Chapter 5: Terror of the Abnormal Titans

Carla was sound asleep in her room until the rays of sunlight breaches her window and shines on her face. She slowly begins to wake up and sits on her bed, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She stretches her arms and gets out of her bed, revealing that her legs had somehow returned. A knock was suddenly heard from her door, prompting Carla to walk over and open it. As the door opened, Carla looked to see a young Eren standing in her doorway.

"Mom ! You overslept !" Eren cried out.

Carla smiled and said to him, "Well...You shouldn't have woke up so early, Eren. We have plenty of time to see the Survey Corps off on their expeditions."

"Okay, I'll wait," Eren said as he went and sat on the dining table.

Carla looked around, feeling like something was wrong, and asked, "Eren ? Where's your father ?"

"Dad ? Oh, he went to work again."

"I see...Did he say when he'll return ?" Carla wondered.

Eren looked at her and kept his mouth shut, refusing to answer her question.

"Eren ? Did you hear what I just said ?"

"..."

"Eren ! Why won't you…"

Carla suddenly heard a knock on the front door, but Eren still looked at her as if he heard nothing. She hesitantly went over to the door and opened to see no one there. Carla began to worry that something was seriously wrong and turned back to Eren, only to find that he disappeared. She started to become frightened and rushed outside of her house to see Shiganshina in ruins. Houses were destroyed and Titans were everywhere as they devoured the bodies of humans. Carla then noticed the soldiers fighting some of the Titans, but they seemed to be losing very horribly. One by one, the soldiers were grabbed and eaten just like everyone else. She decided to run as fast as she could, but had no idea where to go. Her legs began feeling numb to the point where Carla loses any feeling in them and falls to the ground. She looked to see her legs gone and spilling blood over the ground, forcing her to cry out in fear. A Titan heard her scream and made its way towards her, which Carla saw and started crawling away. Unfortunately, she was too slow and the Titan grabbed her body, lifting her to its mouth. Carla screamed in hopes that someone would come rescue her, but no one came. She looked around one last time and saw something that caused her to widen her eyes in terror. Eren was caught in a Titan's mouth and was trying to desperately escape. He sees Carla crying heavily in the hands of a Titan and reaches his hand out to her.

"Mm-mm-mom….I'm s-ss-so sorry," Eren said in a distressed tone as the Titan closes its mouth and swallows him whole.

"EERRRREEEENNN !" Carla screamed at the top of her lungs as the Titan holding her began opening its mouth and bites down on her.

Carla opens her eyes and starts breathing heavily until she feels two hands on her shoulder. She looked around to see herself in bed and her legs still missing from her body. With the sunlight shining into the room, Carla could barely see the face of the person calming her down. In just a split second, Carla saw Grisha's face and tried calling out to him.

"Grisha, is that you ?" She asked with her eyes tearing up.

Carla wipes her eyes and adjusts them to see Serizawa standing over her with a calm look. She looks around and sees that everything is back to normal, calming her down.

"It's alright, Carla. It appears you were just experiencing a nightmare," Serizawa pointed out.

"A nightmare ? It seemed so real," Carla said while breathing heavily, "I saw….my son. And he was. He was."

"I suggest that you should refrain from speaking about it. I fear that it'll just cause you more trouble for your mental health."

"I understand. My head hurts a bit, though."

"Well, I would ask you to rest, but you just woke up. I think it's best if I take you outside for a while to clear your head before I start taking measurements on your legs."

"Mmm, that sounds nice. I do need some fresh air."

Serizawa nodded and helped Carla onto her wheelchair. They both left the house and made their way into the streets where they took a stroll. Carla looks up to the blue sky and takes a deep breath while thinking about what she experienced. She wasn't sure whether that nightmare was a manifestation of her fear about Eren joining the Scouts, or something much more. Even the part where Grisha appeared had caught her off guard, but she comes to the conclusion that she just misses him.

"Serizawa ? Do you mind having a chat with me ?" Carla asked him.

"Sure," he answered as he finds a bench nearby and sits down while putting Carla next to the bench, "What would you like to talk about ?"

She looked at him and said, "I wanted to know what made you decide to spend years of your life looking after me. Don't you have any family to get back to ?"

Serizawa hesitated and answered, "No, but I do have friends that are waiting for me to come back."

"Then why don't you go back ? Doesn't it worry you that you haven't seen them in a long time ?"

"To be frank, I do miss their company. However, they completely understand that what I'm doing is important and requires a long period of time to do so. Just like your son."

"Eren ?"

"Yes. From what I learned, you initially didn't want Eren to join the military. However, you probably realize that what he's doing is not only important to you, but to humanity as a whole. You also know that it may take a long time for him to accomplish his mission and you're only worried that he'll either take too long to return home, or not at all."

"You sound like you've been in the military before, Serizawa."

"Not really, but….I have fought in a war before. And I've lost a part of me along the way," he said as he touches his eyepatch.

"A war ? What war ?"

"Oh, er...the war against the Titans, of course," Serizawa hesitated.

"Oh, right."

Carla and Serizawa were silent for a moment, unsure of what else to say to each other. Serizawa thought of something, but was unsure whether he would be okay discussing it with her. After a bit of thinking, he decided to tell her anyway.

"I've always wondered what marriage was like. What was it like with Grisha when you two got together ?" he asked her.

