AU/Crossover Fic. Credits/Disclaimers: Inspired by Tumblr user Soterianyx's SNK/ATLA/LOK crossover post. Only the story is mine, everything else belongs to their respective creators. Accompanying image from Google.

Title: Shunya (Void)

**The word "shunya" in Sanskrit means "void". It refers to a fifth element apart from the four: air, water, earth and fire.

Chapter 2: तव हृदयं रक्ष - "Tav Hridayam Raksh – Protect Your Heart"

"Earth, Fire, Water and Air - these are the elements that make up the life and defences of this World where humankind lives in the disgrace of captivity."

Politicians, military, so-called "friends", benders and non-benders alike...

He was a target. Mikasa knew that the minute the fog in everyone's head cleared, which considering the chaos, was fairly quick. But target or not, Eren was still hers to protect.

Erwin's clear unhelpfulness had left Mikasa slightly unsettled. While their jobs did not have the luxury of emotions, her humanity did. After hurriedly mourning her separation from Eren for the next few hours, Mikasa straightened up and headed to her cell.

The mission began with Erwin's boisterous command and suddenly, they were rushing past blurring trees and vast expanses of untrodden verdurous fields. The long anticipated wait for stepping outside the walls vanished just like that and the claws of the grim operation sank in like a vulture preying on the dead.

As per Erwin's instructions, she was in the front of the group following her commanding officer. The research unit, where Armin was, was in the middle somewhere. Mikasa passingly realised that she was glad for Armin's relative safety. The outer squads were generally the more experienced ones, which meant Mike's squad - Eren - was in one of the outer portions too. She was not one to believe in the falling emptiness in her stomach to be an omen of anything, but even inexperienced Mikasa was sure that she would be returning home in a state worse than this.

Mike's squad was in the rear of the formation – bringing up a strong outer circle for the defence of the inner research and supply carriers. They would also be amongst the first to send off a warning signal along with other surrounding Firebending teams which would serve to alert the entire expedition and the first strong line of defense in the middle of the formation - Special Operations Squad, also known as, Squad Levi.

The Special Ops were known for their brutality and rumour had it that their training often included ridiculous amounts of injuries from all kinds of bending exercises performed by them and on them. Levi himself had the track record that resembled one of a hardened criminal and who knew, maybe he was one during his younger years. His team was always made of hand-picked members and currently consisted of some elite soldiers - Petra Ral, hailed Earthbender from one of the wealthy inner districts. She was Levi's second-in-command and had been trained in Interrogation. Petra, after all, specialised in Metalbending. Levi's squad also consisted of two Waterbenders - Erd and Gunther, the latter of whom was a capable Healer. His services were something of a tale in his town. And finally, Auruo and his Airbending completed Levi's circle. For as much of a fool as Auruo was, he was also one of the softest people on the team.

The combination of strength, technique and raw power was as important as team chemistry. Facing titans was no child's play. Titans, a term defining huge humanoid creatures, who seemed to primarily eat humans as part of their life cycle were not only a threat due to their indiscriminate killing or fearsome sizes, but also because some of them could bend the elements to their will. As observations had permitted, so far, only the smaller sized titans seemed to be capable of bending and very rarely a large one would contribute some weak bending - typically Airbending - as they attacked humans many times smaller than them - these were called Aberrants, the ones who differed from set behaviour. One saving grace of titan-bending was the fact that they seemed to posses only the basic four bending abilities. For those who believed in a higher power, it was well worth their time to pray that those giant "monsters" did not learn more than what they already knew.

The mission was well on it's way when all hell had broken loose.

The initial random attacks were not much of a problem now. The two Aberrants closing in from the back-end were far more dangerous and unpredictable. Mike knew that he would need another of the top brass teams around him. Time was precious and deliberation could mean death, so he did the only thing a squad leader in a predicament like that was allowed to do. He ordered an attack. An attack on the blue-haired, abnormally large titan that had not revealed it's bending abilities, if any, yet.

The blue-haired one was fast. It had not even been a minute since his impromptu strategizing that it forced Squad Mike to halt and hurriedly grasp at any and every high risen land or tree in the vicinity with their 3DMGs for a barely coordinated attack.

The 3DMG's were a fine example of battle equipment. Sword blades on either side of the person, retractable strengthened ropes and a couple of back-up fuel containers made up the entire ensemble. The fuel was attached to the lower hip at the backside and the device to project the ropes rested atop, while the sword blades on the outer sides of each thigh. Metalbenders typically were allowed to forego the gear in favour of their flexibility with Metalbending and the basic capacities of Earthbending - at the same time, they were at a disadvantage since their swords could not replace blades if necessary. Very few Metalbenders were part of a core attack team.

Currently, the technicalities could not be analysed. Erwin had done his part wile assigning teams, now it was their turn to put to test what they had practiced at the Academy.

Mike and Eren were to be the ones to Earthbend the footing of the titan loose and Sasha was to Waterbend to immobilise the titan, while Ymir and Bertholdt attacked the neck with their swords. Airbenders had good grace in air and for a strategy that had been born mere minutes ago, Mike thought that this would have to work. They did not know what the enemy could do and thus a swift attack was absolutely necessary. The team set to work and were in the process of attacking the Blue Titan - which seemed to be lacking in terms of bending but not brutality, when the one thing that they had not considered popped into clear view - the second Aberrant charging onto them. Their attack faltered and Bertholdt took a square hit to his entire body from the Blue Titan. The second titan was not much in structure, but seemed to be moving quickly. Only a matter of time, since, it was very clear on a closer inspection that it was Airbending it's way to the Corps. Mike was not about to jeopardize the inner squads' trust in him for a formidable defence, but he needed help. And he needed it now.

