BluePhoenix34 does not own Shingeki no Kyojin, the property and creation goes to Hajime Isayama. However, BluePhoenix34 does own Gianne Starken and all the characters unfamiliar to the SNK series. Now please, sit back and enjoy the long-awaited chapter!

Chapter 10: A Hope for Victory

A young boy with long hair and dark skin back home, crying from the fresh bruises and cuts that appeared on his face. His mother, who was knitting up a new blanket, was surprised to see her crying son coming in. The tears and dirt mixed with the fresh blood that coated his face. His face was swollen and his eyes were puffy.

Standing up, the boy rushed to his mother's embrace and buried his wounded face in her stomach. Her left hand fell to his should softly while her right hand was place on his back sternly. She hummed a tune while he continued to cry out his distress.

"What happened?" she asked.

"T-They…" he sniffed through his words, "Th-the k-kids… so… so mean… because I'm… I'm darker… and so, so d-different mama!"

"Oh?"

"Mama!" he wailed, "Why are different p-people treated s-so differently?! Is… Is my skin really so dirty?!"

"Dirty? Who would say that to a human?" she exclaimed. Her anger softed after she noticed her son's surprised look. "We are not dirty, you hear? Just because we look different from others doesn't me we aren't important like them."

"B-But mama…"

She tucked a long strand of hair behind his ear and played with the diamond on his lobe. He relaxed under her touch. Her touch always seemed to soothe him greatly. Taking the apron, she wore, she tried to rub out the mud and dried blood on his face, still feeling his tears stream down. As she cleaned him, she spoke:

"We come from of place where people like you and me are considered royalty, Daedre. People may forget about who we really are, but as long as you know how important you are, that's all that really matters."

Daedre watched the city from the top of the wall.

For some reason, he thought about a flashback with his mother years before the invasion of the Shiganshina District. With sad eyes, he caressed the diamond in his ear for comfort. Why am I thinking about this now, he thought.

He turned to Sereak, who sat cross-legged and watched the city below her with weary eyes. As if she were waiting for something patiently.

Daedre walked over and sat next to her, who turned to acknowledge his presence.

"Beautiful sight, isn't it?"

Sereak gave him a weird look after his comment.

"Sorry, I honestly don't know what to say…" he admitted.

"It's fine…" she said.

He watched her look down at the ground and then back to the city. Her body tensed a little when she breathed and her nostrils flared every time she saw a new stream of smoke float into the air after a fresh fire was made. Daedre knew fire meant the end of everything. Like the apocalypse of some ancient mythical story he read about. What was it called again?

"The city looks like hell…" Sereak said. "And despite us being a thousand feet up, I can still feel the heat. Like the whole world is on fire. It's a very uneasy feeling really."

"It doesn't bother me. From where I come from, the heat is nothing. I can withstand a hundred degrees too."

Sereak averted her eyes to him with curiosity. "Where you come from?"

"Yeah, my mother used to say that we came from a country of heat and sand before we were enclosed by the Walls. So, our ancestors were able to adapt to heated-climates and hunt in desert environments."

Sereak was astonished by this new information, "Really? Never knew that."

"Yeah, that's another thing my mother said. Apparently after everyone was enclosed by the Walls, they seemed to have forgotten who we were. Like our family history meant nothing to them at all." Daedre said.

"Do you remember the types of animals that lived in that sort of habitat?"

"If I remember correctly, I think-"

However, Daedre was cut off when he heard the sound of thunder.

-:-:-:-

Antonio wondered if he could sneak away from the group that was taking care of him for just a few seconds.

With Sylvia by his side, it was harder to do what he needed to do without raising any suspicion. So, he called to her when he realized it was just the two of them together.

"Sylvia, my dear. Would you be so kind and get me some water?"

Sylvia gave him a sly smile at the nickname and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Hey Kramer! Yeah, you! I need some water for my friend over here."

She called out to one of the people who were in their decoy group. The man named Kramer nodded and rushed over to a tent in the area they were in for injured soldiers.

Fuck it, Antonio thought to himself with annoyance. He was unable to get her away from him. Flattering, but also very not good.

In all honesty, when he thought about it, he was glad he risked himself for Sylvia, but did it really mean getting injured as well? He always tried his hardest to make sure not a single scratch was on him, but why risk it now? Yes, he liked Sylvia very much, but he also like his life very much as well.

