Okay, just this once, I'm going to switch perspectives away from Skye, since I saw a really good opportunity for it, and I just couldn't resist.

Chapter 4

When they got back home, Skye was slightly surprised when, after they were asked what the hell happened, Eren told his mother that it was his fault.

Kalura was quite obviously sceptical, Eren had never made it seem like he liked her even a little, so the fact he was willing to defend her instead of trying to get her in trouble probably immediately set her alarms off. She quickly sent him upstairs to go find her ointments, then put her hands on her hips once he was gone, though not before he glanced at her. "Alright Skye, I know that boy." She said plainly, prompting Skye to sigh. "What really happened?"

"I convinced him to stop getting into fights...by scaring him." She held her hands up to stall whatever Kalura was going to say, buying herself a few moments to come up with a good explanation. "Eren keeps on getting into fights he can't win. I've lived a long enough time out there on the streets to know that one day, he's going to annoy someone who either doesn't care that he's a child, or that doesn't have the control necessary to take him down without seriously injuring or killing him." She responded rather bluntly, which succeeded in stalling out whatever Kalura was thinking about.

"But I know, he's your son, so if you want to kick me out or whatever, I understand. I just don't want him to get hurt, he's...well, a bit like a younger brother I think. An overly-annoying and fight-seeking little brother, but one none-the-less. I think my message got through to him, but...well, it still meant proving I can beat him, then scaring him." Skye admitted it to Kalura clearly since the woman wasn't an idiot. Skye and Eren had gone out, and he'd come back with bruises and cuts, whilst she was just a little dirty.

Eventually, Kalura shook her head, a light frown on her face. "I don't like it, but...I know my son. Until something literally hits him in the face, he just doesn't learn his lesson. And...I think, even despite his looks and his actions, he sees you as an older sister of sorts, so it's your responsibility to look out for him, but also to help prepare him for when we aren't there any longer." Kalura then beamed at her in that spine-tingling way that told you that you were really fucked without any words needed. "Now then, if you could start on those potatoes, just peel and dice them for today."

Nodding, grateful to not get the protective-mother speech, Skye hopped to it, hearing Kalura head upstairs to treat Eren's injuries, the sturdy wood preventing her from hearing anything she said to him. She was probably prodding Eren on what exactly happened, whether he'd annoyed her or talked shit about her parents or something, and she was honestly curious as to what Eren would say, but outside of asking him or him deciding to tell her, she wouldn't know.

Well, unless Kalura in fact did decide to kick her out, she'd know that he said something bad then.

Fortunately, she didn't get kicked out, which she was pretty grateful for.

What did happen was that Eren, after a week or so, put together what she had said and realised that she was offering to make him stronger. That led them to start training together, though it was mostly her trying to get Eren to stop doing dumb shit like charging in with a fist cocked back, yelling at the top of his lungs. No, instead, she started to teach him about observing his opponent, using his smaller size to his advantage, and not trying to simply pummel them into submission, because it didn't work.

Going for the backs of the knees, the groin, the liver, those kinds of hits were the best weapons Eren had against bigger opponents, because he couldn't reliably hit their faces, not if they had even a crude guard, he just wasn't tall enough yet. It did irk her somewhat that he was two years younger than her, who was already going through puberty, and yet he was still the same height as her. It seemed her height in her past life was still going to be her height in the new world, a whopping four foot ten inches, a full five fucking inches below the global average.

Anyway, ignoring that fact, it was really slow-going trying to teach him how to actually fight. What didn't help was that after two 'sessions', if they could even be called that, he invited, without asking her, the friend that he was protecting, who of course was Armin. She didn't show any indication she remembered him or even cared about him being there, but she also didn't say anything when he began mimicking what Eren was doing. When Eren took a break, she looked at Armin and made a come-here gesture, then put her arms up and prompted him to start practicing in the same way Eren did.

Armin was going to be necessary to stop that garrison commander dude from blowing Eren to bits with a cannon. Though she doubted Pixis would let Eren die, there was still a decent possibility of it happening. Hopefully with her interference that little event would never happen, but that was not the kind of wager she was willing to take. So teaching Armin how to take down his opponents would be beneficial both in helping him learn to stop getting beaten up, but would also raise his self-esteem if he could win his own fights, on top of the fact that both of them would feel at least a little bit indebted to her.

