Previously:

"They're getting away with Eren…!!" Jean said. They could see him strapped to Bertolt's back, still unconscious.

"How are we supposed to catch them now?!" Peter asked.

"Horses…! Where are the horses?!" Heidi asked.

"Don't stop!" Hannes said.

"!!" Mikasa and Armin said.

"We'll follow them on horseback!!" Hannes said. Mikasa and Armin looked at him, distressed. Fortunately, at that moment, Phil came around with the horses. They quickly remounted their horses and took off after them. "We've got to get Eren back!! Even if it costs me my life..." Ymir and Bertolt looked back over their shoulders at the soldiers. They were gaining on them.


Chapter 34: Charge


Erwin was with a group of soldiers that were having trouble evading the titans. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the Armored Titan making a run for it. He saw Eren strapped to Bertolt's back. His decision was made in an instant.

"All teams!! I don't care if you've got titans tailing you!!" Erwin ordered, turning his horse to lead the charge. "Follow me!"

"Erwin, you devil…!!" said an MP, one of the men who had complained earlier about the lack of titans inside the walls. "Are you using us as bait again?!"

"That's not my intention!" Erwin replied. "The Garrison is fighting well! Do your duty as soldiers!! The Armored Titan is trying to carry Eren away!! We need to stop it by any means possible!"

"They're not going too fast for us!" Jean said as he pursued Reiner, Bertolt, and Ymir with his team.

"We can make it to them!" Peter agreed.

"If it shed the hard skin around its joints, the armored titan would be able to run faster," Armin said.

"Since it hasn't… it might not be able to run that far," Heidi said.

"But… even if we do catch up to it, we can't stop it…!" Armin said.

"No… There has to be some way," Mikasa said, furrowing her brow and gritting her teeth. "This time… I'm not going to hesitate." She glared at the Armored Titan's back. "I promise… to kill them. And that includes Ymir… if she gets in our way." Armin and Heidi stared at her. "I don't care what it takes… I'll kill them all."

"…" Heidi wasn't sure she could say the same thing with such conviction, not unless they were trying to kill her. "We should aim for the exposed joints behind the knee. That will at least slow them down, right?"

"You really think we can hit that kind of target while it's moving?!" Peter asked.

"We can try!" Heidi replied, furrowing her brow. They galloped together in formation towards Reiner. Ymir, Bertolt, and Eren.

Ymir, still riding on Reiner's back, pulled Historia out of her mouth.

"Koff! Koff!" Historia coughed and gasped for air.

"Krista!" Bertolt said, concerned.

"Haah… Koff! Haah..." Historia breathed deeply and slowly began to open her eyes. "Haah… Haah..." Her eyes widened slightly when she found herself staring into Ymir's titan face. Ymir tightened her grip on her. "Ugh…!" There was a rush of steam from the nape of Ymir's titan neck. "Ymir?!" Ymir pushed herself up to look at Krista with her human eyes.

"Koff!! Haah… Haah..." Ymir breathed hard. "Krista… No, Historia… Hk! I'm sorry. I ate you… Hck! Out of nowhere. Hack! Hnck! You… must be mad, right? Koff! Hack!"

"Hey…!" Krista said, furrowing her brow with concern. "Ymir… what's…?! What're you doing?! We came to rescue you and Eren—"

"You don't need to rescue me!" Ymir told her. "Just stay there and don't move! We're going with Reiner and Bertolt!! Both of us! Come with me! There's no future inside these walls!"

"Wha..." Historia said, confused.

"Hff! Hff! Okay, Historia? It's not so bad outside the walls," Ymir said. "There's no one out here… no one will say it'd be better… if you'd never been born."

"…?!" Krista gasped, her confusion deepening. "Yeah, I wouldn't expect the titans to be telling me something like that! They'd be too busy trying to eat me!!"

"W… We all have our shortcomings, right?!" Ymir said. "They're not so bad if you can just ignore that stuff!"

"Ymir?! None of what you're doing or saying… is making any sense at all!" Historia yelled. "… It must be..." Her eyes moved to Bertolt. "That Reiner and Bertolt… forced you to do this, right?"

