I've never believed in fate. The idea that our lives are already decided for us has never seemed… right. Perhaps I don't want to accept that I can't change my course. I'm a fighter, even when things get tough I'm still a fighter.

But regardless of whether I or not fate is real, there's no denying that the 104th ended up in Trost, and that the Titans chose that day to attack. And maybe it's also fate that the top 5 of the 104th happened to be nowhere near the attack when it happened.

I was on the wrong end of the city, and I have no idea where Mikasa was.

I remember how I was hanging out with some people I had met, when all of the sudden the thunder boomed and we all tensed up. I remember watching the head lift over the wall, as the cadets who had been on the wall went flying over the side. You can't explain what it was like, watching friends you had go tumbling towards the ground, barely regaining control before they splattered against the ground.

First there's shock, you don't quite understand what's happening. The Titans don't make sense when they first show up. And then there's anger. Anger so rich that it numbs the body and the brain, and all you have is the desire to kill. But anger passes quickly for me, and then there is uncertainty. You don't know what to do, and your body refuses to follow your orders. You're caught in this moment of not knowing how to act, and so you body just decides not to.

In training, they tell us the best way to stop that is to just act. They drill us not to think, but to respond faster than we can think. This, they say, is the art of fighting Titans.

So I act.

My body goes flying over the wall, my mind forgetting what's going on. I catch a glimpse of someone flying alongside the Titan. He dodges it's slow strike, but the Titan was not aiming for him it seems. The arm of the colossal Titan slams into the cannons that line the wall in front of it. Debris goes tumbling down. The person fighting it spins around it's back, inching closer to the neck of the beast. I can feel the wind rushing along me, and everything feels alright while I'm floating along the world. And then the gate explodes.

The shock wave travels along and through the wall. My hooks are shaken loose and I start falling. I catch myself again, flying upwards right to the top of the wall at the gates. I spin as I land on the top, my swords ready to slice and dice. In front of me, though, there is nothing but empty space. Eren lands next to me.

"It's gone...it just vanished!"

I nod. Just like the first time it appeared, the coward flees once it's beaten. It doesn't even accept death with honor, instead it runs like a coward.

"It got the gate! The titans are going to overrun the city!" Eren just looks at me.

"I was so close! I almost got it!"

"Eren, there is no time for regrets. We have to head to HQ."

Eren said nothing, simply heading over the side of the wall into the city. I leaped off the opposite side, spiraling down towards the hordes of titans entering the city of Trost. Then, I flipped around and fired my hooks into the top part of the vertical wall. Suddenly, I was racing through the air above the city. From above, I could see the titans as they entered the first part of the city. Everything seemed so simple when looking down at it.

And then I came crashing down to reality. I found myself flying through the alleyways of Trost, before landing in the HQ, my feet burning as they slid across the ground. People were rushing all around, moving into groups and launching off to move to defensive positions. I walked up to the person at one of the tables, who had a list of teams and groups and their place in the defense of Trost.

"Hiya Angel." A woman I do not recognize grabs my arm, "You're with us." She says, nodding to the group of people standing behind her. There were five people huddled behind her, three I don't know and two I do. The two I know are Reiner Braun and Annie Leonhart. Neither seemed happy.

"Yes Ma'am. We are we going?" I asked, hoping for something a bit farther back than the very front.

"We're in the center of town, we'll be protecting the left side of the Command Center. Name's Rosa, nice to meet you. Heard you're pretty good at fighting, guess we'll see. Word of advice, stick close to your buddies. Titan finds you alone you're good as dead. Oh, and look at that. The last person in our squad has just shown up. Excuse me while I go fetch him."

I just sort of stood there, a bit confused as Rosa speaks really fast. As well, she's really hyper. And then I watched her leave to grab the final squad member, and see that the final member is Bertrolt. Well, how lucky. Reiner and Bertrolt are together, like always.

I went and joined the huddle of troops. Saying hello to Reiner and Annie, but only Bertrolt responded. Annie, as usual, was silent, merely nodding to me. No one else acknowledged my presence.

Then Rosa came back, almost dragging the incredibly bewildered Bertrolt, "Alright everyone, the whole team's together. Now, before we leave, we going to perform a routine exercise. I want everyone to say their name and one thing that no one knows about them. Are we good?" She stopped talking for a second, and one of the guys made a sound but she cut him off, "Alright, let's start with you Lenny."

Lenny, the person who made the sound, sighed, "Do we really have to do this Rosa? This is absurd!" Rosa put her right hand on her hip. "I still don't like this! My name's Lenny and something I've never told others is that-"

"Hold on Lenny!" Rosa interrupted, "Last name too!"

