-P-

The Colossal Titan dug his hands into the ground beneath him, uprooting trees that ignited upon simply being near him. He then pressed the flaming pile of dirt and rock into a tight, molten hot ball, and then held it in one hand, waiting for something to happen. As he waited, he slowly paced around, kicking up flaming trees that ripped through the enemy forces. The Scouts that tried to cut him down were blown away by the steam billowing off of his body.

From within the nape of the Colossal Titan, the user was lost in thought, recalling the horrible thing he was forced to do in order to ensure victory for Marley. His heart bled for the life that was lost, stripped from this world too soon for it to truly begin.

-One month ago-

The war chief of the warrior unit, Zeke Jaeger, set a report down on the table with a somber look on his face as Pieck and Porco sat across from him. Porco and Zeke both sat in normal chairs, while Pieck was laying on a couch with a pair of crutches propped up against it. Porco immediately noticed the tense mood permeating the room, which was before Zeke even opened his mouth to talk. When he finally spoke, his voice had a grim and distraught tone.

"We've confirmed that Bertholdt Hoover has been killed," Zeke said.

Porco's eyes widened in disbelief. The Colossal Titan? Killed? How?

"How did you find out about this?" Porco asked.

"About a month before this meeting, a woman in Marley came down with a sudden and unexplained pregnancy," Zeke explained. "Not only did she never engage in sexual intercooler prior, but the baby was growing at a horrifying rate."

"What do you mean by that?" Porco asked.

"She became pregnant late last month, and she just gave birth yesterday," Zeke said. "But more importantly, when the umbilical cord was cut, the entire town she was in was destroyed, with only a 25-meter tall skeleton and the baby remaining."

"So, what does that mean for us?" Pieck asked.

"Well, now that we know that the tip we got from was accurate, they plan to stage a rescue operation to recover Reiner, and possibly Annie, assuming that she hasn't betrayed us as the tip stated."

"So then what am I doing here?" Porco asked.

Zeke sighed deeply and pushed up his glasses. "Before we launch the operation, we have to fully secure the Colossal Titan. Essentially, the military is having you eat a newborn… I'm sorry, Galliard."

-One month later-

'Reiner, you dumbass!' Porco growled from the inside of the Colossal Titan's nape. Streams of steam flowed from his eyes and he bore a look of intense rage on his face. 'If only I had inherited the Armor instead of you! None of this would have happened! We'd have turned back and made it home safely by now, Bertholdt would still be alive, and I wouldn't have had to eat a fucking baby! But nooo, you just had to play the hero, didn't you?'

Porco's rage was enough to distract him from the red streaks of light which sliced through one of the buildings at the Scouts' base, as well as the armored creature entering the cellar. Porco's attention didn't return to the Base until he heard the sound of a transformation. Looking back, he saw Reiner rising from a cloud of steam as the Armored Titan.

'Oh, good, you're finally out of there,' he thought. 'Now I can take out their ba-'

However, before Porco could throw the fireball, he suddenly heard a loud CLANG, followed by a CRACK which rippled through the forest. Porco glanced back down at Reiner and his eyes widened in shock when he saw a massive crack in his arm. Standing next to Reiner was what appeared to be a woman in white leather armor carrying a long, black whip. Or maybe it was a lance? For whatever reason, he couldn't tell.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Porco shouted inside his Titan. He then watched Reiner flee and the woman in white armor give chase. 'Gah! It doesn't matter! All I have to do is take out the base! Just one throw and it's gone!'

Porco wound up the throw, before launching the tremendous ball of fire and rock at the castle. The fireball soared through the air at Mach speeds, but before it could make contact with its target, it was suddenly caught by a giant, silver hand. Porco's eyes crept up the hand and along the arm, until it eventually reached the body of the red and silver giant that stopped the fireball. Upon gazing upon the body, Porco suddenly had a flashback to one of Berthold's memories. It was Bertholdt's last memory before he died. Porco saw this figure screaming furiously while throwing a punch at Bertholdt. There was an explosion, and then everything went black.

'N-no way…' Porco thought. 'I-is that him? The guy who killed the Colossal Titan? Is this Eren Jaeger?!'

The silver giant gazed vacantly at the ball, before slowly turning to face the Colossal Titan. Porco tried to run away, but in an instant, the warrior of light was standing right in front of him once again. Before their battle started though, he pointed his index finger at the fireball and doused the flames on it with some freezing-cold liquid, before placing it on the ground. After doing that, he grabbed the Colossal Titan with one hand and threw him right over Wall Rose.