He yelled once more for a last-ditch coordinated attack on their original target, but this was the maiden mission for most of these recruits and they were quickly losing their composure. The two Aberrants were too close now for a retreat in any direction or for another attack without an outer line of defence. Mike was not sure how long he could hold them off, or for that matter, remain alive.

He had only started making vague plans, when their saviours arrived. Squad Levi jumped into the fray with a well coordinated strike at the neck of the Airbending Titan. They missed. But, two teams were better than one and there was renewed hope. Levi and Mike had worked together in the past in literal life-and-death situations, so a strategy was not that difficult. The problem was implementation.

If Squad Levi tackled the Airbending Titan, then Squad Mike could have another shot at the Blue Titan. And perhaps, they would be able to subdue the two without any further casualties. The teams dealing with the horde of smaller titans around them were already faltering.

Apparently, Levi had similar ideas. He was rounding up on the Airbending Titan, 3DMG shooting lines into the nearest trees and his second-in-command, Petra was Metalbending her way towards the Titans neck. Auruo had the most difficult job of facing the Titan of same bending abilities and being the only Airbender on the team, he was going to need Erd and Gunther's Waterbending support. Maybe they could force the Titan's eyes shut, or try to overwhelm it without hurting Levi and Petra. Squad Levi was flying through the air and in position in a matter of seconds after arriving on scene, when a sudden shock from Mike's Squad disoriented them and threw the attack off.

The Blue Titan did have bending abilities. And the manifestation of that sent the mission crashing south very quickly. The Blue Titan was an Earthbender. Perfect. Just perfect. Earthbending abilities in a titan tended to be very troublesome. Since, the majority of a five-person cell needed to be bending while the other two attacked, it generally tended to be crucial for the three benders to be on solid footing. Earthbending titans destroyed that instantly.

The Blue one tipped everyone off-balance and the Airbending Titan descended upon Squad Levi, leaving Levi and Petra to more or less fly by each other in their 3DMG and metal-chains, respectively. Auruo managed to fly out of the way, but Erd and Gunther took a direct hit caught in the middle of their Waterbending and a charging titan. Gunther's hurried escape was unfortunately, implemented incorrectly and he ended up backing into the Blue Titan, who did not take the assault lightly. Trapped between the two, all he could attempt was his most powerful Waterbending techniques - but with only limited water from his reserves and some from the atmosphere, it was going to be difficult.

The end was not prolonged. Painful, yes, but quick - and something told Levi that Gunther knew that before the Airbending Titan picked him up and pulled him apart - limb from limb. Levi did not stop to send a final heartfelt prayer to Gunther, nor did he spend time after losing his trusted squad member, all he did was charge in with the remaining ones, in the middle of the two titans, in the hopes that one sacrifice and possibly more to come, would give Mike the required opening. But that, of course, was not to be. The smaller titans had begun to get attracted to the scuffle with the two elite squads and now, not only were they dealing with two Aberrants, but also a flurry of nuisances. This mission was not going to succeed in any amount.

To Levi and Mike's surprise, their relief came in the form of the entire Recon Corps changing formation and turning around for a retreat, which in turn, served to assist the two squads in their battle. But what followed was even beyond even Erwin's thoughtful scheming.

Recon Corps or not, Mike and his team were still fighting when things turned eerily silent.

Eren stopped moving and even, in all that chaos, Levi could see the calm inside him. Something was happeninng with that boy and it did not seem like he himself was very aware of it. Vapours had started forming around him and all that cut through the vague fog of steam was a blood-curdling roar that stunned everyone and everything for a split second. Even the aberrants quit their movements. It had been a while since anything had surprised Levi and the scene unfolding in front of him had his eyes widening in surprise, horror and interest. With that roar, Eren spread out his arms and legs, throwing his head back he outgrew his fifteen-year old body. In a matter of seconds, what stood in front of them was a giant, about twelve metre tall titan. Screaming in anguish, it attacked the Blue Titan and the Airbending Titan. And in another one of those split second moments, everything was in a frenzy - Titan Eren attacked the two Aberrants, the smaller titans resumed their tearing through the Corps, Squad Levi charged in along with Squad Mike to assist Eren and Squad Erwin rallied some of the other groups to form a perimeter to contain the chaos. Hanji and her group of infant soldiers were the only ones less involved and watching "Eren" like a hawk.

What seemed like ages passed and all that lay in the aftermath was rubble - land and humans torn apart equally, caught between all forms of bending and ruthless murder. Everyone was still fearing the death count and loss of comrades, while Hanji was blazing through the mess to an Eren who was rapidly losing consciousness. By the time Hanji reached him, the boy was a mere fifteen-year old lying unconscious on the ground with nothing but a pained face and bleeding from places where he had been attacked. What this meant to their future was uncertain, but for now, he had saved them. Saved all of them - at the cost of his everything.

Mikasa stepped out of her trance and proceeded to the Court House. If he was going to be a visible target, then she would be his equally visible protector. Much worse would have to befall them before she would let anything touch Eren. She would not see him subjected to unfairness and if that led to her demise, well then, so be it.

A/N: This chapter is all about what is happening, I hope to get to the feelings associated in the next one. Happy New Year, everyone! And thank you for your support :)