Vanguard Variable
Summary: In the aftermath of the battle of Shiganshina, a stroke of luck grants Eren a chance to save both Armin and Erwin. But was it truly just luck? What is the true meaning of these images and visions Eren witnesses? The paths to unlikely futures grows wider with every choice he makes, but not even Ymir can know where it will all lead now.
Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan
"Eren, someday I'll come back and save you from this."
Those were the last and most perplexing words the bearded man, the Beast Titan, said before he rode off on the quadrupedal Titan to make a quick escape. What did that mean? Save him, from what? And why? Why did that man's face seem so uneasily familiar?
He didn't have time to contemplate the situation more. Levi all but crashed in front of him with Titan-blood evaporating all over his body. "Captain!" Eren called with some alarm.
For a moment, he dreaded that some of that blood was human, Levi's own. But Humanity's Strongest turned sharply, his determined eyes wracked with some kind of mania and desperation. "I just used the last of my gas. Quick! Give me yours so I can chase him!" Levi ordered quickly.
"Right!" Eren acknowledged, moving to undo his gas canisters.
"Hurry!" Levi insisted urgently.
Eren redoubled his efforts. He got revenge for Armin, along with everyone else that died over the years, by taking down the Colossal Titan. He'd be damned if his slow ass was the reason Levi was unable to avenge everyone that died out there. He thought he heard something, but chose to ignore it as he passed the canisters to Levi.
As Levi loaded them, he paused. It was for a split second, but it was noticeable. "Captain?" Eren asked in surprise.
Levi grunted before pushing something into Eren's chest. "Keep this safe," he ordered firmly before taking off after the fleeing duo.
Eren blinked, looking down at the black box and realized what it was. The serum, to turn someone into a Titan. To take power from their enemies and turn into their own. But why had- no, that was a stupid question. Captain Levi was in combat still and he clearly saw that Eren had an enemy Shifter captured. Leaving it with him, for the moment, was just a precautionary thing to ensure the syringe wasn't destroyed.
But his eyes went wide as a thought...no, an image ran through his head. One that brought a cruel hope to his heart
An image of the Colossal Titan. But it was different, maybe even a bit bigger and bulkier. And from the nape...
He shook his head firmly, gritting his teeth and clenching shut his eyes. No, Armin was dead. There was no way this could work on a dead man- or at least, it was stupid to risk finding out with only one syringe available. He had to be smart about this, he didn't have his best friend anymore to do that for hi-
He stiffened, hearing a sound. A raspy, soft sound that he could only detect in total silence. Looking slowly over his shoulder, he peered at the corpse of his first friend.
Or, what he assumed had been a corpse. The burns all over his body, the fall from the height of the walls. It just didn't seem possible for a normal human to survive something like that, in this state no less. And yet...
"Armin?!" Eren whispered hopefully, rushing over to the charred body, leaning down to make a hundred percent sure that he was right, that he hadn't just deluded himself into hea-
He heard the air wheezing in and out of Armin's throat. It was torturous, incredibly weak, but it was indeed there.
"You're alive...?!" he exclaimed, some part overjoyed, some part horrified that his friend was in this...horrid condition. One of suffering with no hope of recov-
He froze, the vision blaring in his head again of a Colossal Titan controlled by a young blonde. He could save Armin. Sure he'd have to turn him into a Titan Shifter, but he'd be alive.
As a soldier, he probably shouldn't be taking this matter into his own hands, but consequences be damned, he wasn't going to just let Armin lay here and die! Captain Levi could kick him as hard as he wanted and they could lock him up again, he didn't care. His friend was dying here, he had the serum, and he had an enemy Shifter right there waiting to be eaten!
He pulled out the black box from his pocket and took a few deep breaths to steady his nerves. His father had been a doctor, he knew he had to be steady and careful with an injection or he'd fuck the whole thing up. He didn't know how this stuff worked exactly, none of them did. Screwing this up meant he'd have wasted their only shot at this.
Eren's hand rested on the cover, ready to pull it out, but something stopped him in a start. Another image, another vision.
It was another Colossal, more muscular and with a grim frown. From the nape was...the Commander?
He had the feeling the Commander had fallen against the Beast Titan, by Levi's behavior. But he had no way of knowing if Erwin or anyone else out there was alive, injured or not. And he couldn't get there safe with no gas and couldn't risk the serum with a transformation of his own. So, he couldn't just let this chance slip away on the possibility that Commander Erwin migh-
"Eren!"
He rounded in surprise to see a scout. One of the newer members...Floch, Floch was his name. He was climbing on the rooftop and his back was...
