Attack on Titan: The Black Angel

by Queen of Sharks

Heavily based on Random Crossovers' Enemies of Humanity's Past After the Colossal Titan suddenly appears and kicks the wall in, a gigantic, mysterious cyborg rises from the grave to save humanity just as he had done in the past.

4. Fly in a Web

"HAAAAAAA!"

Reiner Braun charged headlong, a wooden knife clutched tightly in his hands. His target, Eren Jaeger, stood steady as Reiner approached, his hands up and ready to strike as he awaited the perfect opportunity to strike. As Reiner finally made it within arm's reach, Eren extended his hand out, grabbed Reiner by the collar and belt, and then flipped him over his head and onto the ground, disarming him and leaving him stunned and sprawled out on the ground. Reiner grunted and groaned with his eyes shut tight, but managed to recover from the fall. Upon opening his eyes, he saw Eren holding out a hand to help him up.

"Sorry," Eren said. "I've really gotta learn how to hold back."

"Nah, it's alright," Reiner replied as he was hoisted back to his feet. He then held the knife to Eren. "Come on, let's see how you do as the rogue."

Eren hesitated to take the knife but did ultimately take it. However, before he struck, he commented that the training didn't make sense. After all, their enemies were titans, and not humans, so he didn't see the purpose of a knife in a war against creatures so tough that a little knife could never hope to pierce their hides. However, Reiner had some advice to give Eren in response to his doubts.

"The fight doesn't give us a say," Reiner said. "The enemy comes in many different forms, so it's not always going to be as simple as 'fly in with your ODM and slice the naip.' If things get ugly, they get ugly. It's our job as soldiers to be prepared for anything." He then looked over to one of their comrades. "Well, the ones worth their salt anyway."

Reiner drew Eren's attention over to Annie Leonheart, who wasn't participating in the training at all. She was just strolling by without even batting an eyelash at anyone there. Eren recognized this and noted it out loud, prompting Reiner to encourage Eren to teach her a lesson.

As Annie was walking, looking for a place to sit down and watch all these idiots do this stupid task for no reason, she was suddenly stopped by Reiner. She looked up at him, wondering what he wanted, and was less than pleased when she found out what he wanted.

"Commandant not beaten you down enough?" He said in a condescending manner. "Keep it up, and you'll be as flat as the dirt you're walking on. I suggest you rethink why you enlisted in the first place."

Annie was glaring daggers at Reiner as her fists clenched tightly. Eren, who was right behind Reiner, felt intimidated seeing Annie so mad.

'You couldn't pay me to be on her bad side!' He thought to himself. Unfortunately for him, it was no longer his choice.

Eren felt Reiner pat him on the back before pushing him towards Annie, encouraging him to face her. Eren gave a nervous sigh before putting on his game face and preparing to attack.

"I hope you don't expect me to hold back," Eren said before rushing at her, knife in hand. Annie took up a defensive stance before turning out of the way of Eren's charge and kicking him in the shin, causing him to topple over immediately.

"Grr! That was a cheap shot!" Eren growled as he got back up, before Annie kicked him again, flipping him over with his head on the ground and his butt in the air.

Annie then tossed the knife to Reiner and told him to go next. Reiner attempted to back out at first, but after some prodding from Eren, Reiner eventually caved. He attempted to charge at Annie too… and suffered the exact same fate as Eren did.

After the "fight", Eren sat back up while Reiner was still reeling from his defeat.

"That's quite the technique," Eren complimented. "Who taught you how to fight like that?"

"My father," Annie replied.

"Did he pioneer it, or-"

"Does it even matter?" Annie crossed her arms as she scanned over the crowd. "It's pointless, just like all of this. Hand-to-hand combat doesn't count towards our final grade, so the smart ones just blow it off. Only idiots like you take this crap seriously. Well, idiots and… whatever those two are." Eren and Annie then looked at Connie and Sasha as they attempted to emulate Annie's technique, only to be scolded by Keith for wasting time.

"It's all a crapshoot anyway. Only the top ten cadets get to serve in the interior." She then lifted Eren up by the back of his collar and pressed her forehead against his while holding up the wooden knife to him, which Eren attempted to block. "First rule of this life: the better you are at dropping the 'bad guys', the more distance the powers that be put between you and them. That's what this whole stupid farce is about."

"Sure, whatever you say!" Eren tried to pull a fast one on Annie, only to be tripped up and fall on his back with Annie on top of him, once again aiming the knife at him.

"Face it, Eren. You don't fight the nature of things and win." After a short moment, Annie got back up, leaving Eren sprawled out on the dirt. "All these sons of bitches want you to do is play their little game. Don't be their pawn." And with that, she walked away.

Eren stood back up and watched her while contemplating her words, coming to a conclusion that she more than likely didn't intend, but to him made the most sense in this situation.

'I've been so fixated on building myself up that I couldn't see it,' he thought. 'She's right. They're not honing their skills to fight. They're honing their skills to run.'

-C-

After months of training, the graduation night had begun, and the top ten cadets of the 104th Cadet Corps were announced. In order, Mikasa Ackerman ranked at the top of her class, followed by Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover, Eren Jaeger, Annie Leonheart, Jean Kirstein, Marco Bodt, Connie Springer, Sasha Braus, and finally Christa Lenz. They all saluted the other cadets as the ceremony came to a close. After proceedings, Keith rode on horseback to the Jaeger Household to deliver the good news to Carla. Upon arriving, Keith knocked on the door and awaited someone to answer it with a proud smile on his face.

