Please read authors note at the end.

Chapter 25

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Calian roars as he soars downward, his blades unsheathed and ready to be painted in blood.

There's a heavy amount of smoke from where the two titans had fallen, the dust stinging his eyes but he's so blinded by his inconsolable rage that it doesn't matter to him at all. The suns rays can barely make it's way through the smoke but he swears he sees some shadows move. A split second later an armored hand burst through the smoke, nearly squashing him had he not jumped out the way in time. His eyes shift white momentarily and he launches himself up the arm and right into the face of the armored titan. He attacks, his blades hitting the armored eye, but they shatter on impact. "Goddammit!"

He sees the yellow eyes lock onto him but he doesn't flinch. He glares back hatefully, "Ya sonuva bitch! All this time, all this fuckin time, it was ya! Ya killed them! Ya heartless TRAITOR!"

He attaches new blades and flings himself along the back of Reiner's titan form but once again his blades prove ineffectual as the nape is protected by two massive pieces of armor. He avoids the swipes of it's massive hands, flipping and twisting in the air, but as soon as he lands on Reiner's shoulder again, an inhuman screech cuts through the air and Eren appears, tackling Reiner and flinging Calian off the titan's shoulder, tumbling in the air. He struggles to right himself and sees the ground closing in fast and thinking quickly, he shoots out one of the ODM anchors luckily hitting a nearby tree and allowing him to swing to the ground in a painful but thankfully non life threatening manner. He tumbles and rolls on the ground until him comes to a halt, groaning as he can feel bruises forming all over his battered body.

He grunts and pants as he struggles tog et to one knee, looking up just in time to see Eren's titan body being thrown right at him, it's left hand gone with steam coming from the exposed area. Even his own rage filled mind can see that he's not gonna be able to react in time. But someone else could. Mikasa makes her appearance, swinging down and picking up Calian, saving him from being crushed and bringing him to the wall.

"Let me go! LET ME GO! I have to make him pay for what he did! What they took from em!"

"CALM DOWN! You can't hurt him, nothing we have can hurt him!" Mikasa tries to reason to him as they perch themselves sonto the wall.

He glowers darkly as he's forced to watch Eren fight badly against the armored traitor. "I can still try!" He grumbles.

"You'll fail." She retorts.

He snaps to glare at her, but he can see that she hates the fact just as much as him, he could tell by the way that she glares at the broken blade still attached to her handle. So she tried too? Figures. He remembers how close she holds Eren to her heart and knows more than anyone how much it kills her to know that even her strength can't make a difference at this moment.

"So what the fuck can we do? We can't just sit here with our thumbs up our asses!"

"Eren!" Armin screams above them, "Don't do it! You can't win in a slugfest! Don't try to fight him Eren!"

Eren's reply is another feral roar, blood bursting out from his still healing mouth. "Eren!" Mikasa yells, fruitlessly as she knows he's not able to hear anything except his instinct to kill Reiner.

"Howlett! Ackerman! Get up here!" Hanje orders the two.

She hauls Calian with her, regrouping with the others as they watch the Titans clash. Eren is fighting with all his heart but Reiner's armor is giving him too much of an advantage. Where normally one punch would be enough to kill your standard titan and even the Female Titans form when not crystallized, it's not having the same effect with Reiner. It each punch barely makes his head move, while causing damage to Eren's own body on impact. The two go to throw crosses at each other but to every Scouts surprise, Eren ducks under and locks Reiners arm then kicks his legs out from under him, throwing the armored titan to the ground. That technique… it's just like Annie's! Calian realizes that Eren is just as aware of his weakness against Reiner and has changed tactics accordingly. He grin is feral as he cheers, "That's right, tear that mother fucker apart limb from limb!"

He cackles darkly as Eren put's Reiner in a triangle chokehold, extending the exposed arm into an arm bar as well, applying so much pressure that, to everyone's shock and awe, causes the armor to crack! "Rip his fuckin block off!"

His wish is answered as, with one last mighty howl, Eren rips off Reiners arm from the elbow, the useless limb flying meters behind them. "He did it!" Mikasa whispers in awe.

"Now he has to escape." Armin declares as he flies down near Eren.

"What no!" Calian goes after him, the blonde already advising Eren to escape. Calian grabs ahold of his shoulder as he demands to know, "Why the hell do ya want him to turn tail!?"

"Their goal is to kidnap and take Eren away! We need to escape now to prevent hat from happening!" Armin argues as best he can, his body buzzing with nervous energy because of their circumstances. They're standing on the titan infested side of the wall with two of the biggest threats to humanity.

The situation can go very wrong at any moment, they need to act now but Armin isn't blind in seeing how both of his friends want to go against his wishes. Squaring his shoulders, armin grips Calian's arms and tries to reason with him as firmly as possible. "I know the both of you have every right to be angry to feel betrayed, especially with what they took from you. But this is about more than just us! If they take Eren, then humanity is doomed!"

Howlett grits his teeth hard, his eyes fully displaying the conflict within him as his emotional and logical side have a war of their own. He wants nothing more than to kill Reiner and Bertholdt for taking his parents away. But he knows that the most important thing right now is keeping Eren safe. He's the only one that can close the hole in Wall Maria. His the only one that can truly give humanity a chance to survive. Sighing roughly, he locks his eyes onto Reiner, who's slowly getting back onto his feet. "He ain't gonna make it easy, that's for sure."