-Z-

Zeke stared up at Ultraman with a mix of reverence and horror, having just witnessed their most powerful titan being made into an absolute joke. Before he could comprehend what just happened though, he suddenly heard the sound of trees shaking and collapsing as something came charging towards him.

Suddenly, the Armored Titan came barreling through the woods, with a woman dressed in white leather in hot pursuit. Steam was billowing off of the Armored Titan's back, his arms were broken, and his legs showed evidence of some close calls with whatever was ripping him apart, but he was able to survive, thanks to him constantly ducking and weaving out of the way of the various strikes. As soon as Reiner arrived, Zeke stood up to meet with him, only to suddenly be grabbed by the Nape with his jaws. As Reiner continued to run, he heard the woman calling to him playfully.

"Where do you think you're going, darling~?" She called. "The fun's just getting started~!"

She then swung her whip at Reiner, who managed to dodge it, but in the process of missing her target, the woman took off one of Zeke's arms entirely. This shook Zeke to his core, and he called out to the other Titan shifter in the group.

"PIECK! WE HAVE TO RUN!" Zeke screamed.

Pieck, who was on Annie's back ripping at it with her claws while soldiers fired upon her, was confused by Zeke's call. That was until the section connecting the back of her head to her neck exploded with the crack of the whip and she was exposed from the eyes up. She then saw the woman land in front of her, her eyes obscured by her mask.

"Oh, poo!" She said. "I missed the nape by just a hair. Oh well, I suppose that's simply the nature of whips. You can never quite get them to hit exactly where you want, can you?" She then looked up at Pieck and grinned. "Now who do we have here? Pieck Finger I presume?"

Pieck's eyes widened in confusion.

"You're probably wondering how I knew that," Hange predicted. "Well, my friend here was kind enough to tell me all about you and your little monkey friend over there." She then tightened her grip around the whip's handle, and it suddenly extended into a jousting lance, which she aimed right at Pieck's forehead. "I'm quite curious as to how you were able to get the Colossal Titan back so quickly. Thankfully, you'll have all the time in the world to tell me soon enough."

Zeke clenched his teeth and roared, "KILL THE GIRL IN ARMOR!"

-H-

Suddenly, all the pure Titans that Mike hadn't killed yet simultaneously turned their attention toward Hange. Using this distraction, Pick used the control she still had over her Titan to jump off of Annie and race towards the Armored and Beast before jumping on Reiner's lacerated back as he carried both of them away. Hange sighed in annoyance, that annoyance increasing even further when she realized that her ODM gear was out of fuel.

"Well, that's frustrating," Hange sighed. "I suppose I should have accounted for the increased weight the water adds. Well, it can't be helped now." Suddenly, Hange yelped as Annie stood upright and began fending off the Titans.

Hange quickly got back up, unharmed by the fall. She did stumble slightly when she got shot in the back of the head but was otherwise unscathed. The gunfire came from all directions, but Hange barely even felt any of it and walked right through it all, then dispatched each of the remaining soldiers one by one. By the end of it all, with Levi and Annie taking care of the Titans, and Hange ripping through any soldiers foolish enough not to flee, the defense of the Scouts' base was truly successful.

While all the fighting was going on though, Erwin gazed up at Eren as he released the cooling liquid from his fingertip in a mist form which extinguished the forest fires. While everyone else was celebrating, Erwin was suspicious of Eren's current behavior. He seemed far too calm to be the Eren he knew and had no reaction to this new ability. In fact, he didn't seem to have any sort of reaction at all. His expression was completely blank. It was as if he was acting on auto-pilot. And this made Erwin quite suspicious of if this really was still Eren.

As the sun began to rise, Erwin rallied everyone back to the base with a smoke signal. The four disparate groups all began converging on the castle once again. During the headcount, Ultraman approached the camp and carefully took a knee before powering down, transforming back into Eren. However, upon transforming back, Eren immediately collapsed to the ground. Mikasa ran up to him and hoisted the young man into her arms while pressing an ear against his chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard his steady heartbeat.

Meanwhile, Sasha Braus had returned with the unconscious Pigmon, who Hange immediately ran over to take into her arms. When she frantically asked Sasha what happened, Sasha began explaining everything to Hange. Connie, who was still reeling from finding out that his mother was turned into a mindless Titan, overheard Sasha mention Pigmon's ability to turn Titans back into humans, and his eyes widened with a newfound sense of hope.

