Hello, ladies and gents, and welcome to the first chapter of my newest endeavor. As you may have noticed, I just discontinued Midwinter's Eve. This is the other fan fiction that I mentioned.

There will be crossovers with multiple other fandoms, and I'll name them as they come. For starters, this chapter has major elements of Titanfall, the videogame. No prior knowledge of the game is required to read this, however.

I hope you enjoy.

There were roars that resounded down the street as I stood up. My head ached terribly; I rubbed the back of it and came away feeling blood. The Titans were rampaging through Trost, I realized. There was going to be a massacre- if there hadn't already been one.

I stood up slowly and leaned on the wall, checking my gear quickly. It seemed intact, for the most part. I breathed a sigh of relief and hit the triggers on my sword hilts.

I went flying through the air as soon as the lines connected to the building. The wind pushed my hair out of my face, and I breathed in deeply. The tangy smell of blood and the noxious scent of smoke filled my nose. I coughed a little bit and fell into a long swoop.

A Titan appeared in front of me. I grinned and readied my blades.

He heard me coming and turned slowly to watch my approach. I dodged his hand and sliced two chunks right out of the back of his neck. He groaned and fell. I shot off towards my next target, a 5-meter class at the end of the alley. He didn't even have time to register my presence before he collapsed.

There were two more nearby. I took a deep breath and tapped my canisters to check for the air. One was over half full, thank God. I had enough to keep going for a while. Then I launched off the roof I'd landed on, reloading blades in midair.

The Titan roared as I zoomed towards it, twisting, ready to strike. As soon as I was in reaching distance it grabbed for me- but I dropped just a little bit and managed to miss getting hit. My blades sliced deep across the Titan's neck. He fell with a thundering crash.

"2 minutes to Titanfall."

I almost fell out of the sky as a woman spoke into my right ear. There was no one around me except for the Titans- and they were incapable of speech… right?

I shrieked as a huge hand swatted at me. In my startled state, I'd forgotten about the second Titan. It ferociously snatched at me, but I detached my lines from the wall and free fell, shooting off the wires once I was low enough. The momentum I gained as I swung fired me into the air, where I managed to slam both blades, hilt deep, into the Titan's neck. I launched off and landed on a nearby rooftop, pausing to catch my breath and look around once again for the mysterious woman.

I was completely alone. There were groups on other rooftops, but no one was present in my immediate vicinity. The voice had come from nowhere.

"Am I going crazy?" I muttered, shaking my head slightly.

"1 minute to Titanfall."

I jumped again and whirled, sure I was going to catch the mystery woman in my ear. No one stood beside me. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head.

"Selene!" someone yelled. That time I saw someone- Armin was flying towards me at a fantastic rate. He landed on the roof beside me, surveying the Titan corpses before us. "You did that?"

I nodded. "Got scared-slash-mad. This-" and I gestured to the four Titan corpses- "was the result."

"Good job," Armin said. Something in his voice made me turn to see what was wrong. He was shaking; tears were running down his cheeks.

"Armin… what happened?" I whispered, turning my full body to grab his arms.

"My squad-" he whispered, closing his eyes. "All of them. They're-"

My heart lurched in my chest. "No. No, Armin, tell me Eren-"

"Saved me." Armin swallowed. "And died in my place."

"30 seconds to Titanfall."

I ignored the woman's voice. My world spun. Eren was- dead? It couldn't be. He couldn't be gone. He was one of the top in our class, for heaven's sake. He couldn't be dead.

Armin swiped at his eyes as I let my arms drop. "I- I froze. There was a Titan, it was about to eat me whole. Eren grabbed me and pulled me out-"

"He didn't kill it?" I asked.

He shook his head. "There was no time. I was- about to-" He shivered, obviously reliving something he didn't want to."

"15 seconds to Titanfall."

I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes. "Ok," I whispered, voice quavering. "Ok. We can- We'll deal with this later. Um- where are all the others?"

"Over there," Armin said, and gestured towards our left. I nodded silently.

"We should get going," I said.