"The Commander?" Eren realized numbly, stunned at the state the Commander was in. Was he even alive?
"Eren! Do you know where Captain Levi is?! I have the Commander!" Floch asked pleadingly, glancing to the man he had attached to his back with makeshift straps. "His stomach is gouged, insides all torn up and the bleeding won't stop..."
Eren was only faintly aware of Floch's words. He was too preoccupied with marveling at how cruel the world could really be. To let his friend survive everything, be a hair's breadth from being saved from death, and now this? This!? It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. He was willing to give his own life for humanity, any day, but trading Armin? For the Commander? It'd be like trading Mikasa for Levi. He couldn't do it. Fuck everything, he couldn't do that!
Floch blinked, noticing the box Eren was clutching hard with knuckles that were turning white. "Wait, is that...!?" Floch realized in surprise, relief, and confusion. "Why do you...nevermind! It can work on the Commander, right!?"
Eren gritted his teeth, pressing the box to his forehead, angry tears falling from his eyes.
"Eren? What are you-" Floch started, hefting himself up on the rooftop. He stopped, seeing the two bodies: a charged corpse and an amputated body with steaming limbs. "Who is...wait, is that-?"
"It's Armin," Eren confirmed grimly, his voice hitching just a touch.
Floch was new to the scouts, this group, but he knew enough to know what was happening in front of him. "Eren, we need the Commander! I know it's hard, but you can't-"
"You don't know anything!" Eren screamed, glaring at the ginger with unholy fury.
Floch flinched but glared back. "Yes I do, Eren! Everyone is dead out there! Everyone...but me. And him. We died to give Captain Levi a chance, thanks to Erwin's plan," Floch retorted strongly. "I've lost people too, Eren! But he's what we need, what humanity needs!"
He was probably right, Eren admitted somewhere deep in the back of his head, as the images of Erwin and Armin each as the Colossal Titan flashed back and forth in his head, to a painful degree.
Then, in an instant, something else appeared in his head.
Rod Riess's Titan.
His fury ceased.
"Does he have a pulse?"
Floch blinked at the calm and collected tone. "What?" he asked, bewildered by Eren's sudden change of heart.
"The Commander, does he have a fucking pulse?!" Eren demanded sharply. "Because as far as we know, it won't work on a corpse."
"R-right," Floch said, accepting that point as he sat the Commander down and placed a finger at the neck. "Yeah. Yeah, it's weak, but it's there."
"Okay...then I have a plan," Eren said, pocketing the box and quickly going for Levi's discarded canisters. "You got gas left?"
"Umm, yes, why?" Floch asked in bewilderment.
"Because these are empty, and we'll need to make a run for it when it happens," Eren said before tossing the canisters to Floch. "If you don't have much, just get me enough to scale the wall," Eren said with a tired but gruff tone.
"Right," Floch answered uneasily as he transferred some of his gas. "What...changed your mind?"
"I didn't," Eren admitted as he pulled out the syringe and moved to Erwin's remaining arm, mentally praying that he was right. "Come on, come on..."
Floch stared in confusion as Eren started to inject Erwin with the formula, slowly, before removing the syringe. "Wait, what are you-?" Floch started, stopping as sparks began to dance around the commander.
"Shit!" Eren cursed, kicking Erwin over the edge of the roof, right before a small and familiar explosion happened. "Can't believe I forgot about that part," he muttered in annoyance, glancing over the edge. Luckily, and surprisingly, Erwin was less than ten meters tall as a Titan. His titan also had a disturbingly serious look on its face, even as it opened its mouth hungrily.
"It worked? Even without the full injection?" Floch asked in surprise as he pulled himself up.
"Yeah, I just remembered the one time I saw someone turned into a mindless Titan, and he barely licked any of this stuff off the floor. Figured that might be a good sign," Eren said with a sigh of relief. "Okay, Floch, I'm going to inject Armin. I'll need your help to get Bertholt out of here."
"Wait, aren't we going to feed him to one of them?" Floch asked with a furrowed brow.
"Yes, but for the moment, I'm to assume the others managed to capture at least one of the other enemies. So if we have two Titans, the question becomes, who gets which?" Eren pointed out as he knelt down to inject Armin. He paused only for an instant to confirm that, yes, he was still breathing.
Taking a breath, he injected Armin with the formula...
Meanwhile
"They're running away with Reiner!" Connie yelled out as the four-legged Titan began to run away with Reiner in its mouth. "Sh-"
Twin blurs went by the fleeing Titan, its jaw coming unhinged from clean cuts through its mouth, forcing it to drop Reiner.
