Eren swung his fist into the Titan's face, another savage roar emanating from his lips.
DIE!
The impact caused the Titan's face to cave in, and it stumbled backwards. Not giving it a chance to recover, Eren rushed forward, grabbed its neck with both hands, and crushed the nape into a pulp.
I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!
Another Titan came up behind him, but Eren was ready for it, and stuck his leg out, causing it to trip and fall. Before it hit the ground he grabbed its arms, and after planting his foot on the Titan's back he pulled on the arms as hard as he could until they were ripped from the Titan's body. The now armless Titan let out a low moan of pain that was music to Eren's ears before he raised his foot up and stomped on its nape.
TAKE THAT YOU BASTARD!
He looked up to see that there were no more Titans nearby, but he could see them gathering around a building in the distance.
As he noticed this, his rage cooled slightly.
What is going on? Hmm. Since I'm the same size as these buildings, I must be having an unusually vivid dream about killing Titans.
He shrugged and raised his fists as he jogged toward the Titan infested building.
Well, I guess I'll just roll with it until I wake up. I can't say I like the idea of actually being a Titan, but it does make killing other Titans much easier.
He rushed at the building with a feral roar, and once again began to tear into the monsters that threatened humanity. Armed with the knowledge it was all a dream, and that he had the strength of a Titan, he lashed out against the other Titans with unrestrained fury, painting the environment with the blood and gore of his enemies.
Alas, his fun wasn't meant to last, as eventually his stamina began to run out, and the Titans finally managed to overwhelm him, pinning him against a nearby building and eating his flesh, destroying his arms in the process.
He let out an angry growl, but didn't struggle too much.
So this is how this dream ends. I guess I should have expected that. Still, it was fun while it lasted, and really I'd much rather wake up and take on the Titans for real. I can't wait to-
His eyes widened in shock as he noticed a tall, thin Titan walking down the street toward him, and all at once his mind was flooded with rage.
YOU BASTARD! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KILLED THOMAS!
Gaining another burst of energy, he pushed himself through the crowd of Titans and clamped his jaws onto the neck of the monster that had killed his friend. He then swung it around to crush the bodies of the other Titans before hurling it at high speed into the last Titan standing, killing both of them instantly.
He let out a triumphant roar.
I GOT YOU YOU SON OF A BITCH!
The last of his strength used up, he collapsed to the ground.
Ha, serves you right for killing Thomas.
He froze. Wait a minute…
As he recalled Thomas's death, his memories of what had happened immediately afterwards came flooding back.
Chasing after the Titan in a rage, getting his leg bitten off by another Titan, crashing onto the roof, seeing Armin about to be eaten, saving him, getting his arm bitten off, and being swallowed by a Titan.
And now here he was, lying on the ground with his arms missing.
Huh?
As he thought it all through, he realized that he must have somehow escaped from the Titan, but was critically wounded, and ended up having a feverish dream in which he was a powerful Titan killing other Titans.
But now he'd woken up, and the fantasy he'd been enjoying was now gone to be replaced by harsh reality.
He could hear the distant thud of footsteps, and knew that the only possible source of the sound was another Titan.
He felt a grim sense of resignation pass through him. He didn't want to die, not before killing all the Titans, but his strength was gone, and he wouldn't be able to defend himself without arms. This looked like the end for him.
He let out a sigh through his nose.
Armin...Mikasa...please be safe.
He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the end.
Suddenly the footsteps ended, and a dull boom permeated the air.
He turned his head, and saw the body of a Titan collapsed on the ground further down the street.
And perched on top of the Titan's carcass was the soldier that had killed it.
Eren's eyes widened.
Mikasa!
The raven haired girl stood motionless on her felled prey, and was staring at him uncertainly.
Why isn't she coming to help me? She's looking right at me.
He shifted to try to get a better look at her, and as he did so he realized that he was propping himself up slightly with his left arm.
He stared at it in shock.
What...I...I thought it got bitten off. But it's...back? How is that possible?
He pushed himself to his feet, feeling thoroughly confused, and as he did so he realized two things.
The first was that he was naked, his uniform completely gone.
But as alarming as that realization was, it was nothing compared to the second realization, namely that he was just as tall as the nearby buildings.
What the hell?
The slim hope he had that he was somehow standing in a miniature recreation of a city vanished as he spotted several other members of the 104th standing on a nearby roof.
Jean, Marco, and Armin were looking up at him apprehensively.
Eren looked down at his hands, which had started to tremble.