Afraid that he was going into a touchy subject, Carla answered him regardless, "It was….definitely one of my happiest moments in life. Before everything that happened, Grisha and I were just a normal couple raising two children and I was perfectly fine with that."

"You've never wanted anything else ?"

"No. I've never wished for anything else in my entire life. There was one time when my home town was infected with a plague and my parents had caught it, which scared me half to death. It wasn't long until I got sick as well and Keith took me to see Grisha. That was the first time I've wished for something and it was for my parents to live."

"Did your parents die of the plague ?"

"They could have, but Grisha saved them. Between me and my parents, I wanted him to save them first. Yet, he somehow saved us all. It was a miracle and I couldn't thank him enough for what he's done. I fell in love with him and next thing I knew, we got married and had Eren. Marriage gave me something new in life, something that I've cherished for years. I love Grisha, but he's gone from my life and all I have left of him is Eren."

"I see. That's not what I expected," Serizawa said with his head down.

Carla saw this and asked, "Have you considered marrying someone, Serizawa ?"

"I was actually engaged once, but it didn't work out."

"Really ? What happened ?"

"She was in love with someone else, but I understood why. I was so focused with my work that I felt distant to her, yet I still entrusted her with some of my deepest secrets. Despite that, I thought that it would be better for her to be happy with someone else rather than someone like me."

"But you've changed, haven't you ? After all these years of taking care of me, I figured that you would have made a great husband."

"I could never. Especially with what my life has led to. I've wasted my life on my work and there's nothing I can do to get it back."

Carla wondered what Serizawa's life was like after everything he said. She was certainly curious what sort of work he did that caused him to neglect his fiancé and thought about whether Grisha was the same.

Had he gone to do something more important than his family ?

Does he regret leaving the people he loved ?

These questions flooded her mind and it began to hurt her head. She decided to clear her mind and thought about absolutely nothing. Carla stared off into the sky while Serizawa continued keeping his head down. As they both enjoyed their own moment of peace, a sudden tremor had startled the two and a loud was heard from the wall. Carla and Serizawa looked to see the Colossal Titan appear beyond Wall Rose and cleared the top of it with its steam. Many citizens began panicking and running towards the inner gate, forcing Serizawa to push Carla as fast as he could. As Serizawa focused on taking Carla to the evacuation area, Carla looked back on the wall and hoped that Eren and the others would be okay.

Eren was certainly full of rage as he charged directly towards the Colossal Titan, who saw him and swung his arms. Eren sees the attack coming and manages to dodge in time by jumping down the wall and grappling under the Titan's arm. He began running along the Colossal Titan's arm and looked towards the cannons, realizing that the Titan was actually focused on them rather than him. Eren concludes that this specific Titan was completely aware of what it is doing and quickly charges for the Colossal Titan's nape. Although Eren starts closing in, the Colossal Titan suddenly releases massive amounts of steam throughout its body and pushes Eren away. He grapples back onto the wall and looks to see the steam dissipate, revealing that the Colossal Titan had disappeared in thin air.

"Damn it ! It's gone just like five years ago !" Eren said to himself.

"Hey, Eren ! Where's the Colossal Titan ?!" a voice shouted.

Eren looked back at his comrades at the top of the Wall and returned to them. They all looked at the damage done to the wall and started to worry.

"I can't believe it !" Connie shouted, "If Titans get through the hole, the city will be overrun in no time."

Thomas turned to him and said, "That shouldn't be a problem, would it ? The Titans are too distracted by Godzilla to even notice the hole."

"Yeah ! That'll definitely give us time to evacuate everyone in the city," Mina included.

"Still," Eren argued, "That Colossal Titan is still out there and it'll probably cause more breaches just like this and Wall Maria. If we don't take it down, the Titans will eventually reach the inner walls."

Sasha looked over to Godzilla and figured, "Hey ! Do you think that we should…."

"What are you all doing ?!" an officer cried out, "It's already time to deploy the Colossal Titan Tactic. Those of you who made close encounters with the Titan must regroup at headquarters while the others return to the positions."

"On it, Sir !"

As they all quickly descended the Wall, Eren looked into the city and heard the bells signaling the evacuation process. He tried to locate his home and hoped that it wasn't destroyed, but most importantly, that his mother wasn't in any danger.

At the main headquarters near the center of Trost, many soldiers were gathered together and debriefed by Kitz Woermann. He divides everyone into groups and orders them to protect the remaining citizens that were evacuating. Although most of the soldiers were frightened at what might happen when the Titans came, Eren and Mikasa were both wondering about Carla's current condition during the attack.

"Eren ?" Mikasa asked, "Do you think mother is okay ?"

"She has to be. Serizawa shouldn't leave her side at all times," Eren answered.

"What if something happens and he can't help her ? Would it be best if we look for her ?"

"You have the rear guard, right ? You can check to see if Mom has reached the gate."

"What about you ? What if things go wrong and I can't get to you in time ?"

"I understand that we have to look after each other, but Mom is more important right now. If she doesn't make it out of here, then there's no point to that promise. We couldn't save her on our own before, but we have the chance to protect her now."

"Just promise me this, Eren. Don't die."

"I won't," Eren said as he grabbed her hand, "I will come back to you and Mom."

Mikasa slightly blushed at Eren holding her hand and wanted to hold tighter, but he lets go and walks away. Mikasa watches as Eren leaves for his group and decides to head over to hers, unaware that Eren looked back one final time. They both left the headquarters and proceeded with their missions within the Trost District.

