Elijah

"Elijah? Can you take my place?"

"...What?" I look to the boy, stunned.

"I just have no idea...what to do… I should have taken your word. I was wrong reading Bertholdt and look where it got us. Elijah, you're better suited for this!"

"..." I shake off that fear that still has a hold on me after five years. I should be like Eren and beat the shit out of myself so that scared little kid is good as gone. I nod to Armin, then look to the group as a whole. "The river. Move to the river. We'll ride Eren to conserve our gas." We board Eren, and he begins to move. At the same time, so does Bertholdt. "Eren, at some point, we'll have to get Bertholdt's attention, but until then, don't let him see you. And Armin, I'm all right at reading situations, but I'm too angry to come up with a reasonable plan to deal with Bertholdt that doesn't definitely kill us. And I don't really what to do... To that end, I am counting on you. We all are, okay?"

I have no idea what I'm doing, but then again, I never really did... But it never stopped me before, so I don't know how it possibly can now! Bertholdt, if you believe that we all really have to die, so be it.

One way or another, we will kill you.

Levi

"We're done cleaning up here. The only small ones left are the ones way at the front. Still, how will we take down the Beast Titan? He's perfectly content sitting way over there, not moving an inch."

Levi nods. "Yeah, it seems he's a coward. Not like he had balls to begin with."

Dirk chuckles. "You take a break. We'll mop up the rest of the small ones. Let's go!"

"Roger!"

Levi watches as Dirk Squad advances to the edge of town, where the remaining small Titans are. He then turns to the wall behind him, where his squadron and Hange's are. Black smoke rises to the sky after the enormous eruption that happened minutes ago. The commander, from his position on top of the wall, is a little green dot. "What was that explosion? What happened to those guys? Did Hange and the others avoid it? Is Petra alright? I gotta hurry to that side and-" In Levi's sight, a small pebble flies by, going at high speed toward the wall. That pebble multiplies by two, then four, then eight, then innumerable as Levi hears the drums of destruction and the unharmonious song of death from the Scouts. As the noise dies out, only a cloud of blood covers the town. Looking further ahead, Levi can see the Beast standing up.

"Hmm… That one was a little bit high. Oh, leave it right there… Well, the first pitch was a warm-up. I'm going for a perfect game!"

"Frontal bombardment! All troops, take cover!"

Levi ignores the order from the commander, worrying about the Scouts in the frontline. "Shit! You guys!" However, before he can reach them, he's forced to take cover in an alley as the Beast throws another round, caking the skies even redder. Once it sounds safe to move, Levi heads for the Scout recruits and the horses.

Much like he is, the recruits are panicking. "The Titan's throwing boulders," he shouts to them as he lands.

"Captain Levi?"

Levi draws his sword and points to the recruits. "All of you, retreat to the wall with the horses!"

"Roger!" Before they can move, another bombardment blasts in their ears.

"Hurry! Stay outta the line of fire!" They run for their lives towards Wall Maria, Levi having to pick up a panicking ginger along the way. There, Commander Erwin descends from the top. Hoping he has some idea of what to do and some answers as to what happened on the other side, Levi approaches him. "How's it looking?"

"Terrible. His throws have destroyed the front line of houses. If he keeps on throwing, everything will get leveled. We won't have anywhere left to hide."

"We can't retreat to the other side of the wall?"

"No. The Colossal Titan is already heading this way. Spreading fire all along his path. Supposing we scale the wall to evade the stones, we'd have to leave the horses. If we retreat here, there's no hope for victory."

"What happened to Hange's group? Is Eren all right?"

"I don't know. But the majority of them were caught in that explosion. We've been dealt a serious blow. The Beast Titan directed the small Titans so our soldiers would group up in one place. As such, while engaging the small Titans, Dirk Squad, Marlene Squad, and Klaus Squad were all wiped out by the bombardment. In other words, our remaining forces this side of the gate consist of you new Scout recruits, Captain Levi, and me."

Another bombardment disrupts the relative peace at the wall, but Levi keeps his eyes and mind on Erwin. "Erwin… Do you have any sort of plan?"

Elijah

"Yell at him, Eren!" Jean says. "Don't let Bertholdt get any closer to the wall!" Eren does so, nearly rupturing my ears, but it effectively reaches Bertholdt's ears. However, the bastard simply stops in place, looks slightly back to us, and continues moving forward. "What? That bastard's ignoring us!"

"What now, Jean? Elijah? At this rate…"

I snap at Connie, though I don't mean to direct my rage towards him. "I know!" Think! Dammit, think! "Eren! Trip him over!" Eren takes off sprinting, straight for Bertholdt's legs.

"Hopefully this works, at least, to slow him down."

"But still," Connie exclaims, "how the hell are we gonna defeat him?"

