The Awakening Chapter 12: Chpt 11: Life Forever Changed, an attack on titan/進撃の巨人 fanfic

I don't own Attack on Titan: just my OC's and the plot.

The Awakening

Chapter 11: Life Forever Changed

845, July, the Marian forest:

"WATCH YOUR LEFT!" Bryson shouted as he flew through the trees on his ODM gear.

"Don't worry I see him!" Ariana shouted back as she glanced over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Shadow quickly closing the gap between them,

The fifteen meter titan was quick to stay on her rear as she flew between the giant trees, while Bryson hung back; keeping on Shadow's left side and following them both at a distance where he could watch the action unfold. Ariana shot her lines out to pull a hard right around the back of a tree, and recalled the cables in half-way so as to catapult herself around and off the trunk: a move that proved to be too fast for Shadow, as he grabbed the trunk of a smaller tree nearby, and used it to make the hard turn, skidding right around and running after where he thought Ariana would be; only to find she had vanished. Skidding to a halt, the titan looked all around, his ears flicking back and forth as he tried to locate her: but when he looked up, he was too late to react as Ariana silently dropped out of the trees and struck him on the nape with a pair of dull wooden pairing blades: firing her cables back into the tree so as to swing down to the ground. Sighing in both defeat and relief, Shadow kneeled down next to her as Bryson landed on his shoulder, and after moving some of his long thick hair out the way, carefully inspected where the blades had struck. A pair of blade strikes marked by a thick red paste indicated the mock wound would have been fatal: satisfied, he shot his lines into the tree and swung down next to Ariana's side.

"Well?" She asked nervously as she detached the mock blades from their anchors in the hand grips, and placed them back into the sheath boxes. The blades had been coated with a red paste that took hours to dry: a simple yet effective means of both simulating and marking a blade strike. "Pretty good" Bryson nodded in a matter-of-factly tone, "Catapulting up into the canopy like that and then dropping down silently? Good way to get the drop on your quarry, literally" he then turned serious, "But you're going to have to start improving your reaction time when you first sight your target: you were nearly two seconds late getting off the ground; a delay like that can cost lives: next time, don't stop for anything, understand?"

"I-, Yes" Ariana nodded, "Yes what?" Bryson frowned, "Yes sir!" Ariana immediately straightened up and saluted; "And you-" he glanced up at Shadow with a distinct look of disappointment written all over his face: "What the hell was with that move back there?! You're supposed to be simulating a regular titan! You should've run right into that tree and fallen flat on your ass: regular titans don't have the coordination or reflexes to pull off such a turn!"

Realizing his blunder, Shadow held up his hand, and with his glowing 'smoke light' spelt out,: My apologies Bryson, I wasn't concentrating:

"No, you weren't" the former scout frowned, before letting go of his frustration: "...Still..." he contemplated as he gazed back at Ariana, "Being able to outrun a titan in such a way, and still be able to stay ahead of him? That's a not a bad move to keep in mind" he then glanced down at his pocket watch, "...What'd you say we call it a day? We've been at this for most of the afternoon, and I'd say you two have earned yourselves some downtime"

"About time" Tyto smiled as he emerged from the thick greenery of the undergrowth, "I was wondering when you were finally going to call it quits"

"How long have been standing there? Only, I didn't see you down on the ground" Bryson smiled: "Eh, that's Celtic stealth for you" Tyto shrugged, "And I gotta say, these 'training' exercises are really paying off: you're getting faster on that thing" he smiled down at Ariana, "Eh, just lot's of practice really, there's nothing much else to it dad" she shrugged with a small smile, "So? If your here, I guess it's time to go home huh?"

"Ah not just yet" Tyto smiled, "Everyone's waiting for you back at the grove: shall we?" he gestured in the direction of the grove. Gently picking the humans up and placing them on his shoulder, Shadow stood back up and steadily began walking through the forest; his feet hardly making a sound as he careful stepped over the thick greenery and between the much smaller other trees. "So tell me? How've you been doing? I only caught the last five minutes of that chase back there" Tyto glanced over at his daughter.

"Well? I finally polished off the sharp turns without overshooting my landing spot?" Ariana shrugged, "Oh and the latest batch of 'fake titan blood' paste works better: it didn't dry out as quickly as the last lot" "Good, you can thank Claude when we get home: it's his own recipe apparently?" Tyto replied offhand, before suddenly remembering: "Oh, I nearly forgot, Mrs Jaeger's at the grove with Mable and Miss Rosemary"

"Really?" Ariana's eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face: she fired her lines out and took off at speed, "See you at the grove!" she called over her shoulder as she vanished into the canopy. Tyto sat in silence as he watched her disappear, and listened as the sound of her ODM gear's gas piston steadily grew quieter the further she flew away. He passed a deep sigh of contemplation, before turning to Bryson and asking in all seriousness: "So? How's she been doing?"

"Honestly Tyto? I think she's prime Scout material" Bryson smiled, "And I'm not just saying that because I still support the Legion: as a hunter (and a stealthy one at that) she's got a natural ability that would make her effective at being able to stalk or evade, even on an ODM gear; hell, even Shadow can't get the drop on her anymore"

: It's true, she's improved greatly these past several months: Shadow spelt out with his 'smoke light'

"Also, since she's known Shadow and the other titans since a very young age: there's a strong chance regular titans won't spook her as badly as they would other rookies on their first expedition. And with that nose of her's, I'd wager she'd be able to smell them coming a mile off" Bryson continued, "Plus, since we began these one-on-one training exercises a year ago, her speed and agility on the ODM gear has vastly improved, more so than me when I was in the training corps. Speaking as a professional: I'd say, regardless of whatever branch she chooses to join, she'd be a fine investment for the military"

"Well? That's good to know..." Tyto sighed as he let his gaze wander down to the forest floor: hearing the vexation in his voice, Bryson asked: "...Is something the matter Tyto?" "No it's just-..." Tyto hesitated as he met Bryson's gaze again: "Well? I'm glad Ariana will have something to offer in terms of her own individual skills: but part of me thinks this whole 'joining the military' thing won't be so straight forward"

"Well? You wouldn't be wrong there" Bryson sighed, "She's not going to be getting any breaks when she starts training for real; she'll be pushed to her breaking point and then some, and even then she'll have no one to help her out. But it's not all just about titans and how to kill them: there are a lot of other things she'll have to learn too" he pointed out, "Team work, tactics, hand-to-hand combat, among other things: being part of a good soldier means learning to stay flexible, and responding to each situation differently; and depending on which branch she finally decides to join, she'll have to be prepared to meet the challenge regardless of her own personal feelings"

"That's what I'm afraid of," Tyto confessed, "Ariana might have what it takes to be a good Scout in terms of her skills and ability: but I'm not sure if she has the heart to endure so much loss and grief; even with Shadow and the others protecting the Scouts from the regular titans, the Legion still continues to suffer fatalities, and I don't know if she would be able to endure that kind of heartache...not after-" he hesitated as he passed a bitter sigh, disappointment evident in his eyes.

Bryson knew what vexed him about this, and couldn't help but sympathize with him: "...Eren," he sighed. "Ever since that day, up on the mountain: I've noticed things have been different between them. Unlike him, she feels she must atone for her choice, to prove that violence and anger are not the way to resolve conflict or injustice. I think that's part of why she wants to join the military, to help people who cannot defend themselves against those that would take advantage of them. Of course, the only branch that would allow her to do something like that would be the military police; but she has no idea of just how deep the corruption runs in that organization. Her need to help and wanting to remain true to her principles would be sorely disillusioned: she'd encounter as much heartbreak there as she would the Scouts"

"Then I suppose the Garrison would be her safest bet huh?" Tyto glanced over at the former Scout, "Eh, from a pragmatic point of view yes: but cleaning cannons, guard duty at the inner gates and sitting around watching the walls all day? That would be a waste of her talents Tyto: and if I'm being honest with you? I couldn't bear to see someone of such exceptional talent be underutilized like that"

"Then her only choice would be the Scouts" Tyto frowned a little, to which Bryson tried to explain as prudently as possible: "I just feel-, for what she is able to do, for the skills she obviously has; the Scouts are a no-brainer...Unlike Eren: for the past year now, every time he and Armin have walked by the bookshop I've been hearing him going on about joining the Scouts and how he wants to 'slaughter' all the titans. The way he goes on about it though? It kinda has me worried he might be obsessed with it in some way, and not in a good way either"

"...Yeah, I figured that too," Tyto met Bryson's surprised gaze, "Listen, don't say a word of this to Carla, but once or twice I've overheard Ariana's conversations with Eren and Armin up on the roof: Eren's trying to work up a plan to run away and sign up to the military after he turns twelve. He knows his mother won't give him her blessings for joining the Scouts, so rather than tell her upfront, he figured he'd avoid the whole thing altogether and just run away"

"And, Ariana's on board with this?" Bryson blinked in surprise: "Fortunately no: I think she's trying to dissuade him, in her own way. Recommending different ways of how to 'break it to her gently' and all that; but honestly? The cat's going to be let out of the bag sooner or later: probably by Mikasa, I don't think she's keen on the idea of him joining the Scouts either, but then, I don't think she'll leave his side even if he does sign up?" Tyto thought aloud.

"You might be right there" Bryson nodded, "She's like his shadow, wherever he goes, she's never far behind" : Mikasa has been a surprisingly good influence on Eren : Shadow spelt out, : She has a knack for being able to calm him down, and she's quite efficient at being able to keep him out of the worst of trouble:

"Heh, Well? I'm glad he and Ariana are still friends, despite what happened up on that mountain last year" Tyto smiled: "Things might have changed between them, but at least they can still see what they share with each other" "That's true..." Bryson smiled, before changing the subject: "Oh I forgot to ask the other day; how's the 'key cracking' going with the Semitam?"

"Eh? To be honest I think we're starting to lose the will to live" Tyto sighed in exasperation, "It's been over a year since we discovered the true nature of the titan's markings and engravings on their tombs: and we're still closer to finding out what the 'key' is?"

: We warned you from the start it could be almost anything: Shadow spelt out, : As long as an inanimate object has been imbued with a piece of the Semitam's power, the key could be hidden in anything, and even if you find it, you still need to awaken the power that lies within:

"So it's still pretty much a case of looking for a needle in a whole field of haystacks?" Bryson raised an eyebrow, : Not really. Despite being so small, a needle would still stand out in a haystack. It's more of a case of looking for a specific needle within a pile of different needles : Shadow replied, : And because a Semitam's power remains 'asleep' when not in use, it's not like I or the others can sense it. The same goes for its key too:

"That's still a disappointment" Bryson frowned. "Ah we'll find it one day: for all we know it could be hidden in the most unlikeliest of places, or, object in this case" Tyto assured him, "Look, I wouldn't go popping a blood vessel over it: wherever the map leads to, it can wait, right big fella?" he glanced up at Shadow, : I don't have any plans for the long term future: he spelt out with a smile, : Besides, I rather like it here : He spelt out before pointing ahead.

Gazing ahead to where he was pointing to, the two men saw the grove of giant trees come into view. As Shadow entered the grove and made his way over to the large clearing, he knelt down to place Tyto and Bryson back on the ground, before noticing the other titans and humans were all doing their own thing. Angel and Boar were sat down with Carla and the children at the edge of the clearing, reading a book while surrounded by a whole flock of different birds that were perched on the children's outstretched arms and feeding from their cupped hands: Mabel and Rosemary were busy amid the little fruit orchid that grew in the center of the clearing, picking the ripe fruits and berries and depositing them into the baskets that sat nearby. Off around the other side of the clearing, West was helping Evrard to balance upright on an ODM gear (which he'd somehow managed to squeeze his robust frame into), while Falken and Eraman were flying around the clearing in a wide circle on their kids ODM gear, much to Tyto and Bryson's surprise, and Shadow's amusement.

"Whoa! When did you guys learn to do that?!" Tyto called up to them with abroad grin of excitement: "About an hour ago!" Falken called down as he flew overhead with Evernight at his side, "It's not that hard you know! You should try it!" Eraman added with a broad smile spread across his face as his ravens flew after him, chirping and cronking happily at seeing their master being able to fly on invisible wings. "You know what? I think I'll try that" Tyto nodded as he spotted the kid's ODM gears sitting at the base of one of the giant trees: "Hey boys! Can I borrow one of your gears?" he called over to Ash, Rowan and Dale, "Sure dad! Just don't use up all the gas!" Ash called back, "Care to show me the basics?" he asked Bryson, "Sure, why not?" Bryson smiled as he shook his head, "But if anyone else comes to me asking how to fly 'Scout style', I'm going to have to start charging commission" he added.

Leaving the gents to their own devices, Shadow stepped over to the little gathering at Boar and Angel's feet, : What's going on here?: he spelt out as he sat down on the grass next to Boar, who had a variety of different birds perched on his tusks, mane, shoulders and tail, while Angel had a whole varying flock perched amid her flank plumes and shoulders, and a goodly number were perched on the humans shoulders and outstretched arms, feeding on a collection of different fruits, seeds and worms (kindly dug out of the ground by Boar).

"Claude gave me this for free" Carla pointed to a book in her lap, "It lists all the different bird species found in the Marian forest" she added as she fed three white doves perched on her arm. "The birds in the book are just line drawings with no colour, so Boar called them all here so we could see what they look like with their real colours" Ariana smiled as she let seven chattering magpies perch on her arms, "I like these guys, their so blue" Josefa smiled as she offered a strawberry to a pair of blue jays on her right shoulder, "You like anything that's blue" Jaye deadpanned as he stroked a trio of Steller's jays that were sitting contently in his lap, "So do you" she shot back. "Hey, blue's my colour too you know?" Belle frowned at them as she offered her hand to a couple of mountain bluebirds that were snapping up the worms on offer. "Well I like red so these little guys are a no-brainer for me" Poppy smiled as she fed a handful of flame-coloured tanagers, "Yellow's my colour of choice so these guys are my favorite, "Gale chipped in as she placed some seeds on her shoulder for a couple of yellow warblers. "We like these guys" Lucy and Lucius smiled as they fed a small group of snow buntings and snow finches: "Well, she likes the snow buntings, I like the snow finches" Lucius clarified, "I love these guys! Their so cute!" Clay chuckled as he held two apple halves in both hands, letting a whole flock of waxwings perch all over him as they pushed and shoved each other aside for a few pecks of the apples, "I prefer this guy, he's fly's just like I do on the ODM gear" Hazel noted as she stroked an impressive Goshawk that sat in her lap like a cat. "He's good at flying through tight holes in the branches, but he can't hold a candle to these guys!" Ashlyn chuckled as a flock of swallows flew around her like a whirlwind, chasing after her as she ran around the clearing, trying to keep up with them, "Same here, these guys are real sharp on the dives" Hawk added as he offered his arms to a small handful of swifts that were twisting and turning on the warm air with the swallows. "Yeah well these guys seem to like us" Ash pointed to the two ravens perched on his shoulder, while Rowan was busy feeding a couple of rooks, "Maybe it's because we wear black?" Dale offered as he feed a trio of Jackdaws. "Nah, I think it's the food" Fox shrugged as he let several bullfinches eat some seeds out of his cupped hands: "Or maybe the titans just convinced them that we're okay, and that it's safe to come down out the trees" Shyla chipped in as she stroked a cuckoo that was perched on her wrist.

Holding out his hand, Shadow watched as some of the birds fluttered over and perched on his giant fingers, seemingly unfazed by his vast looming form. "How is it you guys are able to talk to birds when you can't talk yourselves?" Mabel thought aloud as she wandered over with a basket of cherries and strawberries tucked under one arm, "It's their powers, that what it is right big guy?" Ariana smiled up at Shadow, who nodded in reply. : It's nice to see you here again Carla: he spelt out with is free hand. "Well? Grisha's at the hospital today and Eren's with Armin and Mikasa, so I had a few hours to myself" She smiled up at him, "Besides, Angel's been badgering me for weeks to come out here, so of course I lost that battle of wills" she glanced up at her best friend with a mock impression of annoyance, to which Angel chirped and warbled proudly with a content smile. : Well it's great to have you back, if only for a few hours: Shadow replied. "Yeah, I miss this" Shyla thought aloud, "Me too" Ariana concurred, "Between 'scout-style' training and everything else, it feels like I've hardly had any time for anything else"

"Oh yes, you're still committed to joining the military Ariana?" Rosemary asked offhand, "Yep, still waiting for my twelfth birthday to roll around" Ariana sighed. "Well? You ain't going alone" Rowan gazed over at her with a sideways glance, "We're coming too" "What?! Like hell you are!" Ariana shot back, "You seriously think we're going to let our little sister take on the titans all by herself? They'd have to get through us first" he stated seriously, "I haven't even made up my mind that I'll join the scouts for sure! For all you know I might still be contemplating the Garrison or MP's!" Ariana argued. "Staring up at a big-ass wall all day or sitting around on your ass doing shit-all unless you're bribed to do something? Yeah, like that's going to happen" Rowan rolled his eyes, "You're gonna be a scout and you know it". "Ariana?" Carla grabbed her attention with a concerned look in her eyes: "You're not seriously considering joining the scouts, are you?" "No it-" Ariana huffed in frustration, "I'm still thinking it over: I've gotta choose one of the three branches once I graduate"

"If you graduate!" West shouted over to her, "I hear those training instructors can be real hard-asses!" "Whatever you chose, I just hope it'll be something that won't pose too much danger" Carla smiled, "...Yeah, I guess?" Ariana shrugged dubiously: pondering the three choices that she still hadn't made up her mind about, "But, at least with the Scouts, I know Shadow will be watching over me: even if I can't see him" she smiled up at him. "We're coming too you know!" Belle stated boldly, "What?" Ariana blinked in surprise, "She's right, we still want to join the Scouts and go see the outside world" Gale stated, "And besides, if you do join the scouts, we might all be placed in the same squad together!" Poppy smiled, "I'm coming too" Shyla stated, "Fox says he wants to join the scouts as well, and where he goes, I go" she stated, to which Fox shot her a look. "Does- Miriam know about this?" Ariana asked offhand, "Ah Heh, we uh? Haven't exactly broached the subject to her yet?" Gale sheepishly smiled, "But hey, we got two years to break it to her gently and let it sink in: I'm sure if we play our cards right (and get her drunk enough) she'll grow to be okay with it"

"Are you all sure about this?" Carla asked dubiously, "Do you have any idea of the danger that awaits you all beyond that wall? What kind of risk you'd be taking by joining the scouts?" "Well? Yeah?" Belle shrugged, "We kinda know that" "And it's not a decision we came to lightly, I can promise you that Mrs Jaeger" Gale added, trying to sound reassuring. "Same here, we know what kinda danger's out there beyond the wall: that's why we gotta keep an eye on Ariana, so she don't get eaten" Rowan threw in, with Ash and Dale nodding in agreement, "You guys! Like hell you're gonna be babysitting me!" Ariana shot back at them, "Like hell we're letting you go off on your own" Ash frowned, "It ain't no use arguing about it, we're joining the training corps with you and that's it: end of discussion" "...HEY DAD!" Ariana shouted over to her father, "ASH ROWAN AND DALE ARE GONNA JOIN THE MILITARY TO BABYSIT ME! DID YOU OKAY THIS WITH MUM?!" "What?!" Tyto exclaimed, "-Like hell I Okayed it! You three get over here and explain yourselves!" Tyto exclaimed: Ash, Rowan and Dale took off running into the trees, "-Traitor!" Rowan glared at Ariana over his shoulder as he ran for the undergrowth, with the ravens, rooks and jackdaws flying after them. Turning her attention back to Carla, Ariana tried to explain: "Look, Mrs Jaeger, it's not like I haven't considered the risks involved; but with Shadow and the other titans keeping a watchful eye over the expeditions, being a Scout isn't quite as dangerous as it used to be"

"Yeah, ever since Shadow, Midnight and Boar started invisibly tailing the scouts, the legion's mortality rate has been steadily decreeing, and with the combat strategies we helped Bryson's devise last year, the scouts now lose an average of four to six troops per mission. Why, last week's expedition only lost three people on the entire trip: that's a new record" Lucius chipped in. "Hey, do you wonder if the scouts have noticed the decrease in their mortality rate these last few years? I mean, going from losing an average of twelve to fifteen people, way down to an average of four to six? Do they think they're real lucky? Or what?" Josefa pondered aloud.

