Chapter 7: The Armoured Titan Part 2: Clash of the Titans

'What, what do we do?'

"I don't know!"

The two of us stare up at the gigantic figure of the Colossal Titan. Even though Eren and I are fifteen metres tall in our titan forms, which is almost ten times the size of an ordinary human, we don't even come up to Bertolt's knee when he's in titan form. The Armoured Titan steps forwards and rolls his neck from side to side, cracking it. "Now then, where were we?" asks Reiner grimly.

He runs forwards at full speed and I only just manage to jump out of the way. As he stops to turn and face me, the Berserker Titan leaps onto the Armoured Titan's back, wrapping his arms his neck in an effort to restrain him. I know I ought to take this opportunity to attack, but I'm not sure how or where. The Armoured Titan's body is protected all over by slabs of Titan Stone that are totally impenetrable to any force I can exert.

I rush forwards and punch him the throat which thankfully is unarmoured. That sends blood shooting out the Armoured Titan's mouth and steam hisses out between his clenched teeth. Grabbing the Berserker Titan, the Armoured Titan throws him into me and the two of us slam into the ground. Steam still rising from his jaw, the Armoured Titan locks his face plate back into position.

The Berserker and I scramble back to our feet. 'Certain parts of him are unarmoured. If we can strike at those we may be able to bring him down.'

"His nape is still armoured," Eren points out.

'We'll just have to take our hits where we can okay? Any gap we spot we need exploit it.'

"What about Bertolt?"

I look up at the source of the giant shadow. To my surprise he doesn't really seem to be doing anything. Then I see several small dark pinpricks attached by wires swinging around him from his shoulder. As the soldiers draw close to his nape, the Colossal Titan releases a huge burst of steam, sending the attackers flying backwards. 'I think he's just trying to keep the soldiers out of the fight. It isn't safe to ignore such a large target so as long as he's close by they have to combat him first.'

The Armoured Titan charges again, this time with speed more becoming a normal individual. He swings at me and I jump into the air above him. I flip once and land evenly facing his back. He turns to face me, but as he does the Berserker Titan throws himself forwards smashing him across the back of the head. That sends the Armoured Titan staggering forwards, but turns the Berserker's hand into a cloud of vapour. As the Armoured Titan staggers forwards I bring both hands together and smash them into his chest.

That more or less breaks both my arms, but it sends him flying head over heels two times. He lands with a huge crash due to his massive weight, sending up a substantial dust cloud. The combination worked, the only problem is that I can't use either of my arms and the Berserker Titan doesn't even have a right hand. The Armoured Titan climbs back to his feet, seemingly unhurt and attacks again. This time all I can do is dodge the attack and keep dodging as I wait for my arms to heal.

The Berserker is able to move in before then however, kicking the Armoured Titan's right leg out from under him. The Armoured Titan spins and punches him in the chest. That sends him forty or so metres backwards and leaves him with a shattered rib cage. Hurriedly I look over the structure of plates on the Armoured Titan's back before leaping onto him. I pick a spot on his right shoulder and sink my teeth in between the joints. The taste of blood inside my mouth is disgusting, but bizarrely satisfying. I've finally done some damage.

Seizing me with the other arm the Armoured Titan throws me into the ground with enough force to dislocate my spine. Before he can deal further damage though, the Berserker is back on top of him, clawing at his eyes. I roll out of the way as I wait for my back to heal sufficiently for me to be able to stand.

I heave myself back up onto my legs again. The Armoured Titan throws the Berserker off wildly as steam pours from his now empty eye sockets. The Berserker lands and lets out a howl of triumph. "Dam you Eren!"

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Berserker and I rush in. I duck under the Armoured Titan's wild swing and slide through his legs. Turning I clamp my teeth into the exposed flesh of his knee joint. Blood rushes into my mouth as he staggers and falls forwards. The Berserker is on top of his back again, this time trying to rip and tear at an open space above the nape. This time the Armoured Titan does not simply throw him off. He grabs him by the head, rips him away and holding him in the air in front of him crushes his skull.

The Berserker Titan goes limp and the Armoured Titan hurls him away. Turning back to me with a single working eye just barely visible through the steam he charges. I try to scramble out of the way but end up being trampled under his feet. Most of my ribcage is crushed into loose pieces and several parts of my torso are ripped clean open.

I lie coughing on my own blood in the sandy earth and try to push myself upright. My limbs simply give out however. Several of my tendons were most likely severed and it feels like I've suffered severe spinal trauma. The Armoured Titan looms over me, a halo of steam still enshrouding his face like some angel from hell. "Game over Matthias."

'Stuff you.'