When the headcount was done, Mike found that while the Eastern and Western wings were relatively intact, the Western wing took severe damage thanks to the Colossal Titan's unexpected appearance, and the assault of the Marleyan soldiers, and the Western wing was nowhere to be seen, apart from Sasha Braus and Pigmon. Annie realized this too, and her eyes widened with dread, as she recalled that Armin was stationed in the East wing. She clenched her fist and bit her quivering lip as she began to fear the worst.

That was until the group heard the loud rumble of something approaching them. They turned around and gasped when they saw a 5-Meter-Titan with the visage of a goblin approaching them from the woods, using the trees to leap through the air, spinning and twirling gracefully before landing at the entrance of the courtyard. Levi drew his blades, but Annie quickly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Captain, wait," she said. "That's the Jaws, the Titan power that Marcel had before he was eaten! Whoever's in there, they're not with Marley."

Just as Annie explained this, the Jaw Titan reached onto her back and set down the scouts that were riding her. These scouts were Krista, Jean, Tomas, and, much to Annie's relief, Armin. Mikasa and Annie both hugged Armin, grateful that he was still alive. However, as their heads dangled over his shoulder, the two glared at eachother menacingly.

'Just because you're on our side doesn't mean I forgive you for having a hand in destroying my home, you Titan bitch!' Mikasa thought. 'Try anything funny with my friend and I'll slice you into ribbons.'

'Keep your hands to yourself, Ackerman,' Annie thought. 'Obsess over Eren all you want, but Armin is mine, and I won't let you or anyone else take him away from me.'

"M-Mikasa… Annie… p-please stop… you're hurting m-me…" Armin wined.

The two budding rivals failed to realize that in the middle of their silent threats, their grip on Armin was only growing tighter and tighter.

As this was going on, the Jaw Titan leaned forwards and her nape split open as steam billowed out of it. Eventually, they all saw Krista scale up the side of the Titan, before pulling the occupant out, revealing her to be none other than Ymir. Everyone who wasn't already saved by her was in utter disbelief as Ymir slowly opened her eyes, which locked with Krista's.

"See?" She teased. "I told you it would work out." Ymir then slowly caressed Krista's face with one hand.

Krista smiled and teared up. She grasped Ymir's hand and moved in closer. "Time to fulfill my end of the promise, then," she said. "My real name… it's Historia. Historia Reiss."

"Historia?" Ymir let out a slight huff of satisfaction. "I like it. It's a beautiful name."

Historia's face reddened as the two inched closer to eachother and Ymir held Historia's chin with her finger and thumb.

"A beautiful name… for a beautiful girl."

Finally, the two's faces met. Their eyes slowly closed and their lips locked together in a moment of deep passion. The evaporating Titan draped them in a cloak of steam as the two embraced eachother and deepened their passionate kiss.

"So… what exactly happened with you guys?" Connie asked.

Jean decided that since the rest of the people in his group were preoccupied, he would have to provide an explanation as to what happened to them.

"It's a long story, so strap in…"

-J-

{Several minutes ago…}

I won't bore you with the details about how we evacuated the nearby towns and settlements and just skip to the important part, which was about the time the Colossal showed up. Because as soon as it did, everything went to hell. Even though it was a good distance away from us, that explosion alone started a forest fire and scattered a bunch of pure Titans into our area. Though we wouldn't find out about that little detail until much later.

For now, all that matters is that the initial explosion killed a bunch of people with debris, just like when the previous Colossal kicked the walls in. Then the bastard started going on a Colossal sized temper tantrum and started kicking flaming rubble and trees everywhere, which not only killed more of our forces but trapped us in one area. Tomas tried to send out some people to call for help, but that only lead to the Titans finding our location faster. We were boxed in pretty quickly, and we were about to die. Then Ymir told Krista something about a promise, and then bit her hand. And that's how she turned into that Titan.

Side note, for some reason, her Titan was able to talk, and I distinctly remember her saying to Krista that she "was hoping the moment they revealed each other's secrets would be a bit more romantic." Krista was freaking the hell out the entire time, but it all turned out a lot better than it could've. With her help, we were able to fight our way out of there and even get a good view of Jaeger chucking the Colossal bastard to God knows where. After that, the smoke signal was given and we made it back here.

-J-

"And that's about all there is to say," Jean said to Commander Erwin.

He, Historia, and Armin sat across from Erwin, while Ymir was handcuffed to a pole next to the group. She wasn't very upset about her situation though, only wishing she didn't have to stand up this entire time.

"I see," he replied. "Still though, that still leaves one major question." Erwin then turned his attention squarely to Ymir. "Why didn't you reveal this ability to us sooner? It would have likely saved many lives if you had."