"Mikasa, Captain Levi?" Jean observed in surprise, relieved that Reiner wouldn't escape because of his big mouth.
"No. Reiner too?!" the holder of the Beast Titan cursed with gritted teeth. "Keep going, Pieck..."
"Should we go after them?" Mikasa asked with a scowl, still clutching her blades tightly as the four-legged titan ran off.
Levi scowled. "I hate it, but no," he answered distastefully as he stared down at the amputated and unconscious body of Reiner.
"Just in time, Captain! I thought they were actually getting away," Connie said with a grin as they approached him.
"I saved a bit of time when I ran into Mikasa," Levi said, nodding his head to the dark haired girl, who nodded back silently. Once she had told him what direction this group was at, he figured their enemies were searching to retrieve their comrade to make their escape. Still...
"Something wrong, Levi?" Hange asked grimly with a raised eyebrow. Or he assumed it was one raised eyebrow. It was hard to tell with the other wrapped up. "Besides the obvious."
Levi scowled but got her meaning. "I missed."
"Really? Cause you kind of came in and de-jawed that one titan before they could get away with Reiner here," Jean pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"I was aiming for the furry bastard," Levi retorted gruffly. "But instincts took over. I knew I had a better chance of recapturing this asshole than taking off the other one's head," he explained, kicking Reiner in the side. The still healing shifter grunted, but didn't try to defend himself. "I suppose my promise to Erwin will have to wait."
Hange scowled. "Levi, is the Commander...?"
Levi didn't answer for a moment, making many flinch in shock. "I'm not sure, to be honest," he said doubtfully.
"I see. And the syringe?" Hange asked calmly.
"I left it with Eren," Levi admitted.
"Eren?" Mikasa repeated with a furrowed brow, obviously worried for him and Armin. But they should be in the same place. Why give it to Eren but not Armin? Unless...she fought off that dark thought. Until it was confirmed, by sight or words, it wasn't true.
"What? Why?" Hange asked in surprise, knowing Levi had to have a decent reason for that.
"I was half expecting the Beast Titan to reappear before this was over. We know they can transform more than once," Levi reminded. "Eren has the Colossal Titan. Him using it on anyone is better than on no one at all."
"That's true," Hange accepted. "We need to go fin-"
They were interrupted by a flash of light and a distant bang.
"What the hell?! Don't tell me the enemy still got juice in them!" Jean yelled, using his gear to move to the roof tops, as did Mikasa and Hange.
"Wait, that's the other direction. It came from near the Colossal's body," Mikasa observed with a frown.
"I guess Eren used it alr-" Hange started, only to blink as a second flashing bang erupted. "Okay, what the hell? Did Eren transform?" she said under her breath.
"That is right where Eren was," Levi confirmed with a frown as he joined them. He didn't need to look to know that Mikasa was tense now. "Hange, you got a flare?"
"Huh? Yeah, why?" the now one-eyed scientist asked with a perplexed look.
"Because I see someone in ODM gear, and I doubt Eren knows where we are," Levi answered.
Hange wordlessly got out the device and capsule, sending a smoke trail of green through the sky. There was a tense few seconds before they noticed two figures approaching.
"Eren, and..." Mikasa squinted. "Is that other person carrying Bertholt?"
"They didn't feed him to Armin?" Levi muttered in idle confusion. He grimaced as he saw Mikasa look to him sharply, but didn't elaborate as the group got closer. "Jean, Mikasa, go help keep an eye on Reiner," he ordered. Mikasa looked like she wanted to protest, but obeyed none the less. It was best to have one of the two Ackermans guarding their prisoner, she knew.
It wasn't long before the strangely happy yet tired pair of Eren and Floch appeared with a still unconscious Bertholt. "Captain!" Eren greeted in relief before growing slightly worried. "Wait, where's everyone? And Reiner?"
"They're down there," Levi answered, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. This prompted Eren to towards the edge, looking visibly relieved seeing the others stand around and over Reiner, Mikasa with a sword pointed down at their former comrade. She glanced to him, and he could tell some tension left her at seeing him. Probably because he looked so relived himself as he nodded to her.
He scowled at one detail though. "Is Sasha okay?" he asked, seeing the girl laying on the ground.
"As far as we know, she'll be fine," Hange answered evenly, knowing Eren was just making sure his friends were alright.
Eren turned to her, and Hange remained impassive as he stared at her bandaged eye. Something seemed to dawn in his eyes as he looked around, his gaze lingering to Floch, now seated on the roof. The son of Grisha turned back to Hange with owlish, horrified eyes. "Section Commander? Is this...all that's left?"
Hange bowed her head. Silence was answer enough.