The songs of the ODM gear draws their attention to the goggle wearing member of the Hanje Sqaud, Laude, as he relays Hanje's order, "You three! Back on the wall, it's too dangerous here!"

Despite wanting to protest, they obey their orders, allowing Eren to have the free space to defend himself. They aren't the only ones though, as to even Calian's shock, Eren slams his back onto the wall, putting major distance between him and the enemy of humanity. "So he was listening." Mikasa notes.

"Yea, but like Cal said, it'll be impossible to escape Reiner. Even less likely if Bertholdt makes a move." He saves with an apprehensive glance at the Colossal titan, who's still blasting volcanic like heat from it's body, giving him a protective radius.

Though the blonde does note that as time goes on, it looks like the colossal Titan's body mass is decreasing. Could it be that it's stamina levels are lower than what we had originally projected?

Neverminding that now, he glances at his angry friend, his hateful glare is still burning into Reiner as the armored blonde stalks toward his prey, his arm still billowing smoke and yet, healing at a much slower rate. Another interesting fact.

Calian huffs as he perches himself beside Hanje, "So what's the plan boss?"

"Armin is correct, Eren will have to fight his way to freedom. But maybe brute force isn't needed, rather mechanical force."

"huh?"

She gets onto Eren's shoulder and begins to explain her idea, "Listen up Eren! If you're gonna escape, we've got to halt Reiner and buy you some time! Can you break his leg with another one of those joint locks?"

Howlett smacks his forehead, "Should've thought of that, he already ripped off one arm doin that."

Ar5min nods, "And if he does the same to his leg, then it'll give him more than enough time to escape, especially with how slow Reiner is healing!"

The tall teen narrows his eyes as he focuses the wounded area. Normally it takes 2 minutes or less for a titan to regenerate from dismemberment. But it has already been 2 minutes and yet Reiner has barely regained half of his lost arm. "Maybe with all the armor on his body it takes more for him to heal from?"

"My thoughts exactly!" He starts going through his ODM gear and hands some of his blades to Mikasa and he asks another Scout to do the same for Calian. "Here the two of you need these to replace the oens you've lost!"

The pair takes them and Mikasa wordlessly refills her stock while Cal raises an eyebrow as he stares at the blades skeptically. "Don't know if ya saw, but these ain't did much to his overgrown hide."

Hanje perches herself back next to the Scouts as she takes over, "That's because you focused on the wrong area. Look at him!"

The scouts glance at the titan, "If his entire body was hard like stone, there's no way he could move like that. His armor is similar to that used in the wars of the past, where sections at the joints were not covered in metal to allow for movement."

"Shit I should've noticed that." Calian curses, realizing that there's exposed muscle throughout the armored titans body, including at the elbow and behind the knees, one of the main areas a Scout is trained to target when learning combat against Titans.

"Now!" Hanje orders, seeing as how Eren has trapped Reiner in a guillotine chokehold.

"Let's go Howlett!" Mikasa bellows.

The two quickly fly in unison coming at either direction of the trapped armored titan, flying in a way that hanje notes, is not unlike how Calian and Levi fly when fighting together. The two rookie's zoom in like hornets and slice their respective targets, then gliding right beside each other and cutting deeper in the opposite legs, damn near to the other side, severely weakening the Armored Titans legs and causing them to fall limply to the ground.

"They cut him!" Hanje announces.

Seeing this, Eren puts everything he has in the chokehold, never letting up or letting go, straining his titanic muscles to the brink, his only goal being to separate Reiners head from his body. True to his effort, the armor around Reiner's head begins cracking, with giant flying up to eye level of the still perched Scouts, all of them in awe as they witness what was supposed to be the invincible enemy of humanity, finally bleed.

"Tear him apart Eren! Rip him out!" Calian encourages with bloodthirsty satisfaction.

Reiner is panicking inside of his titan body and in a last ditch effort, roars loudly, every Scout in the vicinity clutching their ears painfully. "What is he doing? Why is he—" Armin stops cold, the sound of crackling reaching them, not form below, but above.

The others aren't aware of the deduction Armin has made as they're all laser focused on the battling titans with Hanje ordering everyone, "Be on your guard! He may have called for other titans!"

But nothing came, no thunderous stampede, no rustling of trees. Nothing, "There doesn't appear to be any Titan nearing the sight!"

"But then… why did he roar?" She asks.

The same Scout that had informed her of the area being cleared suddenly points above them in a frantic panic, "Above us! Look OUT!"

Everyone is stunned to see the ribs holding the Colossal Titan in place above them breaking and massive monster begins to fall down towards them, more specifically towards Eren. It's face is horrifyingly skeletal, it's eyes now glowing orange with steam still pouring through as it free falls to the battling titans. "Shit, We gotta move!"

"Eren!" Mikasa shouts but this time it's Calian pulling her away.

