The 10th chapter is up. Enjoy.

The Colossal Titan had returned.

"NO WAY!"

All the while, the titan lifted his right foot back, and pummeled through the gate once again. The wooden structures placed near the gate were able to intercept some of the flying debris, but unfortunately the shockwave alone destroyed several nearby houses, shattering every window in sight.

Ed and Eren were completely pushed back as the Colossal Titan spewed scalding hot steam, forcing every soldier off the edge with it's sheer temperature. The soldiers just barely managed to hook themselves on the wall. As soon as Ed and Eren were attached, they immediately searched around, trying to confirm if everyone was with them.

"Is everyone alright?!"

"Brother, I'm alright! Armin's with me."

"I'm good too!" said Connie.

"Someone's wire just got loose!"

Ed and Eren were confused at first, and then watched in horror as one of the soldier's began plummeting toward the ground.

"We have to go get him!" shouted Eren. Eren was about to jump for the falling comrade, when he felt a hand on his arm. He snarled at the intrusion, and saw it was Ed. "Eren, you won't be able to make it. His speed of descent outpaces your fastest speed." Eren closed his eyes, knowing that Ed was right.

Knowing that she was the closest to the soldier, Sasha detached herself from the wall, and then began sprinting down the wall, gradually gaining speed, and just as she was close enough to reach him, she shot her hook at the soldier and managed to latch himself on by his foot.

Ed's face beamed in delight. "Nice one Sasha!" Eren opened his eyes, and sighed in relief knowing the soldier didn't fall to his death. "Good." Eren's joy was short lived, and the pent up anger came boiling back up.

"The bastard broke though the wall… The titans are gonna get in…

THEY'RE GOING TO GET IN!" shouted a frantic Connie.

Eren stood there stunned, refusing to accept that the titans were coming through again. No. No they weren't going to get in. He tightened his grip on his handles in fury. They weren't going to get in because he was going to kill all of them before they even had the chance!

"COME ON GUYS! THIS IS OUR TIME TO SHOW THE TITANS WE'LL BE THE ONES TO FINISH THIS!"

Eren unsheathed his blades, setting his sights for the Colossal Titan. With a sense of determination and anger more powerful than he had ever felt before, he propelled himself with phenomenal speed to claim his first titan ill.

"Eren!" Ed clenched his teeth in anger. He couldn't let Eren take on this monster all by himself. His skills weren't at that high of a level, and nobody had ever trained to fight a titan this immense.

"Al! Armin! You guys stay where you are! I'm gonna help Eren!"

"Brother I want to help too!"

"No Al! I'm not going to take that chance!"

"But…" Ed had already boosted his way up to the top, leaving two blonde soldiers completely dumbfounded.

"You're brother is really brave Armin."

"Thank you. Eren is also rather selfless."

"But that's the problem," said both soldiers at the same time. They both ran their hands through their hair. When would they learn to control themselves?

Ed swiftly reached the top of the wall, quickly met with Eren's shouting. "ED! LOOK OUT!" Ed looked and instantly noticed the titan's right arm headed straight for him. He immediately jumped up in the air and watched in bewilderment as the titan swept his hand through the several scores of cannons and track rails.

Ed's heart dropped to his stomach. How did it know to take out the artillery cannons?

"EREN! IT JUST TOOK OUT ALL OF OUR CANNONS!" shouted Ed through the deafening noises of hissing steam and falling debris. "YEA! ED, YOU SHOULD GET OUT OF HERE!"

Ed forcefully shook his head in refusal. "Eren, I'm not letting you fight this thing alone."

Eren smiled at Ed's stubbornness, happy that he refused his offer.

"I didn't think so."

"We can do it Eren! Fight for humanity! Let's take this bastard down!"

A strange emotion surged through his heart already beating with rage, and at that moment, he felt strangely happy that Ed was at his side. "Yea!" Eren stared back at the Colossal Titan; eager to finish it's life. "It's been about 3 years. How about a nice slice of vengeance!" The two propelled themselves for the titan, almost synchronized in their movements.

The Colossal Titan swung it's hand for Eren and attempted to grab him, but his body was simply too bulky to match their speeds. Suddenly, he felt an odd stabbing at the back of his neck and slapped the back of his neck with his left hand.