That was how their little training sessions started, with Skye at least trying to teach the two boys how to take down opponents without getting their faces smashed in. Whilst Eren's growth was glacial, since he still let his hot-headedness take over when she kept deflecting his attacks, Armin, at least from an academic standpoint, was improving rather quickly. He knew how to attack her, where to target to take her down, and how to then keep her down. His problem was his frailty, his body was just too weak to really follow through with the actions he knew he needed to take.

Then there was the fact that he sometimes hesitated on attacking her, his timid nature shining through and stopping his attacks before they could land. Whether it was because she was a girl, or Eren's sort-of sister-figure, or just him generally being timid, she didn't know. What she did know was that it was fucking annoying. He still did the physical training she was putting Eren through though, since at the very least she wanted those two to be able to hold their own when they had to run for their lives during the breach, then later on they needed to be able to look after themselves for two years.

He might not be a good fighter by the time of the breach, but she was making damn-well sure he could run away from it. Fighting wouldn't matter then anyway, those were titans, not bullies. They wouldn't beat the boys up and leave them to limp home, they would just break them in half and eat them like candy. Plus, she didn't intend to be near either of them, she would be too busy trying to get her Ackerman Paths activated, a prospect that still scared her. Her running plan was to get herself chased by a titan and hopefully, at some point, her Paths would kick in and allow her to escape or something.

Was it a stupid, dumb and illogical plan that would quite probably end in her death? Yes. Did she think she had a realistic chance of survival in the future if she didn't force that fact right then and there? No. There was too much that was going to occur in the future, she NEEDED that power increase. She wasn't anything truly special, she knew some advanced stuff compared to the world she was in, sure, but that didn't mean she could become Mikasa on her own, she wasn't nearly arrogant enough to believe that. No, in order to become as powerful as Mikasa, perhaps even more-so, she would need to unlock the Ackerman Paths.

If she didn't manage it, then chances were high she wouldn't even see a titan, she'd probably fail to even qualify to use 3DMG.

Eventually, after a handful of months of training, during which Eren and Armin made at least a moderate amount of progress, the day came.

She 'knew' it was the day even before she knew, as she woke up and just felt different. The entire morning she felt a little bit unsettled, and that culminated in Eren revealing, by accident, that he wanted to join the Survey Corps. If that wasn't enough, after Kalura had tried to convince him otherwise, Grisha had spoken to him, then left, promising Eren that he would show him what was in his basement. That set off every single alarm bell, she knew right then and there, that today was the day that Shiganshina fell.

Kalura argued with Eren some more, which ended up with Eren leaving the house and running off. "I'll go try and find him." Skye said with a shrug, heading out after him, but stopping at the door. Biting her lip, Skye couldn't help but to look back at Kalura, who was busying herself with the kitchen. She knew it would be the last time she saw her. She was going to be going off and trying to get herself almost killed, she wasn't going to look for Eren at all, and that meant she definitely wasn't going to be able to even try to help Eren save Kalura from the Smiling Titan.

She could stop it. She could ask Kalura to help her look for Eren, or at least ask her to do something, anything to get her out of the house, away from the rubble that would trap her, leading to her death. It would be so easy, Kalura would be confused by her doing so, but would probably acquiesce if she was adamant enough. Just a few easy sentences and a bit of convincing, just like that.

Instead...she turned away and left, holding back any tears or anything that could suggest she gave a fuck. Kalura was just a stepping stone, just one more rock on her path to surviving in this fucked up world. Sure, she fed her, clothed her, taught her how to cook, how to sew, how to wash clothes, normal lifestyle things, but things that she knew in future would be utterly meaningless to her, so it didn't matter.

She was just...protection from Grisha, who would have experimented on her in his basement if Kalura didn't give a shit, so she had to force Kalura to develop a bond with her, but that didn't mean it went both ways, it just meant she had to act like she cared, which she didn't have to do anymore because Kalura was going to be dead. Besides, Eren needed her death to gain his pure hatred for titans, so she couldn't save her even if she wanted to.

Her thoughts were only vaguely interrupted with the appearance of the Colossal Titan. She glanced over and watched as his face and arms tensed, and a few moments later, an explosion that rumbled the ground occurred, sending pieces of the shattered gate all across town, a few pieces smashing down nearby, obliterating the houses. The thought reminded her once against of Kalura, and so Skye began wandering again. In her mind, she was trying to find a titan so it could...no, not so it could kill her. No, she wanted to find one so that it could almost kill her, that was what it was meant to do, Kalura was the one who was meant to be killed after all.

But the only thing she came across was a dead garrison member...and his 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear.

Silently, Eren ran.