The Abnormal Titans were a huge pain as Godzilla struggled to catch up to them. They were faster than he had expected and Godzilla had to figure out how to stop them from a distance. He looked for all the Abnormals in front of him and managed to pinpoint each of their locations. Godzilla starts to inhale and a bright blue glow emanating from the tip of his tail spreads to the dorsal plates along his back. He then proceeds to release a bright blue stream of concentrated radiation at the Abnormals and disintegrates most of them while burning the dirt on the ground. The other Abnormals stopped in their tracks and stood frozen, which confused Godzilla. Some of them decided to attack Godzilla straight on and charged for his legs. Godzilla tries to stomp them, but they easily dodge the attack and begin their ascent up the monster's legs. Godzilla tries to smack the Abnormals and manages to kill at least three of them, but there were more that had reached his torso. Eventually, the Abnormals get to Godzilla's neck and he proceeds to smack them like a person smacking a mosquito. He killed two more Abnormals, but only one remained and it climbed all the way to his eye and just paused. Godzilla grabs the Abnormal, crushes it, and looks around for any remaining Titans until he sees something that causes him to widen his eyes. The other Abnormals had already gone through Wall Rose and Godzilla figured out that they had diverted his attention to flee towards the wall undetected. It was a mistake that Godzilla should have avoided and the humans will have to face the Abnormals until he gets to the Wall. Godzilla quickly marched towards Wall Rose and hoped that he would try to contact Eren as soon as possible.

Eren, Armin, Thomas, Mina, Mylius, and Nac waited on a rooftop for their next order. They all looked towards the breach on the wall and wondered how the front guard was handling it. Eren was thinking about how Godzilla was handling the Titans on the outside and whether he should try and communicate with him. Though, this also reminded him of how he was able to speak with him in the first place. In fact, Eren never thought about that night ever since and wasn't sure if he could talk to Godzilla on his own. He closes his eyes and tries to concentrate on visualizing Godzilla's image in his head. Eren could hear growling, but he saw no sign of Godzilla and continued focusing his mind.

"Eren, what're you doing ?" Armin suddenly asked.

Eren stops and opens his eyes, "Huh ?"

"Hey, don't tell me you're getting nervous," Mina taunted.

"What do you mean nervous ? I was just...wondering what Mikasa is doing right now ?"

"Oh ! Thinking about your girlfriend, huh ? I get it, you're just mad that she's in a different group than you."

Thomas added, "I didn't think you were that kind of guy, Eren. For you to be so emotional."

"What the hell ?! No ! I-I-I w-was just thinking about whether s-she's found my Mom near the rear guard, that's all !" Eren argued as he walked to the edge of the roof with an embarrassed expression.

Mina started giggling and Thomas laughed softly at Eren's strange behavior while Armin was just plain confused on what was happening.

He walks up to Eren and says to him, "Are you feeling okay, Eren ?"

"Of course, I am."

"Are you sure ? I'm guessing it's your mom that's been troubling you."

Eren sighed, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"Well, you don't need to worry. I'm sure your Mom is fine with Serizawa around and Mikasa can quickly check for them by the gate. If they're not there, then the Garrison troops might have found them somewhere in the city."

Although he was thinking about how to communicate with Godzilla, Eren decides to focus his attention on Carla first after what Armin said. Unexpectedly, a red flare was seen at the breach of the wall and caught the attention of Eren's group. They realized that the signal meant that a Titan was spotted and began making their way towards the breach. Upon closing in towards the hole, the group discovers an unusually small group of around nine Abnormals entering Wall Rose and easily taking down the front guard defenses. Eren and the others were shocked at how little effort the small number of Titans took to take down their defenses and swarmed the front of the city. Before they could decide to do anything, an Abnormal spots the group and makes a run for them.

"Shit ! Get out of the way !" Eren yelled as they all jumped out of the Abnormal Titan's path.

The Abnormal crashes head first into a roof and immediately gets back up to attack once again. Eren and the others grappled away to evade the grasp of the Titan, but it was too quick for them to escape. Thomas was the closest person near the Abnormal and was quickly falling behind from his teammates. Eren decides to grapple towards the Titan and distract it away from Thomas, but it doesn't seem to be letting its eyes off Thomas. However, Eren used it as an advantage and grappled along the back of the Titan. The Titan catches up to Thomas and dives towards him, crashing into another house. Eren seizes the opportunity and cuts the nape of the Abnormal Titan, who had Thomas in its mouth. As the deceased body of the Titan fell, Thomas got crushed and cried out screams of pain. Eren and the rest of the squad quickly rushed to the Titan's mouth and helped their injured comrade out. While Thomas' torso was bleeding heavily and his right leg was bent backwards, his 3DMG was damaged with loose parts.

"Damn it ! It HURTS !" Thomas yelled out.

"I-I-It's Alright, Thomas !" Mina panicked as she and the other two teammates tried to bandage him up, "You're gonna be fine !"

Thomas tried hard to breathe and hollered, "I-I-I-I T-think my ribs are b-b-broken ! I c-can't Breathe !"

"It's okay ! Just don't move your body !" Armin said while trying to remove the 3DMG.