"… It's the other way around..." Bertolt said quietly.

"That must be it, right?!" Historia said. "Right?! I'll fight together with you!! So just let go!! I don't care about your reasons or your secrets! No matter what happens! I'm on your side!!" Ymir gritted her teeth, feeling like she was going to cry. She looked at Historia again. "Ymir!!"

"Look… the Survey Corps is catching up," Bertolt said, glancing over his shoulder. "If we hadn't stopped, we could've gotten away faster… Now they're going to catch us because… we got reckless and brought Krista along! … Ahh…" He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Ymir… why?!" He looked up at Ymir again. "What did we go to all these lengths for…?! Have you changed your mind again? Have you decided to stay inside this wall with Krista? Well, Ymir?!" Ymir gritted her teeth.

"Ymir! Hurry!" Historia said urgently. "Let go!!" Ymir looked at her with wide eyes. She clenched her teeth.

"I can't!!" Ymir said. Historia stared at her, shocked. Ymir closed her eyes for a moment then looked at her again. "Historia… to be honest… I snatched you… to save myself..."

"…?!" Historia said.

"A long time ago, I stole the titan power from one of their people," Ymir said. "Their power is absolute inside or outside these walls, there's nowhere for me to run. At this rate, I'm going to be killed. But… if I help in handing you over to them… these two said they'd speak on my behalf… to get my crimes pardoned. It's because you're so important to the Wallists, who know the secrets of the walls." Historia stared at her with wide eyes. She remembered the snowy day on the mountain when Ymir revealed she knew who she was. "Back when the world changed… I thought that being with you… would be insurance for the near future." Historia remembered that when she asked if the reason Ymir stuck with her was something to do with her family, Ymir said it did. "I almost died fighting at the tower… and I just… couldn't take it anymore. I was scared of dying… I wanted someone to save me, somehow… I lied and told you I was doing this… all for you… but actually, it was all for my own sake." The wind blew Historia's bangs. Her eyes were hidden. "Please…!" Ymir begged anxiously. "Please save me!"For a moment all they could hear was the sound of Reiner's thunderous footsteps. Then, Historia spoke,

"Didn't I just tell you, Ymir…?" she said. Her bangs fell back into place. She was looking at her friends with eyes shining with determination. "No matter what happens… I'm on your side!"

—∞—

Eren began to regain consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself strapped to Bertolt's back. They were riding on Reiner. A small titan, which must have been Ymir, was clinging to Reiner's back next to them. Down below, he could see soldiers urging their horses to keep up, attempting to fight. Hannes tried to aim for the unprotected part of the joint behind Reiner's knee, but he couldn't hit it with him running. His blade snapped against the armor. Eren's eyes widened as the scene before him sank in. Heidi shot up after him, fired a grappling hook right into the soft tissue, and reeled herself in. She managed to slice the joint. Reiner stumbled, but he continued to limp forward, the wound was already steaming, knitting itself back together with fresh tissue. Reiner couldn't afford to stay injured. Heidi gritted her teeth in frustration as she landed back on her horse. She didn't have her usual speed. And the accuracy of that attack had more to do with luck than she would have liked.

"Nh?!" Eren said, turning his head to look at Bertolt.

"Ah…!!" Bertolt said, seeing he was awake. Eren glared at him. Before Eren could try to smash his head against Bertolt's, someone fired a grappling hook into the soft tissue on Reiner's neck. The soldier reeled himself in, blades drawn. But then a giant hand appeared next to Eren, and the grappling line was being pulled loose. Ymir held the line for a moment, then tossed the soldier away.

"!" he grunted as he hit the ground hard.

"Nnngh!!" Eren said, glaring at Ymir. His eyes widened when blood flew through the air the next second as Mikasa attacked Ymir, slicing one of her eyes.

"GYAAAAAAGH!" Ymir screamed. Mikasa quickly flew forward to keep up with them and fired a grappling hook.

