A/N: Surprise, surprise!
New chapter already says I!
Really got into this, if ya can't tell~!
Yup, the second half of the chapter had me really jazzed to keep writing, so here I am! And a quick question, who's excited about the latest reveals in the manga? Absolutely blew me away but *SPOILER* Poor Ymir! I can't believe they actually did that to her! Wasn't expecting that at all and it really got my blood boiling.
Also, apparently the Cartman titan Pieck-bloody hard to spell, that-is a GIRL?! Didn't see that coming either.
Anyhow, here we are and here ya be, guys and gals!
HOPE YA'LL LIKE IT!
Oh, and MANGA SPOILERS INCOMING!
In the past, I'ved tried to limit them as much as I can, but we've reached the point of no return now, and the plot-lines I've been making are going to be VERY spoilery indeed. I've painstakingly kept silent until now, but know that everything you see here is the result of years of planning. I do not, as people say, just write on the fly. Every story has a calculated plan and plot to it, one that often surprises me as much as those who read it. So, yeah, spoilers ahoy!
You've been forewarned!
Language and violence ahead!
Get ready for SEVERAL bombshells!
Including an original surprise or two of my own XD
Hope ya'll like it!
"Eldians? Marley? I don't give a damn about them. I'm a shinobi. I have a duty. And if that means standing in your way, so be it."
"Noble words."
"Noble? Nothing noble about the truth."
~A Man and a Beast.
A Ninja's Legacy
Well.
This wouldn't do.
No, this wouldn't do at all.
The Beast Titan observed the distant struggle from afar and felt something disturbingly close to anger. Yes, anger as it lumbered forwards, accidentally crushing a lesser titan under its foot. It had no way of knowing what was transpiring in the great forest beyond, only that he was displeased with it. Sensitive ears told enough. Trees toppled and soldiers perished, crushed like so many ants beneath the feet of giants. The roars of great beasts, broken and torn apart. In the end, the temptation had proven too great impossible to resist; as had the thunderbolts that heralded the transformations that came with becoming a titan. It knew a battle was brewing, just as it knew this battle might well change the course of the war.
His long walk had first begun when he'd glimpsed Annie running pell-mell after those soldiers.
It continued when he beheld Bertholdt, towering over the trees as the Colossal Titan.
Now it neared an end as Reiner's agonized roars pierced the night.
This wasn't funny.
Not at all.
He failed to understand how anyone could fail so utterly, and to be frank, it irked him. Now, any unfortunate or suicidal enough to encounter the Ape or those who served it met with an even more gruesome fate. None were left to warn them of what was coming. The horde would descend without pause, without mercy. None would be spared. The village of Ragako had proved most useful in that regard for the Beast Titan; most useful indeed. An army of titans marched at its back, one who crudely followed orders, but they'd serve their purpose in devouring any soldiers they encountered.
One way or another, it was determined to make an end of things.
He had only to wait for the right moment.
And then:
Strike.
It cared not a wit for any of its enemies or its pawns, for its attention lay elsewhere. If you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. The Beast Titan-the one within it-realized this now. He'd been a fool to trust in those damn kids. Either they'd gotten too sentimental and shirked their duty, or they were simply too weak. Regardless, their failure was complete. He'd have to kill them and start all over again from scratch, no two ways about it. What a drag. It would take years to train up new warriors, even more to muster a sustainable force. His and Pieck's "term" might well be up by then which meant they'd have to entrust their will to others.
In a sense, they'd also failed and might well be executed upon their return.
But he'd be damned if he didn't gut the one responsible for all this.
With that thought, the Beast Titan felt the bare beginnings of a smile form on its creased face. A very dark grin indeed. With each passing moment that manic smirk deepened noticeably as it crept through the trees. He always tried to take enjoyment from life these days, after all. It helped distract him from the fate of these poor pitiful creatures, lacking any memory of the outside world, needlessly throwing themselves to their deaths. And what could be more enjoyable than ambushing an unwary enemy-wait.
It paused suddenly, considering.
Cocked its head to the east.
The screams had stopped.
That...well, that boded poorly.
"Honestly," it growled aloud into the dark, "What do those brats think they're doing? I told them I wouldn't bail them out if they screwed up...what a pain!"
"See, that attitude makes you an awful teacher."
The Beast Titan paused in its ponderous pace, bright eyes snapping towards the voice. Nothing. Only the trees answered, silent giants in the dark offering neither response nor repose. A few irritating Titans who'd drawn too close threatened to trip him up and soon found themselves slapped aside or snarled into silent, quavering submission. Thusly irritated, the towering behemoth cast its gaze back to the trees in search of the offender. Where had that blasted voice come from? Even with its keen eyesight, the Beast Titan found it somewhat difficult to discern its location.
Aha!
"Over here!"
Another soldier?