Unfortunately, Thomas' screams attracted the attention of the other eight Abnormals, who began searching for the source of the noise. Eren and the others looked towards an incoming Titan and carried Thomas into an alleyway in order to hide. The Titan, oblivious to the group, went past the alley they were hidden in and kept on searching for the soldiers elsewhere. Thomas starts coughing and Mina tries to cover his mouth while Eren and Armin try to think of a plan to escape.

"Those are all Abnormals," Armin whispered, "We won't be able to outrun them."

"No, but we can distract them," Eren suggested.

"What do you mean ? Some of us wouldn't make it on our own and we still have to carry Thomas."

"Only one of us has to distract them, while everyone else escapes. When it's clear, we regroup at headquarters."

Armin realized, "You're not going to be the distraction, are you ? You won't make it."

"So will you guys. What difference does it make ? What matters is that we get Thomas out of here and patched up."

"No, we can think of something else. There has to be a way for us to get out of here without having to sacrifice anyone."

"G-g-gguys !" Mina whispered loudly as Eren and Armin turned around to see a Titan staring at them from the other side of the alleyway.

It quickly reached its hand into the alley and tried to grab them, but it was too narrow. Eren grapples straight for the Titans hand and dodges it while slicing off the middle three fingers. He grapples out of the alley and forces the Titan to follow him while Armin and the others wait for the right moment to escape. Eren quickly grapples through the streets and attracts the attention of the Abnormal Titans. They were either running on two legs or crawling with four legs, but they were fast for Eren to evade. They jumped into the air, crashed into houses, and slammed into the ground, showing their persistence despite chasing one person. Eren expelled as much gas as he could, but was quickly running out, forcing him to look around and find any openings for him to escape. Unfortunately, Eren had no luck finding any way for him to hide from the Titans and decided to go straight for the wall, hoping to escape by reaching the top. Just as Eren reaches the surface of the wall, the Titans either stopped and looked, or jumped and climbed the wall. Eren checks his gas, feels that it was nearly empty, and looks towards the headquarters. Without any way to refill his gas and regroup with Armin at headquarters, Eren became stuck on the wall and observed the Titans below him. Six of the Abnormals lost interest in Eren and left to find other humans to devour while the last two, both twelve meters, waited for him to come back down.

Armin and the rest of the group grappled to headquarters as fast as they could with Thomas on Mylius' back. About halfway there, Armin stops on a rooftop and looks back towards Eren's direction. Mina notices and lands beside Armin, wondering why he had stopped.

"What's wrong, Armin ? Are you worried about Eren ?" Mina asked.

"Y-yeah. I just can't help, but think that something has happened. I need to go back and check to see if he's okay."

"Eren probably made it up to the top of the Wall by now. It's the safest place to avoid the Titans."

"I know, but….I need to make sure. I made a promise to look after him and that's what I need to do right now."

Mina sighed, "If that's what you want, then be careful. We'll take Thomas to headquarters and get him some aid before he gets worse."

Armin nodded before he started grappling back to Eren's previous location while Mina and the others carried Thomas to the rear gate. Armin looked to see three of the Abnormals from earlier making their way towards the headquarters and tried to avoid their sights. He quietly heads to the edge of the Wall, hoping that Eren has somehow found refuge from the Titans.

At the rear gate of the Trost District, a merchant by the name of Dimo Reeves is trying to force his valuable cargo through the gate, preventing the panicking citizens to enter. Carla and Serizawa were at the front of the crowd, waiting impatiently for Reeves' wagon to be pushed through.

"This is idiotic for them to do this sort of thing," Carla complained, "Especially when people's lives are at stake."

"There's nothing we can do except wait. We won't be able to convince selfish people like them," Serizawa argued.

They both listened as Dimo Reeves shouted out, "LET'S HURRY UP AND PUSH THIS DAMN THING ! IT'S NOT LIKE YOUR LIVES ARE MORE VALUABLE THAN WHAT'S IN THIS WAGON, EVEN IF YOU SAVE UP FOR ALL YOUR LIFE ! IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, THEN HELP US PUSH THIS THROUGH !"

Carla got mad and shouted back, "Y-YOU JERK ! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT TITANS ARE ONLY AFTER THE PEOPLE ?! YOUR STUPID CARGO CAN WAIT FOR ALL OF US TO GET OUT OF HERE ! NOW MOVE OUT OF THE DAMN WAY !"

Dimo looked towards Carla and snapped, "SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, LADY ! PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE NOTHING BUT DEADWEIGHT. WHY DON'T YOU DO US ALL A FAVOR AND…"

A loud rumbling noise was heard and silenced everyone, forcing them to turn towards the streets. An Abnormal Titan was seen running straight to the crowd and causing them to scream in terror. The crowd began pushing against each other, eventually shoving Serizawa to the ground and Carla out of her wheelchair. The Titan was also pursued by a group of soldiers, who tried to reach its nape as quickly as possible. Just then, Mikasa appeared from behind the soldiers and sliced the nape of the Abnormal within the blink of an eye. The Abnormal Titan falls to the ground right in front of the frozen crowd as Mikasa lands on top of its head and looks down at the people. Mikasa initially wondered why the evacuation was delayed, but she turns to notice that Carla had fallen out of her wheelchair with Serizawa trying to help her up. She immediately headed over to her adoptive mother and assisted Serizawa in placing her back into the wheelchair.

"M-mom ? Are you hurt ?" Mikasa asked with great concern.