Ed's face was contorted in irritation, dissatisfied with his attacks. Luckily this titan's size gave it a significant disadvantage in a close range battle, but the size of his neck was simply too large to pinpoint the exact location of his weak spot.

While Ed stayed frozen midair for a brief moment, Eren took advantage of the Colossal Titans distraction and sprinted up his arm. This was his moment. It was now or never. "I'VE GOT YOU NOW MOTHER FUCKER!" But just as his blade was inches away from its nape, the titan instinctively released a tremendous wave of steam, pushing away the two soldiers with its power. Eren and Ed were momentarily stunned by the wave of heat, and were unable to move.

"Don't give in Eren! Give it everything you got!" The two met each other's eyes, and knew they had each other's backs. With adrenaline now pumping through them, they forced through the high-speed smoke and together slashed at the titan's nape, only to realize that the titan had vanished into thin air.

"What? It disappeared?" Edward and Eren hooked themselves onto the side of the wall in disappointment, the pain from the exhausting battle kicking in.

"Are you all good Eren?" Eren painfully nodded, soreness now encompassing every part of his body. "You did good Eren. I guess this makes us even now." Eren bitterness about the titan's escape prompted him to say nothing. Ed sighed, knowing it was best to leave it as it was.

The pain Ed was feeling before quickly resurged in his arm and leg, much worse than before. He pulled his hair; keeping his eyes closed and doing anything he could to stop this unbearable pain. Did his battle with the Colossal Titan somehow have an affect on his automail? He tried to reason in his head the possibilities of why his automail was giving him such pain, but he found none.

Eren blinked a few times and shook his head when he heard noises of discomfort coming from Ed. He looked over and saw Ed writhing in agony, his face scrunched in torment. "Ed!" Eren launched himself over to Ed and scanned his body to see if there was any area burned or damaged, but so far, he found nothing. "Ed, are you alright?"

Ed opened his eyes and reflexively moved away in surprise. "Oh Eren. Yea, I'm alright." Eren was less than satisfied with Ed's mediocre answer. "Ed, you looked like you were in serious pain. Are you sure it was nothing serious?" Ed continued to ensure Eren everything was fine, but Eren saw something that made him freeze in his tracks. For a fraction of a second, Eren thought he saw Eren's right arm completely encased in metal.

Metal? Why would his arm have some sort of metal covering? It didn't add any usefulness in battle, and the slight weight imbalance would cause a great disadvantage while flying with the gear. Suddenly he began to understand why Armin had continuously questioned Ed about nearly everything he did.

Now that he looked back, there were more than a handful of odd behaviors Ed demonstrated. For starters, he always kept himself covered in all areas no matter where they were. Even his hands were always covered by white gloves that he seemed to always have on hand. Not only that, but he never accompanied the rest of the soldiers whenever they showered in the morning or afternoon.

Every time he fought alongside Eren with the vertical maneuver gear, the technique he used was unnatural. Mikasa's style of combat was fluid, graceful, and her speed added onto her astounding abilities, but Ed's style of combat was rather erratic. Several times in midair, he would adjust his center of balance, and while these shifts were rather short, they still occurred enough for somebody to notice. While Ed's speed was unreal, the type of balancing he used appeared impossible. Eren had mostly ignored that since Ed wasn't a regular soldier, but now that factor was rather important in figuring out if Ed really did have something odd, or even, artificial about his body…

Eren mentally slapped himself in the face. What was he thinking? From what he was gathering based on Ed's behaviors… it was almost like his right arm was actually metal. How retarded did that sound? He had seen the dozens of injured soldiers, and none of them had even the hint of mechanized limbs. That kind of technology was just too advanced for the military, and even if there was some sort of procedure, it must cost a fortune to do so. So how could Ed have gotten such a procedure? Eren put his hands to his temples to massage his head. This much intense thinking was giving him a headache. He would go tell Armin about this. He would probably know what this all meant…

"Hey guys! Are you alright?" Eren and Ed looked up to see Thomas standing over the wall, his face showing he was extremely worried. "Yea we're alright." Thomas sighed in relief, putting his hand over his chest in alleviation. "So did you guys kill it?"