There was no time for tears, no time for screaming. It was only time to run, to get home, to get back to his mother, to his sister in all but blood. She would know what to do, she always did. There had to be something they could do, they could...do something! That was all his head was filled with as he sprinted back home, running across rubble, refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was running towards a pile of rubble, there were basically no standing buildings around or in front of him.

No, it wasn't possible that his house was hit. His mother would be there, confused by all the destruction, but their house would be fine. Skye would be there, she'd probably laugh at how tired he was, how his legs were quivering with each footfall, how his hands were clenched into fists so tightly he was sure he'd broken his fingers. Even as he ran directly towards the ruined pile of rubble that used to be the house he'd known his whole life, his mind couldn't comprehend it. It was far too busy trying to figure out the sight before it. His mother...his mother...half-buried under rubble, her head against the ground and her limbs lax.

He didn't stop running, he skidded to a stop right beside her and began frantically scrabbling at the rubble around her. Why was she laying there? Why wasn't she running away, there were titans invading the walls! Where was Skye, why wasn't she already here? Was she still underneath somewhere? She had to be, she was probably digging her way out on her own, she was resourceful like that. "E-Eren..."

Eren barely heard the words his mother whispered, but he did. "Kaa-san!" He yelled, almost ripping his fingernails out as he wrenched at the wood that was pinning her to the ground. The thudding of heavy footfalls attracted his mother's attention, but he barely paid attention to it, he was too fixated on trying to free her. Where was Skye, why wasn't she there? She would have been strong enough to free his mother, he was certain.

"Eren...run. Find Skye and run away from here!" He didn't listen, he was too focused on being furious at his bloodied hands. They were just so slippery, he couldn't grab the wood. If he could just grab ahold of it, he could lift it up. "Eren, go! At least listen to me, just this-" A loud crash forced him to pay attention, his gaze raising from the wood he was yanking on to the most terrifying sight of his entire life.

A titan. It was...so tall it blocked out the sun. A long string of teeth grinned down at him, as if anticipating a delicious meal. He couldn't move, he couldn't think, all he could see was that long row of teeth as it opened, hands reaching down towards him. He could hear, faintly, his mother screaming at him, but...how could he run? He still hadn't freed her, and that titan would eat her, and he couldn't let that happen. Just as the hands began to close around him, he heard a strange sound, a whirring noise, followed by a yell filled with fury and vitriol.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!"

Spotting the Smiling Titan reaching for Eren, there was no time to think, no time to plan.

No, the only thing she could do was fire her hooks at the titan and attack, screaming a cry out as her stolen blades whirled, lashing out at the titan in pure fury. She knew, in the back of her mind, she needed to attack the nape. Unfortunately, that took a back seat to letting out all her anger and fury upon the titan that would cause so much misery. Her blades quickly became too dull to be useful, but she didn't notice, continuing to slash at the titan until a downwards strike literally snapped both blades in two.

Dumbfounded for a few seconds, Skye looked at the now-bladeless handle, then at the two blades lodged into the side of the titan's head. She blinked, looking down at the gear she had stolen, still stocked full of blades. Unfortunately, she didn't get enough time to actually equip new blades, the titan she had just been whaling on reaching up and grabbing ahold of her, drawing a pained scream out of her as it clenched a fist around her.

Kicking and screaming, she froze, realising that the titan that was meant to kill Kalura...was going to kill her. As that mouth opened wide to bite her head off, she felt...something change, something clicked, and that something immediately realised...there was no escape. Her arms were trapped by the hand, and so were the blades. It was funny that the one thing she searched for, she got, and it cost her her life.

At least, that was what she thought. Suddenly, the titan lurched, falling to a knee and releasing her. As she fell, she knew where she needed to aim her grapples to stop herself from landing too harshly, and she did so, the hooks sinking into the taller parts of the rubble and allowing her to control her fall, still landing harshly enough that her entire torso burned with the agony of having just been clenched by a titan fist.

Looking back at the titan, she immediately drew two more blades and flung herself towards it. Eren had saved her, one of her discarded blades was jammed into the back of the titan's knee, forcing it to bend and release her. Said titan was now reaching towards Eren, and she could not let that happen. One hook embedded into the cheek of the titan, the other into the shoulder.

With a blast of gas, she flung towards the titan, then looped around, extending her arms and holding them as straight as she could as her anchor points spun her over the titan's shoulder, her blades meeting flesh on the right, looping down then back up, coming out the other side and leaving a smile-shaped cut in the nape of the titan, a huge chunk of flesh falling, the titan itself collapsing backwards after a moment. Skye herself fell to the ground along with it, having forgotten to detach her hooks, and thus being yanked backwards harshly when the titan fell.

