Rated M for: Detailed descriptions of gore, violence and death

The horrific wails of the dying made the hairs on my neck stand on edge. I wanted to stop and help them, try to quench their pain and take away every bit of their suffering, but the leader of our party was adamant to stay on the move. I had caught his full name once and piecing together the small clues, I realized, to my grand surprise, that not only was he the highest ranking officer amongst the currently present military police soldiers, but he was the commander of the whole branch. It was Nile Dok in flesh, as real as a human could ever be. I briefly wondered how many famous profiles I would meet before I would be kicked out of the Survey Corps.

The thought made me frown as I almost had to jog to keep up with the tempo of our group. We were rapidly crossing countless of narrow alleys and wide streets, small town squares and residential areas, navigating through what seemed like a giant maze. I simply followed, trusting that Nile Dok and his scouts knew their way around, and so did the rest of the troop. At times I tried to make eye contact with Erwin or voice a general question, but the handsome commander of the Survey Corps seemed too busy with his thoughts to notice and none of the soldiers were keen on answering. I could see the look of plain terror on their blank, pale faces and I realized that obeying orders was all they could do for now. They were all on the verge of breaking—only their discipline kept them sane.

I couldn't blame anyone of them. My hands were trembling even more than the ground and my bruised ribs were aching due to exertion. The bestial roars, the shattering rumbles and the constant throbbing beneath my feet were impossible to pinpoint to a certain location; I guessed that Commander Dok was trying to take the route furthest away from danger, but the nightmarish growls and slams only seemed to grow louder and louder with each step. The buildings were too tall and I was too short to see beyond their tiled roofs but not seeing the monsters, the cause of all the destruction, made everything seem even more dreadful. I didn't know how many they were or how they looked and just the thought that they could burst through the avenue anytime, anywhere, made my skin crawl.

I tried to put aside my fear and it worked, but only if I focused on other things.

I'll be forced out of the Survey Corps now for sure. I don't know what Sebastian meant by "feeling titan movement" but I don't feel anything out of the ordinary, I thought as I absent-mindedly glanced into a dark passage. A wave of nausea instinctively made me press a hand over my mouth and I immediately looked away from the broken body. Buried beneath a giant piece of rubble I had no idea to where it had traveled from was a scarlet heap, a mess I only recognized as human due to its tiny arms and legs. The willowy calves that peeked out of the blue dress and the shoed soles were faced upwards; the stone had struck the child from behind. I hoped she had died instantaneously as I quickly swallowed my rising breakfast.

So far, our journey had proceeded in solitude but suddenly, our group came across a boulevard filled with civilians. I had been too distracted to hear the commotion any earlier. Women and men, young, middle-aged and elderly, all moved with the same hunched, almost toppled over posture, and their slim, soft hands unused to work clung desperately around their most precious belongings, which could be anything from a large painting, an ostentatious jewelry box to an important file with documents. I even saw some people carry large, decorated suitcases or furniture and drag their heavy load over the cobblestone, away from where the large part of all the smoke billowed up into the sky. They gushed out of the fancy apartments bordering the streets like water wrenched out of a wet towel and the clamoring and the chaos was absolute. Children were set aside, ignored or also forced to carry important possessions far too heavy for their thin, juvenile physiques, and I saw a woman hysterically scold her twins for dropping a vase. Two men were at each other throats, screaming angrily while waving their hands in the air. The rage and the panic seethed in the air; I could almost smell it.

A low murmur surged through our party. The two soldiers holding Erwin were pale-faced and sweaty, looking as sick as I felt, and the man behind me muttered a long row of profanities before a woman—Sophie, I remembered—caught up with us and reprimanded him for his language.

"What the hell is going on here?" exclaimed a soldier to my left, a very tall woman with golden hair and narrowed green eyes. She hurried to her halted commander's side and gestured reproachfully at the scene. "Where are the evacuation troops? This isn't organized at all!"

