"How is the experiment going?"

"Excellent, Senior Pastor. The samples that were collected were incredibly fresh. We can make at least two more doses from it… Further doses will require… the cooperation of the Church."

Pastor Nick looked on in disgust as Senior Pastor Chris walked ahead of him, his pastoral robes scraping the ground. A pair of men wearing white version of the pastoral garb walked beside them. They were the "scientists" that had been recruited.

"If your tests show that this is viable," Chris said, his shaven head glistening in the scant light allowed through the stained glass windows, "Then the Church will cooperate fully. But it must be totally viable!"

"Yes, Senior Pastor," One of the white coats said, bowing, "May I be excused? Application of the next dosage will be within the hour, and I would like to be there when it occurs."

The Senior Pastor waved the men away, as they bowed their way out of his sight.

"I truly disdain using men such as them," Chris commented to Nick as they strolled through one of the main churches within the Wall Sina, "Always about measuring this and that, and seeking a handout so they can perform their 'experiments'. They may wear the garb of a pastor's assistant, but they do not fully accept the truth of God's great gift to us!"

Nor do you, you fat old fool. Nick though nastily to himself. The Senior Pastor was a known womanizer, and had been known to frequent the Brothels that dotted Sina. Though, considering the other Senior Pastors own background and tastes, he was almost tame in his lust for flesh.

"They are just fools, not entrusted with the truth, handed down to us by God himself," Nick said, steeling his resolve as a wave of revulsion came over him, "But we can use them to secure ourselves. To preserve the Walls of Light from further harm."

They walked on in silence, until they came to the Senior Pastor's personal study. They entered the room, which had walls lined with portraiture and sculptures. Mainly of beautiful women in seductive poses.

"Thank goodness," Chris went to a cupboard and pulled out a pair of glasses and a bottle of wine, "Would you care for some?"

"No thank you, sir. I've been trying to abstain."

Chris put away one of the glasses, before pouring the wine into his own.

"You take your vows quite seriously, don't you, Nick."

"Yes, sir."

"Drop the pretenses, Nick," Chris said as he looked at him sharply, "You are a man cut from a rare cloth. You held your faith even with the assault upon it by all that has happened over the last few months. Which is why I, along with the other Senior Pastor's, have chosen you for a special mission…"

"Damn, I told you that this route was going to be crawling with Jotunn!"

Luigi sat with his back to a rock, as Suttungr peeped over top of it with a pair of binoculars.

"It's a good thing Carr sighted them," Suttungr mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, "Or else we would have run straight into this clusterfuck."

Eighty feral Jotunn roamed the field in front of them, their bloated, grotesque and distended figures mulling about.

"I'm surprised they haven't sensed us yet," Luigi said, as he watched Ragnar crawl towards them, "Ragnar, what the hell are you doing!"

His whisper carried to the young Price, but he didn't stop.

"I need to try something," He said, his voice husky, "I left Carr and Hackett to watch the woman and the kids. Where's everyone else?"

Luigi nodded to the left, where the dimly visible forms of Sigmund and Eric lay behind another pair of rocks. Master Tobias sheltered behind a tree, while Dio leaned against another nearby tree.

"They're going to provide backup whenever we need to take them on, Eric's armored ability will be a good deal breaker if we get into it too much with these freaks. Dio and Tobias will join us once the battle is started."

Ragnar finished crawling towards them, as Suttungr himself sat down.

"Well, it looks like about half are fifteen meters," He said, pulling his cloak tighter around him. Though the sun was high in the sky, now, it was still freezing, "The rest will be easy pickings if we can take out those fifteens… But if we get bogged down they'll eat us out of our Jotunn. And sneaking around them is pretty much out of the question…"

Suttungr swept his hand across his field of view, taking in the large mountain valley they'd found themselves in. It was a completely different path then Ragnar had taken with his expeditionary force nearly half a year ago, and he hadn't encountered it before.

"Less than a week from the Walls, and we have to run into this group… By the sky this sucks!"

Luigi clamped his hand hard over Ragnar's mouth, even as they heard his voice echo off of nearby trees.

A terrible moan came from the other side of the rock they sheltered behind, and the earth shook as the feral Jotunn stampeded towards them.

"Dammit, Ragnar, now look what you've done!" He heard Sigmund shout from where he hid. "Looks like Eric and I will have to help!"