He shook his head. "I'm almost out of gas. We all are."

"I'm not," I said.

"Your Titan is now ready."

"What?"

Armin looked at me strangely. "I didn't say anything."

"No, not you. There's a woman talking in my ear."

He looked at me worriedly. "Selene, there's only us on the roof."

"I know that," I snapped. "I think I hit my head on something." My hand came up to rub the back of my head. Something glinted into my eyes. I brought my hand down, ignoring the sticky red liquid on my fingertips, and looked at the strange watch on my wrist.

It was square, with no clock face that I expected. There was a screen instead, that was displaying the words "PUSH FOR TITANFALL." Armin looked at it and frowned.

"That's odd. What is it?"

"I don't know, but-" I tapped the screen gently and jumped as it flashed a brilliant green. "TITANFALL ACTIVATED" flashed on the screen instead.

"Selene, what did you do?" Armin asked, voice exceptionally calm.

"I- I don't know!" I yelled as the strange woman spoke again.

"Stand by for Titanfall."

I had no idea what the words meant, but a shiver ran down my spine. I felt like something amazing, something life-changing was about to happen. And it had happened before.

There was something in the sky, I realized. A disturbance of some kind. It seemed to be warping the blue and the clouds. I squinted, covering my eyes, but the watch beeped at me and I checked it quickly.

"It says 5 seconds to arrival," I told Armin.

"Arrival of what?"

Someone screamed in the distance. I gasped. Armin gulped.

An enormous mechanical being was falling out of the sky. It looked like it was heading straight for us, and I took a small step back. Armin started backing away.

"What's that?" he whispered.

My eyes widened. An indescribable feeling filled my chest. I laughed incredulously, and took a step forwards.

"That… that's a Titan," I whispered. "That's MY Titan."

The massive thing landed with a thud that shook the entire city. The ground crumbled a bit beneath it. Our building shivered. I took a deep breath, trying to control the excitement bubbling up in my stomach, and sprinted towards the Titan, which was reaching for me.

"Selene, what are you doing?!" Armin screamed behind me. "It's not safe!"

"It's fine!" I yelled back. "I know what I'm doing!"

Did I? I knew that something about seeing the huge thing- mech, my mind supplied- felt right in my very bones. But I didn't even know that it existed before three minutes or so ago.

Still, I readied myself and launched off the roof at the very last tile. The Titan reached out an enormous hand and caught me in its palm. The center opened up, right where its head and torso would be, and it gently placed me inside. My last glimpse of the outside world was Armin, reaching for me, screaming my name. I just grinned and gave him two thumbs up.

Then the sides closed in around me, and I strapped myself into the seat. The panels in front of me lit up, projecting a view of the outside world. I put my hands on the controls and flipped one on. The mech stood up. The woman's voice announced, "AI offline. Pilot mode engaged."

Armin yelled, right in my ears, "SELENE!"

"Armin, it's fine!" I yelled. "Grab onto the outside, stupid!"

"But where?" he shouted back.

I switched camera views a few times, giving myself a 360 view of the streets around me. "On the head," I finally told him, and reached out my mech's right hand to him. "Climb aboard."

He hesitantly stepped onto the mech. I placed him on the head and waited for a moment. "Found a hand hold?"

"Yes. Where are we going?" he asked.

I made my mech point at the others, scattered on rooftops and surrounded by the human Titans.

"We're going to go decimate some Titans."

With that, I slammed my foot onto the pedal that pushed us to jump. The Titan shot into the air, flying forwards a few streets. The landing broke the street beneath us.

That, in turn, got some of the Titans' attention.

I growled as one grabbed onto my Titan's leg and bit down. It got a mouthful of metal. The mech shook it off easily and slammed a foot into the Titan's neck. It went still in a millisecond.

"This thing is huge!" Armin shouted from the outside. I made my mech turn to see what was going on, only to come face to face with a 12-meter class Titan. I was easily as tall as it was.