: From what I've overheard around the campfires. Some are of the opinion that there's some kind of supernatural force at work: Shadow spelt out with a smile, : But by and large, many of the scouts believe it's pure luck. Most of the time the fatalities are usually the ones right out on the far edges of the column, or at the far front or rear, where they do not have the benefit of the 'herd's' protective numbers, and even then the titans that attack are usually the ones that are able to slip by us:

"So? ..." Carla hesitated, "There's still a real risk involved?" : Carla, there will always be a risk no matter how hard you work to try to decrease it. The odds may be more in the scouts favor as a whole, but the odds of the individual soldier are still hazardous. But that doesn't mean to say they don't have a leg to stand on, a goodly number of them are able to hold their own during a fight, and since we started using the new tactics and strategies, they've certainly been able to muster a lot more tenacity then they had done in previous years: Shadow explained. "I wouldn't worry about it too much Mrs Jaeger" Ariana smiled, "With Bryson teaching me how fight, and Shadow playing the part of a regular titan, the titans would have to go a long way to get the drop on me"

Carla wanted to object, but decided against it: it wasn't worth getting into an argument about it, not when Ariana had made up her mind about joining the military, and was quite likely looking at joining the scouts. The thought of it sent a feeling of unease up her spine, as she thought about Eren and the idea of him joining the same faction, only to come home dead and half eaten, or worse, not at all. How Tyto and Freya were okay with this she couldn't understand, but then, they were much more confident in their children's talents and abilities: and trusted them to know how to stay on top of things. As she let her gaze fall down to the book in her lap, Carla wondered why she was feeling like this: this sense of dreading the worst case scenario for Eren, and the thought of losing him. Where was this coming from? As she pondered on her thoughts, she wondered why she didn't have the same kind of faith in her child as Tyto and Freya did in theirs: was she that overprotective? Did she worry so much that she hadn't taken into account that Eren would eventually grow up someday, and would have to stand on his own two feet? It was more of an annoying vexation more than anything else, and she didn't know how to work past it: could Eren really be capable of achieving the same level of proficiency as Ariana if he were to become a scout too? After all, her chances of surviving the regular titans were no greater or lesser than that of any other scout in the legion: and as Bryson had stated on many past occasions, even the best scouts had succumbed to the titans jaws. It was simply the luck of the draw.

As a mother, Carla's maternal instincts told her it wasn't wise to let Eren do anything that would incur the possibility of him getting hurt: but her sensibilities also told her that it was also unwise to hold him back. Whatever he wanted to do in life, be it safe or dangerous, he had the freedom to choose his own destiny. Seeing the look in her eyes, Ariana asked offhand: "...Hey, are you okay Mrs Jaeger?" snapping back to reality, Carla glanced down at Ariana and forced a reassuring smile, "Uh, oh I'm fine. It's just-, well? I can't help but worry is all; it's a 'mum thing', and worrying over any child kind of comes with the territory"

Suddenly, all the birds took flight, fluttering high up into the trees as a vast pitch-black shadow moved through the dark gloom of the canopy, before drifting down to the ground like a cloud of ink, and rematerializing into the form of Midnight, with Ash, Rowan and Dale gently clutched in one clawed hand. "Hey! Why'd you scare all the birds off Midnight?" Clay huffed. Ignoring the children's groans of complaint, the giant voluptuous black and white titan sauntered over to the clearing and sat herself down next to Shadow, placing the three brothers back on the ground who then quickly took off to the opposite side of the clearing as an annoyed Ariana laid eyes on them and quickly gave chase. As the children watched the scene and the grown-up's tried to calm the situation down; Midnight regarded Shadow with a smirk.

"Looks like I missed something fun: I found the brats trying to sneak off back to the road and they tried to get me to pretend I hadn't seen them; what did they try to pull this time?" Hecate asked offhand: "They're going to sign up to the training corps so as to babysit their little sister" Herne smirked. "TCH!- That'll be the day: their good on the ODM but she'd be leaving them in her dust: you told them that yet?" she smirked, "Oh, their smart kids, they'll figure it out for themselves soon enough" Javorin chuckled, before changing the subject. "Anyway, where have you been all day?"

"Oh around, 'walking the estate' so to speak" she shrugged, "I know the Disciples are long gone but it never hurts to be doubly sure; that and, I've been searching for our elusive friend..."

Javorin, Herne and Elysia blinked in surprise at her: it had been over a year since the incident on the mountain between Ariana, Eren, Mikasa, and the gang of human traffickers; an incident where an unknown god had decided to play the good Samaritan and save the children's lives. In the weeks following the event, the four gods had searched high and low for their mystery kin: traveling far and wide around the three walls, from the green forested regions in the south, to the open prairies and grasslands of the east, the lush marshlands and lakes of the west, all the way up to the cold mountainous regions of the north. They flew over all three walls at least twice, gliding over the lands of wall Rose and wall Sina, and even over the grand capitol city of Mitras. They even flew out into the outside world, but with no luck. Whoever it was had seemed to have only been passing through, and was long since gone.

"A few weeks ago I set up a shrine at the top of Black Boar Mountain, the one at the north-eastern most range of the district? Nothing fancy, just a few offerings and an incantation to let them know we're here. I went to check on it this morning. No takers" she sighed, "Of course it's not that simple: but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained, right?" "True" Javorin sighed, "But then, with all that chaos manna in the atmosphere fogging up our powers, whoever it was is probably in the same boat we are. They might have flown right over our heads and never even saw us" "...Do you think it's worth going to ask your mother about it?" Hecate suggested; Javorin glanced at her, before heaving a heavy sigh, "...It's a possibility, and one I've been giving some serious thought to; if one of our kin is out there somewhere, and they're searching for someone too, then we have to know. The question is, will her powers be affected by the chaos manna too?"

"Considering she resides in the spirit realm it's a possibility: the mortal and spiritual planes are interlinked after all" Herne shrugged: "So? When are you thinking of 'paying mother a visit'?"

"Next week, when Lune's light is at her fullest: I want to be sure there's enough ambient manna to sustain me while I cross over" Javorin replied: "Can't you just go over to the spirit realm any time? I thought that place didn't need any specific 'requirements' in order to go there?" Elysia asked offhand. "Back when we were our normal selves yes, but with all the chaos manna in the atmosphere now there's no telling how a regular astral projection might be affected. Under the circumstances it's best to play it safe and wait until the full moon can naturally imbue the mortal plane with her energies" Herne explained.

"Her?" Elysia raised an eyebrow; "Oh hell! Don't tell me you don't know?!" Hecate facepalmed, "Know what?" Elysia exclaimed. "Kid, the goddess of the moon is Lune: Hecate's mother" Herne smirked: Elysia simply gawked at Hecate: "THE MOON IS YOUR MOTHER?!" "Wait-, you didn't know?" Herne blinked in surprise: "No of course not! How the hell was I to know the moon was a goddess! I just thought it was a big fat white rock in the sky!" Elysia exclaimed, before Hecate shot her a particularly scathing glare, while Javorin and Herne merely facepalmed in embarrassment: "Kid, thinking of someone's mother a 'big fat white rock' isn't the right assumption for the greatest source of all light and magic within the night-time realm" Herne sighed in exasperation. "Lune is the goddess and queen of the moon and night-time: she is one of the most powerful and important of the ancient ones, her's is a power shared by many in this realm, the spirit realm and the eternal realm alike. How on earth could you not know who she is?" Javorin gazed at the weather goddess weirdly. "I DIDN'T KNOW OKAY?! I just-, AAUGH!" Elysia fumed; though she didn't cause a scene, the look of sheer frustration and disbelief on her face quickly caught the human's attention. "Angel? Honey is something wrong?" Carla got up and wandered over to her: snapping out of her anger, Elysia stared down at Carla in alarm. Realizing she'd worried her and the other humans too; looking back up at the other god's, she passed a heavy sigh as she stood up and turned to leave. "...I'm sorry Hecate, I'll-, just go to my nest now..." she quietly stated as she walked away with Carla trailing after her. "What was that all about?" Ariana gazed up at Shadow, who regarded her with an apologetic sigh: tapping the side of his temple to indicate they'd been talking to one another in their 'secret unspoken language' (the humans hadn't quite been able to get their heads around the concept of telepathy), holding up his hand he spelt out, : We were talking, and things got a little complicated. Don't worry about it; she just needs some time alone:

At the root cave where Elysia's nest was situated, the avian titan was about to climb down into the nest when Carla ran ahead in front to stop her: "Angel talk to me, what happened back there?" the human demanded worryingly. Unfolding her wing, Elysia flapped it and spelt out the words, : I'm an idiot, I don't anything about this world! : "What do you mean you don't know anything? You know plenty of things" Carla smiled, trying to sound reassuring; Frowning, Elysia was about to reply back, when she suddenly sensed Hecate in her mind again: "Hey...If you genuinely didn't know? Don't go busting your tail feathers over it: it's not worth it okay? ...And don't worry about 'offending' me, I've encountered a lot worse" Elysia paused a moment, gazing down at Carla with an unreadable look as Hecate continued, "...It won't do any good to explain it to her either; the humans have long since forgotten who we really are, and there's no point trying to convince them otherwise. Those days are long gone, and as far as their concerned we're a bunch of seriously 'abnormal' titans"

Sighing bitterly in defeat, Elysia met Carla's gaze, and leaned down to nuzzle the side of her face: Thinking she was just upset and needed a hug, Carla obliged and hugged the bridge of her nose and the side of her cheek: "There there it's okay, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine: I'm always here if you need me alright?" Carla cooed softly: Elysia nodded, and gazed over at the clearing, where the children stood watching her in concern. "... Javorin? Will you teach me who all the other gods are sometime?" she asked sombrely, "I think that can be arranged, but for now? Don't stress out over it okay?" he smiled warmly. Managing to give Carla a small smile, Elysia retreated into her nest and chirped invitingly, asking her to come down: as she climbed down into the cave, Elysia grabbed one of the many books she'd stashed away in the feather lining of her nest, holding it between her lips and giving it to Carla. "The mocking bird that sang to the sun?" she read the cover out loud, "Huh, I haven't noticed this one in your nest before: is it one Claude gave to you?" she asked, to which Elysia nodded: using the bend of her wing to pat her breast, indicating it was a love story: "Okay then, scoot over and we'll begin the first chapter: but only one today, I'll read the rest if you come over to my place alright?" she stated, Elysia nodded in agreement; Carla made herself comfy in between the soft feather lining and Elysia's left wing. She then opened the book, and started the first page: "Once, long ago in an age when I was but a boy, and full of proud youthful ambitions, I came to a city whose name escapes me now: but was far from what I expected..."

"Will she be okay?" Ariana asked Shadow as she sat cross-legged in his palm, : She'll be fine, trust me: he spelt out as she smiled at her. "...A goddess who's never heard of Lune? ... Geez, how long was the kid up in the sky for? I mean, I know the Tempus gods always had a reputation for hardly ever taking corporal forms and coming down to the ground, but surely they must have had some kind of basic knowledge of the ancient ones, at least?" Herne shook his head in disbelief, being careful not to let Elysia overhear them: "The Tempus gods always considered themselves above the average nature god: Well? The older generation at least; since it was their duty to 'turn the wheel of the world's weather', and thus influencing many of the planet's ecosystems, they didn't like to associate with those they considered to be of a lesser power. Of course many of the younger gods, while they didn't inherit their predecessor's prejudices, still remained vastly ignorant of the world, hardly understanding the reasons why they did what they did, and for what. Understandably, this led to many conflicts between us 'ground-dwelling' gods and them, since apparently we were 'beneath' them too" Javorin sighed.

"...That storm that blew through here four years ago..." Hecate thought aloud, "You don't suppose it could've been the work of a discontent Tempus god do you?" "...The thought had crossed my mind a while ago, but if there had been a Tempus god it would've made no sense for them to attack one of their own? Tempus gods many have been a lofty lot, but they drew the line at maiming their own kin; if for no other reason the magical back-lash from attacking a fellow Tempus would have hurt them as much as it would have hurt Elysia. Plus, from what I remember seeing that day, the storm didn't look like it was being manipulated in any way, even from high up in the atmosphere" Javorin replied as he thought back to that day.

"That reminds me..." Hecate frowned in concern, "While I was flying back here I took a detour over the wall and saw something odd; for as far as I could see every titan within the vicinity was heading towards the wall, some, even as far away as beyond the southern forests were making their way here. There weren't many, but it was as if they were being summoned here: I perched up above the outer gate to get a look at their auras, and sure enough, something in all those chaos magics had been 'tweaked' somehow; I don't know what exactly but I got a bad feeling that tells me something's up"

Thinking about it a moment, Javorin then nodded: "... Okay, handle it as you see fit: keep an eye on it and let us know if you need help" "Will do," she glanced down at Ash, Rowan and Dale, who were now sitting contently on her leg, arguing with the Raven twins over something or other.

Sometime later:

The afternoon lazily passed into the early evening, and soon it was time to be heading home: after stashing their ODM gear away in one of the root caves, the humans bid the titans goodnight, and made the long trek through the forest back to the road, where Rosemary and Mabel had left their cart and horse: after loading up all the baskets of fruit and berries, they set off with everyone else following close behind. "You know? That ODM gear is real fun once you get the swing of it" Evrard smiled, "-The swing of it! HA!-" he doubled over with laughter as everyone bar Clay let out a groan: "Heh! Good one dad!" he chuckled: "Eh, comedy genius there Evrard" West smiled dryly: "Well if you think that's good, I got a load more, and their real punny!" the giant red head beamed, much to everyone's exasperation. As everyone tried to dissuade Evrard from sharing any more of his puns: Tyto listened in amusement as Carla came up alongside him: "Oh hey Carla: was Angel okay in the end?" he asked offhand, "Oh she'll be fine..." she smiled. But as her mind wandered back to earlier, and she thought about Eren, Ariana and the scouts, she turned to Tyto with an unreadable expression and asked frankly: "...Listen, Tyto: are you really okay with Ariana joining the Scouts? I mean-, you just don't seem as concerned as I thought you'd be"

"Oh don't worry Carla, I've been worrying about it plenty!" he chuckled, to which she nearly gawked at him: but managed to stop herself as she listened to him continue: "...Ah don't be fooled, I know I come off as laid back, but believe me it's been driving me crazy with worry"

"...It's just-, "She hesitated, "You and I both know what lies beyond those walls: even with Shadow, Midnight and Boar looking after the Scouts at a distance, there's still a chance she-..." she sighed in defeat, "-I'm really sorry, I don't mean to sound like-" "No no It's okay, really" Tyto assured her, "I thank you for your concern, but it's alright: me and Freya have already talked about this with Ariana, and although it's not easy, it's a choice we're probably going to have to accept" "But how? How on earth can you accept it knowing what's likely to entail?"

Sensing the fear in her voice, Tyto sighed as he confessed, "... To be honest Carla? I don't accept it: the thought of my only daughter heading outside that gate to face the regular titans scares me; I know what awaits her if she becomes a scout and it's been giving me a number of sleepless nights. But? For all the fear and dread it fills me with, it also fills me with pride: to know my child can summon such courage, and to be so good at what she does already, as both a hunter and an ODM gear user. I cannot deny she would make a fine scout. And that ultimately, she would be putting her life on the line for all humanity, to try and help us understand what's out there, and to find a way to figure out what the all titans are and why they're here" Tyto gazed at her, "...There comes a time we all must be ready to let our children go: to let them fly the nest and know what to do to stay alive: of course there's always going to be doubts: what isn't there to worry about? Wondering if you've done enough? If you did all the right things? And if they know you love them no matter what. If Ariana joins the scouts I won't be pleased about it, she knows this and has accepted that is how I feel about the subject. But at the same time, it's her life; she was born free into this world, with all the possibilities open to her to be anything she wants: it would be shameful of me to deny her that for the sake of my own feelings. As it would be shameful for any parent, to hold their children back for the sake of their own personal reasons; our children's lives may be our responsibility but their futures are not ours to claim...At least? That's what I believe" he sighed.

"...I see..." Carla gazed ahead of her, watching Ariana as she and Rowan argued about something: "...I confess: the whole thing makes me worried for Eren"

"You think he might want to join the scouts too?" Tyto asked offhand: knowing what he knew, part of him felt bad for not telling Carla the truth of what he overheard Eren say. "Goodness I hope not," she huffed, "I don't know what I'd do if he came to me asking to go to the conscription office the day after his twelfth birthday: or worse, if he were to run away and sign up without telling me..." she worried; Tyto now felt really bad, but Carla let out a sigh of vexation as she glanced at him and asked: "Tyto, I don't know what to do? Ever since the storm four years ago I've been terrified of the thought of leaving him alone: thinking I'd drowned scared him so badly, and he wouldn't leave my sides for months after that day. Now I'm the one terrified of losing him, and I don't know what I'll do with myself when he does finally have to leave home...How do you find the courage to be able to let go like that?"

"...I don't know?" he sighed honestly, "All I do know is, that one day my children will have their own lives to live, and I'll be happy for all of them regardless of where life takes them; you said it yourself, you don't need to be born special to able to do great things. After all, are we all not born free to this world?" he glanced at her with a wise smile. To which Carla gazed at him in surprise, before sheepishly smiling, "...Yes, we are" she admitted. Placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, Tyto chuckled and told her: "Don't worry: you'll do fine when the time comes, and I'm sure whatever Eren decides to become, he'll be great-, whatever. But for now, just savour these years of his childhood while you can still keep a leash on him, because when he reaches his teens, it's all gonna go downhill from there" "Oh goodness, that's going to be fun" she facepalmed, unable to stop smiling.

The rest of the journey back to Shiganshina soon flew by, and when they reached their street, the sun was already starting to dip beneath wall Maria, "Would you like a hand getting the baskets in?" Carla offered Rosemary, "Oh would you Carla? That would be such a help: take them around the service entrance and put them by the door, we'll sort them out later" Rosemary replied as she dismounted the cart and went to fetch a basket. As Carla and everyone else took a basket and made their way around the side of the Inn to the kitchen, the door suddenly burst open as Bemadette stormed out: she stopped in her tracks as she saw everyone standing there, gazing at her in mix of confusion and surprise, but it didn't take them long to realize she'd been crying, and was clearly very distraught. "Bemadette? Are you okay sweetie?" Mabel asked worryingly.

But Bemadette said nothing as she scowled bitterly, and stormed off as a fresh wave of tears ran down her cheeks, striding off out into the street and up the road. Suddenly, Derek appeared at the door looking a bit flustered: "Which way did Bemadette go?!" he panicked, "Uh? Up the hill?" Mabel replied offhand, "Derek what's- "Sorry Mabel I'll explain later!" Derek hurried as he ran off in the same direction Bemadette went. "What the hell?" Gale frowned as Bren then appeared at the door looking equally worried, "Bren darling, what's going on?" Mabel asked in concern: Bren drew in breath to speak when Bemadette's three younger brothers appeared at the door, gazing up at everyone in bemusement: "Oh uh, you guys go back inside, I gotta talk with the grown-ups" Bren smiled nervously, "Whatever you gotta say to them, you can say in front of us" Brendis stated boldly. "Now boys, it's rude to listen in on other people's conversations," Lucile stated as she came up behind them, "Why don't you head back upstairs and help pops and Pascal set up your beds, hm?" she suggested. "HOP TO IT BRATS!" Miriam barked down from up the stairs, "-Unless you want to be sleeping on the stone floor of the cellar tonight, I suggest you get back up here and give us a hand!"

The three boys huffed in annoyance as they reluctantly trudged back inside and back up the stairs, "You ain't the boss of us old lady!" Brendis shouted back, "And for that, you can have bread and water tonight!" she called back sternly. "Lucile, what're they doing here?" Gale exclaimed, "and what's up with Bemadette?" Belle demanded. "Uh?- " Lucile hesitated awkwardly; "There's no easy way to put this..." she dithered. Sighing in frustration, Bren explained: "Bemadette's mother skipped town last night"

"WHAT!" the kids exclaimed in surprise: "She ran away? And left the boys here?" Rosemary blinked in surprise: "Not exactly," Bren elaborated: "Me and Lucile went with Bemadette to her mum's place a little after you guys left, to drop off those groceries we promised her? We got there and the door was locked, fortunately the landlord had a spare key: but he didn't know the boys had been locked in there since last night. She'd left food out for them but, well? They weren't able to go to the latrine outside"

"Wha-..." Mabel was stunned, "Are you sure she ran away? She didn't just spend the night at a 'client's' place?" "...No, she's gone" Bren sighed in regret, "The boys couldn't tell us much, she just told them she was stepping out for a while and that they weren't to let anyone know they were there until their big sister came calling: but they said she was carrying a large bag full of her clothes, and she took all the money she had...that, and she left a note for Bemadette..." he handed Mabel a small creased piece of paper. Putting her basket down and taking the note, Mabel read through it with Rosemary, Carla, Tyto and West peering over her shoulders, trying to read it too. When she finally reached the signature at the bottom, her eyes reflected her shock and dismay, and the outrage for the woman's audacity: "...My god, she actually wrote this?!" Mabel exclaimed angrily, to which all Bren could do was nod: "Gustav, Pascal and Miriam are putting up some makeshift beds in Bemadette's room: until we can sort out a more permanent living arrangement that doesn't have to resort to us putting them in the cellar" Lucile sighed.

