"I should be the one to go," Ray said. He leaned against the workbench with his arms crossed, watching Celine in apprehension as she adjusted the leather straps attached to the ODM gear on her hips.

"I'm the lightest one here," Celine said. "We're sending out the fullest canisters while leaving the one with only a little gas left for our use. If things go like they should, I shouldn't need it. If they don't, I can go farther and faster than any of you could."

"Except for the fact you can't pilot it," Norman said. He sat hunched on a stool, his eyes on Emma and Isabell as they finished up their work.

An extreme level of tip-toeing had allowed the group to make it safely to the workshop on the third floor. The windows to the workshop were facing the north end of the building which bore a thin spire obstructing the view. Said spire appeared to act as a deterrent as the Titans chose to lumber around it instead of getting close enough for the group to be noticed.

Isabell had backed up her previous claim by being successful in readjusting the stoppers of all but one of the canisters they came across. This left three approximately half-full canisters being wrapped together with leather straps while a fourth was secured to Celine's ODM gear. Everyone's jackets had been removed and were being used alongside flame-retardant cloth as a final layer of padding for the canisters being sent out.

"I won't need to pilot the gear at all if you guys do your part," Celine said. She picked up two woven bags and looped their straps over her shoulder. Her companions clearly thought about questioning why Celine had an alarming amount of ignition powder stored in her office. They decided they didn't want to know the answer.

"It doesn't look like much, does it?" Emma said, inspecting the beige package.

"Is it supposed to?" Ray asked.

"What if it lands somewhere the soldiers can't get to right away?" Emma said. "We don't want them to have trouble finding it." Her eyes wandered around the room in search of anything that stood out.

"Here," Celine said. She tossed a small bag to Emma.

Emma opened it to reveal a cluster of red sticks of chalk and hummed in contemplation. "I suppose this could help if it doesn't get burned off," she said, pulling a piece from the bag and drawing thick lines across the package.

"That'll almost certainly get burned off," Ray said. "The jackets themselves shouldn't catch fire, but they'll probably singe. That smoke will–" Ray cut himself short. He began rummaging around the room until he pulled a flare gun out of a box beneath one of the workbenches. "This morning I was told to put this in here because the ammo jammed," he said, handing the gun to Isabell. "The impact may be enough to rupture the casing and cause the flare to catch fire."

"Who knows?" Celine said as Emma and Isabell grabbed another strap to secure the flare gun. "Better than nothing. Are we all ready?"

A somber mood fell over the room. Eyes tracked Celine as she lifted the package with a grunt and balanced it on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Celine," Isabell said. "What you're doing–"

"Your job is more dangerous than mine," Celine said, cutting her short. "And I may royally fuck this up, so don't thank me yet." She gave the item on her shoulder a shake to ensure it was stable. With a satisfied nod she crossed the room and placed her hand on the door handle. Everyone aside from Norman stepped around the benches to stand beside her. It had already been decided Norman would stay behind due to the blood loss leaving him light-headed. Whether this claim was true or not was up to debate.

"Remember," Celine said, her fingers curling around the handle. "Run fast."

The door swung open.

Celine took off to the right while her companions darted to the left. Their shouts echoed through the hall as Celine reached the stairwell. The noise became intermingled with slams and crashes when the group encountered furniture to throw around.

It didn't take long for another crash to fill the air – one that could only be caused by rows of windows being smashed in simultaneously. Celine could only hope the shouts she was hearing were still a part of the distraction as she bolted up the stairs.

Each landing passed in a blur, glimpses of gigantic tan splotches catching Celine's eye at every window. She didn't break her stride until reaching the door leading to the rooftop, staring at the handle for a moment before letting out a deep exhale.

She gripped the handle and cracked the door open.

Celine didn't dare move for a few seconds, straining her eyes and ears for any sign of movement. She could make out the distant sound of rumbling and crashing, but nothing that seemed nearby.

