A/N: Don't worry! There's more! Thank you all for taking the time to read this story. Moving into part 3, there will be a three year time jump and we will now be following the show more. A lot of this will be word-for-word with the show and follow Reiner, Eren, and Levi's perspectives during the Female Titan arc.
As an apology for leaving you guys hanging on such a cliff hanger last week, please enjoy 2 chapters this week!
Please continue to review and let me know what you think! I love hearing what you have to say and it keeps me motivated to bring you more!
Part 3: The Fallen Squad
Chapter 18
Three Years Later
Armin looks up with wide eyes as he sees the string of black smoke lifting from the tree line. He twists the canister into the gun and extends his arm to the sky, shooting off his own black signal. An Abnormal rips through the trees running wildly behind Dita and Luke.
"Head's up!" Dita yells out to Luke who rides near him, "The nape's all yours, okay? I'll go for the legs!"
"You got it!" Luke yells back.
Dita rises on his horse, skating on the ground as he grapples on the Abnormal's shins and effortlessly drives his blades into its heels, knocking the Abnormal to the ground in a puff of smoke. "All yours Cis!" He calls out to Luke who launches himself from his horse with a loud war cry, pulling out his blades and slicing the Abnormals nape, killing it instantly.
"Way to go!" Armin calls out, "Nicely done, Ness!"
Dita praises his trusted steed for returning to him, unfazed at the proximity of the giant Titans. He swings his leg onto the horse and rides off to return to his place within the formation. In the distance he hears thudding, and he turns around to see what is causing the noise.
Dita looks back, noticing the approaching giant, "Not again," he grumbles, "What the hell are the right-wing spotters doing back there?"
"Looks like we got another abnormal on our hands," Luke notices, "It's not their fault."
"Ahh," Dita groans, "I hate these things," he rolls his eyes, "Fine, one more for the road then."
"Right!" Luke nods firmly.
"Damn it," Dita releases as he looks back at the approaching Titan. "Someone mind telling me what we did to deserve two in a row? Bad enough it's an Abnormal, but it's gotta be fourteen meters? This is going to be a pain in the ass."
Dita's face drops as the Titan begins to sprint towards him with vicious force, stomping between them as they barely evade her war path. The Titan that approaches them is larger than most at fourteen meters. She's athletically built and judging by the way she storms them, she's a stronger abnormal than they are used to.
Armin pulls out the signal gun and shoots up another black smoke signal from afar. "It's moving so fast," Armin groans with dismay in his tone. "Too fast."
"We have to keep it clear of Arlelt!" Dita cries out, "Cis!"
"On it!" Luke returns without hesitation, shooting his grapple into the Female Titan's nape and launching himself at her with a battle cry. Before he can reach her nape, she strikes him with a quick and vicious motion, punching him and killing him instantly.
Dita moves to attack, but the Female grabs his grappling wires, launching him to the ground and smashing him to the floor. She halts her run as Armin watches her with wide fearful eyes. She begins charging at Armin as he turns from her and gallops as fast as his horse will take him.
"Did that really just happen?" Armin asks himself, "We're not dealing with an Abnormal! This thing is showing intelligence! Like the Colossal. Like Eren! It's a human being wrapped in a Titan body! But who? Why?"
The Female Titan continues to run towards him with earth shattering thumps. "What am I going to do?" Armin cries to himself, "I'm dead! I'm so dead!" Armin panics as he releases the extra horse he travels with, calling out to the horse to run from him, but the Female Titan gains on him and crushes the horse as she goes to crush the boy.
Armin looks up at the Female Titan as she looks down at him, foot lifted and prepared to squash the boy who rides from her. She looks down, face unreadable behind her blonde hair as she watches the boy who awaits his last moments with wide wild eyes.
The Female Titan jumps and smashes down her foot, causing the boy to fling from his horse and fall to his hands and knees. The Female Titan kneels down next to the shaking boy as she carefully grabs at the hood that covers his face. Armin looks up at her with shaking breaths as she stares down at him, taking in his face with intelligent recognition. Her blue eyes land on his, watching him for a moment before—to his surprise—she lifts herself from her knee and continues on her path without making a move at the boy.
