Welcome back. We begin the Battle of Trost almost immediately, but first, let me remind you that the battle is written based on both the game and the anime. Of course, dialogue and events could be from either the game, the anime, or my creation.

This is my favorite chapter so far (at the time of posting, I'm beginning the sixth chapter) so I hope you guys enjoy what seems to be a long Battle of Trost. There's a lot to go through in this one battle alone, I forgot how many episodes the first season is of just this one battle

Thanks for the encouraging reviews, glad to see others enjoying this as much as I am. I'll see you guys in the next one.

Eren and I turn around, gasping in the shared shocked of my fellow cadets as we stared eye to eye with the terror that just appeared. Horror replayed in my eyes of five years past, freezing me with fear. I'm sure the same words replayed in Eren's head as they did in mine. Oh no, this cannot be happening. Not again.

The Colossal Titan. Nearly fifty feet tall, his fleshy head stares almost level at us with his exposed scowl, just as a powerful vortex of steam escapes its body. The force of it is enough to push us off, but the heat of the steam causes us to react. We are sent flying off the Wall, lucky to be equipped with ODM gear. We grapple on the Wall's side and hang vertically on it.

"Samuel!" I turn to see Conny cry the boy's name, and Sasha makes a desperate rescue attempt that has one of her hook grip Samuel's foot as the other hang on the Wall.

"Try not to move! Understand?" As Sasha begins to bring Samuel up, I stare back at Mina, seeing her fear across her face. Given our distance, I cannot reach her without moving into a new position, yet I don't deem the situation that critical.

"You okay, Mina?"

"Yes… Is this really happening?"

"Yeah. It is." I turn to Eren. "Almost lost Samuel. Shit."

"That was too damn close." He looks down to the lower part of the Wall, my eyes following. I knew I heard an explosion below us, but now that we see it, the two of us could only hang our jaws. "Oh god, no. Not again! They're going to get in. They're going to get in. They're going to get in!" Eren pushes himself off the Wall, I trail right behind. We land on the road leading to the Wall, getting a closer look at the hole in the Wall.

"The Wall… It's been destroyed!" I grit my teeth in anger and fear as the first Titan begins to walk in. I look up to the others still hanging on the Wall, their fear overcoming their readiness to fight. Giving the surprise, I understand it, but now we can do what we couldn't five years ago, and I will not let this opportunity be wasted. "Hey! This is what we've been training for! We must defend the city until the others can get here!" I draw my blades behind a ready Eren, and we take charge at the incoming Titan.

Eren gets there first, distracting it as he zips past the Titan's head. It makes the mistake of turning its head, exposing the nape. Taking aim with my hooks, I fire them towards the nape, then project myself forward with my swords ready to cut it open. Like swing a knife through butter, my blades cut deep through the Titan's neck, killing it instantly. My first Titan kill...before Mikasa too. I take some pride in it.

However, we don't have much time for a break. Another Large Titan enters through the Wall, just as Conny and Sasha come down from their perch. Conny lands beside me. "Are you okay? I'm joining the fight, too!"

I nod. "Good to see that!"

Sasha comes down the other side of me. "I'll go, too! We can win if we all fight together!"

Eren turns to us. "Josh is the best with the blades between the four of us. We'll distract them! Then you take the chance to strike them in the nape, Joshua!"

"Then let's get busy!" I watch as the three of them ascend towards the Titan. As Sasha and Eren gained the monster's attention, Conny flew low and cut the back of the Titan's knees, making it fall towards the ground. Seeing my opportunity, I take to the air and descend upon the Titan's nape, cutting through it expertly as I have trained. Another kill counted for me, I join Eren and the others upon one of the rooftops.

"We've pulled through! We can do this… Humanity can beat the Titans!"

Conny walks up to Eren's side, pointing at the hole in the Wall. "Eren, this is too much! If more Titans come, we're done for!"

Sasha turns to me. "Are you okay?" I wave her off, now that the adrenaline of killing two Titans is wearing off...for now. It is good enough for her. "Come on, we should retreat."

"No, there's still one more." Eren fires his hooks towards the top of the Wall.

Oh no, he isn't doing this. "Eren!" I reach forward, but it too late as Eren takes off for the top of the Wall.

We can only watch in awe as Jaeger cries out "The target is at the front of the outer Wall...The Colossal Titan!"

"You can't be serious."

I sigh. "Conny, he's serious. Seriously brave. Seriously stupid."

"Ah… Look!" Conny and I follow Sasha's finger, back to Maria's opening. "Another Titan made it in." Not just one, but two can be seen coming in. Sighing, I redraw my blades, much to the alarm of the redhead villager. "What? No!"