"I'm fine, Mikasa, but it's not me you should worry about now," Carla reassured, "You have to help these peo…"

"Hey, you !" Dimo Reeves interrupted as Mikasa turned to him, "Stop wasting your time with that amputee and get back to putting your lives on the line for us civilians ! You may be a soldier, but now's not the time to act like a selfish hero !"

"Me ? Selfish ? Says the one who's putting innocent lives after himself. But if you believe that some people should die so that other people can live, then maybe you could be selfless and sacrifice your life instead."

"You wouldn't dare ! Don't you know how important I am to the military ?!"

"No. All I see in front of me is nothing more than a talking corpse."

Dimo Reeves was frightened at the heavily serious tone that Mikasa was displaying and decided to move the wagon out of the way. With the entrance to the gate now unblocked, the citizens made their way through while Carla and Serizawa briefly stayed behind with Mikasa. Suddenly, a woman and her daughter thanked Mikasa for her help in addressing the situation, which causes her to think back to the time when Eren had saved her from human traffickers. It was the first time that Mikasa had used her powerful strength to kill another person, which she now uses to fight the Titans, and the day when she realizes how the world was unfair. Despite that, Mikasa felt like she could do almost anything as long as Eren was by her side the whole time. As the people fully evacuated through the gate, Carla and Serizawa went up to Mikasa.

"I'm proud of you, Mikasa. I can't imagine what would have happened if you hadn't saved everyone here," Carla praised.

"I should've been here earlier if I had known that some idiot was blocking the gate and delaying the evacuation. That way, you would've been on the other side by now."

"There was no way for you to know that. What mattered was that the evacuation was successful."

Mikasa smiled, "It was. I'm definitely glad that you're okay, so Eren won't have to worry anymore."

"Speaking of which, where is Eren and Armin? I figured you three would all be together."

"We were assigned to different groups. Since I was highly skilled, they moved here back here to help with the evacuation while Eren and Armin were sent to the front guard."

"Front guard ?" Serizawa said, "That means they'll face the incoming Titans entering the breach. Wouldn't it make more sense to have you there ?"

"He's right," Carla agreed, "You should head over there right now. The evacuation is over anyway."

"I understand. I'll make sure that I get to Eren and Armin as soon as possible."

Mikasa hurries off until Carla grabs her hand and tells her, "When you get to Eren, could you let him know that I'm sorry."

"Huh ? What for ?"

"That I was wrong for believing that he might get killed being a soldier, but after seeing you in action, I know that I shouldn't have anything to worry about."

Mikasa kneeled down and listened as Carla continued, "You're strong. Very strong. I know Eren is in safe hands when he's with you and I know that he can get stronger as well. Until he does, try and stay by his side, even when he doesn't want you to. Make sure to tell him that."

"I will, Mom. I'll always be by his side."

Just as Mikasa began to leave, a small tremor shook the ground and the sound of the Wall breaking down was heard. Mikasa, Carla, and Serizawa looked over to the breach and saw Godzilla smashing his way through the Wall. He roared loudly at the town and confused the remaining soldiers until they realized that he was after the Titans within the district. They watched as Godzilla suddenly smacks at one of the buildings and proceeds to throw debris at other areas in the city. Mikasa hurries to find Eren and Armin while Serizawa quickly pushes Carla through the rear gate and escapes to the other side of the Wall.

Twenty minutes earlier

Armin arrives at Eren's last known location and looks around the area for any sign of his friend. He turns to notice a trail of destroyed houses and decides to follow it, believing that Eren must have gone down the path. After following the path for some time, Armin comes across two Titans at the edge of the Wall and looks up. He widened his eyes to see Eren hanging from the Wall and grappled towards his friend.

Eren becomes relieved to see Armin, who lands right beside him, and says, "Armin ! I'm glad you're here. I thought for sure that no one was gonna find me."

"I was worried that you were in some kind of trouble. I guess I was right after all."

"Yeah, no kidding. I'm all out of gas, so I'm basically stuck here. With those two Abnormal Titans down there, I wouldn't make it farther than a couple of yards."

"Then we don't have a choice. I'll just carry you to headquarters and we can both refill there."

"Are you sure ? Wouldn't it be a burden for you to carry me and avoid those Titans ?"

Armin looked around for alternative routes and thought of ways for both him and Eren to escape towards headquarters. They can't use the streets as they'll be using a straight route and the Titans would surely catch up with no obstruction in their path. The alleys may work, but the narrow paths and tight corners will hinder his ability to maneuver in the air while carrying Eren, which may slow them down due to heavier weight. The only logical choice was to travel along the Wall and grapple towards headquarters through another part of the city, but that will waste too much gas and it isn't a guarantee that there wouldn't be more Titans in their path. Until the evacuation was finished, they both couldn't immediately scale the Wall and leave the district. Armin kept on thinking of a plan, but each strategy he came up with had fatal flaws that could get them both killed. There was no other way to escape the Titans except if one of them acted as bait. Armin thought of something daring and it's definitely the most risky idea he's ever had.

The two Abnormal Titans on the ground watched as Eren and Armin were doing something on the Wall. They perked up when they saw Armin jump off and land right behind them. He waves his hands in the air and starts running when the Titans decide to chase him. Armin kept running on the ground, but the sheer size of the Titans made it easier for them to catch up and trap Armin in a corner. Armin tries to grapple onto a roof, but one of the Titans grabs him in midair and slowly moves him to its mouth. Armin was panicking, hoping that his risky plan would work. The only thing left was for Eren to do his part of the plan.

