OH... MY... GOD... THAT WAS THE LONGEST THAT I'VE EVER BEEN AWAY FROM UPLOADING EVER SINCE I STARTED WRITING FICS! *sigh* Okay, so here's a funny story. School actually ended for me around the end of April. This chapter was finished within the first week of May... and then I opened my laptop to send it to my beta the morning after I had finished it only to find that my laptop's screen was in pieces! I'm not kidding, I had way too many celebratory drinks that night. (1 shot raspberry vodka + 2 squirts of lemon juice + fill the rest of the cup with 7up = 'Monado') To make a long story short, it took almost the entire month of May to get it fixed and retrieved from the repair guy. After a rain check to make sure that everything was working, I tried to send it to my beta, only to discover that my entire DocX system has completely broken down. I waited a couple of days to see if it was just a minor glitch, but it eventually resulted in my beta (Someone Else Took My Name) and me exchanging email addresses and doing it that way. We live in different time zones, so communication was slow. :( Need I also mention that I have a job as well? :/ Oh well, now you guys know my excuse for why this took so damn long! Now, there weren't a whole lot of guest reviews to this, but there were some that were begging me for updates. If you were one of those people, then please refer to what is above and remember that shit happens. Thank you. For the one other person who told me to stop using capitalization instead of italics, I've taken your advice into mind, but I like to reserve italics for thoughts. Capitalization means yelling, italics means thoughts, bold is emphasis and authors notes. Once again, I very greatly appreciate your criticism.

Well, I hope you all enjoy this. It's not as long as I would have liked to have had it, but I figured that I needed to get it out there in order to prove that I'm not dead! Thank you to everyone for your amazing support and godly patience! I have one more year of college after this before heading off into the true real world, but that won't start until September. Let's see how many more chapters I can whip up before then! :D Have fun!

Oh, and there are several quotes that I take straight from the English dub of AoT, including the very last line of the chapter. Yes, I like the English dub of this show and I use its words because they sound nice in this language. Thank you.


I feel like... like I'm about to buckle under the weight. Eren thought as he carried the massive boulder. Being roughly the same size as him, even he was surprised that he could actually lift it. Yet, with each step he took, it felt like it became heavier and heavier. His body grew sluggish and weaker exponentially, and the massive boulder's weight only seemed to multiply.

I... I don't know if I can keep going. I have to, I will, but it's still damn heavy. Eren thought. Steam erupted from his body, which seemed to be fraying at the seams, spewing into his eyes, and blinding him from both pain and obstruction. Through the steam, though, he saw a sliver of red flying by. It whipped past him and towards another titan in the distance. As the dim silhouette of that Titan crashed to the ground, its body landing nearly in front of Eren, he knew that sliver of red for what it was. Mikasa.

Mikasa… get out of here, NOW. He desperately wanted to yell, but his lips wouldn't move, only his thoughts- and even those were strained as the boulder threatened to crush his new form under its weight. There was no way to make her understand; he just had to make sure that she survived. Mikasa, Armin, Commander Pixis, he'd save them and everyone else, no matter the cost.

No matter what… I'll save them… In spite of the overwhelming urge to simply obey his primal instincts, to cast his burden to the ground and brutalize every Titan in Trost, he realized that the job at hand was far more important. He would save everyone by taking back Trost, but that didn't mean that once the boulder was firmly set in place, he wouldn't turn and kill every single last titan left in the city. He just had to keep moving forward, no matter how difficult it was to place one steaming foot in front of the other.


The Rogue Titan had begun to slow down, the weight of its burden weighing heavily on every step. It wasn't difficult to see how much the creature was struggling, but Mikasa's instincts- the very thing that had made her into such a killing machine- were telling her that it wouldn't give up. It was when the steam began to erupt from its body, that she gained a measure of perspective. It would be impossible for the creature to defend itself, no matter how strong it actually was.

She jumped off of the roof that she was standing on, flying in the direction of one titan that was getting a little too close to the Rogue for comfort. As she flew past it, she took a short glance at its face only to see that it was staring straight at her. It had showed concern for her earlier, but that was just because she was a trainee, right? It knew what the trainee symbol meant, but how? How and why did it know these things?

The way it stared at her from underneath the shadow of the boulder and behind the veil of steam with its practically glowing, green eyes seemed almost menacing to her, but she knew better. If this thing was as menacing as it looked, then it could have easily killed her earlier. She had seen its brutality with the titans first hand, but she knew for a fact that it at least tried to be gentle with humans. With all the questions swirling around in her mind like a vicious storm, one began to rise above all the others: why?

