4+1 program for a social work masters

there’s only so many times you can hear “you’re gonna be a doctor just like your dad” before you start to believe it. that’s why eren started out with biology on the premed track. the thing is, he really didn’t care for it. eren is really passionate about lessening equity gaps and is a firm believer in “if you want something done right, do it yourself”. this is why i see him making the switch to a double major in public policy and sociology. he wants to know about how society got to the point of perpetuating disparities so that he can fix them. but he also knows that the government fucking sucks and thinks its naive to expect policy change to be the only method of change. and like the maniac he is, eren is enrolled in a 4+1 program so he can get his master’s in social work when he’s done with his undergrad. he’s determined to graduate with both degrees in just 4 years though. rip his summers.

armin: international relations and military ethics, minor in communications or smth

everyone always says armin would study marine biology or oceanographic studies, but i honestly think that it’s a passion that he pursues on the side. he takes marine bio courses for his breadth requirements, but knows he’d end up hating the ocean if he spent the rest of his life studying it. he also strikes me as someone who would rather run buck naked into traffic than sit through multiple semesters of organic chemistry. armin was always a good public speaker, though, despite being a bit insecure. that’s why his speech and debate teacher during sophomore year of high school recommended model united nations to him. he was hooked after his first conference and now genuinely sees the path of international diplomacy as his calling. that’s why he’s majoring in international relations. his concentration in military ethics is something he tacks on in his junior year after taking some courses and publishing research with dr. erwin smith. he probably minors in communications because he can.

mikasa: forensic science

mikasa had no idea what she wanted to do when she started uni. she’s good at nearly everything. like never gotten a B in her life and is the student who the curve is based off of. but excelling in every environment you’re put in often means you don’t know what you’re best at. she knew deep down that she wanted to do something justice related like her childhood best friends did, but she’s no public speaker and has no interest in political reform. she was, however, emo in high school and heard a fair share of undertaker jokes at her expense. it wouldn’t hurt to look into right? as cool as the title sounds, morticians don’t make enough money for the job they have. fortunately enough, forensic pathologists do and mikasa looks good in a lab coat. she would never admit it to spare armin and eren’s feelings, but when they, as children, recreated the crime-solving shows mrs. jaeger always had on, mikasa always wanted to be the brains. so criminology and forensic science it is. (side note: she definitely joins the military and they pay for her education)

jean: structural engineering and industrial design with a minor in studio art

more than anything, jean wants to provide for his mom and knows he can’t guarantee a retirement of luxury for her as the freelance artist he wishes he could be. he’s decent at math when he tries and doesn’t hate physics, so he decided he’d give structural engineering a try for at least a semester or two. he wasn’t expecting to get much from it, to be honest. he had a plethora of backup plans waiting for his supposedly inevitable distaste for engineering, but he found that he didn’t hate it at all. someone once told jean that he had the makings of a great leader and he didn’t believe them until he started taking the lead on design projects and producing incredible results. his only qualm is that he just doesn’t get to be as creative as he wanted to be. that was easily rectified by an additional major in industrial design and a minor in studio art. he’s unbelievably busy, busier than he anticipated when he started his post-secondary journey, but he’s content and there’s nothing some extra coffee can’t solve. 

sasha: environmental science and sustainability

sasha spent her childhood ankle-deep in mud and fighting her way through forest thickets without a compass. an upbringing like that doesn’t leave your spirit, no matter how far into the city you go for school. so sasha’s always been passively passionate about the environment. that passiveness became significantly more prominent when part of the woods she grew up in was cleared out to build an industrial complex. it was then that she started researching and writing petitions about preserving wildlife and making environmentally conscious decisions. her work actually got her the scholarship she’s on (because god knows it wasn’t her grades). and she genuinely loves what she does, so why wouldn’t she keep learning about it? the environmental science and sustainability program at the school is small, but tight-knit and known for churning out changemakers. sasha knows she’ll be one of them one day. just hide your plastic straws from her, okay?

connie: computer science and chinese

stick with me here okay? everyone expects connie to be a douchebag marketing major whose hardest assignments are graphing functions and making posters on photoshop, but he’s a lot more invested in his education than he looks. don’t get me wrong, connie has always struggled academically, but that’s because so much of early education is pre-determined. he performed way better when he could choose what courses he took. it’s kind of like percy jackson being dyslexic in english because he was wired to read in greek. connie can’t keep his eyes on a history textbook for shit, but will gladly sit in front of the c++ code on his pc for hours. he doesn’t even get mad when he realizes that he was missing a semicolon. connie loves how versatile of a future he could have with a compsci degree, because, let’s be real, he could never survive in a typical office environment. definitely takes a bunch of chinese classes and doesn’t realize that he has enough credits for it to be a minor until his second to last semester.

