Work Text:
This was always going to happen. It was decided. It's probably happened, once before. Maybe in a different way, but this is how she wakes today. Any inconsistency explained with one word: PATHS.
An Island of Devils. Annie is cursed, cursed with the Power of the Female Titan. She's completed many operations, always for a supposed greater good. Yet this is where she falls.
Mikasa slices Annie's giant, skinless fingers. Landing delicately ontop her head. "Now fall."
Crash.
She can't escape. Eren's giant form. Not a Titan, but a devil. Raging in flames, ready to bite down on her nape with incisor teeth. This can't be the end?
Annie has to do it. The Titan researchers said it would be her last resort, now's a better time than ever.
Woosh.
Blue crystals form over her body, encasing her. Pushing back Eren, Mikasa, and everyone. Away, to leave Annie isolated. Her eyelids flutter before sealing shut in the ice.
"Reiner, Berthold. Come save me."
She waits. Seconds, unable to hear the outside world. Tired, she rests.
Rumble.
Annie juts awake, but her eyes don't open. Only hearing the stampede of massive footsteps, but it doesn't affect her. Allowing her to tire again. Alone, isolated from the world. Yet, she's frozen. Not even able to cry.
When are they coming to save her?
Annie gasps for breath. Oxygen filling her lungs, she thrashes her arms over white sheets. Opening her eyes, to the faint light in the room that gradually increases in luminosity.
She's out. Out of her crystal. No one's in the room. The simple Marlian hospital. They did it, she is safe.
Her eyes drift to the bedside counter. A metal object reminiscent of a Plato clock. It flickers in red light. 12:00. Noon. This scene looked very familiar. A PATH opens in her mind, telling her she's out of time.
The door opens. A man walks inside, tall. "I see you're finally awake, frozen girl."
"Who are you? You're not the General?"
"Call me Fury, director of S.H.E.I.L.D."
Wait, he's the agent for Marley's secret defence force?
"But I met the director of S.H.E.I.L.D before. You're not him."
"That was Fury senior. ." He was a real piece of work, let me tell you.
"Just to be clear, we're still talking about Magath, right?"
The man nods, but he's not Fury. He's Samuel L. Jackson. And that makes it all the worse.
"Things have changed since you were last awake. The world has got a whole lot smaller."
So they failed their mission. Eren activated the Rumbling and became the tyrant of the world. Which begged the question: why was she alive?
Annie springs off the bed, then stalls. Fury gestures for her to stop.
"Calm down, you're home now."
The man drags a stool, painfully scrapping on the ground before dropping his weight on the cranking seat. Past his acting days, he looks at her with a grumpy expression. He's going to monologue.
"The preceding mission, before Paradis, you were piloting the Hydra bomber locked on autopilot to Liberio. As you weren't a fool, you jumped out of the plane in the last moment, using your Titan form to crush the landing."
"And?"
"Soldier, I want you to understand something. Give me your mission report?"
Fury locks a deadly glare, eyes filled with a dark past. Annie falters. Squirming, she bites her lip. But she collects herself, returning a lazy stare to Fury. Like there is no problem at all.
"The bomber was on autopilot. I tried to move the steering column, only jutting it a little. That was enough for some manual control over the plane. This came with a caveat. Every time I left the steering yoke, the plane reverted back to its original heading. I couldn't trust a damaged plane, so jamming the controls was a no go. That's why I stayed behind, I was the only one who could crash that plane. A sacrifice wouldn't have been stupid. But why are we talking about that? We know all of this already. Tell me, what happened on Paradis?"
He ignores her question, reshuffling himself on his stool like the question is awkward. He's hiding a terrifying truth.
"The Hydra clean up went smoothly and was a great assistance to our war efforts. So I want to know something?"
He leans in.
"How come, a very capable Warrior like yourself failed at the last moment. On Paradis, you infiltrated the Walls and went face to face with the Coordinate. Everything was laid out for you, then you flunked it. Reverting to your crystal form."