"Hngh…!!" Bertolt exclaimed as he quickly maneuvered himself and Eren away from her, moving around to the front of Reiner's neck. "Reiner!! Protect us!!" Mikasa rushed toward him. She gritted her teeth as she moved in for the kill, but Reiner managed to slide his hand between her blade and Bertolt at the last second. Her blade snapped against his armor. Reiner was now running while holding his hands up to cover his neck. Mikasa glared at Bertolt through a gap between Reiner's fingers with dark eyes. Beads of sweat rolled down his face.

"Tch!!" Mikasa gritted her teeth, irritated that she had to dodge Ymir's attempt to grab her. "I knew it..." She fired another grappling hook and drew a fresh blade. "I'm going to have to… kill Ymir first!!" She flew at Ymir, prepared to end her.

"Mikasa, wait!!" Historia yelled, throwing herself in Mikasa's path, making her stop.

"Krista?!" Mikasa said, furrowing her brow.

"Wait…! Don't kill Ymir!" Historia pleaded.

"… I think that depends on her!" Mikasa shouted. "What will she do?! I'll kill anyone who gets in my way!! Choose!"

"Wait!!" Krista yelled. "Reiner and Bertolt will kill Ymir too if she doesn't do what they say! She doesn't have a choice!!"

"…!" Mikasa gritted her teeth. "There are only so many lives I can value. And… I decided who those people were six years ago. So… you shouldn't try to ask for my pity. Because right now, I don't have… time to spare… or room in my heart." Krista stared at her in shock. She could see from the dark look in Mikasa's eyes that she was dead serious. "Krista. Eren… or Ymir? Which one? Are you going to get in my way, too?"

"Gyaaagh!" Ymir growled menacingly.

"Stop, Ymir!!" Historia said urgently. "Don't fight back! You'll die! Don't move!" Mikasa waited a second to see how Ymir would respond. She stood down. Historia was surprised when they were joined by the rest of their friends. Mikasa moved to perch on Reiner's right clavicle as Jean landed on the left, Connie landed next to him, and Sasha landed next to him. Armin landed next to Mikasa, and Heidi landed next to him. They had Reiner's hands (and Bertolt and Eren) surrounded. At the same time, Eren started kicking against Reiner's hand.

"!" Eren grunted through the gag.

"Gah!" Bertolt said, getting squished between Eren and Reiner. "Stop, Eren! Hold still!"

"You're asking too much there, Bertolt," Jean said.

"?!" Bertolt and Eren gasped.

"You know it's impossible to calm him down, right?!" Jean continued. "He's loud and hopeless! Trust me, I know! I hate that about him, too! We can deal with him together. … C'mon, just come out of there."

"Bertolt… Give him back!" Mikasa demanded.

"Bertolt, tell me it's not true! Reiner?" Connie pleaded. "Were you deceiving us all this time…? How could you..."

"You guys! Tell us it's all a lie!" Sasha said.

"..." Heidi gritted her teeth. She had so many questions, but now that she was face to face with them again, all she could think about was her mother's death. Her mother, her aunt, and her uncle. How they were taken from her and Jacob by the two people before her. By people she thought were friends. "Why?!" she asked with tears in her eyes.

"..." Armin stared at Reiner's hands. How could they reach Bertolt and Eren?

"Heidi, be careful!" Peter called from his horse.

"Damn it… We'll wait a bit to see what happens," Hannes said. "Hm…?!"

"Wait, wait a second… are you just planning on running away like this?" Jean asked. "You guys can't do that… Three years ago, we were all under the same roof, laughing and crying together… Bertolt… 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… I…" He furrowed his brow. "I can't believe you could sleep at all… right next to the victims of your crimes!"

"Was it all a lie…?!" Connie asked. "What you said about how we could all survive together? When you said we'd live to be old men, and we'd go drinking together… was that all a lie? Tell me… both of you… What were you thinking all this time?!" Bertolt didn't know what to say.

"None of that matters," Mikasa said. "Just focus on taking their heads off. If you hesitate for even one moment, we'll never get Eren back. They're a threat to humanity. That's all." Inside Reiner's hand, Bertolt was getting anxious. Feeling guilty. He closed his eyes.

