A/N: Chapter 3 rewrite. Last one for tonight. I gotta get some sleep.

"Okay guys, today is the day we escape. There is a blimp coming at around ten tonight," Drayce says.

It's been two years since the mutants arrived at Marley. Drayce and his friends have trained harder than ever for this moment.

"Okay, Rachel. Since your on fuel duty, when the driver gets out, you steal the key from him with you telekinesis. I'll take out the other guards with Drayce so George can start up the engine after it's been fueled again," finishes William.

"We then get on the blimp and fly away while Rachel, William, and Mable provide cover against incoming missiles," Boone adds. "Oh yeah George, you sure you can pilot that thing?"

"Yes I can, Boone. I haven't been taking lessons on it for two years with a crazy titan lady for nothing," George snapped back.

"Alright everyone get going. Me and William have guard duty over the blimp tonight. When William gives the signal you guys come to the blimp," Drayce says.

Later that night, the blimp comes as expected. The trio watch as the convoy comes out and is greeted by Officer Karlux. A small glow floats towards Rachel and she grabs it. She waved the keys at William, confirming the item. As they walk away, William gives Drayce a nod. Drayce unsheathed his katana, drops the first guard and throws his sword, impaling a second guard. William snaps the last guard's neck, sending a fireball into the night sky while Drayce retrieves his sword. An alarm sounds as two of their mutant friends run out.

"Where are the others?!" Drayce roars.

"They've been captured trying to get out," George shouts. "They've sounded the alarms!"

"Rachel, take care of that missile coming towards us. We have to go or we're all dead," William shouts.

Gunfire rings out from a distance and bullet holes pepper the ground.

"Cover me, I'm going in and getting them back," Drayce shouts, running straight into the line of fire

Rachel stares at the missile, her eyes glowing turquoise from the intense concentration. A blue aura surrounds the missile, freezing it as it explodes in mid air. Mable flicks her hand and a gust of wind knocks a line of soldiers down.

"Defend the damn airship until Drayce gets back," William roars.


Drayce sneaks into the building. Soldiers are rushing left and right. He looks around and walks towards the main hall. He can hear shouting and screaming coming from below him. He rushes towards the stairs and descends quickly. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, a sight nearly makes his heart stop.

"Well, a bit late to the party are we," Karlux sneers. His friends are bound and gagged against the wall, a line of guards with guns pointed at them.

"Surrender and your friends can go free or we kill them," he growls.

Drayce looks at his friends and they are shaking their head vigorously, telling him not to do it. He smiled sadly. Drayce lays down his katana and retracts his claws.

"Bind him, then execute all of the-" Karlux freezes to see six claws buried deep into his chest. He looks in fear as he stares at the boy's murderous eyes.

"Kill them," Karlux gurgles.

"NO," Drayce shouts. He throws Karlux's body at the soldiers but it's too late.

The shots ring out and that's when Drayce cries out and lets out every ounce of pain and anguish. The anger he suppressed for the past ten years of his life exploded. Something inside him snaps and he loses himself in his rage. Electricity arks in his mind, sparking and sizzling. His vision turns red as he blindly pummels away at his enemies. As his rage finally evaporates, his eyes adjust to the sight before him. The walls were stained red, slash marks all over the place, bodies lying motionless on the floor. His body is aching from his wounds. Taking a single step forwards, he collapses to the floor. Crawling over to his friends he finds that they're dead except for Christie. Gasping for air, she desperately looks him in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he croaks, tears welling out. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you," he cried as Christie looks at him with pleading eyes.

"Please, don't worry. It won't be so bad. I'll finally get to see mom and dad again," she whispered, tears were rolling down both their faces.

"Please, protect them, for me, for all of us," she begs.

Unable to speak, Drayce bows his head and nods. With that, she exhales one last time before closing her eyes. He rises from his position and takes one last look at all the carnage he caused. His breathing becomes faster and shorter, turning into a chuckle, and finally turning into a full out laugh.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?!" he screams towards the ceiling, his pupils a scarlet red. "WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT TO TAKE FROM ME?!"

He half laughed and half cried as his mind slowly began to break down. "MY FAMILY, MY HUMANITY, IT'S ALL GONE! ALL OF IT! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL, EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!"


"Marcel, I'm done with my side," Annie says, running back to the front door.

"No, not yet. We still need to check the cells. I'm getting pulled back to the flank so do that for me will you?" Marcell asks out of breath.