"I was outmatched."
"No, you were scared. Thought you could hide away, that the crystal would protect you, keep you conscious. That'd you wake up from a fake slumber, and surprise the enemy. You were wrong, you couldn't breathe in that crystal. It froze you in cryostasis. We didn't even think that was possible."
Annie would rather not waste her words on interrupting Fury. She huffs to the side, watching the window. Bright light glares on her skin. Almost like its a beautiful sunny day outside, but Annie's a Titan shifter. She can tell straight away this is fake. She's inside an industrial complex, not a general hospital.
Annie is a bird, trapped in a cage. And if Fury didn't answer her questions soon, she would rattle the bars.
"I'm asking one last time, what happened Fury?"
Fury bolts up, striding forward.
"What didn't happen, Annie? Marley got their butt kicked, while you were stuck in your crystal for who knows how long. And we want to know why?"
What's Annie to say, she was probably in a coma. Sure, she could have fought harder against the Survey Corps, but she was on their home turf. The safest option was to run.
A voice in PATHS gives her doubt. Telling her, she is weak. Pathetic. Missed out on everything.
Annie considers it. That Fury is right. She gave up too soon. Glancing up, Fury is furious. He wants her to own up, try to atone for her failure. Be their slave for the remainder of her short life. It must be so short now.
"So I'm your prisoner?"
"On the contrary, you're free. Free as a butterfly in skates riding a roller coaster. You can do anything you want. But first, you should listen."
A stream of Erens spouting Freedom invade her mind: telling her to save Armin and Mikasa. Whose memories are these? Eren's obviously, but that's beside the point.
"All I want is to see my father. So whatever game you're trying to pull, skip it."
Fury sighs, making his way to the door.
"It's been 70 years."
Annie gasps, for such a stupid lie.
"Nope."
"Yep."
"Someone would have rescued me."
"Nope."
"They wouldn't leave the fate of a beloved character to an off-screen death."
"Did it with Ymir."
He's serious, Isayama forgot about her.
Annie crumples on her bed, covering her eyes with her forearm.
"What happened?"
"The Yeagers happened. Eren and Zeke together were able to activate the coordinate and change the world. Flattening all their enemies. If it wasn't for one woman, none of us would be standing here today?"
Annie will bite the bullet. "Who?"
"Stark. Pieck Stark. A brilliant mind, always exactly right. The last words of Zeke Yeager, before she finished him off, and stopped the Rumbling. In her remaining years, she even privatised world peace. Leaving everything to her adopted daughter."
Ah, Pieck. A fellow Warrior, always a nice girl.
But Annie wants to see her father. She promised she would return. Return back home, even if the whole world turned against her. She can't have missed him? She needs to be sure.
"How long, how long has it been?"
"I don't know?"
"But you said 70 years before."
"Thinking it over, that doesn't work with our timeline. Hey."
Useless.
Annie knocks Fury over and pushes past him. Bursting outside the paper room, sprinting to the doors. The hallway changes. More shiny, clinical. She's out the entrance reception. Crashing through the glass doors, into the bright and busy metropolis. Cars, plentiful, zoom past her. On an intersection of roads. The buildings flash large images, spinning. Spinning Annie's head. Her whole body. As she collapses on the ground.
Laughing hysterically. This was not her home.
Five figures drop beside her, one by one. A girl clad in iron armour, a boy, dressed as a Viking, a green hulk shrinking into an old lady, a pile of stone, dragged along by a little girl hurling a bucket of water.
Fury stands in front. "There was once an initiative. To form a group of remarkable and unique individuals: to fight the fight that no one else could."
This is Eren's fault. He did this, used the power of the coordinate to change the world into a Super Hero parody.
"Pieck always wanted you to join this team. Be the glue that held it together."
Annie eyes the heroes.
