AUTHOR'S NOTE (Updated March 2nd, 2023):
Our Friend has reached nearly 20,000 views! Seriously, I'm in shock. Never expected my first fanfic made out of boredom and love to become what it is today, and I seriously can't thank you all enough for the support! Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!
Not long ago I updated the story's cover. Credits to fellow writer and friend SuperComrade for aiding me with it!
To end things: I have been re-reading my own story and I feel that many things could've been done better. With that in mind, I am currently rewriting the first part of the story (all the way until Marley) to better fit my current standards. While the plot remains the same as the original, I'm improving dialogue and the pacing as much as possible to make the ride as enjoyable for you as I can. There are also minor retcons and alterations to better fit the overall story, hopefully making progression more interesting.
Alongside that, I am renaming some of the chapters, mostly because I was never good at naming them in the first place. I will be trying to reference various music with them, so keep an eye (and an ear) out for it. They could be fun easter eggs.
As of posting this, Chapters 1, 2 and 3 have been completely rewritten. As they are rewritten, there will be a disclaimer right at the start.
For the newer readers, I'm sorry if the change in quality between the rewritten chapters and the old ones is steep. Still, I really do hope you stick around to the end.
-RememberShiganshina
-BEFORE WE BEGIN...-
Our Friend is an unofficial continuation of the videogame Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle, loosely following its plot, details and OC main character. There are many throwbacks to events, scenes and even gameplay elements from it- however, the story follows a distinct canon with original elements and a few modifications to estabilished lore.
This fanfic is heavily inspired by many of the things I love so much, and I proudly wear said inspirations on my sleeves! The writing is influenced by (and sometimes references) media such as Black Swan, Mr. Robot, NieR: Automata, The End of Evangelion, Drakengard, Psycho-Pass, Death Note, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Attack on Titan's Original Soundtrack and more.
I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do writing it. It is not only for me, after all, but for you too.
WARNING: Our Friend is a story about trauma and mental illness. As such, it features sensitive subject matter and very strong language.
Content includes references to extreme violence, self-hatred and suicide.
It was pitch black.
Darkness covered Laure's body like a blanket, but the last thing she could feel at that moment was comfort. Pain took over her entire body in sharp, constant strikes, and even though she couldn't see anything, she could still feel as if the entire world was spinning thanks to dizziness. Her ears were ringing, the muffled, haunting noises from far away echoing inside her head, a soundscape that sounded like something out straight from the depths of Hell. And maybe it was, indeed, Hell. Flames burning with all the rage nature could evoke clashed with the even louder screams of demons both human and Titan, something so horrifying only the Devil himself could create with his fine, malicious.
She couldn't understand what it was, but that wasn't her main concern.
The feeling of dread grew, filling her with adrenaline. Using what little strength she had left, Laure managed to struggle just enough for light to finally break on through the dark- the rubble of a destroyed rooftop rested upon her, the same rooftop she could remember being on top of before being knocked out. She couldn't know how much time had passed, but as she tried more and more to escape the wreckage, her memories of what happened began flooding in.
The Beast Titan showered the outside of Shiganshina with artillery made from crushed rocks. The surprise from its sudden boulders froze all of the Scouts in shock, and debris roughly the size of a door soon landed right by Laure's side, missing her by only an arm's length, collapsing the roof of the house. As a piece of wood struck her in the head, she was knocked out.
'Bastard', she muttered to herself with much annoyance as she tried her best to stand up, still feeling dizzy and weak from it all. Laure looked down checking on herself only to find that, surprisingly, her body had nothing explicitly broken, even though every inch of it hurt. Her ODM gear wasn't as lucky, however, its left side appearing to be held together by chance, the hand grips also having been bent to the point of being almost unusable. There was no time to worry, though. She had to be as quick as possible to know what the hell was going on.
She limped to the broken window of the bedroom she found herself in. After looking down through it for a few seconds, she got herself in position and closed her eyes.
'Shit...', she thought as a hint of hesitation struck her for a moment. She closed her eyes before swallowing one big gulp. '... here I go.'