Glaring down at the note, and then placing it atop the basket of plums West was holding, Mabel let out a sharp huff as she let her anger simmer: "I'll be upstairs if anyone needs me!" she grumbled, striding into the kitchen and heading for the stairs; "I don't think Miriam's sorted out the linen yet" Bren commented. Putting their baskets down and going over the note, everyone was both shocked and appealed at what had been written: "Geez, I knew the woman wasn't natural mother material, but that's just cold" West handed the note to Carla, "Shame on her" she frowned, "How the hell could she do that to her own children?! And for what? a job working as a maid?!" she fumed as she handed the note back to West "A maid?" Poppy blinked in surprise, "According to this, Bemadette's mum claimed she met a guy from wall Rose who offered her the chance to 'move up in the world': said he's going to have her work for him in his mansion, or some fancy place like that. Said the pay's real good, the only condition was she had to leave her kids behind or no dice" West waved the note in one hand. "...Geez..." Ash scowled, "You think you know someone" "Will Bemadette be-... you know? 'Okay'?" Lucy asked in concern, trying not to come off as inconsiderate; Bren and Lucile glanced at one another, unsure how to answer that. As everyone gazed at one another in mix of dismay, confusion and outrage, Fox and Shyla simply glanced at one another with a knowing, understanding look.

"Lucius? Lucy?" a young woman in a red dress and white apron came walking down the alleyway: "Oh, hi Gilda, what's up?" Lucy asked, recognizing her as their family's cook. "I saw you coming up the street and thought I'd come to inform you: your parents received an urgent summons from one of their clients up in Stohess; they left not long after you went out into the forest, and won't be back until sometime next week". Lucy and Lucius gazed at one another, seemingly unfazed as Lucius simply replied, "Okay, thanks for letting us know" "Did they leave any messages for us before they left?" Lucy asked optimistically. Gilda simply sighed in regret: "I'm sorry, but no"; looking a tad dejected, Lucy let her gaze drop as she replied quietly, "Oh...Okay"

"GILDA!-" a much older fatter woman barked as she came strolling down the alleyway, wearing a black dress and a white apron with her grey hair tied up in a neat bun: she looked like the wicked witch out of some fairytale, as her face was something only a mother could love; the sight of the big black hairy mole on her right cheek made West want to cringe as she glared at him unfavorably, like a cat would eye a dog. She didn't have much of a friendly expression for the rest of the group either: "I thought I told you not to dither: now bring the children back to the house and run them a bath: you know I cannot stand them trailing mud and twigs over the rugs" she grumbled in a sour tone: her punctuation was prim and proper, she'd obviously been in service for many a year. "Uh- Yes Mrs Muller," Gilda courteously nodded, "Come on, time to go home children" she glanced at the twins with a sympathetic look, to which they glanced back at everyone and waved: "See you tomorrow guys". The children all voiced their good-nights as they watched the twins disappear with Gilda around the corner.

Mrs Muller then approached Tyto and handed him an envelope: "What's this?" He took the envelope and frowned at it in bemusement: "You're payment for last three deliveries, and an additional 'compensation fee' for your termination of employment" she stated flatly. "Termination of employment?!" Tyto exclaimed, everyone stared at the woman in shock: "The master wishes to relay his gratitude for these past six years of dedicated work from you and your family: however, with the master and his family relocating to Mitras next week, he will no longer be able to continue your terms of employment; ergo, you are being 'let go'" she explained, with not an ounce of sympathy in her voice. "Lucy and Lucius are moving away?! TO THE CAPITOL?!" Belle exclaimed. "And Cooper couldn't tell me this in person because?" Tyto demanded. "With the master's company now recognized among many within wall Sina's elite, he is expected to conduct himself accordingly, and to not be seen mingling with the *ahem* 'less educated' folk" she stated in a stern yet flat tone. "Wait a minute! What about us?! The Black Stallion's been buying Mr Cooper's casks for years! Do we still have business with him?!" Rosemary exclaimed in dismay: "Oh yes, mustn't forget you" the old woman droned as she reached into her pocket and produced another envelope, handing it to Rosemary: "A letter of apology, along with the receipt for the last purchase. With the master now catering for the more refined establishments of wall Sina, he cannot be seen to be doing business with such 'unkempt' establishments such as this," she gestured to the Inn as she turned to leave: "Oh, and if you wish to take up this matter with the master, I've been instructed to inform you that any further correspondence will not be relayed by myself or Miss Gilda. The master has made it clear your combined services are no longer required, and as such, he will have nothing further to do with either you" she stated coldly as she walked out the alleyway, leaving everyone to pick their jaws up off the ground.

"Wait a sec!" Ariana shouted, "-Do Lucy and Lucius know?! Do they know their moving to the capitol?!"

"They will be informed in due course," Mrs Muller stated, before glaring at everyone sharply, "-And I expect all of you to hold your pertinent tongues and not utter a word of this to either of them! They are no longer your friends: and frankly? Why on this good earth they chose to associate with such disdainful and unworthy gutter-rats such as yourselves is beyond me"

"Now wait just a minute!-" Evrard exclaimed angrily, but Mrs Muller didn't give him the chance as she strode away and disappeared around the corner. "...Yeah, like that's gonna happen" Rowan frowned under his breath. "Come on guys, we got work to do" Ash sighed; the other kids all caught his drift, placing their baskets down by the door and following him and his siblings as they left the alleyway for their home. "Don't you kids go planning anything stupid now!" Evrard called after them. Gazing down at the envelope, Tyto facepalmed: "What the hell am I going to tell Freya?" "Eh you can think about it over a quick brandy" West sighed as he stepped into the kitchen, "Come on, I'll get the glasses" he beckoned them to follow him, deciding some liquid courage might help, the four fathers stepped inside and headed through to the bar. Glancing down at the envelope in her hand, Rosemary sighed bitterly: "Well? I better go and break the news to Miriam..." she glanced over at Carla, "Oh Carla darling, is Grisha home early tonight? Only, I have feeling Mrs Muller will be in need of his services after Miriam's 'had a word' with her... (Again)"

"Um? I think he's working until seven tonight?" Carla thought aloud, "Hm, Oh well I'll break the news after seven then; come along Bren, I don't know about you but I could use a brandy myself. Thanks for the help Carla, I'll see you tomorrow darling" Rosemary waved goodbye as she stepped into the kitchen.

Standing there in the alleyway by herself, Carla decided to wander off home, trying to get her head around the two lots of bad news: "Well? That was a good day that went downhill quickly..."

Sometime during the night:

Deep in the forest beyond the grove of giant trees, Javorin slowly strolled through the forest by himself: unable to sleep, he was deep in contemplation about various things, and listening to the pulse of the world through the roots of the trees. He stopped as he expanded his power outwards like a bat's sonar: getting a feel for all the various lifeforms connected together through the vast network of roots that ran throughout the ground, and even through the grass roots in the open fields and meadows beyond. It was usually a comfort to hear the world at peace, the hours of night bringing the tranquillity of sleep to all, and to sense all the nocturnal animals flitting and scurrying about. Somewhere in the western half of the central valley, he could feel Midnight's dark aura silently drifting over the land, a vast dark shadow moving like a spectre with her striking glowing purple eyes, searching out and consuming any form of evil that tried to run and hide. While back at the Grove, he could feel Herne and Elysia's soft breathing as they slept soundly in their nests.

As he breathed deep the cool night air and gazed up at the many millions of stars across the deep indigo sky: he felt something he'd never felt before; not the vibrations of footsteps, or the heartbeat of any human or animal, or even the aura of an ethereal being. But rather, the 'echo' of a strange force, emanating from somewhere far beyond the range of his powers. Listening carefully and straining his ethereal senses to hone in on the strange anomaly, he couldn't pin down what it was. All around him a great feeling of unease began to come over the forest: the wind stilled until it was silent, the animals and insects could no longer be heard, and all around it felt cold as the spirits began to grow restless in their haunts: their voices all whispering together as they began to grow fearful...

Pain

They will come

Death

They will consume and devour

Destruction

The city will fall

Fire

All will suffer

Fear

All will flee

Blood

None will be spared

They are coming

Resting his hand against the trunk of one of the giant trees, Javorin could feel the tree's energies resonating with unrest; something bad was coming, but what?

'What on earth?' he thought worryingly.

The following morning, 9: 05am:

As she stepped outside with her laundry basket tucked under one arm, Carla smiled as the sun hit the side of her face, and the soft wind carried the smell of freshly baked bread from the nearby bakery: gazing up into the blue sky, not a cloud could been seen anywhere, and rising over the rooftops, the sounds of the Shiganshina could be heard echoing off the vast walls that penned the city in. Another day in wall Maria: just like the rest.

As she made her way over to the communal washing lines across the street to retrieve her laundry: a gathering of people outside the house next door to her's grabbed her attention. Scanning the faces of the crowd, Carla saw Lawrence and Drake reading a book together by the doorstep while Claude and Drake's mother were talking to some other folks: nearby, she spotted her neighbor Lisa and her little girl Marigold, who was now sixteen months old and still rather wobbly on her feet as she followed her mother around like a duckling. Suddenly noticing Carla, Lisa wandered over to her: "Hey Carla, long time no see!" she greeted cheerfully, "It certainly feels that way" Carla smiled, "I take it this is Phoebe and Clemmy's welcoming party?" she asked offhand: her neighbor had informed her of her sister's latest additions to the family some time ago: but what with the usual day-to-day chores and what-not: the date of the party had somehow skipped Carla's mind. "Uh kind of?" Lisa replied with a sheepish chuckle, "We seemed to have gotten the starting time of the party mixed up: it was supposed to be this afternoon at four o' clock, but somehow everyone got the wrong message that it was at ten this morning. The pig's still on the spit and the Black Stallion doesn't open until lunchtime, and I'm not sure if we've got enough tea to go around?" she fretted. "Oh? Well hang on a sec and I'll go see if Miriam can open up early; give me a minute I'll just get the laundry in first" Carla stated as she hurried, "Thanks Carla! You're a life saver!" Lisa smiled.

Carla quickly fetched her laundry off the washing lines, hurried back to the house to deposit the basket in the kitchen, and then quickly marched down the street to the Inn: remembering yesterday afternoon's drama, Carla hoped at the back of her mind that Miriam would be in a receptive mood; taking in Bemadette's brothers and having to start looking for a new cask maker couldn't have been easy to deal with all in one night, and she hoped she wasn't going to bite her head off. Heading down the side of the Inn to the service entrance and peering into the kitchen, she saw West, Pascal, Rosemary, Lucile, Gale, Poppy and Fox all preparing the breakfasts for the guests: "Oh Carla, back again already?" Rosemary smiled, "Uh yeah, Listen, is it possible Miriam could open the Inn early today? Only, Phoebe and Clemmy's welcoming party showed up too early ahead of time and Lisa and her sister are running low on tea, so? Would it be possible for the Inn to take them off her hands?" she asked anxiously; Miriam suddenly came trudging down the stairs wearing a particularly sour look on her face: she glanced over at Carla, but said nothing as she walked through to the bar: "Tell them it's okay, but they're paying full price for food and drinks! Understand?" she grumbled, "Thanks Miriam!" Carla smiled, "OI! Before you disappear!-" the Willum matriarch stuck her head around the door: "-If you see Tyto and his lot, tell them if they're in need of extra work, come and see me: I might have some additional stuff they can do for me in the livery and forge" "Will do, see you all later" she waved goodbye as she left to return home.

"Hey Lisa! It's sorted!" she smiled at her neighbor as she strode past the gathering, "Thanks!" she smiled, watching as Carla re-enter her home. "Morning mum" Eren yawned as he made his way down the stairs, followed closely behind by Mikasa:"Morning sweetheart" she smiled as she leaned over the planted a good-morning kiss on the top of their heads. "Where'd you go?" he asked offhand as he sat down at the kitchen table rubbing his eyes. "Laundry and the Inn, is your father still upstairs?" she asked as she went to fetch the bread and jams, and fill the kettle with fresh water: "Doctor Jaeger already left: he said he had some stuff to finish up at the hospital before he leaves this afternoon" Mikasa stated: "Leave?" Carla glanced at her in mild surprise, "He said he got a letter from some fellow doctors somewhere up in the interior, something about an outbreak they need him to help out with? Anyway, he's getting a coach up to Wall Sina this afternoon" Eren added vaguely, still too tried to fully pay attention yet. "Wall Sina?" Carla thought aloud, "That means he's going to be gone for at least a week: I better get a start on putting his things together" she added as she placed the bread and jams on the table and handed the children each a butter knife, before setting the kettle on the stove: fortunately, Grisha had already lit the stove sometime this morning..

As she turned to fetch the cups and plates from the shelf, she noticed the basement door at the bottom of the stairs by the kitchen door, and wondered for a brief second what was so secret he had to keep it locked away; of course, it was a thought that had flitted through her mind countless times before, one she never acted on, and one that she had grown so used to that her curiosity had been dulled over time: that, and she knew it was the one secret Grisha would never confide in her. It was a strange thing: a thought becoming a habit over time.

Suddenly, a tap-tap-tap on glass snapped her back to reality: "Angel's here" Mikasa pointed to the window: where sure enough, the white dove that liked to call by regularly was sitting in the window-box, waiting patiently for her morning crumbs. After placing the cups and plates on the table, Carla went to open the window and the dove flew right in, perching on the back of one of the chairs and waited for the children to finish eating their bread. Not long after she first arrived at the Jaeger's home, Mikasa had gotten into the habit of letting Angel into the kitchen whenever Grisha wasn't around: and since Carla enjoyed her company and Eren wasn't bothered either way, the bird's presence had become a welcoming start to the day. As she put the tea leaves in the teapot, a sound coming from the alleyway outside caught Carla's attention: realizing it was coming from above, she went to the window and glanced up at the roof: she caught a fleeting glimpse of Lucy and Lucius roof-hopping their way towards the Grayson's place.

Remembering last night's drama, Carla couldn't help but feel sorry for the Cooper twins: 'I wonder if they've been told of the move yet?' she thought offhand. 'No doubt they'll try to find some way out of it; goodness only knows their friends won't stand for it'

Meanwhile:

Up on the roof of the Black Stallion, Ariana and her brothers and cousins, plus Belle, Shyla and a sour-looking Bemadette had convened together: as they watched Lucy and Lucius make their way across the densely packed rooftops towards them, they instantly noticed the looks of annoyance and anxiety on their fair faces. As they hopped onto the Inn's roof and made their way over to the chimney stacks, no one had to state the obvious as they sat down with them.

"I take it Mrs Muller told you the news then?" Hazel asked offhand. "Yes" Lucius stated flatly, "And?" Clay worryingly asked, "We leave for Trost on the barge next Friday, from there we're going by coach to Stohess to join our parents, and then on to Mitras" Lucy replied bitterly. "Good, that gives us some time to put something together" Ash nodded. "Well it's a bit of a no-brainer isn't it?" Jaye suggested, "Just run away and hide out somewhere your folks can't find you" "Yeah, we already figured that's our best option: and it's not like we don't have anywhere particular in mind to hide out" Lucius stated, "The grove" Ariana realized, "You think Shadow and the others will be up for it?" "Like they'll have a choice?" Rowan frowned sarcastically, "These are our friends we're talking about: we're not letting them go somewhere they don't want to go; their lives are here, in Shiganshina with us" he stated vehemently: "I get all that, we all do, that's why we're all here isn't it?" Dale sighed, "But you don't think their folks are going to come back and look for them? Or send someone to find them?" he pointed out, "There's a right way and a wrong way to do this, and we need to have something in place so we don't get tangled up by unforeseen shit"

"Do you guys have any ideas? Only, you and Dale are pretty good when it comes to planning stuff out" Clay offered. Thinking about it a moment, Lucy then suggested: "It's unlikely the titans will let us move into one of their root caves if we ask them upfront: so it would be best for us to try find somewhere else to hide out. Since you guys are experts at living wild in the forest, there must be a number of places you know of that offer a dry bed, fresh water, and somewhere to build a fire without being easily spotted?". The Celt children thought about it a moment before a few ideas came to mind: "Well? There's that dray up in the green fells? That's a good few miles from anywhere?" Hawk thought aloud, "And there a few places down in the Eiche valley that might offer some good cover?" Ariana suggested, "Not to mention there's that cave up by the white mere falls? We've used that to camp out a few times before" Clay threw in. "Okay, so we're got some places in mind: the big question is, how can we sneak you guys outta your house and out of the city into the forest, without Shadow and the others spotting us?" Ash pointed out, to which everyone hesitated: "That's gonna be a real problem, those guys know wherever we are in the forest: even when we're downwind and well out of earshot from them they're still able to find us" Ashlyn sighed. "Then how about we make sure they don't hear or sniff you guys out?" Dale suggested, glancing over at the Cooper twins, "How about? On the day of the escape, some of us will go meet the titans up in the grove as usual and keep them busy, while the rest of us take you to your hideout?"

"...That could work," Lucius thought aloud, "But to be doubly sure they don't pick up any trace of us, the hideout would have to be somewhere well away from the eastern forest, like somewhere up in the western woods?" Lucy added: "That's a not a problem, we know a few places up there that'll do well as a hideout" Hawk replied. "Okay, but, we are gonna let Shadow and the others know about this eventually right? I mean, once the Cooper's stop searching and the heat dies down?" Ariana asked worryingly, "You know? We can always ask Pascal if he knows anyone in the criminal underworld who'll hide you guys" Belle suggested; "No, that'll be too complicated, plus: it's unlikely we'll be able to afford it" Ash sighed, "As for Telling Shadow and the others? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it: for now, let's just concentrate on getting you guys away from Muller. We've got until Friday next week so it's not like we need to rush this"

"We'll start putting some provisions together" Lucy stated, "No, not your stuff: if you're going to disappear entirely, you can't take anything that'll lead them to figure out where you might be heading. You let us take care of the hideout and provisions, we got a ton of stuff we keep for camping but don't use: you two just concentrate on giving Muller and Gilda the slip"

"Okay" the twins nodded in unison, "We better get going; Muller thinks we're getting bread rolls: she's keeping us at the house until we leave; doesn't want us getting the smell of 'gutter-rat' on us. So when can we reconvene?" "-KIDS! Get down here and help your mothers!" Evrard shouted up from behind the Grayson house. "We'll come and tell you, for now just act normal, and if anything happens we'll do the usual thing okay?" Ash replied as he and the others got back up to leave. "Alright, see you when we see you guys" Lucius nodded as she and his sister got back up and high-tailed back over the roofs to their family's town house. After hopping back to their own roof and climbing back inside the attic, the kids made their way downstairs to where Bestla, Skadi and Ran were getting ready to head for the market: "Ah good" Bestla sighed with relief, "You can lift those goods into the cart, we'll get the rest of the stuff" she pointed to ten large wooden crates sitting by the front door, "Got enough stuff here mum?" Clay huffed as he picked up a box and carried it out the front door, "Well it's market day and its traders week, so we want to make a good impression on the visitors coming down on the barges" Skadi smiled, "Only the good stuff we've been hoarding all winter will do the job" Ran commented as she checked her basket to make sure she had everything. "Is mum not joining you?" Ariana asked offhand, noticing her mother wasn't present: "Unfortunately no, what with Cooper letting us go she and your father are over with the Willums sorting out additional work hours until they can find a replacement job" Bestla sighed, glancing over at Ariana with a reassuring smile, "Don't worry though, we'll sort something out"

"...Did you know their moving to the capitol in wall Sina?" Rowan frowned as he picked up a crate: "Yes, sadly" Ran sighed in regret as she put on her favorite bracelet, "Cooper can do whatever he damn-well pleases, good riddance to him and his stuck-up wife: It's Lucy and Lucius I feel sorry for" Skadi huffed as she combed her long brunette hair and put on her golden Torc, "Moving to a whole new city is going be hard enough on them, but the wall cult's going to be even worse" Bestla sighed as she put on her favorite bandana. "The wall cult?" Ariana asked offhand, keeping her shock in check along with the other kids, who all glanced at one another in equal surprise. "Yeah, I overheard Gilda talking with one of her friends from the town house next door to theirs earlier this morning. Apparently, the Coopers are enrolling the twins in the cult's 'academy for higher wisdom' (if you can believe such a thing), they think it'll help them to grow up to be 'good and proper', and to 'seize all the advantages life has to offer in Mitras'; honestly? I don't know what's worst? The cult spoon-feeding all their nonsense to the children of the interior, or the Cooper's for thinking the cult's actually going to do them any favors?" Skadi huffed in annoyance. The kids all felt their stomachs drop, but managed to keep their dread hidden from their mothers as they stepped out the door and over to the cart.