"D… Do you think… that anyone wants to kill people?!!" Bertolt yelled. The others stared at Reiner's hands with wide eyes. Heidi knew full well from her grandfather's stories that that kind of person did exist.

"Are you saying you didn't want to do it?" Heidi asked, furrowing her brow.

"What kind of person would do this for fun?!" Bertolt yelled. "Who would want to do this?! With what we did… of course you despise us… and want to kill us! We can never take any of it back..." Tears welled up in his eyes. He closed them. "But… we could not… come to terms with our sins… When we were pretending to be soldiers, it was a little bit… easier. It's not a lie, Connie! Jean!! 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… someone… please… someone… I'm begging you… Someone find us..." he cried. Inside her titan, Ymir's face formed an expression of pity.

'I see… They may be murderers, but they're also frightened children…' Heidi thought. 'He's clearly terrified. And not just of us.' She tightened her grip on her swords. 'Even so… they hurt the people I love… I can't forgive them for that! They're too dangerous!'

"Bertolt," Mikasa said coolly. "Give Eren back."

"… I can't do that," Bertolt said. Mikasa looked murderous. "Someone has to do this… Someone has to get… this blood on their hands..."

"Why?!" Heidi asked. "You still haven't told us why! Are you working for someone else? What reason could possibly justif—"

"All of you, get away from there!!" Hannes shouted up at them. They all looked down at him, surprised.

"Get out of there!!" Peter added anxiously.

"I don't believe this… what're you thinking?! Erwin!!" Hannes exclaimed. "He has titans with him, and he's coming this way!!" Heidi and the others stared in shock at the approaching onslaught. There were so many titans that Heidi couldn't count them all in one glance. They watched as Erwin rode resolutely towards them.

"Everyone!! Jump off right now!!!" Hannes yelled. Heidi, Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Armin all immediately jumped off as the titans led by Erwin's group came hurtling towards them and quickly returned to their horses. Historia still clung to Ymir, who was clinging to Reiner's back.

"All units, disperse!! Get away from the titans!!" Erwin ordered as he rode past the Armored Titan. Still covering Bertolt with his hands, Reiner rammed himself into two of the titans. Historia clung tight to Ymir as he slammed into them. Reiner barged his way through, but one of the smaller titans and a larger one that fell grabbed onto his legs. Reiner dragged them along with him as he crashed into the next wave. One of the titans reached out to grab Historia.

"Ah!!" she gasped in alarm.

"Historia!" Ymir yelled. She quickly grabbed the arm of the attacking titan with one hand and sliced its face with the other. Meanwhile, Reiner was covered in Titans. They had pulled him down into a squatting position.

"ROOAAH!" Ymir and Reiner roared as they fought back and struggled against the horde of titans. Heidi watched over her shoulder as she fled with the others with a furrowed brow, concerned for Historia and feeling conflicted about Ymir.

"What's going on?!" Jean asked. He watched Ymir rip out the nape of another titan with her teeth. "Is this hell?"

"No… We're just getting started!" Erwin said, retaking command. "All units!! Charge!!" he ordered, drawing a sword as he drove his horse back towards the horde and the others.

"Wha…?!" Connie said as he and the others all stared at him in shock.

"This moment will decide the fate of humanity!" Erwin said. "If we lose Eren, humans will never again inhabit this land!!"

'That's right…Eren is still in there! We can't forsake him!' Heidi thought.

"Take Eren back and retreat immediately!!" Erwin ordered, performing the salute. "Dedicate your hearts!!" Mikasa and Heidi immediately turned and charged back towards Eren.

"Mikasa! Heidi!" Connie said.

"Gah..." Jean said, gritting his teeth as he and Armin turned to follow. Connie and Sasha picked up the rear of their group.

"This is crazy!!" Peter yelled. He was terrified, but he followed them anyway.

"AAAAGH!!!" everyone in the Survey Corps and Garrison roared as they followed Erwin in the charge to retake Eren.