The Titan opened its mouth widely as Armin was dangerously close to being eaten. However, the other Titan suddenly falls and distracts the Titan holding Armin. It saw its brethren's nape cut off and a shout was heard nearby. Eren zips behind the Titan and slices the nape, forcing it to drop Armin and falls to the ground. Both Titans were dead and Armin was grabbed by Eren before hitting the ground. They both landed on a nearby rooftop and began breathing heavily.

"That was too close, Eren," Armin said, "I can't believe it worked, though."

"That might have been a stupid plan, Armin, but I'm glad that I got to you before that damn Titan bit your head off. Couldn't you have waited until I completely equipped your gas tanks ?"

"Sorry, I thought you'd already put them on."

"It's fine. I'm definitely glad you decided to come and help me out. If it weren't for you, I'd have been stuck there for who knows how long."

"Well, we do have to look out for each other. I'd always figured it would be you and Mikasa that would have to keep looking after me."

"Guess you proved yourself wrong. You're not as useless as you think you are, Armin. In fact, I don't think we could compare to you in terms of strategic thinking."

"You considered what we just did as strategic ? Some people might say otherwise."

"Yeah. Anyways, we should get to headquarters. Get on my back and we could get going."

Just as Armin walked over to Eren, a large hand slammed between the two friends and revealed that one of the Titans had survived. Its nape was fully healed and the Titan charged at both of them.

Eren shouted, "Damn ! I didn't slice its nape deep enough !"

"Let's just get out of here !"

Armin quickly climbed on Eren's back and they both grappled away with the Titan pursuing them. With the extra weight, Eren and Armin were unable to outrun the fast Titan, who smacked them both in the air and onto another rooftop. Eren and Armin landed roughly and they both suffered minor injuries while the twelve meter Titan climbed on the roof and reached its hand for Eren. Armin looks to see Eren unconscious while in the clutches of the Titan. Using the remains of the gas tanks that Eren exchanged with him, Armin hooks on the Titan's hand and swings up to its face. He successfully cuts the Titan's eyes and forces it to release Eren, who Armin immediately picks up and grapples away. The Abnormal finishes regenerating and chases the duo again, but Armin expels the last of the gas and begins to fall on the ground. The Titan jumps towards both Eren and Armin and opens its mouth widely. Eren quickly wakes up and turns to see the Titan in front of him. He looks over to Armin and instinctively pushes him away, allowing the Titan to bite down on his torso. Armin falls on the ground and looks up to see Eren screaming while in the mouth of the Titan.

"EREN !" Armin cried out.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE ! SAVE YOURSELF, ARMI…"

The Abnormal slurps Eren into his mouth and swallows his body whole. Armin watches in horror as Eren was eaten by the Titan and stands frozen in place. As the Titan reaches for Armin next, a small tremor shakes them both and Godzilla crashes through the Wall. Armin and the Abnormal turned towards the kaiju as he looked down at both of them. Godzilla was unaware of Armin's presence since he was hidden under the Titan and decides to slam his hand down on the ground. The impact of the slam pushed Armin and the Titan away, while Godzilla began grabbing large pieces of the buildings and throwing them at the Titan. A sharp wooden pillar pierces the Titan and pins it to the ground, while Armin becomes stuck under roof shackles. Godzilla proceeds to continue his attack on the other Abnormal Titans while the normal Titans begin entering the city.

Mikasa flies through the streets of Trost and looks around to see the other soldiers fleeing from Godzilla's attack on the Titans. She could even hear someone cry out loud about more Titans entering the area. Mikasa slowly starts worrying about Eren and Armin, wondering if they're anywhere near the destructive monster. After passing the headquarters, which was overrun by normal Titans, Mikasa turns to see most of the soldiers regrouping at a rooftop and travels over to them, hoping that Eren and Armin were there.

As she lands, Mikasa notices how most of them were frightened, demoralized, or injured from what was happening. She looks all over the rooftop for her two friends, but ends up finding their squad and runs over to them.

"Hey ! What happened to Eren and Armin ?" Mikasa asked the group.

Mylius replied, "Armin went looking for Eren near the south area right by Godzilla, but considering the damage he's doing, I doubt they'll survive that."

"Why didn't you go after them ?! Why did you leave them behind ?!" Mikasa asked angrily.

Mina spoke up, "Whoa ! Hey ! We didn't do anything like that. Thomas was injured and Eren used himself as bait to lure the Titans away so that we could escape. Armin went looking for him later on, but after that, we don't know."

"Well, you should have looked after them more properly ! Because of you all, they're in trouble !"

"I-it's not our fault," Nac said, "There were just too many Titans for us to handle. We had no choice and Eren volunteered to distract them."

"You're all so useless. Only one of you had to take Thomas away and the rest of you could've helped Eren fight the Titans. You know what that makes you, right ? Cowards."

"H-hey, Mikasa. I think you should just calm down," Connie said as he heard the conversation and tried to approach her.

Other soldiers began looking over to Mikasa, who continued, "You all should've had the courage to fight alongside Eren, but you decided to run like cowards and leave him behind. Armin was the only one who had that courage and went back for him unlike you guys."