The seven of them manifested their Jotunn together, exploding forward into a charge straight into the teeth of the oncoming ferals. Ragnar watched them with angry eyes, as they came on, a great wave of flesh.

"Annie, do you think they're going to be okay?"

Annie looked up at Astrid, who was looking in the direction of the battle. Roars, moans and rumbling had come from the south. Periodically she could even hear Ragnar's tell tale roar.

I wish I could be there… But I can't transform…

She'd tested it with Ragnar watching, biting down on her thumb. The mixed smells of blood and steam escaped the wound, but she didn't transform once again. Ragnar had laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's just a matter of time before you get your strength back, my love," He'd said, "For now, I shall protect you."

But he hadn't be able to resist going with the others, leaving Annie with Carr and Hackett. Those two stood on either side of the little group, watching the surrounding wilderness.

"They will be, Astrid," Annie absentmindedly brushed her hair back behind her ear, "They are some of the strongest men I know. A group of feral Titans won't even slow them down."

Astrid smiled.

"When we get to the Walls, you'll keep teaching me your techniques, right?"

She'd continued to pester Annie for the majority of their journey, trying to get her to spar, until Suttungr had told her to stop. But…

I always did enjoy sparring with her, even though she's younger than me, she's tall and quite strong.

"As long as we have time," Annie said, "Things may be… hectic by that time. And don't you want to learn the Way like Ragnar?"

Astrid laughed lightly, before shaking her head.

"No way! The Way is too vicious! I saw your Grandpa and Ragnar sparring, it look like they were trying to kill each other!"

That's the point of it, I think. The whole point of the Way is to kill your opponent in as few blows as possible.

"I think they were Astrid… Ragnar is going to be facing people soon who so far outclass me that he'll need the Way just to be able to keep up with them. Maybe even people better with a sword than your father."

The young girl's eyes widened at that.

"People stronger than Ragnar and my father? Who could you mean?"

The dog… I fear few people in this world, but she's one who terrifies me. Her thoughts brought her back to that day…

A crowd of their fellow trainees had gathered around them, watching in shock as they 'sparred'. Annie ducked under a blow, but felt a sharp pain in her side as a snap kick connected. She hadn't even landed a blow on her!

"What Annie, can't you keep up with me?" The raven haired girl had taunted her, "Maybe I should train Eren, since your technique is awful."

The venom of her words hit Annie, and her jaw clenched as she drifted forward, faking a right cross while upper cutting with her left. Mikasa leaned backwards, and Annie's blow threw her off balance.

Darkness.

Her eyes cracked open. Her entire face hurt, but she looked up to see Mina Caroline standing over her.

"What happened?"

"Mikasa knocked you out," Mina said, "She's pretty scary, if you ask me."

Annie couldn't have agreed more with Mina. She felt a tension in her heart at the thought of Mina, who'd tried to be her friend. Someone who had had to die for her to fulfill her mission, her old mission.

A raucous noise brought Annie out of her thoughts. She whipped her head around just in time to see Hackett charging away from the little group, looking to Carr she saw him doing the same. The rumbling of the battle seemed to intensify for a moment, joined by the explosive peals of two more transformations. Eleanor charged straight towards the hill, her muscular Titan manifesting.

Annie looked up in horror as a dozen Titan's came over the hill they sheltered behind. One in the lead, its blonde hair falling past its shoulders, widened her eyes. Unlike its brethren, it wasn't particularly deformed, and it seemed to move with purpose. It avoided Eleanor and came straight at Annie and Suttungr's family.

An Abnormal.

She heard the children begin to cry, while Eleanor roared in frustration. A pair of seven meters were on her shoulders, trying to bite through her arms.

Annie's hand went to her mouth, but when her teeth sank into her hand, nothing happened.

Damn, Damn, Damn!

"Griselda, Arnora," Annie screamed, as the ground shook with each step of the fifteen meters charge, "Transform! Get away quickly!"

Annie stood her ground, knowing what was to come. But she failed to notice the crunching snow next to her, until it was too late.

"Astrid, no!"

But she was striding forward through the snow, going out to meet that ravening monster.

Annie was knocked backwards into a drift of snow, as Astrid reached her hand up and manifested her Titan form.

"Oh, goodness."

Astrid's titan, standing a little over fourteen meters, slammed into the slightly larger feral, knocking it backwards.

