So there's another time skip here. This one isn't quite so dramatic, I think, but it does start up right in the middle of all of the action with the Female Titan.

I'm pretty sure anyone reading this has at least seen the whole first season of the anime or read enough of the manga to know what the hell is going on.

I'm not calling out a spoiler alert for this one, but I might do so for later chapters. Just wanted to throw out that heads-up.

Want to let you all know that I am using the manga- not the anime. It's so much easier for me to use the manga and just flip through to the parts that I need.

I will be using direct quotes from the manga!

All of you people who follow and don't review- I'm on to you! Seriously… drop me a note or two. Like something? Lemme know! Hate something? I still wanna know! Feedback is important to me!

For those of you who read With You - Alternate, you can read through chapter 7 before starting this one.

Happy reading!

We are beginning during the Female Titan arc at "Episode 24"

He felt dizzy, but not nauseous. That was good, right? Nausea usually meant something really bad with any sort of head injury. For now, he was grateful.

There was still blood in his hair. He could see it every time Reiner would brush some of it out of the way while he was trying to wipe away some of the blood to find the injury. Jean was whistling for his horse, but so far, it hadn't come back.

All he could think about was that Titan… The Female Titan. She'd almost killed him. She'd almost killed Jean, and Reiner too. They were stupid for listening to him. They never should have tried to distract her.

He could still hear Jean screaming his name, could see him rushing in to try and kill her like an idiot. If she'd managed to snatch his cables out of the air, she'd have smashed him on the ground just like Ness and Siss. So he'd screamed at Jean to distract her, coming up with any sort of story he could think of to make her stop and think for a moment. Somehow it had worked. But then Reiner jumped in and she'd grabbed him. Those few seconds felt like a lifetime of agony. Then Reiner was free and the Female Titan started running for the rear center of the formation again.

"How about using your vertical gear, Armin?" Reiner brought him back to the present. He started with the bandages.

"No problem… The fasteners detached properly, so nothing's broken."

"I see… Well, that's good." Reiner was going around his head with another layer of gauze. "But what are we gonna do? We've only got the one horse…" He was having a hard time focusing on Reiner's words, though, and he didn't answer. "If Jean's horse comes back, the three of us will be able to move…"

He felt himself fading away from the present again. He could picture the Female Titan above him as he lay in the grass. She had the strangest smile on her face… And she looked so familiar in that moment.

"Armin."

For a moment, he thought it was the Female Titan speaking to him. It had Annie's voice…

"Hey! Armin!" But it wasn't the Female Titan and it wasn't Annie. It was Reiner, holding out his hand to him. "I don't think you're fully conscious yet." Armin wanted to tell Reiner that he'd never actually been unconscious in the first place, but it didn't seem like it mattered.

"Yeah… I'm still a little out of it…" That, at least, was the truth. He focused his attention on the fasteners for the sheaths for a moment.

Reiner dropped his hand. "I see… Well, we've got a tough choice to make…" Armin frowned to himself, but just kept working at his gear. "It seems like one of us has to stay behind…"

Of course. With only one horse, there was no way that all three of them could live. Horses meant survival out here. He wasn't about to let them give up their lives for his sake, though.

"Wait..." He finished with his gear. "Before we decide on that, let's try firing off a flare." He stood under his own power, though the action was enough to make him lose his vision for a moment. He kept talking just to keep himself conscious. "If the formation is still moving straight on, the third squad of the fourth column should be in the vicinity."

He chanced looking up at them. Reiner didn't look convinced, but Jean looked as if he might have held on to a shred of hope. He was the first to grab for his flare gun and shoot.

"That's the flare for an emergency situation…" Jean lowered his arm. "Although I doubt they'll figure out our intentions just with that." Even so, Armin thought, it would be possible for all of them to live long enough to find someone with spare horses. Unlikely, but possible.

"Armin…" Reiner began, looking over to him. It felt more like Reiner was seeing through him, though. "We'll wait for three more minutes. But we need to decide before then."

"I'll stay." It wasn't a hard sacrifice, after all.

Jean snapped around. "Wait a second, Armin!" Why did he have to argue?

Armin ignored him. "But in exchange, there's something I want you to report…" He thought about the Female Titan again. "...and if possible, only to Commander Erwin…" Someone had to know his suspicions. He didn't like the idea of telling either of them, but it was necessary if the words were to reach Commander Erwin.

"Hold on, Armin." He and Reiner turned to look at Jean. "You can tell him yourself. It looks like someone's coming… and they're bringing two spare horses!"

Jean was enthusiastic, but Reiner… Armin doubted that Reiner realized he'd noticed, but Reiner didn't exactly look pleased. It made his stomach churn.

"That's…" The rider came closer. "...Krista!"

"You guys!" She looked surprised to see them. "Hurry up and get on! The right flank is in trouble…"

Reiner went back for his own horse. Armin claimed one of the extras. Jean was grabbing the other. "Yeah, we know! This is just what we needed!" Armin wondered how he could sound so damned happy right now. "MM?! Hey, this is my own horse!"

"Poor thing was so scared, she ran all the way over to me… Were you fighting against a Titan?" Krista seemed to notice him at that moment. "Armin! What happened to you? ...Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'll manage." As if to prove it, he climbed into the saddle of the spare horse. The world continued to shift and darken beneath him, but he couldn't let the others notice that. He didn't mind sacrificing himself if there were no other choice, but he wasn't going to just lay down and die because of a stupid head injury, either.

He faded away from the conversation, but he was glad he didn't revert back to the Female Titan looming over him. He was remembering the inspection, instead. The gear Annie presented looked too familiar to be her own. He couldn't help but be bothered by it. And Jean had mentioned something about Marco being found without his gear… The evidence was piling up and he disliked it. The taste of vomit in the back of his throat worried him, too.

The sight and sound of green flares sparking ahead of them jerked him back to the present once more.

"Wha…?!" Jean looked shocked. "Green flares?! Then there was no order to pull out…?" Armin wondered why he was so worried. They'd survived Trost. They could handle this, surely. "The formation is just changing course?"

"All soldiers supposedly have the right to decide whether continuing the mission is impossible… but don't tell me the Commander's squad hasn't seen the flares?" Reiner's unease was pissing him off.

"Even if they don't know, it's obvious what we have to do in this situation." They were all looking back at him as he fired off his own green flare. "Follow orders."

He should have to say things like that. It was too obvious! Jean and Reiner both looked ready to tuck tail and run, but each for different reasons. He hated them right now. He wasn't going to give up. Things kept clicking into place in his mind, and he didn't like it. Commander Erwin needed to know what he thought.

Jean would have laughed, but he was pigheaded enough to know that he was right on this one. He couldn't be wrong. There was just too much telling him that he was right. The more he thought about it, the more connections he made.

They reached the main column eventually. They were headed for the Titan Forest. He began to grit his teeth. This wasn't good. Whatever Commander Erwin had planned was stupidly dangerous. He thought he knew what was going on, but he didn't breathe a word of it to anyone. He couldn't be sure just yet. Besides… Commander Erwin's plan just might work…

There ya have it, folks.

We're really getting into the fun stuff now. I actually have to do research and pay fucking attention now! Woohoo! (No sarcasm intended)

Just a few more chapters now and I can see myself hopping back over the the "alternate" version to scribble down a bit more fluff! :D

Someone help me. I have a problem.