"Good God…" an MP said, staying where he was. "They're all… completely insane."

"Hey!" another MP said, getting his attention.

"?" the first MP said. He followed his fellow soldier's gaze and saw that one of their other comrades was being eaten by a titan right next to them.

Reiner gritted his teeth, straining against all of the titans holding him, gnawing on him. Ymir fought another titan.

'What's going on?!' Eren wondered. 'What happened?!'

'I can't move… if I don't get these titans off me… I'll just keep getting worn down...' Reiner thought, gritting his teeth. 'In that case…!!'

"?!" Bertolt said.

'Hold on, Bertolt!' Reiner thought, gritting his teeth. He pulled his left hand away from his neck, exposing Bertolt and Eren a bit, and formed a fist. He beat back the titan that had tried to gnaw on his neck. 'Just a little longer!' He punched away another. 'We're almost there!!' Reiner started fighting with both hands. Bertolt and Eren were no longer hidden.

"We did it!!" Heidi said. "He let go!"

"Now's our chance…!" Mikasa said.

"Wait, Mikasa!" Jean said. "Can you not see all the other titans around him?! I mean… how could someone even get to them?! You'd have to slip through all of those titans…!"

"This is suicide!" Peter said. Even so, they continued forward.

"Advance!!" Erwin ordered. A titan chomped on his arm and ripped him from his horse.

"Huh?!" Heidi said, stunned. Everyone glanced back at him in shock, watching him hanging from its mouth.

"Aaaaaagh!!" Heidi heard someone scream from behind. "Commander Erwin!!"

"Advance!!" Erwin shouted fiercely. Heidi and Armin were the first to recover. They furrowed their brows as shock turned to determination. "Eren's right there!! Advance!!" he ordered, pointing with the blade in his free hand. Everyone ahead of him gritted their teeth and continued forward. With a last glance over her shoulder, Heidi saw another Survey Corps member stop and fire a grappling hook into the back of the neck of the titan eating Erwin. The crease in her brow deepened, and she focused on the danger ahead of her. She maneuvered her way through the grasping, smashing hands of the titans and their stomping feet. Some soldiers were grabbed off their horses. Some were squashed underfoot. Some were bitten in their saddles. But Heidi and the others pushed through that hell and came out the other side alive. They drew their blades. Mikasa reached Reiner first, and she shot up from her saddle with gas and fired a grappling hook into the soft part of Reiner's arm. She reeled herself in and tried to slice Bertolt's head off. He ducked and jumped away.

"!!" Eren gasped. "Mmgh!!" Mikasa followed his gaze and saw a titan reaching up to grab her. There was no time to react.

"Ugh!! Aagh!!" she cried in pain as it closed its hand around her and squeezed.

"!!" Heidi gasped. She urged her horse to go faster.

"Mikasa!" Jean yelled. He was closer. He pulled forward and fired a grappling hook into the titan. "Damn it!!" He reeled himself in. "You bastard!!" He stabbed the titan in the eyes. "Take your hands off her!!" And it did. Its grip loosened on her and Mikasa was free.

"Aaaagh!" two Survey Corps members cried as they fired grappling hooks into Reiner near Bertolt and Eren. Before they could reel themselves in, Reiner swatted them out of the sky.

"Ack!" one exclaimed.

"Damn it!!" the other cursed.

"We've made it this far!!" Bertolt said through gritted teeth. "We're taking Eren… with us… and going back home!!"

'Damn it...' Eren thought. 'At this rate… everyone's going to die all because I got captured...'

"Bertolt!!" Armin said, landing near him on the side of Reiner's face.

'Armin!' Eren thought. Armin looked from Eren to Bertolt, trying to decide what to do next. The best way to attack.