Celine slinked outside. She squinted as she left the shade and approached the middle of the courtyard where the training cannon was stationed. A few of the tools had been knocked some feet away, but a quick glance confirmed everything she needed was present.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry," Celine mumbled as she set the package down and picked up a pole with a screw-like tip. She began to hum a nervous tune as she cleaned the barrel of the cannon. Her body fell into a natural rhythm she'd picked up from spending over a year observing and (when Hange was playing look-out) operating a cannon alongside the Scout trainees. It didn't take long for Celine to pack in a small bag of ignition powder followed by the package of canisters, taking care to ensure the canisters were loaded with the stoppers facing out in hope they'd avoid any damage from the explosion. Circling to the back of the cannon, she held her breath as she undid a latch and turned a crank to adjust the trajectory.

"If they're here, they'll be toward the north-west," Celine said. She let out a deep exhale as she locked the cannon in place and stuck the vent pick down the priming hole to pierce the bag of ignition powder in the chamber.

"They better still be here."

The final steps included more ignition powder being poured down the priming hole, followed by a length of flint starter attached to a rope. Celine gripped the other end of the rope as she backed up a few feet and stared into the sky.

I'm going to go deaf from forgetting to grab something for my ears. Ah well … there's a chance I won't be using them much longer, anyway.

Celine yanked the rope with all her might.

Every inch of her body shook from the pulse accompanying the thunderous boom of the cannon.

Celine's eyes tracked an object flying against the gray sky in a plume of bright green smoke. By design, the canisters were capable of handling a high impact and still be usable. The fact that the package was holding together was a good sign; Celine threw her arms up in victory when the bundle crashed through the roof of a building some distance away.

"That was further than I thought it would go," Celine said, shading her eyes. "Not bad. The smoke's still going, too."

The sun disappeared. Celine whipped her head around.

A Titan around seven meters tall with long, black hair and blue eyes which would've been very pretty on literally anything else stared down at her. It had climbed up the back of the building, a knee coming up over the side as it reached for Celine.

Shit.

Celine made a break for the door.

The Titan's arm crashed down to block her path. It seemed to be struggling with keeping its balance as it lost its footing and its weight caused nearly a quarter of the courtyard to crumble and fall to the ground below.

Celine dashed away from the Titan to the edge of the rooftop, pulling the triggers for the grappling hooks. They shot forward from her ODM gear and lodged onto the roof of the neighboring building below. A familiar yanking motion accompanied Celine speeding away as another chunk of the stone courtyard came crashing down.

"Shit!"

Celine's retreat was anything but smooth. She was pulled in a zig-zag pattern as she overcorrected aligning her trajectory. Her thrashing caused the right hook to tear out of the roof shingles and come snapping back to her waist.

She deployed it again in a panic as the side of the building drew increasingly larger. But she hadn't pulled in the other hook, scrambling to find the appropriate control. The left hook finally popped free and met Celine as she slammed into wooden paneling.

The right grappling hook had lodged itself firmly into the support beam of an inn across the street and Celine was jerked to the side in a violent motion.

Her boots hit the support beam with a loud thud as Celine finally found herself stationary. She crouched on the side of the inn and closed her eyes in an attempt to correct her double vision.

"Dammit … That better not have broken my arm …"

The ground trembled.

The alarm bells in her head started ringing as loud as her ears as another Titan with a hunched back and prominent nose rounded the corner down the block. Celine pressed the trigger to retract the right hook, but it stayed firmly in place.

What?!

Celine put her full weight into trying to yank the hook loose. She froze from a sudden flash of realization.

The old hook design of this model means you're not supposed to pierce into thick wood during the summer. The humidity might make the wood spongy and causes the hooks to get stuck.

"Of course, I'd only remember that now," Celine said as she fell into shadow. Slowly, she lifted her head to look up at the Titan. Her lips pulled back in a grimace as a hand reached out to envelope her.

"Shit!"

Celine pulled at the straps holding the ODM gear in place. They slid free and she dropped to the ground in a heap. The fall from a story high only registered as a limp as she leapt into a run.

A massive foot slammed down in Celine's path, blocking her exit. A jolt of pain shot through her ankles as she slid to a stop and began to slowly back away. She pushed her back against the inn and could only stare as the Titan leaned down with an outstretched hand.

Isn't this the part where my life is supposed to flash before my eyes? Celine thought.