Before contemplating even more, he suddenly felt the earth shake and the sound of thunder was heard. Looking up to the Wall, he knew something was happening on the other side.

"Oh shit," Alexander Cobalt said. "Everyone, ready to enter the wall again. The soldiers who are unable to use their maneuver gear must stay here!"

Anyone who was able to function and fight flew to the walls and left the wounded to the nurses. Sylvia was the last to go.

"I'll be back buttercup." she said to Antonio. He blushed a little at her comment, but smiled.

"You better sweetheart." he said.

Smiling, she left without another word. After she was out of his sight, Antonio crawled away from the area he was in and tried to stay hidden under anyone's gaze.

-:-:-:-

Gianne viewed her new environment; she was in a small wooden home, surrounded by strangers. There was a middle-aged man sitting at a table looking through a book. He had slightly long hair, thin facial hair, and familiar green eyes. Gianne turned her head when she heard running water and a faint feminine laugh. There, a mother, who resembled Eren a lot, was showing a young girl with straight black hair and cool grey eyes how to do the dishes. The young girl had the same physical traits as Gianne's rival, Mikasa. W-Where am I? Gianne thought.

"Armin…?" Gianne felt her ears perk and she followed Eren's voice. In front of her, she found a young boy sitting on a bench with a blanket wrapped around his body. His eyes bear some weariness within them while his head drooped to the side. Looking at his physical details more carefully, though, Gianne knew who it was.

"Eren…?" she said. The boy looked like Eren, but why was he so young?

The boy didn't seem to hear her. Instead, he was too focused on the window behind him. The light coming in was bright, causing Eren to squint, but he still spoke.

"Armin, I still have no idea what you're talking about. Why do I have to go outside?" Eren turned away from the window and stared carelessly at the floor, oblivious to Gianne's presence. "That's right, why bother going outside? Why bother joining the Survey Corps?"

Gianne was conflicted. She did not understand why Eren was talking to himself, but he mentioned Armin two times. She wondered if Armin was also here. Though, if he was, why couldn't she see him? Gianne thought for a moment about the situation she was in. If her mind is connected with Eren's, does that mean she's in his dream? If that is the case, maybe she could talk to him better in this state.

"Eren?" she said to him.

Eren took his time when he lifted his head. When his eyes finally connected with hers, he had a puzzled expression on. "Gianne?"

She had to say something to him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Huh?"

Gianne continued. "Why are you sitting down? Why aren't you standing?"

"Gianne, I don't understand." he admitted, slouching further into his seat.

"People are dying Eren." she revealed, crossing her arms. "All because of you."

"Eh, no, people aren't dying. Everyone is safe within these walls."

Gianne was losing her patients, but she had to keep calm, or else she'll lose him. Taking a breath, she tried harder by bringing up the mission. "Eren, what was your goal before?"

"My goal?" he looked at her again, while her eyes bored into his deeply.

"What were you supposed to do for humanity?"

Eren moved his body forward and looked towards the ground again. Gianne gave him a moment to think while she stared in silence. It took a while before she witnessed his eyes enlarging with realization. Suddenly, he stood up from the bench, the blanket falling from his body, uncovering himself. Eren looked up towards Gianne again, his eyes still the same size. "Armin… The outside world…" he muttered.

"The outside world?" Gianne repeated. That didn't exactly answer her question. She had a feeling Armin was somehow communicating with him as well, since Eren said his name again. Though, the mention of the outside world caught his interest completely. Suddenly, she thought of something. "Eren, the outside world is dangerous though. These Titans have infested it, preventing most of us from setting one foot outside these walls. What makes you think you'd be capable of surviving? What drives you to take that risk?"

Eren looked at the window first, then back at Gianne. She just watched him closely as his body tightened. Even his own family watched him while he clenched his hands. "Isn't it obvious?" he started. "It's because I was born into this world."

Gianne's heart squeezed itself with longing. Watching a young Eren say these words reminded her of her time when she was still young and dreamed of opportunities beyond the wall. They brought her back to memories of her tree she climbed where she pretended to be a bird or attempted to look over the wall. Tugging up her left sleeve, she looked at her beaded bracelet and felt the emotion run around her body, making her eyes begin to water. She let one test drop before walking to Eren and putting both hands on his shoulders. Having her eyes dig deeply into his own, she squeezed his skin carefully, making sure his focus was completely on her. Without breaking any contact, she knew he hand him. "You need to block the hole in the wall with the boulder Eren. That is your mission right now."