However, when the door opened, Keith's smile faded into a look of confusion as the person who answered was neither Carla nor the caretaker he sent, but a man possibly in his late 20s to early 30s with an eyepatch and an intense look in his one working eye. As the two's gazes locked with eachother, all words escaped Keith until he finally snapped out of his shocked trance and scowled at the person standing before him.

"Who the hell are you?" Keith asked with an angered snarl.

"I am Carla Jaeger's caretaker," Serizawa said. "You must be Keith Shadis."

"And you aren't the guy I appointed to her."

"No, I'm not," Serizawa replied as he invited Keith inside. "Please, come in. We can talk about this without any trouble."

Keith pushed past Serizawa and marched inside. He made his way to Carla's room to make sure she was okay. He opened the door to find her reading a book by her bed with a candle illuminating the room around her. Beside her seemed to be various tools and medical appliances, which made Keith even more suspicious of Serizawa and his intentions for her. However, before he could ask the "caretaker" any questions, he had to make sure Carla was okay.

"Carla! Are you alright?!" Keith asked while kneeling by Carla's bed with a panicked expression.

Carla placed a bookmark on the page she was reading before setting her book aside. "I'm fine, Keith," she said. " But what are you doing here?"

Just then, Daisuke walked into the room and watched the scene unfold.

Keith proceeded with what he was saying, "I came with news about Eren and the others… but I wanted to make sure you were okay first."

"Eren? What about him? Did something happen?"

Keith calmed down before replying. "I wanted to let you know that he, Mikasa, and Armin have just graduated from their training. I thought it was best to deliver this message myself."

Carla smiled brightly at this news. "Oh, thank you Keith. I'm so glad none of them gave up. So, where are they now?"

"They're currently making their way to this district to celebrate the end of their training. I was wondering if I could escort you over there so that you could see them before they're deployed."

"Oh, I'd love to. As long as it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all, Carla. I just want you to see how much they've grown for yourself."

"Okay then. We should get going right away then."

Serizawa then spoke up, saying, "I'll remain here to get everything ready for tomorrow. I'll see you both then."

Upon being reminded of Daisuke's presence, Keith looked back at the man while still addressing Carla. "Actually… we have some time before they arrive. I'd like to speak with my associate for a moment," he said in a menacing tone that Carla didn't pick up on, but Serizawa was able to when seeing the look on Keith's face.

Carla nodded and resumed reading her book while Keith and Serizawa quietly exited her room. Keith shut the door behind them and then the two went somewhere where Carla wouldn't be able to hear them. After shutting the door to this room, Keith proceeded to grab Serizawa by his shirt and slam him against a wall while holding him up with his bare hands.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, YOU BASTARD!?" Keith bellowed in Daisuke's face. "WHERE'S THE GUY THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!?"

"He's home safe! No harm done!"

Keith pressed Serizwa against the wall harder while continuing his interrogation. "You better give me a damn good explanation of why you're here and what you want with her, or so help me, I WILL SEND YOU TO HELL SO FAST YOU WON'T EVEN KNOW HOW YOU GOT THERE! YOU HEAR ME!?"

Serizawa placed his hands on Keith's arms. "Relax, it's not her I'm after. It's Grisha I want."

Keith lowered Serizawa a bit and raised an eyebrow. "Grisha? What do youw ant with her husband?"

"He and I have some… personal business that I want to settle, and Carla is the only way I could find that would lead me to his whereabouts. If possible, she could maybe also tell me what he's been doing in these walls."

Keith began analyzing Daisuke's words, ultimately coming to the conclusion that Serizawa must be from outside the walls, just like Grisha was, but had no idea what sort of business Grisha could have gotten involved with that would risk his wife's safety. Keith finally put Serizawa down and began to explain.

"Grisha disappeared while Carla was in the hospital. She has no idea where he went and I doubt she could tell you anything about his business inside these walls that may interest you."

Daisuke nodded. "I believe you, because I know you're trying to protect her. Believe me, she is in no danger at all."

"So that's it? You'll leave now?"

"Not exactly," Daisuke scratched his head. "I don't exactly have anywhere else to go. Plus, I still have things I need to do, and looking after Carla is one of them. Even if I have noting to gain from her in regards to information about Grisha, I can still use her as cover to avoid suspicion." Keith's fist shook with anger, upset that this man would use Carla as collateral, until Daisuke added, "Also, I will be able to fulfill the deal I made with her."

"Deal? What deal?"

"The deal to help her walk again," Serizawa said. "While her kids were out training for the past few years, I've been gathering materials needed to make a suitable pair of prosthetic legs for her, or 'fake legs' if you will, which is durable enough to help her stand and flexible enough to allow her to move."

"A fake leg? I've never heard of such a thing. Usually amputees are restricted from doing most things in life, with no 'fake' limb to recover what they lost. Some soldiers I know wear eyepatches, like you do. Do you expect me to believe that you can somehow create a new eye for them to see out of?"

"Not an eye. A leg or an arm, however, is very possible as long as I have the necessary materials to do so."

Keith pondered this possibility for a moment, but he still remained suspicious of Serizawa and his personal affairs with Grisha. However, despite his doubts, he had to admit that it was clear he didn't pose a threat to Carla.