Why was he here? Why did he only attack titans? Why was he gentle with humans? Why was he intelligent? Why (and how) did he know what he knew?

It wasn't like Mikasa could stop right there and ask the creature all of these questions, though. All that she could do for the time being was try her best to make sure that it survived the fight so that she could ask these questions when it was all over. She was certain that she wasn't the only one wondering these things, so she knew that even if she died there, someone would still find the answers. She was determined to stay alive, though. She had made a promise to Eren that she intended on keeping. Even if she would have rather died and be reunited with him in whatever life came after, her loyalty to him remained, despite his death.

She maneuvered past the Rogue with a dexterous strafe, shifting her body to the right, and shot toward the attacking Titan. Without so much as a pause, she dug her hooks into a roof directly ahead of her, whipping her body painfully to the side and turning her course. And despite that pain, she didn't so much as break stride as she bared her blades. To its end, that Titan was too preoccupied with the Rogue to notice as she sliced through its neck like a hot knife through butter. It took little more than a gory twist to tear that lump of flesh from its neck and send it flying to the ground, where it burned away from the intense heat of its own metabolism. She flew past ambivalently, the memory of that kill fading from her head as quickly as her emotions.

She soared, not even coming close to touching anything, while watching the rest of the battle play out in front of her. There were people that she couldn't identify running along the ground in a last-ditch effort to lure titans away from the Rogue. There were people flying through the air, much like what she was doing, trying to take down as many titans as possible. There were also the people who were supposed to be commanding the operation, joining in out of desperation alone.

She watched as a massive boulder crushed one of the commanders who was running and luring. She saw one woman being held by her arms in one giant hand and her legs in the other, about to have the majority of her body bitten off of the appendages. As one person ran from a titan that was right behind them, another dived straight into them, grabbing them and shoving them into its mouth!... But, even as someone was about to be swallowed, another person jumped into the titan's mouth after them and pulled them out, saving them. Only to be eaten, themselves. A part of Mikasa – one that she thought was buried long ago – almost wanted to lurch at the sight.

But, despite that, her humanity wasn't so far gone as to disregard the lives of the soldiers she fought with. So she sped up, determined to not let anyone else die. However, it wasn't until she saw Armin, Jean, Marco, Annie, and Connie appear at the edges of the bloodbath that she truly felt the need to save them. If she didn't hurry, then everyone else that she knew would die too! When she passed the Rogue Titan again, she assumed that she was going so fast that it didn't even see her.

She had no idea that the creature saw far more than she gave it credit for.


As Armin flew into the fray, he stole a glance at the Rogue Titan. It was still as terrifying as ever, but he could only wonder how intelligent it was. With it helping out humanity like this, there was no doubt that it was passionate about being on their side. How long this passion would last was always a concern, but Armin wanted to believe – in possibly vain hopes – that it would last for as long as the creature lived.

He couldn't spend very long looking at this creature, though. He had to make sure that it could reach the gate. He could see Jean's squad joining him and Mikasa coming up from behind the Rogue, so he knew he wasn't the only reinforcement to arrive. He breathed a sigh of relief, whizzing by a titan. It was too far away for him to even try to kill it, so he just continued on around it, turning at the last moment. He made a sharp turn, using himself as a distraction so that someone else – anyone else – could try to take it down.

He didn't catch the face of the person who did it, but he saw enough to know that it was someone from the garrison, as opposed to one of his fellow trainees. He saw the titan's corpse fall face-first into a building, crushing the roof and a large part of the wall. The debris scattered across his vision, making it nearly impossible to see, but he took off anyways. He hadn't seen a titan that was close by, so he assumed he'd be able take off without flying directly into one's mouth.

When he opened his eyes, he discovered his assumption was correct as he ended up in just the right spot to see another titan jump up to meet the garrison soldier that had helped him. With the sickening crunch of flesh and bone snapping in two, the titan had yet another meal. Armin tried to keep himself from retching as he allowed his momentum to carry him forward. He wasn't too skilled when it came to actually fighting, but the titan was so distracted with the body that was in its mouth, that he saw an opportunity. Armin took this chance to whip himself around and land near the damn thing's nape. Even though he lacked skill, he still had the same training that all of his classmates did.

It took him a while to get the position correct, but he managed to do it fast enough that the titan hadn't turned yet. With a swift motion, he sliced out the creature's nape and then shot his hooks into a nearby building in order to get away from the corpse. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Connie running along the ground, trying to distract another titan. As one titan placed its foot down, it caused the earth near him to shake so hard that it actually made him lose his balance for a moment. Armin breathed a sigh of relief when Connie was able to keep on running, though.