I forgot, she's a Mosher.

Ragnar killed another feral, as he tried to hold back the wall of flesh from making it over the hill. They must know that Annie and the rest of his family were there, because some of them tried to make it over the hill with little thought to their own survival.

I need to find a way to end this… Should I try to take on my Harbinger form?

It would be advisable, you'll only have its use for a few minutes, The Beast said, But our love is in danger.

The power flowed through him, and he felt it begin to build up. He noted Suttungr and Luigi closing in around him, seeming to know what he was going to do. Their blades protected him while the strength built up.

Just a little bit more…

Flames covered him, their golden light shining. He was glad that he hadn't caused as much destruction as he had before. But now he could feel everything going on around him, could feel each of the Jotunn and Ferals.

And what's this… He thought as several things caught his attention. Their seemed to be a doorway in his mind, to another. Memories flooded through him, images that he couldn't quite understand. But, he caught sight of Annie a few times, of Titan's. He felt the fear and rage, and the hope that resounded throughout the others mind.

So you're Eren. I am coming. He said, before he shut the door, sealing it.

Ragnar then tried to lock down on the ferals, to try to do what he had done during the ambush outside Yggadrasil. But, when he tried to force them to demanifest, he found he couldn't. They simply didn't have any kind of will he could influence, just empty husks.

Well that plan just went out of the window…

He roared in frustration, just as he felt a new presence burst into being near Annie's position. It felt like…

Astrid?

Ragnar killed a trio of ferals with a few slashes of his blade, only a few dozen remained. And though he knew most of his friends were exhausted, he had to go protect Annie.

He leapt into motion, huge gouts of steam bursting wherever his flaming form touched the snow, using all of his limbs to drive himself forward. He shouldered through a stand of trees, sending them flaming to the ground as he topped the small hill.

His eyes scanned the surroundings, noting Eleanor struggling with a trio of large ferals, while Carr and Hackett tried to hold off four each. But standing in front of him was the most shocking view.

Astrid struggled with a feral, her Titan's long hair. Her form almost looks like…

Ah, I see what happened. Astrid looks up to Annie, so when she actualized, that influenced her Jotunn form. Interesting.

He rushed towards Eleanor, slamming a foot into one of the ferals, before bringing down all of his blades into the nape of its neck. Then he was rushing again towards Annie. The feral finally batted Astrid aside, and made a beeline for Annie. It roared, a high warbling roar. A hungry roar.

Something smashed into Ragnar from behind, and he was suddenly being tossed about, white obscuring his vision.

An avalanche? Shit, all of the fighting must have triggered a big one off the valley walls.

Digging his feet into the ground, he was able to stop his tumbling, but continued to be pushed. It was only a few moments before the avalanche stopped, but it felt like forever. And he'd exhausted himself, feeling the power drain from him.

When he looked to see where Annie was, there was only the white surface of snow.

A panic rose inside him, as he saw the feral struggling in the snow, trying to free itself. He pulled himself out, and was almost too where Annie was when his Jotunn form began to weaken.

I can't hold it anymore, The Beast told him, sounding weak, You'll have to try a different tack.

Ragnar cursed as he ripped himself from his Jotunn, plummeting the twenty or so feet to the snow covered ground from where his Jotunn had begun to collapse. He struggled through the snow, seeing a tree that Annie had been near when he'd last seen her. Dimly, he could feel her presence somewhere about him.

She was buried under twenty feet of snow though!

"No, Annie! Someone help me!"

He began to dig, clawing away snow, trying to make it. His panic increased, knowing that he was breaking his promise to protect Annie. He felt his hands begin to heat, steam rising from them as they melted snow.

"Help me! By the sky, somebody help me!" He yelled, and was surprised when a pair of massive hands came from behind him and began to scoop out the snow.

He looked over his shoulder, expecting to see one of his men, or even Astrid, but instead look up into the eyes of the feral that had been going for Annie. Its hands dug into the ground more and more, flinging snow away into a large pile behind itself.

This one has a mind of its own… Can I control it?

"Stop!"

It looked down at him, eyes seemingly curious. That was when Ragnar knew he could use this to save Annie.

"Dig the snow out, but be gentle! Bring Annie to me!"