He reaches down and pulls my mangled body up from the ground. I manage to kick out at him, but not with enough force to loosen his grip. He turns me around so that he can get at the nape. I turn my head and keep trying to bite him, with little success. Then there's a dark streak and rush of red blood from the Armoured Titan's shoulder. With a grunt of pain he drops me and his right arm goes limp. A second pass by and I can make out the green of a cloak as the soldier cuts through the Armoured Titan's right leg.

"Agh, what the hell?!"

Captain Levi lands smoothly in one of the few nearby trees that haven't yet been demolished by the brawl. "So you're the Armoured Titan eh?" he asks. "I always wanted to meet you. Let's get properly acquainted shall we?" Leaping off the branch the Captain returns to the attack. Moving faster than the Armoured Titan can react he cuts out his left leg and left shoulder at the joints. With the Armoured Titan totally immobilised he moves back.

"All right Eren, he's all yours from here!"

"Right!" The Berserker Titan-still smoking from his earlier injuries-returns and grabs hold of the plate covering the Armoured Titan's nape. "I can't break the plate itself, but I can rip it off!" Wedging in his fingers, he begins to do just that. Steam and blood hiss and spray in all directions as the Berserker Titan grunts and growls with the strain. The plate moves slowly, but it moves.

Then there's a huge rush of scolding hot vapour. I go totally blind from the massive blast. It feels like my eyes are burning up in their sockets. The sheer force of the rush is so great that I have trouble standing upright. 'Where the hell is that coming from?' Finally the white veil parts in time for me to see the Armoured Titan hurl the Berserker into the ground.

I move forwards to engage but before I've gone more than four steps I'm seized by a massive hand. The scale of the hand is such that to me it's like a human being picked up by a regular titan. The Colossal Titan lifts me high off to ground and up to equal height with his head. I look down at the ground far below. Even the Walls are around ten or so metres below me. I stare into the ten metre tall face of the Colossal Titan.

The last time I saw this face was when it was looking over the Wall of Shiganshina. The sight brings back all the memories, all the fear, all panic, all the lose. All the anger. I sink my teeth into the joint between his thumb and his hand. Furiously I rip at the red flesh, spitting out chunks of it then going back in for more. It's disgusting, but it's the only way I have of getting free. Out of the corner of my eye I can see his right hand drawing back for a swing. He most likely intends to smash his hand down on me from above and crush my body sufficiently that I become immobile.

Frantically I continue the grizzly task of chewing through the Colossal Titan's thumb. My teeth rip through sinew, tendons, muscle and blood vessels. The human part of me feels like throwing up, but I can tell that the titan is loving this. A shadow falls over me as the Colossal Titan's hand comes down for the crushing blow. The weight of it alone would probably shatter my skull.

Just before the huge hand can impact the joint gives way and I push out from the Colossal Titan's grip. It is at this point that I realise how far I'm going to have to fall. As the two hands smash together above me I plummet fifty five metres to the ground. My spine breaks into what feels like a million pieces and my sense of sight, smell and hearing shut down instantly. My skull must have been shattered and the brain liquefied. Thank goodness it's not actually my body that suffered the hit.

To my amazement I'm able to sit up, and begin groping around over the ground in an effort to get clear of the Colossal's reach. Slowly, my sight begins to come back, along with basic hearing and smell. Everything is a sea of colours that don't make any sense as my eyes make use of under developed lenses. Seeing a large red form which I take to be the Colossal Titan's leg, I hurry forwards so that I'm directly beneath him. His sheer size is of course his advantage, but it's also the very thing that forces him to move so slowly.

Finally after what feels like an eternity (though it's likely been less than two minutes) my vision refocuses and I can look about myself. 'This fight has pretty much ruined me. The amount of healing I've had to do is immense! I only suffered damage like this once in the fight against the Female Titan, and this is the third time I've taken a significant hit. I can't keep getting up like this for much longer.'

The Armoured Titan is charging the Berserker head on. Just as the Armoured Titan is about to impact the Berserker ducks and slides under his centre of gravity. Heavying up from below he sends the Armoured Titan over his head to crash hard onto the ground. I leap forwards and grab the Armoured Titan's right arm, pressing it into his back and more than likely dislocating it. He lets out a howl of pain and tries to grab at me with his left arm.

The Berserker grabs at that and bites into the joint at his shoulder. 'Go for the nape!' The Berserker leaps onto the Armoured Titan's back and begins once again to rip at the plate covering the Armoured Titan's neck. This time he rips it back far enough to expose at least half the weak spot. I feel the Armoured Titan thrashing beneath me and push his arm in harder. The Berserker strikes downwards trying to get at the exposed flesh. 'Game over Reiner!'

"Are you sure about that?" he grunts back. I look up to see the Colossal's lower body dissolving. To my astonishment and horror the Colossal's arms, torso and head fall forwards; jaws open wide towards the ground. He hits with a massive blast that I can feel burning the flesh from my bones. The pain is intense and I can hear both myself and the Berserker Titan letting out screams of rage and pain. Then, the heat and pain finally overcomes me and I black out.