As five more titans of varying sizes came into the gate, Armin felt his heart drop into his stomach. The team was struggling with the titans that were already there! This almost eliminated their chances of winning, seeing the rate that their forces were dropping at. The only thing that gave Armin hope in the face of their chances was what he had heard his best friend say many times over: If you don't fight, then you can't win.

He had to keep on fighting, no matter what. From what he could see, Mikasa understood the situation just as well as he did. Having taken his eyes off of her earlier, he hadn't noticed that she was suddenly running on the ground, just in front of the Rogue. She was aware of just how strong she was, so she was making it her personal mission to escort the Rogue Titan directly. Even though he probably wouldn't be much help, Armin decided to join her anyway. He quickly calculated the best route to take in order to give him enough momentum.

He shot his hook into the Titan flanking the Rogue, using a precision and calculation few others would have been capable of. Because he had been so high up, though, he whipped by the Rouge Titan's face along the way. It only lasted a fraction of a second, but when he looked into the creature's eyes, he could have sworn that he saw something. Something that was frightfully human... and intense. Like Eren.

He didn't have any time to think about it, though, because he needed to get to the titan that he'd shot his hooks into before it took notice. When he got close enough, he drew back his hooks and prepared to hit the ground running, the titan serving as wonderful leverage just before Jean ended its life. As he braced for a hard landing, he realigned his body and prepared to hit the ground, no hesitation.

Although it was difficult, it wasn't impossible. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he joined up with Mikasa. She looked over to him at first with a look that seemed to ask him 'what are you doing here?', but with just one look ahead to the five new titans, he was able to communicate to her without words why he was there. Finally, the two of them stole one last glance up to the Rogue Titan that was just behind them and what they saw in those surprisingly, humanly intense eyes of its, was almost frightening.


Eren watched as he walked, seeing the soldiers dying for him and his mission. He tried to pick up his pace as much as he could, but he could only move so fast without dropping the boulder. If he dropped it and killed all of the surrounding titans, then it wouldn't even matter because in the time that it would take him to pick the damn thing back up, more would arrive and they'd just be right back to square one.

He had been so distracted by watching the soldiers fall, that he had even lost track of most of his classmates. Heck, he didn't even know where Armin had gone until he whipped past his vision, staring at him as he was going past. Diverting his eyes, but staying the course, Eren watched as the titan that Armin had grappled onto died and collapsed and Armin had wasted no time in touching down onto the ground, the immediate threat dealt with. He barely registered Jean flying away from the nape of that titan's neck, but he still managed to catch it. When he watched Armin run along the ground to join, surprisingly, Mikasa in front of him, he began to wonder why.

Mikasa… Armin… What are you doing? Get to the rooftops! You'll be killed!

He wanted to yell at them, but considering the boulder's incredible weight, which sapped away his strength and left him unable to speak- or whatever passed for speech in light of his Titan form, he couldn't even whimper. all that he could do was watch as his best friends rushed into what Eren could only predict would be their deaths.

Every fiber of his being screamed at him to just drop the boulder and save them, but he couldn't do that. There were more than just his friends who were relying on him. It was like Brzenska had said earlier. Every single one of these people had names, faces, identities, families, and friends of their own. Still, they were all fighting. Every single person, each and every individual was fighting for humanity. He remembered Armin once asking him out of the blue why he would throw caution to the wind and venture outside. He didn't have an answer then, but he did now.

We're born free… all of us… free… He thought as he took each agonizing step forwards. Soldiers came in from the edges of the battlefield, now finally noticing the new titans that had made their way inside. He could just barely hear some soldiers yelling at the titans, but he couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. Two of the titans turned around to face them, Eren just realizing that Connie was among the soldiers that were still on foot and yelling. They started to lead the titans off in the opposite direction from Eren.

Some don't believe it… Eren continued, watching as another soldier who was on top of one of the roofs swung up to kill one titan, but was grabbed by another just as they were about to swing their blades. From what he could see, Jean took this as an opportunity to try to kill the titan that now had a garrison soldier in its grasp. Unfortunately, the poor soldier was already in the titan's mouth and starting to slide down its throat when Jean had sliced through its nape. He managed to get out of the thick of things with a couple pulls of his triggers, though.