Ymir sighed deeply. She had a feeling this question would be coming as soon as she revealed her power.

"I didn't tell any of you because I was worried more about myself," she bluntly admitted.

She received a judgemental glare from Jean and a sympathetic but disappointed sigh from Armin. Historia seemed to understand where she was coming from completely, which relieved Ymir.

"That's understandable," Erwin said. "Given what information we were able to learn about you, as well as Annie's information regarding the Jaw Titan, it's only rational to have difficulty trusting anyone or anything besides yourself. That being said, now that we are aware of your ability, I'm sure you know that we'll have to keep you closely monitored and restrained and that you will not have severe restrictions on when you can and cannot utilize your ability."

"I'm aware," Ymir replied. "As long as nothing happens to Historia, I'll accept whatever happens next."

"Speaking of which," Erwin looked over to Historia. "I'm curious as to why you also chose to hide your true identity, Historia."

Historia took a deep breath and began to tell them her tale.

-R-

After running for miles upon miles, Reiner finally collapsed at the foot of Wall Rose, where he and Zeke both emerged from their Titans. Pieck, who had regenerated most of her Titan's head, crouched down so that they could climb onto her back before she began to scale the wall. As she climbed up Wall Maria, Reiner placed a hand on his face and sighed, wondering what he should even do now. He did promise Bemular that he'd join that space organization and that he would try to convince Marley to do the same, but in practice, he didn't even know where to begin. Marley wasn't as backward as the Paradis, but even still, space travel was so far off from what they were capable of, it was seen as a work of fiction. He could hardly comprehend the idea, even knowing that Bemular was an alien, so how could he convince his comrades that this was even possible to begin with, let alone a good idea to join them when they had never even met Bemular?

Reiner was wracking his brain trying to think of a way to convince the other warriors to join him, but that train of thought was brought to an abrupt halt when Pieck stopped at the top of the wall, and they all looked down over an enormous fog covering the land below them. Within this scalding hot fog, three Colossal Titans were all mindlessly attacking one Colossal. It turned out that when Bemular, Eren, and Gudon accidentally released those Wall Titans, they simply acted like mindless Titans, awaiting someone to hunt for, and now Porco made for the perfect target for them.

Being more intelligent than the three of them combined, Porco was able to avoid their strikes, but he was so withered from being in the Colossal for so long that his arms were too weak to fight back. The three warriors were at a loss for what to do, until Reiner remembered that he still had his wrist communicator. As Pieck tried to get the three of them to a safer location, Reiner activated his communicator and held it up to his mouth.

"Bemular! I need your help!" He called. "If you can hear me, please, come down! I need you!"

"Who are you talking to, Reiner?" Zeke asked. "And what is that?"

"Hopefully, you'll find out soon enough," Reiner replied.

They all then heard Porco howling for help. They looked back and saw two Colossal Titans pulling at his arms, trying to rip them off while a third tackled him. Porco managed to bite the third Colossal's nape out, but the force of the tackle was enough to break Porco's outstretched arms off by the shoulders.

"PUCK!" Pieck cried out.

"Fuck…" Reiner growled before he lifted the communicator to his mouth again. "BEMULAR, PLEASE, DO YOU COPY!?"

The ground rumbled as Porco struggled beneath the other two Colossal Titans. He kicked and thrashed with all his might, but the two Wall Titans just kept picking away at his flesh. But then, just as things looked hopeless, a blue heat ray suddenly pierced through the clouds and obliterated one of the Wall Titans in an instant.

"Loud and clear, Reiner," they heard from Reiner's communicator.

"Reiner, who was that?" Pieck asked.

'Is that some sort of wrist-mounted radio?' Zeke thought.

Reiner smiled and watched as the other Wall Titan's nape suddenly exploded. Red electricity briefly flashed across its body before it collapsed. Then, they watched as their savior dug into Porco's neck and pulled him out of his Titan, before carrying him over to the three of them and setting him down gently. Reiner dismounted from Pieck and ran up to Bemular, relieved to see they had arrived.

"I knew that you wouldn't last one day without me, Reiner," they teased. "Fortunately, your powers as a Reionic are useful enough to Yapool that he sent me down the moment I brought up the possibility of you being in trouble."

"Um, Reiner… who is that?" Zeke asked as he too climbed off of Pieck's back. "And where did they come from?'

Bemular chuckled softly. "Oh, you simpleminded little apes are in for the enlightening of a lifetime."