"How do you know….?" Mikasa said bewildered.

"It's just my hunch." Somehow Lyla was getting this vibe that Eren wouldn't die this easily. The building shook violently as two titans appeared.

"Shit! Too many people are concentrated in here. Everybody clear out!" Jean shouted.

After they were all at safety Armin spoke up.

"Although there is an Abnormal outside that kills other titans off, we can't just stay here forever. So we need to refill our equipment…and I have a plan." Armin swallowed hard before explaining his plan. "Hopefully if no more came in, right now there would be 7 3~4m class titans. 7 of us could go up and attack the titan while the rest of us take the lift down and distract the titan's vision with guns." Armin looked at his comrades and then at the floor. "I don't know… a plan made up by a person like me…"

"We don't know until we try. Besides, no other better idea is going to come out," Marco said. "Right, have faith in yourself Armin," Lyla added.


The plan was a success. Although Sasha and Connie missed their titan it was taken care of by Mikasa and Annie.

They went out and saw the abnormal titan that was now being eaten by the other titans.

"What…?" Connie looked at the scene with horror.

"Looks like our lucks draining out," Jean said. Just then Lyla saw a spark in the titan's eye and with a deafening roar it charged for another titan. It was the flying abnormal titan.

"Hey isn't that abnormal the one that ate Thomas?"

Killing the other titans on the way, the abnormal titan launched itself at the other abnormal. It ferociously tore the titan's nape, then after giving a cry of victory, it collapsed onto the ground. Everybody stared in awe when Armin spotted something.

"There's someone there!"

Everybody looked close and something impossible happened. From the steaming titan Eren came out. Mikasa fled down and after checking his heart beat, smiled.

"Eren…!"

The others cautiously joined. Lyla knew that he wouldn't die easily but she was certainly not expecting this. Anyway they successfully collected Eren and retreated.


The problem was after that. Lyla stared at the soldiers surrounding them with weapons pointed and at the man who was screeching for quite a while. His eyes were filled with fear.

"WHAT ARE YOU!? ARE YOU HUMAN OR TITAN!?" The man asked. Eren thought for a moment and shouted, "I'm human!" Silence fell.

"Right… Nobody would want to admit that they are a monster. Attack!"

The sound of a cannonball flying echoed through the air.

'What? He's willing to kill even us who he knows are human? He must be crazy! What am I supposed to do to shield a cannonball!?' Several thoughts filled Lyla's mind as she shut close her eyes. With an ear muffling bang, smoke filled the air. Lyla peeped through her eyes.

"What…?" There were the remains of Eren's titan. He had protected them by transforming. Lyla was able to hear the man shouting something again.

"Well, I guess it would be hard to talk after showing this," Eren started. "I have two ideas. One is I run away out of the walls while the smoke holds out…"

"EREN!" Mikasa shouted out in surprise. Lyla calmed her down and said, "Two is we ask Armin to persuade them, right?"

Eren nodded his head as Armin grew pale.

"I can't… I'm…!"

"Armin," Mikasa called him firmly, "It's okay. You have the strength to somehow find the answer. You already saved us once."

"Armin, I told you. Have faith in yourself." All three of them stared at Armin. Lyla watched as Armin's face changed from fear to unmistakable determination. Armin went out of the smoke with his hands up.

"I have something to say sir!" Anxiety swept through the crowd. "Surely, Eren Jaeger possesses the strength to shift into a titan." Murmurs spread out. "But, if he fights on humanity's side, there would be no better weapon. Eren took down approximately 20 titans before collapsing. And he shows no interest in humans! Other titans perceive him as an object to attack, which means that the titans view him same as us humans. Many people witnessed Eren fighting against other titans. He's on humanity's side and a great asset! If we use him, we will even be able to recapture the Trost district!" A wave surged through the crowd when Armin finished his speech and they started lowering their weapons. But the man's voice pierced through the air.

"Do not be blinded by their words! They're just monsters!"

'He gave up on thinking! He's afraid of thinking!' Armin almost felt like panicking.

'Oh, so he now thinks that we're all monsters,' Lyla sarcastically thought as she felt all hope leave her. But again Armin's voice rang through the air much more clearly than before. He saluted and said,

"I'm a soldier who already pledged to dedicate my heart to humanity. If for humanity, I'll gladly die! Then, from now on I'll explain the value of Eren in battle before I die!"

Lyla saw the man's hand lift up as he readied to give the attack sign. Her heart was about to burst out of her and her body tensed to pull Armin behind Eren's titan remains if needed. The man's hand came down in slow motion and Lyla's heart quickened. Then, an old man stopped the man's hand.

"What are you doing? Do you not see his excellent salute? You're bulked up on the outside but scared as a baby deer in the inside."

Lyla bit her lips as she stifled a laugh.

...


...

The old man's name was Commander Dot Pixis and Lyla realized that he was an eccentric person. He actually said he wouldn't mind being eaten by a pretty titan and was crazy enough to accept Armin's suggestion and operate this kind of plan. If all goes well, Eren would shift into a titan and move the giant rock to seal the broken wall. The problem was that, Eren, who is the key point of this mission, has currently knocked himself out on the floor after trying an attempt to attack Mikasa. Lyla sighed heavily and tried to make her way toward Eren when Armin shouted out.

"I'll deal with Eren! You go do what you can do!"