"This doesn't make any sense," Armin whines as he watches her leave him in the field. "Why didn't it… why didn't it kill me? It pulled back my hood. Looked at my…" he places his shaking hand on his face, "Why would it need to check my face?"
"Armin!" Reiner calls out approaching the boy sitting on his knees in the middle of the field.
"Reiner!" Armin returns as relief flows through his body.
"Hey, can you ride?" Reiner asks him, "What the hell are you doing? This is full blown Titan country; you can't be without a horse!" he says handing him the reins of his spare horse. "Climb on!"
Armin nods and lifts himself onto the horse. They begin galloping behind the Female Titan, following her at a safe distance. "I came as soon as I could when I saw the black smoke," Reiner informs Armin. He looks up at the Female Titan that runs from them, "Nice ass for an Abnormal, you got to admit," he says with a cheeky grin as he once did to Bertolt when he first saw her, and like the tall brunette, the boy does not laugh.
"It's not an Abnormal," Armin releases, "It's a person controlling a Titan body."
"Wait what?" Reiner asks convincingly.
"I'll explain in a second, we need to fire off a signal to warn the others," he begins fidgeting with the signal gun, cursing for the damn thing to work as his hands shake when the sound of a smoke signal goes off behind him.
"Hey, it's alright," Reiner grunts looking back, "Looks like Jean's got you covered."
Armin turns to see Jean approaching the two of them at a quickening pace as yellow smoke signals are shot in the distance. Reiner mentions the right-wing spotters suffering massive casualties, and the realization that they can't carry on sinks in. Jean informs them most of the spotters were wiped out in a Titan ambush. He informs them the squad was blindsided by the quick moving Titans, not allowing for the teams to effectively react in time.
"Wait, she came from that direction," Armin gages, "Does that mean… could she have led the Titans here like a commander?" Armin contemplates coming to a bleak realization.
"Who, her?" Jean asks looking at the Female Titan that runs from them. "Why the hell is she running from us, by the way? Is she an Abnormal?"
"No, she isn't," Armin breathes, "I still don't know how it's possible, but she's another human who's taken Titan form. Someone who has the same power as Eren."
"Please say you are not serious," Jean says dreading the idea.
"Really?" Reiner questions, coming to the realization Armin is too smart for his own good. "Why do you think that?" he presses the boy.
"Titans eat people, but they are not murderers. Sure, they kill us in the process, but that is not their intent; they just feed on instinct like any creature. This one was different. When the others went for her nape, she struck them down in cold blood," he says taken by the memories, "swatted them like flies. She didn't eat them, she killed them and moved on. That's out of character, even for an Abnormal."
Armin watches as she continues to run from them, "The Titans came from the right-wing, I think she brought them here, just like the Colossal and the Armored when they struck. I just know it!" he calls out sure of himself and Reiner watches the boy with a tight expression. "She's not simply satisfying bloodlust, she has it in for us." Armin grows dark as the idea crosses his mind. "Or perhaps more specifically, I think she's actually after someone in particular, at which point the question becomes who and why?" Reiner tenses his jaw at how this stupid little boy could be so smart. "Hey wait a second, could it be Eren?" Armin asks, pulling Reiner from his thoughts.
"Eren? He's with Levi Squad. They're spearheading the right-wing… or they were," Reiner says considering the casualties the right wing just experienced.
"Wait Levi's team?" Jean speaks up. "I'm pretty sure you're wrong there, big guy; my copy of the plan had them in the left-wing."
"That's odd, because my copy of the plan had them at the front of the right-wing too, which now that I think about it, doesn't make sense. Putting them at the vanguard like that wouldn't be smart strategically."
"Then where exactly are they supposed to be?" Reiner asks, trying to hold back his frustration.
"Come on, where else?" Armin speaks up, "The safest position in the formation, which I would assume, at least, would be the rear of the center rank."
Reiner groans, looking up at the Female Titan, realizing that she was right about Eren's positioning in the formation when they discussed it before this mission, while Jean commands Armin to make a move and stop the Female from cutting down the command squad. Reiner looks up at the Female Titan that runs before them, trying to formulate a plan on how to tell her of the new location while remaining discreet. Jean mentions distracting her so the platoon has a chance to retreat, and Reiner realizes that will be his only way of informing her of Levi Squad's true location.