They barely get a few meters away before the Colossal titan hits the ground, an explosion of heat hitting them like a freight train. They aren't the only ones unable to escape the blast, all the Scouts who had perched themselves near the battle are flung into the air, their skin burning and their lungs filling with the unbearable heat, making every breath excruciating as they are blasted away. Even those who were peering over the top of the Wall were thrown off their feet with very having the strength to hold onto to the side, their bodies still dangling in the air. As Calian lays prone on the ground, his strength fading, his vision blackening, he's unable to do anything but watch as Reiner, finally having healed, holds Bertholdt, Eren and Ymir on his shoulders and makes his own escape.

Weakly reaching out, his eyes begin to close. "… N-No… Get… Back here … Bastards."

Sasha worriedly presses the wet cloth onto her boyfriends' forehead, his head resting on her lap as she watches over him. She's struggling to remain calm, seeing him like this, so still. Yet hat's helping her is the look on his face. It's, peaceful. No signs of worry, no frown. He always wears his emotions on his sleeve, whether happy or sad or anything inbetween. But these past few days have been rough. And with how much has been put on his shoulders, it's taking its toll on him. He hides it well, but she knows him. She knows he's far more exhausted than he's letting on. But he won't seek rest once he wakes.

She tries to stifle the stinging in her heart. She like the rest, feel so betrayed by Reiner and Bertholdt. All the times they had together, training , Reiner joking with everyone and acting like their big brother, as well as providing comfort to everyone who were directly affected by Shinganshina. Was it all an act? Was their friendship real? She doesn't want to believe it. In fact she refuses to believe not unless Reiner says it himself. She glances nervously to the sleeping giant on her lap. He may not give Reiner the chance to explain himself. Out of everyone, Calian's thirst for vengeance against the Armored titan was unmatched, only rivaled by Eren. The few times he had talked about it, his fury was palpable, nearly a visible aura around him. She like many knew he'd take the betrayal hard… and his willingness to make good on his promise.

She's broken from her thoughts when Armin sits down next to her, his eyes downcast. "How is he?"

"He's strong, always has been. But I don't know how he'll be when he wakes up."

He drops his head glumly, "This… this is a huge mess."

She tenses, "It wasn't his fault!"

He raises his hands assuringly, "I know! I know. We all saw that Reiner was already getting agitated… I'm sorry."

She gives him a confused look and he explains, "I was worried that he would react to volatilely if we told him beforehand and would risk the operation. I didn't take into account that Reiner and Bertholdt would be the ones to react bad. I… still had more faith in them than Calian."

Sasha gazes at the blonde sadly. In a way she understands, the friendship they forged was so strong t least to them that, deep down, they all still thought of them as their friends. But… the fact that to a few it was at the expense of Calian.

"So it was ya."

The two freeze as Calian rises from Sasha's lap, straining to get onto his two feet, his glare landing on Armin. Sasha tries to hold him back, "Wait Cal!"

"Ya tried to get Sasha not to tell me? What ya thought I was gonna go wild too?"

Armin takes a nervous step back. "Calian please listen, this was a sensitive time. We wanted to catch them and I admit, I was afraid you would risk it just to get a chance to attack Reiner."

"I'd have every right to!" He shouts, barely holding himself back as he knows he may end up hurting Sasha if he lashes out, and he would never want to do that.

"And you did!" Armin yells back.

"Oh ya thought it was just a blind attack?! Ya thought that I just mindlessly went after him!? I didn't! angry as I was, I acted that quick cause he was already puttin his dirty paws on Eren! Hell even Mikasa already drew her blades and she was right next to me tellin ME to calm down!"

Armin remains silent, surprised by his friends admission. To his perspective, yes he did see Reiner looking unhinged when he grabbed Eren, but it all happened so fast he only focused on Calian attacking the two. Looking back he did remember seeing Mikasa not that far behind with her blades drawn out.

Calian glares down at him, "The reason ya ain't wanted to tell me wasn't cause ya were worried I'd screw things up, cause ya told Eren. And he's just as bad as me, in fact that's one of the main things I have in common with him. If ya were worried about me than ya would've been worried about him but ya weren't. No, the Reason ya ain't wanna tell me is cause ya think I'm just as unstable as everyone else thinks I am."

Armin wants to deny it, he truly does, but deep down he knows he's right. Eren's hatred for titans at times is almost frightening, he thought so even as a child. And yet it never crossed his mind whenever it came to making decisions concerning the information they gathered. In fact he was the first one he wanted to tell about Annie and after wards about Reiner and Bertholdt. He could try and argue that it's cause he's the titan shifter that they for some reason want to kidnap. But even if he was wasn't, even if Eren didn't inexplicably have the ability to turn into a titan, he'd still tell him. He'd tell Eren simply because he's his friend. And he has to admit to himself, that even though Calian is his friend, he didn't give him that benefit. He looked at Calian the same way others look at Eren. A person with a monster lurking within him.

He's ashamedly unable to meet Calian's eyes, feeling terrible. Calian scoffs turning away, "Fuckin course."

He walks away and sits himself on the edge of the wall, his expression dejected as he surveys the battleground, the scorch marks littering the area, pieces of stone and armor that has yet to be dissolved. And all the Scouts that were injured from the Colossal Titans unexpected move. "cal?"

Sasha sits next to him, timidly. Feeling self conscious, he asks, "Are ya… are ya ever afraid of me?"