Lenny's mouth opened in exasperation, "Rosa...no."

Rosa let out a sound like she was offended, "Alright then…"She muttered menacingly.

Lenny finished what he was going to say,"Anyway, I've never told anyone that I actually don't exist. But, uh, keep it secret."

Rosa clapped, "That wasn't so hard Lenny! Alright I'll go-"

"Rosa," A tall man who spoke with an air of authority interrupted, "I'm the captain anyway, and I say we're just gonna go. We don't have time to waste right now."

Rosa made another offended sound, and then she was suddenly serious, "Alright Rudy, I'm sorry."

Rudy accepted her apology, "Cadets, you four travel behind us. If we engage, you'll primary duty will be to distract while we kill. Once we reach the destination, we'll split into teams of four and take up vantage points. Don't engage alone, always make sure your teammate knows what you're doing. Most titans aren't smart enough to grab hook lines, but don't count on it. Watch where you fire as well as the titan. And most importantly, listen to your superiors. Your mistake could kill two instead of one. Got that? Alright, let's head out. On me team!"

Rudy burst into the air, moving like the gear was just another extension of his person. The rest of us followed, as close to him to him as we could safely be. The wind tried to push us back, but all eight of us fought against it. The defense of Trost begins today, and most likely it wasn't going to go well. Although, Humanity's soldiers would defend her even at the cost of their own lives.

There were no clouds in the sky, as if the world was letting us face our problems without any shadows cast upon them. The battle began just before Noon, and likely much of it would take place when the sun was still high in the sky. It's horribly ironic. The darkest hours of humanity always take place in bright sunlight.

Rudy told us our plan for today. Our job was to defend the left side of the Command Center, and so we would be spaced accordingly. Me and Rudy would be front and center, standing on opposite buildings lining the street that runs past our objective. Reiner and Rosa would be watching from towers directly behind us. Annie and Lenny are directly behind us, acting as decoys. Meanwhile Bertrolt and Gurry, the last member of the squad, would be positioned on the inner buildings lining the street that leads to the Command Center. They were to act as our last resort. Hopefully, they wouldn't be fighting today.

We took up our positions, readying for the siege which would be upon us shortly. Were all nervous, and scared. This was no longer practice, if someone messed up they wouldn't get reprimanded and sent to try again, they get killed. And maybe someone else gets killed with them.

There was little talk among us, beside the occasional question asked about the situations in which we would retreat, or when we would be allowed to retreat. In the silence that hung around us we could feel the death rising from all around, it's presence whispering in our ears telling us we would join it, that there is no escape from the darkness encroaching upon us.

"Stand strong," Rudy said out of the blue, "You can't fight while sitting."

Good point Rudy, good point. I checked my gear one last time, watching as the front line began to pull back, defeated and exhausted. The titans wouldn't be on us yet, as they still had to breach the guard in front of us. But the guard was a thin line that stretched along the entire city, their whole point to give the troops behind them time to prepare for the onslaught and time for the troops in front of them to pull back and merge in with the middle line. They were 10% fighters and 90% distraction. They were retreating within minutes, and the titans were advancing towards us.

"Brace for impact, if anything we'll have to hold out long enough for the remainder of the front line to rejoin the battle. Angel, I want your best at all times. Rosa, Reiner, eyes open and scanning. Lenny, stay close to me at all times. Annie, same goes with Angel. Alright squad, the time for fear is over. Now is the time for action. Never surrender, do not go quietly into the night!" He looked around at all of us, before he threw his sword into the air and yelled out with all of his strength, "For Humanity!"

Fear vanished in the wave of adrenaline that rushed over all of us, and the guard came rushing through us, titans close behind them.

"So Angel," Annie said to me, as we were partners during this ordeal, "This is it." I looked at her, her blond hair still in the wind, and her expression blank even as the horde marched ever on.

"Yes, this is where we discover the soldiers from the fodder." She nodded.

"Where do you lie on that scale Angel? Are you a soldier or are you yet another piece of fodder destined to die?"

"What?" I was taken back, confused as to what she was asking. That's a pretty deep question to just come out and ask, almost mocking, "I'm a warrior, fighting is what I do best. The titan that takes me down will have to be pretty special." I smiled, knowing it was true.

She chuckled, cold yet amused, "How special? The Colossal Titan special? Armored Titan special? Maybe, something else special?"

"I'd say it's like a seven on the special scale."

"I think it will have to more special than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I just mean it will have to get me before it gets you. And I don't see any titan getting me anytime soon. Getting me isn't easy to do. And even if did get me, it'd have to fight a second battle, right?"

"I...I'm not sure I'm following what you're saying."

