Companions to the End Chapter 4

Mid-Summer, 850 – The Attack on Trost 2

Ymir was running on autopilot, too lost in thought to be focusing on the events on hand.

She and her squad, consisting of herself, Christa, Sasha, and two other people (a guy and a girl, who seemed very chummy with each other) that she didn't know, were busying launching themselves from building to building with their ODM gears, on the hunt. Their squad, along with most of the 104th, had been tasked with containment, spreading out across Trost, and taking down any Titan that they saw.

Ymir had felt that it was a waste of time when they were given the order, and that they were just buying time at best, or being sent to their deaths at worst (which was realistically the most probable outcome). So long as the main gate into Trost was still open, curtesy of the Colossal Titan, they would just be delaying the inevitable.

Speaking of the Colossal Titan, Ymir was deep in thought over her latest discovery. Bertholdt was the Colossal Titan, and with how he was talking to Reiner, chances were that he was Armoured Titan.

Which was a huge revelation for Ymir.

For one, it meant that they were responsible for the fall of Wall Maria and the deaths of several thousands of innocents (including the Yeager boy's mother, if the tales that had been passed around the barracks held any truth). For another, it meant she wasn't the only Titan Shifter in Trost.

This was worrisome for Ymir, because she was now wondering what they were doing here. Were they here for her? Were they here to simply destroy the Eldians? Were they here for something else entirely? She didn't know, and that worried her.

If they were here for her, she'd have to be on her guard. While she was confident that she could take them in human form, if they attacked her with their Titans then she'd be in trouble, especially given their location. While her Titan was quick and agile no matter what, the ideal location for her Titan to fight in would be the various forests that existed outside the walls, the massive trees allowing her to swing and jump around to the fullest extent that her form allowed. This would allow her to tear apart most Titans, and in a fight against another Shifter, she'd have the advantage.

But here, in the town? She didn't have the same kind of advantage, in fact, it played right into their hands. Reiner's sheer durability would allow him to outlast her and then rip her apart, and Bertholdt's size would allow him to crush anything that she could use to try and propel herself to his nape. If they were so inclined, they'd kill her with next to no difficulty.

So, for now, she had to play it carefully, wait for them to mess up. They were clearly trying to avoid being noticed, with the amount of secrecy they were displaying earlier being proof of that. But that was what clued Ymir in, their sudden disappearances during their training days made her suspicious of them hiding something. She had only just found out what it was they hiding, and now she couldn't be gladder that she trusted her suspicions (she was also semi-convinced that Annie was somehow involved, but the fact that neither Bertholdt or Reiner mentioned her in their plans made her question this theory).

With this knowledge at hand, Ymir now knew what she had to do to secure what she wanted, and right now, her priority was Christa. The tiny blonde had somehow managed to worm her way into Ymir's heart, despite Ymir's attempts to stay isolated. The fact that Ymir knew of her past as an exile from her family, only made her more sympathetic towards her: which she found quite annoying. Nevertheless, she found herself caring for someone else for once in her life, and she had to make sure she survived.

She also kind of wanted Sasha to survive, more so because she found Sasha incredibly entertaining than because she actually cared for her.

She was only barely aware of how one of the other people in her five-man squad called out two Titans in the distance, and how they were going to engage. She had to find a way to get out of this mess, one that didn't involve her dying.

She didn't go to all this trouble just to die a meaningless death in this shithole of a town.


Reiner had found a way to spite Annie.

While he wasn't stupid enough to try and take her on head-on, especially not without his Titan form, he knew he could still get back at her indirectly. Despite knowing what she was meant to do, and even despite what she had already done, she had grown attached to many members in their training squad, given him the perfect targets for his revenge.

For she had betrayed them, and traitors must be punished.

He and Bertholdt were currently in a squad along with Marco and two others. Reiner wasn't that concerned about the other two, they were just tiny obstacles in his path, the main objective was Marco.