Laure jumped through the window and barely managed to handle the landing, awkwardly rolling on the ground until she came to a stop. She clumsily stood up once more, turning to her right and having a view that once more made her wonder if she was in Hell. The village had been destroyed by the Beast Titan's attacks, rubble drenched in blood spread all over the place. Those who were hit by the rocks had exploded into a red mist of guts and blood, leaving behind nothing but chunks of flesh, clothing and pieces of equipment. Further away, dust and smoke covered almost all of the horizon as the advancing Scouts charged at the Beast Titan, firing their flares towards him. The Beast, on the other hand, seemed as if it was getting ready to throw yet another barrage of rocks. It was a suicide charge, their fates being sealed.
A sharp sting suddenly hit Laure, prompting her to touch the back of her head. As soon as her hand touched her hair, she could feel it getting wet. She was bleeding quite a lot.
'Why?', she whispered in a defeated tone, trying to understand why such a hopeless advance was being made at all. It was an open field of death, with nowhere to run but forward towards the reaper.
As her hand moved through her once braided brown hair, something caught her attention: the faint noise of flesh being cut could be heard from not very far. As she glanced to her left, it was obvious the once intimidating row of Titans was slowly shrinking in size as one by one they fell to the ground, a figure zipping across the air in quick succession. The Beast Titan didn't seem to notice it at all as it happened, prompting Laure to think and piece everything together.
'A suicide charge to distract the Beast Titan...', Laure thought to herself as she limped towards the mangled remains of one of her comrades. She noticed a bag filled with flares, grabbing as much as she could carry on herself. She turned to the Wall before giving a last glance towards the charging Scouts.
"I trust in whatever it is that you are doing, my comrades", she said to no one in particular but herself. "I trust it with my life. May you all rest well, and good luck, Captain Levi."
As Laure approached the destroyed gates of Shiganshina, the loud noise of bursting steam could be heard coming from the other side of the Wall. Standing in front of it, she used her damaged ODM gear to climb it, almost falling a few times due to it crumbling into pieces. As she finally reached the top, she threw herself to the floor, rolling while letting out a few grunts of pain. Her eyes soon caught a glimpse of the source of the now-deafening noise- the Colossal Titan was steaming non-stop with much intensity, seemingly with no plans to stop.
As he steamed without break, his muscle mass was consumed inch by inch, making him thinner and thinner, and Laure quickly caught eye of that. She also noticed the Colossal's eyes remorselesslly staring at a swaying thing right in front of him. It wasn't hard to realize it was someone, a Scout, their ODM's hooks attached to the Titan's teeth. The Scout's blonde bowl hair meant it could only be one person- Armin was the one being hit by the punishing vapor, and if he remained in that position, he would end up being roasted alive. Laure panicked, yelling at him.
"Armin!", she screamed as she fought the urge to cough, gathering as much breath as she could, stumbling closer. "ARMIN!"
Her voice cracked and she couldn't hold back anymore, coughing with much pain in her ribs as she was brought to her knees. As she tried to recover and not faint, she felt desperate. Armin probably had a plan behind what he was doing, possibly a distraction, but he was going to die a very slow and painful death. He didn't react at all to the shouting, but an idea soon crossed Laure's mind.
'Alright', she thought as she clumsily grabbed the flare gun she had looted before, loading it with one of the flares. 'First chance out of three'.
She aimed at the Colossal's neck, hoping the wind coming from the steam would help the projectile fly somewhere where it could grab the attention of either Armin or Bertholdt.
"Please... let it work."
She fired it.
The wind carried the flare upwards and it flew right across the Titan's eyesight, almost hitting Armin on its way back. The Colossal's eyes turned towards Laure in-between what little smoke hadn't been sent away by the constant gust of air, and there she was, desperately trying to load another round into the gun.
'What? Who...', Bertholdt thought for a second before recognizing his old friend, prompting his eyebrows to raise. 'I see. I am glad to see that you are still alive, Laure, but I'm afraid it doesn't mean much for now.'
His eyes shifted to the corner of his view as he attempted to see as far behind as he could.
