Chapter 4: The Breach Part 2: The Beast Titan

The entire group freezes, overcome by fear. The horses tremble beneath us, but don't bolt. The titan looks over each of us in turn, as if inspecting a group of thorough breeds that aren't up to standards. "Not particularly impressive," he says at last. His voice is just like it was in my head, deep and echoing. "Still, I can't expect you to always keep the best company can I?"

Victor swallows nervously and takes his horse forwards a few steps so that he is directly in front of the entire group. "Who are you?" he asks, making a noticeable effort to keep his voice level. "What do you want?" The Beast Titan ignores him, continuing to study the group intently. "I said, who are you and what do you want?!" shouts Victor, waving his sword in the air in front of the titan's face.

The Beast Titan raises an eyebrow and looks at him. "You're rather impertinent aren't you?" He bends his head back up out of the circle of light, then steps forwards so that he is properly encompassed within it. He's the largest titan I've seen after the Colossal, standing a massive seventeen metres. He's covered in long scraggly hair in all places excluding his face, hands, feet and chest. His eyes are a single glazed black with no pupil, white or iris distinguishable. His arms are twice as long as they should be, reaching almost down to the ground. He bends forwards so that his two massive fists are pressed against the ground. The position reminds me of pictures of some of the animals that live beyond the Walls. An ape I think it was called.

"You really aren't keeping the best company are you sacrifice?" he says, staring directly at me.

"Matthias, why is he calling you that?" hisses Jean through clenched teeth.

"No idea," I whisper back.

"Oh really?" asks the Beast Titan turning his head to one side. "I must confess that surprises me somewhat. I would have thought that you'd have remember enough by now to know that at least. It appears that I overestimated you however."

"Look I don't know what you are," spits Victor, "but I am the leader of this squad and you will address me!"

The Beast Titan looks idly at him. "I don't see why I should. After all, you are just an ordinary human, no special abilities or background that I'm aware of." Turning his gaze back to me he asks, "Was it painful?" His voice sounds almost sympathetic.

"Was what painful?" I ask.

"It happened only a few hours ago I'm sure you must remember."

"You mean, when Eren and I collapsed?"

"That would be a likely side effect yes."

"Yes it was. It was very painful."

"Awfully sorry about that. I'm afraid it had to be done though. He did give me orders expressly. Ah well, I suppose there are worse things to be than a Geshetar." He says the word with disgust obvious in his voice. My head rings slightly at the sound of it.

"Wait, so it's something that you become? Like a title or something?"

"More like a branding," says the Beast Titan with a wide smile that sends all of us shivering, "Similar to murder or thief."

"What did you do?"

"Since you don't know already I'm not really inclined to tell you. Now, as interesting as this little chat has been, I'm afraid I'm going to have cut it short now. You are coming with me."

"Why should I do that?"

"Because if you do not then I will have my associates here devour your friends." As he speaks ten standard titans ranging from eight to fourteen metres in height step into the circle of light. All of them stare down at us with hungry eyes, but don't make any move to take anybody. "You come with me and your friends go free. On my honour," he adds very sternly, raising one hand in the air, in the typical gesture for swearing oaths.

"Matthias, don't," says Victor. "We're soldiers; we can fight them off."

"All ten of them at such close range? I very much doubt that," says the Beast Titan grinning. "And don't think about transforming in an effort to save your friends. Even if you manage to retain control, you'd be unable to stop me from killing them myself."

I look around me in panic. 'He's right about us having no chance against ten titans at close range, especially when they're all over eight meters tall.' "What exactly are you going to do with me?" I ask, trying to keep my voice level.

"Oh nothing to severe. Just take you to meet someone who can wipe your memories. Then he'll set you free and you can wander around outside the Walls until your heart's content."

"Wait, you want to turn me back into a titan?"

"That is the general idea behind the whole freedom thing."

"How is that freedom?! It's nothing more than a living death of constant pain and torture. Surely you would know that!"

"I'm rather inclined to disagree. You see, I am a titan through and through. No person working this body. I rather enjoy being what I am, so I would think you would as well."

"Not a chance!"

"So, are you going to stay here and force me to go through all the unpleasantness of having your little friends chomped up into pieces?"

I hesitate. I want to say that I won't go with him, but I can't afford to let him release those titans. 'If there's a chance that he'll let them go I have to try it don't I?' Trembling, I look the Beast Titan straight in the eyes. "Let them go. I'll come with you."

"Matthias no!" cries Victor.

"You guys put as much distance between yourselves and this thing as you can. Don't look back, please." Everyone just stares at me helplessly. "Go dam you!" I scream at them. Hesitantly, the rest of the squad begins to pull away.

Jean pauses and looks me in the eye. "Matthias, we're not going to leave you okay? We'll be back."