"No! It somehow escaped," said Ed, bitterness evident in his voice.

But now wasn't the time to mope in their own sadness. He needed to talk to Al.

The duo quickly got up to the top of the wall, where Connie, Thomas, Armin, and Alphonse were impatiently waiting for them.

"Brother!"

"Eren!" The two smart, collected blonde soldiers sprinted to their friends, relieved to see there were no visual scars on either of them. "Did anything happen to you two?"

Ed solemnly nodded, making Al and Armin slightly nervous. They could see something was wrong.

"The Colossal Titan… I couldn't get it… I'm sorry," said a rather broken and despondent Eren. "You don't have anything to be sorry about," said Thomas. "You had the balls to do something none of us would think of doing in our lifetime." Despite his best efforts, Eren still remained quite gloomy, his head tilted to face the ground in shame. "Eren, feel pity for yourself another day!" Everyone was surprised to see Connie, the jokester of the group, refocus everyone. "In case you didn't notice, the gate's been smashed to tiny pieces, and the titans are gonna be entering the city within a matter of minutes. We have to act now!"

"Everybody get ready!" All 7 soldiers turned their attention to a man who was in his mid 30's, looking rather distressed about the events that had just occurred. They scrambled to form a straight line and saluted the higher-ranking officer by placing their fists over their hearts. "Dot Pixis has begun Operation Colossal Titan Response! Everyone is to report to HQ immediately."

"Yes sir!"

The 7 soldiers were briskly flying through the city to reach the headquarters, all the while witnessing the horrific and tragic panicking below. Alphonse had even seen a girl had dropped her doll, and his heart broke when he heard her innocent cries at losing an item precious to her. Next to Al, Edward Elric was not handling the situation much better. His pupils were dilated, his hands had gone cold and his breath had decreased while watching the frenzied mob trying to evacuate the city.

Ed had never seen such a scene in his life. People were cutting each other off, leaving others behind. The worst thing he saw was when a mother had her 7-year-old girl in his arms, and with the constant flow of different people, the two eventually lost each other. Ed wanted so desperately to help reunite them. He of all people knew how precious a mother was, but he knew there wasn't enough time, and the chances he would find them both were infinitesimally small.

"You're shocked at this too, right brother?"

Ed continued to stare at the ground, too rattled with what he had just been through. "It's… it's horrible. How could this happen? How can this much panic and chaos exist in this world?"

"I don't brother… I just don't know…" Eren and Armin were silently observing the Elric Brother's reaction to what they were seeing, and both were very surprised. From what they saw of the Elric brother's reaction, it appeared that they knew nothing of what this experience was like. It was like they were oblivious to this aspect of humanity, the way they herded together in fear like sheep, each covered with a layer of fear and paranoia, only bringing out even more terrible aspects of these masses of people.

"Did you ever think you would ever see Edward Elric bewildered like that?" questioned Armin.

"Never in my life," was all Eren could say. Now that Eren had recovered enough from his humiliating failure of killing the Colossal Titan, he remembered what he wanted to discuss with Armin. "Armin, I need to talk to you. It's about Ed. I found out something peculiar about him."

"Ok? What was it?" Eren shifted closer to Armin, and whispered in his ear. Armin felt Eren's breath tickle his ear. "Ed's right arm. It looked like it was covered with some sort of metal."

Armin's eyes widened as big as saucers. "Are you sure about this?"

Eren slowly nodded. "I think it went all the way up from his wrist all the way up to his elbow, but all I saw was his wrist."

Armin glanced at Edward Elric. Looks like this conundrum was slowly piecing itself together. Maybe he would finally get some answers. At least that would give him some closure and possibly help him with the complete terror he was feeling right now. The titans were invading. Just like 3 years ago.

As soon as everyone has arrived, Ed and Al sprinted to be alone, with Eren and Armin following suit. "Ok brother, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Ed put his back on the wall, sliding down the wall. "There was something too familiar about the Colossal Titan. Remember the talk we had about 6 months ago?"