Annie had grown close to a lot more people than she let on. While most could deduce that she had indeed grown close to the Shiganshina trio of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin (who Reiner was currently contemplating whether he could go after to inflict more pain onto Annie), what most who didn't know her truly well would miss is that she had grown close to several others in more subtler ways. She had grown fond of Sasha's eating habits, and Connie's silly attitude, both being things that made her smile internally. She had grown fond of Ymir and Christa, and had secretly began pairing them together when they weren't around. Reiner still remembers her threat of disembowelment when he found out about that.

But the one he was interested in right now was Marco, who Annie had grown fond of because of his natural kindness to everyone around him. When the people she knew on a personal level was either insane (which consisted of her new friends in the 104th) or a murderer (like him and Bertholdt), the idea of a genuine nice person was something that Annie would genuinely cherish.

So, Reiner was going to take that away from her.

He had it planned out already, and Bertholdt, as reluctant as he was, had agreed to help. The first group of Titans they saw, they'd turn and rip the ODM gears from the three other members of their team and leave them to get eaten.

Which was exactly what they were in the process of doing.

They had seen a duo of Titans a couple of streets down, and they were currently flying through the street towards them. Reiner had his blades drawn, ready to act on his plan. As they all congregated on a nearby rooftop, Reiner began mentally preparing himself.

He had to do this. She had to learn that her actions had consequences.

As he began stalking over to the other three, with Bertholdt also beginning to draw his blades, one of the other two members of their little team was busy making a plan of attack.

"All right, here's the plan, we're going to dart past them and get them to expose their napes. When they turn, you two will attack and take them down. That leaves a person on lookout for other Titans. Any questions?"

Reiner couldn't help but let a smirk loose at this. They were playing right into their hands. All he needed to do was exploit it even further.

"That sounds good, me and Marco will attack the napes. Bertholdt can keep an eye out, with you two being the bait." Reiner had to force himself to keep calm, and to not let a predator like tone seep into his voice as he spoke.

Nodding, the other two members of the squad nodded, and then turned and jumped off the roof, starting what they thought was a thought-out, strategic strike. They never expected that they were jumping to their deaths.

Marco began tensing his body up, preparing to launch his hooks to start his attack, when suddenly, with nothing but a brief flash to give him a clue as to what happened, his ODM gear was torn apart, damaged beyond repair.

Turning in shock, all he saw before being knocked out was Reiner, with a predatory grin, throwing a powerful right hook, and then he saw black.

Reiner was feeling pretty satisfied with himself. Marco was out cold, his gear was disabled, and even now he could hear the screams of the other two members as the two Titans that they were supposed to wipe out devoured them.

Bertholdt walked up behind Reiner, shaking his head. He didn't disagree with this plan, Annie needed to be sent a message telling her that they weren't to be messed with, but was this really necessary?

"So, what now Reiner?"

"Easy, we leave him. Those Titans will eat him in a moment, and any trace of our betrayal will be covered. Simple." Reiner stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"And then what? We were supposed to keep our heads down until this attack blew over, and now we're killing people just out of spite. We're being reckless!" Bertholdt began shouting, clearing not liking this situation he was put in.

Sighing, Reiner turned back to Bertholdt, with pity in his eyes. "I know, but we had to send her a message. We both know that if she were to change her mind, she could out us to the military. And then everything we've done, all the terrible things we've done in the name of our mission, would have been for nothing. I will not let that BITCH ruin all our hard work!"

Beginning to calm down, Bertholdt took a breath before nodding in agreement. "Right, sorry. That makes sense. Sorry."

Smiling slightly to show he was forgiven, Reiner patted him on the back. "Good. Let's get the fuck outta here."

And with that, the two of them jetted off, planning to ride out the rest of this attack. Afterall, the storm will pass. They always do.

However, little did they know, the real storm hadn't even arrived. It was brewing just around the corner, and now everything was about to change. Nothing, would ever, be the same again.


"Mikasa, there's one on your left!"

Eren and his squad was in the middle of attacking a pair of Titans, carrying out their orders. They had been instructed to take out any Titans that they came across in an attempt to buy time for people to get out. The more Titans they killed, the less Titans can go after the evacuees. This meant that less people would end up suffering like his mom did, which was more than enough to motivate Eren.