"If you can actually make her walk again, I'll consider keeping this conversation off the record." Keith said.

Serizawa nodded, "I promise you, nothing bad will happen to her."

"You bet your ass nothing bad will happen to her! Not unless you want to lose your other eye!"

Serizawa reached out his hand. Keith sighed and took it, the two shaking hands and nodding in agreement, before returning to Carla's room. Serizawa got Carla situated in her wheelchair and then she and Keith left to go see Eren and the others.

After they were gone, Serizawa noticed a cloud over head floating down to him. His ally and old friend, Huang Meng, floated down to him with supplies clutched in his arms. He handed them over to Daisuke, who graciously accepted them.

"Thank you, Meng," Serizawa said. "You've been a tremendous help so far."

"Anything for you, doctor," Huang replied.

"Please, none of that. I'm not a doctor anymore."

"You sure do act like one. You heal the sick, mend people's wounds, you basically live by the 'do no harm' rule-"

Serizawa let out a bitter laugh at that last comment. "Tell that to the hundreds of millions of people Destoroyah killed…"

Huang went silent as Serizawa approached the house. However, before Serizawa could close the door behind him, Huang placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault," Huang said. "Just because you discovered fire doesn't mean you're responsible for arson attacks."

"I appreciate the metaphor, but I spent decades of my life trying to find some way that my invention of Micro Oxygen could have benefited humanity, to no avail. There was only one thing it had ever been useful for… destruction."

Serizawa closed the door, leaving Huang outside clutching his arm awkwardly and looking down at his feet.

-E-

The graduates were in the mess hall, celebrating their years of hard work finally paying off. While Armin was talking to someone about logistics, and Mikasa was feeding Sasha half a loaf of bread to get her to stop bugging her with attempted small talk, Eren watched as the other cadets discussed the military branches that they would all be joining, and Jean's bragging in particular about how he was going to join the Military Police caught the attention and annoyance of Eren, who stood up and decided to challenge him.

"You know Jean, with all the work you put in, I'm surprised you're letting it all go to waste hiding from the titans for the rest of your life," Eren remarked.

"Eren, please don't start a fight…" Mikasa whispered.

"I won't."

Jean leered at Eren's comment. "Hiding from the titans? You say that like me having basic survival instincts makes me a coward. Really, I'm just being realistic."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eren retorted.

"Half of humanity went to reclaim the land stolen by the Titans, and none of them could do a damn thing to those freaks. We don't have a chance against the titans, so what's the point of trying? Not to mention, there's also that giant dragon that we still barely know anything about, other than that it's bigger, and probably stronger than every titan to ever exist."

Eren gritted his teeth at that last comment. "So what? Just because something's bigger and stronger than you, you think it's automatically a threat?" Everyone begins listening in on the conversation as Eren continues. "I'm gonna join the scouts so that I can help explore beyond the walls and see more creatures like him. Gigan is proof tha there are things in the outside world that we don't even know about, and I want to know about all of it, and uncover all the secrets this world has to offer!"

The name "Gigan" caught everyone's attention as they wondered why Eren decided to call the metal dragon that. Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt all glanced at eachother in shock at the same time, wondering how on Earth Eren could possibly know that name.

Jean started laughing. "Gigan?! What the hell kind of name is that?" Jean sighed and chuckled a bit. "Well, it's a fittingly ridiculous name for such a ridiculous looking creature!"

"Regardless, that 'ridiculous looking creature' is here for a reason, and that's to help save humanity from the titan scourge. It's baffling that you can't get the fact that he saved people through your thick skull, just because you're a coward who's afraid of anything he doesn't understand."

Jean growled and stood up. "You shut the hell up, Jaeger!"

Marco tried to calm Jean down, but it was useless, as Jean and Eren began to square off. However before anything could happen between them, Eren noticed Mikasa's worried expression and cursed silently to himself as he remembered what he told her. This time though, Eren was less worried about getting scolded, and more about breaking the promise he made to his mother. He was supposed to be getting stronger, but instead, he was acting the same as he always did. But not this time and Eren proceeded to step down and return to Mikasa's side.

However, Jean saw the look Eren and Mikasa shared as he returned to the table, and his jealousy pushed him to attack Eren regardless. Jean pinned Eren against a wall, prepared to punch Eren in the face.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN JUDGE ME!?" Jean screamed.

"YOU RIP MY SHIRT, AND YOU'RE DEAD!" Eren hollered.

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR SHIRT! YOU PISS ME OFF!" Jean roared.

And then, time seemed to stop as Eren finally realized something. Jean has something he's trying to prove. He could tell by his choice of words, the look on his face, and the slight tear welling up in his eye. It all reminded him of when he was little and was trying to tell Mikasa that the Scouts were the right option for him. Of course, he never attempted to hit her, but the concept was the same nonetheless. This is why, in his head, Eren apologized in advance for what he was about to do.

He grabbed Jean by the arm and then swept his leg, knocking Jean over and leaving him sprawling on the ground. Eren scoffed at Jean and wordlessly left the Messhall, with Armin and Mikasa quickly following him, leaving Jean on the ground feeling like a complete fool.

As the trio left the mess hall and went for a walk outside so Eren could clear his head, they spotted Hannes approaching, walking alongside two other soldiers. As the two groups intersected, Hannes noticed Eren looked a bit roughed up and assumed he got into a fight, which wasn't surprising to him. Hannes dismissed the other two soldiers and went to greet the trio, who were happy to see a friendly face after what happened.