Armin tells them to pull their hoods over their heads so she can't see their faces, knowing that she is after someone in particular. "Good idea," Reiner chuckles, plotting a way to get closer to her. "As far as she knows, any one of us could be Eren under this getup. That's actually kind of an encouraging thought."
Jean offhandedly calls Armin brilliant, and the three of them charge towards the fleeing Female Titan. Reiner looks up at her as she pushes forward, grinding his teeth as he wracks his mind for the perfect way to tell her that she needs to change her course without giving himself up to the audience.
Jean lifts himself from his horse and the Female Titan glances back at him, he grapples for her Achilles heel, but she swipes her foot away. The Titan turns to him as if to hit him and Reiner looks up at her with wild eyes.
Not Jean!
Reiner communicated to her without words, and she instead swats a ball of air that knocks him around. The Female turns to Armin who approaches her and carefully swats him off his horse with enough force to make it look genuine, while still ensuring he survives. Armin's ODM gear flies off him as he rolls to the ground, while the horse she swats narrowly misses Reiner when he ducks at the last possible moment. He smiles to himself, figuring he deserved that from her.
The Female Titan approaches Armin as he lays on the ground and Reiner watches with narrowed eyes. He may know too much for his own good, but does he really want to see him dead? Jean comes running towards Armin, latching his grapple into her back, and launching himself towards her. She turns back looking at Jean, and Reiner looks up with wild eyes, knowing that she will have to make a fatal move against him, otherwise it will look too suspicious.
She swats at him and he dodges her, flying past her and launching himself towards her back. He goes to make a move against her nape, and she covers it with her hand. "Jean!" Reiner calls out as he approaches the fight, knowing he needs to stop the hero before he becomes an unavoidable casualty.
She moves her arm, readying herself to yank his wires when Armin lifts himself up and yells out, "Jean! Don't let that Suicidal Maniac die in vain!" Her arm stops dead in its tracks at the use of Eren's nickname and Reiner watches as she listens to Armin. "She did it! She's the one who killed him. I told him the Right Wing was suicide, but he went along anyway. And now he is dead thanks to her!"
She holds her nape and Reiner growls to himself, knowing that Armin has ideas in his head with that fake speech and now he definitely needs to tell her where Eren is truly located. Her hesitation at Armin's words is suspicious enough, and now Armin will question her identity more so than he already does.
Reiner begins charging towards the Female while Armin continues to cry out to the Titan, testing her intelligence. Reiner takes off his hood so she will recognize him. He shoots his hooks in her, propelling towards her. It will look like he is going for her nape while she is distracted, he will look like a hero, and he will be able to redirect her without their notice.
Reiner propels towards the Female Titan as she turns her head towards him, and for a moment, their eyes lock. She sees him and recognizes him as he pretends to go in for a hit. A smile reaches her lips as she grabs him in her grip with a quick motion that startles him.
Reiner begins struggling in her grip as she tightens her fist around him, pulling her thumb on his head. He squirms in her hold as she tightens her grasp on him. For a moment Reiner's heart races wildly as he questions if she will kill him, not blaming her for wanting to do so after everything he has put her through.
The Female Titan presses him into her fist and encloses him in her grip. Reiner takes in a deep breath, realizing that she decides against killing him, but makes a show of it, nonetheless. Reiner moves quickly, carving in 'RCR' into her palm. Rear Center Rank.
Once he is finished, she loosens her grip on him, and with a perfect show, he cries out, slicing out of her hand like a hero, covered in blood. He looks back at the Female Titan as he launches himself away from her, swiping up Armin as he runs from her.
She looks down at her hand, noticing the carving and smiling to herself, confirmation that she was right about his location. "Alright looks like she is in retreat! Poor thing is running home with her tail between her legs," Reiner calls out as she begins heading towards Eren's location.
Armin looks up in worried shock as she changes her direction to Eren, wondering to himself what caused her change in direction, and what will happen to the rest of the caravan now that she is heading straight for them.
