Historia looked towards the titan forest. The scouts made it in time, but the sun was very low on the horizon. If they wanted to save Eren, they needed to hurry.

Suddenly a bright flash could be seen within the forest.

"A flash?!" Mikasa cried out.

"I just saw a blink of light coming from inside!" Historia yelled to the commander.

"We must assume it's the light from a titan transformation!" Armin concluded.

A few titans could be seen on the outskirts of the forest. If they wanted to get in, they needed a diversion.

"ALL TROOPS, DEPLOY!" Commander Erwin ordered "FIND EREN AND RECOVER HIM!"

"WE BELIEVE THAT THE ENEMY HAS ALREADY TRANSFORMED! WE'RE NOT HERE TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY! GETTING EREN BACK IS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!"

As Historia rode towards the tall trees, she readied her maneuvering equipment. She could already see some losses on their side.

"Keep the horses together!" Armin yelled towards one of the garrison soldiers.

"Scatter and find the enemy! Then, notify all other units!"

Historia jumped off her horse, instantly launching her gear. They started to swish around the forest. It wasn't that large, but currently the time wasn't on their side.

As she passed over another fallen tree, she looked in the distance. Suddenly, she saw a movement on the opposite side of the forest.

"Everyone!" Historia shouted, alerting the scouts "they're on the other side!"

She swished forward at breakneck speed.

'All of our advantage will disappear once they exit this forest' Historia thought to herself with determination.

She wasn't close with Eren during training. She didn't even know him all that well. The only thing she knew was that he risked his life to save her earlier today. And while Krista would do the same out of some absurd notion of selflessness, Historia felt indebted to the boy.

As she flew faster and faster, she could finally see her destination. The armoured titan was running at full speed. Historia looked forward and saw that they were nearing the edge of the forest.

"Historia!" The girl in question looked at the source of the voice.

Her friends managed to catch up with her.

"We won't be able to get them here!" She yelled towards Armin as they reduced the distance to Reiner's titan.

Fortunately for them, the moment they flew out of the forest they came across their horses, led by the garrison squad.

"Don't stop!" Armin yelled, as they switched to horseback.

"They're not going too fast for us!" Jean cried out "we can make it to them!"

"Even if we do catch up to it, we can't stop it…!" Armin shouted.

When they were close enough, they could see that Bertholdt had Eren strapped to his back. Seeing that, Mikasa launched her anchors towards them.

"Reiner!" The tall boy cried out "protect us!"

Right before Mikasa slashed at him, the armoured titan surrounded his fellow with his hands. The blades shattered upon hitting the armoured plates, but now they could reach Reiner's titan without being hit.

Historia launched herself towards the place Eren was being kept in.

"Stop, Eren!" She could hear Berthold yell from within "hold still!"

"You're asking too much there, Bertholdt!" Jean taunted the tall boy "It's impossible to calm him down! Trust me, I know! I hate that about him too!"

"We can deal with him together! Just come out of there!"

Connie reached Reiner's titan as well.

"Bertholdt, tell me it's not true!" He yelled at them disbelievingly "Reiner…? Were you deceiving us all this time…? How could you…?"

"Wait a second…" Jean started again "are you planning to just run away like this? You guys can't do that… Three years ago, we were under the same roof, laughing and crying together…"

"Bertholdt… You made bad sleeping posture into an art form! We started looking forward to your new creation every morning! We'd use it to predict the weather…"

"Now… I can't believe you could sleep at all… Right next to the victims of your crimes!"

"Was it al a lie…?" Connie asked the two "…What you said about how we could all survive together…? When you said we'd all live to be old men, and we'd go drinking together…?"

"Tell me… Both of you… Just what were you thinking all this time?"

Apart from loud footsteps of the armoured titan, silence was filling the air.

"None of that matters anymore" Mikasa finally said "just focus on slicing up the joints…"

"…Do you really think…" Bertholdt suddenly spoke from within "…that anyone wants to kill people…?!"

That sentence shocked the recruits.

"What kind of person would do this for fun?!" Bertholdt continued with a shaky voice "who would want to do this?!"

"…With what we did… of course you despise us…! We can never take any of it back… But we couldn't come to terms with our sins… When we were pretending to be soldiers, it was a little bit easier…"

Historia widened her eyes. Did the two traitors suddenly feel sorry? Or was there something bigger at play?

"Connie! Jean!" The tall boy shouted out "it's true that we deceived you, but it wasn't all lies! We really did think of you as friends! I know we don't have the right to apologize… But please… someone… I'm begging you… Someone find us…!"

The recruits were silent.

"Bertholdt" Mikasa started again "give Eren back…"

"…I can't do that…" The boy in question responded "…Someone has to do this… someone has to get this blood on their hands…"

"ALL OF YOU, GET AWAY FROM THERE!" The garrison soldier who was keeping their horses shouted out.

Historia turned around.

What she saw was truly extraordinary.

Commander Erwin was leading a horde of titans right towards them.

"EVERYONE! JUMP OFF RIGHT NOW!"

Historia didn't waste a single second. As they all returned to horseback, they tried to avoid the incoming titans.

"ALL UNITS, DISPERSE!" Commander Erwin shouted out "GET AWAY FROM THE TITANS!"

As Historia rode away to safety, she looked towards the armoured titan. It slammed right into the titans and seemed to be in big trouble. Under regular circumstances it would be good for them, but right now, Eren was there too.

"What's going on…?" Jean asked "…is this hell…?"

"No!" The commander replied, "we're just getting started!"'

"ALL UNITS!" He shouted an order "CHARGE!"

"THIS MOMENT WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF HUMANITY! IF WE LOSE EREN, HUMANS WILL NEVER AGAIN INHABIT THIS LAND!"

"TAKE EREN BACK AND RETREAT IMMEDIATELY!"

"DEDICATE YOUR HEARTS!"

As the scouts advanced, Historia could see that Reiner unfolded his arms, to fight the incoming titans.

"He let go!" Jean cried out "now's our chance!"

"ADVANCE!" Commander Erwin yelled again.

A moment right after, a titan bit him by the arm, taking him off his horse.

This sight had frozen the blood within Historia's veins.

"Commander…!"

"ADVANCE!" The commander yelled even louder, still hanging from the beast's mouth "EREN'S RIGHT THERE!"

His words reassured all scouts. They rode between the titans which were standing in their way. The initial charge took many lives, but they managed to get through. The armoured titan was right in front of them.

Seeing that, Mikasa launched herself towards Eren.

Suddenly a titan's hand grabbed her.

"Take your hands off her!" Jean yelled swishing over to help the girl.

More scouts tried to reach Eren, but this time, Reiner was prepared. He swatted them off with a single motion of his hand.

'What else can be done?' Historia asked herself as she rode closer.

"Bertholdt!" Armin cried out as he landed on Reiner's head "Are you really sure about this…? You're going to go home and leave your friend behind?"

That seemed to tick Bertholdt off.

"He knew the danger of the situation!" The tall shifter shouted back.

"That's too bad…" Armin responded "…Marcel's cries are really unbearable…"

The tall boy looked him with wide eyes.

"The wounds on his body may heal… But he can't make the pain go away…"

As Armin said that, Reiner threw a punch towards him. That was an opening they needed.

Suddenly, commander Erwin appeared from below cutting unprotected Bertholdt right through the chest. The cut was too shallow to actually kill the boy, but it was enough to cut whatever straps were keeping Eren on Bertholdt's back.

Seeing that the boy was falling, Historia launched herself in the air, catching Eren mid-flight.

"ALL UNITS, RETREAT!" Commander yelled the order.

Historia rode with Eren, away rom the titans. She tried to look if the boy was okay, and fortunately he seemed to be awake.

BOOOM!

A titan fell right behind her horse. The sheer force threw both her and Eren in the air.

As Historia raised herself up, she could see two titans approaching them. She looked around. It really seemed like hell had been let loose. Her comrades were desperately fighting for their lives. Behind them, Reiner was slowly approaching, with a new strategy of throwing titans.

Eren was trying to sit up. Historia pulled out the same knife she found in Utgard castle. She quickly cut the rope which was constraining the boy.

"I'll transform!" Eren cried out once she removed his gag "stay back!"

As she complied, Eren brought his partially healed hand to his mouth.

Historia closed her eyes and steeled herself for his transformation.

Seconds were passing by, and nothing was happening.

She opened her eyes, to see Eren bleeding profusely from his hands. He was just standing there, hopelessly.

"I can't…" He said as he fell to his knees "…just why…?"

Their only hope was gone. Historia closed her eyes again. For the second time this day, she prepared herself for her imminent death.

"…Thank heavens you're alive!" A new voice suddenly exclaimed.

As Historia opened her eyes, she saw a face she wasn't expecting to see again.

"The two of you fought well…" Dina said as she stood between them and the approaching titans "…let me take over from here…"

"Dina…?" Eren asked with his mouth agape.

"Don't worry Eren…" She said as she smiled at the boy. She looked towards Historia "…nice knife. Would it hurt you too much if I borrowed it for a while?"

With her mouth wide open, Historia slowly crawled towards the blonde woman.

"Thank you…" Dina said as she took the knife from her hand "…now stay back!"

"Wait!" Historia cried out "miss Fritz…!"

The woman in question turned towards her. She slowly brought the knife to her hand. As she clenched her fist over the blade, she smiled again.

"My name is Dina Yeager…" She said as she sliced through her palm.

A sudden burst of energy erupted from her spot.