historia: political science with a minor in international relations and child development

historia is a lot like eren in the sense that she knows her time is best spent doing hands-on work in the fields she cares about. she realizes this sometime after reconnecting with her estranged father and volunteering at the orphanage she grew up in. but now that she’s publicly associated with a powerful political figure, historia doesn’t get to do what she wants, only what is expected of her. that’s how she ends up on the pre-law political science and public policy route. the nickname “ms. president” that connie and sasha give her only further reminds her that she’s heading down a path she never wanted for herself. after lots of encouragement from ymir, historia decided to take child development courses on the side. even if she doesn’t take on the full minor, she’s taking some classes she cares about. maybe she’ll find use for it someday. at the very least, it’s her first step in becoming the most selfish girl in the world.

ymir: data science and business management

ymir is smart. much smarter than she presents herself to be, almost as a form of protection. nobody expects much of someone who is aloof, so it makes it easy to slip through the cracks to remain safe and comfortable in the shadows. business management is notoriously low commitment and easy to skate by with. guaranteed internships, post-graduate employment, and so on. To anyone who doesn’t know ymir well, it’s perfect. but they have her mistaken, ymir will do as little as possible to go as far as possible. sure, she can live comfortably with a business degree, but it could be better with a little bit of data science in her arsenal. she’s intelligent enough to pick up on it, and determined enough to make it her bitch. yeah, academia is a money-sucking pipeline into the capitalist hellscape, she doesn’t believe in it yada yada, but at the end of the day, ymir’s gonna get the bag. so what if she’s gotta sleep through some stats classes to get it?

reiner: behavioral economics

reiner’s mother had convinced him his whole life that getting a high paying job would fix their lives and bring his father back. believing “perfect grades lead to a perfect life” made high school tough for reiner; gifted kid burnout is no joke. it really messed him up. he wasn’t sure if he could withstand the pressures of university, but here he is. reiner was never allowed a therapist, so he figured pursuing psychology would, at the very least, give him some answers and be a good pathway to a medical degree. he loved getting to understand how people work and why they act the way they do, but something was missing. he found out what it was when a guest lecturer spoke in his economics class. he knew making the switch would be risky, it’s a new field and his current career options are really only research, academia, or government, but the interdisciplinary study of behavioral economics is calling reiner’s name. 

annie: biomedical engineering and kinesiology

annie’s entire life revolved around her father, including the injury he was never able to heal from. the one she gave him. he’s claimed to be over it, she’s forgiven, but annie will never feel like she’s earned that forgiveness until she gets rid of the problem entirely. how is she going to do that exactly? with biomedical engineering. she has years of hell in front of her, especially with her concentration on biomechanics, but she doesn’t care. annie will throw herself into her work to get the results she wants. she takes the highest amount of credits possible every semester so she can graduate early. you’ll most likely find her chained to a study cubicle at the library at all hours of the day and running on 2 hours of sleep, but it doesn’t faze her. she tacks on a minor in kinesiology because it makes sense and she had most of the credits for it anyway. and as if it couldn’t get worse, she probably TAs for a thermodynamics course or something crazy like that.

© mamasbakeria 2023. do not repost, translate (without permission), or modify

[larmin]

I've finally managed to read Black Water by @distortedclouds ! <3

I remember that I started reading it last year, but, well. 2022 was... hard and busy. I promised myself to read this fic as soon as possible, and its time finally came, yesterday.

I read it all between yesterday and today and... WOW. I'm glad that I did it.

This fic is mature and deep, and it's mostly evident in the way Annie and Mr. Leonhardt's relationship was portrayed and explained, despite it being unhealthy. I loved seeing an evolution in both Armin and Annie as the story progressed, even though that meant that they had to suffer in order to understand the other. and OH how good was Annie's growth, especially when she finally tries to open up instead of running away.

I could go on for hours, but I think y'all get that I absolutely LOVED this story and if you haven't already done it, take this as a suggestion and PLEASE do yourself a favour and read it! <3

[aaksees]

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚ Request Page /ᐠ. .ᐟ\ฅ Masterlist˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝

Welcome to the pharmacy. Help yourself to whatever you need.

