Janice watched through the slits that her eyes had become as Mikasa soared ahead of her and Armin, killing titans as though it was her birthright. She moved so elegantly, so flawlessly, and so perfectly; it took only seconds of the spectacle, before Janice had to refocus her vision elsewhere without becoming annoyed.

She had meant everything she said on that rooftop, and while it may have been unwise to speak her mind what with the state of things, there was little she would have changed about the exchange. Perhaps a good strike across the face would remind Mikasa that the world was beyond the narrow vision she held for herself and Eren, a vision that had ended not an hour earlier.

She grit her teeth.

Uptightness and lack of care for others aside, Mikasa had lost someone very important to her, perhaps the most important. Janice knew how that felt, she knew how it had affected her, so much so that it had turned her into the person she was today. It was a despicable fact of life, but one they would all have to come to terms with someday.

Regardless, she can't just sit there and act as though the world means nothing just because she lost that one person. That doesn't excuse you for…

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… running off when people need you the most, people died because of you.

It was absurd how much Janice had gotten under her skin, but Mikasa was only able to think about it in passing as she leapt from titan to titan, ensuring that her two companions would not meet the same fate as those before them. It was stupid, it really was, how some simple words had got her almost to the point of hitting the other trainee out of anger.

But who does she think she is?

Not only had she run off to pursue some private agenda when the wall had been breached, but she had then had the nerve to return to the rest of the cadets and lecture Mikasa on making stupid decisions. It was irrational and unbelievable, but even beyond that, Mikasa was more annoyed that it had bothered her so much.

Ignore it.

That was all she could do, because, in all honesty, that was an exchange that she had no desire to think about or address ever again. How Janice would treat her when this was all over, or if she would even speak to her again, was her own prerogative, but Mikasa was done letting the girl mess with her head.

Slicing aside three fingers, each as thick as a person, she faded back and struck as the monster continued to hobble forward, sending its corpse face-first into a neighboring building. As she stared back at its disintegrating body, she found her thoughts drawn to the businessman she had encountered hours ago, who had placed the value of his merchandise and belongings over that of the hundreds of people desperately trying to escape with their lives.

Why hadn't he bothered me as much as…

Shaking her head, she fixed her gaze on the headquarters building they were rapidly bearing up on; shattered windows along its wall indicated that at least some of the trainees from the charge she had led had survived, and she let the thought cause her the smallest inkling of relief.

Best to focus on that instead… it's not as though…

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… brooding over it will make a damn difference.

Janice turned her eyes away from Mikasa to look towards the wall. There surely was a gaping hole, one that could only have come about by way of the Colossal type titan, and she shook her head.

Why now? Why wait until today? What…

"JANICE!"

She jumped as Arlert screamed her name and saw that they were bearing down on the building with enough speed that the glass would shred them on impact. Slowing their pace, she lifted her legs into a tuck to kick the window in, hoping there wasn't anyone on the other side of it. It gave much easier then she anticipated, feeling as though she had kicked a wall of paper, and she touched down, sliding to a halt and dumping Armin off her.

"Armin!"

Connie and Sasha, both clearly relieved to see her, ran up to his staggered form, while Jean and the rest of the nearby cadets hovered around Mikasa nervously and with relief. Janice, while noticing the lack of attention that had been directed her way, was grateful that no one had come running up, yelling her name.

Pointless emotions.

It was then she realized there was a single person she did actually want to see; Cedric deserved a piece of her mind for spreading rumors among the other trainees. Real as they may have been, the last thing she needed was for the story to reach someone who had legitimate authority to reprimand her, or worse. Casting her eyes around, she couldn't spot his tall, clumsy form and she frowned, and for a moment, felt the smallest pulse in her gut.

Was that… fear?

Walking up to one of the few people who she knew wouldn't hold something against her, she leaned against the wall, throwing her black hair out of her eye.

"Reiner."

The much larger young man turned his head, clearly surprised to see her.

"Janice. You're sneaky."

Not taking the time to try and discern if whether or not he was speaking of her sudden appearance, or making a jab otherwise, she cracked her neck and looked around.

"Lot of fear."

