AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yikes, sorry it's taken so long to update. I've been having a lot of issues with this fic-namely motivational-and a lot of charges were made to the plot. There will be pairings in this fic, but I'm still unsure as to which. Good chance it's going to be Mikasa/Annie, even though they haven't had much interaction, if any. The romance will be pretty subtle, as this fic is very Mikasa-centric and is going to be focused on her figuring out who she is and who her allies are.

As always, feedback is appreciated!


And then, something inside her snapped.

She wasn't sure how she did it, but Mikasa managed to gain leverage using her broken Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear. As she hung from a tree just a little ways away from where Erd and Levi were, she weighed her options. Reya was nowhere to be found, so she could either focus on getting Eren, or focus on finding that woman.

"Protect Eren for me, won't you?"

She knew what she had to do. Rushing forward, a part of her crashed against the female titan's arm and though the impact would have killed any human instantly, Mikasa was still alive, and better, burning with rage.

"Mikasa?" Levi called out.

She meant to only cast him a glance, but was immediately taken aback by the horror in his eyes. It was only then that Mikasa looked down at herself. From the elbow down, her left arm was gone, only to be replaced by a swirling mass of ribbon-like structures that writhed like snakes. They wove in and out of each other, but still retained the vague shape of the limb.

The female titan, sensing Mikasa's distraction, aimed another strike at her, but Mikasa felt it coming. Leaping out of the way, she unravelled her arm and used it to anchor herself to a nearby tree. As she hung from the branch, she watched the titan's eyes follow her, not quite sure what to make of this new enemy.

"Give Eren back to me," said Mikasa lowly. Her voice was rawer sounding, deeper and richer.

The titan lashed out with its arm, but Levi spun forward, rocketing down the limb and sending a spray of blood upwards. Mikasa pulled herself closer to the tree, shielding her body from the majority of the liquid. Her ears picked up the sound of clanging blades from nearby and when she looked over to the origin, she saw that Erd was engaged in a fight against Reya. And he was losing.

"Levi!" Mikasa called to him, jutting her chin toward Erd. Levi barely looked at her, but nodded all the same. Shooting off, he swung to join his comrade. The female titan, sensing the shift in the flow of the fight, followed Levi. "No, you don't."

Mikasa let herself go, winding ribbons around the female titan's hand and taking advantage of her massive size as an anchor. With the one good blade she had left, she drew herself toward the head as fast as she could, drawing the blade against the skin of the titan. The titan hardened their skin to that diamond-like material again, and Mikasa's blades shattered, but she continued moving.

"Erd!" Levi swung beside his comrade, blocking a blow from the enemy. The person leapt back and once they took note of their new opponent, stopped, and took off their hood.

"Hello, little brother."

Levi froze and even from far away, Mikasa could see the disbelief in his eyes.

Reya positioned her blades, pointing them at Levi. She smiled, the expression cracking her face in two. "I do wish we could have met under better circumstances, but you are getting in my way." She darted forward, moving to pierce Levi through the chest.

"No!" An unbearable wave of heat swelled up in Mikasa, pulsing through her right arm and without even thinking about the consequences, she shot forward, intent on saving him. However, the female titan placed a hand in front of her to block her path, crystal growing over the exposed skin.

It didn't occur to Mikasa that without a weapon, there was no way she would make it past the blockade, or that she would be defenseless against Reya. The only thing she could see was Levi and Reya's swords aiming at his heart. If Levi died, Mikasa would truly have nobody anymore.

Some instinct awoke in her, like some voiceless conscience that told her exactly how to move her body and what each new appendage was for. Even in those split seconds, Mikasa felt stronger and faster than she ever had before. As the female titan's hand drew closer and closer to her, Mikasa hardly felt fear or apprehension, and as she shot her own right arm out in front of her, it didn't register that that would have been considered a futile move.

The female titan's hand shattered upon impact, enormous shards of crystal raining upon the forest floor like hail. Mikasa emerged on the other side, her right arm crossed in front of her face to protect from the shower, only it wasn't an arm anymore. A long blade grew out from her elbow; the harsh contrast between the metal and flesh looked incredibly painful, but the expression on Mikasa's face radiated only pure rage.

She deftly cut through Reya's blades, the other girl drawing one of them back and regarded Mikasa with the sort of curiosity one normally reserved for animals. She cocked her head.