I nod, trying to keep my breathing level. The circle of light is carried away into the night, leaving me alone in the dark. The moon is currently behind clouds, so I can't see a thing. I know that I'm still surrounded by titans though. I can't stop myself from shaking in fear, and in the end I have to bend over Edward's neck and try to curl myself up into a ball.

"You're not going to need that smelly little animal where we're going," announces the voice of the Beast Titan out of the pitch black. "Get off it and let it go." I slip out of the saddle and give my horse a final rub on head, before I set him off into the darkness at a run. Now I'm totally alone. I can't feel anything around me except for the ground I'm standing on. I can hear the Beast Titan shifting his weight around in the blackness. My breathing is erratic, coming in ragged gasps.

A darker shade of dark moves towards me out of the shadows and I feel a massive hand seize me. The long spindly fingers wrap themselves around my waist and pin my arms in place. I can feel myself being lifted up into the air. I stare intently forwards, trying to make out the huge face that must be only a few metres away. There's nothing except black though.

Then we begin to move. I can feel the air moving past me, and the pitch and sway as I'm carried by a giant hand. "How, how can you find your way?" I ask.

"I see perfectly fine in the darkness," explains the Beast Titan. "I'm sure you could as well, if in a more appropriate form. But don't think about changing, I've pinned your arms and legs in place. You don't have anything bite into."

I try struggling, attempting to pull my arms free. It's no use; his grip is more than ten times stronger than my own. In the end I give up and hang limp. 'Oh hell, oh hell! What do I do now? I can't just go along with this, but I don't see how I can escape either. The chances of anyone finding us in this darkness are so minuet I might as well forget about them. No one is coming to save me.' I remember that Armin told me how Annie was able to use a spiked wring to cut herself in order to transform. 'Is there some other way I can trigger it without biting my hand? I can't move my arms at all, so cutting myself on a part of my gear isn't an option. There must be some other way!'

I try wriggling again. It accomplishes nothing. The only thing which I'm able to move is my head; everything else is pinned in place. 'So I have the thing to bite with, I just don't have anything to bite into.' I nervously run my tongue over my teeth. Then it hits and I wonder how I could have been so stupid as to miss it. 'This is going to hurt, but then again it always does.' I stick my tongue between my teeth, open my mouth and bite down hard on my tongue. The pain is agonising like usual. It only lasts a moment though as almost immediately I'm consumed in a massive flash of yellow light.

'They'll probably see that form dozens of kilometres away,' I think as the hand which was gripping me like a vice is prized open by the extensive force of the explosion. My titan body practically rips into existence, arms, legs, head and torso all blasting into reality around me. I land with a crash and take a wild swing at whatever's in front of me. My fist connects with a hard body, sending it flying away from me. The blow feels like it broke my right hand though.

I let out a roar and blink several times in an effort to adjust my vision to the darkness. Slowly, the world before me comes into focus as my eyes draw light from the faintest of sources. I can see the Beast Titan climbing back to his feet about thirty meters away, pushing himself up from the side of the hill he crashed into. There's a large forest away to my right, filled with tall oaks. I can also see numerous titans roaming about at random. The dim light only seems to exaggerate their hideous features.

"That," says the Beast Titan as he hauls himself upright, "was a rather dirty trick now wasn't it?"

'All's fair in love and war,' I reply inside my head. 'And I'm pretty sure you know what this is!'

"Actually, I wouldn't really call this a war. More like, preventative measures. It really is for your own good you know."

'How can devouring us be for our own good?'

"An unfortunate level of collateral damage I assure you. My master has only the very best of intentions."

'Yeah well, I'm not a great believer in the ends justifying the means.'

"So I suppose this means we're going to have to fight does it? How very inconvenient. I had hoped to bring you with me undamaged."

'I'm not the one you should be worrying about right now.'

"Confident aren't you? All right then, let's get this over with." The Beast Titan lets out a deep booming howl, louder than anything I've heard before, excepting only the Female Titan's summoning roar. He charges forwards with incredible speed despite his disproportionate stature and slams into me with his right shoulder. I find myself catapulted high into the air, spinning backwards end over end three times before crashing down inside of a lake.

The water is freezing cold and all but the faintest amount of light is snatched away from me. Despite my huge size as a titan, this lake is still more than twenty five metres deep. I can't drown but the feeling of water rushing into and filling your lungs isn't exactly pleasant. Every instinct is telling me that I'm dying, and I can't stop myself from panicking a little. As I touch the bottom of the lake bed I manage to get a hold of myself. The water feels strange to move through as I climb to my feet. I bunch my legs and push off as hard as I can, sending myself rocketing out of the water.

I land on the shore with a wet thud. I vomit huge amounts of water out into the grass as I lie there, gasping involuntarily for air that I don't need. With a growl I climb back to my feet. 'He's so strong! That charge must have knocked me back over a hundred meters!' I can see the Beast Titan coming after me, his figure now much smaller due to its distance. 'If he can do that, how on earth can I fight him?' I shake myself inside. 'Doesn't matter, I have to fight him. Beating him even temporarily is my only way out of this.'