Al put his hands to his mouth. "You don't think that…"

"Yes. Whatever that titan was, I can guarantee you that he was using some sort of alchemy. It was able to create an entirely new body out of thin air." Ed had seen it happen just meters away from him, and he still couldn't believe the magnitude of energy that came from that lightning. The idea of creating an entirely new body was nearly impossible, and every legitimate alchemist knew that as common knowledge. Yet this titan formed from using the elements in the air. Whoever was able to do this was clearly an alchemist on a completely different level to him and any other alchemist he had met.

"And Al, we have another problem."

"Your automail…" said Alphonse, worryingly eyeing his brother's mechanical limbs. Like his brother, he had absolutely no idea what to do about this automail. From what he gathered, it appeared that the concept of automail was foreign and advanced in this world, so he highly doubted they would find anyone so skilled. "I'm sorry brother."

"Don't be." Alphonse then asked him a question that had been nagging at the back of his head ever since he saw the gate had been broken: "Do you think we should close the gate off with our alchemy?"

Ed covered his eyes with his hands, debating on the pros and cons of doing so. "I know, I know. If this was any normal situation, or at least normal as in this was in Amestris, I would have already shut the gate. But here… Here I don't know how people will react to that. I mean, if you were these people, who you really take that kindly to two random strangers, with one who has mechanical limbs, and reveal that you have the power to deconstruct and reconstruct matter at your whim? Not to mention that the electricity released form using alchemy might be taken the wrong way from the way lightning has been used when these powerful titans arrive. But if we don't, a lot of soldiers could die…" Ed slammed his automail fist into the concrete, creating a large hole and sending mild shockwaves through the structure. "FUCK! WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO GODDAMN DIFFICULT?! WHY ARE WE CONSTANTLY FORCED WITH CHOICES WE'LL REGRET LATER ON?! IT'S NOT FAIR!" Ed was very surprised when he felt Al's arms hold onto his shoulders, swiftly shifting Ed to meet him eye-to-eye. "Brother, I know it's difficult, but you have to calm down." Ed inhaled through his nose, than exhaled through his mouth, alleviating a great deal of his tension. "Thanks Al."

"I just hope nothing bad will happen to us," said Al quietly.

"Al, no matter what happens, I will never let anything happen to you ever again."

The young Elric brother stood eye-to-eye, and shot a warm and relaxed smile; elated to know his brother would keep to his promise just by looking into his deep blue eyes. Even after the several months apart during their conflict with father, their brotherly love never diminished, and although Ed would never admit it out loud, he relished that connection just as much as Al did.

Every soldier of the Garrison regiment was attended for, positioned into tidy, uniform lines, but the shaking hands and trembling lips of most of the Garrison members showed they were more ready to shit their pants. None of them in a million years would have expected they would be unlucky enough to have to go toe-to-toe against the titans themselves. That was the job of the Survey Corps, not the Garrison. Standing on the podium as the de facto commander was Kitz Woerman, a captain of the Garrison and commander of the 1st Division Elite Force.

"Everyone will deploy into four separate squadrons! Each squadron will be tasked with individual assignments, consisting of supply raiding, message relay, and enemy combat under the direct commands of the Garrison regiment!" Edward Elric stared narrow-eyed at this pitiful display of authority. His voice may have thundered through the castle, but even a 12 year old could see the obvious signs of fear in his stature. His face was plastered with dark lines etched with fear, and his eyes were drowning everyone with even more unease and concern, sinking the already downbeat soldiers further down.

"The inner south squadron will occupy the vanguard! Any new cadets will be positioned in the middle guard and will be given aid by the support squad! The rear guard will be monitored by the elites! You will all be responsible for manning your posts, knowing that the advanced team has been mowed down!" Everyone gasped. The advanced team had been killed? They were made up of over 200 soldiers. All of them were dead?

"Yes, I'm afraid this is history being repeated once again. Given this situation, it his highly possible the Armored Titan will reappear, so that is why the Elite Squad has been placed in the Rear Guard to ensure maximum security so the inner wall will not be breached!" Murmurs and whispers were exchanged in the mass of soldiers, each of them in disbelief they were the ones who had to put their lives on the line like this. "QUIET! Those positioned in the vanguard will be responsible for defending the inner wall until the city has been evacuated! Now, let me remind you that desertion is high treason punishable by death! Dismissed!" Like fear-ridden piss-ants, the soldiers sprinted at their dismissal, some still too shocked to move. One of these soldiers was Jean, and he was none too pleased.