Sure enough, he found its owner nearby, crouched upon a low-hanging bough. Clinging to the shadows well within arms reach, their face sheltered by a tattered black cloak that looked to have seen better days. Pity. Were it not for the burning torch in their grasp, he might never have noticed them. Fool. Did they think this an ambush? What good could one soldier do by themselves? They didn't even have that fancy maneuvering gear worn by the rest of those ants. What did he intend to do with that little sword on his back? He'd swat him long before he came within striking distance-nah, better to just have one of his minions devour him and be done with it. Still, he was rather curious. It wasn't often that a human had the nerve to challenge him head on. Without that fascinating device, no less!
"Hmm? Who the hell are you?"
"That's unimportant. Still, please excuse the interruption." As he looked on, the puny human drew his blade with his free hand, sending sharpened steel gleaming in the torchlight. "Sensei's fighting past here. I'm afraid I can't let you interfere. If you turn around right now, I promise to let you live. If not, well...
"Is that so?" The Beast Titan arched an eyebrow. "Awfully noble of you."
"What can I say? I was raise to be polite. Now... leave."
"That your final answer, boy?"
A tilted head answered.
"It is."
Flicking a dismissive hand toward the interloper, the Ape growled a command.
"Oi. You three. Kill him."
To his disbelief, the challenger replied by stepping away the branch, forsaking the relative safety it afforded him by its height. For a fleeting moment he hung there, standing on empty air. Then he dropped like a sinking stone; plummeting toward the grasping hands with nary a sound. It drew a bark of laughter from the Beast Titan. Idiot! What kind of suicidal fool deliberately drew attention to himself and then leaped to his death?! Did he want to die?!
"Ninja art: Hidden Mist Jutsu."
As though summoned by those very words, a mysterious fog sprang up from the forest floor, flooding the Beast Titan's vision with a cloying curtain of mist. Thicker than any soup, the murky haze not only denied him a line of sight on the man, but somehow muffled his sense of smell. The mindless titans paid it no heed. Two barreled headlong through the gloom without so much as a second thought and were immediately cut down in recompense for their temerity; their towering bodies left to topple to the earth with a mighty crash of thunder. A third made the mistake of run roughshod over them and its clumsy intentions slammed it to the ground in a writhing heap where it was swiftly dispatched as well. Another flicker in the fog and three more titans collapsed, cut deeply in their napes.
All this took place in less than an instant.
"Tch. Alright, you lot. Stop!"
Forced to take notice of the stranger at last, the Beast Titan turned, one hand protectively concealing the back of his own neck in case of ambush. With an effort he dropped into a low crouch, the sheer force of the wind caused by his movement blasting the fog back and causing the trees around them to shake like sticks in a gale. In short order, the intrepid hunter was revealed, bloodied blade and all. If they felt any fear at this sudden proximity, they did precious little to show it; only raising a hand to hold onto their hood and prevent it being blown backwards by the blast.
"Not bad." he relented, baring his fangs in a smile. "What kind of trick was that?"
Eerie eyes the color of poisoned honey gleamed up at him beneath the shadows of the cowl. There was something decidedly wrong with those orbs. The pupils were all wrong somehow; slanted and horizontal, bearing a strange amber-colored pigment at the edges. Eyes that stared right through him, as though he weren't even there. Perhaps sensing his disquiet, the stranger grinned back from the shadow of their cowl, flashing perfect white teeth.
"No tricks, here." now that he was close enough, the Beast Titan immediately discerned there was something wrong with the man's voice, as well. It emerged hoarse and rough, barely able to be raised above a whisper, as though they couldn't quite draw enough air through their lungs. "I was trained by the best. Now, are you going to hide inside that titan all night?" His sword rose, gleaming with blood. "Or do I have to carve you out of there...Zeke-san?"
Zeke froze.
He knew.
The Beast Titan's hand thundered down on the man's head without thought or warning. There was no sense behind the blow, only anger. Only the desire to destroy him on the spot, and his knowledge with him. Imagine his surprise when that very same hand found itself caught by the challenger. Reversed. As though the first of an angry god had risen up from the very earth to strike him, so too did he find himself flung backward with a vengeance, slamming down on one of the titans he'd commandeered. Poor sod was crushed instantly. Zeke no longer cared. Indignant, he fought to right himself, unable to understand what had happened.
Because the little shit knew.
He didn't understand how, only that he did. Only a handful of people should know that name, and this...thing...was not one of them. Even as he fought to return to his crouched position a titan surged forward, ignoring his command to remain still. Blindly, it lunged at the young man at Zeke's feet, not once considering the danger.
Mistake.
A crackle like a thousand chirping birds swelled
Still, this was proving to be more diverting than he'd expected.
"Sorry." the stranger's voice sang. "Senjutsu's pretty potent. I still don't know my own strength."
Levering his bulky body upright, the titan shifter fought the urge to lash out again.
Instead, he forced himself to assess the situation.
Hmm.
Interesting.
So he had students after all.
