A/N: bereniceibuado you are my fourth follower on this story 8D thanks very much to everyone who is following and favoriting and sending reviews! And I am putting it out there that if anyone is feeling the need to be critical you are absolutely welcome. I am not easily offended.

Chapter 6

No matter how long I did it, I didn't believe there was any possible way to get used to flying like that. And more importantly, the skill required to do so was remarkable. Once again, I was feeling rather insignificant in a world where humans were pulling tooth and nail to ensure their survival.

So why am I here? I would find out soon enough, hopefully.

They didn't bother to engage with the titans on account of the fact they didn't have enough "fuel" in their gear. I didn't understand what that meant, but I assumed it had to do with the reason we were up in the air. Clinging onto Jean's neck, I placed my life literally in his hands as we headed into titan-filled territory.

As I looked between the soldiers surrounding me, I couldn't help but note something: these were kids. They couldn't have been more than sixteen years old, but here they were fighting a war for humanity. Times really were desperate here, and I didn't think any amount of time travel would help me comprehend that.

"Brace yourself, Rose." We were closing in on the fortress, so I pressed my body tighter against his and closed my eyes, looking away. He brought one leg up, curled his arm more around my waist and crashed straight through a window. We were showered with glass and small wooden debris, but nothing we couldn't easily heal from. He barrel-rolled until he was on one knee and a foot, never releasing his hold on me.

Daring a glimpse, I noted, first, that we were in some type of library area and, second, that there were children crowded underneath desks. Jean helped me to my feet then stalked over to the kids in question, grabbing one by his shirt and bringing him to his feet.

Just high enough to punch him.

"Where were you?!" he cried, another freckled soldier grabbing him by his arms and pulling him back. "We needed you! We depended on you!"

The boy he punched cowered on the ground, holding his now bloodied nose. How hard did he hit him? The way it was slightly crooked indicated the boy may now have a broken nose, but in their current situation he wouldn't have enough time to get himself treated.

"They took over the cellar!" the boy hollered back, holding his face and trying his best not to burst into tears. "There was nothing we could do!"

I made my way over to the boy and knelt in front of him. "Jean," I said calmly, tearing off a piece of my shrub and bringing it to the boy's face, "They're just as scared as you are. You have to work together right now, not fight one another." The boy in front of me allowed his tears to flow onto his cheeks as he watched me work, sitting completely still.

I could see in my peripheral vision Jean physically calming down, probably realizing I was making a point. "All those people, though…" I'm sick of people dying on my watch. I didn't know why I thought this, but he probably felt partially responsible for the deaths of the people who'd lost fuel or had broken gear. I wanted to reassure him that he really did try his best but something interrupted me.

Like two titans slamming their faces into the far wall.

"There are too many people gathered here at once," Armin muttered, as if staying quiet would really help in our current situation.

One of the titans reached its hand in and nearly grabbed one of the soldiers, but then its hand kind disappeared out of nowhere.

Due to the fact another titan had… knocked it out of the way?

Astounded, we all stood up and walked to the opening, daring a peek. The titan in question had more muscles than he probably needed with disheveled black hair and a terribly angry expression. It opened its mouth and released a blood-curdling noise, somewhere between a growl and a scream, and we all had to cover our ears to even remotely mute it.

"Is that titan… killing other titans?" asked the bald boy.

"Only if you're seeing the same thing I am, Connie," Jean answered back, his voice revealing the disbelief we were all feeling.

After quite some time, I stood up and touched Armin's arm. "I hate to be the voice of reason, but you should probably take this distraction and head to where you need to." I pointed to the area the other kids were hiding. "I can stay here, so don't worry about me getting to any type of civilians."

Armin looked kind of shocked at what I'd said, leaving me feeling very puzzled and a little insecure. It just made sense to me to stay behind with a few soldiers, though the others made it seem like they weren't particularly reliable. But I would take what I could get; no need getting in the way of their plans.

Nodding, he motioned for his comrades to follow him and ducked onto a set of stairs, their heads disappearing below. I went back to the other children and sat down in a chair located behind a tall bookshelf, keeping an eye out for any titans.

"I've never seen you around before," a girl said in a meek voice, her eyes wide as she stared at me. "Are you from the inner walls?"

I shook my head. "I'm just a visitor." Which wasn't a lie. "Kind of got caught in the middle of the commotion."

"Unlucky you," the boy with the bloodied nose uttered under his breath.

"You would think that, but not really. Everything happens for a reason, and I have faith in that." I smiled fondly at them, then sat beside the one with the broken nose. "Let me see that. It may be fractured and if you don't get it treated soon it's going to heal improperly."