Everyone stayed silent as they thought about what she said. Not a lot of them had that courage Mikasa mentioned, but they didn't want to admit it. Mikasa looks around and notices how everyone felt like hope was lost, but it didn't matter to her at all. She goes to the edge of the roof and stares at the area near Godzilla. Jean, Connie, and a couple other soldiers figured out what she was planning to do and tried to stop her.

"Mikasa, you know it's dangerous to go over there. Especially when that lizard is tearing the place up," Jean warned.

"I don't care," Mikasa argued, "Godzilla wouldn't harm a human. I know that from experience. Eren and Armin could still be over there unharmed and I'm gonna find them."

"You don't know that for sure. They could possibly be...you know,"

Marco said.

"I won't know unless I go over there and none of you are going to stop me."

She turns back to everyone with her swords drawn and declares to them, "I'm strong. Stronger than any of you spineless cowards. If you aren't willing to make yourselves strong enough to fight, then you can just die here and be useless to all of humanity."

Mikasa jumps off the edge and grapples towards Godzilla while everyone else watches her fly off into the distance. Jean was amazed at Mikasa's fearlessness and decided to join her along with Marco, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie while the rest of the soldiers made their way to headquarters.

Godzilla continued throwing debris and slamming down on the Titans loose on the city. He tries his best to navigate his eyes around the narrow streets in search of hidden Titans. However, he comes across a group of humans grappling towards his direction. Godzilla wasn't sure why they were heading towards him, but he kept his distance and stayed within the large riverbed in the city.

Mikasa, Jean, and the others flew through the destroyed streets of the southern area. They all landed at an empty area without any Titans and began their search through the ruined houses. They had no luck in finding Eren or Armin, but Mikasa continued on. Annie decides to grapple into the air in order to get a better view of the area and manages to find something. She calls the others and swings over to a pile of roof shackles. Mikasa and the others arrive with Annie and they all look to see Armin unconscious under the pile. They all quickly rush to Armin's side and dig him out of the rubble. Mikasa grabs a hold of Armin and shakes to wake him up. Armin slowly opens his eyes and sees everyone standing in front of him.

"M….m….mikasa ? W...wh...where am I ?" Armin said weakly.

"Armin ! Do you know where Eren is ?! Armin ?!" Mikasa asked desperately.

"Eren ? Uh…" Armin hesitated as he fully woke and remembered what happened, "I-i'm so sorry, but he's…"

He points to a nearby Titan that was pinned to the ground by a wooden pillar. Mikasa predicts Armin's next words and hands him over to the others while she runs over to the Titan and angrily stares at it. The Titan tries to reach for her, despite being pierced into the ground, and Mikasa draws her sword. Feeling untold rage within her, Mikasa lets out a battle cry and grapples around to its nape, slicing it with multiple swings of her sword. The Titan dies and slowly begins to evaporate. Everyone looked at Mikasa, who stood on top of the Titan, and were deeply concerned for her. Mikasa proceeds to go near the Titan's stomach and tries to slice it open. Jean and Marco try to stop her, but she pushes them back and continues. Reiner and Bertholdt began to notice incoming Titans towards their position and alerted the others.

"Hey ! We gotta get the hell out of here ! Quickly !" Reiner shouted.

"You heard him, Mikasa," Marco pleaded, "We have to get out of here before more Titans show up."

"No ! I can't leave Eren here alone ! I know I can get him out !" She cried out.

Reiner, Bertholdt, Jean, and Marco all grabbed Mikasa and carried her away while Annie carried Armin. Mikasa started to cry and tried to beg everyone to let her go. The Titans started closing in, but Mikasa was still being stubborn and kept on calling out to Eren. She eventually frees herself from the others and runs back to the evaporating Titan corpse. Jean didn't want to leave her alone, but everyone else started to make their way to the rooftops. Jean hesitated, but soon followed his retreating comrades. Mikasa used her swords to continue slicing her way into the Titan's stomach, hoping to get Eren out in time before the other Titans came. She started growing tired and panting before dropping her swords and kneeling down in front of the corpse. Mikasa placed her hand on the dead Titan and sobbed as the Titans appeared behind her.

Eren was speechless, unable to process what had happened to him. All he remembered was pushing Armin away and darkness suddenly clouding his vision. Now, he was inside of a Titan's stomach and nearly drowned in its digestive acid. He was all alone and had no way to escape. With despair slowly consuming his mentality, Eren thought about his loved ones and contemplated how he had failed them. Flashes of his Mom, Mikasa, Armin, and even his Father flooded his mind and made him cry.

"Why ?! Why did this have to happen ?!" He thought to himself, "You took away my home, my mother's ability to walk, and now you took me away from the people I love ?! Why are you so damn bent on taking everything from us ?!"

It began getting very hot and Eren had trouble breathing in the heat. He grew exhausted and leaned against the surface of the stomach. His eyelids grew heavy, forcing him to slowly close his eyes until a faint voice called out to him. Eren gathered the last of his strength to focus on that voice and recognized it as Mikasa's.

"Eren….I don't know if you can hear me, but…" Mikasa sniffed before continuing, "I should've been here for you like I always have. I know you find it annoying whenever I keep on meddling in your business, but please understand my point of view."

Eren tries to listen to her more closely, "You saved me that day. The day we first met. You showed me how unfair the world was and you gave me the strength to fight back."

She held her red scarf and smiled weakly, "You gave me a new purpose in life and I can't think of how many times that I want to thank you for being by my side. I'm never gonna give up on you and I know you won't give up on me and Mother."