He gave a single, close-mouthed laugh.

"If they weren't, I'm not sure I could consider them sane."

"We need level heads if we're going to pull through this."

Saying nothing, he looked towards Mikasa, who was trying to free herself of Jean's frightened ramblings. Glancing the same way, she waited a few seconds before asking.

"Seen Cedric?"

He crossed his large arms, gazing around at the panicked and excitable cadets that surrounded them.

"Briefly. Few minutes before we formed up on the roof, he was called to assist a small recon group."

She furrowed her brow.

"What for?"

"Checking for other places the wall could have been breached from. As if they don't think one hole is bad enough."

Looking at him, she tried not to show her confusion at the sudden annoyance in his voice.

"You don't think there could be more than one breach?"

He didn't say anything, and her confusion persisted; Reiner was never someone to be caught off guard or put at a loss for words. Just as he opened his mouth, Bertholdt slid up beside him.

"Hey Reiner, Armin's got a plan for how we can get to the supply floor."

Janice watched them both walk away, trying to ignore the fact that Bertholdt had looked less like he wanted to inform his friend of the evolving plan, and more like he was trying to pull him from a conversation. Shaking off the oddities, she followed the both of them over to the stairs.

At the bottom of the flight, everyone had gathered around a layout of the floor plan that Armin was hurriedly talking over. Janice noticed the sudden change that had overcome him; his deafened and defeated frame had come alive with a wild sort of franticness that was much more like him. She quickly absorbed the information she saw and blinked in bemusement as she realized what the plan was.

"… we'll need the seven best of us. Everything will ride on them; our lives, the mission, everything."

The few dozen cadets all began looking around at the obvious choices for who those seven were. Eyes immediately landed on Mikasa, Annie, Reiner, but Janice tried to ignore the undeniable gazes that were cast her way. She hadn't placed in the top ten graduates due to lower scores in other areas, but her titan killing abilities were ranked to be one of the highest among all of them.

Am I really considering putting my life on the line for some half-suicidal plan again… we only made it here by dumb luck, Ackerman only had to put down a few titans between us and the building. And now, everyone is supposed to place their faith in a couple of people, who may or may not be able to kill the titans in the basement. If they don't, we all die, but if they do, we live to risk our lives over another stupid…

"Robin!"

She jerked her head up and realized all eyes were on her; Jean was looking at her in annoyance, arms crossed.

"Armin's talking to you."

Looking down, Janice saw the blonde looking up at her, with worry in his eyes.

"Sorry?"

"I asked, can you bring down one of the titans if we leave this to you, Mikasa, Bertholdt, Reiner, Annie, Jean and… "

He looked up to his left where both Sasha and Connie were looking on reluctantly; the latter swallowed and raised a shaking hand.

"I, uh… I can do it."

Janice fought down a shake of her head.

Girl was not cut out for this.

Connie seemed to find newfound courage when Sasha spoke.

"No, I can, I'll handle it."

"I said, I can do it."

"It's fine, Sash, just let me… "

She seemed to grow offended then, turning on her heel, ponytail whipping over her shoulder.

"I said, I can do it!"

The shout caught everyone off guard and there followed an awkward silence as she glared furiously at him, regret written across his face.

"I'm sorry."

Janice stifled a snort at the needless melodrama as Armin cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, her as well."

He seemed to be relieved to turn his gaze anywhere other than the pair of them.

"Are you in, Janice?"

She became aware of an incredibly obvious atmosphere of anger and disdain as all eyes returned to her. It seemed Cedric's words had found all of them, and she fought down her annoyance at him as she looked back at Armin.

"You really think it's a good idea to stake everything on this plan?"

He seemed to not have considered this and opened and closed his mouth silently, gaze turning towards the ground. Seeming just as eager to move the subject along, Connie stepped up beside him, the collective anger of all the trainees seeming to reflect in his eyes.

"It's our only shot, and it's the best one we have. We're lucky that we have Armin here to put something together for us."

Cocking his head, he leaned back.

"But if you want to skip out on us like you did your squad, I don't think anyone would be surprised."

That almost caught her. Taking a few breaths to ensure she wouldn't come out swinging, Janice spoke to Connie without looking at him.