✧ Intro ✧ guide

─── Requests Status: Closed ! ( 3 / 7 ) ──

✧ Masterlist under the cut

✧ To Run With You - Glaucus x gn!reader ✧

✧Thorns dating HCs ✧

✧Executor dating HCs ✧

✧Shy!Lumen dating HCs ✧

✧Chongyue x Infected!gn reader ✧

✧Hung dating HCs ✧

✧Chongyue dating HCs ✧

✧Chongyue x Blade like! reader ✧

✧How you met them - Chongyue, Phantom, Młynar ✧

✧ Leonhardt x male!reader dating hcs ✧

✧ Lee x gn! reader - Notes and a coin ✧

✧ Mr. Nothing boyfriend HCs ✧

✧ Enforcer x Insomniac gn!reader - Nomad of the mind ✧

✧ Phantom boyfriend HCs ✧

✧ Broca x Infected gn!reader - Pale and bold shades of yellow ✧

✧Stainless boyfriend HCs ✧

✧ Bryophyta x gn!reader ✧

[mybrainislostinagalaxyfarfaraway]

My clone Ocs:

•Leonhardt

Brave to the point of almost being stupid. Chivalrous. (Is kind to children, respectful to women and his superiors.) Valiant. Patriotic. Heroic. Basically the Disney Prince poster boy for the Republic type.

Hates rude, unsavory people. Will treat them curtly, but won't stoop to being outright rude like them, but if they get rowdy and start hurting other people? They'd better prepare themselves because when he throws down, he throws DOWN. Is quick to end the fight and subdue the vagrant. He can handle himself pretty well, but would be grateful to accept help from his brothers if he needs it.

While he's still very respectful, he keeps his distance from the Jedi. He feels wary of them. There's just something unnerving about them.

(His secret is that he sings like a Disney Prince only better, but he only does it when he's alone and gets really embarrassed if anyone catches him.)

•Bandit

Quiet, stealthy, sneaky; always seems to slip in and out of places undetected and has a habit of 'liberating' items that are usually exactly what is needed in an array of situations and scenarios. Nobody has any clue where he keeps it all and nobody asks.

He doesn't really talk; like I said he's quiet. He just usually communicates with little emphatic noises and a lot of hand signals. (Think Mr. Bean but in clone form & not hilariously clumsy, more like hilariously convenient'.)

Is also known by his group as 'the snack man' because he always manages to get a hold of all of the best snacks.

He's a bit of a mystery, but he's a good boi, best boi; he just wants to be useful, do his bit, occasionally blow things up, get patted on the head and told that he's doing a good job.

How interactions often go between him and the other boys;

"Bandit; there you are."

"Where have you BEEN?"

Bandit:"...🤷‍♂️!"

"Ugh, Nevermind; get over here and help us with this."

•Hero

Wants to save as many lives as he can; doesn't matter what side they're on; he's been through some sh#t but he won't talk about it, it is what makes him the way he is though. It's what sends him to always be rushing to the rescue wherever he feels he is needed.

If there is ever a life outside of the GAR for him; he wants to be a firefighter and continue to save people.

•Graze

Always seems to just be out of danger, but is often getting grazes in battle; hence his name, but how he got it was during a particular battle when he was fired upon by heavy enemy artillery and he was flung several meters across the battlefield, landing under some other downed heavy machinery. Thinking he must be dead, his brother's pulled him out only to find that he was fine a part from the inner thigh of his suit being ripped open and a huge graze wound on his inner thigh. And they'd all started calling him Graze from then on.

He likes to say; "No problem Sarge, it just Grazed me!" (Yeah, He's a Dork. I giant Dork.)

[postwarlevi]

Eliza!! Have you seen the new episode from yesterday? I just watched it and I have an idea of who Annie’s mom is (since we only ever see/hear about) her dad

Hi Kay! I did finish watching it all. Gosh it really got my heart racing, even though it's watched it originally when it came out. I guys I just got used to the English voices and it really got to me.

Hmm, Annie's mom? Do you mean Mrs Leonhardt or her actual mom? Didn't she kind of just show up on Mr Leonhardt's doorstep?

Oh now I don't remember 😆 someone help me.

On the train with Mr Finger and Gabi's parents and others, there's some characters I don't recognize, I wonder if any of them are related to our main characters somehow?

Anyway, back to the subject, who do you think Annie's mom is? (I just realized you specified Mrs Leonhardt lol sorry it's early)

[distortedclouds]

I think the reason I'm angry with Mr Leonhart the most compared to other Warrior Parents, even though they're all shit (jury's still out on Pieck's) is that the rest of them believed Marley's propaganda

They believed their kids were giving away their lives to a good cause. That kind of abuse is gross, but it's nothing out of the "ordinary", parents place harsh expectations on their kids all the time. Plus, I don't think they would've abandoned them if they didn't make it as warriors

Mr Leonhart, however, never fell for Marley's shit and still was the worst to Annie out of pure selfish reasoning. The best irl example I can give is someone adopting a puppy and then training them for underground dog fighting to better their financial situation. I'm not even hesitant of using an animal in the example