"Alright, everything's ready" Bestla smiled as the children joined them outside, "Now, we're going to be gone for most of the day so free to raid the pantry at lunchtime: behave yourselves and don't go looking for mischief, okay?" Bestla grinned as she kissed her son and daughter on the cheeks: "Your fathers are going to be busy so stay out of trouble, and don't cause too much mischief alright?" Skadi kissed Ashlyn and Hawk goodbye before mounting the cart, "And don't go wandering off into the forest today, if you want to entertain yourselves do it in the city; its traders week so go pick out something you like okay?" Ran kissed Josefa and Jaye on the cheeks before climbing up and sitting next to her sister-in-law: "But not the roast meat stand! We got a ton of jerky than needs eating up!" Bestla pointed her finger as she mounted the cart and took the reins: commanding the horse to walk on. "See you later mum!" Clay waved goodbye, "Bye!" the Raven twins called over to them, "Hey mum! If there's a cake stand can we get something?!" Ashlyn shouted as the cart reached the bottom of the street, "Behave yourselves and I'll think about it!" she laughed as she disappeared around the corner.

Looking both ways up and down the street, the kids then hurried back inside: "-No way are they joining the wall cult!" Rowan fumed, "Agreed, let's go down into the basement and assess what we got, while our parents are out we can start putting the provisions together" Dale replied as he kneeled down next to the sideboard in the hallway, and felt behind the back of the wooden paneling for the kay that was always hidden there; finding it and pulling it out, he went to unlock the basement, and hurried down the stairs into the gloom, followed by the others one after the other.

Ariana was the last to enter the basement, but just as she was about to go down the stairs, a familiar scent alerted her that they were about to be caught out: "-It's Uncle Evrard!" She hissed down the stairs, slamming the door shut just as Evrard entered through the front door: "Ariana? What were you doing in the basement?" he frowned in bemusement. "Oh uh?- I wasn't sure if we had enough crystal for the new arrowheads: turns out we do" She lied convincingly, "Ah, well, just be sure to lock the door before you leave: listen, this whole 'job rearranging' is taking longer than I thought; could you do a few chores for me, help lighten today's load?" "Sure, what'd you need?" she turned to face him: the children remained silent as they listened from down in the basement; "A few deliveries over in the next neighborhood: nothing big, only a few groceries the Schultz's, the Kruger's, the Mayer's, the Jung's and the Steins ordered the other day: oh, and Armin's grandfather ordered some vegetables too, so if you can drop those off and pick up the payments that'd be great" he smiled, "Geez uncle Evrard you make it sound like a breeze" Ariana dryly smiled, "Ah the exercise will do you some good: oh, and be sure to take your bow and quiver with you, if Mayer tries to weasel his way out of paying for the groceries again, threaten to shoot him in the knee this time" "Uncle Evrard! You can't just shoot people in the knee for skipping on their payments!" Ariana exclaimed, "Oh pipe down I'm only kidding!" Evrard waved off, "But seriously, if he see's your bow and quiver, he'll know you mean business: Mayer knows you're a crack shot so don't worry okay? Bye!" he smiled as he disappeared out the door, leaving Ariana standing there in the hallway. "Is he gone?" Jaye hissed from the other side of the basement door, "He's gone," Ariana sighed as she creaked the door open a little: "Sorry guys: fill me in when I get back okay?" "Sure thing" Ash nodded.

Ariana left the door ajar as she headed out the back of the house, where she found the small wooden vegetable crates piled up by the door: each with a receipt attached and the fruit and vegetables piled up in each one; fortunately they didn't look heavy so it wasn't going to be backbreaking per se: but the Schultz's, Mayer's and Jung's lived a good ten or so streets over the other side of the hill, and with the cart already being used by her aunts, Ariana would have to deliver each crate individually: "...Thanks uncle Evrard" Ariana glared at the crates as she picked the first one up, double checked the address, and started making her way out to the street.

Meanwhile, deep in the Marian forest:

"Not spying on the brats today?" Midnight smirked as she silently sauntered around Javorin's side, disturbing him out of his meditative state: "It's the start of trader's week; they'll be indulging their sweet-tooth's and spending their money on things imported down from the interior: they'll be too busy to notice much else" he smirked up at her, "...I take it you sensed the same thing I did last night?" he changed the subject: closing his eyes and continuing to meditate; "I did..." She frowned, "And frankly I don't like it; what did the spirits have to say?" "Not much, they don't know what it is but it's got them worried. It's long gone now, but I still sense its 'imprint' echoing though the roots of the trees..."

"So what do you recommend?" Herne asked offhand as he came around Javorin's other side: Javorin stood up and passed a deep sigh: "I don't know what it was, but I managed to get a feel for where it was emanating from; somewhere north, probably half way between here and Trost"

"Trost?" Herne blinked in surprise, "It sounds odd I know, but that's where I could feel it the strongest" Javorin frowned as he turned and gazed northwards, "Well? If we fly high enough we can probably be there and back again by mid afternoon" Midnight suggested, "The feathered brat's with Carla all day so we don't need to worry about her; we should check it out, just to be sure" "Agreed, come" Javorin nodded as he transformed into his hawk form, and took off up into the air, followed by Midnight and Boar in their raven and sky lark forms; heading northwards, they left the forest behind and followed the Southern Marian River towards Trost, gaining speed as they caught a gusty tailwind.

As he caught the wind beneath his wings and settled into an easy glide, Javorin couldn't shake this feeling that something wasn't right: like he shouldn't be leaving Shiganshina, or the human's alone; putting his worries down to his over-protectiveness, he pushed it to one side and concentrated on the task at hand.

Later that day:

The hours had steadily ticked by as the hot July sun arched high over the sky, bringing an unseasonably dry heat to the land: sharpening everyone's thirst and forcing many in Shiganshina to seek shade where they could. It had been too hot to work for some, but now as the sun slowly began approaching the top of wall Maria, the worst of the heat had began cooling off and the nice breeze brought some much needed relief to any who had been unlucky enough to get sunburnt.

"Are you sure you can carry that?" Ariana asked Armin worrying, watching him as he struggled to carry the crate of vegetables and turning red in the face as he struggled to catch his breath, "Oh yeah, I got this: not a problem at all!" he wheezed as he steadily followed her down the street. "Uh, Well? The last house is just around the corner so we ain't got much further to go okay?" she assured him, "Ah, great!" he gasped with a relieved smile.

Ariana couldn't help but smile, she knew he was only trying to be chivalrous: ever since she planted that kiss on his cheek last year, Ariana had noticed how Armin would be willing to do things for her, like help her out with her chores and hang out with her when he wasn't busy doing something with Eren and Mikasa. The grown-ups all thought it was adorable, and her cousins had given her endless playful flack for it: though, her brothers were wise enough not to tease her about it, least they'd incur her wrath. But for Ariana and Armin, it didn't really grow into any kind of relationship that would be considered romantic: the kiss had been a one off, and they were happy to leave it at that. But still, Ariana could see it had had an effect on Armin: he was more prone to getting cold feet when he was around her, and he'd blush uncontrollably whenever she came close to him. His grandfather would playfully tease him about it (which, he surprisingly took in his stride), but regardless, he hadn't lost his nerve so much that he didn't enjoy their time together, like now: after delivering his grandfather's groceries, Armin elected to help Ariana with her deliveries, and so for the whole day they walked practically from one end of Shiganshina and back again. The crates weren't heavy at all for Ariana, but for poor Armin whose whole frame had the constitution of a daffodil, it had been a struggle just to carry one crate (and the lightest one at that): but he persevered through it in an attempt to prove he didn't need any help, and Ariana had to give him credit for his persistence. Finally they reached their destination, the last delivery of the day: after knocking on the door, delivering the goods and taking the payment, the two youngsters could start their relatively short walk home.

"So? I hear the Cooper's are moving to the interior?" Armin gasped as he tried to get his breath back, relieved to be rid of that heavy load; "Yeah" Ariana sighed as she gazed down at the cobbled road, "Lucy and Lucius can't be happy about that?" he asked, "Nope, but fortunately we got a plan to help amend that" she smirked, "Oh yeah? What?" he smiled, "Ah it's a secret for now: I'll tell you when the time's right; but don't breathe a word of this to Eren or Mikasa just yet: the fewer people who know about it the better" she glanced at him, "Fair enough" he nodded, "I guess your parents are out of a job now huh?" he thought aloud, "Oh they'll find some other way to bring home the bacon: between them they can do a whole bunch of different things so it's not like their limited to one type of job" she thought aloud. "...I-, also heard about Bemadette's mum; is she okay?" he asked in concern. letting her gaze wander up to the blue sky above, and wondering if Shadow was drifting around nearly, Ariana let out a deep sigh, "...I hope she'll be. She was pretty upset about it last night, and this morning; I don't think her little brothers know what's going on either? Their probably still thinking she's going to come back for them" "Do you think she'll come back?" Armin asked curiously; remembering what she read in the note, Ariana didn't have the heart to tell him the whole truth: "...Part of me wants to believe she'll come back. But from I picked up last night? I don't think she is..." she sighed regretfully, before totally changing the subject: "By the way? I made up my mind I'm going to join the scout" she smiled, glancing sideways at him.

Armin's breath hitched in his chest as he gasped, stopping in his tracks as he stared at her in surprise: "...Seriously? ..." he breathed, completely forgetting his exhaustion. With contemplative smile, Ariana placed her hands in her pockets as she continued walking down the street: "Well? I'd been giving it a lot of thought for a long while now, and talked it over with my parents (which, wasn't easy to say the least)... And the way I see it? Once I graduate basic training, I could either stare up at a wall all day long with the Garrison, or sit around on my ass with the MP's: and frankly, I'd rather be proactive and doing something that's actually going to make a difference to humanity as a whole, and the Scouts pretty much fit the bill for that" she smiled, watching the smile grow across his face, until finally he couldn't keep his excitement in and he punched the air with a yell of delight: "YES! This is great!"

"Yeah well don't get too ahead of yourself, I still have my own reason joining, remember?" She stated, "But essentially, yeah. Oh, and my idiot brothers think I need protecting from the titans so they'll be signing up too, along with Gale, Poppy, Belle, Fox and Shyla: at this rate I'm amazed half the neighborhood won't be marching to the conscription office when we turn twelve" she joked, "Seriously?! So-, we'll all be in it together!" he beamed. "Yep, one big happy family, ain't that gonna be a riot at the training academy!" Ariana ruffled his hair playfully. "This is great news! I gotta find Eren and tell him!" Armin took off running down the street, "-Oh wait! Armin!" Ariana stopped him, "-I saw Eren and Mikasa leaving the inner gate to go fetch firewood earlier... mind you, that had to be at least an hour ago, he might be waiting for you back at your place?" she suggested, "Okay, see you later, I know Eren will be so pleased to hear the good news!" he beamed as he took off for home. Ariana couldn't help but smile: indeed, the idea of training alongside her best friends seemed like the beginning of a great and grand adventure, taking each other by the hand and blazing the trail to a future known; sure it would be a bloody and hard fought one, but as long as they had each other, and kept one another alive, she knew they'd all be okay. As she turned the corner and entered the top of her street, she saw the party at the house next door to the Jaegers home was still going on: many of the guests had moved inside out of the hazy heat with all the windows open to help the cool breeze circulate throughout the house. Further down the road the Black Stallion was busy as ever, and outside the bakery a large cart had come to deliver several sacks of flour.

Turning down the alleyway that lead behind all the houses on her side of the street: Ariana was passing by under the Jaeger's kitchen window, when suddenly a familiar voice sharply snapped her out of her daydreaming "Get that ridiculous thought out your head this instant young man!" Carla scolded harshly, "No son of mine is going to become titan fodder! Is that clear?!" "Stop yelling at me!" Eren shot back, "DON'T YOU DARE- -It's a nightmare Eren" she heard his father interject: "...You have no idea, just how dangerous the outside world really is" he stated in all seriousness. "...Yeah I get it okay? But its gotta be better than living this life!" Eren stated vehemently: "I'm not stupid: I know it's ugly out there, there's death around every corner, but-, we can't just give up on it! Because otherwise this nightmare is never going to end!" he shouted angrily. There was a long pause before Grisha quietly replied, "...I see..." 'What just happened?' Ariana thought offhand, "Excuse me, but I have to get going or I'll be late for the coach" he said as he got up to leave: Carla was still clearly in a fluster as she tried to stop him, "-Wait! Darling at least scold him! For heaven's sake!" she tried to plead. "Scold him? Dear please, think this through. No mere words can hold back a human's natural curiosity" Grisha simply stated as he picked up his bag and headed out the door; silently moving around the side of the house to the front, Ariana watched from around the corner as the doctor stepped out, followed by his family. "Eren" the doctor addressed his son, "Behave yourself while I'm gone, and when I get back I'll let you in on what I've been working on in the basement, agreed?" he stated, reaching into the inner breast pocket of his waistcoat, and pulling out a small golden key that was attached to a long thread of cord. Eren's eyes lit up in delight: "Yes sir! You got it!" he smiled. "I should be back by the end of next week, look after your mother and listen to what she says" he bid them goodbye: leaning in closer to Carla as he planted a kiss on her cheek, "We'll talk when I get back: you'll see what's in the basement too, I promise" Ariana heard him whisper, to which she saw Carla nearly flinch in surprise. The doctor then turned, patting Mikasa on the head before making his way down the street, "Have a good trip!" Eren called after him as he waved goodbye.

Once he was out of earshot, Carla turned back to her son and frowned sternly down at him: "I meant what I said" she stated in a calmer tone, "What?" Eren gazed up at her, "The whole idea is just irresponsible" she added, "Huh?! IRRESPONSIBLE?!" Eren's hackles rose up: "So what? It's more grown up to settle for living behind a stupid wall for the rest of your pointless life?!" he exclaimed angrily before taking off in the direction of Armin's home: "Eren wait!-" Carla tried to stop him but it was no use, he was already gone. Turning to Mikasa, Carla looked her in the eye and pleaded: "Mikasa, listen to me: Eren needs to be protected from himself! Promise me whatever happens I can count on you to have his back!" Mikasa nodded, and took off in the direction Eren went. Breathing a deep sigh of vexation, Carla turned to head back inside, when she spotted Ariana around the corner of the house; Ariana nearly jumped out of her skin, waiting for the inevitable lecture of how rude it was eavesdrop, but to her surprise, Carla merely sighed again: "...Hi Ariana" she forced a smile, "...I uh..." there was no lying about, she knew there and then Ariana must have overheard everything: resigning to defeat, she beckoned her into the house, "Fancy some tea?" "...Uh? Okay?" Ariana nodded as she entered the house and sat down at the kitchen table. Over in the window box, Angel was trying to hide as best she could among the basil and parsley: having just witnessed the dispute as well; from what she could piece together, there was only one thing that it could have been about: "...Eren told you he's joining the scouts huh?" she sighed.

Carla snapped her head in her direction, staring at her in shock, "Wha!- He didn't get the idea from me I swear! He came up with it first about a year ago! I haven't even told him I'm considering joining the scouts!" Ariana panicked. But Carla merely sighed again, and went to pour the hot water into the teapot, adding the leaves and letting it steep as she reached for a couple of cups off the shelf, "... I had no idea, not even an inkling that's what he wants to do with his life" she huffed, "The one thing I can't stand the idea of and he intends to go through with it?" "Well? It's not like he's stupid Mrs Jaeger, he knows what the scouts are all about" Ariana offered nervously, "It's just-, all he wants to do is see the outside world; is that really so bad?" "It is if you got titans to worry about!" Carla snapped. Ariana stared at her in shock, "...Shadow's a titan too Mrs Jaeger. And so are Midnight, Boar and Angel" she simply replied, to which Carla gasped and immediately regretted her choice of words. Gazing over at Angel, she felt horrible: "...I'm so sorry Angel, I didn't mean that I swear I-..." she ran her hand over her face: Angel hopped into the kitchen and gazed up at her curiously; wondering what she was going on about. A long uncomfortable silence hung in the air, before Carla picked up the teapot and poured out two cups, handing one to Ariana. "Thank you" she accepted the cup, and as she took a sip, she noticed the basement door down the stairs.

"... So, he's finally gonna show you guys what's in the basement huh?" Ariana thought aloud, "It would seem so," Carla sighed as she gazed down at the door. "...What do you think he's been hiding down there all this time?" "I don't know, but whatever it is, I just hope it doesn't lead us into any trouble..." she thought aloud as she drank her tea. Feeling the dove pendant against her chest, Carla took it out from under her blouse and gazed down at it with worry: she hadn't a clue what to do about Eren, and now when Grisha returns she and her son were going to be introduced to the secret hidden in the basement? Something about this felt ominous, and she didn't know what to do.

As they both stared at the basement door in deep thought, a loud knock at the front door made them both jump out of their skins, while Angel took off out the window. "-Whoa sorry! I didn't mean to scare you both!" Tyto chuckled as he walked into the kitchen, "The door was wide open so I let myself in" "Oh right, I forgot to close it" Carla suddenly remembered as she slipped the pendent back under her blouse, "Hey dad, I finished up all the deliveries" Ariana told him as she gulped down her tea: "I know: listen, we're going to be popping along to Phoebe and Clemmy's welcoming party in a bit, so mum wants you back home so you can throw something nice on" He thumbed over to their house, Ariana swigged down the last of her tea and got up to follow her father out the door, "Thanks for the tea Mrs Jaeger" she waved good bye: "You coming Carla? Only, Freya found a bottle of her plum brandy tucked away at the back of the pantry, and everyone at the party's eager to try it" Tyto smirked, "Maybe later, I've got to start preparing the kids dinner" she smiled sheepishly, "Tell Freya to save the last pour for me"

"Will do, bye!" Tyto chuckled as he left the house with his daughter trailing behind: "Are Aunt Ran, Skadi and Bestla back yet?" she asked offhand, "No not yet, and your brothers and cousins are up on the roof waiting for Shadow and the others: they seem to have taken themselves off somewhere" her father replied, glancing up at the sky. "Well that explains why I haven't seen them all day, where do you suppose they've gone?" she thought aloud, "Who knows? When you're able to turn into the wind itself, I suppose anywhere is not beyond your reach?"

Gazing down at Ariana and Tyto from the top of their roof, Elysia gazed up at the sky: 'Where have you guys been all day?' she thought to herself, 'you better not be doing anything fun! Or I swear I'll make it rain on your nests!' she frowned (as much as a dove could frown, and even then it would be difficult to take her seriously on account she looked more adorable than annoyed), before letting go of her frustration, and simply resumed her 'people watching'. But then, a strange feeling began to overcome her: a feeling of unease bordering dread, as she gazed up into the sky she suddenly felt the wind still, until only an unnatural silence hung in the air. Calling on her powers, she reached out to try and find what it was: it was close, and yet she couldn't 'see' or 'hear' where it was coming from; all around her she could feel the auras of all the different people in the vicinity:

Claude and Bryson leaving the book shop and meeting up with Breck on the corner by the Inn: The Willums and their charges plus the Fitzsimmons along with Pascal and West all busy in and around the guesthouse: the party in the house next door to the Grayson's, Carla in her kitchen: Evrard, Falken and Eraman all in their home, their children sat up on the roof while Freya readied herself for the party, just as Tyto and Ariana strode in through the front door; and everyone else in the street who's names escaped her. They were all there, she could even sense Bestla, Skadi and Ran in the marketplace, and Eren, Mikasa and Armin all the way down by the riverside hanging out together; but what was this feeling? And why? Unable to make sense of it but realizing there was something very wrong about it, she flew down to Carla's open window and landed next to her on the sink: "Angel?" Carla blinked in surprise, the dove raised her wing and spelt out,: something isn't right, I think we need to leave right now!: she cooed in a panic.