"Mention them again, and I'll break your head open."

Her threat was simple as it was direct, and it took him aback for long enough for her to return her attention to Armin before he decided to mount any kind of comeback.

"I'll do it."

Regardless of how stupid this is, going along with it is better than letting them die and knowing I did nothing.

She shouldered her way through the reproachful faces, ignoring the accusing stares that she knew she wouldn't be able to ignore forever.

See if I care. When I've killed every titan within these walls… we'll see how they look at me then.

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Mikasa inhaled and exhaled slowly as the titan hobbled its way beneath her. They hadn't been spotted slipping into the rafters, and the lift had come down as expected with Armin and the other trainees with rifles at the ready. She hated just watching the monsters stager their way towards the near defenseless cadets with their emotionless grins, but she was putting all her faith in Armin and his plan, as was everyone else.

It's what Eren would have done.

The thought nearly shook her from her focus and she quietly cursed herself.

Not now.

She rotated her ankle to keep the blood circulating, they had been crouching for minutes now, waiting for the single moment where they would be needed to act with perfect speed and precision. In her head, it was just another exercise, that was how she always was able to calm herself in dire situations. But as she looked at the others, she could see a vast array of emotions, not all of them good.

Reiner looked as determined as ever, so much so that he almost looked as though he was in pain. Bertholdt had the usual wide eyes that always came when he was put in a stressful situation, but Jean looked worse, almost as though he was about to be sick. Mikasa knew he wanted to look strong in front of all of them, and she almost pitied the shows he was so fond of putting on to build himself up; he wanted to convince himself just as much as everyone else. Janice and Annie could have been twins for how completely calm they looked, there likely wouldn't be any slip ups on their end. Sasha on the other hand, worried her.

The girl was clearly set and confident to try and perform to the best of her abilities, but her fear was almost palpable. Even from as far away as she was, Mikasa was fairly sure she could see Sasha's hands shaking on her blades. This was not a time to try and convince yourself, and others, that you were capable of performing to a certain set of standards, and the more Mikasa looked, the more she began to worry.

"NOW!"

Armin's voice rang out then, echoing through the long and dark walls of the basement; at once, gunpowder was lit by the slamming of locks against frizzens and the room erupted with thunderous bangs and flashes as bright as the sun. Mikasa closed her eyes, until the final shot rang in her ears, and she opened them, ready to lunge. Her titan was right where it should be, stumbling back due to its sudden blindness and she tightened her muscles, ready to jump with the rest of her team. But as she made to attack, she saw Sasha, frozen in place, staring down with fear the only thing written on her face.

"SASHA, MOVE!"

Mikasa shouted the words as she leapt herself and realized a moment too late that the shots had struck the titan's eyes, not its ears. It swung a hand around towards her that she vaulted over, but its elbow clipped her waist as she swung for its nape; her cut fell short and she was tossed against a wooden beam at the force of the hit.

"MIKASA!"

She heard Armin and Jean shout her name in unison as she slid to the floor, momentarily stunned. As she tried to rise back to her feet, she heard another sound, one much that drenched her heart with much more fear and she whipped her head around.

Sasha was pinned against a matching wooden beam, with a titan's mouth over her shoulder, clamping down. Its hands had their fingers severed, clearly done in an attempt to free herself, but one that had only briefly worked. She screamed as it tightened its jaw, and she plunged her blade into its cheek in panic and desperation. Her fighting back aside, blood was now very obvious, soaking her clothes. Mikasa heard Connie scream her name as he leapt from the lift to try and aid her and it was in that moment that she heard her own name screamed again.

"LOOK OUT!"

It was then, that she remembered she hadn't remotely killed her titan, only delayed it and she saw its hand coming for her, fingers eager and reaching. She cursed then, as she drew her blades back and realized they had both broken at her botched attack; gritting her teeth, she tucked into a crouch, still knowing that she wouldn't be able to escape its clutches.

Doesn't matter. Eren wouldn't want me to give up. Not after everything that's happened.

She narrowed her eyes at its leering, blinded head, as it reached for where it had heard her to be.

Not again.