"Looks like you got in quite the scuffle, kid," Hannes said. "Can't say I'm surprised. Looks like that fire in you just can't be extinguished."

"It's great to see you again, ," Eren said. "Though, I wouldn't have expected a drunk like you to become captain of the Stationary Troops."

"Watch it, kid," Hannes flicked Eren's forehead. "You're speakin' to your superior now."

The group laughed together, all except Mikasa, who just smiled.

"So, now that you three are graduated, have you picked out which division to join yet?"

Mikasa quickly answered for the group, "We'll be joining the Survey Corps."

"The Survey Corps? Right, right, I forgot you guys kept talking about wanting to go outside the walls. Unfortunately, after Shingonshina, the Survey Corps hasn't been able to advance outside the walls in years, and that dragon leaves them nervous about venturing too far regardless of if there are titans in the way or not."

"Maybe there's a way to get him to help us?" Armin suggested. "Gigan seems to understand that the titans are our enemies, so maybe we could speak to him on some basic level."

"Hugh, not a bad idea. Also, where'd you get 'Gigan' from?"

"Oh, that's what Eren called him earlier. I know there's no official name, so Gigan will have to do for now," Armin replied.

Mikasa shrugged. "It works for me."

"Suit yourselves," Hannes said. "Maybe I'll spread the word of that name for you guys. Speaking of which, I'd better get going. Congratulations to all of you."

"See you later, ." Eren said as he and the other waved goodbye to him.

As Hannes continued down his path, he reminisced about the time he saved Eren and his family on that fateful day. It made him happy to know that he was capable of doing something useful as a Garrison soldier even back then. Since that day, he was working harder and easing up on the drinking, and eventually became the captain of an entire unit. As he reminisced, he stopped in his tracks when he saw Keith pushing Carla towards him.

"Hannes! It's so nice to see you," Carla said with a bright smile on her face.

"Same to you, Carla," he replied.

Keith and Cala stopped and he and Hannes saluted eachother before Keith crossed his arms behind his back. "I've heard news about your promotion to Garrison Captain. I must congratulate you, Hannes," he said.

"And I must congratulate you on training those kids for the past three years. I have no idea how you can handle them!"

"Compared to what I saw as Survey Corps Commander, those kids are less than nothing. Although, there have been some… exceptional students."

"Keith told me about the rankings in the class, and I was so excited to hear that Eren and Mikasa were in the top ten," Carla added.

Hannes whistled. "Top ten? I had a feeling Mikasa would rank that high, but I'd never expect that from Eren."

"I know. I'm so proud of him."

"Well, I'm sure you guys are here to see them and not waste your time staring at my mug, so I'll leave you all alone."

Hannes waved goodbye to them and went on his way, while Keith and Carla continued down the road, where they saw the trio sitting on a bench outside. The three friends immediately jumped up out of their seats when they saw Carla, and wrapped her into a group hug, nearly squeezing the air out of her lungs.

"What're you doing here, mom? Is it okay for you to be out right now?" Eren asked as the three let her go.

"It's fine, sweetie. It's not like I'm sick or anything. Is it really that bad that I want to see all of you before you go off for god knows how long?"

"O-of course not, ," Armin stuttered. "We just d-didn't anticipate your arrival here on graduation night."

"We were expecting to see you tomorrow morning before we went to apply for the Survey Corps," Mikasa said.

"Oh… that's right…" Carla folded her hands together as a troubled look washed over her face. "I almost forgot you were going to join them…"

They all noticed her expression, so Eren took a knee before her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Mom, don't you remember the promise I made to you? That you'll always be a part of my life, no matter what?"

"I remember, but… " Carla rubbed her eys a bit. "I never realized how fast the day would come. Now you're all grown up, and you'll be leaving the walls soon."

Eren wiped away some of her tears. "I know this is hard, but noting will stop us from returning to you."

"We'll all look after eachother, just as promised," Mikasa said.

"And we'll make sure to take our home back," Armin added.

Carla's eyes began filling with tears as Eren held both her hands. "I just… I can't think of what to say… you've finally made it to this point. I s-should have been more prepared for this…"

Carla began to sob, which prompted them all to embrace her again, this time much more gently than before. Carla wrapped her arms around all three of them as tears were shared among the entire family.

"Keith…" Carla gasped through her tears. "Keith told me that… you all would be in good hands… and I trust him. Just like how I trust that you three will make it home in one piece… So I'll wait as long as I can."

Mikasa smiled at her while Eren thought about that last part of what Carla said. He knew that she didn't want to wait as long as she's been waiting for his father. This thought motivated Eren to do whatever he could to quickly bring his home back and return to his mother. Meanwhile, Armil placed a hand on her back and attempted to cheer her up.

"Plus, you'll never be alone," Armin said. "You'll have there with you."

Keith flinched a bit at the mention of him, but calmed down. He had to trust that Serizawa had her best interests at heart.

"Um… Carla?" Keith said. "I believe it's time for us to go. We shouldn't keep them out too late."

"R-r-right," Carla sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "I guess this is goodbye for now."

"But not forever," Eren reassured.