"Sure then," Annie says, turning around back towards the main hall.

She runs towards the stairs and takes out her dagger. She peers into the darkness of the rows of cells. The walls were torn into, multiple slashes scarring them. As she reached the end of the stairs she could already smell the stench of death. She could hear a soft sobbing sound off in the distance. She grips the blade harder and begins to carefully walk towards the source of the noise. Turning the corner, she sees a lone boy, his shoulders shaking. Around him were the bodies of five kids, no older than she was.

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?!" the boy screams suddenly, scaring Annie. "WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT TO TAKE FROM ME?!"

What she judged to be sobs were actually his laughs. Her stomach churned as she listen to his words. "MY FAMILY, MY HUMANITY, IT'S ALL GONE! ALL OF IT! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL, EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!"

Every last one of them. Annie's eyes widened as she spiraled back into her memories.

Flashback Begins

"Mother! Tell me a story!" little Annie begs as she climbs onto her mother's lap.

Her mother chuckles and lifts up Annie, adjusting her position. Her mother taps her nose very lightly, smiling.

"Alright then Ann. We can't be too long. Your father will be back," her mother says gently. "I'll have to leave soon."

"Why? Mother!" Annie asks, tugging at her mom's sleeve as tears dripped down her face.

Her mother wiped away her tears, giving a sad smile.

"You see, your father and I haven't been on the country's best side. I'll have to go with some people," her mother explained carefully.

"When will you come back?"

A loud sharp knock came from the front door. Her mother set Annie down onto the floor and crossed the room and opened the door. Several soldiers and an officer walked into the room. Finally, her father himself walked through the door.

"Olivia Leonhart, you are under arrest for conspiring against the Marley government with the penalty of death, carried out by firing squad. Execution is to take place in a week from today," the officer reads from the scroll.

He rolls back up the parchment and holds up a pair of handcuffs. Annie watches as her mom stands up and walks obligingly towards the officer. She watches as he fastens the restraints onto her mother's wrists. Her father refused to meet their eyes, head bowed.

"Lukas, next time this happens, we won't be so lenient to let you and your daughter live. As per our agreement, is she enrolled?" the officer asked coldly.

"Yes, she has. I've submitted the papers already," her father said heavily.

"Good, we'll be back for her soon," the man said before briskly taking his leave.

Annie watches as her father sinks into the cedar chair in the corner. His hands rub his troubled face. His eyes turn towards her.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be practicing your kicks?" her father snaps.

"B-but what about mother?" she asks in a tiny voice.

"She's gone. Now go!" her father yells, anger rising to his face.

She runs out of the house, tears starting to pool at her eyes. The government, anger and rage began to build up as she thought about it more. It was their fault, they had forced them to do this. Not the people across the sea, but the very people of her homeland.

Flashback End

Annie watched as the boy tore through a steel cage with his bare hands like it was wet paper. She lowered her knife, dropping it to the ground. The boy turned at the sudden sound, the scarlet red eyes turned to face her. She kicked her knife towards him, the blade clanging as it slid across the linoleum floor. Pressing her back to the wall, she sat down.

"Go. Leave before I call for reinforcements," she says.

Drayce stares at her in surprise. "Are you also-"

"I don't care. Just go," Annie interrupts.

He shakes his head, staggering up the stairs and out the building.

"There he is! Get him!" a soldier yells, pointing at Drayce.

The entire battalion turned and started to fire on Drayce. He stands there, taking the fire, bullets clanging against his skeleton. His entire body crackles with electricity as he walks towards the opposition.

"Oh crap! Run!"

"Retreat! He's going to transform!"

An bolt of lightning arks down and strikes Drayce. The blast knocks down the battalion of soldiers. Flesh wraps around his entire body as he is lifted into the air. He stands up at his full height of seventeen meters, looking around the battlefield. He bends down and grabs the nearest turret, crushing it with his bare hands. The cannon explodes into a fiery mess of metal. He throws the crunched weapon down at the soldiers, scattering their formation.

'Nothing from this base shall remain. I will raze it to the ground,' Drayce thinks savagely as he slashes his claws across the main building.

"Evacuate the site! Gather the recruits!"