"What?"

Stammering and looking anywhere but her, cause he's afraid of what he'll see. "Have ya ever been afraid of me?"

He tenses up, holding his breath as he awaits her answer. He flinches slightly when he feels her touching him gently on his chin and forcing him to face her. His eyes were still closed and she tenderly whispers, "look at me."

He cracks one eye open then the second follows and all his anxiety melts away. In her eyes he sees nothing but warmth and love. "I have never been afraid of you Calian. You make me feel safe and cared for. Even when you fight, I have never seen a wild animal. I've only ever seen the man I fell for who's willing to do everything for the people he cares about."

His eyes water as he leans his forehead on hers, holding the hand that was still on his chin and squeezing affectionately. "I don't deserve ya darlin."

She giggles, "I think I gotta dedicate some time to make you realize how wrong you are."

She pulls him down for a quick kiss, one that is filled with love and assurance that they'll always stand yb each others side. They lips part and they're eyes still locked. "How're y holdin up with this darlin? I'm sorry I ain't asked ya."

"It's ok." She sighs heavily, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I don't know how to feel. I mean this is Reienr and Bertholdt. I thought it was bad enough that Annie had betrayed us but this? I… I don't want to believe it."

"I'm so sorry."

"You're not the one who needs to apologize."

His eyes steel, "I don't know if I'll be able to give them a chance to apologize to ya."

"How're you able to accept this so quick?"

"One thing I learned about livin on the streets alone is I gotta look at things realistically, deal with facts. When ya and Mikasa told me, I realized that it made too much sense for there to ever be a doubt about them. Everythin from even how they looked was too close for me to even hope it was a coincidence. Once my mind accepted it, my heart followed suit… I wish it weren't like this. They were my friends."

"Our friends."

"Yea…. But I can't forgive them. They knew I made a promise to kill the armored titan for killin my parents. I'm gonna make good on that promise."

Calian, now redressed in his ODM gear, helps Moblit sit up as the veteran takes a small sip of water to soothe his sore throat. "You know, I wouldn't mind a stiff drink right about now."

Calian chuckles as he closes the canister. "Don't ya worry Mob', I'll arrange for ya to receive a whole barrel for yourself once this is over."

"Hehehe, I'll hold you to that."

"They're here!"

"huh?"

"Commander Erwin and the military police!" Someone announces.

Calian shakes his head in disbelief as he steps alongside the Scouts to watch the incoming reinforcements. "Never thought I'd see the day that the military police would get off their asses."

"Desperate times call fro desperate measures." Eld comments.

"They ain't let ya gear up?"

Eld scoffs, "Medics say my concussion's too severe to ride on anything but a wagon let alone combat titans. I'm grounded until I stop seeing triple."

"Don't see why they won't let ya fight, all ya gotta do is hit the middle one." Calian quips.

"Ha, yea I bet that'll convince them." He replies sarcastically.

By the time the reinforcements made it up to the wall, Moblit was able to stand on his own two feet, though not for long as eventually the movements became too taxing. Still he saluted Erwin, "You made it Commander Erwin!"

Saluting back, the Blonde asks, "I've been brought up to speed, is the situation the same?"

"Yes sir!"

"I see." He turns and orders his men, "Deploy the lifts!"

"We're goin after em? Good." Calian grumbles darkly.

Before Moblit says anything, he jumps as Hanje grasps his ankle, "Hange!?"

"Moblit… G-Gimme a map!"

"wha-what?"

"NOW!"

"Yes Sir!"

Moving quick, Moblit is able to procure a map and lays it out in front of Hange, who remains too weak to stand but strong enough to explain her deduction. Respectfully, all the Scouts, including Commander Erwin surrounds the Section Commander as she begins to explain, "It might be a long shot, but there's a giant forest here." She points on the map.

"We should head straight for it. Though, it's not like they have a way to hide the Armored Titan's footsteps, but… I think that's where they're headed."

"Why's that?" Erwin asks, analyzing the map, his mind racing to map out any other possible routes they may have taken.

"It's a gamble, but even if they have the strength to change into Titans, the other Titans outside the wall might still be a threat. Especially after all that fighting. They may not be as bad off as Eren, but I'm sure they're exhausted. Like how Annie was out cold for a while. Let's assume for now that their destination is somewhere outside of Wall Maria. Considering the distance they'll have to cover, we can assume they'll need to recover their stamina. Which means… they'll want to rest somewhere where titans are unable to reach them. At least until nightfall when Titans can't move."

"A logical conclusion and the one that truly makes the most sense." Erwin agrees.

"So we have until nightfall to get Eren back?" One Scout asks.

"Precisely." Hanje confirms, a strain in her voice.

"Everyone, replenish all your resources, we ride immediately! The fate of humanity rests on our shoulders, we cannot Allow Eren to be taken!"

Calian double checks his gear, as he makes to enter a lift he's stopped by Armin. "Calian, before you go, I have to say—"

"This is neither the time or place for this Armin. And I'm definitely not in the right emotional or mental state to think of something like forgiveness."

Flinching the blonde looks downcast, "I… understand."

A part of him feels bad, but a much larger part is still hurt by his friends actions, so instead of comforting him he coldly says, "Let's just get Eren back."