Carla nodded in solidarity as Keith wheeled her away, as Eren, Mikasa, and Armin watched them leave with a tinge of sadness in their hearsts. Carla took one last look back at them for one last time and waved goodbye to them. The trio waved back before returning to the mess hall, which was up in arms when they returned, with many cadets approaching Eren, asking how he managed to pull off that leg sweep of his.

-G-

The next day soon arrived, and the Survey Corps began their next expedition to reclaim humanity's lost territory. Despite previous failed attempts to avoid the titans surrounding strange beacons that were making lowpitched rumbling noises from sunrise to sunset, reportedly created by Gigan, who'se name reached commander Erwin Smith, the corps continued onwards with confidence. The whole crowd was cheering for them as they watched them ride on horses through the streets. Among these cheering onlookers was one who stationed himself too far away and too high in the sky to be seen by anyone on the ground.

Gigan was looking down upon the city of Trost with a smile on his face as his vision zoomed in on the Scouts. If there was one group of humans he could always cheer for, it was them. In his mind, they would be able to do what Battra wouldn't allow him to, and all he needed to do was bend the rules of the deal from time to time. Nothing too noticeable. Lure away a titan hoard here, lead one towards a more capable and alert scout there, all the while remaining technically within the guidelines of his deal with Battra. Unfortunately, that was all he was able to do without stoking the dark moth's ire, and in Gigan's mind, it would be better for humanity if he was there but in shackles, than there back in the sarcophagus he awoke in.

As he scanned the crowd, he noticed Eren and his comrades down in the crowd and smiled. Suddenly however, his sensors went off, and he realized that something was going on over in Marley, so he decided to notify Eren that he'd be leaving for a bit. Eren flinched for a bit before excusing himself to a nearby bathroom, where he locked himself in and then began talking to Gigan.

"What do you want Gigan?!" Eren said. "Can't it wait until later?"

{No, it really can't!} Gigan said frantically. {Remember how I told you there was one other place where there was a large human civilization?}

"Yeah, I remember. You told me that it was across the ocean from us, and I said I wanted to go there so I could learn more abou them-"

{Yeahyeahyeah, look, something's going down over there, and I need to go help them. I'll be back soon, so make sure nothing happens while I'm gone!}

Before Eren could ask what was going on, Gigan already left the island, far out of the range where he and Eren could hear eachother. Somehow, Eren could feel this within him, and so he chose not to waste his time calling him and just left the bathroom, where he was suddenly shoved aside as Connie ran in there.

Some time later, Eren was stationed with a group on top the wall, the group consisting of himself, Connie, Sasha, Mina, Thomas and Samuel. Up on the roof, Connie and Thomas both revealed that they were joining the Scouts, and much to Eren's surprise, Mina revealed that it was probably because of the speech he gave last night. However, their conversation was interrupted when Sasha showed up with some meat that she stole from the officers' pantry.

"SASHA, THEY COULD THROW YOUR ASS IN THE CLING FOR THAT!" Thomas shouted.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Samuel asked.

"What isn't wrong with her?" Connie retorted.

"It'll be fine, I'm willing to share~!" Sasha said while drooling and blushing at the thought of putting that meat into her mouth.

"Do you have any idea how rare meat's been since the titans took wall Maria?" Mina asked.

"Um… a little bit, yeah," Sasha replied. "Just look at it this way: soon enough, we'll have all the room we need for livestock."

Samuel took a deep breath and then asked for some, Connie soon to follow, and Mina not far behind him. As this was going on, Eren looked over Trost as thought began to flood his mind.

'Has it really been this long?' Eren thought. 'And now look at us. Ready to stand tall again. We can do this! Mankind didn't start this war, but we're gonna finish it.'

Just then, lightning struck right infront of the gates of Trost, as the Colossal Titan suddenly appeared out of thin air. Everyone looked up at it, shocked and terrified by it's sudden appearance, as the Colossal Titan suddenly unleashed a massive burst of steam that knocked everyone off the wall. Most of them managed to regain their footing, however Samuel slipped and fell, prompting Sasha to catch him with her ODM anchor. Eren took some time to process the fact that his greatest fears were becoming reality, and Trost was under attack, made even worse when he saw that the wall had been kicked in. Eren then steeled his nerves and blasting back up the wall to face the Colossal Titan on his own. Eren landed face to face with the Colossal Titan.

"Hi there… it's been a while…"

The Colossal titan swung his arm, which Eren dodged out of the way of, but it wasn't Eren he was aiming at, which he realized when he heard the cannons on the wall being smacked off by the Colossal Titan's massive arm.

'Son of a bitch! He took out the cannons!' Eren thought. 'The gate was no accident then. He… he planned it. HE'S INTELLIGENT!'

The Colossal titan then reached for Eren, but he dodged through the titan's fingers and attempted to run across the titan's arm to take him out. However, he was shaken off when he suddenly felt a rumble beneath him. He perched on the side of the wall as he looked up at the Colossal titan, his eyes widening as he realized that the Colossal titan seemed nervous.

The dirt beneath the titan began to rise into the air as massive clouds of dust. As Eren was watching this, he yelped when he suddenly felt someone hoist him off his perch and back onto the top of the wall a distance away. Between the dust and steam, he couldn't make out the identity of his savior, but could only assume based on the trail of mist left behind that it was one of his comrades.

