Annie Leonhardt x Eren Yeager — Canon Divergence Scene

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The light above you was too warm for what this moment demanded.

You stood just outside the entrance of the underground tunnel, the cold stone beneath your boots feeling oddly distant. Armin had asked you to follow. Mikasa flanked him, silent and tense. Eren stood slightly in front — jaw clenched, eyes unreadable. But they were watching you, all three of them.

And you knew.

It was over.

You kept your posture still. Hands relaxed. Ring glinting like a quiet threat on your finger.

“You’re not coming down?” Armin asked, trying — failing — to sound casual.

You tilted your head. “Is it really necessary for me to go underground? Sounds like a trap, if I’m being honest.”

He flinched. Mikasa’s hand drifted near her blade.

But Eren… he didn’t move.

His eyes stayed locked on you, deeper than you’d ever seen them. And in them — there was something raw.

Not anger.

Not fear.

Grief.

“Annie,” he said quietly.

You looked at him.

It was the softest your name had ever sounded in his voice.

Then he stepped toward you. The tension in the air snapped like a stretched wire.

You didn’t move. You couldn’t.

He reached for your hand, gently, carefully — like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to hold it… or expose it.

His fingers brushed against yours, then turned your hand over.

You felt the weight of his thumb tracing the curve of the metal around your finger. The tiny ring with the hidden mechanism — your last weapon.

His breath hitched.

“You wore this during every mission,” he murmured. “I never thought about it until recently.”

You stayed silent.

“But now I can’t stop thinking about it,” he went on, voice rough. “Why would a soldier wear a ring with a hidden blade unless they were expecting to be caught?”

He lifted his gaze to yours.

“You were always ready to kill your way out.”

Your heart beat louder in your chest.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” he whispered.

You stared into his eyes.

Gods, it would’ve been easier if he was angry. If he was yelling. If he hated you like he should have. But he wasn’t doing any of that.

He was hurting.

And that was so much worse.

“I didn’t want it to be you,” he said. “But I knew. Deep down… I knew.”

Your lips parted. “Then why did you still—”

“Because I liked you.”

That broke you a little.

You looked away. But he didn’t let go.

“Was any of it real?” he asked.

You opened your mouth — but the truth caught in your throat like broken glass. The nights you shared quiet laughs. The way you let your guard down around him, just a little. The softness that bloomed in your chest when he looked at you like you weren’t a monster.

It was real.

And that’s why you couldn’t say it.

Because if you did, he’d hesitate. And you couldn’t let him.

You exhaled. “Eren… I’m sorry.”

He tightened his grip, just for a second. Like he didn’t want to let go.

But then, slowly, painfully, he did.

You stepped back.

And raised your hand.

There was one last second — a final pause between heartbeats — where your eyes met his, filled with everything you never said.