The horses thunder across the land, pushed to their very best as they run as fast as they can to catch up to the enemies of humanity. Every single soldier knows what's at stake. They know that today is a day they cannot fail. They cannot allow Eren to be taken. Erwin throws out his left arm from under his cape, "Spread out! Take formation to locate any enemies!"

Immediately, the scouts all steer their horses into the Scouting Formation, guiding along with them the members of the Military Police who aren't accustomed to the Survey Corp tactic. It quickly proves it's effectiveness as a half hour after they were ordered into formation, a red flare was shot, "Red smoke shell confirmed on the right wing!" Howlett informs Erwin.

Normally, the Scouts would then move as one away from the titan to prevent any unnecessary combat that could result in casualties. But to Cal's surprise Erwin instead orders, "Do not change direction! Have the right wing merge with the center and hold course! We only have until sunset! We must take the shortest possible path!"

Though dangerous, the Scouts know it is necessary and so the order is passed along, with the right wing merging to the center. But Calian notices that more and more red flares are being shot all around them as if they were completely surrounded. We are. "Sir they're comin at us from all sides!"

"The Scout to Erwin's left asks, "There's an alternative route that'll take us around, should we head towards it?"

"No. Any detours and we'll be too late. We'll force our way through! All soldiers, prepare for battle!" Erwin commands.

"We're gonna lose a lot of people." Calian notifies the commander.

"Their deaths will be in vain if we don't recover Eren." He retorts and Calian remains silent, simply unsheathing his blades.

Erwin shoots a green flare ahead of him, directing everyone to continue on their straightforward path to the forest of Giant Trees. Calian grimaces with determination, his grip firm on his blades as he glares at the multitude of titans visibly infesting the forest. The rest of the Scouts hype themselves up as well, letting out battle cries as they head to sure danger. Then lightning strikes. Calian's jaw drops as he sees the familiar shade of yellow, a signature of Titan transformation. But who? It can't be bertholdt, we'd see him from here. Could it be Reiner? Please tell me it's Reiner. Either way, it confirms that Hanje's gamble paid off, we're right on them!

"SOLDIERS DISPERSE! We believe the enemy has transformed, locate Eren and recover him! Calian you're with me!"

"Understood Sir!"

The teen steers his horse after the Commander, it neighs as the Titans burst from the wooded area, chasing after their prey. Most of the military Police scream in terror at being so close to the monsters, some unfortunate enough to be caught in their grasp and eaten. As much as he hates it, Calian can't allow that to distract him, he has to find Eren and with Eren, Reiner. He ducks under one massive hand, uses the blade on his right to cut it in half so as to prevent the soldier behind him form being caught, though they're sprayed with steaming blood. The sound of another lightning strike hits their ears unexpectedly close. Calian looks behind and is outraged to see the Armored Titan burst from the forest, with a transformed Ymir on his back. "Motherfucker!"

Erwin curses, "Damn. All squads! Let the Titans chase after you!"

Calian yelps, "WHAT!?"

"Are you trying to use us as bait again!?" A military police volunteer demands to know.

"That is not my intention!" he orders. "The Military Police have fought well! Now serve your duty as soldiers! Follow my lead!"

"Fuck it!"

He chases after Erwin, with a large horde of Titans right on their heels as they head off and begin to circle around to get themselves directly in the Armored Titans path, "The Armored Titan plans to escape with Eren! We have to stop him no matter what!"

As they get closer, Calian watches as Mikasa's squad catches up to Reiner and attach themselves to the Armored Titan, surrounding his neck that he's protecting with his hands, no doubt with Bertholdt and Eren underneath. Calian glares fiercely and unblinkingly at the blonde, both of them getting closer and closer in a collision course.

The group is astonished to see Erwin lure a horde of Titans directly at reiner. Just as they're within reach, Erwin commands, "Soldiers Disperse!"

They all do so, with Calian going directly under the Armored Titans legs. He forces his horse to stop, drifting on the dirt to turn and face Reiners back and kicks back into gear, unafraid of the heap of Titans that now surround, only angered by Reiner pile driving through them and barely faltering. "Howlett! Clear away from the Titans!"

"Sorry Commander, That's one order I can't follow!" He yells back.

Erwin is annoyed but ignores it for now, knowing he can't allow him to go on his own. He raises his sword, "All soldiers charge! The fate of Humanity will be determined in this very moment! There is no future where humanity can inhabit these lands without Eren! We Recover Eren and immediately retreat! Shinzou wo Sasageyo!"

The Scouts all charge after him, with Calian smirking as he hears them close in after him. He encourages his horse to go faster, his blood pumping stronger as he watches Reiner force himself out of the Titans grasp, but leaving Bertholdt and Eren defenseless. He dodges a swipe, ducks under stomp and leaps over a fallen titan. He's just within reach when one titan appears from above and slams his foot down. Calian has just enough time to backflip off his horse, which to his sadness, is crushed underneath the monsters heel. Growling he flies up and, reminiscent of his assault on the Female Titan, burst through the neck and out the nape on the other side. "That was for my horse ya sonuva bitch!" He uses his ODM gear to cut fingers and limbs from each titan, getting closer and closer as he finally closes in on the Armored Titan. He leaps overhead of Ymir and lands a top Reiner. Christa and Ymir are shocked to see him, a frenzied glare adorning his features, made even more fearsome thanks to the steaming blood that covers him completely. He glares at Ymir, "Ya too huh?"