"Don't you think I know that, Cayla?" hissed the dark-haired man and looked over his shoulder. His face revealed ambivalence; he was torn between helping the citizens and something else. "Damn it! Where—"

A humongous tremor drowned out the rest of his sentence. The earth quivered and moaned in symbiosis with a fierce scream before a pole, followed by a gush of dirt and smoke, knocked me to the ground. I was able to catch my fall but tore up the flesh on my palms and elbows as my body connected to the cobble and a sharp pain resonated through my lower back. I couldn't see anything through the smoke and my ribs hurt more than ever due to whatever had struck me. I made a move to lift away the warm, pole-shaped object from my chest but it relocated by itself and a feminine groan escaped from a mouth very close to my ear. Green eyes in a brighter and softer shade than Eren's, more like the leaves of an apple tree than expensive emerald, opened slowly and the soldier awkwardly gained a crouching position as she realized how close we were. My eyes widened as I realization struck me.

Where is Eren?

The smoke gradually cleared and at an arms length from me I saw the commander of the Military Police Brigade on his back and blinking in confusion before he sat up and coughed lightly. I mimicked his movement with a grimace and shook away my thought; I had to focus on the current situation.

"Cayla," the dark-haired man breathed as he got to his feet. "Close call. Thank you."

She stood up as well, saluting as she looked down at him. There was dirt on her forehead and left cheek. "Anything, commander."

I swallowed and stiffly rose. "What... happened?" I asked breathlessly, supporting my torso with my arms.

Nobody answered. Nile Dok silently turned towards the avenue, his strides long and determined. The soldier named Cayla had pushed us back into the alley we came through and I followed him out of it with my eyes squinted, trying hard to see through the alleviating smoke. But as it eventually rose, I wished it had remained.

The avenue was in ruins and thus, the people.

I glanced behind me; the soldiers and Erwin were unharmed, albeit the former were clearly shocked as they came after their superior. The commander of the Scouting Legion was simply stoic and observed the devastation with an expressionless demeanor. I could scarcely believe how controlled someone could be in the midst of this gruesome havoc until I realized why and quickly faced forward, disgusted to my very bones.

He had seen worse.

Fragile fingers, pale and aristocratic, clutched to their treasures with fervor even in death. Lifeless bodies buried beneath large amounts of rubbish, dust and crumpled masonry were spilling out all their red gold, what they as living really should have cared about. The blood was everywhere, staining both the expensive buildings and the random objects scattered across the boulevard, and mixed with the stench of grime and sweat. A few, hoarse voices cried out, both in pain and horror, as their owners also saw their surroundings or found themselves a part of the vile decor. I would have shrieked too if it weren't for the fact that I would hurl if I allowed my mouth to open. So I kept my lips tightly pressed together and tried to calm down my quickening breathing and increasing heart rate.

"We'll soon be there."

I wanted to close my eyes but it was an impossibility for the route that the commander took, as I had to watch were I placed my feet so I wouldn't step on a corpse. Twice I almost lost myself. The first time was when I walked over a woman; she was lying flat on her back, her brown eyes opaque and empty as they stared up into mine and something meaty oozed out the side of her skull, soaking her long, dark hair. I fought back the urge to throw up and kept on going. The second time was when I noticed a man that had been smashed but only partly; the weight of the masonry had burst the flesh of his very generously sized stomach and released his intestines to trail down his blue trousers. The man's gray eyes were still kindled with the unmistakable flame of life but his body was unmoving and not far from the sweet salvation of death.

Our party nimbly maneuvered through the dead, dying and the debris in a line and although we moved slowly, we somehow managed to find a way to the other side. I almost shouted in relief as we got away from the avenue; I would never forget what horrors I had seen.

"Cristoph! Ben!"

The blonde and green-eyed soldier called their names several times and in all directions. Her voice bounced harshly off the building walls adjacent to the slim side street that Commander Dok had steered us into, a loud noise compared to the aftermath behind us.

"Where are you?"

There was no reply and after a moment she quieted. I wanted to comfort her slumped shape but one look on her face was enough to silence me. She didn't need my sympathy.

"We can't stay here," ordered Commander Dok quietly. "Let's continue."

There were a couple of weak agrees and we got back into our earlier pace. Erwin still didn't say anything and neither did anyone else. We were silent, our footsteps doing the talking for us, and although the sound of the titans drew nearer, there was nothing we could do since we were running out of city parts to cover—the Wall was getting close.

I was exhausted, both emotionally and physically, and it wasn't only terror that made it hard to breathe. My legs were growing numb and unsteady, and I knew I would collapse soon. Still, my weak, unskilled limbs were the last thing on my worried mind.