All I can think about is how Hange would tell me to introduce myself and ask the Titan for its name in return … Dammit, my brain is the worst.

"Celine!"

It was like Celine was seeing the world in slow motion. Something flew from the side and sliced through the large, pink fingers blocking her vision. A shower of blood fell over Celine, the liquid immediately evaporating and forming a thick fog.

From the fog emerged a figure with a stoic expression and a gleaming sword in hand. A matching set of brown eyes locked as Celine and Marco regarded one another.

He came for me.

Celine was scooped up around the middle and they flew skyward as Marco deployed his ODM gear.

"Are you alright?" Marco shouted over the rushing wind. Celine slowly nodded.

I'm such …

"Good," Marco said, his smile conveying his relief. "I knew you'd still be alive; there was never a doubt. You're far tougher than you look."

A tear ran down Celine's cheek.

I'm such … a piece of shit.

The pair suddenly lost altitude. Marco let out a frustrated sound as there was a jerking change to their trajectory. He made a rough landing on a rooftop and set Celine down. "Sorry," he said. "It's hard balancing the weight of two people on one canister." Marco looked up with a flinch. "Not to say I don't appreciate it! I couldn't imagine us having a chance against the Titans without the extra gas! You did an amazing job sending it our way!"

The startled look on Marco's face was too much for Celine to handle. Her shoulders began to shake as she laughed. Marco joined in with an embarrassed chuckle. He stopped short when Celine looked up and abruptly went still.

Marco whipped about. The hunched-back Titan had recovered; straightening to its full height, it easily dwarfed the rooftops. With a hiss, Marco's ODM gear deployed and he went zipping to a neighboring building.

"Over here!" he shouted, waving his arms. "That's right – look this way!"

The distraction seemed to be working as the Titan turned its head. Marco readied himself in a crouch.

"Oi!"

A roof shingle smacked the Titan in the back of the head. It turned to look over its shoulder.

"That's right!" Celine yelled. She threw another shingle, this one smashing into pieces against the Titan's shoulder. "Oh, does that make you upset? I wonder if you're man enough to do anything about it? Probably not, seeing as it looks like your manhood fell off somewhere along the way."

Celine threw a series of shingles in rapid succession. One hitting the Titan in the eye was enough motivation to make it turn its back to Marco and lumber in Celine's direction.

"Here we go!" Celine shouted. "If you're looking for a prime cut of meat, you can do a lot better than a backwater bumpkin like him!"

"Celine!" Marco shouted. "Don't provoke it! Run!"

"Don't you know a distraction when you see it?" Celine said, waving her arms. "Do us both a favor and kill this thing before it kills me, Mr. Seventh-in-his-class!"

Marco looked on in shock. His eyes narrowed and his mouth set into a firm line.

A pair of grappling hooks shot from Marco's gear, hooking into the Titan's flesh and yanking him forward. He flew through the air with the sky at his back as he raised his sword. Whether he could execute the cuts needed to kill the Titan with only a single sword wasn't a question. It couldn't be a question.

The blades cut through the Titan's neck in deep slashes.

Celine looked on in shock as another soldier appeared beside Marco in the blink of an eye, perfectly mirroring his movements in order to successfully slice a large chunk from the Titan's nape. The red scarf around the newcomer's neck billowed behind her like a cape as she gifted Marco with a soft smile.

The Titan slumped forward. This left Celine dashing away to avoid being crushed as it slammed into the roof at her side. The resulting cloud of dust made it hard for her to see her footing, and Celine nearly lost her balance on the slanted roof before Marco landed beside her and offered a steadying hand.

"Get inside HQ!" the soldier said. She hung from the side of a chimney, gesturing with her sword. "Armin and I have a strategy to get rid of the rest of the Titans surrounding the building. We'll regroup when that's done!"

"Hold on, Mikasa!" Marco said. "Just you two alone? Isn't Reiner helping you clear a path to HQ?"

"Reiner and Jean got everyone else inside already," Mikasa said. "And we're not alone … Just go inside, now!"

Mikasa turned away and left in a plume of vapor.

"She's scary."

Marco looked down at Celine.