"Sasha," I state calmly, "we do not have a choice at this moment. Or at any moment. We must kill them."

Conny clicks his tongue as he draws his blades too. "Dammit, we have to kill that thing." He leaps first towards the Titans, me following afterward, then Sasha. As we approach, I look up to the Wall, seeing Thomas and Mina coming down.

"Sorry, I know I'm late...but I wanna help, too!"

"Yeah, we're joining the battle, too!" As they come down, they propel towards the larger of the two Titans, each taking an arm off it. I swing around to the back, effortlessly cutting the nape of the defenseless Titan. As it falls to the ground, me planting myself on the side of the Wall, I see the smaller Titan fall to Conny. He lands nearby, pointing up.

"Now, let's go help Eren!"

"Wait," Sasha cries out. "A Titan's coming this way." We see another Large Titan enter the Wall, though it hasn't spotted me or Conny who are on the Wall.

"Good grief," I sigh. "Conny, Sasha, Mina, we'll distract it. Thomas, you kill." From my view, I can see Thomas' surprise. Oh, I think I killed him. Yet I have faith he can make the cut, literally and figuratively. I push myself off the Wall, gathering the attention of the large monster. "Hello there. You look hungry." Keeping its eyes on me, I nod to the girls, who quickly zip in and maim the Titan of its arms. Conny and I descend, taking the legs, then I watch Thomas take flight. "Thomas, end it!"

"Yah!" Thomas flies over the grounded Titan, slicing the nape in two halves. He lands beside me, completely starstruck by what he did. "We managed to beat it…"

I pat him on the shoulder. "No, you did." I look to Conny, who glances at the top of the Wall. "Thomas, Conny, to Eren!" Us three boys skim up the side of the Wall, landing on top to see the presence of the Colossal Titan vacated. Thomas runs for the Wall's edge in search of Eren while Conny and I stay in place. I want to believe Eren got him, but a nonreassuring pit in my belly tells me otherwise. This… This is just like five years ago, yet as I look at my hands and uniform, caked with the blood of three Titans, I remember that no, it is not the same. I cannot let that happen.

"Eren! Where'd he go? Did he get away or did you take him out?"

"He's gone! Exactly like five years ago." I curse under my breath. Damn thing has a huge amount of hot steam to generate. If Eren did get close, the Titan used the steam as a defense. "He's here one moment and gone the next….just like that." As he joins us on the Wall, Eren steps forward dejected. He looks to me, knowing we share the same feeling, but apologizes to the three of us. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't apologize," Wagner says. "Look at us. We were too scared to move."

Conny wasn't having it as he turns to Eren to yell at him. "Hey, wallow on your own time. In case you hadn't noticed, there's a breach. We have to act now! We've taken a few out, but that's just the beginning. If they start pouring in, that's it!"

"Besides, Eren," I say as I walk to my friend, "there is no way I would expect you could have beaten him on your own. Nice try, but it wasn't going to happen."

"Look alive!" We turn to the sound of an older fifth male, a member of the Garrison Regiment. Fashionably late, as always. We salute as the soldier approaches us. "Operation Colossal Titan Response is in effect. I expect you to take part! Report to HQ! If you got close to the damn thing, we need details!" As if it'll make a difference, the Colossal Titan is gone.

"Sir! We pray the Advance Team will be victorious!" As the soldiers pass us, I take a breath. I do not know what it is for, why I am taking it, or even why I held it in, to begin with. Am I afraid? Am I unsettled? Whatever it is, I'll have time to beat it out of me as we head to the Garrison HQ.

Sadies is a pain in the ass, but the captain of the regiment we're with, Kitz Woermann, is a different kind of pain. But for leading the regiment, I can applaud his foresight in planning ahead for the presence of the Colossal Titan.

As we assemble, the captain shouts his orders. "I want everyone split into four squadrons, as we practiced. All squadrons are responsible for supply-running, message relay and enemy combat under the command of the Garrison Regiment! The Intercept Squadron will take the vanguard. Cadets will take the middle ground, led by the support squad. Rearguard will go to the elites. I expect you all to man your posts knowing the Advance team has been wiped out." I gasp, surprised that the work I, Eren, and the other cadets with us started ended in failure. That could have been us if the Advance Team had arrived a moment later.

