Chapter 3: It's Time
They had been travelling all day, only taking one break to get out from under the sun and have a drink. When they finally set up camp for the night it had been in the open with a small forest nearby. Bertolt had gladly taken the first watch, and the others, exhausted, didn't complain. Now they lay under the stars, a bright crescent moon above, and the cool air of the plains washing over them. Sitting upright Annie glanced over at Valentine, fast asleep, his hands under his head. She turned to Bertolt and he nodded. She then crawled over to Reiner and slowly shook him awake. "It's time."
The three of them then slowly crawled their way over to where Valentine lay, fast asleep. Annie took a deep breath, and raising a knife above her head, stabbed the boy. It never connected, as Valentine had grabbed her wrist and wrenched it out of her hand. He was about to stab her when Bertolt pushed her out of the way and was grazed by it. The camp went silent, and for a moment nobody moved. Annie only saw one way out of this, and so, she cut herself with her ring.
A bolt of golden lightning struck the place where she stood and out of it emerged a titan 14 metres tall with no skin and rather womanly features. She instantly grabbed Valentine, who screamed and fought as she lifted him up towards her face. "I'll kill you!" he raged, "I'll kill you, you devils!" She stopped, maybe Valentine wasn't all he looked to be.
With a blast of steam she emerged from the nape of the titan and sat on its head, "You're not from inside the Walls, are you?" Valentine's blood-red eyes bored into her, "No." She smiled and nodded to Reiner and Bertolt, "Neither are we."
***
"So let me get this clear, there are 9 titans, the Jaw, the Beast, the Colossus, the Attack, the Armoured, the Female, the Warhammer, the Cart, and the Founder titan?" Valentine asked Annie. She nodded, "Yeah, and it's our mission to get the founder from the Eldian Royal family." A smile formed on the boy's face and he glanced back at Reiner and Bertolt, "Well with three titans on our side, and only one on theirs, there's no way we're gonna lose." The girl's eyes narrowed, "Let's not get overconfident, they might have something to battle titans."
***
(2 Weeks Later)
A loud terrifying scream erupted from Annie's mouth as she ran towards the wall far in the distance. Placing a hand on her massive cheek, Valentine stared her directly in her eye, "You can do it." She had been running for several hours now and her stamina was quickly running low. Annie blinked once to acknowledge what he said and pressed on. Turning to Reiner, he said, "We'll have to do the switch as quickly as possible," he then pointed at the approaching titans, "those abnormals won't wait for us."
The blond nodded, "Y-yeah, you're right." Valentine could see the sweat gathering on Reiner's forehead, so grabbing his shoulder he stared straight into the eyes of the other, "We can do this, just stay calm." Reiner gulped, gave Valentine a small smile and then turned his eyes to the Wall.
As it drew nearer, Valentine kept glancing backwards making sure that no devils were behind them. Reaching Wall Maria, Annie ground to a halt and crouched down. A blast of steam erupted from her nape, as she emerged from it. "BERTOLT, TRANSFORM NOW!" Valentine yelled, "I'LL GET THEM TO SAFETY!" Nodding, Bertolt quickly slid down the back of the Female titan and ran over to the gate. Seeing the taller boy go, Valentine swiftly jumped onto the nape and pulled Annie out. He heaved her onto his back and slid after Reiner, "Hide behind the titan!"
They had just made it to safety when a massive shockwave hit them. A smile formed on Valentine's face as he saw the towering form of the Colossus titan, "Yes, with this power we can kill them, nobody will be able to stop us as soon as we have the founder."
They heard a deafening boom and glancing at each other they began sprinting towards Bertolt. "BERTOLT!" Reiner shouted, as out of the mist walked a tall smiling titan. Valentine's eyes narrowed and suddenly his speed increased dramatically. All his mind wanted at that moment was for that titan to enter the walls and kill as many of those devils as possible. "AHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, as he pushed himself past his limits, to reach Bertolt in time but as he did the titans turned and left through the hole. His eyes widened in surprise but he didn't have time to wonder about the phenomenon. A bolt of lightning hit the ground behind him and before he knew it Reiner's massive hand had wrapped itself around him and Bertolt.
"REINER, PUT US IN YOUR MOUTH!" Valentine shouted, and nodding the Armoured titan did so. He placed them under his tongue which he was pressing against the roof of his mouth so that they wouldn't slide down into his stomach. Smiling, Valentine put Annie down and wrapped an arm around Bertolt's shoulder, "You did well, this is one step closer to destroying these devils." He saw the taller boy nod, "Y-yeah, they have to atone for what they've done."
Feeling that Reiner had settled down, Valentine relaxed, everything was going as planned. But that didn't mean they shouldn't stay vigilant, the devils could retaliate at any moment. Glancing down at Annie, he smiled, she had performed her part perfectly, even without their third member who had apparently been eaten by a titan. "Why didn't you transform?" "Sorry?" Bertolt looked at him confused. "Why didn't you transform when your friend was eaten by that titan?" Shaking his head Bertolt looked away, "I don't know… I guess we were scared."
Valentine nodded, "Was it your first time seeing a titan?" "Yeah." Smiling, the shorter boy lent back against Reiner's teeth, "Well at least now you know what they look like."
Bertolt hummed and turned away, causing Valentine to frown. "Hey…", he said soothingly, "watch out for them, they're your family, and family protects each other." This time he received no reply.
It was only a few minutes later when Reiner began to move again. "Hold on to something!" Valentine ordered as he grabbed hold of the teeth. He also took hold of Annie as Reiner began to pick up speed, and in the next instant, an ear-splitting boom tore through the air. They were thrown towards the back of Reiner's mouth but luckily he had kept his tongue up preventing them from landing in his stomach.
Valentine smiled as Reiner opened his mouth, allowing him to see what was happening outside. Hundreds, upon hundreds of devils, were lined up next to a river, and they were panicking, some of them tried to get on the already full boat while others tried to run away. "Reiner, we have to leave, we might need the Armoured later.", and with that, he turned and ran toward the nearest forest.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone