A powerful wave of energy blew hard, right at the two teenagers. As the humongous body started appearing from thin air, Historia held onto Eren.

"That's it!" The boy cried out "if someone from the Reiss family becomes a titan, then he can just eat me here!"

"It's fine!" he yelled as Historia desperately tried to unshackle his legs "run!"

"No!" the blonde girl replied when she finally managed to find the right key.

"Why?!" Eren asked with tears in his eyes.

"Because I said so!" she replied "if you lost any will to fight, do it for me! I will be your reason!"

Suddenly, the boy turned back. Even though the blood was covering his face, the shock plastered across it was still visible.

"I promise!" Historia said with newfound bravery "if you don't care about your own freedom, fight for mine!"

"Eren! Please!"

As she said that, a strong wind blew her away.

"Historia!" Eren yelled as he desperately tried to rip out of his shackles.

Right before the girl hit the opposite wall, Dina caught her.

"Are you okay?!" The woman yelled at the girl.

"Dina…?!"

Suddenly, the rest of Eren's friends, along with captain Levi, appeared.

"Give me the keys!" The small captain shouted, reaching out to Historia.

"Captain…!" The shackled boy exclaimed hoarsely "everyone…!"

Eren couldn't believe his friends were risking their lives for him again.

"Quick!" Levi yelled as they hurriedly fit the keys into the locks "before the roof collapses!"

Just as the huge chunk of ceiling broke away, Eren had been released from the shackles.

"Move!" The captain cried out as he dragged the boy away from under the falling rock.

"Really" Levi said as all of them stuck to the wall "just how much shittier this day can get?!"

Before them, Rod Reiss's titan body was trying to stand up from the ground.

"That thing looks bigger than the colossus…!" Mikasa exclaimed.

"This is bad…" Jean said, "there's no way out!"

'Everyone's going to die' Eren thought as he looked at his friends.

'Should I turn into a titan? No. The ceiling's caving in. My titan's not big enough to hold it back.'

"I'm sorry, everyone!" He said as he wiped the tears off his face "I'm useless! I've always been!"

Suddenly he noticed something weird. Rod Reiss's pouch was lying just next to him. From the bag, a bottle fell out.

'Armoured?' He read the label.

"What now?" Jean asked "you want to play the tragic hero? You've been able to settle everything on your own before, haven't you?!"

"Quit sobbing!" Connie yelled "this isn't the first time it's been this bad!"

"Not that I'd like to get used to it!" Sasha added.

Eren looked at the giant titan. Not only was it gushing a strong wind at them, but it was also producing a lot of hot steam.

"It'd be hard to escape even if we didn't have to carry Eren and Historia…!" Levi admitted.

"The heat from that titan…" Mikasa said "we'll probably be burned if we get any closer…"

"What else can we do but fly out?!" Sasha cried out.

Was it always supposed to end like this? In what seemed to be his last moments, Eren looked towards the woman who had become his mother.

In her eyes, he didn't see condemnation, nor disappointment. Those eyes were kind and caring. The same kind of eyes, his real mother had.

"Eren!" He suddenly heard Historia yell "fight!"

'I'm sorry' the boy thought as he grabbed the bottle and ran forward 'I want you to let me do it just once…'

'Let me believe in myself…'

Eren crushed the bottle with his teeth, drinking a small amount of the liquid in the process.

Suddenly, everything around him went blank.

He didn't feel anything. The darkness overwhelmed him, but he knew that his friends were safe.

"Eren…!" Said boy heard someone cry out his name.

Just as quick as everything went dark, a light shone onto him.

He saw that Dina was holding him.

"He's okay!" Mikasa yelled at the rest.

"Hey!" Connie shouted from above "I found a way out!"

As Eren slowly raised up he saw what really happened. He somehow managed to harden his whole titan body. Strong crystal supports had erected from it, saving the cave from a complete collapse.

"Looks like you've mastered the hardening" Levi concluded "I'd say this is pretty big news."

Suddenly, Eren remembered something important.

"Where's that bottle?" He asked "I happened to drink from a bottle labelled armoured, and when I turned into a titan…"

"We found Rod Reiss's bag, but…" Historia said as she showed him some shredded pieces of material "none of the contents survived…"

He looked at Dina.

"It was probably a special serum" the woman explained "sometimes, when you make serum using the spinal fluid taken from various shifters, it can help you unlock certain abilities…"

Now, they had a way to plug the hole in wall Maria. With this newfound power, it was just as easy as closing a door.

"Eren" Armin exclaimed as he helped him up when they were climbing out of the cave "thank goodness, you're alive…"

"Armin…" Eren said as he exited the cavity "where is that titan?"

The blonde boy motioned for him to look to the side. When Eren turned his head, he saw that most of the underground complex collapsed. Not only that, but there was also a huge trace of something big that crawled away.

"I thought the world was coming to an end" Armin said "the ground broke apart, and just when it was all about to collapse… That thing came crawling out."

He saw Rod Reiss's titan in the distance.

"It's nothing like what we've seen before" the blonde boy continued "it's about twice the size as the colossal titan. It seems to be extremely hot. All the trees around it are catching fire."

"And it's ignoring nearby humans."

Levi looked at the giant beast crawling in the distance.

"We're going after that titan…"

As they rode in a wagon, Hange explained what happened while Eren and Historia had been detained.

"So" Eren started "when commander Erwin was about to be executed, the military enacted a coup and took power…"

"Yes" The research division captain said "after we took hold of the governmental documents, we easily found the Reiss chapel. The people, especially the nobles aren't the greatest enthusiasts of the new regime, but after we crown the last living daughter of Rod Reiss as the new queen, everything should turn to normal."

Eren looked at Historia. The girl didn't seem completely happy, but nodded encouragingly, nonetheless.

"That is" Hange continued "if we manage to beat that monstrosity. I assume that you do, in fact, posses the power of the founding titan, is that correct?"

"That's correct" he replied "but I'm unable to use it…"

Dina looked at him with wide eyes.

"What?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Only the descendant of the royal family can use this power" Historia slowly explained "but even if that person possessed it, he still wouldn't be able to use it."

"Why…?" Dina asked with a shocked expression.

"Once the founding titan is inherited, the will of the first king is inherited as well" the blonde girl said, "it is some kind of a vow that effectively blocks any king from using the power of the founding titan against the wishes of the first king."

Upon hearing that, Dina slouched over.

"How…" she started "…are we supposed to save our people, then…?"