So far, his squad has been on fire. Thanks to Mikasa's inclusion to the team, Eren had been pushing himself much harder than he normally would, not wanting to be shown up in her presence. This stubborn determination had motivated the rest of the squad to keep pushing themselves harder as well, leading to them being at their best. This meant that they had been performing far above expectations.

So far, as a squad, they had dealt with four Titans, with Mikasa taking out two, Thomas taking out one, and the guy who they didn't know beforehand (whose name was Michael) had taken out the last one.

While Eren was internally angry at the fact he had yet to make his first Titan kill, he was actually grateful for Mikasa's presence. As much as he would say that she annoyed him, which was somewhat true, he appreciated knowing she had his back. Out of everyone he knew, he only really trusted Mikasa to have his back without fail. Armin, as loyal a friend as he is, was not a fighter. Chances were if a fight broke out, Armin would be the one that needed protecting, never mind backing. He did somewhat trust Annie to have his back, she was certainly skilled enough to fight anyone off, be they Titan or human. But honestly, even Eren could tell that she was more interested in looking out for Armin (after discussing it with Mikasa, they had secretly agreed that she had an unspoken crush on their blonde friend, and they also agreed to never bring it up). And everyone else Eren knew he didn't trust nearly as much as Mikasa.

So with Mikasa watching his back, he did feel safer. That, and he just preferred having her in his sight. While she was no longer the defenceless little girl he rescued all those years ago, Eren had never lost his protective streak over her. It was the reason why he got so angry whenever Mikasa outshone him or looked out for him – it was supposed to be the other way around. He didn't really have an inferiority complex to her, he just wanted to make sure she was safe, something that couldn't happen if she was risking her neck for him constantly.

Now however, they could watch each other's backs, which while still difficult for Eren to accept because it still meant that she was risking her life, for him (something that did keep him up at night when he reflected on it), but was much better than the alternative. He knew he could trust her to watch his back, just as she knew he would watch hers. They would keep each other safe.

They would fight together, against anyone who tried to fight them.

As Thomas had finished off the first Titan, Mikasa flew over Eren's head, blades drawn and pulled back in a standard slashing motion. Using her bodyweight to generate motion, she flipped forward and slashed downwards, getting a clean strike on the Titan's nape. As the Titan fell to the ground, Eren and his squad began landing on various rooftops. As he and Armin landed on the same roof that Mikasa landed on after her strike, Thomas and Michael landed on a rooftop opposite. Walking over to Mikasa, Eren patted her back.

"Nice one Mikasa, that's three Titans dead cos of you. A good start to the day." And Eren genuinely meant it. With how much he hated Titans, anyone who killed one was doing a good job in his book.

Surprised by the compliment, Mikasa had to cover her face with her scarf to hide her blush.

Not noticing this, Eren turned to shout over to his teammates on the other roof.

"Oi! You two! We're gonna head north, its closer to the gate, so there'll be more Titans there!"

"Are you mad?! Our job is to buy time, not run into the heart of the horde!" Thomas shouted back, clearly not impressed with this turn of events.

As Eren went to shout back, a shadow passed over him, as a shape blocked out the sun. Turning to see what it was, he looked up to see a Titan body flying over him. Panicking at the sight, Eren let his instincts take over.

"Get down!" And as he shouted this, he tackled both Armin and Mikasa, taking them to the ground so that the Titan's flailing limbs didn't catch them.

As they dived out of the way, the Titan went clear past their building, and into the one that Thomas and Michael was standing on. They weren't as quick to react, and Michael perished instantly, as one of the Titan's limbs crushed him instantly, leaving only a blood smear on the now smashed roof. Thomas was right in line with its head, and as the Titan fell into the building, Thomas disappeared into the rubble.

Reacting quickly, Eren and Mikasa jumped to their feet, while Armin had to take a minute to collect himself before rising up as well. As they looked over the edge, they saw the Titan rise up from the rubble, and turned towards them.