Some try to take it away… Eren's thoughts kept on echoing in his mind as Mikasa and Armin finally jumped from their positions in front of him, aiming at the same titan that the garrison soldier had tried to kill earlier. Armin danced around the Titan's eyes in a graceful display of skill. So preoccupied with the meal directly in front of it, the creature never even saw Mikasa as she eviscerated the nape of its neck, both her blades delivering cold steel and death in equal doses.

To hell with them!... Eren added onto his thoughts, seeing the third titan turn for his friends. Suddenly, another garrison soldier popped up seemingly out of nowhere to take the titan down. Before he knew it, there was another titan corpse joining the others.

Water like fire… mountains of ice… He kept his thoughts going, them being the only thing that kept him from dropping the massive weight on his shoulders at this point. His own little distraction from all of the bloodshed that he just wanted to save people from. The only thing that kept his mind on track as his new body was pushed to its utmost limits.

The whole bit… lay your eyes on that and you'll know what freedom is… that it's worth fighting for… He chanted in his mind as he saw one of the previously distracted titans jump in a belly flop style on top of the soldiers who had been keeping it busy. Eren just barely saw that about three people had escaped the assault, Connie among them. Jean had begun to fly towards the pursuing titans in what seemed like desperation to save them.

Fight to live… risk it all for even a glimmer of real freedom!... Jean flew up to the titan that was still on the ground, slicing out its nape in an almost stylish fashion. The other titan turned, bending down to try to pick the boy up, but he was too quick for the titan as he fired his hooks at a distant building in an attempt to escape. While it worked, the titan then turned its attention back to Connie and the other two garrison soldiers who were left.

It doesn't matter what's waiting outside the gate… or what comes in! It doesn't matter how cruel the world can be… or how unjust! Just as the last titan was about to make a grab for one of the garrison soldiers that was on foot, Connie jumped up and fired one of his hooks into a nearby building. He doubled back with his new elevation and, now being behind the titan, aimed straight for the damn thing's nape! He brought his blades down with the skill expected of one of the top ten. With all of the titans in the immediate surrounding area dead, everyone turned their heads towards the broken gate for just a moment before finding refuge on a rooftop.

Fight… fight… fight… FIGHT! Eren screamed in his mind, continuing to walk with the boulder, it now making his entire body feel numb. He was losing the feelings in his nerves, his neck and shoulders cracking and fracturing from the weight, his feet torn and shredded from how the boulder pressed him into the ground. His skin melting and reshaping as the steam attempted to repair his body bit by bit. Adhering to his own words, though, he pressed on. He kept on fighting! He then heard someone yell below him.

"There's still one ahead of us!" He recognized the voice as Armin's, and knowing that his friend was running just in front of him, he looked ahead to see a titan with a long face and perpetual toothy frown. It was just on the other side of the bridge, making for some seriously dangerous terrain. With no buildings to attach onto in the surrounding area, how would they get rid of this one? Eren had no idea, but it seemed like Mikasa was confident enough.

"I'll take care of it!" She simply yelled. The cadets kept on running towards the titan, their shouts having gotten its attention. The creature then bent down and stretched out a hand, as if waiting for one of them to just run straight into it. Eren just barely heard Mikasa gasp and begun to worry about whether she actually had a plan or not. He didn't see that her gaze had been adverted to something else for a moment.

"Out of the WAAAAAAAAY!" He heard a feminine voice angrily scream as it got closer and closer. He didn't realize who could have possibly been until he saw Brzenska landing on top of the titan, placing her feet on its sunken in cheeks and violently thrusting her swords into its nearest eye! She fired another hook in a distant building with no time to spare and rushed out of there just as the titan started to reach out for her. When it realized that it couldn't grab her because she was too far away, it slammed its hand down right where Mikasa was!

There was no doubt in Eren's mind that Mikasa would dodge the titan's hand with ease, and sure enough, she did exactly that. The girl did a flip in mid-air over the titan's hand and landed behind it, tuning to fire a hook at its shoulder. Allowing the force of the line to pull her, she folded her legs into herself and let herself skid on the ground so that she'd soar a little less and just be able to go straight in for the kill. That didn't stop her, though, from whipping around to the titan's other shoulder.

With a great yell, Mikasa held her blades out, letting the force of her cables pull her, but also forcing her blades through the soft flesh with ease. She landed with one leg on either side of the nape, riding the titan's corpse as it fell to the ground. With the way now completely clear, Eren had nothing stopping him from finished his mission. He almost didn't even notice that he'd overtaken Armin once the two were across the bridge. He did once he heard Armin yell.