He was grateful to whoever saved him too, as he saw rocks beginning to pelt the wall. He then jumped back when he saw eight spyres rise from the ground. The spyres were brown with yellow stripes on each of them, and sharp tips. What was most disturbing was that the spyres appeared to be covered in some sort of hair. Then, Eren's jaw nearly dropped as he saw that they were not spyres at all… but legs.

The Colossal titan let out a low pitched howl as the legs wrapped around him and tackled him to the ground. Standing over the Colossal Titan was what appeared to be a gigantic spider with a body as long as the wall was tall, and with legs longer than the Colossal Titan itself. Eren couldn't believe his eyes as he watched the Colossal titan rise to it's feet and seemingly attempt to flee, only to a stream of webs to errupt from the giant spider's mouth, pinning it to the ground. The spider then crawled on top of the titan, creeping towards the naip, when suddenly a huge burst of steam erupted from the Colossal titan, launching the spider off of it and onto it's back. Eren was forced to anchor himself in place so that he wouldn't be launched to his death, and covered his face as steam blew past him. When the smoke cleared, he realized that the Colossal Titan was gone without a trace.

"W-what the hell is going on?"

That was all Eren could ask as he saw the giant spider climb over the wall and into Trost.

As Eren stared on in a mix of confusion and horror, he heard his comrades arrive by his side.

"Eren, whered the Colossal titan go?!" Thomas asked. "Was it taken out?"

"No, he's gone!" Eren replied. "It's just like back during Shingonshina! He's here one moment and gone the next! Just like that… I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You did what you could. I mean, just look at us, we're too scared to move."

"Hey! Wollow on your own time!" Connie shouted. "In case you haven't noticed, we have a breach, AND we have a new monster in town, and I'm pretty sure the spider isn't on our side! Our only saving grace is the pit infront of the gate that the spider left behind, but it might not buy us enough time before the titans arrive, so we have to act now!"

Suddenly, an officer landed by them and ordered them all back to HQ. Anyone who got close to the Colossal Titan or the new monster were ordered to provide information to the higherups.

-K-

Bells chimed and the people of Trost screamed as they fled the city, with the giant spider close behind them, it's long legs occasionally reaching out so that it could use the adhesive hairs on it's limbs to grab up some of the people and bring them to it's maw, where they were devoured. It didn't stop at humans though, as the spider also ate any pets the crowd had with them, or horses that were to be used by the MPs and Garrison. Carla and Serizawa were among the people in the crowd, narrowly escaping the bug's grasp before eventually reaching the gate, where people were being filed through as quickly as possible.

The spider's eight eyes blinked slowly as they remained locked on the crowds of people, which to it, were nothing more than an all you can eat buffet. Eventually, the Spider stopped when a squad of MPs intercepted it, each of them equipped with ODM gear with rifles on their backs. The Spider took note of the soldiers, but found it laughable when they attempted to fight it with nothing more than swords and guns. It swatted a few of them out of the sky like flies, and then ate them up like flies. However, the soldiers posed enough of a distraction for the garrison to unleash the cannons upon the giant spider.

The giant spider flinched a bit at the cannons and covered it's eyes before retaliating by spitting out a stream of webs that trapped the soldiers and left the tanks inoperable. Kumonga then began smashing buildings around it to free up space. As it was doing this, a more focused stream of web was being released from it's abdomen. The soldiers attempting to fight the spider realized quickly what was happening. It was trying to weave a web, using the city itself to support it. One of the soldiers tried to cut the web with his blade, but ended up getting the blade stuck in the web, and then breaking his ODM gear when he tried to pull it out. This in turn left him defenceless when the spider finally noticed him and caught him in it's clutches.

His captain could only watch as he was dragged into the spider's maw, never to be seen again.

-E-

"OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND INTO THE FIRE CADETS!" A commander shouted. "IT'S TIME TO PUT YOUR TRAINING TO WORK! I HAVE FAITH EACH OF YOU WILL BE A CREDIT TO YOUR REGIMENT!"

Mikasa frantically ran through the barracks as everyone was getting geared up, briefly stopping when she saw Franz and Hannah embracing eachother before they had to go into battle. She had to find Eren before everything went to hell, eventually finding him with Armin, giving him a pep talk as Armin started panicking over everything that was happening at once. Mikasa kept her distance after seeing this and took a step back.

Suddenly, Sasha jumped at her, screaming and clutching her arms as she attempted to explain what happened out there. This prompted Mikasa to slap Sasha across the face, and while Sasha knelt on the floor, clutching her cheek, Mikasa knelt beside her.

"Get a hold of yourself, Braus," She said sternly. "Fear and panic are unbecoming of a soldier. Right now, we need to fight, so we're going to fight. It doesn't matter if it's titans, spiders, a dragon, or the devil himself, you're a soldier. Your job is to fight the monsters that lurk beyond the wall, not cower in fear like a sniveling little baby."

Sasha slowly calmed down. "You know… you're a lot less nice when it's not lunch… but, thanks for that. I needed it. You're a good friend, Mikasa." She then gave Mikasa a hug, before going to fill up her fuel tanks.

Mikasa sat there for a moment, wondering what Sasha was talking about until she remembered all the times she gave Sasha some of her food while Sasha was yammering on next to her, and realized that she must have thought that those moments made Mikasa her friend. Mikasa sighed in annoyance before standing up and dusting herself off.

Later on, the cadets were debriefed by Kitz Woberman, splitting everyone into four squadrons. Each squadron was responsible for supply relay, message relay, and enemy combat under the command of the garrison.