"I'm taking no shite today, laddie-boy," I snarled at the thing. With a quick button push, the mech spouted a machine gun from its right arm and started firing. In a moment's time, the Titan had lost its head to bullets and collapsed, steaming.

"You're close!" Armin yelled to me. I grinned and piloted the mech through the street, arriving seconds later at the group of Titans grabbing for the Training Corp members.

"Good morning!" I roared on the external speakers, and started firing.

The Titans fell quickly. I took out the two 12-meter classes first, then the sole 11-meter, and finished off with the 10-and-unders. It took me less than 30 seconds to kill all the Titans.

Anything above a 13-meter class, and I was probably screwed. But for now, I could easily hold my own.

I piloted the mech to turn around and look at the group. Mikasa was staring, right at my eye level, eyes fixed on a point above my head. I rolled my eyes and flicked a switch labeled "External Projector". An image of my face sprang to life, right in front of Mikasa's face.

"Selene," she greeted calmly. "Why am I not surprised."

I gave her a grin and switched camera views, keeping an eye out for any surprises. "Yep. I brought you a present. Hey, Armin, say hi!"

Mikasa nodded curtly as the others came up to watch alongside her. "Selene?" Marco asked in astonishment.

I grinned at him and saluted. "Hello! I got an awesome new toy!"

"I can see that," he said faintly.

I frowned as one cam came up to show three Titans, a 7-meter, a 5-meter, and a 10-meter, approaching from the left. "Climb aboard. There's room enough for all of you. Where to?"

"We need more gas," Jean explained as he clambered up the mech suit to sit on top of my head. "HQ?"

I nodded. "Sounds good. Looks- oh, dear."

At least ten Titans, all of them 9-meter class and above, were climbing around on top of HQ. I swallowed silently. "Hey, Caddy, gimme an ammo count," I asked the cabin at large, hoping none of the others had heard me.

Immediately, a display flashed on the bottom right of the screen. It warned me that I had over 1000 bullets left to fire, and that I'd already fired around 2000 to take out the Titans. I vowed to conserve more ammo and said, "All right. Gimme a list of weapons this thing has."

Three options popped up on the screen. I raised one eyebrow.

"Everything all right?"

"Yep!" I shouted back. A last check of the area and I paused. Mikasa still stood, alone, on the rooftop. "Mikasa?" I asked worriedly. "C'mon. I'll give you a ride up."

She gave the Titan a distrustful glance and shook her head, unsheathing both blades. "I'll meet you there," she said calmly. "Go on ahead without me."

"Mikasa, come on," Armin called. It was hard to hear with all the external interference, but it sounded like his voice was quavering.

"I'll meet you at HQ," she said instead. "I'll see you later."

Before any of us could stop her, she turned and shot away, off towards the swarmed HQ.

"Shit," I growled softly and pressed down on the gas pedal. My mech started to walk forwards. "Holler if you see any Titans."

"You've got two ahead of you, a 5-meter and a 7-meter. Need us to take them out?"

I switched weapons and grinned viciously. "Oh, no need," I crooned, and fired off two rockets, locked onto the Titan's heat signatures. My fists shot into the air as they hit and blasted the heads right off the Titans. I crowed with enthusiasm, before reality slammed back into place and I grabbed the controls once again.

My mech took off through the streets, occasionally leaping over buildings and blocks. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I took out Titan after Titan, making my hands shake and hyping my reaction times. I checked in occasionally with those hanging onto the top of my mech to make sure they hadn't fallen off or gotten bit.

We were over halfway to the HQ when someone let out a scream of fear. "What is it?!" I cried on the external speakers, mech jolting beneath me as I twitched.

"Mikasa just fell!" Connie shouted.

"Where?!" I demanded.

"Don't worry about it! We're on it!" he shouted. The cameras showed Connie and Armin taking off towards where I'd last seen her.

I took a deep breath and nodded. "We're gonna keep going!" I called. "They'll catch up!"

I hoped they couldn't tell how my voice quivered.