The Beast Titan took a moment to ponder that, thumbing its chin. It had heard tell of someone within the walls who possessed strange powers. Supposedly he'd gifted several people with the same power. He'd merely assumed it to be just that. Rumors. Whispers birthed by a fearful populace clinging to hope against the inevitable. But what he'd just seen told a very different story. If what the brat said was true, he had much more to worry about then simply reclaiming the power of the Female, Armored, and Colossal Titans.
How very interesting indeed!
"I admit, I've been watching you for some time now." the stranger confessed, rolling his right shoulder. "You and your allies. Learning your name was easy. Discovering the truth down in that basement...not so much. Eldians? Marley? I don't give a damn about them, or what that means for us. If ignorance serves this world better, then so be it. I'm a shinobi. I have a duty, an oath, to the man who saved me. If that means working in the shadows, standing in your way, then I'll bear that burden with pride. I don't even have to kill you to see his dream fulfilled."
Impossibly, that unhinged smile deepened.
"I just have to stall you."
Restraining himself with an effort, Zeke scowled down at the impudent interloper.
"Noble words."
"Noble?" the stranger cocked their head, incredulous. "Nothing noble about the truth. What Naruto's doing? That's noble. He's willing to fight and die with all the world's hatred on his shoulders if he has to. That's what a hero does. He sacrifices for the greater good, regardless if it means throwing away his humanity. Even if it means being called a villain like you. However! Don't think I'm going to let you have your way! See this sword, here, monkey boy? Come at me. I'm gonna ram it right up your ass and bugger you with it."
Zeke scowled at the sudden turn in language.
...how vulgar." he leaned forward to capture the stranger's attention and in doing so, concealing his right hand from view. He was fairy certain the young man didn't see him scoop up a bit of shattered stone from the ruined road. Least of all him curling it into his fist. He'd already provoked him once before, now he just had to force him into making one last mistake. "Don't worry. I'll be sure to "discipline" your teacher and my subordinates when I'm through with you."
"Subordinates?!" In a rare fit of pique, the hooded youth turned their head aside and spat, partially exposing his face. "You have no right to call them that! You're no leader! You'd throw them to the grinder if it suited your whims! They're terrified of you!" His good hand tightened viciously around the hilt of his blade, white-knuckles straining immeasurably. "Because of you, Annie...Annie...!" Ah, and there it was. A weakness in that seemingly impenetrable facade of his. Something to be exploited.
"Ho? You know Annie?"
Stupid child.
All bite and no bark.
What did he know of the world?
"I did." When that steely gaze found his again, Zeke found himself chilled by it. "I know Reiner, too. And Berholdt. At least I did. I see their face in my dreams. Those two are monsters. Just like you. Not Annie. She's a good girl; wouldn't hurt a fly if she didn't have to. Yet you and others would force her to." Something had crystallized in that flinty stare there, something cold and dark that threatened to swallow him whole if he stared overlong at it. This was the face of a man who'd seen death and come out the other side...changed.
"Is that not what a leader does?" The Beast Titan chuffed, feigning bemusement by the young man's anger to hide his own anxiety. "Sacrifices are sometimes necessary to achieve ones goal."
"Bullshit! A leader-a teacher!-defends his followers. To the last breath!"
"Then die for them."
A wall of writhing roots erupted from the earth in the same instant that Zeke let the stone fly; and only one yielded. Concealed in his off hand, Zeke had waited for that pivotal moment when his prey was most angered and let his missile fly. He'd hurled it at full speed, point blank. No chance to counterattack, much less dodge. By rights he should be a red smear on the ground...
The clearing dust suggested a different outcome altogether.
A sharp, short bark of laughter merely confirmed it.
The haze cleared to reveal his flung boulder had been neatly deposited in a nearby titan's skull. Of the young man, he saw nothing.
Standing amidst the shifting roots
His scornful smile told all. "I'm sorry. What was that supposed to be? Because that...was just fucking adorable."
"What? Are you...mocking me?"
"No, no," a hand waved. "Not at all. Feel free to try again."
"Who are you?" it repeated. "I won't ask again."
After a moment of silence, they tugged back their hood.
"A dead man."
Immediately, Zeke found himself presented with a ghastly visage.
They-whomever they were-had clearly suffered through a very, very bad day at some point in their life. Half of their face stood out in a latticework of angry red scars over a curtain of overgrown black hair; a veritable web of red and pink cutting across their profile in grisly red relief. Some of it scarred over in places, trailing down his neck to expose what he could only assumed to be excessively pale skin. Furthermore, they seemed to favor their right side, suggesting a grievous wound that hadn't yet healed properly. Despite this, or perhaps in spite of it, they still retained full functionality of both eyes, tainted though they were. Their pale gaze followed the Beast Titan as he shifted on his haunches, rearing back in disgust.
"Well, now!"