"That's right, the outer gate is history. The Titans are in. This means the Armored Titan is likely to reappear. If and when he doesn't, the inner gate will also be history." Flashbacks to five years ago replay in my head. The Armored Titan wrecking the inner gate of Shiganshina...crushing my parents underneath a boulder...My fists tighten as Woermann continues his speech, but it falls on deaf ears as the sound of my racing heartbeat is all I hear.

Let the armored bastard show. I'll break through his exterior and cut the nape myself. As the soldiers begin to divide up, I feel a hand touch my shoulder. "Mina?"

"Hey." The girl's face is filled with sadness, the source I cannot determine. "I'm...sorry about earlier. Hesitating to join you in battle and all."

"Oh, don't worry about it. Given the situation, I'm happy you joined at all." I place my hand on her shoulder, comforting her. "Now you go out there and put your training to use, okay? Keep Eren Armin, and Thomas alive for me too."

Mina gradually smiles, brightening her face. "I'll do my best. Oh, and do you have it on you?"

I touch my upper chest. "Always." Before I retract my arm, Mina throws herself on me, hugging me tightly.

"Whatever you do, Joshua, please stay alive."

"I will. For no matter where I am, you are with me, Mina."

"Hey! What did you just say?"

Conny, always the hot-head. After checking my gas and my still dirty uniform, I look up to see Conny confronting an older girl by the name of Ymir. She barely moves her eyes to him, keeping her leaning posture on the wall. "I said it sucks to be stuck with an idiot."

"What?!"

Before I can intervene, Christa takes it upon herself to do so. "This is no time for bickering! Agh… I've had enough to this!" The blond turns to me, hoping I'll be willing to resolve this. "Ymir, Conny, you two are always fi-"

"Okay, okay, we get it!" Ymir pushes herself off the wall, stepping towards the younger woman. "Just for you, Christa, we'll make nice with each other… Okay?"

Conny sighs. "Well… There's not much point arguing at a time like this, I guess."

"Anyway, let's try to work together, alright?"

Ymir rolls her eyes. "I wish you guys would stop getting in Christa's and my way all the time."

I click my tongue as I begin to step away. "Please, Ymir. Don't flatter yourself, no one wants to be in the vicinity of your way."

Conny sighs as he follows, agreeing with me. "Ugh. You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you? Let's go already!" He leaps off the building we're on, leading the way to our position in the city. "Our job is to support the middle guard. Let's put what we learned to good use!"

I catch up with Conny, smirking challengingly. "Count your kills, and if Sasha's meat is still around, the winner gets a bigger slice."

For a moment he seems to accept, then he groans somewhat defeated. "You are going to win anyway."

"Ha! We'll see."

"Are you two done comparing dicks?" Ymir joins us, followed by Christa. She points ahead, where we can see a Titan's shoulders and head towering a building, his back to us. "We got one coming up." Ymir, Conny and I push ourselves forward to be the first to get to and cut the Titan's nape. Unfortunate for us boys, Ymir gets ahead pretty rapidly, thus allowing her to get the first kill of our mission.

I hear Conny mutter "Bitch" as the three of us join her on a rooftop nearby the fallen Titan. Ymir points to a herd of Titans to the east of our position. "I count five or six over there."

I take out my telescope, confirming that there are indeed six Titans. Three are large class, two are medium, the last is barely visible due to its small size. "Okay, games are over. We need to work as a team. Three of us will distract and attack the extremities of the Titans, one will get the kill."

Ymir makes noise before patting me on the shoulder. "You kill, oh so fearless leader. We'll distract them for you. Is that okay with you, Christa?"

She nods. "Works for me. Don't do anything stupid everyone."

I look to Conny, who silently relents to our plans. "Great, let's commence the attack."

The six targets are down, I look like I bathed in blood, but we manage to regroup with minimal losses. Conny almost messed up, but Ymir saved him by removing the Titan's arm before it grasped him.

I land first, then Conny beside me. "Look at Joshua go!"

Ymir and Christa come over, the older lady shoving Conny aside. "You'll be 100 times more useful than that idiot over there."

"And who the hell are you talking about?" I look to Christa, sighing at the lost cause of cooperation between Ymir and Conny. Before one of use can reprimand them, Conny points behind me. "That smoke… It's a distress call. I'm gonna go help!"

Ymir scoffs. "Leave them be. That's not our job."

I turn to Christa. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going. There's no good reason to ignore their call for help!"

As she and Conny head off, I turn to Ymir. I laugh with a smile as I follow after them. "You know you're going now."

"Shut it." It takes us a minute to get over from one side of the city to the other, but we move as quickly as possible without spending too much gas until we finally reach our destination. We discover a Large Titan in the area, its target a cadet. As it reaches down for the cadet, I come down, amputating the limb and watching it fall a little too close to the cadet. She'll live, but her attacker is cut down a second later by Christa.