I straighten my stance and raise both hands in fists. The Beast Titan comes to within twenty metres of me, then drops down onto all fours. His long arms prop him up so high that his head is nearly level with mine. He lumbers forwards rapidly and I dodge to the right, kicking at him as he passes by. The blow seems to have very little effect as he turns to face me and continue his charge. Trying a new tack I run directly at him and jump over his head. Landing behind him I bring both fists together and strike him directly in the back as he comes to a stop.

He grunts loudly in pain and falls forwards onto his face. His immense momentum allows him to strike incredibly strong blows, but it also means that he can't turn around quickly. As the Beast Titan clambers back to his feet I take a swing at his head. He ducks the blow and uppercuts me, sending me flying seven metres into the air then down onto my back. I clench my teeth together as blood and steam pour from between by jaws.

The Beast Titan straightens himself, standing at his full seventeen metre tall height. I scramble hastily to my feet to face him again. The two hits I've taken have already taken a sever toll on me and yet he seems to have completely ignored the blows I've managed to land. 'This is bad.' I run forwards and stop short just before reaching him, jumping to the left and lashing out at his knee with my foot.

The blow strikes him from behind and causes him to fall forwards. In an effort to seize the opportunity I smash my right fist into his head. It sends him sprawling flat with steam rising from his face. 'Enough's enough. I can't win this fight so I'm going to have to run.' I turn and begin to sprint away towards the forest I saw earlier. I don't know which way is north or which way is south all I know is that I have to get away.

Just before I reach the trees though, the Beast Titan's voice booms in my head. "ENOUGH!" I fall forwards onto my knees, both hands clasped to my temples. "It may not be as strong as that of our dear friend the coordinate, but my voice of command is sufficient to subdue you." I can't move a muscle. My entire body has locked up.

'H, how are you doing this?'

"A gift from the one whom I serve. Now, you're going to wait right there until I arrive. Then I can tear you out of the nape and we can resume our course."

'No! I won't be controlled by you!'

"I'm afraid you have very little choice in the matter."

It feels like he's right. It's almost as if my body doesn't want to obey me. I try to probe into the titan's mind in an effort to win it back under my command again. Quite unexpectedly I find myself in my normal body in a totally black vista. In front of me is the titan that I saw over a week ago during the 57th Recon Mission. At the time I assumed he was a hallucination brought on by my injuries, now it seems that he is in fact the titan body that I control.

He's hunched over, his entire body shaking. Blood is dripping from his face. "Hey you," I call out. "Why are you listening to him? You're supposed be my titan not his."

The titan snaps up its face and looks at me. I let out a slight gasp as I see its head. The skin seems to be in a constant state of repair and destruction, the blood vessels below its surface being covered and then exposed again and again. This is prompting an almost constant stream of blood to flow from every piece of skin. "He, has, authority," it chokes out.

"Well so do I! You are me aren't you? So do what I tell you!"

"Not, so, simple, as, that."

"Why not?"

"Titans, not a separate being, can't do anything, without, a human. Need, you, to, release us!"

"But, but I can't do that. If I give up control what's to stop him from taking me over entirely?"

"Give, us, orders. We follow, them, till, they are, finished."

"Just like when Eren transformed and lost control," I muse out loud. "His titan kept focusing on one specific task. The first time it was killing titans and the second time it was defeating the Female Titan. But how do I know I can trust you?"

The titan wretches up a torrent of blood which spatters all over the black ground and dissolves into steam. "Do, you lie, to yourself?"

"You're not me. You're something put into me."

"You, choose, that. We, are, freedom! Be, free!"

"Dam it!"

Suddenly I'm back in the real world. I can hear the Beast Titan's footsteps far away behind me. 'I have to act now. I can either let him take me, or release the titan and tell it to run. But what if I can't get back control again?' The footsteps are drawing steadily closer and closer. My time is almost up. 'Curses! All right, you have the reigns for now. Just get us out of here!'

I slacken control. It's like relaxing every part of your body at once. All your functions seem to shut down and you start feel like you're drifting away. As soon as I release control I can feel an animalistic presence surge into being from inside of me. The titan body pushes itself to its feet, shaking at first. "What? What have you done?" I hear the Beast Titan's voice echo. I try to reply but I can't do anything. I can barely think clearly. There's a great weight crushing down on me.

'Let go!' snarls the titan inside of me. 'Be free!' The titan is already running into the forest, slipping low between the trees to hide itself from the Beast Titan outside. The pressure continues to build and finally, my mind buckles. I fall back into a black abyss, where time doesn't seem to exist and there is no sound, no sight, nothing.