"Ugly, isn't it?" the young man laughed lightly, palming his disfigured visage. "If they saw me like this, I'd never live it down. Well, I'm still alive somehow, so I suppose I can't complain too much." Raising his blade, the marked man planted it firmly in the ground blade first and shifted his still-burning torch to his opposite hand. Its waning firelight seemed to waver and writhe as he held it close, sending warped shadows dancing across his face as he spoke. "You wanted to know my name, correct? It doesn't hold much meaning to me now." He paused a moment, letting the weight of his words sink in. "You know, I wasn't lying when I called myself a dead man. I have perished and been reborn anew. Better than before. Stronger. As you're about to learn."
"You wanna fight me, little man?"
Golden eyes narrowed to slits.
"Little man? My name is Marco. And fight you? No. I wanna kill you. Tell me, does your fur burn?"
"Well, I haven't exactly tested that, but-
The Ape Titan didn't expect Marco to hurl the torch in his face.
Certainly not the hellish inferno that followed.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation."
(...Meanwhile with our Heroes...)
Eren was the first to witness the explosion that followed.
It was a very nice explosion he thought; full of sound and fury and fire. Loads of fire. Chakra as well. As if someone had lit a match beneath a vat of grease, so too did he watch a quarter of the forest go up in a sea of red flames flames. The shockwave that followed ripped through the treas like a great and angry wind; nearly tearing him and his colleagues from the branches. Some were caught unawares and flung away into the air, others found themselves more fortunate and anchored themselves with their ODM gear, still others, with chakra. A wordless roar tore over them and it was done, leaving the survivors reeling, struggling to understand the enormity of what had just transpired.
"Oi, oi, oi!" Ymir balked from her perch beside him. "Wasn't that overkill?!"
Eren found himself in close agreement there.
Seeing the blaze, he was actually grateful they'd been placed on standby.
Someone had just gone to great lengths to kill something, and it irked him to no end not to know neither who nor what. Supposedly only Naruto and Jean were capable of using fire jutsu to that extent, but what they'd just witnessed had exceeded even that. Several of the trees were now beginning to burn, and it seemed increasingly likely that the forest would not last the night, if Armin was right.
Not that forest was in exceedingly good shape these days, thanks to a certain titan's rampage.
Frowning at the reminder, he flicked a dark look at Berholdt's limbless form, under stern guard by Annie. Her bright blue eyes were cold as ice, never once leaving the blinded warrior's face. As he looked on, she knelt, drew a knife and set to work severing another slow-healing limb before it could mend. Muffled shrieks forced their way past the young man's gag-but his cries went unheard by her hardened heart. Eren's as well. For him, every cry was music to his ears. Justice. Bertholdt wasn't going to perish anytime soon; on the contrary, he wasn't going to die for a very long time.
Unlike Annie.
Her.
A shifter.
Of all people!
Who would have thought?
A pair of Naruto's doppleganger's had arrived in a flash to deposit them at Erwin's feet, one lingering just long enough to explain the situation before vanishing into the night with Mina and Levi. The other had remained behind to deal with Sasha's "situation" which didn't look as though it would be resolved anytime soon. For better or worse, Annie had also made her choice, opting to surrender to the Survey Corps rather than side with her fellow warriors. Unlike Reiner. Merely thinking about that threatened to set him reeling all over again. The truth was out now and all he knew had been turned on its head forevermore.
Bertholdt was the Colossal Titan.
Reiner, the Armored Titan.
It made his blood boil.
Those damned traitors!
He longed to interrogate Naruto about this, to demand answers from his mentor. No more secrets. No more lies.
Sadly, it didn't seem that he'd be getting those answers anytime soon.
He wasn't sure how to feel towards Annie; in one vein her saw her as a comrade, one who'd taught him the basics of how to fight. On the other she was a fellow shifter one who, unlike Ymir, held loyalty only to Naruto and no other. Did that make her an ally? An enemy? He wasn't sure. If Mikasa was willing to vouch for her, that made her the former, right? She couldn't possibly be an enemy.
Right?
"WHAT?! Whaddya mean I can't turn back?! You said it would be easy, sensei! You promised!"
Sasha's thundering voice reminded him of another problem at hand.
Although Eren could hear Sasha, he couldn't properly see the towering brunette in the darkness per-se, and for that, he was immensely grateful. Already he could feel Mikasa's gaze boring a hole in his back and daren't look up because of it. Even he wasn't that foolish Several soldiers were already studiously averting their gaze for the sake of the poor girl's modesty. The trees preserved precious little of her as it was and it was for her sake as much as Naruto's that they hadn't yet abandoned the forest and retreated to the safety of the walls.
Akimichi blood indeed!
"Oh, fuck my life...
Across the way, Naruto's clone uttered a long-suffering sigh and with an effort, painstakingly uncorked his still-ringing ears. One might think after defeating the Colossal titan, his work would be over. Far from it. Even now he looked to be at his wits end; a man torn between too many goals with not enough time to accommodate them. Although this one was a copy and could be dispelled by a single blow, it was easy to forget that it was still Naruto, and had every bit his wit and temper.
Especially the temper.