"THE INNER SOUTH SQUADRON WILL BE TAKING THE VANGUARD," Kitz shouted. "CADETS WILL BE TAKING THE MIDDLE GUARD LED BY THE SUPPORT SQUAD! THE REAR GUARD WILL BE RESERVED FOR THE ELITES! I EXPECT YOU ALL TO MAN YOUR POSTS KNOWING THE ADVANCE TEAM HAS BEEN WIPED OUT!"

Everyone gasped in shock at this news.

"THAT'S RIGHT! THE OUTER GATE IS HISTORY! THE TITANS ARE IN! THE PIT IN FRONT OF THE GATE HAS KEPT THE NUMBERS LOW, HOWEVER, THEY ARE RISING STEADILY! THIS MEANS THAT THE ARMORED TITAN IS LIKELY TO REAPPEAR! IF AND WHEN HE DOES, WALL ROSE WILL ALSO BE HISTORY!"

Everyone in the crowd was horrified and were all muttering among themselves until Kitz shut everyone up and gave them the order to defend the evacuation until it was done. Eren intended to do just that as soon as he realized that his mom and would also be in the evacuation.

After the debriefing, everyone got into their stations. As everyone was rushing around the place, Jean was cursing the fact that this had to happen now. Just one more day and he could have been in the interior away from all this. As he continued to march by, ignoring all the people terrified for their lives, he suddenly bumped into Eren. Upon seeing him, he scoffed and tried to push him aside.

"What the hell, man?" Eren placed his arm in front of Jean to stop him. "What's wrong with you?"

"What the hell do you think?!" Jean snapped back. "We're all about to be titan chow! You expect me to sing you a happy little song? You're loving this, aren't you, you little psycho?"

"Hey, get a hold of yours-"

"NO! Not all of us aspire to be eaten!"

"DAMN IT, SHUT UP!" Eren shouted as he pinned Jean to a wall so he could speak to him. "WE WERE TRAINED FOR THIS! WHAT DO YOU THINK THE LAST THREE YEARS WERE ABOUT!?"

Jean's eyes widened as Eren continued.

"We survived. We stared death in the face, and we lived! Not everyone can say that. Some people couldn't take it and either ran or were thrown out! Hell, some people actually died, BUT NOT US! AM I RIGHT!? WE POWERED THROUGH FOR THREE YEARS, WHAT'S ONE MORE DAY!?" Eren slowly loosened his grip on Jean's coat. "You can do this Jean. The MPs will still be there for you tomorrow."

Jean took a moment to mull over what Eren said. Ultimately, it worked. What Eren said made sense to him. So, he marched towards his group, now slightly more ready to face the titans and the giant spider. As Eren nodded to himself, satisfied with that interaction, Mikasa, who had been watching the whole conversation, finally spoke up.

"Eren?" She asked, "Do you think mother is okay?"

"She has to be. Serizawa should be there to help her," he answered.

"But what if something happened and he couldn't help her? Do you think we should look for her?"

"You have rear guard, right? You should go check and see if mom made it to the gate."

"But what about you? Things might go wrong on your end and I won't be able to make it to you in time."

"Look, I know mom asked us to look out for eachother, but making sure mom is okay is more important right now. We can defend ourselves," Eren said in reference to the ODM gear. "She can't. If she doesn't make it out of here, there's no point to that promise. We have the power to protect her now, so we need to use it."

Mikasa sighed softly. "Just promise that you won't die, okay?"

Eren smiled and held out his fist. "I won't." Mikasa bumped it and Eren smiled at her. "I'll be back for you two. I promise."

Mikasa blushed slightly as Eren walked away. Mikasa watched him leave for his group and then left back for her's as they both left HQ and proceeded with their missions.

Eren, Thomas, Armin, Mina, Mylius, and Nac waited on a rooftop for their orders while looking down towards a breach in the wall and wondering how the front guard was handling things. All accept Eren, who was thinking about Gigan, as well as that other human settlement that he told him about. Ever since he told him all these stories, he wished that he could tell Armin all the things Gigan told him about the outside world, but had to bite his tongue until the right time, when he knew he knew he could reveal everything to him. However, more pressing was the fact that Gigan still wasn't back yet, which made Eren worry that something happened during Gigan's mission.

"Eren? Are you alright?" Armin asked, snapping Eren out of his trance.

"Hugh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Eren said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't tell me you're getting nervous," Mina teased.

"N-no! I was just… wondering what Mikasa was doing?"

"Ooh! THinking about your girlfriend, hugh?"

"I didn't take you for that kind of guy, Eren," Thomas added. "It's weird to think that you could be so emotional."

"H-HEY! It's not like that!" Eren shouted, his face bright red. "I was just wondering if she found my mom near the rear guard is all!"

Mina and Thomas began laughing softly at Eren's behavior, while Armin was just perplexed, and also able to tell he wasn't telling the truth when he noticed Eren's red earlobe.

"W-well, you don't need to worry about her," Armin said. "I'm sure she's fine with around, and Mikasa can quickly check for them by the gate. If they're not there, then the garrison troops might have found them somewhere in the city."

