Prologue

"Ymir, wait!"

And suddenly she leaps off of the stone, propelling herself out into the sky, and the blonde-haired girl is sure that she is witnessing the suicide of her dearest friend. Ymir leaps into the sky like some death-driven God, momentarily eclipsing the rising sun— and then she falls.

She falls, the Titans below eying their next steadily-approaching victim fall straight into their gaping maws.

Get ready you dumb bastards. Ymir thinks.

She grits her teeth, takes the knife in-hand, and cuts straight and deep across her palm, her own blood splashing across her face; a flash of blinding light, and it seems that the sun has fallen straight down. The blonde girl at the top of the tower stares down with pure fear.

And another Titan appears where Ymir had been falling, an almost-human figure with black eyes and a mouth lined with daggers. A roar to announce her appearance.

The Jaws Titan lands on a larger Titan, swiftly swings around its neck and tears out the nape of its neck with its teeth. She jumps to the back of another almost quicker than the eye can catch, bites into its neck as well. Jumps from each enormous monster to the next, ripping out their flesh one-by-one and taking them down.

She almost dances across the bastard creations, dodging their slower movements, then vaults up to the side of the tower to hang off a stone with one hand.

"Is that really Ymir?"

"Christa…did you know?

"I had no idea…"

Ymir's grip on the stone turns into a push back downward; she slashes out the eyes of another Titan with the claws of her hands. Everything about her is sharp. But her enemies are wisening up now that time has passed and they're aware, in their low, animal intelligence, that their meal is fast-moving. One grabs hold of the Jaws Titan's hair and another bites into her arm.

"Ymir!"

She wrenches herself free, throws the sharp nails across her enemy's eyes, and jumps again to get to the safety of the tower— one of them grabs onto her leg, then the other. She digs her hands into the stone, and looks up, meeting Christa's eyes.

Fucking hell, this tower will fall if I keep this up. Ymir has no time to think; she lets herself fall again.

"Is she worried about the tower falling?"

"She has to be."

Christa is watching the fray down below, terrified and astonished. She becomes angry. She stands up on the edge of the tower,

"Don't you die, Ymir! Not in a place like this; don't pretend like you're good, you idiot!"

Christa has caught the shifter's attention down below at the word idiot.

"You wanna go out in a blaze of glory? Are you stupid? It's too late for you to try and get into heaven! Live for yourself, god dammit!"

Ymir gazes up, caught between holding back two Titans from inflicting more damage to her; she's suffering a number of wounds at this point.

"If you're gonna die protecting this tower, forget about it!" Christa is screaming down at her now, screaming into the sky, screaming down at that death-driven figure. "Tear it down!"

Ymir is looking up, and quick as lightning, grabs a stone out of the tower and pitches it into the face of one Titan. Grabs another, throws it with all her force; soon she's ripping out the side of the tower, brick by brick, and knocking her enemies back as the tower starts to fall, with the blonde girl, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Connie at the top.

The Jaws Titan climbs her way up; all four stare at her with fear. She gets out a few words,

"Wanna live? Grab me."

They hop on, holding tight to strands of her hair, and suddenly the sky is rushing past them as they all are falling now. An immense collapse of stone and dust and the Scouts are thrown across the dirt.

Ymir stands, bent-backed in her fearful form. The Scouts rise— but then from the rubble, Titans do as well.

The Jaws Titan is exhausted, but is about to rush forward to protect— who? What? And why? She's a selfish person; why would she protect someone or something other than herself? But the sound of galloping horses makes her stop in her tracks; others from the Scout Regiment, Hanji, Eren, Mikasa flying through the air dispatching one, two, three of the rising monsters gives everyone much-needed relief. Their comrades have arrived at an ideal time.

As the enemies fall into piles of dead, smoking flesh, Ymir finally shows herself again, stands from the nape of what was the reveal of the Jaws Titan. The reveal of her secret. She climbs down, stumbles, falls to her knees, chest heaving from exertion.

The small, blonde girl rushes to the one dearest to her and embraces her. Ymir slumps a bit; the blonde is trembling, and is just able to speak,

"You're an idiot."

All is quiet, the sounds of battle and the slaughter of monsters, now-distant in that moment. Ymir chuckles. She starts laughing quietly in the girl's arms.

"My real name," the blonde begins, "is Historia."

Ymir's laughter quiets. And she smiles.