Christa tries to stand in her way, "Please don't hurt her!"

"I could give less a fuck bout her! If she gets in my way, Now that'll be a different story."

Ymir believes him to be bluffing and immediately goes for an attack but Calian dodges out the way of her chomp and cuts from the bottom of her jaw all the way her eye, the mix of flesh and bone flying off and the Jaws Titan howling in pain. "please stop!" Christa pleads but Calian glares coldly.

"She would've killed me. Now I'll kill her."

He lifts his blade but stops when he hears Mikasa scream out in pain. He looks over his shoulder and sees Mikasa in the grasp of a titan. "NO!"

The titan raises Mikasa up in n effort to swallow her whole, but thankfully Jean cuts out it's eyes, freeing Mikasa from certain doom as it loosens its grip thanks to the pain inflicted upon it. Dammit Howlett, you're here for Eren, get him now!

Not wasting any more time, He swings off of Ymir and kicks Bertholdt across the cheek, with the titan shifter spitting blood from the sheer force. Landing at the Armored Titans neck Calian quickly turns and slices Bertholdt across his torso, cutting his bindings to Eren but also once again harming his inner organs. Eren begins to fall but Mikasa comes and catches him flying them out of the immediate danger. Calian watches as Bertholdt drops to his knees, clutching his bleeding torso, taking great satisfaction in his frightened look.

"All Soldiers fallback!" He hears Erwin order.

Calian pays no mind to the chaos around them, not the titans still clawing at Reiner, not at screams of battle all around them. No he focuses solely on the two traitors that changed his life. "I hope neither of ya die today. I hope ya make it to wherever it is ya'll wanna get to. Cause 5 years ago, I made a promise. And I will fulfill it. Whatever it takes. It don't matter where ya go or where ya hide, I'll be after ya. I'll tear apart whatever monster I have to to find ya. I'll follow ya to hell if that's what it takes."

He swears it, and Bertholdt can see the conviction in his eyes, there's no doubt. There's no camaraderie. There's no sympathy. Just the promise of pain and death. And it terrifies him.

Satisfied that his message was received, Calian repels himself off the titan and kills 2 more before heading down and landing on Jean's horse behind him. "Where's your horse?"

"Dead."

"Shit, well try not to fall off!"

"Got it, just kick it into gear already!"

Jean pushes his horse, willing it to go faster as they get in line with the rest of the Scouts on their race back to the safety of the wall. They were making good progress when Calian notices a large shadow fly over them. "What the—"

A titan soars over their heads and lands in a massive crater ahead of them, shrouding them in dust and debris. The horse is agitated so badly it almost bucks the pair off the horse. "What the hell?!" Jean exclaims as another titan falls from the sky and almost crushes them underneath.

Jean glowers at Reiner as he grabs a titan by the face and hurls it at the Scouts. "Dammit Reiner! He's tossing Titans like a madman!"

"Get us out of the line of fire!"

Jean steers the horse as best he can, moving them left and right as not only does he have to evade the titans, he also has evade the falling debris that erupts from the zone of impact. Jean steers them clear to the right and comes to a stop right alongside Armin who's gaping at the Armored Titan. "What is doing!? Does he not care if Eren is eaten?!"

Some of the titans that were thrown are not gathering their bearings and getting back onto their feet, quickly noticing the scouts that were stationary on their horses directly in front of them. "Dammit!" Calian curses and he uses his ODM gear to rescue the scouts that were at the mercy of the flesh eating giants. Killing the first two, buying the Scouts time to recover their horses and continue their retreat. Calian grabs a fire bomb from his belt and throws it at the tallest Titan, with the resulting explosion spilling flames onto the shorter ones, causing them pain and giving him enough distraction to kill the small group. He ducks under the legs of one and flies back up, slicing it's nape then gliding parallel to the ground as he reels himself to another Titan, this time cutting its head off completely. He grabs the large strands of hair and tosses the head right at the face of a rather normal looking titan, stumbling it and allowing him to fly overhead then barge down, leaving deep vertical cuts in its nape, allowing it to fall lifelessly.

He lands on the ground and slumps to one knee, breathing heavy from exhaustion. "Commander!" He hears, "The armored one it's coming!"

Grimly, Howlett acknowledges it to be true as Reiner has thrown most of the titans weighing him down off, allowing him to have a freer range of motion and begin his walk towards the group, specifically Eren. Shit, can't catch my breath. He heaves himself back on his feet—

"JEAN!"

Armin frantically hops off his horse to check on a unconscious Jean who's bleeding dangerously from his nose and temple. "Oh no Jean!"

Calian starts running once he realizes that the titan that had attacked Jean is just within their reach. Armin clutches Jean close, swinging his sword to stave off the Titan, crying as he does so. To his relief, Calian appears and kills the titan, saving them from the danger. "Get him on a horse and Go!"