Mikasa breathed out through her mouth, aiming her bladed arm at Reya. From behind her, Levi and Erd were motionless with an odd combination of fear and anticipation. "I trusted you," Mikasa growled through what appeared to be rapidly elongating teeth. "You lied to me."

Reya giggled, the sound at odds with the rest of her appearance. As Mikasa brought her hidden right arm out from behind her back, the expression on Reya's face changed to one of extreme delight.

She gasped, almost childishly and if not for the weapons in her grip, most likely would have clapped. "I can't believe it!" She said proudly, sounding like past-Reya, who'd once praised Mikasa and taken care of the young girl. "You managed to shift partway without breaking the seal! I knew there was something special about you."

Seal?

Reya's face turned grim, a drastic change from her earlier countenance. "Guess I can't dial down my skills, then."

"Neither will I," responded Mikasa.

Noting the atmosphere around the two, Erd grabbed Levi by the collar, an uncharacteristic move of him, but necessary in this situation. "We have to get Eren."

Levi nodded, but he still appeared to be in shock and when he looked at Erd, he did so with distracted eyes that kept trailing back to his sister and Mikasa. "Okay."

Mikasa shied away from Reya's slashing blades, countering a few strikes with her own. With each swing, her arm grew heavier and heavier. Something red trickled into her eyes and with a shock, she realized it was blood, though whose blood it was remained a mystery.

"You're not as good as they said." Reya's face scrunched up in disappointment, but almost instantly, her eyes lit up with a manic glee. "Maybe you need some incentive?" Jumping away from another one of Mikasa's erratic swings, Reya shot toward where Levi and Erd were headed.

Growling under her breath, Mikasa followed, throwing the ribbons of her arm forward. It was an odd sensation; as though she was the one gripping each tree branch through a million fingers. She kept her other arm close to her body, but not so close as to cut herself on the blade.

"Brother!" Reya's voice rang out, clear as bells. "Did you miss me?" She descended upon him from above like some hellish bird of prey. Levi only managed to marginally avoid her as Reya plunged her blades through the trim of his cape and pulled, yanking him to a stop.

"Is this enough incentive for you?" She called out to Mikasa.

In her blind rage, Mikasa didn't notice the female titan move behind her and she foolishly anchored her body to its arm. With an almighty heave, Mikasa felt herself being pulled up. Startled, she cast her gaze upwards and realized she was hanging from the female titan's hand. It gripped the ribbons tightly and Mikasa found herself unable to retract them.

In the distance, she heard the clanging of blades and knew that Levi had engaged Reya. The two leapt through the trees in an impressive display of skill and ferocity. It was like watching some deadly dance; their blades lightly touched and were immediately forced apart, with each party retreating to a tree branch.

Erd hovered between the two, taking strikes at Reya whenever he could, but she outmaneuvered them each time. Each miss of his blade cost him a tiny cut, as Reya nicked whatever part of his body she passed by. Mikasa could tell that Erd was rapidly losing steam and would soon be easily overwhelmed by Reya.

However, her current situation wasn't much better. The female titan had healed her destroyed hand and crystal was quickly forming over the regrown limb. Mikasa yanked again, but the titan's grasp was far too powerful. There was only one thing she could do. Steeling herself, she placed the edge of her bladed arm behind the writhing mass of ribbons and pulled the blade toward her.

The pain cleaved through her and it took all of Mikasa's willpower not to scream. With her forearm severed, she began to plunge to the ground. Her head spun and it was only because of the adrenaline flowing through her that she no longer felt any pain. Her body hit the ground painfully, the bones in her back breaking upon contact. However, as Mikasa sat up, she felt something inside her shifting and realized with vague horror, that her body was healing itself. Her severed arm was steaming, not unlike the wounds that Eren had sustained as the Rogue Titan and within seconds, the pain in her back had subsided.

Looking up, she saw Levi feint around Reya and Erd appear out of the thicket behind her, knocking her sideways. While Erd kept Reya distracted, Levi aimed for the female titan. Coming in low, he slid up the length of its leg, blades cutting through muscle and tendon. The female titan, losing mobility in its legs, crashed against a tree and while it lay in shock, Levi took the opportunity to cut away at its arms and jaws.