Regrouping once more, I wave to the cadet as Ymir spots another smoke signal. "Red signal. It is an urgent one."

"Let's get going." Our path to the red signal is uneventful as we come across no Titans, but as we arrive, we see a church surrounded by the monsters. I also spot Armin, Thomas, Eren and Mina defending the church. I swing in close to Eren, saluting him.

He spots me. "You're alright! Thank goodness!"

Armin, still tense as he was when we were preparing for battle, points to the attacking Titans. "Save the small talk for later! We got a Titan coming our way!" My group directs itself to the back of the church where Armin pointed out the approaching Titan. Taking the lead, I take out a flashbang out my pocket and throw it in the face of the Titan. It flashes, blinding and confusing the Titan, only for Conny and Christa to take out its legs and Ymir to slice its nape. I loop around to the Titan Eren's group is having trouble with, using their distraction to take another Titan's life with my blades.

Regrouping, Armin waves as he points in another direction. "That's all the Titans around here. Let's go, Eren. We're heading that way."

I nod. "We'll head to the north then. Stay safe, all of you."

Eren salutes me with two fingers. "See you later!" As Eren's group flies away, I turn to mine to see Conny checking his gas stores.

"Are you low, Conny?"

"Yeah."

I check my own. It seems we're all getting low on gas. "Alright. Conserve as much as you can. We're heading back to headquarters."

After getting back to headquarters and helping eliminate nearby Titans, my group makes a quick resupply and rejoin the battle. After a few minutes of slaying Titans (and getting quite bored of the ease of it, personally), Christa calls out to us. "A Titan is approaching us."

"Good grief-Woah!" The Titan is a Large-class, but its looks are definitely different. It has strange orange markings on its arms and legs, making it not the typical Titan but definitely not on the strangeness that is the Colossal or Armored Titan.

Ymir folds her arms as we get a look at our enemy. "We can't ignore it. We have to take it down here and now."

Conny, once more, is first to charge. "You're pretty good, Joshua. Not as good as me, though, obviously. I'll take this one down!"

I roll my eyes. "Whatever you say, Springer. Christa, with me, go for the legs."

"Alright!" The two of us burst low for the knees while unintentionally gaining the Titan's attention. Now Titans usually don't have much expression besides the face they're set with, but something about this one made me worry. It isn't Abnormal, else I wouldn't order for our usual tactic, but this one isn't exactly normal either.

My fears had its worth once the Titan proceeded to move towards Christa and I. It lunged forward, scooping its arm to catch us. "Move!" We react at the last second, Christa disengaging his charge by dropping to the ground, I shooting myself upward above its hand. Concentrating on me as I land on the side of some houses, I watch it dive forward. I move as the Titan crashes in the house and the ones adjacent to it, landing on the ground, trying my best to not panic. What the hell is with this one? It has so much energy.

As it gets up, Ymir swings through, severing its right leg and limiting its mobility. It crashes back on some buildings, leaning on them for support. Conny sees this as an opportunity to take it out. With a cry, he comes at the Titan from its left, cutting out its eyes before wrapping around and cutting the nape. At first, it looks like he made a deep enough cut, but as the Titan continues to tend to its loss of sight, I see that Conny barely even cut the nape. It's more of a scrap than at cut. Pissed off, more so that this Titan was very adamant in making me its lunch rather than Conny's failure, I burst forward, slashing my blades deep enough to cover the road, buildings, and me in a shower of blood.

Regrouping, I look at Conny, still peeved. "You want to say you're better now?"

"I'm sorry!"

"Stop being a cocky shit and being unable to back it up." Sighing, I wipe as much blood from my face as possible. "Though I don't know what that Titan's problem was."

"That was nothing," Ymir says, pointing in the direction of the headquarters. "Let's retreat already."

As we head out to the city a third time, we hear a scream. It could have been anyone in the world, but for some reason, it sounds like...Armin?

"What the?" Conny and the rest of us pause in our movements as he points to the west. "That came from the direction Eren and the others went! Hurry!" We zip as fast as we can to Eren, Armin, Thomas, and Mina's location, only to see three of the four looking off to the distance. I land beside Mina, turning in the direction they are looking...just to see a Titan hugging the steeple of a church. It moves its head slightly to the right, showing a human caught between its teeth. Upon closer inspection, I believe I recognize the hairstyle. Holding my breath, I hold my telescope to my eyes to see that it is Thomas that is caught between those teeth.