"You seem worried," Celine said. "But I think she'll be alright. She helped you take down that Titan like it was nothing. Someone as terrifying as that can handle themselves."

Reassurance washed over Marco as he nodded. He took a knee and looked into the distance. "You ready, Celine?"

"I sort of have to be," Celine said. She circled behind Marco, pressing against his back and looping her arms around his shoulders in a fashion she'd become quite used to from having Hange lug her up and down the wall on a regular basis. "Just be warned – if the ride's too bumpy, you're getting thrown up on."

"With most of the Titans gone, a smooth ride shouldn't be a problem," Marco said. He dashed forward, Celine using the straps of his ODM harness to secure herself as Marco leapt from the building. Celine felt more than a little validated when they flew over the rooftops in a much smoother fashion than she'd experienced with Hange.

If I make it back alive, I'll rub that in her face … and leave out the part about my own piloting.

"Thank you, Celine."

A line formed between Celine's brows. "I keep getting thanked today for no reason."

"You didn't give up," Marco said, turning to look over his shoulder. "You believed your fellow soldiers had what it took to survive and that they were still out there. Then you risked your life to give us a fighting chance; Mikasa and Reiner were able to use the canisters to take out the Titans between us and HQ. You saved us."

Celine scoffed. "What made you assume the package had anything to do with me?"

"The jackets keeping the tanks safe," Marco said, returning his attention forward. "Your name was stamped on the inner lining of the smallest one. Even before then … I had a gut feeling you would help where you could."

"Don't paint me like some sort of savior," Celine said. "I did what I had to because I didn't want to die. There were times I could've stuck my neck out in an effort to save someone else; instead, I turned and ran in the other direction." Celine paused, dropping her gaze.

"… I abandoned a cadet in the warehouse to save my own skin. I then asked my companions to act as a distraction so I could fire the cannon. There's a good possibility they're all dead."

"Being brave is trying to help others even when you're afraid," Marco said. His grappling hooks lodged into the side of the Headquarters building. "I don't think we can be brave all the time. But I think you're brave when it counts, Celine."

Marco and Celine swung around the north wing of the building, getting a good view of the pile of rubble making up nearly a quarter of the northwest side where the rooftop courtyard had collapsed. There was the sound of a commotion – the pair expected to see Marco's comrades battling with the last of the Titans. What they saw instead was beyond anything they could've imagined.

"What … is that?" Celine said.

There was a Titan attacking another Titan. The muscular form slammed its fist into its opponent's face – causing the other Titan's head to explode in a shower of blood. The shaggy dark hair around the muscular Titan's face whipped about when it turned. It stared straight at Celine and Marco with penetrating green eyes as its shoulders heaved.

Marco twisted and slammed his feet into the wall. He struggled to come to a stop; the momentum leaving the pair sliding a few feet before finally jerking to a halt. Despite his efforts, they ended up well within the muscular Titan's reach.

For a heartbeat, no one moved.

Celine screamed when the muscular Titan darted forward. She watched in horror as the Titan's hand came toward her and Marco … their hair blown back in the resulting gust as it passed.

The muscular Titan's fingers wrapped around the wrist of another Titan which had come around the corner. The other Titan was shorter than the first, and had been reaching overhead in an attempt to grab her and Marco.

Celine's jaw hung slack.

The first one … saved us …

A roar burst from the muscular Titan's jaws; the resulting shock wave reminding Celine of when she'd been standing only feet away from cannon fire. She caught a glimpse of the smaller Titan falling with a crash as it was thrown to the ground.

Marco was moving again; the scene with the two Titans disappearing as he leapt through an opening of a blown-out window. They tumbled into the Records Room and Marco struggled to find good footing among piles of debris and broken glass. He was finally able to settle in a clear spot between an upturned table and a busted chandelier.

Celine dropped her arms from around Marco's chest and slid off his back. He turned so they could exchange bewildered expressions.

A group of cadets on patrol came across the Bodt siblings in the Records Room soon after.

Celine was attempting to hide the fact she'd vomited by tearing pages from a book and using them to cover up the puddle.

Marco was sprawled out on the floor where he'd fainted.