"GOOOOOOOOOO!" Upon hearing that, Eren let out a mighty roar at the weight of the boulder as he lifted it up and off of his shoulders only to slam it down into the gate.

FIIIIIIIIIGHT! Eren screamed in his mind at the last push that it took to complete the job! A loud crash sounded as a cloud of dust and dirt erupted from where the boulder had made contact with the ground. Almost immediately, everyone fell into a shocked silence. Eren continued to stand there, his hands still on the boulder, needing to catch his breath. Now using it as a support to stay standing instead of it being the other way around.

He finally heard something behind him. It was a voice, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Either way, he heard the pop and hiss of a flare gun going off, so he assumed that it was just someone sending a signal to the higher ups about the success that had just occurred. There was no moving or crashing sounds behind him, so he knew that everyone was safe in the immediate area. He could rest and recover for a few more moments before getting up and going after more titans.

Some time passed before he heard some more voices in the distance. Unable to make out what they were saying, Eren tried to get up so as to figure out what they were going to do then. However, his body screamed in protest. His muscles wouldn't obey him. He could feel his form trembling and he forced himself to at least look behind himself to see many soldiers retreating.

Good, they're getting out of here. I hope Mikasa and Armin go with them. Eren thought as he watched the majority of the soldiers firing their hooks so that they would eventually end up on top of the walls. Suddenly, though, he heard two sets of giant footfalls approaching. He knew what that meant and he willed his body to move, yet only great trembles escaped his body. He tried with all his might to force himself up, managing to move one arm around the front of the boulder so that he could lean on it.

His feet still under him, he struggled to get his legs to stretch back up so that he was in a standing position. His body violently shook under him, the majority of his muscles not even responding to his commands. Finally, his body stopped obeying him altogether and he crashed down onto his knees, one arm still on the boulder as if to make sure that his torso remained upright so that he could see the two lanky abominations approaching. As much as he was screaming at his muscles to move, he just could make them do so. With the wall shading him from the sun, he was able to see the titans moving closer and closer until he felt something small land on his nape.

Wait, is someone going to kill me? I mean, I understand that they'd want to kill a titan, but they should be going after those mindless ones over there. Why are they- Eren's thoughts were cut off when he heard Armin's voice come from the area of his nape.

"Not good, how are we gonna get rid of these titans and get the Rogue outta here?"

Armin? Shit, you're trapped! You need to get out of here. Armin, hold on! Eren tried again to make his muscles obey him, but it only ended in another violent shudder that left him exhausted and his eyes half-lidded.

"Armin, we have to get out of here!" He heard a familiar voice exclaim. He shifted his gaze to meet Mikasa running towards him before she ran out of sight. Before long, he felt another small weight land on his nape. Neither of them were brandishing their swords against him, so he decided to not worry about whether they were going to try to kill him or not, what with neither of them knowing who he was.

"Mikasa, we need to find a way to get the Rogue Titan out of here. We have to protect it until it regains consciousness."

"What do you mean? It looks conscious to me."

"Yeah, but it's exhausted. That boulder probably weighed as much as it did! Probably more! It's completely spent and will probably pass out soon. We have to protect it until it can move on its own again. It's not like we can just pick it up ourselves and carry it to safety."

"I see. Well then, we'd better-" Mikasa cut herself off with a gasp at something. From the angle he was at, Eren could only see the two titans. Was she suddenly scared? That wasn't like Mikasa. There had to be something else going on. He tried to shift his head so that he could see, but once again, his muscles wouldn't obey him. Unintentionally letting out a soft whine, he missed the sound of blades slicing through flesh.

When one of the titans fell, his first thought was that Mikasa had done it. However, he still felt both of the tiny weights on his nape, so he discarded that idea and tried to figure it out mostly by sound. This time, he heard a very masculine grunt come before the sound that indicated that a titan had been killed. It was far more masculine than Armin's voice, even. It wasn't until the second titan had fallen that he saw someone standing atop the corpse, back to him and his friends. With his vision beginning to fade, Eren saw one last thing before his eyes forced themselves shut and refused to open again.

The wings… of freedom… Eren's memory provided. His eyes closed, he heard a very minute shift before a small moment of silence. Suddenly, a voice sounded from the one that was standing there. Eren quickly figured out that the one who killed those two titans was the owner of this voice.

"Pay attention, kiddos. This is part where you explain to me exactly what it is I'm looking at." The voice deadpanned, the last couple of syllables sounding like they echoed in Eren's mind. He couldn't hear any more than that as darkness invited him into its warm embrace.


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