"Thomas!" The Titan holds his head back, making us watch in horror as the monster slurps down my friend like a noodle. A switch flips inside me, burning me with rage as I step forward. "Yeah, I'm good… Matter of fact, I have a better idea. We'll personally train together."

Thomas' jaw almost dropped. "W-What? But...why would you want us tagging along with you?"

Mina's eyes became wider than her face. "Yeah. We'll just slow you down. Why burden yourself with us? You hang with Jaeger and his gang, don't you?"

I smile. "Sure, but… We come from different places in this world, but the fact remains that the Titans want us gone. Thomas, you want the Military Police, Mina, you gave your goals, I have mine in the Scouts. For all I care right now is that we get through this together." I stick my hand out, eyeing them challengingly. "Now either you accept my offer, or prove Sadies right."

"THOMAS!"

Mina tries to reach out for me. "Josh! No!" I ignore her pleas, bursting off the roof. I heard Eren right behind me, cursing the Titan aloud as I do so in my head. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to gouge your eyes out, lacerate your throat, and rip out your stomach to get my friend! As I come close, I hear a cry from behind. I turn to see Eren fall and slide on several rooftops. I abandon my crusade to look for my comrade.

I spot his fallen form hanging dangerously off a roof. "Eren!" He's unconscious, bleeding from his head and his left leg is severed. Below, I spot the Titan that might had gotten to him, chewing happily. I look back down the street, seeing Armin, Mina and a Garrison soldier after us. I wanted to continue my chase, but then a greater horror happens. The soldier collides with a giant head. Mina has one of her ropes snatched. Another soldier is captured. Armin, stunned in shock, falls to his knees as he looks at Eren's body. I shake myself. Where's Ymir, Conny, and Christa? Were they...No. I cannot lose anyone else.

I head back down the street, ignoring Eren and Armin, heading to the Titan that now grasp Mina in its hands. "Mina!" I have my blades ready, but just as I prepare to make my rescue, I spot another Titan just underneath me in the road, the one that got Eren. It tries to bite me from below, but I react quick enough to dodge but not fast enough to avoid crashing through a window. Landing on my sides, I roll until I hit a wall with my head. My vision blurs, but through the haziness, I watch as Mina is swallowed.

"This is it." I step aside, allowing Mina to view the valley outside the campgrounds. She gasps with awe, amazed as I once was that such a beautiful place in the world is just meters away from the hell of the training camp.

"Wow. It is beautiful."

"Yeah. Reiner and Bertholdt brought me, Eren and Armin here our second night. Some nights I come here to escape, but tonight I want to share it with someone else." I step beside her, our arms brushing each other. I gaze forward as she turns to me, her white face turning a little red. "Wait, me? You...chose me?"

I nod. "Of course." I look to her, her eyes swelling a bit with tears. "Why are you crying? Matter of fact, you said you wanted to give me something earlier today."

"Oh, right." She reaches in her pocket, pulling out a string with a wood carving linked to it. The carving is that of the Scout's logo, the Wings of Freedom. I gasp as she hands it to me, tears streaming down her face. "I made you this since you want to go to the Scouts when we graduate next week. I...want to give you something to remember me by, to know that I am always with you."

I smile and work my head through the loop of the necklace. A perfect fit, I let it fall around my neck. "I love it. Thank you, Mina. Much better than the notebook Thomas gave me. He really told me that I should write my adventures down."

Mina laughs. "I think you should. I'll read them."

"Maybe I'll start tonight then." I turn back to the valley, letting my left hand fondle the carving. My right hand is filled by one of Mina, her head resting on the upper part of the limb. We stand together for who knows how long, but for some reason, I want to stay in this spot forever.

Adrenaline spiking, I leap out the window and yell as I stab the twin blades in each eye of Mina's killer. "GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK!" With the hooks firmly attached to the Titans head, I repeat the motions until I grow tired of it, swing around, and cut the Titan's nape. It falls on its back, its mouth hanging open. I keep to high ground, watching, waiting, hoping that Mina will crawl out the monster's mouth and I can come out as her hero. I hold on to the carving wrapped around my neck, praying to whoever is a god that the one girl besides Mikasa that I care for is going to crawl out any moment now. There's no way she's dead.

But like the time I wasted sitting here, like the tears I let wash my face, like the prayers I sent up, it is useless to believe Mina is even alive. I don't remember who I hear screaming, whether it is mine or someone else's down the street. All I feel inside is three large holes in my heart. One for Thomas. One for Mina.

A third, at this current moment, I cannot explain.