'Mikasa and the others have their hands full with Reiner', he thought to himself before shifting his eyes down to where the Attack Titan had felt minutes earlier. 'And Eren hasn't moved an inch. I'll put both of you to rest as fast as I can.'
'I can't breathe... this is all I can take... no, not yet. This still isn't enough. I have to buy more time!'
Armin's thoughts raced through his head as he fought against all of his instincts, trying as much as possible to stay hooked to the Colossal's teeth. He was going to be scorched alive, but it was all part of his plan. He had to sacrifice himself for this to work. He had to be a hero.
Laure fired another flare, once more prompting Bertholdt to look at her. As if annoyed by it, the Colossal Titan stopped steaming, and an exhausted Armin quickly started falling down as the air current died. He was barely conscious, but just enough to turn around and hook himself to the Wall's top floor, landing there as his body rolled. He raised his head to see Laure staring at him, her face battered, bloody and her eyes empty.
"Laure...", Armin said as he could barely manage to speak, out of breath. "You're alive...! Wh-what are you doing?!"
"I know you have a plan, Armin", she replied between coughs. "But I can't let you die like that. I will not let you sacrifice yourself! I'm here!"
Armin couldn't reply to her, a look of surprise on his face. His skin was covered in both first and second degree burns, the adrenaline taking his mind off the pain. The damage was done, and had Laure not interfered, his fate would have been much worse, just as planned.
"The Colossal may be slow, but that doesn't mean we don't have to be quick", Laure said as she cleaned the bloody corner of her mouth, rubbing her hand against it. She looked at Bertholdt with a hint of fear. "I assume you were there on purpose, right?"
She looked at Armin, who nodded. She helped her friend get up, looking at him in the eyes as they stood face to face.
"I don't see Eren, nor Mikasa, nor Jean or anyone else. I don't know what happened here, but what the hell were you thinking?!"
Armin replied, finally being able to speak after catching his breath for a moment, though was still panting.
"I needed to hold on until the Colossal released just enough steam... but your flares have got in the way... which means w-what was possibly our only shot at taking him down may have been wasted..."
Laure wasn't happy with Armin's words. She knew she acted out of desperation to help him, but she felt justified to attempt to save him, specially after having witnessed the massacre from outside.
"I trust you, Armin", she said as her eyes danced between Armin and Bertholdt. "But I would never let that happen."
Bertholdt was staring at them the whole time, somehow entranced by the scene. Maybe it was the pity for Laure's apparent deplorable state, or maybe he was trying to figure out how she survived outside. Before he decided to act, memories from their friendship flashed his mind.
'Why? Why now?', Bertholdt thought to himself as he felt his stomach turn. 'It doesn't matter. I need to finish this right now.'
He was going to smash them, but he found himself barely able to move his arm.
'What?!', he panicked as he looked at his arm. 'Why can't I?!'
His arm was so skinny it had barely any muscle left. He just couldn't move it at all.
Before he could think of anything else, another flare was suddenly shot straight at his face. As he tried to understand what was happening, Laure ran with what little strength she had left and lept off the Wall, shooting her ODM towards Bertholdt's face.
"Laure!", Armin yelled as he tried to reach for her. Bertholdt panicked, prompting him to instantly react with a sudden burst of steam. The burst of hot vapor flashed like an explosion, sending Laure flying backwards towards the Wall. Her ODM's hook attached to it by pure luck, saving her from falling over fourty meters to her death as she was left dangling there. Armin quickly fired his hooks at the ground, holding on for his life as he could feel himself being pushed away by the burning air.
As Bertholdt steamed once more, he looked down, something catching his eyes: Eren hadn't moved an inch since then. However, as he focused his eyes better, he soon noticed that it wasn't Eren, but a crystallized form of his Titan, kneeling down at the same spot.
A familiar voice then suddenly shouted from behind him.
"Got you!", Eren said as his hooks then attached to the Colossal's neck. He zipped towards it, digging his swords inside the Colossal's nape, cutting Bertholdt out and pulling his stump of a body.
The Colossal Titan had finally been defeated.