This...all of this feels too vivid, too real, to be a dream. And unless the city and my friends have somehow magically been shrunk...the only explanation is…
He lifted his hands up and began to feel his face, panicking slightly as he realized just what was going on.
I've...I've somehow become a Titan?! It wasn't a dream?! This is real?! How is that possible?! Is it permanent?! Is there no way for me to become human again?!
He glanced anxiously at his friends, only to realize that they had gone.
They probably just think I'm some strange abnormal. Which, I suppose, I am. What...what do I do now?
He peered through his fingers, and suddenly spotted the inner gate in the distance.
He froze as memories of the Armored Titan barreling through Shiganshina's inner gate came flooding back.
Well...I can't say I like the idea of being a Titan...especially not the idea of being a Titan for the rest of my life...but...it would make it a lot easier to fight against the other Titans. And if that Armored bastard makes another appearance, I might be the only one who could stop it.
His eyes narrowed, and he began to make his way over to the inner gate.
Most of the Titans that had gathered at the inner gate were too focused on the humans they could sense on the other side of the wall to pay attention to anything behind them, and so Eren was able to kill them all with little effort.
While earlier he'd been consumed with rage as he tore apart the Titans, now he was too confused and concerned about his situation to feel any real anger or passion anymore.
Once the area was cleared of Titans, Eren stood directly in front of the inner gate, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of the Armored Titan.
He was slightly worried that one of the soldiers might try to attack him, but so far they hadn't, and he was hopeful that his actions against the other Titans were enough to demonstrate that he wasn't like them.
Eventually he spotted two soldiers that had descended from the wall and landed on a nearby roof.
His eyes widened in shock.
Armin! Mikasa! What are you two doing here?
He briefly thought about trying to communicate to them who he was, but quickly dismissed that as a bad idea. He'd tried speaking earlier just to see if he could, but it seemed that his Titan mouth and vocal cords were not at all designed with human speech in mind, as all he had managed were some growls and grunts, neither of which would be of any use if he wanted to do anything other than frighten people.
He subtly shifted himself so that he was closer to his two friends while keeping his gaze fixed on the main street of Trost.
"How are we supposed to do this Armin? I know we said that we would try to communicate with this abnormal, but I don't see how that's going to be possible."
"I know. I'm thinking, I'm thinking…"
So, they want to communicate with me? Well, maybe if we stick with yes or no questions that could work, at least for now.
Eren turned to look at them, and they both froze.
Mikasa looked wary, while Armin looked slightly terrified.
Armin forced a smile. "H-hello there! Thank you for saving us earlier!"
Eren nodded.
Armin's eyes widened. "Wait. Can you understand us?"
Eren nodded again.
"Wow." Mikasa said faintly.
Looking slightly more confident, Armin asked another question.
"Are you here to help us?"
Another nod.
"Can you...will you do what you can to help us stop the other Titans?"
A firm nod.
"Great!" Armin let out a relieved smile. "Listen, I have a plan, but we'll need to organize some things with the rest of the Garrison. Just...just stay here until we get things ready, okay?"
Eren nodded once more.
A smile lit up Mikasa's face. "Well, Armin, if it's being honest, this just might work."
"Yeah. I just hope the others will be willing to trust it."
I can hear you guys you know.
Eren shook his head as his two friends scaled back up the wall. He didn't know exactly what Armin had in mind, but his friend was smart. If anyone could get them out of this, it was him.
A short time later, Armin and Mikasa returned with several Garrison soldiers in tow.
One of the female soldiers looked at Eren with a mixture of skepticism and nervousness.
"You say that it can understand us?"
Eren looked at her and nodded, much to her astonishment.
"Wow, it really can!" Another one of the soldiers exclaimed.
The leader looked unsure. "It could just be reacting instinctively to our voices and body language."
He held up his hand, three of his fingers on display. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Eren raised his hand, with three fingers extended.
The leader gaped in astonishment. "Um, how many soldiers are gathered on this roof right now?"
Eren raised five fingers.
"Shit, it looks like it really can understand human speech, at least to some extent."
He glanced at the two recruits. "If it obeys our orders, this might actually work."
"R-right."
Armin raised his voice. "You said you would help us, yes? Well, we have a plan."
Eren leaned in closer, making the soldiers slightly nervous, but Armin did his best to remain calm while he explained his plan.
After luring most of the Titans into one corner of the district, they would have Eren pick up the boulder and use it to manually plug the hole in the wall, with the advance team protecting him from any Titans that might happen to get in his way.
"And that's it. It's a fairly straightforward plan." Armin concluded.
