Hey guys! Matthew here. You possibly may know me from my Angel Beats! fanfiction "Regrets and Acceptions", or my Negima! fanfiction "The Transfer Student."

This is a one-shot story I wrote over the week, giving the what-if scenario of "What if Eren was not around to defeat the Female Titan?"

As this was written in a short time, I have not checked the story for errors.

There IS slight spoilers at the end that tie in with the actual story, so if you aren't caught up to the anime (for some reason), I suggest you stop now. I hope you enjoy this story! Review and Favorite! 3

"EREN!" The Female Titan had punted Eren's head so far it destroyed several buildings inside Wall Rose. His body fell to the ground, hunching over as it started steaming.
"E...Eren?" Mikasa couldn't believe her eyes. Eren was taken out. The Survey Corps look in despair as their chance to research more about the Female Titan was probably not going to happen.
"We have to stop her!" Hanji unsheathed her maneuver gear swords.
"But how? We don't have Eren anymore to keep her down!" one of the Survey Corps said.
"Eren's not... dead... right?"
"No," Armin started, "he's not. He's just regenerating his body. I don't think he'd want to come out and fight her in his human form."
"Then... What now?"

"Commander Erwin!" Levi said as he dropped in from a building.
"Eren is incapacitated!"
"I was hoping this wouldn't happen," Erwin said. "We don't stand a chance without Eren's powers."
He turned to Pixis.
"I know you don't want your men to be in this battle," Erwin started, "but we need all the people we can get to stop her."
"I don't believe my men could help at all. The strength of one hundred men means nothing to a titan with a brain."
"Then what about the strength of one thousand?"
"... You don't mean?"
"I need you to call Kurusei."
There was a pause. Pixis did not know what to respond. Erwin waited for his answer. Levi stood quietly, preparing for what's next. The sound of death and screams from the villagers made Pixis twitch, ever so slightly.
"... Do you believe he's ready for this heavy task?"
"Of course. Why else would I call him?" Pixis looked down.
"... Someone, go call Kurusei." One of the Garrison soldiers left to find him.
"Let's hope he's strong enough for this..."
"He graduated at number one of the trainees five years ago. I'm sure he's prepared."

Running, the Garrison soldier ran past broken buildings, the severed head of Eren, and into the main military building. Kurusei was sitting with his feet up, napping through the battle.
"...Kurusei." The sound of his name made him open one eye.
"What?"
"You're needed."
"They can handle this on their own."
"No, they can't. Eren's down."
"...He's dead?" Kurusei showed more interest.
"No, just paralyzed. But without him, we can't stop the Female Titan from leaving these walls. You're the strongest soldier in the Garrison. We need your expertise."
Kurusei paused. He wasn't up for fighting this late in the afternoon, but if Eren was down he had no choice. He stood up.
"Lead the way back to the Commander."

Using their maneuver gears, they reached Commander Pixis pretty quickly.
"Commander." Kurusei bowed.
"You're leading this operation. We need to defeat the Female Titan without Eren's help. You can have all the men you need for this task."
Observing the situation, he saw the titan running by buildings slowly, as her ankles were damaged during her battle with Eren.
He saw that the wall was a good couple miles away, and near one side of the wall, there was an open field. However, the Female Titan was running the other direction.
Finishing his observation, he began his plan.
"I'm going to need several replacement blades. Enough for 3 maneuver gears. I require Levi and Eren's girlfriend. Mikasa, was it? I need her, too."
Everyone waited for his next order.
"... And?" Pixis asked.
"That's it."
"That's it? Only three people in this operation? That's suicide."
"Not if this all goes right." Kurusei stepped forward. "We start in five minutes."
"Captain Levi, go call Mikasa. She should be close to the titan."
"Yes, Commander." Levi left to go find her.

"Why am I here? I need to be near Eren." Mikasa was as stubborn as ever about protecting Eren.
"You're the strongest fighter next to Levi. Eren is recovering. Once we're done, you can go tend to him like the caring girlfriend you are."
Mikasa blushed. That was the fifth time today people referred to Mikasa as Eren's girlfriend.
"Shut up! We're brother and sister. I'm not..."
"Yeah, sure. Believe what you want. Bottom line, you're needed."
"So, what's the plan?" Levi was cleaning his gear from the titan's blood.
"Levi, you're going to distract the Female Titan, causing her to turn west towards that side of the wall. There's an open field there. Mikasa, I need you on standby near me. Everything depends on whether or not Levi can lead the titan to the open area."
"Okay."
"Why am I the distraction?" Levi looked concerned. He didn't want to be the bait.
"Because when she gets to the field, you need to be as close as possible to take out the back of her knees. When she falls on her hands, you all follow my lead from there."
"Alright!" They jumped off the roof of the building they were on, and Levi dispatched from the group to follow the Female Titan.