"Hey, hey, I never said that, its just going to be difficult-ah, hey! Don't cry...
The brunette didn't stop bawling.
Naruto winced at the crashing sound of his student's voice from his place on her knee. What little he knew of the Akimichi clan stemmed from what Choji had told him in the past, and it wasn't much as that. As it turned out enlarging ones size wasn't all the difficult once you got the hang of it, returning to normal size was the hard part. He regretted not listening to the specifics, there. Seeing as there weren't any Akimichi around these days, or ANY other ninja beyond those he'd trained himself, the results were...
...unpleasant to say the least.
Sasha had been trapped in this massive body for the last few hours now, and she'd been wholly miserable all the while. Cold, naked, and hungry.
"Does it help that I've always had a thing for tall chicks?" he ventured lamely, hoping for a smile.
He completely deserved the resultant stomp.
Every.
Bit.
Of.
It.
Eren couldn't help but shake his head.
...good thing that isn't the real one."
"Eren."
A sharp tug on his sleeve reminded Yeager of where he was and set him to sweating buckets.
"I-I wasn't looking!"
Mikasa's stoic gaze put paid to that.
"Look."
Following her direction, he realized with a start that those once-distant flames were beginning to spread.
Close.
Very close indeed.
"Well, that's not good...
(...Deeper Within the Forest...)
There's a first time for everything.
In all his years of service with the Survey Corps, Levi Ackermen had seen some serious shit. He had participated in suicidal charges and survived. He'd cut his way through hordes of enemies and lived where others fell. Watched dear friends be devoured by titans, carved said titans into bloody red chunks in return, seen the ridicule and fear in the faces of those he'd called his allies after doing so. Some saw him as ruthless, thinking his lack of On the contrary. He knew what it was to be feared and what it meant to instill that fear in others. Sometimes anger-fear!-was all that kept you going.
Watching Naruto tear Reiner apart, he felt that same fear brush against him for the first time in his life.
He saw it Mina, too, her wide expressive eyes turned glassy by the violence unfolding before them.
It was...disturbing, to say the least.
Gone wholly berserk, Asura Titan gave the Armored Titan neither pause nor quarter; it laid into him as though its sole intent were to devour him whole. Whatever Naruto could not shatter with his hands he either ripped away or ground to a pulp. What he could not crush he simply beat into oblivion, hammering away at Reiner's defenses without the meanest care for his own well-being. Tooth and nail and claw, he savaged him until, as all are wont to do, Reiner's titan collapsed under the strain. There was nothing remotely human or humane about his actions, intelligent though they'd seemed. He'd become a beast acting solely on instinct. Despite this, Levi didn't feel the slightest iota of pity for the traitor.
Reiner had sealed his fate long ago, long before he'd chosen to stand his ground and fight.
At last, the hunter had become the prey.
Then came the decisive blow.
"Reiner! COME OUT!"
Never had he witnessed someone physically punch a titan shifter out of their Titan before. Nope. Not once. And why should he? Only hours ago, Eren and Naruto had been the only known shifters with Annie claiming a very close third. Oh, it stood to reason that there might've been others in hiding, but such an absurd idea had never occurred to him until now. It'd seemed a silly thing to fantasize about, no matter how spectacular it might seem. Now Naruto did just that; cannoning a clenched fist through the Armored Titan's crumbling throat and the nape beyond. Caught unawares by the explosive attack, Reiner was helpless to escape. His body found itself violently ejected into the air; twirling end over end like a falling leaf, one that might be blown away on the winds at any moment.
THUD.
Said leaf swiftly found its hopes dashed against the ground as a massive fist descended upon it with a painful crunch. Anyone else would've been obliterated on the spot. Not Reiner. Not only did he suffer the misfortune of surviving the blow, but he remained painfully conscious for what came next. Naruto was already ripping himself free from his own Titan; one monster clawing its way out of another. Even from here Levi could see the hate burning in those cerulean/vermillion eyes of his, a myriad of sapphire and scarlet ever-shifting, never static.
Seeing this, Mina shrank back with a whimper.
If Naruto noticed her fear, he didn't care.
"I'm coming for you, Reiner." the words were a skeletal hiss as he extricated himself from his titan, bare and arid in their intensity. "Do you hear me?! I'm going to tear you apart!"
Reiner groaned and tried to drag himself away, to no avail.
"S-Stay away from me! Don't come a-any closer!"
That was as good as an invitation.
Feverishly tearing away the last fleshy tether from his Titan, the whiskered warrior freed himself and dropped to the shattered earth, landing not a hairsbreadth away from his fellow shifter. Seeing this, Reiner hissed out a breath immediately intensified his efforts to crawl away. Unfortunately this only served to further enrage the berserk blond bearing down on him. His hand closed around a bit of broken armor from his titan and swiped upwards, his impromptu blade finding flesh in the same instant that Naruto tackled him to the ground, spattering the earth with blood.
A brief scuffle ensued between both men, with the latter soon gaining the upper hand.