He turned back toward Eren. "Do you think you can do it?"
Eren nodded without hesitation.
In his Titan form, lifting such a boulder would be no problem.
Okay, maybe it was a slight problem.
He was still able to do it, but the boulder was much heavier than he had anticipated, and it was putting a considerable strain on his new Titan body. Just putting one foot in front of the other was difficult, and he was completely unable to defend himself at all, being entirely dependent on the advance team for protection.
Fortunately, it appeared that most of the Titans had successfully been lured away, with only a handful still in the way that needed to be cut down or distracted.
Still, Eren wasn't at all happy about Armin and Mikasa being a part of the advance team. He'd been strongly tempted to try to convince them to go back up the wall where it was safe. But he couldn't speak, and any other nonverbal attempts to communicate what he wanted them to know could easily have been misinterpreted as an act of aggression by the nervous Garrison soldiers, so he'd reluctantly restrained himself and hoped that they would be okay.
It gave him just one more reason to plug the hole as quickly as possible.
It seemed to take an agonizingly long time to reach the destroyed gate, each footstep being a laborious effort, and every time he saw a soldier eaten or crushed by a Titan he felt a flare of anger and regret.
But at last, finally, he made it to the breach, and with an almighty roar he flung the boulder off of his shoulders and into the hole, sealing it and ending the Titan incursion into Trost.
His task finished, he found himself unable to ignore the exhaustion that had settled into his bones, and he slumped over against the boulder, his consciousness leaving him.
Eren...
If you want to save them all...
If you want to save Armin and Mikasa…
You must master this power.
Armin and Mikasa stood on the Titan's back, in awe of their savior.
"We did it!" Mikasa exclaimed. "It actually saved us!"
"But what do we do now?" Armin cried. "It looks like the abnormal has passed out, and considering that that boulder probably weighed more than it did I can't blame it. How are we supposed to keep the other Titans away from it?"
As he was speaking, several Titans that had been lured away by the Garrison advance team began to walk back toward the wall, their hungry gaze fixed on the abnormal Titan.
But before they could get any closer, they suddenly fell to the ground, dead.
A second later, a soldier with the wings of freedom on his cloak landed on the abnormal Titan's back.
Armin and Mikasa's eyes widened as they recognized who it was.
Captain Levi stared at them coolly. "Alright, now's the part where one of you explains exactly what I'm looking at."
With the abnormal secured and the breach sealed, the rest of the battle went fairly smoothly. Most of the Titans were disposed of by the Garrison by the wall mounted cannons, which fired continuously all through the night and into the day. The Scouts dealt with any Titans that attempted to approach the unconscious abnormal, and by the afternoon Trost was fully secured once more.
However, the cleanup would take quite some time, and there had been many casualties.
Walking through the dirty streets in an attempt to find and move the bodies of those who had died, Marco grimaced and held a cloth to his face.
"This is…"
Jean nodded, a haunted expression on his face. "I know."
A defensive perimeter had been formed around the boulder and the abnormal, because while they were grateful to the Titan for its help, they were still wary of the unknown, and wanted to be prepared in case it turned hostile.
Most of the soldiers guarding the perimeter were Scouts, though there were a few Garrison soldiers as well.
Hannes strolled up to the perimeter, a tired smile lighting up his face.
"Well, if it isn't our resident Titan whisperers."
Armin and Mikasa turned around, and their faces lit up.
"Hannes!"
He gave them a rough hug. "It's good to see you two. I'm glad you guys made it through okay."
His smile faded. "I...I heard about Eren."
Mikasa nodded, her eyes going cold, while Armin bit his lip, struggling to hold back tears.
Hannes sighed. "Well, he always was a reckless kid. But I think he'd be glad that you two are okay. And he'd definitely be happy to know that we managed to turn the tide against the Titans. Though he probably would have been shocked to know it was with the help of a Titan."
Hannes looked over, and managed to catch a glimpse of the Titan collapsed next to the boulder. "So that's the abnormal, huh? I've heard some people referring to it as the Rogue Titan, which seems fitting, given its unusual behavior for a Titan."
Mikasa nodded, her eyes slightly warmer. "Yes. It's...it's almost like a miracle. I…"
Suddenly, the Titan began to stir.
"Oh!" Mikasa gasped.
She abruptly began to run toward it.
Armin took after her, glancing back at Hannes apologetically. "Sorry, she wanted to be there when it woke up so she could thank it."
Hannes laughed. "That's fine."