Lyla nodded and changed course to the titans. What she had to do right now was to stop other titans from getting to Eren, which was one of the things she was quite confident at.

'Weird. I never imagined I'd be living like this a few years ago.'

And yet it has now become almost her daily routine. Lyla never thought about the future much. Her only wish was to see what was beyond the walls. Other than that she just wanted to live happily ever after. But then the Colossal Titan came along. Her fear for things has lessened as well. She wasn't half afraid of things than before. To be more accurate, she was able to control it. Hell if you see a titan crush your home and ruin everything you won't be afraid of things that much because almost nothing would be worse than that. Lyla walked towards the two titans in front of her. Lyla's only greatest fear was now losing the people that were precious to her.

"All of you plastered with that ridiculous face. Well I guess it can't be helped."

When Lyla took down the two of them the roar of Eren reverberated through the district. So he has finally gotten up and was doing his work. A pack of titans swarmed towards Eren.

"Oh, like I'll be sending you guys."

Lyla made her way to Eren as she slaughtered the titans in her way. She was able to see Eren who had shifted back into a human after plugging the hole.

'Hey if you turn back now…!' two titans were hovering over Armin and Eren. Lyla saw the frightened faces of them from afar. She sped up as the titans neared the two kids.

"Shit! I won't make it in time….!" Just as Lyla was about to fling herself towards Armin and Eren, something faster than her pasted by. It was only a brief moment but she locked eyes with that person.

'Captain… Levi?' In a blink he cut through the titans. Lyla lightly landed next to Eren and Armin. They were both eyeing the man who had just taken down two titans like it was nothing.

"The Wings of… Freedom," Eren murmured in awe.


Again the operation was a success, it was recorded as humanity's first victory against the titans, but the aftermath was not. Lyla couldn't understand why everything turned out like this. Despite Eren's performance he got arrested and because of her kills, Lyla was whisked away for the annihilation of the remaining titans in the Trost district. Mikasa was also called for the mission but she made it clear that she would stay next to Eren and the soldiers thought that that was best for everyone's safety.

Lyla killed the titans as she swallowed her anger.

'If it wasn't for Eren we wouldn't have been able to retake Trost!' a titan fell to the ground, 'Yet they still view Eren as some threat?' another titan, 'Why can't they see that he's a scared teenager and a human like everybody else!' again a titan was dead. "This is all because of you, you son of a bitches!" Lyla cursed as she slaughtered the titans. Smoke filled the air where Lyla's raging blade passed by. Levi observed Lyla for a while, then, called a random subordinate. He anxiously came at the captain's command.

"After the Annihilation mission, give me a report about that soldier."

"Yes sir!" The soldier gave a salute and disappeared.

After the mission Lyla attended Eren's trial the next day. It was boring and irritating. People spewed whatever they wanted. Merchants tried to protect their money, Pastors tried to protect their false religion.

"It says that as soon as Eren turned into a titan he attacked Mikasa Ackerman."

Lyla eyed a short woman with silver hair. Why couldn't she be sensible enough to omit that part?

"Is Mikasa Ackerman present?"

Mikasa raised her hand.

"Is it true?" The Chief Commander, who was currently the judge asked.

"Yes sir, but Eren has saved me multiple times by killing the titans that were trying to attack me sir."

"That is a highly subjective opinion sir," Nile Dok, the Commander of the Military Police said, "Although it was for self-defense, these two have killed 3 people when they were young. I must question their human nature."

Lyla snapped her head towards him. Lyla was there. Although she believes that murder is a bad crime, she deemed in that situation inevitable. She raised her hand to speak,

"Your honor, if I may. If it comes to human nature, I believe that it is more questionable to those who would kill half of humanity to merely protect their money than two little kids who killed 3 to save their own life." She stared intensely at the merchant who asserted they seal all the walls so that refugees cannot enter. The merchant's face turned red while Nile flipped through papers.

"Sir, Lyla Peltner, who just spoke is highly suspicious as well. She has no records before the age of 14. And she was there when Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Jaeger killed their victims,"

At this the merchant pounced on the opportunity and said, "Isn't that girl a part of it? Isn't she a titan who pretends to be a human too? Maybe those two are titans too! They turned into humans to trick us!"

"Lyla and Mikasa have nothing to do with titans!" Eren shouted out. Lyla also raised her voice,

"Objection! Sir, this has nothing to do with Eren's treatment!" Why did Eren and Mikasa's past get pulled out in the first place?

The court turned noisy and Eren spoke out,

"You're all wrong. You're just using mere speculations to make the water flow your way. You haven't seen a titan before, so why are you afraid?"

Lyla bit her lip. What was he thinking? She wasn't sure what was going on but one thing was sure. Eren should shut up. But he continued as if he couldn't stop himself.

"If those with power don't fight, who will? If you're not going to fight at least don't hinder me!"

Well, he's got a point there but he shouldn't rile up the people more since he has his life in their hands. Actually she should have stay put too instead of taking a dig at the merchant. But she just couldn't help it.

"You cowards!" Uh-oh, this isn't good. "JUST SHUT UP AND BET EVERYTHING YOU GOT ON ME!" And he did it. Lyla covered her face. She then caught Captain Levi standing up. He walked up to Eren with a bored expression. Then matter-of-factly kicked him in the face.