Quickly, Calian flies off, rescuing another Scout who was calling for Commander Erwin. To Howlett's alarm, he sees that the commander is missing his right arm with a titan nearing him as well. He sets the Scout down and repels himself as fast as he can to the Commander, his blades breaking when he delivers its killing blow. He drops to the ground, panting. Erwin looks upon him with pity and a bit of guilt, seeing someone so young fight to protect everyone, when their fates are all but sealed. "You're still fighting?"

Calian inhales deeply, his lungs beginning to feel raw, and his arms starting to feel heavy. And yet, he rises. Standing tall, battered and beaten and tired, but standing nonetheless. He unlocks the broken blades as he replies, "It's the only thing I can do Commander. And I gotta do somethin, even if in the end it don't matter much."

He growls, his reloaded blades on either side, raised and ready for combat as three titans bear down on them. But at the last second, they stop. And start running the other way. Away from them. They watch in disbelief as the titans all ignore the scouts and start tearing apart a titan that was attacking eren and Mikasa. "Wh-why?"

Erwin stares intently at Eren, "I think it's Eren. They must be listening to him somehow."

Calian let's out an airy chuckle, his arms dropping in relief, "Thank god. I hope they keep listenin."

He gently puts his arm under Erwin's good shoulder and heps him to his feet. The wagons have finally arrived and the scouts quickly load them up with anyone who is injured or without a horse. Connie is instructed to take the reins of one wagon with Sasha assigned to help the soldiers loaded on as best she can. A smile breaks onto her face as she watches Calian get to her wagon and load the Commander. "I was worried about you!"

"Likewise darlin, ya got no idea how happy I am to see ya alive."

"I hope it's for lon— Oh my god!"

She points towards Reiner who's now being attacked by the titans. "Why're they attacking him now?"

"Le'ts ask later, look there's Eren!"

Eren arrives with an injured Mikasa on his back, Armin with Jean on his. "Is he alive!" Connie demands to know.

Armin assures him, "He is! But he still needs medical attention!"

Connie looks to Erwin, "Your orders sir?"

Grunting as he gets to his feet, orders the remainder of the forces, "WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS MOMENT TO PASS, FULL RETREAT!"

The horses are whipped into motion, neighing as the grand army of soldiers begin their retreat to the wall. Calian plops himself down onto the wagon, leaning his head back and taking selfish gulps of air. I am so tired. He feels like his entire body is weighed down by lead. It's been a hectic first official week as a scout. Hopefully they can catch a breather soon. He closes his eyes, trying to ignore everything except the pounding of his own heart.

"Hey, ugly! What're you doing!? We're heading back!" Connie yells over his shoulder.

Opening his eyes, Calian sees ymir, still in her Titan form, caress Christa with her giant ugly fingers before abandoning her and going to Reiner and Bertholdt's rescue. "Why? Why is still helpin them?"

A teary eyed Christa lags behind for a moment before finally joining the scouts on their retreat. As she catches up, an unexpected horde of Titans appear, hot on her trail. "Christa! Hurry!" Armin yells.

She pushes her horse as much as she can to catch up, some titans stumbling as they leap for her but falling short each time. She able to put some distance and catch up to the group but the horde is still on them. Armin rides along Connie and yells urgently, "Faster connie!"

"You can only go so fast with this much weight on the wagon! The horses are tired as is they'll burn out before we make it to the wall!" Connie is clearly panicking.

They all are. The situation is dire. There has to be about 10 titans after them, with more joining as time goes on, most appearing from the forest of giant trees that had been slow in joining the battle. Calian can't help but curse Reiner and Bertholdt once again. It seems like they're always responsible for the worst things that have happened to everyone. Kicking a hole through Wall Maria, unleashing all the titans onto humanity. The deaths they all faced today. And now, they might not even survive. God there's gotta be like 20 of them now!

"Commander what do we do?!" a Scout asks.

"Someone's gotta be bait." Another one says.

The4 atmoshpere gets even more tense as impossible as it sounds. They all know it's true. With this many titans after them at their current pace, they'll be caught and the small victory of recovering Eren will be in vain. Someone has to make the choice to attract the titans attention and give the rest a chance to escape. At the cost of their own life.

Calian thinks deeply. Mikasa, strong as she is, she's injured, she could barely get onto the wagon without help. Eren, he's too valuable to sacrifice. Connie's driving, Jean is out but hopefully still alive. Armin, my anger with him aside his skills in combat won't provide us with enough time. Erwin is down one arm and Sasha… No. There's no way in hell I'm goin through life without her. So that leaves one person. Me. He sobers up as he comes to the conclusion.

It's just like Utgard Castle. He's the only one who's able to fight on their behalf. He's the only one that can. So many thoughts come to mind. I don't want it to be me. I- I promised my parents I'd kill Reiner and bertholdt for takin them from me. Every decision I made has been around that one goal. If I die now, I'll never be able to make good on that promise. It's… It's not fair dammit!... but then again, it never is. It wasn't fair for Gunther to die, or Eld, or Petra. It wasn't fair for all those refugees to be sacrificed so that there'd be enough food for the rest of them to scrap by with. It wasn't fair that all these soldiers died today. And they all died cause they believed in Eren. They believed in somethin bigger than themselves. Somethin that was worth more than their own hopes and dreams… Everybody in the Scouts are fightin not for themselves, but for everyone else. They die for everyone else… Ya know what have to do cal. Your last act can't be a selfish one.