"What?" Carla gazed down at her in confusion, "What do you mean something isn't ri-

CRRACK-BOOOOM!

All at once the world nearly turned upside down: Carla suddenly felt herself thrown up into the air as the ground beneath her feet shook violently; everything on the shelves was flung off while the whole house creaked and groaned from the sudden shift in its foundations. Tiles fell off the roof, the plaster on the walls cracked and crumbled, the window box fell off the windowsill and smashed on the cobbled alleyway outside, and the table nearly tipped right over as Carla landed on her side. Angel was thrown from the sink and landed on the bottom step next to the basement door: she quickly struggled back up onto her feet, only to be trapped under a large heavy iron cooking pot as it fell off a low-lying shelf next to the basement stairs.

As suddenly as it had erupted, the tremor was over in the same instant: and as Carla steadily picked herself up off the floor, rubbing her sore side, she gazed all around at the devastation inside her home, utterly confused and shocked: "What the-, what just happened?!" she gasped; outside, the sound of panicked yells and confused murmurs began to grow as people up and down the street emerged from their homes, utterly in bewilderment at what just happened. Opening the door and stepping outside, Carla looked all around the street, looking and listening for some kind of explanation.

"Mum?! Dad?! What just happened?!" Ariana panicked as her father pulled her up from the floor of their kitchen and stood her on her feet, "I don't know but-" Tyto didn't have time to finish as Ariana took off up to the attic, "-Ariana wait!"

Bolting up the two flights of stairs and scrambling out onto the roof, Ariana was about to ask everyone if they'd felt that, when she saw Josefa, Jaye, Hazel and Ashlyn struggling to keep a grip on Clay and Hawk and stop them from falling off the roof, while her brothers were holding onto them by the backs of their shirts: "Hang on guys!" she panicked as she rushed over to grab them both by the hand, "We already are!" Clay shouted as he managed to swing his leg up and snag the gutter with his foot, lifting himself up and was quickly followed by Hawk, before both scrambling back up to the chimney stacks with everyone gripping the roof tiles for dear life. "What-, the hell was that?!" Clay exclaimed as he tried to catch his breath, "I don't know, but-" Ariana stopped as she gazed over at the wall; glancing over to where she was looking, the children stared in shock and horror, at what was peering over the top of Wall Maria...

"-Great Sina! What on earth was that?!" Claude exclaimed as Bryson and Breck helped him back up on his feet: "-Whoa guys did you feel that?!" West ran out of the Inn, followed closely behind by Pascal and Miriam, "What idiot just let off a cannon outside my door?!" the old woman fumed as she looked up and down the street, only to be met a growing crowd of very confused townsfolk, who were all staring up at the wall; "What the hell's everybody looking at?" Pascal ran out into the middle of the street to get a better look, but as he laid his eyes on the wall, he too stopped and stared in shock. Wondering what it was: Miriam, West, Bryson, Breck and Claude all ran over to him, only to be met with the same horrifying sight; "...Oh hell..." was all Pascal could say.

"KIDS! What'd you see up there?!" Evrard shouted up to the children on the roof as he, Tyto, Freya, Falken and Eraman all came running out of the house. Hearing Evrard's bellowing voice, Carla gazed up at the Grayson's rooftop and saw all the children staring in the direction off the wall, all with the same shocked expressions on their faces. Running over to the other side of the street to get a look through the narrow gaps between the houses, Carla could see the wall's outer gate: and above it, looming over the top of the wall was a sight that froze her blood, "...A titan!..." she gasped under her breath.

At the same moment, somewhere above Shiganshina's inner gate:

They had only just returned from their long round-trip, flying over the inner gate when the lightning bolt of golden energy ripped through the sky with a deafening thunderous boom, nearly knocking them right out of the sky.

Javorin, Hecate and Herne gazed down at the wall in sheer astonishment and horror: as they glided on the warm air above the outer gate, the titan gazed out over the city below, but even from hundred meters up in the air the behemoth looked absolutely gigantic. It had to have been over sixty meters tall at least; it had no skin or hair anywhere on its entire body, nothing but muscle and ligaments all over with a skinless face that was contorted into a permanent grim snarl, and was emitting red hot steam off its back and shoulders like a geiser. The heat was so intense the gods could feel it practically burning through their feathers, forcing them to fly upwind of the wall, on the city-side of the gate. As they leveled out, they saw behind the giant a whole hoard of titans wandering towards it, as if having followed it, and were now waiting for something to happen.

The gods had been fighting the titans for over five years, and in all that time all the ones they fought and killed were generally all the same, human-like in appearance with certain discrepancies in height, facial features and limb postures. But this? This was something totally different: it had the same chaos magics swarming throughout its physical form and aura, distorted and corrupted, but its raw power was so much more. And the fact all the other titans were swarming around it seemed to indicate that they were drawn to those same energies, like worker bees to their queen bee.

"What-...What is that thing?!" Herne gawked.

"...I don't know" was all Javorin could reply.

Then, they watched as the behemoth steadily leaned forward, gripping two of the wall's bulkheads with both hands while it's right foot swung back and up: "IT'S GOING TO KICK OPEN THE GATE!" Hecate suddenly realized as she saw where it was standing...

Down on the ground

Having laid eyes on the titan and realizing the danger that was now imminent, Carla's mind flipped into action as she went into protective mother mode; she had to find Eren and Mikasa and reach the inner gate before the monster could get into Shiganshina somehow. Running back inside the house, Carla started looking all around the ruined kitchen: "Angel! Angel where are you?!" she frantically cried: a pathetic twittering cry emanated from down the basement stairs, where Carla saw the upside-down cooking pot and white tail feathers sticking out from beneath. "Oh god! Come on Angel we need to get out of here!" She raced down the stairs and threw the pot off Angel, Carla then picked up the dove in her hands, but as she turned on her heels another loud explosion shook the ground and made every building in the street rumble as a sudden shock-wave whistled over the rooftops: followed by a cacophony of more loud thundering booms, like giant rocks and stone striking the earth. Outside, panic suddenly filled the air as people started running and screaming, and as Carla raced up the basement stairs and towards the front door, the whole world suddenly turned upside down again as a deafening explosion went off behind her, and in that moment, everything went black.

"INCOMING!-" Ash shouted as the kids all frantically jumped to the neighbor's roof, right before a great boulder twice the size of their house landed with a deafening roar right behind them: throwing up a blast of air that nearly knocked them off their feet. Amid the screams and cries off all the people in the street below: more boulders thundered down and tore up everything in their path, throwing up dust, debris, and body parts of those unfortunate enough to not get out of the way in time. The children held onto one another tightly, hoping beyond hope that the next bolder would miss them. One more earth-shattering boom signified a particularly gigantic boulder crashing down somewhere behind them, which shook every building in the street and nearly made them loose their grip on the roof tiles. Then, as suddenly as it began the rain of rock and stone stopped: glancing up from out of Ash's arms, Ariana saw the giant titan steadily retreat behind the wall out of sight, and as the huge dust cloud around the outer gate began to blow away, she saw sunlight streaming in through the gate. Her eyes widened in shock, the whole gate and the wall surrounding it was completely gone. But then, several giant humanoid figures moved through the opening, emerging out into the city. Ariana felt her breath hitch in her chest as panic began to well up inside her: "...The titans...their inside! ..." she gasped.

"What?!" Ash looked up at her, Ariana pointed to the smashed gate where seemingly all at once, several titans began lumbering into Shiganshina, followed by more and more as they streamed in and began to fan out in all directions. The children couldn't believe what they were seeing, until their father's frantic cries snapped them back to reality: "KIDS! KIDS ANSWER ME?!" Tyto shouted at the top of his voice. Sitting up and gazing around, the children were alarmed to see the whole layout of their street had totally changed: the house between theirs and the Jaeger's had been crushed by several large boulders: it was the house where the party had been taking place, as several half-crushed blood-splattered bodies lay motionless in the street around the wreckage. Several houses on the other side of the street including Lisa's were either half demolished or completely leveled, the bakery was half demolished with a huge white cloud of flour dust billowing out of the ruins: and one giant boulder nearly twice the size of a church tower had landed right across the street, effectively blocking off the whole road while several other large boulders had come down and demolished the houses on either side. The children were about to race back to their home, when they saw the whole back end of the building was demolished by a boulder that loomed several meters over the roof: the attic was totally gone, and with it their only way down blocked off; but right next door, the Black Stallion was in an even worst shape.

"Are you okay?" West asked frantically as he helped Miriam up off the ground: the woman was about to tell him to let her go, when she looked up and saw the state of her home; a giant bolder about a third larger than the whole building had come down and smashed the entire wing where the dining room and guesthouse use to be: the force of the impact had blown out the bar, leaving that whole section of the building half in ruins while the rear end where the kitchen, office and everyone's own personal rooms were located, was still largely intact. For the first time in her long years, Miriam was stunned in silence: there were no words to describe the sheer horror and shock of this; suddenly remembering her family was inside, Miriam was about to charge into the debris and start tossing the rubble aside when Pascal, West, Claude, Breck and Bryson beat her to it. Suddenly, part of the debris blew out of where the alleyway used to be, and there stood Gustav, Bren and Bemadette, each with a sledge hammer in hand, smashing the larger debris aside to clear a path. "HOLY SHIT ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?!" Bren called over to them, trying to raise his voice above the din of the screaming stampeding crowds rushing down the street, all heading towards the inner gate.

"We're okay but what about- "-AUNT MIRIAM!" Gale screamed down from the attic window: "GALE!" Miriam shouted frantically: "ARE YOU ALRIGHT GIRL?!" "We're okay but we're trapped up here, the stairs are gone! And I think Granny's down in the cellar with Aunt Lucile the boys, Shyla and Fox!" she shouted back, "Hold on! We'll try and get you down!" Breck called up. "Please hurry! The floor's creaking!" Poppy called out from somewhere within the attic. As he stepped back to analyze the boulder and the debris, Bryson suddenly felt that familiar chill go up his spine as he caught movement out the corner of his eye from down the far end of the main street; there, three seven meter class titans were lumbering around, grabbing any human unlucky enough to get in their way, and lazily devouring them. As he watched the carnage unfold, it suddenly clicked in his head what that second explosion was: "...That titan...It-, it kicked in the gate; kicked it, and let all the others in" he muttered under his breath: glancing back up the street and seeing everyone was still scrambling to get out and away, he realized this whole place was about to become a slaughterhouse. In an instant, his old Scout instincts kicked in, and he knew what he had to do. "Do what you can to get everyone out! I'll be as quick as I can!" he shouted as he took off for his home. "Bryson what-" his brother chased after him, but when he saw the titans heading this way, he suddenly realized just how much danger everyone was in, "EVERYBODY MOVE! THE TITANS ARE COMING THIS WAY!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Up on the roof, the children heard Breck's voice: glancing over the rooftops down towards the center of town, sure enough, several large titans were wandering around the base of the hill their street was situated on: "HEY!" Tyto called up to the children, "Are you all okay?!" "We're fine dad but the titans are heading this way!" Ash yelled, "Hang on!-" Freya ran out of the house with all the children's bows and quivers in hand, and tossed them up to the roof: "-Use theses! If any titans come this way blind them with a double shot to the eyes! They can't eat what they can't see!" she shouted, "Sure mum!" Ash called back as he handed everyone their bows and quivers. "We're going to help Miriam and the others so keep an eye on us and help out where you can!" Tyto ordered. "You got it!" Rowan called back as he and the others took off across the half demolished roof to the Inn. Glancing up the street, and seeing the Jaeger's house was gone, Ariana gasped in horror: "DAD! What about Mrs Jaeger?!" she shouted, but her father, mother and uncles were already half-way down the street when Evrard suddenly stopped and turned to rush back into the house, "Evrard! What're you doing?!" Tyto shouted as he ran after him, but as he reached the door Evrard emerged with a large hunting spear, the one he used for hunting colossus boars and giant bears that had an exceptionally large broad blade: "Bestla, Skadi and Ran are still down in the marketplace! I've got to go find them!" Evrard gripped the spear in both hands and ran off down the street, "-Evrard don't be stupid!" Tyto tried to chase after him, but when he rounded the boulder that crushed the Inn, he saw he was gone, and the titans had been joined by several more.

As she listened to the city screaming in fear, and the smell of blood growing thicker by the second, Ariana gazed up to the sky as tears streamed down her face, and started sob: "...Shadow? ...Shadow, where are you guys?!"

As they watched the carnage unfold below them, fear and death was growing with every titan that entered through the breach, and as the survivors crowded the inner gate like rats in a rising flood, the situation was made all the worse as the Garrison and MP's struggled to prep the cannons and other defenses while also trying to evacuate everyone as best they could.

"We need to push them out and seal that breach somehow!" Javorin frowned, "COME ON!" he folded his wings back and dived for the river like a gannet. Hecate and Herne were on his tail as they realized what he intended to do: though they intended to fight, they still had to turn back into their titan forms without freaking the humans out; transforming in midair would certainly turn more than a few heads. As the three birds shot into the water, they transformed back into their original forms and exploded out of the river in a burst of blue, purple and golden light: jogging out of the water and making a beeline for the breach: "This whole situation is going to shit! Do we at least have some idea what we're going to do?!" Hecate demanded, "Seal the breach and make sure no more can get in! Then pick off the remaining titans trapped in the town: as long as the inner gate remains intact the humans have a chance to get out!" Javorin stated, "What about the kid?! I didn't see her as we came in, did you?!" Herne suddenly remembered, "She can wait, right now get your smite-thee faces on and get to work!" Hecate grunted as her fingers elongated into four meter long bladed claws, and began slicing up every titan in her path as she ran straight for the breach. Javorin and Herne quickly joined the fray as they ploughed into the titans, and began punching, kicking, pounding and smashing their way through the lumbering giants.

Although their movements appeared to be chaotic and savage, there was a level of coordination to their fighting style: every strike was aimed at the weak spots and every evasive move tied into every offensive move. Having lived a number of lifetimes as a soldier or a warrior in general: Javorin was familiar with a number of different martial arts and fighting styles, and as such, his familiarity with these styles showed in the proficiency of his fighting; he moved with fluid grace, practically gliding between each target, and yet striking hard and fast with punches that created miniature shock-waves with every blow. Herne was much more of an animal in his fighting style, he basically charged every titan and let his tusks rip their legs up as he deliberately grazed his head past their sides, whilst also using his giant fists to deliver bone-crushing punches that decapitated the smaller titans in one throw, and grabbing the three and four meter class titans by the neck and ripping their napes out. Hecate however was far more bloody and brutal in her approach to fighting the titans: like Javorin, she too knew a few martial arts that came in handy, but with her giant powerful claws and cold unyielding attitude, she was a fifteen meter tall slaughterhouse on legs, rushing every titan head on and felling them with a single kick that allowed Javorin or Herne to finish them off, or simply throw swipe after swipe; cutting the titans every which way one could imagine. Blood sprayed around her in gushing arches of crimson and scarlet while steam billowed off her claws as she kept her speed up, not stopping even once as she finally arrived at the breach, and began the real slaughter.

Though they had done this many times before, the fact they weren't invisible made them wary as the panicked cries of the citizens and military personnel alike told them their presence had been detected, and no one was ignoring them. "Hey, just out of curiosity, when we're gone with these guys and seal the breach, what're we gonna do when the military thinks we're gonna start getting hungry?" Herne called out as he ripped the napes of two five meter class titans clean out of their necks: "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, right now just push them back or at least try to slow them down!" Javorin ordered as he saw more titans coming through the giant hole in the wall.

Glancing up at the hill where he knew Ariana's home was, Javorin felt his heart skip a beat as he saw his familiar little human standing on the roof with her bow and arrow, obviously watching him. "...Please, Ariana..." he wished with all his heart, "Just hang on a little longer!" He round-house kicked three ten meter titans towards Hecate, who sliced them up with ease as she growled and hissed with delight.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Ariana allowed a little reassurance to lift her as she watched her giant best friend fighting the titans like a whole army in one; the sound of his blows echoing all around the walls. Shadow, Midnight and Boar were there at the breach, trying to stop the titan's advance as they fought with everything they had. She'd seen them describe their fighting techniques once or twice, the ones they used when keeping the titans out of the scouts path; but to actually see it in person didn't even begin to describe the incredibility of it, nor the sheer raw power they were putting out in order to fight several titans all at once. It was amazing, even breathtaking: she was almost so lost in watching the scene that she nearly missed her father calling her "ARIANA!"

Snapping back to reality, Ariana rushed over to the roof of the Inn, where Ashlyn and Hawk were helping Gale, Poppy, Belle, Mabel and Derek out onto the roof through the smashed attic window, while the rest of her cousins and brothers had assumed various positions all over the demolished roof and boulder, shooting their arrows and blinding any titan that came to close for comfort. Meanwhile, down on the ground the rest of her family and everyone else was frantically digging the rubble and debris, trying to get down to the cellar: "What the hell took you?!" Rowan barked, "It's Shadow Midnight and Boar!" Ariana pointed to the breach, "Their trying to stop the titans from coming in!"

"Speaking of which! You might want to give us a hand with this lot!" Clay shouted as he fired two arrows into the eyes a nine meter titan that was less than fifteen meters from rounding the boulder. The giant stumbled over backwards as the arrows pierced its eyeballs, knocking down several other titans that were right behind it: but an eleven meter titan took the opportunity to charge for the humans, stepping over its fallen kin as it made a beeline for the Inn. The kids were about to scream in panic when a fast-moving blur whizzed over the back of the titan's neck and hit it hard, the sound of flesh being sliced was heard as blood gushed out of the wound while the nape landed on the ground nearby, and the monster fell over dead. The blur landed on the roof of the building opposite the Inn: it was Bryson, kitted out in his old uniform, complete with his wings of freedom, his ODM gear and leg-brace, and sporting a full set of pairing blades. ('Where did he get those?') Clay thought offhand, but didn't ask as he fired another double shot at another titan coming down the road from the opposite end. "Excellent work children! Keep it up!" Bryson smiled as he took off and flew at the titan with a tight turn, slicing the nape and shooting his lines out to head back towards the corner where the downed titans were starting to get back up on their feet; since they were all down on their hands and knees, killing them was a breeze for the seasoned scout.

"Geez! Look at him go!" Jaye smiled, "No wonder this guy was a legend back in the day!" "You can sing my brother's praises later! Right now keep those titans blinded!" Breck called up to the kids as he shifted a piece of timber out the way: "Rosemary?!" Miriam shouted down into the hole they made, "Miriam?!" Rosemary's panic voice cried out as she reached her arm out through the hole and grabbed her sister's hand tightly: "Oh God Miriam! What happened?! The whole building sounded like it collapsed on top of us!" "Hang on we'll get you out first! Just stand back!" Gustav called down as he took his sledge hammer and started pounding the stone with Bemadette and Bren following suit while everyone cleared the rubble out the way between each strike.

"Okay come on! Our roof's still mostly in one piece!" Hawk told Mabel and Derek as he led them across the roof with Ariana and Ashlyn helping them to make the jump with Gale, Poppy and Belle bringing up the rear. "How the hell do we get down without the attic?" Ashlyn panicked: glancing around, Ariana noticed how the boulders that crushed their neighbor's house were all leaning towards them, with only a few meter's gap between the rocks and them: "We can jump across to the boulders and climb down the other side: the street's blocked off so we don't have to worry about the titans coming at us from that end" Ariana pointed to the boulders blocking the road, "Okay, come on!" Hawk led the way as he jumped the gap, and started climbing down, followed the others. As she jumped onto the boulders, Ariana saw down the narrow gap between the rocks and her house a strange red mass with the thick scent of blood wafting up: she suddenly realized it was a pile of corpses mashed up together: so disfigured by the impact and torn apart that hardly anything was recognizable of the people they once were.