'What else… What else do I need to throw away?" Armin wondered, furrowing his brow and gritting his teeth. 'My life, and… what else do I have to leave behind before I can change?! What else…' He suddenly recalled the way Bertolt used to look at Annie. His eyes widened slightly and his mouth stretched in a tense smile. "Are you two sure about this…?" he asked, adopting a grave expression. "You're going to go home and leave your friends behind…?" Bertolt, Eren, and Reiner's eyes widened. "You're leaving Annie behind?" Armin asked, looking concerned. "Right now, Annie's… deep underground in Utopia district in the far north… where they're torturing her." Bertolt was shocked. "As soon as they heard her screams, they realized… the wounds on her body might heal, but she can't make the pain go away. They're being careful not to kill her…"

"!!" Eren gasped through the gag.

"… But they won't let her rest," Armin continued. "At this moment… they're inflicting pain on her every way they know how—"

"Children of the devil!!" Bertolt screamed, preparing to fight. "I'll kill every last one of you!!" He stood up and was sliced across the chest by a soldier with one arm. Bertolt stared down at him in shock as the straps that tied Eren to him fell away. Commander Erwin glared up at him. He had somehow managed to catch up to them after escaping the titan that attacked them and applying a tourniquet to his wounded arm.

"—?!" Eren exclaimed as he fell, but Heidi flew up and caught him. Eren looked surprised to see her. Armin was relieved. Erwin retreated to his horse. Heidi returned to her own horse with Eren and kept a firm grip on him to make sure he wouldn't fall off. Mikasa pulled up next to them.

"All units, retreat!!" Erwin ordered. No one needed to be told twice.

"Ah..." Bertolt said as he watched them go, hanging from a grappling hook he had fired into Reiner.

Ymir was fighting another titan, trying to push it off of her.

"Aaahh!!" Historia yelled, slicing out its nape. She landed on the side of a nearby tree. "I did it… my first kill… Ymir."

"Krista!" Connie called, grabbing her from the tree.

"Wagh?!" Historia exclaimed, surprised.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he said, keeping a firm grip on her. "We're going back!!"

"Let's hurry home and chow down!" Sasha said, riding beside him.

"Connie! Sasha!" Historia said. "I'm fine! Leave me alone!"

"Wha—?!" Connie said.

"Ymir said that if I don't go with her, Reiner and Bertolt are going to kill her!" Historia explained. "We meant to go with them!"

"What?! That's what Ymir told you?!" Connie asked.

"Yes! So let me down!" Histora pleaded.

"It's a lie! Of course that's a lie! She's lying to you!" Sasha said.

"Sasha is right," Connie said. "You think the one who fought like a crazed animal to save you would do something like that?" At that very moment, Ymir was running along side them without trying to attack.

"…!" Krista said.

"Protecting you is the only thing Ymir works hard at!" Connie said. "I don't know how Ymir's going to find herself killed, but you two need to calm down. It should be obvious that you're both much more likely to die if you stay here! Even an idiot… would be able to figure that much out..." He glanced back over his shoulder at the horde surrounding Reiner. His eyes widened. A titan was flying through the air. "Wha?!!" Historia stared at it with him in shock.

"Aaaaghh!!" Sasha yelled as it sailed over them. It landed right in front of the head of the formation.

BOOM!!

It hit the ground with a thundering impact that sent dust and debris flying everywhere. Jean, Hannes, and Peter did their best to dodge. Others weren't so lucky. Jean glanced back over his shoulder and saw the cause.

"Damn you, Reiner…!" Jean said, gritting his teeth. "He's throwing titan's at us!!" As he spoke, Reiner hurled another titan through the air. It landed next to Heidi, Eren, and Mikasa,

"Ahh!!" Armin and Peter gasped, glancing back at them. They were alarmed to see that both horses had been knocked over, and all three riders had been thrown.

"Eren!! Mikasa!! Heidi!!" Armin yelled.

"Heidi!!" Peter cried. Mikasa gritted her teeth and struggled to push herself up.

"Ugh…!" she groaned. Her injury from being squeezed by that titan made it painful and difficult to move. "Eren… Heidi, take Eren and..." Her request died in her throat when she looked up at them and saw what was happening. Not only was Heidi out cold, but a titan was thudding its way toward them. She and Eren stared at it with wide eyes. It was the same smiling titan that had killed Eren's mother.