"Who, who's there?" Armin squeaked as the room began to feel cold and uneasy. While Armin and Mikasa looked around curios as to where the voice came from, Eren kept his eyes on the skull that rested upon the dead shoulders of the giant. "Are you Maximus, the Divine Warrior?" Eren asked the skeleton fearlessly.
"I am, but who are you?" The voice echoed again. The room became even colder, sending shivers down their spines. The room seemed to shake and tilt as Eren proceeded to talk to the voice. "I am Eren Jaeger! I am the boy who is said to awaken you from your rest if the Titans came back!" The room now became seemingly frozen as everything stopped. The echo, the shaking, the cold air around them, all seemed to stop at once. After a moment, the huge skeleton's jaw that had been dangling open shut, causing dust to fall from the skull. They all watched in awe as the skeleton began to rise from it's seat and stand, it's scabbard dangled by it's waist. Dust made a thin cloud around the ancient skeleton as blue lines grew from the heart in it's chest that had been covered by it's armor. Slowly muscles and tissue formed all over the body. And finally, skin formed under the armor and clothes. And there in front of them was a fifteen meter tall human who had arisen from the dead.
The man looked down upon the three of them, the now dim light from the torches surrounded them all. Armin nearly fainted at the sight of the man. Mikasa stood in horror, gripping Eren's arm from fright. Eren, on the other hand maintained eye contact with the being. "Maximus," Eren began carful of his words, "how did you manage to defeat Titans before you became..." Unsure of what to call the state he was in, the giant kneeled down close to the three, suggesting the term "Immortal?"
Eren nodded as Maximus's voice echoed throughout the tomb; "After being gifted by Jupiter and Mars's gifts of size and strength, I soon found out that the lower part of the back of their neck. Though the average mortal could not hit this point easily, I used my blade gifted from Ares to slice the creatures to the gate of Pluto's realm."
Confused by who Jupiter, Mars, and Pluto, Eren nodded his head. He believed that Maximus was, or at least once was, a human. Mikasa's grasp on Eren had weakened as she built up the courage to face the giant. Though many questions circled around in Eren's head, he decided to ask this one now; "With all due respect, Maximus, how are you going to get out of this mountain?"
He answered quickly, as if the answer was clear enough. "I will shrink down to my mortal height." As he had said, he opened a flask with a sparkling blue liquid inside that he had pulled from his belt and drank it, shrinking down until he stood at about 6'1". "Now," he began to walk to the hole they had entered through, turning back to eye the three, "let's go see the outside world, shall we?"
After a moment, they exited the mine, Maximus kneeling to feel the grass brush in his hand softly. Looking up to see the sun, his eyes fell upon the walls that towered high above them. "So this is what humanity has come to, cattle in a pin?" The three cadets watched as he slowly rose to his feet, turning to face them. A look of disappointment filled his gaze. Eren watched as the ancient took another look at the wall, then returning his gaze to them. "Where are the 'Titans'?"
Eren explained to him that the Titans were over the wall, but they had managed to break through with the aid of the Colossal Titan. Maximus nodded his head as he listened. "But the only way to defeat them is with this thing around our waists; 3D Maneuver gear." Maximus studied the almost alien technology. He was baffled by the design and even more amazed by the thoughts of what it could do. "You see, we have only found this way to defeat the Titans, but we were hoping you could show us how the ancients did it." Maximus sighed as he though of how to break the news to them. "Well, you see kid, the Titans were the downfall of many ancient civilizations; the Egyptians, the Greeks, hell, even the Roman empire fell to it's knees. All we could do was knock them off their feet and kill them that way. But that was a hard tactic to use. We tried boiling oil, we tried baristas, but nothing seemed to bring them down effectively. We-"
"But how did you survive, huh? And what about Anne?!" Eren blurted out at Maximus. His gaze turned cold and pale as he recalled what had happened. Tears began to build in his eyes as he shook his head. "It was late one night; one of the guard towers had been destroyed and the Titans were flooding in. Before I was drug to the front lines, I had kissed her and sent her off on my horse. All I could do was watch as she rode off into the distance with enough supplies to last her a while. I never saw her again. I don't even know if she died by a Titan." Eren's frustration had lightened as he watched Maximus slowly begin to break down. "It was, it was after all my allies had died that I found myself in a thick fog. I found in the fog a light from a lantern, and an elderly hunchbacked woman who guided me to Jupiter, who gave me my immortality and my strengths. No matter how much I asked, neither of them told me what happened to her, kid. Neither one."
Maximus had looked to the wall with anger building inside of him. "That's why I decided to kill all the Titans, for her safety that I couldn't even keep for her." He mumbled angrily.
Eren patted him on the shoulder, looking back to Mikasa, who blushed slightly. "We want to kill the Titans to protect the ones we love. You and I, we are alike in some ways." Maximus chuckled for a moment, then turned to Eren, a determined grin on his face; "Let's go kick some Titan ass."
"First, lets teach you how to use 3D Maneuver gear." Armin suggested as they began to walk up the mountain path. As they walked, Eren noticed that Mikasa was walking slowly behind them. He stopped to walk alongside her. He noticed she was blushing and greatly shy. "What did you mean by the ones you love?"
Eren took her hand, causing her to stop. He stood in front of her, his body close to hers. She was surprised that Eren had done such a thing. "What I meant," he whispered loud enough so she could hear him, "was that I love you, Mikasa." Armin and Maximus had stopped and turned to check on them, catching a glimpse of the young couple meeting in a kiss. Maximus nudged Armin, motioning for them to leave the couple alone for now. They continued up the path and around the corner, leaving Mikasa and Eren alone.
"Eren..." Mikasa smiled as they began to walk, hand in hand, up the path.