With Thomas half-hanging out his mouth.

"Please… help"

And with those final words, the Titan swallowed him whole, ending his life there and then.

Enraged, Eren began grinding his teeth together, glaring at the Titan for all his worth. This was clearly an Abnormal Titan, the way it had launched itself over the buildings being proof of this. It was only about 10 meters tall, but it had a dopey look on his face, and that made Eren even angrier.

The abnormal then turned, seemingly content with its meal before walking off.

In disbelief over this, Eren could practically feel his blood pressure rising.

"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"

And with that, he launched himself off the roof after it, no longer caring about preserving his gas. This Titan had to die.

"Eren! Wait!" Eren barely registered Mikasa's worried shouts, his sense of rationality abandoning him in his rage.

"You bastard! You think you can eat Thomas and walk away from me! I'll kill you!"

But in his rage-induced attack, Eren had failed to take into account the fact that there were other Titans in the town. And the one that had just raised its head towards him.

Trying to move himself out of the way, Eren only succeeded in moving part of his body out of the Titan's path, with his left arm and leg getting caught in the Titan's mouth, being ripped off almost instantly.

Now feeling disbalanced, as well as an excruciating amount of pain, Eren lost control of his flight, crashing face first into a rooftop.

"EREN!" Mikasa screeched, distressed by Eren's intense injuries, launched herself into an attack, with Armin lingering back as the fear that had been setting in since the appearance of the Colossal Titan finally gripped his heart.

Eren was hurt, badly, and Mikasa knew it was up to her to save him. Eren had swallowed a bitter pill in his mind when he allowed Mikasa to join his squad, even she could tell that. But the fact that he had allowed her to without any major complaint was something she was not going to waste, especially not now that he was in serious danger. She would slaughter every Titan that tried to stop her from saving the boy she loved.

But that task seemed to be getting harder and harder, as more Titans had started to show up, all with the intent of devouring Eren. She launched herself at the first Titan who had attacked Eren, tearing through its nape with ease. Twisting in the air, she fired another hook into the nape of another nearby Titan, and then pulled herself into another kill.

As she tumbled from the kill, she flipped around and slashed at another Titan's outstretched hand, cleaving off several large fingers. They were swarming in, and she didn't know how

long she would last.

Before she hit the ground, she used a burst of gas to give her some height, and then propelled herself up behind a large 12-meter class Titan. But before she could finish that kill, a second Abnormal appeared and grabbed her.

As this was happening, a Titan with a grey beard and bald head had spotted Armin, who had frozen in fear and was completely helpless. The Titan seemed to decide that Armin was going to be its next meal, and began marching towards him.

Eren was watching all of this, and the guilt was beginning to set in.

'This is my fault, they're going to die because of me.' Eren realised, as he reflected on all of their decisions since the attack on Shiganshina.

He had dragged Mikasa and Armin into the army with him, taking them from the relative safety of civilian life and putting them in the dangerous position that the army was. Not only that, but they were going to follow him into the Survey Corps, the single most dangerous Regiment in the entire army. With every expedition, only 20% of the expedition team came back. And he was going to lead the two single most important people to joining it.

And now, here they were, about to die, because of him.

Eren felt especially guilty about Mikasa, who had suffered nothing but hardships since she met him. During their first meeting, she lost her parents and had to kill a man. Not even a year later, she had to suffer through the loss of his mother, someone who had treated her like a daughter. And then they had to suffer through years of starvation and homelessness as they waited till they reached the appropriate age to join the army.

And now, while watching out for his stupid arse, she was going to get eaten.

"No." Eren decided. No more will he just let life do as it pleased as it toyed with him and the people he cared about. No longer will he take it lying die.

"She does not die, today." He muttered, groaning through the pain that losing two of his limbs caused.

"I will not let her die." He muttered slightly louder this time, with pure determination taking hold. But as he slowly began pushing himself up, he failed to notice the crackling electricity that was starting to surround him.

"SHE WILL NOT DIE ON MY WATCH!" He then roared, before he saw a blinding flash of light, and then nothing.