Annie only miraculously became his daughter after she'd got him what he'd wanted. Before that, she wasn't worth anything to him

Another part that pisses me off is his regret never seemed to me like he was sorry for Annie, but for himself, for the type of person he'd found himself to be, because no one likes to believe that they're actually bad/evil

All his act of waiting for Annie for 10 years and not(?) really taking advantage of the perks awarded to him as a warrior parent feel to me a lot like self-flagellation, like he's only concerned about feeling better about his past and not really about the life he'd ruined and the child he'd abused day in and day out

It was always about him, and it's still just him

[dorminchu]

Between Heaven & Earth: Prologue: Part One

a/n: *busts down door* HELLO BOYS, I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Annie grew up in Nemus, a small hunting town populated by an Eldian majority. Most kids were content to throw horseshoes or play war games in the street than attend school at the mercy of Marleyan kids and tutors. Their elders held no ambitions of becoming more than an honest farmer, hunter, or fisherman; the generation old enough to recall how life was before Tybur's impact on Marleyan wartime politics were happy to change the subject, if it ever came up.

Whenever Annie and her father had cause to pass through town, she would watch for the mothers and their children. The mothers would notice her yellow armband and pointed stare, and offer a tight-lipped smile or a hello for Mr. Leonhardt. Kids spared a second glance to her indifferent posture, her mottled legs. Some would ask if her father was too strict. Annie just shrugged and said, I'm going to be a Warrior. It's nothing I can't handle.

Mostly, they asked a lot of stupid questions. Can you turn into a Titan whenever you want, or was your mother a Titan too, or do you think those Eldians in Paradis missed their families after they ate them?

No.

I don't know.

Why should it matter? They're just devils.

Her father used to work for Marley's Public Security, which was how he met the Warrior Unit's Commander Magrath in the first place. As soon as Annie could walk, he was pushing a knife into her hands. The best path for an Eldian, her father said, was to join the military or get a government job. Ethnic Marleyans often took priority over the latter, despite the reform in 1879, when an Eldian could first sign a series of documents renouncing his bloodline and become an honorary Marleyan. That was just to appease the humanitarians. It didn't change unfair labor standards, verbal and physical attacks outside interment zones.

At six years old, she could perform trips and submissions and clinches. The Titan Research Society took an interest in her. They sent recruiters to the house who asked a lot of questions about her life in Nemus; all right. Her sympathy for Eldians; nonexistent. Her knowledge of Tybur's impact on wartime politics; a hero who bridged the gap between the warring countries, but as interesting to her as a game of jacks in the street. The bloodwork was half of her ticket into Marley's Warrior Unit. The other half was discipline.

Her first test; a spar against one of their soldiers. Colt Grice, blonde and violet-eyed, his face still soft enough to be an adolescent's. Red armband just below his shoulder; already a Warrior. Annie held his gaze, assuming the proper stance; arms up, on the backfoot. The color of his irises seemed to change the longer she paid attention—blue in direct sunlight, then closer to indigo as the sun dipped behind the clouds—at this distance, just a trick of the light.

He blocked her kicks with the flat of his palms. He was too tall for her to reasonably get her arms around his neck without crippling him first, and she couldn't get in close without expending her energy on the offensive. She shifted her weight, the dry grass beneath her heel, and kicked it into his eyes. Grice moved away, shielding his face. She took out his ankle with a sweep and he went down faster than she anticipated.

Grounded, a ditch of faded scars from his temples to eyelids. She'd never seen a Warrior up close. Brushing the dirt off himself, he said, "You've practised a lot." Annie didn't offer her hand. He was powerful enough to disarm her if he'd really had to. Why should be hold back? Grice got to his feet and smiled. "I'm sure Magrath will consider you."

Annie nodded. It wasn't a miracle, just muscle memory and discipline.

"Not one for conversation?" Grice shrugged. "I used to be like that, too."

The doctor was still talking with her father.

"What happened to your face?"

Grice paused. "Injured, on the front lines. Happens to most Warriors once they get out of basic training." Annie watched his eyes, violet eyes, go a little darker. "I don't think you should have any problems."

…

The Titan Research Society said it would be a month until their decision. To be considered by the Warrior Unit was a great achievement for the child's family. A source of prestige for the derelict hunting town, now the birthplace of a future Warrior. The calluses on her palms, the exhaustion, just proof of her devotion.

Besides herself, her father was the only one who seemed indifferent to her selection as a Warrior candidate. As far as he was concerned, they were just training as usual. He put a lot of emphasis on kicks and clinches, towards the end. A Muay Thai boxer, her father said, would toughen his shins with repetitive strikes. Over time, this created microfractures in the bone, enabling the boxer to deal and receive blows more effectively.