"You mean you wouldn't try to save me?"

"ANNIE!" Reiner screamed towards us from the top of the tower, "You guys got titans incoming!"

"We know Reiner!" She screamed back, "I'm well aware of them. We're the A-Team down here, we got this!" She turned back to me, "I hope you would save me. Now that you'll need to, I don't plan on dying today."

I smiled, "Of course, protection is my calling." There was a pause. "Just don't call me late for dinner."

"Shut up." I didn't respond, just prepared for combat.

The first one came running, aberrant for sure. Before I could even take action though Lenny was moving and Rudy had vanished from view. Lenny was nearly immediately in front of the titan moving away from it, until he moved beyond the tower point and Rudy hooked the two towers and was slicing out the nape before the titan could react. Then, the two pulled back to the buildings up front as normal ones started to filter in. The first normal titan to arrive was taken care of cleanly and quickly, Lenny and Rudy taking it out again. Then the second one was incoming and it was our turn to test our skills. Annie was moving and the titan saw her and just was completely focused on her. It was easy for me to move in behind and take it out, as it paid no attention to me whatsoever.

The second time was a bit harder. Annie moved to distract it, but it had caught sight of me already and seemed to be focused on me. I moved to try to swing around it, but Annie had apparently decided to switch our roles here. Once she saw it didn't pay attention to her she had swung upwards and now swung down and moved past it's nape, slicing it out as she went by. We moved back to the position we would always return to.

"Well, you killed it quite well."I said to her when we safe for a moment.

"That was odd. It really focused in on you." She looked at me, her eyes seeming suspicious of me.

"The first one focused on you and refused to pay attention to me, so it wasn't that weird when it focused on me. Maybe they're just like that." She nodded.

"Yeah."

"Annie! Angel! Third one coming in now!" Reiner called down to us. I focused back in on the front. But again, Annie moved first and it glanced at her for a second but once I moved it was staring at me. Again, I tried to swing up to take it out anyway, but Annie was faster and killed it before I could get around it.

And again, once we were safely back on the roof Annie was very silent, and seemed a bit confused. We didn't talk during the down time. This repeated for another two or three kills, before she finally said, "They really are focusing on you Angel. If I didn't know better, I'd say you look tasty." She said it very serious, looking right at me with a cold, hard stare.

"I like to think I'd be tasty." Then the front line started to filter out and take up positions in the ranks of the middle line. A tall, balding man came down among us, addressing Rudy in a firm, steady voice, "We have a problem Rudy, we forgot a team of rookies. Left 'em pretty deep in what is now en'my territory. I want you and your team to go get them out of there."

Rudy nodded, "Alright boss, if you say so. Do we have a relief team coming to take up our positions here?"

"That's what I'm here for, you guys can get going."

Rudy seemed alarmed, "All by yourself? That seems a bit…"

"No! I have backup heading here right now. They should be here before I have to fight a titan, but you guys have no time to waste. Lives are at stake here Rudy, get going."

Rudy saluted him, "Alright Sir! Team gather up, we'll heading out!"

"Oh, wait! Hold on Rudy, there's one more soldier I want to join you. She should be here within a bit."

"Who is she sir?"

"Auxiliary to complement your already elite unit. Best in her class, Mikasa Ackerman. True prodigy that girl, in fact here she is now." And then Mikasa landed right next to the two men. Rudy introduced himself to her, and he told her that she was to join the two soldiers over there, as he pointed at me and Annie.

She joined us, silent as usual, and then Reiner came down and joined us as well. Bertrolt showed up a second later, but no one made conservation. We were all a bit nervous for what was ahead, heading deep into the ranks of titans. Rudy gave us the signal to launch from across the street, and we launched into the air as troops filled in the gap we left behind.

We flew through the air, avoiding titans at all costs. Mikasa was on point, I was right behind and then Annie, Reiner, and Bertrolt covered the rear. We dodged a couple groups of titans, sped through the city before we could be noticed. We were moving very fast, when all of the sudden an aberrant came running out of an alleyway as we passed. It happened to appear right in front of me, and as I swerved to avoid it I felt the tension in my hooks vanish, and then I was falling, before quickly being thrown upwards. The aberrant had grabbed my lines and thrown me upwards. The wind pushed against me and through me, as I gasped for breath in what I knew to be my last moments.

Then I was falling, and I fell into the shadow of the beast as a horde of titans started to condense around the area. My back hit the ground, and I felt my bones shatter as my name was thrown into the air by someone, I assume Reiner. Pain bolted through my body, and the face of the aberrant was the last thing I could see as my eyes rolled back and I faded out of consciousness.