This shouldn't have happened. He was supposed to be at camp, waiting another a year and a half until he would move up to be part of the Military Police and live a peaceful life serving under the king in Wall Rose. He didn't belong with the rest of these people. His ears picked up on an odd sound, and turned to see a male soldier vomiting, with Christa patting his back to comfort him. Jean's face twisted in anger. He refused to see this. He walked away from the ugly scene, getting glimpses of even more cadets in fetal positions, covering their eyes in hopes they would wake up from this nightmare. During his anger walk he bumped heads with his short-time rival, the only person who could make him more pissed off than he already was.

"Get out of my way!" Jean hostilely shoved Eren off, prompting Eren to grab him by the shoulder and spin him around to face him.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

"Are you joking?" Jean scoffed at Eren's idiotic question. "In case you haven't noticed, the titans have broken in, and we're the ones who have to kill their ugly asses, but nooo! You're probably dancing in joy, probably elated to know that we have to fight them!"

"Let go of my shirt, dipshit!"

"I don't give two shits about your shirt!" Ed peered just around the corner to see Jean's meltdown, and Eren managed to see Ed observing the whole scene unfolding. Somehow, Ed's stern gaze and Jean's uncontrolled rage made Eren realize something. Jean was just like him: a kid who had something to prove. Ed's look told him that he was ready to come and kick Jean's ass again, but there was no way that Eren was letting himself be saved again. Mimicking Ed's motion the day before, Eren swept his right foot under Jean's legs, knocking him off of his feet. As an added measure, Eren put his right hand dead center on Jean's chest.

"Get a hold of yourself Jean! Come on, you're a soldier! You trained 6 months for this! For 6 months you lived in hell on earth, and you made it out in one piece!" Jean stood there baffled by Eren's sudden speech that actually praised him of all things. Soldiers who were bawling their eyes out turned their heads to see what was all the commotion about. "Some couldn't handle the heat. Some wussed out to live a life of farming, others got kicked out. There were even people that died! But you made it to the top 10. You proved you're one of the best, and in the face of that, what's one day of doing something you trained 6 months to do?" Jean was at a loss for words. He'd never heard that kind of praise from anybody, and like before, he was the one who got the short end of the stick and was proven wrong. He scowled at Eren, then quickly got up and walked over to the soldier vomiting to shake him out of his episode.

"Wow Eren…" Eren felt a glove on his right shoulder and saw Ed right behind him with a teeth filled smile just for him. "You did an awesome job there. Never thought I'd here that coming for you, much less for Jean." Eren felt a blush creep up to his cheeks. He didn't know why, but every time he heard Ed give him praise, it made him feel surprisingly good inside, knowing that this badass renegade thought of him highly enough to give him praise. "Thanks…"

"Hey guys." A new character had just popped up from the hallway. Armin was standing right beside Ed, his foot tapping the ground in a frenzy and his arms crossed in impatience. "Ed, I need to talk to you." Armin couldn't believe how calm he was at this moment, or at least calm compared to a lot of the other soldiers shitting their pants. It was like having answers revealed about Ed was lessening his usually rattled nerves. "Ok then?" Armin quickly paced for a hallway, motioning Ed to come along. Ed hurriedly trailed his tail, and began to grow increasingly nervous when he saw nobody else was in the dark hallway. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Armin breathed in and out, getting ready to play a role he usually never played. He spun around to Ed, accusingly pointed his finger at Ed. "Why do you have metal in your arm?" Ed froze. Oh shit. Why did this have to happen now of all times?

"What are you talking about? Are you crazy? What kind of weirdo would have metal in their arm?" Ed innocently placed his arms in front of him and his face was raining sweat bullets in an anime style fashion. "Don't freaking lie to me! I mean this!" Ed stood absolutely petrified when Armin pulled his sleeve up to reveal his automail. "And also explain that!" Ed stared mouth agape, completely speechless when he saw Armin pull up his left leg to show his other automail. Armin inwardly sighed in relief. Although Eren had told him his arm was the limb composed of some metal, Armin had used some inductive reasoning and focused deeply to remember Ed's form with the maneuver gear. Almost every time he shifted his position, he leaned his body to his right side. Armin surmised that it wouldn't make any sense to do so if he had an uneven weight on his right arm, so the most logical hypothesis he conjured was that his leg must have had some sort of metal, and thank god he was right. "Well?"