"Dammit," Eren cursed, clutching his hands.
"There's nothing you could have done," Hange said, turning to glare at Bertolt, trying not to focus on the last sight her right eye had seen. Moblit's last instance of life, trying to protect her to the very end, was imprinted in the dark void of that eye. "Against something like that power...we were lucky to survive at all."
Eren bit his lip, but didn't say anything more. It was just so hard to stomach. All this death. Was it worth it? They got two of the titans, the very two that had broke down the wall at this very spot five years ago. And they had Annie locked up. But with the Beast Titan still alive, along with its other ally, it wasn't really over. Was there any way this could have gone better? Was there anythi-
No. They had played the cards they had at the time. Dwelling on what-ifs would get them nowhere. All they could now was keep moving forward.
...Which involved feeding two Shifters to two blond Titans.
"What happened over there, Brat?" Levi asked pointedly, interrupting Eren's train of thought.
"Were you being chased by enemy Titans?" Hange asked with a frown.
"No, just the opposite," Floch said, taking a breath as he sat the dismembered and unconscious shifter down.
"Opposite?" Levi repeated, as the dots connected, leveling a look at Eren. "You used it on Armin?"
"And the Commander," Eren assured to their surprise, allowing a small smirk to work onto his face.
"He injected Erwin first, for the record," Floch added in helpfully.
"Erwin? How did...?" Levi said, glancing to Floch in confusion.
"Floch carried him all the way to that rooftop on his back," Eren answered with a bit of praise.
"But what do you mean first?" Hange asked in confusion. "We only had one injection."
"Yeah, but I decided to try only a partial dose in Erwin. It worked, so I did the same to Armin," Eren explained.
"Wait, seriously!?" Hange cried out in surprise. "How did you possibly know that could work!? We assumed the full syringe would be needed."
"Long story short? I remembered that Rod turned into a Titan with just a lick of the stuff back at the chapel," Eren answered. "And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually have more good news?"
"You got to save Erwin and you best friend. What more could you possibly have?" Levi asked doubtfully.
Eren grinned, pulling out the black box. "I think there's enough for one more," he explained.
"A third? Not even half was needed?" Hange asked with a frown as she grabbed the case and glared at it. "Why would they have the syringe this full then?!"
"Congrats, you actually managed to think ahead, Eren," Levi praised before raising a brow. "Though, why did you bring Bertholt here?"
"Besides that we probably want to lure their Titans away from each other before feeding either to them? There's an issue I'm not sure how to resolve," Eren pointed out, looking very uncertain. "...Sir, Ma'am, who gets which Titan?"
Hange opened her mouth, but slowly closed it in thought. "That is...a good question, actually."
"Wouldn't the obvious choice be to give Erwin the Colossal?" Levi pointed out idly. "It is the most destructive."
"Hmm, maybe," Hange said, tilting her head as she saw Eren rubbing his head. "Eren, you alright?"
"Yeah, just...a lot happened," Eren said with a sigh. "I don't really care which one gets which, but..."
"Yes?" Hange prompted, curious for his input. Eren had been proving surprisingly insightful today.
"Well, Erwin's the leader, right?" Eren pointed out, getting deadpan looks for the obvious statement. "Bear with me. Compared to the Colossal, wouldn't the Armor be easier to get out of? Or even to just pop out of the nape for a moment and give orders?"
Levi tilted his head. "Okay, Eren, did you hit your head? You're normally not this smart."
"I'll...try not to be insulted by that, Sir," Eren said with a sigh.
"He-hey?" Floch spoke up cautiously. "I know I'm the new guy, but Armin's not much a fighter. Physically, I mean. So wouldn't the Armor Titan be a bit useless for him?"
"Hand-to-hand wasn't really Erwin's specialty either," Hange mused before shaking her head. "However, given the destructive power of the Colossal, it might not be something the Commander would want to burden Armin with. And Armin is a quick thinker. Between all of us, I'm sure he could find plenty of uses for the Armor."
"I'm going to agree with Eren's earlier sentiment," Levi interrupted with a scowl. "I don't give a damn which one gets which. Just that we do this soon. The longer we wait, the more time we give something to go wrong. Come on, we'll gather everyone up and figure it out when we get there."
End of Chapter
And here we go, Eren has officially broken canon. Ironically, just by not noticing Armin's breathing before Levi left after Zeke and Pieck. As you can all tell, I've decided to alter the Attack Titan's future sight in this story, but that's all I'll say on that matter.
Next up, you'll see what the crew decided on: Armin-Armor or Erwin-Armor. Which, lets be real, who getting which is honestly a tough call with pros and cons for both.