His decision is made. He opens his pouch and pulls out his journal. He remembers when Thomas and Mina had given it to him. He smiles sadly at the thought of his old friends. But they live on, in here. Every special moment he had with them, every talk they shared that stuck with him, is written in here. Along with all his special moments with everyone. His whole world, his whole life, in this book. His smile doesn't drop as he hands the book to Eren. "What're you giving this to me for?"

"Take back our home Eren."

Eren watches his friend suspiciously, gingerly holding the journal in his hand. Calian turns to Armin, the two sharing a meaningful look as Calian tells him, "Reach the sea."

Armin's eyes widen as he figures out what Calian is doing. The tall teen places a hand on Connie's shoulder and whispers to him, "Take care of her. Make sure she eats what she wants. Make sure she hunts whenever there's chance."

"Calian no."

"Promise Connie. Promise me!"

Sniffling and scrunching his eyes shut and mutters, "I promise."

Realization dawns on Mikasa, her mouth dropping, her eyes sad, "Cal…"

He smirks through his tears, "Keep that knuckle head outta trouble, it follows him around like a plague."

Her chin quivers as she nods, unable to speak. Sasha gets up and quickly grabs Calians hands as she herself has realized what he's about to do, "No Calian you!"

"I have to."

"No you don't! You promised me! You promised you'd c always stand by my side!" she slams her fists onto his chest, her crying face buried in chest. "You promised!"

He gently lifts her chin, his heart breaks as he sees the grief in her crying eyes. "I have to do this sasha."

"No you don't!"

"We both know I do."

She sobs into his chest, "I don't want you to go." She croaks.

"Neither do I darlin." He pulls her into a deep and passionate kiss, pouring out every single emotion he possibly could, his hand is laced through her hair in the back of her head. She tilts her head, their lips moving in a desperate and loving rhythm, as if it's the last time they'll ever be able to do so. The kiss was full of love, their hearts beating as one. It comes to an end too soon for either party. She pleads one last time, "Please Cal."

Taking a step back, he fires his ODM gear, "I love you." He confesses one last time before being flung off the wagon and into the air.

"NO NO! CALIAN! NO! NOOOOOO!" Sasha desperately scrambles after him, reaching out to him but being held back by Erwin, who tries to keep his stoic mask from breaking.

Her agonizing sobs were too painful for even the most seasoned of Veterans to ignore as anyone within ear shot began crying themselves, with the cadets being the worst off. Connie is a mess, barely seeing through the waterworks that's blurring his vision. Armin has his head bowed down, struggling to muffle the cries that want to escape his mouth. Eren is hugging Mikasa tightly as the two weep together in silence, losing not just Hannes, their beloved father figure, but now Calian, who was their brother in all but blood. Sasha continues trying to scape Erwin's grasp, her throat becoming hoarse as she continue to sob form her very soul. The sight of Calian fighting with all his might, slowly becoming smaller and smaller, farther and farther until they could see no more.

Life is hell from day one. The strong eat the weak. It's very simple really. In this very cruel world, there was one who remained strong. He was a soldier who fought to the very end.

Authors note: and there you have it! Wanna address soemthign real quick, so one of the reviewers had commented on Calian's reaction to the betrayal of Reiner and Bertholdt, given that his immidoate reaction was anger. I know i had already privately explained it to said reviewer, but in case anyone else had the same question, 1) i have read very few OC AOT fanfics so i didn't know that it was common, 2) personally i think it's human nature that people would react angrily at first. I've hated watching animes where characters forgive right away or take forever to finally get angry with someone for what they did. So when i first saw eren become angry with Reiner and Bertholdt, i cheered, cause that's how i would react. Hell, i've never eperienced anythign near the level of betrayal that Eren felt but i know that when i've been done wrong by people i thoguht were my friends, my first and consistent emotion was anger. cause they broke my trust they broke the foundation of our friendship, and if it did;'t matter to them then it won;t matter to me. Later on i'll be saddened by it cause it was a great friendship but i'll be angry again because the offending party were the ones to ruin it. That's also why i was;t completely mad at tony Stark for attacking Captain america when he revealed he knew of the real circumstances concerning his parents death. Yea bucky wasn't in control of himself when it happened, it's still human nature to react negatively to news that would completely shake your whole world. So yea, Calian is definitely angry and will be for a while.

Also i forgot to address this, but in the previous previous chapter, yes i did in fact forget the name of the other scout that was with lynn. I jsut ended up using the term Scouts broadly so that i didn't have to struggle to find the correct name. Also to Marbled Gold: Omni man wasn't who i had in mind, more like punisher when he beat down Agent orange, but still that's also a very good comparison lol.

Also oen more thing, the reason why this looks like it went by fast is cause, most of what took up the length of season 2 was that msot of it was Eren's flashbacks, emir's flashbacks, and Eren's interactions with Reiner and Bertholdt that only he was present for. Since Calian isn't with them or in eden's head, the entire events went by as quickly as it did if you watched everything from the scouts perspectives and screen time, cuts it down to like 30% at most.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who had reviewed, favortied and followed. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Till the next one!