"No you fucking don't." he growled, baring his fangs. "You don't get to run!"
A hand locked around his throat.
"Monster!"
Naruto retaliated by biting the weakened wrist clear off, hand and all.
Sharp teeth, Levi mused.
"Monster, ya know?" Naruto was shouting now, voice emerging as a smoky growl over Reiner's screams, red spittle flying in his face. With due cause; even from here he could see the shinobi's throat mending rapidly. "Does a monster feel guilt? Does a monster sacrifice himself for the world?" Hauling him forward, he slammed his forehead against his opponent, stunning him. "Does a monster throw himself in harms way so that others might be spared? Does a monster commit unspeakable acts so that others will never be forced to undertake them? No. I am not a monster, you stupid little shit. I'm Only Human. BUT! I AM YOUR END!"
With a growl, he flung Reiner down and set a blade to his head.
"Suffer me now!" he roared in a voice like rolling thunder. "No more smug words? No threats? No more insults? WELL?!"
For a fleeting instant, Levi thought the blond was going to forgo their deal and simply end him then and there. He certainly looked like it!
Incredibly, he abstained.
"Get the serum ready."
Mina inched forward with slow, hesitant steps, clutching the syringe in both hands.
"Ready?"
The blackette dithered.
Whatever wrath she must've held for Reiner, whatever resolve she'd mustered before, it seemed to have withered somewhat; for she trembled like a leaf beneath their gaze. Naruto must've seen it too, for his expression softened. Levi didn't blame him. This task was beyond important, a monumental undertaking not for the faint of heart. She was about to undertake an experiment that had no guaranteed chance of success. If it failed, somehow, then she'd be trapped as a mindless titan for the rest of existence, doomed to wander in eternal hunger. Of course she'd be nervous. Anyone in their right mind would be.
"Hey. Hold him, will ya?" Naruto pleaded of Levi, imploringly.
With an annoyed grunt, the veteran soldier complied.
"Fine. Don't blame me if he loses a few pieces."
"Have a field day."
Momentarily freed from his obligations, Naruto moved to comfort his ally the only way he knew how. Shuffling forward against the pain of his his fractured ankle, he took Mina aside. She allowed him to lead her away true enough, but the dark thunderclouds on her brow didn't diminish.
"Hey." he ventured. "I'm sorry you had to see that side of me."
...'s alright." she murmured weakly, looking away.
Damnit.
Naruto frowned and took hold of her by the shoulders, forcibly spinning the smaller girl around to face him.
"No," he declared. "No it isn't. I lost control, and I regret it. C'mon, talk to me. After all, Reiner-
SLAP.
With his guard lowered, he never saw the blow until Mina actually struck him. In any event, it served as a stern reminder; no matter her appearance Mina was still very much a shinobi. And every bit the one he'd trained her to be at that. Her hand slammed into his face with sound and force, physically spinning the blond around and depositing him on his rear. He sat there for a moment, incredulous. Then a spark of anger ignited deep in his chest and he bolted to his feet, eyes burning.
"What the hell?!"
"The man who taught me isn't a monster." Minra replied frankly, meeting his smoldering gaze with one of her own. "So. Don't act like one. I can't bear seeing you like that. Alright?"
Her words cut him deeper than any blade and he looked away, unable to bear her gaze.
...jeez, when did you get so damn feisty?"
Sometimes he forgot how fragile the people of this world were. He'd been trained for combat all his life, but that had been against actual people. Shinobi. Kunoichi. Ninja. It was so much easier than waging war against giant monsters that wanted nothing more than to devour you, than becoming one for the sake of duty. Levi and the veterans in the Survey Corps were already hardened to such things, of course, he knew that. But for Mina...perhaps he'd asked too much of her after all. This was a serious undertaking, and though she'd volunteered for it, she only now seemed to consider the consequences. And yet here she was, telling him not to be so foolish as to lose sight of himself. What if indeed.
What if?
What if something happened?
What if something went wrong?
"Alright, alright. I get ya." Picking himself up off the floor, the whiskered warrior thumbed a thin line of blood away from his cheek and stood. "You don't have to do this, you know. We can find someone else." A blaze of orange to the far east claimed his attention briefly, but he resolved to ignore the distant fire in favor of his distressed student. "Do you want me to take the needle away?"
Mina was silent for a very long time, her face contracting in veiled anguish.
Did she want him to take it?
Give someone else this burden?
It would be easy, so terribly easy...
On some level, the idea of becoming a titan-however briefly-terrified her more than words could describe. She'd nearly been devoured by one after all. That was a memory not so easily forgotten and one she still lost sleep over when she spent her nights alone. The idea of losing herself, the risk of being trapped as one of those beasts...was it worth the risk? Part of her craved vengeance for Marco and Connie, until now, the desire for that revenge had been more than enough. Yet here, now, at the last, she found herself hesitant. Supposedly by doing this she risked losing something far more precious. Her memories. Some might call it a risk to do so, others would call it necessary, yet to devour Reiner...