The iron helmet opens, revealing a face similar to Eren. Just as hostile. The tin soldier is held back by a herculean man, with the face of a 12-year-old. Fury laughs.
"This is Gabi Stark. She, accidentally, shot a border patrol officer. They captured her and forced her to make missiles. Luckily, Pieck taught her well, and she made the first Iron man suit. Now she can retaliate with deadly force whenever she causes a problem."
The hair on Annie's skin prickles. She can feel the temptation. Just looking at Gabi makes her want to start a Civil War.
But Fury points to Gabi's restrainer.
"Falco Odinson, a God from Asgard. Always wanted to fly, and now he can. In exchange, he has to help Gabi solve racism."
Annie doesn't care. The old lady gives a piercing glare. She knows her.
"And this is Mikasa, the incredible hulk."
Mikasa rolls bandages around her fists.
"So you decided to wake up Annie."
"You're the monster, how fitting."
"I was having a nice picnic with Eren, Armin and Gabi when a gamma bomb exploded. It unleased my Ackerman rage, turning me into this monster."
Samuel L. Jackson is quick to correct. "Actually, Eren Said this:"
Eren echos through PATHS.
"Ever since I was a kid, Mikasa. I've always hated you."
Mikasa transforms, collapsing the entire neighbourhood.
Really, of all the old friends Annie could have a reunion with after 70 years, why did it have to be Mikasa?
Annie kicks the stone, annoying the monster. "Who's this then?"
"That's Hawkeye, a very effective member of the team."
"Yeah, but who's Hawkeye here?"
"Sasha."
"That's a tombstone."
"Exactly."
The last one, the Black Widow. A deadly poison. Too cool to actually show up. Instead, they get Ymir. Not the 104th cadet. Actual ancient Ymir. She splashes her bucket over Annie.
"You know, this technically makes us Disney Princesses now."
"So I'm Sleeping Beauty?"
Annie doubts either of them is of royal blood. She sighs – no, grieves.
This is too much. If there is one moral to take away from all this: Don't wait too long in your crystal.
With all the silliness aside, they're just trying to distract her from the truth. Her father is dead.
PATHS echos the last voice. "I love you 3000."
Annie's not the only one suffering a loss. Fury lost Stark, and he's trying to rebuild the past. But it's over now.
Samuel L. Jackson raises his hands. "This is the Avenger initiative."
Annie's fist trembles, but she breathes deeply. Turning back.
There is only one thing to do.
"I'm done."
Credits
Annie Leonheart as Steve Rogers
Nick Fury as Samuel L. Jackson, don't question it.
Pieck as Howard Stark
Gabi Braun as Tony Stark
Falco Grice as Thor Odinson
Mikasa Ackerman as Bruce Banner
Sasha Blouse as Clint Barton
Ymir Fritz as Natasha Romanoff
Reiner Braun as Bucky Barnes
Eren Yeager as PATHS
Annie walks with flowers through the massive graveyard. It isn't cloudy or foggy. The sky is beautiful today.
Annie doesn't even care that she screwed up the Paradis operation. No matter how long Fury will pester her, thinking she has to own up to a problem long past. Her heart's not in it: fighting for the rest of her short life. Saying 'No' was the best decision she ever made. Even if she does miss out on a multi-billion-dollar franchise.
She reaches it. The Mound. The grave.
"Father, I'm home."
A routine for her, Annie places the flowers next to the grave. She looks at her wrinkled hands. The curse of Ymir has aged her considerably, but she doesn't regret how she's spent the remaining years of her life.
Reiner strolls towards her, a 100 year old husk. Death, never quite able to take him.
"Seems you're still kicking it."
They've forgiven each other for the past. Reiner lays down next to her.
"It keeps bothering me, PATHS. Why does it keep me alive just so I can suffer, have you figured it out yet?"
Annie nods her head. It was so satisfying.
"You have, great! Going to tell me what you found?"
"No. No, I don't think I will."