The feral dove into its task, as Ragnar watched with wide eyes. He saw Luigi and Suttungr come over the hill, followed by the rest of his men. They all looked quite haggard, except Luigi, who seemed as energetic as ever. Arnora and Griselda, carrying the children, trudged through the snow in their Jotunn forms. And Astrid was busy extricating herself from her own Jotunn.

"What the hell is that feral doing, Ragnar?" Suttungr called as he neared, his eyes narrowing. "Who's controlling it?"

Ragnar shrugged.

"I don't know, I can control it though. Annie's under the snow. Now comeon, we need to get her out of there!"

The feral had stopped, looking down into the hole it had dug. Ragnar slid down the snowy sides, and smiled as he saw Annie brushing snow off of herself at the bottom of it.

"Avalanche?" She asked as he grew near.

"Yeah, a pretty bad one. I even had trouble with it in my Jotunn form. Everyone's okay, Annie. We made it through."

He offered her his hand, and pulled her up into a fierce hug.

"Everyone's okay…" She said, then looked up into the face of the feral peering down at them, "What's with that Titan?"

"I guess I can control it," Ragnar mumbled, reaching down and grabbing Annie's hand, then yelling up to the feral, "Put your hand down here!"

It complied immediately, placing one of its hands palm up beside them. Ragnar stepped onto it, as did Annie.

"Put us down over there."

As they stepped off its hand, Suttungr came up and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing.

"That was a good fight, though when you left us it got a little threadbare," He said, smiling lightly, "I thought for sure you'd be able to do what you did outside of Yggadrasil. What happened to that?"

"Most of those Ferals didn't have a mind I could influence, they were just pure instincts," He looked at the abnormal Feral standing near them, "This one seems to have a mind, though. A very simple mind, but it is there. And it listens to me. Now let's see…"

Ragnar moved so that he was standing before the Feral.

"Lay down!"

It did so with no hint of protest, lying down on its stomach. Ragnar, with some help from Suttungr, climbed onto its back, walking slowly and carefully towards its neck. He stood over the usual point where a person would reside in their Jotunn, or where most ferals carried the minds of their former occupants. Ragnar pulled out on of his knives, and began to slowly and carefully peel away at the skin.

"Hold still!" He yelled as the feral began to shiver, though his voice only made it shiver even harder, "Damn!"

He plunged the knives in, parallel to where he though his goal was, and dragged them down, than cut perpendicular to those lines. As the flesh began to heal, he reached in and felt…

His hand closed on what he was looking for, and pulled. The feral gave a shudder, and then was still. Its corpse began to smoke as Ragnar held its occupant in his arms. It was a female child, maybe three or four years old. Ragnar could feel her breathing as he held her, his eyes wide.

Why is a child controlling a feral Jotunn?

"What is it?" Annie called to him. He removed his cloak and wrapped it around the young child. "Ragnar?"

He slid down the Jotunn's side, to stand before his guards and loved ones.

"Is that a-?" Suttungr said, as Ragnar walked towards Annie.

"Annie, it's a child," He said, letting Annie look at the young girl, "A child was locked into a feral jotunn."

Annie looked at the child, and began to cry. The blonde hair and blue eyes…

She reached out and took the child from Ragnar, holding it as tears flowed down her face.

"A child…"

The rest of their journey had gone well.

They hadn't been forced to fight through anymore Titan's as they trudged towards the Walls. Climbing Wall Maria had been easy, since no one had defended it. Wall Rose had been a tougher matter, and they'd almost been discovered by a Garrison patrol that had been moving along the top of the Wall.

But they hadn't, and now Annie stood with the rest of her friends. Anya, Dio had been the one to suggest the name, was sleeping soundly in a harness Luigi had cut for her on Annie's back.

Arnora and Griselda had both offered to take care of the child, but Annie had insisted that she wished to take care of the little girl. It felt so out of character for her, but… Ragnar had been there to help her along the way.

As she trudged deeper into Wall Rose, she smiled. Looking over at Ragnar, she felt a swelling in her heart.

"Ragnar," She said, squeezing his hand with her own, "I love you."

He looked at her, with surprised eyes. Then his face softened, and he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"I know."

And so they walked, towards confrontation, towards a sea of bad memories. But Annie knew they could do it. She had something stronger than the strongest sword, more powerful than any Titan.

A family.

Well this concludes the current arc. On to the next! Hope everyone enjoys its and has a happy thanksgiving! Gobble gobble!