"His gusts of hot steam make our ODM gear useless! Right?"

"I remember that. But right now, we've got no choice but to try! We've gotta figure out his weakness and pull that bastard right out!" I turn to Mikasa, sharing a single nod that she understands very well at this point.

"I'll do it. You guys distract him. Connie, your Thunder Spear."

"Right."

"Armin," Jean says, "we need you to observe him from afar. So quit your moping. We gotta believe there's a way to beat him!"

Eren rounds the corner, coming to Bertholdt's legs. "Everyone, scatter!" We fly off Eren as he continues to dash to the Colossal Titan. With a roar he grabs the legs, halting the advance of the larger Titan...and even pushes him back.

"H-He's shoving him."

"Holy shit." Standing beside Sasha, I too am amazed that Eren is even managing this. I just made up that plan just to say something, but to see it work, even temporarily…

"Go, Eren! Knock him over!" For just a moment, I wanted to believe in Connie's words, that Eren will trip Bertholdt. For the briefest second, I wanted to see victory over the asshole who kicked these walls open.

That dream is dashed the moment Eren begins flying in the air towards the inner gate, settling on the wall's top where we stood more than a quarter of an hour earlier. For a moment we wait for Eren to pick himself up, or make any noise in general that he's okay, yet his Titan just lays there in silence.

"Eren's not moving…"

"He's not dead," Jean tells Mikasa. "Focus on the monster at hand!" He then turns to me. "Your plan… That might have been pushing it too far. If we run at him without a plan, that's what happens."

"Right..."

He glances at Armin. "Unless we can somehow turn the tables on him, this recovery operation, all of our lives, and the future of humanity will be doomed. Having said that, I'm not about to sit around while we all get slaughtered!"

I nod. "Right. We can't wait on Eren, let's go on the attack!" We, minus Mikasa, rise up in the air in front of Bertholdt's Titan. This gamble is even bigger than the previous one. Eren, though out of commission, is alive; one slip up for the six of us, if we don't get severe burns, we're dead.

"He doesn't know about Thunder Spears yet! Connie, Sasha, Petra, Elijah, and I will distract him! Mikasa will strike in the opening!" We hook ourselves to Bertholdt's enormous body, hoping our ploy will work. Granted, I don't believe him to be stupid, but we're not banking on a decisive strike of the sword. As long as Mikasa activates the Thunder Spear, it is a successful attack. "Hey, moron! I'll poke out your stupid eyes!"

"You huge idiot!"

"You massive pervert lord!"

"You dumb bed-wetter!"

I watch Mikasa rise up behind Bertholdt and fire both her Thunder Spears at the Colossal's nape. However, Bertholdt somehow senses Mikasa behind him whether or not he is expecting an attack, he never saw her and surrounds himself with steam. Before we take our retreat, I witness the Thunder Spears explode behind Mikasa, meaning that the pressure of the steam being expelled is enough to reflect the spears.

I cough as the remnants of the steam burn my throat. Turning to the others, only Mikasa suffered injuries due to shrapnel from the spears and Armin is the only fresh soldier due to staying in place. However, that is the least of my concerns. "Armin, please tell me you have an idea."

"Huh?"

"Have any clues for a counterattack," Mikasa pleads.

Armin looks at us with horror. "Not one…" The sound of destruction to my left gathers our attention, but it isn't Bertholdt who causes such clamor. To our shock, it is a revived Reiner. No longer must we contend with the Colossal Titan who approaches the wall, but the Armored Titan who'll do anything to stop us.

Erwin

"The Beast Titan has a good guess where we're at. This place will look like a honeycomb soon. Erwin, if you're saying we've got no chance to counterattack, let's get ready to flee. Wake Eren sprawled out up there, ride him, and fell with as many people as possible. At least we'll have some survivors." Erwin continues his silence to Levi, instead looking up at the frightened recruits. One of them, Marlo if he remembers the bowl-cut boy correctly, begins to roughly grab another.

"Hey, that horse got away! That was your job!"

"Shut up! Like it matters!"

"Excuse me?"

"Those Scouts were insanely strong and they died in an instant! You know as well as I do! What good is protecting horses when there's nobody left to ride them home?! It all made sense at one point, if humanity just hid behind the walls, we'd someday get slaughtered by the Titans out of nowhere. Someone has to bite the bullet and risk taking action. In order for others to not become victims, we needed people to become the victims themselves. Who will become that brave soldier? When I was asked that, I actually believed I could be that someone! But I never thought that being sent to my death would turn out to be so utterly meaningless in the end! Now that I think about it, I bet almost everyone ends up saying the same thing as me. Why did I ever think that I'd somehow be different?"