Shaking her head and wincing, Skye detached the aforementioned hooks and retracted them, standing up and blinking a few times to clear her fuzzy-headedness. She didn't stand idle for long though, she quickly ran over to Eren and checked ghim for injuries, then Kalura. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have but I did and now you're under here and I just killed a titan and-"

Skye got silenced when Kalura reached out with her one free arm and grabbed her, pulling her in and placing their foreheads together. "Skye, thank you for saving my baby." She lifted her head as much as she was able and kissed Skye on the forehead. "Please, get him out of here, I beg you." Eren of course was willing to hear none of that, he immediately started trying to lift the rubble again. "Skye, please!"

"Kalura, I'm not leaving you here." Looking around, Skye tried to form a plan. There was too much rubble, they'd never be able to lift it. Kalura was at least pinned by her legs, one arm was trapped but since she was still talking and breathing her torso was mostly alright. "Alright, okay...Kalura, is your arm pinned down, or is it just stuck beneath the rubble?" Kalura, after a moment of looking at her and pleading with her eyes, eventually responded.

"It's just trapped in a gap." Nodding, Skye took a step back, then fired one hook into the top-most layer of rubble. She fired the second into the nearest sturdy-looking piece of rubble, before engaging both of the retractors on her gear and pulling in the cable. Both retractors began to whine loudly as they were put under strain, but at the same time, the rubble on top of Kalura began to be pulled away. "Skye, what-"

"If I can remove some of the weight above you, we should be able to lift it enough for you to drag yourself out. It weighs too much right now, but this gear can pull away stuff that I can't physically move." As she spoke, Skye detached the current chunk of rubble and attached to another piece, repeating the process. "The titans seem to be going elsewhere right now, so we have-"

Hearing the sound of a grapple being fired, Skye resisted the desire to sigh in relief. Hannes had finally shown up, which would be an immense help. "Walls." He exhaled upon seeing the Smiling Titan, which was currently disintegrated. "Kalura!" He yelled, spotting her beneath the rubble, and putting the dead titan in the back of his mind as he rushed over, immediately assessing her situation.

"Hey!" Skye yelled, getting his attention before Kalura could convince him to take them both and run for it. "Use your gear to start pulling rubble off of her, it's too heavy to lift right now." She then looked at Eren, who was already helping to shove stuff away, before back at Hannes. "If we do it fast you can carry Kalura and we can get out of here. All of us." Skye said as she looked directly at Kalura, who looked ready to protest.

Being fair, there were titans flooding into Shiganshina, so it was obvious she didn't want to see her loved ones die trying to save her. Hannes hopped to it, attaching a grapple to a chunk of rubble, another grapple to a secure spot further away, and the pair quickly began pulling away rubble, lightening the load that was pinning Kalura down, with Eren assisting wherever possible, either by pushing the rubble past obstructions or moving smaller pieces.

After a few tense minutes, knowing that titans could come and attack them, Hannes went the check the weight of the rubble pinning Kalura down, and it shifted. Immediately Skye and Eren ran over and began to help, lifting it up. "Eren, help her get out!" Hannes yelled, who immediately grabbed his mother's arms, both of which were now free, and began to pull whilst Skye and Hannes held up the remaining rubble. As soon as her feet were out, they dumped the rubble, and Hannes wasted absolutely no time in scooping Kalura up and turning towards the main gate.

"No, the best route to escape for us, and especially Kalura, would be the boats. She can't walk and you can't use your gear when carrying her, so the boat is our only option." Skye pointed out quickly, Hannes agreeing with a nod and immediately starting to run in that direction, Skye and Eren following behind. Keeping their eyes out for titans, they were surprised that none intercepted them, but chances were high that almost all of them were being bottlenecked by the humans trapped near the entrance to the district, getting distracted hunting them down and not heading for the other side of the district where all the escaping humans were.

As such, they made it to the boat without issue. Hannes wasn't allowed on, he was an uninjured male adult and a member of the garrison, but the rest of them were since Kaura was a wounded woman whilst Skye and Eren were children, though her stolen gear was taken by Hannes to be put to use elsewhere. A bit of a shame, but it would stop any hard questions being asked about how she was able to take down a titan with zero training. As much as it rankled her to admit, she didn't win because she was prepared or even because of the Ackerman Paths.

She won because she was fucking lucky that Eren wasn't a pussy.