When I wake up the first thing I feel is pain. Not so much like the pain of receiving an injury, it's more like a really bad ache. It seems to be centred around my elbows and knees. I open my eyes to a familiar looking forest. The massive pine trees tower up, their upmost branches lost in a huge shadowy canopy. I'm sitting with my back to one of the huge trunks. I must be several branches up because I can't see the bottom in my field of vision. My head aches and I put my hand to my forehead.

Then I realise in shock that I can't. My hands along with both of my forearms are missing. The same can be said for my legs below the knee. Steam rising from the stumps helps to allay my fears of being crippled, but that doesn't see of my state of shock. I look at my half arms in a bizarre state of confusion for a few moments.

"Hey Reiner, the sacrifice is awake." I look up to see Bertolt watching me in a tree opposite. He's standing while Reiner is lying down with his back to the tree like I am, and appears to be sleeping. When Bertolt speaks he wakes up though.

"Oh, hey Matty," he says.

"Don't call me that!" I snap.

Reiner pulls a face. "Fine then, no need to get worked up about it."

"What? What's there not to be worked up about? You just kidnapped me and as far I can tell you bit off my arms and legs!"

"They'll grow back," points out Bertolt dryly.

"So what?!"

"Look, we couldn't run the risk of either of you two escaping after you came around. You'd probably just get yourselves killed."

"What do you mean?"

"Take a look," says Reiner glumly, pointing towards the bottom of the trees. I look down to see several titans pawing at the bottom. "They'll eat any of us without a second thought," explain Reiner. "So we're up here for our safety as well as yours'."

"I see. What do mean we'd get ourselves killed?" Bertolt nods to the tree behind me. Eren is sitting still unconscious in a similar state to me. 'Oh great. We're outside Wall Rose and in the hands of two titan shifters that are as far as we can tell our superiors in combat. On top of that we've both been effectively rendered helpless. On the other hand, it might be possible to transform and run for it.'

"Don't even think about it," says Reiner. I look up at him surprised. "No I can't hear your thoughts, but I can guess them pretty well. The way you're staring at you're stumps; I can tell you're thinking about transforming and making a break for it. You'd never get a single kilometre before the Titans brought you down. You're too exhausted to fight, even in titan form."

"In fact you'd probably be in an even worse position because of the energy it would take to make the transformation," adds Bertolt.

"So you're waiting to regain your strength as well?"

"Ha! Don't think about trying that either. You two came out of that fight far worse off than we did. I'll admit I'd rather not have to move out just now, but don't get any stupid ideas."

"We're waiting till dark," explains Bertolt. "Since the Titans go to sleep during the night it should make things easy enough."

"Wait, go to sleep? Since when do Titans go to sleep?"

Reiner and Bertolt exchange glances. "He's going to find out everything in a few days anyway," says Reiner with a shrug. "I don't see the harm in telling him this."

Bertolt grunts and turns back to me. "Sleep isn't the right word exactly. They rest anyway. To be honest we don't know a huge amount about the Titans ourselves. Of course there are some things you can't help but know. Or at least you'd think you couldn't help but know," he adds with a look that seems to be a little condescending.

A groan from off to my right stops me from replying. "Where, where am I?" mumbles Eren as he regains consciousness.

"You're not going to like it," I say. Eren looks around him unsteadily. "Try not to move around too much. Your balance is probably a little off."

Eren looks down at his arms, or rather his lack of them. "Wait, what the hell?!" he exclaims. His gaze darts over to Reiner and Bertolt. "You! What the hell do you want with us?"

"Us?" asks Bertolt, "we don't want anything from you. In fact we were perfectly happy with our lives before you guys screwed everything up!"

"Bertolt," says Reiner quietly, "That wasn't his fault you know."

"It was his father!" shouts Bertolt. I realise with shock that there are tears in his eyes. "Think about everything we've been through! If that stupid old man had just kept his nose out of things that didn't concern him none of this would have happened! We'd still be at home and safe and Annie wouldn't be..." his voice trails off and he starts to sob.

"What the hell?" asks Eren in a far quieter voice. "What are you guys talking about?"

Reiner looks at Eren glumly. "Let's just say we didn't choose this life," he replies. "And Bertolt's wrong anyway. It's got nothing to do with your dad when you think about it. It was you," he says, turning to lock his gaze on me.

"What? What did I do?" I gasp.

"You don't remember I suppose. Considering how traumatic the experience must have been it's no surprise you repressed it I guess. I don't know much of the story. All I've been told is that you told the truth. He likes to say that a lot. He admires you for it actually. I can't say I agree with that sentiment to be honest, look at where it's gotten us." He sighs. "Point is, Matthias Quinn, it was something you did that caused all of this to happen. I don't why or how, but you're the reason the Titans exist."