"Hey! Female Titan!" Her eyes looked towards him.
"I'm going to rip you to shreds, you low-life traitor. I hope you're father is happy that you're doing this."
Saying the second sentence set the titan off track. She screamed and immediately turned directions towards Levi.
"Here we go." He shot his maneuver gear towards the west and the titan followed him.
She was screaming, running in a savage way. She was fast enough to catch up to Levi in fifteen seconds, but they were already at the field.
The Female Titan heard a scream, and it was Levi, slashing out the back of her knees, forcing her to the ground. She looked shocked.
"GO!" Kurusei jumped from the top of the building, coming in and slashing the Female Titan's wrists, cutting off her right hand and leaving her left intact.
She put her hand over her neck, concentrating her crystallization into her hand to defend the nape of her neck.
"She's doing the tactic she did in the woods!" Levi said to Kurusei.
"Mikasa! Cut her arms so they get too weak and fall!" Mikasa did just that. She spun around the titan, cutting her left shoulder and arm. Eventually, her arms fell, revealing her neck, which she immediately crystallized.
Levi came in next, cutting her eyes out, as the titan gave a blood-curling scream.
"Dammit!" Kurusei turned to look at the direction of the screaming. Levi had worsen his ankle, to the point where he couldn't stand on the leg.
"Are you alright?!" Kurusei left his position to help Levi. He tried bumping him off, but eventually Levi gave in to his help and let him rest on a building.
"Don't move it. We'll have to finish this mission without you."
"Make sure you make her pay." Kurusei nodded, then left Levi on the rooftop.
"Mikasa! Levi is down! We have to do this without him!" He screamed to her.
"Roger!"
"I need you to make sure her right arm doesn't regenerate!"
"Why? I'm sure I can cut through the crystal easily!"
"Trust me. You don't want what happened to Levi's old squad to happen to you."
Mikasa hesitated, but then agreed. She flew to the Female Titan's right forearm, slashing it so hard it came off.
As Kurusei watched overhead, he saw an opening. He flew towards the titan's left side, and with every ounce of his breath, let out a scream. The type of scream that would indicate one about to strike.
Instinctly, the Female Titan opened her left eye and turned to grab Kurusei with her left arm! However, she didn't see him in sight. Instead, Kurusei was already on her right side, coming around her front right side, slashing her left shoulder, taking the arm off instantaneously.
Here, Kurusei finally had the last piece in place. He landed, his feet right on top of the nape of the titan's neck. He began slicing, hard. Every two slices he had to replace his dull blades with new ones. When he was finished with his replacements, he called out.
"Mikasa! Now!"
Mikasa, who had taken Levi's replacement blades while on standby, came in, giving Kurusei new replacement blades. He kept going.
Every slash dealed to the Female Titan, it let out a scream. Kurusei's ears eventually bled, but he didn't stop.
Finally, with a deal-blowing slash, he finally hit blood with his left sword! He dropped his left sword, grabbing the crystal and cutting deeper into the titan. Eventually, he slashed through the crystallized part of the neck, which fell off the titan's body. It was at this point that the Female Titan was trying her hardest to regenerate her right hand, but Mikasa cut it off when it's bones started reappearing.
Pulling part of the flesh back, he finally got a look at the Female Titan's human face.
"Hey, bitch. Ready to face your fears? We have a good, dark cell waiting for you." He cut the face out, and then the body. The titan mustered out one last scream, which eventually died down as she was cut out.
Blonde hair. Fit body. Annie Leonhart.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes are aimed for Kurusei's left handgrip, but he retaliated by punching her in the face, knocking her out instantly.
The Survey Corps stared in awe as Kurusei lifted Annie's unconcious body over his chest, showing his bounty off to the city.
"That's amazing.. He cut her out by himself?"
"He really must be the strongest Garrison soldier there is."

Suddenly, Annie's body begins crystallizing! Smoke came out, covering her body and Kurusei's hand. As it crystallized her from the bottom up, it eventually reached her neck, which Kurusei was holding on to. It engulfed his left hand in crystal!
Without hesitation, Kurusei cut off his hand, dropping Annie's body. As her body fell from her titan body, everyone saw the smoke and the crystal that her body was creating.
When she hit the ground, her body was entirely crystallized, and the Survey Corps came down to observe the situation.
"Dammit! Annie! Come out of there!" One of the Survey Corps was slashing at the crystal, which was harder than what Kurusei cut through.
"It's impossible to get her out," Hanji stated while she walked towards the body. Kurusei had reached the ground too.
"That crystal is harder to cut through. She intended it to be that way. So she's not coming out anytime soon." Kurusei looked at where his left hand used to be, bleeding furiously. He covered it with a cloth. Mikasa and Levi looked concerned.
"This hurts like hell, but it's better than being like her."
"Alright then, transport the woman out of here! We don't know when she'll be out of that, and quite frankly I don't think it would be wise to stick around and find out when."

During debriefing, Pixis and Erwin had questions to ask the three warriors.
"Although this mission was a success, we had no progress on helping mankind." Pixis reached a cup of booze to his mouth.
"Did she even reach the wall?" Erwin leaned forward, both of his hands on his face.
"No, she didn't. We stopped her before she could even touch it." Levi responded, tending to the brace on his ankle.
"Amazing. So tell me Kurusei... What do you plan to do now?" Pixis turned to Erwin.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you lost your left hand. I don't suppose you would be interested in staying in the Garrison."
"... But I do."
"What?"
"This is a minor setback. I'm still able to travel with the maneuver gear fluently, although eating food may be a problem." He let out a slight chuckle.
"What about Eren? Is he okay?" Mikasa was worried about him.
"Yes, yes. He's fully recovered. I'll show you to his room." Erwin got up, giving leave to Kurusei, Levi, and Pixis as he and Mikasa left the room.
"Thank you for your help today, Kurusei."
"It's no problem, sir. It's been a pleasure working with the two best fighters in the world." Kurusei reached his hand out to shake Levi's, which Levi "politely" refuses.
"I'm sure we'll be working together again in later cases." Levi got up, and left the room, but not before giving a thumbs up to Kurusei.
So, he has a slight soft spot after all, Kurusei thought.
"Do you believe losing your hand is beneficial for the future?"
There was a pause. Kurusei looked towards the stub where his hand used to be.
"I'm sure there will be regrets, but hopefully it is all for the better now."
Pixis looked towards the window.
"You need a break, Kurusei. Take a month or two off. It's the least I can do for having you defeat the Female Titan for us."
"If you say so, boss." Kurusei got up, walking towards the door.
"Oh, and Commander Pixis?"
"Ah, yes?"
"There's something you need to know about the walls."

END