The world began to shake.

-:-:-:-:-

Gage caught up with Mikasa, who had just finished slicing off the nape of a Titan.

Looking towards him, her face relaxed slightly. But it went serious again when she saw the worry expression on his face.

"Still nothing from Gianne or Eren, yet?" he asked.

"No, not yet. But we shouldn't give up." she said.

His face turned grimed, "I don't want to, but we can't hold off the Titan's any longer. Rico's group lost most of her crew and I don't see many soldiers left."

Mikasa looked down. Contemplating about the situation. She shook her head though, and tried to think positive.

"Our main job is to protect Eren right now while Gianne tries to communicate with him. We'll follow through, even if we have to die."

"Ackerman. Butler." Captain Ian called, unexpectedly landing right next to them. "Talicorn has been useful to us so far, but his gas is starting to run low. I need to know; do you two have enough gas to fight?"

"Yes," Mikasa said quickly.

Gage looked at her and gave Ian a realistic answer, "Only half, sir. We've been using too much of it. We don't know how much longer we can last but if we run out without the help of Eren plugging in that hole, we'll possibly be done for."

Captain Ian nodded and sighed, "As expected. Okay, let's try to stop as many Titans as we can for now. If anything, take the rest of my gas if you can."

"Sir?" Gage said, surprised by his offer. Mikasa was unfazed by this.

"We need the best to survive in order for humanity to win."

Before Gage or Mikasa could say anything, the world around them began to shake a bit and a loud sound, which sounded like thunder, was heard throughout the area. Gage heard Mikasa gasp and he looked in her direction. Feeling his jaw fall, the Titan that was supposed to be Eren was walking towards the entrance of Trost holding the holder over his head. His eyes were glowing a bright green color that seem so alien and his body smoked from the crushing weight of the boulder he was carrying. He was doing it. Eren was moving forward with the mission.

"Eren…" Mikasa sighed with relief.

Gianne, Gage thought as he looked around the area for the girl. His thoughts were cut when he heard someone coming in the opposite direction.

"Mikasa!" Armin called out to her.

Gage turned to see Armin land on the roof him, Mikasa, and Captain Ian were on. His face was red and sweaty, and he was puffing out his words without any breath. To say he was exhausted, determined, but still filled with some crazy dose of adrenaline seemed like the perfect way to describe him right now.

"Eren won!" Armin said. "Gianne managed to tap into his mind and get him out of his state from before. Now, Eren's trying to get the job done! If we can cover him till he gets to the gate, we win!"

Both Gage and Mikasa were speeches by his words. They will win?

"Defend him at all cost!" Captain Ian ordered with a loud tone for everyone to hear, "Protect Eren until he reaches the gate, even if it costs you your life! Don't let any of the Titans near him!"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers near them cried and flew off.

Ian turned to the three cadets right next to him, "You three, head towards Eren. That's an order. You got that?"

"Roger!" they said simultaneously.

-:-:-:-

"Don't let them interfere!" Jean called to his squad.

Annie, Marco, Daedre, Sereak, and Connie nodded and followed Jeans lead down the the Wall. Feeling the rush of air, they were cutting through, Sereak dove down faster than the rest and activated her maneuver gear. She headed towards Eren's direction.

Catching a couple lonely Titans, Sereak and Annie flew towards them to get their attention away from Eren. Notice the girls, they reached out their hands in attempts to grab them before they each slipped through their fingers and launched their hooks to their backs, killing them with one slice of the nape.

The Titan carcasses fell and rotted away, while the boys caught up to them, amazed.

They kept this up as they wait for Eren to make his way to the Trost entrance. However, Sereak left her group without a warning to meet up with Gage, if she could find him.

Flying by the houses, she noticed one figure in the distance that was not moving at all. Was it a soldier?

Changing direction, Sereak got up closer to the person until a hundred meters away, she saw a glimpse of red. Gianne, she concluded.

How come she wasn't moving though? Her direction was straight towards Eren, but her body was straight and stood high, unmoving and untouched. Not even a twitch was seen on her body. Was she a statue?