At length, she spoke:
"Armin once told me something." she replied quietly, staring stoically at the silent syringe in her hands. "Any human willing to change the world has to be able to abandon something important to them. Anyone pushed to the point of having to stave off monsters must in turn, be able to abandon their humanity. People cannot change anything unless they are able to throw things away." She felt Naruto's eye on her all the while as she spoke, ready to swoop in at a moments notice and relieve her of this burden if she so chose.
How sweet of him.
In the end, however, she made the conscious decision to grip the needle tight.
Behind her, the blond arched an eyebrow.
"That boy's damn clever."
"So are you, when you want to be." Mina reminded him.
He sniggered, and just like that, the tension shattered.
"Me, a genius? That's rich. All I know how to do is fight."
"And love." she reminded him gently. "That's why...
"Mina?"
He started a bit when she looked at him now, eyes gleaming with unshed tears.
"I love you. You know that, right?"
Naruto's smile vanished, fading into confused concern.
"Um...!" her face grew hot and betrayed her immediately as she realized the gravity of her words, but resolved to move onward before she lost her nerve. "I...ah...that is...I just wanted to say it!" flustered, she jerked her hand out of his and curled it against her chest in a trembling salute. "In case this doesn't work...I...well...! Thank you. For everything. Even if this affects my memories, I'll never forget you. Ever." Right, then. Now or never. She would be a coward no longer, and she would do her duty. With a sharp intake of breath, she braced herself for the worst.
"Here goes!"
A snake of unspoken dread coiled in Naruto's gut as her arm swung up.
"Now wait just a-
Mina responded by slamming the needle home in her arm and injecting the fluid.
The change was immediate.
It hurt.
It hurt it hurt it hurt it hurthurthurthurthurt!
A terrible scream tore its way free from her throat as all sense and the world fell away, muscle and bone writing into existence around her.
"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
The explosion that followed ripped Naruto from his feet and cast him into the air. Slamming into a tree he hissed out a breath and got his legs under him, gluing himself to the side of the mighty oak thanks to a judicious application of chakra. He remained standing only through sheer force of will, staring into the raging storm that had engulfed his student. He was only distantly aware of Levi landing beside him as he watched Mina's titan rapidly take shape, a towering twenty-meter behemoth that easily aped anything he'd seen before, barring the Colossal Titan itself.
"Oi, the brat really did it!" Levi exclaimed!
It would seem that she had, Naruto mused, watching Mina's titanized body stumble upright. Its wide, expressive eyes reminded him of her instantly, as did her hair, now a curtain of ebony framing her overly large face in disturbing relief. Shifting restlessly on long legs, she turned her face upward and gazed intently at the two men on the tree with blank eyes. Slowly, she shuffled forwards, the ground quaking with every step. Thanks to her newfound height they were well within her reach. A massive hand rose ponderously towards them, its intentions painfully clear.
Levi swore, retreating to the upper branches.
"Shit!"
Well, Naruto decided, that just about summarized things.
Thankfully, he had prepared for such an eventuality.
Inhaling sharply, he kneaded chakra in his lungs.
Gathered up all of his strength.
Sucking in a deep breath.
Then he roared.
"NO!"
The resultant shockwave didn't so much hurt Mina as it did stun her; a veritable wave of chakra-enhanced sound slamming her down to the forest floor in a single, crushing command. Doubtlessly such a loud roar would draw titans from miles around but at the moment, this was the least of his concerns. He just needed to break through to the girl inside the titan, to stir her memory, if only for a moment. If she could just remember why she had become a titan in the first place and devour the possessor of the Armored Titan, then...!
"Not us, Mina!" He shouted again in that deep, resonating voice, thrusting his hand forward. "Reiner! Eat Reiner!"
Rubbing his ringing ears, Levi shot him a dark look.
"What the hell was that for?"
Naruto flung up an arm.
"Wait."
Slowly, painstakingly, the titan that was Mina turned its gaze southward, following the direction he'd indicated.
Toward Reiner.
She turned her head, looking back at them.
Reiner.
Back to Reiner.
Slowly, she smiled.
It was not a pleasant thing, that smile.
The scream that followed certainly didn't belong to Mina.
Dropping to all fours the massive titan uttered a heart-stopping hiss and pounced at Reiner, clearing the distance between her and the shifter in an instant. A hand slammed down on his struggling form before he could try and tumble away, trapping him against the ground and gouging great chunks of earth free from the soil in her overzealous attempt to capture him. In an instant, she had him trapped in her fist. A moment later and he was ascending, rising toward her gaping maw. He flailed frantically at her, to no avail; his blows bounced harmlessly off her hands and follwedby her mouth, then teeth as she relentlessly forced him upward.
"Stop!" Distant words reached her ears, as though spoken from a great distance. "Please! I surrender!"
Had she been human, she would have perhaps felt some felt some guilt for her actions.