It took Ed a few seconds to recover from his secret being discovered. It took at least a dozen seconds more to come up with a plausible explanation without explaining more than was needed. "Yeah, um I have a metal arm and leg…" Armin crossed his arms, waiting for more than just a statement of the obvious. "When I was 12, I had an accident, and I lost both my limbs as a result." Armin's features softened in pity. "I'm sorry." But his features hardened instantly. "But how could you afford that kind of surgery? I've never heard of anything as advanced as limb replacement, and even if an operation like that was possible, you'd have to be one of the richest people in the country. So how did you do it?"

"Well…" Ed nervously rubbed his neck. "My family knows a really good automail mechanic…"

"Automail?" said Armin, interrupting Ed. "What is that?"

"That's the term I use for metal limbs. Anyway, my family was close to a mechanic, and she managed to create me new automail after a few days of intense surgery."

Ed was confused when Armin stared at the ground. 30 seconds passed, and the two soldiers remained exactly as they were. Armin slapped his palms to his forehead and sighed. Everything that Ed said seemed truthful enough, and there wasn't too much Armin knew that could disprove it, but he still felt Ed wasn't telling him everything. "I take it your brother knows about it?"

"Yes."

"So does your brother have any automail like you?" For a millisecond, Armin saw deep pain flash through Ed's eyes that expressed total despondency and a pain woven deep in his soul, but it left as quickly as it came. "No, he doesn't have any automail."

Both of them fell into an awkward silence, unsure of what to say. After an eternity of uncomfortable silence, Ed finally walked to the exit of the hallway. "Come on, we have to get ready." Armin nodded and walked behind him. Ed and Armin were walking to where Eren had been, when Al came running to the two soldiers in a hurry. "Brother! Where were you?" Before Ed could answer, he overheard Eren raise his voice, and quickly raised a finger to his younger brother to silence him.

"… given a direct order! Get it together! This thing is bigger than you and me, and you know it! Humanity is hanging by a thread! Get your priorities straight!" Mikasa lowered her head in shame.

"I'm sorry. You're right Eren. I'm just a little out of it with everything that's happening." Ready to dismiss this, Eren began to leave for the city when he felt Mikasa grabbing him back. "But promise me one thing. Whatever happens, don't get yourself killed." Eren shook himself free from her hold. His eyes captured Armin and the Elric brothers and he gradually walked over to them. "Come on guys. We deploy to the middle guard, so lets not waste time."

Eren stomped off in minor frustration at Mikasa's persistence of babying him, and began heading for the middle guard. Eren, like his 3 friends, was deep in his self-thoughts. 'I wasn't planning on becoming titan food today anyway Mikasa. I'm won't allow myself to get killed. No until I get a taste of the life outside of these fucking walls.'

Armin and Alphonse hastily joined him, but as Ed was about to go with them, he felt himself being hoisted back by Mikasa. "I'm sorry Ed, but I don't know who else to turn to."

"Mikasa, what are you..."

"Your different. I've seen the way you talk with Eren, and I see the way he admires your abilities. I'm in shock at how much he's opened up to you. I could see it in his eyes this morning. His eyes were brighter, more relieved and relaxed than I've seen them in a long time, and I didn't have to ask him if he told you about the day in Shiganshina. You had that same look, and I just knew he told you.

Mikasa sighed. "I know I haven't talked to you alot, and I'm not the kind of person who socializes with others, but I want you to do something for me."

"Brother! Come on, lets go!"

"You go with them! I'll catch up in a minute!" Ed waved his hand and signaled Al to go on without him, and Al hesitantly complied, leaving Ed and Mikasa by themselves.

"You and your brother, you have something really special..."

"What was that? I didn't hear you."