She did it so often, she kept jarring herself awake at night. Eyes on the empty space where she'd struck an imagined foe—the side of the cabin wall. Throbbing in her muscles compounded by the frustration of seemingly little progress. Curling into herself, massaging her shin. It did no good to cry. She was not going to be like the other children, cowed and useless when conscripted.

Each time he had to correct her, they'd start from the beginning. Now he would say, "You won't end up as food for a Titan if an enemy solider is able to run his bayonet through you. Start again." Annie's shins were sore. She screwed her eyes shut and concentrated on centering her weight. The sandbag slouched, inanimate. Blow upon blow, her father looked on and smoked. She stood, waiting for him to say, that's enough, Leonhardt. Her father discarded his cigarette, crushed it beneath his boot. "Wait here."

Annie wiped her face, sheened in sweat. Where the sun met the horizon, the sky was turning pink and orange. When her father came back, he brought a gas-lamp with him. "I didn't tell you to stop," said her father. It was all she could do just to stay upright. She ground her teeth and kicked, hitting the edge of the sandbag. "Properly," her father said, drawing a fresh cigarette. "At this rate you're going to end up like your mother."

When he went to light his next cigarette, she pivoted on her heel. A well-timed kick sent him to the ground. He caught himself on his arm, belly-up. Getting in close wasn't advisable. He could knock out her feet or catch her ankle and twist. If she were larger, she could brace herself against the sandbag and put all of her weight into stomping his throat. Or just bring the sandbag down on his head.

He didn't try to stop her while she drove her foot into his knee, his nose, just laid there, coughing. Annie, staggering back, out of breath as he kept wheezing and pushed himself upright to wheeze some more, spitting up blood. Annie corrected her stance, as if it would make any difference now.

Locking eyes with her, for the first time in her life, his mouth curled through the spit and blood and made her hackles rise. "Very good," he said. "Now, you can kill a man."

…

Next morning, the sun was high overhead. Her whole body felt like one big bruise. There was a bowl of stew for her, and bread. She sat up carefully, ate in silence. If she was able to hobble past the threshold, she ought to treat her injuries. Setting the bowl aside, she tested her feet.

"You're awake." His limp was pronounced. He smelled like smoke. "They'll be sending out for the candidates all across Marley," he said curtly. "They should arrive in Nemus in a week. You've been selected. So you'll be living in Liberio while you go through basic training. Most likely they'll deploy you within the same year."

Annie, working her jaw, stared at her hands. "When do we resume training?"

Her father looked at her. "Are you in any shape to continue?"

"No, sir."

"You've done enough," her father said. "Let yourself rest."

His tone not quite impassive, just indomitable. Her father's eyes were hazel; hers were blue. He smoked a lot of De Reszke cigarettes when he was agitated, but never inside the house. Annie shared his penchant for sweets and dry, acerbic humor, but otherwise he could have been a stranger. Annie had never seen a picture of her mother, just ascertained the information on the records. Blue eyes, blonde hair. Annie had little imagination outside of what was tangible.

At the end of the week, her father roused her an hour before sunrise. "They'll be here soon," he said, his expression obfuscated in shadow. "Get dressed."

The lines in his face were clearer in the early morning light. The hunch in his gait, from putting his weight on his good leg, hadn't improved since their last spar.

Annie could see the carriage through the window. Her father stopped her, closing his hand over hers, an object passed between them. Annie's eyes lowered to the small, iron ring. "There should be a switch," her father said. "Put it on." It fit on her index finger. She pressed her thumb along the depression, and a small blade clicked open. "With this," her father said, "you can cut out a man's throat." A catch to his voice, like something was stuck in his throat. "Useful in certain situations. Not something you should rely on."

Thumbing the groove twice clicked it shut. Annie stared at the ring. Her father's leg gave out, and he caught her by the back of her jacket. Instead of pulling her down, he wrapped his arms around her. "This world has been your enemy," he said, "from the day you were born. But I'll always be on your side." Annie kept her arms down. This stranger with her father's voice and clothes and smell of tobacco, he whispered through the tremble in his throat, "Promise me you'll come home."

Annie stared at him. "I promise."

When he pulled away, her collar was damp. He avoided her gaze, adjusting his cap. She walked past him, out the door and toward the carriage, already open for her. She took a seat. On the ride over, she removed the ring, turning it over in her palm.

…

Ten weeks' basic training in Liberio, followed by a year of mandatory service. She could go home after that, if she chose to, but it was seen as a negative for your patriotism to Marley.