In his final moments, she never heard Reiner's shrill pleas for mercy.
Clamping down hard on his head, she tasted blood.
And her world changed forever.
(...?...)
Mina gasped.
It was the very first rational thought her brain allowed in what felt like a very long time. Her lungs burned with a thousand fires, feeling as if they hadn't drawn breath in an age. Who was she? Were was she? What had happened? She choked out a breath again and found herself adrift in darkness, as though someone had snuffed out all the light in the world. Even gravity had abandoned her leaving her alone in the void, naked as the day she'd been born. So distracted was she, that she didn't even think to preserve her own modesty. Who am I? Even that simple memory eluded her as she lay there, black hair hung around her head like a dark halo, partially obscuring her vision.
Let go.
The low rumbling voice startled her so badly that she flailed upright, thrashing at nothing.
"Who's there?!"
Let go.
A spark of anger enabled her to right herself completely in the abyss, but did nothing to warm the chill in her bones. The darkness seemed to press in on her now, anxious to snuff her out. With every fiber of her being she resisted, not knowing why but only that she mustn't give in.
"Where am I?"
Let go of everything.
Still the voice droned at her, urging her to let go. To give in. Let go of what, exactly? Give in to who? She felt as though she were forgetting something horribly important, but her mind refused to recall this. Like a word unspoken, dangling at the tip of her tongue. Stubbornly, she clawed at it, trying to remember. So close! Just out of reach!
Let go.
No.
The refusal to relinquish her sense of self brought with it something she'd forgotten.
A name.
Mina.
Her name was Mina.
She was a ninja.
Shinobi.
Logic and sense proved themselves slow to return indeed, but once they did she almost found herself wishing she hadn't. Memories both hers and not entirely her own danced in her mind, sizzling down her synapses as sparks would a fire. She beheld a distant island, a towering wall, saw her friend devoured by a titan. Charged headlong through a wall. Had she done that? She didn't recall. Everything proved fuzzy, her own life mired in images she didn't recognize, scenes of a city she'd never seen before, faces she didn't recognize. Names and places she'd never known. Eldia? Marley? No! These weren't her thoughts! She clawed at her skull to no avail in spite of her efforts, it all flooded her without remorse.
Let go of everything.
"Wait, that's not...I didn't...
Let go.
Ah.
These must be Reiner's memories.
Let go of everything.
But there was more now; a thousand scenes danced before her eyes, past, present and future.
"You speak of love and bonds as if they're strength. Compassion. Power. Tell me...
"Don't!"
...what would happen if someone CUT them?"
"I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING!"
"Its time to end it, Naruto."
"Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
"MINA!"
A thin shaft of light burst through the darkness abruptly.
And from that darkness a hand reached for her.
...Naruto?'
She knew that arm. She recognized the circular mark upon its palm, the scars etched into the forearm. She'd traced them countless times with her fingers, memorized every inch of it and its owner. The voice, his face, merely confirmed her suspicions. A spark of remembrance in her found itself fanned, bursting into a firestorm of recollection. Ah. Now she remembered. Who she was. Her purpose-nay her very reason for existence-for surviving, thus. Jumbled though her memories might yet be, she still remembered her promise.
She could never forget him.
After all, she loved him.
Flailing, Mina grasped the outstretched arm with all her might...
...and opened her eyes to a new world.
A/N: Hooray for happy endings! Is this a happy ending? Hmm. Good lord I am TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRED! I pulled an all nighter to write this and I've got a super long shift tomorrow! Still, there we are! MARCO IS ALIVE! How, you ask? Did he fake his death? He did indeed. Did Naruto know? He certainly did not. Don't worry, its all part of the plan. Answers aplenty next chapter! A lot happened in this chapter and more will in the next. Is Zeke down for the count? Who knows?
Only a few chapters left now!
Yes, I know, I KNOW, you guys and gals all want the Annie and Petra scene. These last few chapters have been heavy on action, as one might expect. It's coming, but it just hasn't played out yet. I didn't want to shoehorn it in here. Next chapter for sure! Plenty of romance abounds!
Also, let's establish a list of the Titan Shifters, neh?
Naruto= Asura Titan. (Original)
Zeke= Beast Titan.
Eren= Attack Titan + Coordinate.
Pieck= Cartman Titan.
Ymir= Dancing Titan.
Annie= Female Titan.
Mina= Armored Titan.
Bertholdt=Colossal Titan (Not for long!)
And there we go! Hope you guys and gals enjoyed this chapter!
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly?
And of course, the preview!
(Preview)
"MARCOOOOOOOO!"
"Ow! Not the ribs, Annie! They're sore!"
"How in the HELL are you alive?!"
Marco cracked a small eye smile.
"Well, sensei...
"Historia will be queen after this. And you're going to marry her."
"HA?!
"Have a problem with that, Ymir? Isn't that what you wanted."
"I...that's not...you can't...!
"Can. Am. Did."
"HEY!"
R&R~!