Getting closer, she notices her face. Most of her freckles seemed to have vanished and her eyes were not gold-brown like Sereak knew too well. In fact, they were glowing with a piercing green color that seemed unnatural. Her face was completely relaxed, despite her body freezing in place, and her lips created a tight thin line.

Before she could question her friend's appearance anymore, she noticed a large hand raise itself in front of Gianne's figure. Gianne still didn't move.

Sereak panicked and accelerated, "Gianne! Gianne! Gianne!"

Her calls were not working. Gianne was unfazed by Sereak's attempt. Something was definitely wrong if her friend wasn't able to hear her or see the Titan hand right in front of her.

The hand was about to grab Gianne's body until a blur in Sereak's vision cut off the Titan's fingers in one slice. The Titan pulled back and the person who save Gianne drove down to kill the Titan. When Sereak made it to the roof Gianne was on, she felt the building move from the Titan's fall, causing Gianne to move a bit.

Suddenly, Gianne gasped, as if she came out of water, rolled her eyes back, and fell forward. Sereak raced towards her and caught her in time before her face smashed into the roof. Holding on to her body, Sereak put all of Gianne's weight onto her while listening to her ragged breathing.

Rikken Talicorn flew up and landed right next to Sereak and Gianne, covered in dissolving Titan blood. Oh, that's who saved Gianne, Sereak thought.

Rikken narrowed his eyes at Gianne, "It's a good thing I found her or else she would've been dead."

"Thank the Walls for you." Sereak acknowledged.

Gianne was still sleeping against Sereak, but the way she was breathing, it seemed like she was in pain. Was it from using her mind powers?

The two heard a loud roar and turned to see Titan Eren plug in the hole with the boulder. With the power he used to force it down and push it in, the whole world seemed to shake with excitement at the new victory humanity has finally accomplished.

Rikken looked pretty shook by what he just witnessed.

"I still, can't believe that just happened." he admitted.

Sereak continued to hold Gianne close to her, also in disbelief at what she just saw. It wasn't until Gage came into view as he called out for her and Gianne.

"Gage, we won!" Sereak said.

"Yeah, but how's Gianne?" he asked.

They looked down at her again, and she still looked like she was in a lot of pain. Her face was scrunched with discomfort and she exhaled low moans that indicated her agony. Gage touched her face and forehead.

"She's definitely warm." Gage noted.

Rikken stepped forward. "Give her to me."

Both Sereak and Gage gave him a look, while Sereak held Gianne even closer and Gage stepped in between his two friends and the Survey Corp soldier. Rikken just rolled his eyes.

"Do you both really not trust me after everything that we went through?" he asked.

Before they could answer, a very large Titan appeared out of nowhere, stunning all three of them. With Gage and Rikken about to act, someone else beat them to it as they watched blood gush out from behind its neck. Within a second, the Titan fell to the side, and a woman with bright red hair and a Wings of Freedom cloak landed beside the group. Kneeling to absorb the impact, she stood up and looked at the people in front of her, trying to get an idea of what the situation was.

Sereak and Gage gaped at her as if she were a legendary soldier.

"Hope?" Rikken asked.

-:-:-:-

*Author's Note: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Honestly, I have nothing else to say except that. I've honestly wanted to get back to this FanFiction for a long time, but after starting college last year and getting super annoyed with Attack on Titan itself for a while, I lost my motivation for it.

But since the latest chapter of Attack on Titan (Holy crap guys) and having a love for writing again, I've honestly missed writing this story and all the characters in it. I'll probably continue it for a while since I owe you guys a lot.

And it's nice writing this fiction, because it's gives me a reason to write me.

But honestly, if you want to DM me and ask me where the hell I've been, I'll be waiting. If not, that's fine too.

Until next time, I hope you guys have a great rest of the year!

Characters:

-Gianne Starken: BluePhoenix34

-Gage Butler: FlyBoy56

-Sereak Poljor: Jauntues Tigerwolf

-Daedre Moche: Pixpi

-Sylvia Shelton: RoseTyler10

-Antonio Rodrigues: crankiestnebula

-Conrad Gorman: Shrapnel893

-Rikken Talicron: RagingKoopatroopa

-Hope Strong: HopeStrong22

-Phoenix