Levi turns back to Erwin. "What if whoever's left of the recruits and Hange's group scatter on horses and try to make it home? By using them as a decoy, you guys could escape on Eren."

"Levi, what would you do?"

"I'm facing the Beast Titan. I'll draw him away-"

"Impossible. You won't even get close."

"Probably not. But if you and Eren return home alive, there's still hope. Isn't that the best we can ask for at this point? What a huge defeat… To be perfectly honest, I doubt a single one of us is making it back alive."

"Yes, assuming we had no way to counterattack."

Levi looks up to Eren with shock and hope. "Is there a way?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you say that sooner? Why do you keep your shitty mouth shut?"

Erwin sighs. "If the plan goes well, you may be able to take down the Beast Titan. But it will take the recruits and me to give our lives." The pair look to the frightened recruits as the air and earth around them quake. With another sigh, Erwin steps forward. "It's like you said, either way, most of us will die. No, it's almost guaranteed we'll all be wiped out. In which case, we can stake our heroic deaths on a slim chance of victory. For this to work, to ask these young ones to die, it would take an expert con man and a whole slew of lies. If I do not lead the vanguard, none of them will follow. And I will die before anyone else. Without ever learning what's in the basement."

"Huh?"

Erwin sits down, his breath shaking as he looks to the ground. "I… I want to go to the basement. Everything I've done till now was because I thought this day would come. That someday, I could check if I was right. So many times… I thought death would be so much easier. But always, the dream I shared with my father...even Moses flashed through my mind. And now, I'm close enough to the answers to reach out and grab them. They're right there… But, Levi, can you see them? Our comrades? Our comrades are looking at us. They want to know what became of the hearts they gave. Because the fighting isn't over yet." Another throw rocks the area. "Is it just inside my head? Nothing more than a childish delusion?"

"Moses? I didn't know you were the religious type."

"He was an old friend... This is his home... And he was the only one who wanted to know the truth like me."

Levi sighs and kneels down in front of Erwin. "You've fought well. It's all thanks to you that we've come this far. I'm making the choice. Give up on your dream and die. Lead the recruits straight into hell. I will take down the Beast Titan."

"Charge!" Erwin and the remaining Scouts charge on horseback through the ruined outer town of Shiganshina. Their screams gain the attention of the reloading Beast Titan. The actions of the Scouts, a literal suicide charge, seem to stun him. It is this opening Erwin counts on as he raises his flare gun. "Now! Fire!" Streaks of green smoke line the skies, and a moment later the Beast winds up his next volley. "It's coming, move!"

Moments before

Erwin bites his lip before standing up, taking the crate he sat upon, and dropping it in front of the recruits. Levi is right...Even though he hates it, Levi is right. I'm sorry, Moses, but I cannot watch over your son anymore. You raised a good soldier, and an even better man. "I'm announcing our final operation! All troops, line up!" Still in fear, it takes a moment for the recruits to line up, but once they gather, he wastes no time in preaching. "We will be doing a cavalry charge. Our goal: To rush the Beast Titan. Of course, we'll be making ourselves ideal targets, so we'll wait until he's ready to throw and fire our smoke signals together. That should reduce his accuracy somewhat. While we're acting as a decoy, Captain Levi will kill the Beast Titan. That is our plan."

"What? You want me to go after him with just ODM gear? He's standing in an empty area. There's not even a house of tree in sight."

"Wrong. There happens to be a line of objects at just the right height. Sneak close using the Titans and assassinate the Beast Titan." He turns to the shocked recruits. He sees their fear. He knows it well. Many times he's given the order to die, and every time he's been there as well. "Standing and waiting just means we'll be showered by more boulders. Get ready on the double!"

"Are we," the redhead boy from earlier squeaks, "heading...to our deaths?"

"Yes."

"If we're gonna die anyways, you're saying it's better if...we die fighting?"

"Yes."

"Wait… If we're gonna die anyways, no matter how we die, even if it's disobeying orders, it all means nothing, right?"

"You're precisely right. It's all meaningless. No matter what dreams or hopes you had, no matter how blessed a life you've lived, it's all the same if you're shredded by rocks. Everyone will die someday. Does that mean life is meaningless? Was there even any meaning in our being born? Would you say that of our fallen comrades? Their lives...were they meaningless? No, they weren't! It's us who gives meaning to our comrades' lives! The brave fallen! The anguished fallen! The ones who will remember them...are us, the living! We die trusting the living who follow to find meaning in our lives! Because my soldiers do not buckle or yield when faced with the cruelty of this world!"

"My soldiers, rage! My soldiers, scream! My soldiers, fight!" The rocks come, shredding the advancing Scouts apart. Erwin grits his teeth as one rips through his lower left abdomen, dropping off his horse to the ground.