We kept moving. More Titans fell before me, even as I rationed out every bullet I fired. I refused to allow the others to kill any- not because I was selfish, but because I wanted them safe. It all went well, too, until an ear-splitting roar caught all of our attentions. I turned the entire mech to see what the hell was going on.

My jaw dropped as a 15-meter class with messy black hair and brilliant green eyes punched another 15-meter's head off. "Oh my-" someone muttered. The external mic picked it up. I nodded in silent agreement.

I took a deep breath, cracked my fingers, and checked the health on my mech. Over three-quarters of it was still there, which was good. "Ok, guys, your call," I said. "Do we investigate or do we leave it alone?"

There was a pause. The mics picked up soft chatter as I waited. A few Titans wandered too close for comfort- I shot them down. Finally, Jean spoke up.

"Well, we have a plan, but it's definitely sketchy."

"I love sketchy. Spill."

"If that Titan really is killing other Titans- and we think it is- then we could possibly use it to help us clear out the HQ. Not that we don't think you can do it-"

"No, it's fine, I'm running low on ammunition anyways," I said quickly. "Continue."

"We think if we clear out the Titans around it, it'll move towards the HQ and be able to kill those," Marco explained.

I mulled it over in my mind, nodding slightly. "Sounds good. Where do we start?"

"Head over to where the Aberrant Titan is. We'll wait until we're close enough to help kill the ones near him. You conserve energy and resources. We just need a ride."

I nodded and cracked my knuckles. "Let's go."

My mech- which I had decided was called Caddy, for no apparent reason- took off at a run. We avoided the Titans and wove through the city. I kept my eyes on the Aberrant. It was still kicking the absolute hell out of the surrounding Titans. I grinned and kept moving.

We stopped a block or two away from the Aberrant. "Alright, kiddies, ride's over," I announced. "Do you want me out of the mech?"

"No, keep it ready to move. We'll need to go once our gas gives out."

I nodded silently. "Very well. I'll keep an eye on you. If one of you is about to go down, though- don't expect me to hold back."

I was met with silence. External cams showed that they'd taken off before they had a chance to respond. I just rolled my eyes and watched, hands tense on the controllers.

I didn't need to worry. It was easy to see they were doing just fine on their own. I stretched my hands, twitching each finger in succession to release the cramps that had been worked up over the time I'd been in the Titan. Meanwhile, I kept my eye on the group, occasionally switching views to keep an eye out for other Titans. Those on the outside were doing a better job of it than I could, though. I just needed to be ready-

"We're good, it's leaving, we're all here!" Jean roared.

I grinned and shouted back, "What took you so long?! Let's haul a** outta here!"

Caddy was up and moving in a millisecond, following the Aberrant as it raced towards HQ. I made sure to keep a safe distance. There were no other Titans around, thanks to those on the outside. I stretched my back, rolling my shoulders. I was starting to feel a little cramped, even in the spacious cabin. Stretching my legs would have to wait, though- I needed to keep on the move.

The Aberrant reached the HQ before we did, and immediately slammed his fist into two Titans that were peeking in one of the windows. "Go, go, go!" I roared loudly, activating the weapons on Caddy and getting ready to fire.

The external cams showed the others firing through the windows, as I turned my attention to those clambering all over the HQ. The Aberrant was taking down several of them. I turned my attention to the smaller ones, readying myself for a fight.

The first Titan to attack me got a fist to the face. I fired off a bunch of small rockets and grinned as they blew portions of Titans off. A hail of machine gun fire took off two heads. A glance at the Aberrant showed he had taken out five or so. I just had to take care of a 4-meter-

A shadow loomed over the mech. The Aberrant had finished annihilating the other Titans and turned his attention towards me. I swallowed.

Then the Titan that I had been about to kill latched onto the Aberrant's leg. It made the other Titan roar with pain. I narrowed my eyes and reached out with one hand, grabbing the smaller Titan's arm and pulling.

It came away with a mouthful of flesh, staring at me with that creepy grin on its face. Both arms reached for me.

"Dude," I said calmly. "You are fugly."