The rubble falls and smashes to the ground breaking the ranks. He stomps towards the airships, smashing each one with his fists. He continues to rampage in the base, destroying everything in sight. His friends watch from the airship as the assault turns towards their friend. His anguished roar reverberated throughout the entire military base. The group watches as the army abandons their failed counterattack. Soldiers and cadets alike stream out the gates, running for their lives. Annie turns and looks back at what was left of the base. It was a pile of steaming rubble, flames licking the destroyed structures.

"They really are devils," Reiner gasps, looking back at the destruction. "Look at what they've done!"

'Good riddance,' Annie thinks as she looks at the sea of fire.


With a huge burst of steam, Drayce exits his titan. He staggers on board and falls over.

"George, get to the cockpit," Rachel screams throwing him the keys.

George sprints to the wheel and the blimp takes off with a sudden lurch. William and Mable lift Drayce from his position and carry him into the medical bay, placing him on the bed. Drayce groans and opens his eyes but they were blank and hollow.

"I tried to save them. I wasn't fast enough and they w-." That's when Drayce's voice breaks.

There is no need for him to continue the explanation.

"Come on guys. Leave him be," William mutters.

By sunrise, the blimp reaches the coast. The escapees get out of the blimp.

"Here, hold my katana," Drayce says as he thrusts it into George's arms.

He runs a good distance back. He closes his eyes and a bolt of lightning strikes Drayce. His titan body appears out of thin air. He kneels and extends a hand. George, William, Mable, and Rachel clambered on. Loosely closing his hand, he brought it up to his shoulder. The mutants get off and cling on to his hair like little koalas. With that, Drayce slashed the blimp with his claws. The vehicle explodes in a fiery mess. Drayce picks it up and throws the remains into the sea. After watching it sink, Drayce races off towards the wall.

"With my calculations, we should reach the wall by sundown using my power," George shouted.

"Drayce, it's up to you to protect us from the titans in between jumps," Mable shouted. George yelled and a portal appeared. Drayce ran right through it, bringing them a bit closer to the walls. They repeated this, jumping through portals, until finally reaching Wall Maria. Drayce let's them down and exits the titan and it begins to steam.

"The Garrison soldiers are all dead asleep. This is your chance to create the portal now," Rachel whispered into George's ear.

The boy furrows his brows in concentration as a small flickering light appears and enlarges into a hole. They peer through it and see houses in the distance. Drayce nods and the mutants climb through. Once safe and sound, George closes the portal and run off to rejoin his friends.

"We don't have many places to go now. We can live in the forest until we have enough for a house," Rachel suggests.

Drayce gaze is unfocused and he's muttering something to himself. The other look with concern. William shakes his shoulder, snapping him back to reality.

"Uh yeah sure. I have to go check on something real quick," he says quickly and walks off.

They look at him unsure. They all knew he bore the weight of their friends' death all on himself, but didn't know the extent of how hard it was on him. Drayce wandered towards a secluded house on the edge of the forest. The window to Mikasa's room was opened. He frowns and climbs in. He walks over to his sister's bed and notices how hot her forehead is. He listens intently and comes to the conclusion that his parents weren't home. He frowns. People died all the time to common illnesses and his family didn't have access to a doctor besides Dr. Yeager who only sometimes visits them. He walks downstairs and throws open the medicine cabinet and finds it empty. He sighs. Drayce would have to change that.

Trudging up to the streets of Shiganshina, he makes his way towards Dr. Yeager's shop. Luckily, it still hasn't closed up for the night yet. He walks into the musty room. It's covered with charts and bottles of medicine.

"Ah, hello Drayce, long time no see," said Mark, one of Dr. Yeager's shop assistant who would run the shop when Dr. Yeager wasn't in town.

"I need a bottle of pills for fevers," he mumbles, digging around in his satchel for the money he's saved up over the years.

"Getting expensive, ain't it. It's twenty sils," Mark sighs.

Drayce throws the money onto the counter and grabs the bottle.

"Two pills a day should do the trick," Mark adds sweeping up the money.

Drayce nods and runs back to his house. He climbs back through the window and this time, hears his dad coming up. He places the bottle of pills on the bedside table and jumps out the window.

"What the-" Mr. Ackerman mutters as he spots the bottle of pills.

He picks it up and squints, looking at the label His face lights up as he realizes what it was. He softly shakes Mikasa awake.

"Mikasa, it's time to take your medicine now" his dad says cheerfully.

Drayce exhales the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Getting up, he slowly walks away from the sounds of joy coming from the house to the silent forest once again.