"W-what are you going to do?" But before he could protest, I placed my thumb and forefinger on either side of his nose and realigned it. He slapped my hand away and yelled in shock, more tears rushing down his face. "That hurt!"

"It wasn't supposed to feel good," I told him, rolling my eyes. "It's to make sure that your face looked the way it did before instead of like a crooked mess." There wasn't any gauze or tape I could use to at least press against his nose to push down the pressure and keep his it straight, so I relented with another, larger piece of my clothes and having him press it against the bottom of his nose. The least he could do is stop the bleeding, but now my midriff was completely showing. Since Levi had commented how outrageous my outfit was before, I didn't feel comfortable with this and placed my arm over my flat stomach.

"You know a lot about medicine?" asked the girl from before.

"Some," I admitted, not wanting to sound like a cocky asshole. "It's not that big of a dea—"

The titan from before interrupted my sentence with a loud yell and I stood up and carefully inspected the damage outside. He was stomping on another titan's neck, then he kicked its head until it disappeared to another part of town.

What kind of titan destroyed its own kind? I wondered. Did it want all the humans to itself? But surely it couldn't kill all of them… could it? It seemed to have taken down quite a few, as indicated by the evaporated corpses surrounding him. Still, I couldn't believe that this one titan could beat all the ones around it. And more importantly, that sort of thing wouldn't go unnoticed, would it?

As I was returning to my little group, I heard the sound of… gunfire. It came from downstairs where the others had gone. Were they alright? I ran to the entryway but the young girl pulled my arm and tried to get me to come back. "There's nothing you can do to help them down there." My shoulders sagged; she was right, of course, but I really did want to make sure they were okay.

We sat in silence—save for the fighting outside—for what seemed like an eternity before we heard footsteps from above. I blinked, looking up as if I had x-ray vision and could see through the high ceiling. Getting to my feet, I stalked back over to the opening and gazed out in the hopes I would see the soldiers from before. One of them was standing on the edge of the roof and I waved to get his attention.

"Hey, none of the titans got you!" he said, a sweet, wide smile forming on his freckled face.

I shook my head, smiling right back. "Same to you! What's going on?"

"The rogue titan from before is being eaten." Now his expression changed from cheery to sad, making my heart lurch. I nodded and went to the window closest to me, walking around the glass and leaning close enough so as to not cut my hands.

Sure enough, titans were surrounding it; the last chance they probably had to one-up the situation was now being devoured by… by other titans. What in the world is going on? None of this added up to the reading or watching I'd done. And the children all sounded just as confused as myself. I felt a knot form in my throat as my heart really did feel for these people. I could never understand the true hardships they'd gone through, but I felt bad for them all the same.

The titans after some time finally left the mauled, evaporating body of the rogue titan alone, scouring around the building for new prey. I ducked away from the window and then to the other side to keep a look out. As if there's anything I could do anyway. I watched the body disappear into the ground, but…

But something about it wasn't right. Squinting, I noticed that the neck of it was… moving, like how a blanket looked when an animal is hiding underneath. Watching closer, something emerged from the decaying flesh—a boy! A young boy came out of its neck, facing up to the sky but his eyes were still closed.

One of the girls, the ink-haired one from before, leapt from her place on the roof and rushed to the boy, jumping onto the rotting bones of the titan and wrapping her arms around him. "Mikasa!" I heard Armin call from the roof, leaping down to join her. I pushed myself to my feet then and ran downstairs, the soldiers hiding with me following suit. We made it outside just in time to hear the girl crying, and they sounded like… tears of relief.

What the hell is going on?!

Armin pressed his hand against the boy's and squeezed, also crying. At any rate, they seemed to be alright with whatever was happening here. They worked together to pull the boy from the titan's body and sit him upon the ground.

"I can't believe it," Jean whispered, a hand pressed against his forehead. "Eren… Eren was the titan? He was in the titan?"

So this wasn't a normal occurrence. But apparently a lot of things about today weren't entirely of the norm.

"Guys," Connie said in a warning voice, "We have to get moving—"

A titan came from around the corner and toward us, its arms already outstretched and ready to take its prey. Jean, Connie, and the young soldiers I hid with prepared themselves to engage it, but right before it was within their reach it fell to the ground. Someone swooped onto its dying back and turned to fix his nonchalant gaze upon them.

"So, kids. What's the situation?"

I couldn't help the feeling that bubbled up within me, a mix between happiness and relief and a bit of unwarranted hatred.

Levi.

A/N: Yeeees I realize Levi didn't come in 'til later. Roooooll with it, rooooooll with it.