"MUUUUM!" Ariana heard Eren's distant cry, craning her head up to look over the boulders and over at the Jaeger house, Ariana gasped when she saw the whole house had been flattened by house-sized bolder, but even more incredibly, Carla lying where the front door used to be, trapped beneath what used to be the eaves, and obviously unconscious. "MRS JAEGER!" "What?!" Hawk called up to her, "Its Mrs Jaeger! I can see her! She trapped beneath the rubble!" Ariana called down to Hawk who by now was halfway down the side of one of the boulders: "Okay! Get down here and we'll go get her!" he shouted up to her, "You guys go help the others, we'll take care of Mrs Jaeger" he told Derek and Mabel, "No way! You're gonna need a hand getting over those rocks!" Derek pointed to the obstruction up ahead, "Okay, but stay close!" Hawk told them as Ariana jumped down and together they all scrambled up over the boulders. But as they reached the top of the pile, their way was blocked by the larger of the rocks forming a near vertical four meter side that was too smooth to climb up. Glancing over at the demolished house on the left hand side, Ariana tried to find a way around it: but as she stepped on the debris it gave way and collapsed, causing a huge hole full of broken wood, glass and stone to open up between her and the Jaeger house; it was too far to jump, and as part of the building continued to collapse, Ariana jumped out the way and missed it in time, only to find that the debris had fallen in such a way that only a gap less than a quarter of a meter wide was the only way she could still see Carla. "It's no use we can't get over it!" Poppy frantically tried to climb up the boulders, but to no avail, and everyone else couldn't find away over them either.

"MUUUM!" they all heard Eren's voice screaming in terror as he ran hell for leather up the street. Rushing to the gap in the debris and trying to squeeze through as best she could, Ariana pushed her small frame through the narrow passage of stone and splintered wood with everything she had, even expelling most of the air in her lungs to try and compress her rib cage down more. "EREN!" She shouted as best she could. "MUM!" Eren screamed: he hadn't heard her. "What's going on?!" Derek demanded: "It's Eren!" Ariana wheezed, "-Quick! Get up and over! Cover them!" she ordered as she watched Eren run around the other side of the house with Mikasa at his side, and as Ariana tried to get through, she watched helplessly as the scene unfolded before her.

The first thing Carla heard was Eren's hysterical voice screaming for her as she came round, the first thing she saw was Angel's broken body lying on the ground some several meters away, bleeding bright glowing ice blue blood that stained her feathers as she lay motionless on the ground with her wings spread out and her head tilted to one side; "...Angel..." she gasped in horror. Glancing up, she saw Ariana trying to squeeze through a tight gap in the debris of her neighbor's house, obviously trying to reach them as her eyes remained locked on her, filled with panic and desperation: but she was a good twenty meters or so away with a large amount of debris in the way. She was about to call out to her before the sound of her son's cries snapped her attention to him and Mikasa as they came running around the other side of the house.

"MUUUM! MUM!-" Eren cried as he came around in front of her and bent down to grab the eaves lying on top of her back: "-Hold on mum you'll be okay! Quickly Mikasa! Grab that beam and lift it with everything you got!" he ordered as he started to lift, straining every muscle in his legs, back and arms to try and lift the heavy debris while Mikasa did the same: "Eren, Mikasa, you-

Carla's eyes suddenly grew wide with fear as the sound of thundering footfalls could be heard steadily approaching, Eren froze as he looked up, and was horrified to see a nine meter class titan with a broad creepy-looking smile slowly approaching them from the other end of the street at the bottom of the hill. Seeing the titan as well, Ariana began to struggle with everything she had, her head and shoulders finally popped through the other side of the gap, but she was still struggling to get her hips and legs free: "ASHLYN! HAWK! TITAN APPROACHING!" she screamed up the side of the boulder. "Quick! Give me a boost!" Hawk ordered as he ran at the side of the tallest boulder and scrambled up the steep side with all the strength he could muster, Derek, Mabel, Poppy and Ashlyn immediately grabbed his feet and placed them on their shoulders, allowing him to stand up against the side of the rock while Gale and Belle held onto his bow and quiver, waiting as he tried to get a firm hold on the surface and climb up. "EREN! MIKASA! RUN!" Ariana screamed, but again they were so focused on their mother that they didn't hear her. And as the titan slowly closed in, the situation was beginning to grow dire by the second...

"-HURRY UP DAMMIT!" Eren barked as he tried to lift harder: "It's them" Carla realized, "You've got to get out of here!" she ordered, "EREN! Just take Mikasa and run! NOW!" "I WANT TO MORE THAN ANYTHING! BUT FIRST I NEED YOU ON YOUR FEET!" He howled in anguish, his fingers bleeding from all the splinters that were embedding in his hand. For a moment, time slowed as Carla realized they weren't going to be able to get her out in time, at this rate the titan was going to eat all of them; realizing it was now or never, Carla bit back her fear as she uttered: "Sweetie listen to me, my legs have been crushed, even if you could get me out I can't run... There's no time!-" "WHATEVER! I'LL CARRY YOU!-" he shouted at her, his eyes filling with tears. But Carla left no room to argue back as she screamed at him: "-WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE! One thing I'm asking you, one thing! Mikasa please! Make him!-" Mikasa was crying as much as Eren, but still they continued to try and lift the debris, "You want all three of us to die?!" Carla pleaded. Suddenly, the sound of ODM cables and gas pistons made Carla look up as Hannes swung down and landed in front of them. "Hannes!" she cried out to him, "-Take the children and get them out of here!"

"Come on Carla, that's not the only choice we have here" he smiled, "I'm a trained soldier remember? My specialty's killing titans and saving lives!" Hannes declared as he drew his pairing blades and took off down the street towards the oncoming titan, "Hannes wait! Don't do it please!" Carla frantically cried out: Hannes charged down the street fully sure he could handle this, but as soon as he saw the behemoth standing there staring down at him, he froze in his tracks, and realized in terror that there was no way he could take on that thing. As the man and titan both stared at each other, Hannes quickly turned back and ran the other way, without another word he grabbed Eren and Mikasa by the waists; Eren fought him hard to try and wrestle free, but Hannes kept a firm grip on him as he jumped over some debris and cut down smaller road across the street in an attempt to evade the giant. Knowing her children were now safe, Carla's emotions as finally got the best of her as tears started running down her cheeks: "...Thank you Hannes..." she gazed up at Eren as he continued to scream, cry and yell out for her, desperately hoping beyond all hope that they'd turn around and go back for her: "I LOVE YOU! YOU HEAR ME! SURVIVE NO MATTER WHAT!" She screamed out to him before hitching over in a fit of sobs: hearing the titan as it was now looming over the house. "...Please...I don't want to be alone!" she cried as she kept her eyes on Eren; if this was how she was to die, she would go out with her sons face burned into her memory.

"YOU'RE NOT ALONE!" Ariana screamed, "-WE'RE HERE FOR YOU!" she kept struggling to get to her as the titan bent down and started pulling apart the rubble, finally it pried Carla out and held her by the waist in one hand, bringing her closer to its gaping smiling maw; death was but an inch away now, but still Carla kept her eyes on Eren as Hannes neared the bottom of the road, joining the crowds of panicked people as they continued to flee towards the inner gate.

But as the titan placed her head in its mouth, Carla's mind froze with terror as she saw another titan round the corner of the road, and reached down to grab Eren and Mikasa right out of Hannes arms...

"NNOOOOOOO!"

BOOOOOOM!"

The bakery exploded in a giant fireball that practically swallowed up half the street: flaming debris flew out at high speed in all directions: striking the titan right in the face and arm, forcing it to let go of Carla as it fell flat on its back from the force of the impact. Carla fell at an awkward angle and was impaled on a large piece of wood right through the left shoulder as she hit the side of her house: the rubble she fell onto shifted violently, and she disappeared from sight as she was buried by stone, wood, glass and broken roof tiles. Everyone at the Black Stallion was either knocked over flat on their backs, or nearly got hit by some of the larger pieces of burning wood and stone bricks. The vibration around the boulder pile caused the debris to shift and dislodge, and Ariana managed to wriggle free before another lot came down on her: but as she struggled to climb back the way she came, Ashlyn's screaming immediately told her something bad had just happened. Climbing out and over to where Ashlyn was crying her eyes out, Ariana took one look at the semi-conscious Hawk, and was horrified to see practically the whole right side of his face was a bloody burnt indistinguishable mess, with blood oozing down his neck and chest as he gasped for breath like a dying fish. "GO GET BRECK RIGHT NOW!" Ashlyn screamed as she sobbed uncontrollably into Mabel's shoulder while Gale and her sisters, also now crying, worked to try and stop the bleeding as best they could, while Derek took off down the road towards the Inn.

"Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?!" Breck checked everyone over as they helped each other up, and then helped Bren, Brendis and Brenden out of the hole in the cellar, before helping Rosemary and Lucile out. "I just heard Ashlyn screaming!" Falken panicked, "Where're my children?!" "-BRECK!" Derek called hysterically as he ran up to the group "Derek?! What's wrong?!""-It's Hawk! He's had half his face blown off! You've got to do something now!" he pointed back the way he came. "HAWK?" Falken panicked as he took off after the doctor, as Derek led the way up the street to where he left Mabel with the girls. "-HAWK! Oh my god! What happened?!" Falken dropped to his knees beside him, cradling him in his arms while Belle and Gale kept their bloodied hands over the bleeding. Breck took one look at him, he'd seen these kinds of injuries before, and knew the clock was ticking against him. "...I can't treat this wound conventionally, he'll be dead in six minutes" he blurted out, "-There's only one thing that can save him-" and without another word he took off down the street: forcing his legs to run as fast as they could carry him back to his house. He burst in through the door and headed straight for the basement, grabbing as many of the test-tubes of healing elixir as he could carry, before sprinting all the way back to Hawk, and immediately got to work uncorking one of the tubes, and gently dripping the elixir into the wound. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the exposed bloody tissues glowed blue while they steadily began to heal: "its working!" Falken smiled with relief, "Thank god it's really working!"

Another loud explosion forced everyone to cover their heads as part of a burning house came crashing down on the other side of the boulders: they'd been so focused on Hawk that they failed to realize the whole side of the street where the baker was situated was now ablaze, and the wind was pushing the inferno in the direction of the Inn; suddenly, Tyto, Eraman and Gustav came running up the street towards them. "This fire's gonna be on us any minute! We need to get out of here!" Gustav barked. "Hawk's still in danger! If I don't complete this he might die!" Breck shouted back, not breaking from his concentration as he continued to apply the elixir. "We can't outrun the flames and the titans are advancing on the hill!" Bryson shouted down from a nearby rooftop, "Listen! You need to either get to the river, or down beneath the fire, neither the flame's nor the smoke will get you if you stay below it!" he instructed, "How're you for gas and blades?!"Gustav called up, "Halfway through the tanks and down to my last two pairs!" Bryson called back, "There're more titans coming this way! I'll come find you when I can!" he added before flying away. Suddenly, the rest of the children came jumping off one of the boulders near their rooftop, and rushed over to where Hawk was laying between Breck, his father and his sister: "-HOLY SHIT! What happened to Hawk?!" Rowan gasped in shock: "The explosion got him" Belle gazed up at him, "What're you kids doing down here?!" Falken gasped, "The roof's starting to catch fire! We'll be burned alive if we stay up there! We need to get out of here right now!" "WE CAN'T LEAVE! The titan's will spot us if we do and there're too many of us to keep safe all at once!" Pascal stated as he ran up them.

Glancing back over at his home, Tyto frowned, "Then we make for the basement of our house" he stated, "Falken, help Breck get Hawk down there, the rest of you head on down and help the doctor, I'll go back and fetch the others, then we'll-" Tyto stopped when he saw Ariana climbing back up the boulders onto the rooftop. Burning embers wafted past her on the wind as she stood on the roof, scanning the cityscape for Shadow and his kin.

Most of the people had managed to get out through the inner gate by now, and only the Garrison troops remained as they started to fire their cannons at any titans that wandered too close. Near the breach at the opposite end of the city, there was an enormous cloud of steam rising up from the many disintegrating titan carcasses that Shadow, Midnight and Boar had compiled. Amid the dozens of titan heads and shoulders standing out over the rooftops, Ariana soon spotted the only one with black markings on it, as he and Midnight ran towards the military depot in the center of town.

As they cleared the carcass piles and got upwind so as to fight without getting hot steam in their faces: Javorin, Hecate and Herne stood near the deserted military depot. Gazing back down the road at the steam cloud, they watched helplessly as more titans tried to get in through the breach, only to trip up on their fallen kin's bodies and bones.

"THIS IS SHIT! No matter how much we fight them they still keep coming!" the black and white goddess hissed angrily: "At this rate the whole city will be overrun in less than an hour!" "Then let's prioritize" Javorin suggested, "We go find our little family and get them out. All the other humans are beyond the inner wall by now, the gate should be coming down any second"

"Agreed, we should try-

BOOOM!

The sound of the cannon fire caught Herne's attention, as he spotted the cannonball flying straight at Javorin's chest "-JAVORIN!" he leapt up and pushed his brother out of the way, but he wasn't able to move quick enough to save himself as the cannonball struck him dead on in the abdomen: sending him flying backwards several meters and crashing into the cobbled dirt road. "-HERNE!" Javorin and Hecate raced to his side, expecting the worst. But instead, Herne didn't have a scratch anywhere on him, except for a scorch-mark on part of his abdominal armor plating where the cannonball had struck him. A loud THUNK! Made them jump as something heavy struck the ground beside him; it was the cannonball, half-flattened on one side, and still red hot. "You're- cannon-proof?!" Javorin exclaimed in amazement: "Huh, that's good to know!" Herne grinned as he got back up on his feet and fists, "You're not hurt?" Hecate blinked in amazement, "No? I mean I felt it, but it didn't hurt!" Herne suddenly realized.

Javorin was about to say something else, when one titan coming through the breach caught his attention: scanning it up and down, he felt his insides drop as he realized this one was not like the other titans. It was fifteen meters tall, and instead of smooth leathery skin, its whole body was covered in armour plating, much like Herne's but thicker and more angular, its hinged jaw creaked open to let out a jet of stream as it cleared the breach and started walking towards them. Hecate and Herne glanced over at the titan, and right away, all three gods knew trouble was about to kick up again. "...This one looks like he means business" Herne frowned. "Agreed, let's take care of this one together: I have a feeling he's not going to be very obliging" Javorin thought aloud as he stood in the middle of the road to assume a fighting stance.

But to their surprise, the 'armoured' titan stopped and assumed a startingstart position, as if it were about to sprint: the gods wondered what was going on, when suddenly the titan took off running at an unbelievably fast speed: its feet pounding the ground like cannon-fire, causing violent tremors that shook every building to their foundations. The gods stared at it in shock: this wasn't possible, not for something of that size and with that much armour on its body. But unbelievably, it wasn't slowing down as it came straight for them. "I'll stop him!" Herne grunted as he charged the titan head on, "HERNE WAIT!-" Javorin tried to stop him, but as Herne leapt up and tried to head-butt the titan in the chest: his entire upper body blew apart in an explosion of bone, flesh, and glowing golden blood: his remains tumbling under the titans feet and getting crushed as the titan continued to run, having not lost its momentum at all. "...He-, he just-" Hecate gasped in shock, unable to process what she just saw, while Javorin was at a complete loss for words as the titan continued to run towards them. Suddenly, filled with white hot rage, Hecate screeched like a banshee as she charged the titan with her claws fully extended: "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR TH-

But to her complete surprise, the titan swung his arm out hard and punched her square in the chest, obliterating everything from the waist up and sending her head flying off her neck as it was turned to pulp: he then grabbed her by the spine and threw her down hard in front of him, crushing her body as he ran over what was left of her.

In that moment, Javorin realized this wasn't just any titan: it was intelligent, sure of itself, it had reacted to Herne and Hecate's attacks with intent and precision. This wasn't just another mindless titan; this was something much more dangerous: and it had to be stopped no matter what.

With a bellowing roar, Shadow charged the titan with everything he had, calling upon the total sum of his physical power as he and the armoured titan collided head on, creating a shock-wave that blasted every building away within a thirty meter radius, and thundered throughout the whole city at a deafening pitch, forcing the remaining humans in the city to cover their ears as the blast front knocked them over backwards and shook every building in the city to its foundations yet again. More thunderous booms came thick and fast as Javorin and the armoured titan traded blows in a fierce close-quarter fight: the initial impact had cracked the titan's chest armour a little, now Javorin was furiously trying to weaken that crack to create a vulnerable soft spot. But the armour was denser than it looked as his knuckles began to bleed and the bones in his hand began to break, while the armoured titan's punches practically hit him with the force of a hurricane: fracturing bones on impact and causing severe internal bleeding.

'This is bad, if I can't break that armour of his, I'm going to-" Javorin's train of thought was suddenly halted as he felt his knuckles become stiff and ridged: continuing his assault, he glanced at his fists between each blow, and saw his knuckles were covered in a strange blue crystal-like substance, that seemed to be cracking the armoured titans armour quiet efficiently; 'What?-...What is this?' he thought in alarm. But as the armoured titan delivered another blow to his side, Javorin's mind got back to the fight and forgot about the strange anomaly.

As the fight became more brutal and bloody, Javorin pushed himself to keep fighting, he had to bring this titan down, there was no way he leaving this fight in one piece. The fight continued to last for a few more brutal minutes as the Garrison troops watched in stunted horror: while up on her roof, Ariana, her father and Bryson watched with baited breath; scared, shocked, and horrified at the state Shadow was in as he continued to fight.

The armoured titan punched Javorin hard in the head, so hard in fact that his jaw obliterated on impact, leaving his tongue hanging out of his neck: the god staggered backwards, and the armoured titan took the opportunity to move in for the kill; pounding Javorin all over in rapid succession, blow after blow he felt his strength failing him as glowing blue blood poured out from every wound on his body. He tried to hit back but with blood in his eyes he was blinded, and his hands were now practically bloody stumps from all the pounding against the armour, the strange blue crystal on his knuckles gone. Finally, the armoured titan delivered the killing blow, as he swung his arm right back and delivered a blow that pounded Javorin into the ground, creating a small crater from the force of the impact. With what strength he had left, Javorin turned his head and gazed up at the titan, looking up into his eyes as the titan brought his foot down on his head: rendering the world dark and silent.

The titan then walked away, got back into a startingstart position, and sprinted off again: this time, heading straight for the inner gate. The Garrison troops panicked as they fired their cannons at the monster, but the cannon balls only bounced off the dense armour as the titan continued to build up its momentum. Until finally, it crashed straight through the wall with a thundering boom, decimating everything in its path as more rocks and boulders flew out of the other side: and more screams could be heard echoing through the hole in the wall.

Ariana, Tyto and Bryson stared at the second breach in silent horror as the regular titans began advancing towards it; gazing down at his gas tanks, Bryson knew he didn't have enough gas left to go and fight them, and he only had one pair of blades left. As tears streamed down her face, Ariana began to sob uncontrollably as she watched the area where she saw Shadow had fallen: "...Shadow...is he-...he can't be-..."

A loud crash forced Tyto and Bryson to turn round, just in time to see the fire well and truly blazing out of control, as the embers drifted towards them and began to spark more fires on the side of their house: "WHAT THE HELL'S TAKING YOU GUYS?! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Freya screamed desperately as she retreated back inside the house. Quickly, Tyto scooped his daughter up in his arms, and together both he and Bryson scaled the roof and boulders like mountain goats, running hell for leather to the front door and diving inside for the basement where everyone else was hunkered down and waiting. Tyto slammed the door shut, and headed down into the darkness.

Sometime later:

As dusk shrouded the land in a deep shade of Azure, the last light of day lit up the western horizon in a fading yellow glow while the evening star shone clear and bright, waiting for its brothers and sisters to appear and shine with the coming of night. A deathly silence hung over Shiganshina as the wind blew gently northwards, while across the north-western corner of the city the fire continued to burn: in the street, the inferno had died right down as there was practically nothing left for the flames to consume.

Down in Tyto and Freya's basement, everyone sat in silence: waiting patiently as Breck checked Hawk's pulse, and sighed with cautionary relief: "...I think he's over the worst of it, and the elixir's done all it can..." he told his father and sister as he inspected Hawk's healed wounds, "Although, I'm afraid there's nothin I can do about the scars, or his eye," he told them in a regretful tone. Falken held his sleeping son in his arms while Ashlyn stroked his hair, tears pouring down their faces as they glanced up at Breck with thankful looks in their eyes: "I don't care, so long as he's going to be okay" Falken sobbed as Eraman patted him on the back. Everyone was strung out and exhausted: physically and emotionally; after retreating from the fire and waiting nervously, they listened to the house above them burn (which, surprising, hadn't been as long as everyone thought it would be). After about an hour or so, the sound of the raging flames upstairs grew quieter, and the support beams holding the floor up began to grow cooler as the heat let off. But although the fire had blown over, the regular titans were still out there: and so, everyone decided to take Bryson's advice and wait until nightfall to try and escape the city, when the monsters would be inactive. That was at least five hours ago, and the silence was deafening as everyone quietly tried to get their heads around the hell they just survived. The families tried to comfort one another as best they could, holding their children close while the siblings all held onto one another: Bryson was the only one in the whole room not showing any outward emotion, as he gazed down at the tattered remains of his cloak; the wings of freedom crest ripped apart by the teeth of a stray abnormal that nearly got him.