Finally, the female titan's mouth dropped open and Eren's body began to slide out. Levi slid underneath and grasped him much like he had grabbed Mikasa earlier.

She itched to join the fight. It wasn't right, watching the people she cared about dance on the line between life and death while she stood there, unmoving. She was better than this, better than them. She could easily kill them all, so why wasn't she doing anything?

The thought startled her. It had come out of nowhere, like a voice whispering in her ear.

Shaking her head, Mikasa dug the ruined remains of her 3DMG blade into the canister. There was one blade left, but she only needed one. With her considerable strength—most likely enhanced—she broke it apart and held it like a javelin, aiming for Reya.

Her aim, though shaky with a mixture of exhaustion and rage, was true and the blade hovered above Reya's heart for a mere second before the other girl grasped it with her bare hand. "Nice try," she whispered. "Though, I'm going to have to step up my game a little." She tightened her grip around the sharp metal and it shattered.

The rest was a blur. Mikasa only remembered swinging her bladed arm at Reya and missing by a wide margin, and Levi swinging in and grabbing her around the waist, promising that she would have her revenge later.

Surprisingly, Reya didn't follow them. She just stared at Mikasa, smiling slightly as the girl was bodily escorted away by Levi.

The ride back to the walls was silent. Nobody wanted to discuss what had taken place earlier that day.

"Levi." Still, Mikasa was persistent. "I was going to warn you."

"You couldn't have known," he told her. His voice was hollow, as was the expression on his face. He stared straight ahead, refusing to look Mikasa in the eyes.

"I did know."

"About the female titan?"

"No, about Reya," she said.

"Reya is dead," said Levi, the words crisp and firmer than anything he'd said that day. "Reya died in a fire. What you saw wasn't my sister. Reya is dead."

Mikasa knew better, but chose not to press the issue. Every muscle in her body was screaming and as she looked down at her ravaged limbs, she noticed that her bladed arm was shaking. "She wanted to kill us…" Her eyelids were growing heavier and with every passing second, the urge to sleep was getting harder to resist.

"Mikasa, rest." Levi's grip tightened around her waist as he swung through the trees. "We'll get you out of here."

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Erd nod in acknowledge. The man gripped Eren's prone body, slick with saliva and blood.

Against her better judgement, she closed her eyes, and for a brief moment, enjoyed the feeling of the wind whipping through her hair and the way that the sunlight streaming through the leafy canopy overhead seemed to paint its patterns into her vision. Eventually, her exhaustion took over, and she gave into sleep's embrace.


Mikasa woke up to the jostling of wagons and as she rolled over, she could feel her clothing crack, heavy with dried blood. "Eren?" She reached her arm out and felt the edge of his jacket.

"It's my fault." The words, she knew, weren't directed at her, yet they stung all the same. "I should have shifted earlier. Nobody would have died if I had shifted earlier."

Mikasa shook her head, looking down at her palm and the symbol carved into the skin. The surface of the scar was smooth and unbroken, just as always. However, this time, Mikasa could feel a very faint heat emanating off the mark. "Eren, I have something to tell you."

Her foster-brother sat up, wincing and pressing a hand to his bandaged head. "What?" His voice cracked and it was only then that Mikasa noticed the tears streaming down his face. Wordlessly, she handed him what remained of her torn cape and he took it from her.

"I…" She watched his face, watched the way his forehead wrinkled slightly at the center and chin wobbled, struggling to keep the tears from falling.

"Please be careful," she told him. "Lay down." She gently pushed on him until he lay flat against the wood of the wagon. Surprisingly, he didn't protest at her or insist that he didn't need her coddling. "We'll be back, soon."

He nodded, but Mikasa knew he wasn't really listening to her. His eyes were glassy and focused elsewhere. She stretched out her hand to adjust his bandage, but immediately yanked it back, remembering the way it had just abruptly shifted into a blade only moments before.

"I'll protect you," she whispered to him, even in spite of knowing he couldn't hear her voice. "You and Levi. You're all I have left." Lying down next to him, she closed her eyes and when that inevitable dream image of her mothers appeared, the phantasm only smiled at her and stroked her cheek with a gentle hand.

"Be strong, Mikasa."


Just a quick side note, if you're read Ironwing, just know that Alterations!Mikasa came first and Ironwing was something I wrote during a slump. It may be continued later on, but Alterations is my main priority for now.