During unarmed combat, Annie became the yardstick with which their Commander judged the rest, many of whom did not know a clinch from a grapple. Commander Magrath, a short, powerfully-built Marleyan with sunken eyes and cropped hair, told them how it was common for Warrior cadets to fail basic training. They ended up in workhouses or mining iron ore off the coast of Paradis for Hizuru. Some of them grew up only to be conscripted into Marley's ground forces.

The Galliard brothers—Marcel and Porco—Reiner Braun were willing to scrap with each other as well as Annie. Back home, the kids wouldn't try picking a fight with her more than once. Twice her size, Braun's idea of strategy was charging into a headlock. Disarming him was easier than Colt Grice, because he always lowered his head to charge. If he'd had better instruction, no doubt she would be outclassed. Instead, she won by fighting dirty while the other cadets looked on in faux-sympathy. A clean fight wouldn't save you when the enemy had you at gunpoint. You won, or didn't.

Later, in the mess hall, Braun clapped her on the back with a hand that spanned her shoulders and said that she was all set to inherit a Titan. "Which one?" she said coolly.

Braun didn't notice the change in tone. "Something small." Annie elbowed him in the rib where she'd kicked him. "Agile," he muttered, rubbing the wound. "You didn't let me finish. Probably the Attacker, you'd be better-off for combat than the Jaw."

Annie pushed past him to have a seat at the bench next to Bertholdt Hoover, who rarely said much. He glanced over at her with a start.

"Annie and I were discussing the possibilities of Titan inheritance. Which one do you see yourself as?" Braun asked.

Hoover was hesitating. "I don't really know yet. What about you, Reiner?"

Braun's smile flickered. "Probably I'll just end up working like everyone else who doesn't cut it."

He plopped down next to Annie. Hoover looked across her to say, "If you could be any Titan, what would you be?"

Braun was staring at his stew, a malleable desperation in his eyes bordering on despair. "Armoured."

Hoover nodded. "A Colossus wouldn't be so bad." Annie glanced at him. "Everyone here wants to go to the front-lines," Hoover muttered, shoulders slouching. "I'd rather just keep the Walls intact." He caught Annie's eye, then averted with a dry chuckle. "Like those conscientious objectors, right?"

Braun scowled. "Paradis already has walls, it doesn't need any more."

Of the graduates, only the top of their class went on to assume a Titan's power. They were part of a special unit called the Subjects of Ymir—an ironic holdover from the days of Eldian Restorationists. A Subject of Ymir would never tire or become ill, and could heal from any wound, even regenerate limbs. Unlike their Paradisian cousins, it was possible to retain one's humanity before and after transforming into a sentient Titan. For an Eldian, there was no greater act of atonement.

The Jaw; the fastest of all the Titans, but also the smallest, most frail. One shot from a cannon or anti-aircraft artillery and it was finished.

The Armoured; an offensive tank, slow-moving, but nearly impossible to damage with anti-aircraft fire when it crystallized its skin.

The Colossus; Slow moving and difficult to destroy through conventional weaponry, the best way to stop a Colossus was to allow it to burn itself out. Thousands of crystallized Colossi, standing shoulder to shoulder, made up the three Walls surrounding Paradis.

The Attacker; A prototype, made by combining the Armoured and original Attacker formula. Couldn't take as much physical damage, but could crystallize and command Titans over a very short distance. Usually given to female Warriors, granting it an informal epithet.

The Cart; required high stamina from its holder. Second fastest, next to the Jaw. Used primarily for support and reconnaissance missions.

The original Attacker; a prototype, used in the early years of the Titan Research Society. Tested on Eldian POWs and volunteers. Deemed to be unstable after repeated use and discontinued.

The Beast variant; classified, only afforded to elite Warriors.

The last two were special cases; Warhammer, inherited by the Tybur family inherited after agreeing to be Fritz's enforcers. The strongest of all variants, aside from the Progenitor. Progenitor; capable of erasing memories and commanding all Titans to the holder's will, at the cost of immense psychological and physical strain. The Marleyans claimed this was how Fritz erected the three walls. Only a descendant of Fritz's bloodline could use the Progenitor effectively.

For all Subjects of Ymir, regeneration put a massive strain on their body. This one time, during breakfast, Finger was quick to mention all the men in their twenties and late teens who kept cropping up Marley's psychiatric hospitals with irreparable nerve damage and second-degree burns. An uptick in front-line casualties, the official reports claimed. Chemical attacks at Fort Slava became a publicly acceptable euphemism. "Any doctor," she said, "would tell you the quickest way to euthanize a Warrior is to sever the brain's connection to the spinal column."