Eren sighed and nodded. Although he was still thinking about Gigan, he decided to instead focus his attention on Carla after what Armin said. Suddenly, a red flair was seen near the breach of the wall and caught the attention of Eren's group. They realized that the signal meant a Titan was spotted entering Wall Rose and broke through the front guard defenses. The group then nodded to eachother and were about to take off, when they all suddenly saw an abnormal running towards them.

"SHIT! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Eren yelled as everyone leaped out of the way of the titan's attack.

However, not everyone reacted fast enough to dodge the attack. As the titan slammed face-first into the building that they were standing on, they heard someone scream at the top of their lungs. The group looked down at the titan and watched as its head rose, revealing Thomas dangling out of it, halfway in already. While everyone else was horrified by this, Eren seized the opportunity and landed on the back of the titan's neck, before driving his blades into the naip and slicing it out completely. Mina grabbed Thomas and pulled him out just as the abnormal began to fall to the ground.

Once Eren regrouped with everyone, he saw that Thomas was in critical condition, wailing in agony as he tried to cover his wounds with his hands. His teammates tried to bandage him up as he continued to holler in pain. Unfortunately for them, all the hollering combined with the beacon of Titan steam caught the attention of the giant spider, who took a break from spinning its web to come after the group.

Arnin was the first to alert everyone that the spider was approaching, but the only way they could go while taking Thomas with them was swarming with Titans. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, the group went with the only option where they had a chance of escape, and that was through the titan area. All the titans there were abnormals, meaning that they couldn't outrun any of them. They just had to sneak through the titan-infested area.

To make things easier on them, Thomas gagged himself with a torn-off piece of his shirt so that he wouldn't give away their position. However, that only made things slightly more easy for them, as they had to constantly stay on their toes. Because they had to constantly carry them, they couldn't fly through the air with their ODM gear, and with Kumonga prowling about, they had to have roves over their heads at all times. Eventually, the group was able to hide out inside one of the abandoned houses, which they thought would give them some safety… until they saw the giant spider stab its legs into various houses to find them.

With the giant spider getting closer and closer, Armin began wracking his brain as to what they could do in this situation. They were cornered, helpless, and powerless to stop their pursuers. Everything seemed hopeless… until he heard something going on outside.

Armin looked out the window to see two abnormals attacking and trying to eat the giant spider. The spider managed to kick them away, even smashing the roof of the building they were in with one of them, but this sight gave Armin an idea. He turned back to the rest of his group, who were all huddled up in the living room.

"Everyone, I have a plan," Armin said.

-K-

Kumonga hissed and chirped as two 5-meter-titans and one 10-meter-titan gathered around it, all gnawing at its legs. Enraged by this attack, Kumonga stabbed one of them right through the neck, impaling its naip, before tossing the body at the 10-meter, launching it into a building, and impaling it on debris. Kumonga then shook the 5-meter-titan off and then lifted up its massive bulk over it, before dropping down, flattening the titan completely.

The gargantuan beast then crawled up to an approaching 7-meter-titan and bit into it, its fangs injecting it with a paralyzing agent that went into effect quickly and left it completely immobile as the spider bit the titan's naip out. Just before Kumonga could get back to smashing houses in search of his prey, the humans he was hunting burst out of the house, most of them launching themselves into the air with their ODM gear,

Kumonga gave chase to the ones that were flying around, attempting to use its web spray to stop them in mid-air, but kept missing. Kumonga then noticed one of the titans approaching the blonde-haired boy, attempting to devour him, and Kumonga quickly jumped for it, killing it on the spot.

'Not exactly what I planned,' Armin thought.

As Armin continued to fly around, Kumonga noticed more of the titans approaching, drawn to him along with the other humans. Kumonga, angered by the sudden wave of competition, began fighting against all of the titans., unaware of the two humans currently escaping on the ground, one carrying the other.

-E-

Eren pumped his fist victoriously, then slapped Armin on the back and praised him for coming up with the plan that saved all of them. Armin smiled and thanked Eren for the praise, though he did note that he had run out of fuel in the midst of that operation. However, in the midst of their celebration, they failed to notice an abnormal that they didn't account for approaching from behind them until it was too late. By the time Armin noticed, it would have been too late for him… had it not been for Eren.

Eren shoved Armin out of the way just as the titan's hand grabbed for its prey.

"EREN!"

"ARMIN, GET OUT OF HERE! NOW! SAVE YOURSE-" These were the last words Eren was able to say to Armin before the titan swallowed him whole.

Armin screamed at the top of his lungs as Mina grabbed Armin and zipped away with him just in time. The group caught up with each other and fled from the battle taking place, with the titan that ate Eren being blasted with a ball of web that forced the titan to the ground and immobilized it completely. Armin was completely speechless, the same going for the rest of the squad, as they all fled to higher ground.

-Author's note-

Holy shit, this chapter was long. I originally planned on ending this when Kumonga entered the walls, but then I thought the chapter would be too short, so then I just kept writing until I got to the point where we did end.

Anyway, now that I'm actually getting reviews, I'd like to use the end of these chapters to highlight my favorites, and my responses to them, or, in this case, all of them, sense I don't have that many just yet.

Guest account: "Damn, I really dislike the bitchy Eren."

You know, I look back at season 1 with such strong nostalgia goggles, that I never really thought about this before, but yeah, Eren is kinda bitchy in the early parts of the story. I don't know if I agree with this opinion, but I do see where they're coming from.

Guest account: "I hope Battra fucking dies."

Good, that means I succeeded.