With that, I flung the Titan away as hard as Caddy could. It made an odd sound as it flew through the air and vanished into a row of houses. I turned my attention back to the Aberrant.

It stared at me with something akin to curiosity in its face. I waved Caddy's hand at it. It just stared back, before turning to walk away.

Instantly it was set upon by Titans- five or so, all 3 to 7-meter class. I was about to grab one and start picking them off it when a second shadow loomed over me.

It was a 14-meter class, evidently interested in me. I took a deep breath and switched modes- from machine gun to full blown rocket launcher.

"Come at me," I growled. "Let's go."

It reached for me, and I fired off a shot. The rocket hit its shoulder and exploded, taking off the arm. That didn't deter the Titan much. I dodged as it snatched at Caddy's arm and fired off another shot. That one took a leg off. The Titan crumpled and grabbed at my legs, catching hold and shaking.

I winced and slammed the foot down, dislodging its grasp and breaking its hand in the process. A 360 showed that the Aberrant was getting eaten rapidly. I shivered a bit and focused back on the 14-meter in front of me.

It roared from its place on the ground. I prepped another rocket and fired. The Titan swatted it out of the sky, taking off its remaining limb in the process. I had to reload, I realized- and fast.

Caddy backed up as I ordered her to, pulling another clip of rockets out of God-knows-where and quickly dropping the empty clip. She slammed the second clip into the launcher and spun it, snatching the empty clip off the ground and sliding it away where the full one had come from. The full clip was captured by metal straps and I wasted no time in firing another shot off. This one hit dead in the center of the throat. The Titan groaned and fell. My shoulders sagged with relief.

But it wasn't over yet. As I switched cameras, I noticed that the Aberrant was pinned. I frowned and switched back to the machine gun, but I couldn't risk firing off a few rounds without hitting the Aberrant. I growled and unstrapped myself, ready to climb out.

Then the Aberrant roared and moved, throwing off the Titans in a spectacular fashion. I forced Caddy to the side, moving it out of the way of one of the flying Titans. The Aberrant seized one by the nape of the neck, shook like a dog, and released at the pinnacle of his shaking head. The Titan went soaring.

I cheered for a moment, but the Titan was wavering. Slowly, it fell to its knees, then onto its face. I watched it, frowning, as it started to steam like a normal Titan. "No one cut its neck, though," I murmured. "Is it exhausted or something?"

As steam continued to flow from its body, I saw movement on the ground. After a moment, I realized that it wasn't on the ground.

There was something coming out of the Titan's soft spot.

I narrowed my eyes. Caddy waved the steam away as I tried to see what it was there. There was a long pause, where the world held its breath. Then I recognized what- or rather, who- it was, and slammed the eject button with a startled cry.

The top of Caddy opened and I shot out, dropping towards the ground. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I ran for the Aberrant, trusting in Caddy to keep the Titans occupied. Mikasa had beat me there, I realized, which wasn't a surprise.

What was a surprise was Eren Jaeger, still kneeling in the remains of a Titan skeleton, completely and totally passed out.

I clambered up the skeleton and sprinted to Mikasa and Eren. A glance around showed Caddy, taking care of any and all Titans that dared to come for us. It was holding its own, which was great, but Caddy had been at half health when I ejected, and it couldn't last forever.

"Mikasa, listen, we've got to get to higher ground," I said quickly, reaching out to her. "Come on. Let's go."

She looked up at me, tears welling in her eyes, and hugged him closer. "He's alive," she whispered.

I nodded, feeling pinpricks in my own eyes. "I know, Mikasa, but we need to go to the top of HQ. I'll get Caddy to carry us, or do you want to take him yourself?"

Mikasa took a deep breath, reluctant to release Eren, and slowly stood up. "I'll take him. You can ride… whatever that monstrosity is," she told me.

I nodded and stuck two fingers in my mouth. With one harsh blast of air, a piercing whistle cut the air. Caddy turned and sprinted towards us, abandoning its enemies in lieu of its pilot. Mikasa took off behind me as my mech reached out a hand to me. I gracefully stepped into the palm of its hand and held onto its thumb-like appendage as it moved to place me inside the cockpit.