"What about lethal injections?" Braun asked.

"Death by firing squad?" said P. Galliard.

"Decapitation," Annie suggested.

Finger shook her head. "Injections won't work reliably, once the serum is in the body for long enough. In a lot of cases, rifles, hangings and beheadings only prolong their suffering."

Hoover looked pointedly down at his half-eaten bowl of oatmeal. His hands were trembling.

"Like breaking a bone until it's set in-place," Annie said.

Finger looked up. "Yes, precisely." She paused. "I can't think of a more terrible thing to do to someone, can you?"

The other cadets stared at Finger. Annie. "It makes no difference to me," she added. "We'll die sooner or later."

Finger said, "That's true."

…

By the end of the eighth week, the pool of potential candidates was down to ten. Braun was physically the strongest, but a mediocre shot with a rifle. In a classroom setting, he was excellent at regurgitating Marley's propaganda—the instructors suggested he consider a career in politics, and Braun always said thank you with his eyes on the floor, glassy.

When Braun was up to his knees in the mud, the only cadet who stopped to lend a hand up was Bertholdt Hoover. Commander Magrath commended Hoover for noticing Braun's distress, then lowered every cadet's score except Braun's for putting Hoover in jeopardy. On the front lines, they'd have been shot to pieces by then.

"Eighty six percent drop out rate," jeered P. Galliard when Magrath was out of earshot, prodding Braun in the chest, "so you'd better start trying harder unless you want to be Titan food in six years."

The Galliard brothers came from a military background, like Annie. M. Galliard was on pace to be the best in the class. Finger, despite being the weakest physically, managed to stay out of trouble with everyone, even P. Galliard.

Colt Grice mainly operated as a classroom instructor. He was more open to fielding questions than the Marleyan officers, as well as the Mid-Eastern Conflict.

Fifty years ago, the countries of Marley and Hizuru were caught in a territorial dispute with the Mid-Eastern Alliance over how to divide Paradis Island. When an Eldian named Karl Fritz gained control of the Progenitor, he used this power to turn all the Eldians on Paradis into mindless Titans. They eradicated Marley's naval forces in Lago and Liberio while Fritz seized control of Paradis, ready to claim dominion over those who would oppose him, until the Mid-Eastern Alliance suggested a treaty.

In return for political immunity, the Tybur family became Karl Fritz's enforcers, and behind closed doors, Marley inherited the power of the Titans. Marley's Public Security started rounding up Eldians and their sympathizers across the continent, and sending them back to Paradis to live with their brethren. Resources that should have gone to aiding civilians and their ravaged naval bases were funneled into the Titan Research Society. Under the guidance of Fritz, these Eldians would rebuild and repopulate what was lost in the initial conflict. By 1889, the walls around Paradis were erected. The Warrior program officially opened in Liberio to all healthy Eldian boys or girls, aged five to seven. The Public Security Authorities changed their statement. Eldian citizens willing to renounce their heritage were christened honorary Marleyans. The rest were sentenced to Heaven, set loose upon Paradis's beaches.

Today, it was estimated that one million men and women were still living in Paradis. The remnants of traditional Eldian civilization. "During the Mid-Eastern Conflict," Grice explained, "there were many reports of Titan sightings off the coast of Paradis. While we were on neutral terms, the Mid-Eastern Allies would send airplanes over, but those stopped after a few years after the ceasefire."

"They were making the Titans nervous, probably," Finger offered.

Galliard scoffed. No one else said anything.

"In order for the Eldians to accept their new life," Grice continued, "Fritz used the Progenitor's power to alter their memories. As far as anyone in Paradis knows, they have always lived within the three walls, safe from the Titans who devoured the rest of humanity. If they saw an airplane without any prior understanding," Grice said, "they might begin to formulate theories of their own. Best to negate that chance altogether."

"What does it matter?" snapped P. Galliard. "We should have sent more planes over and finished the job. Maybe then we'd have stopped the war."

"But Fritz could just wake all the Titans up and kill everyone," said Annie. "So there wouldn't be a home to return to."

Grice nodded. "Well said."

"Isn't that worse?" Hoover said. "Than killing them, I mean."

"They're lower than dogs," Braun said hotly. "Don't sympathize with them. As soon as they were able to, they were happy to slaughter their non-Eldian compatriots."

Hoover flinched slightly. "That's not what I meant," he mumbled, but Braun wasn't paying attention.

"It's a specialized unit of soldiers," Annie suggested. "For unique operations that a normal soldier can't accomplish."

Braun looked over sharply. "Warriors. Not soldiers."