A Titan reaches its hand out to Mikasa as she continues, "I….I…...Love you, Eren. Not as family, but something more. You might not feel the same way, but it's okay because...as long as I get to be with you for the rest of my life….I'll keep on fighting with you always."

"M-m-mikasa…" Eren said weakly, "I...I.."

Eren dug his fingernails into his head in frustration as he heard what Mikasa had said. He never realized how much he meant to her in that kind of way and felt dumbfounded. He dug his fingernails into his head even deeper, eventually drawing blood that flowed down his face. Mikasa's words reach into his psyche and his desire to protect everyone he cares about turns into rage as he screams loudly within the stomach.

"I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE ! I HAVE TO PROTECT EVERYOONNEEE ! MIKASA ! ARMIN ! MOM ! EEEVVERRRYOONNNEE !" Eren screamed at the top of his lungs as an electric aura surrounded his body.

Mikasa could hear his screams and tried to call out to him once more, but the Titan behind her quickly grabbed her body. Armin, Jean, and everyone else looked to see Mikasa struggling to free herself, prompting Jean to go after her. Just as the others followed his lead, Godzilla was seen moving towards them in a curious manner. Although they were confused, Mikasa heard the sound of flesh ripping and turned to see the Titan corpse moving. Suddenly, a large hand emerges from the corpse and grabs the wrist of the Titan holding Mikasa. The hand crushed the Titan's wrist and forced it to release Mikasa. Jean swings by and picks her up, taking her back to the rooftop with everyone else. They all watched as the corpse of the Titan exploded and revealed another Titan with bright green eyes and slightly long black hair. The Titan roared loudly at the other Titans, attracting others within its area.

"Eren ?" Mikasa said in realization, surprising everyone else on the roof.

Eren, in his newfound Titan body, begins fighting the other Titans with superior brute strength and skill. He punches the first Titan that grabbed Mikasa and blew its head apart. The other Titans moved in with the intent to kill, but Eren quickly dispatches the first few Titans through punches to the heads and kicks to the torsos. Afterwards, Eren destroys the nape of the fallen Titans and proceeds to eliminate the rest.

Godzilla had sensed it. He sensed Eren's untapped power unleashed in an explosive fury and looked to see his artificial Titan body in action. Godzilla was able to fully communicate with Eren's mind and focuses on his occurring thoughts. From the sound of Eren's voice, Godzilla knew that he was in a trance-like state.

All he could hear from Eren's mind was, "Must...Protect...Everyone...Mom… Armin….Mikasa…"

"Eren. Wake up and open your eyes. Hear my voice and see your way into the light."

Eren heard the voice of the kaiju and slowly woke from his half-conscious state. He looks around his surroundings and blinks multiple times until he turns his head down and faces his hands. Eren begins to slowly realize what he has turned into and is unsure how to react.

"I-I-I'm a-a-aa T-t-titan ?!" Eren thought to himself.

"It appears so, yet you somehow have more control than the others," Godzilla said as Eren turns around to see him, "I'm glad, though. With this power of yours finally unleashed, you can now help me communicate with the humans."

"Me ? What can I do to help as this…. thing ? H-how am I able to do this ?!"

"We'll find out together. With you as the link between me and the humans, you can help me communicate with others of your kind."

Eren looked at his hands and tried moving them. He doesn't know how he obtained his power, but he does know that he can control it to some extent. As long as he was aware that he could use this power to defeat the Titan threat and communicate with Godzilla on a deeper level, Eren was willing to deal with the strangeness of the situation and chose to focus on the incoming wave of Titans approaching him and Godzilla. Although becoming a Titan was the most horrific thing Eren could imagine, he cannot help but feel that this seemed very natural to him. Eren and Godzilla started their attack on the Titans when everyone who remained in the district watched as the two giants worked together for the sake of humanity.

This chapter is definitely the longest so far and I don't think I could keep the story this consistent, so there will be short or long chapters depending on content. I actually decided to end this chapter half way, but I improvised instead and kept on typing. I changed a few things so that the story does not follow the main continuity too much and it actually becomes a new experience for the viewers. There's also questions that I wish to address towards certain readers and I hope I got everyone's questions answered without spoiling anything.

Justin D : You have lots of questions and I'll try to answer them all as honest as I can. Godzilla and a majority of the other Kaijus are definitely of the 100m class or above. Speaking of which, I knew that by adding the Skullcrawlers and the Gyaos, I would also have to include Kong and Gamera. While I do have Kong in the story later on, the only problem is that I don't know how I would integrate Gamera into the story without changing his overall origins to fit in with the Godzilla universe. Lastly, there will absolutely be no OCs unless they serve as an extra to further the plot, such as the guy who was initially going to look after Carla.

Jesus JD DeJesus : I never thought about that. I figured that their personalities wouldn't do very well with each other, but I could be wrong.

Doom Slayer 091 : There will definitely be Monsterverse elements like the Skullcrawlers and Kong that Justin D mentioned in the reviews, but none of the human characters or the timeline will be in it.

Nightroad816: Yes, it's the Legendary version. I apologize if I didn't describe it correctly at the beginning. Also, I like the different abilities idea.

If it seemed like I spoiled some things for you all, then feel free to mention it in the reviews. I can be quite oblivious sometimes. Until next week, bye.