"I just need a quick ride," I announced to the mech's AI. "Can you take me over to there?"

I pointed at the top of HQ, which was a few meters above Caddy's head. The mech looked at it for a long moment, before nodding and beginning to tramp over to the building.

It was easy enough to hang on and roll with the smooth motion of Caddy's gait. I just worried about how she- it was going to get me up to the top. As soon as we reached the building, the same mechanical female voice that had informed me of Titanfall warned me, "Launching in 3… 2… 1…"

I braced as soon as she said "Launching". By the time she said "1", I was ready to go.

Caddy threw me up into the air. I whooped with glee, waving down at Caddy for a moment before gravity once again took hold and I started to fall towards the group of people assembled on one of the highest rooftops.

I landed hard and rolled to absorb some of the impact. A few people shot glances at me, but most were focused on Mikasa, Eren, and Armin, kneeling on the ground and holding on to each other for dear life.

I suddenly felt like I was intruding. Slowly, I backed away, turning to look over the city. Caddy was still fighting, but she was out of bullets, and running very low on rockets. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. She was going to run out of life, probably, and there would be nothing I could do about it.

My watch beeped at me. I started slightly and looked down at my wrist. "RECALL TITAN?" the display read.

Hope whirled in my chest. My hand hovered over the button. I took a deep breath and touched the screen.

"RECALLING TITAN IN 5 SECONDS."

The timer ticked down. I bit my lip and crossed my fingers.

Then hooks shot out of the sky, right over Caddy. They attached to various points on her frame and began winching her up into the sky. It wasn't a slow process, either- within ten seconds, she vanished from view. I felt a sense of loss for a moment. Then my watch beeped again, and I checked it.

"TITAN REPAIRS 10% COMPLETE."

I sighed in relief. Caddy wasn't gone forever- just getting repaired and restocked.

Soft sobs were still carrying through the air behind me. I turned to look at them, pulling the trigger-hilts from their places under my arms and holding them loosely in my hands. Only a few people spared glances in my direction.

Isolation set in. I swallowed and looked away.

"We should move," Jean said. "We have to get to the walls."

I nodded silently, sliding my blades onto my sword hilts. There was silence for a moment. Then Mikasa straightened and sighed. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks, but the sobs had stopped. "You're right," she said solemnly. "I'll carry him. Let's move."

I waited until almost all of the others had left before I, too, took off. The wind felt lovely in my hair. I launched myself as high as I could and breathed in, letting my head fall back so my face pointed towards the sun. Gravity made me fall again, and I used the momentum to send me sky-high again.

We launched over the wall and fell into Wall Rose's relative safety. I sighed as soon as my feet touched the ground and checked my watch again. "TITAN REPAIRS 40% COMPLETE." A soft smile danced over my face for a moment, before a cool stare fell back into place.

After a moment to just stand there and let the tenseness roll off my back, I turned and walked towards where all the other unhurt soldiers were standing or sitting and talking.

The gossip mill was at it, of course. I wasn't past twenty people before I'd heard at least 10 different guesses on the identity of the Aberrant Titan that was Eren, and 3 or so on my identity. I slid through the crowd, collecting as much info as I could.

Sasha grabbed my arm out of nowhere. I yelped, but offered little resistance as she dragged me over to the table the remains of the 104th were sitting at. I had to swallow a gasp. There were only a few people left. I recognized most of them- Connie, Krista, Ymir, Sasha, Bertolt, Reiner, and Annie were all there.

"Where's Jean and Marco?" I asked as I sat down.

"We don't know. We were going to ask you. Do you know where Armin and Mikasa and Eren are?"

"Somewhere around here. I think they were a few streets over." I shrugged. Krista handed me a canteen. There was a lot of water in it- I took a deep sip and nodded my thanks. "They're fine. I think."

"Great." Connie slammed his forehead into the table. "So half of us are missing?"

I nodded.