The three of them make their way to the woods, and Reiner quickly moves to bandage Armin's bleeding headwound. With any luck, the Female Titan knocked some sense out of him and he stops questioning her motives for his own sake. She doesn't want to kill Armin and the others as much as Reiner doesn't either, but if Armin digs too deep, he is going to get himself killed.
Reiner glances over at Jean who continues to whistle for his horse, smiling to himself at how well this has all played out with all things considered. He thinks about what their next move will be; they are out in the middle of the field, fully open to another threat, and although the Female Titan has her eyes set on Eren, Reiner would not like to put himself in another situation where he has to play hero.
As he bandages his head, Reiner can see Armin plaguing his mind on the Female's intentions and movements. He grits his teeth knowing the kid needs to give it a rest, "Armin, you with me?" he calls out to him, trying to bring him from coming up with some epiphany on her. "I guess your head is a little shaken up, huh?" he says, planting the seeds of doubt towards anything Armin may have considered to be the wild rantings of a broken head.
"Might still be a little foggy, yeah…" Armin breathes, and Reiner does everything in his power not to smile at his trick.
"It's okay; the choice isn't going to be any easier with you thinking clearly," he says lifting himself from his knees. "One of us is going to have to stay here, we need to figure out who."
As he says this, Jean stops whistling and looks at the large Cadet. "Wait a sec…" Armin groans as he lifts himself to his feet, "I mean shouldn't we set off a smoke signal first?" he mentions the formation, figuring that someone should be in close proximity to them to be able to see the signal.
Jean shoots off the emergency purple smoke signal, skeptical anyone will be able to see it, let alone figure they will need an extra horse.
Reiner reminds Armin that they will need to leave soon; the more they wait in the field, the more they risk a Titan attack that Reiner would like to avoid getting caught in-between with. To his surprise, Armin tells the stocky cadet that it should be him.
"But if it is me, I need you to relay a message," Armin begins, "If possible, give it only to Commander Erwin."
Reiner's eyes hungrily search Armin's for what he must have to say to the Commander, however, he is cut short when Jean calls out, spotting someone arriving in the horizon with two horses in tow. Reiner strains his eyes to see that it is Krista of all people, galloping towards them.
She has Jean's runaway and the horse she was given for emergency purposes during the beginning of the mission. "Poor thing," she says as Jean strokes the horse's face. "He ran to me like the devil was on his tail," she says, and Reiner can't help but think how right she is without even knowing it. "So, did you guys fight a Titan?" Before they can answer her, she sees Armin and calls out, "Oh no! Armin, your head! You've been hurt!"
"It's nothing, promise," Armin responds.
"I am impressed someone actually answered our distress signal," Reiner says looking up at the small blonde.
"Well, I wasn't far away, so… That, and I found the horse."
"A lot of people wouldn't have risked the trek over here," Reiner begins, in awe of her bravery for such a small girl, "You're as noble as the steeds you tame," he tells her with a smile. "We're all in your debt."
"It was nothing," she says shrugging it off with a humble smile. "I'm just…I'm just glad that you're all okay," she says with an adorable smile as she wipes away building tears behind her lashes. "What would we do without you?"
Reiner's eyes widen at the sight of her and how sweet and genuine she is. In this light, she is perfect, and he can't help but think that one day… maybe in a different world… he could have made her his wife.
Krista mentions rejoining the formation and they all begin to ride towards the center of the formation, with Reiner feeling a pit in his stomach as the green smoke signals paint the sky above him.
"Green smoke?" Jean calls out curiously, undoubtedly sharing the same sentiment to an extent as Reiner.
"Looks like we are not headed back after all, just changing course," Armin notices.
"Yeah, but that doesn't make sense," Krista agrees.
Jean speaks up, "What the hell, is Commander Erwin out of his mind?"
Reiner grits his teeth, how many of these people does the Female Titan need to mow down for Erwin to call the mission a failure? Once he does this, she can take Eren and they can be done with this. It's only prolonging the inevitable.
"Every one of us has the authority to declare the mission failed," Reiner begins, "Why isn't anyone speaking up?" he says not wanting to be the one to do so out of suspicion. "Is the command squad too far ahead to see their signals?"
"Possibly," Armin begins from behind, "But either way I think our course is clear; assume command's got this," he says reaching for his signal gun and shooting off the green smoke signal.