He was well acquainted with this: this kind of grief and loss; he had mourned so many of his brothers-and-sisters-in-arms back in the day, when he still had his wings and he was 'that young gifted soldier' everyone looked up to; 'why couldn't you save them?' 'You're supposed to be the best, why did they die?'. Those old grievances still hurt, as if losing his friends and comrades wasn't bad enough: being the best meant you were expected to succeed every single time. But all the training and sharpened instincts in the world will never guarantee that you'll come out on top every single time: shit happens, plain and simple; that was the one thing no one could ever seem to get their heads around back then. As his brother sat back down next to him, he wiped Hawk's blood off his hands and patted Bryson on the shoulder. "You okay there bro?"He asked tiredly; "...I'll be fine..." he assured him in a monotone, patting his hand as he sat down next to him on the crowded floor, being careful not to bump into his ODM's scabbard boxes: "... How many do you think you got?" he asked offhand, "...Oh..." Bryson sighed, forcing a smile, "I lost count somewhere after twenty seven, I think? I know I still have a little gas left"

"What difference did it make? There's probably a whole new bunch of titans waiting for us out there" Rowan frowned bitterly: "None in the long run, but at least he bought us enough time to save our own and get out of danger" Miriam frowned at the boy, "You'd do well to remember that, boy". Rosemary laid a hand on her sister's shoulder, trying to offer what comfort she can: but as ever, Miriam remained stoic and firm: "Is this really the time for that attitude of yours, old woman?" he bit back, "-ROWAN!" his mother sternly barked, making everyone jump, including Rowan as Freya tried to keep her frayed nerves in check: "Now, is not the time to be losing our heads and taking our feelings out on one another: we just survived hell itself, we're all in the same dire situation here, so don't go losing your temper just because you mistook Miriam's stoic attitude for apathy-" "-Freya" Miriam stopped her, "It's nothing, just leave it be"

Carefully walking up the stairs and placing her hand on the thick reinforced door, Ariana glanced back over her shoulder at everyone: "The wood's finally cooled down; I think it might be safe to go outside?" "Outside?" Mabel worried as she and her husband Bren held each other tightly, "But-, is it safe to go out yet?" Bren asked in equal concern, "...I'll go" Bryson stood up and walked up the stairs, "If anyone is to die by the jaws of a titan, it'll be me" he stated, "Ariana, go back to your father" he told her, and the ten year old scooted back down the stairs and hid behind her parents robust frames. Feeling the door up and down, Bryson felt the wood was tepid, but the metal latches and hinges were still quite hot and had melted from the intense heat: and although the door was intact on the basement side, the outside was probably chard all over. Sure enough, as he kicked the door down it fell all to pieces. As the former Scout stepped outside: everyone waited in tense silence as they heard his footsteps walk across the floorboards to the front door with his ODM gear clunking lightly against his thighs; there he stopped, and for a couple of minutes he made no sound, until he slowly stepped outside.

Everyone wondered what the hell he was doing, until suddenly the sound of his gear's gas pistons firing made them jump, followed by the sounds of his pairing blades being drawn: the sound of the blades striking flesh echoed into the house, followed by a loud booming thud that shook the foundations. He soon walked back into the house and reappeared at the door breathing a sigh of relief. "Sorry about that: a five meter class had decided to go to sleep just by the side of the house, but it's taken care of" he assured everyone. "You're sure?!" Claude swallowed hard as he quickly got up on his feet, "I mean, there aren't any 'stragglers' or 'night owl' titans are there?" "Hang on, let me go and check" Bryson walked off as he headed outside again."... Okay, so saying it is safe to venture outside: what're we going to do, and how're we going to do it?" Bren asked worryingly. "We take the provisions from out of here, and we go looking for survivors: if anyone is alive out there we can't leave them to die" Tyto stated vehemently, "I agree, if anyone else managed to escape and their trapped, then they need help; if the titans really are asleep then that gives us an advantage" Eraman agreed, "And what if any of them get woken up?" Pascal raised an eyebrow, "Don't get me wrong: what we survived back there? I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy; but if we spend the whole night combing the city for survivors. Then come dawn we're hardly going to have any time to escape before they all wake up... I say, as regrettable as it is, we take what we can and get out; get up into the forest, find the kids ODM gear, and find somewhere safe to hunker down until we can figure out our next move. That's what you guys are good at, right?" he glanced over at Tyto, who looked at him dubiously. "As much as I don't want to, I have to agree with Pascal on this one" Derek stated in a regretful tone, "Shiganshina is huge and as large as our group is, we won't be able to cover the entire city in one night: plus, we've got to get a head start on the titans before they start wandering through the breach. At least in the forest the giant trees can offer adequate protection if we use the ODM gear to scale the trunks"

Everyone glanced at one another in silence, as they mentally tussled with the moral dilemma at hand: for many, their conscience told them to go out there and look for survivors; it was the right thing to do. But at the same time, Pascal and Derek did have a point: the night wouldn't last forever, and they needed the best possible chance for survival. "Well? How about this?" West suggested, "Why don't we just check our street for survivors? It won't take more than an hour, and we can be out the inner gate and up into the forest while it's still dark"

"But what about mum and dad?!" Clay worried as Hazel held his hand, "And aunt Skadi and Ran? Their still out there somewhere!"

"Hey-" Bryson grabbed everyone's attention at the top of the stairs, "All the titans are asleep, there's no movement anywhere in the city" "For real?" Bemadette asked offhand as her brothers sat with her, "It's getting dark out so we better hurry with that search. It'd be best if we split off into two teams: one of you come with me and we'll go and search the market place for Evrard and the women, the rest of you stay here and begin looking for survivors" "Sounds like a plan" Gustav nodded, "Okay, so who goes with you?" "Well?" Bryson thought about it, "We're going to need to be stealthy and quick; Tyto, will you come with me?" "Sure, let me just get my-

Tyto suddenly realized: "...Where's Ariana?!" Rushing out the door and heading outside, Bryson saw Ariana's small footprints in the soot and ashes, heading down the street. "...Oh no..." he breathed with dread, quickly figuring out where she was most likely to be heading...

Darkness

That's all Javorin could see as his eyes slowly healed, his ears had just about completed regenerating, and he could hear the deafening silence all around, even the wind was nowhere to be heard as the smell of death filled his nose, and filled his heart with ache. His glowing blue blood had pooled around him in a big wide puddle that seeped into the gaps between the cobblestones: and from it, a thick lush green carpet of grass, flowers and small trees had bloomed.

Being a god was not as simple as one might imagine, especially when immortally makes you notoriously difficult to kill, and death was not as straight forward as it was for the mortal humans. But this time, his healing powers were much slower than usual: he couldn't be sure just how much of his body was healed as he couldn't feel anything for the bitter cold that was prevalent throughout his entire body. Physically he was recovering, but his mind was a very different story. Wanting to see just what his failure had wrought on the people of Shiganshina: Javorin summoned his power, and let his astral form drift up out of his body; hovering above the city, he gazed down at the empty streets and felt his heart ache even more as glowing blue tears streamed down his face. All across the city, practically half the buildings lay in ruins while a huge fire burnt the north-western corner of town, and many dead bodies littered the streets. A number of them were under large boulders and stones; crushed to death when the giant sixty meter titan kicked in the gate, while a goodly number were half eaten. The titans that had swarmed the city were all either lying down or sitting upright, leaning against the still-standing buildings that remained, as they now lacked the sun's energy to remain active. Many of their teeth and maws were still stained with human blood.

He knew death: he knew how to endure it over the long eons he had existed upon this world, and how to say goodbye to all those he knew throughout every lifetime. This shouldn't have been any different: what happened to Shiganshina was terrible, but no more than all the other natural disasters and human atrocities he'd witness long before this time. So why was his heart breaking so badly like this? Why couldn't he let go of this life? He could smell and hear there was nothing left, the humans were all dead, and those that had fled had to run the gauntlet of staying ahead of the titans before they reached the safety of Wall Rose; no doubt, there would be many more fatalities.

What happened back there? Why didn't he think to use his full powers to defeat the armoured titan? Why did he hold back? ...

Oh, of course...

"...You just couldn't help yourself could you?" he heard Hecate's bitter voice echo through his tired and weary mind, as her dark astral form drifted up behind him "...But then, who am I to talk?" she sighed, knowing his failure wasn't his alone.

"...I held back..." Javorin flatly admitted, "...I knew I should've used my full powers to defeat him, but if I did-..."

"...Same old lil' bro," he heard Herne smile with exhaustion in his voice: his astral form coming up and around to his side in an attempt to offer him some comfort: "Always thinking of his precious little humans; I know you don't like the idea of collateral damage: most humans wouldn't blame you for thinking like that"

"...Why are you both still here? Have death keepers not come for you yet?" Javorin asked, gazing at them both. "TCH! Don't be stupid!-" Midnight reprimanded him, flicking her dark claws over his head: "I'm a death goddess myself remember?! It's going take a lot my than my extended family to convince me to finally pass over and join the ancient ones: you two as well, seeing as we've been getting along so nicely these past five years...Besides" she sighed, "I just got done talking with 'dear ol' dad'"

Javorin and Herne both blinked in surprise: "...You-...spoke to your father?" Javorin asked in surprise.

"But of course: living things and beings pass over all the time, it's not like I only feel his presence every once in a blue moon: and believe me, he and the 'rest of the family' are pretty busy at the moment, as you can imagine..." she gestured down to the city below, "...He dropped by briefly to make sure we were healing okay. There's a reason he won't allow us to reincarnate this time: don't ask me what he wouldn't say anyway; but I think it's safe bet our job here is far from done" she smirked slyly.

Realizing what she was implying by that: Javorin felt a smile come to his face as he allowed his heart to feel a little tug of hope: "...Thank you Hecate"

"Ah save it for when we're out of this mess: besides, it might be an idea to return to our bodies and speed up our healing" She suggested. Javorin gazed at her in confusion: she pointed down to where his physical body lay motionless in the crater by the depot; suddenly, he saw Ariana's aura glowing through the darkness, running straight for him. "-Ariana!" he panicked, immediately shooting back down and re-entering his body, quickly followed by the others.

Ariana stared up at Shadow's lifeless body in amazement; of all the things she was expecting to find, she hadn't expected this. Shadow's marking were glowing their usual vivid blue, and his wounds were healing (albeit slowly). Part of his head and eyes were just about done regenerating, and his ribs healed with a series of loud cracks as they popped back into place, his right leg was nearly done reforming as his toes took shape, and all the cuts, gashes and lacerations were steadily meshing back together to form new skin, complete with the markings in place.

Looking down at the ground as she wiped her eyes, she was taken aback by all the plants that were growing and blooming from out of his blood: she knew his blood was special, from what she remembered of Claude and Breck's scientific research and experiments on the strange substance, but this was incredible. As she slowly approached him, the sound of his breathing grew stronger, and as he let out a few sharp coughs, she jumped back in surprise. Slowly, the giant titan stirred as he tilted his head to one side: his vivid warm welcoming blue eyes laying on her as they fluttered open and he smiled that friendly smile of his, despite having no lips or cheeks. He softly hummed something to the effect of: Hey there...

Knowing what she witnessed earlier, and knowing he was probably dead: Ariana was overcome by emotion as she started crying again, and hitched over forward in a fit of sobs as she ran to her giant friend and snuggled herself into his face, hugging as much of him as she could as she wailed in a mix of heartache, fear, and relief. Shadow brought his hand up to the side of his face, and 'hugged' her back, humming softly, trying to sooth her as she let it all out. "...Shhhh, it's okay, I'm here now: I'm not going anywhere" Javorin told her softly, even though she couldn't hear him. "I-, I thought I lost you!" Ariana sobbed as she gazed up into his eyes, "I saw you fighting that titan, and-and when he punched you down, I-I thought he-" she sobbed as a fresh wave of tears came forth, and buried herself back into his face.

"Ariana!" Bryson shouted as he came running round the corner of a half demolished building, followed by Tyto. As they watched the tender scene unfolding, they saw Shadow's wound's healing, and Bryson felt a wave of relief rush through him: "Oh thank god, he regenerated!-" he beamed, before pausing a moment, "...Shit: never thought I'd say that about a titan!" he couldn't help but laugh as he ran up to the titan. "Shadow, you okay?" The titan dipped his head, and held Ariana softly as he rolled over onto his side and slowly sat up. "Whoa, what's this?" Tyto noticed all the plants blooming out of the giant puddle of glowing blue blood. "It's Shadow's blood dad, I guess it does more than just heal cuts huh?" she glanced up at Shadow as she wiped away her tears; "Can you stand up alright?" Tyto asked worryingly. Placing Ariana down by his side, Shadow shakily stood back up and quickly regained his balance "Are you sure you're okay? That was one hell of a fight you put up" Bryson asked seriously. Shadow was about to reply, when he felt a hand on his back: turning around, his heart soared at the sight of Midnight and Boar, who both smiled at him.

Overcome with emotion, Javorin hugged them both: Herne patted him on the back while Hecate grinned and bared it; she wasn't a hugger, but she was family, and knew this was part and part of what came with her 'extended' family.

"I guess that answers your question" Tyto smiled in relief: "Listen up guys, we're okay but we need to find Evrard, he went looking for Bestla, Skadi and Ran back when the titans first came through the breach: think you can help us?" Bryson told them upfront. The titans all looked at one another, and smiled and nodded as they picked them up and carried them in one hand. Gazing across the rooftops back to where her street was, Ariana suddenly spotted the (former) Jaeger house, and suddenly remembered Carla, "Oh my god I nearly forgot!-" she panicked, "-Shadow put me back down!" she patted his hand. He swiftly obliged, setting her down and watching her as she ran off back home: "Ariana! What's wrong?!" her father called after her, but she didn't reply as she ran, making a beeline for the other end of her street.

It was quiet

It was still

And it was growing dark

As she gazed up through the opening in the rubble, Carla kept her eyes on the evening star: the only light that shone through the darkness; she felt cold, numb, almost formless as she lay motionless, her whole body covered in blood, ashes, dust and soot, making her resemble a statue. The pain from the wood shard impaled though her shoulder had died off, how long ago she didn't remember; time seemed to have melted away and lost all meaning and significance. She didn't feel like her old self, she felt strangely peaceful, as if she'd left all that she knew behind, and was becoming part of something beyond her understanding, beyond what the senses could perceive. If this was death, then it wasn't so bad: certainly not as dark and ominous as it had been made out to be. As she continued to gaze up at the star with her failing sight, something else came into view...

A large pristine white butterfly fluttered down through the opening in the rubble, and landed on her forehead: its wings almost seemed to be glistening with starlight as it flexed them open and closed; then, the darkness of the hole seemed to fall away, and the evening star seemed to shine bigger and brighter, bathing her in silver light. All at once Carla felt life-giving warmth steadily flow through her veins, like pouring hot water into a cold bath, it was a kind of relief she'd never felt before: as if someone or something was pouring the life back into her; but she still felt as if she were suspended in a formless existence, and her body was calling her back. Then, she felt a strange calming presence, as if she wasn't alone...

You will see your son again, but first, you have work to do

Carla gasped in shock as she woke up and blinked up at the sky: the pain in her shoulder returned with a vengeance, and as she looked around at her surroundings, she was suddenly filled with a horrible sense of dread, wondering if anyone knew she was alive and trapped down here.

As they cautiously emerged from the house and wandered out into the street, the band of survivors stood there gazing at the scene all around, and taking in the deviation. The fire had burnt just about every building in the street: the Celtic family's roof was completely gone, burnt and collapsed into the first floor. By the side of the house, the titan Bryson had slain was disintegrating away, its flesh and soft tissues already gone while its skeleton continued to steam as it turned into pale ash and embers.

Further down the road, the Black Stallion was completely destroyed, rendered into a pile of blackened carbonized rubble and pale grey ashes, with a giant soot-covered boulder sitting in the middle of it. The only thing that hadn't burnt was the black iron horse head that had sat atop the Inn's hanging sign. As the Willum family and Fitzsimmons gazed up at the ruins, they couldn't help but begin to cry; this hadn't just been an Inn and guesthouse, this had been a home, their home. This was a place that had been filled with so many good things: the opportunity to live, the chance to escape and build a better life, a place where if you needed help you'd been taken in; happy memories, good friends, laughter, but above all, a family...

And now it was all gone

For the first time in so many years, Miriam choked as tears ran down her face; Rosemary, Lucile and Gustav hugged her tight as tears ran down their faces too, their grand nieces/granddaughters hugged them along with Bemadette and her three brothers, Fox and Shyla. Mabel and Bren hugged each other as Derek held onto his brother by the shoulder, tears running down their faces as they silently gazed upon the remains of their home.

Standing nearby in a complete loss for words, Pascal gazed upon the ruins with a feeling he never thought he'd ever feel; loss. Being what he was and the life he'd led, he wasn't sentimental by nature: he couldn't afford to be. Nothing lasts forever, and there wasn't much point in holding onto material things when they could be lost, broken or stolen. But this? This was different somehow, and for the first time in his life he truly felt sad for losing the only real 'home' he and West had ever known. Of course he never intended to end up in a place like this when he first left the capitol, much less be pressed into working for someone like Miriam and her eclectic family. But if he had to be honest with himself? It wasn't the worst thing that could've happen to them; here, as odd as their circumstances were they somehow grew to fit in with the place: they had found a good reason not to go back the criminal underworld, and they had friends in this place too; people who, to his great surprise, found he could actually come to trust and rely on: and be relied upon in return. Gazing over at West, Pascal saw the look of sadness reflecting in his gaze: he placed his hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. Though Pascal didn't let it show on his face, West could tell from the look in his eyes that he was as upset by this as much as he was. And together, both the former thieves stood there, gazing over the ruins, and listening to the family's sobs and cries of lament.

Coming up alongside them, Claude and Breck couldn't think of anything to say, there were no words to describe the grief they were all feeling; glancing across the street, Claude saw the bookshop was still standing: there was some fire damage to the shop floor and wall, but the attic was intact; his laboratory and everything inside had survived, including all the journals he'd worked so hard on over the past three years. But as he stared over at the former Black Stallion, he felt little comfort, knowing his home and all he loved and cared about was still standing, while the Willums and Fitzsimmons had nothing left. Breaking away from her grandmother's side and going over to the rubble, Gale picked up the horse head and dusted the ashes off: it wasn't that large, only about a foot long and was flat so as to be lightweight when mounted atop the hanging sign. She gave it Miriam, who hugged it as if it were the only thing that mattered to her.

As they gazed over at their neighbors, the Celts couldn't help but be overcome with grief for the loss of their neighborhood: and deeply worried for their missing loved ones.

Out the corner of his eye, Hawk saw a large shard of broken glass resting on a stone brick propped up against the wall of a burnt out house: wondering what his face looked like now, he went over to the shard, bent down and saw his reflection: what greeted him made him gasp in horror. The whole right side of his face was badly scarred while a large scar ran right over his left eye, down his cheek and up his forehead: the skin around the right corner of his mouth had been pulled back by the scarification, revealing his teeth and making it look like he was snarling. His right eye was now half pale blue, half brown: an obvious side effect of the healing elixir. As the scent of death wafted up his nose, he quickly looked away and stood back up, ruffling his long brunette hair so that his bangs covered the right side of his face. He was about to rejoin the others, when he heard a piece of debris inside the ruins fall over, followed by a low gravelly groan.