Levi.

Get it together, I thought heatedly. He's humanity's strongest soldier. He of all people should know how to handle titans.

But still, a titan-shifter must differ from normal titans, another voice replied. After all, didn't your brother die to one?

I balled my hands into fists, ignoring the needle-like pain that erupted from my fingertips. It surprised me and I looked down at my palms. They were bloodied and torn and I fleetingly recalled that I had scraped them, though I couldn't have cared less about my wounds.

No, I decided and raised my gaze. Levi won't die. I of all people should know.

But what about Eren? And whoever else that might have been included or dragged into this mad, mad plan?

I had completely forgotten the recruits but I didn't have time to come up with a reassuring answer. Our party reached a platform that was set towards a small plaza and aligned to the Wall when two things exploded out of the city and into the clear area, demolishing shops where their bodies landed. Everything I knew or felt disappeared in an instant as I realized what I saw.

There were two titans in the middle of the plaza and they were locked in a horrific parody of an embrace. A blood-curdling roar escaped the blonde, distinctively female-looking one as the second, a giant with long, dark brown hair, luminescent eyes and pointy, misshapen ears, clamped around its humanoid face with a strong, clawlike hand. The former had almost no skin but consisted purely of muscles whereas the latter was fully covered with a tan, smooth complexion that stretched thin over its extremely developed musculature. Red, glowing veins pulsated beneath the skin and white vapor was exuding from every part of its body. The brown-haired titan's left forearm had been removed in the gruesomest way, as well as its right leg from the knee and below, but the severe injuries didn't seem to bother it one bit as it easily squashed its opponents face with a satisfied growl. Dark blood spurted out from between its fingers and the blonde's bellowing turned into a frenzied, high-pitched scream which shook the ground so violently that even my teeth chattered. I would have stumbled if it weren't for the green-eyed soldier, Cayla, whose quick reflexes caught my frame. I didn't thank her but neither would she had heard me—we were both too busy staring at the nightmare that enfolded before us.

Viscous blood was dripping from the blonde titan's face but its eyeballs hadn't been crushed. It elbowed its enemy and the strike connected with a loud slam, briefly dazing the brown-haired titan. It then took off to the wall, leaping up on it with strangely crystalline fingers and toes, and began climbing it. Vapor rose from its head as it slowly regenerated, its features slowly resettling into something that almost resembled a face, and a similar thing occurred to the other titan who was swift to get after its escaped pray. The brown-haired one caught the female-looking titan around its thighs and hung onto it before it started biting down on the flesh with furious snarls. Swiftly, the blonde giant unhooked its left leg from its chaser's grip and forcefully kicked it in the face, sending it flying back into the ground. The other titan fell with half a leg in its arms but the blonde didn't even seem to notice as she hurried her ascent.

It's getting away, I realized numbly. I was stuck between amazement and horror, and in my inability to pick one of the emotions I had chosen none. It's gonna get to the other side of the wall. It's—

A tiny shape took off from one of the nearby buildings. At first I thought it was him—the figure had short, raven-colored hair and a feeling of harsh determination in his or her movements—but then I realized that it was a she, and that she was too tall to be him. I let out a small exhale of relief but my breath hitched in my throat as I recognized her. It was the red scarf that gave her away.

Mikasa darted through the air as effortlessly and graceful as a bird and she rose in altitude in just a couple of seconds, blades glimmering in her Operating Devices. Soon she reached the female-looking titan's right hand and soared horizontally, blood sputtering where her body passed. Gaining momentum from her first dive, she flipped around and unleashed her hooks into the wall again before cutting through the titan's left set of fingers. Unable to remain on simply its left foot, the blonde titan also slammed into the ground, its body sending a powerful gust of dust as it landed. Immediately, the brown-haired titan lunged at its pray, a deep howl coming out of its wide-opened jaws; the female-looking titan tried to scramble away from its opponent but its faint attempt only seemed to make the other titan angrier. The latter landed hard, straddling the blonde just below its hips, and brutally swung its fist into the prone titan's neck, the collision literally lifting me a foot off the earth. Something large came flying through the air, aimed straight towards where I, Erwin and our escort stood, and I was only barely able to land on my feet when the detached titan-hand clutched around the platform and shook the foundation again. Only the commander of the Survey Corps was able to stay calm; the military police had ran off, even Cayla, and I would have also fled if it weren't for my loss of footing. But perhaps it was for the best—I wouldn't have been able to stop running.

Steam and smoke rolled off the public square and its only two visitors. The blonde titan's head was nowhere to be seen and its fleshy body lay inanimate. The titan perched on top breathed heavily, both of its arms now done into a macabre mess, then lowered its fanged jaws towards the fallen titan's neck. It ripped open the taut, pink flesh as easily as if it were paper and growled again.

But then it froze.

I tried to see for what but even as I stumbled to Erwin's side by the balustrade, I was too far away. The brown-haired titan's eyes lost their eerie, cerulean glow and instead, another bright blue light erupted. I managed to register that it originated from the female-looking titan's neck, but then I had to shade my already narrowed eyes from the light and steady myself from another wave of ruthless air. There were quieter but more panicked shouts from the titan now and I peeked through two fingers, eyes squinting, too curious and fascinated to miss what happened. The headless titan's body had changed in substance and was slowly becoming something more fluid yet thick. It begun wrapping around the other titan's limbs whose screams only increased in intensity—

And there came Levi.

He was quicker even than Mikasa, as quick as a shooting star or a comet; he was a dark, ethereal being faster than light. I couldn't believe my eyes as he landed on top of the brown-haired titan's neck, swirled his blades with inhuman grace—like they were only an extension of his arm—and cut the nape. It almost felt like I had insulted him by comparing him to the extraordinarily talented recruit—the difference in skill was too great.

The cerulean light eventually vanished and another two figures got onto the now silent and unmoving titan. It looked as if Armin and the recruit with the light ash-brown hair moved through water after seeing Levi's speedy display. The boys fiercely grabbed at something that peeked out of the titan's flesh.

It was Eren.

"Let's get closer."

I almost jumped at his words. It was the first thing he had said before we split up with Levi; it took a moment extra for me to find my voice.

I cleared my throat. "Y-yes, sir."

The commander started walking down the stone staircase to our left, the same way the military police had gone, and we reached the ground level in silence. The titan hand gripping the platform was already decomposing in the sunlight, sending pillars of vapor towards the sky, and so were the enormous titan bodies in front of us.

"I reckon you have some questions."

That would a serious understatement. I had to force my tired legs to keep up with his long strides. "A couple hundred," I replied earnestly.

He glanced at me, his icy blue eyes apologetic. "I'm sorry for that but I didn't know if I could trust you or not. Our latest expedition was a catastrophe just due to that: betrayal within our ranks."

It sounded reasonable. "Oh," I said. "Was that why you paired me with Levi?"

"Yes." Erwin didn't seem surprised of my guess. "And he also said he personally wanted to keep an eye on you."

I frowned. That's just typical him. No wonder he didn't tell me anything—he thought I might screw this up.

"I hope you aren't insulted," he went on. "I had to minimize the risks—just imagine if something else had gone wrong today and how many more people would have died."

"I-I'm alright, sir," I replied, my face draining with blood as I remembered the dead. "I… I guess the mission's a success? You caught the other… titan-shifter." Sebastian's murderer.

The commander nodded curtly. "Indeed. Today was a great victory for mankind."

I opened my mouth but then hesitated. I was afraid to hear his answer but I still couldn't abstain from asking. "Am I…" I began. "Am I going to—"

Shocked cries and gasps interrupted me. I looked about; soldiers carrying the emblem of the Survey Corps had filled the plaza, although some were from the Military Police Brigade. Most of them were gathered around a large, bright blue crystal that was buried deep within the decaying remains of the headless titan, while some evaluated the crumbling bone structure of the other monster and the rest were forming a perimeter around the area. At first I thought the crystal was what had brought everyone's attention: It emitted a soft light in the exact same hue as the cerulean light from earlier and judging by the many broken blades around it, I noted that it was impenetrable by steel. I had a very vague feeling that I had seen something similar before but immediately dismissed it as foolishness; it was probably just its alien beauty that attracted my attention. But as my eyes traveled to find Levi, I found what everyone, even he, was looking at.

There was a titan in the wall.