"Nothing. Anyway, there's only one thing I want you to do for me: keep Eren alive. He likes you, and your one of the best soldiers I've ever met. Please, make sure Eren makes it out of this in one piece." Mikasa looked down, embarrassed at the flood of emotions threatening to rise.

Ed's face softened at the raw emotion and fear laced in her voice. Her affection for Eren must run unimaginably deep for her to come to Ed to make a promise like this. Ed placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes toned to a genuine empathy. "I promise you that nothing is going to happen to Eren Yeager. I swear to you."

She tilted her head back up, nominally surprised at Ed's stoic but compassionate eyes. Now that she was able to see Ed at such a close level, she could kind of understand why Eren would obsess over him. It was as if Ed could somehow comprehend what she was going through.

"Thank you Ed."

"Well, I have to go join Eren and the others in the Middle Guard. Make sure you don't die on me ok?" Ed ran off before Mikasa could even answer. Mikasa's mouth perched up just the tiniest fraction possible. "I won't."

The 4 soldiers stared out into the vast horizon of empty houses and deserted alleyways. Beside them were Thomas, Mina, and 5 other soldiers unfamiliar with them. Today was the day. Today they would actually be the first wave to combat the invading titans for the 2nd time in known human history. "Come on guys, look on the bright side. When we make it through today, we'll be freaking legends. Before we know it, we'll bypass all the rankings, and probably even get to lead our own regiments." Eren's upbeat talk lightened the mood of the group and each of them smiled dazzlingly. The older Elric brother slung his arm around Eren's shoulder. "That's right Eren. I'm with you all the way."

"Me too."

"Count me in," said Alphonse and Armin. "Don't think I'm letting you hog all the glory," said Thomas. "I'll be the one who takes home the gold medal today."

"How about whoever gets the most titan kills gets to be king of the group?" joked Ed. "It's on. But better be sure you don't lie, cus I'll know."

"Group 34, move out! The vanguard needs support!"

"Alright givem hell!" The cadets roared in unison. Pumped up with adrenaline, they shot into the sky and soared to search for their first titan kills. However just as Al was about to shoot into the sky, his brother halted him. Al was about to protest his brother's actions, but reprimanded himself when he saw how serious Ed seemed to be. "Al, remember, no matter what happens, I will never let anything happen to you. You understand?" Al sheepishly grinned and nodded in confirmation. Ed returned the kindness and smiled back. "Then lets kill some titans!" The soldiers sped across the town, the whirring of gas and the scent of flames only moistening the atmosphere with apprehension.

But all that built up confidence went up in flames as soon as they saw the titans first-hand. The titan horde was surrounded by smoke and ash as they voraciously searched for humans to devour.

"There's no way there could be that many."

"The vanguard must have been completely overwhelmed."

"There's no way." With their confidence now drained, the soldiers were wallowing in their own fear. The situation they were in rapidly sank into their skulls. The Elric brothers however remained determined and sharp due to having been in several of these confrontations in their adolescent life, and they involuntarily barked out orders. "Mina, Thomas, and Hemsworth take out the titans to your left! Armin and Eren go with Al and me for the titans in the middle, and the rest of you go for the titans on the far right! Go!" The soldiers followed the commands and each flew for their titans.

Ed golden hair shimmered in the sunlight, but his blue eyes were darkened by his instincts to kill. He was going to kill whatever or whoever would hurt his friends or family. He spotted the first titan and raised his speed in an attempt to catch him by surprise. This proved successful as the titan did not realize Ed's presence until he felt a prick at the nape of his neck. He turned his head but sadly was too late to save himself as the two blades sliced open the searing hot flesh from his body. The titan dropped to his knees, and fell down to his death. Ed clenched his hands above his head and roared in triumph.

"I GOT THE FIRST TITAN KILL! TRY TO KEEP UP YOU GUYS!"

"Excellent work brother! You did an amazing jo-," was all the young Elric brother said before a titan sank his teeth into the Elric brother's flesh.

Cliff-hanger. Guess you'll have to wait until next chapter to find out what happens. For Armin, some of you might find it out of character for him to be so bold or rather curious about Ed, but I've decided to make Armin a bit more tenacious and willing to find out answers to things he doesn't know about. Hope you enjoyed!