The Shifter Titan (Annie Leonhart x Male Reader)

14: Reason to live

"I need you to kidnap Louis Dion." A gruff voice said. In front of him, a tall black-haired man stood with his eyes wide. The two men were in a giant and opulent room, with chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings. Mosaics were covering the walls, each one telling a different story about their ancestors and history,

"But he's the--"

"I know what he is." The voice interrupted. "That's why his power needs to be passed to someone more loyal to my cause. If he discovers what he can truly accomplish with his power being my distant cousin, it could become a very dangerous situation for us."

The black-haired man grunted. He didn't understand what being blood relatives had to do with using a Titan power, but he knew that it would be futile asking the King about it. After all, he was only a mere bodyguard with exceptional strength and agility.

Lately, the King had been acting weird. He was paranoid about those around him, including those subjects that possessed the Titan powers. In addition, the political situation was becoming tenser, and all the King seemed to be focused on was the apparent sins of their ancestors. There were even talks about moving to an Island called Paradis, however stupid that moved seemed to the bodyguard.

But it wasn't like he could oppose the King. He had sworn his life for him, and if he ever decided to go back on that word, then the King would persecute him and his family. As an Ackerman, he would only oppose the King if it was absolutely necessary. Until then, he would fulfill his duty as a bodyguard/secret police with great honor.

"Yes, Your Majesty. It shall be done."

"Perfect. You are dismissed." The man waved his bodyguard away.

——————-

Annie never really had a typical family. The only person she could refer to as family was her father, who adopted her when she was a baby for the sole purpose of becoming a Warrior and getting him a better life. But she never had a mother who dotted her or a loving father who bought her sweets. Grandparents were an unknown relationship in Annie's childhood, and having siblings always looked weird in her eyes.

She couldn't understand the pain Y/N was going through with the news that he had eaten his sister. Losing her father was the only thing that would destroy her like such, and even then, she thinks she would just cry and become even more silent than she was usually. Of course, if someone killed him, she would like to get revenge on whoever it was, but that would be about it.

The blonde doubted she would ever understand the predicament her best friend was in. Having eaten his sister, one of the few people in his family who were still alive and well when he was turned into a mindless Titan, was undoubtedly a brutal shock. It's not as if Y/N had talked much about his sister during their time as Cadets, but Annie could always tell that there was something that drove the orange-haired boy to do the things he did. That something was the only thing that made him graduate in the top 10 of their class because as much as he slacked, he did put in some effort.

That something had apparently been his sister Elena. Since knowing that he had eaten his younger sibling, Y/N had been a shell of his usual self. True, it had only been a couple of hours since he came to the realization, so maybe he was still in shock, but there was something else. He just didn't care about anything anymore.

"Let's get going," Y/N said as he stood up and patted his buttocks to clean himself. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"Where are we going?" The blonde asked, following Y/N's motion of standing up.