Everyone snapped their heads in the direction of the sound, and gasped in horror as a three meter class titan slowly lumbered out of the rubble. Terrified, Hawk backpedaled as the creature laid its dark beady eyes on him and opened its wide mouth: the creature lunged for him, but Hawk was too fast as he jumped out of the way and the creature landed face first into the rubble of another burnt out building; the family screamed as they took off down the road. But just as the titan slowly got back up on its feet, a loud bellowing roar echoed out of the ruins of another building as Evrard lunged for the titan, impaling it's nape with his hunting spear and wrestling it to the ground. Everyone stopped and watched as the giant Celt furiously grabbed his knife and began trying to slice the nape, but as he kept one hand on the spear, the titan suddenly dislodged itself from the spear and spun around, clamping its jaws down on his left forearm. Evrard howled in agony, and as the family screamed in horror Bryson suddenly shot down from out of the air and sliced the titan's nape: "DAD!" Clay panicked as he and Hazel rushed over to his side, followed by the rest of the family. Having just watched the whole scene from the down the road, the Willums and co rushed over to Evrard as he slumped to his knees, clutching his arm in agony and biting back the pain as best he could.

"Oh God! Evrard don't move!" Breck was at his side in an instant with another test tube of healing elixir at the ready: Clay and Hazel were horrified by their father's appearance; he was covered head to toe in blood, with deep lacerations running from his left cheek, up over the bridge of his nose and up to the right side of his forehead, he had another nasty wound over his left eye, but the eye itself was intact. His arms were covered in more bad cuts and lacerations, and his clothes were badly ripped in places, revealing tooth rakes and large finger-shaped bruises where a titan had obviously grabbed him hard. The bite wound on his arm looked bad as the titans teeth had cut right through the skin: "...It doesn't look like the bone's broken, but we need to stop this bleeding" Breck frowned as he dripped the elixir onto the bloody wound drop by drop, watching it as the fluid worked its magic while at the same time trying to compress his elbow to slow the bleeding.

Gazing down at Evrard, everyone was both relieved to see his was alive, and worried as they realized Bestla, Skadi and Ran weren't with him. The distant look in his eyes told them something was very wrong. Hearing giant soft footfalls behind them, everyone turned to see Shadow, Midnight and Boar coming up the road with Tyto standing on Shadow's palm: after placing the Celt patriarch back down on the ground, the titans all kneeled down, : Sorry we took so long: Shadow spelt out, : Our injuries took far longer to heal than expected:. "You managed to regenerate?" Claude blinked in surprise, "From what Ariana described, we thought you were gone for sure"

Stepping over to Evrard and kneeling down in front of him, Tyto placed both hands on his shoulders and tried to snap him out of his daze: "Evrard? Evrard talk to me, where've you been this whole time?" "Dad, please-" Hazel pleaded desperately, "Where's mum? Why isn't she here?!" "Yeah come on, is our mom okay too?!" Jaye demanded, "Where's our mum uncle Evrard?!" Ashlyn begged. Evrard said nothing as he slowly reached into his pocket, and pulled out his wife's bandana, Skadi's Torc, and Ran's bracelet: all covered in specks of blood. The children and their fathers stared at the objects in silence, unsure what he was getting at, until Evrard's face scrunched up in a look of agony as tears started falling down his cheeks and mixing with his blood, "They-..." he gasped for breath, "...They didn't suffer..." was all he could say.

"NO!" Clay grabbed his father by the shoulders, nearly shoving Tyto out of the way: "-DAD IT'S GOT TO BE A MISTAKE! You can't be-" he suddenly stopped as Shadow gently laid his fingers on his back: the three titans gazed down at him with a deep look of regret in their eyes, as Shadow spelt out: :We found them in the market place, shortly before finding you all up here. I am truly sorry, but Bestla, Skadi and Ran are gone:

Falken, Eraman and their children all felt like they'd been kicked in the stomach as the realization began to sink in: Ashlyn and Hawk began to cry, their father holding them tightly as he too gave into the pain and cried with them, Josefa and Jaye hugged their father tightly, neither of them saying anything as they let the tears flow, and Clay and Hazel held onto one another as their father held them close. Unable to hold back the pain, Tyto allowed his tears to flow, but he did not sob or wail or howl, he simply hugged his wife and sons as they cried too. Everyone else stood and watched in silence as a fresh wave of grief and tears came forth.

As she opened her eyes, Elysia stared up at the sky and blinked in confusion, 'Night time?' she thought offhand. She didn't remember what had happened at first, but then, suddenly, it all came flooding back to her. The giant titan looming over the wall, the sound of rock and stone exploding and then-

What happened?

She couldn't remember anything after that: getting back up on her legs, the dove looked all around, and squawked with horror at the sight around her: all the houses had been demolished and burnt, the smell of blood, smoke and death was hanging in the air like a suffocating fog as the distant sound of an inferno raged out of control, and down the other end of the street, several large regular titans sat motionless amid the ruins of the neighborhood. But what horrified her the most was the silence: wandering down the cobbled road, she stared in horror at the corpses lying scattered about: either smashed up, half-eaten, or burnt beyond recognition. Everything lovely and beautiful was gone, the people all dead, and nothing good remained.

This wasn't Shiganshina anymore, this was hell, and as she realized this was all real, pale glowing blue tears began to run down her face as she transformed back into her avian titan form.

Suddenly, the sound of rubble shifting made her turn around: she gasped in horror at the sight of the Jaeger house, flattened by a giant bolder and just about burnt to cinders; near the base of the bolder in a particularly large pile of rubble, the sound of rubble being tossed aside made her step around to the other side, where she saw Ariana scraping the blackened debris away, her arms turning black and grey from all the soot and ash as she dug her arms in. Glancing behind her, Ariana gasped in shock: "Angel? Where've you been this whole time?" she exclaimed as the avian titan stepped over to her, "Help me out will you? I found Mrs Jaeger: she's trapped beneath the rubble!" Ariana pointed to the deep hole in the debris: bending over for a closer look, Elysia gasped in horror as she saw Carla lying on her back with a large piece of wood sticking out of her shoulder, also with a large cut over her left eye and lying in a pool of her own blood a few meters down. She gazed up at the titan, and smiled weakly: "...Angel...You survived? ..."

Elysia frantically started clawing at the debris with her digigrade feet, forcing Ariana to move around the other side of the hole as Elysia dug her way down towards her best friend: tears streaming down her face as she began to cry, 'Hold on Carla I'm coming! Please just hang on!' she thought desperately as she dug like crazy. "Hold on Mrs Jaeger! We'll have you out soon enough!" Ariana called down to her as she too continued to dig, until finally they cleared away enough of the rubble that they could reach her. Elysia starred down at Carla's broken body: aghast as her mind began racing with everything from fear to terror, and from anger to heartache; never in all her immortal years had she felt such a pain within her heart, a hard overwhelming ache that ran deep, to see the one person she had come to care for in this state, awaiting death. Overcome with the pain, Elysia's tears ran down her face as she continued to weep, sobbing uncontrollably in a fit of pitiful avian squawks and cries. But before Ariana got up to try and find Breck, she watched as the titan's glowing pale blue tears fell onto Carla's body and face, and right away her wounds began to heal.

"Whoa..." Ariana gasped in surprise, Elysia looked down, and was equally taken aback to see her tears healing the injury in her shoulder: suddenly, Carla began to move as she tried to struggle to get free. "I-, I don't feel the pain anymore!" she gasped in alarm, "Quickly, help me up" Carla held her one free arm up, and as gently as possible Ariana held her and began to pull her up off the shard of wood while Elysia continued to let her tears fall onto the injury: stopping the bleeding, allowing the bones to reset and meshing the flesh back together. With one last pull, Carla's shoulder slipped off the wood and the injury healed over completely, she gasped sharply as she felt a jolt of pain shoot down her arm, followed by a feeling of sensation as the numbness began to leave and she could feel the limb responding to her again. "Mrs Jaeger?" Ariana looked at her in concern as she sat upright: "Are you okay?"

Carla was about to reply when she suddenly noticed her eyes were red and score from crying: gazing up and seeing the state of her former neighborhood, she suddenly remembered what happened right before she passed out...

"-EREN!" she screamed in a panic as she shot up onto her feet and scrambled like crazy out of the rubble, making Ariana and Elysia jump: she paid them no attention as her mind became totally focused on her son; she spotted the road she saw Hannes and the children run down, and took off running down it with Ariana and Elysia chasing after her, "MRS JAEGER STOP! THERE'RE TITANS ALL OVER THE PLACE!" she tried to warn her but with no success. Carla reached the bottom of the hill and ran out into a main street; the road was covered in blood, and full of dead bodies that had obviously been bitten in half, or in pieces: Carla nearly screamed at the sight of the carnage, while Ariana and Elysia both stopped in their tracks, not wanting to go any further. Quickly backpedaling, Carla tripped over one body and fell over backwards onto the cobbled road: but as she tried to get back up again, something in the street made her stop and stare in gut-wrenching horror.

There, sitting in a large pool of blood was a reddish-brown jacket, a pink cardigan, and a Garrison troop's half torn uniform jacket.

Carla's mind went into denial, that wasn't Eren's jacket, that wasn't Mikasa's cardigan, and that wasn't part of Hannes uniform; between the light of the distant inferno and the pale silver light of the full moon she couldn't be sure if it was their clothing or not. Crawling over to the garments on her hands and knees, completely oblivious to the blood and corpses, she picked up the jacket and Cardigan, and holding them up to her nose, breathed in their scent...

Eren

Mikasa

All at once Carla felt her whole world violently shift as she stared into space, her heart began to break right down the middle; her mind filled with the last moments of her son's life, the last moment she saw him alive, hysterically crying out for her, right before that titan-

Tears welled up in her eyes as her breath hitched in her chest: she began to sob uncontrollably as her mind caved into the anguish; she inhaled the deepest breath her lungs could muster and threw her head back as she let out a long shrill feral scream. It barely sounded human as all the heartache gushed out and hit her over and over again as she continued to scream hysterically; her voice rising above the ruins and echoing around the empty city as she lost herself to the pain.

Everyone's blood froze in their veins as they heard the screaming: "Carla?!" Freya blinked in stunned surprise, recognizing the voice through the feral cries, "She's in the next street down the hill!" Mabel suddenly realized, "Quickly Shadow!" Bryson ordered as he took off on his ODM gear onto the titan's shoulder: Shadow got up, and with a sombre look in his eyes, quickly made his way the short distance to where the screaming was coming from: "I better go too! She sounds like she's in pain!" Breck took off after the titan, "Uh- You might need a hand ol' boy! Wait up!" Claude took after the doctor. "Hold up!" Freya shouted as she ran after them both.

As the survivors continued to console the Celts as best they could, Boar snapped his head up as a different scent wafted past his nose; wandering over to the remains of the house between the Jaegers and Grayson's, Boar sniffed intensely around the base of the boulder, like a hunting hound that's just smelt a deer. "Boar?" Mabel took Bren by the hand and wandered over to him, "What's wrong?" Bren asked offhand as he wiped his tears away. Without a word, Boar began digging at the base of the boulder, his huge fists and sharp claws easily making short work of the remains of the roads and part of the rubble; going to see what Boar was up to, Derek was about to ask what he'd found, when Boar raised his fist and punched a hole in the ground. Gazing down into the black hole, the three of them suddenly realized what it was: "It's the basement!" Mabel blinked in surprise. Bren was about to ask the titan what was up, when suddenly, the pitiful cries of two babies echoed out of the hole. Grabbing a piece of unburnt wood, Boar's markings around his right hand glowed golden yellow as he lit the wood on fire and handed it to Derek as he jumped down into the hole: "Do you see anything?" Bren asked worryingly.

Looking around the basement, Derek soon spotted the source of the cries: Lawrence and Drake were huddled in the corner, each of them holding a baby in their arms, while little Marigold sat between them, hugging Lawrence's side in an attempt to try and stay warm. The basement had somehow remained intact, despite the weight of the boulder above: but as he gazed up at the ceiling, Derek stared in horror at the sight of the blood that was leaking down from between the cracked stone and crushed floorboards above, and dripping down to the floor, where the entire basement floor was covered in puddle of it; the children were drenched in it, sitting in it. It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened. Glancing over to the children, Derek didn't have to guess what they knew; he could see it in his eyes. "It's okay" he softly spoke as he approached them, "We're here to get you out". Cautiously, the boys got up with the babies in their arms, with Marigold still clinging to Lawrence's side: Derek led them to the hole, where Mabel and Bren gazed down at them in shock, "Lawrence? Drake?" Mabel gasped, noticing the babies, "Are they-, Marigold? Phoebe? And Clemmy?"

"Hey guys! We found some more survivors!" Bren called over to the group: "Okay, Lawrence, are you going to let me have Phoebe? So I can lift her up to Mabel?" Derek asked softly, Lawrence nodded and handed him the baby. Gustav, Miriam, Rosemary and Lucile came running over, and immediately got to work helping Derek to get the children out of the hole.

Tyto was about to rush over to help, when he suddenly spotted Boar sniffing around the remains of the Cooper's town house, in the next street across from the Inn. As he ran towards the house, he gasped at the sight of the enormous boulder that had demolished the entire right side of the house, but the rest of the building remained largely intact, and hadn't been touched by the fire. Boar pointed to the front door, and with one hand, spelt out, : They're both alive, they're in the basement: "What?!" Tyto gasped as Boar pointed to the side of the house where the servant's door was located. Cautiously entering the building, Tyto felt a cold sweat go down his back as he heard the structure loudly creek and crack, he realized it could come down at any moment. Carefully making his way into the kitchen, he saw the basement door and proceeded to open it, but it was locked. Without the key to hand he stepped back and kicked the door down, proceeding down the stairs where he saw a candlelight illuminating the gloomy stone room, "Lucy? Lucius?" he called out: "...Mr Grayson?" he heard Lucius's hoarse voice croak out.

Glancing over to the corner, Tyto gasped as he saw the twins sitting on the cold stone floor, chained by their wrists to the wall by a set of iron handcuffs: "What the-..." he stared at them, completely taken aback before kneeling down to meet their eye level: "What happened to you two? Why're you chained up like this?!" he looked at the handcuffs, noticing their wrists were red and sore from the tightness of the metal. "Muller didn't want us leaving the house after we got back, so she did this" Lucius sobbed as tears welled up in his eyes: "She must've put something in our food, because when we woke up we found ourselves down here, with these things stopping us from leaving" Lucy told him as she too began to cry; "...We heard everything going on outside" Lucius stated in a monotone, "When the titans first started swarming the city, Muller locked the basement door and took off with Gilda..." Lucy added as she pressed her face into her brother's shoulder as she sobbed, "...Everyone's dead, aren't they..." Lucius looked Tyto in the eye, already knowing it was true.

Tyto stood up and sighed, "...Let's just get you two out of here, okay?" he gazed up at the ceiling, "Hey Boar? If you can hear me now would be a good time to use those fancy 'tunneling' tricks of yours!" he called out; as if on cue, the basement wall next to him collapsed in and part of the ceiling gave way as Boar dug his way in. Spotting the chain and its attachment to the wall, the tusked titan gently grabbed the chain between his finger and thumb, and with one hard tug ripped it clean out. He then tapped the handcuffs with the tip of his claws, golden sparks flying off the handcuffs as they popped open by themselves. After climbing up out of the hole, the twins both stood and stared in shock at the devastation around them. Gently, Boar picked them up and placed them on his back as he followed Tyto back to where the rest of the survivors were still situated.

As they approached, they saw Carla crying into Freya's lap while Claude looked like he'd just thrown up as he leaned against Bryson in an attempt to try and regain his composure: nearby, Ariana was sobbing into Rowan's shoulder as he hugged her tightly, with Ash and Dale keepin a protective hand on her shoulders. Standing off to one side, Tyto recognized Lawrence and Drake, along with Phoebe, Marigold and Clemmy as Mabel and Bren held the babies in their arms while Derek held Marigold on her hip, while Lawrence and Drake tried to hide behind the Fitzsimmons so as to not be noticed by the imposing gigantic forms of Shadow and Midnight, along with an emotionally wrought Angel who was still crying uncontrollably as she nuzzled her face into Shadow's side, his arms around her as he tried to comfort her. "...Carla?" Tyto stepped closer in alarm, "You're alive? What happened to-

He stopped as he noticed the bloody jacket and cardigan clutched in her hands.

"Dad..." Ariana sobbed as she looked up at him, "...Eren's-...he's-..." another fit of sobs overtook her as she buried her face back into her brother's chest.

Looking around the faces of the survivors, Tyto couldn't help by sigh: it was clear to see everyone was well and truly spent, he didn't know how much more heartache they could bear; hell he didn't know if he could bare anymore of this. Glancing over at his house, he looked back at the survivors, and asked: "Does anyone know what the time is?" Pulling himself together as best he could, Claude got out his pocket watch and opened the lid, "Uh, eleven forty five". Tyto then turned towards the house, and entered through the front door, "... I'm going to get the provisions: anybody wants anything in particular, go pack up now; we leave in five minutes"

No one spoke and no one objected as they tried to salvage what they could: mostly it was the bare essentials, nothing heavy or awkward to carry; Breck stocked up on all the healing elixir he had while Claude rushed to fetch his journals, he knew they wouldn't be coming back here. Bryson helped the children try to regain their composure, at least enough to enable them to temporarily focus on helping their elders out. Carla however, was dead to the world as she continued to sob into Eren's jacket and Mikasa's cardigan, too lost in her grief and heartache to pay attention to what was going on around her. After they packed up their meager possessions, Breck and Claude lifted Carla into Shadow's cupped hands, the doctor would keep an eye, and Evrard would be joining them, as he was still recovering from his injuries; Clay and Hazel refused to leave his side so they went along for the ride. The Willum elders all hitched a ride on Boar's back, being older and slower, they couldn't trust their legs to last them the journey ahead; the only thing they took with them was the Black Stallion's horse head, the one thing remaining of their former home. Lucy and Lucius choose to ride with Angel, keeping her company as she waited for everyone, and stayed close to Carla. Ariana and the rest of her family all tried to salvage what they could from the ruins of their home, fortunately, their bows and quivers were still fine, along with one or two other things that might prove useful. Ariana found Armin's book about the outside world amid the rubble, one of the few things that hadn't burnt: but knowing he was already dead; she couldn't help but cry as she hugged it close to her, knowing she would never see him or Eren again.

As the Celts finished up packing and proceeded to leave: Tyto was the last one out of the basement, when he suddenly noticed the leather hide with the Semitam on it, rolled up and sitting on the small desk in the corner. He paused and stared at the hide in thought; if there was one thing that wasn't going to be left behind, it was that map, after all the work he and his brothers put into deciphering it, he wasn't going to let all be in vain. He headed back down the stairs, grabbed it off the desk and placed it in his pack: making a mental note to keep it close at all times.

The short walk to the inner wall was a harrowing one as everyone was forced to pass by more dead bodies, nervously tip-toe past sleeping titans, and all the while try not to trip up on anything in the darkness. As they walked through the breach in the inner gate, the full moon came out from behind a cloud and illuminated the wall and its ruins. Everyone stared up at the gaping hole in silent amazement as they passed through it, but no one stopped to admire the view as they continued out into the country side, passing by more scenes of devastation. The river banks where the barges usually moored up were littered with hundreds and hundreds of bags, all filled with practical and personal possessions alike: obviously dumped overboard for the sake of lightening the load. The ruins of the Garrison's defenses were littered about here and there, as multiple cannons and cannonballs littered the ground, and the smell of death continued to linger.

As they crossed the bridge and headed up the road towards the forest, the titans kept a watchful eye as they kept pace with everyone who was traveling on foot. As she held her mother and father's hands, Ariana gazed up at the night sky, and glanced over her shoulder as she watched Shiganshina disappear behind them.

"Dad?" she sniffled, "What do we do now?"

"...We do as we have always done darling..." he sighed quietly, "Disappear"

Well I hope you all got your own tissues and ice cream, because I'm not paying that bill. Suffice to say this chapter drained a lot out of me, not least for all my feels that got torn up along the way: I decided not to go overboard with the death scenes, seeing as Shiganshina's going all to hell anyway, it didn't seem right to rub more salt in the wounds, plus it would've been at least another 20 pages worth of work, and I didn't want the chapter to have 'too much fat and not enough meat' so to speak, plus, I felt it best to leave Bestla, Skadi and Ran's death's to be left to the imagination: their kids and husband's (except for Evrard since he's the one who found them) really don't need to know how it want down, their grieving is enough as it is. The scene where Carla thinks Eren and Mikasa are dead was the one I wanted most (and there's a good reason for that, which will become apparent later on in the story). And needless to say, this chapter marks the beginning of our hero's epic adventure; so I hope you can join next time, and don't forget to R&R before clicking off. :)