Annie scowled. "It's a branch of Marley's ground forces. Subject of Ymir is what the Marleyans call you when they're dragging your family out into the street to be beaten. You might as well say you're no better than the Eldians in Paradis."

Braun stared at her as though she had just declared all of this about his mother. "It has nothing to do with Paradisians," he said tightly. "It's a sign of prestige. We use that power in ways they'll never be able to. I can't believe you'd make such a thoughtless comparison."

"She's from Nemus," Hoover piped up. Annie twisted around to get a look at his face. The way he blenched, he wasn't going to be any help.

"Of coure," said P. Galliard, turning around in his seat to face them, "I don't know how things are over in that part of the country. Maybe she's just ignorant. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

Braun's jaw twitched. The other cadets were watching. Annie said, "You're never going to get promoted if you keep sucking up to Marley. Even Braun knows that."

P. Galliard blinked. Forced a laugh. "Go to hell."

"You think I'm stupid, Leonhardt?"

"That's enough," said M. Galliard curtly. He looked at Annie. "Don't you two start."

"You all think I'm stupid," Braun snapped. "That I don't take this as seriously, well, maybe I'm the only one who sees these devils for what they are—"

"No one gives a damn," said P. Galliard.

Braun snapped to his feet, catching his knees on the edge of the desk. "You're always a goddam thorn in my side," he hissed, but his tone was uneven. "Marcel thinks it too. You ain't even got the aptitude for—"

P. Galliard's whole body poised as if a second from launching himself across the desk. Braun, twice his size, stared at Annie.

"The instructor's coming over," said Finger plaintively. No one was looking at her.

Grice was asking what the problem was.

Braun clenched, unclenched his fists. "Discussing the proper terminology of a Warrior, sir."

Was it true, Leonhardt, the instructor asked.

"Yes, sir."

They all had to do laps and write an additional essay on the historical difference between semantics for soldier and Warrior.

"Why'd he get so angry?" Annie muttered, leafing through the textbook.

"It's not a matter of justifying a title," Hoover said. "As Warrior candidates, we differentiate ourselves from the rest of Marley's military." He lowered his eyes to the page, as though deep in thought. "The Marleyans and Eldians have been fighting for a long time. It's not our concern who started the war, only continuing the ceasefire."

"You needn't worry about Braun," said Finger. "He and Pock are just competing for placement. We're all fighting against Eldia in the end."

Annie scowled at her notes. "Once you're on the front lines, it doesn't matter who proves himself the best loyalist."

Finger nudged her arm. "Don't take Pock too seriously. He's noisy, but he means well." Annie side-eyed Finger, who was gesturing to her notes. "There, you wrote down Marleyan Warrior when you meant soldier."

Annie checked. "Right." She crossed it out, hesitating. "Thanks."

[tsukidrama]

sometimes i genuinely forget that annie's dad's real name is Mr. Leonhardt and Papa is just a name i made up for him

because like? that man's name is definitely Papa he doesn't respond to anything else

[bunnythieved]

stress relief doodle

[momtaku]

Hey Momtaku, so with the second part finished but with another year of waiting I'm sure a lot of anime only's are reading the manga now. Speaking of endings, I've always wondered what Isayama's original "The Mist" ending was going to be. Everyone dying at RTS or something like that? I'm curious on your thoughts on what it might have been. My bad if you've already answered this.

I have a masterlist somewhere of everything Isayama ever teased about the ending, including the quotes about The Mist and Guardians of the Galaxy. Critics of Isayama like to point to those things as "proof" that he caved, but Isayama waffling a bit on the ending was never a concern for me. It made sense to me that as he grew as a person and as a writer he'd change his mind about things. It also made sense that the popularity of the series would cause him to feel some obligation to his many fans.

When he talked years ago about a "mist" ending, I believe he was referencing what would later become chapter 138, when the injured centipede creature would emit the smoke that would transform all the surviving Eldians into titans.

Not only was there an actual mist involved (ba dum tss, Isayama), but there was the ultimate tragedy of surviving to the end of the series only to senselessly die in the final moment.

I really loved this development where the happy reunions of the survivors were interrupted by the horrific realization that they were all about to die. Jean and Connie were stoic and accepting that this would be their final moments together. Annie got within inches of her father when the smoke overwhelmed him. I thought it was all perfect.

During our 138 podcast, we debated whether or not these characters would remain titans and die or be restored to their human form. Terrible people that we are, we all wanted them to remain titans 😅.

So I think this was Isayama's dilemma. I believe that originally he intended for that titan transformations to remain permanent and for characters like Connie, Jean and Mr Leonhardt to die, but later changed his mind and gave us a much kinder ending. I don't begrudge him that. I was fine with either.

Thanks for the ask!