While Mikasa and Armin ran over to the Titan, several Scouts were already nearby. Three of them were Erwin, who was observing the Titan with a neutral expression, Levi, who was watching it cautiously, and Hange, who was shaking with excitement.
"Hange, we really shouldn't be this close." Moblit said anxiously, tugging on her arm in a vain attempt to get her to step back.
"Don't be such a worrywart, Moblit, it's fine!" Hange exclaimed, her eyes wide in anticipation as the Titan slowly began to rise. "It helped seal the breach, so it's clearly on our side!"
"Maybe so, but you really should be more cautious. We don't know anything about it yet."
The Titan gave a big, toothy yawn, which cause Hange to shriek in excitement. The noise got the Titan's attention, and it froze, it's eyes widening as it realized it was surrounded on all sides by soldiers, most of whom looked nervous.
Hange, of course, was the one exception.
"Hello up there!" She yelled, waving her arms. "Can you understand me? Thank you for helping us! We're really grateful to you for saving Trost! Now what kind of abnormal are you? The others said you're intelligent, but to what extent? How much of the human language do you understand? What do you-"
"Hange, shut up." Levi said crossly. "Don't overwhelm it with questions. That's not a good idea, even if it can understand us."
Mikasa and Armin reached the Scouts, and the Titan's eyes softened when it noticed them.
Mikasa called out. "Thank you for your help!"
The Titan nodded, much to the soldiers astonishment and Hange's delight.
Armin felt intimidated, both by the Titan, and the numerous high ranking Scouts standing nearby, but he forced himself to remain calm, and asked the question that had been bothering him the most.
"Thank you! But, if you don't mind me asking, why did you help us?"
The Titan stared at him for a moment before reaching his hand out.
All the Scouts tensed, worried that it was about to grab Armin, but its hand fell far short of the young recruit.
Instead, using its index finger it began to carve something into the stone surface before it.
When it was done, it sat back, and they were able to see what it had carved.
I AM EREN
Mikasa's eyes widened in shock.
"Eren…" She whispered.
She looked up at the Titan. "Is it really you?"
The Titan nodded, and as she noted just how similar its eyes were to Eren's she felt her heart breaking, her grief fading away and replaced with a profound relief.
Before she knew what she was doing she had used her ODM gear to soar up to the Titans face and wrapped her arms around its cheek, her tears spilling out and involuntary cries emanating from her throat.
A low rumble issued from Eren's throat, and a few tears fell from his eyes as well.
"Eren?" Levi frowned.
Hange scratched her head, her enthusiasm fading slightly. "Hang on...wasn't that the name of one of the cadets that died in the battle?"
Armin nodded slowly, his face frozen in disbelief. "Yes. I...I saw him die. I saw him...get eaten."
He shuddered. "How...what is going on?"
After Mikasa had calmed down somewhat and moved onto Eren's shoulder, Hange resumed her questioning.
"So, your name is Eren? So that means you were originally human, but you somehow became a Titan? How did that happen?"
At once, Eren began to carve into the stone again. This time he carved a longer message.
MEMORIES FUZZY. DAD GAVE INJECTION AFTER MARIA BREACH. ANSWERS IN SHIGANSHINA BASEMENT.
Mikasa gasped. So then…
It was Dr. Yeager? Armin wondered.
Erwin stepped forward, looking intrigued.
"So, Eren, your father is the one who made you into this, and his basement could hold the answers to where the Titans and your abilities came from?"
Eren nodded.
Erwin rubbed his chin. "I see. From what I read in the reports, you were determined to join the Scouts. If you're still willing, we could definitely use your extraordinary ability to help in humanity's struggle to survive. And if we can make it to that basement, we might learn more about the Titans, and possibly even discover a way to return you to your human form. What do you say?"
Erwin, Levi, Hange, Armin, Mikasa, and the other soldiers looked at Eren expectantly.
Eren stared down at Erwin for a moment before giving his first heartfelt salute in Titan form.
Author's Note: So originally I'd meant to get this story out much earlier, but then the leaks for 139 came out, and, well, as you might have already guessed from the previous story, my attention was thoroughly occupied elsewhere. But after my version of the ending was finished and I'd had some time to process everything, I finally got around to finishing this one.
I've seen a number of AOT fan stories about what if Eren had been permanently fused to his Titan when he first transformed. The problem with these stories is that they're either not very good, or they get abandoned before they can really flesh the idea out properly. So I figured I'd try my hand at it here, as I do think it's a really interesting concept, one I may come back to in the future.
Anyways, be sure to let me know what you think, and stay tuned for more.